Reborn in 1977

Chapter 411: Here, Put it on me

While Secretary Yang and Team Leader Zhang were whispering to each other, Chen Fan was piloting the small yacht, and in a few minutes, he crossed several riverside units such as the Waste Recycling Company and the Water Conservancy Bureau, and arrived at the riverside of the North District upstream.

Seeing the familiar grove, he slowed down and slowly drove towards the river.

The water level of the Yangtze River has now receded, not only far from the river embankment, but also exposing a stone beach.

The riverside that has not been artificially transformed is basically three kinds of environment: sandy beach, stone beach, and mud beach.

The most convenient place to dock is naturally the sandy beach, as for the stone beach, let’s make do with it.

Chen Fan tried his best to find a suitable place to anchor, and before the boat was stable, Jiang Lili jumped onto a large rock and ran forward.

Not far away, Jiang Tiantian and a middle-aged couple were running towards this side quickly, their faces were excited with a bit of anxiety, but they didn't dare to shout loudly, just quickened their pace unconsciously.

Chen Fan didn't get off the boat, even if he wanted to say hello to Jiang Lili's parents, it wasn't the time, their family was eager to reunite, it would be more appropriate to wait until they finished talking before greeting them.

He stood up from the driver's seat, took out a cigarette and lit it, and couldn't help showing a smile when he saw Jiang Lili meeting and hugging them.

Then he walked to the stern, opened the cabinet door under the rear seat, took out a one-meter-long cloth bag from it, and turned out a small stool he made himself.

Chen Fan had never seen this thing, the small stool, in the Yunhu area in his two lifetimes. There were only various wooden and bamboo stools here.

The first time he saw a small stool was when he was in college. That broken school was in a city in the north. There was not even a desk in the dormitory. There was only a hole dug in the wall of the berth as a bookshelf. Everyone was given a small stool as a stool. From that time on, he knew that there was such a thing as a small stool. That ignorant appearance naturally made the northern students laugh at him for four years.

As for that cloth bag, it contained a set of spliced fishing rods.

(Spliced fishing rods in the 60s and 70s, don’t ask how to use them, I haven’t used them -_- | |)

The fishing rod was given by Director Cui of the repair shop of the Water Transport Company. Along with the fishing rod were some small tools that could be used on the boat, such as two spliced oars.

Chen Fan suspected that he was not confident in the quality of this second-hand sculling machine, and was afraid that it would break down on the road, so he specially got two oars for backup.

Why not get another sail?

After studying for a while, the clever Chen Fan mastered the splicing method of the fishing rod, put on the fishing rod, and the length actually exceeded 5 meters.

Then he installed the fishing line and hook. The river was so rapid that he didn't need to spread fish bait or anything. He directly took out earthworms from the jar, hooked them on, and threw the hook to fish.

Can you catch fish here?

I don't know, it's better than waiting on the boat anyway.

As a result, before he finished smoking a cigarette, Chen Fan felt a change in the strength of the fishing rod in his hand. He immediately lifted the fishing rod and slowly shook it. Without much effort, he pulled up a slender fish.

Chen Fan pulled the fishing line and brought it to his eyes, and suddenly smiled.

He actually caught a Yangtze River catfish, what kind of luck is this?!

As everyone knows, there are four delicacies in the Yangtze River, namely silver fish, knife fish, long-snout catfish and shad. (Another saying is the three delicacies of the Yangtze River, knife fish, shad and puffer fish)

Especially the knife fish, which is famous all over the world for being fried at a sky-high price, is called the first delicacy of the Yangtze River, and wild knife fish is fried for more than 10,000 yuan per catty.

In fact, knife fish is not precious, but it has become scarce due to overfishing. A large number of lake knife fish and sea knife fish are pretending to be river knife fish. Unless it is a gourmet, ordinary people can't taste the difference, but the price is dozens of times different.

The long-snout catfish is the biological name of the Yangtze River catfish, and it is also one of the four delicacies. Whether now or in the future, wild Yangtze River catfish is very rare.

This kind of fish has different names in different places. Some places call it catfish, fat head, fat fish, and some places call it Yangtze River catfish.

In the early 1980s, riverside cities sold it for 10 yuan per catty, and other places were even more expensive.

Now, even if it is not as good, it is estimated that it is not much different. It must cost five or six yuan per catty, which is much more expensive than meat.

Just like hairy crabs, many people have heard the story of Yangcheng Lake fishermen using hairy crabs to satisfy their hunger during the three-year period, and think that hairy crabs were not valuable back then.

In fact, it is not the case. As early as in "Dream of the Red Chamber", there was a description of the Jia family eating hairy crabs during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and there were also special "crab eight pieces". It can be seen that many years ago, hairy crabs were high-end food, but that era was just a special situation.

This Yangtze River catfish is almost the same. Although the general market is that fish is not as good as meat, if you encounter this kind of high-end river delicacy, you can also sell it at a price much more expensive than meat.

Catching a Yangtze River catfish, Chen Fan naturally wouldn't take it out to sell. He happily lifted a deck, and inside was a small fish pond. He threw the fish into it, and then turned out a small bucket with a rope from under another deck, filled a bucket of water and poured it in, and the Yangtze River catfish immediately began to swim.

With the harvest, Chen Fan was more confident and threw another rod down.

On the river bank, Jiang Heng looked at Chen Fan's back, his eyes couldn't help but be a little strange, but he quickly returned to normal.

Then he turned to look at Jiang Lili, who was holding her mother's arm, with a bit of relief and a bit of apology on his face, "Lili, this opportunity is rare, you must work hard. Also,"

He said and looked at Chen Fan again, "What Xiao Chen told you is very reasonable, and he is willing to tell you these things, it is because he has opened his heart to you, you can listen to his opinions more."

Jiang Lili heard the words and looked at Chen Fan, smiled and nodded lightly, "I will."

Shen Xueyi took her hand and asked softly, "Lili, tell mom the truth, you and him...?"

Jiang Lili's face suddenly turned red, she paused her foot while holding her mother's hand, "Mom, what are you talking about."

As she said that, a sour feeling suddenly surged in her heart, and she couldn't help but lower her head, "He is a great writer, and he is about to take the postgraduate entrance examination, and he is very confident. Even the teachers of Jiangnan University are optimistic about him. Not to mention other places, just in Lujiawan, I don’t know how many good girls are thinking about him, but I am just an ordinary educated youth, I dare not think about it."

Jiang Tiantian held her arm on the other side, listening to the sourness in her sister's words, she couldn't help but sigh faintly, and held her arm tighter.

Jiang Heng felt uncomfortable when he heard this, and sighed softly, "It's Dad who has implicated you."

Jiang Lili quickly raised her head and said with a pout, "Dad, what are you talking about."

Shen Xueyi patted the back of her hand, then grabbed it tightly, and smiled softly, "Don't underestimate yourself, no matter where you go, my daughter is the best, there is no one who is not worthy. And now there are frequent reports about overturning the case in the newspaper, maybe one day your father and I will be able to restore our reputation, you don't have to have too much psychological burden."

Jiang Lili pursed her lips and smiled, nodding lightly, "Yeah."

After a pause, she pouted, looked at her mother, then at her father, "Mom, Dad, I'm leaving."

Jiang Heng was stunned, "So soon?"

He raised his wrist, pulled up his sleeves, and looked at the time, "Oh, it's been more than an hour."

Jiang Tiantian said at this time, "Dad, Mom, Lili also said just now that Lujiawan is very different from before, Lili doesn't need to do too much farm work. And with Xiao Fan taking care of her, she won't be wronged, so you can rest assured."

She said and put her arm around her sister's shoulders, and smiled, "When you get into college, we will go to see you then."

She didn't even dare to say reunion at home.

In fact, since the news of the resumption of the college entrance examination was announced, many people like her want to get rid of the status quo through the college entrance examination.

But the tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop, but a very few people can't see the situation and are still immersed in the past era, jumping up and down to oppose it.

Although she promised Chen Fan that she would sign up for the exam, she had no confidence at all whether she could sign up. In comparison, Jiang Lili is far away in Nanhugongshe, and with Chen Fan taking care of her, the possibility of success is even greater.

The family chatted for a few more words before Jiang Lili took out a few small packages from her bag, one for her father, "Dad, this is a knee pad I made myself, it is sewn with broken fox fur, winter is coming soon, you can wear it to keep warm."

Jiang Heng took it with a smile, "Okay, okay."

Jiang Lili handed another package to her mother, "Mom, you still have to sweep the streets in winter, this is a glove I made, also made of fox fur, it won't be cold to wear."

Shen Xueyi took it in her hand, hugged her daughter, and patted her shoulder gently, "Lili is the best."

After hugging for a few seconds and letting go, Jiang Lili handed the last cloth bag to her sister, and smiled, "You don't have a gift, this is the math learning material I sorted out. The previous ones were entrusted to Xiao Fan to bring to you. This is the last one. You must study hard, don't let me throw too many points."

Jiang Tiantian took it, reached out and touched her face, and said after a few seconds, "If you have anything, let Xiao Fan send me a letter."

Jiang Lili nodded, looked at her parents again, "Mom, Dad, I'm leaving."

When she said the last word, her eyes turned red.

She quickly sniffed and turned to walk to the boat.

At this time, Jiang Heng hurried forward two steps, "Wait a minute."

Jiang Lili turned to look at him, "Huh?"

Jiang Heng pointed to Chen Fan who was still fishing, and said softly, "He takes care of you so much, I should thank him."

Shen Xueyi also nodded lightly, "We should say thank you to him, this is the most basic etiquette."

Jiang Lili was stunned for two or three seconds before saying "Oh", and turned to lead her parents to the boat.

Chen Fan was sitting on the small stool, and lifted another rod, muttering, "There are so many carp in this place."

In more than an hour, there were already a dozen fish in the small fish pond behind him. Except for the 3 Yangtze River catfish he caught at the beginning, there were only two bronze fish and one shad, and the rest were all carp.

Okay, bronze fish also belong to the carp family, so did he stab the carp nest?

Taking off the fish hook and throwing the fish into the fish pond, he immediately stood up when he heard the footsteps, pretending to have just seen them, put down the fishing rod and walked over, and smiled, "Have you finished chatting?"

Jiang Lili was just about to speak, but her face turned red unconsciously, then she turned to look at her parents, and she couldn't say anything.

For some reason, she suddenly had the feeling of meeting the parents, and she was ashamed and flushed.

Seeing her younger sister's expression, Jiang Tian couldn't help but purse her lips and shake her head secretly. Then, she stepped forward and said to Chen Fan, "Xiao Fan, these are my dad and my mom..."

Chen Fan immediately jumped off the fishing boat. Since he had just been holding fish, he waved his hands with a smile and greeted, "Hello, Uncle, Auntie."

In terms of age, they were both over 40. Calculating by his original age, Chen Fan was not yet 28, so it was barely acceptable to call them Uncle and Auntie.

If calculated by his current age, then there was even less of a problem.

Jiang Heng looked at Chen Fan and nodded secretly.

Putting everything else aside, just this face alone would attract countless girls.

He had seen the world and met all kinds of people. As he sized up Chen Fan, he felt that at first glance, Chen Fan didn't have the airs of a celebrity, nor the arrogance of a scholar. However, he always stood up straight, his gaze was upright and not lecherous, he always treated people with a smile, and his actions were spontaneous and didn't care about the eyes of others. Jiang Heng knew that Chen Fan was a man of pride.

At their first meeting, Jiang Heng gave Chen Fan a high score for his first impression.

If he was like this, then Shen Xueyi was even more so, even with a hint of a mother-in-law looking at her son-in-law in her eyes.

Only a few short seconds had passed from when Chen Fan greeted them until now.

While Jiang Heng was evaluating him in his heart, he quickly stepped forward, extended his right hand, and said with a smile, "Hello, Xiao Chen."

After a pause, he smiled again and said, "Can I call you Xiao Chen?"

Chen Fan raised both hands and said with a chuckle, "Yes, yes, but,"

He shook his hands as he spoke, "My hands just caught fish and are full of fishy smell. It would be disrespectful to shake hands. How about we skip it?!"

Jiang Heng laughed and naturally retracted his hand, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

As he spoke, his evaluation of Chen Fan increased by two more points.

Frank and unpretentious, acceptable.

When he spoke to Chen Fan, the first thing he naturally did was express his gratitude.

Regardless of what happened in the future, at least until now, this young man's relationship with his daughter had stopped at friendship, but the things he had done far exceeded the scope of a friend's responsibility. In any case, it was necessary for him to come forward and say thank you.

Secondly, he wanted to personally see what was so special about the genius teenager that his two daughters had been talking about.

Meeting him today did indeed make him quite satisfied.

However, he glanced at his younger daughter discreetly and sighed slightly in his heart. If it had been before the change, Lili and him would naturally have been a match made in heaven. Even the so-called "talent" that he had carefully selected for his eldest daughter before was far inferior.

Not to mention that the two people's character was as different as clouds and mud.

One was quick to disassociate himself when he saw that the situation was not right, while the other did not care about his family who was stuck in the quagmire, but instead provided all kinds of help.

There was simply no comparison!

After thanking him, Shen Xueyi took out a small box from her coat pocket, handed it to Chen Fan, and said with a smile, "I heard Tian Tian say that you don't have a watch yet. We bought this a few years ago and haven't used it. See if you like it."

As she spoke, she opened the box.

Chen Fan didn't think much of it when he saw the words "Shanghai" on the box.

He hadn't even used the tickets for the "three turns and one sound" to buy anything yet, and he didn't lack money even more. The reason why he hadn't taken action was because he felt that the current watches were not good-looking. He was thinking of going to Shanghai or the capital one day to buy an imported watch.

But at the moment the box was opened, his eyes lit up.

This watch was good!

(Shanghai 7120 watch)

The brown strap and cloth dial gave it a sense of fashion, which was fundamentally different from the silly, thick, all-steel watches.

Seeing Chen Fan's expression, Jiang Tian directly took the box from her mother's hand, pushed it in front of him, and said with a smile, "I heard Lili say that you don't buy watches because the watches in the store are not good-looking. Although this watch was bought a few years ago, it is the best-looking watch of the Shanghai brand. You still don't like it, do you?"

Since she had already said so, and he really liked it, Chen Fan didn't decline anymore. He raised his head and said with a smile, "Uncle, Auntie, then I'll shamelessly accept it."

Jiang Heng was from a technical background. Although he had gradually become smooth over the years of work, he liked to be straightforward in his bones. When he saw Chen Fan's behavior, he immediately laughed loudly, "If you like it, accept it. If you are being falsely polite, I would think it's too fake."

Chen Fan chuckled and was about to take it when he suddenly stopped and said to Jiang Lili, "Help me hold it. It's hard for me to hold things with this hand."

Jiang Tian smiled, turned around, and handed it to her younger sister.

Jiang Lili came back to her senses at this time. Seeing her older sister hand the thing to her, she was about to take it when she saw the watch clearly. Suddenly, she widened her eyes and then looked up at her older sister.

As a result, she saw her older sister winking at her and closing the lid, stuffing it into her bag.

Seeing the change in Jiang Lili's expression, Chen Fan thought to himself, could this watch have any other meaning?

If so, he would return it to Jiang Lili when he returned to Lujiawan.

Anyway, he didn't lack this little thing, so there was no need to take what belonged to others.

After saying goodbye again, Jiang Lili followed Chen Fan onto the boat.

After Chen Fan washed his hands with water and wiped them clean, he put away the anchor and slowly drove the yacht away from the shore.

Jiang Heng, Shen Xueyi, and Jiang Tian stood by the river and waved until they couldn't see the boat anymore before leaving together.

On the boat, Chen Fan turned to look at Jiang Lili, who was silent with her head down, and said with a smile, "Today is Sunday. I'll bring you here again next Sunday."

Jiang Lili turned to look at him and blinked her eyes, "Isn't that bad?"

Chen Fan chuckled, "What's bad about it? Actually, today was just a test to see how Secretary Yang and the others feel about your problem. The fact proves that they don't care about your background and past at all. Since that's the case, as long as you go back, what's wrong with me taking you out once?"

After a pause, he said again, "If you're not at ease, let Xiao Ying and the others accompany you. I'll take them out together."

Jiang Lili's eyes flickered, and after waiting a few seconds, she grinned and said, "Thank you."

If she hadn't seen her parents today, it might have just passed, but after seeing them, the longing became even stronger. Of course, she would be very happy if Chen Fan could bring her here again.

Chen Fan drove the boat into the Liuhua River and headed towards Lujiawan. Then, he looked at her and asked, "Does that watch have any meaning?"

Jiang Lili was stunned, "Huh?"

Chen Fan smiled, "Don't try to lie to me. I saw your expression just now. One sentence, leniency for confession, severity for resistance."

Jiang Lili pouted and was silent for a few seconds before whispering, "This watch was a wedding gift that my parents prepared for my sister."

Chen Fan suddenly turned to look at her, "Huh?"

Jiang Lili's face was also a little embarrassed, "Don't get me wrong. At that time, my sister was still in school and hadn't graduated yet, and she hadn't gone on blind dates. It was my mother who wanted to prepare a dowry for her in advance. It just so happened that the department store had a batch of the latest watches, so she bought a pair, intending to use them as a wedding gift."

As she spoke, she lowered her head, and her voice also became low, "Later, my sister graduated from technical school and was assigned to work in the supply and marketing cooperative. Someone introduced her to a blind date. Everything was discussed, and they were just waiting for my sister to reach the age to get a marriage certificate, but..."

Chen Fan also knew what happened later, so he coughed and said, "So your sister is lucky."

Jiang Lili turned to look at him, her face full of confusion, "Huh?"

Chen Fan repeated what he had said to Jiang Tian at the beginning, "Obviously, that man didn't like your sister as a person at all. Otherwise, what about a cadre, what about a worker? Could it be that he looked down on a worker's family?

If you ask me, being able to see the true face of that family in advance is really the best thing. Isn't this good luck?

Besides, your sister didn't lose anything, which is ten thousand times better than getting married and then divorced."

From beginning to end, he didn't even mention the family background.

Jiang Lili blinked her eyes, raised her head, and thought for a while, "It seems like it's true."

She murmured, "I remember hearing my sister say that she actually didn't have any feelings for that man. At most, she didn't dislike him. It was just that her mother was always urging her, so she agreed. Until the day they broke up, they hadn't even held hands."

Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly, "Don't say such private things."

Jiang Lili's face was slightly red, "Isn't it you? I never tell these things to others."

As soon as she finished speaking, she realized what she had said, and suddenly her blood surged and her face was flushed.

Chen Fan turned to look at her, smiled slightly, and directly skipped this topic, "So this watch wasn't given away?"

Jiang Lili came back to her senses and forced herself to calm down, "Yes, since there was no marriage, of course it wasn't given away, so this pair of watches has been kept at home."

Chen Fan's eyes rolled slightly, "You said this watch is a pair?"

Jiang Lili's facial features were squeezed into a ball, and her face seemed to be able to squeeze out water, "A pair is a pair, but, but..."

Chen Fan turned to look at her, "But what?"

Jiang Lili held back for a long time before murmuring, "But I heard my sister say that she doesn't want it anymore."

She covered her face with both hands, not daring to look up at people.

Wasn't this saying that the gift for Chen Fan was something that others didn't want?

If it hadn't been for the conversation getting to this point, she would never have said this.

Chen Fan didn't care, and said with a smile, "Then your sister is just being stubborn, or rather, she still has some grudges in her heart, but, the one who is wrong is the person, not the thing, not to mention that it hasn't been given away yet, what's wrong with the thing?"

Jiang Lili turned to look at him and asked cautiously, "You, don't you mind?"

"What's there to mind?"

Chen Fan glanced at her and directly stretched out his left hand, "Come, put it on for me."

Jiang Lili blinked her eyes and rolled her eyes a few times. Seeing that Chen Fan seemed to be serious, she took out the watch box from her bag, took off the watch, and then suppressed her pounding heart, held her breath, and put the watch on Chen Fan.