Reborn in 1977

Chapter 509 Going to School

In the room, the small fireplace that had been burning all night still had some embers, warming the room. On a refurbished redwood bed from the Republic of China era, Jiang Lili was sleeping soundly wrapped in a quilt. The alarm clock on the bedside table suddenly rang, and she immediately opened her eyes.

She reached out and pressed the button behind the alarm clock, and the ringing stopped immediately.

She didn't rush to get up, but squinted for a while. Then, with her hands propping up her face, she stared at the alarm clock through the carved-out pattern of the bed's headboard, her face full of smiles.

This alarm clock was very ordinary, but it was extremely special to her.

This was the first gift Chen Fan had given her, using the excuse that she had made the most pottery, as "compensation" for her.

From that day on, this alarm clock had been placed on the bedside table, from Lujiawan to the Education Department of the Prefectural Committee, to her home, and now to here.

Now, it had finally arrived at "her own home." As always, the first thing she saw when she woke up in the morning was this little alarm clock.

Thinking of this, Jiang Lili couldn't help but feel a little lost.

A year ago, she was still a "backward element" who needed to be reformed. According to the experience of those of her "kind," the best outcome might be to marry an ordinary farmer.

Or, she could endure a few more years, wait until she returned to the city, and marry a man who might be ordinary, but more likely "not very good," and live out her life numbly.

Or, like her older sister before, she could decide not to marry.

Who would have thought that she would suddenly meet a man who would change her life on that day?

Jiang Lili's gaze gradually lost focus, her eyes filled with the shadow of a certain person, and the corners of her mouth unconsciously turned up.

Then…

"Meow…"

Huh?

She immediately came back to her senses and propped herself up to look at the desk. She saw Ban Jin (Half Pound) lying on a cotton pad, its eyes blurred, not knowing where it was looking.

As if sensing Jiang Lili's gaze, Ban Jin suddenly raised its head to look at her, and then meowed again. Immediately, as if it had thought of something, its expression suddenly changed, its eyes revealing a human-like gaze. It lowered its head and lay on the pad, even turning its face away, as if it didn't want to talk to her.

So wronged.

Jiang Lili sat up straight and put on a thick cotton home outfit.

Well, this thing was made by her under Chen Fan's guidance. The cotton mill couldn't come up with anything else, but there was more than enough cloth and cotton. Even if she didn't fleece the public, the factory would give employees welfare items every month. There were too many of these things at home.

Under Chen Fan's guidance, she made two sets for each member of her family, um, including him, of course. They usually wore this at home, and only changed into casual clothes when going out or when guests came.

After getting dressed and getting out of bed, she walked to the desk, picked up Ban Jin, and poked its face with her finger, "I'm sorry, it was my fault yesterday. I forgot you were still in the box. It won't happen again."

Ban Jin naturally didn't understand what she was saying, but it felt the meaning and attitude, so it stuck out its tongue and licked her finger, indicating that it accepted the apology.

The two tabby cats were "bodyguards" that Chen Fan had arranged for the two sisters. They could also find their own food and support themselves, so there was no need to worry about them. Naturally, they came along this time.

However, to avoid trouble when getting on and off the ship, they were put in bags and stuffed into suitcases.

Of course, the suitcases had gaps left in them, otherwise the ferocious beasts that Chen Fan had painstakingly cultivated would have suffocated.

However, after getting off the ship yesterday, the two sisters were only concerned with talking to Chen Fan, and neither of them remembered that there were still two cats in the suitcase, until they were about to take a bath and change clothes in the evening, when they opened the suitcase and found two dizzy and starving tabby cats.

So pitiful.

After comforting Ban Jin, Jiang Lili put it down and hurried to the bathroom to wash up.

When she walked out of the room, she realized that no one was in the other two rooms. She stopped, her eyes rolled slightly, and she tiptoed into Chen Fan's room.

There were three rooms on this floor. The largest room was where Chen Fan lived, and the two slightly smaller rooms were occupied by the two sisters.

The layout and furnishings of the three rooms were exactly the same. They all had a bed placed against the corner of the wall, a bedside table, a desk, a chair, a coat rack, a wardrobe, and a long narrow table with a large redwood box on it.

These were all old redwood furniture from the Republic of China era that had been bought back from the second-hand store's warehouse and refurbished by the old masters of the second-hand company. They looked like they had the precipitation of time, but without the slightest feeling of being old, belonging to the "fine products" among the second-hand goods.

This kind of fine product rarely appeared in the store. Most of the items sold in the store were goods that ordinary people consigned or sold to the second-hand company. Those generally didn't have the value or necessity to be refurbished, and they were simply cleaned and put out for sale.

In addition to these second-hand goods, whenever a set of old furniture appeared, it usually came from the "confiscations" of earlier years or the past few years.

There were a lot of this kind of furniture. Some of it was bought, and some of the leftovers would be arranged to be put in the warehouse for temporary storage, or refurbished after a period of time, and then taken out for sale again.

However, this part of the furniture was unlikely to be a set. For example, the ones Chen Fan bought were basically of different styles. Fortunately, he only looked at the material and workmanship, and the requirements for the style were last, so he bought them all in one go.

Of course, the price was also very good-looking. On average, the furniture in one room cost about 400, and there were 7 rooms in this building alone.

Not to mention the living room, dining room, and kitchen downstairs, the two living rooms and bathrooms upstairs… and the matching old-fashioned table lamps, radios, and other small things.

Anyway, when paying the money, An Quan finally knew that the change in Chen Fan's pocket was in units of "thousands."

If this had been a few years ago, it would have been a target for crackdown!

Jiang Lili walked around the room. The furnishings were the same, except for the different styles, there was nothing to see.

But she loved to linger here, just like she used to go to Chen Fan's house every day, as if she could feel his aura, as if Chen Fan was always by her side.

After wandering around the room for a while, she came back to her senses, quickly went to the bathroom to wash up, and then went downstairs, holding the railing.

When she got downstairs, she scanned the room and saw her sister half-leaning on the chaise lounge, engrossed in a book.

The other tabby cat, Ba Liang (Eight Ounces), curled up into a ball, close to Jiang Tiantian's feet, as if warming her feet.

Jiang Lili walked forward slowly, and jumped in front of her in the last step. Jiang Tiantian was startled.

She put the book aside, gently patted her chest, and glared at her angrily, "How old are you? You're still like a child."

Jiang Lili chuckled, sat directly next to her sister, squeezed her inward, took her arm, and asked, "Are you the only one here? Where's Little Fan?"

As the two sisters spoke, the two tabby cat sisters also gathered together, sniffing nose to nose a few times, as if whispering something, and then scurried around the house and disappeared.

Jiang Tiantian watched the two tabby cats run away and said softly, "Little Fan went out, said he had something to do, and will be back later. Brother An and Sister Ying went to supervise the renovation of the house. They left early in the morning and didn't even eat breakfast. They only said they would be back for dinner tonight."

As she spoke, she raised her wrist and gently poked her younger sister's forehead with a finger, "You, you're always the last one to wake up."

Jiang Lili rubbed her forehead, pouted, and said, "I usually wake up very early. Xiao Fan set my alarm for 8 o'clock. I was too tired from the boat trip the past few days, so I only woke up when the alarm rang."

You should know that her biological clock is set to wake up at 6 o'clock. If she hadn't been floating on the boat for four days, she would never have missed the time.

Jiang Tiantian, being the loving older sister, touched her face and said with a smile, "Alright, I know Xiao Fan dotes on you."

Then she pointed to the kitchen, "There's breakfast left for you on the stove, which Xiao Fan went out to buy early in the morning. Go eat it quickly, and when Xiao Fan comes back, he'll take you to school to register."

Jiang Lili immediately stood up, "Then I'll go eat breakfast."

Jiang Tiantian watched her leaping and skipping away, shaking her head gently with a face full of smiles.

This girl is becoming more and more childish.

After a few seconds of愣, she suddenly came back to her senses. She first glanced at the clock on a tall table in the corner of the living room. It was already 8:15, and she guessed that Xiao Fan should be coming back soon, so she put away the book on the tatami and quickly ran upstairs.

Going up to the third floor, there were two rooms on this floor. One was arranged as a study, including musical instruments such as a piano and a violin.

The other was a meditation room.

She didn't understand what this meditation room was for. The whole room was empty, with only a large character "静" (Quiet) written on one of the inner walls. Besides that, there was nothing else, only the shiny floor and wainscoting, which were suitable for exercise or dancing.

Inserting the book into a gap in the bookshelf, she looked at the densely packed books in the bookshelf and couldn't help but smack her lips in amazement, while also feeling envious.

So many books, it should be enough to read for many years.

In addition to the few bookshelves in this study, there were also dozens of boxes of books in the attic accessible by stairs.

According to Chen Fan, these were all bought from several bookstores in the past few days. Most of them were old books, and a small part were new books, costing less than 500 yuan.

Hmm?

Small places generally only have one bookstore, which is the Xinhua Bookstore, while large cities like the capital and Shanghai have bookstores that exist independently of the Xinhua Bookstore.

For example, there was the Foreign Language Bookstore specializing in foreign language books, the Ancient Books Bookstore dealing in ancient books, the Shanghai Bookstore mainly selling old books, as well as the Children's Bookstore, the Shanghai Music Bookstore, the Art Bookstore, and the Science and Technology Bookstore, all of which Chen Fan had scoured.

(The Shanghai Old Bookstore, which opened in 1956 and was later renamed Shanghai Bookstore, mainly deals in old books, and sometimes you can find better ancient books than in the Ancient Books Bookstore)

When his customized bookshelves arrive and all these books are put into the cabinets, it will definitely look good!

After putting away the book, Jiang Tiantian first went to her room on the second floor to change her clothes.

She was also going to register at Fudan University later, so of course she had to change her clothes.

However, she didn't need to change into anything too good. As long as it was clean and tidy without patches, otherwise it would be too eye-catching and would attract trouble.

She wore a pair of black pants with a pair of knitted wool pants underneath, a cotton-padded jacket over a blue coat, and took a hat and a scarf. After taking all kinds of certificates and documents, she went downstairs.

In the living room, Jiang Lili had already finished breakfast. Seeing her sister come down and seeing her appearance, she quickly ran upstairs, "I'm going to change my clothes."

When Chen Fan came back, he saw two little country bumpkins wrapped up tightly.

At this time, he had a bicycle in each hand. After Jiang Tiantian opened the door, he pushed the bicycles into the yard and said with a smile, "Are you ready?"

Jiang Lili jumped in front of him, her face full of smiles, and nodded, "We're all ready, we can leave at any time."

Then she curiously looked at the two bicycles, "Whose bikes are these? Are we going to ride bicycles over there?"

Bringing back two bicycles must be for them to ride, but she didn't know where he borrowed them from.

Looking at the bicycles and then at Chen Fan, Jiang Lili felt that this man was really amazing. No matter where he went, he could quickly open up the situation and make friends everywhere.

Chen Fan waited for Jiang Tiantian to close the door and come back before smiling and saying, "We are going to ride bicycles over there, but they are not borrowed, they were just bought."

"Ah?"

The two sisters looked at him together, then looked at the bicycles, their eyes full of disbelief.

To say something ridiculous, bicycles are harder to buy than houses these days, after all, houses don't require tickets, but bicycles require tickets, which are relatively scarce tickets.

When Chen Fan saw their expressions, he knew what they were thinking, and immediately smiled at them, "There are many of these things in the second-hand store. If you don't mind, you could have bought a bicycle a few days ago.

But I wanted to buy a new one. I heard from people in their unit that a batch of surplus export products would be transferred over in a few days. They are all new products without defects and don't require tickets, so I asked him to help me keep an eye on it."

After saying that, he shook the bicycle handlebars in his hand and laughed, "I didn't expect you to have such good luck. You arrived last night, and their goods also arrived, and they are still rare 26 Phoenix bicycles, which are just right for you to ride around the school."

He also only learned when he bought furniture last time that Shanghai also has its own exported light industrial products these days, including Phoenix bicycles and Shanghai brand watches, which are mainly sold to Southeast Asian countries through Hong Kong.

In order to earn foreign exchange, factories will produce some more on top of the order each time, hoping that when customers see the good quality of the products, they will add some more orders.

Of course, most of the time they are disappointed. Most of these "end-of-line" products are backlogged for a period of time, and are finally sold by second-hand stores, which has become the first choice for many people to buy bicycles.

Those who want cheap ones can buy old cars, and those who don't have tickets can try their luck and buy new cars.

The two sisters were lucky, so Chen Fan bought this rare 26 bicycle.

Therefore, in big cities like Shanghai, there are always more opportunities than in small places.

The two sisters also loved this car. The crisp bell and the "petite" body were much better-looking than the common 28 bicycles.

Moreover, foreign trade products are also superior in materials and craftsmanship. The metal tube on the car's handlebars shone brightly and could even reflect people's shadows.

Chen Fan directly let go, stood aside and smiled, "Stop touching it, you prepare your materials, ride out directly, let's go to register."

The two sisters looked at each other. The older sister's smile was a little embarrassed, but the younger sister didn't care, and raised her head cutely and smiled, "We've been ready for a long time, just waiting for you to come back so we can set off."

Chen Fan waved his hand, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go, let's go to college."

The three of them went out together, Chen Fan riding one with Jiang Lili sitting behind, and Jiang Tiantian riding one herself, heading to Shanghai Textile Institute together.