Reborn in 1977

Chen Fan strolled back to his office. By the window facing the door, there was an additional desk and two filing cabinets.

This was the workspace for his secretary, Bian Huifang.

So, Director Chen, who had just earned 200,000 for the unit, didn't even have his own independent office.

Seeing Chen Fan enter, Bian Huifang immediately stood up. "Good morning, Director."

Chen Fan waved his hand. "Morning."

He walked up to her and looked around. "Have you finished the student statistics table?"

Bian Huifang immediately picked up a stack of papers from the desk, turned them upside down, and handed them to him. "Just finished compiling it."

After Chen Fan took it, she continued, "A total of 20,000 students, in order of registration, with over 45 percent being from this province."

Chen Fan turned to look at her. "More than 9,000 people, that's so many?"

Bian Huifang grinned. "The entire province has 12 regions. Averaged out, that's less than 1,000 people per region, not that many."

After a pause, she added, "The most are from the provincial capital, with over 2,000 students."

She smiled strangely as she said, "However, most of them are university students."

Students?

Chen Fan was stunned for a moment, then realized and smiled. "That makes sense. Students are the main force of literature enthusiasts. Plus, it's right at their 'doorstep'. Spending 10 yuan to register is not a loss at all."

As for whether they can learn anything, that's not important anymore. Isn't there also an annual face-to-face class? When the time comes, they can attend the face-to-face class and maybe even meet their idol authors and communicate with them in person. It's only 10 yuan, even if it's just a ticket, it's worth it.

Furthermore, the provincial capital has the most universities and colleges. Even if each school only has one or two thousand people, it adds up to tens of thousands. It's convenient and cheap, so 2,000 students really isn't that many.

Chen Fan flipped through the student information statistics table, which included the students' permanent address, age, education, work unit, position, length of service, and other information.

Don't think this information is useless.

Later, based on these information categories, he could design courses specifically for a certain industry. For example, taking steelworkers as an example, how to write an article. This way, the students would have a greater sense of involvement.

In addition, inspired by readers' letters, Chen Fan wanted to see if there were any students with relatively high "value", such as leaders from important units or key factories, who would be valuable to communicate with!

For example, at the very front of the form, there were several people from the "Jiangnan Province Planning Commission." What does this unit do?

Hehe, don't ask. Asking means they can manage everything, and the key is that they don't take responsibility. The executing units take the responsibility!

High position, heavy power, light responsibility, that's this unit!

Working in this kind of unit, you don't even need to think about what kind of people they are.

His eyes swept across the information table, and when he saw the last line, Chen Fan couldn't help but be surprised, "There are even three students from Inner Mongolia?"

It's understandable for those from the surrounding provinces, but if arranged according to the time the letter was received, it would take at least 10 days for a letter from Inner Mongolia to arrive. How did they make it in time?

Bian Huifang immediately smiled. "Oh, these three, and a dozen other students from more distant provinces, all registered by telegram first, and then remitted money at the post office. Because it was a telegraphic transfer, we received the registration fee very quickly, so we included them all."

(Telegraphic transfer in '75. There was also fast remittance at that time. Because it required reconciliation, there were a few more procedures, only slightly later than the telegram, about two or three days to arrive)

Hearing Bian Huifang's words and looking at the information on the form, Chen Fan couldn't help but sigh, "Talent!"

He hadn't even thought of this method, but these people were able to fully exert their subjective initiative. Not bad, not bad.

Well, he won't send such talents to the newly opened correspondence center in the province. It's good to keep them and cultivate them himself.

If he can cultivate them, they will be the face of the correspondence center in the future!

What if they don't come and instead register for the correspondence center in their own province?

Then whatever, anyway, the tuition fee will not be refunded!

After asking about a few key situations in the office, Chen Fan instructed her to continue to keep track of the project. Then, he inspected several assisting departments and distributed the cigarettes he had swiped from He Qingsheng, and prepared to leave.

He hadn't originally planned to buy a house in the provincial capital, but now it seemed he had to.

People were squatting downstairs in the dormitory building every day. As soon as he went over, there would inevitably be a commotion. If this continued, even if he could bear it, the students in the dormitories on the first floor wouldn't be able to!

So, he should buy a house near the school.

He just didn't know if there were any suitable ones?

Fortunately, two leaders of the Provincial Capital Urban Construction Committee were also members of the Provincial Writers Association. Going directly to them for help should be resolved quickly.

As he thought this, he walked out of the Little Red Building. Just as he was about to get into the car, he heard the old man in the gatehouse calling him, "Director Chen, you have a letter."

Chen Fan immediately turned around and walked over. "Coming."

As usual, he used cigarettes as a bridge, handing over a cigarette and exchanging it for a letter.

Looking at the envelope, Chen Fan was slightly stunned.

He thought it was from Jiang Lili. According to her mailing pattern, he should be receiving a letter soon.

But he didn't expect it to be from his master, Zhang Xuansong?

He first walked to the car and sat down, then tore open the seal. There was only a thin piece of paper inside.

Opening it, the content was even simpler.

"Good disciple: The money has been received. I am very pleased that you can earn foreign exchange. So, can we build the Chaoyang Temple? The old master craftsmen from the Beijing Construction Company said that the house you designed is very good. The design drawings of the Taoist temple are entrusted to you. Hurry up, let's build this small one first, and when we have a larger yard in the future, we will build a larger one."

Chen Fan shook his head and chuckled twice, then casually folded the letter and stuffed it back into the envelope.

Master Zhang really couldn't wait.

But speaking of which, are religious activities allowed to be open to the public now?

Chen Fan thought for a moment, then started the car and drove off.

Whatever, anyway, Master Zhang is at the forefront, and he has Old Commander and Old Political Commissar as his backing. As long as he doesn't make any major mistakes in principle, basically nothing will happen.

It's just the design drawings of a Taoist temple, it's too simple. Almost all large libraries across the country can find this kind of thing. The focus is on the enshrined deities and architectural regulations.

He will find some information later to confirm that the regulations are accurate, and then he can design it.

… …

At the same time, Shanghai.

Jiang Lili took the parcel slip she had just received and retrieved a large wooden box from the post office.

Looking at the wooden box, which was comparable to a suitcase, she muttered to herself, what did Xiaofan send, that he used such a big box?

She tried to lift it, and thankfully, it wasn't very heavy, not even as heavy as two handfuls of rice seedlings.

With a cold face, she refused the two young men who wanted to show their courtesy. Amidst the surprised gazes, Jiang Lili carried the box out of the post office.

She tied the box to the back seat of her bicycle, held the handlebars, and pedaled a few times. She swung her leg over from the front and rode away.

Half a Cat trotted along the road for a while, then soared into the air, landing lightly on the large wooden box, and then lay down and squinted, dozing off.

Soon, she returned to the small courtyard. Jiang Lili unlocked the door and went inside, carrying the box into the house. She then found tools and pried open the lid of the wooden box.

Opening the lid, she saw a box full of high-end food.

Hershey's chocolate, coffee, cheese, all kinds of high-end canned goods…

Jiang Lili sat on the ground, only glanced at these good things that were hard to buy even with money, and was immediately attracted by the envelope on top.

She quickly picked up the envelope and saw the words "To Lili" on it, and the corners of her mouth were already upturned.

The envelope was not sealed. She gently lifted the paper cover, leaned close to her eyes, and looked inside. A heart-shaped origami was clearly reflected in her eyes.

In an instant, Jiang Lili felt her heartbeat suddenly accelerate, pounding non-stop.

After a long while, she gently poured out the origami, casually put the envelope on the pile of food, and held the origami in both hands, as if holding some treasure, not willing to blink her eyes.

Just as she was about to unfold the origami, the sound of unlocking the door rang out. She turned her head and saw her sister walking in with her bag.

Jiang Tiantian casually put her bag on the shoe cabinet, closed the door, held the door frame to change her shoes, but her eyes looked at her sister. "No class this morning?"

Jiang Lili propped herself up on the ground and stood up, smiling. "Yes, but I've already learned it. Coincidentally, Xiaofan sent a package, so I took a leave of absence to pick it up."

She looked at her sister curiously. "I remember you had class this morning?"

Jiang Tiantian, "Isn't today Youth Day? The school had activities and didn't have class, so I simply came back to take a look."

She walked to the other side of the box, looked down, "What did Xiaofan send you?"

Jiang Lili held the origami to her chest, smiling. "I don't know where he bought the imported food, he packed a big box."

Then she held out the origami in her palm for her to see, "There's also a letter."

Jiang Tiantian looked at the letter in her hand, then at the box full of food, not knowing what she was thinking, her eyes suddenly dimmed.

But she quickly adjusted her mood, and when she raised her head, she had returned to normal, smiling, "Sending you so many things, be careful of becoming a little pig."

Although her emotional change just now was very brief, it was completely seen by Jiang Lili, who was watching her.

Jiang Lili's smile faded by a third, her eyes thoughtful.

When she heard her sister's words, she quickly looked up and smiled, "How could I? Besides, there's you, it's not just me eating it."

Jiang Tiantian wrinkled her nose, reached out and scratched her sister's face, smiling, "Silly girl, if he sent me a copy, I'd still be embarrassed to accept it. Since he didn't, then it means that this pile of things is all for you. Your man specially sent you things, how can you just give them away? You should keep them and eat them slowly."

After speaking, she turned around, rolled up her sleeves, and walked towards the kitchen, "I'm going to cook. Let's eat earlier today, I'm going to the newspaper office later."

Looking at her sister's back, and then looking down at the gifts in the box, a few hints of understanding appeared in Jiang Lili's eyes.

Seeing her sister's eyes just now, and hearing those words, she finally woke up. In the past, when Xiaofan sent her gifts, there must have been a share for her sister, the watch, the clothes, and the wild geese too.

Until this time, the letter was only for herself, and the gifts were not separated either.

Jiang Lili held the origami to her chest again, the joy she had felt just now was unconsciously mixed with a bit of bitterness.

So, Xiaofan had also had her sister in his heart?

He didn't send it now because he guessed that her sister had someone in her heart?

At this moment, she really wanted to know, who was first, and who was last?