Reborn in 1977

Chapter 562: Qinglian Taoist

He Qingsheng was verbally quite dismissive, talking about 'killing three birds with one stone' and being schemed against, but his actions were decisive.

That very day, he pulled Xu Qizhen along to submit applications and go through procedures.

And the higher authorities were also very straightforward.

Just like Huang Tianzhi had said, as long as they submitted the application, the higher-ups would approve it, as if afraid they would change their minds.

So, in a mutually willing situation, various procedures were completed in just two days.

The land was in the area that Chen Fan had personally inspected. The difference was that He Qingsheng was even more ruthless, directly choosing a location only a road away from the north gate of Jiangda as the starting point, and then pushing north along the shoreline, until encompassing that small peninsula. Then, using this line as the standard, expanding westward.

Ultimately, they enclosed a piece of land with a paper area of 20 mu, and an unknown actual area.

20 mu was the maximum area they could apply for. There was no way around it. Although this place belonged to the suburbs, the number of people in their unit was really too small: 48 in the Writers Association, 112 in the Jiangnan Literature and Art Publishing House, and 1 in the Correspondence Center for Literary Creation!

Yes, the Correspondence Center only had 1 person, and that was Bian Huifang. Chen Fan belonged to the Writers Association and was a part-time employee at the Correspondence Center, doing voluntary work without a salary, only bonuses.

Anyway, the 3 units together only had 161 people, not even as many as a workshop in a large factory.

With so few people, even if everyone was allocated housing, the land area would be 82.8 square meters per person. Moreover, many of them were 'dual-income families,' and they were building apartments. No matter how you calculated it, 20 mu of land was enough. If they gave more, the higher authorities wouldn't be able to justify it.

It's just that when Chen Fan went to see it with the surveyors, he found that the enclosed area looked like it was more than 20 mu no matter how you looked at it.

Although it included that four- or five-mu island, the winding line along the lake shore should definitely not have been included in the calculation, but rather a straight line was taken, and it seemed that a two-way lane was also left out?

The lane, as public land, would be connected to the Huanshan Road and would not occupy the approved area.

These guys are not satisfied with just skimming a little bit of profit.

The unit was going to build a dormitory building, such an important matter was naturally known to everyone as soon as possible, and even other units were discussing it.

Land in the city was tight. Currently, those who could build dormitory buildings were basically units that had already circled a large piece of land long ago and had open space inside.

For example, they could shovel away a small forest in a corner of the factory area to build two buildings, and incidentally solve the problem of some timber.

Other than that, almost all units that needed to apply for new land were waiting.

Now, hearing that the Writers Association was actually going to take a location in the suburbs, they all had ideas and were waiting to see the employees' reactions.

It's just that the internal situation of the Writers Association was a little different. Frankly speaking, the cadres and employees of the Writers Association hardly lacked housing, and the demand for houses was not very high. At most, the houses were a bit old, and they would squeeze a bit when there were many people, but they could still live there.

Even the newcomers who had been assigned this year were from families with good conditions, such as Bian Huifang. There were almost no people who were waiting for the unit to allocate housing before they had a place to live.

So, when the unit took land in the suburbs to build houses, the employees and cadres from top to bottom were watching with wide eyes. No one blamed the leaders for wanting suburban land.

Moreover, everyone had already found out that, first of all, the location of the dormitory area was at the north gate of Jiangda. Although it was said to be in the suburbs, it was actually not far from the unit.

Some impatient people even specially rode bicycles and took public buses twice to run through it separately, and shared their experiences with everyone after returning: acceptable, even much closer than some who lived in the old city by the river or on the other side of the city.

Then everyone had a bottom line in their hearts, building a new house would not be worse, only better.

Secondly, it was said that the houses to be built this time would have 3 buildings with a total of 24 80-square-meter three-bedroom apartments, a single dormitory building with 48 rooms with bathrooms and kitchens, and the rest were all 50-square-meter small two-bedroom apartments.

If this was true, which unit in the entire province could have this condition?

In addition, on that small island that stretched into the lake, a staff cultural activity center would also be built, with basketball, table tennis, and badminton all arranged... cultural and sports activities blooming everywhere.

Of course, there would also be a library, a small cinema, and an internal supply and sales department.

It would be even more perfect if a small clinic could be built. I heard that Director Chen had worked in a health unit before. I wonder if he can find a way to build this small clinic?

Chen Fan sat in the reception room at the entrance of the unit, smoking a cigarette and chatting with the old gatekeeper, "This matter is very difficult to say the least, after all, except for Xiyuan, I haven't heard of any dormitory area with a small clinic. Other units are built in the factory area, and serving the dormitory is just incidental."

"But to say it's simple, it's actually simple, it depends on how to operate it. But it won't work relying on me alone, it requires the joint efforts of the majority of cadres and employees to build our 'Literary and Art New Village' even better."

The old man's mind immediately became active when he heard this, "How do you say that?"

Chen Fan chuckled, "Jiangnan University has a clinic, with not many people. There are only a dozen people with formal positions, but the doctors are all experts and professors from the Jiangda School of Medicine, and the assistants are also senior students..."

The old man instantly understood, "You've set your sights on them?"

Chen Fan waved his hand, "Accurately speaking, it should be win-win cooperation!"

Seeing that the old man still didn't understand, Chen Fan explained in a low voice, "Jiangnan University is at least the best key university in our province, but it only has a small clinic. Isn't it a waste not to use such good resources from the School of Medicine?

"Coincidentally, this matter does not need to be reported to their direct unit, the Ministry of Education. If Jiangda can submit an application to the Provincial Health Department to upgrade the clinic to a school hospital, there is no need for doctors to go outside to find them. There are many in the school, and students can also have more places to intern."

"As for the location of the hospital, don't put it on campus. There is so much open space outside the north gate. How difficult can it be to approve a piece of land?"

The old man's eyes lit up, "Build a hospital next to the Literary and Art New Village. Once it's built, it will be everyone's!"

Chen Fan raised his eyebrows slightly, "More than that, what place is that? The suburbs! There are production teams not far away. When the hospital is built, it will also be open to those production teams. Think about it, isn't this a model of close unity between workers, peasants, and students?!"

The old man slapped his palm, "Good idea!"

Chen Fan handed a cigarette over and smiled, "So the difficulty comes. This matter must be led by Jiangda, agreed to by the Health Department, and cooperated with by the Municipal Construction Committee, otherwise there's no hope!"

He patted his butt and stood up, "I won't chat with you, I'm going to work."

After speaking, he turned and left.

The old man didn't care, but instead pinched his chin and silently calculated who was related to Jiangda and who was from the Health Department?

...

Chen Fan returned to his office and lay on the calligraphy and painting table that had been modified from his desk to draw design drawings.

The calligraphy and painting table was actually a piece of plywood for construction, but it was relatively thick and large enough. After pulling it back, placing it on the desk, it was a good calligraphy and painting table.

As for the design drawings, of course, they were not for the dormitory building.

There was no need to design this kind of building. The City Construction Committee Design Institute had a lot of design drawings, although most of them were a bit old-fashioned, they were definitely enough. He was too lazy to engage in uniqueness.

On the contrary, the design drawings of Chaoyang Temple had to be particularly careful, because if the design was not good, Master Zhang would throw a fit.

In fact, Taoism does not have a unified standard plan for architecture. As long as the most basic order of the pantheon of gods is followed, and then the enshrined deity is highlighted, it is considered to meet the specifications.

In terms of architectural style and form, it also generally follows the traditional Chinese palace and temple system, that is, the architecture is mainly halls, pavilions, and towers, arranged symmetrically along the central axis.

Chen Fan had also read a lot of books on ancient architecture in the past few days, and he had a plan in his mind.

The large drawing paper was spread on the wooden board. He did not use a special drawing pencil, but instead took a brush and painted on the drawing paper.

The area of 2,000 square meters was divided into four sections. Starting from the south gate archway, there was a screen wall, a temple gate, a front courtyard, a middle courtyard, and a back courtyard. The main halls of the three courtyards successively enshrined the Three Pure Ones, the Five Patriarchs of Quanzhen, and Jade Sun Master Wang. The side halls on both sides of the main hall each had gods enshrined. The厢房 in the back courtyard were the living quarters of the Taoists.

It's just that this courtyard was really too small, only 2,000 square meters. Comparing it with the White Cloud Temple, you can see how miniature it was.

The White Cloud Temple covers an area of nearly 100 mu, with a building area of 13,000 square meters, with nineteen halls and more than a hundred rooms for various functions.

No wonder Master Zhang insisted on finding another place to build a new Chaoyang Temple.

Everyone was fellow disciples, so why could Patriarch Qiu occupy such a large place, while Patriarch Wang didn't even have a fraction of it?

That was definitely not acceptable.

But thinking about Master Zhang's net worth, he couldn't help but shake his head.

Based on his 30,000 yuan, if he hadn't met himself, not to mention comparing with the White Cloud Temple, I'm afraid he wouldn't even be able to build this small Taoist temple of 2,000 square meters.

Chen Fan sighed, as expected, it wouldn't work without himself.

At the same time, his hands didn't stop, a three-and-a-half courtyard siheyuan jumped onto the paper?

The reason why it was half a courtyard was that the south courtyard wall was pulled in a few meters, and there was another courtyard without buildings after entering the door, so it could only be considered half a courtyard.

Looking at the painting on the table, Chen Fan frowned with the brush in his hand, why did it become a siheyuan?

Then, with a turn of his mind, he couldn't blame himself for this, he could only blame the place being too small, limiting his发挥. If it could be like the White Cloud Temple, he would definitely be able to draw a new style of garden, and definitely be in the limelight!

He carefully put the drawn drawings on the open space behind, then took out another piece of paper and spread it out, preparing to draw detailed drawings.

Why do religious buildings often take years to construct?

It's not just because of the large area and numerous buildings, but because of the need to meticulously refine every detail!

For example, the type of carvings on the roof of a hall, the patterns painted on the walls, all of these are carefully considered, and a large part of what is called regulation lies in this area.

He dipped his brush in ink, ready to start painting, when the office door was knocked.

Chen Fan glanced over, "Come in."

Then he continued drawing.

He planned to paint in order from south to north, so the first thing to paint was naturally the Paifang (archway).

Just as he drew a straight line, the office door was pushed open. He Qingsheng entered and closed the door behind him, curiously asking, "What did you say to Grandpa Xiang in the gatehouse?"

Chen Fan looked up, somewhat puzzled, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?"

He Qingsheng widened his eyes and said, "He's been on the phone non-stop, rousting all his old comrades who fought alongside him back in the day, saying that the Jiangnan University clinic is too small, and it's a terrible waste not to use the many famous doctors in the medical school.

Just now, Secretary Ji of Jiangda called me, and he was caught between laughter and tears, saying that if the old comrades have opinions on Jiangda, they are also helping Jiangda to fight for benefits. If they are doing it for the good of Jiangda, it's almost like pointing fingers and scolding the leaders of Jiangda."

He said a few words, took out a cigarette and threw one to Chen Fan, continuing irritably, "Do you think Jiangda doesn't want to build a school hospital? Secretary Ji and the others are envious of other key universities having their own school hospitals, their eyes are red with envy.

But what can they do? Building a hospital costs money, where are they going to get the money?

The tuition fees paid by the students aren't even enough to pay for one month of benefits for them, and besides the school hospital, do the experimental equipment need to be replaced or added? Do the latest scientific and technological materials and social science books need to be bought? Some student dormitories and faculty dormitories are almost in dangerous condition, do they need to be repaired and reinforced? Where does the money come from?"

He took out a lighter and lit the cigarette, just about to continue speaking, when Chen Fan pushed him to Bian Huifang's desk, pulled over a chair and asked him to sit down, "I'm drawing a picture over there, if you drop a bit of ash on it, I'll have to redraw it, so sit here, don't go over there!"

He Qingsheng glared, "I'm talking to you about serious business, and you're talking to me about drawing?"

Chen Fan turned around and walked back, "My Master Zhang wants the Taoist temple design, and ordered me to finish drawing it this month and send it to him, if I don't make it, I'll blame you."

He Qingsheng shuddered, quickly got up, pulled the chair and sat against the wall, "Then I'll stay away from you."

Chen Fan dragged a chair over, smiling, "No need to stay away from me, just stay away from my drawing."

After sitting down and lighting a cigarette, he looked up at He Qingsheng again, "Isn't that good? Grandpa Xiang is pushing this matter from behind, resolving all the procedural issues, as for the funds for building the new hospital, it's actually easy to talk about."

He then explained what he had chatted about with Grandpa Xiang earlier, chuckling non-stop, "I was just chatting with him casually, who knew the old man would be so capable, actually going to do it.

But it's good that he did it. If it really works out, putting this school hospital next to 'Literary New Village' would be a great thing for our cadres and workers, up and down, wouldn't it?

Since it's a good thing, then we can't take advantage of it for nothing. In my opinion, our unit can contribute some funds, and then can we get the Xinghu Commune where the hospital is located to support a little, after all, the hospital is opening on their territory, so they also get some benefits.

Finally, Jiangda can cry poor and reach out to the higher-ups for a little bit. By piecing it together like this, building a decent hospital shouldn't be too difficult, right?!"

He Qingsheng frowned slightly, nodding gently as he listened, "That makes sense!"

After a pause, he looked up at Chen Fan again, "But things aren't done this way, this matter definitely has to be discussed with Jiangda first, look, now the leadership of Jiangda is caught off guard."

Chen Fan took a puff of cigarette, saying innocently, "How would I know that a gatekeeper grandpa has such great abilities? I was just bragging casually, who knew he would actually make it happen."

When He Qingsheng heard this, he was speechless, stunned for several seconds, and finally could only wave his hand, "Anyway, I'm telling you, don't ever brag in front of old comrades in the future, in case they take it seriously, they might actually treat it as a real thing to do."

Chen Fan nodded, "Definitely, definitely."

Then he asked curiously, "How did Grandpa Xiang think of promoting the building of a hospital?"

He Qingsheng pursed his lips and shook his head, saying softly, "This old man is also a bitter soul. When he came down from the battlefield, there were still a few shrapnel pieces in his body that hadn't been taken out. Because of this, he often gets sick, and it's the kind that comes without warning. Otherwise, he wouldn't be here as a gatekeeper who doesn't have to exert much effort.

In addition, his son and daughter-in-law were working in the factory when they encountered enemy agents engaging in sabotage. They sacrificed themselves to protect public property, leaving behind a grandson. But this child was malnourished in his early years, and his body is very weak, so he often has to go to the hospital.

Isn't our unit building new dormitories? The old man has always been actively responding to the unit's call, and the dormitories are in the suburbs, so some people may be worried and unwilling to move. I estimate that he will definitely ask to be the first to move over and hand over the original good house in the city."

Hearing this, Chen Fan suddenly nodded, "I understand. It's very convenient to go to the hospital in the city, but when you get to the new dormitories, it's more troublesome to run to the hospital. I also told him that building this hospital can benefit the students and the masses of the nearby commune, a win-win situation, and it can also benefit himself, so he will definitely find a way to make it happen."

He Qingsheng nodded, then shook his head gently, "He's really worried sick for his grandson."

After a moment of silence, he suddenly looked up and said to Chen Fan, "Has Lao Hou contacted you?"

Chen Fan was thinking about the old man's affairs, and couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this, "Huh?"

Who is Lao Hou?

He Qingsheng, "Manager Hou, from Rongbaozhai."

Chen Fan blinked, "Oh, oh, I remember."

Then he frowned slightly, "Why is he looking for me?"

He Qingsheng didn't know what was going on, before he even spoke, he started laughing, "Hahahaha…"

After laughing for a while, he gasped for breath and laughed, "Hey, do you know you're famous?"

Chen Fan felt inexplicable, "I'm already very famous, a nationally renowned young writer, regarded as an idol by thousands of young literary enthusiasts, what's the problem?"

Even He Qingsheng, who was well-informed, couldn't help but be shocked by his thick skin, "How can you say such a thing?"

Chen Fan said solemnly, "Based on facts, what's wrong with me saying this?"

He Qingsheng wiped his face, sighing, "I know how you developed this thick skin, you really aren't humble at all!"

Chen Fan, "You're welcome, I'm just being more honest."

He Qingsheng waved his hand, "The fame I'm talking about isn't about your identity as a writer, but your identity as a painter!"

Without waiting for the puzzled Chen Fan to ask, he continued, "The Green Lotus Painting you left at Rongbaozhai has been admired and wanted to buy by countless customers. Although the words 'Not for Sale' are written in large letters next to the painting, there are still many foreign guests inquiring about the price through official channels. The highest offer was from a Hong Kong businessman, who directly offered HK$200,000."

When Chen Fan heard this, he stood up and looked around.

He Qingsheng looked at him, "What are you doing?"

Chen Fan didn't turn his head, "Isn't it HK$200,000? I'll paint one now!"

He Qingsheng was stunned. Is this the legendary seeing money with open eyes?

When he saw Chen Fan really tearing off a piece of Xuan paper, wanting to paint, he came back to his senses and quickly said, "It's over, people aren't buying it anymore."

Chen Fan looked up, his face bewildered, "Why?"

He Qingsheng stood up and said, "Because Lao Hou explained to him that this was painted by a Taoist master, this Taoist priest doesn't seek fame or fortune, but only focuses on studying, so he didn't even leave a signature.

The person didn't believe it at first, but seeing the Green Lotus in the painting was extraordinary and ethereal, like a fairy lotus, and there was indeed no signature, he believed Lao Hou's nonsense, and stopped mentioning buying it.

Then he asked Lao Hou about your Taoist name. Lao Hou made an excuse at the time and didn't answer him. After he left, he hurriedly went to find your Master Zhang, and your master gave you the Taoist name 'Green Lotus'.

So now the name 'Green Lotus Taoist' is almost resounding throughout the painting world. Those who know you and those who don't know you all know your Taoist name."

Saying that, he suddenly cupped his hands and said solemnly, "Now, in the literary world of Beijing and many merchants in Hong Kong, they all know the noble qualities of Green Lotus Taoist 'noble character, not greedy for fame and fortune'. Congratulations, congratulations, Green Lotus Taoist, you're famous!"

Chen Fan gasped, stunned for several seconds, before letting out a long sigh, "Then should I thank Manager Lao Hou?!"