Reborn in 1977

Chapter 584: Installing a Telephone

Lao Gao chatted with Chen Fan for a while, but had to leave due to being pressed for time.

They would first take a car to the Shiliupu Wharf, then take a boat back to Yunhu. Once they arrived in Yunhu, they could take a cargo ship from Lujiawan back home.

Moreover, with Japanese Yen cash in hand, they were fully qualified to buy second-class or even first-class tickets, but it was unknown whether this couple would be willing to spend the money.

Watching Lao Gao and his wife get into the car, Chen Fan sighed almost imperceptibly.

Unexpectedly, Comrade Xiao Gao had such firm faith, and actually stayed in Japan to lie low.

According to Lao Gao, although Xiao Gao cried his eyes out when they left, he never said he wanted to come back with them. Instead, he said he wanted to study hard in Japan and contribute to society when he grew up.

His parents and the old Gao couple didn't know whether this 'society' referred to China, Japan, or the whole world, but Chen Fan understood.

But he could only sigh in his heart that Xiao Gao was a good comrade!

Well, he just didn't know how long this faith could last, and hoped he wouldn't be corroded by the sugar-coated bullets of the Japanese.

Riding his bike back home, Chen Fan simply washed up, changed his clothes, and when he came downstairs, he saw the two sisters had also changed into clean clothes and were sitting on the sofa talking quietly.

He walked over and asked, "Are you two resting at home this afternoon, or going back to school for class?"

The two sisters looked at each other, paused for two seconds, and Jiang Lili giggled, "My sister and I have finished learning this semester's courses because we previewed them in advance, and we're bored at home."

Chen Fan raised his eyebrows slightly, walked over and sat down beside her, "So?"

Jiang Lili tugged at his clothes and asked in a low voice, "Can we go to the meeting with you?"

Meeting?

Chen Fan's eyes flickered, "Are you talking about the 'Shanghai Spy Shadow' work symposium?"

The two sisters nodded together.

Chen Fan nodded and smiled without hesitation, "Of course, why not?"

To be honest, he was still thinking about the Hanka matter in his mind. If Jiang Lili hadn't reminded him, he would have almost forgotten about this temporary symposium.

Now, of course, he would set off again, and the three of them went to the Writers Association together.

They rushed over and arrived just in time for the cafeteria to open for dinner.

So they saved two yuan again.

Obviously, he wasn't the only one with the same idea. A man in his forties, wearing a white shirt, black pants, and black cloth shoes, sat down next to Chen Fan with a lunch box and said with a smile, "How's the food in the cafeteria here?"

Chen Fan turned his head to look at him and smiled, "It's okay, authentic Shanghai cuisine, rich and flavorful, without too much sugar."

Then he looked at the two sisters sitting opposite him.

As a result, both Jiang Tiantian and Jiang Lili looked blank, and gently shook their heads, indicating they didn't recognize him.

Who is this?

The man laughed and nodded, "I can tell you're not used to eating food that's too sweet. I can't either. When I first came to Shanghai, the chef in our unit's cafeteria was from Wuxi. He liked to add a spoonful of sugar to the dishes for no reason. I couldn't eat it at all.

And I didn't know how to cook myself, so what could I do? I could only eat noodles every day, until I got married, and finally said goodbye to the days of three meals of noodles a day and was able to eat a hot meal."

Chen Fan took a big bite of pork chop and looked at him with sympathy, "That was indeed quite miserable."

The man laughed again, "Miserable? Haha, not miserable at all, but rather envied by others."

Seeing that Chen Fan and the Jiang sisters looked curious, he smiled and said, "Noodles are also refined grains. Back then, eating noodles every day was amazing. If my salary wasn't high, and my colleagues weren't willing to exchange their coarse grain coupons for my refined grain coupons, how could I have afforded to eat noodles every day?

And noodles are also delicious, especially with a spoonful of lard in them, it was so fragrant."

Then he put on a mysterious look, "Let me tell you, my wife married me because she saw me eating noodles every day and thought I was in good financial condition. Isn't that funny?"

As soon as these words came out, Chen Fan and the two sisters looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh.

But then again, looking at this person's age, he should have gotten married in the early 1960s. To be able to eat noodles every day at that time, what kind of family background must he have had?!

No wonder the girl would marry him, he was a golden bachelor!

At this time, the man had almost finished eating. He finished the last bit of rice, took out a handkerchief and wiped his mouth, put his arms on the dining table, and smiled at Chen Fan, "I heard from Ba Lao that you want to install a home phone?"

Chen Fan instantly realized who this person was, and immediately took out a cigarette and handed it over, "Are you Deputy Chief Engineer Zhang?"

Zhang Xing laughed, "That's right, from the Municipal Long-Distance Telephone Bureau."

He first patted his head, then took the cigarette and smiled, "I forgot to introduce myself, luckily you didn't kick me out, otherwise it would have been embarrassing."

Saying that, he leaned over to the lighter Chen Fan handed him, lit the cigarette, took a puff, and continued, "Installing a phone is no problem, I'll just make a call. You can give me the address later, and when you have time, I'll have someone go over."

Chen Fan grinned and smiled, "Isn't this troublesome?"

Zhang Xing shook his head with a smile, "Handle it discreetly, as long as you don't shout it out loud, it's not a big deal."

After a pause, he added, "Actually, there has never been a document prohibiting individuals from installing telephones, but you all know what the situation was like in the previous ten years or so. We had to pay attention to style and abandon personal enjoyment to devote ourselves wholeheartedly to work.

At that time, some people associated home telephones with personal enjoyment, because who could install telephones in the past?

Either cadres or capitalists!

So it seemed that if someone installed a telephone, they were cadres or capitalists who were greedy for enjoyment. As a result, the units were also afraid of getting into trouble, so they simply stopped accepting applications for home telephone installation."

He shook his head as he spoke, "Actually, no one applied during that time either, partly because they were afraid of getting into trouble, and partly because the cost was too high, and ordinary families couldn't afford it. Even if there were home telephones installed, they were all high-ranking leading cadres, and the costs were borne by the units."

Speaking of this, he even made a joke, "With your current rank, you're only one or two levels away. When you get promoted again, it will be the telephone bureau's turn to take the initiative to install a telephone for you."

Chen Fan stopped eating and kept him company while smoking, and smiled, "You're flattering me. Sometimes, don't underestimate one or two levels, that's a world of difference."

He heard that this Deputy Chief Engineer Zhang spoke with a bit of a Beijing accent, so he also switched to Mandarin closer to the Beijing dialect.

Zhang Xing waved his hand, "If you said you were still young and needed a few years to settle down before moving up, I'd believe you. But you're not even 18 years old yet, and you're already a deputy director. Are you talking to me about a world of difference?"

He looked incredulous, "Where do you want us old faces to put ourselves?"

After making a small joke, Zhang Xing returned to the main topic, "By the way, where is your home? Let me see if it requires a long line or a short line."

Chen Fan, "It's on Panyu Road. Uh, is there a difference between a long line and a short line?"

Zhang Xing waved his hand and smiled, "Of course, long-distance lines are more expensive, and short-distance lines are cheaper. Moreover, if it involves a switchboard, that's also a significant expense. But since you're on Panyu Road, it's easier to manage. There are several large companies on this road, and some small shops at the entrances of the alleys also have telephones. There's a small switchboard there.

Later, I'll connect a line to your house..."

Speaking of which, he suddenly asked, "I heard that you have relatives overseas?"

Chen Fan nodded, "Yes, they were here yesterday, discussing with Old Ba about unauthorized overseas publications of books and the recovery of royalties."

Zhang Xing smiled, "I heard it from Old Ba."

He changed the subject, "In that case, you also need to contact people overseas for work purposes. When the time comes, I'll enable both domestic and international long-distance calling for you, which will be convenient for your work."

Chen Fan blinked. Do I already need to contact people overseas for work?

But enabling long-distance calling is a good thing. In the future, I can have long phone calls with Lili at the Provincial Cultural Palace Guesthouse.

Chairman He is such a nice person; he shouldn't mind a few hundred yuan in phone bills per month, right?

That was enough chatting for now. They packed up their lunch boxes and went to the meeting room together.

Like the previous seminar on 'The Ferryman,' the main purpose was to have Chen Fan talk about his creative journey, the meaning behind it, and what kind of inspiration he hoped to provide to readers.

It's roughly the same as reading comprehension, except that reading comprehension is for others to do, and today it's the author's turn to do it himself.

The meeting was presided over by Old Ba, and the more than twenty members of the Writers Association who participated were very serious, and each of them took notes.

The meeting was originally scheduled for two hours, but after about half the time, Old Ba announced the end of the first half of the agenda.

The second half of the agenda was to invite Chen Fan to sign and give away books as a souvenir.

In front of these members, Chen Fan didn't dare to act like he did with Old Ba. He was very respectful to everyone, earnestly writing down blessing messages, which naturally won him a round of applause.

After the seminar, Chen Fan was unwilling to leave, and he dragged the two sisters until they got off work, wanting to freeload a meal from Old Ba.

As a result, they ate another meal in the cafeteria.

So stingy.

......

June 6th, Tuesday, Grain in Ear.

The Dragon Boat Festival is just a few days away, and the weather is getting hotter and hotter, so hot that only one person can sleep on a bed.

Jiang Tiantian and Jiang Lili rode their bicycles to school early in the morning.

Originally, according to Chen Fan's instructions, they only needed to come back every weekend, but now the two sisters run back almost every day.

My private time!

Chen Fan rolled around on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, already too weak to groan.

A moment later, there was a sudden noise from the courtyard gate.

Chen Fan's eyes twitched slightly, and he immediately got up and leaned against the window. He saw Jiang Lili pushing her bicycle in, carrying breakfast in her hand.

Seeing Chen Fan in the window, Jiang Lili raised the breakfast in her hand and said with a flushed face, "I was afraid you were hungry, so I brought you breakfast."

Chen Fan nodded with conviction, "You came back at the right time; I am indeed hungry."

Two hours later, Chen Fan finished washing up and came out of the bathroom refreshed. He walked to the bed and sat down, patted Jiang Lili, who was still catching up on sleep, and smiled, "Since you didn't sleep well, then take another day off and go to school tomorrow."

Jiang Lili rolled her eyes at him, annoyed, and didn't want to pay attention to him.

There's never been anyone so bullying.

Chen Fan didn't care, "You continue to sleep; I'll go buy groceries. We'll have a big meal for lunch."

Hearing this, Jiang Lili's expression improved a little, and she changed to a comfortable position to lie down.

Chen Fan laughed and leaned down to kiss her, then got up and walked out.

After lunch, Jiang Lili lay on the chaise lounge, engrossed in reading 'Shanghai Espionage'.

Chen Fan, on the other hand, used her legs as a pillow, closed his eyes, and dozed off, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.

Unfortunately, rare enjoyment is always easily broken.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the doorbell rang on time. Chen Fan patted his thigh, "You don't need to go. It should be the people installing the telephone. Go prepare tea."

Then he got up and walked out, opened the courtyard door, and two telephone installers, one old and one young, stood outside the door.

The special canvas bag of the telephone bureau that they carried was the best business card.

The young installer was responsible for running the lines outside, while the old master wandered around the small courtyard. Seeing Chen Fan following him, he patiently explained, "Some of these small Western-style houses built during the Republic of China period have telephone lines left behind, not only telephone lines, but also electric wires, gas pipes, and water pipes.

It's just that over time, some houses still have them, while some houses don't. But it doesn't matter if they're gone. As long as you find the wire trough left behind that year, and run the telephone line through it, it can be installed beautifully, and you won't be able to see it from the outside at all."

Chen Fan handed over another cigarette and smiled, "Thank you for your trouble, Master."

The old master took the cigarette and clipped it to his ear, pulled open an inconspicuous small iron door on the corner wall of the house, turned around and smiled, "Good luck, I found it. As long as we find the exit in the house, we can judge the direction of the wire trough. With the wire trough, the telephone line doesn't need to be strung in the air. Running through the wire trough will look much better."

Chen Fan didn't understand this at all, but from the fact that the two masters were working hard to pull the wire in front of the wire trough, he should know that running the line in the air is much simpler than running it through the wire trough, so he took out candy and cigarettes to serve them, so that the two masters could be as satisfied as possible.

The result of satisfaction was that, after spending more than an hour, the wire trough was finally cleared. The old master lit a cigarette and said, "Do you want to install an extension? Just pay for the machine."

Chen Fan couldn't close his mouth with joy, "Okay."

So, when the two masters left, there were two more telephones in the house.

One is in the living room on the first floor, placed on the corner coffee table next to the sofa, and the other is installed in his own room on the second floor, so that he won't be delayed in answering the phone even when he sleeps at night.

Moreover, what was installed today was not a hand-cranked magneto telephone, but a telephone with a dial.

The advantage of this kind of telephone is that it can directly "grab a line" through the switchboard.

As everyone knows, due to the lack of switchboards, the telephone bureau is still generally using manual operators. When making a call, the first number dialed is the operator, and then the operator transfers the call.

The switchboard eliminates this step.

As long as there is an empty line, the telephone signal can be directly connected, which is many times more efficient than manual connection.

The days of waiting for several hours to make a phone call are finally gone forever!

The only regret is that this black bakelite dial telephone is a bit ugly. It would be nice to have a retro telephone like the ones from the Republic of China period.

He thought it was ugly, but Jiang Lili didn't think so. She lay on the sofa, staring straight at the telephone, "Can I call my parents?"

Chen Fan, "Do you know the telephone number of your dad's office?"

Jiang Lili pondered for two seconds, then raised her head with a confused look, "I forgot. Although it's written in the notebook, the notebook is with my sister."

Chen Fan spread his hands, "Then there's no way. We can only wait for Tiantian to come back before we talk about it."

Then he rubbed his hands and smiled, "I'll make a call to Lujiazui first. Secretary Yang will definitely be shocked."

With that, he reached out to grab the microphone.

But before he could grab it, the doorbell rang again.

Chen Fan raised his head in astonishment. Who is it?

A voice came from outside the door, "Is anyone home? We're from the Jingdezhen Porcelain Factory, delivering goods."