Reborn in 1977

First, they went back to the hostel to pick up Liu Lu, then rushed to the post office to send a telegram. After a quick bite to eat, they drove towards Lujiawan.

Switching from car to boat, they arrived back in Lujiawan a little after 5 PM.

As the boat approached the shore, birds flew, dogs barked, and horses neighed – the embankment was incredibly lively.

Standing on the embankment and looking into the distance, the autumn rice had already grown tall, a lush green expanse, the seedlings swaying in the wind like green waves.

In the countryside, work still follows the lunar calendar.

Currently, it was the end of the seventh lunar month. The double harvest was long over, and there was still over a month until the autumn harvest, so farm work wasn't so busy.

Only a few people were scattered in the rice paddies, pulling weeds and spraying pesticides. The duck herder waved a long bamboo pole with cloth strips tied to it, shouting as he moved the flock of ducks from one pond to another.

More people were leisurely busy in their own vegetable gardens, or chopping pig feed, feeding chickens, ducks, and geese, and tending to the rabbits that had already begun to be sold.

The rabbits being raised now were no longer the wild rabbits that Chen Fan had tamed last year, but the large white rabbits that had been bought back from Shanghai at the beginning of the year.

These specially bred meat rabbits were larger and more docile, and they reproduced faster. In just over half a year, they had become basically common in every household.

Following last year's example, no one in Lujiawan wasn't involved in breeding this year. Every household raised pigs and rabbits, and those with larger families also raised chickens, ducks, and geese.

Not only were families raising them, but the small teams and the large team each had their own breeding farms.

The large team's breeding farm, needless to say, was designed and had its breeding and epidemic prevention plan formulated by Chen Fan. The location was next to the brigade headquarters, and the breeds were the most complete. In addition to various domestic poultry and livestock, there were also large animals such as horses, cattle, and sheep.

The small teams' breeding farms simply copied the model, but on a much smaller scale, and without large animals. The breeds were similar to the domestic poultry and livestock.

Families could freely choose from pigs, rabbits, chickens, ducks, and geese. The small team's veterinarian provided technical guidance and epidemic prevention support. After handing over a small portion of the income, the rest was distributed independently by the small team.

Fortunately, the sales company led by Zhang Wenliang was effective, securing one unit after another, and opening several cooked food stores at several docks up and down Yunhu Lake.

Otherwise, let alone taking care of other small teams, whether Lujiawan's own goods could be sold would be a major problem.

Of course, there were no such concerns now. They sold everything that came in, without any discounts.

Moreover, Lujiawan was investigating the establishment of a food factory. Once this processing plant was established, the entire Nanhu Commune wouldn't be enough to digest it, and they could just bring the two neighboring communes on board to supply Lujiawan together.

Standing on the embankment, Chen Fan withdrew his thoughts and looked at Lujiawan, which was very different from last year. He couldn't help but put his hands on his hips, feeling somewhat high-spirited.

Looking back at Liu Lu, she had a load on her back and another on her shoulders, her left hand supporting two large bags, and her right hand responsible for the computer case. After climbing up the slope, a layer of fine sweat had already appeared on her forehead.

Chen Fan frowned slightly, "Your physical strength is not good. You can't even carry this little bit of stuff."

Liu Lu felt wronged, "Master, the braised meat and bones are too heavy, and the computer is also very heavy."

Why was she carrying all the luggage, while her master didn't have to take anything?

Wasn't this a matter of course?!

How could a disciple follow her master and let the master work hard?

She was so filial that her master would definitely teach her the best skills in the future.

Thinking of this, Liu Lu suddenly smiled.

Ah, yes, she had already formally become Chen Fan's disciple, and even offered tea to the unmarried mistress.

Although it was a pity that the mistress wasn't her eldest sister, it was also gratifying to be a formal disciple of the master, like Zhang Cuie from the 5th team.

Look at Zhang Cuie's appearance before, her tail was almost up to the sky, so when she was chosen to go to the master's house last year, her parents' request was either to marry into the family or to formally become a disciple.

Previously, they had pinned their hopes of marrying into the family on their eldest sister, but unfortunately, their eldest sister was admitted to university… well, this doesn't seem to be a pity either.

In short, there was no hope, so they put their hope on themselves.

Now it was impossible to marry into the family. Who told her parents not to make her as good-looking as the mistress? However, formally becoming a disciple could be considered completing the task.

Chen Fan looked at this girl, who was just frowning a moment ago, and now he didn't know what she was smiling foolishly about. He couldn't help but shake his head secretly. As expected, she was still young and immature.

When will she be as mature and steady as himself?

The dogs barking and horses neighing on the embankment, as well as the kestrels chirping in the sky and the myna birds circling and calling, also alarmed Captain Yang and the others who were smoking and chatting at the entrance of their house.

He waved his hand and greeted, "Go up and take a look."

The youngest son, Yang Jun, immediately ran up to the roof, stood on the roof and looked out, and then shouted downwards, "Dad, Teacher Chen is back with Liu Lu."

He stood high and had a loud voice. Not only his father heard this voice, but the entire village of the 6th team, including Chen Fan on the embankment, heard it clearly.

Even those on the embankment heard it, so the people working in the farmland not far from the village could naturally hear it.

Everyone looked up in the direction of the embankment, but almost no one moved.

It wasn't that they had opinions about Chen Fan, but from beginning to end, only Captain Yang, Huang the custodian, and Accountant Liu were close to him in the team. At best, others and Teacher Chen were just familiar neighbors. They would greet each other and offer a cigarette, and that was it. Their friendship was far from that point.

If they were like Captain Yang and the others, going to the door as soon as they heard that Teacher Chen was back, that would be tactless.

So after hearing the shout, those who were working alone took a look and continued to work. Those who were nearby talked to each other, and those who were at home walked out of their homes one after another, chatting with their neighbors about the gossip of Teacher Chen taking Liu Lu to Shanghai to see the world.

As for Yang Mei and Huang Li, they were still working at the brigade headquarters at this time, and this shout couldn't reach that far.

On the other side, Captain Yang immediately got up and went into the house after hearing what his son shouted, and made a call to the brigade headquarters, "Captain Xiao, is it you on duty again? Ah, it's nothing, it's just that Xiao Chen just came back with Liu Lu. Yes, yes, just arrived, hasn't gone home yet, we saw it on the roof.

Please help me call Yang Mei and tell her that if she is not busy, she should come back quickly.

Yes, that's it, thank you."

After hanging up the phone, he turned around and walked out of the house. Accountant Liu and Huang the custodian were still standing at the door. As soon as he came out, without any greeting, the three of them walked towards the back of the village together.

On the embankment, Chen Fan pointed to the pony, "Take off the carrying pole, tie the rope tightly, and put the things on the horse's back, which can save some effort."

Then he put his hands behind his back and walked down the slope.

Liu Lu's eyes lit up, and she quickly did as her master said.

Duoduo and Qiuqiu cried, wagging their tails at Chen Fan's feet, walking out in an S shape all the way.

The pony also followed beside him with light steps.

It was almost two years old now, and its shoulder height was close to one and a half meters. When it grows up, it will definitely exceed its mother's height.

In fact, the so-called Oriental horse is accurately divided into Oriental riding horse and Oriental draft horse. The draft horse is improved from the Hungarian Percheron draft horse and the Hokkaido pony.

The Oriental riding horse was created by the Japanese in the early 20th century by crossbreeding the world-famous Anglo-Norman horse and a small number of Arabian horses with native horses for generations.

The resulting "Oriental Large Horse" has more than 80% of its bloodline from the "Anglo-Norman Horse" and only a very small number of native horse bloodlines to adapt it to the local climate.

Although they obtained the coveted Dongyang horses, one of the consequences of doing so was the near extinction of native horses in Japan.

Especially after Japan replaced its cavalry with mechanized legions, without continuous improvement, the so-called Dongyang horses rapidly deteriorated, with some reverting to Anglo-Norman horses, a small portion degenerating into native horses, and many becoming nondescript inferior horses.

Eventually, the Dongyang horse completely disappeared.

So, strictly speaking, Chen Fan's two horses should be Anglo-Norman horses.

However, the common people knew that these horses were captured spoils of war, so they continued to use the name Dongyang horse.

The little horse held its head high beside Chen Fan, appearing to be in a good mood.

Chen Fan placed his hand on the horse's back, felt its strength, and nodded secretly in his heart.

This little guy can start training now.

Starting training at the age of two is the most suitable time for a riding horse, especially a warhorse, and its speed and endurance will definitely far exceed the little mare carrying two large packages behind it.

After walking through a flowery slope, they soon arrived at the door of their home.

Through the courtyard fence, Chen Fan touched the three pandas as a greeting and turned to go inside.

Liu Lu, carrying only one large backpack, had already gone ahead to take out the key and open the door.

As usual, the house was clean and tidy, requiring no cleaning at all.

After unloading her luggage, Liu Lu first poured Chen Fan a large glass of iced canned tea, and then went to boil water for tea.

Chen Fan was just about to take a bath when Captain Yang's voice came from outside, "Little Chen, we're here."

Following the sound, Chen Fan walked out to the slope to greet them, and by the time the three of them came up, he had already offered them cigarettes, "Not working today?"

Captain Yang took the cigarette and followed him back, saying, "It's not so busy these days. We work for half a day in the morning, and then arrange for a few people to weed and kill insects in the afternoon, waiting for the rice to ripen and harvest."

Chen Fan nodded, "Is the harvest good this year?"

Hearing this question, the three of them smiled from ear to ear.

Accountant Liu knew the harvest situation best and immediately began to talk endlessly about the bumper harvest.

This year, the proportion of hybrid rice planted has increased, and the yield has also greatly improved. After this wave of autumn rice is harvested, starting from the spring plowing next year, all five production teams of the entire Nanhua Commune are preparing to plant hybrid rice.

The boast that Secretary Qian made to Secretary Yang and the others last year has all been realized this year.

Then he heard Captain Yang ask, "That piece of land behind your house was not included in the production team's rice field count. What are you thinking of doing? Are you going to continue planting those three kinds of ordinary rice, or are you going to plant hybrid rice with everyone else?"

Chen Fan led them to sit down in the living room, turned on the electric fan to dissipate the little bit of heat.

Then he sat down on the chair and said with a smile, "Let's not bother with that little place, let's continue to plant the original three kinds of rice."

After a pause, he added, "Next spring plowing, divide the paddy fields into four plots, and plant some of our Jiangnan rice varieties here."

Captain Yang couldn't help but click his tongue, "Doesn't rice all taste the same? Hybrid rice has a slightly worse taste, but it's not that much different."

Before Chen Fan could speak, he waved his hand, "I'm just saying, you can plant whatever you want, …"

Saying that, he looked at Accountant Liu, "Old Liu, write it down, don't forget it next year."

Accountant Liu, with a cigarette in his mouth, took out his notebook from his pocket, held the notebook in one hand and the pen in the other, opened it and recorded, while saying, "I won't forget."

After he finished recording, he looked up at Chen Fan, "The rice harvested from your field has all been given back to you as rations. The excess is counted under Liu Lu's and the others' names. You haven't lost a single grain. The three varieties have been divided into three batches and marked. Yang Mei and the others know."

Chen Fan nodded, "Okay, thank you."

Accountant Liu laughed, "Don't mention those polite words."

At this time, Captain Yang brought up another matter, "The dozen or so educated youths at the educated youth center have all been admitted to universities this year. They have all passed the undergraduate line. The worst is an undergraduate school in the provincial capital, and the best has been admitted to a university in the capital city.

Originally, they wanted to wait for you to come back and treat you to a meal to express their gratitude.

But you haven't come back, and they have to report before September 1st, so they couldn't wait any longer, so they each prepared a gift."

Saying that, he pointed to the guest room next door, "Xiao Mei and the others have put them all away in the small guest room in the back."

Chen Fan chuckled twice, without saying anything.

Gifts and such didn't matter, he wasn't doing it for gratitude, but he paid more attention to another question, "Has the higher-ups not arranged for anyone else to come?"

Captain Yang shook his head, smoking a cigarette, and said, "No, I heard that the prefectural committee is still unsure whether to send educated youths down or not. There's no definite answer.

Last time, Secretary Qian accompanied a leader from the province to inspect the double rush situation here. At that time, Secretary Yang mentioned it. According to that leader, people may not be sent down in the summer, and we'll wait for the specific notice from above.

Even if there's no definite answer this year, they will wait until the end of the year to make unified arrangements. However, the situation this year is very complicated, and many things are hard to say."

Chen Fan listened and nodded lightly, with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

If the information in his memory was correct, in early 1979, that is, this winter, after the Spring Festival, there would still be a batch of educated youths arranged to come down.

In fact, this was also the smallest batch of people. Many places across the country had already made their own decisions and suspended the arrangement of unemployed graduates to go to the countryside.

Even those who continued to arrange were the last batch.

This batch of people didn't stay in the countryside for long. Almost all of them returned to the city that year, and those who had been stranded in the countryside for many years and still insisted on not settling down completely would also return to the city after the educated youth centers were completely abolished in January 1980. The term "educated youth" officially became history.

Chen Fan took a puff of his cigarette and said with a smile, "It's good if they don't come. If people come, you have to arrange it, and I won't have peace either. If no one is sent down this time, then those educated youths won't need to apply to come here in the future."

The reason why this batch of educated youths were vying for the places to come to Lujiawan was not only because Chen Fan's reputation as a teacher had spread, and all of his students turned out to be college students.

But the main reason was that the courses taught in schools before had nothing to do with the exams.

But from the beginning of this year, the previous teaching textbooks have been fully restored.

With a formal teaching syllabus and good teachers, those students in the city may not be willing to come to the countryside to suffer.

Besides, at the beginning of the year, he was a cadre in the Health Department and was still in the Yunhu circle, so those educated youths wanted to come here to freeload off the teacher.

But now he is the deputy director-level director of the Provincial Writers Association, and he has jumped out of Yunhu. Not to mention in the provincial capital, he has a certain influence even in the whole country. If he is unwilling to come back, he can hide in the provincial capital or even the capital city, and those who come will be helpless?!

Having figured this out, Chen Fan completely threw these people to the back of his mind and instead looked forward to the day when the educated youth centers would be abolished in a year's time.

At that time, he would say hello to the team and ask for that educated youth center to be renovated. This place would definitely be more comfortable to live in.

The area of the former educated youth center was not small, and it was suitable for renovation. Most importantly, that was the first stop he arrived at in this era, and it was also the place where he met Jiang Lili. Keeping it would be a memorial, which was better than it being abandoned and collapsing in the future.