Reborn in 1977

Chapter 679 Make More Friends

Chen Fan drove alone, heading north and then east.

In less than half an hour, he arrived at the Beijing Foreign Trade Institute.

He didn't go in, parked the car aside, and walked towards the guardhouse.

The guard on duty at the gate immediately scrutinized him with a wary gaze.

Under normal circumstances, guards only take action in emergencies; otherwise, they are just statues.

But for some reason, even though this person looked refined and gentle, he felt a little uneasy, even subconsciously gripping the gun.

Chen Fan noticed his eyes and movements, immediately slowed down, and when he got closer, he smiled, slowly took out his work ID from his pocket and handed it over, smiling, "Comrade, I'm looking for someone."

The guard kept his eyes on his hands, took the work ID and glanced at it, and when he saw the unit and name on it, his pupils instantly dilated, and he suddenly turned his head to look at Chen Fan.

Chen Fan remained still, but in his heart, he was marveling, as expected of the darling of the foreign trade system, even the guards on duty at the gate were veterans who had been on the battlefield, so vigilant.

Most importantly, their combat intuition was maxed out! Otherwise, not just anyone could detect his danger.

After a few seconds, the guard seemed to finally react, returned the work ID, and his face became amiable, pointing to the gatehouse next to him, "Register there."

Then he re-slung the gun and continued to stand guard.

So what if he's a great writer? We've seen the leaders of Xiyuan, this is nothing.

Chen Fan thanked him, turned around and came to the window of the reception room, and as expected, there was an old man in an old military uniform inside.

It seems that these days, the gatehouses of good units are all occupied by retired old men!

Chen Fan didn't go in, stood at the window, took out a pack of cigarettes from another pocket, took out one and handed it over, "Old man, I'm looking for Huang Ying from the foreign trade major."

Next to the window was a neatly arranged stack of letters and newspapers. The old man was sitting behind the table, reading a newspaper. Hearing Chen Fan's words, he didn't move his head, but his gaze shot over diagonally, not even looking at the cigarette in his hand, his eyes very sharp, "Where are you from?"

Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly. It had been a long time since he had been treated like this, but he didn't dare to act rashly, and could only reply softly, "From Jiangnan, from the same village as her."

The old man's eyes were full of disbelief, "I know Huang Ying very well. Her hometown is Lujiawan in the Yunhu area of Jiangnan, and she's from the same place as the great writer Chen Fan. She's also Chen Fan's student. Look at yourself, where on earth do you look like someone from a production team? There isn't a single truthful word in your mouth."

He got even more excited as he spoke, "You're quite a handsome man, but there aren't many who look better than you…"

Chen Fan blinked, so I should thank you?

The old man's eyes moved down, resting on the cigarette in Chen Fan's hand, "Huh, it's a Labor brand. Have you been in the army?"

The Labor brand was the famous Pirate brand, Old Blade brand, during the Republic of China. This cigarette used to have these two names, and was renamed the Labor brand in the fifties.

The reason why the old man asked him if he had been in the army was because in the army, both the Old Blade brand and the Big Blade brand were once popular "official cigarettes." It's better now, but in the 1950s and earlier, it was said that only platoon leaders and above could afford to smoke them. Those below followed suit, so many veterans loved to smoke these two brands of cigarettes.

Of course, Chen Fan wouldn't buy this kind of cigarette. He just grabbed it from Master Lin's place to use to pay respects to the old gatekeeper. He didn't expect his first attempt to fail.

The old man smacked his lips, but in the end, he couldn't resist the temptation of the cigarette, took it and put it in his mouth to light it, but that didn't stop him from continuing to criticize, "Since you've been in the army, you should demand more of yourself, don't be like those good-for-nothing layabouts as soon as you retire, looking for women and chasing girls everywhere. You don't learn the good things, you only learn the bad things."

A strange look flashed in Chen Fan's eyes, "Old man, are there really layabouts who dare to come to school to chase girls?"

The old man glanced at him sideways, "Pretend, keep pretending. With your Beijing accent and cadre attire, how could you, a native of old Beijing, not know about these things?

I'm warning you, this is a school, and a university at that. Everyone inside will be the pillars of the country in the future. Those who graduate from this school will earn foreign exchange for the country, not a place for you young people to run wild…"

Chen Fan smiled helplessly.

There was nothing he could do, he couldn't blame the old man for this. He was just being extra vigilant, even taking care of things beyond his job duties, resolutely stopping irrelevant people from outside the school from disturbing the students.

He could only blame himself for not showing his work ID in the first place.

Just as he was about to take out his credentials, the guard on duty outside couldn't help but turn his head and shout, "Hey, Lao Fan, Lao Fan."

Hearing the shout, Grandpa Fan stopped preaching and turned to look at the guard, "Why are you calling me when you're not watching the gate properly?"

The guard glanced at Chen Fan, hesitated, "He is Chen Fan."

Grandpa Fan straightened his neck, "What's wrong with Chen Fan? Chen Fan is…"

His voice suddenly stopped. Grandpa Fan turned his head to look at Chen Fan and asked softly, "You are Chen Fan?"

Chen Fan smiled, "Yes, I am."

Saying that, he handed over his work ID, "Please check it."

Grandpa Fan took the work ID and looked at it, "Jiangnan Province Writers Association, Vice Chairman, Chen Fan?"

Then he turned to look at that face… a little embarrassed.

But the old man was an old man, he had seen the world. He immediately returned the credentials, and said with a smile, "Writer Chen is indeed a talented man. What, who did you just say you were looking for?"

Chen Fan's smile remained unchanged, "Foreign trade major, Huang Ying."

"Oh, right, Huang Ying. No problem, I'll call her right away."

Grandpa Fan immediately picked up the phone and dialed. After a while, the phone was connected, "Let Huang Ying from your major come out, someone from her hometown is looking for her, yes, it's her teacher…"

Chen Fan quickly made a silent gesture. It didn't matter if he told the gatekeeper his identity, but it was hard to say what would happen if the teachers in the school knew.

Anyway, Jiang Tiantian and Jiang Lili had mentioned it to him many times, and both schools wanted to invite him to give lectures. It's not that he's shameless, that's just how things are. In order to reduce trouble, it's best not to reveal his identity.

Grandpa Fan saw his movements, blinked, and immediately understood what he meant, so he continued, "What teacher? Not a teacher, you heard wrong, it's a fellow villager, just a young man, hurry up, why are you talking so much."

After speaking, he hung up the phone, then invited Chen Fan in and started chatting with him, "Your 'Shanghai Spy Shadow' is well written, doing underground work is so dangerous.

But ah, the battlefield is also a narrow escape from death. No one knows which direction the bullet will come from, and no one knows when the shell will land on their head.

See when you write a book about fighting, we can't fight now, but it's okay to have a good time."

Then he told Chen Fan a few stories about how he fought the Japanese devils back then.

Unfortunately, the old man didn't know how to pad his story, and he finished telling the story of a battle in just a few words.

By the time Huang Ying ran over, swinging her arms, he had already told the third story.

Huang Ying was in class when a teacher came over and called her out, saying that a young man from her hometown was looking for her, and she immediately guessed that it was Chen Fan.

She ran over and saw that it was indeed him.

She excitedly steadied herself on the doorframe, her eyes full of surprise. Breathless, she greeted him with a smile, "Teacher, you're here."

Chen Fan smiled and waved, then chuckled to Grandpa Fan, "You've got a lot of stories here. I'll come back to learn from you, see if I can write a battle story."

He wasn't just being polite; he genuinely wanted to gather material here.

Hmm, later he could also ask his three masters; they must have plenty of good stories to tell.

And there were Grandpa Xiang and the others. Wherever there was a gatekeeper, there was a trove of material, plenty to find anywhere.

Grandpa Fan, upon hearing that he actually agreed to write, beamed with joy. "Sure, you can come anytime. I work here, and my dorm is inside too."

Chen Fan smiled, "Then give me your phone number. If I want to come over, I'll call you beforehand."

Without hesitation, Grandpa Fan took out a pen and paper, wrote down his number, tore it off, and handed it to him.

Chen Fan glanced at it, memorized the number, then folded it and put it in his pocket. He pointed at Huang Ying, "I'll take her out for a bit. We're having lunch with some village kids who are studying at universities in Beijing. I'll bring her back afterward. Could you please help me get her excused?"

Grandpa Fan patted his chest, guaranteeing, "Leave this little matter to me. I'll take care of it perfectly."

Chen Fan thanked him, left the pack of 'Labor' cigarettes behind, waved at Huang Ying, and took her away.

…

With Huang Ying in tow, and having her find people, the rest would be easy.

He switched from Tsinghua to Peking University, picked up all seven female students studying in Beijing, and drove them to Quanjude for a Peking duck feast.

During the meal, he asked about their studies and life at school. Hearing that they mainly focused on studying and followed the crowd in activities, not standing out, he nodded in satisfaction.

After the meal, he gave each of them some ration coupons as usual and gave a few more instructions before sending them back one by one, so as not to delay their afternoon classes.

Giving ration coupons was enough; money wasn't necessary. Not to mention that, according to the current situation in Lujiawan, their families would have several thousand yuan in dividends at the end of the year. Furthermore, the brigade department provided living allowances to all students admitted to universities, three hundred yuan per semester, plus the school's financial aid, giving them more than 70 yuan a month, making them a proper 'high-income group'. He didn't need to worry about them at all.

This was the benefit of collective prosperity; every family could afford it. Otherwise, even if they got into university, countless problems would await them, and who knew when they would be able to make a breakthrough.

Now, they only needed to study hard, improve themselves, and everything would fall into place in the future.

…

After dropping them off, Chen Fan drove to the Museum of the Chinese Revolution.

This museum would become the National Museum in the future.

It could be traced back to the "National Museum of History" which was in preparation in 1912. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was renamed "Beijing Museum of History". The Central Museum of Revolution was established in 1950. Later, it was changed several times. In September 1969, the two museums were merged to form the current "Museum of the Chinese Revolution History".

As a comprehensive museum, its collections ranged from ancient times, Stone Age tools from the Paleolithic Age, to utensils and writing from the Neolithic Age, bronzes from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, to various precious antiques from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and even important items related to various historical events in modern times, fully demonstrating the long history and continuity of Chinese civilization.

Chen Fan needed to learn about antique knowledge and the historical significance contained within, and this was a place not to be missed.

There was another benefit, or rather, an advantage, to coming here.

Ahem, wasn't the Writers Association suspended a few years ago? Many old writers and literary masters had nowhere to go, so they were taken care of and arranged to work here.

Even now that the Writers Association had resumed operations, many people still hadn't had their work arrangements finalized, and some had even worked at the museum until retirement.

So, when Chen Fan took out his work permit and connected with the person in charge here, it was like coming home.

Or rather, even more comfortable than coming home!

For example, he could take the oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions he had copied and run to a data research room, pulling an old gentleman to ask about the meaning of these characters.

Or he could directly pester the curator and delve into the tightly closed warehouse to study those treasures that hadn't seen the light of day for years.

Things like the Simuwu Ding, the Four Sheep Zun, the Li Gui bronze vessel, which were all in textbooks… were all displayed in front of him.

Moreover, they were all genuine articles, pure gold, and absolutely no fakes!

The masters who were originally holed up in the museum doing research initially only intended to support and take care of this new national member of the Writers Association in over a decade. As long as it didn't violate principles, they almost always fulfilled his requests.

But after some exchanges, they realized that Chen Fan's attainments in treasure appraisal were truly extraordinary.

Not only was he familiar with the representative national treasures of various periods, but he also knew the production process and the stories behind them like the back of his hand.

He could even extend from this to the social culture, historical background, political economy of the time…

Whether it was the amount of historical knowledge he had or his understanding of cultural relics and treasures, he could completely keep pace with them.

In some respects, he could even come up with unique ideas and could be said to be even better.

Unfortunately, Chen Fan only stayed at the museum for two and a half days, going through the representative collections once and consulting with several masters before he stopped coming.

…

In the blink of an eye, it was December 16th.

Today, Chen Fan didn't go out. He stayed at home in front of the TV, rocking back and forth in his rocking chair, holding two golden monkeys in his arms.

Thank goodness, the three old guys were probably tired of playing and had Liu Juan bring the two little ones back. So the little monkeys returned to their master's embrace.

Little Hei, who had only been favored for two days, could only retreat to the second line, lying by the rocking chair with his ears perked up, watching TV.

At ten o'clock in the morning, the TV suddenly broadcast the news.

The TV and radio broadcast simultaneously, and the joint announcement shocked the world.

Liu Juan and Ma Lan, who were busy in the kitchen, heard the sound and hurriedly ran out, staring at the TV with disbelief in their eyes.

Chen Fan stroked the two monkeys and turned to look at them.

After a long while, when the announcement ended, he said softly, "Go make dinner. After dinner, I'm going to Rongbaozhai. You can take some things back to look at."

The two turned to look at him at the same time, stunned for several seconds before they came back to their senses.

But they were still a little absent-minded.

Seeing them like this, Chen Fan sighed softly and said, "Forget it, you guys pack up your things. We won't cook today. Let's go eat hot pot."

After a few more seconds, Liu Juan suddenly woke up and pointed to the kitchen, "It's almost ready."

Chen Fan patted the monkeys' butts. The little monkeys immediately climbed up his clothes to his shoulders, one on each side.

He stood up, holding the armrests of the chair, and smiled softly, "Then tidy up the things, put them in the basket, and take them home."

After speaking, he walked out with his hands behind his back, "Hurry up, I'll wait for you in the car."

Watching Chen Fan walk out the door, Liu Juan and Ma Lan looked at each other, both seeing the other's bewilderment.

After shouting for so long to liberate the American devils, they're establishing diplomatic relations?

Haphazardly tidying up their belongings, the two women left with their grocery baskets. Chen Fan had already parked the car at the gate, so they got in and closed the doors directly.

He drove the car out of the courtyard, then got out again to lock the gate, returning to the car and slowly driving towards the nearest Donglaishun restaurant.

Once on the main road, Chen Fan said softly, "If I remember correctly, Liu Juan, your father has a limp, and Ma Lan, your father lost a hand, right?"

The two women snapped back to reality and nodded in unison.

After a two-second pause, Liu Juan sighed, "They were both injured on the Northern battlefields. My dad said that he only lost a leg, but 200,000 people lost their lives, and even more were permanently disabled. He feels he was much luckier than them, so he gave up a better job to those who needed it more."

After she finished speaking, Ma Lan said quietly, "My dad too."

Chen Fan looked at them in the rearview mirror. "Feeling uncomfortable?"

The two women pursed their lips and nodded.

Chen Fan said seriously, "It's normal to feel uncomfortable. You used to fight to the death, but now you're reconciled and have even made friends. If it were me, I'd feel uncomfortable too, let alone you who have such personal pain."

He sighed deeply, turning his head to look at the street scene outside the window. "Take a look outside."

The two women were stunned, not understanding what he meant, but they didn't ask much, and both looked out the window.

After a while, Chen Fan continued, "The peace and prosperity outside the window were bought with the lives of your fathers' generation. Without that war, we wouldn't be able to stand tall in the world. After winning that war, whether it's Old Su or the American devils, they all have to look at us with respect. So, that war was a war of national establishment, and it was definitely not meaningless."

He looked up at the two women, and seeing that they were listening attentively, he continued, "But if the country wants to develop and the people want to eat meat, we can't stick to dogma. Old Su used to be the big brother, but now there are conflicts, and we scold Soviet revisionism even more harshly than we used to scold the American devils.

Both the American devils and Old Su are the most developed countries in the world, and we can't be at odds with both of them.

Mr. Li said it well, we need to make more friends and fewer enemies. If we can turn enemies into friends, that will benefit us.

Now that the American devils are willing to be friends with us, even if it's for their money and advanced technology, we must seize this opportunity, a chance to integrate into the world and improve ourselves.

When we have learned their technology and even surpassed them, and the country is strong and the people are rich, then we can think about how to vent our anger."

Liu Juan and Ma Lan listened to Chen Fan's words in silence. Although they still felt a little gloomy, they felt much better than before.

Slowly exhaling a long breath, Liu Juan looked at Chen Fan and smiled, "I understand, thank you, Brother Chen."

Ma Lan also nodded repeatedly, "Me too."

Chen Fan laughed and looked at the two women in the rearview mirror, saying, "We can change our perspective. Think about it, now that the leaders want to cooperate with the American devils, doesn't that mean that the focus of work will be shifted to development in the future?

If that's the case, will there be a day in the future when the lives of ordinary people will be ten or a hundred times better, eating three meals a day, with meat at every meal.

Ordinary families can also live in big houses. Take your families as an example. Your parents live in one house, and then each of your siblings has their own small home, living a prosperous life, so rich they don't even like to eat meat, and weigh themselves every day, afraid of becoming a big fat person…"

Listening to Chen Fan's description, the last bit of gloom in the two women's hearts dissipated.

Liu Juan even chuckled, "Brother Chen, you're so good at making things up. Who doesn't like to eat meat? And worrying about gaining weight, you say it like it's real."

Ma Lan also grinned foolishly, "If I could eat meat every day, I'd probably die of happiness, and I wouldn't worry about gaining weight."

Chen Fan slammed on the accelerator and laughed, "Alright, I'll take you to eat meat now. Eat as much as you can, and you're not allowed to leave until you're full."

The car sped down the road, leaving behind a string of giggles.

…

They really ate too much at noon. There was no way around it, Chen Fan ordered too much meat, and instant-boiled mutton doesn't taste good when taken away, it doesn't have the same flavor as eating it fresh.

In order not to waste it, Liu Juan and Ma Lan could only stuff themselves, so much so that they couldn't move after getting into the car. They were driven all the way to their doorsteps before getting out with red faces.

Chen Fan declined their invitation to come in as a guest on the grounds that he had other things to do, and turned around to send the two little monkeys and Little Black to his master's house.

Unlike the two young women, the three masters were very open-minded and didn't care about making friends with the American devils.

Well, that's not quite right. Master Zhang still complained a bit, saying that they used to fight to the death on the battlefield, but now they've become friends, muttering about whether they'll fight to the death again in a few years.

Yeah, just like Soviet revisionism.

But he probably wouldn't be able to see it himself by then, right?

Seeing that the three masters were in stable spirits, Chen Fan was too lazy to comfort them, and was about to leave after leaving the little monkeys.

Lin Yuanxiang quickly shouted from behind, "Where are you going?"

When Chen Fan stopped, he caught up and asked in a low voice, "Your uncle, did he come to Beijing because of this? Are you going to see him now?"

Chen Fan crossed his arms and said softly, "I don't know if he came for this, but Second Master, this doesn't seem to have anything to do with you, does it?"

Lin Yuanxiang smacked his lips. "Just curious, can't I be?"

Chen Fan's mouth twitched slightly. "Yes, he plans to do business in China, and he's here now to explore the way."

Lin Yuanxiang frowned slightly. "Doing business? It seems like things are really going to change."

Then he waved his hand, "Forget it, forget it, this matter really has nothing to do with me, you go do your thing."

Chen Fan was just about to leave, but after thinking about it, he turned back and said softly, "Second Master, it's not entirely unrelated. If foreign businessmen are allowed to enter, then when they open companies, they will have to hire people, right, hmm…?"

Lin Yuanxiang's eyes lit up when he saw his expression. "What's the catch?"

Chen Fan coughed twice. "Think about it, first of all, college graduates definitely won't be available for them to hire. Secondly, workers and cadres from formal units won't get involved with them.

And it's impossible for them to use Americans for all their employees. Not to mention how much more money that would cost, we wouldn't agree to it anyway.

So, you see, doesn't this opportunity come up? And people like Liu Juan and Ma Lan, what do you think?"

Lin Yuanxiang suddenly understood and nodded deeply, then ignored him and turned to go into the house, "Old Li, Old Zhang, I have something to tell you…"

Chen Fan chuckled, then turned and left the courtyard, closing the gate behind him.