Reborn in 1977

After Supervisor Huang walked away, Chen Fan looked at the grain on the ground and thought for a moment. He turned to Jiang Lili and asked, "Do you usually eat separately or together?"

"Huh?"

Jiang Lili was stunned for a moment, then reacted. "Oh, there's only one stove at the educated youth spot. Everyone cooks together. We put rice in our lunch boxes, soak it in water, and then put them all in the big pot to steam. No one's gets mixed up. If we stir-fry dishes, we do it separately, each cooking their own."

She paused for a moment, then said softly, "But usually no one stir-fries dishes. We usually just eat rice with pickles. The pickles are also our own, and the vegetables from the vegetable garden are also kept for making pickles and pickled vegetables."

Chen Fan's eyes flickered slightly. So, the two dishes just now were specially prepared for him?

After a couple of seconds, he came back to his senses and said with a smile, "Oh, so you still eat separately."

Jiang Lili nodded. "The rice is placed separately, but we take turns to stoke the fire, so no one suffers a loss or takes advantage."

Chen Fan smiled. "That's good too."

He paused for a moment, then looked troubled. "But what if I don't have a lunch box?"

Jiang Lili thought for a moment. "You can use a vegetable bowl. Vegetable bowls can also be used to steam rice."

Chen Fan gave her a thumbs up. "You're so smart!"

Jiang Lili's pretty face turned red. It had been a long time since she had been praised. Being praised suddenly made her a little unaccustomed.

Chen Fan put his hands on the carrying pole, like Sun Wukong carrying his golden cudgel, and said with a smile, "Alright, I'll go fetch water. Please help me carry the rice into the house."

Jiang Lili nodded quickly. "Okay, okay."

Then, one person carried the carrying pole and walked out, while the other carried the rice into the house.

But after a few seconds, Jiang Lili heard Chen Fan calling, "Wait a minute."

She turned her head blankly, looking at him a little puzzled.

Chen Fan stood at the door, asking with a serious face, "Where do I fetch water?"

Jiang Lili moved her lips slightly, suppressing her laughter, and pointed to the east. "By the river."

"Okay!"

Chen Fan turned and left.

Jiang Lili suddenly thought of something and quickly shouted, "Wait a minute!"

Chen Fan turned around and looked at her. "Huh?"

Jiang Lili said loudly, "When you get to the river, you'll see three stone beaches. The one furthest upstream is for fetching water, the middle one is for washing vegetables, and the one at the bottom is for washing clothes. Don't get it wrong."

Chen Fan smiled. "That's quite particular."

Then he waved his hand. "I'm off."

This time he really left.

He carried the carrying pole with two buckets hanging from it, walking towards the levee. The two buckets swayed irregularly back and forth, attracting giggles from a few children in the distance.

Chen Fan wasn't annoyed. He made a funny face at the mud monkeys, and the little guys laughed even louder and ran around wildly.

The educated youth spot was very close to the riverbank. Following a small path for less than 50 meters, he arrived at the bottom of the riverbank, and then followed a sloping path worn out among the weeds, and soon he was on the levee.

Turning around, he could now see the appearance of this small village.

The village was built on a narrow, long earthen slope not far from the riverbank. The height difference of the entire slope was probably less than 10 meters. Dozens of houses were scattered along a winding path, extending from the front of the slope to the back, with the educated youth spot, which occupied the largest area, at the end.

Looking around, all the houses were made of earthen walls and thatched roofs, with rice fields in front and vegetable gardens in the back. Most of them didn't have courtyard walls. Even those with courtyard walls were made of bamboo fences, so the inside and outside of the courtyard were clearly visible. Unlike the educated youth spot, which used earthen bricks to build walls that were nearly two meters high, even standing on the top of the slope, the inside of the courtyard couldn't be seen under the cover of the trees.

This made the houses at the educated youth spot particularly special.

At this time, smoke was coming from the chimneys of some houses, indicating that they were probably making lunch. Those without smoke were either eating or hadn't started cooking yet.

Far away from the village were irregularly shaped rice fields, a large expanse as far as the eye could see. However, now only burnt rice stubble remained in the fields, with patches of black and yellow, making it look unsightly.

There were also many ponds of various sizes around the small earthen slope, with only shallow puddles of water in them. These should be the fishing lakes that Captain Yang mentioned?

Further away, he could vaguely see another small village. Chen Fan guessed it should be another production team.

After watching for a while, Chen Fan let out a long breath, collected his complicated feelings, and turned to walk to the other side of the levee.

This side by the water was also a long slope, covered with grass, and longer than the other side. However, now all the grass had withered and lay obediently on the ground, and even the howling north wind couldn't blow them.

Not far away on the slope, there were also a few black patches, obviously traces of being burned. He didn't know which kid was playing with fire here.

Further away, there were many trees planted, including fir trees, poplars, and some unknown miscellaneous trees, extending along the levee for a long distance.

Turning to look at the opposite side, the river was quite wide. If you calculated the width of the levee surface, the distance between here and the riverbank on the opposite side was probably more than 500 meters.

It was winter now, and there was only a shallow layer of water at the bottom of the river. The width of the water surface was about 100 meters, or perhaps even wider.

Chen Fan followed a small path down and soon saw the three stone beaches that Jiang Lili had mentioned.

The so-called stone beaches were actually simple footholds built with stones by the river. A dozen stones made up a stone beach, and each stone beach was about ten meters apart. This was where the villagers fetched and used water in winter.

Summer?

In summer, the water would rise and submerge the stone beaches, so how could they go down to fetch water?

Chen Fan walked to the stone beach furthest upstream, carefully stepped on it a couple of times, and the stones didn't move at all. Only then did he feel relieved.

There was no one by the river at this time. He looked around, put down the carrying pole, picked up a bucket, and took two more steps down, standing on the stones in the water, only ten centimeters away from the water surface.

He put the bucket into the clear river water, and then tried hard to lift it up, his face flushed red. "Damn, it's really heavy!"

This kind of bucket was an old-fashioned wooden bucket. In thirty or forty years, it might only be used for soaking in medicinal baths, but now it was a necessity for every household.

A bucket was about 60 centimeters high, with a diameter of about 35 centimeters, slightly larger or smaller was possible. The weight of the bucket alone was not light, weighing more than ten pounds. Not to mention when it was filled with water, it would definitely weigh 70 pounds, and a load would be close to one hundred and fifty pounds.

Chen Fan held it with both hands and felt it. After pondering for two seconds, he decisively poured a little out, leaving only half the water inside.

He fetched the second bucket, also with half the amount of water.

Then he picked up the carrying pole, hooked the hooks on the handles, squatted down to hold the two handles, and tried to stand up. In less than two seconds, he decisively squatted down again.

Chen Fan squatted on the ground, staring blankly at the two buckets of water.

Damn, 5 points of strength is too useless, right? He can't even carry half a bucket of water?

He was about to pour out a little more water to see if it would be better when a group of figures appeared on the levee.

Chen Fan looked up and saw a group of strong-bodied women carrying buckets and walking down, talking and laughing.

Someone with sharp eyes saw Chen Fan and immediately shouted loudly, "Coming to fetch water..."

Ah, ah, ah...

Chen Fan's face fell. Why is there an echo?

With so many people coming, how can he pour out the water?

If people see him carrying such a small amount of water back, won't he lose face?