Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 926 Revisiting the old place
Lujiawan Educated Youth Settlement.

Several strong young men carried a sturdy wooden plaque, shifting its position from time to time under Captain Yang's direction.

Not far from the gate, Chen Fan stared at the words "Former Residence of Teacher Chen" on the wooden plaque, his face darkening. "That's not right, Captain. This courtyard is clearly a youth settlement. I'm just one of the members there. How can they just hang this plaque up like that?"

Upon hearing this, Captain Yang frowned immediately. "Aren't they all the same?"

Chen Fan: "Of course they're different. One means I'm just one of them, the other means the whole courtyard belongs to me. How can they be the same?"

The custodian, Huang, frowned and asked, "But the plaque is already carved. This thing is too big and not suitable for hanging on the door of the inner room."

Upon hearing the news, Accountant Liu, who had rushed over, dusted himself off, looked around, and whispered, "How about we make do with this?"

Captain Yang nodded and said, "Anyway, those people are all after you, so what's the difference between hanging outside or inside?"

Chen Fan pursed his lips and shook his head, saying, "I can't compromise on that at all. Hanging this on top of the courtyard gate is too conspicuous. People might say I'm getting arrogant, and wouldn't that be unfair to me?"

Upon hearing this, the store keeper, Mr. Huang, quickly replied, "We can't settle for that. We must replace it."

Lujiawan owes its current success entirely to Chen Fan. His reputation cannot be tarnished. It's just a wooden plaque; how can it compare to Teacher Chen?!

Accountant Liu's eyes lit up instantly. "Is this sign no longer needed? Here, leave it to me to handle. I guarantee it won't be thrown away carelessly."

The custodian, Huang, rolled his eyes. "You don't just throw things away randomly, you just throw them at home and use them as a desktop background?"

Accountant Liu gave an awkward smile. "Isn't this making use of waste? Don't waste it."

Captain Yang, standing nearby, rebuked him helplessly, "Hey Lao Liu, your family must have at least ten thousand in savings by now, why are you being so stingy?"

Accountant Liu immediately corrected him sternly, "No, absolutely not."

He paused for a moment, then explained with a pained expression, "Although my income hasn't been low these past two years, my expenses have been huge. These are all predictable things. You can do the math: first, we built the house, which cost several thousand yuan, then we bought furniture, and later we even bought a bicycle..."

"Okay, okay, okay..."

Captain Yang waved his hands repeatedly, "Who are you trying to calculate this with? Do you even know how to do it? Why don't you take out your bankbook and see if you have more than ten thousand?"

Accountant Liu chuckled sheepishly, "No, really not."

As for taking the passbook, just pretend you didn't hear it.

Chen Fan sighed softly. Why did they have to kill him so quickly? Now there's no show to watch.

The custodian, Huang, gave Accountant Liu a disdainful look, then turned to Captain Yang and asked, "Old Yang, what should we do with this wooden plaque?"

Captain Yang frowned and thought for a moment, then waved his hand decisively, "Then redo it. We can afford this little bit of money."

Accountant Liu suddenly said, "Back when we first pulled Teacher Chen out of the river, Old Yang kept nagging about the two cents for medicine for half a month. Now that he's rich, he can replace a wooden plaque worth more than ten yuan without a second thought. That's incredible."

Chen Fan snapped out of his daze. What, is this something I have to do with?

Captain Yang rolled his eyes at Accountant Liu, then waved to the people next to him, "Take the plaque down again and throw it in the warehouse in front of the village. Keep it as a chopping board for later."

Upon hearing this, Yang Jihong and the others did not hesitate and immediately began to dismantle the plaque.

Accountant Liu clicked his tongue in regret, thinking to himself that it was a pity; otherwise, he could have found a few more thicker wooden sticks and pieced them together to make a large square table.

After they took it apart, Chen Fan went over to take a look, gestured with his hand, looked up and smiled, "No need to replace it, this wood is good, the other side can also be used, I'll carve it, it won't be long before it's finished."

Upon hearing this, Captain Yang's eyes lit up, and he quickly ordered people to move the tools.

The educated youth settlement had everything ready-made, and they quickly set up the boards and brought out tools such as chisels.

Chen Fan noticed that the set of tools looked familiar. He picked up a chisel and examined it. "This looks just like the one I have at home."

Captain Yang laughed heartily, "It's the same one you have at home."

Chen Fan turned to look at him, "Hmm?"

Captain Yang laughed and said, "Your tools were a gift from the Fourth Team. When I was setting this up, I asked the Fourth Team for a new set for you and had Yang Mei replace your old one with the new one."

"If you're going to put on a show, go all the way. This stuff isn't worth much anyway, right?"

Chen Fan clicked his tongue, "Trading in the old for the new is a good idea."

Then, right there in the educated youth compound, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

Even though he hadn't done any woodworking for a while, his level was still high enough. Not to mention he always carried a carving knife with him and liked to carve small things when he had free time, which also helped him gain some experience points.

Now, carving a few words is like playing a game.

Coupled with master-level calligraphy, master-level internal martial arts skills, and grandmaster-level martial arts prowess, he wielded the tools with ease, creating a dazzling display of artistry.

In about ten minutes, the large characters "Lujiawan Educated Youth Point" were completed, so much so that anyone who understands calligraphy would want to carry them away.

After carving the words, he personally sanded the wooden board and then had Yang Jihong and the others hang it up again.

While they were busy finding the right angle, Chen Fan found a small piece of wood, flattened it with a plane, and easily carved a small plaque that read "Former Residence of Chen Fan".

It feels a little strange to carve a plaque for my own "former residence".

A short while later, the large plaque above the courtyard gate was hung up. Captain Yang walked over and saw the small wooden board in Chen Fan's hand. "Oh, you've already carved it yourself? But isn't it a bit too small?"

Chen Fan shook the wooden board in his hand. "It's not small. How big do you need to make it for something to hang on the door?"

He handed it to Yang Jihong, and they continued nailing the small wooden boards. Only then did Chen Fan have time to carefully examine the courtyard.

He has never been here since he moved to his new house in the back.

It's still the same big courtyard as before, except that on the left side of the entrance, where there used to be a stack of firewood, there's now a small house.

The door to the house was open, and Chen Fan strolled in. The space inside was neither too big nor too small, about twenty square meters. There was a bookshelf against the courtyard wall, which was full of various study materials.

Captain Yang followed him in, smiling as he said, "Back then, you led the group of people from the veterinary training class and the girls' cram school, and helped them all get into university. Our Lujiawan became famous overnight. This educated youth settlement was rarely full before, but two years ago, sixteen people suddenly came and filled it to capacity..." Chen Fan nodded and smiled, "Yes, I remember that. Back then, you saw that I didn't want to deal with them, so I set up this study room to appease them. Later, I saw that their character was pretty good, so I taught them for a while."

Captain Yang grinned and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, yes. They were lucky. After listening to your lecture, they made great progress. Later, when they took the college entrance examination, all sixteen of them passed. Although they didn't get into the top universities that our team members got into, it's still quite an achievement."

Chen Fan laughed, but didn't say anything.

The story of more than twenty college students from Lujiawan was reprinted by countless newspapers. The fact that these people were able to come here meant that they were not just ordinary people.

In this way, as long as their exam scores are not too low, they are guaranteed admission to university.

Taking the exam first and then reporting it is much simpler than changing your personnel file.

So passing all the exams isn't anything special.

Captain Yang continued, "It's only because they stopped sending educated youth to the countryside, and the leaders of the prefectural education department came and confiscated the learning materials here, plus you weren't here either, that they stopped sending people over. Otherwise, this educated youth settlement probably wouldn't be empty."

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow and turned to ask, "Are people from the Education Department here copying documents?"

"correct."

Captain Yang nodded and said, "It was a team led by an officer, with more than a dozen students. They stayed here for almost half a month and copied all the materials. Especially the study materials you compiled, they copied them word for word."

It is said that after they copied it back, several high schools organized many excellent teachers to compile these materials into a booklet, which was specially made for the top high school students to study. Those who studied it all got into university.

Later, some parents even brought their children to express their gratitude.

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly, thinking to himself, as long as it's not fulfilling a vow, it's fine.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, Captain Yang whispered, "There's a student's grandmother who said she wants to build a shrine for you so that all the students in her family can get into university."

Seeing the fear on Chen Fan's face, Captain Yang quickly said, "But don't worry, I've already persuaded her to stop. She's also promised that she won't burn three sticks of incense for you every day at home, but will only wish you peace and longevity in her heart."

Chen Fan's lips moved twice before he weakly said, "Thank you."

Captain Yang immediately grinned from ear to ear, "You're welcome."

Chen Fan glanced around the study room and felt he couldn't stay there any longer, so he quickly walked out.

The outdoor yard is still the same as before, and the kitchen, corner shed, farm tools, pottery tools and racks for drying clay blanks in the shed, as well as the toilet, vegetable garden, livestock shed, pigsty in the backyard, and even the rabbit hutch for trial breeding of rabbits have all been restored.

Chen Fan walked around and returned to the front yard, sighing, "You guys are really patient; even the vegetable garden is real."

The custodian, Mr. Huang, walked over and said loudly, "That must be true. Such a good piece of land can't just be left empty."

Accountant Liu added, "Actually, this vegetable garden has always been there. After the last batch of educated youth left, it wasn't appropriate to give this yard to anyone. Later, we convened a meeting with the heads of each household and finally decided to let your apprentices manage it first, so that they would have a place to raise some things and grow some vegetables."

As he spoke, he pointed behind him, "You had a small vegetable garden there, which was later planted with fruit trees. Under the fruit trees are the flowers you bought from Shanghai. They look quite beautiful every time they bloom, so it would be a pity to dig them up."

"The west side is where you grow medicinal herbs. When Liu Dan and the others went to school before, I repeatedly told Liu Lu and the others that these herbs could cure diseases and save lives. I also taught them how to plant and harvest them, and told them to ask you if they didn't understand anything. Luckily, nothing went wrong these past two years."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan was taken aback.

On the western slope, he did indeed clear a plot of land to grow medicinal herbs. Since the western slope is not a flat slope but has undulations, when he first started making pottery, he found a relatively low embankment there and dug it along the terrain.

Such places can adapt to the growth needs of different medicinal herbs; some are shady and some are sunny, and more than a dozen kinds of medicinal herbs have been planted here one after another.

But those were all just whims of his. Later, he used medicine less often, and he couldn't even use up all the herbs in the medicine cabinet, so why would he need to grow his own?

I never expected that they were still managing this medicinal herb field.

However, saying that they don't need to worry about it at this point would make it seem like they've done something futile.

Chen Fan could only smile and nod, "It's good, it's good."

He thought to himself that he would tell Yang Ju and the others to turn this medicinal herb field into a flower garden and give all the medicinal herbs to Zhang Juemin.

After looking outside, let's look inside the room.

The room next to the kitchen wasn't very interesting; it had four dilapidated bamboo beds, four simple wooden cabinets, and a square table with four bamboo chairs directly opposite the door.

Chen Fan used to live in the first room on the other side, and this room has many more things now.

On the table were a kerosene lamp, a rough porcelain teapot, a large teacup, and a few old books on the corner.

He walked over, picked it up and looked at it; it turned out to be a complete set of five volumes of literary selections.

Seeing him flipping through the book, Captain Yang took out his pipe, filled it with tobacco, and said with a smile, "The first day you woke up, when I came to find you, I saw you reading the Anthology of Literature. Now, whenever a visiting group comes, I tell them about this incident from back then, and they all praise you for your firm stance and love of progress."

Chen Fan put down his book, tidied it up, turned around and smiled, "Study hard and make progress every day."

He had just turned around when he saw the washbasin stand in the corner. "Hey, these two wooden basins, could they be the ones you gave me back then?"

"Of course it is."

Captain Yang laughed and said, "Back then you had nothing, and we didn't have anything good either. We could only give you two wooden basins that you made yourself. Later, you taught the team how to cook turtles, and the brigade headquarters gave you a batch of supplies. With the enamel basins, those two wooden basins were retired."

Luckily, it wasn't thrown away. It was found again last year when the place was being renovated, and we put it here so visitors can see it. It reminds us that Teacher Chen also endured a few hard days back then.

Chen Fan snorted twice and laughed, "Using a wooden basin means living a hard life? There are far too many people living a hard life then."

The group chatted and laughed as they went to the next room. It was no longer a dormitory, but a "general room" that Chen Fan had converted when he was still there. It was the place where Jiang Lili and Yang Ju received tutoring.

Next to that is Jiang Lili's dormitory, which is decorated exactly as it was back then.

Chen Fan walked to the octagonal table, reached out and touched the "ruler" that Jiang Lili had carved stroke by stroke under the edge of the table, and couldn't help but be a little lost in thought.

When he was learning to make clothes from Jiang Lili, he would hold a piece of cloth and gesture towards the table. Chen Fan still clearly remembers how she lowered her head shyly when he accidentally touched her hand.

More than three years have passed in the blink of an eye, and the two have been married for half a year.

(End of this chapter)