Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 461: Qualifications for installing a private phone, the shadow of the great minister of agriculture (three more chapters)
Old Ji lives not far from Fangyan's home.

Fangyan didn't even ride a bike, he just walked over.

It was less than two kilometers and Fangyan walked there in just over twenty minutes.

This is indeed the family compound of the Forbidden City's cultural relics experts. The guards are all soldiers. After Fangyan showed his ID, they went inside to report and finally called out Lao Ji.

Old Ji, who was on vacation, had obviously just woken up not long ago. He didn't comb his hair or wash his face.

He came out wearing a military coat and cotton slippers.

When he saw it was Fangyan, he immediately signed the form and let Fangyan in.

"The management here is quite strict?" Fang Yan said to Lao Ji.

Old Ji responded:
"How can it be less strict? There are many older experts living here, not just the cultural relics experts from the Forbidden City..."

Fangyan asked curiously:
“Are there any other experts?”

Old Ji opened his mouth, hesitated, and then shook his head:

"Forget it. There are rules about this. I can't tell you about it."

Fang Yan heard this and said with a smile:

"Well, I just asked casually, and I don't want to hear what you said."

Old Ji changed the subject and asked Fang Yan:

"By the way, why are you here instead of studying at home?"

As he spoke, he took out matches and cigarettes from his pocket.

The dialect said:

"You are a forgetful person. It's the last day of the holiday. I came to ask when the glass for my locker and bookshelf will be ready."

Old Ji lit the cigarette and took a deep puff.

Then he let out a long breath and said:
"call……"

"You're talking about this. I just asked about it the day before yesterday. The box is ready, but the glass is not."

Fang Yan heard this and asked:
"It's fine once the boxes are made, but I have to find a place to put the things at home. Where is the factory? Should I bring them back myself, or should they deliver them to my door?"

Old Ji flicked the ash from his cigarette and said:

"Let me give them a call and ask them to send it to you."

"I was thinking of sending the glass to you once I finished it, but I didn't expect you couldn't wait."

Fang Yan said to Lao Ji:

"Those antiques are not mine. They were placed with me by my friend. I am not used to having things hanging around. I always feel uncomfortable. Today I happened to be free so I came to ask you. When you are done, put the things away first so I don't have to worry about them anymore."

"It can be regarded as my explanation to my friend."

Old Ji nodded with great understanding. If his friends had entrusted him with so many valuable things, he would have put them away earlier.

Old Ji said:

"Okay, come back with me, I'll make a phone call to the factory."

When Fang Yan heard this, he asked in surprise:

"You went home to call? Do you have a telephone at home?"

"Is your family safe?" asked Old Ji.

The dialect said:

"No, I've always used the phone number of the street office across the street. It's not like you haven't been to my house before. Haven't I shown you everything in my study?"

Old Ji blinked and suddenly found that there seemed to be something wrong with his memory.

He thought Fangyan had a telephone at home, but when he thought about it carefully, it seemed that there really wasn't one.

Old Ji said somewhat embarrassedly:
"I thought someone of your status would have a phone number."

Fangyan asked:

"From what you said, private individuals can also install telephones?"

Although I have seen many people install telephones at home, it is related to their identity.

I have never heard of any ordinary person installing a telephone at home.

Telephones these days are somewhat different from those of later times. The farther you call, the longer it takes to transfer the call.

Therefore, unless a private person is of a very high rank or is very important, it is generally impossible for him to install a telephone line.

Hearing the question about dialect, Lao Ji said:

"Of course not, but you can apply!"

"Look, you are now a consultant to the Huaxia Chinese Medical Research Institute. To facilitate communication with the Huaxia Chinese Medical Research Institute, it's not too much to apply for a phone number, right?"

“Ordinary people can’t pretend, but are you an ordinary person?”

Fangyan was stunned.

It seems to make sense when you put it this way.

He frowned and asked:
"Is this true? How come I have never heard anyone tell me about this before?"

Old Ji explained to the dialect:
"It's normal that you haven't heard of it. It's very troublesome to run a telephone line. The unit needs to file a report and wait for arrangements. The reason why they didn't remind you is that the people in charge of this area don't want to cause trouble."

"You don't know, and they won't tell you, so that saves everyone a lot of trouble."

"But you will need to use the phone more and more in the future. You can't just avoid bothering them because they are afraid of trouble. Otherwise, you will be the one who gets in trouble."

Fang Yan heard this and said:

"Then I'll go over and ask around when I'm at work tomorrow."

Fangyan didn’t say to apply directly. After all, Lao Ji was not from the Hua Xia Chinese Medical Research Institute.

What he said were the rules he knew, and it would be better for him to consult Mr. Cheng or Professor Yuchuan.

Hearing the dialect, Old Ji said:

"No need for tomorrow. For the past seven days, only the people in our testing room are on holiday. Everyone else is working."

"You can pick up the locker at home in the morning and apply for the phone to be installed in the afternoon."

Fang Yan did not explain his plan, but just nodded and said to Lao Ji:

"Okay, thank you for reminding me."

Old Ji took the last two puffs of his cigarette and said:
"Oh, it's nothing."

Then the two of them went to his house, and Fangyan discovered that the expert's house was different. It was a floor with two households per elevator, and Old Ji's house was at least 100 square meters.

The furniture is mainly made of solid wood, and the most common ones are wooden tables and chairs, cabinets, etc. Fangyan can see that they are all vintage furniture.

There were also some calligraphy and paintings hanging in the room. Fangyan took a quick look and saw works by Zhang Daqian, Xu Beihong, and Qi Baishi. He didn't know whether they were real or not, but considering Lao Ji's identity, they should be authentic.

When Old Ji saw Fangyan observing the collections in his home, he said:

"They are not as good as the things in your house. These are modern ones."

The dialect said:

"Well, the things in my house also belong to other people."

Then Old Ji went to make a phone call and Fangyan started wandering around his house.

Although the calligraphy and paintings are modern, some of the porcelain does not appear to be.

It should be an official kiln from the Ming and Qing dynasties.

I just took a look at the dialect and didn't study it in detail.

At this time, Fangyan saw a photo with the words printed on it:

A group photo of the excavation team of the Chenjiatai ancient tomb in the east of Hesongyi Town, Gulang, Gansu in 1953.

Fangyan suddenly shuddered.

The bronze weight of the Grand Minister of Agriculture of the Han Dynasty was also unearthed in Chenjiaheyan, Gulang County, Gansu Province, not far from where Lao Ji took the photo.

Fangyan looked at the photo carefully and found the still very young Old Ji.

I really didn’t expect that Lao Ji had been digging ancient tombs here in 1953.

He picked up the photo and asked Old Ji:

"Old Ji, what's the current status of this ancient tomb from 24 years ago?"

(End of this chapter)