The girl soon walked over, placed the earthenware bowl filled with the strong scent of Chinese medicine on the table, and said softly, with her head down, "This is your medicine."
Chen Fan looked at her, then at the medicine, and he had a strange feeling of déjà vu, like "Da Lang, drink your medicine."
Seeing that Chen Fan didn't move, the girl explained softly, "This was prescribed for you by Doctor Zhang from the brigade. He said you have a cold in your body and must take medicine. You had a high fever last night, and you only got better after taking this medicine."
Chen Fan realized what she meant and responded, "Oh, thank you."
He picked up the bowl and took a sip. The temperature was just right. It was clearly cooled in the kitchen before being brought over. She was a thoughtful person.
He then closed his eyes and gulped it down in one go.
After he finished drinking, his facial expression was contorted. A wave of bitterness rose from his stomach.
Seeing that the girl was picking up the bowl to leave, he quickly asked, "Hello, what's your name?"
The girl stopped and said softly with her head down, "I'm Jiang Lili, the Jiang of ginger. You can call me Xiao Jiang."
She looked quite pretty, although a bit thin. But she didn't have to keep her head down all the time.
Chen Fan smiled, suppressing the bitterness in his stomach and revealing a kind smile. He then asked, imitating the tone of voice from old TV shows, "Comrade Jiang Lili, hello. I was wondering if you have a calendar here? I want to check the date, maybe it will help me remember something."
Jiang Lili looked at him, then lowered her head, "Yes, I'll go get it for you."
She then walked out.
She came back in less than two minutes and handed him a calendar with a section torn off, blushing as she said, "The beginning part was torn off. The earliest one is today."
Chen Fan said, "Thank you." He took it and looked at it, his eyes widening in shock.
January 20, 1977. The second day of the twelfth lunar month, the Greater Cold.
So I'm in 1977?
What does 1977 mean?
The lively National Games had just ended, and the turbulent Great Era was about to begin, a time when the east wind was turning west, the north wind turning south, a time in between.
But the aftermath of the National Games was still there, the warm spring breeze had not yet arrived, and the living habits and thinking of the vast majority of the people were not much different from the previous decade, so it was also an era where you had to tuck your head down and try to survive.
In terms of daily life, everything required tickets, and even with tickets, you couldn't necessarily buy it. Going out required a letter of introduction, and even with a letter, you couldn't go anywhere you wanted, only to the places specified in the letter of introduction, and only for the reasons stated in the letter...
Chen Fan sat in the chair, his mind a jumbled mess. He didn't even notice Jiang Lili quietly leaving.
Even when he heard someone calling his name, he only replied,
"Leave me alone."
...
On the other side, Captain Yang explained Constable Zhu's analysis to the other two leaders of the brigade. He then added his own thoughts:
"My guess is also similar to what Constable Zhu said. Even though this boy is tall, he looks about 15 or 16 years old. He's also gentle and mild-mannered. He is probably not a bad person. It's fate that we met him. The old saying goes, save someone, save them to the end, send Buddha to the West. So, we'll arrange for him to stay in the educated youth dormitory first. We'll pay for his food from the brigade's account. We'll settle it later when we find his family. What do you think?"
Accountant Liu looked at Keeper Huang, "I have no objections."
Keeper Huang glared at him, "Why are you looking at me? It's a life, how could I have objections?"
Accountant Liu scoffed, "You're so stingy, you would even split a penny in two. You would cry like your life was ending if you had to pay out one cent. Now there's an extra person to feed, aren't you going to hang yourself?"
Keeper Huang glared, "What do you mean I'm crying about my life ending? It's the public's money, not a single cent can be wrong. Everyone trusts me to manage the accounts, so I have to be responsible. But for any reasonable expenses, as long as everyone agrees, have I ever withheld a single cent?!"
Captain Yang tapped the table with his pipe, playing peacemaker for the nth time, "Alright, alright, why do you two always argue when you meet? What's there to argue about?"
He paused, then said, "Since you both agree, let's settle it this way. Okay, why don't you two show your generosity."
Accountant Liu and Keeper Huang looked at him together, "Show our generosity? How?"
Captain Yang picked up another clump of tobacco and filled his pipe, sighing, "This boy only has three pieces of clothing, and one of them is shorts. The jacket he's wearing now is Yang Jiuhong's. The cotton blanket on the bed is from my house, I just had it renovated two months ago, the top and bottom are new fabric, so I gave it to him. I'll find him some new shoes later."
He looked up at the two men who were pretending to be dead, "What, you don't understand me?"
There was a reason why he wanted these two to contribute. The production brigade's small captain gets 300 work points a year, the accountant and keeper each get 280 work points, and the clerk gets 200 work points.
Although they had a bumper harvest this year and everyone was living a bit better, they couldn't let the villagers pay for these things. Since they were the brigade's cadres, they had to show their character and contribute when needed.
Besides, if they could find his family, maybe they could get some money back!
Accountant Liu glanced at Keeper Huang, straightened up, and coughed, "Well, he's almost 1.8 meters tall, and we don't have any clothes that size at home."
Keeper Huang gritted his teeth and looked up, "We have two and a half jin of cotton left over from the cotton distribution in the summer. I'll take half of it, and I'll take apart two old pieces of clothing and make him a new padded jacket, padded pants, and a pair of cotton shoes."
Accountant Liu looked at him in surprise, "Wow, the iron tree is blooming?!"
Keeper Huang rolled his eyes, "I've said it eight hundred times, I'm frugal, I'm not stingy."
Now that the two big shots had opened their wallets, Accountant Liu felt like he was being roasted over a fire. After hesitating for two seconds, he also gritted his teeth, "Okay, I'll get him two sets of clothes no matter what."
Keeper Huang looked at him with a smirk, "Don't make them all patched up, though."
Accountant Liu glared at him angrily, "I'll go to the commune to buy cloth and have my wife make him new clothes!"
If this iron rooster hadn't suddenly shed its feathers, he wouldn't have had to bleed. He could just have found some old clothes and given them to him. Why was he making it seem like his daughter was getting married and he was giving her a dowry? What a waste!
Captain Yang continued to play peacemaker, "Ahem, you don't have to buy new cloth. See if you have any suitable old clothes at home. Take them apart, wash them, and sew them together. You can make do with that."
Hearing this, Accountant Liu's face improved slightly, "Then I'll make him one set of clothes, and modify another one so that he can switch them."
He then smiled at Captain Yang, "It's a good thing you took the lead this year, and the brigade had a bumper harvest. A work point is worth 0.65 yuan. We have some extra money in our hands. If we were like Ganjia Village, where a work point is only worth 0.18 yuan, we wouldn't even be able to buy cloth, we wouldn't even be able to make enough for food."
Captain Yang didn't look pleased, but waved his hand, "Ganjia Village also had a flood, which submerged a lot of their land. Otherwise, a work point would still be worth two or three jiao. Let's keep this between us. Don't mention it outside."
Accountant Liu nodded repeatedly, smiling, "Of course I know that, I'm not stupid."
Keeper Huang smiled mysteriously from across the table, "You're not stupid? You're going to buy cloth just because I said something? Who's the stupid one?"
Captain Yang stood up and waved his hand, "It's settled then. Let's go and talk to the kid."
The three of them went to Chen Fan's room. When they entered, they saw the boy sitting there, lost in thought, as if he couldn't even see them come in.
Captain Yang looked around, then approached Chen Fan and called out softly, "Chen, Chen Fan?"
Chen Fan's eyes were unfocused. He didn't even look at him, but simply said, "Leave me alone."
(End of Chapter)
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