Chapter 06: Keep Your Distance
After making a mental note of it, Accountant Liu took out a small notebook from his pocket and started to register Chen Fan's information.
"Chen Fan, born on the first day of the twelfth lunar month, 1960,"
He then looked up, "Where's your registered residence?"
He, the accountant, not only calculated money and goods but also people. All the population information for the brigade was collected and submitted by him.
Chen Fan looked at him with a blank expression. Why is this happening again?
Seeing Chen Fan's expression, Accountant Liu immediately realized his mistake and chuckled, "Haha, just fill it in here for now."
He then wrote down as he read, "Temporary residence, Sixth Brigade, Lujiawan Production Team, Nanhu Commune, Gufeng County, Yunhu Region, Jiangnan Province."
He also muttered to himself, "Almost got confused by that damn Chen Ergou. I forgot this boy doesn't remember anything from before."
When Chen Fan heard the address, he finally understood where he was.
He was from Yunhu City, Jiangnan Province, in his previous life. After his parents died, he went to Yunhu Orphanage. He was familiar with the local customs and traditions.
Later, Yunhu City became Yunhu Region. There were no prefecture-level cities in this era, most were called "regions." The place where the regional administrative office was located was called "regional party committee," which later became the prefecture-level city.
As for Jiangnan, it didn't refer to the area around Suzhou and Hangzhou.
In the narrow sense, Jiangnan refers to the area north to Yangzhou, south to Hangzhou, east to Shanghai, and west to Nanjing, centering on Lake Tai (Taihu Lake), the Yangtze River Delta region.
But in the broad sense, Jiangnan originally referred to the area north and south of Dongting Lake, which is now Hunan and Hubei. Later, it gradually expanded. The Jiangnan Dao of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and the Jiangnan Road of the Song Dynasty, included the vast areas of Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, a total of six provinces and one municipality.
Ahem, let's add a "Jiangnan Province" in there.
This is "Great Jiangnan."
Without the Yangtze River floods, this area would have the most suitable climate for crop growth. Rice can be harvested twice a year, the land is fertile, and the produce are abundant. Even in the most difficult period, the early 1960s, there were very few cases of people starving to death.
There's an old saying here, "Even in a famine, people by the water won't starve." As long as there's water, you can pull up some water grass and boil it into a soup to keep you alive for a few days, not to mention catching fish and shrimp.
Especially in Yunhu City, Jiangnan Province, it's a traditional land of fish and rice. In normal years, if the production team leader is capable, some production team members live no worse than ordinary families in small towns, even slightly better.
So, I should not have to worry about survival in this place. What I need to consider is how to live a better life.
Just as Chen Fan was lost in thought, Accountant Liu had finished registering his basic information and looked up at Captain Yang.
Captain Yang coughed, then pulled out his pipe and filled it with tobacco.
Chen Fan was quick to react. He picked up the match on the table and lit it for him.
Captain Yang looked at Chen Fan, a smile appearing on his lips. This kid is pretty smart.
After taking a puff, he said, "This is the situation. I have already talked to Constable Zhu about your situation. Oh, Constable Zhu is the policeman assigned to our area by the Nanhu Commune police station. He will go and ask around the surrounding communes and production teams to see if anyone has lost a child. He should be able to find your family soon."
Chen Fan quickly nodded to show that he understood.
But he was silently groaning in his heart. There was no way they could find his family.
I'm physically here, not spiritually. It's not like a family is going to come along and just find a son out of nowhere. I'm a grown man, I have to eat a lot of food!
So he was being particularly obedient now, preparing for the future.
Captain Yang continued, "Until we find your family, you'll stay here in the educated youth dormitory for now. We'll give you some food from the brigade's account. Just make do with it for now. We'll settle the account with your family when we find them. No problem with that, right?"
Chen Fan immediately nodded, "Of course!"
Then he looked up and said seriously, "Captain, is there any work suitable for me? I can also work and earn work points."
There's no way they're going to find anyone. How am I going to settle the account?
So I have to rely on myself. I just hope the farm work isn't too heavy. I'm afraid I can't handle it.
Captain Yang laughed out loud, "What work can there be in the middle of winter? The crops have been harvested, the fish ponds are dry, the lotus roots have been dug, everything that needs to be done is done. There's only a little bit of private land left, you don't need to do that."
Accountant Liu also nodded and laughed, "Or maybe when the commune issues a notice, we'll send people from each production team to reinforce the embankment. There will be work points to earn then."
He then asked, "Hey, do you know about reinforcing the embankment?"
Seeing that this boy was so fair and delicate, he didn't seem like he'd been to the countryside before, so Accountant Liu was worried that he wouldn't know what reinforcing the embankment was.
Unexpectedly, Chen Fan nodded, "I know, it's when you go to reinforce the river bank in the winter."
Before the 1990s, almost the entire Yangtze River basin, during the winter agricultural slack season, the local government would organize members of each production team to carry soil to the Yangtze River or inland river banks to reinforce the embankment, to prevent floods in the following year. This labor was called "reinforcing the embankment" by the local people.
Because all the soil used to reinforce the embankment had to be carried by the people using shoulder poles and bamboo baskets, repeatedly going back and forth, if you didn't have any strength or technique, you would be exhausted in less than an hour.
So Chen Fan was a little nervous, is this the start of a difficult mode?
Fortunately, Captain Yang spoke up, "What earning work points, it's not a matter of a few days. You just fell into the water yesterday, just rest for a few days. Constable Zhu is looking for your family, so don't worry, just stay here, don't think too much."
After he finished speaking, he was about to get up and leave when he suddenly remembered something and winked at Keeper Huang, "Go and check the door."
Keeper Huang rolled his eyes, got up and went to the door. He turned around and shook his head to signal that there was no one there.
Captain Yang coughed and lowered his voice, saying to Chen Fan, "There's something I need to remind you of."
Chen Fan nodded respectfully, "You go ahead."
Captain Yang pointed to the next room, "Originally, there were seven or eight other people in this educated youth dormitory. But the other people's families are all in the Nanhu Commune, so they went home for the winter."
Chen Fan blinked, feeling a little strange. Can educated youths be so free? They go home when they have nothing to do? In the old days, when I read historical novels, they all went to the northeast to farm and could only go back once every few years. Compared to this, there's a big difference.
Captain Yang continued, "There's only one girl left in the educated youth dormitory now, the one you saw before, her name is Jiang Lili. She's from the regional party committee, more than 200 miles away, and her family is not convenient, so she didn't go back home."
Chen Fan instantly understood and nodded knowingly, "I understand. You're worried about a young man and a young woman being alone together, right? I promise not to do anything wrong. I'll keep my distance from her."
Captain Yang grinned, tapping the table with his finger and whispering, "It's not just about a young man and a young woman being alone. The main thing is that her family isn't good. Otherwise, she wouldn't have come to such a remote place to farm. There are educated youth posts near the regional party committee, but they could have arranged for her to be there. She was sent so far away, it was a deliberate test. Other educated youth usually didn't talk to her, except when necessary. You should also pay attention to this aspect."
Chen Fan understood this time. It was because of "that" thing, right? That's why the other educated youths didn't play with her, got it!
After saying all that, Captain Yang thought for a moment and added, "Of course, just keep a reasonable distance, don't do anything else, you understand?"
He was worried that Chen Fan would intentionally target the girl.
Chen Fan nodded repeatedly, smiling, "In my situation, what can I even do?"
Captain Yang heard this and couldn't help but laugh. He waved his hand, "Okay, that's it then."
(End of Chapter)
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