Translator's Notes:
I will be updating this to 2 chapters/week. It's for those few readers who still keep reading this.
Enjoy reading!!!
2/2
Chapter 24: A Long Day
In any case, improving physical fitness is a good thing.
If only I could increase my strength someday. With only 5 points of strength, I'm practically "too weak to truss a chicken." In this production team where women are as strong as men and men are as strong as donkeys, it makes it hard for a grown man to hold his head high.
Chen Fan sat happily on the chair, watching Jiang Lili busy herself, when he suddenly thought of a question. "Hey, Xiao Jiang, isn't this place called Lujiawan? How come I haven't heard of anyone with the surname Lu?"
Generally speaking, places named after surnames usually have a large clan with that surname, but today he had listened for half a day and heard people with the surnames Yang, Liu, and Huang. There was also a barefoot doctor with the surname Zhang at the brigade headquarters, but he hadn't heard of anyone with the surname Lu, which was strange.
Jiang Lili turned her head to look at him and said softly, "Because in the past, the entire Lujiawan, and the river section next to it, belonged to the Lu family. Other families were just tenants of the Lu family, so this area is called Lujiawan."
Chen Fan immediately widened his eyes. Such a large piece of land belonged to the Lu family?
They were big tycoons!
Then, feeling curious, he asked, "What about the Lu family now?"
"Um,"
Jiang Lili stopped what she was doing and put down the bowl in her hand. Her expression was a bit strange. "I heard it from the villagers when they were working. They said that when the Japanese devils attacked, the Lu family sent all their clansmen away, leaving only one branch to guard the house. Now that branch only has one old man left, but I haven't seen him. I don't know anything else about it."
She paused and then added,
"The current Lujiawan Production Brigade headquarters is the former Lu family mansion. It was occupied by the Japanese devils during the War of Resistance, and after Nanhu was liberated in '45, it was confiscated as public property. I've been there once. It's a large complex of brick and tile houses. It's said that the entire Lu family, more than a hundred people, lived there, counting the farmhands and such. It wasn't much different from the commune town."
Hearing these words, Chen Fan couldn't help but feel lost in thought.
A large clan became one branch, and one branch became one person.
The changes in those years were really the work of fate.
When Jiang Lili finished cleaning up, Chen Fan also got up and returned to his room.
It was already dark outside, with only the moonlight casting a faint glow.
Back in the room, Chen Fan groped in the dark for a match and lit the kerosene lamp. Then he closed all four windows one by one, otherwise the cold air would be heavy at night, and catching a cold would be troublesome.
Then he took a wooden basin to the kitchen to fetch water and brought it back to wash up.
The windows of the earthen houses had two layers. The outer layer was a wooden fence for security, and the inner layer was two small wooden doors, each about a foot high and half a foot wide. There was even a small wooden latch to prevent someone from pushing them open from the outside.
During the day, the window doors could be opened for ventilation, and then closed at night, which was very convenient. But if you wanted to close them during the day, there would be no light in the room, because these doors didn't even have window paper, they were all made of solid wood.
Earlier at Captain Yang's house, Chen Fan had noticed that his windows were window grilles covered with window paper, so even when the doors were closed, light could still come in. However, window paper was easily torn and had to be repaired frequently.
After a round of busyness, he finally settled down.
What a long day!
Actually, it was still early at this time, probably around 7 pm at most. If this were before he time-traveled, the news wouldn't have even started yet, and he would still be on the bus. After getting home, making dinner, and taking a shower, he would be curled up in bed playing on his phone, and it would be 12 pm before he went to sleep.
But now it was only 7 pm, and he was supposed to go to sleep?
Chen Fan leaned back in his chair, sitting and soaking his feet with nothing to do.
He had already slept for who knows how many hours yesterday, and he hadn't felt sleepy all day today. Then he suddenly got an attribute point added to his physique, which made him even more energetic. How was he supposed to sleep?
His head turned back and forth, and his gaze finally landed on the Little Red Book.
Since there was nothing to play, then let's study!
With the dim light of the kerosene lamp, Chen Fan opened the book.
After graduating from college, Chen Fan hadn't seriously read a book. Even when he read novels online, he skimmed them without thinking.
But to read this kind of book, you had to read it word by word, and you had to think while you read, otherwise it would be better not to read it at all. As a result, the speed of reading was very slow.
He didn't know how long it had been, but even the water in the foot bath had turned cold, and Chen Fan had only finished reading one article.
Normally, he should be sleepy by now. But for some reason, not only did he not feel sleepy, but he felt even more energetic?
Just then, Chen Fan heard a "ding" sound.
"You have learned useful knowledge, your wisdom has been improved, and your spirit has been sublimated. Reward Intelligence +1, Spirit +1, current Intelligence 9/10, Spirit 9/10."
In the next second, Chen Fan felt a cool aura flowing through his brain, as if washing his entire brain. His mind was extremely clear.
If he could go back, he guaranteed that he could improve his work efficiency by one, even pass the civil service exam.
As for now?
Chen Fan pondered for two seconds and felt that it would be better to add some strength first.
He didn't have an identity or household registration, so it was impossible to sign up for the college entrance exam. So what was the use of learning knowledge? Since his origins were unknown, no unit would dare to accept him.
At least in the short term, staying in Lujiawan was his only way out.
In that case, the more strength he had, the better.
Of course, being able to increase basic attributes was a good thing after all. Chen Fan also felt that he was being greedy.
Having found another way to add points, Chen Fan was prepared to continue working hard.
But when he saw the kerosene lamp, he immediately woke up. This thing used oil, and what would he do when it ran out of oil? Would he shamelessly ask Captain Yang, or would he brazenly ask Jiang Lili to borrow some?
Without saying a word, he dried his feet, ran out and peed by the courtyard wall, came back, closed the gate, put everything away, spread out the quilt, and prepared to sleep.
But when he was about to turn off the light, he ran into trouble.
How do you put this thing out?
Blow it out? There was a lampshade.
Chen Fan wanted to take the lampshade off, but the lampshade was too hot, and he didn't have anything handy. He couldn't use a towel to take it off, could he? That cold towel would hit the hot lampshade, that was really great!
Blow it out from the top?
Looking at the wisps of black smoke, he didn't dare to bring his mouth close.
He stared at the kerosene lamp for a while, trying to remember his life in the countryside in his previous life... Oh, that was around the new millennium, and it wasn't a remote mountain area. Which family didn't have electricity yet?
After studying the kerosene lamp for a long time, he finally accidentally pinched the wick post and turned it, shrinking the wick inward. The flame instantly became smaller.
Chen Fan's eyes lit up. He continued to lower it, and as he watched the wick head shrink into the lamp holder, the bean-sized flame jumped twice and finally went out.
As soon as the light went out, the whole room was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything.
Even if he closed his eyes for half a minute and then opened them, he still couldn't see even an outline.
With no other choice, he could only grope to take off his cotton coat and put it on the opposite bed. Without even taking off his pajamas, he trembled as he groped to his bed and lay down, quickly wrapping himself in the quilt. After a while, his body finally warmed up again.
I have to say, this straw mattress was quite warm. Except for being a little prickly, it wasn't too soft or too hard, and it warmed up quickly. It would be nice if there was a bed sheet, it would be comfortable to lie on.
But now he was penniless and still owed 30 pounds of white rice in debt. Where was he going to get a bed sheet?
Lying in bed, Chen Fan's mind wandered, and he didn't know how long it was before he fell asleep.
(End of Chapter)
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