Chapter 53: Sign to Confirm
At the educated youth compound, in the room where Chen Fan was staying temporarily.
Captain Yang sat to one side, smoking with one leg crossed over the other.
Jiang Lili stood nearby as a witness.
Master Liu also sat cheerfully on the empty bed across the way, smoking his pipe.
Accountant Liu was taking inventory of the items, while Storekeeper Huang jotted things down in a small notebook.
"One single-person mosquito net, 9 chi of blue cotton cloth, one bedsheet, one quilt cover set, one bedding set (two cotton quilts), two sets of single-layer clothing, two pairs of shorts, two pairs of rubber-soled shoes, four towels, two toothbrushes, two tubes of toothpaste, one enamel cup, one aluminum lunch box, one spoon, two enamel basins, one thermos flask, one kettle, one bar of soap, one flashlight, three size 1 batteries, one pin tumbler lock, one hurricane lamp, one jin of kerosene."
After finishing the list, Storekeeper Huang looked up at Chen Fan and Captain Yang, who were sitting on either side of the table, and chuckled. "These are the supplies from the brigade headquarters – basically following the standard for educated youth, with a few extra items added."
Captain Yang pointed at him with his pipe. "Don't worry about that – just record what's there."
"Got it!"
Understanding what Captain Yang meant, Storekeeper Huang said no more.
When Accountant Liu untied the bundle from Xiao Liewen, Storekeeper Huang immediately noted it down. "One square bundle cloth (3 chi per side), one wool military greatcoat, one pair of suede leather boots."
Chen Fan watched from the side, his eyes twitching slightly.
Even though there were fewer items in this bundle than in the other basket, their total value far exceeded everything else combined.
The greatcoat had sheepskin lining – it would be warm enough for winter even in the Northeast, let alone Jiangnan.
The suede boots were something else entirely – the kind that "last three generations, outliving their owners." They had steel plates on the toe, steel studs on the sole, and another steel plate supporting the arch. While wearing them you could probably kick someone... well, best not to think about that.
After recording those items, Storekeeper Huang moved on to the last basket.
"20 jin of rice, two cured pork bellies, two cured carp (1 chi long each), 3 jin of cotton, 1 jin of rapeseed oil, one package of pickled vegetables, one bottle of homemade soy sauce, one bottle of homemade vinegar, one small jar of chili sauce, one small jar of pickled vegetables."
Storekeeper Huang suddenly turned to Master Liu. "Master Liu – that's more than what you received!"
Master Liu laughed heartily. "That's what Master Chen deserves. Besides, no matter how much I receive, it's not for me personally – I just take one piece of meat and one fish, nothing else."
Chen Fan looked up at him – what did he mean by that?
Only then did Captain Yang turn to Chen Fan and point at the items. "Do you know what all these things are?"
Chen Fan looked blank and shook his head. "No idea."
Captain Yang moved his pipe to gesture at the supplies from the brigade headquarters. "These are called rewards."
Then he pointed at the greatcoat and boots from Xiao Liewen. "This is a thank-you gift."
Finally, he pointed at the items from Team 5. "And these are return gifts."
Chen Fan looked from Captain Yang to Jiang Lili, who seemed a bit pleased, then at the others before turning back to Captain Yang. "What does that mean?"
Captain Yang cleared his throat, took a puff of his pipe, and said, "Let's start with the reward. You taught everyone in our team how to cook turtle – do you know what that means?"
Chen Fan blinked. "We can eat meat?"
He knew that rural areas had little access to fatty foods, and meat was a rare treat throughout the year. Before, no one knew how to cook turtle, so all that meat right under their noses was fed to pigs – and even the pigs didn't like it. Now that they knew how to butcher and cook it, they could have meat more often.
That was all he could think of.
Captain Yang nodded first, then shook his head. "It's not wrong to say we can eat meat, but what is meat? It's food! In the past, turtles were all wasted. Now that you're here, you've turned something useless into something valuable. Turtle dishes don't even need much oil to cook – what does that mean for our team members?
"It means we can eat meat regularly from now on. Eating meat builds up our strength, makes us stronger, and saves us a lot of grain.
"Given all this, if you were from our team and your background was clear, we'd at least give you a major merit citation – we could even file a report to have you transferred to work as a cadre at the commune.
"Now the brigade headquarters is just rewarding you with a few supplies – do you think that's reasonable?"
Chen Fan opened his mouth to speak. Saying it was reasonable would seem immodest, but saying it wasn't would be even more inappropriate. For production teams, grain was everything – increasing production or saving grain were both great achievements. Was it too much to give a little reward?
So there was so much more meaning behind just being able to eat turtle!
Captain Yang didn't care what Chen Fan was thinking and continued. "As for Deputy Captain Xiao's gift – I understand it's because you fulfilled one of his lifelong wishes. It's perfectly normal for him to give you something in return. While his gift is quite valuable, whether it's expensive or not doesn't matter – it's the thought that counts. So you have to accept it, no refusing. Refusing would mean you look down on him, and he'd be upset. If he's upset, then everyone in our brigade would be upset, and I wouldn't be able to keep you here – you'd have to find somewhere else to stay."
Hearing this, Chen Fan quickly nodded. "I'll take it! I'll take it!"
Threatening people over a thank-you gift? That wasn't right!
Captain Yang twitched the corner of his mouth, picked up his teacup and took a sip of water, then cleared his throat again. "Finally, there's the matter of the return gifts."
At this point, Accountant Liu chimed in. "When Yang Ju came to get me, I asked what it was about and found out it was regarding return gifts, so I brought my third brother along."
Only then did Chen Fan realize that Master Liu and Accountant Liu were brothers.
It made sense – they were from the same village and shared the same surname, so it was only natural they'd be related somehow.
Accountant Liu continued, "How did these return gifts come about? We rural folks pay close attention to proper etiquette. When someone helps you with something, you usually give them a red envelope and some gifts. But you didn't just help us – you taught us real skills, showing us how to butcher turtles and cook turtle meat.
"If you'd taught just one person instead of the whole brigade, they'd have to kowtow to become your apprentice and work for you for three years. Even Master Zhu from the food station follows this custom now – they don't kowtow anymore, but the proper etiquette and gifts are still required."
After he finished, Captain Yang said, "You taught skills to everyone in the entire brigade. If each team didn't give you something in return, people from other places would laugh at Lujiawan for not knowing proper manners.
"So the brigade headquarters gave a reference standard: roughly 20 jin of rice, two cured pork bellies, two 1-chi-long cured fish, 3 jin of cotton, and 1 jin of rapeseed oil. Teams could add other small, inexpensive items if they wished.
"Then there's Master Liu here – he learned your skills but isn't giving you anything personally, since his share is included in our team's contribution. The clothes we promised you, this quilt, and the 30 jin of rice we mentioned earlier more or less cover his portion.
"He'll be running around to the six teams for you – he'll take one piece of meat and one fish from each team's gift as payment for his trouble, and the rest will be yours."
After saying all this, he took a puff of his pipe and smiled at Chen Fan. "That's how things stand. If you're worried about getting in trouble for accepting these items, all of us here can sign to confirm it. Do you have any other questions?"
(End of Chapter)
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