Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 552 What a huge bait!

Chen Fan drove around the department store and bought some essential daily necessities.

After being brought back to the dormitory, it was so crowded that there wasn't enough room for anyone to stand.

Several people were standing inside the house, and several were standing outside. There were seven boys and five girls. Everyone from Lujiawan had arrived.

Amidst greetings of "Teacher Chen," Chen Fan walked around the room and nodded in satisfaction.

The cement floor was shiny and smooth, the wooden bed and wooden table were also wiped clean, and the glass windows were clear and transparent. When you reached out and touched the wooden frame, there wasn't a speck of dust.

I opened the window, and a mountain breeze blew in, making me feel refreshed and relaxed.

At this moment, Tang Li, the oldest girl from Team 7, stepped forward and whispered, "Teacher Chen, your new bed sheets need to be washed before you can use them. After washing, the sheets need to be sewn. We'll take them back to wash them later, and they should be dry by tomorrow. You can use ours tonight; they're all new and haven't been used yet."

Chen Fan turned around and waved his hand, "No need, I'll stay at the Cultural Palace Guesthouse for the night, and I'll stay at the unit all day tomorrow, so I can use it when I get back in the evening."

Tang Li breathed a soft sigh of relief. "Oh, that's good."

The girls behind them also breathed a sigh of relief.

Although it was Teacher Chen, these girls, just beginning to experience romantic feelings, still felt a little strange when they gave their things to boys.

I can't use it now, but once the strange feelings fade, I feel a little lost.

Several boys nearby were whispering among themselves.

"I almost forgot, Teacher Chen's current workplace is the Provincial Writers Association. Coming to the provincial capital is like going back to his workplace."

Do you think Teacher Chen will stay in the provincial capital for a long time?

"That's possible. He's currently a graduate student at Jiangnan University and also an official of the Provincial Writers Association, so it's quite reasonable for him to stay in the provincial capital."

"Wasn't Lujiawan a place that suffered heavy losses?"

"What loss? You have to look at things from a developmental perspective. Teacher Chen has already laid such a good foundation for Lujiawan. As long as we don't mess things up and continue on the current path, Lujiawan can develop steadily. Do you really want Teacher Chen to dedicate his whole life to Lujiawan?"

"That's right. Lujiawan needs to develop, and Teacher Chen himself needs to develop too. How can we keep him stuck in one place?"

“I’m telling you, you’re all just meddling in other people’s business. Teacher Chen can go wherever he wants. Whether he stays in Lujiawan or not is up to him. Do you think you’d be unhappy if he wanted to stay in Lujiawan?”

"No, no..."

Chen Fan ignored the buzzing chatter, admired the scenery for a while, then turned and waved his hand, "Let's go, dinner's on me."

A group of people followed behind, shouting and laughing, all beaming with joy.

Everyone in Lujiawan knows that working for Teacher Chen guarantees at least a decent meal.

It's a pity that the food in the cafeteria is so much worse than what Teacher Chen cooked himself!

……

After having a hearty meal at the canteen, Chen Fan drove to the provincial writers' association office.

I came and went in a hurry last time and didn't have a chance to look around properly. Now, it seems quite peaceful and serene amidst the hustle and bustle.

There was a courtyard facing the street. Going through the iron gate, you would enter a small courtyard with a three-story red brick building inside. It looked quite old, and Chen Fan suspected it was a Soviet-style office building built in the 50s.

The narrower side of the building faces the street, extending deep inside. There is also a larger flat courtyard on the side, with tall sycamore trees planted against the wall, their branches reaching all the way to the red-tiled roof. One can imagine that when the sun is blazing, only dappled light and shadow can be seen here.

Why can we only think?

Because it's dark now.

Chen Fan rolled down the car window, waved his work ID, but the old gatekeeper didn't even bother to look at it, sitting at the door with a large teacup in his hand. "Director Chen, no need to check."

Looking at the old man, Chen Fan was somewhat surprised, "You know me?"

He only came once, did He Qingsheng show him his photo?
But I didn't take any big photos myself.
The old man tilted his head back and laughed heartily, “I know you, how could I not? A few days ago you came over and snatched a case of cigarettes and a case of alcohol from Xiao He, which made him so angry that he couldn’t sleep for three days. I remembered you then.”

Chen Fan frowned slightly. Only three days?

It seems Chairman He has a lot of health points.

After chatting with the old man for a bit, Chen Fan drove into the courtyard, parked the car in a corner, and went straight to the second floor.

Although it was already past closing time, there were still quite a few people working in the building, with lights on in almost half of the rooms, and arguments could be heard coming from some of the offices.

Chen Fan slowed his pace, turned around, and went up the stairs.

The third room on the second floor is He Qingsheng's office.

His office door was also open, and there seemed to be quite a few people inside; they were probably having a meeting.

Chen Fan had just shown his face at the door when He Qingsheng, who was sitting on the sofa, saw him.

He jumped to his feet, shouting, "Hey, you dare come back?!"

With that, he rolled up his sleeves and rushed towards the door.

Chen Fan dodged the attack and rushed into the room, waving and greeting the group, "Sister Xu, Vice Chairman Tan, Director Xiong, Director Duan, hey, Brother Guo, you're here too! When did you arrive?"

Brother Guo is Guo Daorong, the chairman of the Yunhu District Writers Association branch, whose main job is the deputy director of Yunhu Zoo.

Chen Fan plopped down next to him and whispered, "Brother Guo, I need your help."

Guo Daorong looked at him with a smile, "Heh, you're begging me? You can't use the word 'begging'. Tell me what you need first. I won't do anything difficult."

The others also looked at him with smiles. He was a rising star in the Jiangnan literary scene. Not to mention this office, even in the entire Jiangnan Writers Association, all the veteran writers treated him as a junior, so there were naturally not many formalities in their interactions.

See, this is the benefit of being organized.

If it were a grassroots individual who had grown up in a wild and unregulated way, whether they could gain the approval of these intellectuals within the organization would be another matter entirely, let alone be regarded as a junior.

That has nothing to do with whether the work is excellent or not, but rather with "stance".

With family, anything is negotiable; with outsiders, anything is uncertain.

In other words, Chen Fan's first novel manuscript was submitted to "Jiangnan Literature and Art," otherwise his subsequent path might not have been so smooth.

Of course, there is now another important reason.

He was formally accepted as a disciple by Mr. Xu Zurui.

With this reputation, one can go anywhere in the country, not just the literary circles of Jiangnan!

Chen Fan picked up the Golden Dragon cigarettes on the table and scattered them around, handing the last one to He Qingsheng.

He Qingsheng, his face dark, snatched it away, saying, "You always use my cigarettes to do favors, but what about the box of cigarettes you took?"

Chen Fan took out a lighter and lit it for him, chuckling, "It's not robbery, it's advance payment."

He then lit one for himself, took a puff, glanced around at everyone, and said with an arrogant expression, "I'm not targeting anyone in particular, but all of you here are excellent at writing articles and doing academic research. However, when it comes to mundane matters, we, the commune members who have worked our way up from the production team, are the ones to rely on."

Tan Yong, vice chairman of the provincial writers' association, pointed at him and laughed, "Your flattery skills are still lacking."

Xu Qizhen nodded with pursed lips, "Isn't it just working in the fields? It's not like anyone hasn't done it before."

The crowd was immediately enraged and surrounded Chen Fan.

Chen Fan was so frightened that he backed away, "Hey, hey, hey, if you keep attacking me like this, I'm not going to take care of the correspondence training center anymore."

Guo Daorong, standing nearby, shook his head and laughed, "That's all you're good for."

He paused for a moment, then looked at Chen Fan and asked, "You still haven't said what it is?"

Chen Fan coughed lightly, moved forward a little to sit up straight, and said seriously, "Here's the situation: I set up a breeding farm in the production team and raised some things."

Guo Daorong frowned slightly. "A farm? You should contact the animal husbandry bureau. My place is a zoo. Wild animals and farms are not the same thing."

Chen Fan chuckled twice, "My place also has wild animals."

Guo Daorong raised an eyebrow slightly. "Oh? What kind of animal is it?"

Chen Fan gestured with his hand, "Three giant pandas..."

This immediately stunned Guo Daorong, who looked at him with a face full of surprise, "Giant panda? Those things are not easy to get or raise, where did you buy them from?"

"Is it hard to get?" Chen Fan blinked. "I bought it not far from Yunhu Wharf. It was brought over by an animal trainer from Sichuan. There was only one originally, but it was about to have babies, and the trainer was afraid it wouldn't survive, so he sold it to me for 80 yuan."

Then I took that giant panda and two panda twins home to raise. Now the two little ones are almost a year old.

Guo Daorong's mouth dropped open. "How did you manage to feed them? The pandas might have eaten them!"

The others also looked at Chen Fan with curiosity. They had all seen pandas perform before, but this was the first time they had ever seen someone keep a panda as a pet.

Hearing Guo Daorong's words, Chen Fan nodded in deep agreement, "They really can eat a lot. The bamboo from one production team isn't enough to feed the mother and her two children. We'd have to use all the bamboo from the entire commune."

At this moment, He Qing sighed and pointed at Chen Fan, looking at the others, and said, "This kid is a living ancestor in their production team. The breeding farm run by their production team, as well as the poultry and livestock raised by the farmers themselves, are all supported by him."

Later, he also started a side business using the poultry and livestock he raised, running a cooked food workshop and a cooked food shop, which now earns him tens of thousands of yuan a day.

Upon hearing this, Xu Qizhen was even more surprised, "Earning tens of thousands a day?"

He Qingsheng nodded, "Although it's the income of the entire production team, and the costs will be shared and dividends distributed to the members, this income is still among the best in the country."

He paused for a moment, then changed the subject, "That's not all. You all know about last year's college entrance exam. 23 students from Lujiawan alone became college students."

As he spoke, he pointed at Chen Fan a few times, saying, "Tell me, after doing something like this, will Lujiawan treat him like a living ancestor? Let alone picking some bamboo to feed the pandas, they'll still fawn over him for anything even more outrageous."

Chen Fan leaned back on the sofa, blinking repeatedly as he met the surprised gazes of the crowd. Something felt strange in his heart.

"No, who's the living ancestor?"

Chen Fan straightened his back and explained seriously, "It's because I'm very capable and skilled, and the leaders of the Lujiawan brigade trusted me and were willing to cooperate. It's only through everyone's joint efforts that we've achieved this little bit of success..."

"Bahhhhh."

Guo Daorong turned around and stopped him, asking hopefully, "Back to the pandas, are you having trouble keeping them and want to send them to the zoo?"

He patted his chest and said, "No problem, I'll take care of it!"

Chen Fan quickly stopped him, "No, no, no, that's not how it is."

Guo Daorong was taken aback. "No? Then what is it?"

Chen Fan chuckled twice. "Well, besides the three pandas, I also have a kestrel, a myna, two Japanese horses, two sheep, and a rat snake."

He glanced at the dumbfounded Guo Daorong and asked in a low voice, "With so many animals, can we register a branch of Yunhu Zoo, like Lujiawan Zoo?"

Guo Daorong snapped his jaw shut, looking at him with a strange expression. "Where did you get all these animals?"

Chen Fan blinked and chuckled, "Bought it, of course. Where else could I get it?"

He grabbed Guo Daorong's arm, "This little favor shouldn't be difficult, right?"

Guo Daorong frowned, clearly troubled. "Set up a branch park? There doesn't seem to be any precedent for that, does there? Besides, you don't have enough animals to run a proper park?"

Chen Fan immediately said, "Not enough, huh? No problem, we have plenty of wild animals. I'll get a couple more foxes and a few rabbits later. Is that enough? If not, we also have muntjacs, roe deer, badgers, hedgehogs..."

Guo Daorong raised his right hand, "Stop, stop, stop."

He looked at Chen Fan with a hint of helplessness in his eyes, "I can help you make an application to the park, but I can't guarantee whether it will be approved. But one thing is certain: regardless of whether it's approved or not, you have to take the wildlife keeper exam. We can offer that at the park, and I'll arrange it for you later."

Chen Fan clapped his hands, grinning from ear to ear, "No problem, I'll do whatever you say!"

He Qingsheng pointed at Chen Fan, then turned to the others and said, "Look, look, this is the kind of face they have when they ask for favors. They want to make conditions when they ask someone to do something for them."

Chen Fan's expression shifted, and he said seriously to He Qingsheng, "Uncle He, how can you say that? Didn't I just say that was an advance payment? Once the correspondence training center is built, do you think I'll just abandon it?!"

Amidst a soft chuckle, Xu Qizhen immediately looked at him and said, "You said it yourself, no one forced you!"

Chen Fan nodded resolutely, "What I said is a promise!"

"it is good!"

He Qingsheng grinned and said, "In that case, your appointment as director of the correspondence training center is approved! Everyone, give a round of applause."

clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap...

Amid the applause, Chen Fan was somewhat taken aback and turned to look at the group of people. "What director?"

He Qingsheng stood up, walked to his side, gently patted his shoulder, and said with a smile, "The director of the correspondence training center, the one you made a suggestion about last time."

He straightened his back, smoking a cigarette in one hand and pacing back and forth beside the sofa with the other behind his back. "In the few days you were away, our council passed a resolution to establish a correspondence training center for literary creation."

The application to establish the center has been approved by the Ministry of Culture. The next step is to assemble a team and officially begin operations.

He turned to face Chen Fan and said, "We were just discussing who should be the director of this correspondence center, and we all agreed that it is the most suitable choice for you, the one who made the suggestion, to take charge!"

Chen Fan pursed his lips. "So today I walked right into a trap?"

Vice Chairman Tan waved his hand, "Oh, how can you say that? It should be that with great power comes great responsibility. I think this position is rightfully yours!"

Director Xiong of the Creative Research Department nodded in agreement, "We just discussed whether to hand over the responsibility of this correspondence center to the Creative Research Department, but the final conclusion was that it was not appropriate."

Our writers' association conducts creative research specifically for writers with a writing foundation, which is quite different from literature enthusiasts with no prior experience.

The students at the correspondence center may not need overly advanced literary theories, but rather writing skills that will allow them to quickly get started. We can provide the materials for this, and even arrange for us to give lectures and answer students' questions.

However, to handle specific tasks, we need someone who can oversee the overall situation. I also have to manage the creative work of the Writers' Association members, which I'm truly unable to do, and I'm also unfamiliar with this new approach. Therefore, you are indeed the most suitable candidate.

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly. After all that talk, isn't it all going to fall on my head?!

He hesitated for two seconds, then looked up at He Qingsheng and asked, "Hey, Chairman He, am I considered to be holding two positions now?"

He Qingsheng nodded slightly, "Okay."

Chen Fan's eyes widened. "What about the salary?"

He Qingsheng glared at him irritably, "Don't get your hopes up."

He pointed around the room at the people inside, "Ask them, who doesn't hold multiple jobs?"

Then his tone softened, "Young people shouldn't be too concerned about rewards; they should make more contributions. That's the attitude that outstanding young people should have!"

Xu Qizhen nodded repeatedly, "Besides, isn't your job as the director of the European and American branch of the External Relations Department just an empty shell? You should focus your energy on the correspondence center; that would be more in line with your salary."

Chen Fan sighed softly, "Actually, I don't have to be the head of the European and American branch."

Upon hearing this, He Qingsheng's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly gave Xu Qizhen a look, signaling her to shut up.

Just kidding. This position was a hot potato before. We finally managed to persuade Chen Fan to take it over. How could we let him give up so easily?

He then coughed lightly and said slowly, "Since the General Association has established an External Liaison Department, it must have its purpose, and we must take on this responsibility."

Of course, we can't let hardworking colleagues suffer. As long as the work is done well, benefits and bonuses will all be there!

Chen Fan glanced at him. "I didn't expect you to be good at making empty promises!"

Seeing that he didn't react, He Qingsheng had no choice but to play his trump card.

He turned and sat on the sofa, took out a cigarette and handed it to him, chuckling softly, "If the correspondence center really generates high efficiency as you predict under your management, then the bonuses and benefits will be up to you."

Chen Fan's eyes lit up. "You'll approve it if I submit an application?"

He Qingsheng coughed twice, "As long as it's reasonable, we'll definitely approve it."

Chen Fan glanced at everyone and immediately understood.

This correspondence center was not originally within the Writers Association's responsibilities. In addition, the Writers Association is known for its high costs, so the money earned by the correspondence center naturally became the Writers Association's slush fund!
Just as he was about to agree, Vice Chairman Tan added another incentive, "Comrade Chen, do your job well. As long as you can achieve results, I will recommend you for vice chairman when the council members are formally elected at the end of this year!"

Chen Fan slapped his thigh and said, "Let's do it!"

Wow, that's a really big bait.

Vice Chairman? That's already at the deputy department level.

Of course, that's not the point. Just look at Vice Chairman Tan. It's a position with "high rank and great power but little responsibility." He usually doesn't have to do anything, but any important event in the unit is inseparable from his vote.

Unlike my current position as the head of the European and American branch, which will inevitably keep me extremely busy sooner or later.

A leisurely job like vice chairman is what Comrade Chen Fan loves most!

(End of this chapter)