Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 744 Congratulations
Chen Fan took Jiang Tiantian and Jiang Lili to the airport. Since it was still early, he found a place to sit and wait in the waiting area.

As soon as he sat down, he took out a thick stack of manuscript paper from his pocket, handed it to Jiang Tiantian, and said, "Take a look at this."

Jiang Tiantian took the paper, opened it, and Jiang Lili immediately leaned over, resting her head on her sister's shoulder, and looked at it together.

This is a story outline... no, it can no longer be called an outline, but is even more detailed than a detailed outline, specifying what each chapter should include, the story plot, the characters, each character's personality traits, basic military knowledge, descriptions of the local environment, and so on.

This is a story about a war correspondent, looking at the operation from the perspective of a war correspondent. Of course, the stance will naturally be closely aligned with our theme, standing on the moral high ground and proceeding from the perspective of justice.

For an author, as long as they read through the manuscript once and understand the most basic characters, locations, environments, causes, developments, and outcomes of the events, they can write it with ease.

Jiang Tiantian glanced through it, then turned to look at him helplessly, "You've already written so much detail, why didn't you just finish writing it? Why did you have to write it for me?"

Chen Fan took a water glass from Jiang Lili's handbag, took a slow sip, and just as he screwed the cap on, he heard Jiang Tiantian speaking. He couldn't help but shrug, "I didn't want to write in such detail either, but I was afraid you'd never written a novel before and wouldn't know how to write it."

"Once you finish this book, I'll give you only an outline for the next one, and a story synopsis for the one after that. After the third book, I'll only give you a title, and you'll write it yourself. At most, I'll accept your interviews and answer your questions. I'll only offer my opinions and suggestions after the book is finished."

Jiang Tiantian's eyes widened. "You can write a novel like this?"
Feeding them directly is the same as...

Jiang Lili looked left and right, then suddenly grabbed the manuscript paper from her sister's hand and stuffed it into her handbag. "Just write it, do you think you can't write it?"

Jiang Tiantian looked at her helplessly, "Right now, you only have him in your heart, and no one else exists."

"That won't happen."

Jiang Lili took her arm and said with a smile, "My dearest sister will definitely be there."

Chen Fan smiled, not minding, and continued to talk to Jiang Tiantian about some writing techniques.

After chatting for a while, Jiang Tiantian had a plan in mind and nodded to indicate that she understood.

Just then, two foreign women walked by not far ahead. Seeing their clothes, Chen Fan suddenly remembered something and turned to look at Jiang Lili, "Did you receive the fashion design book I asked Yali to send you?"

Jiang Lili turned her head and smiled, "You finally remembered me."

Chen Fan's lips twitched slightly, and he gently patted the back of her hand. "Don't be naughty."

Jiang Lili stuck out her tongue and then laughed, "I sent it a long time ago. Clothes abroad are indeed different from those in China. Based on their clothing styles, I tried to draw design sketches and even made a few outfits, but I didn't dare to take them out."

He paused for a moment, then added, "It's not a direct copy, but a modified design. The core elements have all been changed. You said we could use elements from traditional Chinese clothing, so I combined the two, but it's still very different from the clothes we wear in China."

Chen Fan nodded gently, "It's alright. After I'm done with things here, I'll go to Shanghai for a few days to see your work."

Jiang Lili's eyes lit up. "Okay!"

Then his eyes darted around, and no one knew what wicked idea he was plotting.

When it was finally time to board, Chen Fan watched them enter the boarding gate before turning and leaving.

Driving the van back, it took less than an hour to reach the vicinity of Beihai; it was still before 11 a.m.

As he walked along a small path and approached Chaoyang Temple, he saw many people heading towards the temple gate, while others seemed to be leaving from there.

He squinted and thought for a moment. In that area, apart from the main gate of Chaoyang Temple, there was only a courtyard house further in. There was nothing else, right?
Moreover, I've been here many times, and it doesn't seem to have been this lively before.

What's going on up ahead?
He thought for a moment, then shifted gears again, ready to drive forward.

Just then, a small door opened not far ahead, and Liu Juan appeared in the doorway, waving at him, "Brother Chen, this way, come in from here."

It turned out to be the back entrance of the Taoist temple.

The back door was originally designed to facilitate the movement of miscellaneous items, such as grocery shopping, without affecting the front yard.

Chen Fan immediately drove over and parked the car against the courtyard wall. Then he walked over and asked, "What's going on?"

As he approached, Liu Juan said excitedly, "There are so many people in front of us! Both courtyards are almost full. Even when Baiyun Temple was at its most popular, I've never seen so many people."

Chen Fan couldn't help but chuckle, "That's an exaggeration. Baiyun Temple is an ancient temple with a history of over a thousand years. It used to be a royal Taoist temple. What kind of scene hasn't it seen?"

He paused for a moment, then muttered to himself, "But in terms of density, it probably can't compare to this place."

Because this place is small, it gets crowded when there are many people, which makes it seem like there are a lot of people.

As soon as Chen Fan walked in, Liu Juan quickly closed the door and said, "I heard from them that many people came to burn incense and worship the gods early this morning. They used up more than a dozen bundles of incense sticks, and sold dozens of sticks of the 36-yuan-a-day incense. Lei Kongfeng has gone to clean the incense burner several times, and people are still coming in droves. Master Liu and the others are so busy they're dizzy."

Chen Fan stopped in his tracks, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Master Liu is here too?"

Liu Juan nodded immediately, "Not long after you left, Master Liu came over. He was worried about whether Yin Yue and the others could do their job well, so he came to check on them."

Fortunately, Master Liu arrived in time; otherwise, they wouldn't have known what to do.

Oh, by the way, Grandpa Zhang, Grandpa Lin, and Grandpa Li are here too. They were helping out in front earlier, but then some guests came looking for you, so you took them to the backyard for tea.

He pointed to the prayer hall and whispered, "They're still inside, waiting for you to come back."

Chen Fan turned his head and looked around, but instead of rushing over, he asked, "We might have a banquet today, so you should prepare in advance. If you don't have enough food, go out and buy some more."

Liu Juan nodded immediately, "We have enough supplies, we're already preparing."

Chen Fan smiled and turned to walk towards the scripture hall.

Inside the scripture hall, the long table used for reading had been transformed into a tea table. A dozen guests sat around the table, each with a teacup in front of them. Zhang Xuansong and his two companions sat scattered among the group, chatting with them.

Chen Fan knocked on the door, waited two seconds, and then pushed the door open, almost bumping into Lin Yuanxiang who was opening the door.

He had just called out "Second Master" when he saw the people at the table. He was quite surprised and quickly walked over. "Why are you all together?"

There were three groups of people who came. One group consisted of several members of the Writers' Association, but it was not Mr. Mao or Mr. Chen.

They couldn't possibly come to a place like this.

The reason is simple: those elders were all party members who joined the organization early on, so how could they openly come to a place like this?

These people who came are all from democratic parties and have no such taboos, but in the current environment, coming here also carries considerable risk. The lingering influence is still strong, and the ripples have not yet subsided.

I remember it was either 83 or 84 when a small storm swept through the organization, and one of the current leaders even retired because of it, never to return to management.

This shows how precious their arrival was.

The second group, however, was both unexpected and reasonable.

Those are the Beijing offices of Yunhu Machinery Factory and Yunhu Home Appliance Factory.

Director Shen from the former machinery factory's Beijing office and Director Li from the newly established home appliance factory both came, along with several entourages.

This Director Li is not the former Deputy Factory Director Li, but the current Party Secretary and Factory Director of the home appliance factory. However, they are quite related. Chen Fan met him a few days ago when he went to collect his oil coupons. According to Director Shen, he is a relative of Director Li, but the specific relationship was not mentioned.

But since Director Li entrusted him with this important task, he knew that he was neither an outsider nor an ordinary person.

The last group of people had relationships that were both the shallowest and the deepest.

Those were the two heads of Wanmuchun Company's Beijing office.

To say they are the most superficial is naturally because we are not familiar with them; to say they are the most profound is, of course, because they represent Uncle Zhou Zhengdong.

While Chen Fan was still celebrating the Lunar New Year in Lujiawan, Zhou Zhengdong transferred two people from the United States and found several technical engineers from Hong Kong to form a small team, which first arrived in Beijing.

The office was located in front of Chen Fan's residence, in the place originally prepared for the machinery factory, in that four-story H-shaped office building.

Then, while Chen Fan was heading to the southwest, several more people arrived and waited for the equipment to arrive before starting installation and debugging.

However, there were not many of them, and they only occupied part of the first floor, not even the entire floor.

Now, more than a month has passed, and the equipment installation should be nearing completion, but it's unclear when it will be put into operation.

Once he recognized who it was, Chen Fan quickly walked over and waved to greet them one by one.

When Lin Yuanxiang and his two companions saw him coming, they greeted the guests without saying a word, turned around and left, leaving the place to their apprentice.

Fortunately, Xu Xianling and Liu Yinxia were there to wait for us, so we weren't left without anyone to serve us.

Chen Fan sat down on the bench, and Xu Xianling immediately brought him a cup of tea. After thanking her, he looked around at everyone and said with a smile, "What a wonderful day it is that everyone has come?"

Tan Hongbo, the oldest member of the Writers Association, spoke first, laughing, "I heard yesterday that a Chaoyang Temple has been completed and opened here, and the abbot is you. We definitely have to come and see it to satisfy our curiosity, and also to offer our congratulations."

Yesterday, quite a few "outsiders" came over. As one of the most well-informed organizations, it's not surprising that they knew about this situation.

Director Shen and Director Li, along with the two somewhat reserved managers from Wanmuchun Company's office, nodded in agreement, indicating that they had come for the same purpose.

The former simply got close to Chen Fan and learned of the news when Chen Fan visited the area last time. The latter was following Zhou Zhengdong's instructions, and Zhou Zhengdong knew about it naturally because of the communication between Jiang Lili and Zhou Yali.

And so, after a while, the three groups of people actually came together.

Chen Fan looked around again, clasped his hands in thanks, and said, "Thank you all very much. Don't rush off later, have a simple meal here."

Everyone else readily accepted the invitation, except for Manager Fan from Wanmuchun Company, who spoke with a slightly accented Mandarin and said apologetically, “I’m so sorry, Mr. Chen, no, I mean, Master Qinglian, we came here on Mr. Zhou’s instructions to offer our congratulations. Since your temple was closed for a ceremony yesterday, it was inconvenient for us to come, so we came today.”

"Well, we still need to go to the telephone exchange later to test the telephone exchange, so we're really in a rush..."

He was also wondering what kind of temper this big boss's nephew had. He hoped he wouldn't be like those rich young masters who didn't like others disobeying them.

But the work is really stressful. According to the contract, there will be a bonus if the project is completed ahead of schedule, but if it is not completed, it will be terrible.

After listening for a while, Chen Fan roughly understood what they meant, so he smiled and waved his hand to interrupt them, saying, "It's alright, it's alright. Since there's important business, there's nothing we can do about it. Manager Fan, you can come and visit again next time you have time. The Taoist cuisine at the temple is quite palatable, you might as well come and try it."

Anyway, they were just following orders and weren't really familiar with each other. Forcing them to stay would only make things awkward for each other. They could leave if they wanted to.

Upon hearing this, Manager Fan beamed with joy and stood up with his colleagues, bowing repeatedly with their palms together to express their gratitude.

It was this etiquette that made Chen Fan's eyes twitch.

I really want to correct him. Putting your hands together in prayer is only used in Buddhist temples. It doesn't work for Taoist priests and it also carries a sense of disrespect.

Even the simplest gesture of bowing is better than this.

But after thinking about it, I decided against it. Anyway, they weren't real believers. Taoists don't care about formalities with non-Buddhists; as long as the intention is there, that's enough.

Moreover, the Quanzhen School emphasizes the "harmony of the three teachings." Although it classifies itself as Taoism, it ultimately incorporates some Buddhist doctrines. So, it's fine to just put your palms together without making a cross.

Just as Manager Fan and his team were about to leave, Chen Fan suddenly asked, "Manager Fan, if I may ask you when the program-controlled exchange will be put into use?"

Upon hearing this, Director Shen and Writer Tan both perked up their ears and looked at Manager Fan.

Manager Fan snapped out of his daze and said with a smile, "It's not a secret, of course I can talk about it. Although there were some troubles at the beginning, they have all been resolved, and the project is progressing smoothly and has entered the final stage."

If there are no further issues, the trial operation should begin by the end of this month at the latest.

Chen Fan nodded and then asked, "Could you tell me whether it's for domestic or international calls?"

Manager Fan replied without hesitation, "We have equipped Beijing with two devices, one for domestic use and one for international use. Since the number of international calls is not particularly high at present, it should meet the needs for the next five years."

However, regarding domestic phone service, we can't guarantee anything. We can only deploy one unit for trial purposes initially. If it doesn't meet our needs, we might add another unit later.

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow. "Four million US dollars for one machine? Is that something Beijing can afford?"

Manager Fan pushed up his glasses and said with a smile, "As long as the effect is good, they should be willing to spend. Moreover, they can pay after use, which is a rare opportunity. In fact, it's practically unique among all the relevant multinational companies."

Chen Fan nodded and smiled, "I understand, thank you."

Manager Fan bowed slightly, "You're welcome."

Seeing that he had no other questions, he left with his colleagues.

(End of this chapter)