Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 988 A Tumultuous Time (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Tickets: 3K Chapters)

"What did you write?" Seeing Fang Yan's strange expression, Zhu Lin leaned closer and asked curiously.

Fang Yan handed her the letter. After glancing at its contents, Zhu Lin looked surprised: "Going to Japan to study in a while?" Before she could finish speaking, she suddenly realized, "Didn't you say last time that the Japanese wanted to invite you? Are these two things related?"

Nodding in dialect:

“There must be a connection. How long has my second sister been studying? Even if her grades are excellent, there’s no need for the teacher to take her abroad to study. And why did they have to invite her at this time of year…” His tone turned serious. “Otsuka Keisetsu and the others really want the secret formula I have. When they saw that I wasn’t taking the bait, they set their sights on my family.”

Zhu Lin said urgently:

"Then quickly send a telegram to tell Second Sister not to go!"

Fang Yan shook his head: "No need for that trouble."

Seeing Zhu Lin's puzzled expression, he explained:

“I’ll call Director Liao directly and explain the situation. Someone will handle it. Sending a telegram might backfire, and besides, you know her temper.”

Zhu Lin recalled her interactions with Fang Yan's second sister, and had indeed experienced the latter's stubbornness firsthand: the more forbidden something was, the more likely it was to be done. The limited word count of a telegram only made things more difficult to explain. She nodded in agreement.

"Makes sense."

Then, Fang Yan picked up the phone on the table and dialed Director Liao's number. It rang for a while before being answered.

A young male voice came through the receiver, speaking in a dialect:
"Hello, is this Secretary Zhou? This is Fang Yan. I need to speak with Director Liao."

A moment later, Director Liao took the phone.

Fang Yan first inquired about the itinerary of the Japanese Socialist Party delegation and learned that they had already flown back to Japan from Shanghai before revealing the whole story.

After listening to the account, Director Liao's tone was serious:

"Don't worry, I'll notify the Shanghai side immediately."

"And my second sister's teacher..." Fang Yan hesitated, then stopped.

"Understood, we'll investigate this thoroughly," Director Liao replied on the other end.

Fang Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Then I'll have to trouble Director Liao! Thank you!"

"You're welcome! I'll get right on it," Director Liao replied.

He agreed in dialect and then hung up the phone.

It's clear that Director Liao takes this matter very seriously.

This is something happening right under his nose, and he didn't even notice. Doesn't this mean that some of the people below him also have problems?

Think carefully!

Next, Fang Yan said to Zhu Lin:

"Don't tell Mom and Dad about this yet, so they won't worry."

"Understood!" Zhu Lin nodded.

Fang Yan rubbed his stiff face and forced a smile, saying:
"Alright, let Anton and Zhengyi come in and learn!"

Zhu Lin smiled, nodded, and went out, calling Anton and Zhao Zhengyi in.

Then, the dialect lesson lasted for another half hour.

After class, the two of them were left in the study to test each other, and Fang Yan came out of the study.

At this moment, the family's dog and cat surrounded him and started to fawn over him.

The food at home is good, and even the cats and dogs are shiny and healthy.

They look exceptionally healthy.

Fang Yan rubbed the belly of her cat and then noticed that her cat's belly had swelled up at some point.

Is she pregnant? Or has she just gained weight?

Cats typically experience their first heat cycle around six to ten months of age.

Some smaller cats may have it even earlier.

Fang Yan touched his stomach, also feeling a bit unsure.

My cat should be close to the heat cycle, but I usually see it just sitting at home. Could it be that it's gotten fat?

Fang Yan found that his experience with traditional Chinese medicine was ineffective against this domestic cat.

"Whatever... Whether she gets fat, gets pregnant, or both, it doesn't matter..." Fang Yan muttered as he rubbed the cat rolling over on its belly at his feet.

Just then, the sound of a motorcycle engine came from the doorway.

"My mom's back!" Mingzhu, who was squatting to the side petting the dog with Fangyan, immediately jumped up.

Sure enough, my older sister, younger brother, and sister-in-law came in a short while later.

The eldest sister was holding her child, the younger brother was pushing a beat-up tricycle, and the sister-in-law had a camera given to her by Fang Yan hanging around her neck. It was a precious camera and she dared not leave it at school.

"Where are Dad and the others?" The younger brother parked his tricycle under the eaves of the yard and asked Fang Yan.

“They took the bus and haven’t come back yet,” Fang Yan replied.

At this moment, the sister-in-law said to Fang Yan:

"By the way, brother-in-law, let me take a couple of pictures of you!"

"Why are you taking pictures of me?" Fang Yan asked, puzzled.

The sister-in-law explained:

"No one at school has seen a clear photo of you. They said they're afraid they won't recognize you when they see you in the future!"

He asked in dialect:

"Why do you suddenly want to get to know me?"

The sister-in-law said:
"You're the talk of the class today."

“It’s the same in our class!” the younger brother said.

"And so are we," the older woman holding the child added.

Fang Yan was both amused and exasperated, and asked:
"Is it because I was walking with Principal Ji?"

The sister-in-law said:
"Well, almost."

Fang Yan nodded:

"Okay, can I hold the black girl while we take the pictures?"

Without even needing to greet her in Fang Yan's dialect, Hei Niu trotted over and sat down next to Fang Yan, then stuck out her tongue and looked at Zhu Xian with an adorable, goofy expression.

As a result, my sister-in-law gestured through the viewfinder for a while, then shook her head:

"Not good..."

"What?" Fang Yan asked. His sister-in-law said:
"That makes people think you're a veterinarian."

"..." Fang Yan was speechless.

He thought for a while and said:

"Fang Chen, come here! Let's take a picture together, you hold Hei Niu."

Fang Chen was a little confused, but he still walked over.

The black girl walked to his side and nudged him with her hands, signaling him to pick her up.

The younger brother used all his strength to lift the much heavier wolfhound.

"Crack"!
The shutter clicked, and this photo was taken.

"That's much better!" Zhu Xian nodded, quite satisfied.

Then she added:

"Brother-in-law, take another one by yourself!"

"Okay!" Fang Yan agreed. Since he wasn't paying for the film himself, he wouldn't mind taking a hundred shots.

Then they took several more photos of Fang Yan as the model.

The sister-in-law didn't stop until the film was finished.

"My brother-in-law is so photogenic."

"I feel that if you were to act in the movie, you would definitely be better than that Ti Lung guy," Zhu Xian praised Fang Yan.

Fang Yan cupped his hands in greeting:

"Oh, thank you for your kind words!"

Fang Yan then checked the time, patted the cat fur off his body, and prepared to go to the kitchen to help prepare dinner.

Today, my mother and mother-in-law are cooking inside, so Fangyan has to go and prepare a couple of dishes.

Her Majesty has not fully recovered, so the family has not allowed her to do any work.

The dishes were ready to be cooked, and Fang Yan's mother and mother-in-law naturally made way for him. When he was around, everyone preferred him to be in charge of cooking.

Fang Yan had just finished cooking the dishes when Lao Hu and his wife Huang Huijie arrived.

Zhu Lin stopped going to work today, and Huang Huijie was bored and picking her toes in the hospital. She finally couldn't hold back anymore and came over, immediately pulling Zhu Lin aside to ask her questions.

Knowing that Zhu Lin was ill and had been granted special permission by the hospital director to begin maternity leave, Huang Huijie quickly asked Zhu Lin if there was anything else that was bothering her.

Old Hu said from the side:
"With Fang Yan around, how could he let his wife get sick? He's worrying about nothing all the time!"

"Oh, that makes sense..." Huang Huijie realized.

Then he said helplessly:
"Everyone says that your IQ drops when you're pregnant, and I've found that my brain really isn't working well either."

After saying that, he chuckled to himself.

Zhu Lin said:

"Fang Yan said it's because you don't have enough Yin blood. Yin blood nourishes the brain marrow, and the mind depends on Yin blood for nourishment. Insufficient Yin blood affects your thinking. I'll ask him to prescribe some medicine for you later to replenish it!"

“Okay,” Huang Huijie said.

Then she realized what she had said and asked:
"By the way, are you all better now?"

Zhu Lin was both amused and exasperated, feeling that Huang Huijie was a beat slow on the uptake. She nodded:
"Well, it's almost done."

Huang Huijie said enviously:

"Dialects are really powerful, they cure everything..."

After saying that, he praised Zhu Lin:
"Look at your memory, you said it right away. My brain is a complete mess right now. If I were to repeat what Lao Hu said a minute ago, I could only remember one or two sentences the next minute."

Zhu Lin said:

"Then you really should take care of it, otherwise you'll end up like me."

Huang Huijie was surprised:
"You also have insufficient Yin blood?"

“Yes!” Zhu Lin nodded.

Huang Huijie said:
"Then I'll have to ask him to take a look."

After a while, Fang Yan and his family finished cooking their dishes and were just waiting for everyone to arrive before they could start eating.

My father and father-in-law haven't come back yet.

I called the school to inquire, and they said they had already left the school and set off.

Fang Yan and the others didn't know what was going on, so they could only wait at home. Fang Yan also took a look at Huang Huijie, and it turned out that Zhu Lin had indeed made a good judgment on her.

Fang Yan prescribed a similar remedy.

Using the method described in the *Jiyin Compendium*:
10g of donkey-hide gelatin (melted), 12g of white peony root, 15g of stir-fried jujube seed, 9g of poria cocos, and 6g of dried tangerine peel.

This formula nourishes blood and calms the mind without causing stagnation of qi, making it especially suitable for cognitive decline caused by insufficient yin and blood during pregnancy.

By the time we finished looking at the things, it was getting dark, but my father and father-in-law still hadn't come home.

The atmosphere at home suddenly became tense. Fang Yan and her brother-in-law felt a chill and quickly prepared to go out to look for the person.

Just then, the two finally returned.

"Oh dear, you're back late!" The father-in-law and father-in-law stepped across the threshold and said repeatedly.

Fang Yan hurriedly asked, "Why did it take so long? We were just about to go out and look for you."

The father-in-law waved his hand: "We encountered a thief on the bus just now! After he was caught, he was still very arrogant and fought with the people on the bus. In the end, he pulled out a knife and stabbed someone. We couldn't stand it, so we stepped in and subdued him. We only came out after giving our statements at the police station."

Fang Yan was taken aback: "Wait...you fought with the thief?" You should know that the two of them were always kind to others and never got into conflicts with anyone easily.

The father-in-law chuckled:
"At the time, I was carrying a newly bought kimchi jar, intending to take some kimchi from your place. I never expected to encounter a thief with a knife. In the emergency, I didn't think much and, seeing that the angle and timing were right, I simply grabbed the jar and smashed it at him like a weapon. The guy passed out on the spot."

"Then everyone went up together and took the knife from his hand. Some people took the injured man to the hospital for treatment, while others helped us take him to the police station."

"We were delayed a bit, that's why we're back late!" she said, with a hint of pride.

At this moment, the brother-in-law spoke up and asked:
"You mean there was only one thief in the car?"

The father-in-law nodded:
"Yeah, just him."

Dad nodded in agreement.

PS: After finishing this chapter, I still owe everyone 83000 words.

That's all for today, please come early tomorrow!
Lao Feng is working hard to write tomorrow's!

(End of this chapter)