Reborn in 1977

The sky cleared after the snow.

Early in the morning, Luciawan was shrouded in a thick fog, appearing and disappearing under the sunlight. It was estimated that this thick fog would dissipate before long.

The twenty-third sweeps away the dust, the twenty-fourth sends off the Kitchen God, the twenty-fifth makes tofu, the twenty-sixth prepares fish and meat…

Today was the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month. Early in the morning, smoke was rising from the chimneys of every household, and the aroma of soybeans permeated the air. This was the taste of the New Year.

In the past, not every household in Luciawan would make their own tofu. Except for a very few families who would buy soybeans and painstakingly grind the soybeans and make tofu, most families would simply carry a small basket to the tofu workshop in Team 10 and buy a few cents' or a dollar's worth of tofu, and then buy some maltose to take home to prepare for the New Year.

It was only in the past two years, as incomes had increased, that people had begun to pay more attention to the New Year festival, and some had bought stone mills and soybeans to make tofu at home.

Huang Li got up early in the morning, made the first batch of tofu, picked up the tofu and put it in a basket, covered it with a cloth, and was about to go out.

Her mother quickly called out, "Is this enough? Don't take too little. During the New Year, many people will definitely go to pay New Year's greetings to Teacher Chen…"

Before she could finish, Huang Li turned her head and smiled, "If it's not enough, won't I come back for more?"

Her mother immediately swallowed the rest of her words and grinned awkwardly, "That's true."

Huang Li quickly covered the cotton cloth, "If it's not enough, I'll come back for more."

Huang Ying frowned slightly and suddenly said, "Take a few more pieces of fermented bean dregs. The teacher likes to eat that."

Huang Li suddenly patted her head, "Oh, I forgot about that."

Then she stuffed the basket into her elder sister's hands, turned around and ran to the kitchen in the back.

When she came back, she had a large bowl in her hand, filled with a few pieces of fermented bean dregs.

These fermented bean dregs were left over from helping relatives make tofu a few days ago. After a few days of fermentation, a layer of beautiful white fur had grown on the surface. At this time, they were put in a bowl and held directly in her arms.

The two sisters then went out together.

As they walked to the middle of the village, they happened to meet Yang Ju, Yang Mei, Liu Dan, and Liu Lu.

Teacher Chen's six disciples from the two batches, before and after, were all gathered.

Oh, there was still Zhang Cuie from Team 5.

The group walked on the snow, talking all the way, and soon arrived at Teacher Chen's house on the small hillside behind the village.

While they were still at the bottom of the slope, two dogs twisted their bodies and wagged their tails wildly, barking and welcoming them.

Huang Li, Yang Mei and Liu Lu were fine, they came over every day. Yang Ju, Huang Ying and Liu Dan couldn't stand it. Each of them opened their eyes wide and greeted them with giggles, "Duo Duo, Qiu Qiu."

The dogs' barking seemed to have become a signal, and soon awakened a group of animals.

In the panda enclosure, Gun Gun led her son and daughter out of the room. Seeing the white snow on the ground, they excitedly rolled around first, and immediately forgot about the six girls outside, having a great time.

A myna bird poked its head out of its nest under the eaves, cautiously looked at the sky first, and immediately spotted the three snow-white gyrfalcons standing on the treetops, and shrank back with a whoosh.

A few seconds later, it finally couldn't resist its curiosity and secretly poked out a bird's head.

The hobby next door looked at it with disdain, spread its wings and flew to where the three gyrfalcons were, flapping its wings and standing beside them.

It looked at the three heroic little guys and hummed in its heart, so what if you're powerful? Weren't you brought out by me? Without this bird's hard work and teaching, would they be able to catch fish and birds?

Welcomed by the two dogs, Yang Ju and the others climbed up to the top of the slope, holding on to the bamboo railing. Before they could greet the three pandas, they saw the little mare and the colt running over one after the other.

The two horses ran around the clearing, trampling the clean snow into a mess.

Yang Ju stepped forward and hugged the colt's head, gently patting it twice, "You're so big and still naughty, be careful Teacher Chen spanks your butt."

The colt blinked its eyes. Spank whose butt? Isn't it pat?

Two grown sheep happened to run over from behind the house. Seeing that the two horses had been stopped, they didn't dare to run wild anymore, and obediently lay down under the eaves, bleating from time to time.

Huang Li pushed open the kitchen door, put the tofu and fermented bean dregs away, and took out a few large bamboo brooms from the corner, um, the kind that street sweepers use in the city, and distributed them to everyone, "Don't just stand there, hurry up and get to work."

Inside the house, Zhou Yali was sleeping sprawled out on the large kang, with two little monkeys curled up into a ball next to her pillow, snoring softly.

She was having a sweet dream when she suddenly felt like she heard the sound of sweeping, and only then did she groggily open her eyes.

However, although she was awake, she didn't get out of bed. Instead, she wrapped the quilt even tighter, lay on her side, and stared at the door, waiting for someone to call her.

In the room on the second floor, the portable fireplace in the corner was burning brightly, obviously with newly added charcoal in the morning.

A computer was placed on the table, and Chen Fan sat at the table, took a sip of green tea he had brewed in the morning, and outputted a burst of text on the keyboard.

In the past, in this kind of weather, he would either be wearing a fur coat or wrapped in a cotton quilt. But now, he was only wearing a set of not-so-thick cotton home clothes, and he was in good spirits, without any of the drowsiness of getting up early.

He insisted on cultivating the Tao every day, without meditating or chanting scriptures, but only cultivating the Tao in his daily life, whether sitting, lying, walking, or moving. His experience points increased with a 'cha cha cha' sound, but he didn't know what realm he had reached or how deep his Taoism was.

The key was that there was no reference standard for this thing.

Anyway, he could sleep whenever he wanted, be sleepy whenever he wanted, wake up whenever he wanted, and be energetic whenever he wanted. He didn't feel hot wearing cotton clothes in summer, and he didn't feel cold being bare-chested in winter. The whole person was muddle-headed and extremely casual.

Therefore, he paid special attention to the weather. When it snowed, he had to burn the stove and wear cotton clothes. In summer, he had to turn on the electric fan and air conditioner, and strive to maintain the persona of a normal person, and be sure to ensure that no one would discover any clues.

So, it was very reasonable for him to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning, when it was snowing heavily outside and the indoor temperature was 3 degrees Celsius, and to re-ignite the extinguished fireplace bare-chested as if nothing had happened.

Zhou Yali nestled on the kang, wrapping the cotton quilt even tighter. Suddenly, her heart thumped. Could the kang fire have gone out?

She went to bed on the kang at more than eight o'clock last night. What time was it now?

Looking out the window, the sky was already bright, at least 7:30. After burning for twelve hours, it should have gone out.

Then, should she get out of this bed, or not?

That was the question!

Just as she was struggling, she suddenly smelled a sweet aroma, and her eyes lit up. She reached out from the quilt and dragged the clothes placed on the kang into the quilt with a whoosh.

After holding them for a while, she felt that the clothes were not cold either.

That's right, how could they be cold when they were placed on the kang.

So, she didn't sit up but started operating inside the quilt. When she lifted the quilt, she was fully dressed in home wear, socks, and gloves.

She went to the mirror, looked at herself, and nodded with satisfaction. After tidying up a bit to make her clothes look better, she took the hat from the coat rack, put it on, draped the purple mink coat over her shoulders, and bravely opened the door, walking out with her head held high and chest out.

Opening the door, she saw a clean courtyard and white snow in the distance.

At this time, the thick fog had just begun to dissipate. Under the sunlight, the distant trees, dikes, and fields were shrouded in white mist, yet they exuded a bit of brightness, adding a touch of rustic charm to the beautiful scenery.

Before she could admire it enough, several girls walked out of the kitchen.

Yang Mei said, "Shigu, you're up? Did you sleep well?"

Zhou Yali turned her face to look and quickly waved her hand, saying, "I told you yesterday, don't call me Shigu. We're not that far apart in age. Just call me Cousin."

It was truly ghostly. Her younger brother was only 18 years old and had already taken in several fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen-year-old disciples. And he dared to agree when people called him Shifu?!

Just as Yang Mei was feeling embarrassed, Yang Ju, Huang Ying, and Liu Dan had already filled their faces with smiles and sweetly called out, "Cousin."

Only then did Zhou Yali respond with a face full of smiles, "Hey. Good morning, everyone."

Yang Ju took two steps forward and said with a smile, "Cousin, breakfast is ready. Would you like to eat first?"

Zhou Yali looked back, "I'll go upstairs and see if your Shifu is awake."

After speaking, she turned and walked inside.

If it had been before, Yang Mei and the others would have gone upstairs to wake him up long ago.

But now that Cousin was here, and it was said that Shifu had confirmed his relationship with Jiang Zhiqing, there was a difference between men and women, and it would definitely be inappropriate to go up rashly again.

So, the qualification to wake him up could only be regrettably lost.

Zhou Yali happily climbed up to the second floor, reached the master bedroom door, and knocked on the door, "Little brother, are you awake?"

Chen Fan didn't even turn his head, "You can come in."

Zhou Yali pushed the door open and entered, seeing that the fireplace was burning brightly, and quickly closed the door.

Then she approached Chen Fan, and immediately frowned, "What is this?"

She thought her younger brother was writing a book, but she didn't expect to see strings of code.

She couldn't understand it at all.

Chen Fan didn't stop his hands, glanced back at her, and smiled, "I made a little game."

Zhou Yali raised her eyebrows slightly, "A game? A computer game? Or a game console game?"

There weren't many computer games at this time. The mainstream of electronic games was divided into two types: arcade games and home game consoles.

In fact, the situation of the two types of games was similar. They were both a machine with a game cartridge that could be played.

Computer games, on the other hand, were built into personal computers, with smaller capacity. Unless an expansion card slot was used, it was difficult to compare with game cartridges.

Chen Fan didn't answer her immediately. He calmly typed the last line of code, did another series of operations, and finally started the trial run.

Immediately, several strange shapes composed of small squares appeared on the computer screen, falling down little by little from the top of the screen.

He gently pressed the up arrow key, and the falling object immediately changed direction. Then he pressed the down arrow key, and the falling speed increased, falling to the bottom in a flash.

Familiar friends must have guessed it. That's right, it was the century game invented by Alexey Pajitnov in June 1984, "Tetris."

Previously, Chen Fan had asked Zhou Yali to send him two sets of American game consoles, as well as several popular game cartridges, such as "Space Invaders" and "Canyon Bomber," which was a scrolling shooter game.

Chen Fan also tried to play it and felt it was okay, but the picture quality was too poor and the game was too monotonous.

He heard that making electronic games was also very profitable these days. Atari, the world's number one game company, had a market value of up to 3.2 billion US dollars.

This was 3.2 billion in 1978 and 1979, and it was just electronic games!

So Chen Fan thought, if Wanmuchun Company could develop a few classic mini-games after the multi-protocol router was successfully developed, would it be more popular in the capital market?!

In fact, it wasn't about how much the company could be worth at most, but he hoped that through game development and sales, Wanmuchun Company could become more well-known in the United States.

Weren't Americans all about freedom? Plunder is also a kind of freedom.

If the company didn't have a reputation, they had many ways to put pressure on Wanmuchun Company... Anyway, the two countries had already established diplomatic relations, and the usefulness of the old uncle as a primary tool person had been exhausted. If nothing happened, they would still give him some face in all aspects.

But if the interests were too great and there were no other restrictions, who would recognize him as a person?

Conversely, if Wanmuchun Company became famous because of its products, so that more people knew about this company, then at least on the surface, he would have more chips to make the big capital investors wary.

This was one of the reasons why Chen Fan suddenly thought of developing games.

The second reason was that making electronic games was indeed very profitable, even more profitable than writing Western fantasy novels.

Since this was the case, he unceremoniously copied several classic games from later generations to help his old uncle and older sister.

What? The company also has half of his share?

They're all family, so don't worry about that much.

His three computers, one in Shanghai, one in the Provincial City Literary New Village, and the last one in Lujiawan, happened to be in these three places during this time, and he didn't delay at all, easily completing the goal.

Today's game was the last one.

Zhou Yali watched him play for a while, and her eyes couldn't help but shine.

Tetris was very simple to operate, even without other buttons. It could be operated with four arrow keys, and any normal person could understand it.

So she decisively pushed someone away with her butt... Couldn't push him?

Then continue to use force!

Chen Fan's eyes twitched, and he silently gave up the chair, stood behind her, crossed his arms, and smiled without saying a word.

Zhou Yali took control of the game and quickly entered the zone, shouting at the computer, "Ah ah ah, change, change, change quickly... Ah, why is the speed increasing? Little brother, save me..."

Chen Fan said with a dark face, "This game doesn't have any other difficulty. The only increase in difficulty is acceleration. If there are no levels, how can you beat it? If you don't beat it, where does the sense of accomplishment come from?"

Zhou Yali was struggling with the blocks, too nervous to speak as she watched the blocks fall.

She was lucky enough to pass this level, and the next level came immediately.

This time, she was finally not so lucky. After barely eliminating two lines, the blocks quickly filled the space.

Finally, the computer screen flashed a phrase, "game over!"

Zhou Yali also let out a scream, "Ah..., I'm dead."