Chapter 1474: Vitality

Xiaobai:

Hello.

I miss you on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi.

Boarding the train in Beijing to leave, the educated youth were full of laughter and joy all the way. After transferring in Changan and heading north, we arrived in a world of yellow.

Counting Dayong and me, there are three men and seven women, assigned to Baidian Village, Lin County, Hechuan Commune. We live in cave dwellings, which I heard used to be a landlord's home. Because it has been in disrepair for years and is leaky everywhere, my carpentry skills have found a place to be displayed. I have also recommended my skills to the brigade cadres, and in the future, I can also make furniture for the villagers to earn money, so life should be worry-free.

Water is extremely scarce here. The people of Baidian Village say they were born with bad luck; if they were ten li further away, they could have water to use whenever they wanted. Yes, getting water in Baidian Village requires walking ten li of mountain road.

Are you doing well in the army? You said you would be a military doctor; this is a profession that cannot stop learning. I imagine you must be very tired. Balance work and rest, and take care of your health.

You can write to me and tell me about your life in the army.

Xiaobai, I miss you on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi.

Anonymous

In a certain unit in Inner Mongolia, Zhou Xiaobai hid to read the letter the moment she received it. After reading it, she felt both sweet and full of worry about Wang Yan's current situation.

"What are you doing?" Luo Yun quietly leaned over.

Startled, Zhou Xiaobai jumped, and seeing it was Luo Yun, she slapped her irritably: "People scaring people can scare them to death, don't you know that?"

"It's a letter from Wang Yan, right?" Luo Yun smiled and took a rough look. "Xiaobai, 'Hello, I miss you on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi.' Oh my, that's so cheesy..."

Seeing Zhou Xiaobai about to fly into a rage, she quickly said, "But don't say that, Xiaobai, Wang Yan's handwriting is really beautiful, like a dragon flying and a phoenix dancing, some big and some small, looking especially comfortable, like a painting. Oh, right, Wang Yan himself knows calligraphy and painting. I remember the 'Long March' painting he did for your dad; it's really beautiful!"

"That's right!" Zhou Xiaobai was satisfied. "Everyone who has been to our house says that painting is good, and the handwriting is also good. One day my dad even took the painting down and sent it to Haizi (Zhongnanhai), and he was happy for half a month after getting it back."

Zhou Xiaobai's father's rank was also very high, a big figure within the top two hundred. However, even so, he didn't always get into Haizi. Her dad was only a second-tier decision-maker, not core decision-making level.

Plus, relatively speaking, there were more internal governance issues, and her dad was a very busy person in the military system, so he rarely went into Haizi to report work on weekdays.

Luo Yun continued to play along: "That's really impressive, but Wang Yan himself is also a person of note. By the way, how is he doing over there in northern Shaanxi?"

"It's bitter." Zhou Xiaobai muttered and told her about the situation Wang Yan described in the letter, then changed the subject: "Wang Yan said he brought a camera over. When the photos are washed, he'll send them to me with the letter so I can see the scenery of northern Shaanxi. Shall we go take photos this afternoon? I see many people take a military uniform photo the first thing after enlisting. I'll take one too and send it to him."

"Okay, I wanted to take one even if you didn't say so. Let's take a few more and send them home too." Luo Yun was a bit selfish, but she had always been very good at providing emotional value to Zhou Xiaobai.

In the original drama, because of the quota for further studies at the Military Medical University, she had gossiped behind her back. Because she was dating Yuan Jun and didn't want people to know, she let Zhou Xiaobai take the blame. When the military leaders asked, she didn't defend her, leading to Zhou Xiaobai not being able to go to university immediately due to the influence.

Of course, Zhou Xiaobai's family background was there, and this incident had very limited influence on Zhou Xiaobai; it was just a matter of time.

From this aspect, although Luo Yun wasn't very good, she was very clear-headed. She did it precisely because she knew it had almost no influence on Zhou Xiaobai.

Truth be told, she was a bit anxious. If she had endured for two more years without offending Zhou Xiaobai, Zhou Xiaobai would definitely have helped her later. This friendship could have been preserved and continued to play a role in the years to come, which would have been a greater help to her.

But from another perspective, Luo Yun also had connections at home, just not as top-tier, not as solid as Zhou Xiaobai's. Whether it was a gain or a loss was a matter of opinion.

Zhou Xiaobai carefully put away Wang Yan's letter and ran to take photos, even paying for an express service to get them washed quickly. She wanted to send them to Wang Yan as soon as possible...

At this time, Wang Yan had come to the county seat once again, taking photos all the way to the photo studio.

This photo studio had three people: the photographer Old Zhao, the assistant Old Li, and an apprentice who, according to Old Zhao, was a cadre from the county government...

Without needing Old Li or the apprentice to intervene, after Old Zhao looked at the film Wang Yan had developed under the light, he personally started enlarging the photos for Wang Yan.

Old Zhao was an old photographer. Although he mostly did portraits, his basic level was online, and he had an understanding of technology and a certain aesthetic ability. He knew Wang Yan was a photography master.

Holding the enlarged photos with tweezers, Old Zhao clicked his tongue in wonder: "Shot really well, Wang Yan. Your photos are better than those from the city. I think you could even go film movies."

"Haha, I'll take your word for it. I'll ponder it later and see if there's a way to mix into a film studio." Wang Yan pointed to a pile of photos: "Enlarge one more copy of these few. Make these few fast; if not, fan them. Traveling a hundred li back and forth, it's not easy for me to come to the city. I have to send these photos out in a while."

"Okay."

Old Zhao nodded. He had been deeply impressed by Wang Yan upon their first meeting—he really understood photography, was articulate, kind, and generous. Half a month later, seeing Wang Yan's finished photography work, he naturally approved even more.

"By the way, Wang Yan, I heard you're also a carpenter?"

Old Zhao's words made Wang Yan raise his eyebrows: "How did you hear that?"

"You don't know?"

Seeing Wang Yan shake his head in confusion, Old Zhao laughed: "Your brigade is quite famous in the county. Every day, people bring kang tables to the county seat, asking everyone they see if they need furniture made, saying your craftsmanship is good and that you used to make furniture in Beijing to sell to foreigners to earn foreign exchange."

"I thought the villagers were just going to the surrounding brigades. I didn't expect them to come to the county." Wang Yan couldn't help but laugh.

Over the past period, Baidian Village had already started the business of refurbishing furniture. This was after Wang Yan made a cabinet for a young man in the village who was getting married. The finished cabinet was placed there, and it was truly something to behold. The villagers touched the cabinet one by one with envy, not to mention the owner, whose mouth couldn't close from smiling.

I heard they even invited the future partner over to see if she was satisfied with the cabinet. The result naturally went without saying; she was incredibly satisfied. Especially hearing that this cabinet could be exported to earn foreign exchange made them even happier—it was a face-saving thing.

Of course, in reality, it couldn't be, because the material of the wood was still much worse. But the craftsmanship being able to go abroad was no lie.

Baidian Village was very poor, and no one was willing to marry into it. The wood for the "thirty-six legs" was a huge expense, and there weren't many things that could save face. This also made everyone see the hope of earning money to get married, even if it was quite faint.

This job Wang Yan was doing could be considered a sideline business for the Baidian Brigade. Old Old Liu specifically brought the brigade cadres to talk to Wang Yan about the distribution problem later. After all, if they were going to do a big job, they had to make it clear in advance. Everyone wanted face, and the men of northern Shaanxi were even more upright; it wouldn't be good to end up with an ugly incident of uneven distribution that people would laugh at for a lifetime.

Wang Yan had the six young men learning from him saw, chop, and plane wood every day. He drew lines, and as long as they were outside the lines, they couldn't mess it up, letting this group of young men mess around. Little by little, they developed a feel for it.

Just talking about kang tables, over such a long period, Wang Yan had already updated them for half the families in the village, turning to refurbish old, large pieces of furniture. Re-planing, polishing, and Wang Yan teaching the young men to do carving—it was absolutely precision work.

The men in the village were idle anyway, so under Old Liu's direction, they went out to visit relatives. They took their wives to see their in-laws, or went out to see their daughter's in-laws, with all the aunts and uncles going around. People carried the kang tables repaired by Wang Yan and went out to promote them directly.

And don't say, they really achieved results, attracting quite a few businesses. When people from outside who didn't quite believe it came to Baidian Village and saw the dozen or so "legs" Wang Yan had already made, they recognized the craftsmanship and took a liking to the special shapes and various small designs, etc.

Currently, the Baidian Brigade's carpentry sideline group had already attracted fifteen large standing cabinets and over thirty small kang tables. The fees weren't expensive: one yuan for a small kang table, five mao for repairs. The large cabinets were more expensive, requiring five yuan in labor costs. The wood didn't need to be worried about by the consumers; the Baidian Brigade found the commune, the commune found the county, and the county solved it.

Purchasing a large batch of timber, the Baidian Brigade's public account not only had little left, leaving only money for purchasing seeds, fertilizer, and irrigation in the spring, but they also owed the commune several hundred.

However, the Baidian Brigade could also earn some from the timber. Purchasing in large quantities, they could naturally bargain with the county. Of course, the planned system was different; bargaining relied on Secretary Zhang of the commune running to the government to make a scene...

At the same time, the Baidian Brigade also provided door-to-door delivery service; otherwise, no one would come here to buy, as the distance was too far. The brigade's five small donkeys received even more meticulous care.

Previously, when the brigade went to get water, or if anyone needed a large amount of water, they would spend some money to give to the team, driving the donkey cart out, with the whole family pitching in to bring back a large amount of water. Now, let alone using donkeys to pull water, the families responsible for raising donkeys treated them like ancestors.

Currently, the enthusiasm of the entire Baidian Brigade was at an all-time high...

Looking at it this way, it wasn't too much of a surprise that the people of Baidian Village carried kang tables to the county seat to promote them every day. After all, relatively speaking, the people in the county were wealthier.

Wang Yan recognized the importance of this matter, immediately left the photo studio, went to buy a large sheet of white paper, and even got a new Hero fountain pen, equipped with several bottles of ink, intending to go back and draw several notebooks of furniture styles so that it would be much better for the villagers to take them out to promote.

With the villagers' such active subjective initiative, he, Wang Mou, naturally didn't mind working a little harder. If the villagers were willing to work and had the drive, then he was naturally willing to lead the villagers to live a good life. He greatly appreciated people who were positive and upward-looking...

Old Liu heard Wang Yan's words and patted his chest: "Use the brigade's account, how could we let you spend your own money? Today we'll drink mutton soup and eat braised dishes, also on the brigade's account."

"Forget it." Wang Yan shook his head. "Let me treat. Didn't we get quite a lot from that group of little thieves last time? Using the brigade's account means I'm the only one enjoying it, and you guys definitely won't touch a drop. Then what would I become?

Old Liu, brother, you guys just eat and drink with peace of mind, don't always think about who owes what. In other words, if I run out of grain, you wouldn't just watch me starve to death, would you?"

"That's definitely impossible."

"That settles it." Wang Yan clapped his hands with a smile, then asked, "How is it at the slaughterhouse? Can we get some offal and bones?"

"Secretary Zhang is still grinding away, it can't be that fast. He says our furniture sideline business has to show results before Secretary Zhang has the confidence to ask for things. We don't have relatives with them, so we have to find government leaders to let them approve the slips." Old Liu said, also full of complaints.

"Complaining too much prevents intestinal rupture; let's just speak with results." Wang Yan patted Old Liu's sturdy arm to show comfort. "Let's go, let's go eat meat and drink."

Wang Yan and the others went to the market, which was another sea of people. Because it was already the first day of the month, and in another month it would be the New Year, such a large-scale market, except for this time, would only happen on the fifteenth.

Of course, because it was the end of the year, in fact, even if it wasn't the first or fifteenth, it would be very lively here, and the sideline groups of various communes would also come. After all, working hard for a year was just for this New Year.

It was still that lively place selling wine and food. Inside the shed, it was noisy and clamorous, all drunken talk.

Li Kuiyong and Yu Ming were already there, and the female educated youth had also all walked to the county seat, each holding a large bowl and drinking mutton soup, their eyes squinting. They truly hadn't tasted meat for half a month.

In addition, Zhong Yuemin and the others had also come over. This was what Li Kuiyong and the others had agreed upon with them on the back mountain from dozens of meters away. They had all drunk quite a bit by now and were already bleary-eyed.

Zhong Yuemin sat next to Qin Ling, talking very lively...

Seeing Wang Yan bring Old Liu and the others in, Li Kuiyong and the others stood up to greet them. Wang Yan waved his hand, signaling them to drink their own, while he went with Old Li and the others.

Zhong Yuemin leaned over: "Brother Yan, I heard from Kuiyong that you're now leading the villagers of Baidian Village to make furniture and earn big money. People from your brigade are carrying kang tables to our brigade. You are this."

Looking at Zhong Yuemin's thumbs up, Wang Yan said with a smile: "Idle is idle. If you have a craft, show it. If I can let the villagers earn more and eat a few more mouthfuls of grain, then my merit is boundless."

"Hey, it still has to be your high awareness." Zhong Yuemin sighed. "We also want high awareness, but we don't have that craft. It's really..."

Wang Yan didn't dwell on this, met Qin Ling's gaze, and tilted his head toward that side: "Taken a fancy to her?"

"Isn't it because we've been singing folk songs on the back mountain every day, and developed feelings..."

Zhong Yuemin laughed. "Actually, I wanted to go to your Baidian Village a few days ago. I've been itching to go."

Wang Yan was so outstanding that Qin Ling naturally threw him a flirtatious look, but he didn't respond. Qin Ling wasn't a traditional person, and there would definitely be a parting in the future. Qin Ling was also a selfish person, which was a problem.

Of course, he, Wang Mou, was well-endowed and skilled, ensuring the little lady would never forget him and would wish she could tie him to her waistband. However, in the end, Qin Ling really didn't grow on Wang Yan's aesthetic...

If it weren't for that, he actually wouldn't care that much. After all, he was the man who was secretly rated as not picky, so he would just play...

Under Qin Ling's disappointed gaze, Wang Yan patted Zhong Yuemin's shoulder with a smile: "Go back, you guys drink well and chat more. It's not easy to meet, and we have a long way to go. I don't have any opinions about you..."

"Got it." Zhong Yuemin walked back happily, continuing to drink noisily with Li Kuiyong and the others.

After lunch, Wang Yan went to the photo studio to pick up the photos, went to the post office, sent some photos to Zhou Xiaobai with the letter, and sent some photos to the People's Daily with the letter...

?? Daily thanks to the good brothers who tipped, voted for monthly tickets, recommended tickets, and silently read the book for their strong support! ===== CHAPTER 1475 =====