Chapter 284: Another Trip Into the Mountains

Ling Feng was not discouraged.

He and Jin Shu had notified everyone in the village, explaining that the village had this benefit: as long as they paid a 5-yuan meal fee per day, they could leave their children in their care.

Those who had originally thought there was profit to be made immediately became unwilling the moment they heard it cost money.

Take Xiaozhu's parents, for example; they felt that since they only earned 10 yuan for hauling a cart of bricks, paying 15 yuan a day to leave their 3 children in care was too much, and after thinking about it for a long time, they were still unwilling.

Jin Shu said to Ling Feng, "See? These people all have this kind of mindset, completely unable to adapt; they deserve to be poor."

Ling Feng felt dejected.

After Mou Lili finished teaching the children, she saw that Ling Feng had also arrived.

When the children saw Ling Feng, they walked up to him one after another, asking him for chocolate and saying that they had behaved very well today.

Ling Feng still patiently accompanied them with a smile, then took out chocolate to distribute to them.

After all the children had left, Mou Lili asked, "The nursery idea isn't working?"

Ling Feng pulled up a stool to sit down and sighed, "It doesn't work the way the village chief suggested; only 4 households in the village are willing to pay this money, the other families aren't."

Mou Lili said, "Then it's still a money problem."

A mountain breeze blew past, and both of them fell silent.

After a while, Mou Lili said, "How about we take another trip into the mountains? I want to give Xiaozhu his lesson for today separately; otherwise, if we keep dragging it out, he will fall too far behind."

"Let's go." Ling Feng was actually considering this issue as well.

Since there was nothing to do right now, it was better to just take a trip into the mountains.

……

Today, Xiaozhu was boiling water; at seven years old, he could draw half a bucket of water at a time, carry the water to the side of the stove, step onto a stool, and then lift the bucket to laboriously pour the water into the iron pot.

Mou Lili looked at Xiaozhu in front of her, then glanced at Ling Feng.

Ling Feng suddenly had a different thought in his mind.

He strode over and finished carrying the rest of the water for Xiaozhu.

Xiaozhu looked at Ling Feng and Mou Lili in confusion, then asked, "Why are you here?"

Mou Lili said, "You didn't come to class, so we had to come to you."

Xiaozhu was a bit embarrassed: "Actually, I wanted to go, but..."

Mou Lili said, "It's okay, we understand."

Mou Lili took Xiaozhu's textbook out of her bag and added, "Xiaozhu, you've missed a lot of lessons today; let me help you catch up."

"This..." Xiaozhu glanced at his curious younger siblings nearby.

"You don't need to worry, Teacher Ling will help you watch your younger siblings."

Xiaozhu had no choice but to sit down and listen attentively as Mou Lili taught him pinyin and arithmetic, and then Mou Lili had him copy the new characters.

Xiaozhu wrote with great difficulty, his strokes were not smooth, and it was almost like he was drawing them.

Mou Lili patiently taught him twice more, but Xiaozhu still couldn't do it.

At that moment, she felt a bit like losing her temper; she didn't know why this child was so hard to teach.

In the past, she often saw online posts about parents losing their temper while tutoring their children, some even getting so angry they had heart attacks; at the time, she wondered if these parents couldn't be a little more patient.

Now that she was doing the tutoring herself, she understood.

But this wasn't her own child, so she couldn't lose her temper, so she took two deep breaths and continued to teach patiently.

Xiaozhu had originally not been very focused; he knew he couldn't go to school and thought it was impossible for these teachers to really come and tutor him every day, but seeing Mou Lili being so serious, he felt embarrassed.

He studied earnestly afterward and made great progress; not only did he memorize the character, but he also learned how to write it.

Mou Lili then taught him to write his own name.

He had a name, given to him by their clan leader, but he didn't know how to write it.

Mou Lili taught him to write his name and said, "Remember this, this name will accompany you for your whole life; in the future, when you go outside, you must state your name with great confidence."

Xiaozhu asked, "To what outside?"

"Of course, to the further outside; for example, your county seat, your provincial capital, then to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, and then to foreign countries."

Xiaozhu opened his big eyes: "Is it possible for me to go to those places?"

"Why wouldn't it be? As long as you work hard, get into a good middle school, get into a university further away, you can work in a big city in the future. In short, it depends on what you like; if you want to come back, that's fine too."

Xiaozhu looked at the distant mountains.

Ling Feng looked at Mou Lili and Xiaozhu.

At that moment, he suddenly had new insights again.

……

Xiaozhu's parents returned when it was dark.

They were surprised to see Ling Feng and Mou Lili there.

Xiaozhu's father said, "Why are you still coming? Didn't I tell you? Xiaozhu has no time right now; he has to wait until his younger siblings grow up before he can go to school. There are plenty of children in our village who don't start school until they are 10."

Ling Feng came over and said, "Just let Xiaozhu come to school; you can have him bring his younger siblings every day too, we can take care of them."

Everyone couldn't help but look at Ling Feng in surprise.

Xiaozhu's mother said, "Didn't you say every child has to pay 5 yuan a day?"

"If you are unwilling to pay it, then what can be done?" Ling Feng asked.

Xiaozhu's mother was a bit embarrassed: "We have no choice either; every mouth in the family needs to eat, and they have to go to school in the future, so we have to save some money. We have three boys and one girl in the family; the boys will have to build houses down the mountain in the future, otherwise how will they be able to find wives?"

Ling Feng said helplessly, "You haven't even solved the issue of schooling, yet you're already thinking about finding wives? In the future, if your sons don't know a single character and can't even write their own names, which woman would dare to marry them?"

Xiaozhu's father and mother looked at each other; they had never thought about this issue, only knowing that finding a wife required a house and a bride price.

Ling Feng asked, "Don't you often go to town to haul bricks? Haven't you asked the people in town what kind of men girls like nowadays? Girls have long since stopped caring about houses or whatever; they can earn money themselves, and they don't care about that little bit of money you have."

Mou Lili said, "That's right, girls nowadays are very picky; they all like men with talent, wit, and humor, and more importantly, they like fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law who are reasonable and not biased. If they knew you were keeping Xiaozhu from school for the sake of his younger siblings, then they would definitely steer clear of you."

Zhubaba and Zhubama only then became nervous.

Mou Lili said, "No matter how poor, you cannot be poor in education; no matter how bitter, you cannot make the child suffer. I know that you both work very hard moving bricks every day, but if you do not open your minds and take up your responsibilities as parents, then this poverty will only continue from generation to generation."

Zhubaba and Zhubama appeared very worried.

Mou Lili said, "You two should discuss it properly again tonight, or go to town and ask those families with children; which one of those families isn't working their lives away to put their kids through school? Besides attending school, they also hire all sorts of tutors, just for fear that their kids won't amount to anything."