Chapter 607

Lin Gang's wife had had an upset stomach for the past few days, so she had watched the excitement at the Cao family for a while and then immediately went home.

After drinking a jar of hot water, she felt her stomach was much better.

She had originally wanted to go to the Cao family to continue watching the excitement, but thinking that the old principal had brought the commune leaders over because of the children's schooling, she didn't want to go anymore.

She was just feeling irritable when she heard Lin Gang, who had just returned, say such things. She sat up from the kang with an angry howl: "School, school! They go to school, then who does the work at home? The ducks and geese we raise—are you counting on me to do it? And who will take care of these two little ones? Besides, doesn't going to school require buying pencils, notebooks, and paying tuition? Where would the money come from?"

She then slapped her thigh and said indifferently: "The Cao family is the Cao family, and our family is our family. Look at this village—whose child goes to school at eight, and a girl at that? I haven't known many characters to this day, and haven't I lived until now?"

Her voice paused, and she sneered: "I'll say the same thing as before: whoever can't stand it can take them home."

Lin Gang stood in the room, scratched his head, and then ran into the yard to smoke without a word.

Lin Gang's wife shouted from inside the room: "What, not going to the fields to work this afternoon?"

"... The brigade leader said there's no work this afternoon, mainly to solve the matter of the children in our village going to school."

Lin Gang's wife curled her lip: "The old principal and Teacher Yin are just meddlesome. I think they have selfish motives too—they're just afraid that if there are no children to attend school, the school will fold and they'll have nowhere to go. Hmph, not a single good one among them."

Some commune members who loved watching the excitement and walked fast knew the next stop was Lin Gang's house, so they hurried toward his place.

Then they stood at the gate and said to Lin Gang: "Lin Gang, the old principal is bringing President Yu and Factory Director Lu to your house. Where are your eldest son and your eldest daughter?"

Lin Gang put down the dry tobacco in his hand.

Conditions at home were poor, so he certainly couldn't afford cigarettes with filters; many farmers who loved to smoke used this kind of dry tobacco rolled in straw paper.

Lin Gang glanced at his wife sitting on the kang and said with a stiff scalp: "That... the two children are sensible; they went to the meadow early in the morning to herd the ducks. Besides, they are the ones who don't want to go to school themselves; it has nothing to do with me and my wife. Don't go around talking nonsense."

Little Little Cangcang had already told Lu Lu Qiao about the situation at Lin Gang's house.

She also said that the two children hadn't eaten in the morning and were still hungry, but the brother had found wild duck eggs for his sister and was picking dry grass to roast the wild duck eggs.

The matter of the Lin family was not easy to solve.

Not every child could have Cao Cao Zhaozhao's talent, especially when the father was inactive and indulged the stepmother...

But actually, it was also easy to solve.

At this time, a group of people had already arrived at Lin Gang's house and walked into his yard. Lin Gang's wife, who was sitting on the kang, had no choice but to come out and stand beside Lin Gang with a gloomy expression.

When people weren't there, it was one thing, but after they arrived, especially with President Yu leading, Lin Gang and his wife didn't say anything sarcastic.

When President Yu asked if these two could let the children go to school, Lin Gang said with a stiff scalp: "It's not that I won't let them go to school; it's that these two children don't want to go themselves. They really refuse to go no matter what, and I have no choice. They just like running all over the mountains, saying that's free and easy."

Lu Lu Qiao sneered in her heart.

Sometimes what the old people say is really reasonable.

It really is: "Once there's a stepmother, there's a stepfather."

Lu Lu Qiao said: "Then where are your two children? Why haven't we seen them?"

Lin Gang hesitated for a moment, but still said: "That... they are playful, so they went to the meadow early in the morning to herd the ducks. They don't even listen when I call them."

Lu Lu Qiao frowned.

Little Little Cangcang had helped her collect quite a bit of information.

The original intention of establishing the down jacket factory was actually not to bring the clothing factory back to life.

Even if the clothing factory didn't become a down jacket factory, the workers there could still live for the time being; after all, it was only the seventies.

To be precise, Lu Lu Qiao really did it for the farmers within a hundred miles, or even further—as long as it was within the scope of Jiangcheng, they could develop this sideline.

Whether now or in the long run, this aquaculture industry would be a thriving one.

But the current situation was: the country had not yet implemented compulsory education, and every family had quite a few children—most had four or five, and some even had eight or nine.

The college entrance exam had not yet been restored, and various factors combined led to the lack of importance placed on children's schooling.

Then they started the aquaculture industry, especially ducks and geese.

Perhaps many people don't know that in the countryside, especially in the sixties and seventies, herding ducks and geese was basically done by children.

The so-called children were all around ten years old.

Some families' children even knew how to cook at five or six.

At that time, many children would put down their schoolbags when they got home, and before they could finish their homework, they had to drive the family's geese to the meadow to eat grass.

It was said that the geese had to have their crops by their necks bulging before they could be driven home, and only then could the children go do their homework.

So, by establishing a down jacket factory and wanting to improve the farmers' lives by encouraging everyone to raise ducks and geese, and then selling the duck and goose down to the factory to increase income, had she invisibly increased the workload for these children?

But Lu Lu Qiao didn't think that establishing the down jacket factory was a wrong decision.

Once there is money in hand, many things become easier to do.

Then, by changing the mindset, everything would be straightened out.

Especially since the college entrance exam would soon be restored.

Several people had already hinted this to Lu Lu Qiao.

For example, Director Lu of the General Administration of Foreign Trade, the director of the instant noodle branch factory, and Qin Qin Hengzhi's parents had all called Lu Lu Qiao.

They told her not to throw away her textbooks and to remember to review them often in her spare time.

Although everyone didn't say it explicitly, Lu Lu Qiao still understood.

Qin Qin Hengzhi having told her was one aspect, but the important thing was that she knew this was an inevitable result.

Under such a trend, reading books was becoming more and more useful.

At this time, President Yu was not in a very good mood. In his view, these were actually simple matters, but he hadn't expected everyone to be so difficult to deal with.

Come to think of it, if it weren't difficult, someone like the old principal would have basically solved it on the spot; why bother finding the commune?

"Alright, no more nonsense. I've heard too much nonsense today, and now I don't want to hear any of it. I'll only ask you, Lin Gang: are your eldest son and eldest daughter going back to school to study or not?"

President Yu discovered that there was no need to be polite with these people, especially when encountering such matters—why discuss anything with them?

The more you discuss, the more issues arise, just like the Cao family.

When they first entered the yard, he should have directly ordered them to send the children to school, and let everything else be as it may.

As a result, it escalated to the point where they split the family and then didn't split, all messy—just thinking about it gave him a headache.

So, upon arriving at Lin Gang's house, he asked directly.