Chapter 62 Part 1

The next day, Yang Shifeng went to the town to invite Master Qiao.

The academy where Master Qiao is now teaching was a very small one. There are only about 20 children in it. The environment of the academy was not very good. The walls are mottled and dilapidated. It looks a little dark. Most of the desks and chairs lack arms and legs and become darker. Moreover, the children in the class were not very well-off.

Yang Shifeng guessed that the Master here may have been paid a little bit lower.

Master Qiao was in class, so, Yang Shifeng didn’t bother to disturb him recklessly. He waited until it was lunchtime before he went to Master Qiao’s workspace, where Master Qiao would take a rest during lunchtime.

Master Qiao was having lunch in his cubicle. His lunch was just a small plate of green vegetables and a small dish of fried eggplant. There was no meat at all. Yang Shifeng took a quick glance and looked away. He gave a gift as a gesture to the master and immediately stepped aside. “Master, I’m sorry to disturb your mealtime. I really have something to discuss with you, but you can eat your meal first. We’ll talk after you eat your lunch.

Master Qiao was about forty years old, and the two are from the same place. Yang Shifeng claims that he was his junior, which was very appropriate.

Master Qiao didn’t know Yang Shifeng and thought that the father of the child he was teaching came to find him for something, so he made a gesture to ask Yang Shifeng to sit down. Master Qiao didn’t bother to wait until after dinner, but immediately put down his chopsticks and said, “I am not in a hurry to eat. I don’t know why my little brother came here to see me? “

Yang Shifeng first introduced himself and said, “My name is Yang Shifeng, from Baiyun Village.”

Master Qiao was stunned when he heard that Yang Shifeng was from Baiyun Village. He asked Yang Shifeng to sit down again and become a little bit closer to him. “So, you are from Baiyun Village? I am from the village next to your village. We are fellow villagers. However, I haven’t been back for many years, and I don’t know what’s going on there now.”

Yang Shifeng smiled. ” The village has not changed much from before.”

Master Qiao nodded, with a bit of emotion in his tone: “Yes, it’s too troublesome to come out of the village. Same people live there, how can it have any changes?” After he said this sentence, Master Qiao realized that Yang Shifeng was not the father of any of his students and he asked Yang Shifeng why he had come here.”I’m not sure why you’ve come here. May I know what the reason is?”

Yang Shifeng didn’t beat around the bush, he said straight to the point: “Master Qiao, I came here today to ask you to go back and be a Master for the children in the village.”

Master Qiao was stunned and wasn’t able to understand, “What? Being a Master for the children in the village? What do you mean? “

“Yes, Master Qiao. We have built a school in the village to enable the children in the village to read and learn some basic knowledge. Now that the school has been built, we only lack a teacher. I know you are from our village and have feelings about life in it, so I took the liberty to invite you. I hope Master Qiao can consider going back and teaching the children in the village to read and write. “

Master Qiao was surprised. “Has a school been built in the village?” He knew how isolated and poor the village was. He never thought that there would be schools in the village. It sounded unrealistic.

Yang Shifeng can understand Master Qiao’s shock. After all, when he heard that Shiyi was going to build a school, it took him a lot of time to process and accept it.

“It’s real Master Qiao. The school was just built next to my home. And now, it has been determined that there were more than 30 children in that class. Now, we only lack a master who can teach. As soon as the teacher arrives, the class can begin immediately. “

Master Qiao touched the beard on his chin and finally accepted this incredible fact, He sighed: “I didn’t expect that there would be a school in our mountain village. We haven’t had such a thing for so many years. In the past, I wanted to learn, but the only way to learn was to go all the way to the school in the town to eavesdrop. Then I went home to study by myself. I would walk with blisters on my feet every time I went to the town during the day, and I couldn’t sleep at night because of the pain. If only there were a school in the village at that time. “

Yang Shifeng was filled with emotion, “Yes, we are too isolated and too poor. The children have never thought of going to school to learn. They have to face the Loess and the sky all their lives. If they want to work in the town, they can only do nothing but work as coolies because that’s the only thing they know how to do. If someone could teach the children to read and write and make them a little more knowledgeable, I believe it would be hundreds of times better than now. The village would gradually become less poor.”

Master Qiao nodded approvingly, “Yes, it’s always good to learn some knowledge.”

Yang Shifeng inquired once more. “Well, Master, can you go back and teach the children? We know that you have been a knowledgeable man for so many years, and there is no more suitable master than you. “

Master Qiao frowned and hesitated. Although he thought it was really good to build a school in the village and that it was a good thing for children to learn knowledge, from a personal point of view, he couldn’t help but admit that the mountains were too isolated and poor. He finally came out of there with years of hard work. Although he didn’t make any further progress in fame, it’s still good to be a teacher in the town, At least the conditions in the town are incomparable to those in the village.

Under the present circumstances, it is very difficult for him to resign his position as a teacher here and return to the countryside. Moreover, even if he could agree to return to his hometown, his family would not agree.

Alas, he is old, and now he is a layman. He is no longer a scholar.

Master Qiao sighed and said to Yang Shifeng with shame: “Little brother, thank you for looking up to me, but I have gotten used to living here after so many years. My family is also used to living here. I’m afraid we can’t adapt to life there if we move back to the village. You’d better find someone else. “

It is not surprising that Master Qiao would refuse Yang Shifeng. Anyone would refuse. After all, the conditions in the town are not comparable to those in the village.

Fortunately, Shiyi built the school so well that he had the capital to convince Master Qiao.

Yang Shifeng arched his hands at Qiao and his son and said: “Master, I know your concern. The conditions in the village are really not very good. It’s difficult to go out. It is indeed very difficult to give up life in the town and return to the village. However, it’s precisely because of this that when we were building the school, we specially built a spacious yard behind the school for the master’s family. The decoration inside is no worse than the inn in the town. We just hope that the master can live comfortably in it. “

Master Qiao’s eyes widened slightly, and his heart was full of surprise. He didn’t expect that the school had built a house for the master, and it was no worse than the inn? The environment is not bad.

Then Master Qiao thought of the house his family now lives in. The house was a small schoolhouse for teachers. There are only two rooms. The furniture is the old furniture that other people may not want anymore. The family spent so many years in a narrow house. Master Qiao didn’t want to be so crowded in that small house, but a yard in the town is too expensive. His family still has children, and he was still studying. It costs a lot of money. He can’t afford to buy a yard. He can’t even afford to rent out a bigger house. They can only squeeze in that small house. Seeing that the children are getting older, and when it’s time for them to marry a wife, he and his wife became too worried and are unable to sleep at night. 

Their troubles will be solved if there is enough room to live now.

Master Qiao’s heart was moved.