Chapter 59: Becoming a Teacher

No one knew exactly who started spreading the news, but word quickly got around the village that Liu Yinyin was teaching Liu Zhizhi how to read and write.

Most of the villagers were poor and had never received an education.

However, many of them still held deep respect for educated people. If they had the means, who wouldn’t want to send their children to school?

Even if studying didn’t guarantee a job or a future in the city, at the very least, it would prevent them from being completely illiterate and unable to recognize a single character when out in the world.

Soon, people began approaching Liu Yinyin, asking if she could teach their children as well. They weren’t expecting much—just basic literacy and counting skills would suffice.

Of course, they also knew it wouldn’t be fair to ask for lessons for free, so they offered small payments—either money, eggs, or grain—as compensation.

Liu Yinyin: “……”

She knew it! The villagers definitely hadn’t handed over all their grain.

But in the end, she refused them all. It wasn’t that she couldn’t teach, but rather that the conditions simply didn’t allow it.

Firstly, her home was far too small to make room for a classroom.

Secondly, she had her hands full taking care of a baby—there was simply no time.

Moreover, while children in this era weren’t treated as delicately as in later generations, they still had people who cared for them.

If anything were to happen, she couldn’t afford to bear the responsibility.

She thought that was the end of it, but to her surprise, a few days later, the village chief himself came to see her.

Liu Changquan sighed, “It would be good if someone could at least teach the children in the village to read a few words.”

He had considered setting up a primary school in the village before, but with no teacher and no funds, the plan never materialized.

Now that so many villagers had brought up the idea, he had given it serious thought and realized it might actually be worth a try.

He couldn’t let the children in his village grow up to be illiterate like the older generations.

Liu Yinyin wasn’t very willing, but since Liu Changquan had always looked after her family, she felt bad rejecting him outright. So, she hesitated and said, “Village Chief, there isn’t even a suitable place for it.”

Liu Changquan immediately responded, “It’s not the busy farming season yet. If we gather some people to build two mud-brick houses, we can have them up in three days.”

After thinking for a moment, he added, “That plot of land next to your house—it’s empty now, right? If you’re willing to teach, we can build the classrooms there. It’ll be convenient for you.”

Liu Yinyin: “……”

He was being so sincere that she found it even harder to refuse.

“But…” she hesitated, “I still have to take care of my child.”

Even if the village chief allowed her to bring her child to class, Gu Yanyan was still too young. If he cried and fussed, it would disrupt the lessons.

Liu Changquan reassured her, “It’s not a formal school. You can set your own schedule. If you get too busy, just take a break.”

No one was expecting the children to achieve great success—just learning to read a little and avoiding illiteracy would be good enough.

He continued persuading, “Right now, you’re alone taking care of your child, and it’s hard for you to go out and work. If you agree to teach, the village can’t afford to pay a salary, but we can compensate you with work points.”

That was quite tempting—being a teacher was much easier than working in the fields.

Liu Yinyin thought for a moment and set a few conditions: “Village Chief, if I’m going to teach, my energy is limited—I can’t handle too many children. The class size can’t exceed twenty students. Also, the kids can’t be too young; they must be at least six years old.”

Otherwise, if they were too young and needed help with everything, she’d basically be running a daycare, and she already had one child to look after—that was more than enough.

“……No problem.” Twenty students were plenty, and Liu Changquan wasn’t aiming for a large-scale school right away.

Liu Yinyin added, “The kids can’t be too unruly, either. Otherwise, I won’t be able to manage them.”

She came from a more modern era, and she wasn’t the type to discipline children with physical punishment. If the kids were too wild, she wouldn’t be able to control them.

Liu Changquan nodded and agreed. “If they don’t behave, I’ll have their parents take them home.”

If they didn’t want to learn, then they didn’t have to—it wasn’t a big deal.

Liu Yinyin was satisfied and said, “Alright then. But the village doesn’t need to go out of its way to give me work points. Otherwise, those who don’t send their children might have objections.”

If she received more food rations, it meant others would get less. There would definitely be people in the village who would disagree.

Besides… the next few years weren’t going to be good. Even if she earned work points, they wouldn’t be of much use.

Liu Changquan was surprised. “Then what do you want?”

The village really had no money, and work points were the best form of compensation he could think of.

Liu Yinyin thought for a moment and said, “How about this? Whoever wants to send their child to learn can just bring me a basket of wild vegetables every day.”

Wild vegetables grew abundantly in the mountains and were free. The villagers would surely be happy with this arrangement.

“Wild vegetables? Are you sure?” Liu Changquan’s mouth twitched. He really didn’t understand how Liu Yinyin’s mind worked.

She refused work points and instead asked for wild vegetables?

“Mm.” Liu Yinyin nodded seriously. “You know, I have to take care of my child, so I can’t go up the mountain to pick wild vegetables myself. If someone can help me, that would be great.”

Wild vegetables weren’t worth much, and while Liu Changquan felt that Liu Yinyin was getting the short end of the deal, he was also curious.

“You don’t have that many people in your household. Why do you need so many wild vegetables?” he asked.

Liu Yinyin explained, “For our own meals, and also to feed the chickens and rabbits. Oh, and I’m thinking about raising a piglet this year.”

Liu Yinyin’s family had six laying hens and seven rabbits.

Last year, one of the female rabbits had given birth to a litter of five, and all of them survived.

Since they weren’t short on meat recently, she had kept them.

As for raising a pig—she was determined to do it. Otherwise, getting meat in the future would be too difficult.

Liu Changquan thought about Liu Yinyin’s household situation. Considering her resources, she probably wasn’t someone who would run out of food. Maybe trading with the villagers for wild vegetables was actually more practical for her?

Oh well, since she had made the request herself, there was no reason to turn down such a good deal.

So, he simply said, “As long as you don’t feel like you’re at a loss, that’s fine.”

With the matter settled, Liu Changquan left satisfied. Tomorrow, he would arrange for a group of people to start building the classrooms.

That evening, when Gu Cheng heard Liu Yinyin talk about it, he couldn’t help but ask, “Will you be able to handle it?”

He had noticed that his wife never seemed to sit still—she always found something to do.

“We’ll see,” Liu Yinyin said thoughtfully. “The people in the village are kind. If I can help, I should.”

There were some things she couldn’t change, but she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing either.

She hadn’t personally experienced the hardships of those years, but since she knew what was coming, she couldn’t just ignore it.

Hopefully, she could do something to help everyone in the future.