Chapter 172 2/3

Learning that Tang Chunrong spent most of his time farming at home, still unmarried, with three brothers at home… Li Qingzhi didn’t hesitate to say, “You can stay, but let me make it clear to you. The first three months are probationary, with a monthly salary of only three guan. After three months, if you can do the job well, the monthly salary will be four guan, including meals, and you’ll also receive four sets of clothes per year.”

As for festivals and such, Li Qingzhi also planned to provide some additional benefits, but it wasn’t necessary to discuss it further now.

Tang Chunrong was overjoyed, saying, “Mr. Li, rest assured, I will definitely work hard!”

Li Qingzhi said, “You can go to the back now and learn how to print books with the other workers.”

He moved the printing tools from Juewei Zhai to the school and intended to let the recruited teachers learn how to print books. They would start printing textbooks tomorrow.

As for why he decided to keep Tang Chunrong on the spot… First, transportation was inconvenient at this time, and it would be troublesome to notify them later. Second…

People like Tang Chunrong, whom he selected, even if they couldn’t be teachers, could still be trained to do other things.

After interviewing Tang Chunrong, Li Qingzhi called the next person.

But this person came up and said, “Mr. Li, I came to ask you about the examination for the county examination…”

This person didn’t come to apply at all; he came to inquire about how the county examination was conducted…

Li Qingzhi was speechless. He quickly dismissed this person with a few words and let the next person come in.

Li Qingzhi considered his recruiting requirements not too high, but still many people were unsuitable. Several aspiring students who came for the interview heard that his school would admit female students and left in disdain.

That was one thing, but some people insisted on reasoning with Li Qingzhi, trying to persuade him to give up this idea…

Fortunately, there were people like Tang Chunrong, and Li Qingzhi recruited several satisfactory candidates, including two of his classmates who performed very well.

Around noon, it was Yao Zhenfu’s turn.

There were quite a few people coming for interviews, totaling dozens. Li Qingzhi couldn’t make them wait, so he arranged a classroom for them to rest in and had Zhao Laosan, who volunteered to help, serve them tea and melon seeds.

Zhao Laosan also gave them number cards according to the order of their arrival.

During the interview, Li Qingzhi called people according to their number cards.

Yao Zhenfu came a bit late, so it was only now that it was his turn.

When Li Qingzhi saw Mr. Yao bringing Yao Zhenfu for the interview, he didn’t know what to say.

Those who were brought by their parents for interviews… Who would want them?

Moreover, considering Yao Zhenfu’s previous behavior… Li Qingzhi would never keep him no matter what.

“Do you think my school should recruit some female students?” Li Qingzhi asked directly.

Yao Zhenfu didn’t even think and said, “Of course not! How can women come to school? Women without talent are virtuous…”

His words were full of disdain. Li Qingzhi interrupted him, “My school will admit female students.”

Yao Zhenfu’s voice abruptly stopped.

Li Qingzhi looked at Mr. Yao, “Uncle Yao, sorry, I’m recruiting teachers here, and the academic requirements are not high, but because we need to teach female students, we don’t recruit those who are strongly opposed to it.”

Mr. Yao still didn’t want to give up. He pushed Yao Zhenfu and said, “What’s wrong with admitting female students? Why aren’t you happy?”

Yao Zhenfu said, “This is an insult to civilization!”

Li Qingzhi said, “I’ll call the next person. Uncle Yao, please take Zhenfu home.”

Mr. Yao was somewhat unhappy, but could only take Yao Zhenfu away.

Yao Zhenfu didn’t want to leave either, but he realized that Li Qingzhi didn’t want him.

Li Qingzhi didn’t even consider him.

Yao Zhenfu had been idle at home for a while, and his mentality was already somewhat unbalanced… Now, he suddenly burst out. He came to the people who hadn’t been called for the interview yet and said to the aspiring candidates, “Li Qingzhi’s school is going to admit female students, which is simply an insult to civilization. Teaching in such a school will ruin your reputation! Those who left before, despite their good knowledge, left because they couldn’t stand it!”

The aspiring candidates were all surprised.

“I disdain to be associated with him, so I’m leaving!” Yao Zhenfu finished and left.

Seeing this situation, some of the aspiring candidates were indifferent, while others got up and followed him, leaving their number cards behind.

Following them out, Li Qingzhi saw the commotion outside and thought, “…Well, it saves me the trouble.”

But it was already late now, so he put the interviews on hold for now. It was time for lunch.

There were still various things lacking in the school, so Li Qingzhi didn’t cook for himself but instead found a big aunt who sold rice balls near the new dock and ordered some rice balls from her.

The rice balls were divided into several types, with the cheapest being plain rice balls with pickled vegetables. Li Qingzhi ordered the more expensive ones, which included fried dough sticks and peanuts in addition to pickled vegetables.

He asked Zhao Laosan to give each person who came for the interview one, along with a pickled egg and two pieces of pickled tofu, as their lunch.

As for himself, he went to the school cafeteria and had lunch with the newly recruited teachers.

Including Tang Chunrong, the seven “teachers” Li Qingzhi kept were all young, and they had just seen the complete set of printing tools in the printing room, chatting curiously, “I’ve never known before how books were printed.”

“Will we be able to print books in the future?”

“I tried to print a page just now. It’s quite interesting.”

…They greeted Li Qingzhi when they saw him, “Mr. Li.”

“Hello, everyone,” Li Qingzhi smiled, “This is where we eat in the school. Today is a bit rushed, so I didn’t prepare much. Just help yourselves.”

The rice balls were placed in a wooden barrel and were still warm. Li Qingzhi used bamboo tongs to pick one and put it in his bowl, then took out the pickled snacks from Juewei Zhai.

They ate better than those who came for the interview, as in addition to pickled eggs and tofu, they also had braised meat.

Tang Chunrong and others weren’t well-off, so they couldn’t afford the braised snacks from Juewei Zhai on ordinary days. They were very satisfied with the meal.

After eating, Li Qingzhi continued with the interviews.

He spent a day chatting with the dozens of people who came for interviews and finally selected fifteen teachers.

All of these people were men, which

 he expected. Nowadays, there weren’t many literate men, let alone women. Women who wanted work wouldn’t choose such public work. They would generally do some needlework or go to wealthy households to teach young ladies to read and write.

Zhu Qian had hired a female teacher for his daughter.

Li Qingzhi asked these people to come to the school to help tomorrow.

The desks and chairs in the school were made as simple as possible, and they were almost done now. They arranged the desks and chairs, printed textbooks, and the school could start enrolling students.

Running this school required quite a bit of money, but fortunately, Li Qingzhi received a considerable amount of royalties for “Escape from the Famine.”

The silver notes given by the Shen family needed to be exchanged for silver at the bank in the provincial capital. Li Qingzhi asked the laborers from Juewei Zhai to help him exchange a thousand taels of silver, which was enough.

This day, Li Qingzhi returned home in a pretty good mood. He saw Jin Xiaoye correcting the questions made by the female workers.

Li Qingzhi took a look and found that although the handwriting of these female workers was not very good, they could already do addition and subtraction within one hundred, and they recognized quite a few simple words.

Li Qingzhi said, “Xiaoye, when the school starts, ask these female workers if any of them are willing to go to the school to study. If they want to, they can study in the morning and do needlework or teach the girls in the school to do needlework in the afternoon.”