Chapter 137: Not Just Mute, More Like a Block of Wood  

“Wife, I’ve come to take you home.”  

Zhou Zhongshan spoke only to Jiang Rou before beckoning to the two children.  

Zhou Xiaochuan immediately took Zhou Xiaohua’s hand, and the two of them happily walked over to Jiang Rou and Zhou Zhongshan.  

Zhou Xiaochuan tilted his head back and called out: “Dad.”  

Zhou Xiaohua smiled, revealing small teeth. “Dad!”  

Zhou Zhongshan reached out and patted the two children on their heads. Then, he took the two large hens from Jiang Rou’s hands, one in each arm.  

They were quite heavy.  

Zhou Zhongshan’s brow twitched slightly, puzzled by how Jiang Rou, who looked so frail, could be so strong.  

At the same time—  

He Donglai quickly walked over to Song Qingqian, wanting to help her up, but when he stretched out his hand, he suddenly didn’t know where to place it.  

A logical-minded man was facing a dilemma.  

His already slightly furrowed brow tightened even more.  

Just as he was hesitating—  

Song Qingqian was the one who acted decisively.  

Without a word, she directly shoved the large hen in her arms into He Donglai’s hands, making him hold it.  

Then, she propped herself up on her arm and slowly stood up.  

She straightened her slightly disheveled clothes and patted the dust off her body, seemingly busy with her own matters. From start to finish, she didn’t spare He Donglai a single glance.  

Not far away, Jiang Rou watched the interaction between the two.  

She was practically anxious to death!  

Such a great opportunity, and they just—?!  

Just like that?!  

No wonder they had been married for so long without making any progress in their relationship.  

These two weren’t just mute—they were complete blocks of wood!  

Even denser than Zhou Zhongshan, that rough man!  

Zhou Zhongshan used to be clueless about romance, but at least now he could say a few sweet words.  

He Donglai was far more intelligent than Zhou Zhongshan, yet why was he so hopelessly dumb?!  

Jiang Rou felt utterly frustrated.  

But at least the tense atmosphere had finally eased.  

Song Yan finally dared to speak.  

He was young, with a bit of a reckless air about him, and the first words out of his mouth left everyone both amused and exasperated.  

“Sisters-in-law, what are you doing? I’ve seen people play cockfighting, but are you guys playing at catching chickens?”  

The women, looking rather disheveled, didn’t quite know how to respond to Song Yan’s question.  

They weren’t idly playing around—what were they, three-year-olds, catching chickens for fun?  

At that moment, Lin Yulan stepped forward and explained to the group.  

“These hens were personally bought by Sister Hong with her own money. She purchased them to donate to the school.”

As soon as Jiang Rou heard the word “school.” she immediately perked up.  

She had been thinking that afternoon about sending Zhou Xiaochuan to school, and now was the perfect opportunity to learn more about it.  

“Sister Yulan, what kind of school is it?”  

Since Lin Yulan had already started talking about it, she continued explaining in detail.  

At first, there was no school on this island—not even the Village Branch Secretary could recognize many characters.  

After all, those who could afford to send their children to school had long moved away from the isolated and underdeveloped island. The ones who remained were all from poor families.  

It wasn’t until the military stationed troops on the island, bringing along their families, that a school was established under Yang Hongping’s organization.  

To call it a school was an overstatement—it was really just two classes.  

Children under the age of eight were placed in the lower class, while those above eight were grouped into the upper class.  

With this arrangement, each class could barely gather around a dozen or twenty students, which helped conserve teaching resources.  

After all, there weren’t many teachers at the school to begin with.  

The school had been running for about half a year, but most of the students were children of the stationed troops. Hardly any of the local villagers’ children attended.  

For ordinary farming families, as long as a child could work in the fields, they were considered a labor force for the household.  

So even though the school didn’t charge tuition, the farmers still hesitated to send their children, fearing that it might mean having less food to eat.  

It wasn’t that they lacked foresight—  

It was simply that this was as far ahead as they could see.  

What lay beyond was beyond their reach.  

Yang Hongping wanted to change this situation. She had been tirelessly working among the villagers, trying to persuade them to send their children to school.  

After all, only education could truly break the cycle of poverty.  

But progress had been slow, and the students still weren’t coming.  

After racking her brain, Yang Hongping finally had a sudden stroke of inspiration—  

She would give out eggs!  

“…Sister Hong said that if a classmate came to school, they would receive an egg within a week. That’s why she had me buy three large hens from the villagers, waiting for them to lay eggs. But just as we were walking over here earlier, one of the hens suddenly broke free, and no matter how hard Teacher Yang and I tried, we couldn’t catch it.”  

Lin Yulan let out a deep sigh as she finished speaking, then smiled.

“Luckily, Sister Rou and Qingqian heard the commotion and came out to help us catch the chicken. If not for the two of them, I really wouldn’t know how to explain it to Sister Hong if the hen had escaped.”  

With that, the entire situation was finally explained clearly.  

However, Jiang Rou’s attention was fixed on—  

Giving out eggs?!  

In the future, supermarkets would hand out eggs during promotions.  

Health product companies would lure elderly customers by offering eggs.  

Apps would give away eggs as incentives for new user registrations.  

She never expected that in the 1970s, eggs were still being used—this time, to promote education.  

It seemed that giving away eggs was an infallible strategy, no matter the era!  

Jiang Rou listened with great interest.  

At the same time, she felt even more admiration for Yang Hongping. As expected of a veteran revolutionary—only someone with such deep experience could come up with such a practical and grassroots-friendly solution.  

Jiang Rou also noticed something else.  

She asked: “Sister Yulan, is this Teacher Yang?”  

“Yes, her name is Yang Zhenzhen. She’s a sent-down youth who came to the countryside and is now working as a volunteer teacher.”  

Lin Yulan introduced her.  

Yang Zhenzhen, who had just taken a fall earlier, gave everyone a shy yet polite smile.  

“Hello, I’m Yang Zhenzhen.”  

Now that Jiang Rou was seeing her up close, she realized that Yang Zhenzhen was very young, probably only around eighteen or nineteen. She carried the fresh, innocent aura of a student.  

She had likely just graduated from school, as her gaze was particularly pure.  

Jiang Rou had initially misunderstood—she had assumed that any woman appearing in the military compound must be a military wife.  

Concerned, Jiang Rou asked: “Teacher Yang, hello. How are you? Was your fall serious?”  

Yang Zhenzhen’s face flushed with embarrassment as she replied awkwardly: “I think I twisted my ankle.”  

Everyone was startled upon hearing this—  

Especially Lin Yulan.