Chapter 59 Part 2

After half a month, Shiyi began to think about inviting teachers to the school.

As a result, there were no literate people in the village. Shiyi thought she could find a scholar to teach the children, but she didn’t know where she could find any. She could only go to the town to find a master for the school. But if the master found good work in town, they would not be willing to go back to the mountain to teach. After all, this place was so isolated and poor.

Shiyi could not help but ask again: “Do we really not have any scholars in this village?”

Yang Shifeng shook his head. He doesn’t remember any scholars who lived here in the village. If a scholar comes out in this village, he will definitely cause a sensation. It’s impossible not to know.

However, Grandpa Yang knew someone and said to Shiyi, “We have never had a scholar here. Many years ago, there was a scholar. At that time, Shifeng was still young and didn’t know him. That person was from the Motu Village, the village next door. He passed the scholar’s exam and became a Xiucai, which shocked the people in this village. Everyone knows him.” ^[1]a person who has passed the county-level imperial exam

Shiyi asked, “Where is he now?”

Grandpa Yang: “Later, he went to the state capital to take the exam. He hadn’t come back for a long time. Then his family died gradually. Up to now, no one saw him go back to the village.”

Shiyi was feeling disappointed. Grandpa Yang went on to say, “but I heard from the people who went to work in the town that they had seen that person teach in the school in the town. So, he probably didn’t pass the exam. “

In this era, the preliminary round of imperial examinations was still very difficult. Many people stop at being Xiucai. Some people were still Xiucai when they reached their seventies and eighties. It is normal to fail.

Shiyi had some hope again. If this person really failed to pass the exam, it would have been very appropriate to invite him. After all, this person is from the mountains. If you invite him back to teach in the mountains, you will still have great hope. Of course, if he really doesn’t want to, you can only invite other people at that time.

Shiyi said to Yang Shifeng, “Yang Shifeng, go to the town to find out about this man and see how he is doing now. If he is not doing well, we can still lure him. “

Yang Shifeng understood Shiyi’s meaning. The next day, before dawn, he went to the town to inquire about it. He didn’t come back until that evening. When he came back, he told Shiyi what he found out: “That man’s surname is Qiao. He really works as a teacher in a primary school in the town. He doesn’t wear very good clothes and doesn’t have his own house. It looks like he lives in the house assigned to him at the back of the school, and it seems that his life is not so good. ” According to Yang Shifeng, the life of this master who has left the village can only barely get enough food and clothing.

Shiyi had almost a little understanding of this man’s life in her mind, and asked: “Did you ask about this man’s knowledge and character? A bad character can’t be a teacher, or else, he will mislead the children’s minds. “

“I inquired about it, I pretended that I had a child at home that I planned to enroll in the school this year. I asked a pair of parents who came to the school to pick up their children and asked them about the master’s character.  The couple said that Master Qiao was very good, very patient, responsible, and very good to the children. Their child also liked Master Qiao. Later, I asked several children, and they said that Master Qiao was not bad. The only bad thing they said about him was that he was strict, and some students were afraid of him.”

” It’s good to be strict. Then it can be said that this person is a good master. What’s more, he is not so rich. If we offer better conditions than what he received in the town, he might consider teaching at our school. After all, this is where he grew up. People always have special feelings for their hometown. “

Yang Shifeng nodded. “I think we can negotiate it with him. If he still doesn’t agree at that time, let’s go find another Master.”

Shiyi said, “Don’t worry about this for now. We’d better wait until the school is built. Maybe he will be moved when he sees the school. “

Yang Shifeng thought of the school that was being built now. Even though he was not a master, he was moved by this school. Such a beautiful school is more beautiful than the school in the town. If it weren’t for him being older, he would like to go in and experience the life of a student. If he were a master, he would be willing to teach in such a school.

…………..

And on the school’s side—

The villagers all volunteered to work, and there is no benefit at all. After finishing their work, they went back to their homes to have a meal and rest, and then came back. Within two days, many people felt that there was no benefit, so they did not pay much attention to it, just pretending that they were working, and many people passed the initial excitement period, and gradually they did not want to do free labor, and felt a little stupid, so they didn’t come back. 

After more than half a month, almost half of the people left.

Shiyi saw everything with her eyes. She knew the rest of the people well. Shiyi couldn’t really let these people who came to everyday work in vain to build the school. She didn’t want to exploit them, but she also didn’t want to attract people who were lazy and only works just because she gave them benefits. So, she told the villagers that there was no need for so many people to work. In the beginning, they were willing to come every day to help with building the school, but now they weren’t so willing, so they didn’t come back anymore.

Many people thought it was silly to work for nothing every day, so they retired. However, there are about twenty people who insist on coming every day.

Shiyi asked Yang Shifeng to write down the names of these twenty people who worked regularly. Then, she went to Grandma Wang and gave her family some money to help them cook at noon and in the evening. One meat and two vegetables were served to the people who came to work, including two meals for dinner. In addition to vegetables, each person could also take three big steamed buns.

One meat and two vegetarian dishes are hard to come by. In addition, they give three steamed white buns every meal—six white buns per day. This feels like New Year’s Eve for the villagers. In fact, some people don’t eat white steamed buns during the new year. It can be seen how good the food is. This directly shocked the villagers and made the people who stayed to work happy—it was like pie suddenly fell from the sky. They had come to work for nothing, but now they can eat such good things, and if you can’t finish eating it, you can take it home and give it to your children and wife. How can you be unhappy?

As for those who didn’t want to come after two days’ work, their intestines were ruined at home. ^[2]regret for something you did or for an opportunity that you missed. Some people immediately came back and said they would continue to help, but Shiyi said they didn’t need more laborers. 

The remaining 20 or so people were willing to build the school, but now they have such good meals twice a day. They are more active and serious in their work. They come to work at dawn every day and go home after dark. None of them were lazy, so they were able to complete building the school quickly. Although it was completed in a month, the walls were not painted and the floor tiles were not paved.

Shiyi’s stomach has been three months old, and the most dangerous period has finally passed. Even though it was still dangerous in the future, it was finally less worrisome.

This child is basically saved.

The news relieved Yang Shifeng. In the past month, Yang Shifeng was more nervous than Shiyi. He was afraid that something would happen to Shiyi, so he didn’t dare to sleep deeply at night. When Shiyi made a move, he would wake up immediately and have to coax Shiyi to go back to sleep every day. If Shiyi couldn’t eat, he would be too worried and he wouldn’t be able to eat either. Therefore, Shiyi didn’t continue to lose weight this month, but Yang Shifeng lost a lot of weight. Now both the husband and wife have become bony.

But in three months, Shiyi’s stomach also began to look pregnant. You can see the slight bulge on her stomach without wearing a belt. Because she is thin, her stomach seems a little big. Anyone can tell that Shiyi is pregnant at a glance.

When Lian Yue finally knew Shiyi’s whereabouts and came all the way to meet Shiyi again, he saw Shiyi’s bulging stomach.

Lian Yue felt as if he had been poured from head to toe with cold water.

T/N: Did you forget Lian Yue? Because…. same…. JK 🤣

Thank you for reading~~

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