RBCT Chapter 249: Even Mosquitoes Bully Outsiders
Chapter 249: Even Mosquitoes Bully Outsiders
Yu Wei and Ding Yi, sitting on the open-top tractor, were clearly not as carsick as they were yesterday; it seems they are better suited to riding tractors.
The tractor's bed was lined with a thick layer of straw, and Yu Wei lay comfortably on it, looking at the blue sky and white clouds. He found the tractor's bumpy ride quite enjoyable.
However, Ding Yi was still complaining to Huang Xiaochuan about the path they were on.
"Damn it, why are the roads here so bad? Why don't they get them fixed? My stomach is about to be shaken out."
Huang Xiaochuan rolled his eyes at him: "Isn't that obvious? If the government had money, they would have built it already. Do you think they're stupid? Don't they know what 'to get rich, build roads first' means?"
Huang Xiaochuan turned to the uncle who was busy driving the tractor and asked, "Uncle Zhao, how far is it from the county town to Crescent Moon Valley?"
Old Zhao, who was driving the tractor, sat on the inner liner of the tire that served as his seat, bouncing up and down as he answered Huang Xiaochuan's questions.
"It's about 30 li! The road is difficult to travel, but if you want to get into the village, you'll have to switch to a donkey cart, my tractor can't go in."
Upon hearing this, Yu Wei immediately sat up.
"What? You really have to ride in a donkey cart?"
Ding Yi, on the contrary, reassured him, "What's there to be afraid of riding in a donkey cart? When I was a child, I even rode in a cart pulled by sheep at a circus performance!"
Upon hearing Ding Yi's words, Huang Xiaochuan couldn't help but put his hand to his forehead.
Damn, can a donkey cart in the mountains perform tricks like a circus?
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Huang Xiaochuan took out a cigarette and offered one to Old Zhao, who was driving the tractor.
"This is a good cigarette! I'll keep it safe and savor it slowly." After glancing at Huang Xiaochuan's cigarette case, Old Zhao carefully put the cigarette into his shirt pocket.
Huang Xiaochuan simply put the entire pack of cigarettes into Lao Zhao's shirt pocket.
"Stop savoring it, just smoke it!"
"Oh dear! How can you do this! This is not right, these cigarettes are very expensive, I know!" Old Zhao tried to take the cigarettes out and return them to Huang Xiaochuan. He was a worldly man, and he had seen stores selling this kind of cigarette in the provincial capital. The price of one pack of cigarettes was enough for him to buy fifteen liters of diesel.
Huang Xiaochuan stopped him: "Uncle Zhao, drive the tractor properly, don't leave us stranded down the mountain."
Old Zhao, who had just received a pack of good cigarettes, patted his chest and boasted, "That's absolutely impossible. I could walk this road with my eyes closed and not fall off the mountain."
Huang Xiaochuan glanced at the bottomless cliff beside him and immediately felt a tightness in his chrysanthemum. He quickly looked ahead.
We bumped along the mountain road for nearly two hours, stopping briefly to rest. The main reason for this was to add water to the tractor's water tank. Getting water was quite convenient; we just drew it from the mountain stream flowing down from the roadside. Although the conditions weren't great, the environment was still quite nice.
With its green mountains and clear waters, blue skies and white clouds, this place would be considered a natural oxygen bar by modern standards. Unfortunately, there's no oxygen bar to speak of now; there aren't even minibuses available for rural outings, only tractors.
Old Zhao took Huang Xiaochuan and the others directly to the entrance of the township primary school and even helped them find Chen Gui, the principal of the township primary school.
Chen Gui is a middle-aged man in his fifties. He and his wife live in a room at the school.
Huang Xiaochuan politely shook hands with Chen Gui: "Principal Chen, I'm sorry to bother you!"
Chen Gui smiled憨厚ly and said, "No problem at all, it's rare to have guests here, we're more than happy to welcome them!"
Huang Xiaochuan handed Chen Gui five hundred yuan.
"Principal Chen, a few of us may be staying here for a few days. We would appreciate it if you could prepare some meals for us. Here is the food allowance."
Chen Gui quickly waved his hand: "No, no, no, so much is not allowed!"
Huang Xiaochuan insisted on giving it to him, saying, "This isn't much money, just make us some good dishes!"
"Eating fish and meat every day shouldn't cost this much!" Chen Gui said, holding the money, unsure what to give Huang Xiaochuan and the others to eat.
At this moment, Ding Yi asked curiously, "Principal Chen, how much is your monthly salary?"
Chen Gui chuckled self-deprecatingly: "It just went up this year, one hundred and five yuan."
Upon hearing this, the group was at a loss for words. One hundred and fifty was the principal's salary; what would a teacher's salary be?
Yu Wei's monthly living expenses are only 150 yuan!
As a result, Chen Gui's wife's words made them all feel very depressed.
"What?! I haven't seen my salary in months! A raise? A raise my foot!"
Chen Gui scolded, "You old hag, what do you know? Don't talk nonsense."
Chen Gui's wife snorted and turned to prepare dinner.
That evening, Mrs. Chen cooked a lot of dishes: stir-fried cured pork, steamed cured duck, spicy chicken, Mapo tofu, and stir-fried lettuce with eggs, all laid out on the table, along with a jar of locally brewed rice wine.
Taking advantage of the meal, Huang Xiaochuan asked Chen Gui a lot of questions.
"Now, not all villages have primary schools. There is only one primary school for several villages. Our primary school mainly serves children from villages close to the township. Those from more remote areas don't come here because it's inconvenient for them to travel to and from school."
"Does the village primary school have teachers?"
Chen Gui shook his head bitterly: "We can't keep people here! The teachers who were assigned here can't stay, let alone go back to the villages."
"Then it should be better here, right?"
"Our school is alright. The county will send two teachers over every year on a rotating basis, and there are also two private school teachers who have gone home for summer vacation."
Huang Xiaochuan and Ding Yi exchanged glances, truly astonished by what they had just seen. No wonder the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League wanted to establish Hope Primary Schools; but having schools alone wasn't enough. What about the teachers? How could they teach students if they couldn't retain them?
The principal of a rural primary school only earns a little over 100 yuan a month. No wonder he can't retain teachers. They earn little but give a lot. If they don't have passion, they simply can't keep doing this job. But teachers are also human beings. They need to eat and make a living. You can't always expect them to talk about passion and dedication, can you?
Only then did Chen Gui think to ask Huang Xiaochuan and the others why they had come.
"What are you all doing here?"
Huang Xiaochuan, Ding Yi, and Yu Wei took out their student IDs and showed them to Chen Gui.
"We are university students from Shanghai, and we came here specifically to experience and learn. As the saying goes, 'Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles.' We are putting knowledge into practice."
Chen Gui laughed and said, "I didn't expect you young people to know Wang Yangming. Not bad, not bad."
Huang Xiaochuan gave Chen Gui a meaningful look. This guy's got something going for him? He's even studying Wang Yangming?
Huang Xiaochuan asked, "Principal Chen, may I ask you how many school-age children there are in our township?"
After thinking for a moment, Chen Gui replied, "About a thousand or so, all under the age of fifteen!"
"How many students are there in your primary school?"
Chen Gui gave a wry smile: "There are 133 students in all five grades combined, and there might be even fewer after summer vacation."
Ding Yi asked, "Why?"
"Children in the mountains are different from those in the city. Their families work hard all year round and can't earn much money. How can they afford to send their children to school? This is with subsidies. If the subsidies were gone, I estimate that there would be at least two-thirds fewer students."
Huang Xiaochuan was mentally prepared before he came, but Ding Yi and Yu Wei, who had grown up in luxury, had no idea about the hardships of ordinary people! Now that they knew, they were shocked.
"Principal Chen, if we built a new school here, gave the teachers a monthly subsidy, and provided a free lunch, wouldn't things be better?"
Slightly tipsy, Chen Gui immediately slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "If that's really the case, then it's more than just better! People from nearby villages will definitely send their children over, and a single lunch can save a family a lot of money!"
His eyes immediately dimmed again: "How could such a good thing possibly exist!"
Ding Yi encouraged him, saying, "Isn't there a Project Hope? Maybe your place will have one soon."
Chen Gui, however, remained clear-headed: "It's not that easy! Leaving aside other places, how many school teachers would the entire Sichuan province need? The idea is good, but implementing it will take time. By then, I'll probably be retired!"
That night, the group slept in the classroom, lit mosquito coils around the perimeter, and made makeshift beds on the floor. Luckily, they had brought some medicated oil, as mosquito coils alone wouldn't have been enough. The mosquitoes here seemed to enjoy targeting outsiders; during dinner, everyone except Chen Gui and his wife had been bitten several times.