The beloved baby has a space

Chapter 394 The Master Has Arrived
Regarding the school, the villagers tried their best not to trouble Old Wang's family. When they were short of money, everyone chipped in and managed to raise the funds.

Wherever carpenters or bricklayers were needed, they would go to people they knew.

However, when it came to the final step, they had no choice but to let the Wang family handle it.

In the entire Hu family village, besides the Wang family, only Old Master Hu is in charge of hiring a tutor.

Old Master Hu was just an old scholar. He was honest and straightforward. Ever since he failed the imperial examination when he was young, he had lost contact with those other candidates and students.

It's not impossible to rashly go to their door and ask them to be teachers, but whether it will be successful is unknown.

Old Master Hu once said, "If it's for the sake of the children, I would not hesitate to give up all my money, let alone lose face."

In Old Master Hu's view, the fact that the villagers were willing to send their children to school meant that Zeng Village was about to rise up.

Of the dozens of children in the village, about forty will be going to school. The rest are either too old to help with household chores or are girls.

Because a girl named Ayu came from the village, no one objected to sending the little girl to school.

Since it's their own village school and the village will help pay the tuition, they only have to cover a small portion of it, so why not take advantage of it?

It's a pity that those little girls didn't want to go.

“What’s the use of learning?” the older girl said. “Wang’s Ayu is so smart, and I heard everyone in town likes her. But even if she learns so much, she still can’t take the imperial examinations like the other boys. Isn’t that a waste of money?”

Some younger girls said, "I prefer needlework to studying. My mother said that girls should learn sewing and mending skills so that they won't be taken advantage of or looked down upon when they marry into their husband's family."

Although their family was better off and had some savings, it was all saved up for their brothers' weddings.

How could I possibly give them money?
Even if they marry the best, they can't escape marrying farmers.

Reading so many books is indeed not very useful.

The Wang family is different. A scholar from the Wang family was exempted from taxes on 30 mu of land, and they no longer had to participate in corvée labor, saving them a lot of money and manpower.

They could confidently use the money to buy land or as a dowry for Ayu.

Grandpa Hu was originally somewhat resistant to girls going to school. He was a man who had studied the classics, and most of the teachers he had taught were pedantic and looked down on girls.

Even Old Master Hu's thinking was not entirely open-minded.

It was Old Mrs. Wang who specifically spoke to Old Master Hu about it, and in addition, their daughter Ayu was indeed exceptionally fortunate.

Later, Grandpa Hu realized that it was just a matter of setting up more tables and chairs for the children.

If a girl truly learns knowledge and can improve the family's atmosphere, that would be a great benefit.

Old Master Hu tried to persuade them from door to door, but the effect was not very good, so he stopped paying attention.

Each family has its own destiny; meddling too much will only breed resentment.

Old Mrs. Wang found Old Master Hu and told him that the tutor introduced by Lord Zhang would probably arrive in a few days.

Only then did Old Master Hu feel relieved.

The tutors that Lord Zhang found were definitely better than his own classmates.

Actually, Old Master Hu wasn't a bad student, but there were only so many positions for the imperial examinations, and when someone else got in, everyone else had to leave.

"The busy farming season is just around the corner. Hopefully, all the teachers will be able to come after this month of busy farming." Old Master Hu pondered. "I see that other private schools have been divided into small courtyards, with one main hall and three courtyards, and two teachers in each courtyard. We should follow that approach. However, there are too many children. If there are only six teachers, I'm afraid they will be exhausted."

Since it concerned important matters for the school, Old Master Hu had long since disregarded the rule of not speaking to women.

Over the past year, Old Master Hu's opinion of Old Madam Wang has undergone a significant change.

Naturally, there were fewer outdated and pedantic concerns.

Grandma Wang said, "They have upper, middle, and lower courtyards, divided according to the students' academic level. But those people all have a foundation. What kind of people do you think come to our school? Probably most of them can't read a single character. There's no need to set up upper and middle courtyards. Let's set up a lower courtyard for each. If we have six teachers, we can divide it into six lower courtyards. Each courtyard can have a maximum of 30 students. That should be enough." Grandpa Hu said, "30 students, and only one teacher to teach them? Isn't that a bit too many?"

"Do you think all those people who come to school will study diligently?" Old Mrs. Wang shook her head. "I'm afraid most of them won't be able to stick with it. Studying is hard work, no easier than farming. Those children might be able to endure the boredom of digging for food in the fields, but they might not be able to endure studying for several hours in school."

At that time, I'm afraid half of them will be scared away, leaving only about 10 students in the small courtyard.

Any teacher with a bit of skill could naturally keep it under control.

If you can't control them, either get rid of those troublemakers, or you should quit being a teacher.

Seeing how confidently Mrs. Wang spoke, Old Master Hu couldn't help but believe her a little.

Actually, I still have some doubts.

Are there still students who don't value their studies?

When Grandpa Hu was in school, the entire Hu family village initially gritted their teeth and sent three children to school. Unfortunately, the other two just couldn't learn well, and the expenses were too high, so in the end, only he was able to continue his studies.

Later, as Grandpa Hu continued his studies, even his relatively well-off family struggled to make ends meet.

Even the classmates I met all tightened their belts to study, and everyone cherished the opportunity to study. Once they failed the exam, they would no longer have the financial means to retake it.

Hujia Village was the first in the world to cover all the tuition fees for the students in the village. The students' families only needed to send a small gift to the teacher during festivals.

It doesn't matter how much you put your heart into it, and it won't cost much either.

People from other villages don't have this benefit, but Village Chief Hu and his team had already decided that if the teachers' fees were too high, their village would quietly cover a portion of it.

"They have such favorable conditions, there's no reason for them not to cherish them."

After hearing what Grandpa Hu said, Grandma Wang just smiled and remained silent.

The officials were indeed diligent and conscientious, inspecting the school inside and out, and even offering a few suggestions for improvement, which the villagers were encouraged to make.

Seeing the villagers working hard on the renovation, they stayed for two days before returning to report.

Two days later, a dozen or so officials escorted eight teachers toward Hu Family Village.

Besides these officials, there were also more than a dozen people dressed as servants.

Some were driving horses, some were carrying luggage, and some were holding fans, all crowding around the two carriages at the front.

The people of Hujia Village were stunned.

Little Ayu was the first to meet them.

She had originally gone to the mountains to collect herbs with Hu Xiaotong and Liang Xue. Just as she reached the entrance of the village, she saw this large group of people.

She, who had come to watch the spectacle, widened her round eyes and exclaimed, "Brother Xiaotong, it looks like they're putting on a grand opera!"

Hu Xiaotong quickly covered Xiao Ayu's mouth.

Liang Xue, who was standing next to her, couldn't help but burst out laughing.

[If some platforms don't display the author's name, I've specifically included it here. No charge is charged if the post count is below 1000.]

I just discovered that a reader named "Endless Fire Domain" on Qidian has given me a reward of 46500 Qidian coins (I counted them based on my monthly votes, purely by eye, please correct me if I'm wrong). As is customary, I'll add an extra chapter.

I only saw this after I finished working today, it's too late, I'll add it tomorrow.

[This article was first published on QQ Reading, so for regular donations on other official platforms (all under Yuewen are genuine), the author's backend will not show who donated how much. Only large donations and monthly tickets will notify me. So far, I have only been notified twice (the two times for 90000 and 100000).]

I'm usually very busy with work and can't check the donation information on each official platform individually. If you want me to see this and I'll update more chapters because of it, you can pool your donations together. The system will notify you of large donations so I don't miss anything.

(End of this chapter)