The Little Lucky Girl

The young men carried Grandpa Tong to the school gate. At that moment, students were attending classes. There were a few children running around in the yard with laughter. A few elderly people nearby were doing their chores while watching with a smile, reminding the children from time to time to speak in a low voice so as not to disturb the lecture.

The little great-grandson in the grandfather's arms was woken up. He rubbed his eyes and saw a few children playing happily in front of him, so he struggled to go over.

Grandpa Tong hurriedly stopped him and handed him the food in his arms.

The little great-grandson's eyes lit up when he saw the egg, and he ate it in a few mouthfuls. But the little flower dog steamed bun licked it with great care, and it took him a long time to eat the tail.

Grandpa Tong touched his head and said, "One piece of glutinous rice cake in our house can buy two steamed buns. When we go back, I will ask your father to exchange a few more for you. Don't be reluctant. Eat it quickly."

The little great-grandson then happily bit off the little flower dog's head.

When the break time came, the students ran out of the classroom. A few teenagers waved to the children who were playing, and the children happily surrounded them.

The little great-grandson was so jealous that he didn't even bother to finish his steamed bun and ran over.

The student exclaimed, turned around and shouted to the others, "There's another new kid here, one more person come over here."

Several students immediately ran over. Among them, a black boy ran the fastest. He waved his hands to those behind him and said, "Go away, go away. The person is mine."

When Grandpa Tong saw him pull his great-grandson aside, he immediately became worried and wanted to follow him, but an old man nearby stopped him with a smile, "It's okay, this is the older child teaching the younger child to read."

Sure enough, the black boy took out a few wooden sticks and waved them on the ground, while the little great-grandson watched curiously.

The little great-grandson looked confused, as if he didn't understand. Seeing this, the black boy scratched his head and then guided him to write on the ground several times.

The gong sounded, the students returned to the classroom, and the yard became quiet again.

The children ran to the old man like little birds and shouted, "Grandpa, I learned the character 田, which looks a lot like our 地, hahaha."

"Grandma, you have to study hard today. If you fool around again, I won't get any reward."

The little great-grandson also ran over, excitedly scratched on the ground a few times, pointed his finger at it, and then pointed at his crooked words, "Heaven, heaven, grandfather, remember, remember."

The old man next to me explained, "This is for you to learn from me. The teachers give tasks to the children, and let the older ones teach the younger ones, and the younger ones teach us old guys. They say this is called 'what you learn must be used', and there is also a particularly intimidating sentence that I don't remember."

The great uncle on the other side sucked on his pipe and shook his head, "That's 'learning to apply' and 'reviewing the old to learn the new'. Second nephew, you said you are several years younger than me, why is your brain so slow?"

He turned to Grandpa Tong and asked with a smile: "Look at your clothes, did you come down from the mountain?"

Grandpa Tong nodded in response, and the two exchanged a few pleasantries. Grandpa took the pipe handed over by his uncle, took a few puffs and said, "Excuse me, brother, is it really free for the children to go to school?"

"You're talking about the teacher's fees. We used to pay for them ourselves, but now the county government is in charge. The rest is the cost of textbooks, paper and pens. The children are sensible and will practice on paper after they have mastered the characters on the ground. It doesn't cost much. Although textbooks are expensive, after one child finishes learning, they can give them to another. So it's not a big deal if you think about it this way."

Grandpa Tong became interested, for he noticed that several other children in the village were not only growing stronger, but also speaking louder and uttering new words from time to time that he could not understand; whereas his own child, who was about the same age, was not only skinny and small, but also spoke incoherently.

Grandpa Tong felt a little distressed and decided that he would no longer eat glutinous rice cakes and would feed his children eggs instead.

He already understood the purpose of Ali and the young men carrying him here. While warning himself not to compromise, he couldn't help but ask, "Can we let this child play in the yard in the future?"

The great uncle smiled and said, "Why not? The more children there are, the more motivated they will be to learn. Don't you come here every day to sell things? Just send the children over when the time comes. We have elderly people who take turns to look after them. But the weather is getting colder and colder. It's a bit hard for the children to go up and down the mountain."

Grandpa Tong didn't say anything else, just puffed out the smoke silently. Only after he finished it did he remember that the pipe belonged to someone else.

He blushed and returned, "Brother, your tobacco leaves are not very good. They are not as strong as those grown on our mountain. I will ask my grandson to bring you some tomorrow."

"Okay, then I'll try your tobacco," the uncle smiled, "Come down more often when you have time, we get along well, come to my house for dinner next time, I'll treat you to some good wine."

The two were talking happily when Grandpa Tong saw his grandson Ali coming over and his face immediately frowned.

Ali teased his son and said with an apologetic smile, "Yanhan and the others will be back in a while. I'll ask them to carry you back, so I won't be going back yet. I heard that a caravan might come this afternoon, so I want to sell more."

Grandpa Tong didn't want to go back so early. He hadn't seen enough, so he asked Ali and the others to carry him back to the official road.

The official road at noon was much busier than in the morning. The aroma of various foods gathered together, making the old man who had only eaten a piece of glutinous rice cake very hungry.

He did not refuse the meat buns his grandson bought him. He calculated the price of the buns compared to the glutinous rice cakes, and then ate them without any burden. He just reminded him, "Although glutinous rice cakes make money, the glutinous rice in the village is limited. Once they are sold, we have to wait until next year. You guys make some money, so don't spend it lavishly."

Ali nodded repeatedly, "When the glutinous rice is used up, I will learn how to plan the pole with Grandpa Qing."

"What's the point of learning that?" Grandpa Tong asked in surprise.

"You may not know this, but the shoulder poles made by Grandpa Qing are very popular. They are sold out every time they are brought back. Just now, someone specially invited him to the village to help them make shoulder poles." Ali said enviously, "Not only are he treated to delicious food and drinks, but he can also earn a lot of copper coins. It feels like he can make more money than Yuxiang and the others by dyeing cloth."

Although dyed cloth is expensive, the work is also difficult and the profits have to be shared with Jinxiufang. It is nothing like what grandpa in the Qing Dynasty did, who could earn seven or eight copper coins by just clacking around a few times. Sometimes, when there is more work, he can earn more than a hundred copper coins a day, which makes young people envious.

"Cow, cow," the little great-grandson pointed ahead and said. Grandpa Tong looked up and saw Grandpa Qing being sent back in a ox cart.

The two of them had recently had some unpleasantness because of disagreements on whether to go down the mountain. When they met this time, they ignored each other and turned their faces away.