The road to wealth of a peasant widow

The 18th day of the first lunar month soon arrived, and Chen Cui drove the newly modified mule cart and took her four children to the town to register.

She made an old mattress into a cotton cloak, which she wore while driving to keep out the wind and cold.

Listening to the children discussing about school in the car, she was in a happy mood while sitting in the front driving the car.

Soon they arrived at Mingde School. Chen Cui parked the car at the door, asked the old man at the gate to keep an eye on the children, and then went in.

As soon as you enter the school, there is a courtyard of about 20 to 30 square meters. The middle is empty with only a few trees planted on the sides. There are two rows of houses in the courtyard. The front row is the classroom, and the back row is the teacher's residence and study.

Chen Cui held Sui Sui and led the three children to the backyard, where they met the new Mr. Chu.

Mr. Chu is a middle-aged man in his thirties. He has no beard and is neatly dressed, but his skin is slightly dark.

When they went there, Mr. Chu was writing, but when he saw someone coming, he immediately stood up from his chair.

Even when he saw that the visitor was a peasant woman like Chen Cui, he was still very polite and bowed first.

"Sister-in-law, may I ask if you are here to register your child?" Mr. Chu asked.

Today is the registration day, and he saw Chen Cui leading a few children, so he asked this question.

"Well, you must be Mr. Chu. I want to send my three children here to study."

Three? Mr. Chu was a little surprised. Although he saw three children, he thought it was only for the youngest child. He didn't expect that all three would go to school.

"Have they ever learned it before?" Mr. Chu looked at the eldest child, who was almost as tall as his sister-in-law. In the countryside, he could be used as a half-laborer. He didn't know if he had any foundation before.

Chen Cui was a little embarrassed: "They also learned a few words from my late husband in the past, but they were just randomly learned and could not be accurate. Please teach them from the beginning, sir."

When Mr. Chu heard the word "late husband", he took a look at their clothes and found that they were all dressed in either blue or gray, without a single piece of colored clothing. It seemed that they were still in mourning.

He said, "It's okay. I'm going to give these three kids a little test. Please don't mind, sister-in-law."

Chen Cui nodded with some concern.

She said that these children have basically never learned anything, so what's the point of testing them?

Unexpectedly, Mr. Chu only asked each of them their name, asked them to tell their age and zodiac sign, and what they usually do at home. It was not like she thought that he would examine their studies.

Chen Cui seemed to understand a little bit. This should be to see whether the child’s articulation is clear, language expression is fluent, and whether he can communicate with others normally.

Fortunately, the family conditions have improved in the past few months, the children have good meals, their personalities have become much more cheerful than before, and they are more lively in speaking, especially Changping, who has made a lot of progress under Chen Cui's deliberate training.

After a round of questions and answers, Mr. Chu was quite satisfied with them.

He did not require all his students to be smart and talented, but at least they should be able to study normally. Otherwise, no matter how much he taught and encouraged them, it would be of no avail.

"Mrs. Liu, I have accepted these three students. Each of them will receive three taels of silver as tuition each year. Their introductory textbooks are "Three Character Classic", "Hundred Family Names" and "Thousand Character Classic". They need to buy their own textbooks. The school provides the writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstones, but they cannot be taken home. You need to prepare them at home."

Mr. Chu was very straightforward in his words and deeds, unlike the scholars she imagined who were flowery and deliberately showed off their knowledge.

Chen Cui took out her purse and put the prepared silver on the table: "From now on, I will leave these children to Mr. Chu."

"Okay, okay. Starting tomorrow, you have to arrive at the school before 7 p.m. every day and leave at 5 p.m. The school does not provide meals, but the kitchen can heat up the food for you."

Chen Cui converted what he said into modern time in her mind, which means arriving at school before seven in the morning and leaving school at five in the afternoon. This is longer than the time modern primary school students spend in school!

However, it seems that this is how school is nowadays. You have to stay in the school almost from dawn to dusk, otherwise it will seem like you are not studying hard.

After finishing the important things, Chen Cui took the children to say goodbye to Mr. Chu. They also planned to go to the county town today to buy all the things for school.

The reason I didn't buy it in advance was that I was afraid there would be any changes in the school. Now that I have registered and confirmed with the teacher, I can go purchase it.

The mule cart ran very fast. We were delayed in the town for so long that it was not yet lunch time when we arrived at the county town.

Everyone in the car was shaken so much that even Chen Cui, who was driving the car, could not bear it.

Because the car had wooden wheels, there was no shock absorber, and the road surface was not very smooth, so it was really bumpy and uncomfortable when driving fast.

She decided that next time she encountered a bad road, she would slow down the mule's pace and make it walk slower.

When she arrived at the bookstore, Chen Cui discovered that the things sold by cultured people were really expensive.

The three enlightenment books are not thick, but they cost a total of 600 wen. If you buy three sets, that would be 1,800 wen, almost two taels of silver.

When Changping heard the offer, he quickly whispered to his two younger brothers whether the three of them could share a set of books and sit together during class, with the books placed in the middle so that the two people next to them could also see them.

The two younger ones also hurriedly agreed. The book was really too expensive. They also had to buy pens, ink, paper and inkstone. How much would that cost in total?

At the unanimous request of the three brothers, Chen Cui bought a set of books and only one inkstone. Each person had a pen, and only bought some extra ink sticks and paper for practicing calligraphy.

Even though they bought basic entry-level items, which were considered cheap in the store, they still spent nearly two taels of silver in total.

This is just the initial expense. In the future, pens, ink and paper will need to be purchased regularly, which is a long-term expense.

This is why few people in the countryside can read and write.

Two taels of silver was the annual income of an ordinary farmer, but it was just the beginning of the cost of studying. The tuition of three taels of silver alone was enough to keep most people out of the door of studying, not to mention the subsequent expenses.

Several children also felt distressed about this and some even said that they were not hungry and would not eat in the city but would wait until they got home to eat.

When Chen Cui heard them say this, she felt amused and touched, and also felt distressed for the children's understanding.

"Money is earned, not saved. You should earn it when you should, and spend it when you should. After spending it, mother can earn more. Besides, our family's money comes from selling charcoal in the winter. You have contributed to it, so it is only right to spend it on you. When you learn to read and write, you will be able to earn more money. More importantly, mother is hungry, and my sister is hungry too. We need to eat now."

At this moment, one of the three brothers' stomach made a long "gurgling" sound, which made the whole family laugh.

Changping lowered his head somewhat embarrassedly. He was only thinking about saving money for food but ignored the needs of his mother and sister.

Finally, the family ate the hot noodles at the noodle stall and then slowly drove the mule cart back home.