Quick Wear: Cousin, Come to the Bowl Quickly

The old locust tree in the Youth League Courtyard has been green for three springs and autumns, and is now full of flower spikes. Amid the clear calls of cuckoos, the new primary school that the Hongguang Brigade spent two months to build is finally completed.

A dozen villagers gathered at the gate of the new school, talking in a flurry.

"Wow, this new school looks different. Look at the red bricks and black tiles. It's so impressive!"

A tall and thin woman in an indigo coarse cloth jacket stood on tiptoe, her rough palms resting on her brows to shield herself from the sun, squinting her eyes as she looked at the red brick and black tile school building, and spoke in a loud voice.

The short and fat woman carrying a bamboo basket beside her nodded in agreement when she heard this, "The new school is good. The wall of the previous school in the village was almost collapsing." As she spoke, she suddenly lowered her voice and approached the tall and thin woman mysteriously.

"Every time I think of my son Goudan studying in there, I get terrified, fearing that the earthen wall will make a loud boom..." He patted his chest exaggeratedly as he said this.

A man nearby, wearing a faded Mao suit with his trouser legs rolled up to his calves, puffed out his chest and interrupted, gesturing with his fingers in the air, looking somewhat proud.

"That's not true. The county allocated funds specifically for this project. When the time comes, not only our team but also children from several surrounding villages will come here to attend classes."

"Wow! That's quite lively." The tall and thin woman counted on her fingers, her eyes widening. "The children from the several nearby brigades combined, there must be hundreds of them, right?"

"It should be about the same. There are dozens of kids in our team alone." The man in the Zhongshan suit thought for a while and finally nodded.

"With so many children coming to school, what will we do with the work in the fields at home?" A bearded man who was squatting on a stone block and smoking suddenly laughed out loud, blowing out smoke rings and speaking in a sarcastic tone.

"What should we do? Just leave it alone." The short, plump woman carrying the bamboo basket rolled her eyes at him when she heard this. "I'm not saying anything bad about you, Zhao Laosan, but you're already in your thirties, and you and your lazy wife do nothing all day, and you even ask your children to work in the fields to support you two. You're really shameless."

"What's there to be ashamed of? I didn't give birth to them to enjoy a good life." The sloppy man grinned, revealing a mouthful of uneven yellow teeth, and laughed shamelessly.

"Children of poor families have to grow up early. They are already in their teens, with hands and feet, but they don't know how to respect their parents. Do they really expect me to feed them?"

He curled his lips in disdain as he spoke, fished out a wrinkled cigarette case from his pocket, shook out a cigarette and put it between his lips, "If you ask me, the kids in the village will spend their whole lives rolling around in the fields. Why do they need to study so much? They might as well go to the fields and earn work points earlier."

"Do you think everyone wants to be like you, blind? Forget about reading, even counting on your fingers is a struggle."

"What's wrong with not knowing how to read? I've lived all my life. What's the point of studying? Look at those educated youth in our village. They've read so many books, but they're still the same as us..."

The villagers were still arguing in a flurry. On the road not far away, several young girls carrying wooden basins were walking towards them. Their trouser legs and cuffs were wet, and it seemed that they had just returned from washing clothes in the river.

"You said this new school has been under construction for ten days now, and they gather around it every day to look at it. How come they never get tired of it?"

Zhao Xiaoyun stretched his neck to look at the crowd at the school gate and shook his head in confusion.

"You're still talking about others. Weren't you running there every day recently?" Chen Lan shook the basin of wet clothes in her hand and responded casually without caring.

"That's different. I'm here to supervise the work on behalf of the team leader, not to wander around aimlessly." Zhao Xiaoyun looked embarrassed for a moment, but quickly recovered. He puffed out his chest and said with some pride.

"Just because I asked you to deliver water to them twice, you become the supervisor?" Hu Aihong ruthlessly exposed her trick and bumped her shoulder with some amusement.

"Ahem, it's almost the same, it's almost the same." Zhao Xiaoyun cleared his throat and avoided his gaze.

"Comrade Zhao Xiaoyun, you must be humble and calm." Chen Lan suppressed her smile and glanced at her, pretending to be serious.

"Oh, don't take it so seriously." Zhao Xiaoyun begged for mercy with a smile.

"But this new school is so big, the old teachers must not be enough, right?" Looking at the two laughing and joking, Hu Aihong freed one hand to push the glasses frame on her nose and suddenly changed the subject.

Hongguang Brigade is composed of several villages. There are about one hundred households and four to five hundred people in the entire brigade. In those days, except for a few central cities, there was no concept of "family planning" in most areas, so it was common for a family to have five or six children.

Of course, everyone was not rich at that time and did not have enough money to send all the children in the family to school, but for many villagers, sending their children to school for a year or two and teaching them to recognize a few words was not a difficult task even if they had to sell everything they had.

Therefore, although the original primary school in Hongguang Brigade was dilapidated, there were still quite a few students. There were five grades in the entire school, with about seventy or eighty students, among which students in grades one and two accounted for the vast majority.

But with so many students, there are only three teachers in the entire school, two who teach Chinese and one who teaches math. Moreover, first and second grades often have classes together, and third and fourth grades often have classes together. Only the fifth grade, which is the oldest and has the smallest number of students, can attend classes individually.

The original teaching staff was already stretched thin, and now the school has expanded, and the area has more than doubled. Although there is no definite information on how many students can be enrolled, looking at the current situation, the number of students will not be less than before, right?

"That's for sure." Zhao Xiaoyun, who was chatting and laughing with Chen Lan, responded casually, "The captain said that depending on the county's decision, children from several nearby brigades will have to come here to attend school."

Hu Aihong's eyes flashed. "Is that so? Then tell me, with so many students, where will we find teachers?"

"I guess he was sent down by the county. Anyway, it's not our turn. Why do you worry so much?" Zhao Xiaoyun didn't understand the meaning of her words and waved his hand indifferently.

"Why isn't it our turn? In terms of education, the worst among us is a junior high school graduate, right? In terms of age, we're in the prime of life. Aren't we better than those old guys from our old school? How are we any worse than the ones sent down from the county?!"

As if Zhao Xiaoyun had touched a sore spot, Hu Aihong, who had originally had a calm expression, suddenly had red eyes. She stiffened her neck and asked aggressively, as if she was very angry.

"You, what's wrong with you? I just said it casually, why are you so angry with me?"

As if he had not expected that the usually good-tempered Hu Aihong would suddenly change her expression, Zhao Xiaoyun, who was originally smiling, immediately restrained his expression and said awkwardly.

Chen Lan was also startled by Hu Aihong's sudden red face, but she was calm after all. She quickly put the enamel basin in her hand on the ground, winked at Zhao Xiaoyun, and reached out to support Hu Aihong, patting her chest to help her calm down.

After a while, Hu Aihong's emotions gradually calmed down. She reached out to wipe away her tears and stood there silently.

Seeing that she had stopped crying, Chen Lan tentatively spoke, "What's wrong? We were just talking peacefully, and Xiaoyun didn't say anything."

"It's nothing, it's none of her business. I just suddenly thought that we have been here for so long, when will it end?" Hu Aihong lowered her head, her tone calm but hoarse.

Upon hearing her words, Chen Lan and Zhao Xiaoyun beside her fell silent. Yes, when will it end?

They have been staying in this country for four years now. They were full of expectations at the beginning, then became discouraged, and now seem to accept it calmly, but in fact they are enduring the pain and depression.

They are all people who have read a lot of books and seen the outside world. They are not unable to endure hardship, but are they going to be trapped in these fields for the rest of their lives?

If you were born to farm, why bother studying in the first place? It has been said throughout history that studying can change your destiny, but these days, the more you read, the harder your path becomes.

"In the past four years, I have not been lazy and not read books for a single day, because I always feel that life will not always be like this. But now, I finally have an opportunity, but..." Hu Aihong closed her eyes, her tone full of fatigue.

"I...I was just saying that casually. Maybe they're recruiting teachers in our brigade. The people in the county are used to a good life, so they definitely don't want to come to our countryside."

Zhao Xiaoyun finally understood the real reason why Hu Aihong suddenly became emotional, and hurriedly spoke to comfort her.

"How could it be that easy..." Hu Aihong knew she was just trying to comfort herself and couldn't help but sigh. "Being a teacher not only means not having to work in the fields, but also earning work points and eating public rations, and even having winter and summer vacations. We educated youth have always been inferior to others in the village, so how could we get a chance?"

"That's not necessarily true..." Seeing her dejected, Chen Lan tried to lighten the mood, but was interrupted by a clear voice halfway through her words.

"Sister Chen Lan, wait a minute, don't leave yet!"

Upon hearing this, several people hurriedly turned around and looked towards the person who was coming. They saw a figure riding a bicycle waving at them from a distance on the dusty road not far away.

"Xixi!" When they saw the person coming, surprised smiles suddenly appeared on their faces. They quickly put down the clothes in their hands and waved to her.

But in just a moment, Lin Xi, who was riding a bicycle, caught up with the few people. She jumped off the bicycle nimbly, put down the footrest, and walked excitedly in front of the few people with a smile on her face.

"I have some good news for you!"

Chen Lan looked at Lin Xi, who was wearing a neat white shirt and black trousers, with a ponytail and a rosy face, and couldn't help but reach out to wipe the sweat off her face, and asked curiously.

"Look at you sweating so much! Didn't you go to the county with the captain and the others to attend the commendation meeting? Why are you back at this time?"

"They are behind us. I rode faster alone because I wanted to come earlier to tell you the good news I heard today." Lin Xi shook her head indifferently, her rosy face full of uncontrollable excitement.

"What good news?" Seeing her like this, several people couldn't help but be interested in her.

Lin Xi raised her eyes and looked in the direction of the school, then lowered her voice and spoke excitedly.

"At the end of the commendation meeting, the leaders mentioned our brigade and said that the brigade's new school had been completed, but the county was also short of staff recently, so the teachers for the new school were recruited from the educated youth and the villagers, and no one would be sent here."

"real?!"