Jiu Zhang Ji: The Daily Life of the Reborn Daughter

Chapter 148: The First Lesson of the Salesian Home is Labor Lesson

Qiao Lili jumped off the horse, took a cloth bag from the saddle, took out some candies from it, and gave five to each child.

The children were reluctant to put the whole candy into their mouths at once. They held the candy in their palms, stuck out their pink tongues, licked it, and enjoyed it for a while with a smile. When the sweetness in their mouths was digested, they licked it again.

Qiao Peng didn't expect that there would be children before the orphanage was officially opened. He felt his pockets and found nothing. He had no gifts for the children. He felt a little embarrassed and looked at his sister with resentful eyes.

Qiao Lili pretended not to see it. She didn't expect to meet the children as soon as she entered the door.

However, Qiao Peng soon discovered that in addition to eating candy, the children also stared at the horses he and his sister rode with shining eyes. He immediately had an idea in his mind: "Children, do you want to ride horses?"

The children looked at each other and said in small, uncertain voices, “Yes.”

"Well, I came in a hurry today and didn't bring you any gifts, so I'll take each of you for a ride on horseback." Qiao Peng patted his chestnut horse.

When the children heard that they could really ride horses, they stopped eating their candies. They carefully ate the candies, wrapped them back in the original oil paper, put them in their pockets, and ran to Qiao Peng. They surrounded him and the chestnut horse, wanting to be the first to ride.

"Brother, brother, I want to ride a horse." A very thin boy, about seven or eight years old, looked up and said to Qiao Peng. Because of his thinness and the angle at which he tilted his head, his eyes looked particularly big.

"Okay, you ride first." He bent down and carried the boy onto the chestnut horse, and said to the other children, "Line up, we'll take them one by one. Don't be in a hurry, everyone can ride."

"Okay." The children spontaneously lined up at the side of the corridor. At this time, Yunwu was also informed and walked quickly over from the backyard.

Qiao Peng said to his sister, "I don't know anything about the Salesian Home. You go ahead and do your work. I'll play with the children for a while."

Wuzong has a bad temper and probably won't let the children ride it. Qiao Lili is afraid that it might hurt the children, so she sends a servant to take it to Ma Peng, tie it up, and feed it some hay.

Qiao Lili followed Yunwu to the backyard and first looked at the bedrooms prepared for the children. There were four children in one room, and each room had four beds and four small cabinets. The bedding on the beds was already neatly laid out. The eight children in the two rooms shared a washroom, and towels and washbasins were also prepared.

There is also a public bathroom and toilet in each courtyard, and each courtyard is taken care of by a maid who sweeps the floor.

"If the house is full of children, one woman won't be able to handle it all. The older children have to take care of the younger ones, and each child has to do work within their ability. We can't just let the children become useless after they come here." Qiao Lili instructed Yunwu.

"Yes, my lord."

There are now four such courtyards, which can accommodate about 200 children. More courtyards will be renovated in the future. As not many children can come in one day, the work can be done slowly and in an orderly manner.

After visiting the bedroom, I went to see the kitchen and the dining room. There were four large pots in the kitchen and eight maids cooking. There was a long table in the dining room that could accommodate about a hundred children for meals. If there were more children, they could eat in batches.

"We should implement a separate dining system for the children. This is hygienic and avoids waste. It also helps us control how much each child eats. We can also know who has eaten and who has not." Qiao Lili said to the kitchen maid.

The two old women had flickering eyes and looked confused, and it was obvious that they didn't understand.

At this time, a servant came to Yunwu and said, "Boss, the plates you ordered have been delivered. There are 500 of them. Please go to the front yard and have a look."

"Young master, how about you go and take a look at me?" Yunwu asked Qiao Lili to go with him to take a look.

"it is good."

The carriage delivering tableware stopped in the front yard. As Qiao Lili walked over, she heard the cheerful laughter of children coming from the front yard. The laughter was so contagious that the corners of Qiao Lili's mouth couldn't help but curl up.

The tableware is a large stoneware plate with several grids of varying sizes on it, which can be used to place dishes and rice respectively, and it is also accompanied by a stoneware bowl for porridge or soup.

Qiao Lili's original intention in setting up this orphanage was to provide homeless children with food, shelter, and a place to learn life skills. The free food and accommodation provided to them would be convenient, thoughtful, and attentive, but it is also just the life of an ordinary family.

She couldn't let these orphans develop habits of laziness, getting something for nothing, greed for enjoyment, and a love of ease and comfort. Otherwise, when they grew up and left the orphanage, they would have no way to make a living. That was not loving them, but harming them.

Here, she wants to turn the children into kind, hardworking and skilled people, so that when they leave the salesian home, they can find their own place in society, support themselves with their own hands and live a better life.

So, when she customizes something, she focuses on practicality rather than fancy things.

Qiao Lili picked up a plate and took a look at it. It was exactly what she had imagined and the quality was also acceptable. She nodded and asked Yunwu to count the quantity and pay the remaining balance.

She returned to the kitchen with a plate and showed it to the two maids.

When so many children gather together, the first thing to prevent is the diseases that can be transmitted to each other. The separate dining system can prevent a large part of diseases transmitted through food. It can also be well controlled if each child has a portion of food. For example, each child can have an egg a day, which can be directly placed on the plate to prevent some children from eating a lot while others can get none.

Children who have been wandering the streets for a long time have all kinds of bad habits. Some are overbearing and will grab all the good dishes and meat for themselves and not let others eat them. The food is served separately to each person on his or her own plate, so if anyone tries to snatch the food, it will be easy to be discovered.

With this plate, the two old women immediately understood.

After Yunwu came back, they went to the school again. There was currently only an old teacher who taught the children and a female teacher who taught the girls red and embroidery. After all the children had received their education, Qiao Lili also planned to consult masters in carpentry, bricklaying, gardening, planting, breeding, carving, accounting, medicine, etc., to ensure that every child here could master a survival skill.

The original garden in the mansion has been abandoned for many years. Now that the weeds and trees have been cleared, Qiao Lili plans to use it as a vegetable garden and let the children grow vegetables under guidance. They can grow and eat what they grow themselves to increase their sense of accomplishment.

At this season, we still have time to plant some autumn vegetables. Farming time waits for no one. After the opening ceremony tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, let's have people take these children to start planting vegetables.

The first lesson in the Salesian home may be a labor class.

It’s so difficult to write during the transition period. I keep writing and deleting, and I’m stuck.