My sister became the empress, but I'm still growing vegetables and raising chickens

When the primary school opened, a large number of people came to enroll, the vast majority of whom were children—adults themselves didn't realize this, thinking that knowing a few words was enough.

As for the children, those among them who have some money will send their children to school to get a basic education. They don't expect them to have great skills, but just to recognize a few words so that they can find a decent job in the future.

For example, the workers in the Si family's business preferred to use boys and girls who could read.

Now that there are more affordable options available, they are naturally happy to go.

The tuition fees for the school and the gifts given to the teachers would easily amount to three to five taels of silver a year, while educating a primary school for two years would only cost one tael. Moreover, the manager said that refusing any teacher to accept gifts was to prevent them from treating students differently.

The people who led the registration were workers from the Si family business and merchants associated with the Si family business; they all trusted the Si family very much.

Many ordinary people had previously participated in the health education and legal awareness campaigns conducted by the Second Sister and Prince Ning. They believed that since the business owner and Princess Xintong were sisters, they must be of similar character.

As more and more people signed up, others also got interested, and the first batch of 120 spots was quickly filled.

Girls are thirty and boys are ninety, divided into four classes.

In addition, fifteen adult males enrolled in the night school.

The atmosphere at the school was excellent, and many people who hesitated and didn't register were filled with regret.

The manager then came out to reassure everyone: "Don't worry, this first batch is just a trial. If it goes well after a year, our primary school will continue to offer classes, and we'll offer them by grade level. We'll definitely expand enrollment then, and there will be plenty of places!"

Hearing this, everyone felt reassured: "Then we must send our children here next year; we can't go back on our word."

The steward patted his chest and said, "Absolutely not. Who is our boss? She is His Majesty's own sister. She said she would make sure everyone can read and write, and she will definitely do it."

Because so many people are choosing to teach in primary schools, many local schools have declined. Although only primary schools have been affected so far, county schools and privately run private schools have not yet been affected.

However, most of those schools were established by local nobles. One reason was to select promising children, who, if they passed the exams, would belong to them. The other reason was that the tuition and other fees collected over a year would also constitute a source of income—even if that income was not high.

Nowadays, the people of the Great Zhou Dynasty live a prosperous life. Beyond having enough to eat and wear, they also have other ideas, so there are many people who send their children to school.

But the Si family business's actions are tantamount to meddling in their affairs, stealing their talent, and cutting off their source of income.

They would never agree to that.

Within a few days, people came to the manager to withdraw their children from school, and it wasn't just one or two children, but more than a dozen.

The manager was very surprised and pulled aside a familiar fellow villager to ask, "You said a long time ago that you would support your two young children. The youngest was just five years old and about to start his formal education, so you sent him here. Why are you dropping out of school now?"

The villager stammered, "I...I plan to send him to the Gong family school."

The manager asked doubtfully, "Are you worried that the teachers at our primary school aren't good enough, not as capable as those at the Gong family school? But you already said that if they're capable, you should continue to pay for their education; if they're not, it's fine if they can recognize a few characters. The Gong family school costs six or seven taels of silver a year, and if the writing materials are of poor quality, it won't do. At our primary school, it's not that expensive, nor is it that troublesome."

The fellow villager hesitated and remained silent.

The steward said, "We're from the same village, why are you arguing with me about these things? Don't worry, if you really have any difficulties, I'll do my best to help you!"

The villager sighed and said, "There's really no other way. The Gong family has said that we can choose not to go to the Gong family school, but we are absolutely not allowed to come and teach at the primary school. Otherwise, we won't get any of the farmland on the estate this year."

These villagers rely on the land to support their families. Now, thanks to the Si family's eldest daughter's improvements to the crops, tending the fields is much easier than before, and the harvest of grain they grow is also much better.

Those villagers with spare capacity went to work as tenant farmers in nearby villages.

Many people who previously did not own land were tenant farmers on the estates of wealthy households, living off the small plots of land owned by those wealthy families.

For them, the land is their means of livelihood. If they aren't allowed to be tenant farmers, how will they feed themselves?

Since he had already brought it up, the villager didn't hide anything anymore and said, "It's not just the Gong family that's like this; those local gentry all treat the people working on the estate this way. And they refuse to rent their shops to merchants with children in school... So... sigh, not many people dropped out of school today, but I reckon there will be more tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, the manager was naturally anxious. He immediately went to find Si Muyan and told her about the matter.

As it was the first pilot project, Si Muyan and her second sister started the primary school together. They did not leave immediately, but planned to stay for a while and go to the next place after things had settled down.

Hearing the manager say this, Si Muyan was not surprised. Instead, she said, "I didn't expect that they would come up with a solution in just a few days."

The second sister asked, "Do you have a way to deal with this?"

Si Muyan said, "We can only proceed gradually. Primary schools are a new concept, and people may not accept them all at once. My plan is to link my business with primary schools."

How to hook it up?

Si Muyan explained, "We'll directly turn the primary school into a school for the workshops. The families of our workshop workers will have priority enrollment. In addition, if the family members of the workers attend the primary school are merchants, they will have priority to cooperate with our business."

The second sister nodded and added, "But compared to ordinary people, there are relatively fewer merchants. The gentry's actions are tantamount to isolating the farmers from the land."

Si Muyan said, "This is difficult. We can't interfere with how those gentry and nobles handle their land. There are so many people, and the business guilds don't have enough jobs to absorb them. Besides, our Great Zhou is based on agriculture, and we must not put the cart before the horse by letting the people only care about making money and neglect the fundamentals of agriculture."

So over the years, Si Muyan has been telling her younger sister that commercial taxes can be increased and taxes for nobles can be introduced, but land taxes must be reduced as much as possible.

The second sister hesitated for a moment, then her eyes lit up: "It's not unsolvable. In the rural areas of our Great Zhou, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and much of the land is abandoned due to poor quality. What if we implemented land reform and encouraged farmers to reclaim wasteland?"

Upon hearing this, Si Muyan was delighted: "Yes, hardworking people can have their land purchase fees reduced appropriately. Farming one's own land is always better than being a tenant farmer for nobles!"