Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

Chapter 623 Girls' School

Upon obtaining her official position, Ji Yongling's first act was to establish a girls' school. She first asked Huo Zhenglian to write a letter to the imperial court on her behalf, expressing her desire to establish a girls' school to contribute to the future selection of skilled female doctors from the common people for government offices; in addition, she hoped that every prefecture and county could establish a female doctor, selecting female doctors from the common people to take turns practicing medicine, making it more convenient for women to seek medical treatment.

Of course, her primary goal was to enable women from the Northwest to be selected as female officials and thus enter the imperial court. However, this didn't need to be stated explicitly; it would be done step by step.

In modern times, the imperial court primarily selected female officials from the culturally significant Jiangnan region, such as Suzhou and Hangzhou, as well as Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces. While these female officials mainly held various positions within the palace, such as managing palace affairs and assisting the empress and concubines, they did not directly participate in court politics. However, they gained a certain degree of influence, and the status of women in the Northwest gradually improved.

The Emperor, grieving the loss of his beloved concubine due to the smallpox epidemic, recalled that although there were female physicians in the palace at that time, their medical skills were inadequate. He thought that if he had seen Huo Zhenlian's memorial earlier, the outcome might have been different. Therefore, he readily granted Ji Yongling's request.

With the emperor's permission, there were far fewer obstacles to establishing girls' schools.

Ji Yongling used part of his reward to purchase land in Chenhu Village, which borders Niujiazhuang, and built two rows of houses to serve as a school. He also hired Xiuqin as an embroidery teacher, Dr. Xu as a medical teacher, Wang the carpenter's eldest daughter as a carpenter, and invited Zheng Xiucai to come and teach him every now and then.

Of course, she also taught classes herself, mainly arithmetic and medicine.

Initially, Ji Yongling's schooling for girls caused quite a stir in Ningping County. Many conservative gentry and common people believed that girls' education violated social norms and secretly gossiped about it. However, with Ji Yongling's status as a "national guardian physician" and the support of Magistrate Huo, no one dared to speak ill of her to her face.

However, there were also enlightened individuals like Zheng Xiucai. Upon hearing that Ji Yongling was establishing a girls' school, he immediately restored Zheng Xiding's status as a girl and sent her over. Seeing that Zheng Xiucai had sent his daughter, Zhang Baoqing and Zhang Sheng from Zhangjiapan also sent their daughters over.

When Zheng Xiding came to Niujiazhuang to study, Ji Yongning and the others finally found out. The brother they had been supposed to swear brotherhood with turned out to be a girl, and Ji Yongning, in particular, felt awkward for quite a while.

Later, Ji Yongning and his friends became the protectors of Zheng Xiding and the girls from Zhangjiapan. Every day after school, they would run back to Niujiazhuang early and escort the girls back to Zhangjiapan.

One day, Zhangjiapan School ended late. Zheng Xiding and the others had already returned when Ji Yongning and his group came out. Ji Yongning was afraid that Zheng Xiding would be angry because he hadn't gone to Niujiazhuang to pick them up, so he sang a little tune he had learned from someone at a wedding to Zheng Xiding, who was carrying a basin to the ditch to wash clothes.

“You are by Zhangjiapan, and I stand on the hilltop watching you. I call out to you, sister, but you don’t hear me. My heart is filled with unease…”

Before he could finish singing, Zheng Xiucai stood behind him with a dark expression. That day, Ji Yongning was chased by Zheng Xiucai, who was carrying a stick, all the way from Zhangjiapan back to Niujiazhuang.

Perhaps it was this sentimental song that led to Zheng Xiucai's complete rejection of Ji Yongning's marriage proposal two or three years later. Zheng Xiucai believed Ji Yongning was a disreputable "fool and good-for-nothing" who only knew how to sing songs to girls and deceive them.

Of course, this might just be an excuse, because Zheng Xiucai only had one child, Zheng Xiding, and wanted Ji Yongning to marry into the family. However, the Ji family refused, so Zheng Xiucai used this as a reason to refuse.

Later, at Ji Yongling's suggestion, both families compromised and agreed that after Zheng Xiding and Ji Yongning got married, their first son would take the Zheng family surname and be considered a grandson of the Zheng family, thus making the marriage possible.

Because Ji Yongzhou had studied with Guowa, Shaowa, Erdan, and Tiedan, Zheng Xiding gained a group of followers after marriage. She could know immediately if Ji Yongning farted outside. This caused Ji Yongning to complain that he had no freedom after marriage.

Despite all the preparations being made for Ji Yongling's girls' school, enrollment was not ideal. Apart from a few girls from Zhangjiapan, such as Zheng Xiding, Ji Yong'an, Ji Yongru, and Zhao Chunni, there were only about ten other girls from the village who had been sent by their families to support Ji Yongling. Surprisingly, no girls from other villages came to study there.

Ji Yongling understood that, apart from being conservative in their thinking, many people still believed that it was useless for girls to study.

Although there were incentives to recommend girls for exams as female doctors and officials, the lower classes still believed that girls would eventually marry and become part of their husband's family. Even if they studied, they would only be able to give birth, cook, and take care of the household, and wouldn't be of much use. It would be better to use the time spent studying to do more chores at home and look after their younger siblings.

Ji Yongling thought that only by letting the people truly see the benefits of girls going to school could they be motivated to send their daughters to school.

Therefore, Ji Yongling's girls' school set a rule that "girls from poor families can come to study for free, and paper and ink will be provided free of charge. If they can complete the prescribed studies at the girls' school, they can work at the agricultural research institute in Jijiabao, Bacunyuan. After the wool spinning workshop in Niujiazhuang is built, they can also have priority to work in the wool spinning workshop."

This is something that appeals to everyone. Everyone knows that Ji Yongling pays very good wages to the people at the Bacunyuan Agricultural Research Institute, but the requirements are also very strict. Those who can work there, regardless of gender, are all skilled farmers. If their daughters can work there in the future, it would be better than their sons working in the county.

And so, the first batch of more than thirty female students officially began their classes.

The first class was taught by Ji Yongling. When she first stood in the classroom and saw the female students sitting at tables of four, some of whom looked no more than ten years old, yet still carrying their younger siblings to class, her eyes showed both bewilderment and a thirst for knowledge and aspirations for the future. This strengthened her resolve to continue running the girls' school.

She hopes that these girls' futures will be different because of their education.