Chapter 30 Children, I have to read

I got off the train, took the bus from the train station for two hours, and walked on the mountain road for more than three hours, and finally arrived at my destination Baihua Village.

This is a very poetic name, but the real situation is not romantic at all. The muddy and bumpy road blocks the hope of going to the outside world, making the village seem a little peaceful.

But the price of peace is backwardness, poverty, and frogs in the well.

I am the third teacher in this village. The first two people couldn't stand the closed environment here and stayed here for two months, and the enthusiasm was exhausted and then left early.

It has been two months since the last teaching teacher left. Parents have gradually changed from the initial hope to be dull and even a little resistant to the fact that their children read and read and read, and when they are leaving the mountain village.

Because reading not only did not bring them hope, but instead studied delayed the time for farm work and increased their living burden.

Therefore, these simple farmers are not enthusiastic about my arrival.

But they still have a simple and kind heart. Every household has sent a lot of bacon and eggs that they only want to take out during festivals and festivals, but few people have clearly stated that they want to send their children to continue their studies.

I didn't force it, but just told them to make a decision after thinking about it.

The place where I live is the school, a two-story building, which is also the tallest building in the village. A small room is divided into the classroom on the second floor, with a desk and a single bed.

I sat in front of my desk, and outside the window was a dazzling starry sky. Just like this small mountain village, it was clean and beautiful, which made any busy city people who forgot to look up and feel their hearts tremble.

I made a pot of tea, and the tea was also given by the villagers. The old tree tea is very fragrant.

Then I began to think about how to communicate with these villagers.

In the following days, I really took root in Baihua Village. Every day at dawn, I followed the villagers to do farm work, and then waited until sunset before returning to school to rest.

During this period, I did not mention to them about letting their children continue to study.

The villagers also began to wonder why intellectuals like me, who came from the city, were willing to work like them with their faces facing the loess and their backs facing the sky.

I smiled and said to them: Intellectuals do not mean they don’t have to work anymore. On the contrary, the more knowledge they have in their stomachs, the more willing they are.

The villagers seem to not understand this sentence. In their opinion, isn’t reading and literacy just to make a name for themselves and not having to do farm work?

I smiled, and didn't explain anything to them, and continued to work like them.

Half a month passed like this, and the villagers were strangely used to me, a teacher who kept silent about studying and only worked.

On December 30, the day before New Year's Eve, I went to the town to buy some red paper couplets and then help the children buy some extracurricular reading materials.

For children in small mountain villages, the things in the textbooks are the most basic, but the most important thing is extracurricular knowledge, which is more meaningful to help them understand the outside world and realize the importance of reading.

After returning to the village, after I piled up the books I bought into the corner of the classroom, I started writing couplets. No one in the village was dragged down.

On December 31, the day before I bid farewell to the old and welcome the new, I began to send couplets from door to door. When the door of each house posted a couplet that symbolized the new couplet, everyone had a happy smile on their faces.

It was then that I formally told them about the importance of reading.

I tried to say to them in simple words: Reading and literacy may not necessarily lead by being successful. Less than one-third of the people who can get out of here, and less than one-tenth of the people who can gain a foothold outside after going out.

Then why do we still need to study?

Reading is like eating something. Once we eat, it will disappear. It seems that there is no reaction, but it is truly integrated into our bones and flesh.

The villagers all looked at me with a slight understanding, thinking it made sense, but they couldn't tell where it made sense.

I smiled and said: Everyone may never have the chance to see the outside world in their entire life when they live in this small mountain village, but they can't get to where their eyes can't reach. They can write. Reading is not the purpose. Reading is to broaden their horizons and understand the outside world.

Just like everyone is working in farming, reading is to plant a seed of hope in the hearts of children, and there will always be a day when it will take root and sprout.

You don’t have to worry that I will leave here in a few days like the first two teachers. No matter how long I stay here, it is always good for children to read more books. Learn more knowledge. Read more books and have less words to ask for help. Just like the couplet I wrote for you today, children will read and read, and they can write next year.

Speaking of this, the villagers finally showed a longing smile on their faces, but after a while the expression on their faces became entangled again.

If the children continue to go to class, it is naturally a good thing to be able to learn, but if they give up halfway as before, it will take more than half a year.

At this time, the old village chief, who had always been silent, whispered a mouthful of dry tobacco and said: Children, you have to go to school.Only by continuing to go to school can we get out of hope here.

The sound is not loud, but it is powerful.

The village chief spoke, and the villagers were not worried. The next day, they sent their children who had been to school to school.

After class resumed, my life was all about class and preparing lessons, except for two morning and evening running and hiking and the simplest three meals a day.

Because I am the only teacher in the whole school, and the child has not attended classes for a while, so there is no holiday. Except for the family, all children need to come to class on time every day.

The children are used to being wild, but they are not easy to teach. However, after half a month of getting along, I still won the simple hearts of the children with my extraordinary patience and gradually became liked by my big brother.

I occasionally smoke a cigarette when I rest after class.

At this time, boys will come to watch the fun. I always laugh and scold, "Don't always think about smoking the teacher's second-hand cigarette."

They asked licked their faces and asked, "If they get 100 points in the next class test, can they smoke a cigarette."

I always waved at them and said, "When the little chickens in your crotch grow in full, I'm here to ask the teacher to smoke cigarettes, otherwise I'll find that you picked up the teacher's cigarette butts are spitting out in a place where no one is there, and your butts will be opened for you."

The boys laughed and said, "Teacher Chen, our cocks are all covered with hair. If you don't believe it, we will take it off immediately and show it to you." At this time, the girl will run away with blushing faces.

I just looked at the boys and laughed.