Mr. Zhuang pushed open the classroom door, and the students who were still together immediately dispersed and ran back to their respective seats to sit down.
Mr. Zhuang stood at the door and paused before walking onto the podium.
He lowered his head to look at the students sitting behind the desks, and then sighed quietly, "Tomorrow is the exam, and this may be the last time we take the exam. Although it is only a few days, Mr. Big I hope you will be as serious as ever."
This means that he has agreed with the students to drop out.
In fact, it’s okay not to agree. Shuxiu is handed in once a year, and the new year’s Shuxiu will be handed in after the next year. Even if Mr. Zhuang is willing to lower the Shuxiu, the parents of these students will not agree to send their children again.
Because apart from Shuxiu, they also have to pay for the children's meals.
In the past, the rice noodles and money were nothing to them, but now it is different.
This year's grain harvest is poor, and no one knows what the next year will be like.
The reason why the children are still allowed to go to school after the autumn harvest is because the one-year training has been paid, and it would be a waste not to come.
But every month the children have to bring a small bag of rice noodles to school, which is a heavy burden on the family.
But I can't help it, because other children can't eat, and my own children are hungry, right
Moreover, in the eyes of adults, reading is very labor-intensive and brain-intensive. Not only do you have to eat dry food in school, but you also have to eat dry food for a breakfast at home. Have to enter Mr. Lecture
Therefore, anyone who has children studying in school must give them at least two dry meals a day.
And a dry meal, made of porridge or noodle soup, is at least enough for a person three meals a day.
Qili Village and the two or three nearby villages are not very wealthy, and most of the people who are willing to send their children to the school are rich peasants with wealthier families.
The premise is that Mr. Zhuang doesn't need much money, and it's no problem for the family to provide three meals a day for a child.
But after the natural disasters, the food stocks of each family are running out.
So the parents of the students discussed in private, and then they chose to come to the door at this time to resign with Mr. Zhuang.
Mr. Zhuang is not a gentleman who does not eat fireworks in the world. Naturally, he knows how difficult they are now, so he tried to persuade them to stay, and even expressed his willingness to reduce and exempt the students. After seeing that they still insisted, he could only agree to let the students go.
Although it has been decided to let them resign from school, Mr. Zhuang is not doing nothing.
After the exam, he called these students one by one to talk alone in the small courtyard next door.
The younger ones told them to read "Thousand Characters" and "The Analects" over and over again after returning home. He said: "These two books contain great wisdom. You may not be able to read them now, but as you get older , If you read more, you will naturally gain something."
The eight or nine-year-old child looked dazed. Mr. Zhuang paused and said, "You just need to remember to recite "Thousand Characters" and "Analects" every day after you go back. The words you have learned will be forgotten after a long time. Yes, if you forget the characters you have already learned, wouldn’t you have failed your parents’ expectations? The two years of learning have been wasted.”
When the eight or nine-year-old child heard the words, he quickly nodded in agreement.
As for the teenagers who are already twelve or thirteen years old, Mr. Zhuang is more interested in talking. These children have already read books with him for four or five years.
Faced with their departure, Mr. Zhuang didn't regret much, because these children didn't want to take the imperial examination, and after four or five years, there was only a limit to what he could teach them.
What he regrets most is the two students who have only been studying for only two years, or only entered last year.
Every child who came out of Mr.'s courtyard had red eyes, and no one knew what Mr. said to them except himself.
Both Man Bao and Bai Shanbao were a little uneasy.
Man Bao's situation is a bit special. She doesn't know if her husband has left. If he leaves, how can she still study
Bai Shanbao was also very disturbed, he must study, but if Mr. Zhuang left, where would he go to study
The least affected one is probably Bai Erlang.
After looking around, he made a promise with his close friends that they would come to play with him often in the future.
The little friends in Qili Village agreed without even thinking about it. Anyway, it's just a village and a few steps away.
The neighbors in the village didn't hesitate too much. It took a few quarters of an hour to run, and anyway, they had nothing to do when they got home, wasn't it just for fun
After searching all the students, Mr. Zhuang said with regret that this year's course is over, and everyone can pack up and go home for the New Year.
All the students stood up and solemnly bid farewell to Mr. Zhuang, and silently put away their things.
Man Bao waited for everyone to leave, and then he and Bai Shanbao ran to the courtyard to find Mr.
Mr. Zhuang was just about to boil water to make tea, when he saw two disciples coming, he waved to them and said, "It's just in time, help sir to light the fire."
Man Bao ran up, she was very familiar with the job, hit the flint and lit the hay to make a fire.
Bai Shanbao handed her the firewood and asked Mr. Zhuang, "Sir, do you want to leave?"
Mr. Zhuang asked, "Why, you don't want to study anymore?"
"No, I want to study with my husband."
Mr. Zhuang stroked his beard and said with a smile, "Isn't that all right? You can just study with the teacher at ease."
Man Bao and Bai Shanbao breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, and became happy again, so they invited: "Sir, come to my house for dinner tonight."
Mr. Zhuang patted Man Bao's head and said with a smile, "Mr. is not free tonight, and I have asked Mr. Bai to have dinner with him."
Bai Shanbao suddenly realized, "No wonder Bai Er is not in a hurry, so he knew it earlier?"
Mr. Zhuang smiled meaningfully.
Of course Bai Erlang didn't know. The kid didn't have much on his mind, maybe no one asked him, so he didn't think these things had anything to do with him.
He thought, whatever should be done.
He was still a child, why should he worry about such things
So even if he had to sit with Mr. Zhuang to eat at dinner, he didn't make any trouble, and ate seriously after his father picked up a chopstick.
There were only their father and son and Mr. Zhuang at the table. Master Bai felt that the table was too dull, so he suggested, "Mr. Zhuang, how about calling Shanbao?"
Of course Mr. Zhuang has no objection.
So the servants went down, and after a while, Bai Shanbao and Man Bao were brought over together.
Master Bai saw Man Bao laughing, "I was thinking about sending someone to your house to invite you, but I didn't expect you to be still at Shan Bao's house, and now Mr. Zhuang is the only three of you students, just sitting together to discuss this lesson How to get on."
Bai Shanbao explained, "We are discussing how to plant more melons and beans in the wasteland at the foot of the mountain after spring begins."