Liu Nian’s hometown is located in a small county called Xilan in the northwest of Guangxi. Xilan County was still labeled as a national-level poverty-stricken county in 2016. In 2001, the appearance of this county was dilapidated and barren. Even Li Mu couldn't believe it.
This county is located in a narrow plain surrounded by mountains. The only way in and out of the mountains is a dilapidated and dangerous winding mountain road. The population of the entire county is only 300,000, and the population of the county is less than 100,000. The tallest building is a seven-story dilapidated commercial building. Apart from this, no residential building in the county has more than six floors. The water towers made of red bricks have become the most outstanding buildings in the county.
There was originally an Anyuan Hotel in this seven-story commercial building in the county town, and there was an Anyuan Hotel attached to it. It was the only and best hotel in the county town. However, after Li Mu inquired about it, he found out that the Anyuan Hotel had been lacking for a long time. It closed down due to the lack of customers, leaving only the Anyuan Hotel, which occasionally hosted wedding banquets for young people in the county. The original rooms in the hotel have been demolished, and it is said that the owner is preparing to renovate it and build an indoor gym.
Li Mu was very skeptical about how a county with no foreign population and no demand for hotels could support a gym. But this was obviously not a problem that he should worry about. What he should worry about most was the dozen or two people. How should person No. 10 stay
After several inquiries, Li Mucai finally found a state-run guest house near the passenger terminal. The entire guest house only had two double rooms, and the others were all four-person rooms.
Li Mu went in and took a look. The conditions were very poor. There was a musty smell in the room, there were large damp spots on the roof, and the bedding was not very clean. However, this was obviously the only choice at the moment.
There was no other way. Li Mu booked all the remaining rooms and began to allocate them to everyone. The six people in dormitory 606 and the two male photographers lived in two quadruple rooms. Dong Ai, the girl she brought and Zhao Ziqiu lived in In a quadruple room, Chen Lei and a female reporter lived in a double room, and the remaining double room was also given to two female reporters. Who knows that among the five media companies that came this time, four were female reporters.
The remaining male photographers and reporters have no choice but to live in four-person rooms with poor conditions. The only thing that is gratifying for everyone is that they only need to stay here for one night and go to the school to complete the donation tomorrow morning. Everyone set off directly back to the provincial capital and rushed to the airport to catch a flight back to Yanjing.
After everyone settled down, Li Mu asked Sun Jian and the others to accompany the reporters, and asked Dong Ai to take care of Zhao Ziqiu while contacting the local media to see when they would come. He also asked Zhao Ziqiu not to cause trouble to Dong Ai, and to help if he could. .
Zhao Ziqiu pursed her lips and looked at Li Mu with an aggrieved look. She felt it was difficult to speak in front of so many people, so she had to protest silently. She came here not to stay in a shabby guest house, but to experience something with Li Mu. , she didn’t want Li Mu to leave her alone here.
Li Mu also saw a little bit of pleading in Zhao Ziqiu's grievance, and waved his hands helplessly and said, "Then you can go to school with me. If I stay here, Senior Ai will have to devote her energy to taking care of you."
"Okay." Zhao Ziqiu's big eyes lit up instantly, and the unhappiness between his eyebrows disappeared.
Everything has been arranged. Li Mu, Zhao Ziqiu, Liu Nian, and Hu Zhengdao are going to visit Liu Nian's alma mater first. They will contact the school leaders first, and also check the poor people and make statistics. , see how many people there are.
Liu Nian had contacted the principal before, and the principal had already made all preparations and was waiting anxiously in the school. Li Mu did not let reporters follow him. After all, there was nothing to interview today, and the main thing was the donation site tomorrow.
Walking on the muddy street, Liu Nian sheepishly introduced to Li Mu and Hu Zhengdao: "It rains a lot here, and the roads in the county are not very good. There is a lot of mud and water when it rains."
While Li Mu walked carefully with Zhao Ziqiu, he asked Liu Nian: "How many high schools are there in your county?"
"Three." Liu Nian said: "Three general high schools and one vocational high school. The middle school I am in is the largest middle school in Xilan County. Xilan Middle School, junior high school and high school have it."
Hu Zhengdao said: "Lao Liu, to be honest, don't be unhappy. Your place is worse than our county seat. Although our place is not that good, at least there are a few tall buildings and the roads are better than yours." It’s better, plus there’s less rain in the northwest, so although the road is dusty, it’s not that muddy. Look at how well I got rid of the dirt on my pants.”
Liu Nian scratched his head and smiled: "If you go to my house, you will probably be even more devastated. You can't even ride a motorcycle on a rainy day. You have to rely on a four-wheeler or an animal to pull the cart."
Hu Zhengdao's expression was stunned, and he sighed and said nothing. Although he was born in a poor area, he couldn't help but sigh, this place is really... too poor.
Li Mu felt the environment here and suddenly felt that human reincarnation was indeed a technical job.
Let’s not talk about what kind of family we are born in, let’s talk about what kind of place we are born in. We are all Chinese. Some people are born in big cities, so naturally they are blessed with various conditions. For example, if I was born in a small city, I am not affected by the big city. After all, the environment, transportation, education and the inflow of new things in China's third-tier coastal cities are faster; those who are more miserable are born in such second-tier and first-tier small towns. In small counties, the economy cannot keep up with the pace, and information is relatively limited. The cost of traveling to medium and large cities on the third tier is too high; what is even worse is for children like Liu Nian who were born in the second and first tier mountainous areas. People's livelihood, economy, transportation, medical care, and education cannot keep up.
There are not many universal values that Li Mu recognizes, but education is one of the few that he firmly believes in. Without special help, if people want to change their destiny, the best way is to study. It is not terrible to be born in a poor county or even in a mountainous area. , as long as he can study in a university, I dare not say that he will be rich and powerful, but at least he will have the strength to get out of the mountains and find his own foothold in the colorful world outside. Therefore, when he steps on the mud On the streets of the impoverished county town, he suddenly felt that the road to student aid was indeed a long and arduous one. Even if he did not have the energy to take care of it in the future, he must ensure the implementation of this student aid behavior. He did not dare to make a big deal. Lan, help as much as you can.
…
When they arrived at Xilan Middle School, the pants of the four of them were already very tight, but no one paid attention to these details at this moment. The three of them followed Liu Nian into the school and went straight to a three-story building in the corner.
Liu Nian introduced that the three-story building is the former site of Xilan Middle School. It was built in the 1950s and is now the office building for teachers and school leaders. The five-story building next door is a product of the 1980s. It is said that these two buildings The building was donated by a rich man who went abroad from Xilan County. Now this building is the main teaching building of Xilan Middle School. On the side of a dilapidated playground, there is an L-shaped three-story building, half of which is student dormitory. Half are apartments for single teachers.
Today is Sunday. There are no people on the Xilan Middle School campus. The inside of the school is clean and tidy compared with the outside. The road is paved with gravel and dirt, which is not as dirty as the road outside. There is no garbage on both sides of the road.
This school doesn't even have security guards, so it's naturally impossible to have cleaners. It's really rare to be able to maintain the campus environment like this.
When they arrived at the office building, Liu Nian took the three of them to the door of the principal's office on the second floor and gently knocked on the door. The person who opened the door was a defeated middle-aged man about fifty years old. When he saw Liu Nian standing there At the door, he immediately grabbed his hand excitedly and said something in a dialect that Li Mu and the others could not understand.
Liu Nian communicated with the other party in his hometown dialect for a while, then turned to Li Mu and the others and said, "Principal Wang said you are welcome to Xilan. After receiving the call, he has not slept since last night."
Immediately, Liu Nian introduced Li Mu, Zhao Ziqiu and Hu Zhengdao to each other. Li Mu also knew each other's name at this time, Wang Jianshe, who is forty-seven years old and has been the principal of Xilan Middle School for five years.
Wang Jianshe was very polite to Li Mu and the others. After they came in, he deliberately took out the prepared disposable teacups and tea leaves and made them a cup of tea. Wang Jianshe said that he had long known about Liu Nian's tutorship, although he did not understand the Internet at all. , but still gave 3321 a very high rating.
Li Mu exchanged a few polite words with Wang Jianshe. During the chat, he found that Wang Jianshe was very direct and straightforward in his speech, and he had a military air about him. After careful questioning, he found out that he had retreated from the southwest border after fighting a self-defense counterattack in the early years. He was originally a company instructor in the army. After recovering from his injuries, he returned to Zealand. He started as a teacher and then gradually became a principal.
Wang Jianshe graduated from high school and joined the army. After joining the army, he attended a correspondence college from the Provincial Normal College. Among his peers at his age, he was definitely considered a knowledgeable person.
While chatting, Li Mu also revealed the real purpose of his visit today, which was to verify the list of poor students.
Wang Jianshe took out the roster he had prepared a long time ago, handed it to Li Mu, and said: "This year there are 383 senior high school students in our school, and 48 people are repeating the class, for a total of 431 people. They are recorded here. Their names, their household registration status, and their annual family income. This income is not accurate, but it was also found by the head teachers of the senior high school classes together. The error should not be too big. For those in the poor bracket, the total is two hundred and zero. Nine people.”
Li Mu nodded and took a closer look at the roster. It was indeed very detailed. In addition to the information Wang Jianshe mentioned, each student's ID number and ID address were also counted. Students in poor grades used red pens. Marked, at a glance you can find that the annual family income of poor students is generally less than three to four thousand yuan, and there are even less than two thousand yuan.
After Li Mu read it, he said to Wang Jianshe: "Principal Wang, just target these students who are in the poorest bracket."
Wang Jianshe asked nervously: "Classmate Li Mu, is it true that each student donated 1,000 yuan as Liu Nian said on the phone?"
Li Mu nodded: "Principal Wang, please make arrangements tomorrow morning, and we will give the money directly to the students then."
As soon as he finished speaking, someone pushed open the door and entered. A middle-aged man in his forties came in and said with a smile: "Hey, Principal Wang, are you a distinguished guest?"
(End of chapter)