1986: Old Stories in Northeast China

"Uncle Jianguo, are these few cars enough?"

Before dawn the next day, the grain delivery team of Erdaoling Village was ready to go.

"Actually, there should be more. But now that we see your big fat pigs, we are all thinking about raising pigs, so we have to save more corn." He Jianguo said with a smile.

"After paying the public grain, the money is not much. It is better to keep it for raising pigs, so that we can happily eat pork during the New Year. Life will be better this year, right?"

"That's a must. Accountant Feng, take my car, otherwise I don't know how much money I should pay." Chen Tiezhu greeted with a smile.

"That's right, you're here early, I'll wait there." Accountant Feng said with a smile.

"Uncle, then you said that you can use money to replace the public grain, so why do you still ask us to pay the public grain?" Qi Cuiwen asked in confusion.

"What does this represent? It represents that our country's current grain production is confident." Chen Tiezhu said with a smile.

"In the earliest times, the public grain was just a general term. It was not just grain, but also various crops, pigs, chickens, etc."

"Life was really hard back then, and the grain yield in the fields was very low. We had to live year after year, otherwise how could we say that we can see the light of day now."

"I remember when I was a child, my parents were still alive. We planted a variety of crops at home, and we had to plant a little bit of everything."

"Then we also raised pigs in partnership with other families, and we would pay them together. We would give you some money, and some feed, so that you could continue to raise them next year."

"Life was really hard in those years." Zhou Fengxia said.

"I have a childhood friend whose family has many children. What did they do when there was a shortage of food? They would go to the forest to pick poplar and willow hairs and cook porridge with rice bran."

"His elder brother probably wanted to make life easier for his family, so he traded food coupons at that time. Later he was arrested and has not been released yet."

"Ah..., life was very tight in those days." Chen Tiezhu sighed.

There are really many such examples. At that time, everyone was poor and suffered, and life was similar.

"Accountant Feng, how are the doors and windows of our village primary school?" Chen Tiezhu asked.

The topic we just talked about is a bit heavy, so it is not easy to continue.

"It's all fixed, and the oil has been applied." Accountant Feng said with a smile.

"Wait until the New Year, and replace it before school starts. Then fix the roof, and there will be nothing to worry about. It will be fine even if it rains again."

"When our village is rich in the future, we will have to renovate the school building. There are not many children, so we have to give them a good learning environment." Chen Tiezhu said casually.

"Master, how many children are there in the school?" Lu Dan asked curiously.

"Haha, I really don't know this. I just know that there are only three classes, one principal and two teachers." Chen Tiezhu said happily.

"What? Doesn't that mean there are not even all the classes?" Lu Dan was shocked.

"What else do you want? There are not many people in the village, how many children can there be?" Chen Tiezhu said helplessly.

"It's just a class. Accountant Feng, a class with more than ten people is enough, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's it now. There were more in the past, but now we have family planning. In two years, it may take about three years to make up a first grade." Accountant Feng nodded.

"Uncle, if that's the case, won't many children miss the school age?" Qi Cuiwen asked with a frown.

"There's nothing we can do about it. We can't have a class for three or two children, right?" Chen Tiezhu asked back.

"This..."

Qi Cuiwen couldn't answer.

This is indeed a problem, but she always felt that it was a bit wrong.

"Master, if that's the case, why not just cancel the primary school in the village and send everyone to school in the town?" Lu Dan said.

"Dandan, the key is that it's still a certain distance from the town." Zhou Fengxia, who was driving, said.

"Then the family needs to pick up and drop off the children every day. Do they also need to deliver lunch at noon? It's not a big deal in winter, but during the busy farming season, the farm work is too busy to take care of the children."

"Comrade Xiao Zhou is right. This is the crux of the problem." Chen Tiezhu nodded.

"In fact, this is not a problem faced by our village. It is a common problem in mountain villages with a small population like ours."

"Life at home has to go on. If someone is specially assigned to take care of the children, it will definitely delay the farm work at home. The school needsShould we open classes? If there are six grades, two or three people in a class is not a good idea. "

"Besides, if that's the case, we have to increase the number of teachers. This is another huge expense, so we can only do it this way now."

"When I was in elementary school, there were quite a lot of people in my class. In fact, let's put it this way, how long this elementary school in our village can last is really unknown."

"In the end, we have to send the children to the town. But at that time, the burden on the family will be much greater. Send them in the morning, pick them up in the evening, and have a quick lunch at noon."

"Although this seems to be the only way, I always feel a little uncomfortable in my heart." Lu Dan said with a bitter face.

"Master, you are so smart, can't you think of other ways? You said this is not a problem for your village alone."

"Then what can I do? I can't give birth to many children at once." Chen Tiezhu shrugged.

"Master, be serious and help me find a solution. "Lu Dan said helplessly.

"In fact, this is just like curing a disease. The key is whether you want to treat the symptoms or the root cause. I'll leave you an assignment for now. You'll have to go to the grain depot soon. Just give me an answer when you get home. "Chen Tiezhu said cheerfully.

Lu Dan glanced at him unhappily, but he felt a little relieved.

This is a dilemma of mountain village education, but it seems that the master has a way to deal with it in his mind.

Even if he can't think of it, it doesn't seem to matter.

While thinking hard in his mind, he also saw the grain delivery trucks parked on the side of the road.

It's not the official working time yet, and there are already many trucks lined up here. This is because the grain depot has been adjusted. Otherwise, if they all rush to deliver together, how far will they have to line up?

I have never seen such a scene before, and the two girls are also very emotional.

Delivering grain is really a hard job. I thought Uncle Jianguo was exaggerating.

It takes half a day to drive the big carriage. Can you really rush back home?

I'm afraid you have to rush back after resting for two hours at home.

The final result can only be to stay where you are and continue to pay public grain the next day.