Embers Ad Infinitum

"Okay." Tian Erhe turned his head and said to Shang Jianyao in a teasing manner, "Now you know how difficult it is to maintain order in such a settlement, right?"

Jiang Baimian didn't want to continue to provoke Shang Jianyao, so he took over the conversation and asked instead:

"Mayor, when we came in just now, there didn't seem to be so many children? Are they working with adults?"

Tian Erhe turned his body sideways and pointed to the three buildings in the shape of "pin":

"They have classes over there, and the adults don't go to school until they come back."

"Class?" Jiang Baimian raised his eyebrows slightly, "You still maintain classroom education?"

This is a very rare thing outside of the big forces, in the many wilderness settlements on the gray soil, at least not in the settlements that Jiang Baimian had visited before.

For people who are struggling to survive, it is completely unnecessary to organize classroom education, which is a waste of energy and resources—manpower is a very important part of resources, and teachers who are off-duty and not helping in the fields at home The children of are a luxury in many settlements.

In those places, parents and elders can occasionally provide children with some teachings in daily life, helping them acquire common sense, learn to farm, gather, cook, clean, shoot, hunt and take care of babies.

Tian Erhe smiled and said:

"Every time an outsider enters Shuiwei Town and discovers this, they will be very surprised. Indeed, it is not easy to maintain the 'school' under our conditions. Everyone saves and saves, tightening their belts, This tradition has not been broken.”

He raised his head subconsciously, looked at the dark evening sky that was about to rain, and said with half memory and half emotion:

"It was an uncle named Shen Liuxin who first suggested that children receive formal education.

"He said: No matter how difficult it is, children must be literate, read, and learn the most basic knowledge. Only in this way can they and their descendants, the future townspeople of Shuiwei Town, remember who they are and where they come from. What kind of group they belong to, what kind of culture and history they have had. Only by always remembering these can they persevere with hope in a bad environment and in the "darkness" where there is no hope.

"Although I agreed with Uncle Shen's proposal at that time, what I thought was actually very simple: every time I brought back some items and instructions from the ruins of the city, I didn't know some words, but even if I knew them, they were linked together. After that, I often don't know what it means. This makes it impossible to use items effectively. How can this work?

"This kind of thinking is really simple. Only in recent years have I gradually understood Uncle Shen's words."

Speaking of this, Tian Erhe stood up, pointed to the three buildings in the shape of "pin" and said:

"Do you know where this used to be?"

Bai Chen, Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong shook their heads at the same time.

"This is the school in the former Shuiwei Town. There is a basketball court, there is a flag-raising platform, there is a teacher's dormitory, there is a student dormitory, there are computers, books and laboratory buildings, and there are teaching buildings..." Tian Erhe They introduced one after another, with a little charcoal light on their faces.

Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others listened intently and watched intently, even those buildings and sites could barely be distinguished in the evening's dimness with only their outlines.

Tian Erhe withdrew his hand, turned around, and repeated the original words:

"This used to be a school."

His expression was serious and serious.

Without waiting for Jiang Baimian and others to respond, he sat down again, laughed at himself and said:

"Many townspeople don't understand this matter. It's not that they don't want to maintain such a small school, but they think it should only be provided to the original residents. One bite is already a great kindness, why waste resources?

"They think that the original townspeople, especially the core members of the town guard, should divide up the land, and the later wanderers in the wilderness can only lease it and need to pay a certain share of the harvest.

"They also believe that the later wanderers should not be allowed to join the town guard, and they should not be allowed to have relatively better weapons."

Having said that, Tian Erhe shook his head on his own:

"Heh, when I was alive, I could still rely on prestige to suppress me. No one dared to really object, at most they complained in private. When I die, I really don't know what Shuiwei Town will become.

"Stop talking, stop talking, eat, eat."

Regarding the internal affairs of Shuiwei Town, Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen are not good at expressing opinions, so they can only maintain the attitude of guests, and eat compressed biscuits, energy bars, and the multi-grain steamed buns sent by Tian Erhe. That pot of braised beef.

Seeing that Yao was not in a hurry to join, Shang continued to pick up small pieces of beef in the bowl and feed them to the little girl beside him.

The little girl was also very sensible. After eating, she didn't ask for any more, and bowed seriously to Shang Jianyao:

"Thank you brother!"

After thanking her, she held the rest of the sundries and bouncing back to the chaotic area where many buildings were built—it was originally several basketball courts lined up.

"The action is very standard." Shang Jianyao praised her behind her back.

"This is specially taught by the teacher." Tian Erhe was quite proud.

Shang Jianyao still didn't pick up the braised beef, but silently gnawed on the yellow miscellaneous grain steamed buns.

Jiang Baimian didn't persuade him, and asked Tian Erhe about their various experiences after the destruction of the old world while eating.

Most of these experiences are very boring. After all, Shuiwei Town has a geographical advantage and has received fewer external tests, but Jiang Baimian and others still listened to it with great interest, which made Tian Erhe talk more intensely, and even talked about himself and his wife. The process of sprouting feelings during a hunt.

After everyone had eaten enough, Shang Jianyao began to attack the remaining braised beef, and dipped the steamed buns in his hand with juice to eat.

"I haven't been this happy for a long time." Tian Erhe rubbed his stomach, looked at the leaves and ashes on the ground, "I have to go back to my room, there are still some things in the town waiting for me to make up my mind."

Jiang Baimian suddenly remembered something, and quickly said:

"Mayor, I have another question."

"What?" Tian Erhe tightened the army green coat he was wearing.

Jiang Baimian recalled:

"Have you ever seen such a person?

"Male, black hair, golden eyes, 1.8 meters tall, very handsome, should be more handsome than him."

She turned her head to indicate that the reference object was Shang Jianyao, and continued:

"I like to wear trench coats, gloves, hair combed neatly, and, like to wear boots."

Tian Erhe thought for a while:

"There are very few outsiders in Shuiwei Town, and I haven't been out of the town for a long time, so I have no impression of the person you mentioned at all.

"Little dog, go ask the people who have been out hunting recently to see if they have seen anyone like this, and then come back and tell Bai girl them."

"Good mayor." Seeing a chance to perform, a member of the town guard named "Gouzi" ran fast.

After watching Tian Erhe, who was wearing an army green coat and a furry hat, leave the wooden shed and enter the area where various buildings were chaotically built, Bai Chen looked around and confirmed the location of the members of the town guard.

She immediately sat down and said to herself:

"Why did the mayor tell us about the conflicts in Shuiwei Town?"

Jiang Baimian looked at the fire of the stove, smiled and said:

"Of course I hope that the powerful forces that may exist behind us can accept Shuiwei Town.

"Otherwise, why do you think he invited us to be guests?

"Even if he trusts you enough, there's no need to do this. You can express his care and kindness in other ways."

She looked sideways at Long Yuehong, who was a little confused, and Shang Jianyao, who was thinking about something, and continued:

"It can be seen that the internal conflicts in Shuiwei Town have worried Mayor Tian for a long time, worried that after his death, the situation in Shuiwei Town will slip to a bad place and eventually fall apart.

"Amidst such worries, he met a familiar and trustworthy wilderness wanderer, and obviously, this wilderness wanderer has joined a lot of forces, and he seems to be doing well.

"If it was you, would you be a little tempted, hoping to build a relationship so that Shuiwei Town can attach itself to that big force that is not too malicious to the wilderness wanderers in the future?

"With this kind of shelter, and with the overall planning and planning from the big forces, this little conflict within Shuiwei Town is really not a big deal."

Long Yuehong finally understood:

"Is that so...

"Team leader, will the company accept them?"

This sentence was also what Bai Chen wanted to ask, otherwise she wouldn't be talking to herself on purpose.

Sensing Bai Chen's gaze, Jiang Baimian turned his gaze to the stove in front of him again.

She said with a little smile:

"When I return to the company, I will report it according to the normal process. Whether it will be accepted or not depends on the decision of the board of directors. In this regard, even the entire security department and the strategy committee have only the right to make suggestions.

"However, I will definitely hide the exact location of Shuiwei Town, and only say that I met their hunting team in the wilderness."

Bai Chen breathed a sigh of relief, and said in a low voice:

"That's good, that's good."

Long Yuehong was obviously puzzled:

"Why hide the exact location of Shuiwei Town?"

The object of the report is your own company.

Jiang Baimian glanced at him with a slight smile, did not answer, did not explain, just said:

"Look, Shang didn't even ask Yao when he saw him."

When Shang Jianyao heard his name, he looked at the team leader:

"Ah, what are you talking about?"

Jiang Baimian squeezed out a smile:

"Tell me you look good."

"It's okay." Shang Jian Yao was quite modest.

The scene suddenly became quiet, and not long after, a member of the town guard nicknamed "Gouzi" ran back and joined Jiang Baimian:

"Someone has seen the man you describe.

"He went to the north of Yuelu Station, and he was a very strange person: everyone in the hunting team thought he was very attractive at that time, and couldn't help but want to please him and get close to him, but he was very indifferent and forcibly opened the distance , disappeared into the wilderness."

"It's a bit strange..." After Jiang Baimian finished listening, he seemed to think of something and whispered something to himself.

She immediately raised her head and said with a clear smile:

"thank you."

"No, no, no!" The guard member nicknamed "Gouzi" responded excitedly.

Next, Jiang Baimian didn't ask any more questions, and the member of the town guard had no choice but to leave the wooden shed.

Shang Jianyao then looked outside, only to see that the sky was dark, the dark clouds were low, and the entire Shuiwei Town was dark.

The sound of the fuel generator hummed, and in the three buildings in the shape of "Pin", many rooms radiated light. On the wall of the town, light bulbs were lit one after another, helping the guards to illuminate the outside. , the bungalow area, the area where the buildings were chaotically built, a little candlelight, the fire flickered and then went out quickly, and the whole was almost completely immersed in the night.

Crash, the heavy rain that has been brewing for a long time finally started to fall in the dark night.

PS: Today's two updates will be delivered, please recommend tickets on Monday~