Chapter 118: The school in the village? It must be shabby!

This time he didn't swallow it all in one gulp, but divided it into several portions.

This is the last piece of bacon, we must eat it sparingly!
Otherwise, you won’t be able to taste anything after eating it in one bite!

[Oh my god, the panda cub is so cute. ]

[I must raise a giant panda! ]

[It’s better not to, all the pets will go in and squat! ]

"Mr. Chen? We are from the Animal Protection Center."

Just as they finished their meal, people from the Animal Protection Center arrived.

After receiving Chen Lu's call, they immediately headed towards Shihe Village.

This is our national treasure, the panda, and we must treat it with great care.

Chen Lu shook hands with them and said, "When I found it, the panda's paw was injured. It must have been caught in a trap. I have done some simple treatment. Please check it again."

After checking, the staff smiled and said, "There should be no problem. Mr. Chen, your technique is really professional. Are you a veterinarian?"

As soon as you see the way he applies the bandage, you can tell he is a professional.

Chen Lu smiled and said, "That's not the case. I just read some books on this subject."

"Have you only read books on this subject?" The staff member was skeptical: "If that's the case, then you are really gifted!"

After a brief handover, they prepared to take the panda away.

We will go back and give it a full physical examination, and after assessing its condition, we will consider releasing it back into the forest or sending it to a zoo.

Anna hugged Tuanzi reluctantly and touched his fur.

"Bye, Tuanzi, I will miss you!"

Oh, woman, I don’t miss you at all. You’re almost pulling my hair out!
The next morning, after breakfast, Chen Lu prepared to take Anna to see the village school.

[A school in the village? It must be shabby! ]

[Yes, I have read relevant reports before. Rural primary schools in China cannot even afford a box of chalk. Teachers can use one piece of chalk for a month! ]

[And the teachers are all very uneducated, because the village is very poor, and highly educated teachers will never come here to teach! ]

[The students’ lunch is also very bad, basically just boiled cabbage in boiling water. It is normal for them to be malnourished! ]

[Watt? How can such a poor school produce good students? This is misleading the students! ]

Looking at the comments that were flooding the screen, Anna couldn't help but look at Chen Lu: "Dear, are the conditions in the school really that bad?"

"If you were talking about more than ten years ago, the conditions were indeed worse. But now the conditions are much better than before."

Chen Lu also went to school in the village school, although only for less than a year.

So he is very familiar with the school conditions back then, which are really very different from now.

When the two were heading to school, the Oriental Band arrived.

Bringing various Japanese musical instruments, shamisen, shakuhachi, taiko drums...

They have a very high status in Sakura, and they are all masters of various musical instruments.

Kawasaki opened his arms and said, "Welcome everyone! You are all masters of musical instruments from the East. I invite you here to accompany my wedding. Don't worry, money is not a problem!"

"Don't worry, Kawasaki-kun, we will do our best."

"We are not doing this for money, but to promote Japanese musical instruments!"

"That's right, it's to let the Chinese see that Japanese musical instruments are the ancestors of Chinese musical instruments!"

Kawasaki nodded with satisfaction: "Very good, very energetic! Masters, I have prepared a banquet, let's go eat first!"

Old man, do you really think your "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" is so great?
Our Japanese musical instrument masters can defeat you Chinese in seconds!

Let you Chinese people see what real music is!

Along the way, Chen Lu told Anna the story of the old principal. In the beginning, there was no school in Shihe Village.

The children didn’t even know what studying was. When they were a little older, they followed their parents to the fields, working with their faces to the loess and their backs to the sky.

Children in rural areas are still farmers. Hasn’t it been like this since ancient times?

Everyone thinks so.

But the old principal didn't think so.

He felt that since children in the city could study, children in the village could also study.

No one stipulates that they have to be trapped in the mountains for the rest of their lives.

So he wanted to build a school.

But he was also very poor.

He asked the village bricklayer, but the prices he asked were beyond his ability to afford.

There was no other choice, the old principal had to do it himself, building a few adobe houses brick by brick, a little bit every day.

Now that we have a classroom, we still need students.

The old principal decided to teach for free. The villagers were not rich, and he did not open this school to make money, but just wanted the children to get an education.

But what he didn't expect was that no one was willing to come.

On the first day of school, what was waiting for him was an empty classroom.

He was very confused. The teaching was free, so why did no one come?

After asking, I found out that the parents didn't allow their children to come.

Although children can't do much work, they are still a labor force.

If I come here to study, who will do the work in the fields?
What to eat if you can’t finish your work?
The old principal could only go door to door to persuade the people, appealing to their emotions and explaining things to them rationally.

Tell them the importance of reading.

We would often argue until we were red in the face: Do you want your children to be like you, trapped in the mountains for the rest of their lives?
Some reasonable people will agree after being talked to a few times.

For some of the more stubborn ones, the old principal even had to help them with farm work in exchange for the opportunity for their children to go to school!

Even so, he has no regrets.

Only if they are willing to study, they will have the opportunity to leave the mountains and see the outside world, instead of being trapped here all their lives.

This process is really difficult and arduous.

He wanted to give up countless times.

Why do you make yourself so tired and feel like a nobody?

I am clearly doing this for the good of the children, but I still have to endure the parents' contempt, ridicule, and even abuse.

Is it really worth it?
But when he saw the look in the children's eyes, he regained his confidence.

After hearing that they could go to school, the children cheered with joy and their eyes were shining!
Just for the light in their eyes, I have to persevere!
As long as we can help one child get out of the mountains, this matter will be meaningful!
Finally, after days of hard work by the old principal, he finally gathered a dozen students and classes could officially begin.

At the beginning, they couldn’t afford textbooks, so the old principal taught them to read first.

Start with the simplest words, over and over again.

Later, when conditions became a little better, we bought a few textbooks and three or four of us read a book together.

Life was really hard back then. There wasn't even a road leading to the outside world in the village.

All the things the children needed were carried back from the town by the old principal on a shoulder pole.

Covered in sweat in summer and covered in snow in winter.

Traveling back and forth for ten hours is a common occurrence for the old principal.

(End of this chapter)