The Lucky Farmgirl

Chapter 2148 - 2123: Suggestions

Ms.Cui remained silent for a moment.

In Shantang Hall, there are not only children but also widowed women driven out with no means to live, and some elderly lonely individuals. However, this time due to the smallpox epidemic, the survival rate of children is higher, so more children were taken in.

Now, the number of people in Shantang Hall is about four times what it was before the disaster.

Ms.Cui felt that Yang Heshu was overly fatigued, and she genuinely cared for the children inside, which is why she took over Shantang Hall.

But she thought ensuring their food and clothing, and letting them grow up to fourteen to go home and receive land share was already the limit. But Bai Shan said, they also need to hire a teacher?

Ms.Cui rubbed her forehead, fearing her dowry might be in jeopardy.

However, since it was Bai Shan’s suggestion, she was concerned but still asked, "You want to hire a teacher to teach them to read and write?"

"Reading and writing is too costly, but if scholarly sister-in-law is willing to select a few particularly smart ones to cultivate, they might help scholarly sister-in-law in the future."

Ms.Cui raised her eyebrows, "Not reading and writing?"

Bai Shan said, "You can teach them some carpentry, sewing or embroidery, arithmetic is also good, and farming, these can all be learned."

Ms.Cui was surprised, "Farming?"

Bai Shan nodded, seeing her look of surprise, he also showed surprise, "Scholarly sister-in-law didn’t think they all knew how to farm, did you?"

He said, "Farming isn’t easy, they’re still children, surely haven’t had time to learn, like farming seasons, when to sow, when to transplant, when to fertilize, when to water, how to identify crop pests, what pests there are, these all should be learned from old farmers."

"If their parents or elder generations were still here, they would naturally learn these things slowly in labor, but now that they’ve lost their kin, they surely don’t know."

Ms.Cui:... She thought it was common knowledge, after all, just follow others.

Bai Shan didn’t think so, he grew up in the village, even seeing it every year, he still judged wrongly the next year.

Even now, he couldn’t understand why his father-in-law could squatting by the field and reach out to feel the soil to know when to sow seeds, frost won’t damage the seeds.

However, Brother Zhou and others managed to learn this skill, and Fourth Brother Zhou straightforwardly said, "This skill so far only my eldest brother, second brother, and third brother have learned, I haven’t learned it yet."

Old Zhou said even more directly, "If leave it to Four, Five, and Sixth to decide on farming, in less than three years they’ll be patching clothes and starving."

Evidently, not everyone can farm, even Zhou SiLang and the others, though they have farmed for so many years, still cannot independently complete an entire farming season.

"Since you’re hoping they can be divided land for farming when they turn fourteen, you must ensure they can farm on their own."

Bai Erlang sympathized greatly with the children in Shantang Hall, and said, "Farming is really tough."

Neither Liu Huan nor Yin Huo ever farmed so they momentarily understood his words, and simply asked, "Why not directly hire a teacher to teach them reading and writing?"

Manbao who remained silent all the while said, "Too expensive."

Liu Huan and Yin Huo wondered, is it really that costly?

These two who hadn’t tasted much hardship couldn’t comprehend, after all, they were born with the necessity to study, it’s essential, absolutely crucial. They knew children from ordinary families seldom studied because it cost money, but aren’t Lord Yang and Madam Yang here?

Wouldn’t be much expense if they funded it, right?

Doing good deeds, having received luggage sent by their families and abundant money, Liu Huan was financially bold and said, "How about I contribute some money too, how much does it take for them to study for two years?’

Bai Shan glanced at him but didn’t respond, instead spoke to Ms.Cui, "Scholarly sister-in-law could discuss with families to have a few literate individuals knowledgeable in arithmetic, embroidery, tailoring, carpentry to teach children at Shantang Hall. It shouldn’t be too difficult. Also, those who have grown up and want to go back to farming can invite old farmers from the villa to teach for two years, by fourteen, when they return to the village, are divided land, grain, and farming tools, can sustain themselves without much worry."

Ms.Cui felt this is a substantial project, yet inexplicably somewhat excited.

After turning twice on the spot, she said, "Your idea is good, let me think about it before deciding."

If doing this, then it must be a long-term endeavor, not just one or two years, at least twelve years, or even longer.

But they might not stay in Xiazhou long, so rules need forming, even if they left, this can continue, else if they leave it breaks off, and children halfway through learning would be abandoned, then...

Ms.Cui pondered deeply.

Seeing her lost in thought, Manbao and the others didn’t disturb her, turned, and left.

Once they were out of the yard, Manbao asked them, "Where did you go today?"

Bai Shan replied, "Just wandered around town. Previously we arranged patients street by street, knowing some families harbored resentment toward Scholarly Senior Brother Yang, I wanted to see how he comforted them, but ended up at Shantang Hall."

He said, "Scholarly sister-in-law is right, the number of people in Shantang Hall has increased a lot compared to before. I remember it once being vacated for disaster-stricken people, but now the number residing is even more than during the disaster."

"That many?"

Bai Shan nodded, "Most are children left outside after losing parents, some lost fathers, or mothers and were driven out, and some..."

He paused, then said, "Are abandoned even though their parents are still alive."

Manbao was stunned, and asked, "Why?"

Bai Erlang angrily, "Because they were left with too many pockmarks."

He was still angry, "We’ve stayed at Shantang Hall for a day, there are nine children abandoned by parents because of too many pockmarks left on them."

Bai Shan also sighed, thinking it was fortunate enough to survive during that time, who would think that afterward, some children were discarded for this reason?

"The manager at Shantang Hall said when the children were first abandoned, they tried returning, only to be abandoned again. Three were even dumped directly in the woods, fortunately, villagers searching for wild vegetables found them and brought them down the mountain, thus avoiding tragedy," Bai Shan said, "Because of this, Scholarly Senior Brother Yang arrested several people but didn’t make them take the children back, instead sent them all to Shantang Hall with severance letters prepared for them."

Also because Yang Heshu intervened, so the manager mentioned them while they were checking on the children in Shantang Hall.

Bai Shan asked Manbao, "Is there no way to remove the pockmarks on them?"

His mind flashed back to the faces of those children, he wouldn’t be scared, but... it truly impacted them greatly, when he looked, those nine children were always by themselves, rarely lifting their heads to look at people.

Manbao frowned deeply, "Currently, there’s no way to remove pockmarks..." Or perhaps she could focus on discussing this with Teacher Mo.