mtl008 Chapter 295 What frog in the well doesn’t yearn for the outside world?
Chapter 295 What frog in the well doesn’t yearn for the outside world?
Nanba Village, the "Intelligence Office" at the entrance of the village.
Zhou Lizheng, wearing a straw hat and holding a palm-leaf fan, walked past several people from the "Intelligence Department".
He seemed to have thought of something, stopped and stepped back.
"Cough-cough-"
He coughed lightly as a hint, but no one paid any attention to him as they all continued chatting among themselves.
"Your house was renovated only a few years ago, so there's no need to go through so much trouble. But you know the situation at my house. During the rainy season, it rains heavily outside and lightly inside. There's not even a dry floor for the bed. Sigh."
"Then how are you going to turn it over? If you want to make a big move and use tiles, the few taels of silver you just got won't be enough!"
"Tiles?! How can I bear to use them! Every piece is worth a lot of gold. If I use the tiles, my family will all be left starving!"
"Oh, that's true. But you know what, I went to Quanyang County that day and saw that the earthenware tiles there are really luxurious. If I could have tiles in my house..."
Zhou Li was listening to a few people chatting interestingly and couldn't help but get anxious.
He took a deep breath and coughed heavily.
"Cough cough!"
Several people looked up.
"Hey, Zhou Lizheng! What are you doing? Is your throat uncomfortable? Come to my house and have a drink of water. I'll make sure you're full!"
Zhou Li was fanning himself with a small palm-leaf fan with one hand and the other hand behind his back.
"You don't need to drink water. My master asked me to inform you of something."
When everyone heard that it was Shen Zheng who spoke, they immediately perked up.
"Zhou Lizheng, does the master have something else to tell us? Please tell us quickly! As long as we can do it, the master can do it with just one word!"
Zhou Lizheng put his butt down and squeezed in between a few people to sit down.
"When has the master ever made you suffer? This is a good thing, and it has nothing to do with work!"
When they heard that it was a good thing, their first reaction was neither curiosity nor happiness.
But...
Who knows, it might cost adults money again.
How could they have deserved this?
Zhou Lizheng did not receive the expected excitement, but instead saw that several people seemed hesitant to talk.
He asked, "What's the matter? Don't you want to hear good things? Maybe your appetite has been spoiled by the adults!"
"No!" Several people quickly denied it.
One of them rubbed his toes and asked hesitantly: "Zhou Lizheng, we have enough troubles with adults. Now that you say it is a good thing, we are unsure in our hearts..."
Zhou Lizheng patted his head.
"You just keep thinking about nonsense and worrying about things all day long. You're worrying about adults."
He pretended to stand up and asked, "Do you want to listen or not? If not, I'm leaving. If you don't want to listen, there will always be someone who wants to listen."
"Listen! Listen! How can I not listen to what the adults say?"
Several people hurriedly pushed Zhou Lizheng back.
Zhou Li was fanning himself when his thoughts were attracted by the laughter coming from not far away.
Those are the children from the village, playing in the canal.
They blocked the canal to catch fish, they splashed water on each other, they lay flat in the ditch and pretended to swim.
The children in the village loved summer because it was not like winter. They didn’t have enough clothes to wear and their bodies were covered with frostbite. After finally getting through the period and feeling a little warmer, the frostbite would come back and become terribly itchy. The itching would come back over and over again and was very annoying.
It’s different in summer. Not only do you not have to worry about not having enough clothes to wear, you can also go out naked and even play in the water.
In the past, when there were no canals in the village, adults would not allow children to go into the river, so the children could only watch helplessly.
Now that the canal is open and it is summer, the children go down the ditch naked, which is a way to liberate their nature.
Everyone followed Zhou Lizheng's gaze, and laughter and joy floated in the wind.
Someone boldly guessed, "Zhou Lizheng, what you want to say is... related to the children?"
Zhou Lizheng retracted his gaze, looked into the man's eyes, and said:
“The children can read and write.”
"what?!"
Everyone stared and exclaimed.
"Zhou Lizheng, what do you mean by this? The county school has just opened not long ago. Are you talking about the students?"
"No." Zhou Lizheng shook his head.
He pointed at the children playing in the water not far away.
"The children in our village can all go to the county school to learn to read and write."
"them?!"
One of them stood up and pointed at some children not far away who were as wild as monkeys. Among them was their child.
"Zhou, Li Zheng, this is no joke. Our ancestors have lived in Nanba Village for generations. Whoever had the opportunity to learn to read when they were young, didn't they all come from this?"
Zhou Lizheng pushed the man down.
"Times are different now. Adults provide opportunities for children, so let them learn."
"Zhou Lizheng..."
The man hesitated and said, "It is said that like father and son, like son, like daughter, like daughter, and like daughter ...
Upon hearing this, Zhou Lizheng slapped the man's chest with his palm-leaf fan and said in disagreement:
"To use the words of an adult, this is called belittling yourself! You can look down on yourself, but you can't look down on children."
He stood up and stood in front of several people and asked:
"Just tell me the truth. Don't you envy those scholars? Do you really want your children to live like you, working in the fields and living a life of poverty and hunger?"
Several people present lowered their heads, and after a moment someone argued in a low voice.
"But now we have met adults, and we don't have to go hungry anymore..."
"Foolishness!"
Zhou Li was really a little angry at what they said.
"What are you afraid of? This is about studying! The adults have specially invited two teachers to teach the children how to read and write, so that they won't be like you, who are old and can't read a single word!"
Several people shuddered at what he said.
Zhou Lizheng took several deep breaths before he suppressed his sudden anger.
He added, "The adults also said that the teachers she and Principal Li invited would not only teach the children to read and write. One of the teachers was very knowledgeable. He had traveled extensively for many years and had seen almost all of the beautiful mountains and rivers of our Great Zhou."
Several people showed longing on their faces.
They have lived for most of their lives, and almost no one has ever left Liuyang Mansion.
Zhou Lizheng pressed the issue: "Aren't you curious about what the outside world is like? Don't you want your children to study in the county school and come back to teach you and tell you about it?"
to be frank.
They really want to.
Which frog in a well wouldn't want to see the world outside?
Seeing that the others were almost wavering, Zhou Lizheng said:
"The adults also said that she didn't set up the enlightenment class simply to help some kids become fluent in reading."
"She said that she would train the children from a young age so that they could distinguish between good and evil and understand reason. She also said that only when the children have seen more can they know what they want and work hard for their goals."