Chapter 1534: Chapter 1536: A School Affordable for Ordinary Families

"Is it about opening the school?"

"Probably, it’s the only big thing happening in the village lately."

"Hey, look, Yang Ming’s wife is over there. Maybe she’s come up with a way for the kids to have a place to learn."

"Yeah, that’s possible."

"The Lan Hua’s family also said they’re opening a school next door and even hired their Yang Xiaocui to work there. They said they’d pay 200 wen a month."

"Really?"

"..."

"..."

More and more people were gathering in the main square, and discussions were inevitable.

The Village Chief glanced around at the crowd. Everyone who should be there had arrived, so he called out, "Everyone, please quiet down and listen to me first."

Upon hearing the Village Chief’s voice, everyone quieted down and listened as he continued, "We gathered everyone here today mainly to talk about opening the school."

When they heard it was really about this matter, the crowd buzzed with excitement, because opening a school was truly a big deal; they were just a village, were they really going to have a school?

"Looks like what Lan Hua’s family said is true."

"I never thought they’d open a school in our village. This is great."

"You sound like you can send your kids there. Opening a school isn’t free, you have to pay tuition, right?"

"Paying the tuition is one thing, but it’s the books and ink we can’t afford. There are just a few in our village who can read, and even they have gone broke learning. Look at the old Yang Family; if it wasn’t for Yang Ming’s wife, they’d be dirt poor—maybe not the poorest in our village, but definitely high on the list."

"Right? It’s truly unaffordable. If it weren’t for that, the old Yang Family wouldn’t have split up; it was because the other branches felt it was unfair."

"But Yang Ming does study well."

"..."

"..."

The villagers had a knack for this; they started talking about the school, but soon diverted the discussion to the Yang Family’s past affairs.

Seeing the villagers so easily distracted, the Village Chief quickly called out again, "Quiet, quiet." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Once everyone had settled down, the Village Chief spoke again, "It’s Miss Li here next to me planning to open this school, so let’s have Miss Li explain the specifics."

With her name mentioned, Li Chuntao looked at everyone with a smile, not at all embarrassed by the attention. She began, "I think you all know, the other day many children from the village came to learn characters with me. As you left, you mentioned that if the tuition could be reduced, you’d want me to continue teaching the children."

"I haven’t been in this village for long and hadn’t planned to open a school, but seeing so many children eager to learn, I couldn’t ignore it. Eventually, I came up with a way for the kids to continue learning characters, and that was to open a school here."

"I want to open a school that even ordinary families can afford."

As soon as she said this, the villagers were astonished. A school that ordinary people could afford was what they’d always dreamed of.

It was because they couldn’t afford school that they kept their children home, thinking that having them work was good enough. But if they could send them, who wouldn’t want to?

"Ordinary families can afford it? Does that mean the tuition will be less?"

"But even at a lower cost, we can’t afford it. The books, the ink, the paper, and inkstones are too expensive—truly unaffordable."

"Exactly, the tuition in town is 300 wen a month, which isn’t very expensive. We could earn that with a month’s labor working outside, but it’s the cost of books and supplies that’s too high."

"..."

"..."