"Captain, don't be too pessimistic. It's only been morning, and I'm sure there will be more people signing up this afternoon."

Han Fei forced a smile. This sentence was to comfort Chen Baiwang, but it was also to comfort himself.

In fact, everyone knows that there are not many people coming in the morning, and there will be even fewer people coming in the afternoon.

Sure enough, there were only six or seven members who brought their children to register in the afternoon, and they were all boys, not a single girl.

In the end, the number of students who signed up for school remained at forty-nine, including seven girls.

It’s strange to say, among the seven girls, there are actually two sisters, Erya.

You know, Erya's grandmother values ​​young girls the most. When Xiaobao was sick, the girl was almost beaten to death by her grandmother, and was locked outside the door and not allowed to eat.

Chen Dalei and Li Cuilian were a little puzzled by this. The old lady was usually very frugal and stingy to the core.

In a few years, when Xiaobao reaches old age, the old lady who loves her grandson might grit her teeth and send him to school. But why is she so generous as to send both granddaughters to school?

"This school was founded under the leadership of Doctor Yang. Doctor Yang is a man of great ability, and it's right to listen to him.

People like Doctor Yang can only be befriended and cannot be offended. There is no harm in getting closer to him.

Besides, I just love my grandson more. My granddaughter is also our family's child. It's good for her to recognize a few words so that it will be easier to find a husband in the future and she won't be looked down upon by her husband's family.

Those who can be valued by their husband's family, read and write, and do math will find it easier to become the head of the family, and may even be able to help their parents' family in the future.

Xiaobao is our only child, so let's just pave the way for him."

Chen Dalei and Li Cuilian looked at each other. They all said that old people become sharp and cunning, which was a very suitable description for their mothers.

At night, many children who did not register cried at home, but few of them could make the adults at home change their minds.

The open-minded and far-sighted members had already registered their children during the day.

Those who did not sign up all felt that studying was useless from the bottom of their hearts. How could they waste two more dollars a year just because of their child's crying?

If the disturbance is minor, they will ignore you. If the disturbance is serious, they might catch you and beat you up.

In that era, people believed that good children are made under the stick, so there were no children who didn't get beaten.

"Principal Han, school starts tomorrow. Should we still have two classes?"

In the educated youth compound, He Yingying and the other three educated youth who had been given teaching positions came to Han Fei's room.

Originally they had decided that Li Yuan and He Yingying would teach one class, and He Qingkui and Li Xue would teach another class.

But now only 49 students have been recruited, which makes them feel uneasy and afraid that the team leader will cancel their places.

"We'll divide it into two groups. Starting tomorrow, I'll go door to door to try to persuade everyone to send their children to school."

Han Fei's eyes were firm. Since he was chosen to be the principal, he had to live up to the position.

Han Fei’s first goal is to ensure that every child has access to education.

At Yang Baiyi's house, the little girl was so excited that she couldn't sleep at all. She checked the school supplies prepared for her by her brother over and over again.

"Brother, just like my sister, I will be an elementary school student tomorrow!"

This is the eight hundredth time the little girl has said this today.

"Yeah! So shouldn't you go to bed early today? Only when you're well rested can you study well tomorrow!"

Lin Wanru looked at Yang Baiyi helplessly.

"But I can't sleep right now! I'm so happy when I think about going to school with Erya and the others tomorrow."

The fact that the Erya sisters can go to school is an unexpected surprise for them and their other friends.

Originally, Erya had no hope of going to school, as the two sisters still had to cook and take care of their younger brother.

Who would have thought that this morning, grandma actually took out four dollars and directly registered her and her sister.

"It's really unexpected that the two sisters, Arya, can go to school."

Lin Wanru still remembers vividly what happened to Erya when Xiaobao fell ill last year. It was she who brought Erya back to the educated youth compound and gave her medicine.

"Yeah! Although their family is somewhat patriarchal, they were really clear on this matter."

When taking his sister to register today, Yang Baiyi also knew that the registration situation was not ideal. Erya's family had already exceeded the majority of members.

The two of them coaxed her for a long time before the little girl was reluctantly willing to go to sleep with Lin Wanru.

The next day, Han Fei and four other teachers went to the school gate to welcome the elementary school students for their first day of school.

The school is at the west end of the village, and students go to school in groups of three or four.

The little girl was still eating breakfast at home when her friends came to her door.

Yang Baiyi's family lives at the easternmost end of the village, and these children don't mind taking a detour.

These children were very polite. Knowing that Yang Xiaoxiao was still having breakfast, they refused to go into the house no matter how Lin Wanru called her, but just waited in the yard.

After the little girl finished her meal, she slung her schoolbag over her shoulder, and the group of people chattered and went to school.

After all the students arrived, Han Fei divided them into classes, distributed books to the children, and asked Li Xue and others to teach the children. Han Fei began his journey of encouraging learning.

Han Fei has been working in the countryside for six years and is familiar with every household.

There are a total of 103 school-age children aged seven to twelve in Chenjiatun. In addition to the 49 who have registered for school, there are still 54 children who are not attending school.

These fifty-four children came from twenty-two families. Some families only sent their grandsons to school but not their granddaughters, while some families did not send any of their children, regardless of gender, to school.

Han Fei visited every household. Some families had gone to work, so Han Fei took out a small notebook to record their information and prepared to come back in the evening.

In some families, the elderly are old and no longer work. Han Fei will knock on the door and go in to chat with them.

"Principal Han, I know there's no harm in letting the children learn a few words, but I'm old now, and I'm just eating free meals at home.

My sons are grown up now, and we can’t control them anymore. They don’t want them to go to school, and there’s nothing I can do about it!”

"Principal Han, our grandchildren are now of school age, and I want them to go to school for a few years.

But my eldest grandson and granddaughter are already past the school age. Now my eldest grandson has grown into a big boy and can earn full work points.

It’s time to build a house and find a wife this year, and we also have to prepare a dowry for our eldest granddaughter’s wedding.

There are so many places to spend money. We can't use the work points earned by our eldest grandchildren to support the schooling of our younger grandchildren, right?

They are still young, and we should provide them with food and drink. There is no reason to waste it on them!"

"Principal Han, last year our family just married off our eldest grandson, and the old man fell ill again. You should have heard about all this.

Now the family is still struggling to pay off their debts, and I simply can’t afford to spend any extra money on their education.”