Extra four
Reopening the school is urgent, but not urgent either.
It was nothing for Jiang Wanning. After all, she had been teaching for more than ten years and was spared from tedious work such as lesson preparation. As long as the school was renovated and students were recruited, the school could be opened.
Perhaps she had gotten used to the leisurely life recently, and she even had some resistance. She was no longer as proactive as she had been in previous years. She let everything take its course. Although she was prepared, she put much less thought into it.
Just say that since she decided to reopen the school, more than ten days have passed and she still hasn't decided on a location.
In the end, Jiang's father couldn't stand it anymore, so he asked the student to find a quiet house in a busy city, with two entrances and exits, and a partition separating the inside and outside. The outside was used as a school, and the inside could also be used for living. If he was late, he would have a place to live nearby.
Moreover, this house is not far from the Jiang family and the Lu family. It only takes half an incense stick of time to get there by carriage. There are many private schools around it, so building another one will not be too conspicuous.
Now that the house is ready, it would be unreasonable for Jiang Wanning to delay any further.
She had no choice but to cheer up and went to Nanxiang accompanied by Lu Shang. She found two construction teams that could build partitions and repair houses. After explaining the requirements clearly, they started work that day.
At this moment, Lu Shang couldn't help but think of the construction team he had left in Songxi County. "I've seen that the houses in the capital are all quite standard. If I set up another construction team in the capital, I'm sure I can make a lot of money."
Take the small construction team in Songxi County for example. They haven't taken on many jobs in recent years, averaging one job every six months, and they only work for people they know. Even so, they have made a lot of money over the years, especially when they encounter jobs with many requirements. For example, if they build a small Western-style house and the whole house is constructed and decorated, they can make at least three to five hundred taels.
The consumption capacity of the capital city is far beyond that of Songxi County. Any rare items will be fought over by wealthy families. No matter whether they are worth the money or not, as long as they are unique and give you face when you show them off, you don’t have to worry about whether there is a market for them or not. People will come to you to buy them.
Jiang Wanning thought about it for a moment and felt that this was a feasible approach.
However, the building team's house drawings are very innovative. It will take a lot of time to familiarize yourself with the team from scratch. It would be better to transfer ten people from Songxi County to work in the capital for a period of time. Once the newcomers are trained and the people here can work independently, we can call them back.
Jiang Wanning suggested, "I heard that Dabao and Zhongwang have been doing better and better in recent years. They are quite prestigious in the logistics team, and are no less respected than Lu Qi and Brother Zhan. You might as well ask them what they think. If they are willing to venture out and try their luck, you can ask them to come to the capital. Whether it's the construction team or the transit point, with them watching over it, you can worry less."
"That's great!" Lu Shangxi said, "I'll send them a letter when I get back. Even if there's just one person willing to come, it would be a huge help to me!"
Speaking of Dabao and Lin Zhongwang, originally I just wanted them to learn a few words so that they could become accountants in the future. However, I didn't expect that although they could learn to read, the final result was a hundred times better than originally expected.
Especially the group of children, both boys and girls, who were taught by Jiang Wanning in the school in the alley, eventually returned to Lu Logistics, which seemed to be a gesture of keeping all the benefits within the family.
The boys followed the logistics team everywhere and implemented all the rules clearly.
The girls stayed in the town to settle the accounts, and regularly went to the warehouse together to count the quantity of goods, ensuring the accuracy of the logistics team's accounts, which saved a lot of trouble when compiling the general ledger at the end of the year.
Lu Shang secretly poked Jiang Wanning's hand and said, "A Ning, do you want to recruit more children? I'm also thinking about building up the logistics team in Beijing. When these children grow up, they can be recruited to work in the logistics team."
Even so, Jiang Wanning couldn't guarantee anything: "The school hasn't opened yet, who knows what will happen in the future."
"Even if we recruit students, there's no guarantee they'll be willing to work at Lu Logistics in the future. What if they prefer to find a small shop in Beijing and work safely as an accountant?"
"Don't worry, let's wait and see."
It was still early when they came out of South Lane, so they turned to the new house. The main courtyard was almost tidied up. After a careful look, they found that some new tables, chairs, and floral ornaments had been added.
In order to make it easier for them to decorate the new house, Jiang's mother transferred two servants over. The two servants followed the young lady and her husband and took careful notes of any additions.
Moreover, they all grew up in the capital and were familiar with the locations of all the major shops. Often, as soon as Jiang Wanning and Lu Shang expressed their needs, they would give suggestions.
With these two people following them, Jiang Wanning and Lu Shang's efficiency was greatly improved. When they came out of the new house in the evening, the decoration of the main courtyard was basically finalized. They only needed to do the final shopping, and then the main courtyard would be ready and they could consider moving in.
One of the other two side courtyards was contracted to the decoration workers, and the other was only plastered with walls and furniture installed. The outsourced one had been cleaned up long ago. It was originally planned to be left for Lu Nian'an and Grandma Lu to live in, but the little girl liked to go out and play with her grandmother recently and didn't want to be with her parents at all.
Grandma Lu also wants to accompany her great-granddaughter. She has always been wherever An An is. According to the current situation, it is obvious that she will continue to live in the Jiang family with Lu Nian'an.
In this case, even if they really want to move, I am afraid that in the end there will only be Lu Shang and Jiang Wanning.
Fortunately, the two of them were very open-minded and were not bothered by any unnecessary worries. They turned around and discussed the issue of servants in the new house. A small part of them could be asked from Jiang's father, but more still had to be found at the pawnshop.
Jiang Wanning asked, "Do you want to buy servants directly with death contracts? Or do you want to hire them as long-term laborers as before?"
Lu Shang hesitated: "Is it difficult to find a servant with a working contract in the capital?"
Jiang Wanning said, "That's not the case. It's just that most families still prefer to use a life bond. After all, once you've got the other person's life bond, you can be assured of doing anything they ask you to do. There are also living bonds, but they're mostly for cleaning the outside."
There was no need for much explanation, Lu Shang quickly understood.
He nodded and said, "Please let me think about it for a while. I'll give you an answer once I figure it out."
"good."
In the following days, Jiang Wanning stayed at home most of the time, but she would visit the new school every now and then to make some changes from time to time, which would also facilitate future enrollment and teaching.
Drawing on previous experience, she added two more dormitories to the school for students who lived far away from home and did not return home at noon. Each dormitory had about ten beds placed side by side, and a small table for miscellaneous items was placed at the door.
Since this dormitory is only for the convenience of students and is not used for long-term residence, it saves a lot of trouble. As long as the most basic needs can be met, it is enough.
As for the four classrooms, they are facing south and are adjacent to each other. They are divided according to age, from small to large, and the desks and chairs are also different. There are bookshelves on both sides, and all the classroom needs are available.
Since it is a school, it does not need to be decorated in an exquisite and gorgeous way. It just needs to be simple and not look shabby.
As for the inner room, we found two managers from the Jiang family to clean it up simply. As to whether people will live there in the future, it is still uncertain. It will not be too late to clean it up after people really move in.
In a blink of an eye, more than half a month passed. During this period, Mrs. Xie came to the Jiang family twice again. Jiang Wanning used the excuse that she was not at home, and was fooled by Jiang's mother.
Until that afternoon, Jiang Wanning was blocked by Mrs. Xie when she was returning home. Their eyes met, and she had nowhere to hide, so she had no choice but to face Mrs. Xie.
Madam Xie grabbed Jiang Wanning's hand and refused to let go. She got straight to the point, "Madam Lu! I heard you bought a new house on Xingsheng Street and moved a lot of tables and chairs in. Are they all for setting up a school? Why are you being so reserved? Why don't you just let the rest of us handle these little things?"
Madam Xie changed the subject and asked, "When is Madam Lu's school going to start? Are there any requirements? What is the tuition fee? You see, Aunt Xie was the first one to come to you. When you recruit students, you must remember Aunt Xie's useless nephew!"
Jiang Wanning was interrupted several times before she finally managed to get a word in: "Aunt Xie, Aunt Xie, I think you may have misunderstood—"
"Hey! What could be the misunderstanding? My dear niece, is there anything you can't handle? It's okay, just tell Aunt Xie and she'll find someone to take care of it for you!"
Jiang Wanning looked embarrassed: "None of that, it's just the students' business..."
"What's wrong with the students?"
Jiang Wanning lowered her eyes slightly, then continued, "I've carefully considered the idea of setting up a school that Aunt Xie mentioned, and have discussed it with my father and husband. We all agree that while it's fine to set up a school, we need to be more cautious about recruiting students."
Mrs. Xie hadn't quite reacted yet: "Be cautious, be cautious, it's good, but what about Aunt Xie's useless nephew?"
"We thought that my skills were limited and I might not be able to teach the young talents in the capital. It would be better to find some young children, preferably from ordinary families, and just give them some enlightenment."
As soon as the words fell, Mrs. Xie's face changed drastically: "How can this be possible!"
"No... I mean, isn't this a bad idea? You see, children are the most naughty, especially those from ordinary families. Wouldn't it be too tiring for you to teach them?"
"Look at my nephew. He's just nineteen this year, but he already knows most characters. He's also studying at the Imperial College, so he's quite knowledgeable. Madam Lu, it'll definitely be much easier for you to teach a child like him!"
At this time, she no longer talked about how stupid her nephew was, but only compared him to a four or five-year-old child, saying that he was more obedient than that child, knew more words than that child, and most importantly -
"I know that Madam Lu's previous private school tuition was quite high. Even in the capital, ordinary people certainly can't afford to spend that much every month. But if it were us officials, it would be different. As long as Madam Lu teaches well, even more money wouldn't be a problem!"
Jiang Wanning smiled and said, "Aunt Xie also said that she taught me well, but what if I didn't teach me well?"
"ah?"
"Take your nephew for example. I'm afraid his abilities are limited, and I might end up hindering him. I've finally had an aunt like you. If he really ruins his studies, wouldn't our friendship be ruined as well?"
"Of course I know that." Jiang Wanning looked worried. "Aunt Xie, you're easy to talk to. Even if I really haven't taught you well, you're so kind that you won't do anything to me. But if I run into someone who's hard to talk to... Aunt Xie, please understand me. I really don't dare to marry the sons of wealthy families."
Madam Xie was being held high up in the air, and even if she wanted to, she couldn't manage to put on a cold face. She could only reply dryly, "Okay, that seems to be the case..."
"That's about it. Aunt Xie, you're right. I'm planning to open a school on Xingsheng Street. I estimate I'll start recruiting students in two weeks or a month. If you know any children from ordinary backgrounds and don't mind, please recommend some to me. The tuition for the new school hasn't been determined yet, but it certainly won't be as expensive as before. It's on the level of a normal school. My father and husband will occasionally teach there."
Jiang Wanning is not that dull. She has been with Lu Shang for a long time and knows what it means to say one thing to one person and another thing to another person. If she wants to coax someone, she can definitely make them happy.
Even though Madam Xie had been struggling for two months, she still failed to achieve her goal. She only felt regretful. Before leaving, she even promised to help Jiang Wanning promote her school. Then, she lamented for a long time: "Why couldn't my nephew be born a few years later? That would be great, but we've missed the good time..."
No matter what, the matter with Mrs. Xie was settled, and Jiang Wanning also put her mind at ease.
As for those families who came here with Madam Xie before, they were pushed by Madam Xie, and it was still unknown what they thought of Jiang Wanning. Once Madam Xie gave up, they would not go to the Jiang family anymore.
Jiang Wanning had a rare few days of peace and quiet, and then she began to recruit teachers and students in full swing.
This was not the first time that Jiang Wanning had recruited teachers for the school. For example, when she was in Songxi County, there were more and more students in the private school and she could not take care of them all. So she asked Qu Heng and others to find a number of teachers for her. After examining them one by one, she kept three teachers who were both talented and virtuous. They helped her a lot in the next two years.
Then there were the girls who originally studied in the private school, and many of them stayed to teach there. Even after Jiang Wanning moved away, the private school was still open. Especially in recent years, with more and more female students, the girls became the most popular teachers.
Now she wants to continue the private school in Songxi County. In addition to her teaching, there are also other people teaching.
It’s a pity that she has been away from Beijing for too many years, and the young ladies she knew in her childhood have already married. Jiang Wanning has not been able to see them even after returning for such a long time.
She also inquired and found out that there was no school in the capital run by a female teacher. As for the young ladies from wealthy families, at most they would invite a teacher to their homes and would never go to school, let alone be a teacher in public.
Under many constraints, she could only lower her requirements first. As long as there were applicants who didn't mind female teachers and female students, they could be considered.
But even so, she waited for more than half a month before the two scholars came together.
When she asked, she found out that the two scholars had come from other places to take the imperial examination, but they lost their money on the way. After finally arriving in the capital, they still missed the spring examination.
After discussing it, the two decided to find a job in the capital to earn some money and stay there for the time being. When they had enough money, they would concentrate on studying to prepare for the next imperial examination.
But as poor scholars, they could only do some work as copying books and accounting. The former earned too little, and the latter was too much of a waste of time. By chance, they heard that a new school had opened in Xingsheng Street and was recruiting teachers.
They are already successful candidates in the imperial examinations, which meets the minimum requirements set by Jiang Wanning.
However, when the two of them followed the address, they discovered that the owner behind the new school was actually an extraordinary figure—
Take today’s students for example, who doesn’t know the name of Jiang Zhiyuan, also known as Jiang Daxueshi?
Although the Jiang family was not considered prominent in the capital, there was no reason why they would not recognize him when he arrived at their doorstep.
Even though they knew that the owner of the school was not Grand Secretary Jiang, but only his daughter, they were not disappointed. They bowed solemnly and explained their purpose.
Jiang Wanning didn't ask any more questions. After confirming their clean background, she began to test their knowledge.
Since it was for the enlightenment of young children, her questions were not difficult, and the two men were quite knowledgeable, so even if the questions were a little bit profound, they could still answer them fairly well, which made her very satisfied.
The two people opposite were also in turmoil. They had to concentrate their energy to deal with these problems. At the same time, they were full of admiration. She was worthy of being the daughter of a university scholar. In terms of knowledge, the two of them combined could not catch up with her. No wonder she could open a school as a woman.
The last part of the question is about their views on female teachers and female students.
When they first heard this, they were both stunned.
While they were stunned, Jiang Wanning also told them about the new school's teaching subjects. After a pause, she said, "Perhaps in the future, the school will have a majority of female students."
After a moment of silence, both of them expressed their opinions.
We may not be able to accept it calmly, but we will not discriminate or despise it, and we will treat each other fairly.
And these have already met the requirements for being a school teacher.
Jiang Wanning concluded, "If you two have no other questions, it's settled today. When the school opens, you two will be teachers. Your monthly salary will be four taels. I remember you haven't found a place to stay yet, so if you don't mind, you can stay temporarily in the inner courtyard behind the school."
The two of them suddenly showed joy: "Madam, you mean, we can eat and live in the school?"
Jiang Wanning nodded slightly. "Good, but there are no servants in the school yet. If you two want to eat there, you'll probably have to cook yourselves. However, there's a small kitchen in the courtyard, so it's quite convenient for cooking on weekdays."
One of them asked again, "May I ask, Madam, how will the cost of our food and lodging be calculated?"
"It's not an unnecessary expense. This is a small convenience provided by the school to the teachers. I just hope that when the school opens in the future, you two can treat all students impartially, just as you said today."
The two looked at each other and bowed, "I will follow Madam's instructions."
With the teacher in the school decided, the enlightenment books, paper and pens were also prepared, and the school was officially established as soon as a certain number of students were enrolled.
Originally, Jiang Wanning only posted a notice outside the school, and for the first few days, there were few visitors.
However, Jiang's father and mother, as well as Lu Shang, helped to promote her. Even Madam Xie helped to find four or five children, all of whom were children of her distant relatives. Some were five or six years old, and some were thirteen or fourteen years old. They were all from ordinary families, or families with decent financial conditions. They wanted to see if they could find a way out in the official career.
Leaving aside the latter, Jiang Wanning was quite surprised by the appeal of Jiang's father and mother alone.
Within two days, a long line formed in front of the new school. All of them were people who admired the reputation of Academician Jiang and came here specifically to study.
Jiang Wanning didn't care about their purpose. She simply explained to them before recording their names, "I know you're here for Scholar Jiang's reputation, but I want to make it clear to you in advance. This school is my own. From now on, the teaching will mostly be me and the other two teachers. If Scholar Jiang is only teaching occasionally, please consider it. After all, I can't say how often he'll come, whether it's a month or a year."
When this word got out, the number of people in the queue suddenly dropped by half.
The remaining half were also hesitant and hesitated for a long time before writing their names on the list.
Another day passed, and the school only recruited about ten students. But what made Jiang Wanning happy was that there were two girls among these ten students. Although they came because of the notice on her that "you can stay as a teacher after graduation", it was at least the first step, which was better than many other families.
After a few days, those who were recruited by Lu Shang also arrived at the door.
These people were called in by the logistics team, who had a lot of work to do in the capital. When delivering goods, they mentioned it and said, "Think about the number one scholar from three years ago. He came from Songxi County. I heard that he was also taught by this female teacher. She is also a merchant!"
This made many merchants tempted, and they sent one or two children, both boys and girls, with a tentative attitude. They hoped that the boys could read the books of sages, and the girls could learn accounting at best. After they got married, they could help support the family business and not be cheated by the boss.
Regardless of where these students came from, after half a month, the new school had enrolled a total of 42 students, including 12 girls, aged between eight and twelve.
The boys' ages varied a bit, the youngest being only five and the oldest being nineteen.
The eldest one came with his mother. The lady was dressed simply, but her eyebrows and eyes were delicate. Even her hands were not rough like those of ordinary women. Instead, they were white and tender, and it was obvious that they were well-maintained.
The lady registered her child's name, saying only that they were farmers from the outskirts of Beijing. The child had only learned a few words, and when she heard that a new school had opened in the city with low tuition, she sent the child there for further study.
Jiang Wanning looked at the lady who seemed a little abnormal, and she almost understood what was going on.
But she didn't say anything in the end. She just wrote down Xie Jinlin's name, told him the school start date, and what he needed to bring that day.
The school collected tuition fees once every quarter, three taels per person per quarter, which included a lunch. Due to the high prices in the capital, books and writing materials were not included.
Even so, this level of tuition is the lowest among the surrounding schools.
Those ordinary people who were worried about the high tuition fees were finally relieved. After going home and thinking about it for a few days, they sent seven or eight more children, both boys and girls, to the school on the first day, all wanting to learn to read.
Jiang Wanning divided all the students into three groups according to their knowledge. The first group was the youngest and could not read a single word. The second group had learned a little but were mostly vague. The last group had received enlightenment and could start directly from the Four Books and Five Classics.
The second group has the largest number of people and is taught by Master Liu, one of the two teachers recruited from outside. The youngest group is taught by Master Yang, who has a more gentle temperament.
Jiang Wanning was only teaching the last section for the time being. Among them were two girls from merchant families, who were often kept after school for private lessons.
In the blink of an eye, another month passed. The new school was back on track, but another major event happened in the capital.
The two Wave-Breaking Ships, which had been at sea for a whole year, finally docked after sailing near the coast for more than two months!
On the day the Breaking Waves docked, Lu Shang got up early and hurriedly woke up Jiang Wanning, insisting on taking her to see the magnificent ship.
The recent updates are slow orz friends can save up some time~
It is expected to be finished next week, and there are still four or five chapters (mainly because I want to go on another list QwQ
I will update tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, pen refills
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