The scene fell silent, and Zhang Hulan said, "I have something to tell you. I built a school on the farm, and the teacher has arrived today."
The children didn't know what this had to do with them, but no one asked. They just listened quietly.
Zhang Hulan continued, "The gentleman was invited from the capital by the county magistrate. He passed the imperial examination and is a scholar of great learning."
Most of the children didn’t know what a Jinshi was, but when they heard that he was invited from the capital by the county magistrate, it must be something very extraordinary.
"The school will be completed in about half a month, and then all those under the age of fifteen will go to school."
The children in the audience were furious. "Madam, you want us to read?"
"Madam, I don't want to study, I want to make money..."
"lady……"
The children below were talking to each other and making a lot of noise.
Luo Changqi said loudly: "Stop making noise and listen to what Madam has to say."
The scene immediately became quiet again.
Zhang Hulan continued, "From now on, you will work half a day every day, go to school in the morning, and work in the fields in the afternoon.
The wages are not less than yours, and it will be as we agreed before.
But you have to pay the tuition yourselves, in addition to books, pens, ink, paper and inkstone, the tuition is twenty cents a month.
Of course, I won’t force you to read it. If you don’t want to read it, you don’t have to read it.”
Zhang Hulan had originally planned to let all her children go, but later changed her mind.
She just needs to provide them with conditions and conveniences, and let them choose their own path.
She never thought of letting these children study for free or paying them wages. She also had plans in this regard to let them pay for their own education in the future.
Free things are never cherished, and forcing children who don’t like reading to read is also a torture.
So just let them choose for themselves. Those who are willing to study can study, and those who don’t want to study can just work hard.
Most children yearn for studying. They don’t know what they can learn from studying, but they know that studying can help them become successful people.
Zhang Hulan finally said, "You should think carefully during this period. If you want to study, come to me."
Zhang Hulan left after she finished speaking.
As soon as Zhang Hulan left, Gouzi asked Liu Cong, "Brother Cong, do you want to study?"
Liu Cong said: "Of course you have to read it, you all have to read it too."
The next day, just after lunch, there was a commotion in the village.
A child is crying loudly.
Luo Changqi stepped forward and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" The child cried and said, "My money is gone..."
Luo Changqi frowned. It had only been over a month and already someone was doing something dishonest?
Nothing like this happened when we paid wages last month, but this time we paid wages last night and someone lost money today.
Luo Changqi asked: "Where did you put the money?"
The child said, "It's inconvenient to carry too many copper coins with me when I work, so I put the money under the quilt to keep it under my head."
The child is already twelve years old, and earns two hundred copper coins a month, plus last month's salary, a total of three hundred copper coins. If he carries all of it with him, it will be inconvenient to work.
Luo Changqi asked again: "When you hid the money, did anyone else see it?"
The child shook his head, "No, I hid it after everyone in the house left."
When people heard someone say that their money was lost, many went to their rooms to check if their money was missing.
These people have no other place to hide their money, they hide it in the house, either in the quilt, or in old clothes or shoes.
After a while, someone else said that his money was lost.
At least those who deposited their money with Zhang Xinyao were lucky that they didn't keep it themselves, otherwise they would have lost it.
So many people's money was lost, someone must have stolen it.
Luo Changqi immediately gathered everyone together and checked to see if everyone was there.
After counting the number of people, we found that three people were missing.
Luo Changqi immediately sent someone to notify Zhang Hulan, and asked Yang Xiaohui and other women who were cooking whether they had noticed that the three men had returned.
One of the women said, "I saw some people coming back, but not three people, only one."
"When did he come back? Did you see what he did when he came back?"
The woman said, "It should have been just after 9:00 p.m. when the young man came back and went into the house. I don't know what he was doing in the house."
Then another lady said that she also saw a boy about thirteen or fourteen years old coming back.
Luo Changqi understood that it would be too obvious if they came back together, so they came back separately.
Zhang Hulan came over quickly, and after asking about the general situation, he immediately asked someone to go to the county government to report the case and to chase the person immediately.
Luo Changqi said: "They have been gone for a while, and we don't know where they went. It's probably difficult to catch them."
Zhang Hulan said: "They came from the city, and there is a high possibility that they will return to the city. Send people to chase them on donkeys. They can't run far on foot.
Arrange people to look for the forks along the way. Maybe they will go to other villages or other counties. "
Luo Changqi nodded, "Okay, I'll arrange for someone to chase them right away."
There is no need to worry about not recognizing people, because the clothes they wear were all bought by Zhang Hulan, and they are of the same style and fabric.
After those three people left, they would definitely run away together. If we met them on the road, we would definitely recognize them.
Zhang Xinyao and Zhang Xinyi were very angry. Their mother was so kind to these people, why did they steal things and run away? They really couldn't figure it out.
Zhang Hulan was not too surprised. No one is perfect. For people who beg for food in the market, stealing things is normal.
Some are too hungry to steal, but others are too lazy to steal.
On the contrary, she was very happy that such an incident happened, because it could serve as a warning to her two daughters, telling them not to trust others easily or too much.
Gou Zi whispered to Liu Cong, "Brother Cong, it's Fan Xiang and his gang. They are such bastards."
Liu Cong hummed and said, "You can't learn from them."
Gouzi said, "I won't learn from him. They are too stupid. Madam Zhang is so good to us, only a fool would run away."
…
After receiving the report, Wu Deyong asked about the details and immediately sent yamen runners to look for the person.
The yamen runners were much faster on horses than on donkeys, and they caught up with the man before dark.
Those three people were not very smart. Just as Zhang Hulan said, they prepared to return to the provincial capital.
The total amount they stole and their own money was more than 6,000 coins.
They were considered worldly-wise people in the capital, and they had all made plans to use the money to start some small business after returning to the capital.
Once they make a lot of money, they will start a big business and become bosses. They don’t want to live this kind of hard life.
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