Chapter 182 School

Lin Jianyan dropped the children off and was about to leave when a middle-aged man suddenly ran out from the crowd, looking anxious as if he was afraid that he would leave.

The man bowed respectfully towards him, "Are you the leader of the county? Are you here for an inspection?" The man straightened his messy hair, his eyes full of nervousness and expectation, and his hands unconsciously rubbed the corners of his clothes.

Lin Jianyan was stunned and shook his head, "No, I just sent my child to school."

The man was stunned for a moment, then smiled awkwardly, "Oh, sorry, I made a mistake."

Not knowing what he was thinking, the man gritted his teeth and said, "Boss, would you like to take a look around our school?"

Lin Jianyan's eyes flickered as he looked at this dilapidated country school and nodded, "Okay."

The man was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly led the way, "Boss, this way please."

Lin Jianyan turned to David and said, "Park your car to the side. I'll go in first. You can come find me later."

David responded, “Yes.”

The man then realized there was another person in the car. After Lin Jianyan finished talking to David, he turned to the man and said, "Okay, let's go."

"Oh, this way please." The man nodded and led the way respectfully. "I haven't introduced myself yet. My surname is Zhou, and I'm the principal of this school."

Lin Jianyan followed him into the school gate, listened to his introduction, and nodded with a smile, "Hello, Principal Zhou, my last name is Lin."

Principal Zhou nodded quickly, "Boss Lin."

Principal Zhou first took Lin Jianyan around the building. Actually, there was nothing to see. It was a two-story teaching building with white paint on the walls, but it had turned slightly yellow due to years of exposure to the sun.

The large open space in front of the building is the playground. The playground is a piece of dirt and there are no sports facilities. In a corner of the playground, there are several shabby basketball hoops. The paint on the basketball boards has peeled off, revealing the rusty iron frames.

Principal Zhou explained: "This school was built in the 1980s by the superiors for performance. At that time, the conditions were limited, and the materials and craftsmanship were not sophisticated. It was good enough to be able to shelter from the wind and rain."

"After so many years, many problems have come to light, but when we reported them to our superiors, they kept turning a blind eye. Many of the problems were fixed by our teachers at their own expense."

He shook his head helplessly as he spoke, and led Lin Jianyan to a wall, gently stroking the cracks with his fingers, "Look at this wall, every time it rains, water seeps in."

"And the playground is extremely muddy when it rains. If the weather is bad, it may not dry up for half a month. Let alone physical education classes, even if you pass by there, you have to be careful not to slip."

Principal Zhou led Lin Jianyan to the door of a classroom and looked inside through the window.

In the classroom, wooden desks and chairs were broken, and some of the tabletops were uneven. The paint on the blackboard was peeling badly, and chalk dust fell when the teacher wrote.

The children were dressed simply, but they sat straight, staring at the teacher intently, listening attentively. A little girl, who was short, had to lean forward to look at the blackboard with difficulty.

Principal Zhou whispered, "The children are working hard, but the teaching conditions are not up to par."

Lin Jianyan went around a few more classrooms and found that the scenes inside were all similar, but he found a sign that made him frown.

I couldn't help but ask Principal Zhou, "Your school is a public school, right? I remember that the nine-year compulsory education has been implemented, so there should be no tuition fees. But I noticed that the ratio of boys to girls is so different. There are not even ten girls in a class of 40 to 50 students."

Principal Zhou felt relieved when he saw how observant he was and his attitude.

He sighed helplessly and said with a wry smile: "Although the nine-year compulsory education has been free of tuition in the past two years, many families have old-fashioned ideas and think that it is useless for girls to study. It is better for them to go home early to help with housework and get married in the future."

"Moreover, in addition to tuition fees, families also have to pay for books, stationery and other miscellaneous expenses to support their children's education. For some poor families, they can only give priority to sending boys to school."

"You must have noticed that the ages of students in each grade vary. There are even teenagers who are still in the previous grade. I made inquiries and fought hard for them. Otherwise, the parents of those children would not send them to school at all."

As they were talking, they saw a woman running up to the second floor in an extremely powerful manner. Judging from her skilled posture, it was definitely not her first time here.

When Principal Zhou saw the person coming, he said, "Oh no! Why is this woman here again?" He only had time to quickly tell Lin Jianyan to wait a moment and quickly chased after her.

Lin Jianyan saw something wrong and called David to chase after her. She saw the woman rush into a classroom and walk straight to a girl. She grabbed her arm and yelled, "You ran away from me again. Come home with me. You are too busy with housework. What are you studying for?"

The girl struggled desperately with red eyes.

Principal Zhou and the teacher in the class hurried to stop them: "Xiaocao's mother, please talk to her nicely. The child can learn knowledge here, which will be good for her future."

"And didn't we agree on this last week? If you let Xiaocao go to school, I'll pay for her textbooks and everything. You won't have to pay a penny."

The woman's eyes widened and she shouted at Principal Zhou, "What's the good of that? She's already 15 and still in school. How long will she go to school? Girls will get married sooner or later. It's useless to study more! She might as well go back and help me cook and wash clothes."

The class was noisy, and the teacher shouted, "Stop talking. Read a book for a while, and I'll come back to teach you later."

In order to avoid being caught, the little girl kept grabbing the classroom door. The teacher didn't dare to close the door and could only stand there in a stalemate.

Lin Jianyan frowned when he saw this scene, and happened to meet Zhao Fengjuan's eyes when she poked her head out, so he waved to her.

Zhao Fengjuan looked around furtively, and seeing that no one was paying attention, she slipped to the back door, "Brother Yan, why haven't you left yet?"

Lin Jianyan pointed ahead and asked, "Do you know what's going on with them?"

Zhao Fengjuan nodded. "I know. The girl's name is Wang Xiaocao. She lives in Wangzhuang next door. She sits in the row behind me, but her mother doesn't allow her to attend class."

Lin Jianyan asked, "Why? Didn't the principal just say that he would not charge her for her textbooks?"

Zhao Fengjuan looked at the crying Wang Xiaocao with concern and explained, "Because she has a younger brother. Her mother's health has been poor since she gave birth to Xiaocao, and she has not had any more children. Then two years ago, she finally gave birth to a younger brother, and her mother wanted Xiaocao to stay at home to help her take care of the child."

"I also heard her say that her mother wanted to marry her to an old man in exchange for a dowry. Wang Xiaocao is a good student, and we even said we would go to the same university in the future. If she was caught by her mother, her life would be over."