Chapter 219 Dissatisfaction
It took seven or eight days to harvest the rice in Taohua Village, and both adults and children were so tired that they could not even straighten their backs.
But the busy farming season is not over yet, and it is only halfway through.
The harvested rice cannot be bagged and stored immediately. It needs to be dried for a long time before it can be stored in the granary.
The southwest is mountainous, with little flat land, so there are even fewer places to dry grain. In previous years, there were even fights and arguments over where to dry grain.
But this year everyone has learned how to weave bamboo mats, so there are suddenly more places to dry food. There's no need to fight over them.
Take the Gu family for example. They had already prepared five or six very large mats woven with bamboo early on.
This kind of mat for drying grain doesn't need to be aesthetically pleasing, as long as the grain doesn't leak out. Therefore, the bamboo strips are cut into large pieces and then crisscrossed to make it.
You don't even have to go to the grain drying ground. Just spread the mat on the flat ground without any obstructions and spread the threshed rice on it.
The Gu family spread mats on the paddy fields and dried the grain nearby.
But you have to be careful all the time, because the birds in the sky might come back to steal food. So you can't leave them alone.
But it wasn't a big deal. Grandma held her sewing basket and kept an eye on the birds in the sky while sewing. She would occasionally turn the rice. It was much easier than the farm work she had done in the past few days.
There were other families drying their crops nearby, and we could chat together, so it wasn't too boring.
The holiday passed in a flash and school started again.
But everyone came a little late today, and even two students were absent during the morning run.
Gu Jiayue understood and did not blame them this time.
In this era, people who can go to school all come from families with good economic conditions. Even if there are a few people from poor families, they rarely go to the fields because of their studies.
Therefore, this seven-day labor really made them suffer.
Gu Jiayue arrived at the classroom early and looked at the evaluation forms handed in by the students. She nodded with satisfaction.
Very good, no one failed. Although there is a face-saving factor involved, it can also be seen that these students have a good attitude.
The students walked in in twos and threes, holding their waists and shaking their legs. They looked listless.
Seeing them like this, Gu Jiayue felt amused and a little distressed. "Didn't you use the medicinal wine I gave you?"
She had paid Dr. Lin Yi to prepare this medicinal wine, and she heard that it was very effective for muscle strain.
Su Yichen nodded weakly. "I used it, but it still hurts."
This shouldn't be the case. Logically, young people recover quickly, and they used the best medicinal wine, so it shouldn't be this serious. "Then after school, go find Master Lin Yi to take a look at you."
Then she mentally organized her words and praised, "Very good! Everyone can get 20 extra credits during this busy farming season."
These words did not stir any emotion among the students. Even Yin Siqi and Su Yichen, who usually loved to show off, just glanced at her.
Because they are really tired.
Gu Jiayue placed the score sheet on the desk in front of her and glanced at the students in the audience one by one. "Besides being tired, do you have any other thoughts or discoveries about participating in the busy farming season?"
Everyone looked at each other.
Zhang Sheng held out his palm. The blisters on his palm had broken open, and even after applying medicine, they still burned. "Master, it seems like the rice fields are endless. Cut one piece and there's another. And then there's threshing, and then drying. So busy, so busy, in the end, I only managed to harvest two baskets of rice."
Gu Jiayue nodded. Very good. She saw the surface. "Anything else?"
Everyone lowered their heads. After a while, Song Zhixu replied in a muffled voice, "I wasted seven days of study time."
Originally, he thought he would help with the work during the day and then make good use of the time to review his lessons when he came back at night.
But who knew that he didn't even need to wait until he got back to the dormitory. He could fall asleep as long as he stopped working and sat anywhere.
Reading? What is that? He hasn't touched a textbook in seven or eight days.
The other students agreed. Some even stood up and questioned Gu Jiayue. "Master, I don't understand the point of your arrangement. Our top priority should be studying and taking the entrance exam next April, not helping a bunch of untouchables harvest rice."
There aren't many people in the second class of the imperial examination. After spending some time together, Gu Jiayue has memorized everyone's name and characteristics.
The student who spoke was Jiang Huaijin, from Juzhou. He was usually quiet, with average grades. He was the kind of average student who couldn't do good things, but wouldn't dare do bad things.
I didn't expect that he would dare to question the Master like this today.
At first, Gu Jiayue listened calmly. After all, students should be given the opportunity to express their ideas. She even anticipated that she would be questioned when she made this decision.
But when he said the word "untouchables", Gu Jiayue's face turned visibly ugly.
She looked around. "You feel the same way?"
The students didn't say anything, but their expressions said it all.
The Master's arrangement is really putting the cart before the horse.
They had studied hard for more than ten years not to do farm work. Farm work was not their ideal or their revenge.
Seeing that everyone agreed with him, Jiang Huaijin raised his head even higher and looked at Gu Jiayue provocatively. "Master, I know you can't stand our family being rich and powerful. That's why you deliberately make us do hard labor to torture us."
compare notes?
Gu Jiayue was so angry that she almost laughed.
Zhang Sheng frowned, he felt that Jiang Huaijin was going a bit too far.
Although the Master's arrangement of this matter was somewhat biased, given his character, he would definitely not do something that would intentionally torment others.
He opened his mouth to speak, but Gu Jiayue signaled him to shut up.
She walked up to the podium and looked at the students with different expressions. She took a deep breath. It seemed that she had to attend this ideological education class today.
"A sage once said, 'Books contain beautiful women and golden houses.' So many scholars think that if they study hard, they will have everything: high positions, generous salaries, money, and beautiful women."
"It's a shame that some people study their entire lives and still can't learn the word 'respect'!"
Gu Jiayue's words were a bit harsh, and most of the students lowered their heads in shame. They seemed to understand why the teacher was angry.
Because they were dissatisfied with the Master's arrangements.
Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Parents and Teachers. Once a teacher, always a father.
This once showed how high the master's status was. Many times, no matter how outrageous the decision the master made, as students they were not allowed to object.
But some students were still unconvinced, especially Jiang Huaijin, who had just challenged Gu Jiayue. He opened his mouth to continue the debate with Gu Jiayue, but was stopped by the classmate next to him.
But Gu Jiayue didn't let it go. "Why? You think I'm wrong? In your eyes, the villagers of Taohua Village are pariahs. So, can I understand that you think the people of Dagan are pariahs as well?"
Jiang Huaijin stretched his neck. "I never said that. If the Master thinks so, I can't help it. After all, it's easy to find a pretext to accuse someone of something."
"You didn't say that? What do you mean? Yes, there are different levels of society in Dagan: scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans."
"But of these four levels, the untouchables you mentioned are ranked second. What about you? Where do you rank?"
"You're just a mere student, barely on the threshold of becoming a scholar. What else can you do besides reciting a few lines of sappy poetry? What right do you have to look down on the peasants? If it weren't for their hard work in the fields and paying taxes, what would you eat and drink? Where would your high-ranking father get his salary from?"
Everyone wanted to lower their heads to the table and the floor.
Jiang Huaijin's eyes were red and he was very unconvinced.
"What? You don't agree? Do you think I'm wrong?"
Facing Gu Jiayue's question, Jiang Huaijin sneered. "Women's opinions!"
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