Chapter 160 Changes
For this home visit, Yan Lingling invited another female teacher named Ma Tian, a local who was 10 to 20 years older than Yan Lingling.
Yan Lingling did not go home during the summer vacation and wanted to do home visits. The principal strongly supported her. Their school also had tasks to do during the summer vacation. Yan Lingling was willing to stay here to do them, so that the tasks of other local teachers could be lighter.
Ma Tian knew that Yan Lingling was going to make a home visit, and kindly advised her: "You are too honest. Why don't you stay at home and rest during the holidays? Why do you come back? You can just do a casual home visit when school is about to start. Why do you have to prepare so many things? You really are..."
Yan Lingling's home visits are not casual talks. She has prepared basic information about the students, which records each student's family situation, whether they are left behind or live with their parents, how many brothers and sisters there are in the family, and she remembers everything clearly.
Yan Lingling was also a little embarrassed. Involution in the workplace is a taboo. She originally wanted to do it quietly by herself, but Ma Tian was afraid that she would suffer alone and insisted on coming along.
This made Yan Lingling very embarrassed.
"Sister Tian, why don't I go alone?"
"Oh, I said I'll accompany you, but my daughter came back from college and locked herself in the house playing computer games all day long. She never left the house with the air conditioner on. I cooked for her but she wouldn't eat and even ordered takeout. What kind of child is she?"
"Children today are really not as good as we were when we were little. Back then, there was no such thing as a break during holidays. We were either helping our parents with work or taking care of our younger siblings. Their generation still lived a comfortable life."
"And my son, I don't even want to talk about him. He's about to enter his third year of high school, but he's always acting like a fool, clamoring to go on a trip with his classmates. He says he's never traveled in his life, and his classmates look down on him when he chats with them. If I had known, I wouldn't have sent him to high school in the city!"
Ma Tian is middle-aged and has a son and a daughter. Her eldest daughter is in college and her youngest son is in high school. She has a lot of worries. She gets angry when she sees the two children at home and can't help quarreling with them. The originally harmonious mother-son relationship has dropped to freezing point. When she is at home, the atmosphere at home is particularly depressing.
Ma Tian is a teacher. She knows that her teaching methods have problems, but the key is, what kind of teaching methods can make her children follow her ideas?
This is probably an unsolvable problem. There is no way, Ma Tian has to go out and busy herself to give her children some breathing space and to relax.
Yan Lingling was still young, and as a bystander, she could see things more clearly than Ma Tian. However, she couldn't interfere in other people's family affairs, so she could only offer advice: "Children and grandchildren will have their own blessings, and each generation has its own way of life. We can't interfere even if we want to."
"Forget it, let's not talk about them. Let's play together today. Just tell me which family we're going to visit first."
Yan Lingling quickly pulled out her phone to check the plan. "Let's go to Yanggou Village today. There are six of my students there. Sister Tian, I think there should be one of your students, right?"
"Yes, there are three students in our class, so let's go to Yanggou Village first."
The school has poor teaching staff and few teachers. Although there are not many students, there are always different grades. In order to fill the vacancies, many teachers have to take on multiple roles.
People like Yan Lingling who are young and hardworking have heavier tasks on their shoulders.
She teaches two grades by herself, sixth grade and third grade.
After the two of them agreed, they rode their electric scooters to Yanggou Village.
The weather is hot and the sun is strong. To avoid getting tanned, the two of them wore sun hats, sun-protective clothing, and carried their backpacks as they walked along the path along the ridge of the field towards Yanggou Village.
Donghua Town is a bit poor, but the scenery is really beautiful, which makes people feel relaxed and refreshed.
On the way, Ma Tian talked about the recent developments in the town. "They say they're going to build a road. It will be much more convenient to go to town then. But I don't know when our school will be able to be renovated."
There are thirteen villages in the entire Donghua Town, and there are probably only five or six village primary schools still in operation. I don’t know if there are more than a thousand students in total, and there are even fewer kindergartens.
Ma Tian's cousin used to run a kindergarten in the village. It had been running for many years, but it went bankrupt.
There are simply no students of the right age to be recruited.
Donghua Town is too poor to develop and its education is not up to par. Many ambitious young people are eager to seek development outside. Who would be willing to leave their children in such a place and raise them like wild children in the country?
The elderly are the only ones who are pitiful. Many of them are unable to take care of children and cannot adapt to life in the city. There are many frictions when living with the next generation, so they have to stay in the village, as if they have been abandoned.
People's love is directed downward. After having children, the love for the children is far greater than the love for the parents.
This is inevitable.
Yan Lingling said: "Yanggou Village is developing very well. The government is willing to build roads for the town. I think they see the development potential here. Maybe in ten or eight years, our town will undergo earth-shaking changes."
"Haha, you're the only one who dares to think that. Anyway, I've been married here for many years, and this place is no different from when I first got married."
Yan Lingling smiled without saying anything. Her thoughts were exactly the opposite of Ma Tian's. When she thought of the lovely and respectable people in Yanggou Village, her heart was full of hope.
The change in her attitude towards her work here was due to her contact with people like Xia Wu and Yang Guofeng.
One is a young man with a promising future who resolutely returns to the village to engage in construction, and the other is a grassroots cadre who silently dedicates his life and burns everything for the village. The cooperation between the two of them can be said to be seamless.
Yanggou Village has been changing. From being deserted at the beginning, more and more villagers now choose to return to stay with the elderly and children.
This is the best proof.
However, Ma Tian probably has never been to Yanggou Village. Although the villages are adjacent to each other and Dongkeng Primary School is not far from Yanggou Village, people can hear some news about Yanggou Village. But after all, it is too close, so people are unwilling to believe that the good news they hear will be reality.
After all, in their eyes, how could anyone be so stupid?
It was not until they arrived at the flat asphalt road leading to Yanggou Village that Ma Tian's eyes suddenly opened up and she was stunned by the modern environment.
There are guide lines painted on the flat and widened asphalt road. There is even a cycling area here, which surrounds the stream on the side of the road. Large vehicles cannot enter this road. People in the villages on both sides of the road also encourage tourists to avoid driving in as much as possible.
There are ox carts waiting every day at the intersection leading to Yanggou Village in the town to carry people.
Sitting in a slow ox cart and looking at the scenery on both sides seems to be the right way to travel.
Ma Tian exclaimed, "Is this still our town? Could it be that we've traveled through time?"
Yan Lingling smiled and said, "Sister Tian, I told you that you should go out more often. This road was just built not long ago. It seems that Yanggou Village and Haotang Village paid for it themselves."
Who knew that just after it was completed, the whole town would have to renovate the roads.
The villagers of the two villages had no choice but to comfort themselves by saying that the sooner they start practicing, the sooner they can enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Not only the roads, but also the greening on both sides of the roads are well done.
Originally, this was a country road with weeds on both sides. In the summer, the vegetation was lush and it looked a bit messy.
As a result, the roadside is now cleaned up. On the roadside where there are small rivers and streams, aquatic plants such as calamus and reeds, as well as mint and lemongrass are planted. They look graceful and particularly pleasing to the eye.
If there is no small river on the roadside, but only narrow ridges leading to farmland, then the plants planted on the roadside are evergreen plants that can bloom and bear fruit.
Riding an electric bike on such a small road is simply refreshing.
When you approach the intersection of Haotang Village and Yanggou Village, the changes here are greater than before.
Originally this was just a piece of dirt land, but now it has been turned into a small square, more than 100 square meters in size, where people can set up stalls. There are many tables and chairs by the river, and there are bamboo houses built. They were all built by the two villages themselves without spending any money.
There are a lot of bamboos on the mountain behind the village. After being split, they are used together with wood to build sheds. A whole row of bamboo sheds looks simple and beautiful. White gauze is used as curtains. When the river breeze blows, the white gauze and weeping willows sway gently and intertwine with each other.
This place is perfect for taking photos. The mint and lemongrass plants on both sides of the road are the best background. The wide river in the distance is like silver waves, sparkling.
In the afternoon, vendors from the two villages would come to set up stalls. In the beginning, there was only Yang Guoen's barbecue, but now there are also street rice noodles and spicy hot pot. The variety of snacks has increased, and business is getting better and better.
When summer comes, many people nearby want to go out and play. Haotang Village is simply a paradise for water play. No matter how hot the weather is, you will not feel hot when playing in the water or taking a boat on the Chaotian River with tall trees on both sides.
Not to mention that Haotang also has ten miles of lotus fields. Picking lotus seeds and lotus flowers has become a business, and many people come here to take photos and check in every day.
If there was only Yanggou Village, the tourists who were attracted by Xia Wu would definitely not have had a great time. But with the addition of Haotang Village, a natural water paradise, both tourists and the village benefited.
Haotang Village knows what the opportunity for its development is and is very grateful to the people of Yanggou Village. They were originally upstream and downstream neighbors, and now the relationship has been taken to a higher level and is better than before.
If you want to eat local delicacies, go to Yanggou Village. If you want to play in the water and pick lotus flowers by boat, come to Haotang.
The two villages have different development directions, and the villagers' business directions are also different.
Compared to the unknown B&B in Yanggou Village, Haotang Village has begun to develop the B&B economy. There are also various convenience stores selling swimming rings, camping equipment, and some smart people have started selling picnic cookware and grilled barbecues.
Everything is ready. As long as city dwellers are willing to spend money, they can experience the happiest outdoor activities in Haotang Village.
Since the development of Yanggou Village, the lives of the villagers have become better and better, and many villagers who went out to work have returned.
Zhao Yanghe, the secretary of Haotang Village, was inspired by the old secretary and began to seek advice from Yang Guofeng. After the two secretaries worked together, they really came up with a lot of good things.
For example, behind the various shops in Haotang Village, there are ideas given by Yang Guofeng and Xia Wu.
After the young people from Haotang Village came back, they asked Zhao Yanghe for advice on what kind of shop to open, and he tried his best to give them ideas based on their habits, hobbies and abilities.
Haotang Village does not have a company, but they have a collective economy. After the village makes money, they have to hand over a portion of the money to the village, and this money will be used to improve the situation in the village.
Hundreds of people come to Haotang Village every day to visit, and the garbage they create needs to be cleaned up, which invisibly provides some jobs for the village.
There are also the village roads, village lights, and village walls...
Once you have money, it is easy to renovate it.
For people like Yan Lingling and Ma Tian who haven't been here for a long time, at first glance, Haotang Village has indeed changed a lot.
But for the villagers, this was all renovated bit by bit with their hard work and the money they saved.
The already beautiful village has become even more beautiful, and young people can earn money right at their doorstep.
The people are living a comfortable life, which looks very different from before.
Before even entering Yanggou Village, the two teachers were stunned by the changes.
Yang Mingyuan received a message from the teacher in advance, knowing that Yan Lingling would come for a home visit today. He had been waiting by the roadside since early morning. When he saw the teacher's figure on the path not far away, Yang Mingyuan quickly stood up and ran over, "Teacher Yan!"
"Yang Mingyuan, why are you waiting here?"
"Teacher, my mother asked me to pick you up because she was afraid you wouldn't be able to find your way into the village. Teacher, after you finish your home visit, have lunch here. My sister Xiao Wu has asked someone to prepare something delicious, especially for you!"
Children can't keep their words secret, and they blurt out all the good things they have.
A bunch of children were chattering around her, almost delaying Yan Lingling's work.
Yan Lingling knew how delicious the big pot meals in the village were. When she recalled what she had eaten last time, her mouth almost watered, but it was more important to get down to business at the moment.
Yang Mingyuan strongly invited Yan Lingling and Ma Tian to visit his home first. Wang Minping even took half a day off for today's home visit.
Unable to refuse the kind invitation, Yan Lingling and Ma Tian had no choice but to follow Yang Mingyuan first, and then let the other children go home to prepare.
"Teacher, whose house are you going to later? I'll show you the way. I'm telling you, Fatty's been stealing his mother's phone lately and playing games in the middle of the night. I've caught him several times!"
As soon as his good brother left, Yang Mingyuan started to complain.
Yan Lingling said with a smile: "How do you know he plays games in the middle of the night?"
"I saw it!" Yang Mingyuan realized the problem after he said it, and laughed, "Teacher, I wasn't playing secretly in the middle of the night, I saw it when I went to the toilet at night!"
"You have a cell phone?"
"Yes, my mom bought it for me and my older sister. My older sister goes to school in town, and my mom was worried that she wouldn't be able to contact her if something happened, so she bought her a phone."
Speaking of this mobile phone, Yang Mingyuan has a lot to say.
He also wanted a mobile phone. Wang Minping bought a mobile phone for Yang Mingyue. Yang Mingyue was able to control herself. Apart from contacting her family and looking up words, she rarely played games.
But Yang Mingyuan is different. He likes to play all the games that children play.
So he started clamoring for a mobile phone and had a big fight with his mother about it, saying that his mother was partial and only bought one for his sister but not for him.
Wang Minping was so angry that she felt that she was taking care of the two children at home and their lives were much better than before. However, Yang Mingyuan didn't know what was good for him at all and got angry with her just for a mobile phone.
He also beat up Yang Mingyuan.
Yang Mingyuan was heartbroken, but in the end it was the sensible Yang Mingyue who coaxed him. She brought her cell phone to school, and when she came back on Saturdays and Sundays, she would play games with Yang Mingyuan, on the condition that Yang Mingyuan finished his homework and his grades did not drop.
Isn't it summer vacation? Yang Mingyuan has a lot to do every day: he has to catch snails to make money, do housework, do homework, and play games.
He told the whole story himself, so Yan Lingling didn't have to go through the trouble of interrogating him.
Yan Lingling is not against her children playing with mobile phones. Now we live in an information society, and it is only a matter of time before children come into contact with the Internet. Deliberately suppressing children's interest in mobile phones and the Internet may backfire.
Even adults can’t leave their mobile phones behind, let alone these children who are curious about the world.
Wang Minping prepared a lot of fruits and asked Yang Mingyuan to take out snacks to entertain the two teachers.
Yan Lingling asked her some questions, such as how the two children behaved at home and whether they would go to the river to play in the water.
There is no child in the village who doesn't go to the river to play in the water. Yan Lingling repeatedly warned them not to be careless and that it is very dangerous for children to play in the water.
Wang Minping agreed to all of them and invited her to stay for dinner.
Yan Lingling replied that she would wait until she finished the home visit and see what time she had, and would stay if there was enough time.
She checked Yang Mingyuan's summer homework. It was well done and his handwriting was neat. She heard that he wrote it together with the children in the village. There were so many children and they were eager to compete. The children who originally found it difficult to concentrate on completing their summer homework now had to study every day during the competition.
The children in the village all like to go to the courtyard by the well. Surrounded by a group of adults, they find a comfortable place to perform, read, and study. The elders are happy, and Xia Wu is also happy to see them, and when he is happy, he gives them delicious food.
For the children in the village, every day is like New Year’s Day.
Yan Lingling was about to go to the next house, and Yang Mingyuan volunteered to take her there.
After Yan Lingling and Ma Tian finished visiting all the children in Yanggou Village and were preparing to visit families in Haotang Village in the afternoon, they smelled the strange aroma of food coming from Yantou Mountain. The two looked at each other and felt a little embarrassed.
Although the children had been inviting them to stay for dinner, the two teachers, as role models, were too embarrassed to make such a decision.
They had originally planned to sneak away after the home visit, but the food was so delicious.
Yang Mingyuan was worried that the teacher wouldn't stay, so he and a group of children grabbed the corners of their clothes and hands, pushing and persuading them to walk up the mountain: "Come on, teacher, my sister Xia Wu is waiting for you, everyone welcomes you!"
In this way, Yan Lingling and Ma Tian went to the mountain seemingly reluctantly.
"I'll talk to the village secretary later. I still have to talk about the children playing in the water."
Tragic accidents of children drowning occur every summer. There is a lot of water near Yanggou Village and it is hot in summer. When there are many children, they become braver. If something happens, it will be too late to regret.
The two nodded in unison, thinking this was a good excuse to stay for dinner.
Xia Wu planned to prepare delicious food today, and asked Ji Yunzhou to invite the two old men living in the White Building the night before. Anna's family also flew over from abroad. They had been having a great time playing nearby these days, so they were also invited.
Mr. Wang was reluctant to go out, but he couldn't stand Mr. Ji's constant persuasion.
They talked about how many delicious foods there were on the mountain and how delicious the food was. Most importantly, there were many left-behind elderly people in the village who were eating there, so the two old men wouldn't attract too much attention.
Mr. Wang was finally persuaded and put on plain old sweats together with Mr. Ji. Except for the fact that he had some difficulty in moving, he looked no different from an ordinary old man in the village.
The two old men set off and got off the car not far from the courtyard with a well. Grandpa Ji pushed Grandpa Wang's wheelchair. Before they got close to the courtyard with a well, they smelled the tempting aroma of meat.
The aroma of roasted chicken with potatoes, the aroma of braised pork, and even the aroma of white rice cooked in an earthen stove, the small courtyard by the well is bustling with activity. Young people, old people, and children are all sitting or standing, working or resting, each with their own things to do.
Fortunately, the courtyard with the well was built large at that time, so it was not crowded even with more than a hundred people inside at the same time.
Sun Dehong also came, leading the retired dog Jinglei. The one who saw them before Xia Wu was the Monkey King squatting on her shoulder.
The little guy was bitten by Weifeng and has been afraid of dogs ever since. The last time he followed Weifeng to Bailou, he was frightened by Jinglei who pounced on him. Although Jinglei didn't bite or bark, he became even more afraid of Jinglei.
Therefore, when thunder appeared, all the hair on its body stood up and it looked like it had been struck by lightning.
Xia Wu went to greet him, but seeing that Mr. Ji pretended not to want to recognize him, he simply didn't go over to disturb him and greeted Sun Dehong.
"Mr. Sun, you're welcome. Just sit anywhere. When you come here, treat it as your own home and do whatever you want."
When it was almost time for dinner, Jiang Xun came from the cowshed with Weifeng. When he saw Weifeng, Jing Lei, who had been squatting at the door and looking around, suddenly stood up and stared at Weifeng with sharp eyes.
"What is this?" Sun Dehong was also a silent person. When he saw Jing Lei moving, he looked over.
Xia Wu also looked at Weifeng, and soon saw two equally handsome big dogs whispering to each other and exchanging glances in public.
Xia Wu raised an eyebrow. She remembered that Wei Feng was a female, and that Jing Lei...
She looked over and, as expected, saw the two bombs and one satellite.
Sun Dehong did not stop him. Jing Lei had already retired, and it was his freedom to have a relationship or not.
Besides, we have devoted so many years, so what's wrong with having a relationship?
Grandpa Ji pushed Grandpa Wang's wheelchair to an open space. An elderly man there was shelling peanuts. When he saw them coming, he didn't recognize them but politely said, "You're here!"
Mr. Ji said with a serious face, "Well, something happened at home today, so I came late. Is there anything to eat?"
"There should be some steamed buns in the back room. I wonder if they're still hot."
"There's a microwave, just turn it on and it'll heat up."
Sometimes when it’s time for dinner, some people don’t have time to eat, and the food is cold and difficult to heat up, so Xia Wu simply bought two microwave ovens for people to use to heat up the food.
When Mr. Ji heard this, he patted Mr. Wang on the shoulder and said, "Wait here. I'll go get you something to eat."
After saying that, he went to find food without waiting for Mr. Wang to answer.
This place is just like his own home.
Leaving behind Old Master Wang and a bunch of elderly people staring at each other.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
