If Yin Lan had a daughter, she would definitely raise her to be independent and confident, and let her do whatever she wanted.
"Everyone, quiet down." Yin Lan stood up and looked at Xiao Xi, who was pointing and gossiping because of the gossip, and went up to stand next to her.
“Since Xiaoxi got second place, doesn’t that mean she’s better at math than the other kids? Everyone learns the same things, and I don’t think Teacher Liu is showing favoritism. He’s probably just giving Xiaoxi extra help because she’s a girl.”
The child below directly confirmed Yin Lan's words, shouting loudly, "Absolutely not!"
"And Xiao Xi is too shy to ask the teacher questions," another child explained.
Yin Lan nodded. "You might think your kids aren't as good as Xiao Xi because they didn't work hard enough. How about this: next time, if any of your kids catch up with Xiao Xi and surpass her, I'll give each of them a meat pie. How about that?"
The crowd immediately erupted in excitement.
Although every household now has wild boar meat, it's something to be eaten sparingly. The meat patties we just got were incredibly delicious; even the adults in the village rarely get to enjoy such a treat.
Both adults and children cheered.
Xiao Xi's eyes filled with tears. She tugged at Yin Lan's sleeve and stammered, "Auntie, I...I can't do it." Wouldn't that mean Auntie Yin would have wasted her money?
She already owes Aunt Yin so much, how could she owe her more?
Yin Lan patted her little head to comfort her, then looked up and continued.
"Then everyone's kids will go back and study hard, right? If they still can't beat Xiaoxi next time, it means that girls are no worse than boys when it comes to math."
People below overheard this, especially those who heard that Xiao Xi was actually studying, while only boys could go to school and girls could only stay at home to help with chores. They were filled with admiration and envy for Xiao Xi.
"It's amazing that she came in second."
"But who knows if it will work next time?"
"I wish I could go to school too, but my dad says that it's useless for girls to study."
However, some villagers pursed their lips and muttered, "The girls are not good enough anyway, just wait and see, the boys can catch up if they work hard."
Some people sarcastically remarked, "What's the use of girls being good at math? Boys can work as accountants or run small businesses. Girls just stay at home giving birth and toiling in the fields. It's a waste of money."
Yin Lan ignored them all and waited until everyone had dispersed.
Those who got the meat pie were delighted, while those who didn't, upon hearing that their child had lost to the girl, beat their child while taking the girl back home.
Yin Lan then squatted down and smiled at Xiao Xi, who looked worried and frightened.
"Aunt Yin, please have some." Xiao Xi handed over the meat pie with both hands, her eyes wide open. It wasn't out of politeness or flattery, but because this was the best thing she could get, and she wanted to repay Yin Lan.
Yin Lan pushed the meat pie back.
"This is a reward you earned through your own hard work. Your aunt has already eaten, so you can have some."
Once the little girl was sure that Yin Lan wouldn't take it, she took a small bite. The delicious taste was almost unbelievable. It should have been a happy thing, but she sniffed and her eyes reddened.
Over the years, no one has ever been so kind to her. Apart from her brother, Aunt Yin is the kindest person in the world to her.
"Why are you crying?" Yin Lan gently wiped away her tears and rubbed the top of her head. The little girl's hair was still very dry. "You got second place today."
This is exactly what Xiaoxi is worried about.
"I...I can't do it." Everyone said she couldn't do it, and they all felt that as long as the boy worked hard, he could surpass her immediately. Moreover, she didn't know if learning this stuff was even useful, even though this opportunity to study was something she had never dared to dream of before, and it was the greatest opportunity of her life.
Yin Lan disliked the villagers' words very much.
But if you say they're wrong, it's just ignorance. They've always believed that men are superior to women in every way. But in reality, aside from differences in physical structure, with more muscles and greater strength, are women really inferior in many areas? Yin Lan doesn't think so.
In the past, this was entirely because women did not have the same educational opportunities as men.
In the world she came from, girls were already more academically gifted than boys. More and more women were becoming top scorers in exams, and their exam results were better than men's. More women passed the exams than men, forcing some places to lower the admission scores for men.
This is still based on the long-term suppression of women. For example, right now, the villagers all say that Xiaoxi is no good, which has severely damaged her confidence. Yin Lan once saw a study by a scientist. They randomly selected a group of children from schools and told them that they were carefully chosen, smarter than other children, and more capable of achieving great things. Then they tracked the development of these children, and after ten or twenty years, they found that the success rate of the selected children was much higher than that of other children.
In reality, these children were just randomly selected, and their IQs were no higher than those of other children.
Therefore, scientists believe that encouragement, especially from superiors such as teachers and mentors, can help them learn better.
The teacher usually gave these encouragements to the boys, such as saying that boys could do it if they tried, that boys were smarter, and that boys were better at doing these things.
Yin Lan found it strange at the time. The girl could do so well in such an environment where she was not expected to do well or encouraged. If she received praise and encouragement, she wondered how outstanding she would become.
In fact, the idea that a certain gender is inherently better or smarter is simply nonsense.
To Xiaoxi, Yin Lan only wanted to give her the greatest encouragement, "Think about it, are all the people who did worse than you in this test just playing around and not studying every day?"
Xiaoxi thought about it and felt that it might not be the case.
"Yes, they tried their best, which means you're even better at this. So, next time, Auntie believes you can do it too, and do even better. Don't they think their kids can easily pass the exam with a little effort? You don't want Auntie to send out meat pies again and lose money, do you? So, try your best! Auntie believes Xiaoxi can definitely do it."
Xiao Xi could hardly believe it, yet her eyes sparkled with starlight.
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