Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 628 Student Loans

In addition, the villagers thought Hualei was someone who would never break his word. There would be no problem chopping a bundle of firewood and sending it to Hualei every day.

So, all of a sudden, there were too many people signing up. Some villages even sent all the children of school age. Fu Siye thought, why not accept them all?

So, he came to discuss with Hua Lei, or the Zhenbei Marquisate would provide all the student loans! However, Hua Lei, who was originally very generous, refused.

She told Fu Siye that although the Zhenbei Marquisate had the ability to lend the money and was not worried about the villagers defaulting on their debts, they still had to consider the actual situation of the school.

It is definitely not a good idea to set a high threshold for admission to a school. However, if there is no threshold for admission and anyone can enter, that is actually inappropriate.

If a village accepts ten children, then there will be a hundred children in Mobei County. Add the children from wealthy families who have registered, and the original students and teachers of the Imperial College, and then some logistical support personnel, the number of people may exceed two hundred.

Now Fu Siye had no money, and it was not an easy task to settle more than 200 people and make it run smoothly. Not to mention that there were not enough teaching houses and teachers for a village to recruit 20 students.

Moreover, there are still many follow-up problems. Hua Lei's suggestion that the noble families and wealthy people in the town should voluntarily support the school's repair costs and desks and chairs has received little response.

Finally, the wealthy Xu in the town supported the repair costs of the school. The Marquis of Zhenbei and the Marquis of Pingyang, as well as Mrs. Chen and her cousin, also supported the cost of desks and chairs in the name of their in-laws, as well as the purchase of a batch of teaching books, pens, inkstones, and other miscellaneous expenses.

As for the pens, ink, paper and inkstones used by the children themselves, as well as the school kitchen, and the meals for the teachers and students of the Imperial College, these have not yet been resolved.

It is still unknown when the imperial court's funding will arrive. The little money that the Zhenbei Marquis's Mansion has paid on behalf of the students can only support the operation of the school for three months at most.

If there are too many students, there won't be much to do in the school. In fact, it's just like collecting one or two taels of tuition from each student.

Fu Siye thought about it for a few days, looked at the few classrooms that had been squeezed out, and finally adopted Hualei's suggestion. In the first year, he would still recruit students based on the number of ten students from each village. He would wait until next year to see the situation. If conditions permit, he would make adjustments and recruit more students.

However, for the children of wealthy families, Fu Siye still expanded the number of students admitted. As long as they registered and paid the required tuition, they were admitted. The original class size was 20 people, but now it was 35 people per class, and there were teachers from the Imperial Academy teaching them.

Ten children from each village were selected to learn the simplest mathematics. Their teachers were students like Xiaoyuan and Rongjue.

The primary school was established with some difficulty. Although it received tuition from rich children and the money advanced by the Zhenbei Marquisate, the school still struggled.

Especially for the children in the village, the conditions were even more difficult. They basically had no pens, ink, paper, and inkstone. Many children in the village could only learn to write on the sand using tree branches.

So, Hualei took out the sorted bamboo shoots from the warehouse, selected the suitable ones, cut them simply, and gave the bamboo shoot paper to the children for use.

In addition, he asked people to take the cheapest brushes, inkstones and inkstones from his own storehouse and sent them to the school, thus solving the urgent needs of these poor children.

Seeing that the kitchen in the school was temporarily unable to provide lunch for the teachers and students, Hua Lei, in the name of Xiao Yuan, asked Baiweilou to provide lunch for the teachers in the school according to the specification of two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes and one soup every day.

Hualei provided one meat dish, two vegetable dishes and one soup to students of the Imperial College like Xiaoyuan. They continued to provide food for a month and a half until the Imperial College kitchen could be used. Fu Siye also remembered Hualei's help.

Of course, Hua Lei did this for selfish reasons. Providing lunch to the teacher and classmates in the name of Xiao Yuan was also to give Xiao Yuan's name a chance to reach the ears of Emperor Sheng Wu.

Moreover, respecting the teacher and being friendly to classmates is also paving the way for Xiaoyuan's future career. In the Great Sheng Dynasty, the teacher's official position may not be high, but in front of the students, his status is actually very high.

Some disciples who become masters of a school treat their teachers as if they were their own fathers, and serve and take care of them in their old age. This is also the origin of the saying "Once a teacher, always a father."

In the Imperial College, although you didn't get to become a disciple, it was definitely a good idea to respect your teacher more and be more friendly to your classmates.

Besides, with Hualei's current ability to earn money, it is more than enough to provide lunch for these teachers and classmates in the short term.

Hualei is self-aware, just do good things, don't ask about the future. There is light on the road ahead, don't forget your original intention. These words are all right. However, sometimes, it is necessary to seek benefits for yourself without making a sound. It is also necessary to pave the way for Xiaoyuan and build a ladder.

Just after finishing the work in the school, the two village chiefs of Beihu and Beihai sent us the ready-made bamboo baskets, bamboo dustpans and other samples.

Therefore, Hua Lei picked a suitable opportunity and found Li Shilang from the Ministry of Works to mediate and help the two villages reach a tool purchase agreement with the Ministry of Works, which made the villagers of the two villages very grateful.

Rong Jin took over all the help that Hua Lei could give to her. When he was on duty and couldn't watch over Hua Lei, he also strictly required Hua Lei to follow a regular schedule.

In his words, a woman must not overwork herself within six months after giving birth, and she should not even hold the baby for too long, to avoid back pain in the future.

Hua Lei was well aware of Rong Jin's love for her, so she was obedient. She basically only talked and rarely did anything. Therefore, Hua Lei's body recovered quite well.

Originally, she thought that in April she should go back to the county government to work. However, after Rong Jin's dissuasion and looking at Jinnian who was only half a year old, Hua Lei also hesitated.

Anyway, Emperor Shengwu didn't specify how long he would be given a vacation, and Minister Zhang didn't say anything either, so he might as well take a break. So he continued to stay in his own house.

However, even though he was not on duty, Hualei was still very concerned about the Ministry of Revenue's land reclamation and planting. Now, the wheat in the official fields was about to be harvested.

A new round of planting tasks is about to begin. Because the official fields that were planted with corn last year need to be rotated, other crops can only be planted this year.

Although spring rapeseed, an economic crop, can be grown, there is still a huge gap in food supply in Mobei.

In particular, over the past year, more and more people from various prefectures of the Dasheng Dynasty have come to Mobei to participate in the construction of prefectures and the reclamation of wasteland, so the food gap is still very large.