Poor family mother and son

Chapter 8
After Mr. Xie went back, Mrs. Xie brought an old quilt to him.It seems that Mr. Xie ordered it.Mr. is really careful.Because it was a lunch break, Chu Qing asked Xiaobao to walk around the yard for a while after dinner, and then arranged for him to take a nap.

"Children need to eat more and sleep more to grow well." Chu Qing said while covering Xiaobao with a quilt.Xiaobao moved inside, freeing up half of the bed board.

"You sleep by yourself. I'm going to copy "Thousand Characters". After copying, let's study together."

Xiao Bao closed his eyes, he was quite sleepy.Let's walk around in circles in the morning, and walk around in circles just now.At noon, I worried about Chu Qing for a long time.Really tired.

Chu Qing copied all afternoon.I copied it twice.They were bound into two books with the twine drawn from the torn sack, so that Xiaobao and Xiaobao could hold each other and read the book.After copying, I learned a few more traditional characters, which is rewarding.

After Xiaobao woke up, he ran to the door to sit and listen to the class.Children in the Mongolian class (that is, the small class) are required to read it well first, then recite it, and finally the teacher will give an explanation.

The children in the small class are reading, this time the children are reading collectively, and the teacher did not lead the reading.The teacher left the task of reciting for the students in the class (big class), and is now teaching abacus to the students in the winter class.

Xiaobao was sitting at the door, and tapped his fingers on his knees to the little class's reading.

Chu Qing didn't have much to do in the afternoon, so after copying the book, Chu Qing started to repair the broken tables and stools in the utility room.

These are supposed to be repaired by people in the village who know carpentry, but firstly, there is only one carpenter, and they are busy with work; secondly, this kind of repair work is compulsory, not only does not make money, but some materials may be needed. So people can procrastinate as long as they can.But it's useful in school, so don't worry.

Chu Qing dismantled the particularly tattered tables and chairs and used them as accessories.Repair what is worth repairing as much as possible.

Some chairs are actually quite complete, just wobbly, Chu Qing used wedge-shaped wooden chips cut out to prop up the gaps caused by the wear and tear of the mortise and tenon joints, and it became a solid chair again.

For tables and chairs with broken legs, replace them with the removed parts.When school was over, Chu Qing had repaired a table and two chairs.Putting it side by side with the desk that was repaired yesterday in the utility room, it becomes a writing desk.

Two chairs, you can sit on one with Xiaobao, and you can sit at the same table on the desk, and study "Thousand Characters" together, it is beautiful to think about.

The students cheered and ran out, all in a hurry to go home for dinner.Chu Qing went to the kitchen, it was time to make dinner.

After dinner, Mr. Xie came over from the backyard and asked Chu Qing to go with him to the village chief's house.He said that when school was over, he asked the students to go back and inform the chiefs of the other two villages to go to Wukeshu village chief's house to discuss matters after dinner, and that Chu Qing should follow suit.

Chu Qing was worried about leaving Xiaobao alone, so she carried Xiaobao and followed.Xiaobao stuffed a copy of "Thousand Characters" into his arms.

When I arrived at the village chief's house, the other two village chiefs were about to enter the courtyard. They all bowed their hands to Mr. Xie respectfully, and entered the courtyard together with greetings.

No one paid attention to the two women, or they didn't take it seriously.

The village head greeted him out of the house, and then entered the main room after a few words about the village head's condition.

The tea tray has been set up in the main room. This is for the village chief to entertain the guests, who are usually reluctant to drink tea.There is also a plate of melon seeds on the table.

Chu Qing was the last one to enter the main room, and found that there were only four chairs in total, and three village chiefs and one Mr. Xie were sitting there. She was a little embarrassed and didn't know where to stand.

When Mr. Xie saw it, he said to Village Chief Wu: "Brother, ask my sister-in-law to fill in a stool."

The village head froze for a moment before noticing Chu Qing and his wife, and hurriedly called the old woman to bring the stool.

The wife of the village chief came in to deliver the stool and saw Chu Qing's wife, and she was a little surprised: why did she bring out a stool instead of bringing the mother into the back room for her to receive.

But he still warmly greeted Chu Qing and Xiaobao to sit down, and even grabbed some melon seeds and stuffed them into Xiaobao's hands. "Eat, there are still plates after eating."

Xiao Bao bowed to the village head's wife with the peanuts in his hands, then sat beside Chu Qing, put the melon seeds beside him, and didn't eat them.

"Brother Ang, Brother Li, Brother Zhang," Mr. Xie said, "Have the children talked about the school lunch today?"

"Yes, I heard." The three village chiefs nodded one after another.

"On weekdays, I go back to the backyard after class in the morning, and I don't care too much about the kitchen." Mr. Xie continued.

"But today at noon, what do you think?"

Everyone was silent, and they were in deep thought.

"Yuan Shi, tell me." Mr. Xie called the roll call.I go!They are village chiefs, you can't name them, just me?
"Yes, sir. The reason for today's incident is..." Chu Qing first recounted the incident at noon in detail, in a calm and unemotional tone.

"Today is my first day at work, oh no, it's my first day at work, because I didn't ask what was the practice before, so I just dealt with it like this. Please forgive me if there is any inappropriateness." Chu Qing concluded.

Xiaobao was listening all the time, looking at the three village chiefs in turn.

The head of Zhang Village said at this moment: "That bastard of mine is really unreasonable, I'll beat him up when I get back!" He seemed to be speaking to Chu Qing, but his eyes were on Mr. Xie.

See, people are just afraid that the husband will have ideas.

"Your kid is just a jerk, and he still scolds us." Chu Qing said in his heart.

"Brother Wu, Brother Zhang," said the village head of Li Village, who is the oldest and looks simple and honest, "to be honest, the kids talked about it when they came back from school, and people in the village have been talking about it Woolen cloth."

"Brother, tell me." Village Chief Wu said.

"The people in our village actually think that today's affairs are very good. Why do you say that, the children in my village are all in Mengban, and when Tian'er comes back from school, he will call his father and mother when he enters the village If you want to eat, the grown-ups will ask, haven’t you already eaten at school? You are the only one in the family who has dry food to eat, why do you have the face to cry hungry?” At this point, Village Chief Li glanced at Village Chief Wu , and then continue:
"The children said that they were not full. They only had two mouthfuls of rice at noon, and there was only vegetable soup left. They said that they couldn't run away from the older children, and they couldn't grab the older children. When they cooked, there would be no cooks left. What’s the matter. But the kids came back today and said that they are full and delicious, and there is minced meat on the steamed eggs.”

Seeing what Village Chief Li said, Village Chief Zhang thought about his own bastard, and called his grandpa to spoil him!But my own child is in pain, so I can't let others say it.He hastened to speak out again:
"Oh, that's right, our village is farther away. If the cook's children are full, our children won't be able to catch up."

Look, shift the contradiction!This is to say that people from Wukeshu Village used to cook for them, so their children could have enough to eat, but those in the other two villages could not.It's not that his children can grab food, but that Wukeshu Village is unfair.

Chu Qing glanced at Village Chief Li appreciatively. Since he took the lead in speaking just now, he can now rest easy and just sit back and be the crowd.

There was a clicking sound in his ears, Xiao Bao was using his small teeth to crack the melon seed shells.There are really serious people who eat melons.

After eating a melon seed, Xiaobao may feel that it is strenuous, so he will not eat it.I put the melon seed shells in my belt, but didn't throw them on the ground.It's very civilized!

What Village Chief Zhang said made Village Chief Wu feel that something was wrong, and after thinking about it, he understood the reason, so he said:

"Hey, you guys told me earlier. It's also my fault for not being thoughtful. Women don't do things with their own children. It would be great if the three villages sent cooks in rotation."

The implication is that I don't blame me for this matter. If you don't tell me, how would I know? Besides, you agreed to send people from our village to cook.There is no mother who does not turn to her child.Who doesn't place high hopes on those who can let their children go to school?
"The same goes for the rotation of the three villages." Mr. Xie said: "Even if the three villages send cooks in rotation, the smaller ones still can't compete with the bigger ones. The children of the cooks can only eat enough for the day."

This is stating the facts.The cook can let her children eat more, and then the children in the same village can ask for more, and the rest will not be enough to eat.So the three village chiefs were silent.

"But I'm very relieved that our three villages have never had any troubles over this matter." Mr. Xie first gave a sweet date.Well, build a harmonious village together. "However, it's not a big deal, but after a long time, there should be conflicts." Is this another slap to remind them of the prevarication just now?

"Our school has its constitution and rules, but the kitchen doesn't. Three, why don't we make a rule together?" Mr. Xie guided the direction.

"What's the use of that? The county magistrate might as well take care of it now!" Village head Zhang was the first to question: "They all pay the same food, and the cook gives her children more food. Who knows what's wrong?"

"Well, this is a problem." Mr. Xie agreed, and turned to Village Chief Li: "Brother Li, tell me?"

"I don't know what to do to make everyone satisfied. But the children are very happy to be back today." Is this in favor of Chu Qing's approach?
At this time, Village Chief Wu introduced Chu Qing to everyone: "Everyone, this is the Yuan family. She just entered our village yesterday. She separated from her family and has nowhere to go with her child. She is staying in our village temporarily. Alas, for the conscripts, there are fewer strong laborers in each family, and the women have gone to the fields. They can't take care of their own families because they can go to school for lunch, and it's hard to assign them. Give her a place to stay."

After the introduction, he continued: "Looking at it this way, I think what Yuan's doing at noon today is still reasonable. First of all, Yuan's specialize in cooking. Although he lives in our village, he is not from our village. It will be biased towards whose family's children; what's more, the food and money from each family are the same. The money is used to buy vegetables, and the food is brought by each family. Since they are all the same, they should be the same when eating. Say that's the reason?"

Everyone nodded, and looked carefully again.Chu Qing rolled her eyes in her heart, does this obvious matter need to be analyzed?
"But the appetite is different." Village Chief Zhang shouted.

It's just that your child is fat, but it's not the same appetite!Chu Qing complained in her heart.But these village chiefs felt that what Village Chief Zhang said was reasonable, the older children naturally ate more.Mr. Xie looked at Chu Qing with a smile: "Yuan Shi, tell me your thoughts."

"Village chiefs, if you pay the same money and food, you should eat the same food. Everyone agrees on this point? Now let's talk about the problem of different appetites. Children are growing up, and eating is really important. For children with large appetites , I suggest that parents provide more money and food, and eat as much as they pay.”

These words received a lot of distrustful looks, as if the extra money and food would be cleared up.Especially Village Chief Zhang, whose expression seemed to say: "Do you want to use our money and food to feed your children?" Mr. Xie coughed lightly and said, "Yuan Shi, go ahead."

"Now each child pays 6 catties of rice plus 30 Wen per month. Counting rice first, 6 catties of rice is 96 taels. Excluding holidays and holidays every month, the average school eats 27 meals, so each meal is three and a half. Three and two and a half, how big is a bowl of cooked rice, do you have an idea?" Based on the average level of the villages, it is estimated that the whole family only eats three and a half rice for a meal, right?

"Maybe older children may not be able to eat enough. If calculated based on 8 catties of rice per month, 8 catties is 128 taels, which is more than four taels per meal. Is this enough to eat? Just pay 2 catties of rice. The food is not counted. There are 48 children in the school, and each of them pays 30 Wen per month, which is 1440 Wen, which is nearly one and a half taels of silver. Can you imagine how much vegetables you can buy? Can you imagine how much oil you can buy?"

In fact, Chu Qing couldn't think of it, because she didn't know the prices at all.That is, bluffing.

But it’s not that I don’t know, it’s a shock!Who eats so much now!It's dry rice and vegetables, what else do you want to do!
6 Wen for 30 catties of rice is not only a lot of money, but I am afraid it is still too much!
Xiaobao sat on the side with peace of mind, not looking at anyone, just watching "Thousand Characters".He knew that Chu Qing had choked them, so he was relieved.Mr. Xie nodded slightly from the side.

"So, if you want to pay more food expenses for the children who eat a lot, the village chiefs can go back and ask the parents for their opinions. If you don't have enough food, you can pay more, if you have enough food, you can pay less, or if you can't finish eating, you can take it home after school That’s okay, don’t waste it.”

"In addition, I want to make a recipe for the next ten days on the holiday, and post it on the door of the school kitchen for publicity. As for the food money, I think the village chiefs designate the people who provide the dishes, every day or every few days Send a certain amount of vegetables, oil and salt to the school, and pay at the end of the month."

"When the school pays the money, the food delivery person has to provide the receipt and press the fingerprint. In this way, everyone can know what the children ate in the school and where the money was spent, and the students can go home and talk about the food. How much. Everyone knows what is in their minds, and there will be no worries about taking more or less.”

"In addition, I suggest that the village chiefs formulate dining rules, such as only standing at the door, washing hands before and after meals, queuing up to receive meals, and not wasting meals, etc. The children are lively and active, and they are afraid of being knocked when they enter the kitchen. When it is hot, it is easy to bring dust into the pot. Since you eat it, you must eat it clean so that you are not easy to get sick. Line up to wash your hands and line up to receive food, children must know order."

After Chu Qing finished speaking in one breath, she felt a little more worried.I have worked so hard and haven't had any water to drink.

And the three village chiefs didn't speak for a long time.I guess it's still in my mind.The amount of information is a bit large, let them sort it out.

(End of this chapter)