"I also have some white shrimp and snails, do you want some?" The fisherman quickly tried to sell him other things when he saw that he was going to treat him.
Jiang Xiaoman peeked out and immediately said with disdain, "These shrimp are almost dead. My guests might not even come tomorrow. You can raise two silver carp, but not shrimp!"
Jiang Xiaoman borrowed a bucket from a fisherman, carried a few fish back to a large basin to raise, looked around, took a bamboo basket from the school's storage room, and a small plastic bucket, then took a tripod to the riverbank.
They're just small shrimp and snails, right? They're everywhere in the river, why spend money to buy them?
Langshan is a mountainous area with abundant water, especially near the villages at the foot of the mountains. Because the water from the surrounding mountains flows downhill, it converges into several rivers. When Jiang Xiaoman was a child, he often came here to catch fish and shrimp to enjoy. He knew exactly where to catch small shrimp and where the riverbanks had the fattest snails.
I found a ditch with lots of aquatic plants, first dug some mud to build a small dam on both sides, then laid the bamboo basket horizontally, and used a few stones to wedge it where the water flowed. Then it was time for physical labor.
You have to walk barefoot from upstream, chasing all the small fish and shrimp hiding in the water plants to the bamboo basket. Finally, you lift the basket, and there are already quite a few lively small fish and shrimp inside. You pour the water plants and fish and shrimp into a small bucket. After running through three ditches, the small bucket is almost full.
While chasing the fish, Jiang Xiaoman also picked up a lot of snails. He didn't want the small ones, only the big ones. He picked up about half a bucket. He kept the fish and shrimp to make a river shrimp and egg custard for the children, and kept the snails for two days so they could be cooked when the guests came.
Carrying the bucket of water back to school, he saw his uncle standing happily on the playground, taking pictures of the old building from various angles. When he saw Jiang Xiaoman return, he waved to him and said, "Xiaoman, come over here quickly and help me take a picture. This old building of over thirty years old is about to be demolished, haha~"
"So fast?" Jiang Xiaoman was surprised.
"I was originally going to call the township to report this, but I just received a call from the municipal education bureau saying that another kind-hearted person has donated money to our school. They even contacted them directly. That's great! We can still build a three-story building. The third floor will be used as dormitories for students and teachers, and the second floor will be used as a computer lab and school auditorium." Jiang Baichuan's face was full of wrinkles as he smiled.
Looking at her uncle's short hair with graying temples, Jiang Xiaoman suddenly felt a little sad.
Jiang Baichuan must have been waiting for this day for a long time, right?
I remember when he helped the school set up a video account, Jiang Baichuan mentioned that if any kind-hearted people saw their videos, they could raise some social donations for the school. That way, he could rebuild a leak-proof kitchen for the school and buy some cheap tables and chairs so that the children could sit down to eat.
Now things are much better. In the future, they will not only have a new cafeteria, but also new classrooms and dormitories. Everything is moving in a positive direction.
What Jiang Xiaoman needs to do is work harder and strive to lead the whole village to prosperity!
Once they had the money, if the authorities wouldn't provide teachers, their village would hire teachers from outside the village themselves!
However, to the surprise of Jiang Xiaoman and Jiang Baichuan, the teacher quota they had almost given up hope of would soon be realized.
Here's what happened—
A shocking corruption case occurred in a poverty-stricken county, even drawing criticism from the national television station. City leaders were terrified. At this point, someone raised a crucial question—
Netizens are now watching the follow-up results closely. Corrupt officials who break the law and commit crimes will naturally be sent to jail to work on sewing machines.
But what about Langshan Primary School, the core of this incident? Has everyone forgotten that the more than 30 students at Langshan Primary School are living in classrooms that are drafty on all sides? They don't even have tables and chairs to eat with?
The Municipal Education Bureau immediately formed a working group for the reconstruction of Langshan Primary School and planned to hold a special meeting to invite Jiang Baichuan, the principal of Langshan Primary School, to participate.
Unfortunately, doing things within the system requires going through many necessary approval processes. Unexpectedly, before their approval was even completed, the J Province TV station took the lead in announcing that the "Young People Singing for the Motherland" program team would donate one million yuan to Langshan Primary School, the alma mater of Jiang Cancan, the favorite contestant to win the show, to donate a new teaching building and a modern canteen.
Municipal Education Bureau: "..."
Before the top leader could even overturn the table, another donation of 500,000 yuan from a mysterious philanthropist was directly transferred to the city's education bureau's account. The donor specifically requested that the donation be used for the reconstruction of the new school building at Langshan Elementary School.
This mysterious philanthropist is truly remarkable!
This philanthropist, who always signs his name as "a member of the Chinese people," has donated tens of millions of yuan to various charitable organizations over the past decade, with several donations made almost every year.
Moreover, he never shows his face or reveals his real name, and always makes donations electronically, which makes many people very curious about who this philanthropist is.
Now, this "Chinese family member" has directly donated 500,000 yuan to Langshan Primary School, once again putting the seemingly "inactive" Municipal Education Bureau in the spotlight.
Now not only the top leader, but also the second-in-command wants to overturn the table.
However, looking at their own desks, the computers and telephones belong to the company; if they overturn the desks, they'll have to pay for the damaged company property...
Forget it, let's just call a meeting with the subordinates instead of inviting the principal. Let them set a direction first, and hopefully achieve some tangible results before the donations arrive.
Otherwise, I'd really be torn to shreds by netizens.
“The school building and canteen are relatively easy to arrange; with the donations in place, construction can be completed quickly. However, the allocation of teaching resources is probably difficult for these philanthropists to manage. Shouldn’t we try to address the practical difficulties faced by Langshan Primary School in this direction?”
The office director's child will be starting primary school next year, so he is very concerned about the teaching staff of various schools and took the opportunity to express his thoughts.
"That's a good suggestion!" the leader nodded.
"But what if we solve the teacher shortage problem for Langshan Primary School? What about the other village schools in the mountains?"
“That’s easy! Don’t we still have a lot of contract teachers on the sidelines? Why not organize a rural teaching support program in mountainous areas, encourage everyone to sign up, and set up a three- to five-year grassroots teaching support plan? As long as you teach in the mountains for a certain number of years, you can be given priority to transfer to a permanent position. In that case, there will definitely be a lot of non-tenured teachers who will sign up for the permanent position.”
"That would be a big project, requiring approval from the provincial level, so it won't be quick."
"Then let's make special arrangements and send two students to Langshan Elementary School first! Make an internal recommendation, and I think the province should be able to approve this project. We can just have them submit the application report later, right?" the top leader decided.
Upon hearing the words "internal recommendation," those with relatives who wanted to get a permanent position immediately perked up.
However, they quickly lost their nerve because the top leader put forward a restrictive requirement: "Although it is an internal recommendation, we can't just send anyone to that school. They must be graduates of teacher training colleges specializing in music, art, or physical education, or have equivalent qualifications. They will also have to participate in the selection exam together."
And so, Jiang Baichuan's long-awaited physical education, art, and music teacher, whom he had been yearning for for several years, finally had hope...
Chapter 85
This is Jiang Cancan's return to her familiar school after being away from her hometown for more than half a month.
"Uncle Chen, this is our school! Look, all that's growing outside is konjac. Every year before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Principal Chen takes us to dig up konjac, then we carry it to the market to sell and exchange it for pork!"
Knowing she was going back to school, Jiang Cancan insisted on changing into the summer school uniform she had brought with her when she went to the competition.
It was actually just a cheap short-sleeved shirt and mosquito-repellent pants set for about twenty yuan at a street stall, but Zhou Mingxing nodded repeatedly when he saw it.
Jiang Cancan changed into her school uniform, perhaps simply wanting to wear the same as her classmates. However, after the video aired, netizens were moved that this child hadn't forgotten her roots even after becoming famous. She didn't wear the princess dress provided by the program team when she returned to school, which actually suited the theme of this donation event better.
A few years ago, a similar incident occurred in the entertainment industry: a group of celebrities went to a disaster area to participate in a charity event, and some female celebrities wore knee-length mini skirts and exquisite riding boots. Some male celebrities even wore sunglasses and pristine white shirts. Compared to the dusty and disheveled disaster victims and soldiers busy with rescue and relief efforts, netizens were so angry that they almost wore holes in their keyboards.
The program team that came to Langshan Primary School for the donation ceremony consisted of seven people: director Chen Shu, producer Jiang Chuan, contestant Jiang Cancan, agent Zhou Mingxing, a cameraman, a reporter from the station who also served as the event host, and a driver. The seven people fit perfectly into one minivan.
In contrast, there were more people from the local area. The top two leaders of the township were present. Although more than half of the county education bureau staff were already waiting for the trial in the detention center, a small number of people who had been squeezed out by this interest group were now filling in and sent four people. Even the municipal education bureau sent people.
People from the city came for two reasons: one was to deliver a donation from another mysterious philanthropist, and the other was to speak privately with Jiang Baichuan to see what difficulties he might be facing. They hoped that, given the current public attention, they could expedite the process and resolve all the issues at once.
They have now truly witnessed the terrifying power of online traffic!
The official video account of Langshan Primary School gained millions of followers in just a few days. These millions of followers could drown them with a single spit from each of them.
What's more, their school also produced Jiang Cancan!
The Municipal Education Bureau only discovered this after a thorough investigation: this elementary school student named Jiang Cancan is now incredibly popular online, and scalpers are reportedly starting to resell guest tickets for shows featuring Jiang Cancan...
This kid has really made a name for himself! He can even get scalpers, who only work hard for profit, to get busy.
With the approval of the leadership, the Langshan Primary School video account also broadcast the entire donation ceremony live. It is said that the school raised 1.5 million yuan in donations in one go, and the fans were even more excited than Jiang Baichuan himself!
Jiang Cancan's fans, in particular, are incredibly resourceful. They quickly created a fan group called "Langshan Primary School Reconstruction Mutual Aid Group," which is full of hidden talents!
An interior design company owner said that their company is willing to provide Langshan Primary School with a complete interior design plan free of charge, and if the school is willing, they can also bid for the interior decoration project of Langshan Primary School at zero profit, as long as they pay the cost price.
One of the rich second-generation heirs whose family owns a construction company said that although he missed the charity fundraising (after all, who would have thought that the program team would be so cunning as to donate money without even saying anything?), his company has decided to participate in the bidding for the reconstruction project of Langshan Primary School. The price will definitely save Jiang Baichuan a lot of money!
There are also families who own building materials markets and are willing to provide all the school's renovation and building materials at zero profit;
The curtain shop owner is willing to provide all the curtains for the school free of charge;
The owner of a bathroom fixtures shop decided to donate all the toilets and shower facilities to the school.
"It's so strange, why do I feel like Jiang Cancan's fans are all rich people, or successful people in society?" a passerby couldn't help but ask.
Other netizens were also very curious, but soon a veteran fan of the "Youth" program came out and solved the mystery—
"You'll understand once you listen to some of Jiang Cancan's competition pieces."
"Let me put it this way, most of the kids who grew up listening to 'Sending Off the Groom' are now successful people in society, right?"
Wow! That makes perfect sense!
Those who have survived since the reform and opening up have either gone to university and entered the system, and are now at least section-level cadres, or they have gone into business and become bosses, and are involved in even more industries!
These people don't usually go crazy for celebrities like young people, cheering for their idols, but they have plenty of financial resources!
As the saying goes, when idols are in trouble, help comes from all sides. Fans don't even need to go around shouting for sponsorships. Just pick a few rich people in the group and the problem is solved.
Now, even Chen Shu has to admit that there's a reason why Zhou Mingxing was able to produce so many pillars of the industry.
If it weren't for his reminder, and the production team had been even a little slow, Jiang Cancan's wealthy fans would have jumped out and resolved the matter... At that point, netizens would only praise Jiang Cancan's fans for being beautiful, kind-hearted, and rich, and what would become of their TV station's prestige?
When Jiang Baichuan was taken aback by the suggestion from the Municipal Education Bureau to help them solve their teacher shortage problem, he was briefly overjoyed, but then he calmed down as he thought of Qu Jingjiang who had left earlier.
After thinking for a moment, he sincerely said to the leaders from the city: "Langshan Primary School is indeed in dire need of music, art and physical education teachers, but as you leaders have seen, we have suffered a serious loss of students in recent years. Now the whole school has less than forty students left. Such a small number of students occupy so many teaching resources, which is a waste of social resources."
"So I was thinking, could you send us two more teachers with higher overall qualifications? Like music, art, and physical education teachers, they should all be graduates of undergraduate teacher training colleges, right? They can also teach math and Chinese to the lower grades. If that's the case, two more teachers would be enough."
The people from the Municipal Education Bureau were surprised by Jiang Baichuan's honesty. After hearing his words, they smiled and said, "Alright! Then send two over first. You should quickly prepare the application report and try to select the candidates before the start of the school year. Are there any other difficulties that need to be resolved?"
"Well, there really is something that the leader needs to take care of," Jiang Baichuan said embarrassedly.
“Previously, the school was severely lacking in teachers, and no teachers were willing to volunteer to teach in the mountains, so we hired an external teacher ourselves. To this day, he is not even a proper contract worker, and he doesn’t have the five social insurances and one housing fund.”
"This teacher is Jiang Caiyun. She's from this village. She's heavily pregnant but still insists on coming to class. Her teaching ability is also quite good. Do you think you could help her out? We can't even think about getting a permanent position, but it would be best if we could get her a new contract."
Without a contract, Jiang Caiyun has always been an unregistered resident with absolutely no protection.
Jiang Baichuan hired her and always wanted to be responsible for her. No matter how much her salary was, he wanted to at least take care of her insurance.
"How many years has Jiang Caiyun been teaching at the school?"
"It's been almost six years."
"That's been quite a while! This is all the fault of your county education bureau! Rural teachers like her should have been eligible for equal pay for equal work long ago. You should have her write an application report, get the school stamp it, and take it to the county. Then tell them to make up for Jiang Caiyun's social insurance and housing fund contributions over the past few years!"
"What's going on? Such a dedicated teacher who perseveres in teaching in impoverished mountain areas, not only doesn't receive any awards, but doesn't even have the most basic contract benefits guaranteed?"
At this moment, the leaders of the Municipal Education Bureau were truly furious.
This trip to Langshan finally made the city see the loopholes in education in impoverished mountainous areas. Soon, issues such as the treatment of teachers and staff in primary and secondary schools in impoverished mountainous areas and the implementation of various subsidies for impoverished students were included in the key supervision scope of the Municipal Education Bureau for the next academic year, which can be considered an unexpected bonus.
At the very least, after the Langshan Primary School incident was highlighted by the national television station, it's estimated that no one will dare to touch the lucrative nutrition subsidy for impoverished students in the short term.
However, rebuilding the school buildings presents another problem: the construction period for the new school buildings will take at least 1 to 2 years. During this period, what will happen to the students' schooling?
"There are only thirty-odd students. If it doesn't work, we can rent Youzhi's house. His family has a row of three large brick houses, plus four side rooms on both sides. Isn't that enough for you?" Villager Jiang Youtian suggested.
It's unrealistic to send them to school in town temporarily. Putting aside the issue of transportation, many left-behind children don't have parents to pick them up at all and walk to school on their own. Even if they rent a school bus, what happens when it rains or snows?
Another point is that I heard the elementary school classes in town are already overcrowded, and even if they wanted to transfer, they might not be able to get in.
After much thought, I decided it would be more convenient to continue having classes in the village, but I don't know if my parents would agree.
"If they don't agree, just let them transfer the child to a boarding school," Jiang Youtian said, pursing his lips.