In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 684 Observations (22)

Li Mingyuan also noticed that many villagers who had returned home early had already started eating lunch. In fact, a man squatting in front of his door, eating with a bowl and chopsticks, noticed Li Mingyuan's gaze and warmly invited him, "Old man, would you like to come over for a simple meal?"

Upon hearing this, Li Mingyuan smiled and replied, "Thank you, young man, but no need!"

While answering, Li Mingyuan glanced at the food in the man's bowl and found that the man was eating flatbread, which is what Chenjia Village calls noodles. There was also some soup and some pieces of meat, so the food was obviously not bad.

"Don't be shy, old man, come in and have a meal."

"no need!"

After repeatedly declining the enthusiastic man's offer, Li Mingyuan and his companions continued on their way, and soon they heard a commotion.

Li Mingyuan looked up and saw that they had already appeared in front of Chenjia Village School. It was lunchtime when the school let out, and a large number of human cubs were jumping and skipping out of the school. When they saw Li Mingyuan and his companions, they greeted them very politely.

"Hello, grandpa!"

"Sister, you're so beautiful!"

Hello, sir!

"..."

Looking at these very polite human cubs, Li Mingyuan felt extremely complicated.

These human infants before him were so different from those he had seen elsewhere. Whether in the capital or Liangzhou, most of the children Li Mingyuan had seen were thin and bony, dressed in tattered clothes, and looked malnourished.

The children before him were all rosy-cheeked and strong as calves, dressed in clean clothes. They seemed to be two completely different species from the children Li Mingyuan had ever seen before.

"Sister Qiuyan."

Just then, a clear voice rang out, and a little girl of about ten years old, carrying a small schoolbag, ran over and hugged Zheng Qiuyan's arm with a look of surprise and delight: "Sister Qiuyan, you're here!"

"It's Xiao Fei!"

Zheng Qiuyan touched the girl's hair. The girl was none other than Chen Dao's younger sister, Chen Fei. Because she often visited Chen Dao's home, Zheng Qiuyan had met Chen Fei before and even had a very good relationship with her.

"It's me! It's me!"

Chen Fei said with a smile, "Sister Qiuyan, are you here to see my older brother?"

Chen Fei is no longer the pale and thin woman she was when Chen Dao first transmigrated. Since her family became wealthy, her diet has improved, and she has obtained sufficient nutrition from the food. As a result, her complexion has improved significantly. She has not only regained the rosy lips and white teeth that a child should have, but she has also grown taller rapidly, and is now 1.2 meters tall.

"Yes."

Zheng Qiuyan nodded and introduced Li Mingyuan and Li Qiao to Chen Fei: "Xiao Fei, this is Grandpa Li and Uncle Li."

After saying that, Zheng Qiuyan said to Li Mingyuan, "Mr. Li, this is Chen Dao's younger sister, Chen Fei."

"Hello, Grandpa Li, Uncle Li!"

Chen Fei quickly greeted Li Mingyuan and the other person.

Li Mingyuan looked at Chen Fei in front of him, somewhat surprised that this girl was actually Chen Dao's sister.

Hello, Xiaofei!

Li Mingyuan first responded to Chen Fei with a smile, then asked curiously, "Xiao Fei, are you out of school now?"

"Yes."

Chen Fei replied with a smile, "The school lets us go home for lunch and a nap every day at noon, which is an hour and a half."

"That's it..."

Li Mingyuan glanced at Chen Fei, then looked at the many girls leaving the school, and asked thoughtfully, "Xiao Fei, are there many girls like you in the school?"

It was not uncommon for women to be educated in the Xia Kingdom. In those aristocratic families, being knowledgeable and courteous was a basic requirement for women.

Women from prominent families were all literate.

But that applies to aristocratic families; for ordinary people...

They can't afford to send boys to school, let alone girls.

In the land of Xia, the only way to succeed through education was through the imperial examination. Obviously, although Xia did not prohibit women from participating in the imperial examination, even if a woman did participate, her chances of being admitted were zero, let alone becoming an official after passing the examination.

In the three hundred years since the founding of the Xia Kingdom, there has never been a woman holding an official position.

Without the opportunity to become an official, ordinary people would naturally be even less likely to send their daughters to school.

Therefore, in rural areas, it was quite rare for girls to attend school.

"There are many."

Chen Fei thought for a moment and said, "There are 80 people in our class, and 30 of them are girls."

"so much?"

Li Mingyuan was greatly surprised; out of 80 people, 30 were girls, which was close to half.

"Not many!"

Chen Fei shook her head and said, "Our class has relatively few girls; some classes have more girls than boys."

Upon hearing this, Li Mingyuan's eyes widened. In a class at a school, there were more girls than boys. This was something he had never heard of in all his travels throughout the land.

"Why is this so?"

Li Mingyuan muttered to himself, somewhat unable to understand why the villagers of Chenjia Village would send all their daughters to school. Didn't they know that girls could not participate in the imperial examinations or become officials to realize the value of their education?

and many more!

Li Mingyuan suddenly remembered what Lu Dahe, the owner of the braised food stall, had told him: scholars who graduated from Chenjia Village School could get job opportunities provided by Chenjia Village, and their wages were even higher than those of ordinary workers...

Upon realizing this, Li Mingyuan immediately understood why the villagers of Chenjia Village sent their daughters to school, because...

For them, the path to realizing the fruits of their studies was not limited to passing the imperial examinations and becoming an official!

No wonder there are so many girls in this school.

Li Mingyuan was full of admiration. The reason why ordinary people were unwilling to let their children study was because studying was useless. Even if they studied very well, their hope of becoming officials was very slim. Therefore, guided by self-interest, ordinary people naturally gave up the choice of studying.

However, once people see the benefits of education, they will also be driven by self-interest to send their children to school, even girls.

This was a direction that Li Mingyuan had never considered before. He used to think that ordinary people were unwilling to study because they couldn't afford the cost of education, not because they didn't want to study.

But now it seems...

His idea, however, is biased.

The main reason why ordinary people are unwilling to send their children to school is not only because they cannot afford the cost of education, but also because they cannot see the benefits of education or the future prospects of it!

Once people see the benefits of reading, their enthusiasm for reading will naturally increase significantly.