Chapter 402: Opening

On the first day of August, Qingshan Academy officially opened. Reading

Early in the morning, Dabao and Xiaobao got up without Su Qing'an's call. The two brothers woke Su Qing'an up, urging her to wash and dress.

Dabao and Xiaobao were not yet six years old, not up to the previous enrollment standard.

But they had a foundation and looked older than children of the same age. In addition, they heard that there were hundreds of students studying together in the academy, so their hearts were like growing grass, and they were not willing to study alone with Ma Xin.

They insisted on going.

Su Qing'an didn't want the two children to be special, and being with their peers would be more conducive to their growth. So she discussed with Ma Xin and adjusted their schedules.

In the morning, they went to class, and in the afternoon, they still learned martial arts with Ma Xin.

The academy enrolled nearly 900 students, with 40 students in each class, and 22 classes were required. There are only about 20 students who have the same basic skills as Dabao and Xiaobao, and they are selected to set up a beginner class.

There are more than 20 students who have the basic skills, including four in her family, Gu Hongde's grandson, Xiang Shang's son, and Ling Fenggu's grandson. The rest are almost all children of soldiers' families. There are only one or two students with basic skills in the mountains.

The age range of the students enrolled this time is from more than four years old to fifteen years old.

One beginner class, and all the others are placed in the elementary school class. Those over ten years old are put together. There are more than 100 girls, divided into three classes, which are just assigned to three female teachers such as Xianniang.

Originally, Dabao and Xiaobao refused to do it when they heard that there were so few people in their class. They insisted on going to the elementary school class, but were suppressed by Su Qing'an. Either go to Grandpa Ma to continue practicing martial arts, or go to the beginner class.

The two brothers couldn't persuade her, so they had to accept it reluctantly.

The opening of the museum today, the two children are more excited than her. As the director of the academy, Su Qingmei was going to preside over the opening ceremony. The two children were so excited that they woke her up early in the morning. I hope they will be so self-motivated every day in the future.

After washing up, the mother and her two children went to the academy with Qingyang, Qingxing, Youfu and others who were equally excited.

The academy is next to the market town. Not far from the training ground.

The two sons chattered excitedly all the way. One had never been to an academy to study, and the other had never stayed with so many students. They were so excited all the way.

They didn't sleep well last night and made a fuss all night.

With the two children making fun all the way, the journey didn't seem far, and the group arrived at the academy soon.

When they arrived at the entrance of the academy, they found that many parents had brought their children and crowded at the entrance of the academy waiting to process admission.

The entrance of the academy was crowded with people.

Su Qingmei stopped and looked at the gate of the academy.

The four powerful characters "Qingshan Academy" on the gate of the academy were written by King Ma Mingwen of Yue and stamped with the seal of King Yue. It was awe-inspiring. Even Dabao and Xiaobao were silent, their mouths wide open, looking up.

The gate of the academy was spacious and grand. The academy was built on the mountain and occupied a large area. Because there were many students and they had to learn martial arts, a large training ground and activity area were split. There were also children from the distant mountain villages who had to stay overnight, so the land was larger.

"The director is here!" Several gentlemen who were handling admissions at the gate saw her and greeted her.

When everyone heard this, they all looked in her direction. Su Qing'an nodded to the crowd and entered the academy with several children.

Dabao and Xiaobao held hands, staring at the adults and children on both sides, excited and proud, with their mouths tightly pursed and faces stern, like little adults, and followed into the academy with steady steps.

At noon, all the children entered the school. Parents were not invited to enter. But no one wanted to leave, so they stood on the hill and looked down at the school.

After entering the school, they stood in the open space according to their height, and the names were called to divide them into classes. The teacher in charge of each class took the students back to the class.

First, they were asked to change their clothes. After they changed into the uniform student clothes, worshiped the portrait of Confucius, and waited for the director to announce the opening of the school, they would officially start the class.

The conditions of each family in the mountain were different. In order to prevent the children from competing or feeling inferior in dressing, Su Qing'an decided early to make uniform clothes for the teachers and students.

They did not make school robes. The children had to climb mountains and cross ridges to go to school, so it was inconvenient to make student robes. They were uniformly made into narrow sleeves, two pieces.

The male students wore a light brown knee-length gown with indigo piping on the collar and cuffs, an indigo belt, and a silk scarf. The female students wore a sky blue knee-length gown with pink piping, a pink belt, and a pink silk scarf.

The teachers were the same color as the students, but the male teachers wore long gowns and the female teachers wore skirts.

When the students came out after changing their clothes, the parents in the mountains were wide-eyed.

Damn, these are not mountain kids at all. They must be young masters and young ladies from the city. Look at their spirits. Are they their children? They dare not recognize them.

The parents were so excited that they looked for their children in the crowd.

They all wished they were younger so that they could also attend school here.

Some who did not send their children here regretted not sending their children here. The difference between the students who changed their clothes and their own children was obvious. Look at how neat and tidy they were.

I wonder if it is too late to send them here now.

The students who changed their clothes were also excited and excited. They had never worn such clothes before. They looked so beautiful. They all tied their hair up again and wore... The teachers said it was a silk scarf, and that the students in the city all wore it.

It looked so beautiful.

The little school children touched their heads again and again, their faces flushed with excitement.

Following their respective teachers, they took steady steps, their bodies straight, their faces raised high, and looked very proud.

Dabao and Xiaobao followed them while looking for their mother in the crowd.

From time to time, the two stretched their clothes. They looked really good, the same as everyone else. They wanted to let their mother see them. I wonder if their mother can find them.

Su Qingmei had already discovered the two brothers. They were standing at the front of the crowd. The two brothers were exquisite and particularly conspicuous.

Su Qingmei saw them looking around, walked towards them, and touched their heads.

The two children blushed, "Mom, do you look good?" Xiaobao looked up, looking excited.

Dabao also pursed his lips and looked at her.

"It looks good. You must study hard and be obedient in the school, understand?"

"I know! My brother and I will definitely listen to the teacher! Be a good student!" Dabao nodded to her after hearing this.

Next, Gu Hongde led a group of students to worship the portrait of Confucius...

They had never been taught etiquette, so they worshiped crookedly, which made people laugh. But fortunately, no one made a noise.

Then Su Qingmei said a few words to the students, encouraging them to study hard and become useful people in the future. Then she announced the opening of the school.

"Open!"

The parents who were watching on the mountain outside were also excited after hearing this. They looked at the students in uniform and entered their respective classrooms one by one, and they felt their hearts surge.

After several teachers took their students back to the classroom, Su Qingmei and the deputy director Gu Hongde went to the teacher activity room to discuss the course.

Now there are 22 elementary classes and one beginner class, but there are only nine teachers. Even if the two martial arts teachers Siyuan and Siyuan are added, it is not enough.

What classes should be taught in the school, Su Qingmei had discussed with several teachers before.

The six arts of a gentleman are etiquette, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics. Except for music, which she does not plan to teach at present, the rest must be learned.

Qingshan Academy plans to focus on both civil and military. Archery and charioteering will be taught by martial arts teachers, and etiquette and calligraphy will be taught by nine teachers. Currently, only Gu Hongde and two male teachers know mathematics, and the rest cannot teach this course.

We still have to recruit more teachers.

Su Qingmei looked at the class schedule of each class. There are not enough teachers, but the civil and martial arts classes are separated, and the civil classes are divided into reading and calligraphy, so they can be arranged in a staggered manner. It can work temporarily.

After discussing the affairs of the academy with Gu Hongde, she went to each class for inspection.

Each class was distributing books, and the teachers were reading various rules and teaching etiquette rules to the children. Su Qingmei saw that the teachers were serious and responsible, and the students were sitting in the brand new classroom and listening attentively, so she felt relieved.

Su Qingmei left the academy and saw many parents gathered at the door of the academy, refusing to leave.

Many people came here just to watch the fun today. But as soon as they arrived, they saw that the school was well-organized. The students were completely different from the kids in the mountains after changing into clothes. They looked like they were no longer the kids playing wildly in the mountains. They were well-organized and well-mannered.

It was shocking to watch. Some people couldn't help but regret it.

When they saw Su Qing'an coming out, they pulled her and asked if they could send their children here.

Su Qing'an smiled and shook her head, saying that the school was full this year and all the work had been arranged, so they could only wait until next year.

Many people regretted it.

Su Qing'an then went to see Ma Xin.

Ma Xin nodded to her when he saw her, praising her: "Yes, you have done something practical for the mountain again. In the future, your godfather will not be short of people. Now the imperial examinations have almost stopped. When your godfather wants to hire people, he relies on recommendations from acquaintances and self-recommendations. There is no standard for measuring character and knowledge. In the long run, there will be many disadvantages. If you can do this, Yuedi will have its own set of talent assessment programs, and your godfather will not have to worry."

"Godfather also mentioned it to me in the letter, but I am only educating children. It will take many years to teach the books for the examination of the students and scholars to meet godfather's employment standards."

If Yuedi wants to hire people, it will have to make another set of assessment standards.

Ma Xin sighed and said: "Now it is difficult to find a literate official in each state and prefecture. If you teach them well, there will be more literate people, and they will naturally seek to improve themselves in the future. In the future, there will be many places to hire people not only in Yuedi, but also in various states and prefectures. We can't recruit people who can't even read documents."

That's right. Now it is estimated that all places are in a labor shortage.

Once the imperial examination was suspended, the world was in chaos. People could not even get enough food to eat, so who would study? But the leadership teams of various prefectures had to function.

"I didn't think that far ahead. I was just worried when I saw that there were few people in the mountains who could read. I had to ask people to read repeatedly at the door when I posted a notice, and no one could understand the riddles when I held a lantern festival. It was also worrying. I just wanted everyone to recognize some words."

Ma Xin listened and nodded: "You did a good job. Being able to read and write is naturally much better than being blind. In the future, you won't be unable to understand even the deed paper, be cheated, and even have to look for someone to write a letter."

Su Qingmei nodded, it's good to have more skills, and it's naturally good to have more knowledge.

Looking at Ma Xin: "Uncle Xin, I came to you because I want you to help me pick a few more martial arts teachers. I'm afraid that Siyuan and Siyuan can't manage thousands of students. You only train in the morning now, so you should be able to pick a few people, right?"

"Okay. How many do you want?"

"Three first."

"Okay. I'll go pick them later."

"By the way, Uncle Xin, do you have anyone who knows arithmetic? Now most of the teachers in this class don't know how to do it. I want to find two teachers who can do arithmetic. Children in the mountains don't necessarily know a lot of scriptures, but It’s best to understand arithmetic, you can’t sell an egg without knowing how to calculate money.”

After the market town opened, many people exchanged their own things for copper coins. But after staying in the mountains for a long time, almost all of them were illiterate and couldn't do arithmetic. You can see people everywhere who don't even know how to count the money when selling an egg.

An egg costs two cents. I want eight, but I don’t know how much it will cost.

You need to be biliterate and biliterate to count eight eggs.

I took a dime of silver but couldn't find it. I didn't know how much I was looking for. I would rather count the coins one by one and go all the way back home with a basket of coins.

Sometimes you look at the crowd of people and think that their business is very good, but maybe they are just kindly gathering around to help settle accounts.

Su Qingyao had seen such scenes several times and couldn't help but laugh and cry.

Ma Xin looked at her: "Spells? Your man named Xiang Shang and your brother-in-law should be able to do it."

"I have considered them, but they usually have a lot of things to do. It's okay to come to teach once in a while, and teach as a substitute. But I'm afraid it won't be possible to teach in the academy for a long time. I still have a lot of things to leave them to do."

"Count me in then."

"You? Are you working hard?"

"It's not hard. Now there is no training in the afternoon. I can teach in the afternoon. And I also like to stay with the children."

"This way you won't have any time to rest in the morning and afternoon."

"It's okay. I'm in good health. I used to fight on the battlefield every day, which is much more tiring than this. Teaching several classes of children can't be hard."

Su Qingnao couldn't resist him and thanked him: "Thank you, Uncle Xin. I originally thought that you would leave the business of the market town and the school farm to Qi Liang and Liu Xiu, so that you can go back to Raozhou to spend time with your family, and you are alone. I can’t reunite with my family here.”

"It's okay. I feel comfortable staying in the mountains. Besides, what will happen to Dabao, Xiaobao and Qingyang if I leave? Your godfather is very optimistic about Xiaobao. If I leave, your godfather will definitely let me take Xiaobao with him. Are you willing to go to Raozhou?"

unwilling.

"But, you are here alone..."

"It's okay. With the children by my side, I'm not alone. Besides, I also wrote a letter back, asking my eldest grandson to come and stay with me. Originally, his parents felt that the mountains were isolated and didn't even have a private school, so they didn't want to Let him come. Now that your school is open and there are so many children, my grandson will only be happy. Moreover, there is everything in the market, and the children will be willing to come, and I will not be alone then. ”

"I can rest assured that."

After Su Qingnao left, Ma Xin wrote another letter to his family, asking them to send Ma Zheng as soon as possible.

This is what Ma Mingwen meant, to let Ma Zheng grow up with Xiaobao, just like he and Ma Mingwen did before.