Chapter 6

Song Yao was really busy. On the way to school after dinner, even though he would not be responsible for the chickens at home because he was going to school, he still took the time to catch several grasshoppers and carefully put them in the bamboo tube made by his grandfather for him to play with, intending to take them home to feed the chickens after school.

A child on the roadside who was also going to school saw him catching grasshoppers again and admired him very much: "Little boy, you are so good to your chickens."

Although most children have to help with housework at home, they still don't want to work themselves, and just want to play around. Only Song Yao, his family doesn't let him work, but he still takes the initiative to do it.

Because Song Yao volunteered to help with the housework, Grandma Song didn't want to discourage her grandson's enthusiasm, so she gave him the most leisurely job of feeding the chickens. After all, feeding the chickens only requires throwing the rotten vegetable leaves and leftovers that the family doesn't eat on the ground, and then calling the chickens to eat.

After all, everyone is just barely able to avoid hunger, and it is impossible to feed the chickens with good food. Most of the time, the chickens in the village are self-reliant.

However, Song Yao was very concerned about these chickens. Since he took over the chicken-raising power at home, he began to study how to raise these five chickens well. He not only caught grasshoppers, worms, earthworms, snails, etc. to feed them, but sometimes he also took them to the waterside to eat grass seeds and small insects.

When all the chickens in the village slept in trees, Song Yao even built a special chicken coop for them to sleep in.

Although because this chicken coop was made by him alone, the child could not move too heavy stones, and the final result was an irregular polygon. At least after seeing it, the parents could not say a word for a long time in front of Song Yao who was proud and asking for praise.

But obviously, in the aesthetics of chickens, this chicken coop is very luxurious.

The five chickens of the Song family slept in it that night, and ran home clucking every day when it was getting dark, as if they were worried that their good positions would be taken away if they came back late.

This worry is not unreasonable. After all, sometimes chickens from other families really sneak in, crowding together and pretending to be chickens from the Song family.

In addition to the chicken coop for sleeping, Song Yao also made several special nests for the chickens to lay eggs. He couldn't do this by himself, so he had to ask Grandpa Song to weave a few bamboo baskets for him in his spare time, and spread the hay he picked up in them.

At that time, many people in the village felt that the Song family spoiled their children too much. Raising chickens, they just needed to give them some food and put a few grass nests at home. They also made a special nest for sleeping and a nest for laying eggs. Isn't that a waste of time?

It is because the Song family has only one child that they spoil their children so much. If it were their family, if the children dared to ask them to weave bamboo baskets specifically for the chickens to lay eggs, they would definitely be scolded. What kind of nests are they? They have always raised chickens like that before, and the chickens are growing well, aren't they?

Although the Song family wasted time doing useless work, thinking that Song Yao has always been well-behaved and the Song family has only one child, the villagers just laughed and said nothing.

As a result, Song Yao's operation was not obvious at first, but after a month, when she ordered eggs as usual to sell them at the county supply and marketing cooperative, she found something wrong.

Eggs are sold once a month. Because there have always been five chickens in the family, the number does not change much. In the past, there were either one or two more or one or two less, and even if there was a fluctuation, it was a small amount.

As a result, this time there were fifty more.

Grandma Song was shocked.

Her first reaction was, it's over, did the youngest pick up the eggs laid by other people's chickens?

As a result, when she asked in the village, the number of eggs collected by everyone did not fluctuate much. There were even several families who said that their chickens ran to Song Yao's grass nest to lay eggs, and Song Yao found out and sent the chickens and eggs back together.

When she found out that Grandma Song didn't know about this, she praised Song Yao repeatedly, saying that he knew not to take other people's things at a young age, and the Song family taught him well.

Grandma Song recalled that her grandson would go to the chicken coop every day when he had time, picking out other people's chickens and sending them back without fear of hard work, and complaining that they took up the place of her own chickens. She thought that when her youngest son sent the chickens and eggs back, he must not have thought what the other party thought.

So the question is, other people's eggs are not less, where did the fifty extra eggs come from?

It was Song Yao who came back from the county in the evening who answered the question: "Not much, I watched them lay eggs every day and put them away before going out to play, and the number of eggs saved is correct."

Because other people's chickens like to come to their chicken coop, Song Yao pays special attention to not taking mixed eggs. It took him two days to observe the time periods when his five chickens like to lay eggs, and then he specifically watched them during those time periods.

The child stretched out his fingers to count for Grandma Song: "At the beginning, they sometimes laid an egg every two days, sometimes every three days, and now they basically lay one egg every day, so it is especially easy to pick eggs every day."

Song Yao is very confident. Since he successfully made a "Time Period Table for Picking Eggs", he has compared it for seven days without any mistakes. Although it took a little time at the beginning, from then on, picking eggs at home only needs to be done at specific times.

Grandma Song's focus is on one egg a day.

She has been raising chickens for so long, but she has never seen a hen that can lay one egg a day stably.

Is there any difference between Song Yao raising chickens and raising chickens before? If you think about it carefully, apart from catching insects and taking chickens out to eat insects, you just need to change the water and hay for the nest frequently.

These sound like a lot of trouble, but they are nothing to Song Yao. Catching insects in the grass is just fun for him, and picking hay is just a side job, right? There is hay wherever you play, and as for carrying chickens to eat insects, chickens eat chickens, he plays his own games, which has no effect at all.

So before and after receiving the task of raising chickens, Song Yao didn't feel tired at all. He played his own games every day and collected eggs when it was time.

Facing grandma's doubts, he explained openly: "Chickens are like people. They feel good when they eat well, drink well and live well. Just like I am willing to practice calligraphy when I am in a good mood, they must also be willing to lay eggs when they are in a good mood."

"And before, they looked for food in those few places. I sent them food every day and took them outside to find food. They were full and slept well, and they were healthy, so they laid more eggs."

This is actually scientifically based. People are not full and malnourished, let alone chickens.

Grandma Song calculated and felt that it was more cost-effective to give five chickens more food every day in exchange for them to lay one egg a day steadily. From then on, the chickens of the Song family had a good meal.

After the villagers learned about it, they once again sighed that Song Yao was indeed smart and even better at raising chickens than others. They also learned from him, but they did not take care of him as carefully as Song Yao, and the eggs they collected were still not as many as those of the Song family.

But that was all in the past. Since the school started in the village, Song Yao had to spend a lot of time going to class every day, so Grandma Song took over the job of feeding the chickens. For this reason, Song Yao was reluctant to leave.

He said to the child who talked to him: "I have no choice. I have been feeding my chickens since they were two months old. Now I can't take them to school. They are all thin."

Child:... It seems that they have only been in school for one day.

However, Song Yao did not think that one day was short. He still looked down seriously to find insects for the chickens to eat, and invited the other party to find them with him.

The child flatly refused. Although catching grasshoppers was fun, he was instantly uninterested when he thought that this was work. Before leaving, he looked at Song Yao who was trying hard to catch grasshoppers, and felt that Song Yao must love his chickens deeply.

Song Yao didn't care. He just walked and played along the way, catching insects, grasshoppers and snails. When he was almost at school, the bamboo tube was half full.

He closed the lid with satisfaction and planned to go back to feed the chickens as soon as school was over.

When he arrived at the classroom door, Song Yao realized that everyone else had arrived. His seat was the only one left in the room, and Teacher He was giving a lecture on the podium.

He was confused and quickly asked 005: [005, what time is it now? ]

005 immediately answered: [9:25. ]

Song Yao: I am late indeed.

Yesterday, Teacher He specifically said that the class would start at 9 o'clock and asked us to come ten minutes early. However, he was busy making honey and catching insects in the morning, and he forgot about it.

Song Yao felt guilty instantly and looked at He Junwen carefully: "Sorry, teacher, I am late."

He Junwen put down the chalk and asked in a gentle voice: "Why are you so late?"

She was not angry. It was only today that He Junwen found out that the children who came to school did not have clocks at home, only the village party secretary had one, so in order not to be late, they all came early to some extent, and several children came late one after another because they did not know the time.

It's just that Song Yao came very late.

Song Yao felt guilty, but still told the truth: "I caught bugs on the way."

He Junwen was stunned: "Catch bugs? What do you catch bugs for?"

Song Yao: "Feed the chickens."

A child sitting in the first row interrupted: "Teacher, Song Yaoer often catches bugs to feed the chickens. He likes his chickens very much. He catches bugs to feed them every day and takes them to bask in the sun."

The child sitting in the back row also said: "Yes, he also talks to his chickens."

Song Yao heard that he was laughing at him, and immediately retorted: "What do you want to do!"

The child laughed wantonly: "Just do it, Song Yaoer talks to the chickens, Song Yaoer talks to the chickens, I said it, come and hit me."

He Junwen's spirit was tense. Here it comes, a problem that every teacher must face: mutual discrimination and exclusion among students.

Before coming to Dashu Village, she had specially consulted her teacher. The teacher taught her that sometimes it is not only necessary to teach students knowledge well, but also to pay attention to the relationship between students.

There is no such word as school bullying now, but it is obvious that this behavior has existed since ancient times. Students often have all kinds of reasons to exclude and isolate classmates. Their families are poorer than others, their grades are poor, their clothes are not clean, and sometimes even their soft temper can be the reason for being isolated.

When Ho Kwan Man came to Dashu Village, she found that although this village was very poor, the villagers had a positive atmosphere and most of them were friendly to others, and the children below followed suit.

She originally thought that she would not encounter the situation that the teacher said here.

Unexpectedly, on the second day, she ran into a child laughing at Song Yao.

Seeing Song Yao's angry fists clenched, she quickly coughed and interrupted the two: "Zhao Xiaodong, don't laugh at your classmates, it's just talking to animals, what's so funny."

Seeing Teacher He criticize Zhao Xiaodong, Song Yao loosened his fists with some regret. He was about to rush over to beat him.

Although Zhao Xiaodong was taller than him, he couldn't beat him every time they fought. This time, he was the first to provoke him. Even if Song Yao beat him and made him cry, he was not afraid of what his parents would say.

Although it was a pity that he lost an opportunity to beat Zhao Xiaodong openly, Song Yao still liked Teacher He very much, so he showed a good appearance and listened to Teacher He quietly.

He Junwen really didn't think there was anything strange about talking to animals. Her little cousin had a pet rabbit, and she could touch it and say a basket of words every day. Children like small animals and treat small animals as companions. Isn't it normal to talk to them?

"When the teacher was young, he would also talk to turtles. This is a very normal way of playing. Students should not laugh at Song Yao just because they don't talk to animals. This is wrong."

She looked at Zhao Xiaodong: "Zhao Xiaodong, you are the tallest in the class. Think about it, if everyone laughs at your height, doesn't play with you because you are tall, and laughs at you for being different from them, how do you feel?"

Zhao Xiaodong thought about it carefully, and didn't know what he thought of. He pursed his lips in grievance, lowered his head and kept silent.

He Junwen: "Teacher knows that you are a good child, just don't laugh at others next time."

After speaking, he looked at Song Yao again: "Okay, Song Yao, go back to your seat, and be careful not to be late next time. If you want to catch insects to feed chickens, you can go out early or catch them after school. I won't punish you today, but if you are late next time, the teacher will not be so easy to talk to."

Song Yao nodded and sat in his seat without being affected at all.

He Junwen continued to pick up the chalk and teach.

Although she was the only teacher in the school, it was relatively easy to teach. After all, there was no school in Dashu Village before. These children, whether they were five or six years old or twelve or thirteen years old, all started from scratch and did not need to be divided into classes.

Oh no, there is another exception.

After teaching a class and letting the students review and copy by themselves, He Junwen came to Song Yao and started to teach him individually.

There was no way. Others were still learning pinyin, and Song Yao had already learned all the characters. She couldn't let him learn what they already knew from everyone.

So Song Yao had a one-on-one individual teaching.

What surprised He Junwen was that not only did he have a good memory, but he could also draw inferences from one example. Even if she only taught him a few classes, she could feel that he was making rapid progress.

At this moment, she really believed what the villagers said that Song Yao could be admitted to university at first sight. Such a smart child, as long as he was willing to learn, the probability of being admitted to university in the future was really high.

Song Yao didn't know what Teacher He was thinking, he was trying hard to study.

Although there was a learning system before, there was no one to supervise him, and there were no other children in the village studying. He had no feeling for learning. He basically studied when he needed it, and put it down to play when he didn't need it.

Although 005 needs learning to maintain energy, Song Yao needs to play. When it needs energy, no matter how much it wants to play, it will still work hard for a few days to make up for the learning, so it gradually stopped urging (mainly because it can't be urged).

Now the situation is different.

All the children in the village are studying, and Teacher He will monitor Song Yao one-on-one. In addition, there is a goal of building a spaceship ahead, so at least during class, Song Yao will still study very seriously.

In He Junwen's eyes, Song Yao's concentration is also very high.

She has more confidence in this student's future college entrance examination.

When it comes to the lunch break, He Junwen is still a little reluctant to leave the get out of class. The feeling of teaching a smart student is really good, and she still wants to teach.

Song Yao, who was being taught, had the opposite idea. When he was studying seriously, he was immersed in it and didn't feel it. When Teacher He announced the end of get out of class, he realized that he had been studying for such a long time and suddenly felt tired everywhere.

005 comforted him: [It's okay, host. You just feel tired because you haven't studied for a long time before. When you study like this every day in the future, you will get used to it and won't feel tired. ]

Song Yao: ... I didn't feel comforted at all.

At lunch time, he ran home with his bamboo tube in his arms, watching his chickens eat the insects with satisfaction, and he felt super satisfied.

He thought that the class was not until two o'clock in the afternoon, and he could take his baby chickens to the river to eat fresh insects after lunch, but before that, he had something to do.

Before he had lunch, Song Yao ran to the village party secretary's house again.

The village party secretary had just sent He Junwen away and hadn't even had time to catch his breath when he saw a small figure rushing into his house and heading straight for the clock on the table. He was so scared that his heart almost jumped out of his chest.

"Little boy! What are you doing? This watch is expensive, more than ten yuan! Don't touch it!"

This thing is his father's favorite, and he usually takes a detour to get it.

Song Yao looked up at the heavy clock on the table: "I didn't think about anything, I just want to know why it can tell time."

It turned out that he was just curious, the village party secretary breathed a sigh of relief, but it was too early to relax.

The child continued: "Uncle, can I take it apart to see what's inside?"

Village party secretary: "..."

In the end, Song Yao was taken back to the Song family.

Before leaving, the village party secretary said to him: "I know you want to see the watch because you are late. Don't worry, your teacher He went to the town to buy a gong. From now on, she will beat the gong every morning at 8:50. Ten minutes is enough for you to run from home to school."

Song Yao was curious: "Then how does Teacher He know when it is 8:50?"

Village party secretary: "Teacher He has a watch."

Song Yao's eyes lit up, a watch! !

The village party secretary immediately looked at him with vigilance: "What do you want to do? I tell you, my son, the watch is more expensive than our clock, so don't even think about dismantling it."

Song Yao was not ignorant. He knew what he said was true, so he could only nod regretfully, but he was still very upset. He was really curious about the structure inside.

After the village party secretary left, Grandma Song also talked to him and made sure that he would not dismantle other people's clocks. Only then did the family sit down to eat with peace of mind.

After dinner, Song Yao took his five baby chickens to the river.

The town was not far away, just at the foot of the mountain. When He Junwen came back with the gong and the gong hammer, he could just see the child sitting on the stone with his back to her, watching the chickens looking for food.

It seemed that he was still talking to them in a low voice.

She couldn't help but smile, thinking that Song Yao liked small animals more than she thought.

Can even chickens be regarded as friends?

She walked forward with a smile, and just as she was about to say hello to Song Yao, she heard him muttering:

"Eat more, eat more, all the bugs here are for you to eat, eat well, grow fatter."

He Junwen's smile became softer, the child was so cute.

Then she heard Song Yao continue to say:

"Come on, come on, these are all for you to eat, when you are fat, you can become stewed chicken, roasted chicken, steamed chicken."