I feel so good after dressing up as a peasant girl

Chapter 295: Preparing for the Construction of a Village School 2

Peaceful years do not mean absolute peace, as vicious events can happen at any time and any place. Coupled with sudden disasters such as floods and epidemics that are beyond human control, it is really not easy for ordinary people to survive.

He casually cited a few examples, and Bai Lizheng's sense of crisis was immediately aroused by him. The old man nodded, praised Bai Jingzhou for his thoughtful consideration, and said that he would definitely help him explain the reasoning to those in the village who had objections.

Bai Jingzhou thanked Bai Lizheng and talked to him about the construction of the school. He wanted to build the school next to the workshop so that it would be easier for them to manage. The children after school could also go home with their parents after work, thus reducing the safety risks as much as possible.

Bai Lizheng disagreed with this. He said, "It's better to put the school in the middle of the village. Your place is already at the end of the village. If a bad guy or a wild animal sneaks into the village, the villagers won't be able to find them."

There are old ladies and young wives who stay at home to do housework and take care of children, as well as some children running around the village. It is very difficult for outsiders to enter the village without being noticed by them.

Moreover, Bai Lizheng couldn't let Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan, two half-grown children, do all the work for such a great thing. He felt guilty about it.

The old man found several village elders from Baijia Village and proposed to convert the abandoned house next to the Baijia Ancestral Hall into a school.

It was originally the residence of a member of the Bai clan, but later their branch died out - the son of the family died in a turmoil, and the daughter followed her husband to another place to live with relatives after she got married, and there has been no news since then. The funeral of the old couple was handled by Bai Lizheng with the help of the clan members.

Since then, the house has remained empty and is managed by Bai Lizheng, who is the closest relative to their family.

Now that Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan are planning to build a school, Bai Lizheng immediately thought of that house.

The old couple had no descendants, and according to the closeness of blood relationship, their house should have been inherited by Bai Lizheng, but Bai Lizheng didn't need it, and he didn't want his clansmen to talk behind his back for such a small profit, so he never moved the house.

Now, he can finally use that nicely located residential land.

The village elders all understood that Bai Lizheng valued his reputation, so after hearing what he said, they all nodded, indicating that Bai Lizheng could make the decision on this matter himself.

Anyway, the house belongs to Bai Lizheng, and it is up to him whether he wants it or not, so they should not express their opinions.

Bai Lizheng then decided on the location of the school, and then he asked Bai Jingzhou, "When do you plan to build the house? I'll ask all the tribesmen to come and help."

Bai Jingzhou thought for a moment, "The sooner the better, build it before the freezing weather starts, so that the children can start studying with the teacher right after the New Year."

Bai Lizheng raised an eyebrow, "Sir, have you found it?"

Bai Jingzhou shook his head, "Not yet. Once the house construction starts, I will look for a suitable candidate for the scholar."

Bai Jingzhou was always well-informed. Although he was always busy and did not deliberately contact the circle of scholars in the county, he already had his own list of scholars in the county who came from poor families but had good character and knowledge.

When the house starts to be built, Bai Jingzhou plans to first investigate according to the list, and then find a truly suitable candidate to meet and negotiate.

Bai Lizheng and the others stopped worrying about this matter after hearing what he said. Although Bai Jingzhou is young, he has always been thoughtful and reliable, so Bai Lizheng and the others are very confident in his ability to do things.

After agreeing that Bai Lizheng would follow up on the construction of the school, Bai Jingzhou took out two silver ingots of two taels from the purse hanging on his waist and handed them to Bai Lizheng, "I will ask Jingshan to send the design drawings and more silver money later. We not only need to build classrooms for the school, but also prepare two or three separate small courtyards for the teachers to stay temporarily."

Bai Lizheng nodded to show that he understood, and then asked, "It would be enough for us to hire a gentleman, right? There are many empty houses in the village now, can't we just pick a good one for the gentleman? Is it necessary to build two or three separate small courtyards?"

Bai Jingzhou explained, "Now there are few people in the village, so it's easy to find empty houses, but it may not be the case in the future. The same goes for school-age children. When everyone's life gets better in the future, there will definitely be more and more people willing to send their children to school. How can one teacher be enough?"

After the war, people's lives will get better and better, and they will naturally have more children. It's impossible for their newly built school to be out of stock after only five or six years, and then they have to rebuild another one, which would be a waste of time and money.

Bai Lizheng thought about it and it made sense, so he nodded to show that he understood.

Bai Jingzhou added: "You should ask the craftsmen to build a fire wall or floor heating in each room used for teaching and living, otherwise the teacher and the children will have a hard time in winter."

Bai Lizheng was shocked. "That will cost a lot of money. Why not just forget it? It will be too conspicuous."

This is just a village school, Bai Lizheng thought it was fine.

Bai Jingzhou: "...Then build two classrooms with big kangs, so that when winter comes, teachers and children can have a warm place to teach and study."

Bai Lizheng thought about it for a while and agreed. It was easy for them to build a kang.

Bai Jingzhou added, "You can ask the craftsmen to build two kangs for the small courtyard where the master lives."

Bai Lizheng nodded in agreement, saying that there was nothing wrong with the sir living in a better place.

Bai Jingzhou stood up and said, "As for the rest, you can handle it yourself. If you are really undecided, come to me and we can discuss it together."

Bai Lizheng nodded, "Okay."

He had already decided to hand this job over to his nephew Bai Rong to follow up the whole process and let Bai Rong handle all the trivial matters. He, as an old man, would only be responsible for making decisions and discussing with Bai Jingzhou and the village elders.

Bai Jingzhou said goodbye to everyone, and then quickly sent Bai Jingshan to deliver the design drawings of the school and some of the silver and money needed to build the school.

"Brother Jingzhou said that if the money is not enough, you can send someone to tell him in advance, and he will send you some more."

Bai Lizheng kept saying "Enough, enough", "Go back and tell your brother Jingzhou that this money is more than enough."

He is not the kind of greedy person who would go around squandering money. He will not spend the money recklessly just because it is not from him. Bai Jingzhou and Gu Wenxuan believe in him, so of course he has to live up to their trust and strive to make every penny count.

After entrusting the task of building the school to Bai Lizheng, Bai Jingzhou went to investigate the scholars on his list who came from poor families but had good character and knowledge.