After unlocking the material space, I raised my younger siblings in a farmhouse.

Chapter 124 Six Rites of Apprenticeship

Lin Wuyou and Lin Cheng are both smart children. The village head's eldest grandson often praises them for their quick learning to read. If they go to school, they will definitely be good students loved by the teacher.

The village head agreed with this and was very optimistic about the two children's studies.

But compared to Lin Wuyou, the village head still values ​​Lin Cheng more. After all, he is a boy. After studying, he can take part in the imperial examination and his future is limitless.

The head of the village had wanted to discuss with Lin Chuyi about sending the children to school, but something else delayed him and he didn't have time to bring it up.

Now that Lin Chuyi took the initiative to ask him what preparations he needed to make to enter the school, he naturally would not hide anything.

With Lin Cheng's intelligence, if he enters a private school and studies hard for a few years, he will have no problem passing the examination to become a student.

If he is trained well, he might be able to pass the imperial examination and become a scholar in the future. Then he would be the first scholar in these villages in decades, and also the first scholar to appear during his tenure. The head of the village was very excited just thinking about it.

The more the head of the village thought about it, the more beautiful it became, and a smile appeared on his face unconsciously.

"Grandfather Li Zheng?"

When Lin Chu saw that Li Zheng had been in a daze after hearing her words, she couldn't help but speak out to call his wandering thoughts back.

"Ah? Oh! I was distracted just now."

Li Zheng's face was a little red, but because his skin was a little dark, it was not very noticeable. After coughing lightly, he sat up straight and began to explain science to Lin Chuyi.

"Six things are usually prepared for this apprenticeship gift, namely celery, lotus seeds, red beans, dates, longan and dried meat."

"Celery represents diligence and love of learning. The bitter core of lotus seeds symbolizes painstaking teaching. Red beans symbolize good luck. Dates symbolize passing high school entrance exams soon. Longans symbolize fulfillment of one's virtues. Dried meat is used to express the disciple's intentions. In short, it is for good luck. As for the quantity, it depends on the situation of each family."

Lin Chuyi was a little confused when she heard this. She could understand the rest, but why did the last item have to be dried meat? It seemed that there was not much dried meat left at home, and it seemed that she had never seen anyone selling dried meat in the town.

Is there any particularity in sending jerky? If so, she would just smuggle some through space.

Lin Chuyi didn't know the details and didn't dare to make any rash decisions for fear of breaking the rules, so he simply went directly to the head of the village to ask for clarification.

"Grandpa Lizheng, does this last item have to be dried meat? Can't fresh meat be used?"

The village head smiled and shook his head when he heard this. "You are really a man who doesn't know the hunger of a hungry man. Do you think everyone is like your family and can eat meat regularly? Many families are not well-off. Generally, they are willing to spend money to buy a few pounds of meat from the pig-raising families in the village during the New Year."

"Meat was cheaper back then, and we couldn't bear to eat it all at once, so we dried it in the sun so it wouldn't spoil easily and we could save it for later consumption."

"For them, dried meat is the best thing they can offer. So when the children go to school after the New Year, the villagers give the teacher dried meat that they have dried at home as a gift to show their respect to the teacher. As more and more people give it, it becomes a tradition."

Lin Chuyi was a little embarrassed, "Thank you for your advice, I was mistaken."

"Ignorance is not a crime. You don't have to feel embarrassed. I'm just telling you the reason why I'm sending you dried meat. This doesn't mean that we can't send you fresh pork. As I said before, it depends on the situation of each family. Just do what you can."

"That teacher is quite easy-going. He doesn't care much about material things and doesn't put on airs. No matter how much or how little gift you give, as long as you pay enough tuition, he will accept you as a student."

"Then how much of these six gifts would normally be given?"

"One or two kilograms will do."

"Okay, I understand." Lin Chu nodded slightly, already having a plan in mind.

"Yes." The head of the village continued the topic that he had not finished just now. "Tuition is collected annually, two taels of silver per person per year. The school has already started for a few months. If you go to school now, you still have to pay the same tuition. It's a bit of a loss."

Lin Chuyi didn't care about this.

"That doesn't matter. They're just sitting around doing nothing at home anyway. They might as well go to school and learn something. It won't be a waste of time."

"That's right. By the way, the school is located in the neighboring Linshui Village. There is a landlord named Du in their village. In order to enable his young generation to study, he paid for the construction of the school. The teacher he hired was also a scholar. Among the several villages nearby, only their village has a school, and all the children are sent there to study."

"It's called the next village, but it's actually about ten miles away. Going back and forth every day would take up a lot of time, so I let my children eat lunch in the school. This way they don't have to run back and forth, and they can have some time to rest."

"But in this case, we have to pay 100 copper coins to the school every month as the children's meal expenses. Do you think you should let them come back to eat, or let them eat in the school?"

Lin Chuyi thought for a moment and asked, "Do other children in the village who are studying come back to eat, or eat in the school?"

The head of the village thought for a moment and said, "As far as I know, they all choose to eat in the school. The teachers in their school have a good reputation and never deduct students' food rations. They even give students extra meals occasionally. Students can eat meat and vegetables at least twice a month. If they really come back to eat, not only will it make the children suffer, but the food might even be worse than in the school."

Lin Chu nodded slightly, "Then let them eat in the school at noon."

The food in the school was already very good for farmers who only ate meat a few times a year, but for her family, it was really not good enough.

Although her family had an ox cart, she didn't plan to get any special treatment. The Jia Zheng family also had an ox cart, and they still let their children eat in school. The food was the same and everyone could eat it. There was no reason why Lin Wuyou and the others couldn't eat it.

Besides, they are transfer students and are different from the students who have been studying together for several months. It is already difficult for them to integrate into the group. If they are treated specially, they will easily be isolated.

This result was not what Lin Chuyi wanted to see. The two children looked much more cheerful now, but the influence of their previous growing environment remained.

If any psychological problems arise as a result, it will be more harm than good.

So Lin Chuyi decided to follow the villagers' choice and let them eat at the school. As for the problem of insufficient nutrition in the food, it was easy to solve. Just make breakfast and dinner more sumptuous.

Aunt Huang is at home, you can talk to her about this.

As the head of the village was chatting with Lin Chuyi, it was time for dinner. The dishes prepared in the kitchen were served one after another, and Wang invited them to take a seat.

Lin Chuyi walked closer and saw that the village headman's family had put a lot of thought into the meal they were having.

Stewed chicken soup, scrambled eggs with leeks, fried bacon with garlic shoots, fried tofu, stir-fried cabbage, braised chicken with potatoes, and finally served with brown rice, a total of five dishes and one soup. With these dishes alone, it would be enough to serve as a New Year's Eve dinner at other villagers' homes.