The mountainous area of Red Rock Bay, in addition to the extreme traffic congestion, is really a paradise with excellent scenery.

In the fifties and sixties, when the Huai River was controlled, a reservoir dam was built at the location of the southeast mountain pass, forming a high gorge and Pinghu Lake that stretched for dozens of kilometers, and Hongshiwan Primary School was located at the end of this reservoir area.

The red stone mountain behind the elementary school is overgrown with pine trees and bamboo, as well as patches of wild tea.

Behind the mountain is a wide canyon with maroon pebbles of all sizes. From the top of the mountain, it looks like a nine-winding ribbon, swaying between the green water and green mountains.

Decades later, the local government attracted investment and developed tourism, and this reservoir area and canyon are now a 5A-level scenic spot of civilization near and far.

However, in the 80s of the last century, it was a daunting place of poverty.

The nearest county road to Redstone Bay is more than 50 miles away, and it is all rugged mountain roads that can't even be walked by a rack car.

Some old people have been nested in this mountain all their lives, and adults and children look a little coaxing.

Most of the more than 100 farming families in the brigade's area live in ravines on both sides of the canyon.

Therefore, the teachers of Red Rock Bay Elementary School usually visit their homes and walk all the way along the Grand Canyon.

Lao Zhang walked on the mountain road in the forest with a shotgun, looking up at the eagles hovering in the sky from time to time.

Experienced hunters know that the direction in which the harrier swoops is often infested with game.

It had only been more than half an hour since he went out, and with a crisp gunshot, Lao Zhang had already captured, carrying a bloody pheasant, and ran down the slope in a hurry.

In the early spring, there was not much flowing water in the canyon, and Lao Wu and the car accompanied the principal Wang Yuanchu along the pebble-strewn riverbed.

While introducing the scenery and products along the way, the place names of ancient villages, and the celebrities of the past generations who have walked out of this mountain.

There is little flat land in the mountains, and it is difficult to find contiguous villages.

From time to time, they broke into the ravines full of bamboos from the gorges and went into the homes of poor mountain people, urging the school-age children who had dropped out of school to return to school as soon as possible.

Wang Yuanchu also promised parents that the children who can't pay the tuition fees can be owed first, and they can be repaid with mountain goods, timber, and even labor services in the future.

Can't let the babies lose the opportunity to study because of tuition fees or poverty, and delay their lifelong future.

In addition to home visits, Principal Wang Yuanchu also volunteered as a policy explainer to publicize the country's rural policies to the mountain people and explain the importance of literacy.

When he met the old people in the village, he would ask these old men who smoked dry tobacco to smoke his "Double Cat" brand cigarettes.

The old principal Wang Yuanchu was sincere and humble, and his words were reasonable.

After a home visit to the whole school district, not only the children who had just dropped out of school, but also some boys and girls who stopped studying two years ago were moved and promised to return to the school as transfer students.

"Principal Wang, you're about to become a mountain collector! Do you really promise the parents of those babies to use mountain goods to pay for school tuition?"

On the way back, Mr. Xiao Che sincerely admired the old principal's persuasive ability.

The parents of these dropouts used to be insensitive to their home visits.

Anyway, it's just a sentence, children don't study anymore, they can't eat when they read, and their families can't afford to pay two or three yuan per semester for tuition, miscellaneous fees, and books.

"Old principal, the tuition fees of these dozen or so children are not a small amount, and they are worth a month's salary! Ugly words are said before, the most important thing in our mountains is wood and stone! Teacher Zhang and I have a palm-sized mountain, and we don't need hired workers! You promise parents about mountain goods and labor services to pay for tuition, Lao Zhang and the three of us can't help you!"

Lao Wu stretched out his hand and pulled Wang Yuanchu back to the shore by the river valley, while worrying.

"Don't worry, hehe, as long as the three of you cooperate. I think the school urgently needs to build a few school buildings, and what is lacking is wood, stone and labor. In the future, after the house is built, I will apply for funds from the District Education Commission, and if I can't apply, I will pay out of my own pocket. The appearance of our school is really going to be changed, the home of the readers, the place where the children are enlightened and educated, is not like a pigsty. ”

After walking for most of the day in one breath and saying so many words bitterly, Mr. Wang Yuanchu was already tired and deflated, sat on the grass on the shore, lit a cigarette and smoked a few puffs.

"With your old principal's words, we will have motivation! Hahaha! We will all listen to you!"

Teacher Zhang laughed happily when he heard Wang Yuanchu's plan, today's home visit had good results, he hunted three pheasants and a pig badger all the way, and the whole prey bag was full.

"Principal, when you build the school building, you must leave me a dormitory, and I will also live in the school and be your companion!

Teacher Che's eyes are full of longing, and the future of Hongshiwan Primary School is not her future.

"There is a dormitory for each teacher, a large office for common use, and a cafeteria. There should be a basketball hoop, uneven bars, and a sand pit for long jump on the playground. Desks and chairs will be replaced with wood, and in the future we will have a reading room with at least a few hundred books. These are the most basic hardware facilities of a primary school!"

Wang Yuanchu used his right hand holding the cigarette roll to pull the finger of his left finger, and calculated the detailed accounts of the primary school for the car teacher one by one.

There are too many shortcomings that Redstone Bay Elementary School needs to slowly make up for in the future.

"Comrade Principal was born as a teacher before liberation, and we can't compare with the concept of running a school! But I am more concerned about when the country will be able to turn private teachers into regular teachers and get the same salary as your public teachers!"

Lao Wu is still a little unconvinced, Principal Wang Yuanchu, why does he have a monthly salary of seven yuan, and this old swineherd will get a salary of fifty yuan as soon as he resumes work.

"Hehe, take your time. Didn't Comrade Lenin say that there will be bread, there will be milk, there will be everything!"

Wang Yuanchu got up from the grass, patted the old man on the shoulder, comforted him, and suddenly remembered this line in the movie "Lenin in 1918".

The next day of class, there were more than a dozen students, all of whom had dropped out of school a year or two ago.

In the early days of reform and opening up, people in the mountains did not have the concept of going out to work, and unlike the hills and plains outside the mountains, there were too many farm workers who needed manpower.

There are two main reasons why they drop out of school, they can't afford to pay for their books, or their homes are too far away from school.

Every day, it is difficult for the little babies to persevere, regardless of the wind and rain, the four seasons, cold and summer.

Therefore, after listening to President Wang Yuanchu's promise, he could use wood, stone, and mountain goods to compensate for the tuition fee. A canteen is also being built, and lunch can be served at the school. These half-grown babies who have been basking in the sun and catching lice at home all winter have all returned to school.

At that time, it was still common for fifteen- and sixteen-year-old young people to study in the fourth and fifth grades in rural primary schools.

Therefore, it is normal for these babies to go back and repeat their studies and transfer to classes in the first and second grades.

No one will find it obtrusive, and no student will laugh at them.

The students have returned, and the contradiction of insufficient school buildings has become more and more prominent.

There are two classrooms in total, one for grades 1, 2 and 3, and one for grades 4 and 5.

There are not enough desks, and the benches that more than 50 children sit on are also carried from their own homes.

Sitting side by side with different heights, the crowded beehive is like a hive, and there is no space to even take notes and write homework.

"Three colleagues, the children are not learning culture in this class, they are living and suffering! The spring is lukewarm, have you ever tried to teach in the open air on the playground? The school building can't make do anymore, we have to find a way!"

Ten minutes after class, Wang Yuanchu met Lao Zhang and them in the corridor and said worriedly.

"Outdoor classes, those babies' minds haven't run to the sky!"

Teacher Wu and Wang Yuanchu lit cigarettes through the fire and expressed their concerns.

"No! In those days, when Confucius preached and taught, it was the loess that was the altar and the ancient trees as the cover! When the devil ran away, I was in middle school, and the gentleman of the school took us to hide in Tibet, and the class was also where we went! In the fields, in the mountains, at the entrance of deserted villages, in canyons and caves, we could all do classes!"

"That's a good idea, old headmaster! Why don't we try it?"

Today is Teacher Zhang's duty, he appreciates Wang Yuanchu's proposal very much, knocking on the iron ploughshare of the class signal, while turning back and shouting loudly.

None of the current faculty members at Redstone Bay Elementary School wear watches or alarm clocks.

The time between each class and the end of the class depends on the self-perception of the teacher on duty.

Wang Yuanchu thinks that this is his dereliction of duty, and next time he must ask Chengzi's father to buy an alarm clock and send it over.

"Principal Wang, Teacher Wu, the open-air class will start from the next class, right? I'll arrange it!"

Teacher Xiao Che is very executive and happily suggested.

"Yes, look at how warm the sun is, let the children come out!

Wang Yuanchu laughed heartily, as if he saw the shadow of his youth again.

The principal spoke, and the two classrooms greeted the two classrooms, and more than 50 children were happy to rush out of the classroom with their own wooden stools.

They were automatically divided into five classes and sat down in order of height.

The first grade has the largest number of students, with sixteen children. The fifth grade had the least, with only three students left.

There were only two wooden blackboards in the classroom, and Teacher Che had organized the students to carry them out and place them in front of the playground.

"Everyone, be quiet! Now, please ask Principal Wang to say a few words to us! Everyone applauds and welcomes!"

Teacher Xiaoche seemed to be deliberately testing Wang Yuanchu, and took the lead in applauding without his consent.

"Students, spring is back! Everyone looks up and sees, how beautiful our hometown is! Green waters and green mountains! Blue sky and white clouds! Even the air is sweet! Can you feel it?"

Wang Yuanchu had already had a draft, with a kind smile on his face, pointed to the blue sky with one hand, and asked all the students affectionately.

"Yes!"

The children responded very few, and the few subtle answers were also giving Principal Wang's face, not their true intentions.

"Do you want to get out of the mountains and see what the world is like outside?"

The children's answers were completely unexpected, and he continued to ask everyone.

"Think!", almost without thinking, echoed in unison.

"I see, hehe. Students, our hometown is an old revolutionary base area and a reservoir area in the mountainous area. But it's too poor! It's too bitter! It's too isolated! Therefore, the picturesque Red Rock Bay has no beauty in the eyes of our mountain people, and has become a poor mountain and bad water! I can see that among the students here, some of the children ate a piece of potato in the morning and climbed more than ten miles of mountain roads to come to school. Some of my classmates' cloth shoes were so torn that they couldn't hang up! Some of them had never changed or washed their thin cotton jackets for a winter! Some of them had no stationery and used sharpened charcoal instead of pencils! To tell the truth, I was really touched and distressed! The ancients said that if you are poor, you will be strong, and you will not fall into the ambition of the clouds! The more difficult the environment, the more you will not be able to take care of your studies! Only by studying hard will you be able to go out of the mountains in the future and use knowledge to change your destiny!

The more Mr. Wang spoke, the more excited he became, and he turned around and wrote on the blackboard eight strong chalk scripts of "Out of the Mountains and Embrace the World".