Lonely Volunteer Zhang Baotong 2018.8.20

As if sending her to college, her father carried a large luggage roll and a travel bag to Shuiling Primary School on the isolated island of Dongting. The Agency's car took them to the Yingtian ferry port on the shore of Dongting Lake, where they rented a motorized boat for 20 yuan, which drove for about 20 minutes in the wide lake to the isolated island of Dongting called Yongning Island.

This small island is more than ten square kilometers and is surrounded by turquoise waters, and there are four or five small islands of various sizes around it. And this island is the largest of these islands. From the island, you can see the nearest Fangyuan Island and Changsheng Island, which are to the east and south of it, respectively, and take about ten minutes by motorized boat. Huangsha Island and Guardian Island, which are far away from it, are to the north of it, and Guardian Island is the farthest away from here, and it takes more than twenty or thirty minutes to travel by motor boat alone.

Although the island is still a little hot after the beginning of autumn, the cold wind blows in bursts, which makes me feel very cool. The edge of the island is surrounded by patches of yellowed reeds. There was a rustling sound in the autumn wind. On the island, the grass is green, the jungle is patchy, and the squeaky sound is one. In the middle of the island there is a large tea plantation. I heard that the quality of the tea is very good, and the price is very expensive. The island runs north-south, with a maximum width of about three to five kilometers and a minimum of twelve or thirteen kilometers at the longest point. I heard that there are thirty or fifty families living on the island, mainly raising fish and growing tea for a living. The school was built on a dirt slope near the south.

Zhong Xiaoxian has been here with his classmates, and he is not very unfamiliar with this place. The school was originally a youth spot, with a row of ten adobe houses. However, because the house was built in the early 70s, it has been dilapidated after decades of wind and rain. There was a flat area in front of the house, which was considered a playground, with a tattered cement table tennis table and a low, ugly basketball hoop. There is an open-air public toilet next to the playground. Further down are vegetable fields and crop fields, where some vegetables and crops are grown. Because of the elevated terrain, you can see most of the island from here.

After walking for about ten minutes on the island, the two finally came to the school. After a summer vacation, the school seemed to be abandoned, and the front and back of the house were covered with half-human-high wild grass, as if no one had visited it for many years. Zhong Xiaoxian used the key to open the room where Principal Huang and Aunt Yang lived, put the trolley box on the ground, and sat on the bed all of a sudden, panting.

However, they had left the Agency's compound at 7 a.m. and had arrived here at 11 a.m., and they were somewhat tired from the long journey. The two rested for a while and began to clean up and tidy up the house. They rolled up the bedding of Principal Huang and Aunt Yang, wrapped it in plastic sheeting, and placed it on a cabinet in the corner, and then opened the bedding they brought and spread it on the bed. Then the father took the basin and went to the pumping place, pumped the water with the pump handle, and then carried it to the room and began to scrub the contents of the house.

After tidying up the room, they were a little hungry, so they opened the kitchen and wanted to cook something to eat. However, when I entered the kitchen, I saw that the iron pots were rusty, the potatoes had sprouted, and a thick layer of dust had fallen on the stove. Seeing this, how can I still feel like eating. So, they cleaned the entire stove and utensils.

My father also helped clean the classroom. But Zhong Xiaoxian said to his father, "You don't have to worry about the classroom, I'll let the students clean it in two days." Father stopped. The two of them were busy for a while, and they were also tired and hungry, so they went back to the room, took out some bread and mineral water from the plastic bag, and ate them. After eating, the two rested for a while, and then wanted to go out to look around and get acquainted.

At this time, it was already four o'clock in the afternoon, and the afternoon sun was shining golden all over the island. The father began to walk along the path with his daughter towards the place where there were people. They walked to the edge of a tea plantation, saw two or three houses, and walked over. They saw a boy about 10 years old and a boy about 6 years old, shirtless and wearing only shorts, walking by the lake.

Zhong Xiaoxian asked the boy, "What's your name?"

The boy looked at her with strange eyes and said, "My name is Rogarin." ”

Zhong Xiaoxian asked again, "What grade are you in?"

The boy said, "I'm in fourth grade. ”

Zhong Xiaoxian said to the boy, "I am your new teacher, surnamed Zhong, you can call me Teacher Zhong." ”

The boy looked at her with a puzzled look and asked, "Our teacher is Teacher Huang." ”

Zhong Xiaoxian said, "Mr. Huang is sick and can't come for a long time, so I'll be a teacher for him." ”

At this time, the boy shouted into the house, "Mom, the new teacher is here." ”

A middle-aged woman came out of the house and greeted them warmly, saying, "New teacher, come in and sit down." ”

Zhong Xiaoxian pointed to his father and said to the middle-aged woman, "This is my father, who specially sent me here." ”

The middle-aged woman looked at Father Zhong and said, "I know you, you are the head of the Agency who came to deliver desks and chairs to the school on Teacher's Day last year. ”

Father Zhong immediately nodded and said, "Yes, I came here last year. ”

The middle-aged woman made peanut and bean tea for their father and daughter, saying, "I'll eat here at night." ”

Zhong Xiaoxian said, "Don't bother you. ”

But the middle-aged woman said, "It's not troublesome, just eat here." ”

Father Zhong asked the woman, "Where does your village chief live?"

The woman said, "He's on the island of eternal life opposite." Do you have something to look for him?"

Father Zhong said, "Yes. The middle-aged woman picked up her mobile phone and started calling the village chief. The mobile phone was connected, and the woman gave the phone to Father Zhong.

The village chief said, "Hello, Director Zhong, I didn't know you were coming, but if I knew you were coming, I would sail a boat to pick you up." ”

Father Zhong said, "Village Chief Liu, Principal Huang is sick, he can't come, my daughter is here to help him substitute for the class." However, she is a girl, she has just graduated from college, and I am not worried about anything else when she comes here, but I am afraid that she will live alone in the school at night, which is not very safe, and see if you can think of a way to send a female comrade over and live with her. ”

The village chief immediately said, "Director Zhong, I'll go over right away, let's meet and talk slowly." ”

But after more than ten minutes, a middle-aged man came over. He clasped Father Zhong's hand and said, "Thank you for your assistance and support to us. Then he said, "I will go to my daughter for a few days, and when my daughter starts school, I will send another person." ”

Father Zhong asked, "How old is your daughter?"

The village chief said, "I'm fifteen or sixteen years old, and I'm in my first year of high school. ”

Father Zhong said, "Now that the salaries of teachers in the countryside have improved, why can't the school find teachers?"

The village chief sighed deeply and said, "Now the children in the city are only children, and they are afraid of hardship. The county recruited a few college graduates, but when they came to the island, they saw that it was far away from the city, lonely, and could not access the Internet, so they left immediately. However, we locals have almost no college graduates. Although there are a few high school students, they all go out to work, because the state will not give them regularization. ”

In the evening, Rogarin's father also returned from the fishing grounds. Everyone gathered around a small wooden table, eating the famous local pickled fish and braised fish, drinking wine, and chatting until dark. When parting, Father Zhong said to the village chief, "Tonight, I will accompany my daughter, and you will call her tomorrow." The village chief said, "No problem, don't worry." ”

On the way back to school, Zhong Xiaoxian said to his father in a very grateful tone, "Dad, you are really thoughtful, I really want to thank you." "Because she had someone with her at night, she was less afraid.

The father said, "Who called you my daughter? If your mother and I don't worry about you, who can we worry about?" ”