When the two arrived at the village, it was already noon. They were greeted by an old man with gray hair, with a weathered face, but his eyes were bright, and he looked very energetic.

According to Hua Ruo, he is the teacher of this mountain village primary school, and the only teacher in this school, Teacher Tan. Mr. Tan is in his early 60s this year, and he came here with his wife 40 years ago, and this stay is 40 years.

A person can have 40 years, and Mr. Tan and his lover have left the best time of their lives here and dedicated them here. After forty years of obscurity, if it weren't for Hua Ruo and them coming here, I'm afraid no one would have known that there were people like Mr. Tan in such a place, who persistently persevered.

"Xiao Ruo, you still came. Seeing Hua Ruo get out of the car, Teacher Tan hurriedly greeted him, and his words were full of love.

"Of course I want to come, Tan Lao, to see the children, and also to see you. Are you in good health this year?" Hua Ruo hurriedly ran over as soon as he got out of the car, and then grabbed Mr. Tan's hand tightly, what kind of hands were they, their hands were covered with calluses, like branches.

"It's all good! It's all good! Hey, it's this year...... The school collapsed, and the students were on vacation. I have already given feedback to the village, and the village has also reported this matter to the township. It's almost the end of the year, and the township is financially tight, and the school will not be renovated until the end of the year. Behind Teacher Tan is a row of simple school buildings and a few old tiled houses.

"Is this her boyfriend?" Seeing Bai Yi, Teacher Tan showed a curious look.

"Tan Lao, this is my friend Bai Yi, Yan Li and Ju An can't come this year, so I asked him to come with me. Tan Lao, I'll take down the things I brought for the children first. Hua Ruo didn't want to say more on this issue, and hurriedly urged Bai Yi to move the things off the car.

At noon, lunch was simple. Mr. Tan made a bowl of handmade noodles, and in the coarse porcelain bowl, the white noodles were particularly conspicuous, and each person also laid an egg in the bowl.

"There's nothing good in the country, I remember the last time you came and said that the hand-rolled noodles I made were delicious. Today I made more, you can let go of eating. When Teacher Tan looked at Hua Ruo, his eyes were full of love, as if he was looking at his own child.

"Eat more, young man. Hua Ruo is a good girl. You can come, and the children will be happy if they find out. The old man seems to regard Bai Yi as Hua Ruo's boyfriend. Love the house and Wu, he is also very polite to Bai Yi.

"It's still early before the holidays, and the school building won't be repaired before the year?"

"If you want to repair it, it is estimated that it will cost tens of thousands of yuan. There is no money in the township for the time being, so I can only wait until the new year to see, when there is money and when to repair, the village chief told me that once there is money in the township, I must allocate funds to the school as soon as possible. Now there are no school buildings, children can no longer go to school, and the north wind blows badly in winter, and it is colder in the countryside than in the city. So it's time for the kids to take a holiday. Classes have been suspended for more than a month now. When the old man talked about this, he was a little helpless and a little frustrated.

"Not even tens of thousands of dollars. It's not that no matter how hard you are, you can't be bitter about your children, and no matter how poor you are, you can't be poor in education. Teacher Tan glanced at Bai Yi and did not answer immediately.

"That's the truth. Teacher Tan's eyes flashed with helplessness. Some things can only be experienced by experiencing them. If he hadn't come here, Bai Yi would never have thought that he would encounter such a thing.

"After the old Tan school building is repaired, will the children be able to come back to class?" For these children from poor families, the only way to change their fate is to study, if even this road is blocked, then many people can only live under the eyes of others forever.

"The young people in the village have gone out to work, and now the rest are the old people and children. Although they don't have to pay tuition fees to go to school now, some school supplies are still a big burden for them. It costs money to go to school, and it is not always possible to get into college, and many families are not very positive about their children's schooling. Tan Lao seemed to be talking to himself, but from his face, he could see the old man's distress for this phenomenon.

Reading is a long-term investment for ordinary people, and the probability of success is not high, not because they are short-sighted, but because the reality is so. Maslow's needs mentioned that the first human need is survival. Reading is a protracted battle, and his purpose is simply to add a definite word in front of the word survival - a dignified existence.

Listening to Tan Lao's emotion, Bai Yi felt deeply in his heart for a while. Although he has a lot of money now, he is still emotionally not out of the 'thinking of the poor'

"How's that going to work? They are still so young, what can they do without studying. "Hua Ruo is very anxious, she has been taught since she was a child that she must study hard, so in her opinion, not reading is against social morality and is wrong.

"There are quite a few. ”

"I do their job. You don't have to worry about the old Tan school building, he's here to help. Hua Ruo was a little excited, and stretched out his hand to point at Bai Yi.

"Elder Tan, leave the school building to me. The student's business will be left to you and Hua Ruo. We went our separate ways. "The children of poor families don't study, they have too many things to do, they are born for the land. There are billions of acres of arable land in China, and they all go to study, who will farm the land, and what will everyone eat if they don't farm. Bai Yi could only muttered in his heart, if he said it, Hua Ruo's white eyes could shake him to death.

Teacher Tan looked at Bai Yi's gaze with a kind of scrutiny for the first time, at first he only regarded the boy in front of him as Hua Ruo's boyfriend, and accompanied her to teach the child class. Repairing a school building is not something that can be done with just a good intention. For the sake of the collapsed house, he ran to it a lot, but every time he didn't return to avail. The boy in front of him looked ordinary, and he could have any special ideas.

"This-young man, you-" Old Tan didn't know what to say, just looked at Bai Yi quietly, he actually hoped in his heart that the young man in front of him could really bring surprises.

"Old Tan, let's go to those students' houses quickly, and leave it to Bai Yi here. I brought a lot of things for the kids, I want to see Xiaohong and Xiaobao......"

Watching the old and the young slowly walk away, Bai Yi was distracted for a moment, and then turned his head to look at the collapsed school building. The walls that still stood were mottled. Like a terminally ill old man.

"Let's go to town first. Looking at the ruins, Bai Yi seemed helpless.