Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

Upon hearing this, Father immediately made a decision, his expression decisive and efficient, outlining the overall arrangements: "Now that the pros and cons have been clearly understood, there's no time to lose. Yanbang, pick a good day nearby to start classes. Let the children at the breeding base help spread the word about the school so that the villagers can know in advance. Today, we'll set up our old classroom. We've accumulated quite a bit of timber over the past two years, enough to build desks and benches and tidy up the school grounds, without needing to spend extra money on additional materials."

Before they could finish speaking, a slight noise came from the doorway, and several figures appeared and disappeared. A few teenagers from the breeding base were peeking through the doorframe, intending to call Xingbao and Guixiang to go inspect the rice fields. Seeing the family discussing matters inside, they obediently stopped, not daring to disturb them. Xingbao, seeing this, seized the opportunity to stand up and ease the tension in the main room, turning to his older brother and asking, "Big brother, we're going to inspect the rice fields today, do you want to come along?"

"Alright, let's go together then." The eldest brother stood up and turned to his father, speaking solemnly, "Father, I'd like to set the start date for the classes on the second day of the second lunar month, the day of the Dragon Raising its Head. This auspicious day symbolizes new beginnings and good fortune, making it the perfect time to open a school and enlighten the students."

Upon hearing this, Father nodded slightly in agreement: "The date is an auspicious day, but the interval is too short and time is a bit tight. We must hurry up and prepare so as not to delay the start of classes." The eldest brother agreed and went out with Xingbao and Guixiang to greet the group of base children who were on duty that day. The group walked together to the fields, slowly inspecting the newly planted sweet potato seeds and carefully checking the preparations for the rice paddies. During their walk and conversation, Xingbao took the opportunity to inform everyone of the school arrangements finalized at home, clarifying that the new-style school would officially open on the second day of the second lunar month, the day of the Dragon Raising its Head, with tuition fees the same as the neighboring village's school, one stone of grain per term.

Today, the village is becoming increasingly prosperous. The Xiangqian Road, which runs through the village, is bustling with traffic and people, revitalizing the livelihoods of the entire village. Sweet potatoes and potatoes grown by every household no longer need to be stockpiled and unsold; they can all be taken to the consignment shop for sale. Merchants and passersby can easily purchase them, ensuring a stable market. Even residents in remote mountain areas regularly bring their goods down the mountain to store and sell their grains, a worry-free and reliable practice.

With more and more ways to make a living in the village, the lives of every household are visibly improving. More than ten new households have started raising pigs, and the villagers have long since escaped the poverty and hardship of the past when they lacked food and money and could not afford to raise livestock. However, as life improves, new difficulties arise: the number of pig farmers in the village has surged, and pig production has increased, but there are not many people in the surrounding area who can afford to eat meat. This has created a situation of supply exceeding demand, and many families have fattened their pigs but are unable to find a market for them or sell them.

Because of the limited number of pork slaughter quotas and the scarcity of purchasing channels, villagers secretly compete and use various means to fight for the few resources available, resulting in constant friction and disputes between neighbors and a lot of trivial conflicts.

With the influx of people and smooth trade routes, the village's commerce is booming. Last year alone, two new shops opened in the village, one at the end of the village and the other on a main road in the middle, both in excellent street-facing locations. Moreover, both new shops are newly built houses, spacious and imposing, and in terms of both scale and appearance, they are more advantageous than the old bamboo house shop of the Song family.

Watching the bustling scene of the village's rapid development and increasing income for every household, Xingbao felt a pang of sadness, while the Song family found themselves in a dilemma. Their bamboo house facing the street was originally a temporary structure built years ago as a temporary measure. The bamboo hadn't undergone proper processing, and years of exposure to sun and rain had caused many structural elements to age and loosen, urgently requiring repair and replacement. Furthermore, its small size and simple design made it look neither grand nor tidy, far inferior to the newly opened, impressive shops in the village. His father had long harbored the idea of ​​renovation and reconstruction, and over the past two years had accumulated a large quantity of timber and mud bricks specifically for rebuilding the bamboo house.

However, the family hesitated to begin demolition and reconstruction due to numerous concerns. This Xiangqian Road, running through the village, was a vital lifeline in those chaotic times, bearing the heavy responsibility of transporting weapons, medicine, and food, as well as facilitating the movement of people. Troops and merchants constantly passed through. Traveling merchants often habitually stopped at Song's shop for meals and rest. This was because Song's food was authentic, made with high-quality ingredients, and reasonably priced; its reputation, built over many years, was deeply ingrained in the hearts of the people—a core advantage that other new shops couldn't match. If they rashly demolished and rebuilt, closing the street-facing storefront, they would not only completely cut off revenue but also lose a large number of long-time customers. By the time the new building was completed and reopened, the accumulated popularity and customer base would have long since dissipated, and the hard-earned reputation would be wasted. After weighing the pros and cons, the reconstruction of the shop remained unresolved, and they dared not easily begin construction.

In the following days, the whole family pitched in to prepare for the school. My eldest brother and father moved all the wood that had been piled up in the unused classroom, cutting, sanding, nailing, and shaping it into neat benches. They also carefully smoothed the uneven floor and cleaned the makeshift school grounds spotless. My eldest uncle, upon hearing the news, would bring my brother Dashan whenever he had a spare moment to help, assisting with tidying the space and acquiring supplies. My mother was in charge of student recruitment, and with everyone's tasks clearly defined, the preparations for the start of the school proceeded smoothly and methodically.

Amidst the busy preparations, Wei Bao's birthday arrived in the blink of an eye. In these turbulent times, life was already difficult, and the family didn't hold a grand celebration. They simply boiled a few red eggs as a simple way to mark the occasion. However, Wei Bao was still overjoyed. Seeing that his older siblings each received only one red egg, while he alone got two, he was incredibly proud. Clutching his bright red eggs, he ran repeatedly to Xing Bao and Gui Xiang, waving them around, his face beaming with excitement as he showed them off. The child's innocent joy added a lot of fun to the busy and mundane days.

Everything was going exceptionally smoothly, except for the student recruitment, which my mother was in charge of. By the first day of the second lunar month, just one day before classes started, only nine students had been recruited. It wasn't that the village children didn't want to study; there were other reasons. Most of the children in the village had spent time at the breeding base, so they knew some common characters, could write their own names, and could do basic arithmetic. In the eyes of most farming parents, rural children were ultimately meant to farm; this level of education was enough to make a living, and there was no need for them to study for many more years.

Furthermore, with grain prices soaring, a bushel of grain has risen to twenty or thirty silver dollars, significantly increasing tuition costs. It's simply unbearable to spend a bushel of grain every year to support a child's long-term education. In addition, most of the younger children have already been sent by their parents to preschools in neighboring villages, where they only teach basic literacy and introductory education. The schooling period is shorter, the expenses are relatively less, and it better suits the villagers' current thinking.

All nine students recruited this time were children from the breeding base. They had all taken the eldest brother's classes before, and all came from families with close ties to the Song family and were relatively well-off. Many parents did promise to send their children to the Song family's modern school next year, but human nature is unpredictable; no one could be sure whether these words were sincere or just polite formalities.