Chapter 49 - 049 Registration
At this moment, Principal Luo was collecting tuition fees in the classroom. Many students came to register with flushed faces and heads hanging low, clearly indicating that they were going to delay paying their tuition fees. Some even owed fees from the previous semester and might not have paid last semester’s tuition fees when the new semester started!
Principal Luo was quite easy-going. Whenever the higher-ups came to urge the collection of tuition fees, he would speak on behalf of these students. Sometimes when the delay was untenable, he would even pay for the particularly impoverished students himself. Over the years, he had lost count of how much tuition fees he had paid for the students. Some students even came back to repay him years after graduating from elementary school, long after he could remember.
The students standing around Principal Luo automatically made way for Tian Sisi and her group. The "Miss Shanghai" of the Tian Family was not only famous in Yuequan Village but also all the students at Luoling Primary School felt a timid admiration towards the beautiful and stylish Tian Sisi, wanting to get close but not daring to get too close.
Tian Sisi smiled and thanked the students who made room for her. Those boys and girls smiled shyly, their expressions filled with a bit of excitement. Tian Sisi took out five yuan from her pocket and specifically mentioned that Jianguo was her cousin, who would be auditing at the school for this semester.
Principal Luo happily accepted the money. To him, having one more or one less student didn’t matter much; he was glad that another person was coming to school. Over the past few years, the number of students had been decreasing, and his home visits to persuade parents had no effect because the farmers were too poor, not only unable to afford tuition fees but some couldn’t even manage to provide a midday meal for their children.
"Tian Zhaodi, which grade is your cousin in?" Principal Luo asked kindly.
"Principal Luo, I’m now called Tian Sisi, ’Sisi’ as in remembering the bitterness and thinking of the sweetness. Please don’t get it wrong next time. My cousin is in the second grade, same as my brother Tian Donghua," Tian Sisi’s crisp voice was very pleasant to hear, like drinking green bean soup cooled in a well on a hot day.
"Alright, I’ll make a note of the name. Shou Jianguo, right? Study hard and make progress every day." Principal Luo took the money and gave Tian Sisi fifty cents change. Many people nearby looked on with envy. Tian Sisi’s family must be very wealthy, able to pay the school fees for three people at once.