Chapter 1399: Xibao Goes to School 7
Principal Xie was very straightforward and immediately transferred Lu Tianmao to the second grade.
"Actually, there’s no need to indulge Xibao in not attending school. When you’re out working, you could completely let Xibao come to school for some nurturing. It’s right for a child to play with other children and develop camaraderie," Principal Xie said, "Students come to school late and leave early, well after you start work and before you finish. Xibao’s studying and attending school really don’t interfere with each other."
The reason for this phenomenon was that nobody took studying seriously. Many children, especially girls, would only come to school after making breakfast and doing housework, and would leave school early to continue household chores or to collect pig feed and forage for vegetables to earn work points. There were also students who brought along siblings between the ages of one and three or four to school.
What could Principal Xie say? Nothing at all.
Nowadays, labor was the most honorable thing, the main goal during the production push. Studying? It was already good enough if classes could resume. In each brigade, including Wanglou Brigade, there were still many girls of age who didn’t come to school or dropped out early.
After hearing Principal Xie’s words, Lu’s father smiled slightly, "We all have this intention. As spring comes, the brigade gets busier, and we can’t bring Xibao along every day. We will definitely send him to school. Xibao is young, and the second graders are all ten or maybe eleven or twelve years old. You have to take good care of Xibao for us, making sure the older kids don’t bully him."
"Don’t worry, I’ll keep both eyes on him." Principal Xie was not unaware that Xibao was the treasure of both the Lu family and the Wanglou Brigade. Many elders privately said that Xibao brought good luck; with Xibao around, everything went smoothly.
Lu’s father didn’t immediately send Xibao to school; they weren’t that busy yet.
As the young lads of the Wanglou Brigade gradually grew up, and the workforce increased, the tasks assigned to these old men by Wang Zhengguo were lighter than before. The main reason was that the situation from above had changed slightly, and they were not as strict as they were at the start. The main tasks for Lu’s father and the four old men in the cattle pen were to feed the cows, horses, mules, and donkeys, and take care of six pigs, clean the livestock pens, and cut grass and dig vegetables.