Back to the 1970s: Building My Fortune Through Time Trading-Chapter 432: Ancestral Graves Emit Auspicious Smoke
The three of them rushed towards the village graveyard and saw thick smoke billowing from a distance.
Oh my goodness, not just her family; the ancestral graves of the entire village were smoking? How impressive could this be?
Did their village produce a real dragon emperor, or did some Taoist priest ascend to immortality?
Just as Su Xiaoxiao was doubting life, she saw two mischievous kids poking around something at the edge of the fire with a tree branch.
Curious, she approached them: "What are you two up to?"
The little boy jumped at the sudden sound and relaxed when he saw it wasn’t an adult from his family.
He enthusiastically invited her, "Sis, want some roasted sweet potatoes?"
Su Xiaoxiao glanced at a certain tomb burning and silently looked away, praying fervently in her heart: Grandfather, it’s really not me using your grave to roast sweet potatoes, please don’t disturb me at night, thanks.
The culprits were quickly caught. It turned out to be a few older children from the village. Seeing there was a lot of wild grass in the graveyard, they lit a fire to roast sweet potatoes and chestnuts.
As the wind blew, the fire became uncontrollable and didn’t stop.
The leading little boy was very aggrieved, "Boohoo, my sweet potatoes are still in there! I want to find my sweet potatoes."
After he spoke, he received a mix of scolding from his parents and was carried away crying for them.
By this time, most of the wild grass on the grave had burned away, and it took little effort to put out the fire.
With the fire extinguished, everyone returned to their homes and mothers.
Su Xiaoxiao had just reached home when she suddenly remembered that she had agreed to teach in the literacy class today, scheduled for 7:30 PM, and she was almost late.
It’s really not her fault; the spectacle of the ancestral graves smoking was just too magnificent, and she got caught up in the excitement. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
She grabbed a cornmeal bun and hurried out, nibbling on it while heading to the brigade.
The literacy class was set up in the brigade’s courtyard, and by now, many people were already there sitting obediently with small stools.
In front of the crowd was a semi-new table, and a small blackboard hung on the wall as a temporary podium.
The teacher hadn’t arrived, a group of older students was gathered together gossiping, chatting animatedly about Zhang Family and Li Family.
Su Xiaoxiao cleared her throat and walked to the front of the crowd: "Hello, folks. From today, I will be your literacy class teacher. I ask for your cooperation and support."
"Isn’t this the Su Family girl? I heard she was always at the bottom of her class when she was in school, and still she’s becoming a teacher?"
"Indeed, I heard her grades were so poor she almost got expelled. It was only with her family pulling strings that she barely graduated."
"She’s not good herself and yet can teach us? Is becoming a teacher so casual now?"
The people below were discussing fervently and obviously didn’t think much of her as a makeshift teacher.
"I know you think I’m not qualified to teach you, and honestly, I don’t want to teach either."
Su Xiaoxiao raised her voice.
The crowd below immediately erupted.
"If you’re not teaching, why waste our time? We might as well go home early and sleep."
"Exactly, working all day is exhausting enough, and now we need to listen to this nonsense. I didn’t want to attend from the beginning."
Su Xiaoxiao smiled politely, "Since no one wants to attend, that’s that. Oh, by the way, Director Zhao agreed that my monthly part-time wage for teaching the literacy class is fifteen bucks, deducted from everyone’s work points. I can still get paid even if no one attends; it’s a great deal."
Saying this, Su Xiaoxiao cheerfully started packing the books on the table to leave.
"What? Deducted from our work points? Why?"
"We don’t attend, yet still have to pay her wages? Isn’t this literacy class going downhill?"
"True, yes, we should go talk to the village head."
A group of people was ready to go find the village head to discuss it.
"Hey, I heard this was ordered from above. Whether our village can be rated as advanced is directly linked to whether this literacy class continues."
Su Xiaoxiao said casually as she passed by, holding her books and pretending to leave.
The crowd was instantly dumbfounded. If messing up the village’s chance to be rated advanced made the village head upset, it wouldn’t be good for anyone.
No one knew better than them how the village head had hoped for years, waiting to achieve advanced status and show off in front of the brother villages around.
"Alright, hurry and find the village head, I’m going home to sleep."
Su Xiaoxiao said as she stretched her shoulders and prepared to leave with her books.
"Wait, who told you to leave?"
Suddenly, someone shouted at her.
Su Xiaoxiao turned back puzzled, "Didn’t you all say you didn’t want to attend? Why ask me to stay?"
"Who said that? We’re attending now, come on, you’re taking our money and not working? Don’t you feel guilty?"
The leading middle-aged woman spoke aggressively.
People around her immediately chimed in, "Right, right, we want to attend classes, you should teach us well and not slack off."
See, when their own interests are involved, no one minds listening to nonsense anymore.
"Fine, this was your request. Anyone who doesn’t want to listen can leave anytime."
Su Xiaoxiao said and retraced her steps with the books.
Not want to listen? What a joke! They’re all paying for this; not listening means losing out. Even if it sounds like gibberish, they have to figure out something.
The group, initially lazy, had a complete change of attitude, listening with great seriousness.
Zhao Ruimei was stunned when she came to see the situation.
Was she in the wrong place? Everyone was listening with great enthusiasm, was this really the village’s literacy class?
Before, weren’t they all clamoring like mad, acting like attending class was life-threatening? What happened?
She glanced doubtfully at Su Xiaoxiao behind the lectern. Did these people have some leverage held by this girl?
Others didn’t know, but she was clear that several well-known shrews in the village were in this literacy class.
No one expected they’d be managed so obediently by this young girl.
Su Xiaoxiao smiled at her as she arrived and then took out a handful of White Rabbit candy from her pocket and placed it on the lectern.
"Everyone, after I finish teaching these words, I’ll randomly quiz you. Anyone who answers correctly once can get a piece of candy from me; the more correct answers, the more candy."
The crowd’s enthusiasm was instantly ignited. Most of these illiterates were middle-aged women.
They’re experts at managing life; how could they not take advantage of a freebie? Just to get a few more pieces of candy, they had to study hard.
This literacy class was filled with passion, each person eager to raise their hand standing on their stool, just to get more candy.
There, Zhao Ruimei’s problem that had given her headaches for days was solved with a few pieces of candy. She slapped her thigh, regretting not lowering the salary earlier. After all, this salary was squeezed out from the village cadres.
On the following evening, Su Xiaoxiao specially took an hour off early to check out her future sister-in-law.
Pumped up, she packaged food from the state-run restaurant and headed home. Just as she reached the entrance, she saw a stylishly dressed woman standing in the yard, and her back looked somewhat familiar.
