I'm going to school today

  Of course, Li Ming didn't dare to push Long Fengtai too hard. If the child developed a dislike for learning early on, then her guilt would be great. Moreover, neither of them had ever loved studying since they were young. So from time to time, Li Ming also took them out to have some activities.

  Of course, they can't just idle around. It's not easy for the two parents to support three people who don't work. And the places where they can create some benefits are also limited for these young children.

  Every time they go to the small river at the village head, Li Ming will bring a piece of plastic gauze and a can. The three siblings have two nets and one can, playing while catching fish and shrimp.

  At this time, although it's a bit poor, the environment is really great. The small river flows with clear water, and the river sand and pebbles are densely covered underwater, with small fish swimming in between.

  In the shallow and slow-flowing water, there are many large stones. Women often squat or sit on the stones to wash clothes, chatting and laughing with each other, rolling up their pants legs to reveal their white skin, feeling very comfortable.

  The two shores are wide grasslands, full of wildflowers and weeds, with geese and ducks waddling around. Especially the children's playground on the north shore is a small scenic area with lush greenery and fragrant flowers, surrounded by rows of willow trees, making it a picturesque spot.

  All of these disappeared more than ten years later.

  What left the deepest impression on Li Ming was the grassland on both sides. She thought back to when she would take off her wet nylon skirt and lay it out to dry on the grass after playing in the water, only to forget about it when she went home, losing several skirts in the process. The same thing happened with the basin for catching fish. Alas, she was too scared to go home at night and had to wait for her mother to come find her. Although she never got a beating, thinking back on it now still makes both her and her mother heartbroken.

  What a difficult time it was, with material scarcity, even buying a skirt was not easy, and a washbasin could be used for several years without being replaced.

  This time I have no choice but to give up on this matter myself.

  Taking my younger brother and sister to the riverbank, I could still meet some playmates, Feng Xiaoling's two sisters, Wu Feng's little brother Wu Ming, the second fat boy next door, and some not very familiar ones. At that time, there were many children, at least two in each family, as soon as they came out, the older one took care of the younger one, and the younger one took care of the even smaller one, with a whole family following behind.

  Li Ming was well-prepared and brought many tools. As a result, he often caught several fish in just a few throws. The people behind him were envious of his fishing net. Some even boldly asked to play with him. Li Ming readily agreed, but only if they could bring their dragon and phoenix cubs along to play together.

  This way, every time she can't even draw a few strokes. The fishing work is easy to take over. Moreover, those who can do this job all feel that they have face. They all have to flatter their sisters and brothers. Children who catch fish and shrimp with their tools will give them the spoils of war.

  This is an unwritten rule among local kids.

  Actually, for them, the most important thing is to participate in the game. The fish and shrimp are quite small, no one will eat them. So every now and then, Li Ming would bring back a bottle of fish and shrimp to feed the chickens and geese. As a result, the egg production rate of their poultry has increased significantly. Their siblings' diet has also improved a lot, and they can often eat scrambled eggs.

  A month later, her mother also pickled dozens of chicken and goose eggs in jars.

  Of course. Most of them were sold at the market and exchanged for money.

  Li Ming had thought of catching the unpolluted small river fish to eat, but unfortunately, it was too expensive and not realistic under current economic conditions, so he could only take a detour. Of course, Li Ming, who had been liberated from fishing, didn't idle around either, using the sickle he had prepared earlier to cut a big bundle of grass to feed the pigs.

  She looked at the little black pig with four hooves and a pointed head, which her mother said was caught in the first month of the year. It's been more than half a year now. Li Ming thought it was still too small, really can't imagine how small this pig was when it was a piglet, any smaller would be a mouse.

  The horse is not fat, Li Ming thought of giving it some extra nutrition. Nowadays pigs can't eat much grain food, so they really grow slowly and there's no way about it, only letting them eat more grass will do.

  Li Ming has been taking care of the kids and doing household chores, being very responsible, which makes her mom praise her nonstop. Originally, she had two cents for household expenses, but now it's increased by one cent, without even asking what it's for, making Li Ming secretly happy for a moment. Although most of it was spent on buying popsicles for the twins, having control over the family finances still feels pretty good.

  Because it coincided with the school time, Li Ming was resolute not to let the dragon and phoenix twins go out when they were not playing. Even Wu Feng, who had returned from visiting relatives, did not have the heart to socialize, and seeing them writing things was not interesting, so she went to play on the small hill and by the river with other children.

  So Li Ming didn't have much contact with other kids either. As she grew up, she didn't keep in touch with them and now isn't that curious anymore.

  Sometimes Li Ming was also lonely, with no TV to watch and no internet to go on. The only thing that could be considered entertainment in the house, apart from the flashlight, was the radio, one of the only two household appliances.

  Li Ming has never been concerned about current events or news, whether in this life or the previous one. He just listens to storytelling like "The Legend of Yue Fei" every evening at 7:30. Alas, his entertainment is extremely lacking.

  I can only occasionally check on the homework of these dragon and phoenix cubs, watching them raise their eyebrows, make eyes at each other, grab ears and scratch cheeks, it's just for fun.

  His parents also strangely asked about Li Ming's younger brother and sister learning to read and write, and Li Ming replied that it was taught by the big army son next door. However, the big army son's cultural education was not well done and was handed over to the teacher early on. But it didn't matter if the child recognized a few words, and the parents didn't pay much attention to it either, as they were busy with work and didn't think much of it.

  It's already mid-August, Li Ming saw that there was still more than a week before school started, and chose a day when they were eating mantou at home, both adults and children were happy on this auspicious day, and formally proposed to her parents:

  "Dad, Mom, I've discussed with Xiaolin and Xiaohui, we want to go to school together this year. If not, can you sign us up in advance?"

  It depends on her father whether this thing can be done or not. Although her father doesn't talk much, he has the final say at home and is easy to get along with.

  Her mom was a bit surprised: "Huh? Didn't we agree to go together next year?"

  "Hey, mom, this thing, it's not too early or too late. You always say that the work in our hands must be done quickly, who knows what might happen later."

  Cheng Min hesitated for a moment: "It's not that your mom doesn't let you go, but look at your younger siblings, they're all small and need someone to take care of them. It won't make a difference if you wait one more year, why don't you all go together next year?"

  Li Ming listened and was unhappy in his heart: "Don't worry, I'll take them together. Although they're not old enough, they can recognize many characters now and will pass the school exam. Even if they're a bit young, I'm in the same class as them, and I'll keep an eye on them. If it really doesn't work out, I'll withdraw from school with them and wait until next year."

  Two little brats dare to disobey her? Just wait and see how she'll deal with them! Hmph!

  The old father who had been silent all along put down his chopsticks: "If the children want to go to school, let them go. It's not a good thing to be so crazy and playful all the time. Learning something is always good."

  Before his father joined the army, he had attended junior high school and was cultured and knowledgeable. Compared to her mother's elementary school education, it was different, Li Ming thought to himself in admiration.

  "I also don't mind letting them go, but I heard that if they're too young, people won't want them."

  Mom had also thought about letting the school take care of the kids, huh.

  But Dad's stance is clearly not firm, and his ideological awareness is obviously not high enough. He actually started to pick up dishes and continue eating, seemingly deep in thought, but didn't take any action.

  Obviously, people's understanding of reading has not improved.

  More obviously, people's thoughts are now more pure and consider going through the back door as shameful.

  So Li Ming's original idea of asking his parents to pull some strings and seek personal favors was foiled.

  You say, if it's not forced by dad and mom, even if it's done, in the end, they'll be returned as unqualified products, alas, let alone dad and mom, even she herself can't hold her head up high, how will she let her three younger siblings mix in the village children's circle in the future?

  However, let alone now without a back door, as far as she knows, when she was in elementary school, there were two teachers whose children started school at the age of five or six. Whether they studied well or not is not mentioned, but who dares to say that schools do not have the idea of taking care of children?

  So this matter is more difficult than Li Ming imagined, but it's not impossible. After all, Li Ming has also been through the era of flying in the back door, and extraordinary things require extraordinary handling.

  So, on Monday morning a few days later, as soon as Dad and Mom left, Li Ming quickly cleaned up the two little ones and himself. Li Lin had tied up her hair with the pink ribbon bow that her dad had just bought for his business trip, while Li Ming had put away his own pair, sweating at the thought of putting them on himself - after all, in his heart, he was still too young to do so. The reason he hadn't given any to Li Lin was that they were being kept as a necessary expense for her in case of an emergency.

  Again instructed the dragon and phoenix twins on external etiquette, picked up the big red tomato that was picked yesterday, wrapped it in a new handkerchief and held it in her hand, locked the door, and led the twins to rush to the village primary school.

  Linjia Village Primary School was just like the one Li Ming attended when he was young, with two rows of school buildings and a playground facing the public. On the playground, there was a concrete platform for leading exercises, but no big gates or walls; it was completely open. Li Ming had already seen it several times before, so he didn't feel anything new.

  Took the two little ones and rushed straight to the principal's office.

  It was still early and the summer vacation had not yet passed, so there were not many people from school, but Li Ming knew that the principal must have arrived, as he had already seen his bicycle parked in the parking lot.

  Knock on the door and enter with the child after hearing permission.

  At a glance, old principal Chen was indeed there, and he hastily paid his respects: "Hello, Principal."

  Principal Chen took a look and saw that they were three little kids, still quite polite, and asked kindly:

  "Little friend, is there something?"

  Li Ming heard the question and quickly pulled his younger brother and sister over to stand in front of the principal, calmly saying:

  "Principal uncle, we want to come to school, we are here to register."

  "Oh, how old are you?" The principal looked at several children with interest.

  "I'm eight years old, this is my younger sister, twins, seven years old."

  "Your age is still okay, but your younger siblings are a bit too young, it's got to be next year."

  Forget it, I won't come looking for you next year anyway.

  Li Ming pretended to be innocent: "But principal, my younger siblings are very smart and they love learning. I originally wanted to come with them next year, but they won't listen, they must come now or else they'll just cause trouble at home. I really have no choice, and they promised to behave themselves. If not, you can expel them, otherwise they'll think school is a playground. School is a sacred place, not a playground."

  After finishing speaking, he took out the tomato in his hand and gently placed it on the office desk, sincerely:

  "Look, they specially picked this persimmon for you, it's a new variety and especially sweet."

  Principal Chen almost laughed out loud, these little devils still knew how to flatter him, but he really did especially like tomatoes.

  Having worked in the countryside for so many years, I had never seen such clever kids, and so I had the idea to tease them:

  "I want to go to school, but you know what? To be a student, you have to take an entrance exam first."

  Li Ming was overjoyed, haha, there's a way, our two younger ones didn't take the exam and really couldn't go to school, I'm just afraid you won't take it. She knew that at this time, taking an entrance exam is useless, they are a group of illiterate children who haven't even attended kindergarten, genuine pre-school age children.

  Busy packing silly: "Principal uncle, is it that they can go to school as long as they pass the exam?"

  Even the principal came out, actually she wanted to call him Principal Grandpa.

  Principal Chen thought they would just count a few numbers and then stop, he still knew the general level of preschool children, whether to accept them or not was up to him, he smiled and said:

  "Really? Then what can you all do?"

  Li Ming was afraid he would regret it, so he deliberately made things difficult for them and quickly pretended to be innocent again:

  "We shake hands, adults must keep their promises, those who go back on their words are puppy dogs."

  Principal Chen still seemed somewhat skeptical: "Alright, alright, let's make a deal..."

  The signing ceremony is over, it's time to get down to business.

  Li Ming was also afraid that the principal would make excessive demands, so he deliberately made things difficult for them and took the opportunity to ask them to do some first-grade test papers, which would be easy to deal with.

  The principal was also afraid that Li Ming would fool him, so he first let them count to one hundred, do a few simple addition and subtraction problems. Unexpectedly, they even knew the multiplication table, and their calculation speed was quite fast.

  The principal was quite surprised and asked what else they could do.

  This time, the two younger ones didn't feel shy either and enthusiastically recited several ancient poems. Just reciting ancient poems was not a big deal for Principal, but it was different with ancient prose, and it was the entire "Inscription of a Humble Abode".

  The boss lavished him with praise.

  Two small ones were praised by someone, and they immediately forgot their shape. Even the big shoes that sounded ridiculous in Li Ming's ears came out with three blocks of white oil.

  Li Ming touched his face and thought to himself: It's really not possible to dampen their enthusiasm.

  Principal Chen was really shocked this time.

  At that time, elementary school did not have English classes at all, and junior high school just started. It seems that the parents of the children should have some culture, or are they educated youth?

  Finally, the three of them sang "Farewell" to the principal instead of the popular children's song "The Newspaper Song".

  I picked up one cent on the side of the road.

  The principal finally decided that the child's parents must be very cultured and asked them to bring their parents for registration tomorrow, agreeing to let them attend school.

  It's a joke that these kids' level is no worse than second-grade students, I suppose the parents are too embarrassed to ask for help themselves, so they let the kids try instead.

  It turns out that Principal Chen is also a good person, and at that time, there were still many people who didn't care about personal gains or losses.