The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 229 School starts

Although the current framework of the girls' school has been established and the preparations have been almost completed, the enrollment process has not been smooth.

Chen Cui's enrollment plan for the girls' school is to recruit girls aged seven to thirteen from the capital and its vicinity. The duration of the program is tentatively set at three years. During this period, the school will provide food and accommodation. The annual tuition, accommodation and food expenses add up to four taels of silver.

However, this money can be paid on credit and can be repaid in installments after the students graduate, with the longest installment being five years.

The reason why the minimum age for admission is seven years old is because children who are too young cannot take care of themselves, but those over thirteen are already preparing to get married, so the age limit is set between seven and thirteen.

However, girls of this age can already help with a lot of housework at home. Even if the tuition fees can be paid on credit, they still have to be repaid eventually.

Especially when I heard that this girls' school was founded by a lady from an official family, who among ordinary people would dare to go against such a family and just deny it?

Even though we know that this girls' school is for teaching people skills, we haven't seen any results yet. Moreover, even if they have learned something, which shop would want these girls to work for us?

For most families, it is not cost-effective to send a working girl away for two or three years and end up owing a debt in the end.

However, it's not that no one has tried this new thing.

The enrollment brochure for the girls' school was issued in the early twelfth month of the previous year and was posted in front of many shops. The registration deadline was written as the twentieth day of the first lunar month.

After the Chinese New Year, a few people came to sign up. By the 20th day of the first lunar month, a total of 26 female students were received.

The youngest of these twenty-six girls is seven years old and the oldest is eleven, all of them are neither young nor old.

Judging from their clothes, these people came from different families. Some wore thick cotton jackets, some wore thin ones, and the quality of their outer clothes was also different. But in general, they were not from the poorest families. At least they could have enough food to eat.

Don't think that having enough food is a simple thing. When Liu Youliang was alive, the Liu family was considered one of the upper-class families in the village, but each meal still had to be rationed and people could not eat as much as they wanted. The growing children in the second room often went hungry.

Not to mention ordinary families, especially in winter, most adults and children are only half full, and it is impossible to fill their stomachs. If possible, they will stay at home to reduce consumption.

After Chen Cui traveled through time, rice and noodles were supplied to every meal. The children were as happy as if it were New Year's Day. They even worried that they would not be able to survive in the future.

Although the capital city is the best place to live and people's lives should be better, it does not mean that most people can have enough food to eat. Those who send their girls to girls' schools are considered to be families that can live a decent life.

Although more than half of the 26 female students had to pay their tuition fees on credit, Chen Cui was not discouraged. She had never intended to make money from the girls' school from the beginning and had already prepared for losses in the early stages, so she was not disappointed.

Although there are few people, the teachers still teach very attentively. At the beginning of school, the first thing these girls have to learn is literacy. No matter what they learn in the future, they have to start with recognizing words.

In this way, the first term of "Yucai Girls' School" officially started at the end of the first month of the seventh year of Zhide.

This girls' school was not funded by Chen Cui herself. Zhang Ruomei also made a great contribution. However, this time she only provided the money and did not take any other responsibility.

Wang Hengzhi has been highly valued by His Majesty in recent years, and as an official's wife, she has become busier, with many social engagements. In addition, her mother-in-law and concubine's daughter at home are not very well behaved, so she has a lot to worry about.

In the second year after Wang Hengzhi came to Beijing, his mother came to Beijing with her eldest daughter.

In the past, they were not allowed to go with him to take up his post, because the Northwest was poor and he could not bear to see his old mother suffer. But now that they have come to the capital to serve as officials, it would be a bit unreasonable not to allow their own mother to come.

Therefore, the enthusiastic members of the Wang family escorted the old lady and granddaughter to Beijing. They wrote the letter only after everyone had left, which made Zhang Ruomei so angry that she almost collapsed.

However, no matter how reluctant she was, she still had to prepare a place for her mother-in-law and concubine's daughter to live.

Alas, those happy days in the past few years when the mother-in-law was not around to be an eyesore are gone forever.

However, even if her mother-in-law were to come, she would not be afraid.

Now their Zhang family is no longer what it used to be, the master is on her side, and she has two sons, so why should she be afraid of this old hag!

As for the concubine's daughter who has been raised by her mother-in-law, she should be well educated. In a few years, when she reaches the age to get married, she should be married off to a suitable man, which can also provide some help to the family.

Perhaps it was because her son's neglect over the years made her know what was right and wrong, or perhaps it was because she had seen the current power of the Zhang family, the old lady of the Wang family was not as difficult to deal with as before.

But the old lady's nature is hard to change after all. Although she can't cause any big trouble, she still causes some minor troubles for Zhang Ruomei from time to time.

But Zhang Ruomei is not afraid of these things now. The master trusts her and leaves all the affairs of the rear house to her. He also knows what kind of person his mother is, and ordinary things cannot cause trouble to him.

But recently the old lady has started to make trouble about her granddaughter's marriage.

The girl, originally named Da Niu and now named Wang Deyi, is fifteen years old. She grew up with an old lady in the countryside until she was eight years old and did not even know her own name.

After arriving in Beijing, Zhang Ruomei first hired a female teacher to teach her at home. After she had a certain foundation, she took the entrance exam for Huiwen Girls' School in Beijing. By entering the school, she could receive a better education and make friends with girls from other official families.

Today, after several years of study and experience, Wang Deyi has long since shed the rusticity and timidity she had when she first came to Beijing. She has become a typical lady from a noble family, and her words and actions are in line with etiquette norms.

In addition, she often accompanied her stepmother to various banquets, and was familiar with the mistresses and ladies of various families. She had already built up a good reputation, so it would not be difficult for her to find a marriage with a suitable match.

But Old Lady Wang heard from somewhere that the fourth prince, born to Concubine Zhang, was looking for a concubine, so she wanted her eldest daughter to marry that wealthy man. To this end, she even lowered herself and put on a smiling face to Zhang Ruomei.

But Zhang Ruomei was almost pissed off by the old lady's wild imagination. Is being the prince's wife something a family like theirs can dream of? Even her own daughter didn't have the qualification, let alone a concubine's daughter!

What she was worried about was whether this was the old lady's wishful thinking or Deyi's own little thoughts. Otherwise, the old lady had always been "recuperating" in the backyard and had almost no chance to go out. How did she get this news?