"Getting married at such a young age, and taking so many wives?"
Chen Fei found it hard to believe. Such a thing was simply impossible in his hometown, where the average age for young people to marry was generally over 30.
But here, by 30, they were already arranging marriages for their children.
"It's the local custom. However, marrying at 16 is indeed too young, whether it's polygyny or polyandry, it's mainly determined by the living environment. In a few more years, this situation will see a significant decrease. Alright, everyone must be hungry, let's eat!"
Shen Fei seemed to have an open mind about it. Customs and habits formed over thousands of years couldn't be changed overnight. Only by influencing them with civilization could these people become more enlightened with each generation.
Take an example. If legislation prohibited everyone in Chen Fei and Shen Fei's hometown from eating pork, the next second, heads would roll.
The children sitting around the table cheered in unison, immediately scrambling to grab food.
Wrapping the whole naan bread around torn pieces of roasted lamb and adding a touch of refreshing pickled vegetables before taking a big bite was their favorite way to eat. A mouthful of hot vegetable soup completed the satisfaction.
For these elementary school students, the real issue at hand was that no matter how good a wife is, she's not as good as naan bread.
Naan bread can be eaten, but can a wife be eaten?
This multiple-choice question was almost a giveaway.
Chen Fei also took a naan bread sprinkled with sesame seeds and learned to shave strips of roasted lamb off the bone with a dinner knife. After adding some shredded dried radish and rolling it up to take a bite, he found it incredibly fragrant, no wonder the children loved it so much.
He looked towards the largest room in the courtyard, which was also where the students had their classes, and asked, "What about the other children? How do they solve their lunch issue?"
Through the window, he could vaguely see that the students were all sitting quietly in the classroom.
With Shen Fei's efforts alone, much of her time had to be spent on teaching. Surely she couldn't have any energy left to provide lunch for so many students, could she?
"Most of them bring their own, and I provide hot vegetable soup for them, a large bowl each."
Indeed, Shen Fei didn't have the capacity to supply a hot lunch for all students. Simply providing hot vegetable soup was already the limit of what she could afford to do. She turned her gaze towards the six ravenous children at the table and said, "These six are the top students of their grade from the last test. They can enjoy a free lunch with me as a form of encouragement and reward.
The tallest one is Muzike, he's in sixth grade. Next to him is Du Lu who's in fifth grade, followed by Tina in fourth grade, Little Cherry in third grade—her name was given by me. Her chubby red cheeks are as adorable as cherries, making you want to take a bite. Then we have Mo Erhan from second grade and Funa from first grade."
The six elementary school students, three boys and three girls, clearly demonstrated that the girls had an advantage in learning during the early grades.
But Chen couldn't recognize all the students here. Shen Fei, seizing the opportunity, introduced a few more. Bit by bit, it wouldn't take many times for him to be able to name every student here.
Without even a working phone line between the school and the Aircrew Base, how could he be contacted? Relying on people to relay messages would take at least five to six hours each way; in terms of efficiency and cost, it was indeed quite a challenge.
Seeing Chen Fei's embarrassment, Shen Fei laughed and waved her hand, saying, "It's okay, it's okay. If you have some free time, just come and visit. Actually, there's not much work here. The kids usually help me out with some things. If we really need more hands, the nearby villagers always come to help."
This primary school was a joint effort established by several nearby villages; if Teacher Shen Fei faced difficulties, no one would ignore her plight.
"Sure, I'll definitely come over more often!"
Chen Fei said, feeling somewhat embarrassed as he touched the back of his head.
"There's a composition class this afternoon, with all six grades together. You could help me out with that."
Teacher Shen Fei blinked, the corners of her eyes carrying a smile.
"No problem, consider it done."
Chen Fei responded without hesitation and slapped his chest, leaving a few greasy palm prints on his shirt.
After all, he was a college student preparing for postgraduate studies; dealing with elementary students' compositions was a piece of cake and could easily be handled.
"Then I'll count on you!"
After lunch and an additional hour of free time, the bell for class rang punctually at 1:30 pm.
The children, who had been playing in the yard, finally started to settle down and filed into the large classroom, one by one.
The two-hour composition class was presided over by Teacher Shen Fei, who set the topic; the first hour was for writing, and the second for critique.
The growth stages in elementary student compositions each had their distinct features.
Characters, words, short sentences, long sentences, paragraphs; time, place, characters, events; goals, obstacles, analysis and choices, results and rewards; the central idea, distinctive features, conflicts, twists, the main point; personification, metaphors, hyperbole, parallelism, allusions, a wide range of emotions and desires...
when you see a mountain as a mountain, water as water, a mountain not as a mountain, water not as water, then again a mountain as a mountain, and water as water.
Despite having the same topic, compositions by different grades would still show significant differences.
The sound of rustling paper quickly filled the large classroom as students from each grade began to write with focused intensity.
-