Liu Nian's hometown was located in the northwest of Guangxi, a small county called Xilan. In 2016, Xilan County was still a national-level impoverished county. In 2001, the appearance of this county was so dilapidated and barren that even Li Mu couldn't believe it.
This county was located on a long and narrow plain surrounded by mountains. The only way in and out of the mountains was through a dilapidated and dangerous mountain road. The population of the entire county was no more than 300,000, and the population of the county itself was less than 100,000. The tallest building was a dilapidated seven-story commercial building. Other than that, none of the residential buildings in the county exceeded six stories. The water tower made of red bricks was the most outstanding building in the county.
In this seven-story commercial building, there used to be an Anyuan Hotel attached to it. It was the only and best hotel in the county. However, after asking around, Li Mu found out that the Anyuan Hotel had closed down due to a long-term lack of customers. Only the Anyuan Hotel was left, which occasionally hosted wedding banquets for young people in the county. The original rooms of the hotel had been demolished, and it was said that the owner was preparing to renovate it and build an indoor gym.
Li Mu was very skeptical about how a county that didn't even have a need for a hotel could support a gym. However, this was clearly not a problem that he should worry about. What he should worry about most was the accommodation for a dozen or so people.
After asking around, Li Mu finally found a state-run guesthouse near the bus terminal. The entire guesthouse only had two standard double rooms, and the rest were all quadruple rooms.
Li Mu went in to have a look. The conditions were very poor. The room had a musty smell, and there were large wet spots on the roof. The bedding was not very clean either. However, this was obviously the only choice at the moment.
Without a choice, Li Mu booked all the remaining rooms and began to distribute them. The six people in Room 606 and the two male cameramen stayed in two quadruple rooms. Dong Ai, the girl she brought with her, and Zhao Ziqiu stayed in a quadruple room. Chen Lei and a female reporter stayed in a standard double room. The last standard double room was also given to the two female reporters. Out of the five media outlets that came, four of them were female reporters.
The remaining male cameramen and reporters had no other choice but to stay in the poor conditions of the quadruple rooms. The only thing that was gratifying was that they only needed to stay here for one night. After the donation at the school the next morning, they would go straight back to the provincial capital and rush to the airport to catch a plane back to Yanjing.
After everyone settled down, Li Mu asked Sun Jian and the others to keep the reporters company. He also asked Dong Ai to take care of Zhao Ziqiu and get in touch with the local media outlets to see when they would come. He also told Zhao Ziqiu not to cause trouble for Dong Ai and to help as much as possible.
Zhao Ziqiu pursed her lips and looked at Li Mu with a wronged expression. She felt that it was not good to speak in front of so many people, so she could only silently protest. She did not come here to stay in the shabby guesthouse. She wanted to experience some things with Li Mu. She did not want Li Mu to leave her here alone.
Li Mu could also see that Zhao Ziqiu was feeling wronged and a little pleading. He waved his hand helplessly and said, "Then come with me to school. If you stay here, Senior Ai will have to spend some energy taking care of you."
"Okay." Zhao Ziqiu's big eyes instantly lit up. The little bit of unhappiness between her eyebrows was swept away.
After everything was arranged, Li Mu brought Zhao Ziqiu, Liu Nian, and Hu Zhengdao to go to Liu Nian's alma mater first. They would first contact the school's leaders. At the same time, they would check the number of poor students and count the total number of students.
Liu Nian had already contacted the principal. The principal had already prepared everything and was waiting anxiously at the school. Li Mu did not let the reporters follow them. After all, there was nothing to interview today. The main thing was to go to the donation site tomorrow.
Walking on the muddy street, Liu Nian was a little embarrassed as he said to Li Mu and Hu Zhengdao, "We have a lot of rain here. The roads in the county are not very good either. When it rains, there will be more muddy water."
Li Mu walked carefully with Zhao Ziqiu and asked Liu Nian, "How many high schools are there in your county?"
"Three." Liu Nian said, "Three normal high schools and one vocational high school. The middle school I'm in is the biggest middle school in Xilan County. It's Xilan Middle School and has middle school and high school departments."
Hu Zhengdao said, "Old Six, to be honest, don't be unhappy. This place is even more run-down than the county where I come from. Although it's not that good over there, at least there are a few tall buildings. The roads are also better than here. Moreover, there is less rain in the northwest. Although the roads are dusty, they are not as muddy. Look at me, my pants are full of mud."
Liu Nian scratched his head and smiled. "If you were to go to my house, it would be even worse. I can't even ride a motorcycle in the rain. I have to rely on a four-wheeled machine or an animal to pull the car."
Hu Zhengdao was stunned. He sighed softly and did not say anything. Although he was born in a poor area, he could not help but sigh. This place was really … too poor.
Li Mu felt the environment here. He suddenly felt that reincarnation was indeed a skill.
Regardless of what kind of family he was born in, they were all people of Hua Xia. Some of them were born in big cities, so they naturally had all kinds of unique conditions. For example, he was born in a small city, but he was not too far behind the children in big cities. After all, the environment, transportation, education, and the flow of new things in the third-tier coastal cities of Hua Xia were relatively fast. Those who were worse off were born in second-tier and first-tier cities and counties. The economy could not keep up with the pace, and the information was relatively blocked. The cost of moving to third-tier cities was too high. Even worse off were children like Liu Nian who were born in second-tier and first-tier mountainous areas. Their livelihood, economy, transportation, medical care, and education could not keep up.
There were not many universal values that Li Mu recognized, but education was one of the few that he firmly believed in. In the absence of special help, if a person wanted to change their fate, the best way was to study. It was not terrible to be born in a poor county or even a mountainous area. As long as he could study in a university, he would at least have the ability to walk out of the mountains and find a foothold in the outside world. Therefore, when he stepped on the muddy streets of a poor county, he suddenly felt that the path of student aid was indeed a long and arduous one. Even if he could not take care of it in the future, he had to ensure that this kind of student aid would be implemented. He did not dare to take charge of everything, but he would help as much as he could.
…
When they arrived at Xilan High School, the four of them were already wearing dirty pants. However, none of them cared about such details at the moment. The three of them followed Liu Nian into the school and went straight to a three-story building in the corner.
Liu Nian explained that the three-story building was the old site of Xilan High School. It was built in the 50s and was now the office building for the teachers and school leaders. The five-story building next to it was a product of the 80s. It was said that these two buildings were donated by a rich man from Xilan County. Now, this building was the main teaching building of Xilan High School. At the side of a dilapidated field, there was an L-shaped three-story building. Half of it was the students' dormitory, and the other half was the single teacher's apartment.
Today was Sunday, and there were not many people in Xilan High School. The school was cleaner than the outside, and the road was paved with gravel and dirt. It was not as dirty as the road outside, and there was not much trash on both sides of the road.
This school did not even have a security guard, so naturally, there would not be any cleaners. It was really rare to be able to maintain the school's environment like this.
When they arrived at the office building, Liu Nian brought the three of them to the principal's office on the second floor. He knocked on the door lightly, and the person who opened the door was a middle-aged man in his fifties. When he saw Liu Nian standing at the door, he immediately grabbed his hand excitedly and said something in a dialect that Li Mu and the others could not understand.
Liu Nian communicated with the man in his hometown dialect for a while, and then turned to Li Mu and the others and said, "Principal Wang said that you are welcome to Xilan. After receiving the call, he hasn't slept since last night."
Then, Liu Nian introduced Li Mu, Zhao Ziqiu, and Hu Zhengdao to the man. It was then that Li Mu learned the man's name. Wang Jianshe, 47 years old, had been the principal of Xilan High School for five years.
Wang Jianshe was very polite to Li Mu and the others. After inviting them in, he deliberately took out the disposable teacups and tea leaves and made them a cup of tea. Wang Jianshe said that he already knew that Liu Nian was a private tutor. Although he did not know anything about the internet, he still gave him a very high evaluation of 3321.
Li Mu exchanged a few polite words with Wang Jianshe, and when they chatted, he found out that Wang Jianshe was a very direct and straightforward person. He had the demeanor of a soldier. After asking carefully, he found out that Wang Jianshe had retreated from the southwest border in self-defense. Back then, he was a company instructor in the army. After recovering from his injuries, he returned to Xilan and started as a teacher, then slowly became the principal.
Wang Jianshe graduated from high school. After joining the army, he studied a correspondence course at the Provincial Normal College. Among his peers, he was definitely a knowledgeable person.
While chatting, Li Mu also revealed the real purpose of his visit today, which was to verify the list of poor students.
Wang Jianshe took out the list that he had prepared earlier and handed it to Li Mu. He said, "This year, our school has 383 new students in the third year of high school. There are 48 students who repeated their studies, so there is a total of 431 students. Their names, their household registration, and their annual household income are recorded here. This income is not very accurate, but it is also calculated by the homeroom teachers of the third year classes, so the error should not be too big. There are a total of 209 students in the poor bracket."
Li Mu nodded and looked at the list carefully. It was indeed very detailed. In addition to the information that Wang Jianshe said, he also counted the ID number and address of each student. The students in the poor bracket were marked with a red pen. At a glance, it could be found that the annual household income of the poor students was generally within three or four thousand yuan, and some were even less than two thousand yuan.
After reading it, Li Mu said to Wang Jianshe, "Principal Wang, let's set these students in the poor bracket."
Wang Jianshe asked nervously, "Student Li Mu, is it really like what Liu Nian said on the phone, that each student will donate one thousand yuan?"
Li Mu nodded. "Principal Wang, please arrange it tomorrow morning. We will directly give the money to the students."
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