Chapter 469: Chapter 462: Doing Meaningful Things
After returning to Huangyuan County, Sisi helped her friend arrange the house together. There were several dormitory buildings in the winery, and Yuan Jin had already assigned people to clean up the rooms after learning that Zhong Meiying and the others were coming over, even arranging some simple furniture.
Once Zhong Meiying and her companions were settled in, it was time for Sisi to start school. With the new year beginning, Tian Xinhua was getting busier and busier. He had long since prepared this year’s plan. He emphasized on highways and agriculture, such as afforestation, water conservancy construction, and road and bridge building. Now, with the existence of He Family Winery, there was no need to worry about grain surplus.
The road and bridge construction was also due to the poor road conditions in Huangyuan County—full of potholes and bumps, even driving on a sunny day would be very shaky. Yuan Jin would mention this road issue every time he saw him, saying that every time goods were shipped out, he would worry half to death, scared that the wine bottles would break.
Last year, Huangyuan County had relatively sufficient finances thanks to the tax revenue from the winery and Lanhua Flower Artifacts Factory. Also, the government would allocate some funds. Although there was still some shortfall to accomplish these tasks, biting the bullet should get them through.
Now, in the County Committee of Huangyuan, Tian Xinhua had already become the de facto second-in-command, while Secretary Du, the number one in command, had completely reversed his previous compromising nature. He supported everything Tian Xinhua said, and did so very firmly.
Du Changlin was also cunning with age. Before the New Year, he had a deep conversation with Tian Xinhua. He didn’t say much else, just that he should lead the people of Huangyuan County to a better life, and that he would fully support his work in the future.
Tian Xinhua, looking at the old cadre in front of him who looked older than his actual age, his face wrinkled, his eyes squinting with a smile, cunning on his face, suddenly felt like he was being used as a pawn by someone!
Perhaps this compromising Secretary Du was not really afraid of trouble, but was looking for the most suitable person and timing.
County Chief Hu had already been shocked by Tian Xinhua’s successive bold moves, and he also learned from other sources that Tian Xinhua was appointed by the higher-ups and would certainly not stay in Huangyuan for long. Their aspirations were completely different levels.
Thus, deeply struck, County Chief Hu no longer thought about competing with Tian Xinhua. He just wanted to be his county chief steadily, supporting what is beneficial to the people and opposing what is harmful to them, just waiting for Tian Xinhua to do well and be promoted early, so he could return to his former glory.
Although Xu Menglai was somewhat reluctant, he couldn’t support himself alone, and no matter how resentful he was, he could only follow behind County Chief Hu. On the other hand, Luo Wenlve was a turncoat who would sway whichever way the wind blew. Now seeing that the Secretary and County Chief had become Tian’s faction, which faction was Luo Wenlve supposed to be?
After the busy start of school, Sisi began to work on another task, which was to build schools.
She learned in a conversation with San Ni from Liu Village before the New Year that there was an exceedingly high dropout rate among girls in the rural areas of Huangyuan County. Nearly 90% or more of the girls only went to primary school for a year or two before dropping out to work at home, with some not even attending a single day of school.
While the situation was slightly better for boys, very few completed middle school, and those who graduated from high school were even rarer. The children who managed to get into university were one in ten thousand.
The reasons for this were twofold: poverty and the adults’ lack of consciousness towards education. Most villagers believe that education is useless and purely a waste of time.
Changing the ignorant mindset of these villagers would take a long time, and the most effective method would be mandatory government requirements. She could discuss with Tian Xinhua about the government issuing a mandatory document that requires every village to have a school enrollment rate of no less than 70%, supervised by the village secretary.
She also planned to discuss with Yuan Jin about whether the winery could establish a scholarship fund. If children from extremely difficult family conditions sincerely wanted to study, the winery could provide some assistance.
Of course, the first priority was to build schools. This time, Sisi was ready to put forth her own money to build a primary school in Liu Village, of course, using the winery’s name.
Mu Xiulan has already built eight Sisi Primary Schools, and this year she plans to build two more, one in Huangyuan County and the other in Xinhe County, which is adjacent to Huangyuan. The reason she chose S Province goes without saying – it’s because Tian Xinhua is an official here.
The idea of Sisi was strongly supported by Tian Xinhua, who immediately communicated with Du Changlin, Hu Dingkun, and others. The consensus was naturally unanimous.
In fact, at this time, cadres were all good comrades dedicated to serving the people, with very few having selfish intentions. Even in the case of Hu Dingkun, while his desire for power was strong, his aim in wielding such power was to ensure the well-being of the people. His overarching goals aligned with those of Tian Xinhua.
Yuan Jin agreed without needing Sisi to say much and even offered to have the winery fund the school. But this was declined by Sisi, who insisted on using her own private savings. In truth, most of the winery’s money was hers anyway!
Since the school was to be built in Liu Village, Sisi went to see Secretary Liu, who estimated that five thousand yuan should be enough to build a school.
"How can it be so cheap? Secretary Liu, you must be honest with me." Sisi was extremely surprised. Even if labor and materials were inexpensive, it couldn’t just cost five thousand yuan.
Secretary Liu laughed honestly, "Mr. He, it really just takes this much. In fact, I’ve quoted a bit high. Let me explain: labor costs nothing, and stones, timber, bricks, and tiles don’t cost anything either – we have all these materials readily available in our village. We only need to spend on steel and cement, and five thousand won’t even be fully spent!"
There and then, Sisi took out ten thousand yuan from her bag and handed it to Secretary Liu, who was so startled that he jumped up and felt dizzy. He had never seen so much money in his entire life.
"Secretary Liu, here is ten thousand yuan for you to build the school with. I have no other requests, but the classrooms must be sturdy and spacious. Don’t skimp on the cost of labor and wood – pay where you must. If the money isn’t enough, come and ask me for more. Understood?"
Secretary Liu’s hands trembled as he took the thick stack of banknotes, his eyes glistening with tears. Overwhelmed with emotion, he said, "Mr. He, where is this money from?"
"This is sponsored by my father’s winery. Take this ten thousand yuan to get started, and I’ll bring more money for the desks and chairs later." Sisi said.
Suddenly, Secretary Liu bowed deeply to Sisi, alarming her so much that she hastily reached out to support him, "Secretary Liu, what are you doing? You’re shortening my lifespan with this!"
"Mr. He, I represent the gratitude of all the villagers. You are truly our great benefactor!"
As Secretary Liu said this, wiping away his tears, his face bore the expression of seeing Sisi as the Guanyin Bodhisattva. Sisi hadn’t anticipated that ten thousand yuan could provoke such a reaction from Secretary Liu, and she felt an unusual sensation rising within her – a full and comforting feeling.
No wonder Buddhist Scripture often says that helping others brings joy; at this moment, her heart was indeed filled with happiness, and she felt profoundly fulfilled.
And Sisi never imagined that a mere whimsical act of kindness would spiral beyond her control and become a lifelong endeavor.
Secretary Liu was quite efficient in handling affairs, and in just a few days, he gathered the villagers to begin work. Learning that Mr. He had donated money for the school, each villager treated Sisi with even greater respect.
Furthermore, these villagers volunteered to help without asking for wages, and some even contributed wood and bricks from their own homes, refusing payment. The whole village was abuzz with activity.
As they put it: If Mr. He, an outsider, is willing to donate so much money to build a school for our kids, how could we, the local villagers, ask for money? Would that even be the right thing to do?