Chapter 29

"Getting married at such a young age, and even having so many wives?"

Chen Fei found it hard to believe. In his hometown, such a thing was impossible, with the average marriage age for young people being over 30.

But here, people started arranging marriages for their children at the age of 30.

"The local custom is like this, but getting married at 16 is indeed too young. Whether it's polygamy or polyandry, it's mainly determined by the living environment. In a few years, this situation will decrease significantly. Well, everyone must be hungry, let's eat!"

Shen Fei was quite open-minded. Customs and habits formed over thousands of years couldn't be changed overnight. Only through the influence of civilization could these people become more enlightened from generation to generation.

For example, if a law were to prohibit everyone in Chen Fei and Shen Fei's hometown from eating pork, they would probably cut off your head in the next second.

The children sitting around the table collectively cheered and immediately started grabbing the food.

Wrapping shredded roasted lamb in a large flatbread, adding a bit of pickled vegetables, and taking a big bite was their favorite way to eat. A sip of hot vegetable soup to wash it down would make them feel incredibly satisfied.

For these elementary school students, the current reality was that no matter how good a wife might be, she couldn't compare to a flatbread.

Flatbread could be eaten, but could a wife be eaten?

This multiple-choice question was almost a freebie.

Shen Fei also took a flatbread sprinkled with sesame seeds, using a knife to slice strips of roasted lamb from the bone. He added some dried shredded radish, rolled it up, and took a bite. It was indeed fragrant, no wonder the children liked it so much.

He looked towards the largest house in the yard, where the students had their classes, and asked, "Where are the other children? How do they solve their lunch problem?"

Through the window, he could vaguely see the students obediently staying in the classroom.

With Shen Fei's efforts, most of her time was spent teaching, and it was difficult for her to provide lunch for so many students.

"Most of them bring their own, and I provide them with hot vegetable soup, one large bowl per person."

Shen Fei indeed didn't have the energy. Providing a hot bowl of vegetable soup for each student was already the limit of what she could do. Her gaze turned to the six children who were eating voraciously at the table. "These six are the top students from the last test. They can enjoy a free lunch with me, which is also a form of encouragement and reward. The tallest one is Muzike, he's in sixth grade. The one next to him is Dulu, in fifth grade. Then there's Tiana in fourth grade, Xiaoyingtao in third grade, whose name I gave her. Her rosy cheeks are as cute as a cherry, making you want to take a bite. There's also Moerhan in second grade and Funna in first grade."

The six elementary school students were three boys and three girls. It was evident that girls had an advantage in the lower grades.

Chen Fei didn't recognize all the students, so Shen Fei took the opportunity to introduce a few more. Over time, he would be able to call out the names of every student here.

When Xiaoyingtao's name was mentioned, the girl with the unique name shyly lowered her head, her cheeks indeed rosy like a real cherry.

The three boys who were also mentioned grinned and made faces at Chen Fei, clearly very mischievous.

Children are naturally gossipy. All the students in the school already knew that a big brother named Chen Fei had just started working at the nearby 911 Air Base and was from the same hometown as Teacher Shen.

Perhaps out of respect for Teacher Shen, these little rascals were not at all shy with Chen Fei, treating him as one of their own.

Shen Fei's hometown had a natural advantage in food. Even if the children were lazy, they couldn't resist the temptation of lunch. They would have to work hard to study, or they would have to watch the top students enjoy their meals while they were left hungry and crying.

For the parents of the students, a free lunch could significantly reduce the family's burden. Eating well and safely at Teacher Shen's place was a relief.

There was no way they would let their children slack off. They had to strive to be the top students in their grade to ease their parents' worries.

Children always remember food, not punishment. No matter how many times they were beaten, it wouldn't help if they didn't love studying. But when it came to food, these hungry children had almost no resistance.

Although Shen Fei maintained the school on her own, to ensure the quality of education, she had to put in extra effort.

"Teacher Shen, can you afford your salary?"

Even with her own vegetable garden and all the effort she put into providing a variety of meals, Chen Fei was concerned about the financial pressure on this female teacher. She must have spent a lot of her own money.

If she were only thinking about making money, she wouldn't be able to stay here. The best choice would be to leave early.

After all, with so many mouths to feed, even if the pickled vegetables and vegetables were grown herself with little cost, the expenses for flour and meat were not insignificant.

When he took out gluten, sugar, and yeast from his backpack, he could tell from Shen Fei's surprised reaction that her supplies were not very abundant.

"It's okay. I have additional allowances and various subsidies. The sheep and chickens here are very cheap, and with the things I grow myself, I can manage. The UNESCO and the Tianqi Defense Group have an agreement, and the 911 Air Base regularly provides me with supplies, such as flour, rice, oil, salt, vinegar, and personal items. I basically don't lack anything, except for specialized bread flour. Thank you for bringing me the gluten this time. I can make bread again."

Despite maintaining a school in the remote mountains of the Hindu Kush, with a considerable number of students, Shen Fei remained optimistic.

Shen Fei and her compatriots had long mastered survival skills like farming, being more adept at self-reliance and overcoming difficulties. Unlike people in other places who would only think of building a boat to escape when a flood came, they never thought of conquering the flood and bringing the gods down to earth to beat them.

"If you need anything or have any inconvenience, just let me know. But..."

Chen Fei scratched his head, looking embarrassed.

The school, which had to generate its own electricity, was in a signal dead zone. In fact, most of the Hindu Kush region had no civilian signals except for satellite signals. There was no internet or phone service, almost like being cut off from the world.

The school and the 911 Air Base couldn't even make a phone call. Relying on people to relay messages would take at least five to six hours, which was both inefficient and costly.

Seeing Chen Fei's embarrassment, Shen Fei smiled and waved her hand. "It's okay, it's okay. If you have time, just come over and visit. I don't have much work here. The children usually help me with some tasks, and if I really need help, the nearby villagers will come to assist."

The school was a joint effort of several nearby villages. If Shen Fei had any difficulties, no one would stand idly by.

"Alright, I'll definitely come over more often!"

Chen Fei scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"In the afternoon, there's a writing class for all six grades. You can help me."

Shen Fei blinked, a smile in her eyes.

"No problem, leave it to me."

Chen Fei patted his chest without hesitation, leaving a few greasy handprints on his clothes.

As a college student preparing for postgraduate studies, dealing with elementary school writing was a piece of cake.

"Thanks a lot!"

After lunch, there was an hour of free time, and the school bell rang at 1:30 PM.

The children, who had been playing in the yard, finally settled down and obediently returned to the large classroom.

The two-hour writing class was led by Teacher Shen Fei, with the first hour for writing and the second hour for evaluation.

Each stage of a child's writing development has distinct characteristics.

Characters, words, short sentences, long sentences, paragraphs; time, place, people, events; goals, obstacles, analysis and choices, results and rewards; central ideas, distinct features, conflicts, reversals, and themes; personification, metaphors, exaggeration, parallelism, allusions, and emotions... Seeing mountains as mountains, seeing water as water, seeing mountains not as mountains, seeing water not as water, seeing mountains as mountains again, and seeing water as water again.

Despite the same topic, the essays written by different grades would still have significant differences.

The large classroom soon filled with the sound of scratching pens as students from all grades began to write diligently.