Chapter 571: Chapter 571: Lobbying
 

“Ladies and gentlemen, Sisi hasn’t finished speaking yet.”

Liu Sisi waved her hands for quite a while before she finally managed to suppress the voices of the crowd: “Not only can men attend school, but women who wish to learn can also enroll. However, the classrooms for women will be separate from those for men, and the teachers will also be women. Anyone between the ages of eight and fifteen can attend!”

“As for the specifics, enrollment will begin at the end of the summer heat in August. If anyone wants to attend, you can all come and register at that time.”

The reason for choosing this enrollment period is not only because Liu Sisi’s due date is between the end of May and early June, but also because it is in line with the local customs. People here mainly cultivate crops, and accordingly, there are three main periods for students to enroll: spring, autumn, and winter.

Spring enrollment, like Di Xuan and Zhang Peng’s, begins after the fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year and generally lasts three months, ending before the Qingming Festival.

Autumn enrollment takes place after the autumn harvest and lasts until the Lunar New Year. Of course, there is also a winter enrollment in October, which lasts until before the Qingming Festival of the following year, with a one-month break during the Spring Festival.

Of course, these enrollment methods are mostly adopted by the poorer students, while the wealthy families’ children are not included.

As soon as Liu Sisi finished speaking, it was as if a ladle of cold water had been added to a boiling oil pan, and the crowd immediately erupted!

“Are they really going to open enrollment for girls? Oh my God! What is happening?”

“Can girls also exchange labor for the opportunity to study?”

“Does this mean they’re going to have women and men compete together in the future? What is going on…”

Amidst the murmurs of the crowd, Di Yelei had quietly led Liu Sisi off the carriage and returned to their residence.

Everyone was extremely excited!

Even Di Cheng’s face was full of joy.

Upon returning home, the first to rush out from inside to greet them was Di Ying, who had been impatiently waiting!

“Dad, Mom! How come you just got back? Didn’t you come back yesterday? Why didn’t you come to see Ying’er, waaa…”

YingEr burst into tears, causing Di Xuan to bite his lip and remain silent.

Di Yelei hurriedly picked her up, gently patting her back and softly comforting her for a while until YingEr finally stopped crying and smiled.

After that, Di Yelei carried YingEr into the courtyard, where he saw Elderly Mr. Di standing under the eaves with a crutch, his face full of excitement and tears hidden in his eyes.

Di Yelei put Di Ying down and knelt on one knee, choking back tears as he said, “Dad, Yelei is back!”

Elderly Mr. Di was also choking back tears as he took several deep breaths, “It’s good you’re back, it’s good you’re back, very good!”

Elderly Mr. Di stepped forward and personally helped Di Yelei up, forcefully patting his shoulder.

Liu Sisi looked at the scene before her, raising her head to look at the sky, and then her eyes welled up with tears.

The storm had finally passed! How wonderful!

In the following days, Di Yelei was busy dealing with the details of the bridge repair and road construction project and the official handover with the authorities in Macheng County. He was extremely busy.

Meanwhile, Liu Sisi was busy dealing with matters related to the official residence, arranging and filling spaces where needed. She also took advantage of the darkness to buy and transport a large amount of grain for storage, making plans to move in at any time.

On the other hand, she was also occupied with another task – paying homage to ancestors during the Qingming Festival!

The locals attached great importance to the Qingming Festival ancestor worship, and a considerable number of officials and patriots would return to their hometown during this period to pay homage to their ancestors.

Di Yelei was no exception!

Since the Qingming Festival and the Cold Food Festival were close together, a few days before the Qingming Festival, Liu Sisi took Di Xuan to the village school to bid farewell to his honorable teacher, Elder Mr. Xu.

When Liu Sisi handed over the education gift with both hands, Elder Mr. Xu snorted coldly and stared at her for a long time before accepting the gift from her.

“I heard… you want to open an academy?” Elder Mr. Xu’s voice was cold.

Liu Sisi was not bothered by his indifferent attitude and smiled: “Elder Mr. Xu is indeed well-informed. I do have this idea, but as for whether it will succeed or not, it depends on whether respected scholars like you would deign to join us.”

“Hehe, I don’t have that ability. Mrs. Di should find someone more talented instead.” Elder Mr. Xu declined directly without giving any face.

Liu Sisi didn’t feel annoyed.

If Elder Mr. Xu had agreed directly, that would have been strange.

“I’m doing this to benefit our fellow villagers and cultivate more pillars of society for our hometown. Even if they are not pillars, they should at least be literate, and not be blind in life. That’s enough. But I alone am not capable enough to do this. That’s why we need talents like Elder Mr. Xu…”

Liu Sisi went on and on for quite a while, but he still maintained a cold smile without any extra movement.

“Are you done? If so, the main entrance is over there, and I won’t see you off!” Elder Mr. Xu bluntly expelled her without any reservation.

Seeing that things were not going well, Liu Sisi didn’t bother too much. She stood up, bowed to Elder Mr. Xu, and said with a smile: “Elder Mr. Xu, it’s a pity that such a great Confucian scholar as yourself lacks any sense of serving the country and the people. You are not even as compassionate as a woman like me. How can you talk about serving the country? In that case, let’s forget that I ever mentioned this. Take care!”

After saying this, Liu Sisi bade farewell to Elder Mr. Xu and turned to leave.

“You! You…”

Elder Mr. Xu was so enraged that his beard bristled and his eyes stared at Liu Sisi’s receding back: “Indeed, only women and petty people are hard to raise!”

Although Liu Sisi walked away, her excellent hearing still caught his words. She turned back and said: “A truth that even I, a woman, understands but Elder Mr. Xu doesn’t? That just shows that he is nothing but a petty man! For a petty woman like me to be compared with a petty man… what a sigh!”

Liu Sisi’s eloquence was truly infuriating!

“Indeed… a smooth-talking villain!”

Left behind, Elder Mr. Xu was so angry that his beard bristled and his eyes bulged, and it took quite a while for him to calm down.

On the contrary, Di Xuan, who was following behind Liu Sisi, had his head down, feeling embarrassed and unable to lift his spirits.

Liu Sisi turned back and saw Di Xuan’s expression, and heaved a sigh: “Xuan’er, if you want others to respect you, it’s not enough to just be submissive. You also need to show your true abilities to make others see that you’re qualified to talk to them. Only then will they care and take you seriously!”

“But what if Elder Mr. Xu refuses to teach me in the second half of the year?” Di Xuan still looked dejected.

“Even without this happening, you can’t continue to study with Elder Mr. Xu. You, as his son, should help your father with his business. Shouldn’t you?”