Chapter 330: Advice
Editor: Atlas Studios
Mu Yangling still couldn’t make up her mind who to hand over the nursery to because she couldn’t find a suitable person.
The people there were all powerless children who could endure hardships. As long as it did not kill them, they could endure the suffering. It wasn’t hard to find someone who could control them.
However, what Mu Yangling wanted was not to “keep them under control.” She did not want these children to be eager to grow up and leave the nursery. She hoped that they could enjoy the joy of growing up while learning what they should learn.
Since she was already in charge of this matter, they were her responsibility. Naturally, she had to do better. She didn’t need a cold manager or even someone who would bully them. Instead, she wanted a wise and loving educator.
Since she couldn’t find a suitable candidate, she could only take care of them for the time being and run back and forth.
Fortunately, Magistrate Fang sent over the orphans on his side the next day. This way, there were a total of 1,238 orphans in the nursery. The rooms were a little tight. Mu Yangling felt that after the cold wave passed, she could get someone to carve out a plot of land and build another five rows of houses. This way, the boys and girls could be separated on both sides, and some classrooms could be built in the middle.
Anyway, since she had suggested it, both Qi Haoran and Magistrate Fang would agree to help. Other than being in charge of the workers’ three meals a day, she did not have to pay anything.
Mu Yangling found the leaders among the kids and said, “We’re going home for a while. I’ll leave the nursery to the few of you for the time being. I’ll come over often to take a look. If there are any issues, tell me. This place is very close to the military camp and the nearby farmsteads. Try not to get into any conflicts with them. If anyone comes to provoke you, settle it yourself if you can. If you can’t, look for their village chief. Tell them that I said that Little General gave his permission to build this nursery.”
The nearby villages were all new villages that the refugees had just settled down in. In the past two days, the news of the nursery had already spread. It was said that not only did it provide food and clothes for the children, but they were also taught literacy and life skills. Many people brought their children over and knelt outside to beg Mu Yangling to accept them.
Mu Yangling’s expression was very ugly. Probably to soften her heart, the children were not wearing their new cotton clothes and were only kneeling in the cold wind in thin clothes.
For the past two days, Mu Yangling had ignored them. Seeing that more and more people were kneeling at the door, Mu Yangling finally flew into a rage yesterday. She took a kitchen knife from the kitchen and threw it in front of them. With a sneer, she said, “The nursery only accepts orphans. It’s not impossible for you to send your children in. Firstly, everyone in the family who has passed the age of 14 will slit their throats. Also, rent all the military fields and freehold fields under the kid’s name to me. That rent will be used to provide for them. If you’re willing, start slitting your throats now.”
The people kneeling did not expect Mu Yangling to be so ruthless. Some of them muttered and cursed, while others cried pitifully and begged Mu Yangling to let them go. It was as if Mu Yangling was bullying them or something.
Mu Yangling sneered and said, “Go ahead and cry. If you anger me, I’ll find trouble with you every day. With more than 1,200 children under me, I can easily send ten people to your house every day to cause trouble. You won’t get to enjoy peace for the next ten years. If you don’t believe me, give it a try. Xiuhong, note down their names. Later, bring some people over and let them howl in front of their house. I want to see who can last until the end.”
The people who were crying and cursing paused and looked up at the group of children behind Mu Yangling. They all fell silent, but they could not help but blame Mu Yangling for being too ruthless.
When Xiuhong heard their cursing, she couldn’t help but snort coldly. She raised her voice and said, “To those who are accusing my cousin of being ruthless, she’s just giving you a taste of your own medicine. Some of you can even pin your biological children against the icy ground. Why should we feel sorry for them when we’re completely unrelated to them? If you don’t even feel sorry for your own children, who will feel sorry for them?”
Bowen glanced at the children kneeling in the cold wind and sighed. He advised, “Hurry up and bring your kids back to put on more clothes. If they catch a cold in such freezing weather, it could be fatal. My sister won’t accept these children. The purpose of the nursery is to take care of those children without parents and relatives. Our family has already emptied our assets because of this. Not to mention that you parents are still alive, we won’t even be able to accept any more orphans from outside. We really can’t afford it.”
When everyone heard Bowen’s words, they put away the resentment in their eyes and started to drag their child away.
Mu Yangling held her forehead with a headache and nodded slightly at Bowen. Bowen immediately said, “Everyone, don’t be in a hurry to leave. If you go back in the wind in such freezing weather, you’re going to become sick. Go to the canteen to drink a bowl of ginger soup first and let the children warm up before leaving.”
Bowen and the older kids from the nursery led those children to the canteen to drink ginger soup. This way, most of the adults’ anger disappeared, and some of them even looked a little ashamed. Only a few of them continued staring sinisterly at Mu Yangling and the others.
Mu Yangling only snorted coldly and turned to leave, ignoring those people. When she returned to the office, she couldn’t help but have a headache. Xiuhong also said angrily, “If not for the fact that these villages are not far from the nursery and we have to interact with them often in the future, I really don’t want to bother with them.”
It was precisely because of this consideration that Mu Yangling arranged for Bowen to play the good cop while she played the bad cop with Xiuhong.
“Fortunately, the military camp isn’t far from here, so there won’t be a big conflict. However, we have to find a Nursery Manager soon. Otherwise, I really won’t be able to handle it.
Never one who was good at dealing with such conflicts, Mu Yangling had always advocated fighting violence with violence.
“But Cousin, what kind of person are you looking for? There have been a lot of applicants these past few days.”
“None are suitable. When they talked about the children in the nursery, they all looked like they’re giving alms. When they were brought to watch the children play, I observed from the side. They had an arrogant expression on their faces that suggested they were looking at beggars. I’m hiring them to take care of the children and educate them, not to give alms to them. Forget it, we shouldn’t make do in this case. Before the position of the Nursery Manager is filled, I’ll take care of the nursery with you guys first. I’ll send you guys back first tomorrow. My mother has already sent letters to urge us to go back several times. Great-aunt is very angry that we haven’t gone back since the Winter Solstice.”
Xiuhong stuck out her tongue, not daring to object.
Winter Solstice was a very important festival here, no less grand than the Dragon Heads-raising Day1.
Speaking of which, it was strange. In her previous life, the Mid-Autumn Festival ranked second in importance to the Spring Festival. However, in this era, the Mid-Autumn Festival wasn’t highly regarded. Other than the Spring Festival, the most grand festivals were the second of February, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Winter Solstice. The other festivals were somewhat dispensable.
Therefore, not only was Great-aunt angry that Mu Yangling and the others were absent from the important Winter Solstice, but even the good-tempered Shu Wanniang was angry.
Therefore, they could not delay returning any longer.
Bowen brought the older children to repair their relationship with those people. In the evening, when those parents realized that they really couldn’t leave their children behind, they had no choice but to bring them away dejectedly.
For the first time, Bowen felt tired. Although those people had left, he didn’t know if they would find an excuse to cause trouble. Considering the oldest in the nursery was only 13 years old, they definitely couldn’t compare to those adults and elders. Hence, before Mu Yangling left, she gave reminders to the older children in the nursery. In the end, she even said, “If the village chief dilly-dallies or doesn’t care, quickly go to the cattle farm to look for Zhang Wu and Zhang Liu. Get them to inform me. Remember, it’s more important to protect yourselves and the younger kids.”
She wanted them to avoid physical conflict with those people as much as possible, for it was too dangerous.
The older children all agreed.