Chapter 22 School starts The tradition of September 1st as the first day of school can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century in China. According to historical records, in 1903, Zhang Baixi, Rongqing, Zhang Zhidong and others formulated a new school regulations based on the Japanese school system, namely "The Draft School Regulations". Because that year was the Guimao year in the old calendar, this school system was called the Guimao School System. The Guimao school system stipulated the semester time and school start time of the academic year. Of course, it was not until after the reform and opening up that September 1st became increasingly popular as the start date of the fall semester. Due to the characteristics of an agricultural society, starting school in the fall can avoid conflicts with the busy farming season and make it easier for rural students to participate in household chores. In the countryside, the busy farming season is a very special time. When Fang Wei was still studying at Donghua Primary School, the school would give a "busy farming holiday" during the busy farming season, which lasted for nine days and there was no adjustment for the holiday. Now think about it, how much farm work can primary school students do? It is mainly the school teachers who need to do the work, especially the primary school teachers on remote islands, who are all locals. Who doesn’t have some farm work to do? I still remember that the principal's family needed to harvest peanuts, so he simply organized twenty or thirty elementary school students from the whole school to go to his field to help pick the peanuts, calling it a social practice activity! Starting this year, the Donghua Primary School in the village has ceased operations. All primary school students on the island have to go to primary school in the neighboring Baitan Town. However, there are still holidays during the busy farming season, and they should no longer have to help the principal's family pick peanuts... Fang Wei, Xu Cailing and Fang Yuansheng became glorious junior high school students of Baitan Middle School. They no longer had to pick peanuts, and it seemed that there were no more holidays during the busy farming season. The holidays in the middle school were basically arranged according to the statutory holidays. When we registered the day before yesterday, Teacher Wen also reminded us that the class time every day is 7:30 in the morning, and asked everyone not to be late.
The class starts at 7:30, which sounds early, but it is not early for the people on the island. At this time in early September, the sunrise time is 5:20. In fact, it is already bright before 5 o'clock. There are very few children who sleep until 8 or 9 o'clock. Although he had to go to school today, Fang Wei still insisted on his plan of getting up early and running. After running and watching the sunrise, I ran back home to take a shower, change clothes, and eat the breakfast prepared by my mother. Fang Wei raised his wrist and looked at his watch. It was only six o'clock. "I'm going to work. Remember to lock the door when you go to school. Don't lose the key you brought with you! I've already fed the chickens!" "It's okay. There's a key under the stone slab in the yard." "If you keep thinking about having a spare key, you'll lose your own key sooner or later!" "...very insightful, mom, what you said makes so much sense." Fang Wei fell into deep thought. His mother's seemingly ordinary reminder actually made him realize something. He realized that he was getting better and better. Breakfast was still white porridge with pickles and salted fish, but starting today, there was a fragrant fried egg in his bowl. Thanks to the little hens, four more eggs were laid today. For a short period of time, our family will be egg-free. After getting used to getting up early, I have a lot more disposable time in my daily life. Before leaving for class, Fang Wei has already eaten breakfast, cleaned up the dishes, and went to water the vegetable garden. He squatted down, peeled off some soil with his fingers and took a closer look. Many rapeseeds had begun to sprout! There is no green color emerging, but white roots have sprouted from the tips of the rapeseed. I guess green sprouts will grow tomorrow. Back in the yard, Fang Wei checked his brand new bicycle. He has already taken a ride on this new orange bike and it is very smooth and very easy to ride! Squatting down and tilting the bicycle, he held the pedal and turned the chain, then added a little bit of lubricating oil. But not too much, otherwise the chain would easily fall off. Pinch the front and rear tires and feel the elasticity of the air pressure inside the tires, perfect. Generally, the front wheels should be inflated a little lower than the rear tires. Otherwise, if the front wheels are inflated too much, the front of the car will jump violently when encountering bumpy roads. When Fang Wei rode his new bike in the yard, he heard the familiar sound of brushing teeth from the other side of the wall.
"Ah--gulp--poof!" "...What time is it? Cailing, you just got up?" "Ah-gulp-gulp-poof!... I didn't just get up. I can leave after I brush my teeth!" "You don't eat breakfast?" “I’ve eaten them all!” "…eat breakfast first and then brush your teeth?" "Otherwise, if I brush my teeth before eating breakfast, won't my teeth get dirty again?" "Then why don't you eat breakfast first and then brush your teeth? Won't the original dirt be eaten into your stomach?" "Idiot! Don't you ever swallow your saliva when you sleep? Wouldn't that mean you swallow all the dirt as well?" "Anyway, you should brush your teeth first, then eat breakfast." "Humph, eat breakfast first, then brush your teeth!" There was a generation gap between the boy and the girl, and Fang Wei could no longer continue chatting with her on this topic. He bet that there were definitely more people who brushed their teeth first than those who ate breakfast first. …… Although Xu Cailing looks careless usually, she has an excellent quality, which is absolute punctuality. She has been like this since she was a child. I have known her for so long in my two lifetimes combined. As long as we have an appointment, she will never be late. Even if this is just a seemingly insignificant quality, the more people I meet, the more I realize that not everyone can do it. At 6:50 in the morning, the agreed departure time had arrived. After a lot of busy work at home, Xu Cailing appeared in front of Fang Wei's yard on time on her bicycle. "Go!" "I'm coming……" Fang Wei looked towards the door. Her current outfit was no longer the one she wore when she got up early every day during the summer vacation to dry her clothes in the sun. She didn't wear a big straw hat, but a white baseball cap. Her short ponytail was visible from behind the cap. Because of long-term sun exposure, his skin is a healthy wheat color. He wears a clean goose yellow T-shirt on the upper body and a pair of gray generic sports pants on the lower body. He carries a newly bought canvas backpack on his shoulders. There is a folding umbrella in the left pocket of the backpack and a mineral water bottle filled with boiled water in the right pocket. The bottles are very new and the wrapping paper has not fallen off. They will be reused for a long time in the future. Xu Cailing held the handlebars with both hands and supported one of her long legs on the ground, riding the bicycle, waiting for him at the door to go to school together. I have to say, it is indeed youthful and beautiful. I won’t talk about Fang Wei’s outfit, it was just like that anyway. Since the new textbooks had not been distributed yet, his schoolbag looked empty, so he brought the unfinished copy of "Ordinary World" with him. Because the journey is far, I don’t go home at noon. When I’m bored or studying, I can read the books I brought with me. Xu Cailing also brought books. Her favorite is "Dragon Ball" Fang Wei closed the yard door and rode his bike with her to the roadside.
"Fang Wei! How about we swap bikes? Let me ride your new bike!" "No, I'm afraid you'll break it." "Wow, you must be so stingy!" "Let's go, we're going to be late." "It's still very early!" Fang Wei and Xu Cailing rode side by side along the village road. The cat lying on the wall basking in the sun yawned and watched the two figures go away until they disappeared around the corner. July is not idle either. It not only has to catch mice, but also has to guard the house. As the cat was thinking, he felt sleepy again and closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. Occasionally, an ignorant butterfly would land on its ear, and then be swatted away by its claws... Of course, Fang Wei and Xu Cailing did not forget their other accomplice, and since they were on their way, the last place they arrived at was A Sheng's house. Probably because it was his first time riding his bike to go to school in town by himself, Fang Yuansheng seemed very enthusiastic and waited for them at the door of his house early in the morning. Seeing their figures from afar, A Sheng rushed over on his bike and joined the Pineapple Island team's convoy. "Why are you two so slow? I've been waiting for you for a long time! I thought you were going on a date alone and left me behind!" "What are you talking about? Didn't we agree to leave from Fang Wei's house at 6:50?" "Should we call a few more people, such as Xiaobo, Azheng, and Xiaohui, to go together?" Fang Yuansheng suggested. The three people mentioned by Asheng are all their elementary school classmates, and they are all from the same village, but the three of them are the best friends. When they graduated from elementary school, there were only six students in their class. Now they are in middle school, Xiaobo and his two children are in a different class from Fang Wei and his two children. "Well... forget it. We didn't make an appointment before. Maybe they all went to school first, and they are not in the same class as us." Xu Cailing thought for a moment and then said, "Hey! Liu Zhiyi is from the same village and class as us. How about we ask her to join us?" "Ah? You know him, it won't seem weird?" Ah Sheng also felt it was unreliable when he heard it. "Yeah, forget it. We'll know each other after today anyway. I'll ask her another day." "Is she going there by bike, too?" "How should I know..." When I rode to the entrance of the village, I saw several people waiting for the bus on the roadside. Ah Sheng analyzed: "If she didn't ride a bicycle, she must have taken the bus!" Xu Cailing: “…” Fang Wei: “…” Aren’t you talking nonsense! (End of this chapter)
