Chapter 437
After breakfast, Zachary and the two girls were led by Wang Dawei to the primary school of the Great King's Manor.
They walked along the mountain path. Although it was rugged, in this summer season, the mountains were full of trees, birds were singing, and flowers were fragrant. Tall trees and blooming wildflowers were everywhere beside the road. They walked along it as if they had entered a forest park, which made Song Yunfei and her little face blush for a long time. They looked around with excitement and were quite excited.
The path was not long. After walking for about half an hour, they went around a prominent slope on the left side of the village and arrived at their destination. It was a flat land under the hillside. At the moment, it was a bit of a mess, with a lot of building debris and mountain stones piled up everywhere.
However, in the ruins, there was a row of two-story buildings being built. At this moment, they had already begun to take shape. It seemed that it would be finished soon.
In front of the small building, a silver-haired old man was helping with the work, carrying cement and pushing the sand from time to time. He was so busy that he was sweating.
Master Wang shouted at the old man, "President Wang, the teacher of the branch teaching is here."
Hearing this, the silver-haired old man put down the work in his hand and walked toward Zachary and the others. With a smile on his face, he reached out his hand and said, "Welcome, you guys."
However, when his hand was about to touch Zachary, something suddenly occurred to him. He took a look at his dirty right hand and tried to wipe his clothes a few times.
However, Zachary held the old man's hands with both hands and shook them hard. With a sincere smile on his face, he said, "President Wang, thank you for your hard work."
On the way here, Zachary heard from Master Wang that Master Wang also went out of the village. After graduating from junior high school, Mr. Wong came back to stay in the village and became a teacher for the children. He stayed for decades. Master Wang sent away a group of students one after another, and also left wrinkles on his forehead one after another. He gradually changed from Mr. Wong to President Wang. The old man had been guarding the countryside for decades and selfless contributions, which made Zachary and others feel touched in their hearts.
For such an old man who devoted his life to the mountain village, the children, and the education career, Zachary only had admiration in his heart.
Then, the old principal shook hands with Song Yunjia, which had not been seen for a long time. The smile on his face became more brilliant.
As the old man chatted with Zachary and the others, he introduced the situation of the school to Song Yunfei, who had not been there for a long time.
The primary school here was called Spring Swallow, which was the only school in the surrounding regions. At most, there used to be more than a hundred children studying in the school. However, there was only one teacher, President Wang himself. He was the teacher of all the grade and subjects in the school, and he had been teaching for decades.
In the middle of the way, President Wang went to the county many times to ask for support from the county to send some substitute teachers. But he only sent a substitute teacher five years ago. As a result, he stayed in the school less than a week and left because he felt that it was too bitter here.
Later, President Wang went to the county many times, but the other party's response was something like thinking about it, and he couldn't see a person at all. In the past two years, when President Wang went to find him again, the other party simply disappeared.
Because of the lack of teachers and the lack of fund in the school, the number of children in the school in recent years had become fewer and fewer. Not until some time ago, the school was directly washed down by a rainstorm. Now, the students would never come again.
Fortunately, the photography reporter reported what happened here and attracted the first round of donation, including the 161, 000 yuan that Zachary donated, which was used to rebuild the school for the old principal. The old principal had planned to resume class after the school was repaired as soon as possible, but now that he had not been with Song Yunjia for a long time, the old principal directly sorted out a public office in the village as a temporary classroom.
In addition to working as a teacher with Song Yunfei for a long time, she was also a donateer with Zachary. The old headmaster took Zachary to walk around the school to see how the donation should be used. After reading it, Zachary couldn't help frowning, and his face looked a little bad.
Because although the main body of the school building was reinforced concrete, it could be seen that the wall of the stairs was only painted with a thin layer of cement, which was the kind of cement with less than sand. After soaking it in water, with a light poke, it could be poked out a large piece of it, revealing the red solid bricks inside.
And after taking a closer look, Zachary found that the solid bricks that were attached to the bricks were not green mortar that should be used on buildings. Instead, they were replaced by the original, sticky yellow soil that was mixed with water. This kind of clay was effective at the beginning, but as time went by, the wind and rain would hit it and it would be frozen. The clay was extremely easy to fall off. With a light crush, it could be ground into powder. With a little bit more effort, the red bricks inside could move.
"President Wang, the university gave it to the children. How can it be of such quality..." Zachary's voice was not very good, and he looked at the old principal seriously.
The old principal sighed softly and said, "There's no other way. We don't have enough money and the construction period is rush. That's all we can do."
"You don't have enough money?" Zachary's frown deepened. Looking at President Wang and the others, he said, "Why don't you have enough money? Apart from the photographer and the reporters who donated, we donated 160, 000 yuan. It's enough to build this small building."
President Wang sighed softly and said, "More than 160, 000 yuan, plus the 50, 000 yuan of the first batch of photography journalists, the money is enough. But I can't get it, so that's all I can do."
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"You can't get it? What's going on?" Zachary was surprised and angry.
The old principal gave a long sigh and said nothing.
Master Wang on the side spoke, "Mr. Ching, these two batches of donation were originally sent to the school directly, and President Wang accepted them. Later, when we went to the county and ran off to rebuild the school, the people of the construction bureau did not approve the formalities. They said that our information was not complete and we needed the stamps of the education bureau."
"We went to the Bureau of Education for the seal again, but the Bureau of Education said that the donation money would be paid, and it would be planned and dealt with by the county and distributed accurately. They forced the money to be collected, leaving us less than 15, 000 yuan. They said that the money will be distributed in batches, so this house..."
Hearing this, Zachary's face darkened, and he immediately understood that there was something fishy going on. It must be the collusion between the Education Bureau and the People's Bureau of Construction. They had embezzled the donation money.
"Are the people in the Education Bureau so lawless?" Zachary shouted angrily.
Master Wang and President Wang were speechless for a while. They let out a long sigh and said, "In the beginning, we also questioned it. We went to the county to find the director of the Education Bureau and even went to the magistrate's door to hold a banner. But it didn't work. We even got beaten up."
"Director Pan of the Education Bureau threatened us. If we make any trouble again, we won't get a penny. We're just farmers in the mountains. We can't defeat them, so we have to accept it." Master Wang said helplessly. As a member of the social management system of King's Manor, he didn't want to do this, but there was no other way.
Hearing this, Zachary was burning with anger. He also understood the helplessness of the villagers.
At this moment, a ringtone came from the old headmaster's hand. The old headmaster took out his old mobile phone, looked at the caller ID, and moved his mouth to Zachary and others. "Director Pan of Education Bureau." Then the old principal turned on hands-free and answered the phone, "Hello, Director Pan!"
"Old Wang, I have something to tell you!" An official voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Director Pan, please go ahead." The old principal had a helpless smile on his face.
"It's like this. Last time you went to the county to ask for the 5, 000 yuan of reconstruction funds. Now that you've encountered some trouble, you won't be able to give it back."
Hearing this, the old principal was shocked and shouted in a hurry, "Director Pan, how can this be? This can't be allowed. Our school still lacks the last sum of money. Otherwise, we can't seal it!"
"Old Wang, I'm just informing you. Why are you complaining about this? If you're short of money, you're not short of money in other places." Director Pan shouted angrily.
The old principal said angrily and helplessly, "But, Director Pan, those two donation are donated to our Chunyan School. Can you..."
"Old Wang, what do you mean by this? Do you think the money is yours? This is the money in the county. It's the money of the Education Bureau's unified plan. Do you want to go against the government's plan?" Director Pan raised a banner. The old principal repeatedly apologized, "Director Pan, please don't be angry. That's not what I mean! I just, just think that our Chunyan primary school has been crashed, and we still have classrooms to use in other primary schools. So, I want to ask you if you can tilt our Chunyan primary school a little bit. After all, there are still so many children waiting to go to school."
"Old Wang, as I said, this is the funds planned by the county's Education Bureau. If you want to support you, and if I agree, the other towns will also support me. What should I do?" Director Pan said in a furious tone. The old principal repeatedly apologized, "Director Pan, I know, I was wrong. It's just..."
However, before he could finish his sentence, the man on the other end of the line said, "Don't just think about it. The Education Bureau doesn't have the money. You don't have to come anymore." Then he hung up directly. As he put down the phone, the old principal's face turned pale, and he seemed to have lost his soul. He murmured, "It's over, the school is over, I..."
Before he could finish his words, the old principal's vision went black. He fell directly to the ground and passed out.
"Old principal!" Master Wang and others suddenly exclaimed.
However, it was Zachary who moved faster. He rushed forward, helped President Wang up, and quickly felt President Wang's pulse.