webnovelfull Chapter 252: About the Development of the Fiefdom (10)
Chapter 252: About the Development of the Fiefdom (10)
After lunch, the emperor wanted to go to the orphanage.
Since I promised the little girl that I would donate money to the orphanage, I naturally have to go there to fulfill my promise. It’s also a good opportunity to take a look at the orphanage’s situation.
The city was safe, and there were government offices and women's patrols on the streets, so the emperor did not bring many guards.
Apart from the empress, the crown prince, and the courtiers who came with them, he only brought Huang Guangcai and two guards. The number of people was greatly reduced. After asking for directions, the group headed towards the orphanage.
When we arrived at the door of the orphanage, we could hear the sound of reading aloud from inside.
At this time, a steward of the nursery came out, looked at the emperor and others, and asked:
"My Lords, are you here to visit the Orphanage?"
"Yes, please take us in." The emperor nodded.
The manager responded and immediately led a group of people into the door, explaining as he walked:
"Since the news of the Pingcheng Food Contest spread, many masters and ladies from other places have come to Pingcheng recently. Many of them are interested in our orphanage and will come to visit."
"Some kind-hearted gentlemen will donate money to our orphanage, some will sponsor the children in our orphanage one-on-one, and some families who happen to be in need of a companion will pick one and take him home to prevent these children from suffering from displacement."
The Queen couldn't help asking:
“What is one-to-one funding?”
"Madam, if you like any of our children, you can sponsor them. From now on, you can give them a sum of money every month to improve their lives and help them with their studies." The steward said, "With the support of kind people, the pressure on our orphanage will be less."
Everyone followed the steward inside, listening to his introduction as they walked—
The entire nursery is divided into three parts according to the ages of the children.
The first part consists of newborn babies to three-year-old children. These children do not have good self-care abilities yet. Most of them are abandoned by their parents because they cannot be supported by their families or they are sick.
These children are taken care of by special aunts and sisters-in-law. They have relatively fine meals three times a day, and doctors come to check their pulses every two days to ensure the children's health.
The second group is children aged four to seven. These children are in the enlightenment stage, which is a good time for them to start reading, but they also have the playfulness of other children.
The place where these children stay is called a kindergarten. It is said that the name was given by the princess. Its main purpose is to let the children learn while playing, to combine education with entertainment, to cultivate good behavioral habits for the children, to establish correct views on life, and so on.
In short, it is almost exactly the same as kindergartens in modern society.
The third part is children over eight years old.
In modern society, these children would be in primary school and would be mostly sensible enough, so the orphanage specifically asked them about their ideals for the future and planned different career paths for them.
If someone wants to study, let him study. If someone says he has never eaten meat and wants to be a butcher, let him study if he eats meat every day...
In other words, when these children were adopted into the orphanage, they were already older and had their own opinions. They were not as able to sit still as the younger ones, so we could only respect their own choices.
After listening to the steward's introduction, the emperor decided to go to the so-called kindergarten, because the sound of reading just now came from the kindergarten.
At this moment, the sound of reading has stopped.
When the emperor and others rushed over, they saw a little girl in the kindergarten, who was about the same age as the girl from the female patrol team on the street. She was handing out books to the children:
"Students, what I'm handing you today is the enlightenment textbook compiled by the princess and Qin Mengyao. It contains words, pictures, and pinyin. It took a lot of effort to make it. It is very precious. Everyone has only one copy. I hope you can take good care of it and don't tear it, don't wrinkle it, and don't lose it."
"Come, after you get the book, turn to the first page and read with me..."
The emperor looked at the booklets in the children's hands with great curiosity, so he asked the steward for a copy to read. The court officials behind him gathered around him involuntarily.
Because they all heard Qin Mengyao's name.
Qin Mengyao is the granddaughter of the Grand Tutor. She can compile a book, which is not a disgrace to the family. But no one knows what the book she compiled will look like?
Everyone looked at it and saw that the book was different from ordinary books.
Ordinary enlightenment books only have words on them, and children’s enlightenment relies entirely on rote memorization.
However, this book not only has words, but also pictures, and the pictures are colorful. For example, when teaching children to recognize "eyes, ears, mouth and nose", human organs are drawn on the pictures to help them remember.
What's more, each character is marked with something called Pinyin, which is simpler and clearer than the ancient sounds handed down from ancient times to the present. Moreover, the characters in this book are arranged horizontally, and the punctuation is marked very clearly, which makes it more suitable for children's enlightenment than vertical books that require children to punctuate themselves.
These books are a bit too childish for adults, but just right for kids.
There are punctuation marks in the horizontal row, which means it is not difficult to recognize sentences; there are pinyin, which means it is easier to recognize and pronounce words; there are pictures, which can attract children's curiosity and attention.
The most important thing is to compare each word with the real object, which not only helps children recognize words, but also teaches common sense.
Turning to the cover of this book, it says -
Children's Enlightenment Books (Illustrated Color Edition), edited by Shi Lidie and Qin Mengyao
When the book reached the hands of the Grand Tutor, the old man, who was in his fifties or sixties, suddenly burst into tears while holding the book in his hands. He was so moved that he could not restrain his tears. Before today, he had never thought that what his granddaughter did would benefit future generations like this.
It is said that education is the foundation of long-term plans, and Qin Mengyao has not disgraced the reputation of her scholarly family.
Even if she left a divorce letter and ran away to her fiefdom secretly, what would that matter?
If she didn't do this, she would be like those married women in the capital, who would spend every day managing the household, checking accounts, and taking care of the family. After several decades of life, she could see the end at a glance.
It was also because of the fiefdom that her knowledge and talents finally found a place to be put to good use.
She made many people understand that learning to read and write from a young age is not just for the purpose of being a beautiful woman with one's husband after marriage and composing poems, but she can also spread the knowledge she has learned in another way.
Prince Dun patted Master Qin on the shoulder, comforting him silently.
Among this group of people, perhaps only he could understand Master Qin's feelings. After all, his daughter, Gu Qinglan, had trained the girls in the female patrol team. They were agile and although their martial arts skills were not the best, they were all strong-willed.
He was neither humble nor arrogant, with his back straight, and had a bit of the demeanor of the soldiers trained in his family.
It turns out that Princess Zhenguo was right, girls don’t necessarily have to get married to realize their own value!