After reaching a joint decision, the two families ultimately chose to call Xie Dingyuan and inform him of Jiang Fuyue’s current situation.
Half a month ago, when he couldn’t reach Jiang Fuyue, he had called the house to ask, but at that time the family didn’t know much either.
Unfortunately, when they called the Suweitian base, the base informed them that Xie Dingyuan had gone out on a mission and could not be contacted.
…
Back on the island, after being dispirited for a day, Jiang Fuyue quickly pulled herself together.
If she herself were easily swayed by emotions, then what about everyone else?
Early morning, a layer of moisture condensed over the sea, and mist lingered among the hills.
Jiang Fuyue found the team’s electrician and communications technician: “Bring your tools and come with me.”
The two exchanged glances, there was work to do!
At ten in the morning, the broken network was restored.
“Professor Jiang, this method is absolutely brilliant!”
“Have you studied fiber-optic communication?”
Jiang Fuyue: “I’ve read some books.”
Technician: “……”
He had worked in this field for twenty years and still couldn’t match the level of someone who had merely “read some books.”
It was… quite a blow.
Inside the prefabricated housing, everyone had just woken up and habitually took out their phones to check the time, then…
“Holy cr*p! There’s internet?!”
“Hey! There is, there is, I got WeChat messages!”
“I instantly feel alive again.”
“The network’s back, everyone! Professor Jiang personally climbed up and down to fix it.”
“That’s all you need to say, amazing!”
“If this were a deserted island survival game, whoever teams up with Professor Jiang would definitely win without effort.”
“Aren’t we basically already in a deserted island survival situation?”
“Now that you mention it… we really are!”
…
With the network restored and contact with the outside world reestablished, everyone felt much less down.
But this was far from enough. After all, playing on phones all day wasn’t good for physical or mental health.
So Jiang Fuyue simply assigned everyone tasks.
Previously, the popularization of medical knowledge had been somewhat rough and incomplete, and many basic facts hadn’t yet been conveyed to the villagers.
Jiang Fuyue gathered everyone to create a dedicated science handbook, carrying out systematic, standardized, and well-structured knowledge dissemination.
“Professor Jiang, we don’t have a printer, do we have to hand-copy all of this?”
“Yeah! It’s dozens of pages, packed with text. It’d take half a month to copy everything, right?”
Jiang Fuyue whispered a few instructions to a bodyguard. The bodyguard nodded and left.
A quarter of an hour later, he returned. On the small cart in his hands sat a boxed, brand-new upright printer.
Everyone was astonished and kept asking where it came from.
Jiang Fuyue: “Bought it at the mall before we came. It’s been sitting in the ship’s cargo hold unused.”
Everyone recalled that during the second docking, Jiang Fuyue had indeed bought a lot of things, including the earlier batch of small electric scooters.
They hadn’t expected she had even bought a printer!
Soon, the manuals were printed, and each doctor received a copy.
Next, they began holding lectures on the open flat ground of the camp.
The first session was taught by Jiang Fuyue.
The area was packed. There weren’t enough stools, so many villagers simply sat on the ground.
One session per day, with a different doctor lecturing each time.
Each villager held a small booklet. Every time they attended, they got one stamp upon arrival and another upon leaving. Collect 20 stamps to exchange for one jin of pork offal, 30 stamps for one jin of pork cracklings.
All you had to do was sit quietly and listen through the entire session. After ten-odd days, you could exchange it for meat, wasn’t that basically free?
If you were lucky, during the session the doctor might ask questions, and if you answered correctly, you’d get an extra stamp.
“I’ve already got 40 stamps. No rush to exchange, I’ll collect more first.”
“Why do I only have 34? We attended every session together!”
“I answered six questions correctly, of course I have more.”
“Hmph! Next time I’ll raise my hand too! Last time you got it wrong and Doctor Liu still gave you a stamp.”
“Doctor Liu said it was encouragement. Getting it wrong doesn’t matter, the key is that I listen seriously every time. These doctors really know how to speak and handle things, it makes people feel comfortable. Why can’t we do that?”
“Then I’ll listen carefully next time too.”
“…”
Soon, Jiang Fuyue noticed that more and more villagers were actively participating, raising their hands to answer questions, and their enthusiasm was steadily increasing.
In addition to medical knowledge lectures, after discussing with everyone, Jiang Fuyue also launched legal knowledge lectures in the same way.
Coincidentally, two of the doctors in the team had studied law as undergraduates, so there was no shortage of lecturers.
However…
“Is it really necessary for us to learn the laws from outside the island?” a villager asked.
“Learn it. Professor Jiang said if you go out, you need to understand the law, or you’ll easily get bullied.”
“Oh, so you’re telling the truth now? You want to go out and make a living!”
“As if you don’t want to.”
“…Can’t argue with that.”
After seeing so many new things, it was hard not to be tempted.
Especially the young people on the island, they were at a stage of curiosity and exploration about the world, physically strong, mentally active, and more adventurous.
Before, they hadn’t known how exciting the outside world was. Now that Jiang Fuyue and her group had pushed open a window for them to see it, how could they not long for it?
“A long time ago, the clan leader encouraged everyone to go out and try their luck. Back then, the older generation said he was crazy. Now it seems he may have already realized that Duofu couldn’t remain closed off forever.”
“Learning more can’t hurt. Whether we stay on the island or go out in the future, it’ll be useful.”
“Alright, then let’s learn!”
As for the older villagers, they didn’t join in this trend. They found the medical lectures more interesting, now they had reached topics like cupping therapy and moxibustion, which were especially fascinating!
Soon, the legal lectures were up and running. After some time, although they weren’t as popular as the medical lectures, they still attracted many of the island’s young and middle-aged labor force.
And this group represented Duofu’s future.
Only when they progressed could Duofu progress; only when they were willing to engage with the world could Duofu truly open its doors.
Among them were quite a few children only seven or eight years old. At first, they came for the free mung bean soup, but gradually they were drawn in by the real-life cases introduced during the legal education sessions. It was like listening to stories, these little ones propped their chins up and listened with great interest the entire time.
One day, Jiang Fuyue happened to pass by during a break, just as everyone was lining up to receive mung bean soup.
A fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy, however, remained seated, flipping through the legal education pamphlet with his head lowered, as if it were more appealing than the soup.
Jiang Fuyue walked over.
He broke into a grin and called out, “Professor Jiang,” then picked up the booklet, pointed to a sentence on one of the pages, and asked her, “How do you read this character?”
Jiang Fuyue told him, “pan’ as in ‘to sentence.’”
“And this one?”
“‘Xing’ in ‘criminal law.’”
He suddenly understood, then scratched his head a little awkwardly. “So I’ve been reading them backwards all this time… Thank you! I get it now! This one is ‘pan,’ and this one is ‘xing.’ Together they form ‘to sentence’.”
Jiang Fuyue looked at him in slight surprise. “You can read?”
The boy nodded, then shook his head. “Only some. There are still many I don’t recognize.”
Jiang Fuyue pointed out a few characters on the spot for him to read. He could answer the simple ones immediately, but the more complex ones stumped him.
“Who taught you?”
“When Doctor Wang and Doctor Li explain things, they read from this booklet. I listen to them while following along with the characters, and that’s how I learned.”
This conversation made Jiang Fuyue realize a very serious problem: the people on the island had never gone to school and were illiterate. No matter how well general medical care and legal education were carried out, they were like castles in the air, it did not fundamentally change their backwardness and ignorance.
Not long after, a “literacy class” was established.
Requiring the villagers to systematically learn Chinese characters, from pinyin to character structure, and then to word usage and sentence construction, was clearly unrealistic.
For one, the villagers didn’t have that much time or patience; for another, it was very taxing for the teachers.
But if it was just “basic literacy,” then things became much simpler.
Everyone started by learning to write their own names,
“Li Daniu!”
“Huang Guihua!”
“Lin Baisha!”
“Wu Haitun!”
“…”
Everyone showed tremendous enthusiasm and excitement about learning to write their own names.
They chattered noisily, the place buzzing with energy.
“Doctor Liu, look, did I write it right?”
“Doctor Wang, how do I write the ‘sha’ character in my name?”
“I think I wrote it backwards? Did I?”
“…”
Each person held a small wooden stick and used it to write and draw in basins filled with fine white sand.
If it didn’t look right, they could simply smooth it over and write again.
Back and forth, practicing repeatedly.
“Waaah, ” A little girl sat on the ground, crying bitterly.
Jiang Fuyue walked over. “What’s wrong?”
“Dr. Jiang, sob… writing my name is so hard. What if I can’t learn? Little Hu and the others already can, but I can’t. Now they won’t even play with me…”
“It’s okay. Practice a few more times and you’ll get it. I’ll teach you.”
“Really?” The little girl sniffled and stopped crying.
“Mm. What’s your name?”
“My name is Fan Hudie!”
“…”
Well! No wonder she was crying.
After practicing for two or three days, the little girl looked at her crooked, uneven attempts at writing her name, so many that even a large basin couldn’t hold them all, and burst into tears again.
Jiang Fuyue felt helpless. For the first time, she understood those parents who named their children something simple like “Yi Yi.”
See? That’s what you call foresight.
After learning how to write their names, the next step was commonly used Chinese characters.
“Should we do it like before, list a few hundred characters ourselves?”
“And then print them into booklets.”
“Do we still have enough A3 and A4 paper?”
“Don’t worry! Plenty! There are fifty full boxes stocked in the cargo hold.”
At this point, Jiang Fuyue’s foresight had to be praised once again.
However, she did not adopt everyone’s suggestion. Instead… she went out with her bodyguards, and when they returned, each of them was carrying a box.
When they opened them, well, what a sight! Inside were actually “literacy flashcards”!
The kind specially made for preschool children, with one large character per sturdy card, along with pinyin.
Five hundred commonly used Chinese characters, acquired!
“Th-this… did you just conjure these out of thin air?”
“It feels like Professor Jiang flew back to the mainland, bought these at a supermarket, and flew back again.”
“I seriously suspect Professor Jiang has a portable storage space!”
“Or maybe teleportation! Whoosh, she breaks through dimensions to another space, then whoosh, she’s back.”
Faced with everyone’s questions, Jiang Fuyue gave her standard answer: she had bought them earlier and left them unused in the cargo hold.
Everyone: “?”
So these cards, just like the electric scooters and printers, had been purchased when they docked before.
How strong must her foresight have been to prepare even literacy flashcards?
“I suspect Sister Yue can tell fortunes.”
“Precognition, perhaps?”
“Anyone want to apprentice under her? Let’s form a group.”
“One day I’ve got to check the cargo hold, who knows what other treasures are in there…”
“In your dreams! All five cargo ships are now strictly guarded, with bodyguards taking shifts every day. Want to go in? Submit a report to Professor Jiang first.”
“At this rate, I wouldn’t even be surprised if she pulled an airplane out of the cargo hold someday.”
The literacy campaign progressed in full swing, and the villagers’ enthusiasm was extremely high.
Of course, aside from studying every day, they still had to tend to their farm work.
Typically, they worked in the morning, studied in the afternoon, reviewed at night, then slept and rested, repeating the cycle the next day.
In the early morning, as they carried hoes on their way to the fields, their conversations were no longer about which woman had fought with whom or which old man had argued with his wife, but instead…
“Have you learned to write your name yet?”
“How many common characters do you recognize? Can you form words?”
“The ones taught yesterday were so hard, awkward to read, too.”
“I know, right? I thought the same!”
“The kids at home learn so fast, their memory is incredible! My wife and I, on the other hand, can barely hold the stick without our hands shaking…”
In such an atmosphere, even digging and tilling the soil carried a faint scholarly air.
…
One day, on her way back after checking the fiber optic cables, Jiang Fuyue suddenly saw a mother and daughter step out from the bushes nearby.
“Professor Jiang.” The woman smiled at her.
“Wife Zhou, were you waiting here specifically for me?”
“Yes! I went to the station to ask, and they said you came here to check that big pole. I thought I’d take a shortcut to see if I could catch you, what luck, I did!”
“Did you need something? Is it Little Douya’s health, ”
“No, no! After taking the medicine you gave her last time, she was lively and kicking again the very next day. Silly girl, hurry up and thank Professor Jiang…” she said, gently nudging the little girl’s back.
“Thank you, Professor Jiang!” the girl said timidly.
Jiang Fuyue patted her head. “You’re welcome.”
Little Douya stole a glance at her. This pretty older sister’s hand was soft and comfortable, like the fine, delicate white sand on the beach…
Warm enough to make one want to sink into it.
Jiang Fuyue said, “Then what did you come to see me for?”
“Here, ” The woman stuffed a basket into her arms. “This is a small token of my appreciation. Thank you for taking care of Little Douya and her father!”
With that, afraid Jiang Fuyue might refuse, she quickly ran off with her daughter.
Jiang Fuyue looked down and saw several snow-white silk handkerchiefs neatly folded in the basket, each embroidered with lifelike butterflies.
They felt delicate to the touch, as thin as cicada wings.
Such exquisite craftsmanship surprised Jiang Fuyue slightly.
It was said that every woman on the island could weave cloth and make handkerchiefs, but she hadn’t expected them to be this refined, far superior to those so-called “handmade traditional” textiles outside.
Suddenly, a bold idea formed in Jiang Fuyue’s mind…
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