Chapter 276: Chapter 276: Sponsoring Students, Home Visits

“Alright then, you live in Wangjiatun, right? Oh, by the way, is Wang Qingchuan from your village too?” Gu Qinghuan suddenly remembered—both of them had the surname Wang, and both families were dirt poor.

Wang Qingchuan always paid his tuition at the very end of each semester.

“Yes, Qingchuan is from our village too. His family’s situation is even worse than mine.

His father died when he was two, hit by a falling rock while repairing an irrigation canal.

His mother has raised him alone all these years. People tried to introduce her to other men, but she refused.

Qingchuan has always been a good student, but their family is just too poor. His mother works hard to support him, but it’s a real struggle.

No one in the village is willing to lend them money—they’re afraid a widow and her orphaned son won’t be able to pay it back.

I don’t think he’ll be able to go to high school.

It’s such a shame—he got first place in the exams.” When Wang Ruolan said the last two sentences, she looked at Gu Qinghuan with hope in her eyes.

She really hoped Gu Qinghuan could help Wang Qingchuan, just like she’d helped her, but she didn’t dare say it outright.

Gu Qinghuan hadn’t expected that skinny, always-wearing-ill-fitting-clothes Wang Qingchuan to have such a tough family situation.

She couldn’t help but feel a little sad.

“Besides him, are there any other students in our class whose families are struggling and can’t afford high school? Can you tell me specifically?”

Wang Ruolan went on to name nearly ten students who had gotten into high school but couldn’t afford to go because of family hardship.

Gu Qinghuan wrote down every name.

She’d been thinking about it since last night—how could she help these kids keep studying?

Her usual principle was to keep her head down and stay out of trouble, but this time, no matter what, she was determined to see it through.

She’d originally thought about doing what she did last time—donating gold bars to the school in Wang Zhiyuan’s name.

But then, how would the school allocate the money? Who would get it? How much would each person get? Could she be sure the money would go to those who really needed it? All of these were problems.

She’d seen the greed in human nature before—if word got out, it could cause a whole series of issues.

So that method definitely wouldn’t work.

She finally decided to sponsor these kids’ education in her own name, privately.

With the money in her own hands, she could make rational decisions about who to help and how much to give—no one could say otherwise.

That way, she could make sure the money went to the ones who truly needed it.

Much better than turning it over to the public.

Having made up her mind, she decided to go visit the families in person.

Her class had just finished exams, and she didn’t have any lessons to teach, so she had plenty of time for this.

Just then, Lin Muyang came by early to share some good news.

“The article I helped you edit last time got published! Look, it’s in the newspaper, and on a pretty important page, too.

And the payment for the article just arrived—three hundred yuan in total. As we agreed, it’s all yours, I don’t want any.”

Gu Qinghuan had just been looking for an excuse to sponsor the kids, and now the article payment had come through.

“Then I won’t stand on ceremony. I actually need some money right now, so I owe you one,” Gu Qinghuan said, taking the envelope.

“You need money urgently? I have a bit more here, but it’s only thirty yuan, not much. Do you want it?”

Lin Muyang generously reached into his pocket. He had thirty yuan, just received as a reward, and hadn’t had time to take it home yet.

“No need, this is enough. Didn’t you tell me yesterday that only half of these kids can afford to go to high school?

I’m planning to use this money to help those who can’t,” Gu Qinghuan said calmly.

Lin Muyang was taken aback.

Gu Qinghuan was always surprising him with her actions.

Sometimes he even envied these kids—if only he’d had a teacher like Gu Qinghuan when he was in school.

“Are you serious? You know, three hundred yuan is nowhere near enough to sponsor all these kids.

Once you start, you can’t just stop halfway. Otherwise, you might not get gratitude, but complaints.

Over two years, each kid will cost you at least two hundred yuan. That’s a bottomless pit!”

Lin Muyang admired Gu Qinghuan’s ambition and character, but he didn’t really support this approach.

He’d once thought about sponsoring students himself, but real-life problems had made him give up.

In short, it wasn’t something you could do on a whim.

Gu Qinghuan had that box of gold bars from Wang Zhiyuan as backup. Not just these kids—even if she sponsored hundreds or thousands more, it wouldn’t be a problem.

But she couldn’t say that.

Spending two hundred yuan to give these kids a different future—she thought it was more than worth it.

“Don’t worry, I can afford to support them. Actually, my mother bought me a property in Beijing, and the monthly rent is more than enough to support these kids.

I just need you to help me keep it quiet. To outsiders, just say I’m sponsoring them with my article payments, okay?”

Lin Muyang realized she was determined to help these kids.

He couldn’t help but feel a bit ashamed of himself.

See, at the end of the day, he was just an ordinary person—not as bold as Gu Qinghuan.

“No problem. Since you’ve made up your mind, I’m just happy for the kids. Thank you for doing what I always wanted to do but never dared,” Lin Muyang said sincerely.

Gu Qinghuan asked Lin Muyang for the students’ home addresses, and also had him put together a detailed chart of their family situations.

She planned to visit each family in person.

The first stop was Wangjiatun, and she’d visit Wang Qingchuan while she was there.

After the two students went back to class, Gu Qinghuan got on her bike, with Wang Ruolan and her luggage on the back, and headed to Wangjiatun.

The reason Wangjiatun was so poor was because of its location.

People say if you live by the mountains, you live off the mountains; by the water, you live off the water. But here, they had neither.

Gu Qinghuan had to get off and push the bike several times, and it took nearly an hour of mountain roads before they finally reached Wangjiatun.

“Ruolan, do you always walk this far by yourself? How long does it take?” Gu Qinghuan asked, rubbing her sore calves.

“It’s pretty far from here. Even if you walk fast, it takes over two hours to get to the commune. But I’m used to it.”

Maybe because she was back in familiar surroundings, Wang Ruolan relaxed, and her local accent came out.

That “I’m” instantly reminded Gu Qinghuan of someone.

Wang Xiaowei.

When they first met, she always used that local “I’m” too, but later on, she didn’t say it as much.

“Is there a girl named Wang Xiaowei in your village?” Could it really be such a coincidence?

“You mean Sister Xiaowei? You know her? She’s my cousin from the next house over. Last year she took her child to Beijing to find her husband, and she hasn’t come back yet.

My aunt said she’s living a good life in Beijing now, and even sent money back home.”

“Oh, I met her once before. Just thought of her, so I asked. Didn’t expect it really was her.”

No doubt about it—it was that Wang Xiaowei.

The world really is small.

Maybe she just had a special connection with people surnamed Wang!

No, maybe it was Wang Zhiyuan’s spirit guiding her, letting her use his money to help people named Wang.

Maybe their ancestors were even from the same family—who knows.

Wang Xiaowei was also the type to only share good news, not bad. Even after all she’d suffered, she never told her family.

Gu Qinghuan shook her head and followed Wang Ruolan home.

By the time they reached the Wang house, it was already past eleven.

Wang Ruolan waved at a teenage boy in the distance. “Ruojun!”

“Teacher Gu, this is my younger brother, Ruojun. He stopped going to school after elementary and now works with our parents for work points. He must’ve come home early to cook.”

The boy grinned when he saw her, running over excitedly.

But when he saw Gu Qinghuan beside her, he immediately became shy and said, “Sis, you’re back?”

“Yeah, this is my Chinese teacher, Teacher Gu. She’s here for a home visit. Let’s go home and cook first!”

Wang Ruolan acted like a big sister, directing her brother to carry the luggage while she led Gu Qinghuan inside.

Wang Ruojun was a mischievous kid, naturally afraid of teachers. As soon as he saw Gu Qinghuan, he kept his distance.

Gu Qinghuan had expected she might eat at a student’s home today, so she’d brought her own food, plus an extra kilo of meat.

She helped Wang Ruolan prepare lunch, taking out the meat she’d brought to cook together.

Wang Ruolan couldn’t refuse, so she agreed. She’d been worried about only having vegetables and nothing substantial to serve the teacher.

The two of them started prepping the vegetables.

When Wang Ruojun saw the meat, his eyes lit up—his sister’s teacher was so generous!

Though Wang Ruolan’s house was small and a bit old, with a bumpy floor, it was clean and tidy. Every bit of their yard was planted with vegetables and fruit, showing the family knew how to make the most of what they had.

Gu Qinghuan’s impression of the family improved even more.

Wang Ruolan picked the first batch of peppers, some long beans, eggplants, two cucumbers, and a few tomatoes.

She planned to make stir-fried pork with green peppers, stir-fried long beans with eggplant, a refreshing smashed cucumber salad, and if there were any eggs, tomato and egg stir-fry.

Unfortunately, she searched the whole house, even the chicken coop, but couldn’t find a single egg. She pouted in disappointment.

Gu Qinghuan just picked up a tomato, rubbed it clean, and took a bite.

“It’s delicious even just like this!”

Seeing that Gu Qinghuan didn’t mind, Wang Ruolan cheered up again.

As they were finishing up lunch, a middle-aged woman’s voice called from outside, “Ruojun, is lunch ready?”

Wang Ruolan hurried out.

“Ruolan, you’re back! I told your dad you’d be back these days, but he didn’t believe me.” The woman looked her daughter up and down, smiling.

Wang Ruolan explained that her teacher was visiting, and her parents became a bit flustered.

They’d never had a teacher visit before and were nervous, looking at their mud-stained clothes and wanting to change, but worried it would seem too deliberate.

Especially when they saw Gu Qinghuan come out of the kitchen—their sense of inferiority and shyness peaked.

Wow, Ruolan’s teacher looked like a fairy from heaven.

Gu Qinghuan had deliberately worn the original owner’s old, plain clothes today, afraid of intimidating the parents or making them feel distant."

"Chapter 277: Discussing the Sponsorship Amount