Chapter 516 Little Jimmy’s Day
In a small residential apartment in the underground city of Belloberg, the young boy had gotten up early and was preparing breakfast for himself and his sister.
"Mary, it's time to get up!" The boy prepared breakfast and put it on the table before going to wake up his sleeping sister.
The sister, who was a few years younger than the boy, rubbed her sleepy eyes and then said hello to the boy: "Good morning, Jimmy."
"Good morning, Mary. The boy replied dotingly to his sister, and helped her comb her hair that was messed up while sleeping: "Get up quickly. I've made breakfast and it's on the table. After you finish eating, remember to go to school." I have packed your schoolbag for you. I have to go to work. Take care of yourself and don’t be late.”
Although the boys are also at school age, their parents died early, leaving only the brother and sister to depend on each other.
So even though the policy in the North allowed him to go to school and would provide subsidies for orphans like him and his sister, the boy still chose to find a class to earn money to support himself and his sister.
In the North, school-age children under the age of 12 must go to school. This is a decree issued by Purficott himself.
Public schools in the north can basically be said to be charities. Although they charge tuition fees, they are usually just the most basic book fees. As long as any family can have a stable job and the children are not More than three are affordable.
It’s not that Purficott is stingy or stingy. She can still afford free education in public schools. Just a little bit from the hands of those nobles can completely satisfy the entire North. Environmental education expenditures.
But free things are always difficult to cherish, especially for children, who often find it difficult to understand the meaning of these things.
And from another aspect, free education itself also has a problem of how to maintain it. It only charges book fees and is already doing charity. If it is completely free, there will be many problems.
You must know that this is still an era when knowledge is monopolized by the ruling class. For ordinary people, the opportunity to receive education is rare.
So after thinking about it for a while, Purficott still did not offer free education. Instead, he only charged basic book fees. At the same time, he also limited the age of compulsory enrollment to 12 years old, and did not say that it was compulsory. These children study until adulthood.
After all, you have to eat food one bite at a time. In this era of compulsory education and popularization of education, it would be inappropriate for the stall to be too big at once.
And the most important thing is that for many parents in this era, sending their children to study is not as good as sending them to work.
In their opinion, studying cannot bring immediate changes to their lives, and children from poor families are not suitable for studying. Instead of spending money to send them to study, it is better to let them learn a trade. You can support yourself later.
If it is free education, perhaps these parents can be made to think that it is free at first, and it does not matter if they read it, but when they think that their children should go to work, they will not care much about it and will just Let your child find a class.
However, when he spends money, he will think that I spent the money. If you don’t learn something, I will be sorry for the money I spent.
This is just like a gambler who keeps losing and loses more and more. The existence of sunk costs will make people unwilling to give up.
Of course, considering the income and burden of ordinary families, Purficott only charged a book fee, and the school also provided a lunch.
In this way, even for ordinary families, supporting one or two children to study is not a particularly big burden, and they can basically afford it.
As for families with more children, Purficott can only do nothing to help.
Those who are willing to study and value education need not say anything. Parents will send their children to study even if they live frugally.
But for those who don’t pay attention to their children’s education, even if you give them money, they will not think that their children’s education is of any use. It is better to send them to be apprentices as early as possible to learn one more craft. Work in a factory to tighten screws to earn money to support your family.
You must know that in this day and age, being able to work in a factory to tighten screws is a good job.
However, for Jimmy, who is only 11 years old, he and his sister are the only ones left in the family. As an older brother, he must protect his sister.
This was his mother's instruction to him before she died, and he kept it firmly in his heart.
So when an official came to tell him and his sister that they both needed to go to school, Jimmy lied to the official who looked serious but was a nice person, saying that he had When I turn twelve, I have to go to work and let my sister go to school.
He didn’t think much about it at the time. He just felt that studying was a very expensive thing. If he and his sister went to study together, the cost might be too high and neither of them would have any money to study. .
Jimmy didn't know that much at the time, and he thought it was the serious official who paid for their education.
Although the official later explained that this was an order from the Northern Lord and the money came from the Lord's Mansion, Jimmy still did not change his decision.
He always believed that it didn’t matter whether he studied or not, as long as his sister learned well.
He can go to work and earn money to support his sister.
Although the North has subsidies and assistance for orphans like them, Jimmy still keeps in mind his mother's teachings that people must rely on themselves and be self-reliant.
So he found himself a job as an apprentice in a factory, and he was able to live a life of screwing in advance.
The official kindly introduced him to this job, otherwise a child who knew nothing would never be able to work in a factory that produces steam knights and become an apprentice.
Jimmy has lived up to the help others have given him. He is a very hard-working child who works hard and is eager to learn.
He kept everything his master taught him firmly in mind. Even if he couldn't understand it at the first time, he would force himself to write it down, and then slowly understand it.
With such a serious attitude, Jimmy is still very popular in the factory.
When he punched in and walked into the factory carrying his lunch box, his fellow workers were all greeting him.
Jimmy also responded politely one by one. His mother taught him that he must be polite to others when he was alive, and he has not forgotten this.
Everyone in the factory has always taken good care of him. In addition to the master, other workers also taught him a lot. And on weekdays, everyone will provide him with some help within their ability, so that this teenage boy who is about to go out to support his family can feel a little more relaxed.
Jimmy did not refuse everyone's help, after all, he really needed help.
But while accepting everyone's help, Jimmy also kept all this in mind, secretly determined to repay everyone when he was able.
When Jimmy came to his work station, he saw that the master had already started working, so he quickly put away his things, then came to the master and started busy.
Jimmy’s master is a technician in the factory who is responsible for the final assembly and quality inspection of their station. There are a total of six workers in their station. They are a small team responsible for Partial assembly of the Steam Rider.
The steam rider frames that are produced and assembled in other workshops will be sent to them, and they will complete the installation of the shell part.
This is a relatively easy job. Even a child like Jimmy can complete all the work alone with the cooperation of Zhuluo after he understands the process and steps.
But Jimmy only knows how to do it. As for why he does it and how to judge whether he has done it well or not, Jimmy still doesn't understand it.
So Jimmy has always been very serious, working hard, studying hard, and accepting criticism and teachings from others, just to enable himself to master the skills needed for work faster and to be able to work better. Be serious and work better.
Although he did not go to school, Jimmy has always had high respect for the Northern Lords who were able to let his sister go to school.
After knowing that the factory was producing steam knight armor for her, Jimmy worked harder. He felt that as long as he produced qualified products, he would be repaying the lord.
There are many people in the factory who think like Jimmy. Maybe not many are as young as him, but everyone is grateful to the Northern Lords.
Because many people, like little Jimmy, have been benefited by Perfectcott and their lives have changed for the better.
So these people were grateful and full of respect and love for the Northern Lords.
This also brings about a little interesting fact, that is, as the original revolutionary army was reformed into an autonomous territory, the workers' federation, which was originally spread among the workers in the New World, also moved to the north. Start spreading.
But their spread has been greatly restricted in the North, because for the workers in the North, they are not oppressed at all compared to their counterparts, and they do not want to overthrow the Northern lords. rule.
On the contrary, they supported Perfectikt.
So much so that when some Workers' Federation staff from the New World planned to spread their ideas to workers in the North and encourage them to resist the rule of the Northern Lords, some were almost beaten.
Jimmy doesn’t know much about these things, but he knows that the life he has now is due to the grace and kindness of the Northern Lord, and he needs to work hard to repay her.
Under the influence of this idea, Jimmy's work attitude was so serious that when it was time for dinner, he was too focused on the work at hand that he did not hear the meal bell.
His master called him, and Jimmy finally reacted, put down what he was doing, wiped his hands and prepared to eat.
The lunch Jimmy made for himself was very simple, or for most people in the north, their food now has become very simple, two pieces of compressed biscuits received yesterday, and a little bit of Jimmy himself Made pickles.
This was what Jimmy's mother taught him when she was still alive. Although her mother only asked him to help on the side and did not teach him how to make pickles, Jimmy still relied on his own memory to recall how his mother made them. , and then made some pickles myself.
As for these vegetables, of course they were not bought in the market, but wild vegetables dug by Jimmy himself in the wild, as well as some vegetables given to him by his neighbors.
Although Jimmy works very seriously, he is just a child after all. No matter how hard he works in the factory, he cannot compare with adults, so the salary he can receive is only a little more than half of others. , and this is already the result of the foreman's special care.
Although the living expenses of the two children will not be particularly large, and Jimmy’s salary can guarantee the lives of the two of them, Jimmy still can’t bear to do this if he expects him to have enough money to buy the frighteningly expensive vegetables in the market. money.
Everything is expensive in the north today. The vegetables sold in the market are basically grown in large spaces in greenhouses or underground shelters in surrounding towns. Not only is the yield not high, but also due to various The reason cost is also not low.
Therefore, although there are fresh vegetables for sale in the market, it cannot be said that it is unaffordable with Jimmy's salary, but once a week is the most.
Not to mention that Jimmy also needs to buy meat, eggs, and milk to improve the food so that his sister can eat better. This makes Jimmy need to be prudent enough in life.
Make some vegetables that are not storage-resistant and wild vegetables into pickles. This is a simple way to make yourself eat for a longer period of time.
Jimmy's master couldn't bear to see this, but he also knew that Jimmy had a very strong self-esteem, and too much help would only make the boy unable to bear it.
It is also because of this that even if Jimmy's master and other workers help Jimmy, they mostly give part of it to Jimmy on the excuse that they bought too much.
Fortunately, Jimmy and his sister are still children, so they eat less than adults. In addition, Jimmy also has a job, so overall they are living a good life.
"Hey, Jimmy! This is for you." The master threw a small paper bag to Jimmy. Jimmy reached out to take it and found a small bag wrapped in oil paper. When he shook it, there was a rustling sound inside. .
"Master, what is this?" Jimmy asked without knowing what was going on.
"It's sugar. Yesterday I passed by the grocery store and saw some sugar for sale, so I bought some. Your wife said that you, a little guy, would be reluctant to spend money to buy sugar, so she asked me to pack a pack for you. , take it back and let your sister have a taste of it." The master said it casually, but in fact he went to buy it specially yesterday.
"No, this is too expensive, I can't have it!" Jimmy actually saw the candy sold in the grocery store yesterday. He also wanted to buy it at the time, but gave up the idea after seeing the price.
With that said, he was about to return the paper bag to the master.
"Take it as long as you want, that's your master's wish! And master, I am a technician in the factory, and my salary is eight times higher than yours. There are four other people in my family who are paid, so I don't lack this. , I’m going to get angry if you push me again.” The master said, directly rejecting the paper packet that Jimmy stuffed back.
Seeing this, Jimmy could only put away the paper bag, his heart full of gratitude to the master.
(End of this chapter)