Xia Meng smiled helplessly. "I've asked the principal here about this too, but he said there are simply too many areas in the country that need improvement. The land is vast, with countless small villages and towns, and so many places in need of poverty alleviation. Some places don't even have schools, so in terms of priorities, funds can only go to those in greater need. Some things just can't be helped..."
Looking at the scene before him, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but feel a wave of emotion.
We often hear two sayings online.
One is that being born lucky is more important than anything else, and the other is that hard work doesn't guarantee success, but without it, you'll definitely fail.
Compared to the latter classic 'chicken soup for the soul,' Jiang Cheng agreed more with the former, more realistic statement.
No matter how hard you work, being born into the right family is indeed a skill; the gap and starting points between people are right there.
Most children from wealthy families could never truly understand the experiences of left-behind children from small villages like Xia Meng.
Take Jiang Cheng himself, for example; in his eighteen years of life, this was the first time he had set foot in a real rural area.
And growing up, he had never once worried about money.
They had never been exploited by society, nor had they felt the powerlessness of struggling.
Children raised in such families are emotionally stable, gentle, and polite to others.
Because they lack the negative energy brought on by economic pressure.
So, being born lucky is indeed more important than anything else.
As the saying goes: there are three ways for a person to change their fate: education, marriage, and work.
Back in school, teachers always said that studying—education—was one of the fairest means of competition in modern society.
Regardless of wealth or poverty, the admission score line is the same for everyone.
But looking at the environment here, Jiang Cheng only wanted to ask: is it really fair??
Even if the score line is fair, how can there be fairness in life and environment??
Perhaps someone would bring up that saying again: "So-and-so lived in a pigsty and still got into a top-tier university??"
One must realize that such people aren't just one in ten thousand, but one in ten million.
How can you expect children growing up in this environment to change their lives?
With such a dilapidated school building, not only is the learning atmosphere poor, but the teaching quality likely isn't much better.
Without the most important guides—teachers—these children don't even have the chance to learn.
How can there be any talk of fairness??
He saw Xia Meng looking at the dilapidated Donation Box by the entrance.
Jiang Cheng asked, "Do you want to donate?"
Xia Meng immediately shook her head. "I... have thought about it, but I can't decide. After all, I'm a selfish person. I exhausted all my strength just to reach the outside world and even met you, making my life a bit better. To ask me to take out money, I'm actually a bit reluctant. But on the other hand, looking at this environment, I feel uneasy."
"Back when I was a child, you could still see the writing on it, but look now, the color has completely faded. I heard that volunteer teachers who come here are immediately discouraged as soon as they see this environment; no one is willing to stay. If this continues, the children here will soon have no way to study."
When Xia Meng said this, she was clearly in a state of saying something she didn't mean.
Although she shook her head in denial, the Mind Perception Skill had long since sensed her strong intention to donate.
Mencius said: when poor, attend to your own virtue; when successful, benefit the whole world.
This saying was quite appropriate for Jiang Cheng, but it seemed a bit out of place for someone with ordinary economic conditions like Xia Meng.
During their conversation, the children happened to finish class. Dozens of children dressed in somewhat ragged clothes ran happily out of the school building toward the basketball court.
The eyes of these children were all incredibly clear.
But they all had dark skin and thin frames, and the cotton coats or sweaters they wore were somewhat tattered.
The clothes on several children were even a bit small; their little bellies were exposed as soon as they moved their arms.
And only a small portion of them wore slippers; some children were even running around with dirty, bare feet.
Some children, seeing Jiang Cheng and Xia Meng on the basketball court, stopped in their tracks, timidly stealing glances at them from where they stood.
Perhaps because Jiang Cheng and Xia Meng were dressed so elegantly, a few children even stared at their own mud-covered feet in embarrassment.
It was already autumn, and given Su Province's location, the mountain wind was already bitingly cold.
In this weather, the ill-fitting clothes the children wore were all quite thin and did not provide much warmth.
Looking closely, their hands and feet were incredibly dry from the autumn wind.
Had he not seen this scene with his own eyes, Jiang Cheng might have thought Xia Meng was just being a Sanctimonious Person.
But witnessing this scene firsthand, a sense of compassion couldn't help but rise within Jiang Cheng's heart.