Winterton is a small town. The school is built on the outskirts of the lower reaches of the Tugla River. Although it covers a small area, it does not have many classrooms. After all, it is a small town with a population of less than a thousand people. Under normal circumstances, there are
There are about 200 students, and some parents send their students to Ladysmith, 30 kilometers away, where the school is larger and the teaching level is higher.
The residents of the small town have completely different attitudes towards education. Chinese parents are the most active. As long as their children reach school age, they will send their children to school. Even the Gurkhas, who follow the Chinese in everything, will also take the initiative to send their children to school.
Reading in school.
European immigrant families are not enthusiastic about education, but they are not opposed to it. As long as their children are willing to go to school, most parents will support it.
Relatively speaking, Boer families have the greatest resistance to schools. This is related to the fact that schools use English and Chinese to teach. Although Boer is also the official language of southern Africa, few schools outside Orange use Boer to teach.
The number of Boers is also getting smaller and smaller.
Southern Africa has very high standards for schools. Schools do not use common wooden structures, but use masonry structures that are stronger and more expensive.
The same is true for Winterton Primary School. The school is built on a relatively high hillside. The main building materials are red bricks produced by Ladysmith. The classrooms are all paved with wooden floors. The windows are clear and clean. Apart from the fact that there is no privacy,
The conditions are actually quite good.
Of course, in the eyes of some people, the conditions in the school are extremely poor, and the food sent by Gilbert is not rich enough. There are only fruits and canned eggs, but no fresh meat. This is different from the daily living standards of small town residents.
Very far.
There is no doubt that the standard of living in southern Africa is still very high, and it was not greatly affected even during the world wars.
Winterton is surrounded by mature farms, which were abandoned for a period of time after the Second Boer War. However, with the arrival of a large number of new immigrants, these farms were quickly restored and even better than before.
In Winterton, not only the farms run by Chinese, but also the farms run by whites are in good condition. Not to mention every house has a house or a car, and it is still possible to have wine and meat every meal.
"Canned food, canned food, canned food again. Those Orientals stay in warm and comfortable rooms and eat barbecue, but we have to eat these cold canned food. Have you heard that these canned food is actually made of offal and carrion?
People will get sick if they eat it. Those Orientals use this method to kill us all, and then southern Africa will be theirs." Halifax kept chattering, the internal organs were indeed real, and the carrion was purely a rumor, but this
Such rumors are widely spread in southern Africa, and many people are willing to believe them.
"Halifax, don't be alarmist. There may be animal offal, but animal offal is not inedible. Foie gras is also animal offal." Some people couldn't bear to hear Halifax's words, but not everyone was dissatisfied.
During the dry season, some white people living on the right bank of the Tugela River also proposed repairing the river channel, but because there were not many people willing to work, it was ultimately not implemented.
In previous years, although the water in the Tugla River surged during the rainy season, it did not flood to the extent this year. After this year's rainy season, there should be more people willing to take advantage of the dry season to repair the river channel.
It's not too late to make amends.
"Tim, you are too easily satisfied. It was obviously those Easterners who took away the comfortable life that originally belonged to us, but you accepted it all with peace of mind and let Julia and the children live in a simple classroom. You are not
A responsible husband and father, you should be ashamed." Halifax has a tricky angle, Julia is Tim's wife.
"You bastard, I'm going to teach you a lesson!" Tim's face turned red and he stood up with clenched fists, but was immediately pulled back by Julia.
"Don't do that Tim, he's just a bastard, trying to anger you." Julia calmed down, there was no point in taking action now.
"Ha, it seems you deserve to live here, just like stray dogs living under someone else's roof." Halifax ran away after saying this, he was also afraid of being beaten.
It is still raining outside the classroom, and there are white raindrops in the field of vision. On the river embankment in the distance, Mayor Winter and Sheriff Gilbert are leading a group of people to inspect the river embankment. There are several people not far from the school gate.
Two Chinese young men carrying shotguns gathered together to chat. They were monitoring people in the school to prevent them from causing trouble.
"Look, we are locked up here like prisoners, without even the most basic freedoms." Halifax was still provoking, but he didn't have the consciousness to go to the embankment to help.
"Harry, what do you think we should do?" Qin Hui also has three good friends, so naturally some people support Halifax.
"We cannot be like some shrinking turtles and be slaughtered by others. We must take back Winterton and drive away all those damn Easterners." There was a dangerous signal in Halifax's eyes, vaguely.
The rich aroma of barbecue wafted over, and Halifax was so jealous that he lost his mind.
"If we do this, the Ladysmith garrison will not let us go." The friends in Halifax were very worried. Although they also wanted to eat barbecue, they did not want to die for it.
"Don't worry, as long as we all work together, the Ladysmith garrison will not do anything to us. Do you understand that the law does not punish the public?" Halifax sneered. The law does not punish the public. It is a good excuse.
"But there are too few of us -" Some people are still worried. There are not many people who are willing to take risks with Halifax, only a dozen or so.
"We can take things by surprise." Halifax was confident that he had lost his family and all his property, and there was nothing he could not lose.
Later, Halifax and his companions put on their raincoats and headed straight to the river embankment.
On the embankment Winterton and Gilbert were patrolling.
During the dry season, residents on the left bank of the Tugla River increased the height of the entire embankment by at least two meters when renovating the river channel. The width of the top of the embankment was about three meters, and the left and right sides were filled with golden sandalwood. This is
It is a very valuable wood, but its growth rate is very slow. It takes about fifty or sixty years to enter the vigorous growth period.
There was a large amount of high-quality timber around Ladysmith twenty years ago. After these years of development, the high-quality timber has been basically exhausted. The former forests are now replanted with high-quality timber and fast-growing forests. These golden red sandalwood saplings
It is provided free of charge by the Ladysmith Municipal Government and has not only economic value, but also high ornamental value.
"Fortunately, we didn't forget to renovate the river during the dry season, otherwise we would have suffered this year." Winter looked at the raging and roaring river and was afraid. This year's rainy season had too much rainfall, and residents on both sides of the Tegra River suffered heavy losses.
Interestingly, as long as there are residential areas where Chinese people live, the losses are not too great and are within an acceptable range.
"Halifax is crazy. After the rainy season, I want to drive Halifax out of Winterton." Gilbert has long disliked Halifax, and those Gurkhas have already
Once established in Winterton, the farm prospered, and Halifax had become a disgrace to the white people of Winterton.
"Where can you drive him? This man is a bastard and will not be welcome anywhere." Winter didn't like Halifax either, but there was nothing he could do.
Although Halifax is annoying, he has not done anything to make people angry. In other words, he keeps making big mistakes and small mistakes. This kind of person is actually very annoying, just like a toad, people are afraid to avoid him, but he
I haven't realized it yet, or I am complacent.
In fact, Halifax used to be quite good people, but unfortunately he was obsessed with gambling and alcohol, and his whole person completely degenerated, and he has reached the current situation where his wife, children and family property have been scattered. The residents of Winterton often criticize Halifax.
As a negative example, Si teaches his children to stay away from gambling and alcohol.
Don’t believe that small amounts of gambling can make you happy and big gambling can harm your health. Big gambling all starts with small amounts of gambling. It’s important for people to be self-aware. People who don’t have much self-control should simply avoid gambling. Don’t overestimate your own self-control.
"Mr. Mayor, do you need our help?" Halifax came to the river embankment at this time.
"What are you doing here?" Gilbert looked cold.
"I'm here to help-"
"No, just take care of yourself. We don't need your help here." Gilbert refused, not giving Halifax a chance to "help."
"Hey, Mr. Sheriff, please don't reject our enthusiasm. We also want to contribute our own strength to Winterton." Halifax's tone was frivolous. He came to the river bank and kicked a stone hard with his foot.
The stone didn't move at all.
Halifax shook his head to express regret, and sighed: "The repair is really strong. How much cement was used? It will cost a lot of money -"
"Harry, you are such a bastard. What benefits do you think you will get even if you destroy the embankment?" Gilbert really couldn't figure out what was going on in Halifax's mind. This man had no idea what he was thinking.
It's not normal. The more I look at it, the more I look like a lunatic.
"Hahaha - it's no good, and I don't want the river embankment to be washed away -" Halifax laughed, not wanting a stone under his feet to suddenly loosen.
Halifax screamed strangely, and his body suddenly lost balance.
Gilbert was standing next to Halifax when he fell into the river.
For a moment, Gilbert subconsciously reached out to Halifax, trying to pull Halifax back.
But just when Gilbert was about to catch Halifax, Gilbert suddenly stopped and watched as Halifax fell into the river.
The river roared, and Halifax was swept to the bottom of the river by the strong waves without any struggle, leaving only the stunned crowd on the shore and the indifferent Gilbert.