Chapter 40

Henry looked at them both and said, "What are you two arguing about this time? Every time something comes up, you two are the ones who argue the most. Does arguing solve anything?"

With Henry's words, both of them suppressed their emotions and tempers.

Grace lowered her voice and softened her tone, "Then what do you suggest we exchange?"

Henry thought for a moment and said, "If none of you can come up with anything, then let's exchange some grain."

This was a good idea.

Lily immediately raised her hand, "I think that's a good plan."

The others quickly agreed, all supporting the idea of exchanging grain.

Since there were no objections, Henry decided to act immediately. He sent Charlie to fetch some grain, and the two of them took it and headed out to the local villagers to trade for pickled vegetables.

***

At the school.

In the office.

Logan and Summer were seated at their respective desks, diligently writing their speeches.

As they were making final edits, the loudspeaker from the village committee blared outside: "Testing! Testing!"

The voice belonged to the village leader, Leonardo. After testing the microphone, he raised his voice and said, "Attention all members, attention all members. This afternoon, all production teams will stop work for half a day. We will be holding a village-wide meeting at the threshing ground. Every household must send at least one person. Bring your own stools and find a place to sit. All students who have registered for school must attend, and all volunteers from the camp must also be present. No one is to be absent..."

To ensure everyone heard, Leonardo repeated the announcement several times.

By the time the announcement was over, Summer and Logan had finished editing their speeches.

Logan put away his pen and asked Summer, "Are you done?"

Summer also put away her pen and replied, "Yes, I'm done."

With that, they packed up their speeches and headed to the adjacent classroom.

Following Leonardo's instructions, they picked out three relatively clean desks. Each took one end and carried the three desks to the threshing ground.

These desks were double-seaters.

By arranging three desks together, they could seat six or seven people.

After setting up the desks, Leonardo arrived with a red silk cloth and a microphone wrapped in more red silk, trailing a long electric cord.

They spread the red silk over the desks and set up the microphone, making it look quite official.

Summer and Logan then fetched three long benches from the classroom.

Just as they were placing the benches behind the podium, the most energetic kids in the village swarmed the threshing ground, chasing and playing around the podium.

Amidst the children's play, the adults began to arrive with their stools, chatting animatedly as they found places to sit. The threshing ground became increasingly lively as more people gathered.

The villagers had no objections to the meeting. Whatever the village cadres decided, they complied with.

However, the ten volunteers at the camp looked increasingly disgruntled.

Grace whispered, "Why are we being dragged to a school opening ceremony? Do they want us to sit in the audience and applaud Summer and Logan for becoming teachers, while we still have to work in the fields? Is that necessary?"

Earlier at the camp, when they heard they wouldn't have to work that afternoon, they were thrilled and couldn't help but cheer. But now, being summoned to a pointless meeting had soured their mood.

While other households only needed to send one person, all the volunteers were required to attend.

The villagers were happy to see Summer and Logan take the spotlight, but the volunteers were not.

None of them felt they were any less capable than Summer and Logan. Why should those two get to be teachers?

Sophia sat next to Grace.

Hearing Grace's complaint, she sighed and fiddled with her nails. She was already feeling stifled, and Grace's nudge didn't help. Grace then said, "Sophia, doesn't this bother you? I still think you should have been the teacher."

Sophia forced a smile and replied, "Stop saying that."

But Grace continued, "I'm not wrong. You're more suited to be a teacher than Summer. They just don't know how to choose the right person. If it were up to us, we'd definitely choose you."

Sophia smiled weakly again and lowered her head, saying nothing more.

For some reason, she also felt that everything was incredibly out of place.

In her mind, it should have been her, dressed beautifully, sitting on the podium and speaking into the microphone.

The usually unnoticed Summer should be in her current position, watching from the audience.

This feeling was so strong, it seemed as if destiny had arranged it this way.

Why she felt this way, she couldn't explain.

Regardless, it made her feel extremely frustrated and uncomfortable.