Zhou Xiaoyun's persistent efforts in brushing her teeth have finally yielded some results, with her newly grown front teeth being very neat and white.

  Zhou Xiaoyun finally started to speak with a relaxed expression, actively raising her hand and reading aloud in class, which surprised Fang Wenchao. It wasn't until he saw Zhou Xiaoyun reveal two small white teeth that Fang Wenchao understood - Zhou Xiaoyun's teeth had grown out.

  Zhou Xiaoyun took the opportunity to instill good hygiene habits in Xiao Bao at home: "Xiao Bao, you should also practice brushing your teeth from now on. Look, my new grown-out teeth are so white and nice, aren't they?"

  Xiao Bao nodded after seeing: "Mmm, sister's teeth are whiter than brother's."

  "That's because my sister insists on brushing her teeth twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. This way, they are clean and hygienic, and the teeth that grow out are particularly neat and nice-looking. Why don't you brush your teeth with my sister from now on?" Zhou Xiaoyun coaxed.

  Rural children do not have many good hygiene habits, and many children did not know to brush their teeth until they were ten or so years old. Some children's mouths are full of yellow teeth, and some have cavities. Zhou Xiaoyun does not want her younger brother to be like this in the future, so she must cultivate his hygiene habits early on. Dabao also started brushing his teeth after seeing his sister do it every day last year.

  Xiao Bao agreed, but he raised another question: "Sister, don't you brush your teeth three times a day? Why are you telling me to brush twice now?" He had seen his sister brushing her teeth after lunch every day, and just two days ago, he heard his mother say that the toothpaste at home was used up and needed to be bought again.

  Zhou Xiaoyun's face turned red, which was rare for her. She hesitated to tell Xiao Bao: "Just twice is enough, after lunch, just rinse your mouth and don't need to brush teeth. I...I'm just changing my toothbrush so I brushed once more!"

  Xiao Bao has always listened to Zhou Xiaoyun, and the next morning he started learning how to brush his teeth with his sister. He followed Zhou Xiaoyun to the water tank, scooped up a cup of water, squatted on the ground, and began brushing his teeth, spitting out the water onto the ground - there was no sink, only a small ditch dug by their family. It's likely that when Xiao Bao grows up, half of his healthy white teeth will be thanks to Zhou Xiaoyun.

  Er Ya was a curious child who liked to follow and learn from others. She even got her mother, Zhao Yu Zhen, to buy her the smallest toothbrush, and then she would squat beside her older brother and sister and imitate them brushing their teeth. Unfortunately, she was too young and would swallow the water after brushing her teeth without spitting it out, causing Xiao Bao to laugh so hard that he couldn't stand up straight.

  Zhou Xiaoyun was also very patient and amusing, teaching Er Ya hand in hand for a whole week, finally letting the youngest Er Ya learn to brush her teeth. From then on, a beautiful scene formed in the Zhou family: four children, from big to small, lined up together, squatting down to brush their teeth, brushing and brushing, no matter how you looked at it, it was interesting.

  Zhao Yuzhen initially thought it was interesting, but when she waited until the toothpaste was used up and went to buy more, she started to feel a pang of heartache. This was even faster than the last time!

  Zhou Guoqiang couldn't bear the sight of Zhao Yuzhen being so stingy: "Toothpaste is just a few bucks, it's great that the kid knows to brush his teeth and maintain hygiene. You're actually heartbroken over this toothpaste money, you really know how to live life."

  Zhao Yuzhen was ridiculed by Zhou Guoqiang and felt somewhat dissatisfied: "Of course, living a life that can save a little is a good thing. With so many children, if we don't save, they will go hungry soon. I also know that brushing teeth is a good thing, but using up a tube of toothpaste in just one week is too fast. In the past, it would take a month to use up one tube." At that time, they used Limin's hard tube toothpaste, which cost only a few cents per tube. The face cream was a "Peony" brand bagged snowflake cream, which was also very cheap but had a strong fragrance that was suitable for both old and young.

  Zhou Guoqiang helplessly rolled his eyes and didn't argue with Zhao Yuzhen anymore. He rode the tricycle out to get busy.

  Zhao Yuzhen grumbled in dissatisfaction, "Men have no idea how to manage a household. Women are meticulous about every detail, from firewood and rice to oil and salt, everything costs money, if you don't save, how can you make ends meet?"

  She called Zhou Xiaoyun over and took out two dollars from her pocket to let Zhou Xiaoyun go buy toothpaste and also bring back a bag of Snowflake Cream.

  As soon as Zhou Xiaoyun was about to leave, Xiao Bao quickly ran over and followed her. Da Bao couldn't help but mock Xiao Bao for his bootlicking behavior, but Xiao Bao ignored him.

  "Meimei won't listen: 'Sister, I want to go too.'"

  Zhou Xiaoyun didn't want to bring her because she walked too slowly, but Zhao Yuzhen spoke up: "Da Ya, take Er Ya to the small store with you, and after buying things, use the remaining money to buy some food for Xiao Bao and Er Ya to eat."

  Dabao immediately regretted what he had just said. The words "I'm going too" had been stuck in his mouth for a long time, but he couldn't bring himself to say them out loud. He watched with envy as Xiaobao and Er Ya happily followed Zhou Xiaoyun away, and the frustration in his heart was unbearable.

  There are a few grocery stores in the village, all selling daily necessities such as oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, toothpaste, toothbrushes, towels and snowflake cream. The variety of snacks is very small.

  But in the eyes of children, a piece of candy can bring happiness for half a day. Seeing the colorful sugar paper wrapped candies in the small shop, they couldn't wait to urge Zhou Xiaoyun to buy some.

  Zhou Xiaoyun made a special trip to Zhou Qianqian's house to buy something, and Zhou Qianqian's family also runs a small shop. Anyway, she has to buy things wherever she goes, so she might as well take care of her good friend's business.

  Zhou Qianqian was very happy to see Zhou Xiaoyun come and ran over to chat with her.

  Zhou Qianqian's mother handed over the toothpaste and snowflake cream that Zhou Xiaoyun wanted to buy to Zhou Xiaoyun. Zhou Xiaoyun passed over two yuan and got eight cents in change. Zhou Xiaoyun then bought two mao of candy for Xiao Bao and Er Ya each, and thinking about it, she decided to use the remaining money to buy more candy and put it all in her pocket.

  Waving goodbye to her companions, Zhou Xiaoyun happily returned home with her younger brother and sister in tow.

  Dabao pretended to be nonchalant about the sugar that Xiao Bao and Er Ya were secretly sucking on, but his eyes couldn't help sneaking a glance over. The more he thought about it, the more he regretted not following them together.

  Zhou Xiaoyun put away the things she had bought at home, and told Zhao Yuzhen who was busy: "Mom, I used up all the remaining money to buy sugar."

  Zhao Yuzhen uttered an "oh" and this time didn't take it to heart. The number of times the child gets to eat snacks can be counted on one's fingers, if the economy is a bit better who wouldn't want their child to live a little better?

  Zhou Xiaoyun secretly put candies into Dabao's pocket while carrying Xiaobao and Er Ya, Dabao was surprised and delighted: "You also bought me candies! That's great, Da Ya, if anyone dares to bully you in the future, tell brother and I'll immediately go beat him up."

  Their IQs are basically on the same level, Zhou Xiaoyun couldn't help but laugh.