Third Uncle Zhou Guomin works at the post office in the county town, specifically responsible for delivering newspapers to various units. The post office has a special bicycle with a rear seat and a basket attached.

  At that time, those who ate at public expense were called "iron rice bowls". Zhou Guomin graduated from the Posts and Telecommunications School. Although he was a junior college graduate, his major was very good. In comparison, ordinary undergraduate students also had a worse job allocation than him.

  Third Aunt Song Mingli was originally a city person, and her undergraduate major was normal school, assigned to the key middle school Yingming Middle School in the county seat after graduation. At that time, teachers' treatment was not considered high. Her salary was far less than Zhou Guomin's, but at that time, women with culture and work were enviable things, and other brothers and sisters-in-law in the family looked up to Song Mingli.

  Song Mingli did not look down on rural people, but still had a natural sense of superiority.

  She is very good at dealing with people and never puts on airs of a city person when she is in her hometown, instead, she helps out with things everywhere.

  Shen Huafeng and Zhao Yuzhen didn't have any ideas about her, as fellow daughters-in-law of the Zhou family. Song Mingli was always one step ahead, which made them uncomfortable. However, on major occasions, Song Mingli was generous with her spending to save face, leaving Shen and Zhao speechless.

  Don't mention the distant, let's talk about the near. Song Mingli gave the children five yuan each for the New Year's money, and there were eight children in total from several families. This time, it was not a small amount of money to give out. To know that at that time, a teacher's monthly salary was only more than 40 yuan.

  Song Mingli smiled when taking out the money, without blinking an eye. Shen Huafeng and Zhao Yuzhen also gave Zhou Zhiyuan five yuan for the New Year's gift, but Lao Sanjia had only one precious egg, so they took advantage of it. Therefore, when eating together, Shen Huafeng and Zhao Yuzhen couldn't help but smile at Song Mingli more often.

  During the New Year's festival, people take turns eating at each other's homes, and it was finally Zhou Guomin's turn in the city.

  The county town is about 40 or 50 miles away from Zhou Xiaoyun's home, and it takes more than an hour to ride a bicycle. Fortunately, there is a tricycle at Auntie's house, and it only takes half an hour to get there by driving.

  All the way, a small tricycle was filled with Zhou's family members. Wu Youde drove the car, not counting him, there were five adults on the car: Zhou Guofu, Shen Huafeng, Zhou Guoqiang, Zhao Yuzhen and Zhou Fang. At this time, Zhou Guoqiang and Zhao Yuzhen finally felt that they had too many children of their own, eight children in total, half of whom were from their own family.

  The children were very excited to enter the county town, and one by one they eagerly looked out of the car window. At first, they passed through some fields, but later on, the road became wider and more spacious, and shops and streets began to appear in their field of vision, and finally they arrived at the county town.

  Zhou Guomin's family lived in the dormitory building of the post office, and the three-bedroom house was cleaned up by his diligent grandmother. The 90-square-meter house was spacious enough for a family of four to live in, but as soon as so many people entered, it immediately became crowded.

  Song Mingli and her grandmother were busy cooking in the kitchen. A large table was set up in the living room, and a small square table was also prepared for the children to sit at.

  In the city, people are a bit more restrained when eating, unlike in rural areas where they make a lot of noise. They also eat much faster.

  After eating, the adults talked together, and the children went to play on the side. Zhou Zhiyuan was amazed in his own territory and took Dabao and others out to play.

  Zhou Xiaoyun had visited her third uncle's house only a handful of times in her past life, and her memories were already somewhat fuzzy.

  At this time, carefully examining the house structure, it was found that they were all square and upright, with no decorations to speak of. The interior had a cement floor, plain walls painted white, very simple.

  However, Zhou Guomin works at the post office and their home is filled with magazines and newspapers everywhere. Song Mingli is a language teacher and her bookshelf is stacked with composition books and storybooks, which makes Zhou Xiaoyun pick up a composition book as if she had found treasure.

  Zhou Xiaoxia and Zhou Xiaoyun were getting a bit impatient, urging: "Da Ya, we rarely come to the city, let's go out and have a look around. Hai Zi and the others went out to play early, let's go find them!"

  Zhou Xiaoyun didn't really want to go at first, but after thinking about it some more, she wanted to buy some things too, so she nodded in agreement.

  Er Ya was too small and stayed on Zhao Yu Zhen's leg, while Zhou Xiao Xia, Zhou Xiao Yun and Wu Mei, the three girls, went out together.

  As soon as they went out of the gate, Zhou Zhiyuan, Da Bao and several other boys were playing with kites on the empty ground.

  No girl is willing to play such a dangerous game, Zhou Xiaoxia and Wu Mei are not willing to go either.

  Zhou Xiaoyun took the opportunity to say: "Let's three of us go to the street ahead and take a stroll, buy some flowers to wear, anyway we all have money on us."

  Zhou Xiaoxia loved beauty and agreed: "Let's go buy some beautiful hair ribbons and flowers."

  "But we're not very familiar with this place, what if we can't find our way back?"

  Zhou Xiaoyun persuaded her, "How can't you find your way back? Look, just follow the road and there are no intersections. When you come back, just walk along the road and you'll be fine. Besides, Little Xiaya is already ten years old, she must know the way."

  Zhou Xiaoxia, who was called out, immediately puffed out her chest and put on a "I'm an adult" face, Wu Mei couldn't help but persuade her to go take a look around too.

  The streets were lined with shops, selling clothes, shoes, dried fruit and food, stationery and general merchandise. Zhou Xiaoxia and Wu Mei were attracted to a stall filled with hair clips, headbands and hairpins, and they stood in front of it, picking and choosing, discussing and laughing happily.

  Zhou Xiaoyun also found her goal, she ordered Zhou Xiaoxia and Wu Mei to wait for her at the original place and walked towards the store door.

  It's not that she reminded them, but Zhou Xiaoxia tried this and that, Wu Mei looked at this and that, and the two of them couldn't bear to leave.

  Zhou Xiaoyun entered a store that specialized in selling brushes, ink, paper and inkstones. The owner was a young man who was bent over calculating accounts. When he saw the customer enter, he smiled and went to greet them. After getting a clear look at the person, he couldn't help but think to himself: Whose child is this? They didn't even dress properly for New Year's and ran into a store that sells brush ink.

  The little girl who had just reached the counter clearly said to the boss, "Boss, I want to buy two brushes, and also two bottles of better ink. Can you also give me a stack of brush-edged paper?"

  Until the business was done and the money was in hand, the boss was still a bit dizzy. This world is really strange, when did several-year-old children also buy these things?