The vehicle is now similar to a minivan from later generations, except that the seats are still made entirely of wood. However, this time, Lin Ying used wood to make the frame, making it much sturdier than before.

The car now has two doors, but one is in the middle on the right. This is for getting into the back seats. After opening the door, you need to put down a ladder so the child can get in.

The other door is on the left front, which is the driver's seat. There's another seat in front, but Lin Ying's seat can be extended if someone needs to sit there.

The van behind it is the same, with two seats in the front and a row of seats in the back.

However, having experienced sleeping in the car before, Lin Ying always felt that sleeping in the car was the best option. Therefore, all the seats were adjustable. Normally, they were reclining seats, but the three-seater in the back could be moved forward and laid flat to form a small bed. It could easily sleep two children. The front seats, like those in the driver's cabin, could also be pulled out and laid flat to form another small bed.

There's no problem with the children sleeping; at least Er Ya and Liu Zi are sleeping well right now.

If Lin Ying wants to sleep there, the driver's seat needs to be pulled out and laid flat along with the one in front. Only when all the seats in the carriage are laid flat can it be made into a large bed.

If there's anything special about the family, it's that Haoyu started school. He became a preschool student.

He attended the same school as Xiaoqiang, the town's primary school.

No one in the village was his age and went to school, but seeing Haoyu go to school, everyone hoped that their own children would also make progress. However, no one had Lin Ying's car, nor did anyone have Lin Ying's time.

The village chief consulted with several elders in the village and then went to find Lin Ying.

"I heard your Haoyu is going to start school in September?"

Lin Ying nodded: "Yes, children always have to go to school when they grow up. Uncle, is there something you need?"

The village chief organized his thoughts before saying, "Well, it's like this, there are a few kids in our village who are old enough to go to school, but since there's no school in the village, and we only have one cow, we can't afford to take them to school every day. So we've been discussing this. How about this? When you take Haoyu to school, could you take the other kids from the village with you?"

Of course, I won't let you work for free; I'll give you five centimeters of extra effort each day. Can you manage that?

Lin Ying thought for a moment: "How many children in the village want to go to school?"

The village chief knew that Lin Ying wanted to agree, and he was instantly much happier: "Six! The oldest is ten years old, and the youngest is the same age as Haoyu, seven years old in the traditional Chinese age reckoning!"

Lin Ying thought for a moment and said, "Okay, but let's make it clear first, you'll have to handle the registration and everything else yourselves. I'll only be responsible for picking up and dropping off the children on their way to school. That's all I'll do."

The village chief hurriedly said, "That's fine then. It's settled then?"

Lin Ying nodded: "It's settled."

More than half a year has passed, and Zhao Qinghuai still hasn't returned. Lin Ying's heart has sunk to the bottom. Things she was once resolute about are now slowly crumbling, and she often finds herself lost in thought. But she has four children to raise; she can't afford to break down.

Therefore, Lin Ying devoted herself to these things because they required mental effort and she had to concentrate fully.

Lin Ying found that time flew by in Northeast China, and before she knew it, autumn had arrived, which meant preparing for winter. This year, Lin Ying would occasionally take things out of her spatial storage, but doing so in winter would be a bit conspicuous. So, Lin Ying continued her usual practice of going up the mountain to collect ingredients.

However, because this mountain belongs to the village's collective resources, Lin Ying has to go to the back mountain to collect things.

The back mountain here isn't as safe as the military dependents' compound. There are patrols there year-round, and sometimes they practice shooting, which frightens wild animals. Here, it's all thanks to those two big tigers, and now, with Tiger Cub and Niu Niu around too, it's a bit safer. But all the safe places have already been explored by the hunters from the hunting village. She needs to go to Genghoumian.

So this time, Lin Ying didn't bring the children, but took Hu Zi with her, while Niu Niu stayed home to protect the children. She wanted to prepare everything in advance before Hao Yu went to school.

After all, apart from Haoyu who can take care of the children and Shuanzi who can help out, the rest of the family can't really help.

Now, their family has electricity, running water, and heating. So they use much less firewood than before. Less doesn't mean less; she still needs to prepare it.

Another essential is canned goods, which are a must every year. She needs canned fruit and canned meat. She doesn't need to worry about pickled vegetables, though; she grew plenty this year, enough to eat.

She still used three trolleys to go up the mountain. She started going up at dawn and didn't come down until after 2 p.m. Naturally, she didn't just have the few things in the trolleys; she put everything else in her spatial storage.

She spent one day up the mountain and the other day cleaning at home. Before anyone could react, half a wall of firewood had been piled up in the corner of Lin Ying's house. As for the canned goods and pickled vegetables, they couldn't just stay in the kitchen, so Lin Ying spent another day digging a cellar and putting the things there.

This year, Lin Ying learned from the village elders how to make some soybean paste, and also made a lot of meat sauce and other similar products. Before September arrived, Lin Ying made quite a lot of different things.

I started school in September, but I had already registered in early August.

That day, Lin Ying woke up the children early in the morning. After getting them ready, they all got on the bus. Er Ya and Liu Zi were secured to the front seats, and Shuan Zi was squeezed in by the front door. Only Hao Yu, dressed in new clothes and shoes, with a nice haircut, was there. His little face was fair, and he carried a bag on his back containing a lunchbox, pencils, and notebooks. He also had a large water bottle on his back filled with water.