When Yang Niannian arrived in the city, Master Zheng had already taken away a truckload of goods. She and Jiang Yang rode their bicycles to the processing station and were busy until after ten o'clock before they finished transporting all the goods.

This time it was a total of 4.5 tons of scrap iron and scrap steel. Scrap steel is more expensive than scrap iron, and the total settlement amount was yuan.

They went to another bank and applied for a new passbook, which was used specifically for depositing public funds. They also bought a large tractor, spending 5,560 yuan.

Jiang Yang had learned to drive a tractor with Master Zheng a long time ago. Now he bought a new tractor. He was full of energy. He picked up the bicycle and put it into the tractor, ready to take Yang Niannian away.

The tractor is easy to drive, and Yang Niannian is not worried about Jiang Yang's driving skills, but he doesn't have a driver's license yet.

Although the inspection is not strict these days, driving without a license is always risky. Besides, it is easy and quick to get a license, and passing the test can save you a lot of trouble.

"Hurry up and sign up for a driver's license."

Jiang Yang took something out of his pocket and put it in her hand, "Look what this is."

Yang Niannian looked at him strangely, and her eyes lit up. "When did you get your driver's license?"

Jiang Yang laughed, "I took the test half a month ago. I thought at that time that I might need it, but I didn't expect it to be so soon."

Yang Niannian patted his shoulder and praised him generously, "You are great. You have foresight."

Jiang Yang was so happy to be praised that he wanted to send Yang Niannian back to the military family compound to make Yang Niannian proud. "Hurry up and get in the car. I'll take you back and show those people that your family is capable. This way, they won't bully you."

Although Yang Niannian was happy, she was very calm. She shook her head and said, "It's not good to be too conspicuous. Quickly move the bicycle down and I will ride back by myself. I have something to do these few days and can't come to the city. You can arrange small matters. If there are big matters, come to the military dependents' house to find me."

Jiang Yang didn't understand, "We're not doing anything sneaky, why do we have to hide it?"

"Shi Shen is the head of the army. His status is clear. As his family members, we cannot be too ostentatious." Yang Niannian explained patiently.

Jiang Yang thought about it and felt that it made sense, so he could only move her bicycle down, "Then drive slowly, I'm going to go pick up the goods."

Yang Niannian reminded him worriedly, "You are driving a tractor now, not a bicycle, so you must pay attention to safety."

After the two separated, she rode her bicycle to the vegetable market to buy some ingredients. After returning to the military family compound, she brought the ingredients directly to Wang Fengjiao's kitchen.

The chicken soup in the iron pot was ready. Wang Fengjiao drank a bowl of it but did not touch the chicken. There were twenty or thirty eggs in the kitchen bowl.

It is impossible for Wang Fengjiao to go out to buy eggs, and Zhou Bingxing is in the army and has no time to buy them. Where did these eggs come from?

Wang Fengjiao, who heard the noise in the kitchen, came out of the house. Seeing Yang Niannian staring at the eggs in a daze, she explained in a loud voice.

"Director Ding heard about my miscarriage from a colleague, so he came with people from the family planning office this morning and told me to get sterilized once I got better. When everyone found out, they all sent me eggs."

In those days when living conditions were poor, things were precious and people were not so particular. The military wives came over and each gave her two eggs to nourish her body.

Sometimes there would be some minor frictions between the military wives over trivial matters, but if something really happened in one of their families, they would still visit each other.

Yang Niannian curled the corners of her mouth and said, "I guess Director Ding is venting his resentment towards me on you."

"She is just wasting her time. Even if she didn't bring anyone here, I would still like to have a sterilization. Abortion is so painful, I don't want to suffer any more." Wang Fengjiao said.

"The children will be back soon. I'll cook first. You go to the house and rest."

Yang Niannian drove Wang Fengjiao back to the inner room, rolled up her sleeves and kneaded out a large piece of dough. She tore the chicken in the pot into shreds, scooped out a large bowl of chicken soup separately, and used the rest to cook noodles.

The weather was hot and the chicken would go bad if not eaten during the night. Wang Fengjiao couldn't finish a whole chicken by herself, so she simply cooked noodles for the children to eat together.

The noodles weren't out of the pot yet when several children came back in a hurry. When they saw Yang Niannian cooking in the kitchen, they were all very happy.

"Aunt Yang, why are you cooking at my house today?" Zhou Pingping asked curiously with his eyes wide open.

Yang Niannian smiled and replied, "Because I don't have to go to the city to work recently."

Before Zhou Pingping could say anything, Zhou Haiyang shouted excitedly, "That's great! Auntie's cooking is much better than my mom's. We are in for a treat."

Yang Niannian didn't see An An, so she asked, "Did An An go home? Go and call him to come for dinner."

"I'll go and call."

Zhou Pingping ran very fast and called An An over in a short while.

"Aunt, I got 90 points in Chinese and 98 points in math, and won first prize." An An put her schoolbag on the ground and took out a red certificate from it.

Yang Niannian's eyes lit up, and she praised with great joy, "An An is so amazing? She actually got first prize in the exam. After dinner, we will put the certificate on the wall."

Without any parental tutoring, the child relied entirely on self-study, and to get this score, Yang Niannian thought it was indeed very good.

Seeing Yang Niannian so happy, An An felt a sense of accomplishment and said confidently, "Aunt, I will try to get 100 points next time."

Zhou Haiyang squatted down, helped An An open the mouth of his schoolbag, and urged, "Okay, Aunt Yang has seen it, quickly put the certificate away, don't let my mother see it, otherwise she will say that the four of us are idiots who only know how to eat and don't know how to use our brains to study."

Yang Niannian laughed when she heard this, "An'an, keep the certificate first, and be careful not to tear it."

An An carefully put the certificate into his schoolbag. He just wanted to let his aunt know that he had got first place in the exam. Now that his aunt knew it, he was satisfied.

Yang Niannian washed the flour off her hands, took out a handful of change from her pocket, and gave An An fifty-cent coin first. "This is a reward for you getting first place. If you can get first place again next time, I'll give you one dollar as a reward."

"Thank you, auntie."

An An was so happy that he almost flew away when he got the fifty cents. Fifty cents could buy a lot of popsicles.

Zhou Haiyang and his brothers were extremely envious. Aunt Yang was so generous. They also wanted to be Aunt Yang's sons.

Yang Niannian noticed the expressions of the children and said with a smile, "Put out your hands."

The children were obedient and stretched out their hands cooperatively. Yang Niannian put two cents in each of their hands.

"This money is for you to buy popsicles. From now on, if you get 90 points or above in the exam, I will reward you with 50 cents. If you can get into the top three, I will also reward you with one dollar."

Normally, the children would be very satisfied if their parents gave them one cent, but Yang Niannian gave each of them two cents, which was more than their New Year's money.

Zhou Haiyang and his brothers opened their eyes wide with excitement and said in unison, "Thank you, Aunt Yang."

From now on, if anyone dares to say anything bad about Aunt Yang, they will be the first to beat that person up.

Yang Niannian put the remaining change back into her pocket and urged, "The noodles in the pot are ready, go wash your hands and eat."