Traveling between the 70s and the modern world

Lin Qingyan followed Zhou Limei to Tongtong's school. The school gate was very crowded with people and vehicles.

Some drove cars, some rode electric scooters, and some, Sister Zhou said, were vintage cars. It was even more lively than the big market in the 70s.

At the same time, Lin Qingyan also discovered that many of those who came to pick up their children were grandparents, and there were very few young mothers like Sister Zhou.

Lin Qingyan originally thought that it was Sister Zhou who came to pick up the children, and she just happened to come by at the right time, but seeing the crowd that couldn't squeeze through the door, it seemed that there was someone to pick up every child.

So I asked, "Sister Zhou, can't children go home by themselves after school? Why do they need family members to pick them up?"

Zhou Limei glanced at her, laughed, and instead of answering her question, asked her, "Is there no one to pick you up from school?"

Lin Qingyan recalled the situation when she was still studying two years ago. It seemed that no one had ever sent her home since she started school.

At first she followed her brother, and when her younger brother was old enough to go to school, she took him with her again. In their place, children all walked to school by themselves.

"I walk to school by myself." Lin Qingyan thought about it and answered.

“When I was in school, I went to school by myself or with friends from the village.

At that time, there didn't seem to be so many bad guys or human traffickers. I don't know when it started, but there were more and more human traffickers, and parents became more and more worried about their children going out alone.

Nowadays, even high school students are mostly picked up by their parents when they go to and from school.”

"There are human traffickers now?" Lin Qingyan was quite surprised.

"It has gotten better in recent years. In the past few years, we often saw children begging on the streets. Those were children who were abducted and persecuted."

Zhou Limei felt heartbroken when she recalled seeing children begging on the streets. Which child was not raised and cared for by their parents?

Seeing Lin Qingyan's confused eyes, Zhou Limei changed the subject.

"Raising children nowadays is quite stressful. It's not like when we were young, when we just needed to have enough food and clothes. Now children go to various training classes and summer camps.

There are also various competitions, which require a lot of time and money. When you think about it, we were happier when we were young. "Zhou Limei looked happy when she talked about her childhood.

Lin Qingyan thought about her many trips to modern times, and sometimes she saw children carrying schoolbags and going home with their parents very late at night. In the 70s, it was a very happy thing for children to be able to go to school.

The children themselves will also cherish it very much, but they finish school very early every day, and they don’t have homework. All the learning tasks are completed at school.

In the past year or so in the countryside, the children who went to school in the village still had to help adults with farm work or help cook at home after school. Compared with children today, they were not very happy.

Looking around at the people picking up their children, Lin Qingyan asked, "It seems that most of the people picking up their children are grandparents, so why don't their parents come to pick up their children?"

"Although our Xishui Town is a town, it is even larger than some county towns, with a large permanent population and many tourists.

But for young people, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are more attractive and worth conquering and striving for. "Zhou Limei talked about the current normal situation.

She continued, "Most of the capable young people have gone out to work hard, so the only ones left are the elderly and children. There are relatively few mothers like me who specialize in taking care of children.

Becoming a mother who only cares for children is a huge sacrifice. For someone like me, I am so young, I don’t have my own career, and I even lost my marriage.” Zhou Limei’s expression darkened again when she thought of her marriage.

Fortunately, Tongtong's class came out, and Tongtong saw her from a distance and ran towards her, shouting, "Mom, Mom!"

Hearing her daughter's cry, Zhou Limei's darkened expression brightened up again. Her daughter was her light, the only light in her future life, and the driving force for her struggle.

"Tongtong, mom is here." Zhou Limei hugged Tongtong and patted her gently.

"Let's go home." He took Tongtong's schoolbag off her back, held it in his hand, and prepared to leave with his daughter. After walking two steps, he remembered Lin Qingyan, so he said to Lin Qingyan embarrassedly.

"Look at my memory. I was so excited to see my daughter that I almost forgot about you. Let's go to the business hall to apply for a card before closing. By the way, Qingyan, do you have your ID card with you?"

Lin Qingyan smiled and said it was okay, and nodded back to her, "I brought my ID card."

After saying that, he reached into his pocket and actually took out his ID card from the space.

Her valuables are now in the space and can be taken at any time.

At this time, Tongtong saw Lin Qingyan, and walked up to her and took her hand, "Sister, you are here, did you bring me anything delicious today?"

"Sister brought vegetables. Next time, I will bring you some fruits grown in my family, okay?" Lin Qingyan said patiently to the little girl.

As for her direct address to Zhou Limei and Tongtong, Zhou Limei looked to be in her twenties, she was 6 years old, so she could only call her sister. Tongtong was 7- years old, so if she was asked to call her auntie, she would feel very old.

Last time, Sister Zhou corrected Tongtong and asked her to call her auntie. Tongtong said, "It's obviously big sister, not auntie."

Later they started calling each other randomly, and the three of them talked about their own things. After all, they were not blood relatives, so there was no need to pay so much attention to the way they addressed each other.

The three of them came to the electric bike, Tongtong stood in front, Zhou Limei rode the bike, and she sat in the back. The three of them quickly passed through the crowd and came to the mobile business hall.

After parking the car, Zhou Limei led them inside, and a salesperson came to greet them. "Welcome, ma'am, are you here to buy a mobile phone or do business?"

"My sister needs to apply for a mobile phone card." Zhou Limei replied as she walked towards the service counter.

"Ma'am, have you ever applied for a China Mobile card before?" the staff member continued to ask.

Zhou Limei turned to look at Lin Qingyan. When Lin Qingyan heard the staff's question, she took over the conversation and said, "I have never applied for a card before. This is my first time applying for a card."

"Okay, ma'am, please follow me." The staff took them to a counter.

I said to the salesperson sitting there, "This is a new account."

After saying that, he turned around and walked away, continuing to stand at the door.

"Which lady is here to handle this?" The person handling the card looked at Zhou Limei and asked. Zhou Limei pointed at Lin Qingyan and motioned her to come forward.

Lin Qingyan walked forward and sat on the stool in front.

"Did you bring your ID card?" the card issuer asked.

"I have it." Lin Qingyan handed over her ID card.

"Wait a moment, ma'am." The person who processed the card paused, just like when he processed the ID card before. Lin Qingyan now knew that this was a computer. After the staff inputted some information,

Pointing at the monitor in front of Lin Qingyan, he said to her, "Pick a number from here."

Lin Qingyan looked at it for a while, picked a number that was easier to remember, and pointed at it: "That's it."

Soon the staff handed her the card and asked, "Do you want me to put it on your phone?"

"No, thank you. We will install it ourselves when we get back." Zhou Limei stepped forward and replied.

After getting her ID card back and putting the card and ID card in her pocket, Lin Qingyan continued to follow Zhou Limei back.

Lin Qingyan didn't know how much of an impact the cell phone would have on her.