Returning to the small mountain village of '86, intelligence updated daily.

Almost the entire Zhou family is here, along with two very important guests who make up the dinner party.

Zhou Rui was sitting next to his younger brother Zhou Ming and his cousin.

Unlike the shy and quiet Zhou Xing, Zhou Guo'er has been chatting and laughing with her grandmother ever since she entered the house.

The food on the table was steaming hot, and everyone ate heartily without any restraint.

Zhou Guo'er's eating habits are quite interesting. She always chews slowly and carefully, and the rice in her bowl is always neatly arranged.

A bite of food with a bite of rice, a very regular routine.

In contrast, Zhou Xing was not so particular. After hearing that his grandfather was not blaming him, he picked up his chopsticks again and ate the soup-soaked rice in his bowl with a mouthful of musk deer meat.

The adults were clinking glasses and exchanging toasts. Zhou Rui glanced at his cousin next to him. 14-year-old Zhou Guo'er was already graceful and had the demeanor of a "little adult".

She looks similar to her mother, Yang Laidi, but unlike Yang Laidi, she is not ordinary. Her clean eyebrows and delicate nose give people a refreshing and gentle feeling.

Zhou Guo'er sat up straight, picked up a piece of pork tenderloin from the table and put it in her bowl, then chewed it slowly with a mouthful of white rice.

"Little sister, you'll be going to junior high school next year. How's it going? Feeling the pressure?" Zhou Rui asked warmly.

He knew that although his cousin was 14 years old, she was still in the fourth grade of elementary school.

At that time, many people did not start school at the same time, unlike later generations when kindergartens still existed.

Many families that are not well-off have the opportunity to send their children to primary school very late, and some even drop out after two or three years to help with household chores.

However, after the start of this semester, Zhou Guo'er will be in fifth grade, the last stage of her elementary school years.

In 86, although new education regulations had just been promulgated and a six-year primary school system had been implemented, it was not yet fully popularized in the remote southwestern area where Zhou Rui lived.

Therefore, Zhou Guo'er still attends a five-year primary school.

When Zhou Guo'er heard her older brother ask, she didn't reply immediately. Instead, she chewed faster and waited until she finished eating before answering:

"Big brother, I'll work harder next school year. My uncle's house has a lot of books. I take my little brother to read them when I'm not at my uncle's house. I should be able to get into junior high school."

Zhou Guo'er has just the right amount of confidence, but she is not arrogant.

The transition from primary to junior high school is not difficult for the children of urban workers, and it is not even a difficult task for children in county towns.

However, rural children start late and are constrained by tuition fees and preliminary exams, which often results in half of the students in a primary school graduating class ending up with only a primary school diploma.

Zhou Rui nodded encouragingly upon hearing this:

"I believe my little sister can definitely do it. Who knows, she might even be the first college student in our family."

Hearing her older brother's encouragement, Zhou Guo'er nodded with a smile, "Big brother, I will definitely try my best to get into university! To bring honor to our family!"

The most educated member of the Zhou family is the youngest uncle, Zhou Shiping, who only attended high school. It wasn't that he couldn't pass the exams, but that the family was too poor to afford it at the time.

Only a minority of the villagers could pool their money to support them, and Zhou Shiping was also very sensible at the time, determined to work and earn money to support his family.

Zhou Rui's thoughts stirred. What he said was absolutely right. In the previous life, the Zhou family had only one college student, Zhou Guo'er.

This is one of the reasons why the village is famous. In an era when college students were already rare, it was even more remarkable that two female college students came from the village in succession.

This was quite a rare occurrence, so much so that many people from other towns later came here to propose marriage, hoping to benefit from the talent.

Although my uncle later underwent "re-education for cadres" and attended university while still employed, he was never a true university student.

As his thoughts raced, the elders continued to toast each other. While Zhao Jianjun was surprised by the preciousness of the deer blood wine, he also made sure to clink glasses with Zhou Rui.

"Little Zhao, I heard from Brother Zhou that you're opening a factory, right? How's it going? Is everything going smoothly?"

After drinking a few cups of deer blood wine, Zhou Jian and the others chatted, and Zhou Shiwei introduced them to each other. He learned that this man named Zhao Jianjun was running a factory.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jianjun adopted a very humble attitude and said modestly:

"Brother Zhou, I'm just a tailor, making a living on a small scale, nothing to brag about."

Zhao Jianjun didn't mention the difficulties he was facing because he didn't know the person's background yet, only a rough understanding from what he had just learned.

Besides, they weren't very familiar with each other, and asking for help rashly would make the other party look down on them.

Zhou Jian did not press the matter, but he greatly admired Zhao Jianjun. The man was unpretentious, spoke appropriately, and was on good terms with the Zhou family.

He had a good impression of this person.

"Xiao Zhao, if you need anything in the future, you can come to the supply and marketing cooperative to find me. I'll give you a discount when you buy things. We're all family here, haha."

As the head of the township supply and marketing cooperative, Zhou Jian wielded considerable power, and his official connections were unmatched by ordinary people.

He came here to be the head of the supply and marketing cooperative purely to find his old squad leader.

The two became friends.

As Zhou Rui watched this scene, a strange and subtle feeling welled up inside him.

He thought about it carefully in his mind, and then the last absurd fact came to mind.

Isn't this group of people at the table a near-perfect startup team?

Because of him, Grandpa pulled through and his health was restored, allowing Zhou Jian to finally see Grandpa as he had wished, which led to their reunion.

Judging from his appearance, Zhou Jian is definitely inseparable from his family.

Looking at Zhao Jianjun later, it was because he had made contact with them beforehand that their relationship progressed so quickly.

You could say that the people sitting here now are people we know very well; they are the foundation of our family.

Fate is wondrous, just like the Zhou family now. Zhou Rui secretly marveled at the perfect timing, location, and people.

"Knock knock knock—"

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

The other party knocked with force but with a clear rhythm, as if afraid of angering the host.

The sudden knocking startled the entire family inside.

Because the Zhou family doesn't usually have much contact with the villagers, and besides, who could it be in the middle of the night?

Zhou Shiwei looked around, then stood up and walked towards the door.

The door opened, and there stood a man of average height, dressed in plain clothes, with pockmarks on his face.

He was much younger than Zhou Shiwei and was Zhou's neighbor, Wang Ermazi.

He was all smiles, his face full of flattery and apology, which startled Zhou Shiwei at first glance.

But soon, he asked coldly:

"What's the matter? You're not welcome in my house."

Zhou Shiwei spoke coldly and gave Wang Er a cold look.

Upon seeing this, Wang Ermazi quickly apologized, bowing and scraping:

"Brother Zhou, I was ignorant before, so I've come to apologize. I hope you can just let me go."

Zhou Shiwei, however, had no interest in joking around with him and said impatiently:

"What you do is none of my business. If you have nothing else to say, please leave. I'm eating right now."

The aroma of meat wafted from the room. Wang Er's throat bobbed, and seeing Zhou Shiwei about to close the door, he grabbed it with one hand, pleading in his voice:

"Brother Zhou, please, could you lend me some money to help me out?"