Now Mei Fang and her friends don't go home until 8:30 in the evening. If they walk back together, it will be after 9 o'clock when they get home.
Xia Yuan's father Xia Xun felt that even though Mei Fang was there, it was not safe for a girl to walk on the road at night. Plus, his job was easy now, so he proposed to Xia Yuan the idea of driving the three little ones to and from school every day.
However, this suggestion was of course rejected by Xia Yuan on the spot.
She wished she could stay with Mei Fang, Lin Youxi and the other two for even one more minute. Who wanted her father to be there? Then there would be many topics that could not be discussed.
Although he knows that his lovely little boy has entered puberty and is experiencing the coexistence of growth and rebelliousness, and that the little angel who once held his hand for a hug has become a distant past, Xia Xun still has to fulfill his responsibilities as a father.
"If you insist on not letting me pick you up, then I'll take the bus or ride a bike at night. Anyway, I have to see you home before nine o'clock!"
"Okay, okay! I get it! Dad, you're so annoying."
Faced with his daughter's rebuke, the old father Xia Xun suddenly felt so sad that he wanted to cry but had no tears.
My daughter has grown up, and I can’t keep her anymore…
"So... here's what happened."
Xia Yuan told Mei Fang and Lin Youxi what his father had said to him, and wanted to discuss with them the arrangements for returning home in the evening.
"It's not easy to get on the bus at that time at night. It's crowded and there's no room. If it's delayed, it will be even worse."
Mei Fang thought for a moment and said, "I think it's more reliable to ride a bicycle home, but do you know how to ride a bicycle?"
The small county town is close to everything. Mei Fang and his classmates have always walked during their student days. If they want to go a little further, they have to drive. It seems that none of the three have any experience in riding bicycles.
"You can learn if you don't know how to ride, but from the tone of your voice, do you think you can ride? I've never seen you ride before."
"I sometimes ride a bike when I go out to help my mother buy groceries, but you haven't seen it."
"Then I have to look forward to it..." Xia Yuan thought for a moment, "Then let's go buy bicycles together this weekend?"
"I already have a bicycle at home, so I won't buy one."
Lin Youxi shook her head and said, "I can still ride Aunt Liang's bike."
"I remember Aunt Liang's bicycle is very old, wouldn't it be better to buy a new one?"
"Well... no need." Lin Youxi shook her head, "I don't want to waste money."
After Lin Youxi saved money to buy her father an electric car, she stopped taking on substitute training and spent more time on the operation and maintenance of Station C. Therefore, her pocket money was not as much as it was in the first year of junior high school. However, she was indeed more frugal. Mei Fang knew what she was thinking and said,
"Then I'll ride my mom's too. She now rides an electric bike and doesn't need the bicycle anymore."
"Why don't you buy a new bike? But I don't have a bike to ride at home."
Xia Yuan seemed a little discouraged. She scratched her head and said, "Then I'll go ask my mother if I can ask my colleague's uncle or aunt to lend me a bicycle."
"If you want to buy a new car, just buy it, Yuanyuan. What's the big deal?"
"But then I wouldn't fit in."
"What's so unsociable about this..."
Mei Fang shook his head. "If our old bikes are too hard to ride, we might buy new ones. Then we'll need you to recommend us a new one."
"Well, I'll ask my dad to take me to buy a bicycle on Saturday, and we can practice together on Sunday afternoon!"
"We have to go to Li Shibing's house for extra lessons on Sunday, so we can only learn to drive after 5 o'clock."
"Oh, I forgot. We are almost there too." Xia Yuan said with a grin. "Anyway, after class, let's go to the park in our neighborhood to practice driving!"
On weekend afternoons, Mei Fang and Lin Youxi rushed home after their tutoring classes - because Mei Fang knew how to ride a bicycle in her previous life, she rode a bicycle directly to attend the tutoring classes today.
"You really can ride a bicycle." Mei Fang pushed the bicycle and Lin Youxi followed beside him. "I really don't know when you learned it."
“I didn’t learn it specially, it’s just a talent.”
If it was the younger Lin Youxi, she might have kicked Mei Fang in anger and said that she was bragging, but now she has restrained herself a lot, "Afang is really talented in sports, and it was the same with roller skating before..."
"Ahaha." Mei Fang scratched his head embarrassedly, "This is just an ordinary talent. It can't be compared with your talent for learning code or cooking."
"I don't think so. They are both equally amazing."
Lin Youxi looked at the sky and saw that it was getting dark. "Fang, why don't you go back first? Yuanyuan might be waiting for you."
"Let's go back together. How can I leave you here?"
Mei Fang became interested when he saw Lin Youxi looking at the back seat of his car from time to time.
"How about I take you back on my bike? I'm not bragging, I'm a pretty good rider!"
Lin Youxi looked up at Mei Fang, pursed her lips and thought for a while, then nodded slightly.
"I want to sit."
So Mei Fang got on the bicycle and waited for Lin Youxi to sit on the back seat. This time she seemed quite familiar with the ride and she put her arms around Mei Fang's lower abdomen and laid her head on Mei Fang's back, which made Mei Fang feel a little embarrassed.
"Know."
Then Lin Youxi hugged Mei Fang tighter.
Mei Fang rode his bike leisurely. The setting sun elongated their figures infinitely. The unique slow-paced style of the small county town was presented one by one in the streets and markets.
There were small vendors pushing carts and aunties walking leisurely home from buying vegetables. The asphalt road they were riding on was bumpy and uneven. Mei Fang moved flexibly to avoid the various small potholes. Lin Youxi only encountered a short bump, and it was very smooth otherwise.
Two or three children fighting with bamboo sticks on the street attracted Lin Youxi's attention. She couldn't help but gently call Mei Fang's name.
"Afang."
"What's wrong?"
Mei Fang looked back at Lin Youxi and saw that she was looking at the scenery on the street. "Did you see anything?"
"no."
Lin Youxi stood up from Mei Fang's back. "I remembered what happened when we were kids playing outside. I used a stick to cut a big hole in your pants. I was so afraid that you would go back and tell Aunt Mei about it. Then Aunt Mei would dislike me and never let me play at your house again. I was so scared that I cried as I walked away."
"Oh... Are you talking about the first grade incident?" Mei Fang thought for a moment, "How was it handled in the end?"
"Finally I said I would go back with you to apologize, but you went back and told your aunt that you tore your pants yourself, which caused you to be spanked by Aunt Mei."
"Why are you like Yuanyuan, always remembering my embarrassing moments so clearly..."
"I don't think it's embarrassing." Lin Youxi's voice was very gentle, "I just felt that you were very nice to me at that time."
"So, does that mean I'm not nice to you now?"
"Um… "
Lin Youxi pondered and did not respond. Instead, he leaned against Mei Fang's back again, closed his eyes and began to take a nap.
Mei Fang first sent Lin Youxi back to her home to get the bike, and then rode his bike back home to put his schoolbag away. As soon as he got off the bike and pushed it out, he happened to see Xia Yuan from a distance.
"Afang Afang!"
Xia Yuan, wearing a sports cap, came to Mei Fang pushing his newly bought white bicycle and asked, "Why are you back so early? Did you finish class early?"
"No, we are just like you."
"Is that so..."
Xia Yuan pulled her hair and thought for a while, "So... you rode your bike to the cram school, right?"
"Yeah? How..."
"So you came back by bike?"
"Um."
"Then, then you..." Xia Yuan swallowed, "You didn't do something stupid like riding back alone and leaving Youxi behind, right?"
"Ah... How is that possible?"
"Hahaha, I knew Ah Fang wasn't that bad."
Xia Yuan showed him her new car generously, "What do you think of my new car?"
"It looks pretty, but this kind of bike can't change speeds, so it may not be easy to ride."
"Why don't you just ride it and see for yourself?"
"Okay, I'll try it first."
At Xia Yuan's instigation, Mei Fang rode her bicycle.
As soon as Mei Fang sat down, Xia Yuan also sat on the back seat. Unlike Lin Youxi, she did not sit sideways, but straddled the two sides of the bicycle, tightly pressed against Mei Fang's back.
The pressure and touch are full.
"… "
"Why are you looking at me? You must bring someone with you to know if it's a good ride!" Xia Yuan pushed Mei Fang forward, "Ride it and see."
"I know, I know, don't push me!"
Mei Fang drove Xia Yuan around the community until Lin Youxi arrived.
AI is not very good at drawing bicycles, I will add two pictures of cycling later.
(End of this chapter)