Back to my 1980s

Zhao Hua carefully put away the paperwork on his bicycle and watched Uncle Li's departing figure until he disappeared around the corner.

Zhao Hua withdrew his gaze, looked at Jiang Yue standing to the side, and smiled, "Thank you for your hard work. Wait for me a moment."

He got on the bicycle and kept banging on the chain, handlebars, and other parts, seemingly trying to show off his professionalism. Xu Qian, seeing him get on the bicycle, asked curiously, "You can ride?"

"I know a little. Wait here for me, I'll be right back."

Xu Qian stepped back to Jiang Yue's side without saying much, and looked curiously at Zhao Hua sitting on the bicycle. She wanted to see if Zhao Hua was bragging. She had fallen several times before she learned to ride a bicycle, but this guy just bought a bike and could ride it right away.

Zhao Hua turned his bike around and rode straight back to the convenience store he had come from. Xu Qian stared wide-eyed at him, wondering if he would trip and fall.

Zhao Hua rode his bike, feeling extremely relaxed. For the past month or so, he had been riding his bike every day, and he felt that the muscles in his thighs had become noticeably stronger. Now, with just a little effort, he could go a long way, which felt incredibly exhilarating.

He parked his car at the convenience store, but dared not go inside. Even though it was near the township government, he couldn't guarantee that no one would steal his car.

Standing at the entrance of the convenience store, he shouted inside, "Old Xu! Give me two cans of food!"

Xu Qian's grandfather ignored Zhao Hua and came out of the inner room with a dark face, carrying two cans of food. He was not surprised at all that Zhao Hua could guess his identity.

He handed the can of food to Zhao Hua, saying curtly, "Four yuan!"

Zhao Hua was startled. He had only paid a little over one yuan for it at Hongguang Brigade, but here it was two yuan. Was this old man trying to rip him off?

He glanced at the can in his hand and realized it was a can of yellow peaches. He had bought canned oranges from the Hongguang Brigade before, which explained the price difference.

He put the canned food into the bicycle basket, glanced at the wire basket in front of the bicycle, and remembered that in the period dramas he had seen on television in his later years, bicycles did not have baskets. He wondered if he was mistaken.

Old Xu stood at the door waiting, seemingly unafraid that he would run off with the two cans of food. He took out four yuan from his inner pocket and handed it to Old Xu. After taking the money, Old Xu glared at him and turned back into the house.

Zhao Hua didn't pay any attention and rode his bicycle back to Jiang Yue's house. The two of them had already placed the air pump at Jiang Yue's door.

He slammed on the brakes to stop the bicycle, got off, walked to the door, handed the canned food to Jiang Yue and Xu Qian, and said with a smile, "Thanks to you two, I was able to buy the bike so quickly. Here, have a sweet treat."

Jiang Yue glanced at Xu Qian, who looked at the canned food in Zhao Hua's hand with a half-smile and asked, "Where did you buy this canned food?"

Seeing Xu Qian's strange expression, Zhao Hua simply shoved the canned food into their hands and said, "It's the one at the intersection ahead."

Xu Qian nodded knowingly and smiled, "So generous? If we accept it, you won't be secretly crying under the covers at night, will you?"

Before Zhao Hua could speak, Jiang Yue tugged at her sleeve. Realizing she had misspoke, she smiled and waved her hand, saying, "Just kidding. Knowing you have money, I'll accept it."

Zhao Hua nodded. The two cans of food were quite valuable, but none of them paid much attention to them. Zhao Hua was naturally careless, and the other two girls would have some brought back by their families during holidays.

He picked up the gas pump from the ground and laughed, "Then I'll head back now. I'll come to the restaurant to visit you guys in mid-August; my friend is still waiting for me."

The two girls hugged the cans of food in their hands and nodded. After waving goodbye to them, Zhao Hua put the air pump into the bicycle basket and pushed the bicycle to the front of the township government.

People waiting by the roadside gathered around him after they saw him.

"Did you buy it?"

Who were those two girls just now?

"Wow, you've really found a phoenix."

Hei Zi touched the bicycle seat and clicked his tongue in amazement. Zhao Hua handed the bicycle to him and pushed it along. It wouldn't be right to leave them behind and ride the bicycle back by himself.

As soon as the bicycle was in Hei Zi's hands, everyone crowded around it. Hei Zi was so jostled that he could barely move and shouted, "Don't touch it! If you break it, you won't be able to afford to buy another one even if you sell them!"

Zhao Hua followed behind, watching them argue, and chuckled. He seemed to care for the car even more than he did himself.

The group joked and laughed all the way back to the village entrance. They returned the bike to Zhao Hua and asked, "Hua Zi, can you ride it?"

Zhao Hua took the bicycle, shook his head, and said, "I don't know how yet. I'll go back and practice."

It's better to keep a low profile in front of his friends in the village. The villagers know him well; he learned to ride as soon as he got the bike, which is almost like a supernatural event. In the future, when he walks on the village roads, people will definitely ask him how he learned to ride a bike.

"Do you need us to help you hold the car while you're practicing driving? It's such a valuable car, we don't want you to drop it and scratch the paint."

Zhao Hua was speechless and said, "No need, I'll secretly go to the fields to learn by myself. The ground there is soft and I won't get hurt if I fall. What would happen if you saw me fall?"

A burst of laughter erupted around them. Not long after they entered the village, Wang Gang and his group of six or seven people walked out of the alleyway and met them.

He didn't expect that instead of encountering thugs at the market, he would run into this group of people from the west of the village.

The two people exchanged forced smiles and were about to pass each other when Wang Gang suddenly asked, "Who bought this car?"

Zhao Hua stopped, paused, looked at Wang Gang, and smiled, "I bought it, so what?"

Wang Gang exclaimed, "Hey, not bad! You've made something of yourself, even bought a bicycle!"

Hearing Wang Gang's sarcastic tone, Zhao Hua narrowed his eyes. In their past lives, they had never spoken to each other, but in this life, he didn't know what had gotten into Wang Gang, that he would always say something sarcastic every time he saw him.

He propped up his bicycle and said, "What do you mean?"

Wang Gang chuckled strangely, spat on the roadside, and said, "It's nothing. I just saw you bought a bicycle, can't I even say a few compliments?"

Hei Zi and Zhu Zi, who already knew about the feud between the two, slowly dispersed and surrounded Wang Gang and his group.

When Wang Gang's men saw that they were surrounded, and it was Wang Gang who had started it, they felt a bit annoyed with him. However, they had fought each other since they were young, and they couldn't back down now. They stood up straight and stared at Hei Zi and the others.

Seeing this, Zhao Hua smiled and said, "I'll put up with you one more time. If you come to me and complain again, I'll tear your roof off."

Looking at the smile on Zhao Hua's face, Wang Gang suddenly felt a chill and didn't dare to say anything more.

Zhao Hua looked at him for a while, and seeing that he didn't say anything, she pushed her bicycle and walked back.

Seeing Zhao Hua leave, the people on the east side of the road pointed at Wang Gang, gave him a few warnings, and then caught up with Zhao Hua and walked towards the village together.

Wang Gang watched Zhao Hua's departing figure, spat on the ground again, and muttered a few curses under his breath. He didn't notice that three of the people who had been walking with him had quietly moved a couple of steps away.