That afternoon, Zhou Huaian came back from Ning'an after delivering goods and unloaded three brand new 26-lap bicycles in a row.

"Wow!" Zhou Xiaoru and her friends who were fishing in the pond at the door dropped their homemade fishing rods and ran over. "Dad, why did you buy so many bicycles?"

Zhou Jiakang fumbled around with his eyes shining, "Dad, are there any bicycles on sale?"

"Big sale!" Zhou Huaian rubbed him and said to the little guys, "Give me your saved money and I'll buy you one."

Zhou Jiakang decisively refused, "No, we can't ride it even if we buy it, because my elder brother and sister are already riding it."

"Ieyasu, your fishing rod is moving. There's a fish on the hook." Zhou Xiaowen shouted by the pond.

"Coming!" Zhou Jiakang hurried over.

Yang Chunyan looked at the bicycle Zhou Huaian pushed in and said, "He bought three at once. Is this a big sale in the city?"

Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "No, two were bought by my eldest, second and third brothers for grandpa and old man, and one was bought by my eldest sister-in-law's family."

"Youngest, that car wasn't given to you by my parents. We're giving it to you." Zhao Huifang walked in with a basket of vegetables, smiling.

"Ah!" Zhou Huaian and Yang Chunyan looked at her in surprise. "Why did you think of giving me a bicycle when it's not a festival?"

Zhao Huifang: "...Your 28-lap bike has been damaged by you. It's hard for Chunyan to ride it. It will be easier for her to ride this one when she goes out."

She and Xiuxiang had always remembered the many benefits they had received from the youngest brother's family. When the eldest brother went back and told her about buying bicycles for them, she immediately agreed.

Yang Chunyan: "Sister-in-law, you are too polite. We still have half of the shipping cost!"

"You can't calculate it like that!" Zhao Huifang looked at the two of them and said sincerely, "If you hadn't led us in the past two years, how would we have made money? What's the point of buying a bicycle?"

Seeing that she had said so much, Zhou Huaian patted the bicycle seat and said, "Then I will accept it without hesitation!"

"Why are you being polite?" Zhao Huifang picked up the basket. "I picked some Swiss chard and cooked them with fennel tonight."

Yang Chunyan smiled and nodded, "Okay, I soaked some black fungus, and fried black fungus and pork slices, and stewed winter melon and pork ribs in the evening."

"I'll go call grandpa and the old man to come and learn how to drive!" Zhou Huaian ran towards the backyard with light steps. He was very happy that his brother and sister-in-law remembered their kindness.

When Zhou's father and the old man heard that he bought bicycles for them, they were stunned. Then they glared at Zhou Huaian and said, "You son of a bitch, you can't spend money like this." He slapped him a few times and said, "Hurry up and return it to Doctor Xiao Wang."

"That's right, return it immediately!" The old man's eyes were red, and he slapped him, "Really, you are a man whose noses are buried in yellow mud. Instead of using the money to buy us bicycles, you might as well save it and buy land to build a big hotel at the end of the year!"

Zhou Huaian crossed his arms and cried out, "My brother and his friends bought it. Why are you hitting me? My brother and his friends also bought one for my family!"

"Alas!" Zhou's father felt even more distressed after hearing this. "You two don't even take money seriously. I don't bother to care about you anymore!"

Zhao Huifang came out of the kitchen and said, "Grandpa, old man, don't feel bad. The interest rate for saving money is high now. The money for buying a bicycle can be earned back in a few months of interest."

Father Zhou looked at Zhou Huaian in disbelief, "So much interest?"

Zhou Huaian nodded, "The interest rate for a six-month term is already 4-5%, and the interest rate for a year is more than 6%. If you don't believe me, ask me. I saved your money for you, too."

"In this world, it's really good to have money!"

"No more talking!" Zhou Huaian hugged the old man, "Grandpa, I'll teach you how to ride a bike. You'll have your own private car in the future."

"Haha!" The old man pulled Zhou's father and said, "Come on, let's try some foreign dishes!"

Father Zhou hurriedly followed him and said, "Old man, I can only walk a few steps by pushing the bicycle and sliding, how about you?"

"It's almost the same as yours. Let's compete and see who can learn it first!"

Yang Chunyan and Zhao Huifang looked at the old man and Zhou's father who seemed to have suddenly become several years younger, and thought that buying them bicycles would be better than giving them money.

If you give them money, the old ones will save it and won't spend a penny except buying candies for their great-grandchildren.

On the road outside the house, Zhou Huaian sat behind the old man, "Grandpa, straighten your back, don't lean to the side, if your body is straight, the bicycle will naturally be straight... Yes! Yes! That's it, look how good it is..."

Zhou Huaishan was sitting on the back seat of his father's bicycle teaching him. Seeing that he was leaning over and the bicycle was leaning towards the ditch, he quickly reached out and grabbed the handlebars, "Old man, straighten your back, don't lean over, hey! Straighten it..."

Seeing Zhou's father riding crookedly, Zhou Jiaming and his friends burst into laughter, "Hahaha! Grandpa can't ride as well as Grandpa!"

When Zhou's father saw that the old man was almost reaching the grove with Zhou Huaian, he glared at Zhou Huaishan and said, "Climb farther away from me. You can't even teach others. How do you see how the youngest one teaches you?"

Xu's mother and Ma Chunhua stood by the road and said enviously, "No wonder the old saying goes that a harmonious family brings prosperity. Look at the Zhou family's second branch, this big family is so big. You can't find one like this in the three villages!"

Ma Chunhua nodded and said, "His family has several old people, too. Why can't we meet such old people?"

"Don't think about it. Comparing yourself with others will make you angry to death. Comparing your lives with others will make you sick." Mother Xu thought of the children in her family, shook her head, and went back to the house.

…

The market had been booming for several days in a row, but the supply was particularly low on this day, so all the red mushrooms were sent to the drying room before nine o'clock. Yang Chunyan took a shower and went back to her room with her son to sleep.

Zhou Huaian, the old man, and Zhou's father waited until after eleven o'clock. After checking the red mushrooms in the drying room, they shoveled coal to fill the stove, fetched hot water to the bathroom to wash, and then went back to their rooms to sleep.

Yang Chunyan looked at him sleepily, "Sleep!"

"Well! It's half dry. Once the coals in the stove burn, we can take it out to dry in the sun tomorrow morning."

"Yeah!" Yang Chunyan responded and fell asleep again.

Zhou Huaian sat on the edge of the bed and took off his shorts. He turned his head and saw Xiao Jiuer sleeping with his belly protruding and his fists clenched, his face flushed. He went up to him and kissed him, lifted the mosquito net, blew out the oil lamp, and lay down beside him to sleep.

The crescent moon shines on the quiet courtyard, but the fields outside the courtyard are bustling with frogs croaking, cicadas chirping, chickens screaming at the top of their lungs, and occasionally a dog barking or two.

The old man woke up and heard Wangcai and Lai Fu calling him twice. He picked up his watch and looked at it. It was three o'clock.

Feeling a little worried about the charcoal fire in the backyard stove, he picked up the flashlight on the pillow, turned it on, lifted the mosquito net, sat on the edge of the bed, and took the pants on the wooden chair and put them on.

As soon as I put on my pants, I heard Wangcai and Lai Fu barking violently. The two dogs usually don't bark at night when no one is passing by. The only time they barked like this was a few months ago when the bobcat came to steal chickens.

It’s past three o’clock. Could it be that the bobcat is coming again?

He pulled up his trousers, walked to the window, lifted the curtains and looked out, only to see that it was pitch black outside and he couldn't see anything clearly!

At this time, Zhou's father was also awakened, "Old man, why is the dog barking so fiercely?"

"I can't see clearly!" The old man took out a flashlight, opened the window and shone it into the yard. The yard was quiet and the dog's barking had stopped. "It might be a bobcat. I wonder whose chickens are going to be killed again."

"Let's go to the alley and check. What if the chicken coop door is not closed properly?" Father Zhou said as he stood up and quickly put on his pants. "Old man, wait for me to go together."

"Then hurry up, all the slow chickens have been stolen." The old man said as he opened the door and walked outside.

As soon as the father and son reached the back door of the kitchen, they heard the dog barking again. Father Zhou picked up the door bar and rushed out with the old man.

Wangcai and Lai Fu were seen looking up and barking at the courtyard wall. There was a bamboo ladder next to the wall, and a person was standing on the ladder. There was also a black shadow standing on the top of the wall. When the person on the top of the wall saw someone coming, he immediately climbed over.

The father and son were caught off guard. They were stunned for a moment when they saw the situation in front of them, then they rushed over, "There's a thief, catch the thief..."

When the person on the bamboo ladder saw someone coming, he hurriedly climbed to the top of the wall and jumped down recklessly. Only a scream was heard, followed by a rustling sound.

Zhou's father shouted, "Youngest, get up quickly, there's a thief coming..."

"Awooo~Woof woof...Woof woof..." Lai Fu and Wangcai chased towards the courtyard gate. When they reached the gate, they ran back anxiously, circled around the two of them, and ran back to the gate, scratching it with their claws.

At this time Zhou Huaian ran out with a gun in hand, "Grandpa, where is the old thief?"

The old man pointed at the gate and said, "He ran away. The dog wanted to go out and catch the thief!"

"Open the door for them!" Zhou Huaian rushed forward, unbolted the door, and opened the gate. "Wangcai, Laifu, chase them. Don't bite them to death. Catch them alive..."

“Woof woof...Woof woof..." Lai Fu and Wangcai shot out like arrows, and Zhou Huaian followed.

"Old man, you stay at home and watch." Zhou's father took the flashlight from the old man and ran out after Zhou Huaian.

As soon as the two dogs ran out of the yard gate, they left Zhou Huaian behind and chased in the direction of the thief's escape, barking wildly.

The barking was particularly loud in the silent night, and soon even the dogs in the village started barking as well.

Zhou Huaian, holding a gun, and his father chased down the road. The dog ran so fast that the two men could hardly catch up with the dog, and they could not see the thief at all.

Zhou's father followed him panting with a flashlight in his hand. He seemed to see the dog running into the corn field. "Youngest brother, the thief ran into the corn field and couldn't even see anyone. What if he hurt the dog with a knife? Just call the dog back."

"Don't be afraid. Lai Fu and Wang Cai are chasing mountain dogs. Even if they are carrying knives, we can find them." Zhou Huaian followed the direction where the voice came from.

He believed that Lai Fu and Wang Cai would be able to find the thieves. They could even find wild animals hiding in the woods by following the smell, not to mention two thieves.

“Ah~”

When the father and son chased to the corn field, they heard a shrill scream coming from inside the corn field. It was particularly creepy to hear in the dark night. The dogs in the village also came, and four or five dogs all rushed into the corn field. (End of this chapter)