Wanting to learn how to ride a bicycle, Gou Dan stayed home all afternoon instead of going out to play with his friends, waiting for the sun to set.
Finally, when the sun wasn't so strong anymore, it was time for dinner.
Dog Egg was completely distracted during the meal.
He always ate very quickly, and after finishing, he sat on the stool, eagerly waiting for Xia Qingqing.
Xia Qingqing knew exactly what he was thinking, and said with a smile, "If you're free, go outside and play for a while. I'll call you later."
"No, I'm going to wait for you here," Gou Dan shook his head firmly.
Listening to the siblings speaking in riddles, Zhang Hongyan asked curiously, "What are you two up to?"
"My sister said she'll teach me how to ride a bicycle later," Gou Dan said, glancing cautiously at Zhang Hongyan, worried that she wouldn't allow him to ride the family's bicycle.
To his surprise, Zhang Hongyan did not object. Instead, she said nonchalantly, "I thought it was something serious. Just be careful not to break the bicycle."
Dog Egg snorted twice in dissatisfaction: "Mom, why are you only worried about the bicycle getting damaged? Aren't you worried about me getting damaged at all?"
"Don't worry, you've fallen a lot since you were a child, you're not that easy to break," Zhang Hongyan teased him deliberately.
Dog Egg had nothing to say and could only silently lament that his status in his mother's heart was not even as high as that of a bicycle.
While they were talking, Xia Qingqing finished her meal and got up to take the bowl to the kitchen.
Dog Egg immediately followed along, wagging his tail: "Sis, can we go out for a bike ride now?"
Xia Qingqing knew he was anxious and couldn't bear to make him wait any longer. She pointed to the bicycle in the yard and said, "Push the bike out first, I'll be right there."
"Okay, sis, hurry up and come out!" Gou Dan said happily as he went to push his bicycle.
The first key to learning to ride a bicycle is to be bold, which is not a problem for Gou Dan.
Xia Qingqing didn't have Gou Dan practice riding a bike on the road right away. Instead, she set up the support frame and had Gou Dan sit on the bicycle and slowly pedal with his feet, mainly to let him get a feel for pedaling.
Dog Egg sat on the bicycle seat, pedaling hard, with an inexplicable sense of looking down on everyone else. He said with a grin, "Sis, riding a bicycle is really fun."
After practicing for about 10 minutes, Xia Qingqing asked him if he had found his rhythm: "Can we start practicing on the road now?"
“No problem, I don’t think riding a bicycle is that difficult,” Gou Dan said confidently.
Xia Qingqing smiled but didn't say anything. Whether it's difficult or not, let's talk about it after we learn it. It's useless to boast now.
Dog Egg wasn't tall enough; when he sat on the bicycle, his feet could barely reach the pedals but couldn't touch the ground. Before, with the support frame holding him up, he wasn't worried about the bicycle falling over at all, but now that the support frame was taken down, the bicycle started to wobble.
"Sis, don't let go... Ahh, hold on tight... The bike's going to tip over!" Gou Dan shouted, trembling as he sat on the bicycle.
Seeing him screaming in fright, Xia Qingqing burst out laughing: "Didn't you just say it was easy? Hurry up and step on the pedals, then you won't fall over. Good luck!"
Dog Egg closed his eyes briefly to encourage himself, then started pushing off with his feet, and the bicycle wobbled forward.
After riding steadily for a while, Gou Dan happily said, "Hehe, riding a bike doesn't seem so difficult after all."
"Really? Then I'll let go," Xia Qingqing said, pretending to let go, which startled Gou Dan, who immediately started yelling.
"Sis! Please don't let go! I'm sure I'll fall if you let go."
"I was just kidding, I won't let go. You're already riding really well, you'll definitely learn after a few more practice sessions," Xia Qingqing said, but her hand slowly released the back of the bicycle seat.
Dog Egg breathed a sigh of relief when he heard her words, thinking that she really hadn't let go.
He didn't turn around until he realized the person behind him had stopped talking. He saw Xia Qingqing waving at him from dozens of meters away.
Dog Egg's eyes widened suddenly, and the bicycle he had been riding steadily began to wobble. He started yelling and screaming, "Ahhhhh! Sis, you lied to me!"
With a thud, Gou Dan fell to the ground, body and all.
Xia Qingqing immediately ran over to check and breathed a sigh of relief after finding only minor abrasions on her palms and knees: "Weren't you riding so well just now? How did you suddenly fall?"
Dog Egg looked at her with teary eyes: "You promised you wouldn't let go, why did you lie to me?"
"I'm sorry, it was my fault," Xia Qingqing quickly apologized to him, and then added, "But letting go didn't actually affect your riding. You were riding very steadily just now. You just lack confidence in yourself."
When Gou Dan heard this, it seemed to make sense. He didn't know that he was riding quite well when his sister let go, but he immediately fell down when he realized that his sister was no longer supporting him.
Xia Qingqing patted the dust off his pants and said, "Alright, I'll put some medicine on your hands when we get home, and you can continue practicing tomorrow."
"Okay," Gou Dan agreed immediately, feeling the pain in his palm.
Zhang Hongyan found it a bit strange that they returned so quickly: "They haven't even been out for an hour, and it's still early before dark. Why didn't they practice more?"
Xia Qingqing pointed to the silent Gou Dan: "He fell. When you get back, put some medicine on him."
"Oh, then I'll go get the gentian violet," Zhang Hongyan calmly turned around and went to the room to get the medicine, without even asking how Gou Dan was injured. He could still walk back, so it wasn't a big problem.
She quickly came out with a bottle of gentian violet and placed it in front of Gou Dan: "Here, apply it yourself."
Dog Egg looked at Xia Qingqing expectantly: "Sis~ can you help me apply it?"
"Okay, I'll help you apply it," Xia Qingqing said with a smile, taking the medicine bottle and gently applying the medicine to Gou Dan.
After the medicine was applied, the entire patch of skin turned purple, which looked rather comical.
......
The next morning, Xia Qingqing and Xia Heping planned to return the car in the county town.
They borrowed two bicycles from Xiao Hui, and they also had to ride one themselves, otherwise they would have to walk back later.
However, the bumpy dirt roads in the countryside obviously couldn't be solved by the method Xia Qingqing had used last time—riding one bike and pushing it.
Xia Heping came up with a solution: he used wooden planks to tie one bicycle to the back seat of the other, so he could handle both bicycles by himself, while Xia Qingqing rode one on her own.
After arriving in the county town, the two went straight to Xiao Hui's house and returned the car.
"Dad, why don't you ride your bike to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy something? I'm going to visit a friend."
Xia Heping didn't ask who he was going to see, but nodded and said, "Then be careful. I'll wait for you at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative later."
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