Chapter 33

Xia Qingning got off the bike and, after making an appointment with Wu Xiaodong to start learning to ride later, carried the loquats towards home.

As soon as she entered the courtyard, she saw Lu Jingzhe and He Shanshan standing in front of the bicycle.

Lu Jingzhe’s face looked very bad, as if he was suppressing his anger. His eyes, which were already cold, now seemed even colder.

It seemed that He Shanshan’s theft of the bicycle had been discovered by him, but Xia Qingning was surprised that he would be so angry.

“I made it very clear yesterday, we are two different families!” Lu Jingzhe looked at He Shanshan, anger in his eyes:

“Didn’t your mother teach you not to touch other people’s things?”

His words expressed his disgust for both of them.

He Shanshan knew she was in the wrong, and seeing Lu Jingzhe’s stern and cold gaze, she didn’t dare to argue back.

“This is the last time, you are not allowed to touch this bike again!” Lu Jingzhe said coldly, then turned away and walked into the house.

Actually, Lu Jingzhe didn’t really care about He Shanshan stealing the bike. He was just upset seeing Xia Qingning riding in Wu Xiaodong’s car, and he had nowhere to vent his anger.

After Lu Jingzhe left, He Shanshan finally breathed a sigh of relief. She turned to see Xia Qingning walking in with a basket, and jealousy surged within her.

Why could she, who couldn’t even ride a bike, have such a good bike? She just took a little ride and got scolded like a dog.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She chased after Xia Qingning and stopped her, glaring at her angrily and saying:

“Someone bought you a bike, they’re backing you up, are you proud?”

Xia Qingning looked at her coldly. Earlier, she was so scared in front of Lu Jingzhe that she didn’t even dare to breathe, but now she was showing off in front of her. Did she really think she was the same bullied original owner?

“Shouldn’t I be proud?” Xia Qingning asked back, her gaze unwavering.

He Shanshan was taken aback, her face becoming even more contorted:

“What are you bragging about? Having a bike is nothing, huh! You can’t even ride it.”

Xia Qingning smiled lightly at her:

“It is something! After all, you don’t have one, so you have to steal rides.”

He Shanshan didn’t expect Xia Qingning to be so arrogant, not only admitting it but also mocking her. Seeing the look in her eyes change from anger to malice, unable to find words to retort, He Shanshan could only leave with a threat:

“You just wait, we’ll see how long you can be proud.” Then she stormed off to her room.

She walked along, thinking: Xia Qingning is just arrogant because Lu Jingzhe is backing her up, right? When Lu Jingzhe leaves, I’ll beat her until she’s begging for mercy!

Both of these annoying people hadn’t gotten the better of her today, and Xia Qingning felt a sense of triumph.

She put down the basket, found a large bowl, grabbed a handful of loquats and put them in it, then went to the kitchen to wash them and brought them to the room.

Lu Jingzhe was sitting at the table in the room, his expression still not good. Xia Qingning placed the loquats in front of him and said:

“Brother sent some loquats, try them.”

Then she took one, her slender white fingers quickly peeled it. She took a bite, and the flesh melted into sweet juice, spreading throughout her mouth.

It was indeed a good thing that hadn’t been sprayed with pesticides. It was much tastier than the bland loquats she had bought in the present world.

“It’s so delicious, you try it.” Xia Qingning couldn’t help but recommend it to Lu Jingzhe after finishing one.

Lu Jingzhe didn’t respond, his gaze fell on the bowl of vibrant loquats, the water-stained fruit emitting a strong fruity fragrance.

After a moment, he reached out and picked one up, tore off the outer skin, and put it in his mouth.

Xia Qingning knew he was angry about He Shanshan stealing the bike, so she wanted to distract him, so she asked:

“Sweet, right?”

Lu Jingzhe replied: “Sweet.” His face softened a little, and he said:

“It still tastes the same.”

Lu Jingzhe had lived in the original owner’s village when he was a child. Because his father had been sent down, their living conditions and standard of living were not good, and they didn’t have many snacks to eat.

The original owner’s house had several large loquat trees in front of it. Every season, there were endless loquats to eat. The original owner’s father was still alive at the time, and whenever he picked them, he would send some to their house.

So, during the few years Lu Jingzhe lived in the village, this was a rare treat.

Xia Qingning was not the original owner, so she couldn’t empathize with him. Naturally, she ignored his words “It still tastes the same,” and instead used other people’s feedback to confirm it.

She said with a smile:

“Yes, Xiaodong and the others said it was delicious.”

Hearing the affectionate address “Xiaodong,” Lu Jingzhe paused in his actions. His face, which had just softened, turned cold again.

Seeing that he was unhappy again, Xia Qingning didn’t know that he was unhappy because Wu Xiaodong had brought her back. After all, in everyone’s eyes, Wu Xiaodong was just a teenager.

Naturally, she thought that he was still upset about the bike, and she knew that he had said those things to He Shanshan to vent his anger for her.

To make him happy, she said:

“Don’t be angry, it’s okay if she rode the bike for a bit, I don’t mind.”

She wanted to make him happy, but they were not on the same wavelength. Xia Qingning didn’t know that every word she said was hitting Lu Jingzhe’s sore spot.

“It’s okay if she rode it for a bit,” “I don’t mind,” these words, when they reached Lu Jingzhe’s ears, naturally meant that Xia Qingning didn’t care about the bike he bought for her.

Everyone else envied her having the bike, why didn’t she care? Thinking about her sitting in Wu Xiaodong’s car, laughing so naturally and contentedly, Lu Jingzhe seemed to understand all at once:

She didn’t dislike the bike, she disliked him, Lu Jingzhe.

Proud as he was, he couldn’t directly ask Xia Qingning why she didn’t like him. He held his breath, looked at Xia Qingning, and asked coldly:

“Why don’t you ride the bike I bought for you?”

“Ah?” Xia Qingning didn’t know why he suddenly asked that, so she was stunned for a moment, but she still answered honestly:

“I don’t know how to ride a bicycle.”

She didn’t know how to ride? This was something Lu Jingzhe hadn’t expected, but the next second he thought:

She doesn’t know how to ride, so she can go and ride in Wu Xiaodong’s car, right?

Thinking about this, he became even more annoyed. He looked at Xia Qingning, his voice colder, and asked:

“Don’t you know how to learn if you don’t know how to ride?”

Hearing him ask that, Xia Qingning thought he was blaming her for not knowing how to ride, which gave He Shanshan an opportunity. She immediately explained:

“I’m going to learn now.”

She had made an appointment with Wu Xiaodong to learn to ride when she got back. Now was the perfect time. After saying that, Xia Qingning pushed the loquats on the table towards Lu Jingzhe:

“You eat first, I’m going to learn now.”

She didn’t stay any longer and went straight out of the room.

Lu Jingzhe hadn’t expected her to go learn immediately after he told her to. He hesitated for a moment, then picked up another loquat.

He calmed down and realized that he had been too harsh with her earlier. Seeing her rush out, he wondered if he had scared her with his earlier attitude.

Actually, he hadn’t expected to speak to her in such a harsh tone, but he didn’t know why, whenever he heard her mention Wu Xiaodong, he felt bad and couldn’t control his tone.

Then he thought, she was going to learn to ride alone, the bike was so high, if no one was holding it, wouldn’t it be easy for her to fall?

Thinking about this, Lu Jingzhe’s face showed an undisguised look of worry. He got up to go out, but the next second, he saw Wu Xiaodong teaching Xia Qingning how to ride through the window.

He saw Xia Qingning sitting on the bike, Wu Xiaodong standing beside her, one hand helping her steady the handlebars, the other hand holding the back seat, guiding her to pedal.

In an instant, the loquats that had tasted of childhood memories in Lu Jingzhe’s mouth no longer tasted sweet.