Meng Yan's Transformation

Zhan Zichuan and Wang Guijun's blind date went very smoothly and was a success without a doubt.

Zhan Zichuan became even busier. He went to work every day, and after get off work, he sometimes went to help his fiancée Wang Guijun, who lived three miles away from home, with farm work. Wang Guijun's four older sisters were married, and there were only his mother Zhang Sujie and Wang Guijun at home. There had been no man in the family for many years, and Zhan Zichuan's arrival helped the mother and daughter share a lot of heavy physical work. This made the mother and daughter feel that they had someone to rely on, and their lives became solid and full of hope.

Zhan Mengyan saw that Zhan Zichuan was busy at work and at home with his fiancée Wang Guijun every day. He had no time to take care of her, let alone help her learn to ride a bicycle. She was also unwilling to disturb her third brother Zhan Zichuan, and silently cheered for Zhan Zichuan in her heart, hoping that her brother Zichuan would get married soon and fulfill his parents' wishes. Zhan Yu, Zhan Ziqiang, Zhan Zi'an, and Zhan Yingying all went to work in the production team. (Zhan Zi'an graduated from high school, but because he failed to get into college, he had to work on the farm and go to work in the production team.) Only Zhan Zixun was in the second grade of junior high school, and like Zhan Mengyan, he was on summer vacation.

"Brother Zixun, when can you have time to help me learn to ride a bike?" Zhan Mengyan said to Zhan Zixun eagerly.

"Why do you want to learn how to ride a bicycle? Aren't you afraid of falling and getting hurt?" Zhan Zixun asked.

"My third niece Jiaojiao especially likes to watch Sanpang riding a bicycle. Every time I take her to watch Sanpang riding a bicycle, she asks me with shining eyes: Aunt, when can you take me for a ride on your bicycle... I don't want her to be disappointed after her longing. I am not afraid of hardship, fatigue or injury when learning to ride a bicycle." Zhan Mengyan said to Zhan Zixun with a firm look.

Zhan Zixun looked at Zhan Mengyan, thought for a while, shook his head and said: "Mengyan, you should wait a little longer. Wait until you grow taller before learning to ride a bicycle. It's a bit early to learn to ride a bicycle now. It's inevitable that you will suffer more and get hurt more."

After Zhan Zixun finished speaking, he saw Zhan Mengyan, whose disappointed look made him feel a little distressed.

Zhan Mengyan still refused to give up, and pleaded with Zhan Zixun, "Brother Zixun, I don't want to wait even a day. I want to learn how to ride a bicycle right away. I've said before that I'm not afraid of any hardship or injury. Please help me. If you don't help me, I'll learn by myself. The worst that can happen is that I'll fall a few more times. Originally, my third brother Zichuan promised to help me learn how to ride a bicycle, but he's busy dating now so that he can find a sister-in-law for us."

Zhan Zixun felt a little bit reluctant, so he gently tapped Zhan Mengyan's forehead and said, "Sister Mengyan, I really can't do anything with you. Let me tell you about my experience of learning to ride a bicycle, and see if you can understand it. When Third Brother Zichuan comes home from get off work and puts the bicycle in the warehouse, we will secretly push the bicycle out, and I will find a place where no one is around, and we will practice secretly. This is called theory before practice. If you can closely combine the theory of riding a bicycle with practice, you will succeed."

"That's great, Brother Zixun, please go ahead and talk. I'm all ears." Zhan Mengyan said happily.

Zhan Zixun thought for a while and said, "Mengyan, you are not very tall, so you have to learn to ride a bike first. Put your left foot on the pedal and push the ground with your right foot. After the bike moves, take your right foot back, and wait until the speed slows down before continuing to push the ground. Riding a bike is not easy to learn. You will be in a hurry at the beginning, and when you can't control it, you will often fall down and get skin scrapes on your hands or legs. After you learn to ride a bike, you can start by stretching your legs. At the beginning, you can't pedal a full circle, so when you ride a bicycle, you always pedal one-tenth of a circle "ga-deng-deng". This way you can keep balance. If you feel that the bike is falling to the left, use your hands to control the direction and gently turn the steering wheel to the right. If you feel that the bike is leaning to the right, you should quickly turn the steering wheel down and to the left. Mastering balance is the key, so that later on, you will have the skill of balance. You can pedal a full circle by twisting your butt, but the posture is really ugly and wobbly, which makes me dizzy just looking at it. With both hands on the handlebars, the body would be too twisted and indeed uncomfortable, so I simply held one hand on the beam and the other on the handlebars, which made it much more natural. I felt very proud of learning to ride a bicycle. There were many cases of people with whom I learned to ride bicycles falling and getting bruised and battered, or even having their lips broken… We learned to ride bicycles in the yard in autumn. Although we couldn’t get on the bike directly, it was very convenient to lean against the straw stacks in the yard. We would lean the bike on the stacks, climb onto the bike beam, and pedal hard to get off. When getting off the bike, we did the same thing: slow down, get closer, and get off by holding onto the straw stack. Of course, there were times when we made mistakes in operation, and “bang”, the bike would fall on us, we would get up and pat the dirt, and then…”

While Zhan Mengyan was listening with great interest, Yun Qing asked them to help move the ground grass powder from the processing plant.

"Brother Zixun, why didn't you call me when you were learning to ride a bike?" Zhan Mengyan asked as they walked.

"Brother Ziqiang taught me to ride secretly. It was someone else's bicycle, and the person was tired, so they let us learn for a while." Zhan Zixun replied.