Rich in the 70s: I Made a Rugged Veteran a Millionaire-Chapter 41: Bicycle

Jiang Cheng and Grandma Shen were having such an intense gossip session that they were reluctant to stop.

But it was quite late, and they needed to wake up early, so they eventually went to sleep.

Early the next morning, Jiang Cheng got up at four and arrived at Elder Xu’s place around four-thirty.

She immediately saw a stack of books laid out on Elder Xu’s table, roughly counted, eight in total.

It seemed today was going to be a "show-off battle"!

What a coincidence, she absolutely loved it!

"Elder Xu, shall we begin?"

Jiang Cheng wasted no time in getting to the main topic, and Elder Xu was curious as well.

He knew Jiang Cheng was smart, but today he wanted to determine just how smart.

Both were very serious as they began with the first book.

"The ancient—"

"Elder Xu, how about we try a different approach? I’d like to read by myself, and if there’s anything I don’t understand, I’ll ask you."

Elder Xu gazed at Jiang Cheng; her unwavering and calm eyes showed neither pride nor shyness.

"Alright."

Elder Xu handed the book to Jiang Cheng.

Jiang Cheng took the book and started reading it softly and quickly, asking about unfamiliar words once.

Once she asked about a word, she never needed to ask again.

The first book, not too thick, took forty-three minutes for Jiang Cheng to finish.

On to the second book.

The third book, the fourth book...

In three hours, Jiang Cheng read four and a third books.

"Elder Xu—"

"Jiang Cheng, do you have a photographic memory?"

Elder Xu finally asked what he most urgently wanted to know, and Jiang Cheng shook her head regretfully.

"Unfortunately, when it comes to language, I can only remember 99.999%, and for other subjects, I’m even more ashamed— I actually need to look twice or thrice!"

"Sometimes I wonder why I don’t have a photographic memory. It would save so much time."

Elder Xu finally understood the sense of admiration mixed with frustration that Teacher Lü had.

If yesterday Elder Xu was unsure whether Jiang Cheng was boasting or what, today he understood, this girl was indeed showing off!

The most frustrating thing is, she’s genuinely showing off!!

"Elder Xu, I took leave today. Let’s finish up these remaining books so we can catch up before you leave."

"I absolutely won’t let you leave with any regrets!"

The sparkle in Jiang Cheng’s eyes made Elder Xu swallow back his words about taking on an apprentice.

Also... why did her words sound so awkward??

In the end, the old man squeezed out a word through gritted teeth: Study!

Jiang Cheng spent the morning enjoyably finishing the eight books.

Uncle Zhong happened to walk in at this moment, holding an envelope.

"Elder Xu, this is from Beijing."

"Quick, quick! Bring it here!"

Elder Xu instantly forgot about taking on a disciple, quickly tearing open the envelope to take out a stamped document.

"Good, good! This is great!"

"This guy finally did something right."

Elder Xu invited Jiang Cheng to sit down and handed her the document to read.

"From today onward, you can openly read foreign books."

Jiang Cheng genuinely felt a moment of joy.

Great!

She put down the document, rose, and bowed to Elder Xu in gratitude.

"Thank you."

"No need to thank me, I just pushed a bit. The main credit goes to Lü Da— that is, Teacher Lü."

"Take it and keep it safe; it was specially delivered through special means. Remember to tell Teacher Lü I didn’t take her credit."

Jiang Cheng promised to convey it to Teacher Lü, and with the document in hand, she left Elder Xu’s place.

After sending Jiang Cheng off, Uncle Zhong asked, "Didn’t you mention taking on a disciple, Elder?"

Elder Xu slapped his thigh furiously: "I forgot!!"

*

Leaving, Jiang Cheng returned to the courtyard house to have lunch with Grandma Shen and Shen Xing.

They had sorghum porridge, stir-fried eggs with cucumber, and stir-fried soybean sprouts with pork lard.

After eating, Jiang Cheng took her money and coupon, preparing to go to the department store.

Since she planned to buy a bicycle, she wanted to act quickly to use one day earlier if she could.

"Keep the money and coupon safe, better to be safe than sorry."

Jiang Cheng responded to Grandma Shen’s advice, patted Shen Xing’s head, and said, "Wait for your sister to come back; by then, your sister will have a bike! I’ll give you a ride!"

Shen Xing, sorting out his messy hair, asked, "Sis, do you know how to ride a bicycle?"

"Nope!"

Jiang Cheng said confidently, had it not been clear, Shen Xing would have thought he misheard.

"Someone as excellent as me won’t find a little bike challenging at all!"

With confident strides, Jiang Cheng waved her hand and left.

As she came out of the house, Jiang Cheng happened to meet Lin Jiaojiao coming out from the opposite side.

Lin Jiaojiao snorted coldly, her eyes glaring at Jiang Cheng crossly.

Jiang Cheng was not one to tolerate such antics; she spoke directly: "So young, yet your eyesight’s failing. I guess you’ve saved yourself from years of detours since you’ll go blind sooner or later anyway."

"You — Jiang Cheng, what do you mean! Stop right there!"

Lin Jiaojiao hollered brainlessly from behind, and Jiang Cheng suddenly stopped and turned around.

"I’ve stopped. What can you do? You can’t out-argue me. If you hit me, I’ll faint, and then your family will have to pay. What do you plan to do?"

"You— You’re shameless!" 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"You’re the one with dignity; here’s a couple more for you, no need to thank me."

Having said that, Jiang Cheng turned triumphantly and walked away.

Lin Jiaojiao was even angrier, so mad that she forgot what she came out for.

Jiang Cheng didn’t dwell on it at all and made her way to the department store.

After splitting from the Lin Family, she hadn’t had the time to wander around; she wished there were forty-eight hours in a day.

Yesterday afternoon, upon Sister Wang’s suggestion, she took leave, planning to buy the bicycle first.

The department store had four floors.

The first floor was crowded, a mix of gray, blue, black, and white, with people lining up and bustling about.

Looking over, the dense black heads were a testament to their exuberance and vigor!

The bicycles were sold on the second floor, so Jiang Cheng wasted no time and headed straight there.

There were significantly fewer people on the second floor.

There were a few obvious couples, exchanging affectionate glances while maintaining a half-meter distance, presumably there to buy the three grand items.

Jiang Cheng straightforwardly took out the bicycle coupon and asked at the counter, "What models of bicycles do you have?"

The sales assistant immediately noticed Jiang Cheng’s bicycle coupon, knowing she was serious about purchasing.

"We have Phoenix, Flying Pigeon, Forever; the Forever is 28-inch, Flying Pigeon and Phoenix have both 26 and 28-inch. Which one do you want?"

"I want to check them out before deciding."

The sales assistant didn’t make things difficult for Jiang Cheng; bicycles were a big purchase, after all; they definitely deserved a look.

She called another sales assistant to mind the counter while she herself took Jiang Cheng to the storeroom to check out the goods.

When they came back out, the sales assistant was all smiles with wrinkles showing, chatting with Jiang Cheng amicably.

"Sis, when you take this ticket to the police station for registration, if you need to buy anything else, come find me."

"I run into kind people as soon as I step out, thank you, Sister Zhou."

After handing over the money and coupon, Jiang Cheng warmly bid goodbye to Sister Zhou and pushed her newly bought bicycle for registration.

Another sales assistant in the department store, watching Sister Zhou, asked, "Is she your relative?"

"Are you talking about Xiao Jiang? No, we just met; Xiao Jiang is really nice."

"..."

Temporary relative?

*

Meanwhile, Lin Chengyuan chose the busiest time at the courtyard to ride back on a second-hand bicycle.