I became the Counterpart of the Winner in a Period Novel-Chapter 225 - 222: We Must Find That Bicycle

"Since you’re here, cousin, do you want to come over and warm up by the fire?" He glanced at the light rain outside, clearly unwilling to go out.

Bai Meimei was preoccupied with the man on the bicycle. She had understood from an early age not to put all her eggs in one basket. Although her cousin had hopes of returning to the city, it wasn’t guaranteed, and even if he did return smoothly, would Uncle take her with him? She doubted it.

It couldn’t be helped; the girl, tormented by her stepmother, became shrewd early on, as she had to rely completely on herself for everything.

"Cousin, since I’m here finally, why don’t you take me around? That big chimney is the brick factory, right? How about you take me to have a look? It doesn’t seem too far."

The group of educated youths by the fire initially showed curiosity towards the visitor, as was human nature.

But when they learned that the pretty visitor was related to Li Minzhang, they lost interest and retreated as much as possible. Fortunately, the girl was more perceptive than her cousin.

Qiao Rang watched the two walk away, then glanced at Li Minzhi crouched in the corner, feeling quite sympathetic.

"Li Minzhi, why do you tolerate Li Minzhang so much?" He thought, even a full brother wouldn’t show such limitless tolerance, let alone a distant one.

If someone else asked, Li Minzhi would never have answered, but Qiao Rang was different. If it weren’t for Qiao Rang, he would have plunged off a cliff that day.

In hindsight... that day should’ve been his fatal disaster.

As a child, a fortune teller said he wouldn’t live past twenty. That day was the last day of his twentieth year. If he believed it, he would’ve stayed safely in the dorm and gone nowhere. But he never believed it; when his father mentioned it, he didn’t rebut it, which led them, some educated youths, to go hunting on the rainy hill that day, chasing a rabbit nearly led him off a cliff. If Qiao Rang hadn’t been quick to grab him, he would’ve been a ghost at the bottom.

Hence, to his savior, Li Minzhi withheld nothing.

"My dad’s dying wish was for me to take care of this cousin in every way, as if he were my own brother."

Qiao Rang hadn’t expected the truth to be so, thinking, Was your dad sick? Or is this cousin your dad’s illegitimate son? Otherwise, why would he sabotage his own son on his deathbed? Given Li Minzhang’s character, can’t the experienced elders see it?

"But there should be a limit! If I had such a brother, I’d cut ties immediately."

The implication was: Brother, you’ve gone beyond a limit, isn’t it time to reconsider?

Li Minzhi smiled bitterly.

Qiao Rang stopped persuading, realizing every family has its own tough scripture.

He still considered competing for the accountant job at the mushroom paste factory. Ming Yue had already handed him and Chang Yu the plan; he had to strive for it. As for Qin Ruofeng, that guy was really lucky, doing well as village committee and factory cashier.

With this in mind, Qiao Rang rushed back to the dormitory to study the previous materials that the teacher had sent him; he hadn’t fully understood some of it.

Meanwhile, Bai Meimei walked around the brick factory but didn’t see that bicycle and couldn’t help but probe.

"Cousin, it seems Qingshan Village is doing well; does that mean they’re also able to afford bicycles?"

Li Minzhang only took this as an impromptu topic and didn’t think much, blurting out everything, whether appropriate or not.

"Life is indeed better; no one’s going hungry anymore. But it’s not enough to buy a bicycle; Qingshan Village is too poor, only a few families have them—Jiang Family’s Main Branch, Third Branch, Ning Family’s Ning Yan, our educated youth Zhai Hanjin also has one, but he’s not easy to deal with, nobody dares to borrow from him. Usually, we go to Ning Yan to borrow bikes."

There you go, the range has narrowed.

Bai Meimei began eliminating suspects one by one.

"Zhai Hanjin? Is there such a cocky educated youth among them?"

Li Minzhang shook his head: "He moved out after living at the educated youth spot for a while, rented an empty yard in the village for five yuan a month."

"Five yuan? The houses here can be rented for fifty cents; why so expensive?"

"The village committee didn’t want to rent, saying it wasn’t manageable, especially when the educated youth spot wasn’t short on space."

"So, he raised the rent himself?"

"You could say that."

Bai Meimei was intrigued by this person, thinking someone with such character wouldn’t be ordinary, yet he couldn’t be the kind man who gave Xia Xiaosi a ride today.

Could it be Ning Yan? Everyone borrows bicycles from him, he should be a good person.

"Why don’t you guys borrow from Jiang Family’s Main and Third Branch? Are they difficult to talk to?"

"Not really. The Main Branch’s decision-makers all work in the city, and although the bike is stored by the Third Branch, borrowing it... it’s hard for them to lend it out, and as for the Third Branch’s own bike, Jiang Jian Country is the secretary, constantly riding back and forth to the commune every few days, and for urgent matters too, so people don’t feel they can borrow it. What if they need it urgently?"

Bai Meimei curiously looked at Li Minzhang: "Cousin, you speak so understandingly, why are your actions so muddled? Are you still pulling petty thefts at the educated youth spot?"

Being directly pointed out by his cousin, Li Minzhang felt a bit embarrassed, rubbing his nose.

"Come on, cousin, life is too boring, you need to find something fun to do."

Bai Meimei stared disapprovingly at him: "Your idea of fun is theft? Seriously, cousin, this kind of thing ruins one’s character." She could clearly feel the contempt the educated youths had for her cousin, and even her appearance was unwelcome.

"Sigh! You don’t understand! I’ll change once I return to the city. Speaking of which, why did you come to see me?" People must bring something when visiting, right?

Bai Meimei felt a little awkward: "It was a spur-of-the-moment decision; it’s my mistake today, I’ll make it up to you next time."

"That sounds better."

In her heart, Bai Meimei scoffed but didn’t show it.

"Cousin, has there been any news from Uncle? When can you get back to the city?"

Talking about it, Li Minzhang felt dispirited too.

Father had said this year was impossible; even after finding several people, just when it seemed the matter would succeed, that person suddenly fell from grace. This year has been all kinds of unlucky and had to wait for next year, but Father would never give up on him, he was confident about that.

Yet in Bai Meimei’s view, this time, the all-capable Uncle couldn’t fix it. If Cousin couldn’t return to the city, naturally neither could she.

Still, she refused to give up.

"Cousin, could you ask Uncle to bring me back to the city too?"

Li Minzhang almost wanted to scold the cousin for dreaming, but given Aunt’s riches, he naturally wouldn’t.

"This... it’s difficult, but since you’re my cousin, don’t worry, I’ll call my father when I get back to the city."

No matter if it succeeds or not, at least she gained another hope.

As they wandered around, afternoon arrived, the light rain had long stopped, and looking up revealed a clear blue sky.