"Tell that jin— Tell Mr. Hawthorne to be careful when he rides. Stick to the flat roads, and if he hits a gravel path, get off and walk the bike..."

Phoebe Huxley couldn’t help but nag. The bicycle was the family’s most expensive asset. In all of Millstone Peak, very few families could afford one. A "Forever" brand bicycle cost 180 yuan, and you also needed a bicycle ticket. Saving up the money was one thing, but getting a ticket was harder than reaching for the sky. Many people had the cash but no ticket, leaving them to sigh in helpless frustration.

Felix Thorne had only managed to get a ticket for his bicycle thanks to his brother, Frederick Thorne. Frederick was a technician at the distillery and a favorite of the factory director, so he was given priority for a bicycle ticket. At that time, he already had a bicycle. His wife, Lana Steiner, had been named an "Outstanding Teacher of Vessaria" and was awarded a bicycle ticket. Frederick bought a bike for himself with that, so the ticket he got from the factory went straight to Felix Thorne.

They’d had the bike for three years, but the steel rims were still gleaming and the chain was well-oiled. While Tang Xiaonan was the apple of Felix Thorne’s eye, the bicycle was a definite second. Felix Thorne had a "three-no-ride" rule: he wouldn’t ride through water, he wouldn’t ride through potholes, and he wouldn’t carry anyone too heavy. He had never once given Phoebe Huxley a ride, for fear of flattening the tires.

In Phoebe Huxley’s words, if she and the bicycle ever fell into a river, Felix Thorne would definitely save the bicycle first.

Whenever he had free time at home, Felix Thorne would be maintaining the bike, polishing it until it shone and applying machine oil. Even after three years, it still looked almost new.

"Got it."

Tang Xiaonan skipped over to Adrian Hawthorne’s side and gave him a sweet smile. "My mom said yes."

Adrian Hawthorne’s lips twitched into a small smile. He took the initiative and held her little hand, and they walked toward the Thorne family’s house. One tall, one short, one chubby, one thin—they made for a strangely harmonious pair.

"Aurelia, how come your little girl is playing so nicely with that jinx?" someone asked curiously.

The recent developments in the relationship between the Thorne and Hawthorne families had the villagers confused. Although Byron Thorne had previously claimed the Hawthornes were distant relatives, he had completely ignored them after saying so. The Thorne family’s three little tyrants were constantly bullying the Hawthorne boy, and Byron Thorne never said a word.

But once spring arrived, for some reason, the Thorne family had suddenly cozied up to the Hawthornes overnight. Tang Xiaonan was running over to the Hawthorne house every day, and Byron Thorne had even made a big show of taking that "capitalist roader" with the surname Tate as his teacher. In the eyes of the Millstone Peak villagers, Old Master Tate and the Hawthorne family were one and the same.

They heard that the boy, Jim Thorne, had even helped the Hawthorne family clear new farmland. A while ago, they had all gone into the city together. Now they were starting to look like actual relatives, but the Thorne family had been so cold before that the villagers were all gossiping behind their backs, trying to figure out the reason for their change of heart.

"What ’jinx’? Doesn’t he have a name? Don’t you know how to speak like a decent human being?!"

Having just received a yuan, Phoebe Huxley was in an excellent mood, and her opinion of Adrian Hawthorne had skyrocketed. She shot a fierce glare at the gossiping woman, yanked up a handful of rice seedlings, and flicked them hard, splattering the woman’s head and face with mud.

Everyone else burst out laughing. The splattered woman resentfully wiped her face but didn’t dare to complain. Phoenix Golding was still laid up at home, after all.

Phoebe Huxley snorted haughtily, not giving the woman a second thought, and bent back down to pull up more seedlings.

Adrian Hawthorne wheeled the bicycle out from the Thorne family’s house, ready to set off immediately. First, though, he had to take Tang Xiaonan to Old Master Tate’s place for her studies.

"I want to go to the city too! Mr. Hawthorne... please take me with you..." Tang Xiaonan whined coquettishly. ’I’m about to die of boredom in this village.’ Even if the Vessaria of this era was small and dilapidated, she wanted to go have some fun. It was better than the village, where there was nothing at all.