In the peaceful Windmill Village, there was a middle – aged man named Afu. He relied on a tricycle to shuttle between the village and the market every day, transporting his own agricultural products and daily necessities. This tricycle was his “capable partner”. Recently, Afu found that the shock absorption of the vehicle was getting worse and worse. Every time he passed through a potholed road, he was shaken so much that his bones almost fell apart. So, he decided to go to the repair shop to replace a new set of leaf springs for the tricycle.The repairman took out a set of inverted – mounted five – leaf leaf springs and said to Afu, “Afu, this is a good thing. I don’t recommend it to just anyone. With this installed, your tricycle will run very smoothly!” Afu was skeptical but still agreed to install it and give it a try. As soon as the new leaf springs were installed, the tricycle really seemed to look more “energetic”. Afu paid the money with satisfaction, hummed a tune, and drove the vehicle to go home.
Not long after leaving the repair shop, Afu felt something was wrong. The elasticity of this inverted – mounted five – leaf leaf spring seemed to be overly “lively”. Usually, when an ordinary tricycle passes through a small pothole, it just jolts slightly. Now, as long as the road surface has the slightest undulation, the vehicle jumps up suddenly like a pogo stick. Afu was tossed around in the driver’s seat, holding the handlebars tightly with both hands and shouting, “What’s going on! Did I buy a spring – loaded toy car?”
Finally, Afu managed to get used to this strange bumpy rhythm and continued to drive forward carefully. When he passed by the primary school in the village, it was the school dismissal time. A group of naughty children saw Afu’s tricycle bouncing around like crazy and found it extremely interesting. They chased after the vehicle, shouting as they ran, “Uncle Afu, your vehicle is dancing!” Afu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He wanted to speed up to get rid of these children, but the vehicle bounced faster and faster, and he couldn’t control the speed at all.

When he reached the dilapidated dirt road in the village that was full of large potholes, Afu secretly groaned in his heart. He tried to drive through it slowly, but as soon as the vehicle hit those large potholes, it flew up like an out – of – control rocket. Once, the vehicle bounced so high that it almost hit a big tree on the side of the road. Afu was so scared that his face turned pale, thinking, “This is the end. I’m afraid I’m going to die here today!” The villagers passing by saw this thrilling scene and stopped one after another, opening their mouths wide. Someone shouted, “Afu, are you performing acrobatics? It’s too dangerous!”
Finally, after getting through this dirt road, Afu was exhausted. His hat had been knocked off at some point, and his hair was as messy as a bird’s nest. He parked the vehicle on the side of the road, looked at this set of inverted – mounted five – leaf leaf springs, which were the “culprits”, and sighed helplessly, “I thought I had found a treasure, but it turned out to be a ‘little devil’!”
Afu had no choice but to drive the vehicle back to the repair shop. The repairman saw Afu’s 狼狈 appearance and couldn’t help laughing, “Haha, Afu, it seems that this inverted – mounted five – leaf leaf spring is not very suitable for your vehicle. Let me change it to an ordinary one for you.” Afu nodded repeatedly, “Hurry up. I don’t want to ride this ‘crazy roller – coaster’ anymore!”
After replacing it with an ordinary leaf spring, Afu set off again. The vehicle ran as smoothly as if it was gliding on the ground. A relieved smile finally appeared on his face. This experience also became a topic of conversation among the villagers of Windmill Village during their spare time. Every time people saw Afu, they would tease him about that “crazy tricycle journey”.