Before entering the first curve, Qin Yuyang and Jiang Yilang were driving side by side, not letting the other get ahead.
An explosive force and an intense need for speed between the two sides was exposed after the first curve. Surprisingly, it was Qin Yuyang — who'd just warmed up — who reached the corner first and passed quite beautifully.
But Qin Yuyang could see that Jiang Yilang's driving skills weren't that bad. No wonder so many people were looking forward to him losing.
What was more was that the opponent was still quite young, so there was a lot of room for improvement in the future.
"…" Su Ranqiu was sitting beside him with a pale face. Looking hesitant, he said, "Qin Yuyang…"
"Hmm? Are you scared?" Qin Yuyang took the time to care about the man sitting in the passenger seat.
"It's alright." Su Ranqiu took a deep breath, he was really afraid now. The man beside him was driving like a wild, runaway horse.
It seemed as if no matter how big the world was, there was no one who could stop him.
"Don't be frightened, just wait to count the money." Qin Yuyang rambled carelessly while controlling the car. The long-awaited race didn't make him feel excited. Instead, he decided to race less in the future.
This time, he let Su Ranqiu sit on the passenger side of the car all to warn himself that he couldn't die.
"Qin Yuyang," Su Ranqiu suddenly swallowed and said, "I don't want this money…"
"Hmm? Why?" Qin Yuyang looked puzzled. The purpose of this race was to win two million yuan1 and give it to Su Ranqiu, then he could leave.
"I know the man who you're racing with. His family is involved with gangsters." Su Ranqiu, remembering the terrifying news, frowned and stated, "If you win against him, there's a high possibility that he'll get back at you."
Everyone at Jiang Yilang's school knew about this matter as he was the school bully. There wasn't a single person out there who could mess with him without suffering.
Seeing that Qin Yuyang didn't believe him, Su Ranqiu said, "He's from my university and is called Jiang Yilang. He's in the same department as me."
Hearing this, Qin Yuyang spat lightly; this matter had become a little troublesome. If Jiang Yilang wasn't in the same department as Su Ranqiu, there'd be nothing wrong with Qin Yuyang winning the bet.
But if Su Ranqiu got into trouble because of two million yuan, it wouldn't be worth it.
He thought about it for a moment and replied, "Forget it. I won't win against him."
Su Ranqiu immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but still questioned "What about your client?" If Qin Yuyang lost the game, would he be punished?
"It's fine." Qin Yuyang reassured, "I just said I wouldn't win against him, I didn't say I'd lose to him."
Even if he couldn't win in the end, it was still okay to ditch Jiang Yilang in the middle of the competition.
"…" Jiang Yilang who was following the blue sports car from behind couldn't overtake it even once. His heart had already been turned upside down, furiously he said "This boy's way of driving…" It was too reckless and crazier than him.
No wonder Tao Zhenting found such a person to compete with him. After all, people who cherished their lives could never be first.
As the only son of the Jiang family, Jiang Yilang couldn't make light of his own life. When meeting a person like Qin Yuyang, he could only admit his misfortune.
More than half an hour later, the people waiting at the foot of the mountain kept frequently looking at their watches.
The racers should be back around this time, after the round on the bridge.
They stared at the intersection, desperate to know which car would come in first.
Would it be Jiang Yilang's silver sports car, or would it be the unnamed blue sports car?
Suddenly, Huang Mao exclaimed, "Ting-Ge, they're coming!"
Tao Zhenting looked at the intersection and narrowed his eagle-like eyes. "…" Under his gaze, the two cars, side by side, finally crossed the finish line together.
What he was thinking at this point was: Damn, this isn't even a loss!
Tao Zhenting's unhappy mood just now was finally better.
All the people present were very surprised. They didn't expect the result of the game to be a draw. No one won or lost.
They had to say that this was the best result, the blue sports car was already exceptional enough.
At the moment of crossing the finish line, Jiang Yilang breathed a sigh of relief. Compared to the miserable situation of lagging behind, he was really grateful for such a result.
However, his mood was very complicated as it was quite obvious that the man who raced against him intentionally gave him the way.
Thinking of this, Jiang Yilang immediately opened the car's door and went to talk to someone.
At this time, Qin Yuyang found that Su Ranqiu was a little carsick. He quickly unscrewed a bottle of mineral water, let him take a few sips, then opened the car door and took him out to catch his breath.
Jiang Yilang walked to the front of his car and saw this scene. His legs were petrified so he couldn't move at all. That guy, he was carrying people to compete with him?
"That boy was fooling around." Tao Zhenting stood behind Jiang Yilang and said, "I forgot to tell him not to carry people, otherwise he should've been able to beat you." However, he patted Jiang Yilang on the shoulder and said, "Xiao-Qin was right, friendship comes first and race second. From now on, Gege won't mess with you in this racing decision."
"Ting-Ge, I lost this one." Jiang Yilang cried with an ugly face, "I won't show up to make trouble with the car races you organize in the future."
He retreated a little dejectedly, got into his car, and left.
Huang Mao saw this, rubbed his hands, and asked, "Ting-Ge, does this count as Xiao-Yu's win? How do we calculate the money we promised to give him…" He was still waiting to receive a little commission.
In his opinion, Qin Yuyang didn't look like a stingy person, so he shouldn't be stingy while giving commissions too.
"Give him one million yuan2," Tao Zhenting said calmly.
Su Ranqiu grabbed the water from Qin Yuyang's hand and insisted, "I'm ok. You should go over and have a look first." He was afraid the other party wouldn't be satisfied with the result, so he felt a little uneasy.
"Don't worry." Qin Yuyang rubbed his head then got up and walked over to Tao Zhenting and Huang Mao. "Mr. Tao, I didn't win this match, but I didn't lose either. Let's forget about the payment we agreed on before, I don't have the ability to take it."
Tao Zhenting and Huang Mao showed a look of surprise. They didn't expect the other side would say something so unanticipated.
"No, you won this match, although it wasn't won very beautifully." Tao Zhenting said, "How about giving you the one million yuan as agreed upon before?"
Qin Yuyang waved his hand. "One million. Forget it, I won't take it. But if you don't mind, can you help me return some money to Mao-Ge."
Tao Zhenting raised an eyebrow and asked, "How much?"
Qin Yuyang glanced at Huang Mao who was frowning and smilingly reported a number. "50,0003."
This was only a small amount for Tao Zhenting so he didn't need to inform the financial department, and could directly transfer it from his private account.
"Thank you, Ting-Ge. Hey, I'll take Xiao-Yu home," Huang Mao happily danced and said.
Tao Zhenting nodded and turned around to get into a black business car behind him.
At that time, Su Ranqiu walked over towards them.
"Is Xiao-Qiu ok?" Huang Mao was stunned by the palm print on Su Ranqiu's face. He asked in surprise, "Who's so bold as to dare beat Xiao-Qiu?"
Su Ranqiu had put a mask on, but it became hard to breathe so he took it off.
"My ex beat him," Qin Yuyang answered without concealing anything. He then looked at Su Ranqiu, "Are you still dizzy?"
"I'm much better now." Su Ranqiu's face was a little hot.
"What?" Huang Mao was distracted. "Xiao-Qiu's just dizzy? You didn't throw up?" Shit, he had thrown up last time.
"I didn't throw up." Su Ranqiu breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that Huang Mao's attitude was normal.
After getting into the car, Huang Mao drove while asking about all the details of the competition with great enthusiasm. Qin Yuyang and he chatted with each other while Su Ranqiu was already drowsy. Halfway through, his body finally couldn't control itself and fell asleep against Qin Yuyang.
"Shh, stop talking. He's asleep," Qin Yuyang said.
Huang Mao received the gesture and drove quietly.
"Xiao-Yu." When he arrived at the door of the milk tea shop, Huang Mao took out his cell phone and said quietly, "Ting-Ge's 50,000 yuan has been transferred. How should we divide it? Half a person?"
Wasn't that 25,000?
Qin Yuyang had a black face. "27,000 or 23,000, you choose for yourself." It wasn't going to be 25,000, anyway.
"Okay, I'll take 23,000." Huang Mao said quite generously, "2000 is for Xiao-Qiu, buy him more meat. Look, don't you feel bad that he's so skinny?"
Qin Yuyang began to regret rejecting that one million yuan for if he hadn't, Su Ranqiu would've been able to eat meat for every meal.
Su Ranqiu probably heard his name and immediately woke up from Qin Yuyang's shoulder. He squinted his sore eyes and asked, "We're here?" He saw that the shops in the entire street were closed so it was quiet all around.
"Xiao-Qiu," Huang Mao asked with an excited face, "would you like to go get a snack?"
Su Ranqiu was dazzled, unable to decide for a moment.
"What is there to eat when you're so sleepy? Let's just go home, wash up, and go to bed." Qin Yuyang opened the car door and stretched out his hand to pull Su Ranqiu out. "Goodbye, Mao-Ge. Let's have dinner together when you're free."
Huang-Nightlife-Mao poked his head out of the window and shouted, "All right, goodbye. Let's have dinner sometime!"
It was 11 at night when they got home. Su Ranqiu, with mixed feelings, looked at the man who took off his own shoes and directly headed to bed.
Although two million simply wasn't as much as what Qin Yuyang had paid before, yet again, the other party didn't hesitate.
"What are you doing standing in the room?" Qin Yuyang said, "Come and sleep quickly."
It was the last straw that broke the camel's back4. Su Ranqiu turned off the light and went straight to bed, lying next to the man he hated yet took care of, he slept comfortably.
He dreamed a lot that night, of several familiar faces.
He forgot what the dreams were about, but when he woke up the next day, the feeling of happiness was substantial.
"Awoke so early today?" It was only seven in the morning when Qin Yuyang heard some noises and woke up.
"I have a class today." Because his school was far away, Su Ranqiu had to get up early to ride a bus for 40 minutes.
"Alright, you go study." Qin Yuyang continued to sleep.
Su Ranqiu packed everything and took off his mask before going outside to say, "Then today you… " will still stay here right?
"What?" Qin Yuyang got up unwillingly but his tone was gentle. "I'll go out to make money later. Tell me where your school is and I'll bring you lunch."
He still remembered that last night Huang Mao had said that Su Ranqiu was too thin.
"…" Su Ranqiu held his mask, and for a moment, he could only react by nodding or shaking his head.
"Go quickly, let's talk on the phone later. I'll sleep for a while." Qin Yuyang wasn't fully awake yet and half of his soul still lingered with the Duke of Zhou5.
Su Ranqiu left and locked his door as per usual. Living warily in this prosperous and indifferent city, the pressure on him was no less than that of the working elite who had to support their families.
The pressure of life could be shouldered by oneself, but loneliness was something that couldn't be resolved on one's own.