Winter Time Rendering

Chapter 182: Chapter 78: A Messy Young Miss (3)

Unfortunately, the car lurched forward. The attempt was apparently unsuccessful.

"Holy crap, you’re something else!" Song slapped his thigh. "You can’t even drive properly, and you’re already practicing advanced techniques. Are you the reincarnation of a racing god, kid?"

"Is it that hard?"

Just then, Gu Qiuyan chimed in.

Zhang Shutong reflexively turned his head.

"Don’t look at me, look at the road!"

Song’s heart nearly leaped out of his chest.

Once he turned his head back to the road, a dumbfounded Song said:

"...You ask if it’s hard? It’s not, really. You get the hang of it with practice. The thing is, this is his first time ever behind the wheel... Kid, is this really your first time?"

Zhang Shutong hummed in confirmation. Of course it was his first time. He didn’t even dare take his hands off the steering wheel, a far cry from Song’s nonchalant style.

He slowly decelerated, giving up on the advanced techniques to spare his mentor’s heart. Seeing this, Song breathed a sigh of relief, cracked open the window, and lit a cigarette.

As the smoke drifted away, Song seemed to come to his senses. He went to pat Zhang Shutong on the shoulder and praise his driving, but Zhang Shutong quickly stopped him. Song stared for another moment before, finally feeling at ease, he started chatting with Gu Qiuyan.

The topic, naturally, was cars. He talked about techniques for manual transmissions, the ten things every veteran driver must know, and which cars had the best-feeling gear shifts. He rattled them off like a list of his most prized possessions, talking on and on. Eventually, the conversation turned to Zhang Shutong, with Song declaring that the kid was a natural-born driver, his talent simply off the charts...

Zhang Shutong listened casually while driving attentively. As he gradually got the hang of it, he finally dared to relax his muscles a bit. To be honest, his left foot was starting to cramp. He shifted into a more comfortable position, only to realize his cheek was a little itchy.

He didn’t even need to turn his head; a glance from the corner of his eye was enough to see it was Gu Qiuyan’s hair.

The entire back seat was her domain. At some point, she had leaned forward with her hands on the front seat. It was hard to tell if it was out of nervousness or curiosity, but she was listening to Song while staring at the road ahead.

Zhang Shutong followed her gaze but saw nothing new. It was just a small car driving across a vast, open field:

The headlights outlined the road ahead as snowflakes danced in the night. The wipers scraped intermittently, SQUEAKING with each pass. It was cold outside, of course, but the car’s interior was pleasant. The dome light cast a faint glow, and the vents huffed out warm air. A few strands of hair dangled from her forehead, swaying mischievously. Just like her scent, they were disobedient, running wild and creeping onto his face and into his nostrils.

’Can’t you sit properly? For goodness’ sake, act like a proper young lady. What kind of heiress sits in a car like this?’ Zhang Shutong wanted to say. But all his concentration was on driving, leaving him no room to speak. He could only uncomfortably twitch his face to shake the strands of hair away.

Inside their little car, the instructor was boasting:

"Let me tell you, Qiumian, in all my years of driving, this is the first time I’ve seen someone who’s just gotten behind the wheel dare to rev-match on a downshift. And the crucial part is... he actually succeeded..."

"It’s just that the driver’s license test procedures are all fixed now. If it were back in my day, this kid would get his license in three days, guaranteed. Believe it or not, when instructors get a student like this, they just slack off and have him act as a substitute instructor..."

"Alright, the road’s getting narrow. I’ll take over. Shutong, slow down, and no more rev-matching this time. Just a normal gear change."

Seeing Zhang Shutong nod and place his hand on the gear stick, Song turned away, feeling reassured.

"I thought it would be great if he just learned to get the car moving today. I never expected such a huge surprise. He actually..."

The car suddenly jerked and stalled.

To be precise, it was due to improper operation: he hadn’t pressed the clutch down properly while shifting, and the engine stalled.

It was one of the most common mistakes for rookie drivers.

"What’s going on? Did the car break down?" Song was stunned for a moment. "It’s not broken... Hey, kid, weren’t you just driving perfectly fine a second ago?"

He looked mortified. ’I just finished bragging about you, and this is what you do,’ he thought.

"Uh..."

Zhang Shutong didn’t know what to say. He had just been going by feel, same as before, and he’d thought his hand was steady. But as he went to shift gears, his cheek felt itchy again, and as a result, he lost control of the pressure from his foot. The car stalled right in the middle of the road.

"’I thought it would be great if he just learned to get the car moving today, but then...’" Gu Qiuyan repeated, collapsing back into her seat, doubled over with laughter. "Such a surprise... Haha..."

Embarrassed, Zhang Shutong restarted the engine. He put his hand on the gearshift, but then remembered Song said they were switching drivers, and his movement paused.

Just as he was about to open the car door, a light suddenly lit up from behind. He turned his head and saw Gu Qiuyan holding her phone with both hands, aimed right at his face.

CLICK.

He was frozen in the frame, and he could only imagine how awkward his expression must have been.

Zhang Shutong froze.

But what was most stunning was that Gu Qiuyan seemed surprised too.

"How did it light up?"

She was clueless when it came to electronics. She even turned the phone over curiously and looked at the camera lens as she spoke.

"Delete it."

Zhang Shutong took a deep breath and reached out to snatch it. Caught red-handed, Gu Qiuyan dropped the pretense. With a huff, she said, "Who’s taking a picture of you? I’m taking a picture of the scenery, okay?"

Zhang Shutong didn’t believe her for a second—he’d pulled the same trick himself before. But to his surprise, the great Miss Gu decided the best defense was a good offense and retorted coolly:

"Reincarnation of a racing god."

Zhang Shutong’s face flushed.

"Talent’s off the charts."

Even Song coughed.

"A natural-born driver!"

The master and disciple opened their doors and got out of the car at the same time. Gu Qiuyan had won this round.

As they brushed past each other in front of the car, Song patted Zhang Shutong’s shoulder.

"Touchy, touchy. Just indulge her a little..."

...

The car was in an uproar. Zhang Shutong, now in the passenger seat, was speechless. He cracked open his window, letting the cold wind blow on his face.

’My first-ever driving lesson, and it ended in total humiliation.’

’She doesn’t take a picture when I’m driving well, but the moment I stall, she remembers she has a phone.’

Zhang Shutong glanced in the rearview mirror. Gu Qiuyan was curled up in her seat, letting out a small yawn.

He couldn’t let her catch him looking, though. If she did, she would meet his gaze, not to be outdone, and then it would start:

"You’re a natural-born driver. What’s wrong with me helping you commemorate the moment?"

As she spoke, she couldn’t hold back her own laughter.

In any case, she just kept repeating the same few lines, making Zhang Shutong wonder if she was trying to recruit him as her family’s chauffeur.

More than ten minutes had passed since they’d switched drivers. Perhaps it was because the three of them had been bickering and were now feeling drowsy from the warm air;

or perhaps it was the increasingly gloomy surroundings. The moon had disappeared, and not a single point of light was visible besides the car’s headlights. The atmosphere grew tense.

Zhang Shutong pulled his gaze back and looked at the road ahead. The road surface was getting narrower, starting to look familiar.

Outside the window, the only sound was the CRUNCH of the tires on the snow.

That body of water where he had been killed twice, a place that seemed fated—

The "restricted zone" was just ahead.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!