It was past eight in the evening before the two of them drove back the way they had come.
The car’s heater was blasting hot air, and Chen Qingqing, far from feeling cold now, felt almost too warm.
She wound the window down a little, and with the air coming in from outside her face finally stopped burning.
But the moment she thought about what Xu Ye had just done, it was like somebody tickling her from the inside. Her body still felt soft, and her strength hadn’t come back.
She took out her phone on the quiet, opened Baidu, and typed one search after another into the box.
My boyfriend seems unusually interested in feet — what should I do?
Why are boys interested in feet?
Found out my boyfriend has a foot fetish, what now?
…
Chen Qingqing read through the answers and explanations underneath, and decided that Baidu wasn’t all that reliable either.
Because everything online said this was normal.
How could it possibly be normal!
If this was normal, then didn’t that make every boy a pervert?
Xu Ye drove Chen Qingqing back to Red Leaf Estate, and before she got out he asked, deliberately, “Want to carry on tomorrow?”
Chen Qingqing was about to say yes, and then worried that by “carry on” Xu Ye didn’t mean going for a drive, but… So after two seconds’ thought she said, “Let’s see tomorrow.”
Xu Ye nodded, watched her walk into the yard, then turned the car around and headed home.
That evening Qin Zhiwei messaged first, asking what time they were practicing driving in the morning. Xu Ye had bought the car, but Qin Zhiwei was more excited about it than he was. Xu Ye replied straight away.
Xu Ye: whenever. just come and find me
Qin Zhiwei sent back an enthusiastic okay. Wang Mei, sitting nearby, saw the look on her son’s face and asked, “What’s got you so pleased?”
It was out of Qin Zhiwei’s mouth before he thought. “Xu Ye’s bought a car.”
“Xu Ye’s bought a car?”
“Mm, today. I went with him.”
Wang Mei frowned. “Where did he get the money?”
“He earned it,” Qin Zhiwei said. “He’s been running businesses at school since he started. First a fruit shop, then a trading company. He’s seriously impressive.”
Qin Wenliang was surprised too. “Old Xu’s son has done that well?”
“Mm.”
“Look at him, and then look at you. What have you got that’s better than him?”
Qin Zhiwei had heard enough of that sort of thing in high school to be sick of it, though back then the comparison hadn’t been Xu Ye — it had been the model students who came in the top few every exam.
Then Qin Zhiwei asked, perfectly serious, “Mom, what do you think of my looks?”
“Hideous. When you were born, if the doctor hadn’t talked me round I wouldn’t have kept you.”
“???”
Qin Zhiwei had been out running with Xu Ye every morning for a while now and had his weight exactly where he wanted it. He’d had his hair lightly permed for the New Year, and he’d started using face wash. He wanted to know whether any of it had improved his standing in his own mother’s eyes.
“You’re even worse now you’re grown. Ugly, the same way your father’s ugly. Puts me off just looking at you.”
“???”
“If it hadn’t been for you, I’d have divorced your dad years ago.”
“I thought you said I was ugly? So how is it because of me?”
“I was afraid the court would award you to me.”
Qin Wenliang had finally heard enough. He rolled his eyes. “Don’t listen to your mother talking out of her backside. When you were born your skin was pale and soft, and the whole family adored you.”
“And now?”
“You’ll do. Not as good as I was at your age.”
Qin Zhiwei let out a long sigh, said nothing at all, and went back to his room.
Wang Mei watched him go and asked quietly, “Old Qin, what’s the matter with your son?”
“What do you mean, what’s the matter?”
“He’s a lazybones, and lately he’s out running every morning. He’s bought three new things to wear this year alone, and he’s started using face wash. He hasn’t got himself a girlfriend at school, has he?”
“That’d be a good thing. There are so many single men about these days, and he’s so bad with words that if he doesn’t find someone at university, he’ll have a hard time getting a wife later.”
“You’re the one who’s bad with words. My son is a hundred times better than you.”
“You were calling your son ugly a minute ago.”
“I was making that up.”
“Your son seems to have taken it seriously.”
Wang Mei stopped short, then got up in a hurry and headed for Qin Zhiwei’s room.
“Son, I was making all that up just now, you’re far better-looking than your dad was at your age. Tell your mom the truth — have you got yourself a girlfriend at school—”
“Mom!” Qin Zhiwei was up at once, pushing her back out of the room, tense all over. “My business is my business. And knock, next time you come into my room.”
“Pfft~”
A moment later Wang Mei called out again. “Old Qin.”
“What?”
“Your son really has got a girlfriend.”
…
As everyone knows.
Passing your driving test is not the same as being able to drive.
So when Qin Zhiwei sat down in the driver’s seat, he looked calm enough on the outside while inwardly panicking hard.
Xu Ye watched him sit there doing nothing for a long moment and asked, “What are you doing?”
“Quiet, quiet. I’m working out the order.”
Qin Zhiwei muttered it to himself. “Foot on the brake, then start the engine. P to N first, pause, then D. Release the handbrake, lift off the foot brake, light touch on the gas and away.”
Xu Ye was lost for words.
Driving was no trouble at all to him.
But this was Qin Zhiwei’s first time doing it for real, and he had learned on a manual at driving school while this was an automatic, which he wasn’t used to.
Xu Ye taught him slowly and patiently. Fortunately there weren’t many cars on the road, and after a few circuits Qin Zhiwei gradually got the feel of the accelerator. Seeing the sweat on his forehead, though, Xu Ye — who had been planning to have him share the driving back to Shanghai — decided that would need thinking about again.
“Anyway, come round to mine whenever you’ve got nothing on over the next few days. Once you’re properly used to it, I’ll just give you a key of your own.”
“Were your parents shocked when you bought a car?”
“Not really. I laid it all out for them before New Year, so they know I’ve got money.”
“I wonder when I’ll have a little car of my own,” Qin Zhiwei said.
“When I trade up to a luxury car.”
“Why’s that, then?”
“When I trade up, I’ll give you this one to drive.”
Xu Ye had expected to be sworn at. Instead Qin Zhiwei said, perfectly calmly, “That works.”
Six months ago, if Xu Ye had said that, Qin Zhiwei would have come straight back with, “You? As if.”
But now he believed, right down in himself, that Xu Ye had both the ability and the means, and that one day he would be able to afford a car like that.
If anything, it was Xu Ye who found not being sworn at hard to get used to.
After a day’s practice, when Qin Zhiwei drove home that evening he could see Wang Mei from a long way off, standing outside the family shop and deep in conversation with the neighbors.
“I’m telling you, Zhang Hong’s son has really made something of himself. One month into university and he was earning tens of thousands.”
“Are you serious?”
“My son and her son are thick as thieves. Of course I’m serious.”
“Zhang Hong’s boy is as capable as that?”
“Look, look — my son’s back. That’s Zhang Hong’s son there. And that’s the car he bought yesterday.”
Xu Ye found a whole crowd of aunties in front of him staring straight at him, and it made his skin crawl. He got out, waved to Wang Mei from a distance, then turned around and left immediately.
What Xu Ye didn’t know was this.
Within a few days these aunties would have turned him, by word of mouth, into the richest man in Jiangzhou.
“Have you heard? Zhang Hong’s son has made his fortune at university. Hundreds of thousands a month. He bought a luxury car the other day.”
“They say he’s opened a trading company. Made over a million in six months.”
“That car he bought is called a Ma-something…”
“A Maserati?”
“Yes, yes, that’s the one.”
“…”
(End of Chapter 196)