I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Shen Kang lifted his eyelids, looked ahead, pretended not to see, and let himself think about his own thoughts first.

He had no idea when He Qiuzhu was going to take her driving test.

So much so that when He Qiuzhu suddenly pulled out her driver's license just before they were about to leave and said she would drive, he was quite surprised and naturally asked her when she had learned to drive.

He Qiuzhu said that this was what she learned this semester.

He then kindly asked why she had thought of learning to drive. He Qiuzhu replied that if she could drive, she could drive in the future, while Shen Kang sat in the passenger seat touching up his makeup.

Shen Kang said I don't wear makeup.

He Qiuzhu said, "Then you should go to sleep."

Shen Kang then remained silent for a while.

He thought of the times he and He Qiuzhu went out together. Because he had a lot of things to do, he was probably tired and exhausted while driving. He Qiuzhu probably noticed that.

He felt a warm feeling in his heart, so when He Qiuzhu insisted on driving, he didn't directly refuse, but said to see how she drove first.

So Shen Kang sat in the passenger seat and He Qiuzhu drove. The two drove for a while on that secluded section of road next to the school.

When he sat in the passenger seat, the first thing Shen Kang did was to fasten his seatbelt as quickly as possible. He gripped the overhead handle tightly with his right hand and tensed his left hand muscles, ready to intervene at any moment. This was mainly due to some experiences in his previous life that gave him a stereotype about "female drivers".

As a result, He Qiuzhu's performance once again exceeded his expectations.

Sixteen-character evaluation: Stable.

Wen's demeanor is nothing like that of a novice who has had their license for less than three months; it's more like that of a seasoned veteran driver.

Aside from being nervous at the beginning, Shen Kang completely relaxed later on and praised He Qiuzhu's driving skills generously, making He Qiuzhu very proud.

But Shen Kang wasn't the first to praise He Qiuzhu's talent for learning to drive.

……

He Qiuzhu suddenly wanted to learn to drive in October.

I mentioned this to Ruan Yue when we were chatting on the phone that night. The next day, Ruan Yue called me and said that Uncle Chang would be picking her up to go to driving lessons.

A few minutes after Ruan Yue ended her phone call, Uncle Chang called to ask He Qiuzhu if she wanted him to pick her up at the dormitory entrance, so she could just come downstairs, get in the car, and leave.

He Qiuzhu said no need, and told Uncle Chang to wait for her outside the school. Then she went downstairs, rode her little bicycle, and rode all the way out of the school gate. She turned left for a while and finally saw the car that was there to pick her up by the roadside.

It was a champagne-colored Elegance parked on the side of the road.

A man in his fifties stood beside the car, his hair neatly trimmed, wearing a suit and white gloves, looking exactly like a high-end driver straight out of a TV drama.

If Shen Kang had been there, he would have recognized that this man was none other than Chang Ming, the one who drove a bus to pick them up from school on the night of their "If You Are the One" celebration party.

The students present at the time felt that he should have driven a Bentley instead of a bus, and today, he did indeed drive a Bentley Arnage.

After He Qiuzhu parked and locked her car, she went up to ask, "Uncle Chang, are you going to be my coach?"

Changming smiled and said, "No, I'm just here to pick you up and take you to the driving school, and to familiarize you with the area and the people. Leave the professional work to the professionals. Besides, a female instructor understands better than a male instructor how a girl thinks when learning to drive. So, someone else will be teaching you to drive."

He Qiuzhu said "oh" and got into the car.

Like all university towns, there is a driving school next to the North Lu University Town called "Yuanhang Driving School".

However, Changming did not take He Qiuzhu to that driving school.

The driving school he took He Qiuzhu to wasn't like an ordinary driving school. There was no corrugated iron registration desk, nor was there a "Subject 2 Practice Area" sign stuck in the dirt road. Inside, the blue bricks and gray tiles made it look like a private garden.

The driving school seemed to be doing very poorly; there wasn't a single student inside, but there were some staff members.

Changming first took He Qiuzhu to meet a coach surnamed Zhao.

Just as Changming said, she was a female coach in her early forties with short hair, and she looked very capable.

Coach Zhao, like He Qiuzhu, seems to be a man of few words.

She was stunned for a moment when she first saw He Qiuzhu, seemingly taken aback by the other's good looks. After a brief introduction, she led He Qiuzhu directly to the driving range.

There were four cars parked in the driving range: a brand new Santana, a silver-gray BMW 3 Series, a black Mercedes-Benz, and the champagne-colored Elegance that Changming had driven to pick up He Qiuzhu.

Coach Zhao said that all four cars are suitable for practice; it depends on which one the ladies find most comfortable.

He Qiuzhu looked at it and pointed to the Santana.

Coach Zhao hesitated for a moment, but quickly nodded and agreed.

I practiced reversing into a parking space, starting on a slope, and parallel parking for nine days in total.

This driving school is doing terribly. Every day, there's only one student, He Qiuzhu, who can practice however she wants.

On the ninth day of practice, the instructor asked her, "Miss, would you like to try a different car?"

He Qiuzhu said, "No need. I'll just take the Santana test."

The coach was silent for a moment, then said, "Okay. I'll take that Santana to the testing center."

It was probably just a coincidence; both driving schools and test centers were struggling.

On the day of the driving test, He Qiuzhu was the only one at the test center.

He Qiuzhu drove the Santana she had practiced in for nine days into the field.

The test vehicle stalled once while stationary, but she restarted it without panicking and passed on the first try.

The examiner sat in the passenger seat and didn't say a word throughout the entire test. After the test, he handed her the score sheet and said, "You drove well."

He Qiuzhu said thank you.

Then came the road test, part three of the driving test, and Coach Zhao continued to provide practice.

Unlike the training content for the second subject, the training content for the third subject was like a protagonist in a movie who went deep into the mountains and found a hermit master and began a period of "ascetic training".

In those movies, the first task the old hermit gives the protagonist is often to "fetch water"—to fetch water from the foot of the mountain, with the requirement that not a single drop be spilled.

The situation is similar for He Qiuzhu.

On the first day of practice for the road test (Part 3), Coach Zhao did not take He Qiuzhu to the driving school's training ground, nor did he take her to the busy main road.

She led He Qiuzhu to a dead-end road.

It was a new road that hadn't been opened yet. The road surface was paved, the markings were neatly drawn, and the sidewalks and streetlights on both sides were in place, but there were no cars or people.

The road was blocked off at both ends with plastic water-filled barriers, and the middle section, a full kilometer long, was spotless.

"First published on" "Novel" "website" [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

Coach Zhao parked the car in the middle of the road and said to He Qiuzhu, "Today we won't practice starting or changing lanes. We'll just practice one thing: driving steadily so that the water in the floodgates doesn't spill out."

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she produced a fast-food container filled halfway with water and placed it above the dashboard. Finally, she instructed He Qiuzhu to complete one start, three gear shifts, one brake, and one parallel parking maneuver within a kilometer. The only requirement was: the water must not spill.

When He Qiuzhu tried it for the first time, some water spilled out when she started.

The second time, a little bit spilled again when shifting gears.

She pursed her lips, said nothing, and continued trying.

On the seventh try, the half-box of water finally managed to stay in place smoothly from start to stop, as if it had been frozen.

Coach Zhao picked up the remaining water, drank it in one gulp, and said, "Tomorrow we'll go to a place with a car."

The next day, the old hermit asked the protagonist to chop wood, requiring him to chop at exactly the same angle with every stroke.

Morning rush hour, main road in the east of the city.

He Qiuzhu was driving at 40 mph in the far right lane.

The cars behind honked, but she wasn't in a hurry, and neither was Coach Zhao.

Coach Zhao simply looked around, as if assessing something, then rolled down the passenger window halfway and waved. The cars behind stopped honking and slowed down one after another, like a river suddenly encountering a dam.

But He Qiuzhu didn't have time to look behind her; she was busy looking for a time to shift gears in the traffic.

Coach Zhao's rules were strange—you were only allowed to shift gears when the distance between you and the car in front or behind was more than three car lengths. If it was more than four car lengths, it meant you were too slow.

That morning, He Qiuzhu's car moved like a shuttle, weaving through the morning rush hour traffic at a steady pace. With each gear shift, the distance between her and the cars in front and behind was precisely three car lengths, no more, no less. Coach Zhao sat beside her, flipping through a couple of pages of his notebook before closing it again.

On the third day, the old hermit instructed the protagonist to meditate under the waterfall, practicing finding stillness amidst chaos.

Coach Zhao took her to the old town.

The road was narrow, a one-way street, lined with small restaurants and grocery stores on both sides. People on electric bikes squeezed in and out of the gaps between the bikes, and an old lady carrying a shopping basket walked close to the car door.

Coach Zhao said, "Today we're practicing anticipation. Don't look at the front of the car, look ahead. If the electric scooter starts looking at you, it's about to turn; if the old lady lifts her shopping basket, she's about to stop. You have to observe for yourself."

He Qiuzhu nodded.

That day, she drove for an hour through the old town, which was like a pot of porridge, and she drove like water flowing over stones. Coach Zhao sat next to her, flipping through a couple of pages of his notebook before closing it again.

On the fourth day, the old hermit had the protagonist practice horse stance in the raging wind and rain, which was to train his foundation.

After a light rain, Coach Zhao actually took He Qiuzhu to practice on the mountain trails.

Although it's called a mountain road, it's actually just a steep slope with sharp bends in the north of the city. It's slippery when it rains, and most instructors wouldn't dare take a novice there.

He Qiuzhu instinctively applied the brakes at the beginning of the bend. Coach Zhao said, "Don't brake inside the bend, brake before entering the bend."

He Qiuzhu made changes. She was still a bit clumsy on the first lap, but she got a little smoother on the second lap. On the third lap, when she was going through the last hairpin bend, Coach Zhao suddenly threw a bottle of mineral water at her from her side.

The water bottle hit He Qiuzhu's feet, but she didn't dodge, and the car didn't swerve. Coach Zhao picked up the water bottle and said, "I'll teach you emergency avoidance tomorrow."

On the fifth day, the old hermit had the protagonist dodge the hidden weapons he threw, practicing how to locate enemies by listening to the wind.

Emergency evasive maneuver.

The venue was actually an open space at the far end of the driving school. I don't know when they put up a few traffic cones, and there were white lines drawn on the ground.

He Qiuzhu needs to dodge and return to the original lane the moment she sees Coach Zhao raise the flag while traveling at 40 miles per hour.

Coach Zhao said, "I won't tell you when to raise it. Keep your eyes on the road ahead and keep an eye on my arm out of the corner of your eye. By the time you see the flag and try to brake, it will be too late."

He Qiuzhu bumped into the ice cream cone three times in the first three times.

Coach Zhao didn't say anything harsh, he just put the ice cream cone back in its place and said, "Again."

The fourth time, He Qiuzhu turned the steering wheel too sharply, and the front of the car swung around, almost turning sideways.

On the fifth attempt, she eased off the accelerator, gently swerved the steering wheel, and the car grazed the traffic cone. Coach Zhao said, "Very good." He Qiuzhu didn't speak; her palms were sweaty.

On the sixth day, the old hermit threw the protagonist into the darkness to train his clear mind and sharp eyes.

Driving at night.

But instead of going to the main road, they went to a village road on the outskirts of the city that had no streetlights.

There were no houses around, and it was pitch black; the only bright spots were where the car headlights shone.

Coach Zhao instructed He Qiuzhu to drive five kilometers on this dark road, without using high beams, only low beams.

He Qiuzhu maintained a constant speed of 35 km/h, no more, no less.

Coach Zhao asked her, "What are you afraid of, going so slowly?"

He Qiuzhu said, "There's a dog up ahead."

Coach Zhao was stunned for a moment. As the car drew closer, sure enough, a dog slowly walked out of the ditch by the roadside.

He Qiuzhu had already applied the brakes and waited for the dog to pass before starting again.

Coach Zhao was silent for a moment, then said, "When did you see it?"

He Qiuzhu said, "Its eyes lit up."

Coach Zhao said, "You have such good eyesight."

He Qiuzhu said, "I don't just look far ahead."

Coach Zhao glanced at her but didn't say anything.

On the seventh day, the old hermit sent his two disciples down the mountain to attack the protagonist, training them in real combat.

Comprehensive exercises.

Coach Zhao used the car radio to call two people, one on an electric scooter and the other in a van, to assist He Qiuzhu in her training.

The guy on the electric bike was really cunning; he would always dart out from the right when He Qiuzhu was about to change lanes.

Those who drive vans like to block her when she pulls over to the side of the road.

He Qiuzhu was initially flustered by them, but she gradually calmed down.

In the last two rounds, the person riding the electric bike deliberately rushed out of the alley just as He Qiuzhu was about to pass by. He Qiuzhu released the accelerator three meters in advance, stepped on the brake, and gently touched the front of the bike to a steady stop.

The person on the electric scooter brushed past her, glanced back at her, and gave her a thumbs up.

On the eighth day, the old hermit placed the heaviest burden on the protagonist, teaching him to find a way forward even when his heart was burdened by worries.

Exam route.

Coach Zhao had He Qiuzhu walk the three kilometers in the east of the city three times.

On the first pass, He Qiuzhu drove slowly, checking every intersection, every zebra crossing, and every U-turn area.

The second time, He Qiuzhu ran the test according to the requirements.

On the third attempt, Coach Zhao suddenly said from the passenger seat, "There's a pregnant woman sitting in the back right now, she's about to give birth. You need to get out of there safely as quickly as possible. Hurry, her water broke!"

He Qiuzhu stepped on the gas and accelerated the car, without missing any deceleration points or taking any observation actions.

After one lap, the time was almost two minutes faster than the normal running time.

Coach Zhao said, "If you take the exam like this, the examiner will think you're taking it for someone else."

He Qiuzhu said, "Then I won't drive fast."

Coach Zhao said, "That's right. Don't drive fast during the test. Driving fast isn't a skill; driving steadily is the most important thing."

On the ninth day, the old hermit asked the protagonist to sit down and have a bowl of tea.

I didn't practice anything.

Coach Zhao took He Qiuzhu to a teahouse for tea.

The two sat facing each other, each with a cup of tea, neither saying much.

After finishing his tea, Coach Zhao took a notebook out of his bag, placed it in front of He Qiuzhu, and said, "Look at what you've learned over these nine days."

He Qiuzhu opened the book, which contained daily training records, with a string of numbers and a red checkmark after each item.

She turned to the last page, where a line of text read: "Stable on sharp bends in the rain, excellent nighttime prediction, accurate avoidance response, and braking distance meets the standard."

She closed the notebook and returned it to Coach Zhao.

Coach Zhao said, "You don't seem like you've only been learning for nine days."

He Qiuzhu said, "It's because the teacher taught me well."

Coach Zhao shook his head without saying anything, but after a while, he suddenly asked, "Want to learn racing?"

"I've been teaching driving for over twenty years, and I've never seen anyone like you. You're not just steady; you learn things like you absorb them. What others need to practice three hundred times to find the feel, you get in three. When you took that hairpin turn, I threw a bottle at you, and you didn't even look, didn't move your feet, and the car didn't swerve even slightly. That's instinct, not something you practice."

"Maybe you can become the first Chinese woman in F1..."

Before she could finish speaking, she swallowed the words back, shook her head with a self-deprecating laugh, and said, "Never mind, forget I said anything."

How could this young lady's family possibly let her do such dangerous manual labor? — Yes, that's right. Becoming an F1 driver may be a dream for many people, but for this young lady's family, it was "manual labor."

He Qiuzhu just blinked and looked at her, without saying anything, as if she hadn't said anything at all.

On the day of the driving test, He Qiuzhu arrived at the test center and found that she was the only one in the waiting hall.

She sat in the middle of the row of plastic chairs, with an electronic screen in front of her displaying the monitoring footage of the test vehicles.

A few minutes later, a staff member came over with a glass of water and said, "Have some water, no rush."

He Qiuzhu took the water, but didn't drink it; she put it aside.

Later, the examiner arrived and said, "Let's go." He Qiuzhu stood up and followed him.

The test vehicle was a white Santana, in so-so condition; the seats were a bit loose, and the steering wheel veered slightly to one side after starting the engine. He Qiuzhu adjusted the seat and mirrors, fastened her seatbelt, turned on the left turn signal, and slowly released the handbrake.

The examiner said, "Begin." So she started.

She knew that road like the back of her hand.

The school gate is the place you'll pass through at 40 seconds, and the U-turn area is 120 meters after the second green light.

She didn't count, but her body remembered everything.

When the car arrived at the school gate, there was an old lady walking her dog at the zebra crossing.

He Qiuzhu parked the car early, before the dog even got onto the zebra crossing.

The examiner flipped through the notebook in his hand.

As the car approached the U-turn area, the flow of oncoming traffic suddenly increased.

He Qiuzhu turned on her left turn signal and waited for a taxi, then for a delivery tricycle, until there was a large space clear in the opposite direction before she moved.

Without rushing or dragging, the car body glides along the center line when making a U-turn, as if measured with a ruler.

The examiner flipped through the notebook again.

Finally, she pulled over to the side of the road. There was a bus stop 20 meters ahead, but there were no road markings. He Qiuzhu turned on her right turn signal and slowly slid into the parking area. The car was less than 30 centimeters away from the curb, and neither the front nor rear wheels crossed the lines.

The car has come to a complete stop.

The examiner closed his notebook and asked, "How many years have you been driving?"

He Qiuzhu said, "I just learned it this year."

The examiner didn't say anything, but thought to himself, "So that's a year? Wow, that's impressive."

Then I handed her the report card.

He Qiuzhu took it; it was covered in hooks.

She looked at it for three seconds, folded it, put it in her coat pocket, and then got off the bus.

Outside the examination hall, Changming stood next to the elegant champagne-colored dress, smiling at her from afar.

He Qiuzhu walked over, and Changming opened the car door.

She got in the car, closed the door, and took out her report card to look at it again.

Changming glanced in the rearview mirror and said, "Miss, go back and get some rest." He Qiuzhu hummed in agreement and turned her face to look out the window.

The trees on both sides of the road have begun to shed their leaves, which fall one by one against the car window.

She suddenly asked, "Uncle Chang, isn't Coach Zhao amazing?"

Changming smiled and said, "Coach Zhao, all the students she taught got full marks on their exams."

He Qiuzhu nodded, as if she understood something, or as if she didn't need to understand anything at all.

She put her hand in her coat pocket, her fingertips touching the folded report card.

There is wind, light, and trees outside the window.

She thought to herself: I finally got my driver's license, now I have a chance to touch my stinky little brother's legs.

……

"These are my legs."

After having his leg touched for a while, Shen Kang finally couldn't help but speak up to remind her—although it was quite comfortable to be touched by that soft little hand, and He Qiuzhu's driving skills were unexpectedly good, for someone who didn't have a driver's license during the summer vacation, driving with one hand still made Shen Kang a little uneasy.

"I thought it was the gear shift."

He Qiuzhu said calmly, "Shen Kang, you don't know, when I was practicing driving, I used a Santana. The gear lever on that car was in this position, so I was used to it."

As he said this, he seemed to have forgotten that he had a hand, and forgot to take his hand off Shen Kang's leg.

Shen Kang thought to himself, "Is the gear shift in your Santana on the passenger side?" But he didn't call him out on it. He simply took He Qiuzhu's hand off his leg, grabbed it, and put it back on the steering wheel.

"Focus on driving."

"oh."

He Qiuzhu felt a little regretful, but at least she didn't immediately touch Shen Kang's leg again. She simply placed her hands on the steering wheel, looked ahead, and focused on driving.

We'll look for another opportunity.

Shen Kang, however, became interested in where He Qiuzhu practiced driving: "Which driving school did you learn to drive at? It seems like you never really disappeared from school all the time. It's like you just suddenly learned to drive? And you drive so well! Your driving school is something else. Which one is it?"

He Qiuzhu really couldn't remember the name of that driving school. "I don't remember, it was just a big driving school, but business wasn't very good, and there weren't many students."

"You've struck gold! This driving school has really good teaching quality."