Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 230 Xiaowei Learns to Drive (Recommendation Tickets +)

Then Master Gong started assigning tasks: two people to work on the cabinets, using boards and nailing them together, and two people to stretch the decorative fabric covering the walls. This was a bit troublesome, and the room had to be thoroughly cleaned. Fortunately, the previous rooms had already been cleaned, so there wasn't much dust. It was a clean winter in Northeast China.

The cabinet was a slow process; the shelves inside needed to be screwed on, and these days there are no power tools, so it had to be tightened by hand. Xiao Wei said, "Why don't we just use nails? This is too much trouble."

Master Gong shook his head and said, "If you nail a cabinet directly to it, it will loosen after a long time. If it becomes wobbly in the future, it will be too expensive to repair, and that will be even more troublesome."

Xiao Wei didn't say anything. He and Liu Hongliang went for a walk around the old building area. The machine was coming soon, so they roughly allocated the space to avoid making mistakes in the chaos when it arrived.

It was Liu Hongliang's first time here. He looked around and asked, "What are you doing here? This place is so big. Just the heating alone must cost money."

Xiao Wei said, "The food factory's machines will arrive this week. From now on, you and Sister Shang will mainly be working here. You can drive around a bit for now, and once the other cars arrive in a few days, you can focus on handling reception and other matters. We'll talk about the rest after the New Year. By the way, do you have photos? I asked Lao Xia to help you get your driver's license, but you'll have to pay for it yourself. Do you have one?"

Liu Hongliang said, "I don't have to pay for it myself. I just submit an application to my workplace. My dad used to be worried that I wasn't reliable enough to do it, but actually, both my dad and my uncle can handle it."

Xiao Wei said, "Okay, then I won't worry about it. You just need to get your driver's license back as soon as possible. If your uncle asks, just say I told you. The car will be ready in a few days, and we need to go to Fengtian to drive it back."

Liu Hongliang asked, "What kind of vehicles? How many?"

Xiao Wei thought for a moment and said, "I don't really know much about cars. I think they're called something like Kosica and Omega? I think that's the brand. There's also an Audi 100. Anyway, they're all foreign cars. They're all sedans. The big one is this Hiace. You'll mainly be driving this one from now on."

Liu Hongliang said, "I've seen the Audi 100, but what are the Kosica and Omega? I've never even heard of them."

Xiao Wei said, "I've only heard of the name but never seen the car. I only know the Santana and Jetta, but Xiao Hui knows them. Anyway, he said it's good, so let's use it. He said it's quite expensive, a new one would cost four or five hundred thousand."

Liu Hongliang's eyes lit up, and he said, "The car's here, can I drive it?"

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "Okay, go ahead and drive. But have you ever driven any of those cars with continuously variable transmissions?"

Liu Hongliang pouted: "I've heard of it, but I've never driven it."

Xiao Wei laughed and said, "You're better than me. I have a license, but I've never driven a car before. Even if you brought me a car now, I wouldn't be able to drive it."

Liu Hongliang said, "What's the big deal? We have a car here. Come on, I'll find a place for you to drive around a few times. Driving is the easiest thing to do, let me tell you. Just be bold, and you'll get the hang of it after a few laps. It's just that you need to practice reversing."

Xiao Wei looked around, seemingly relieved that he was alright, and nodded, saying, "Okay, you can find the place? Xiao Hui said the place is too small." The two walked towards the garage.

Liu Hongliang said, "Outside the city, it's all vegetable fields. With the heavy snow covering everything, you can't just drive around like that. You can even drive through the river without any problem." That makes sense. The river is frozen over now, so driving around is definitely no problem.

Xiao Kai went to open the door, Liu Hongliang backed the car out and left the hospital, and Xiao Wei closed the iron gate and got into the car.

Liu Hongliang honked the horn and drove onto the road, speeding happily towards the outskirts of the city.

Although there are mountains in Longcheng, the entire area south of the city along the river is flat, so the snow is not thick. It's a bit difficult for people to walk, but it's easy to drive.

"Press the clutch with your left foot, yes, that one, press it all the way down, and don't release the brake with your right foot. Start the engine, just turn the key, and release it when you hear a sound."

"Yes, it's started now. Now listen to me, put it in gear, just push it up gently, keep both feet on the brakes and don't move. Okay, now release the handbrake, slowly release it all the way, keep both feet on the brakes and don't move."

"Okay, now that the engine is running, the gear is in, and the handbrake is off, we can go. Listen to me, we have to go slowly. Release the brake, and step on the accelerator with your right foot. This time, don't press too hard. Listen to the sound as you press, hey hey, that's about the right sound. Now, keep pressing the accelerator, and slowly lift your left foot off the gas pedal. Be sure to go slowly. Keep your hands firmly on the steering wheel, and once you lift your left foot off the gas pedal, the car will move."

The car jerked and stalled. Liu Hongliang said, "It's nothing, it's nothing. I released the clutch too quickly and didn't press the accelerator enough. What were you doing when you released the accelerator?"

Xiao Wei said, "I thought the noise was too loud. Besides, you said the car would start moving as soon as you released the clutch. I was just afraid it would suddenly lurch forward."

Liu Hongliang said, "Normal driving involves starting the engine, shifting gears, pressing the accelerator, releasing the clutch, and simultaneously releasing the handbrake. But since you're new to driving, this process is a bit more complicated. Don't worry about anything else; just focus on making the car move forward normally. Once you've driven around once and gotten used to it, you'll understand. If it lurches forward, so be it. Where can it go in such a large open space?"

Here we go again, the car puffing out white smoke, lurching forward briefly before going out again.

Xiao Wei, sweat beading on his forehead and barely able to contain his tension, licked his lips and said, "Maybe we should just leave it at that and practice again sometime. I feel a bit dazed."

Liu Hongliang said, "Before you've ever driven a car, you'll be completely lost when you first sit behind the wheel. But once you successfully drive one lap, you'll get much better, and after ten laps, you won't be lost anymore. Trust me. Someone as capable as you is no match for this little thing!"

Xiao Wei took a breath, licked his lips, gripped the steering wheel, started the engine, shifted gears, released the handbrake, pressed the accelerator, and released the clutch. The car shuddered, but didn't stall, and started moving forward. When the clutch was fully released, the car didn't lurch forward, but the engine roared, and the car surged forward. Xiao Wei hadn't straightened the steering wheel, and the car started to turn as soon as it moved forward.

Liu Hongliang shouted, "Don't panic, gradually reduce the accelerator and straighten the steering wheel."

Xiao Wei pulled his foot back, the car jolted violently, and then stalled.

Liu Hongliang said, "Loosening the accelerator doesn't mean releasing it completely. If you release it completely, how can the car move?"

Xiao Wei asked, "What do you do when you're braking? Don't you have to let go completely?"

Liu Hongliang said, "When you step on the brake, you have to step on the clutch at the same time, understand? That way the engine won't stall. Once the car stops, it's like starting over, starting all over again."

……

"Yes, yes, just keep driving forward. You can drive wherever you want and turn wherever you want. See that bulge in the snow ahead? Just don't drive over it, there's a pit underneath." In flat areas, the snow surface naturally forms higher than on flat ground where there is a pit.

"Come on, boss, let's start over. This time, let's do it the proper way. You need to release the clutch and handbrake at the same time. You're on snow and flat ground right now, so the car won't roll. But if it were summer or there were a small hill, the way you did it would have made the car roll and you might have crashed somewhere. So you have to master this technique. Once you've mastered it, I'll teach you how to start on a hill."

How do you start on an uphill slope?

"You have to press the accelerator and release the clutch, and at the same time release the clutch, put the handbrake all the way down to make the car move forward. Ugh, it's hard to describe the feeling. Anyway, if you don't coordinate well, the car will either roll backward or stall. Think about it, on the road, you're always following other cars. If you roll backward, you're bound to crash."

(End of this chapter)