Lesson 0034: Driving with the Giant Noble

“I’m Xiaolin. You can call me Brother Lin.”
“Brother Lin.”
“First, fill out a form, then when I’ve arranged everything, you’ll start your lessons. How much you master is up to you.”
“So, Brother Lin, what exactly am I supposed to learn?”
“What kind of question is that? This is a driving school, of course you’ll learn to drive.” Xiaolin cut him off, and the look he gave him made Hou Rui feel that his question was utterly foolish. But Hou Rui really didn’t know how to drive yet, so taking this chance to learn certainly wouldn’t do any harm.
“Got it. I’ll fill out the form first.”
“The form is on the table in the back.”
“By the way, Brother Lin, how much does this cost?”
“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”
“How much?” Hou Rui, who was just about to stand up, dropped right back onto the couch, so shocked that his voice trembled. That number was at least hundreds of times higher than what he had expected.
“Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.” Watching Hou Rui’s eyes widen, Xiaolin finally felt he’d gotten a little payback—no, it was more like a little affectionate mischief.
“All the schools out there charge six thousand yuan, and you’re asking me for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars?” Outraged, Hou Rui could feel his blood pressure shoot up. He’d seen rip-offs before, but never anything like this. Was this even a fee? This was daylight robbery!
“You really haven’t seen the world. Can Pengcheng Driving School even be compared to those trashy places?” Xiaolin looked every bit the worldly sage, lighting a cigarette and continuing, “Here, you don’t just learn to drive a car. You’ll learn to drive tanks, even pilot armed helicopters!”
So Hou Rui submitted without a fight and obediently handed over the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

Ever since Hou Rui and Jin Shanshan reunited, the two would occasionally meet up in the capital, enjoying good food, catching movies, and, when the mood struck, visiting the city’s famous tourist attractions together.
Once Wang Si and Chen Xiangyu caught wind of their outings, Hou Rui and Jin Shanshan often found themselves tailed by the two. Eventually, fed up with their meddling, Hou Rui called Li Lei and Ma Siyuan along as revenge. From then on, Wang Si and Chen Xiangyu’s days of freeloading came to an end, as they found themselves harassed in all sorts of new ways by Li Lei and Ma Siyuan, those two rascals.

Meanwhile, after enrolling in Pengcheng Driving School, Hou Rui’s study sessions originally scheduled with Xiao Zhao—on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays—were now spent at the driving school, learning alongside a bustling crowd of men and women.

Hou Rui’s aptitude was impressive; among this cohort of learners, he was one of the best. In just half a month, he’d mastered the basics of car handling. But when the others began taking their exams, Xiaolin suddenly announced that Hou Rui’s performance was unsatisfactory, found some flimsy excuse, and held him back, starting him on a special curriculum.

Left-hand drive for domestic cars, right-hand drive for foreign ones, manual, automatic, four-wheel drive, two-wheel drive, the latest computer-controlled vehicles, and even rare purely mechanical antiques—at Pengcheng Driving School, Xiaolin always managed to dig up new “toys” for Hou Rui from his pile of junkers.

After spending an entire vacation transforming from a complete novice into a competent instructor-level driver, Hou Rui found that Xiaolin had cooked up something new.

One day, just as Hou Rui climbed down from the cab of a fifty-ton truck, Xiaolin, his arm around a sultry woman, suddenly strolled out of the office building. “Hou Rui, wait a second.”

“Brother Lin, what’s up?”
“Nothing much. Just come with me somewhere in a bit.”

That “bit” stretched into over two hours before Xiaolin, finally seeing off his companion, grabbed a battered old Jetta and drove Hou Rui out of Pengcheng Driving School.

After more than an hour on the road, the shabby Jetta rolled into a leafy park. Once parked, Xiaolin led Hou Rui toward a crowd gathered at the park’s center.

“This is the gathering place for the capital’s four-wheel-drive enthusiasts. Every day, countless hobbyists come here to practice or compete. From now on, you’ll join them,” Xiaolin drawled, jerking his chin at the crowd that would erupt in cheers from time to time.

Hou Rui looked to the heart of the crowd, where a sandy arena about 560 meters square had been transformed into a complex network of roads—straights, climbs, sharp turns, chicanes, and more, simulating virtually every conceivable road condition. Around fifty-six four-wheel-drive vehicles were racing, and outside the track, a handful of young people gripped remote controls, their faces tense and focused.

“Brother Lin, are you seriously asking me to play with these?” Listening to the buzz of the motors and watching the dust clouds rise from the track, Hou Rui felt bewildered.

“Play? Do you think anything in this world is that simple? If I said yes, after you’ve spent two hundred and fifty grand, would you be out for my blood?” Xiaolin shot him a look of disdain.

“In this country—especially near the capital—you can’t find such a comprehensive variety of road types. You may learn to drive a car, but if you never get to practice on complex roads, what’s the point? Don’t underestimate this course. Whether you’re using a remote or a steering wheel, the handling—turning, accelerating, overtaking—is all the same. Plus, there’s a huge advantage to practicing here.”

“What advantage? Is it some secret?”
“Idiot—it’s that if you crash, you don’t die.” With a final eye roll, Xiaolin sauntered off, cigarette dangling from his lips, to chat up some girls in the crowd.

And so, Hou Rui became one of the four-wheel-drive enthusiasts, buying the full kit and starting his practice and competitions on the track.

Time flew by. For most of the second semester of his freshman year, Hou Rui spent nearly all his time in the park. Gradually, he went from awkward novice to seasoned competitor, eventually breaking into the top two hundred. Just as he was ready to charge into the top one hundred and become an elite player, Xiaolin changed tactics once again.

This time, Xiaolin took Hou Rui to a neighboring province, where, hidden in a barren mountain hollow, lay an enormous aircraft graveyard.

From the car, Hou Rui saw nothing but dismantled planes, large and small: fuselages, cockpits, and wings arranged in long lines. There was no doubt—this was a place for learning to fly.

Sure enough, Xiaolin handed Hou Rui over to a taciturn old man named Uncle Lin, who didn’t even spare him a glance. Without a word, Uncle Lin led him to the center of the graveyard, into a two-story building, and then shoved him into a hidden basement.

“The instructional courses are all pre-recorded. Just press play for basic operations. Remember, don’t call me for anything, whether you need help or not. Leave by ten at night, or I’m locking the door.” With that, Uncle Lin left without looking up. Still adjusting, Hou Rui turned to Xiaolin, “I have to learn everything by myself? Is that even possible?”

“Of course it is. The training videos were recorded by pilots and instructors with over ten thousand hours of flight time. Watch them enough times, even a dog could learn. I have faith in you.”

With nothing left to say, Hou Rui decided to give it a try. “But what about actual flight practice? Don’t tell me I’ll be playing with model planes again?”

“Obviously not. Flying a plane is much more complicated, and the diverse weather conditions in the sky are nothing like what you experience with a toy. This time, you’ll use this.” Xiaolin tossed him a helmet. “Thank technology for this—otherwise, I’d have to send you abroad to practice, which would be a lot more trouble and money. This way, it's easier and saves you a fortune.”

And so, for the next several weeks, Hou Rui went to the aircraft graveyard three times a week, spending half a day each time. He worked his way up from single-engine planes to transports, jumbo jets, helicopters, armed choppers, and finally fighter jets, slowly becoming the pilot so many people only dream of being.

But once he started practicing aerial combat in the system, Hou Rui realized that learning techniques and truly flying were worlds apart.

Without solid foundational training, and relying only on rote memorization, Hou Rui’s crash rate was an astounding one hundred percent—every flight ended in disaster, leaving him deeply frustrated. But his stubborn, unyielding nature kicked in: the more he crashed, the more determined he became, sometimes even getting locked in the basement by Uncle Lin for staying too late.

Meanwhile, life at the Capital University of Media was lively and cheerful. Li Lei and Ma Siyuan’s antics with Chen Xiangyu and Wang Si had reached new heights; not long ago, the two of them sang a love duet outside the gates of the Police University, only to be immediately detained by campus security—after all, the Police University was no ordinary school. Not until the class advisor and the department head personally showed up were they finally released.

After that episode, Ma Siyuan and Li Lei toned things down a bit. But one day, just after class, as Hou Rui was about to head to his job at the shooting range, Li Lei furtively grabbed him.

“Monkey, there’s something good and it’s your lucky day.”

“What are you up to now? I’m off to work.”

“Come on, brother, you have to help me—no, help us this time.” Li Lei managed a pitiful expression, and Ma Siyuan quickly joined in, each latching onto one of Hou Rui’s arms...