novelinnhs Chapter 42 Group Driving Test
Chapter 42 Group Driving Test
The plastic stools had just been placed when Pei Yi'an and Tang Yanning arrived in a flurry of activity.
Tang Yanning jumped three feet high, her ponytail bouncing merrily behind her head: "I'm free! I don't have to struggle with math problems anymore!"
She stretched dramatically, and the hem of her short-sleeved shirt lifted up slightly with the movement, revealing a hint of her waistline.
Pei Yi'an, maintaining his usual composure, gently pulled out a chair and sat down: "Everyone did well on the exam, right?"
His gaze swept across the faces of the group, finally settling on Ye Fan—this guy was rhythmically tapping a beer bottle with his chopsticks, as if he were playing some kind of symphony.
With the college entrance exams over, the world seemed to quiet down. The smoke rising from the grill blurred the glow of the streetlights.
Lighting counted on his fingers: "Now we don't need to time ourselves when we go to the toilet, we don't need to wolf down our food, and we can even go to internet cafes without feeling guilty!"
As he spoke, he deliberately slumped in his chair in a "Ge You slouch," which made everyone laugh.
Indeed, once the tension was suddenly released, everyone became lethargic, as if their bones had been removed.
Only Ye Yijiu remained calm and composed—after all, for a reborn person, the college entrance examination was just a formality.
The folding table was soon piled high with skewers of grilled meat and dripping fruit beer.
Tang Yanning dipped the tip of her chopsticks in beer and scribbled on the table: "I checked the answers to the multiple-choice questions in the science section. I should have only gotten two wrong!" Her eyes shone like stars, and her dimples were full of laughter.
Pei Yi'an calmly analyzed: "Judging from the correct answers, there shouldn't be any problem for the two of us to get into Nanjing University."
As she spoke, she glanced at Ye Fan, who was gnawing on a chicken wing—this guy was too lazy to even participate in estimating the score, and was only concerned with sprinkling chili powder into a small mountain.
Ye Fan knew very well that Pei Yi'an and Tang Yanning's estimated scores were more than enough to get them into Nanjing University; in his previous life, their scores had already exceeded the university's admission cutoff.
"Mingzhe, you're a real dark horse this time!" Tang Yanning suddenly slammed his hand on the table, making the beer bottles clang.
Zhao Mingzhe scratched his head sheepishly, his ears turning bright red: "Thanks to Lao Ye's predictions..."
He glanced at Ye Fan, who was stacking toasted bread slices into a pyramid, looking completely unconcerned.
Indeed, who would have thought that this once bottom-of-the-class student would now be able to get into a 211 university? Ye Fan chuckled to himself, recalling the nights he stayed up to compile key points for Zhao Mingzhe, and the nights he deliberately tempted him with barbecue to keep him going during tutoring sessions.
A night breeze carrying the aroma of cumin swept across the table, and Pei Yi'an suddenly raised his beer bottle: "To the future."
Four glass bottles collided under the warm yellow light, the splashing foam much like their unrestrained youth at that moment.
The bamboo skewers for the grilling were piled up like a small mountain on the table.
The topic shifted from the recently concluded college entrance examination to the upcoming World Cup.
Tang Yanning excitedly gestured, "I heard the German team has an incredibly strong lineup this year!"
Ye Fan's heart skipped a beat when he heard this, because the German team had won the championship this year.
"Speaking of plans," Pei Yi'an took a sip of fruit beer, "don't forget your driving school practice tomorrow."
It turns out that a few days earlier, the banner at the driving school gate that read "Group of four gets a discount of 1000" had attracted their attention.
Now that the college entrance examination is over, it is undoubtedly the best time to take the driving test.
They chatted until after 11 p.m. before heading home.
Ye Fan and Zhao Mingzhe rode their electric bikes back.
Pei Yi'an and Tang Yanning took a taxi back.
The warm water washed away the smell of barbecue, and as Ye Fan collapsed onto the bed, his phone screen lit up in the darkness, the red markers for unread messages resembling a string of small lanterns.
The family group chat has 99+ messages, and my second great-uncle is still sending "You will definitely succeed in the college entrance exam" old-fashioned emojis.
The voice message from my sister, mixed with the sounds of lab equipment in the background, said: "You brat! Don't stay out too late after your exams!"
My finger slid down to Jian Jingli's chat box, and the last message was from two hours ago: "Don't eat anything after the exam!" It was accompanied by a screenshot of a news article about a student getting an upset stomach in a certain year.
Ye Fan sent a photo of the barbecue stall from Operation Disc, and immediately received three angry head-banging emojis.
Liu Ruyan's message was brief and restrained: "How did you perform?"
He could almost picture the awkward way the other person would lock their screen after sending the message.
I typed and deleted in the reply box, and finally just sent a dog making an OK sign emoji.
It was nearly midnight by the time I finished replying to all the messages.
The phone slipped from my fingers and hit my chest, but I was too lazy to pick it up and just fell asleep.
8 a.m. the next day.
Zhao Mingzhe was wearing a tracksuit and a straw hat. When Ye Fan came downstairs, rubbing his sleepy eyes, he found Zhao Mingzhe sitting calmly on his sofa, arranging tea sets with great flair.
"You came and didn't even call me?" Ye Fan scratched his messy hair.
Zhao Mingzhe didn't even look up, taking a sip of tea with feigned seriousness: "I'm just being considerate of the test takers."
Ye Fan raised an eyebrow and looked him over: "Oh, you've even bought a tracksuit?" He reached out and touched the fabric. "It's quick-drying too."
"Absolutely!" Zhao Mingzhe finally couldn't help but laugh. "Don't you have to warm up your muscles for the second part of the driving test?"
The two rode their electric bikes to the driving school, just as Pei Yi'an and Tang Yanning arrived.
The four of them entered the driving school together.
Those who wanted to learn the second part of the driving test gathered in the square. At nine o'clock, five instructors from the driving school arrived.
Ye Fan and his three companions were assigned to a coach named Gao Fei.
The dark-skinned veteran, with his camouflage sleeves rolled up, chewed gum and sized them up: "Oh, you're taking the college entrance exam?"
He casually tossed the car keys over, saying, "Today we're going to fight this steering wheel to the death."
The first activity was dizzying – turning the steering wheel in place.
Two and a half laps to the left, two and a half laps to the right, Tang Yanning got dizzy on the third round: "Wait! Where are my hands now?"
Her ponytail was all wobbled out, making her look like a bewildered hamster.
Zhao Mingzhe went even further, spinning himself so much he almost fell off the stool.
The scene was even more chaotic when reversing into a parking space. Although Pei Yi'an had a perfect score in theory, the markings in the rearview mirror seemed as complicated as advanced calculus formulas to him.
Ye Fan looked at the usually calm top student with sweat dripping down his forehead and couldn't help but chuckle so hard his shoulders were shaking.
"Make sure you get the three points in a straight line!" Coach Gao shouted, slamming his fist on the car door.
One female student turned the steering wheel too sharply and almost smashed her rearview mirror into the back of the car next to her. Even more absurdly, while practicing hill starts, one guy stalled his car five times in a row, with suspicious white smoke billowing from the hood.
The most thrilling part is the S-curve training.
In a moment of excitement, Zhao Mingzhe mistook the accelerator for the brake, and the training car shot off like a wild horse.
Coach Gao reacted quickly and slammed on the auxiliary brake, causing the entire car to lurch forward—Tang Yanning's bangs were even flung into a middle part.
Coach Gao wiped away a bead of cold sweat: "Good grief, are you guys trying to get me trending on social media?"
"I'm fucking useless!" Coach Gao Fei took a deep drag on his cigarette, staring at the crooked training cars in the square, veins throbbing on his forehead.
The level of these trainees is simply appalling; his performance bonus is likely to go down the drain.
The only thing that comforted him was that there was actually a seasoned veteran among this group of newbies.
Ye Fan steered the car with one hand, and the car slid smoothly into the garage, the tires perfectly aligned with the edge line.
When reversing, you don't even need to look in the rearview mirror; you can get into position perfectly in one go just by feeling—this level of skill must come from someone who has wrecked at least two or three cars.
Having been a seasoned driver in his past life, Ye Fan had blackened the exhaust pipes of several cars, so now he was naturally very familiar with the steering wheel. Seeing how skilled Ye Fan was, the instructor didn't bother to interfere.