Chapter 46: Taking the Driving Test

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Zhou Ziyang found that the freshman group chat of the prestigious university wasn’t much different from the ones he had been in before, except it felt a bit more upscale. Someone had just asked if they could use euros, and immediately someone else replied, “I’m not sure either. I just came back from Australia. I’ll exchange some currency first, just in case the school doesn’t accept it.” Another asked, “Can we wear suits at school?” Zhou Ziyang first joined the large group with over 1,500 members, then a smaller group for the School of Architecture with around 200 people. Although there were many names, only a few were actually chatting.

Some inquired about wearing suits. Others asked if Apple phones were allowed on campus. One guy even sent a voice message, his voice hoarse and rough, as if he had phlegm stuck in his throat: “Uh, is there parking at school? Can we drive there?” Then a girl, with a slightly affected tone to sound cute, asked, “Um, may I ask if it’s okay to keep cats on campus? My kitty is super adorable!” She followed up by sharing several pictures of her cat, which was lounging on her thigh—slender and fair.

Immediately, a flood of messages from boys filled the chat: “Nice legs (heart emoji),” “Goddess (heart emoji).” The cat photos also ‘accidentally’ included a highly edited photo of herself. “(Shy face),” she typed. “Oh no! Sent the wrong photo! Retract, retract!” “Ah, I accidentally deleted it! I’m so dumb, I’m crying!” “So cute! Do you have a boyfriend? (grinning face).” Zhou Ziyang scrolled through the chat for a while but found no useful information and closed it.

On the other hand, Li Dongfeng’s recruitment was going smoothly. After the final year of high school, most students wanted to earn extra money during the holiday to prepare for university. The wages Zhou Ziyang offered were indeed generous. Plus, his recruitment was mainly through word of mouth among classmates and friends, which made it more trustworthy than outside labor agencies. Before long, Zhou Ziyang had recruited a thousand workers.

When the news reached Li Jianhong, he was naturally overjoyed and even rewarded Zhou Ziyang with an extra fifty thousand yuan. However, the factory in Sucheng couldn’t accommodate all one thousand temporary workers, so they had to be transferred by bus to the Jinling and Kunshan areas.

Zhou Ziyang asked Li Dongfeng to conduct a survey. Li Dongfeng, a rough character who had finished high school but didn’t understand such tasks, felt sleepy just looking at the numbers and text. Fortunately, his sister Li Caiyu noticed her brother struggling and asked what he was doing.

“Ah, don’t mention it. Sis, Zhou asked me to help with fighting and catching people—I’m good at that—but instead, he wants me to do this statistics work, filtering out students heading to Jinling for school so they can work at the factory there. Looking at all these names, my eyelids are fighting to stay open.”

Li Caiyu said, “Didn’t Zhou say not to give you heavy work?” “He values you and wants to train you. Many would beg for this opportunity.” “How come you don’t appreciate it?”

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“Mainly because I really can’t do it!” Li Dongfeng complained.

Li Caiyu took his small notebook, reviewed it, then seeing her brother’s pained expression, sighed and said, “Forget it, you go rest. I’ll finish it for you.”

“Hehe, I knew my sister was the best!” Strangely, Li Dongfeng could work seven or eight hours at the factory without complaint, but just writing a few words made him reluctant. Yawning repeatedly, he said, “Sis, you handle it first, I’m going to sleep.”

“Don’t play too many games!” Li Caiyu reminded him, fully aware of his habits.

Although Li Caiyu never even obtained her high school diploma, she had always been a good student, with neat, elegant handwriting—much better than Li Dongfeng’s messy scrawl. Her writing matched her appearance: simple but clean and beautiful, with tidy, delicate characters and a spotless page.

It was still before July, but the sun scorched every inch of land mercilessly.

Zhou Ziyang had signed up for the driving license exam.

In 2015, high school graduates were destined to be exploited by capital: the driving test had become standardized, costing four to five thousand yuan. A few years later, the fee dropped to two thousand after reforms.

What made it worse was that those graduating in 2015 would reach marriage and home-buying age by 2019.

Zhou Ziyang’s driving skills in his previous life were good, and after rebirth, his perception was even sharper. He felt passing the test should be easy.

And indeed, the first few items were passed with ease.

Then came the parallel parking.

“Result: fail.”

Damn! Getting a license wasn’t about driving skill at all—it was all about luck.

Zhou Ziyang was enrolled in a summer class with boys and girls of similar age. Two of them were his juniors who followed him around, calling him “bro” every day, buying water, bringing food.

Zhou Ziyang never asked for their help; in fact, he told them it wasn’t necessary to be so polite. Yet they were very conscientious.

The huge driving school grounds had only one or two shady spots, almost entirely monopolized by women.

Every time Zhou Ziyang finished driving practice, these two eager and clueless boys would rush ahead to save seats for him, acting like sycophants.

For example, after practice, one would immediately offer the shady seat: “Bro, you sit.”

“You don’t have to be so polite.”

“Bro, just sit. No need to be polite with us.” Zhou Ziyang tried to refuse, but the guy gently pushed him down.

The other tall and slim boy had already opened a chilled cola and handed it to Zhou Ziyang: “Bro, have some water.”

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The chubbier one then took out a fan to cool Zhou Ziyang.

Zhou Ziyang felt truly uneasy, repeatedly insisting it wasn’t necessary—that their work was good enough.

Especially since a group of people was watching nearby.

The girls were all tightly covered, wearing hats and sun-protective clothing.

Privately, they gossiped about Zhou Ziyang’s identity, wondering why so many were trying to curry favor with him.

It was one thing for two classmates to do so.

Occasionally, other boys at the driving school also greeted Zhou Ziyang politely.

“Do you think Zhou Ziyang’s family is involved in some shady business?”

“Don’t say that... but it’s possible.”

Xia Wei, who was taking the driving test with Zhou Ziyang, thought such talk was nonsense but was puzzled why so many competed to please him.

That day, under the blazing sun, Li Caiyu, dressed plainly, came to the driving school to find Zhou Ziyang and handed him the statistical form she had prepared.

To Zhou Ziyang’s surprise, it was handwritten, and the handwriting was beautiful. He asked, “Why did you do it? Where’s Dongfeng?”

“He can’t do this kind of thing,” Li Caiyu replied.

Zhou Ziyang glanced at her and noticed she was more cautious in her tone than before, no longer treating him as simply a junior.

Worried Zhou Ziyang might blame Li Dongfeng, she explained, “It’s not that he can’t do it; his handwriting is just bad. I was afraid you wouldn’t understand.”

“So I helped him redo it.”

Zhou Ziyang smiled knowingly. “Caiyu, spoiling him too much isn’t good. He’s probably just playing video games at home every day, right?”

Caught in the lie, Li Caiyu pursed her lips, clearly embarrassed.

Zhou Ziyang briefly reviewed the list and found no issues. Although Li Caiyu lacked formal education, she was meticulous and had marked special cases with different colored pens.

He put away the list and asked about Li Dongfeng.

Li Caiyu wanted to say something nice, that Li Dongfeng didn’t play games all day and occasionally helped with recruiting.

Zhou Ziyang teased, “Sis, you’re not honest anymore, helping Dongfeng lie to me, huh?”

The twenty-four-year-old Li Caiyu blushed deeply and quickly denied it.

Zhou Ziyang said, “Enough. Don’t let him stay home all day—that’ll ruin him. Have him come learn to drive with me. I’ll pay for the exam.”

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