Why race if you don’t have money?

Chapter 1: The Mercedes-Benz That Can't Be Caught
"My door is always open, and I am waiting for you with open arms."

"Once you hug, you'll have a tacit understanding. You'll fall in love with this place."

……

In a simple auto repair shop in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, a radio in the corner was playing the song "Beijing Welcomes You". A Volkswagen Jetta was parked in the ditch on the right. Chen Xiangbei was standing inside, changing the oil and performing maintenance on the car.

A plump, pale boy named Wang Yidong was squatting by the ditch, his face flushed and his ears reddened as he said in an indignant tone, "Xiangbei, I want to win that Mercedes-AMG that Sha Minghui has!"

"What do you have to win? Your dad's Corolla?"

Chen Xiangbei's tone was very calm, and his hands were slowly twisting the oil filter.

"Fujiwara Takumi's AE86 can beat GTR, why can't Corolla beat AMG!"

Listening to Fatty Wang's stubborn words, Chen Xiangbei replied somewhat helplessly: "The AE86 can beat the GTR because Fujiwara Takumi's father has the money and skills to modify the car. What does your Corolla have?"

"There are only cowards, not cowardly cars. 7200 rpm and he's done!"

Fatty Wang replied with a solemn oath.

"You're full of jingles. Are you planning to take the postgraduate entrance exam?"

Chen Xiangbei replied angrily, then wiped the oil off his hands with a rag beside him. He stared at Fatty Wang and warned him, "Watch less Initial D in the future. Racing isn't as easy as you think. I'm afraid you'll die if you really try."

"So, is that the case with Sha Minghui stealing my girlfriend?"

Fatty Wang opened his eyes wide with an incredible expression.

"No, when did Xu Yali become your girlfriend? It's obviously you who's been the one to be her lapdog."

"But I confessed to her on QQ and she didn't say anything."

QQ confession...

When Chen Xiangbei heard these words from Fatty Wang, he was speechless for a moment.

He couldn't remember how many years it had been since he last heard this kind of word that carries a historical flavor. He didn't expect to encounter the "Renaissance" after his rebirth.

Chen Xiangbei was no ordinary high school student; he was a Chinese racing prodigy who had once reached the threshold of the F1 race. However, in this world's premier racing arena, where talent is merely a ticket to the top, his grades and qualifications were mediocre, and he fell short due to issues with his household registration (nationality) and sponsorship fees.

The huge psychological gap made Chen Xiangbei eager to prove his strength, and eventually he came to this world after a racing accident.

After a brief recollection, Chen Xiangbei shook his head and explained based on his life experience.

"Fatty Wang, remember this: as long as a woman doesn't clearly express her acceptance, she's rejecting you!"

"Then Xu Yali later said that I was a good person and suitable, but she just wanted to study hard to get into a good university. What do you say about that?"

"She lied to you."

Chen Xiang Beiji replied bluntly, and only a bootlicker like Fatty Wang would believe this.

The truth is often more hurtful than lies. After hearing this, Fatty Wang stood there as if he had lost his soul.

After a long while, he said in a wronged tone, "Sure enough, that line is right. The more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to lie."

"Even if I lied to you about my ugly appearance, you wouldn't believe it."

Chen Xiangbei replied casually.

"Damn it, you'll die if you don't say a few words!"

Faced with Chen Xiangbei's continuous attacks of truth, Fatty Wang finally succeeded in breaking through his defense.

Seeing this, Chen Xiangbei shrugged his shoulders and said no more. He glanced at the Jetta and saw that the old oil was almost drained, so he walked out of the ditch and got a bucket of new oil to replace it.

Just as Chen Xiangbei was pouring oil into the engine, Fatty Wang came over and said in a firm tone, "Xiangbei, I've decided to run this race to prove that even if Sha Minghui drives an AMG, he's still a failure!"

"and then?"

"Then it proves that Xu Yali chose the wrong person!"

Chen Xiangbei shook his head helplessly at Fatty Wang's love-struck brain attack, then put down his work and replied seriously, "You still don't understand that this has nothing to do with driving skills. No matter how fast the AE86 is, it can't catch up to the Mercedes-Benz that Xia Shu is driving."

At this moment, the song "Beijing Welcomes You" on the radio ended and the radio host switched to another song.

"I'm heading north, leaving the season with you."

"You said you were so tired that you couldn't fall in love with anyone anymore."

"The wind blows down the mountain road, and all the past scenes are wrong with me."

……

Listening to the lyrics of "All the Way North" that express emotions through scenery, Fatty Wang looked very depressed. Perhaps this was the pain of youth.

"But I've already agreed to a run tonight. You know what kind of character that bastard Sha Minghui is. At least I have to maintain my dignity in front of Xu Yali!"

"I know what it's for, but it's not what I promised."

Chen Xiangbei replaced the engine oil and tightened the engine cover, then went down to the ditch and used a flashlight to check the brake chassis of the old Jetta to ensure that no safety hazards were missed.

"What should I do? I can't outrun the AMG that's shining brightly."

Seeing Chen Xiangbei's indifferent look, Fatty Wang got really anxious.

Putting aside the driving skills, the other party's car is a genuine new Mercedes-Benz SLK55 AMG, equipped with a 5.4L V8 naturally aspirated engine, with a horsepower of 360P. How can a Corolla, a grocery shopping car, run like that?

"You know you can't outrun me, but you still try to be brave. You deserve to be ridden in the face by Sun Minghui."

"I can't outrun you, but you can!"

Hearing Wang Pangzi's words, Chen Xiangbei stopped what he was doing, looked at him and asked, "Why can I?"

"Uncle Liang said that. He said your driving skills are very good."

The Uncle Liang that Wang Yidong mentioned is Liang Chi, the owner of this auto repair shop, where Chen Xiangbei currently works part-time.

"That dishonest old Uncle Liang never tells the truth, and you believe everything he says."

Just as Chen Xiangbei finished speaking, he heard a voice coming from the door: "How disrespectful! I think you don't want your wages anymore."

A middle-aged man in his early forties, wearing a vest and slippers, entered the store, walked straight to the recliner and lay down lazily, then looked at Chen Xiangbei in the ditch with a playful look.

"No way, you're cheating on child labor. Believe it or not, I'll report you."

"You're already eighteen, so stop pretending to be a child laborer. If you want your wages, just admit it."

"Admit what?"

Seeing that Chen Xiangbei still refused to give in, Liang Chi smiled meaningfully. He slowly pulled a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. After exhaling a puff of smoke, he said, "Last month, Lao Ding overturned on the top of Nanyun Mountain. He called the repair shop and said that the pipeline was broken and there was an oil leak. He asked us to rush over to repair it."

"I wasn't there at the time, so you answered the phone and then drove over in the old Santana in the store, right?"

In response to Liang Chi's question, Chen Xiangbei opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately nothing came out.

Liang Chi didn't pay attention to Chen Xiangbei's reaction. He crossed his legs and continued to smoke. "The Nanyun Mountain Road is 8.3 kilometers long. You were back in less than half an hour, including repairing the car and replacing the pipeline."

"Afterwards, I called Lao Ding and asked him about it. He said it took about ten minutes to repair the bike. Excluding the time it took to get ready for the trip, it would take you about five minutes on average to run across Nanyun Mountain, including the uphill section."

"You're driving over 100 miles per hour on a mountain road. Tell me yourself, are you driving the Santana from our store, or the Ferrari?"

No one knows the performance of the 04 Santana in the store better than Liang Chi. It has a displacement of 1.8L and 95P horsepower. Even if you step on the accelerator, the engine will just roar but not move.

Chen Xiangbei drove such a shabby car and finished the race at Nanyun Mountain in five minutes. Even if a professional driver came here, it would not be as good as that!

Listening to Liang Chi's story, Fatty Wang, who was standing aside, was stunned and looked at Chen Xiangbei with disbelief.

"Fuck, I heard that Qin Lianjie, the leader of the Light Spot Racing Team, drove a Civic Type-R to Nanyun Mountain, and the fastest record was five minutes and a few seconds. But when he drove a Santana to the north, it only took him an average of five minutes?" To be honest, Fatty Wang felt that what Liang Chi said was a bit too exaggerated, and it made people feel that he was just bragging.

"Do not believe?"

Liang Chi asked Fatty Wang.

“A little bit…”

Fatty Wang expressed his views in the most tactful way possible.

"If you don't believe me, just let Xiangbei go to Nanyun Mountain for a run tonight. He can also help you vent your anger."

"good idea!"

When Wang Yidong heard that Chen Xiangbei could help him vent his anger, he immediately agreed.

Chen Xiangbei smiled helplessly at the two people's echoing words and said, "No, you should at least ask for my opinion."

"Besides, Uncle Liang, just based on a phone call that gave me a rough estimate of the time, you think it only takes me five minutes to run up Nanyun Mountain?"

Facing Chen Xiangbei's question, Liang Chi extinguished the cigarette in his hand, pointed at his own eyes and said, "I won't make a mistake."

"So confident?"

"As long as you beat the odds, you'll get double pay for your part-time job this week."

"make a deal."

Hearing Chen Xiangbei's straightforward agreement, Fatty Wang's eyes widened as he said, "You're obsessed with money. We've been brothers for so many years, and I've tried to persuade you with all my heart and reason, but it's all in vain. And you're already giving in for a week's part-time salary?"

"Okay then, I won't run away."

"Stop it, Brother Bei. I'm the one who said too much."

Fatty Wang fully demonstrated what it means to be flexible and immediately lowered his head and admitted defeat.

Chen Xiangbei ignored Fatty Wang and instead looked at Liang Chi and said, "Uncle Liang, I agreed to go for a race, so you have to prepare a car for me, right? Are you really going to drive the Santana from the store over there?"

"Why, if you don't like Santana, then drive Wang Yidong's Corolla."

"Uncle Liang, you're not kidding, are you?"

"I have to help you prepare the trolley when you run to a classmate. I think you are kidding me."

Liang Chi sneered at Chen Xiangbei with disdain, then stood up and walked towards the bath center across the street. He heard that there was a new girl, No. 38, who could give massages, and he had been itching to do so for a long time.

"Fuck, what an old pervert!"

Chen Xiangbei couldn't help but give Liang Chi a middle finger from behind.

"Xiangbei, what do you mean, which car should I drive?"

"Carola."

"why?"

Fatty Wang asked back with some confusion, didn’t the guy in front ask why Corolla beat AMG?

"The AE86 is just a rear-wheel drive Corolla. Although Xu Yali is not worthy of being your lickspittle, people still fight for their dignity."

"As long as the Corolla drives fast enough, the Mercedes-Benz won't be able to see its taillights!"

After hearing what Chen Xiangbei said, Wang Yidonggang suddenly felt much more relieved. This is what a good brother is.

"When are we going there?"

"Uncle Liang probably won't be back for a while. There are two cars waiting for maintenance in the shop. You can drive the Corolla directly to Nanyun Mountain and wait for me."

"Okay, I'll wait for you at Nanyun Mountain at 10 o'clock tonight!"

After Wang Yidonggang agreed on the time, he ran towards home in a hurry. He had to make sure that his father would not drive the car out at night.

……

Time passed by minute by minute. When Chen Xiangbei lowered the hood of the last car, he looked up at the wall clock and saw that the hands pointed to half past nine.

After packing up the tools in the store and washing the remaining oil on his hands, Chen Xiangbei prepared to close the store and go to Nanyun Mountain to meet up with Fatty Wang.

However, when he passed by Liang Chi's room, he saw the Formula One racing car model on the desk through the windowsill again. He subconsciously stopped and just looked at it quietly.

"Boy, you recognize this car model, right?"

Liang Chi's voice suddenly came, and he didn't know when he had been standing behind Chen Xiangbei.

"Uncle Liang, scaring people can be fatal. Can you please stop being so elusive?"

"Tsk, you're so timid, why are you still driving a racing car?"

Liang Chi gave Chen Xiangbei a thumbs-up gesture without hesitation, then rested his arm on the windowsill and said meaningfully, "Actually, I know you chose to work part-time in this store because you saw this car."

"Uncle Liang, this CFR2000 Formula is still in the test run phase, and you actually already have a design model?"

Now that the matter was brought up, Chen Xiangbei also asked the doubts in his mind.

That’s right, he did see this CFR2000 model and chose to work part-time at Liang Chi’s auto repair shop.

Because this car once competed with Geely AGF racing car for the title of China's first Formula One racing car.

However, with the bankruptcy of its manufacturer Huasai Sports, the CFR2000's debut at the Donghai F08 International Circuit in 1 also became its last appearance, and it has completely disappeared in the long river of history.

Since the CFR2000 has only been officially unveiled once besides internal test runs, very few people even know about this formula racing car, let alone get a design model in advance.

From the first moment he saw the car model, Chen Xiangbei knew that Liang Chi was no ordinary person.

"Is it normal for me to have some connections at my age? But how did you recognize him at such a young age?"

"Uncle Liang, times have changed. The internet is very developed now. You can find any racing information you want online."

Hearing this, Liang Chi smiled and said, "Racing information can be found online, but it's impossible to learn driving skills online, right?"

"It really can't."

Chen Xiangbei nodded, then pointed to the wall clock and said, "It's time for the race. I should go."

After saying that, Chen Xiangbei walked towards the Santana, the tool truck in the shop, and prepared to drive it up the mountain to meet Wang Yidonggang.

"Wait, I need to pick someone up and I need the car urgently!"

As Liang Chi spoke, he jogged ahead of Chen Xiangbei and sat in the driver's seat of the Santana.

"Who to pick up?"

"Technician No. 38 who gave me a massage this afternoon."

Seeing this, Chen Xiangbei spread his hands and said, "Then how do I get up the mountain?"

"Go run, young people should take it as exercise."

After saying this, Liang Chi stepped on the accelerator and sped away, leaving Chen Xiangbei standing there watching the disappearing taillights of the car.

What an old bitch!

PS: A new book has been released. Dear godfathers, please collect it and read it. Racing is really a niche subject and I can only rely on your support.

(End of this chapter)