I practiced my spirituality alone in Hong Kong.

Li Chang'an returned from the rooftop and, with his younger brother, offered incense to their parents' memorial tablets. After breakfast, he took out Shan Ye to send Ruan Xiaotang to school.

He originally thought that with Xiaotang's lively personality, she would definitely pester him to go for a ride after seeing such a cool motorcycle.

To everyone's surprise, as soon as Ruan Xiaotang saw this impressive-looking motorcycle, her face puffed up angrily, like a pufferfish.

This car was probably given to me by that female mosquito!

Thinking to herself, Ruan Xiaotang immediately turned her face away angrily, "I don't want to sit here!"

Li Chang'an said with some surprise:

"Wouldn't you like to try a motorcycle? I can take you for a ride in Sai Wan, it's really cool."

Ruan Xiaotang shook her head vigorously, her tone resolute: "No means no... I want to ride a bicycle with you."

"Alright."

Li Chang'an never expected that the cool Yamaha would be defeated by the old grocery-buying bicycle.

Could it be that Xiaotang, like the class monitor, also feels that motorcycles are unsafe and that's why she's afraid?

Li Chang'an thought this was very likely, but he wouldn't trick Xiao Tang into taking him racing like he had tricked the class monitor.

Otherwise, it would be troublesome if Xiaotang complained to Aunt Shen.

Ruan Xiaotang watched as Li Chang'an pushed the mountain leaves back and rode his bicycle out again. Only then did a smile bloom on her face. She lightly jumped onto the back seat and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.

Riding along in the morning breeze, the two soon arrived at Yuk Choi Middle School in Sai Wan.

As soon as Ruan Xiaotang jumped off the car, she instinctively stood on tiptoe and looked around the school gate warily.

"Don't worry, your principal probably won't be coming today."

Li Chang'an remembered that Chen Yuesheng had mentioned last night that he had important matters to attend to at home, which was why he rushed back to Kowloon.

The fact that she would brave the heavy rain in the middle of the night to go back is clearly not something that can be resolved in a day or two.

She probably won't be able to focus on school for the next few days.

However, the girl shook her head vigorously.

Yesterday, Chen Yuesheng ambushed her with binoculars, which made her fully understand the meaning of "all's fair in war," and even left her with paranoia.

She now felt that as long as she was around the school, Chen Yuesheng could jump out from anywhere and arrest her and Li Chang'an!

Ruan Xiaotang said in a low voice with a confident expression:

"You don't understand, Teacher Chen is definitely hiding somewhere watching me... You should also quickly lower your head so she can't see you through the binoculars!"

"..."

……

……

After seeing Ruan Xiaotang off, Li Chang'an mounted the mountain hull and drove into the Hung Hom Cross-Harbour Tunnel.

With a deep, rumbling engine, he emerged from the Cross-Harbour Tunnel and stepped into Kowloon.

As Li Chang'an rode into West Kowloon and was about to enter Castle Peak Road, he saw several familiar figures ahead.

"Judy?"

Upon hearing the sound, Judy immediately turned her head. When she met Li Chang'an's gaze, she felt a subconscious chill for some reason.

Strange, it feels like this man's aura has become even stronger since I last saw him.

It's probably just my imagination because I'm under too much pressure.

Judy cleared the strange emotions from her mind, then put on a warm smile and quickly came to greet him:

"Mr. Li, we've finally waited for you. Miss Wen told us that if we waited here, we would definitely run into you."

After Judy finished speaking, she stepped aside, and a middle-aged man in a slightly worn suit walked up. Although he looked somewhat dejected, his eyes were quite bright.

Li Chang'an had seen this kind of light in Chen Yuanlong's eyes before—the light of a passionate, all-or-nothing dedication to a cause or pursuit.

"Hello, Mr. Li, I'm the owner of the Flying Shark Club. Just call me Brother Lu."

"I have decided to sign a contract with you according to Ms. Wen's terms."

"Hello, Brother Lu."

Li Chang'an shook hands with him, not surprised by Brother Lu's choice.

With the class monitor stepping in, any boss with a bit of foresight would be willing to take the opportunity to forge this good relationship.

Without further ado, the two sides quickly signed the contract without further delay.

Brother Lu breathed a long sigh of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

"Mr. Li, after Judy and the others came back, they kept telling me that they had to sign you no matter what, or they would definitely regret it."

Honestly, before I signed the document, I was on tenterhooks, worried you might have gone to another team, haha.

"Brother Lu hasn't even seen me ride a bike in person, yet he's offering such generous treatment. Aren't you afraid of being fooled by me?"

Li Chang'an had just read the contract his squad leader had drafted for him, and even he found it horrifying.

Compared to the conditions Judy had previously proposed, the squad leader wasn't trying to get preferential treatment for him anymore; he was practically robbing him outright!

Now that the contract has been signed, the Flying Sharks Club must pay Li Chang'an HK$10,000 as a base salary in a lump sum before the match.

After the race, a final payment of HK$5,000 will be required.

If you make it into the top five, you will receive an additional HK$15,000 bonus. If you win the championship, you will receive a maximum bonus of HK$30,000!

Excluding the championship bonus, just considering the expenses of the Flying Shark Club, Li Chang'an could earn up to HK$45,000 per game!

Compared to later generations, the Hong Kong dollar was still quite valuable in the 1970s. This salary, converted into US dollars, was equivalent to the total income of a top international driver in about two top-level races.

And this is just Li Chang'an's income from running a single race!

Even if he just races casually, he can earn HK$20,000, which is probably more than what other teams earn if their drivers win the championship.

Any international racing team would probably laugh their heads off if they knew that Flying Shark Club spent so much money to hire Li Chang'an, an unknown newcomer in the motorcycle world.

However, Brother Lu smiled calmly.

"To be honest, Mr. Li, I've practically used all the club's resources to hire you, but this is by no means a blind gamble."

When I was young, I was also a motorcyclist. Later, an accident injured my body, and I could no longer compete, so I switched to working in a club.

"Since I can't win a championship myself, I always want my club to be able to reach the championship level."

"Just last night, before Mr. Danny returned to England, I specifically asked him about your performance on Tsuen Wan Hill."

Mr. Danny speaks highly of you, even to the point of reverence.

"This is the first time in my forty years of life that I have seen an arrogant white man show such respect to a person of Asian descent."

You're worth my last gamble for my motorcycle club.

Li Chang'an was touched by the resolute tone in Brother Lu's words. He wasn't the type to guarantee victory in everything, but he still made his own promise.

"I will try my best not to disappoint you."

"Thank you... Oh, by the way, Mr. Li, do you have a contact number?"

We will arrange several street races later to help you get used to the pace and routes of the Hong Kong motorcycle races.

"Motorcycle street racing?"

"Yes, because all the major clubs and Hong Kong real estate developers attach great importance to the motorcycle race to be held for that French tycoon investor a week later."

Therefore, before the main competition, we jointly held several smaller preliminary rounds to warm up the atmosphere.

"At 7 p.m. tonight, there will be a very important street race, a 10-kilometer round-trip elimination race from Kowloon Bay to Fei Ngo Shan Viewpoint."

We hope Mr. Li can participate. Of course, these smaller competitions also offer prize money, so Mr. Li won't participate for nothing.

Is there a match tonight?

Li Chang'an thought of the promise Xiao Tang had made to him that morning.

The little girl was eagerly waiting for him to accompany her to see the Ghost Festival parade.

Brother Lu seemed to sense Li Chang'an's hesitation. He also knew what day it was, so he continued:

"Don't worry, Mr. Li, motorcycle racing is very fast-paced. It won't take long and won't prevent you from going back to your family for the holiday."

Li Chang'an then nodded.