In the 90s, you could acquire max-level skills every 14 days.

"The sun's already high in the sky! Sleep, sleep, sleep! All you do is sleep! Are you even going to have your driving lesson this afternoon?!"

Li Guilan had a strong grip; she slapped Zhang Yong's buttocks, which were clad in shorts, with a loud "smack."

Zhang Yong struggled to open his eyelids, but the sunlight streaming through the window made it difficult to keep his eyes open.

He always felt like he hadn't slept for long, and his head was throbbing.

Writing is really mentally taxing; those two thousand words almost killed him.

"Oh my god... what time is it?" Zhang Yong struggled to open his eyes, his hand fumbling for his phone beside the pillow.

All I found was a round, iron lump.

Alarm clock.

He paused for a few seconds before realizing that in the 90s, there was no such thing as a cell phone.

In that moment of confusion, the dark blue panel automatically appeared in my field of vision.

[Writing Lv.0: Progress 12%]

[Driving Lv.4: Current proficiency is stable]

Zhang Yong instantly regained some of his senses.

12%?

He slept for about four hours, which, multiplied by 30, equals 120 hours of training.

120 hours is enough for a literature major to complete two semesters of coursework.

He couldn't help but smile; this ability was incredible.

Zhang Yong could clearly feel that his understanding of rhythm and emotion had deepened.

The feeling was magical; a bunch of Chinese characters scattered on the ground suddenly jumped up and formed sentences.

The sentence I couldn't write no matter what I tried last night is now vaguely taking shape in my mind.

Although it's still far from enough, at least it's not like last night—wanting to express the pain in my heart, but only managing to write down the four words "head down and tears."

"It's already 8:30!" Li Guilan deftly handed over a cool towel. "Your dad's driving along the way, waiting downstairs. Quickly wipe your face, grab your lunchbox, and let's go!"

Zhang Yong took the towel, quickly dried his face, grabbed the aluminum lunchbox on the table, and rushed out.

Li Guilan called out from behind, "Get a palm-leaf fan! It's too hot!"

"No need, Mom! Driving school doesn't allow it!"

"Dream on! It's not for you! It's for your dad. It'll be hot on the way, so fan him a bit!"

……

Zhang Defa was sitting in the driver's seat of that green pickup truck when he honked the horn from a distance.

"Get in the car! Hurry up!" Zhang Defa shouted through the car window.

Zhang Yong opened the car door, climbed into the passenger seat, tossed the palm-leaf fan to his father, and a strong smell of diesel fuel wafted out.

The smell was pungent to others, but to Zhang Yong, it was surprisingly intoxicating.

How comforting!

He could even tell from the subtle vibrations of the engine that the clutch plates were badly worn and that the travel of the pedal was longer than normal.

The instinctive intuition from driving a Level 4 has seeped into my body.

"Dad, you need to replace the clutch plate on this car. It's not very powerful when you press it," Zhang Yong said casually.

Zhang Defa turned to look at him, his expression strange: "How did you know?"

"I could tell from the sound, this voice isn't right."

Zhang Defa opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything for a long time. In the end, he just muttered, "This old Chen is quite capable. He even taught me how to use the clutch."

Zhang Yong covered his head with a rag, leaned back in his chair, and said, "Dad, I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when we get there."

"What were you doing last night, kid? Young people are such a drain on energy." Zhang Defa muttered, stepped on the clutch, and smoothly drove the car out of the compound.

The wheels bounced on the asphalt road, and Zhang Yong drifted into a hazy, half-awake state.

……

Before long, the truck came to a stop in front of the Chaoyang District Transportation Bureau.

"We're here! Get out! Don't embarrass me! I'm taking the company car back tonight, it's not on my way!"

Zhang Defa slapped Zhang Yong on the leg, and he suddenly opened his eyes.

The redness under my eyes hasn't completely faded, but I've already regained my energy.

I jumped off the bus and saw Wei Shuyun standing next to the green 212 bus.

Today she wore a light blue short-sleeved shirt with the cuffs rolled up twice, revealing her slender, white wrists.

His face was still covered with a thin layer of sweat, indicating that he had been there for a while.

"Zhang Yong!"

When Wei Shuyun saw him, her eyes crinkled, and she was about to come over and greet him.

Chen Yongjian also came out of the office, a cigarette between his fingers, and waved to the group.

"Stop dawdling, study hard this afternoon. Your performance yesterday..." He glanced at the two middle-aged men. "Almost there."

The two middle-aged men chuckled awkwardly and remained silent.

Today's practice involves navigating around cones. Five bamboo poles are placed in an open area, spaced three meters apart. You must pass through them at a constant speed using the first gear, without knocking over any of them.

The first person to board the bus was a middle-aged man surnamed Liu, who was the first in line yesterday and was sent by a government agency in Langfang.

Brother Liu shifted into first gear, and the car wobbled forward, causing the second stake to tilt.

"What are you doing! You turned the steering wheel too early!" Chen Yongjian shouted from the side.

The second one, surnamed Zhao, was a bit better than Brother Liu. He barely made it through three rounds, but he still failed on the fourth.

When it was Wei Shuyun's turn, she bit her lip and got into the car, gripping the steering wheel tightly with both hands until her knuckles turned white.

She remembered the key point Zhang Yong had mentioned yesterday—use your waist to drive your arms.

But first gear was too slow, and the steering wheel was incredibly heavy. Her entire upper body was straining against it. When she passed the second cone, the front of the car veered more than ten centimeters, barely managing to glide past it without knocking it over.

Four of the five stakes were passed, and the last one was knocked off.

When Wei Shuyun got out of the car, her bangs were soaked with sweat and stuck to her forehead, and she was breathing rapidly.

"Alright, alright, not bad." Chen Yongjian nodded.

Zhang Yong got on the bus.

He got into the driver's seat, put his left hand on the steering wheel, his right hand on the gear lever, and his foot lightly on the clutch.

He pressed the clutch twice to feel how it felt today—the clutch was a bit loose after yesterday's practice, probably because a few new drivers had pressed it too much.

Then I shifted into gear, released the handbrake, and the car started moving smoothly.

The first stake.

The steering wheel was turned slightly to the right, exactly half a turn, and the front of the car slid past the right side of the cone without veering off course, with a distance of less than a fist's width between them.

The second one.

Return to center, then turn left again.

The movement was minimal, with almost no unnecessary swaying of the vehicle, as it moved along an invisible trajectory.

The third, the fourth, and the fifth.

All in one go.

Chen Yongjian almost dropped the cigarette from his mouth.

He quickly directed Zhang Yong to reverse the car back to the starting point, and then they drove it through again.

The second pass was cleaner than the first.

Five stakes, none of them were touched, and the turning radius was almost exactly the same each time, which was very precise.

Chen Yongjian took the cigarette out of his mouth and remained silent for several seconds.

"Let's go through it again."

Zhang Yong nodded and went through it again.

I still haven't touched it.

Chen Yongjian finally spoke, his tone somewhat probing: "...Did you secretly practice driving last night?"

"My dad won't let me touch his car, so I can't practice," Zhang Yong could only scratch his head.

Chen Yongjian looked at him for a while before giving him a thumbs up.

Wei Shuyun stood beside the car, her eyes wide open.

She practiced for an extra hour yesterday, and her arms were so sore that she couldn't lift them. Today, she finally managed to pass four stakes and felt that she had made great progress.

As a result, Zhang Yong went up and found it very easy.

"You...you only touched the steering wheel for the first time yesterday, right?" Wei Shuyun's voice was a little uncertain.

"Um."

"That's a lie."

Zhang Yong smiled and shook his head; he had no way of explaining it.

After finishing his driving practice, Chen Yongjian left first, as usual.

Zhang Yong was about to go to the entrance to wait for a ride from his workplace when Wei Shuyun jogged up to him, bringing with her a fragrant breeze.

"Um... I tried what you said yesterday about using your waist to drive your arms, and it really works, but I still veer off course when going over the last stake. Could you teach me again?"

Zhang Yong thought for a moment and recalled the physical sensations he had experienced while circling the cones.

"The last stake is short, and you don't have enough time to straighten the direction, so it will veer off course."

He gestured. "You should start going back when you get past the fourth one, don't wait until you're aligned with the fifth one before you hit it."

Wei Shuyun listened attentively, biting her lip, her eyes sparkling.

"Will it work?"

"Definitely. Just like writing a novel, you need to lay the groundwork before you get to the exciting parts. You need to prepare the supplies before you start the battle."

After Zhang Yong finished speaking, he paused for a moment—it seemed that this statement was not something he had come up with on his own initiative.

Is it the improved writing style that comes from idling while writing?

Before he could think it through, he heard two men's voices behind him.

It's Brother Liu and Brother Zhao.

"Comrade Zhang, you're driving quite well," Brother Liu said in a drawn-out tone.

Brother Zhao nodded in agreement, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Zhang Yong and Wei Shuyun.

"We'd like to learn from them too, since the truck driver delivered it himself, he must know a lot."

Zhang Yong could tell there was a barb in those words; they were accusing him of using connections to get in!

Who can tolerate this!

......