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

It's that Jialing 125.

It's Zhang Yong!

Sun Lei felt as if his bones had been removed, slumped on the edge of the flower bed, and let out a long breath.

Zhang Yong is alive. He can still drive, and he's unharmed.

The motorcycle was parked in the shed and the engine was off.

Zhang Yong got out of the car, carrying two large cloth bags, and walked towards the building entrance.

He spotted Sun Lei immediately.

Under the streetlights, a tall, thin young man, wearing rolled-up pajama pants, his legs and neck covered in mosquito bites, his eyes red, sat blankly on the bench in front of the gatehouse, staring at him.

Zhang Yong stopped.

The two stared at each other for a long time.

Zhang Yongcai took two books out of his cloth bag, walked over, and handed them to Sun Lei.

"Wei Shuyun asked me to give this to you. It's for the two books you wanted to borrow."

Sun Lei was stunned.

He took it and glanced down at it—"Architectural Construction" and "Fundamentals of Engineering Mechanics".

He never borrowed those two books. He would never have looked at them even if they were on the bookshelf. This was just a lie Wei Shuyun told him.

Sun Lei felt a lump in his throat, and he recalled the girl in the floral dress with a fragrant scent. He carefully took the book and gently held it in his arms.

He stood up, and his lips moved.

"Zhang Yong".

"Um."

"What... happened today?"

Several moths fluttered against the light bulb on the street lamp, and the two stared at each other for a moment.

A moment later, Zhang Yong patted him on the shoulder: "Don't just stand there, let me tell you."

He pushed open the door to the gatehouse. Inside, Old Chen had turned over and changed his snoring tone; he was still asleep.

Zhang Yong skillfully took a coil of mosquito coils from the windowsill, lit it with a match, and placed it on the threshold.

A wisp of smoke rose up, and most of the mosquitoes dispersed.

The two sat down side by side on the steps in front of the gatehouse.

Zhang Yong recounted the whole story from the beginning.

"When I left home in the morning, the first 80% of the road was fine. After crossing Baliqiao, a modified motorcycle came up behind me and tried to cut me off, trying to push me into a ditch."

Sun Lei's palms immediately started sweating.

"I dodged it. Right behind me, a jeep came across and blocked the road."

"Jeep?" Sun Lei's voice trembled. "What, is there a big truck involved?"

"Yeah. I squeezed through the ditch between the front of the car and the ditch." Zhang Yong's tone was calm as he stretched his legs and loosened his muscles. "They also scattered nails on the road. I dodged quite a few, but I still got one in each of my front and rear tires."

He pointed towards the bike shed. "Go look now, the tire patch marks are still there. Luckily, I have all my tools."

Sun Lei lowered his head, his hands gripping his knees, his knuckles white.

"Luckily, I was less than a kilometer away from the distillery, and I managed to get there. Thankfully... when I got to the gate, Wei Dabiao's men were already waiting to pick me up."

Zhang Yong glanced at Sun Lei.

"Thanks to you for making that call to Wei Shuyun."

Sun Lei's body stiffened.

"She told me," Zhang Yong said, looking up at the dark sky over Beijing. "She said a classmate surnamed Sun called and asked me to send someone to pick me up on the way."

Sun Lei lowered his head even further.

Silent for a long time.

The smoke from the mosquito coil drifted between the two men, while Grandpa Chen's snoring echoed in waves from the gatehouse.

"Has someone asked you what I do every day?" Zhang Yong suddenly asked.

Sun Lei's shoulders twitched, but he remained silent.

"Are you also spying on me for someone else?"

Sun Lei lowered his head even further.

"Then why did you call the distillery again and ask Wei Shuyun to rescue me?" Zhang Yong nudged Sun Lei's shoulder, but seeing that he lived up to his name, being as still as a rock, he suddenly shook his head with a smile.

"Sun Lei, aren't you busy tomorrow? I haven't finished telling you yet. It was daytime on the way there, so they didn't go all out. The real show is at night."

"Are you still listening?"

Sun Lei gave a soft reply.

"listen……"

"Okay, I also brought back some food and drinks. Let's eat and chat here."

......

The two sat on the ground, using Grandpa Sun's long bench as a table, and ate their late-night snack right at the entrance of the gatehouse.

Zhang Yong unscrewed the bottle cap, poured Sun Lei a small half-glass, and then poured some for himself.

"Here, have a taste. It's savory with a soy sauce flavor, and not overpowering."

Sun Lei took the cup and gulped it down, choking and coughing. He quickly picked up a bite of food.

"This...this is way too spicy! And you said you wouldn't drink it!"

Zhang Yong smiled, picked up a piece of stir-fried pig's ear with his chopsticks, and took a sip.

"This is my first bite today."

"You didn't even drink at the winery's tasting event?" Sun Lei's eyes widened.

"Why should I show my face in that kind of situation?" Zhang Yong pushed the braised beef towards Sun Lei.

"Director Wei knows only famous and powerful people. If I, an eighteen-year-old, just stood there on the main table, where would I put the face of the section chief of the supply and marketing cooperative and the captain of the transportation team?"

"So what did you go to do?"

"You'd better stay in the kitchen and behave yourself." Zhang Yong said casually, chewing on peanuts.

"I chatted with Wei Dabiao and Shuyun's mother for a while, brought them some snacks, and also used my own tools to diagnose several vehicles of various sizes at the winery."

"Shuyun's mother was overjoyed and insisted on giving me a red envelope, saying it was to congratulate me on being admitted to adult education."

Sun Lei took another swig of wine, his face turned red, and his tongue began to go numb.

"With that mouth of yours... you could probably trick the other person into revealing everything about their ancestors, and you're still trying to act tough with me? You're not even famous yet?"

"You might have received several calls from superiors; you can't fool me!"

Zhang Yong smiled but didn't respond, took a small sip of the wine in his glass, and put it down.

"Let's get back to business. About what I'll be doing when I get back tonight."

Sun Lei sobered up a bit and leaned forward slightly.

Zhang Yong leaned against the door frame of the gatehouse, his voice lowered as if he were telling a ghost story.

"The tasting event ended before it was completely dark; the sun had just set and the crescent moon was just peeking over the horizon. After leaving the winery, I took a detour along a side road."

"I even pretended to be drunk while riding my bike."

"Pretending to be drunk?"

"Yes." Zhang Yong gestured. "The handlebars were wobbling left and right, and the speed wasn't fast, like he was really drunk. I wanted the person keeping watch to think, 'Hey, this kid's had too much to drink, easy to pick up.'"

Sun Lei swallowed hard and took another swig of wine.

"The first half of the road was fine, about thirty minutes, very peaceful. But when we got close to the Chaobai River section, it got completely dark, and only the moon was shining."

Zhang Yong's tone suddenly tightened.

"Then......"

"I felt the front wheel of the motorcycle suddenly go slack."

Zhang Yong stretched out his right hand, his five fingers spread open and then clenched.

"Oh no! Another tire blowout!"

"Nail again?" Sun Lei asked, holding his cup.

"I guess so," Zhang Yong shook his head. "They've gotten smarter this time; they're using special motorcycle nails, scattered on the road so you can't see them. This could really be deadly tonight."

Sun Lei's face turned pale.

"Do you think I'm a coward?" Zhang Yong's voice lowered. "Slow down, stop the car. I just pulled two things out of my bag."

"What is that?"

"A 1.2-foot extension bar and an 8-inch socket wrench," Zhang Yong gestured, indicating the lengths.

"They're all for car repair; the steel is high-quality, and they're easier to wield than iron bars."

He stood up, facing the direction of Jinsong Road, the moonlight casting a long shadow over him.

"I stood in the middle of the road and shouted at the cornfields on both sides."

"You little bastards! Stop hiding, come out!"

......