Chapter 24: Drive like an F1 Racer
"Jingwei, do you have security tailing us?" Xue Ning asks, curious. He could have a team of qualified bodyguards following him for their dinner, seeing that Xue Ning would be too busy eating to technically protect him.
"No, why? You're my security." Jingwei replies, confused.
"Then… does anyone know where you're going out tonight?"
"My staff does." Jingwei shrugs, "They helped me reserve a table for tonight."
"Ah. So people know," Xue Ning says, furrowing her brows. "If someone wanted to hurt you again, could they find out where you are?"
"Possibly. But they aren't going to sell me out." Jingwei frowns. "Every member of my family's household staff has been vetted thoroughly by my father and my brother."
"I see, in that case…"She frowns at the rearview mirror, thinking of a plan. The black car was still following them, keeping the same distance from their own car in a manner that could only be deliberate.
"Hey, can you change lanes? Just keep doing it. I want to see something."
"Sure?" Jingwei agrees easily, even if he's confused. "If you want proof of my great driving skills you just need to ask."
"Yes, yes, now, start changing lanes." She says, keeping her eyes on the rearview mirror. She also readies her phone camera to take a video, just in case.
"Your wish is my command," Jingwei salutes cheekily, and immediately cuts in smoothly into the next lane without any hesitation.
The black car does the same a few seconds later.
"Continue," she commands, forgetting that she's technically ordering her boss around. Jingwei follows her instructions, bemused.
"Yes Ma'am," he says jokingly, expertly drifting into the third lane.
The black car follows them.
"Change again."
"Again."
"Again."
"One more."
"Again."
No matter how many times Jingwei changes lanes, the black car follows them faithfully as though they are a homing missile locked on them. She stops filming and sends him the video, just in case.
"My dear Xue Ning, it's not that I'm not happy to demonstrate my skill, but is there a point to this?" Jingwei asks, feeling more confused than before.
"I'll tell you, but don't panic." Xue Ning says, ignoring the endearment.
"Hit me with it, I can stay calm," Jingwei says confidently.
"Don't turn around but someone is tailing us. In that black car that's two cars behind." She says, and has to stop him from turning around. "I told you not to turn around!"
"What?! How can I not look?" Jingwei yells, in a very uncalm way, as he nearly abruptly swerves into the next lane in shock, and gets a chorus of angry honks in return.
"You still need to keep your eyes on the road!" She scolds. "I took a video just now when you were changing lanes, that car just followed us through every lane for no reason."
"Fuck," Jingwei swears.
"I can't confirm it, but it's better to be safe than sorry." She says, using her phone to discreetly take a photo this time of the black car from the side mirror. She sends the picture to him too, as a backup.
"Well, let's confirm it then." Jingwei declares, "Xue Ning, do you get carsick?"
"Not really, why?" Xue Ning has a feeling she's not going to like what comes out of his mouth.
Jingwei's eyes are bright with excitement, as though his earlier panic didn't exist.
"Because I'm going to do - this!" Jingwei slams on the accelerator, and Xue Ning holds onto dear life as she sees the speedometer climb steadily to 120km/hr.
"Are you crazy?! What are you doing?!" She shrieks as he squeezes between cars with barely any space between them. She desperately wishes she had 20 more seatbelts to strap her down.
Jingwei lets out a whoop in reply. "Losing them! Hey! Make sure to take a video!"
"You crazy man, if I die, I'll haunt you forever!" Xue Ning declares as she shakily holds up her phone to the rearview mirror, where that black car is still tailing them.
But Sun Jingwei wasn't mindlessly bragging about his driving skill, in fact, he surely downplayed it - because even as Xue Ning filmed on, the distance between the two cars was slowly but surely widening, despite the other car's best efforts to keep up.
"Promise?" Jingwei asks, his eyes focused on the road.
"What promise?" She asks, still focusing on her video, to ignore the screaming panic in her mind at Jingwei's driving. She swore the last car they passed scraped off years of her lifespan along with the car's paint job.
"You'll haunt me forever!" Jingwei says, laughing as he makes another dangerous turn, even giving her a saucy wink.
"Deal!" She screams out, "don't look away from the road, you fucker!"
He only laughs wildly in reply. Sun Jingwei must be insane, Xue Ning thought to herself. It was just impossible for a sane person to drive the way Sun Jingwei did. With his skills, he would have been a terrifyingly great F1 Driver.
"Are they gone now?" Jingwei asks, as the number of cars on the road increases due to the evening traffic, causing him to slow down to blend in.
"... I think so?" Xue Ning looked carefully at the rearview mirror, even turning her head back to check, but there seemed no sign of the black car anywhere. She slumps on the seat, exhausted now that the threat has gone.
"You really lost them. I can't believe it." She wheezes out, taking deep breaths to calm down.
"Ha! You should have more faith in me. I told you my driving skills are good." He boasts cheerfully. "Ah, that felt great, I haven't done that in a while."
Xue Ning stares blankly at him. Right, this man was rumoured to host underground street races for fun.
"Have you considered trying out for Formula One?" She asks. "It's a waste of your skill otherwise."
"I wanted to, but Father said that was a life-threatening career and not a suitable profession for someone of my status." He replies, as though reciting the words from memory. "So I just race for fun."
"Fun. You must have broken at least 50 traffic laws." As well as Xue Ning's will to sit in a car.
"Oh crap. Forgot about those." Jingwei winces and explains."That's why I usually race at night - no one really cares and the police will look the other way."
"Hurrah for corruption then," Xue Ning replies flatly.
"It's the power of money," Jingwei says, and then asks. "Can you help me to send the videos to my brother? He needs to know that someone tried to follow us, so I wasn't racing for no good reason! And he also needs to help me smooth over the police."
"Your poor brother," she comments, scrolling through her contacts list before realising she didn't have his number.
"I don't have his number." Xue Ning says, so she sends the latest video to Jingwei instead.
"Oh, then you can just help me send it to him with my phone! It's in my pocket!" Jingwei says, head tilting to gesture to his shirt pocket, inviting her to help herself to his phone.
"Fine," Xue Ning reaches out cautiously, but the angle is awkward and she ends up squeezing a handful of his pectoral muscle instead of grabbing the phone. It was firmer than expected.
"Xue Ning ah, are you that impressed with my driving?" Jingwei asks playfully. "I'm flattered by your interest, but I don't put out on the first date!"
"I didn't do it on purpose!" Xue Ning flushes and restrains the urge to smack that offending chest muscle of his. Jingwei laughs loudly.
"And this is not a date!" She squawks out, as she manages to free his phone from his shirt pocket, only to realise it was locked. Jingwei suddenly quietens, but Xue Ning is too distracted by his phone to notice the sudden silence.
"What's your password?" Xue Ning asks.
"It's 150896," Jingwei replies, fingers drumming a random beat on his steering wheel.
"Your birthday?" Xue Ning wonders as she enters the string of numbers to reveal his phone interface. She hastily goes to WeChat to forward the video to 'Bro Tianwei'.
"Done," "You know my birthday?"
The both of them speak at the same time.
Xue Ning blinks at his question.
"I guessed? This August was your birthday month, and you were born in the same year as me."
"Oh," Jingwei says, sounding disappointed for some strange reason. "I see."
"We should cancel dinner," Xue Ning says, choosing to ignore the strange change in mood. "It's too risky."
"Wait till my brother responds first," Jingwei says. "Who knows, it could be a security team sent by him."
"Do you honestly think that?" She asks.
"...No," Jingwei runs a hand through his hair, messing it up. "Ge wouldn't send a team without telling me."
"So going out for dinner is still a risk!" Xue Ning exclaims.
"But we did lose them, so honestly, it's a win for us. We should celebrate by going out to eat!" Jingwei declares.
Xue Ning stares incredulously at him and wonders if this man lost his brain cells in that car chase.
"What? I'm hungry after all that driving I did. And I'm sure you must be too." Jingwei says. "We'll have our meal while waiting for my brother to get back to us. What do you think?"
"I'm not..." Xue Ning sighs as her stomach chooses the exact time to let out a grumble. She slumps further on the seat and waves a tired hand.
"You know what? Do whatever you want." Xue Ning says, crossing her arms. "But if this dinner ends up going to shit, just know that I'm going to be saying 'I told you so' for the rest of your life."
"I can deal with that." Jingwei replies, inexplicably pleased. He must be hungrier than she expected, Xue Ning muses, shaking her head. Dinner clearly meant a lot to him.
"So I hope you like duck, because the restaurant we are going to specialises in roast…"
As Jingwei continues to ramble about the restaurant's specialties, Xue Ning relaxes into her seat, hoping that this would be all the excitement she would get for today. Please let me have a calm peaceful filling dinner, she prays.
If only she had known how the dinner would turn out, she would have wrenched the steering wheel from his hands and drove them back herself!
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