After the weekend passed, a new week began.
“Yaoyao, how’s your progress pursuing him? What stage are you at?” Winnie couldn’t wait to dig for gossip.
Meng Shuyao pulled out a chair in the studio and sat down, pressing her lips together.
Winnie raised her voice in excitement. “You kissed? That fast?”
The corner of Meng Shuyao’s mouth twitched. “What? He told me to shut up. Said I talked too much.”
She hadn’t even gotten his assistant’s contact information. Her progress was in the negatives.
“Seriously? He really said that?” Winnie was incredulous. “A beauty like you strikes up a conversation and he’s still unmoved? There’s definitely something going on.”
Meng Shuyao fixed the drawing paper in place and opened her palette. “Like what?”
Winnie curled her lip. “You’re not the gender he likes, obviously.”
“Winnie, do you have some kind of filter on me?” Meng Shuyao picked up her brush and mixed paint. “It’s perfectly normal for him not to like me.”
With Mr. Pei’s status, what kind of woman hadn’t he seen? There were plenty whose conditions were far better than hers.
It was only natural that his standards were high.
“It’s not that I have a filter on you. You come with one built in. Just look at how many people chase after you.” Winnie pondered for a moment, then asked quietly, “But speaking of which, do you maybe have a bit of an M streak? You don’t like the ones who like you, but just have to like someone who doesn’t.”
Meng Shuyao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I don’t.”
She had been forced by circumstance. If she’d had any choice at all, she wouldn’t have dared to provoke Pei Yuzhou so recklessly.
It wasn’t as if she didn’t know that a man who could stand in that position would not be simple in either depth or methods.
Winnie raised a brow. “Then what are you going to do? Give up, or keep trying?”
Meng Shuyao’s hand paused slightly around the brush. Troubled, she said, “I don’t know either. I don’t even have a chance to see him.”
That day, his assistant had said they were leaving Chicago. Who knew where they were going, or whether they would come back?
Winnie shrugged. “Then just let it happen naturally. If you’re fated, you’ll meet again. If you’re not, you can’t force it.”
Whether there was fate or not, Meng Shuyao didn’t know.
She was just a university student. How was she supposed to cross paths with a group CEO?
“Hi, this beauty is back!” The voice arrived before the person did, as warm and lively as ever.
Meng Shuyao and Winnie turned their heads at the same time.
A bright figure walked in.
Winnie was surprised. “Why are you back early? Didn’t you say next week?”
Mia came over and hooked an arm around both their shoulders. “Surprised? Unexpected? My study trip ended ahead of schedule!”
Meng Shuyao put down her palette so it wouldn’t stain Mia. “You came back and even hid it from us.”
“Looks like you had a very carefree month.” Winnie pinched her rosy cheek. One glance showed she was full of vitality. “Where’s your Italian hottie?”
“We broke up.” Mia didn’t care at all. “I was coming back. Who’s doing long-distance with him?”
Winnie gave her a thumbs-up. “Respect.”
She could pick up and let go of feelings so freely, heartless and carefree, without having to suffer the bitterness of love.
Mia turned to Meng Shuyao. “Baby, let’s go racing next week. I haven’t touched a steering wheel in over a month and my hands are itching like crazy!”
Meng Shuyao nodded. “Mm, okay.”
She really did want to release some pressure lately.
“Why didn’t you ask me?” Winnie deliberately put on an affected tone. “A friendship of three is ultimately too crowded. Maybe I should just withdraw.”
Mia laughed. “Come on. You don’t even have a license.”
Winnie refused to accept that. “Can’t I sit in the passenger seat?”
Mia had no objection. “Sure. Sit there if you’re not afraid of throwing up.”
-
The racetrack was located on a mountain range on the outskirts of Chicago.
The track wound around the mountain, with sixteen bends and multiple acceleration lanes, spreading out like veins.
Inside the club’s private room at the summit, the fragrance of tea overflowed.
The finest Jin Gong tea tasted best after the first brew was discarded.
An assistant waited at the door.
Inside, the discussion was nearing its end.
Zhao Hesong glanced at the venue outside, itching to try. “Zhou-ge, want to go down and play a round later?”
The man opposite him sat with a languor that still carried an air of nobility. Holding a teacup, he tilted his head and glanced at him. “You don’t value your life anymore?”
Zhao Hesong smiled. “Valuing my life is one thing, but if you don’t find a little excitement in life, isn’t that living for nothing?”
Ever since the accident last time, the old man at home had issued a death order forbidding him from touching cars.
Pei Yuzhou saw through him. “Using me as a shield. You really know how to think.”
Zhao Hesong sighed softly. “I don’t have a choice.”
Pei Yuzhou couldn’t be bothered with him. He picked up the lighter on the table, flipped open the lid, rubbed the wheel with his thumb, and lit his cigar.
A faint commotion drifted up from downstairs.
Zhao Hesong called over a waiter and asked, “What’s going on down there? Why is it so noisy?”
The waiter relayed, “The third young master of the Wilson family is making trouble for several beautiful ladies. They got into an argument, and both sides are going to race.”
“Picking up girls like that?” Zhao Hesong teased. “Has the race started?”
The waiter said, “It just started.”
His interest was piqued. “Put on the live feed.”
How could he be absent from something entertaining?
“Zhou-ge, you don’t mind, do you?” Zhao Hesong asked for his opinion.
Pei Yuzhou didn’t answer, letting him do as he pleased.
Only then did the waiter turn on the large LCD screen on the wall.
Half an hour earlier.
Meng Shuyao and Mia were choosing race cars in the garage when they ran into a few rich young masters looking for trouble. The moment they came up, their words were full of sarcasm.
“Girls should just sit obediently in the passenger seat. Why play with race cars?”
With Mia’s fiery temper, she couldn’t tolerate even a little of that. “Why do girls have to sit in the passenger seat? Who made that rule? How good are your driving skills for you to be acting so cocky?”
The other party gave a mocking laugh. “Questioning my driving skills? Want to compete?”
Mia glared at him. “Compete, then. Who’s afraid of you?”
“Since it’s a race, there has to be a wager.” Wilson looked at Meng Shuyao and gave a dissolute smile. “If I win, that beauty beside you sits in my passenger seat and plays with me today.”
Mia couldn’t help cursing. “Are you insane?”
So that was what he was after.
Winnie pulled Mia back. “Forget it. Don’t bother with someone like him.”
Wilson refused to give up until he got what he wanted. “What, don’t dare? If you don’t dare, don’t play with cars anymore.”
Mia was just about to retort when Meng Shuyao suddenly spoke. “I’ll race you. If you win, we’ll do as you say. But if you lose, apologize to us, and from now on, take a detour whenever you see us.”
Wilson stared at her slender figure. “You’re sure?”
Meng Shuyao nodded. “I’m sure.”
The entire track was equipped with surveillance cameras, broadcasting in real time with high-definition footage.
Two supercars sped along one after the other, one black and one blue. For the moment, the black car led by half a bend, while the blue one seemed in no hurry, maintaining its current speed.
The car in front accelerated, eager to widen the distance. The car behind pursued closely.
The roar of engines intertwined with the whistling wind. The tires ground dust from the asphalt track.
Like lightning and wind, the scenery on both sides of the track blurred into afterimages.
At the final bend, the blue supercar suddenly accelerated, brushing past the guardrail. The body of the car drew a perfect arc and successfully overtook.
The accelerator was floored. It broke through the finish line at top speed, the body spinning ninety degrees before braking to a stop.
In the stands, Winnie and Mia screamed excitedly. “Ahhh—she won, she won! Yaoyao is freaking amazing!”
The person in the car got out and removed her helmet.
The wind blew, scattering her hair behind her and revealing her entire face.
Zhao Hesong stared, stunned. “Fuck, drifting with a face that pure?”
Pei Yuzhou moved his gaze away from his phone and lifted his eyes casually.
That face was not unfamiliar.