Substitute Driver's Notes

Chapter 37: The Beautiful Langya - Here it comes!

Thanks to the highway designers for making the solid lines between the emergency lane and the driving lane so uneven.

Just as Li Wei veered off the road, a horn sounded from behind the truck, accompanied by the unpleasant noise of tires screeching on the solid line. He was startled and his eyes widened. Looking up, he saw that half of the huge truck had already moved onto the emergency lane.

Looking ahead, a few hundred meters away, three people hurriedly got out of a car and, along with the driver, were running nervously toward the highway guardrail. They were so agile as they crossed the guardrail.

Behind them, the truck honked its horn, the shrill sound continuing incessantly.

Wang Fuyou sat up abruptly, shouting, "What happened?"

Li Wei instantly regained full consciousness, nervously swerving the steering wheel back into the driving lane. He glanced down at the dashboard and saw that the speed had dropped to just over forty kilometers per hour.

As we accelerated past the car, we saw four people lined up outside the guardrail, pointing at themselves with indignant expressions. One of the women, a beautiful woman, was rubbing her ankle, looking up with a pained expression, seemingly saying something.

It shouldn't be swearing, right? Modern people are generally more civilized and don't usually swear... right?

The large truck behind them accelerated to overtake, and when their front ends were parallel, the passenger rolled down the window, and a bearded, dark-faced man leaned out, pointing at Li Wei and gesturing for him to roll down the window as well.

Li Wei rolled down the window and heard the man shout, "If you're tired, take a shift. The safety of several families depends on the driver's grip on the steering wheel. Don't push yourself."

Seeing Wang Fuyou get into the passenger seat from the back, he called out, "Your buddy was sleepy and didn't even realize it. We've been driving slowly for over ten kilometers, and we haven't dared to overtake you. We've reminded you several times, please be careful!"

After saying that, he rolled up the car window, accelerated and overtook the other vehicle. The new truck had a high horsepower and soon left Li Wei far behind.

Li Wei then touched his forehead; his hands were covered in sweat. He hadn't felt anything at the time, but now he was terrified, and his hands and feet were trembling.

Wang Fuyou glanced at the road sign: "Brother Wei, if it's not working, just pull over and I'll drive."

Li Wei shook his head: "Forget it, just keep me company and chat. I have to get through this all-nighter."

A man should never admit that he is incapable.

Wang Fuyou sighed and offered a cigarette: "If you're tired, you have to switch drivers. Trying to tough it out will only lead to an accident. Wei, remember this: even if we're both tired, we can just pull over at a service area and sleep. At worst, we'll get a fine and a scolding from the boss. But if we cause an accident and injure someone because of our fatigue, we won't be able to live with ourselves. Everyone has a family. No matter how much the insurance company pays out, it's not as good as a family living together peacefully."

"Sorry, I really didn't expect to fall asleep without realizing it." Li Wei took the cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, rolled down the glass, and slowly exhaled a few smoke rings.

"Remember next time, switch shifts when you're tired. I don't want to be led astray by you without knowing the consequences."

"How come I'm the one who led you into the ditch? Even if you really fell into the ditch, it was the car that carried you."

"Brother Wei, I've discovered that you're like a two-and-a-half-pound roast duck with half a pound of meat on top."

"What do you mean?"

All that's left is his mouth.

"I'll hit you!"

Wang Fuyou sighed, "And then there are those two big claws; if they can't win an argument, they'll scratch."

Sure enough, after the two started chatting, Li Wei was no longer sleepy at all.

They smoked, chatted about all sorts of things, and debated what it would be like if Putin were to become president of the United States.

They took a few sips of water and discussed whether their leaders would be too busy if they took over the world.

They were also considering whether moving the capital to Langya would result in a pay raise, and worried about the large number of leaders coming over and what to do about the ban on large vehicles.

For a moment, the driver's cab was filled with thoughts of concern for the country and its people.

Before they knew it, the two were arguing heatedly, with Li Wei becoming even more energetic.

Wang Fuyou suddenly yawned and said with disdain, "Chatting with you is really tiring. I'm glad you've calmed down."

"Damn it, you were just kidding me after all that?"

"What do you think? You slept less than an hour."

Li Wei angrily said, "Go back to sleep! I'll make up for your hour or so."

"I'm afraid you'll fall asleep again, so fine, I'll chat with you for another five yuan!"

"Pah! I don't care."

"Brother Wei, don't be ungrateful! I wouldn't bother with just anyone."

Amidst the laughter and conversation, the phone rang. Wang Fuyou glanced at it and said, "Brother Wei, according to the rules, whoever is driving answers the phone. That bastard Gao is definitely asking where I am."

The call connected, and sure enough, the voice on the other end said, "Hello, where are you?"

Li Wei looked at Wang Fuyou speechlessly. Seeing that he was ignoring him, he grunted a couple of times and looked for road signs and the GG sign on the side of the road: "Oh! I see the road sign for Yutai."

"What? Yu Tai? Where did this Yu Tai come from on the Beijing-Shanghai artery?"

"Boss, you're always lounging at home, how do you know there's no Yu Tai on this street? Oh! And there's GG brand, Yu Tai Lobster."

"Huh? Yu Tai Lobster? Doesn't that character have the eye radical (目) at the beginning?"

"Huh? How did you know, boss?"

"Okay, okay, I got it. Hahaha, Yu Tai Lobster. Hahaha."

Gao Youcai laughed wildly and hung up the phone.

Then look at Wang Fuyou, he was laughing so hard he dropped his cigarette, the butt fell onto his pants, and he kept slapping it off while laughing loudly.

Li Wei was baffled: "What are you laughing at?"

Wang Fuyou slowly stopped laughing and said seriously, "Brother Wei, I think you should buy some of these Yutai lobsters. I heard that eating them can increase your knowledge."

"Nonsense, I've never heard of gaining knowledge from eating lobster."

"It's true, my teacher used to call this place Yutai, but after buying two catties of lobster and eating it, he changed his name to Xuyi."

Li Wei was a little dumbfounded: "Xuyi? It's not called Yutai anymore?"

Seeing Wang Fuyou nod, he couldn't help but complain, "You know, it's the same with brand names. How much would it cost to add pinyin? I've been pronouncing it in Taiwanese for decades, and no one has ever told me I'm pronouncing it wrong. Don't you think the boss is going to ruin my reputation?"

"Don't worry! The boss will definitely spread the word about you all over the world. Soon all of us drivers will know."

Li Wei suddenly felt sleepy. Well, there was this big leftist who pronounced "day and night" as "chiye" (尺夜). On the way to Qiantang, he had secretly mocked him for being uneducated. On the way back, this huge pit was waiting for him.

Who would have thought these two characters would be so strange? If you don't recognize a character, you might read only half of it and still get it wrong.

For the rest of the journey, Li Wei arrived at the provincial border toll station somewhat dejectedly. They pulled over to the side of the plaza, got out of the car, relieved themselves, walked around the vehicle, and changed shifts.

Following the usual procedure, Li Wei, sitting in the passenger seat, said, "Old Wang, you can't talk about this carelessly, or don't blame me for turning against you."

"What is it? Oh! Don't worry! Wang Fuyou, known in the martial arts world as someone who keeps his mouth shut, definitely won't tell! Don't you know me after all this time? I'm not one to gossip."

Li Wei thought for a moment, then shook his head dejectedly: "Forget it, let it be embarrassing! Anyway, I have a wife and kids, so I'm not worried about not finding a wife if word gets out."

Wang Fuyou thumped his chest loudly: "You have to trust my character."

"If you don't believe me, I'll beat you up after we get off the bus, and then I'll quit, so I won't be embarrassed in front of others."

"Holy crap! Wei, are you serious? I just mispronounced two words! If you dare hit me, I'll call the police and make you pay up and go to jail."

This is unbearable. These days, people call the police at the drop of a hat. They're not even as good as that Brother Long.

Li Wei went to his sleeper berth with his head down. He figured he might as well go to sleep. Maybe he'd forget all about his embarrassing moment when he woke up.

After an unknown amount of time, Li Wei felt hot and opened his eyes to find the car had stopped with both windows wide open, and outside there were loud banging sounds of unloading cargo.

I rubbed my eyes, got up, put on my clothes, and got out of the car to take a look.

They went around in circles but no one paid them any attention; everyone was just focused on their work.

Stepping over the piles of goods on the ground, I entered the office and saw Wang Fuyou sitting on the sofa chatting idly with a short, middle-aged man.

Next to the short man was a flamboyant-looking girl who curiously sized up Li Wei.

"Brother Wei, this is Boss Zhu Changfei, and this is Secretary Hu. Boss Zhu, this is Li Wei, who was in the same car as me. My brother Wei has some training."

Zhu Changfei's eyes lit up, and he warmly invited, "Sit down, have some tea."