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Chapter 019 Look at Me
As soon as Xu Xizhou turned his head, he saw his former teammate on the Trey team, Blake.
When he first entered the Trey team, Blake was still his fan, and he admired Xu Xizhou even more after he got on the podium. But later, when Xu Xizhou learned that he was not the biological son of the Lu family, his mentality collapsed and his state declined all the way. Blake persuaded him several times to no avail. He finally turned against Xu Xizhou angrily, yelling at him that staying in F2 was a waste of the team’s seat. He also said that Xu Xizhou might as well go back to China as soon as possible.
At this moment, Xu Xizhou felt a little nostalgic when he saw the red-haired boy with a grumpy face.
“Are you guys coming to take the test today too?” Xu Xizhou asked gently.
Blake stared at him warily. Perhaps he had a misconception, but he thought Xu Xizhou who returned to the game seemed different from before. Xu Xizhou was always gloomy and depressed, and he was even absent-minded while driving, and he rushed off the track several times. But the current Xu Xizhou, who was standing in front of him, had bright and resolute eyes, as if he had been reborn from nirvana.
“Blake, the interview is about to start. Why are you still here?” The team manager of the Trey Team came over. When he saw Xu Xizhou, he remembered the dispute between the two before, and immediately gave Blake a look.
“Don’t make trouble everywhere. If you are caught, let me see what you’re going to do.”
After warning Blake, he smiled and held out his hand to Xu Xizhou, “Xu, welcome back to F2.”
Looking at his former boss, Xu Xizhou felt a little emotional. Either way, he had betrayed their trust.
“Allen, I’m sorry for what happened last season.”
“It’s all over. As long as you can adjust yourself,” Allen patted him on the shoulder, “I hope your next game goes well!”
“Thank you!”
Xu Xizhou smiled when he saw Allen drag the reluctant Blake and turned back to the paddock[1].
The team manager was looking for him everywhere, and he was relieved when he saw him come back.
“Howard has already started the test. Get ready and get in the car in ten minutes.”
The rainy Silverstone track was rarely cleared today. Xu Xizhou sat in a chair and watched the engineer make the final adjustments to the new car.
Lightning’s car paint was the same as its team name, with a smooth silver shape and a blue lightning logo printed on it, which was very eye-catching. As soon as Xu Xizhou sat on it, he felt that his whole body was wrapped in the driver’s seat, and he felt unprecedented excitement and tension.
The engineer handed him the steering wheel, patted him on the shoulder, and gave him a cheering gesture.
Meter checks, radio checks.
After confirming that everything was normal, Xu Xizhou slowly started the car and drove into the track.
The wind howled, the engine roared, and the car below him was like a monster running on the track. When he entered the test lap, Xu Xizhou left his excitement, nervousness, and stress behind. There was only one thought left in his heart: faster, faster.
The long straight leads to a sharp right turn. Xu Xizhou braked and downshifted completely intuitively. When he entered the bend, a huge centrifugal force pulled his body, and his neck was as heavy as a boulder.
Accelerating, braking, looking for an angle, and cutting back to the straight, the car rushed out like an arrow off the string again.
The engineer’s voice came over the radio.
“Xu, well done. Your fastest lap time is only 0.03 seconds behind Howard.”
“Blake also finished the test. His fastest lap time is 0.07 seconds slower than yours. You are now ranked second.”
That brat would probably be mad to death. Xu Xizhou hooked the corners of his mouth, drove back to the P-room[2], took off his gloves, and only then did he realize that his hands were sweating.
After the test match, it was time for free practice. Xu Xizhou drove the new Lightning car for dozens of laps, during which time he kept giving feedback to the engineer on the performance of the car. At the end of the day, he was exhausted physically and mentally and fell asleep on the bed as soon as he returned to the hotel.
The next day was the weekend, a day off. Howard’s parents brought Howard’s younger sister to see him. The room next door was really noisy and very lively.
“Are you really not going to London with us?”
Xu Xizhou politely rejected Howard’s offer, “I have some personal matters to deal with, let’s talk about it next time.”
He leaned on the window of the hotel as he watched Howard’s family talking and laughing in the RV. When the car drove away, his line of eyes remained in place until the doorbell woke him up.
He suddenly remembered that yesterday Zhuang Jingchun said he would come, so he jumped out of the bay window to open the door.
The door opened, and a handsome man in a dark blue coat holding a paper bag in his hand stood at the door.
Xu Xizhou smelled the aroma of bread and swallowed unconsciously.
“What did you bring? It smells so good.”
“Chocolate croissants and croissants.”
These were Xu Xizhou’s two favorite things to eat when he stayed in Lyon. Unexpectedly, Zhuang Jingchun remembered it clearly.
Xu Xizhou grabbed the bag and took out the croissant inside. His eyes lit up as he took a big bite, and he said delicious in broken French.
“It’s a bit cold. It will taste better if you warm it up in the microwave.”
Zhuang Jingchun put down the bag and looked around the room where he lived. Xu Xizhou knew that he was going to talk about the test match next. Therefore, he was not in the mood to eat bread anymore. He looked at him with some apprehension.
“I heard from the team manager that you performed well.”
Xu Xizhou felt relieved, unconsciously feeling a little flustered.
“At any rate, I am a person who has won a championship, the strength is there.”
Zhuang Jingchun looked at someone whose tail was about to rise to the sky, and a smile appeared on his face unconsciously. As he thought of something, his handsome eyebrows wrinkled slightly again.
“I also heard that your former teammate on the Trey team made things difficult for you?”
“It’s not too difficult. That kid is a guy who can’t control his mouth.” Xu Xizhou sat down on the sofa chair, propping his chin lazily.
“That kid was slower than me. I think he will be pissed off after the ranking.”
It seemed that Xu Xizhou wasn’t bothered by this matter, and Zhuang Jingchun was quite relieved.
“Calling someone else a kid, how old are you?”
“I’m twenty
” Xu Xizhou suddenly realized that he had said something wrong, and quickly changed the topic stiffly.
“What do you want for lunch? Let me treat you.”
“There are no good restaurants in England.” Zhuang Jingchun looked very disgusted with British food.
“Then let’s find a Chinese restaurant. I heard that there is a Chinatown nearby, we can go for a stroll.”
Seeing that Xu Xizhou was in high spirits, Zhuang Jingchun didn’t want to dampen his mood, so he accompanied him to nearby Chinatown. It was said to be nearby, but in fact, it took half an hour to drive.
On the way, Xu Xizhou remembered what Meng Hui had said to him before he went abroad. When he arrived at the restaurant, he looked at Zhuang Jingchun, hesitating to speak.
He has always been a person who couldn’t hold back his thoughts. Zhuang Jingchun noticed it a few days ago. When he sat down in the booth, he raised his eyebrows slightly and looked at the boy opposite.
“What exactly do you want to ask? Just say it.”
Xu Xizhou touched his nose in embarrassment, raised his head after a while, and looked at him hesitantly.
“The day I went to the club to resign, Coach Meng accidentally told me that you
”
“What about me?”
Facing those deep pool-like green eyes, Xu Xizhou felt timid for a moment, wondering if he should continue to ask. But if he continued like this, he would really go crazy.
“He said
you used to be a racer.”
The atmosphere condensed for a moment.
Xu Xizhou suddenly regretted it. Originally, he and Zhuang Jingchun got along well today. Why couldn’t he get over it, and insisted on asking such personal questions to create embarrassment?
As Xu Xizhou scratched his head and thought about how to fix the atmosphere, the man’s gentle voice sounded.
“I used to be a racer, when I was your age.”
Xu Xizhou opened his eyes wide and looked at him in astonishment. He seemed to have caught a glimpse of Zhuang Jingchun’s unknown side.
“Then, have you ever driven F2 too?”
“At that time there was no F2, only GP2[3].”
Zhuang Jingchun seemed unwilling to talk about this topic anymore.
“Are you inviting me to dinner today, or are you here to ask me about it?”
“Of course I’m inviting you to dinner.”
Xu Xizhou handed over the menu in a flattering manner. Without further questions, he said, “Young Master Zhuang, please order.”
While Zhuang Jingchun was ordering, Xu Xizhou secretly opened the search engine on his mobile phone and entered Zhuang Jingchun’s name.
There were a lot of business names, but there was no mention that he used to be a racer. He was a little disappointed. He suddenly slapped his thigh as something flashed in his mind.
He was so stupid. Zhuang Jingchun must have entered the competition as a Frenchman, so he had to search for his French name if he wanted to find something. But what was his French name?
“What are you doing?”
Being stared at by Zhuang Jingchun’s deep green eyes, Xu Xizhou felt a little guilty, so he quickly put away his phone, and laughed dryly.
“Just watching the news, it’s nothing.”
This was a retro Chinese restaurant with a huge LCD TV hanging on the wall. It was playing a domestic variety show with the theme of a family reunion.
Xu Xizhou didn’t dare to meet Zhuang Jingchun’s eyes. His eyes wandered around, and he caught a glimpse of the LCD TV on the wall, and then he froze.
In this episode, the host helps a pair of parents find their daughter who was once abandoned in the wild. Now the grown-up daughter was invited to the stage and was about to reunite with her biological parents.
“The audience here, let us count down together, three, two, one! Xiaorou, please open your eyes!”
Seeing the two unfamiliar faces who abandoned her more than 20 years ago but are now full of tears, Xiaorou’s face has no expression except a trace of shock.
The host seemed a little puzzled by her reaction, “Xiao Rou, your parents finally found you after much difficulty. Shouldn’t you hug them?”
Xiaorou stood on the stage, she looked at the adoptive parents in the audience and shook her head firmly.
“Xiaorou, I know you are still blaming them for abandoning you back then, but they also had their reasons. At least you are happy now, aren’t you? No matter what, they are all your blood relatives
”
What kind of shit is this host!
Xu Xizhou couldn’t watch it any longer, so he asked the waiter for the remote control, pressed it hard, and turned off the TV.
Zhuang Jingchun lowered his eyes slightly.
He had never seen Xu Xizhou so angry. Apart from being angry, the boy also seemed powerless.
When the dishes were served, Xu Xizhou tried his best to calm down. He picked up the chopsticks and wanted to pick up the vegetables, but found that his hands were shaking.
He didn’t know what was wrong with him, he was just watching a variety show. However, how can there be such selfish parents who obviously abandoned their own daughter, but now jump out brazenly and declare how much they love her? Those bullshit viewers and shit hosts were trying to morally kidnapping[4]that girl.
None of them knew what it was like to be abandoned. Even your biological parents have given up on you. Will anyone still love you in this world?
“Xu Xizhou.”
Suddenly, a piece of warmth enveloped his trembling hands.
“Look at me.”
References
<table>References <th>↑1</th> Also known as the garage area <th>↑2</th> Pit House, where the teams adjust and repair the cars. <th>↑3</th> GP2 is rebranded as FIA Formula 2 in 2017 <th>↑4</th> Use moral value to threaten/force/give pressure to others so that they will do the thing you ask them to do</tbody></table>