Chapter 81 - 13: An Unexpected Negotiation

Chapter 81: Chapter 13: An Unexpected Negotiation

A few days later, news from across the ocean made its way back to Hua Country. Ye Zhaohui, who had just gotten home from school, expertly navigated to the motorsports section of his favorite site and quickly found an article about Wu Shi.

The cover image was a snapshot of Wu Shi hoisting a trophy. He eagerly clicked on it.

"Wu Shi of Hua Country achieved astonishingly brilliant results in this series, dominating the field to win nine out of the twelve races."

"This year, Wu will compete in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, racing for the Van Amersfoort Racing Team."

"If Wu does indeed participate in the European F3, he will be the youngest driver on the grid. He is currently only 15 years and 77 days old, just barely meeting the minimum age requirement to compete.①"

"This is the most talented driver in the history of Hua Country!"

"He’s the only one who can break the white-dominated monopoly in motorsports!"

The article was overflowing with effusive praise. Perhaps because it was a cobbled-together news report, its content was a jumble of different sources.

Even so, Ye Zhaohui grew more and more excited as he read.

"Zhaohui, time for dinner," the nanny’s voice called out.

"Coming!" Ye Zhaohui ran to the living room.

"Bro, what’s up? You look so happy you could burst." Ye Ningning grabbed another chicken wing and started eating.

"Hey, do you remember Wu Shi?" Ye Zhaohui asked.

Ye Ningning chewed on her chicken wing, thought for a moment, then nodded. "Oh, right. Isn’t he the supervillain who crushed your racing dreams? Hahaha!"

"Tch, you used to call him ’Boss’ this and ’Boss’ that when you were little. You practically wanted to be his shadow and follow him home!" Ye Zhaohui retorted.

"Really? I don’t remember that at all. How old was I back then, anyway?" Ye Ningning rolled her eyes.

"Damn it, I should have borrowed Ling Kang’s camcorder and recorded you. I’d play that embarrassing footage on a loop!" Ye Zhaohui fumed.

"You wouldn’t dare!"

"Oho, getting all worked up? Don’t tell me you actually remember!" Ye Zhaohui suddenly calmed down, his tone teasing.

Ye Ningning wiped the grease from her mouth with her arm, her cheeks flushing. "Alright! You jerk, you’re trying to trick me, aren’t you!" she shouted.

"Whoa, whoa! Get those greasy hands away from me! That’s disgusting!" Ye Zhaohui yelled desperately.

"Alright, you two, stop fooling around. You’re eating! If your father comes home and sees this, you’ll both be in for it!" the nanny interjected.

Only then did Ye Zhaohui and Ye Ningning sit back down. Their family had always held very proper values. Ye Zhongming had taught them that although she was their nanny, she was also an elder and deserved their respect.

"Hey, don’t you want to know what happened to him?" Ye Zhaohui’s table manners were, in contrast, quite refined.

"Hmph, of course not," Ye Ningning said, rolling her eyes and turning her head away.

"He won an F3 series championship in America," Ye Zhaohui said.

Due to distortions as the news spread, the domestic media in Hua Country had basically all reported it as the "American F3 Series." Ye Zhaohui didn’t know the full details, so he naturally took it as fact.

"What’s F3?" Ye Ningning asked.

"..."

Right. It was like they were speaking two different languages.

After they finished eating, Ye Zhaohui’s excitement still had nowhere to go, leaving him feeling terribly bottled up.

He waited until midnight. As soon as he heard the front door open, he ran over.

"Dad!"

"Why are you still up?" Ye Zhongming asked, closing the door behind him, briefcase in hand.

"I saw some huge news today! Wu Shi won the F3 championship!" Ye Zhaohui said, his voice a hushed, excited whisper. The "American F3 Champion" he had read about was now further simplified to just "F3 Champion."

’Oh?!’ Ye Zhongming was quite stunned. ’How long has it been? The kid has already won an F3 championship?’

"Here, Dad, look at this article."

Ye Zhaohui hurriedly pulled his father into his room and opened up that cobbled-together report.

Ye Zhongming set his briefcase aside. The first thing he saw was the photo of Wu Shi. On his racing suit, besides the Rafa logo, the most prominent one was for Peng City Airlines.

After reading the article carefully, he tapped a few keys on the computer, went to a foreign website, and did some research before speaking. "It’s not *the* F3 championship. It’s a series in America that uses F3-spec cars."

"Huh? It is?" Ye Zhaohui was dumbfounded.

"Yes. But it’s still quite impressive."

"Right!" Ye Zhaohui brightened up again.

"Zhaohui, I understand your excitement, but you need to learn a lesson from this."

"What lesson?" Ye Zhaohui was confused. His father wasn’t usually the preachy type.

"News, especially news on the internet, needs to be carefully vetted. Nine times out of ten, the content is imprecise. You need to verify it from multiple sources before drawing a conclusion. Otherwise, you’ll be trapped in an information echo chamber forever," Ye Zhongming said.

"Dad..."

"And that’s the path our family expects you to take."

"But I don’t want to be a government official! It’s so busy and tiring every day."

"Hahaha." Ye Zhongming laughed.

"What are you laughing at?"

"The fact that you think that way proves you’d be good at it."

"Huh?"

"You’re thinking about how busy and tiring it is, which means you’re someone who focuses on getting things done, not on the power that comes with the position. Anyway, that’s enough about that. Wu Shi has achieved something so incredible, and here you are, miserable just from studying every day."

"Th-that’s different, okay? If you made Wu Shi study, I guarantee he’d be miserable too!"

...

「In Europe, it was just six in the afternoon.」

Wu Shi was sitting in a small boat, drifting on a little lake called Larzama. The sky had already dimmed, and stars were beginning to pop out, one by one.

The wind that blew still felt like the dead of winter.

Ripples spread across the water’s surface, where silvery moonlight spilled. The light rocked and swayed, making it seem as if the boat would drift to the shore in the blink of an eye.

Tired of watching, Wu Shi leaned back, lying down so he could gaze up at the starry sky.

Louise sat beside him, her familiar, faint fragrance lingering in the air.

"Why are you so quiet?"

"I’m admiring the beautiful scenery."

"The stars in the sky?"

"Mhm. It reminds me of a line from a poem from back home."

"What is it?"

"’Drunk, I knew not the sky was in the water; a boatful of clear dreams weighed down the River of Stars.’"

Wu Shi said it first in English, then in Chinese.

"What a beautifully talented metaphor," Louise murmured.

"I don’t like to drink, but I can still feel that sensation."

"Wu Shi."

Louise turned, propping herself up with one hand to look down at him. Strands of her off-white hair fell forward, swaying as if a breeze were caressing his face.

"Gulp. What is it?" Wu Shi swallowed hard.

"Why don’t you talk much?" Louise asked again.

Wu Shi blinked. Off the track, he was indeed a man of few words.

"Because I’m admiring the beautiful scenery~"

"Wh-what?"

"Admiring the beautiful scenery," Wu Shi affirmed with a smile.

"Ah!" Louise instantly sat bolt upright, hugged her knees, and buried her head in her arms, leaving only her eyes peeking out to watch the bow of the boat bob up and down.

DRING DRING~

Just then, Wu Shi’s phone rang.

"Hello."

"Rafa has sent you an invitation. They want to discuss a contract with you tomorrow. It’s related to an F1 seat, so you have to be there."

Wu Shi shot upright, hardly daring to believe it. "What?"

"It’s true! I was surprised too. But don’t get your hopes up just yet. The caller only mentioned that it *might involve* an F1 seat, not that it’s a contract *for* an F1 seat. It’s more likely a long-term driver development program contract."

"Phew!"

Wu Shi took a deep breath and said, "I understand. I’ll get ready to head to Maranello immediately."

After hanging up, he calmed down. ’There are all sorts of contracts related to F1. How could they just hand me a seat? I haven’t even raced in F3 yet. It’s completely impossible. It must be Aunt Martina helping out again.’

"An F1 seat?" Louise asked, lifting her head. She had overheard a bit of the conversation.

"No, it’s just something related. We’re nowhere near discussing a seat."

Wu Shi shook his head. He looked at Louise, bathed in the moonlight, and gently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.