Chapter Ninety-Eight: Taking the Driving Test

In recent years, living standards had risen beyond measure, and with them people’s expectations. In the earliest days, when people married, the so-called four indispensable items were the great prize. In the seventies, they were an electric fan, a bicycle, a sewing machine, and a radio, also known as the three turns and one ring. In the eighties, the new four essentials became a refrigerator, a television, a wristwatch, and a washing machine. By the nineties, they had turned into a color television, air conditioner, mobile phone, and computer. As for the present day, speaking of four indispensable items had lost all real meaning. What was fashionable now were the four “assets”: a car, money, a house, and a father with influence.

With private cars pouring into ordinary households, taking the driving test had also become a popular trend. In some economically developed cities, long lines formed outside the motor vehicle office for driving licenses. Of course, the office in Huangjiang City was not quite that crowded, though it still had plenty of people.

No matter how many people there were, Liu Yunfei did not need to wait. Yu Xiaowei’s cousin seemed to be doing quite well. He had phoned ahead to Deputy Director Zhao of the motor vehicle office. Zhao was a slightly plump middle-aged man, polite and shrewd. When Liu Yunfei handed over two cartons of expensive cigarettes, Zhao even personally escorted him downstairs. This was not really bribery. At Zhao’s current level of position, two cartons of cigarettes hardly meant much. But that was precisely where his cleverness lay.

For such a small matter, and a matter that did not violate any principles at all, to show such generosity was simple enough: this had to be a wealthy young master. Looking at Liu Yunfei’s clothes, though Zhao did not recognize many brands, it was obvious at a glance that they were rather shabby. Naturally, he took the initiative to curry favor. If he waited until the other side revealed his identity before flattering him, it would smack of opportunism. By ingratiating himself now, he merely appeared courteous, with no airs of official arrogance.

Today, Liu Yunfei had unusually risen at dawn just to come take his license exam. The parking test and road test were, of course, nothing to him. Italy was a country that drove on the right, unlike many overseas returnees who, in the middle of driving, would somehow veer straight into the opposite lane. Liu Yunfei certainly had no such headache. As for the written test, it was even easier. On the way over, he had casually flipped through the traffic regulations, and by the time he arrived, he knew them better than most traffic police.

Once everything was done, Liu Yunfei sat in the service hall waiting for Deputy Director Zhao to finish his meeting. Since the man had been so courteous, it would only be proper to say goodbye before leaving. That was basic manners. Yet by a strange coincidence, Zhao’s meeting seemed to be taking forever. There was still plenty of time before lunch, so Liu Yunfei sat there idly, turning the traffic rules over and over in his hands.

“Hey, handsome.”

A woman’s voice came from in front of him.

Liu Yunfei lazily lifted his eyelids and saw a woman of twenty-eight or twenty-nine calling to him. She was dressed entirely in black, a look that showed off her mature charm. Her short black gauze skirt was clearly expensive, and the glittering diamond ring on her ring finger told the world she was already taken: a seductive married woman.

Liu Yunfei did not care much for her face, though not because she was ugly. On the contrary, he thought she was quite beautiful. It was simply that her makeup was far too coquettish. Violet lipstick, green eyeshadow, dark red cheeks—if a woman like that had appeared on the street a few years earlier, the ambulance from the psychiatric hospital would probably already have arrived. What made Liu Yunfei even more uncomfortable was the woman’s so-called glittering display of wealth: necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings on nearly every finger, even ornaments around her ankles, as though she regretted not being born with three arms, four legs, and six fingers so she could wear all the gold and silver in her house at once.

Straightening up, Liu Yunfei asked with a smile, “Hello. What can I do for you?”

He was merely being polite. This was not decadent Paris, and he had no expectation that this married woman would openly invite him to some public tryst. Of course, if she did, he probably would not refuse.

“Come help me with this,” the married woman said, beckoning as she led the way to a corner of the hall.

The word “help” was broad enough to cover many things. Liu Yunfei naturally knew she did not mean anything on a bed, because he had been in this room before. It was the place where the traffic regulations test was taken.

The married woman pointed at a computer. “I already failed once. Help me take it again.”

Oh, so she wanted him to be a stand-in. Liu Yunfei knew very well that this exam was mostly a sham, but to impersonate someone so openly?

“No one’s going to stop this?” he asked.

“Aren’t you a professional at this? There are lots of people sitting out in the hall doing this kind of work. I only called you because you’re handsome. It’s so hard for college graduates to find jobs these days.”

To her, hiring someone to take the traffic rules test seemed like a grand act of employment assistance, a sort of reemployment heroism.

Liu Yunfei guessed that this woman’s family must run a factory or company, with several workers under her, the typical swagger of the newly rich. Still, he said, “All right, I’ll help you out.”

He still did not even need to think. After a flurry of random clicks, he passed with ease.

“You really are something, handsome,” the married woman said at last with a smile, pressing fifty yuan into his hand.

“No, no, I was just helping out,” Liu Yunfei hurriedly declined.

“It’s fine. I know this is your first time doing it. What’s there to be ashamed of? Too shy to take the money? Listen, other people only get ten yuan. Since this is your first time, don’t fuss over it.”

Turning away, she swayed off with her full hips, looking invigorated, as though she had just harvested Liu Yunfei’s first night of innocence.

With a wry smile, Liu Yunfei tucked the money away and walked out. Sure enough, quite a few young men were sitting in the hall. They really were likely all stand-ins.

Just then Deputy Director Zhao’s meeting had finally broken up. After thanking him and taking his leave, Liu Yunfei had originally intended to go home. But after stepping outside the motor vehicle office, he noticed several automobile dealerships nearby and could not resist wandering in for a look. Since the license would soon be in hand, buying a car naturally ought to happen as soon as possible too.

At the dealership, the salesgirl had initially seen only a young student drifting around and had not paid him much attention. She did not expect him to buy anything; she probably assumed he had merely come to look around with envious eyes. No one even came forward to greet him.

In truth, Liu Yunfei preferred salespeople who, the moment you walked through the door, bombarded you with questions and enthusiasm, as if you would be embarrassed not to buy a car and would end up feeling you had let them down. That sort of thing scared him right back out the door.

Although he liked dignified, elegant models with real substance, he thought himself far too young to go around with something so solemn. So he ordered a red Porsche convertible.

After a single morning’s work, she had landed such a big sale that heaven only knew what commission she would take home. The smile on the salesgirl’s face said everything. She asked for his name, then his mobile number, and said, “When the car arrives in a few days, we’ll contact you.”

“Good. Contact me when it arrives,” Liu Yunfei said. “And if it doesn’t arrive, you can still contact me.”

He paid the deposit and walked out cheerfully. No wonder the people who sold houses and cars were always beautiful women. It turned out they had a numbing, anesthetic effect. By the time one had dreamily imagined a romantic encounter, the money was already handed over, and one did not even feel the sting. He had even forgotten to bargain.

By then it was already noon, the hottest part of the day. Although September had arrived, the weather was bright and clear, and the outdoor temperature remained stifling. The sun blazed over every street and alley of Huangjiang City, softening the asphalt in many places.

The fierce sunlight was so bright he could hardly open his eyes. Liu Yunfei hurriedly waved down a taxi and headed home. In the past, when he traveled alone by cab, he liked sitting in the front passenger seat. But now he knew that seat was for a secretary. The back right seat was the true place of honor, because it was farthest from the center of the road and therefore safest.

The air-conditioning in the car was wonderfully cool. Liu Yunfei half-closed his eyes and rested the back of his head against the seat, watching the bustle outside the window: the endless stream of vehicles, pedestrians, and strangers coming and going. In moments like this, he could not help thinking of Park Min-ji. Was she now hurrying through the sunlight to deliver food, or working in a busy Korean restaurant? The weather in New York must be pretty hot too. Was she in New York right now? In the midst of her busy work, when she found a quiet moment, was she thinking of him as well?

“Driver, slow down a bit.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Liu Yunfei suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure on the sidewalk.

The driver immediately reduced speed. Liu Yunfei looked more carefully and found that he really did know the girl—though she would not know him.

Her bicycle seemed to have broken down. One foot was on the ground, her body tilted to one side as she steadied the bike. Two flat cardboard boxes were strapped to the luggage rack behind her, and she was caught there, unable to move up or down, her rose-petal face twisted into the pained expression of a withered bitter melon flower.