Dad, Please Try a Little Harder

For Qian Quan, the recent rewards ceremony was undoubtedly an experience unlike any he had ever encountered, which was the newest version for him.

His mind filled with surreal impressions, transporting him to a virtual driving space where every driving sensation felt incredibly real.

With different car modes and various road conditions, he practiced over and over until he mastered them all, turning all the nuances into his knowledge.

However, not much time had passed.

With just a blink of an eye, he felt like an experienced driver.

“I didn’t expect to get rewards for this,” Qian Quan expressed his unexpected joy. At the same time, his curiosity was piqued by the system’s rewards policy.

Qian Quan thought to himself, “If Dad gets an extra reward, the system will give me an even bigger one. So, if Dad finds five hundred thousand, then what would I get?”

[Ding! The system detected an error! One warning issued!]

“What? Is the system still online?”

[According to the original intent of Dr. Omega who designed this system, only additional rewards earned by your father through personal effort will be counted.]

“Alright.”

Qian Quan realized the system wouldn’t allow him to exploit this loophole. Otherwise, a few cycles with his dad would set him on the path to financial freedom, and a few more would make him the richest person in the world.

Would the system eventually deciare bankruptcy if the circle went on and on?

How would he responsibly spend these inexplicable and massive amounts of wealth? Buy a few islands or repatriate the lost national treasures?

Qian Quan’s thoughts were becoming increasingly wild, and he found himself amused.

What he needed to consider now was how to smoothly gift his dad a car.

On National Day, he and Ding Linlang would be going home.

Initially, they planned to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival and check up on the training program run by both their fathers.

Now that his dad had gotten his driving license, it was the perfect time to accompany him in buying a car.

For a family like theirs, purchasing a car was a big deal.

Later on, as expected, his dad shared the news of his new driving license in their family chat group and on social media.

“Got my driver’s license! [Proud emoji]”

Mr. Ding was unsurprisingly the first to like the post and commented, “BMW or Mercedes-Benz?”

His dad honestly replied, “I’ve been window-shopping Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi online. I could even throw in a couple of words about various luxury cars. But when it’s time for me to buy a car, I’ll first evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the three most common car brands before considering Baojun, Geely, and BYD.”

Qian Quan gave a silent thumbs-up both in the family chat group and on social media.

It seemed like for men, buying a car often carried with it a sense of fulfilling a dream.

It’s an interesting phenomenon. When they are young, boys like toy cars. As they grow older, the toys get bigger, and eventually, they’re captivated by real cars. Of course, even remote-controlled cars can keep them entertained for hours.

This is somewhat parallel to their love for a particular cartoon from age 5 to 35.

“Getting a driver’s license is tricky. Once you know it, it’s not difficult. If it’s difficult, it means that you don’t know it. Rocky, when you take your tests, pay attention to this: do more exercises about the Theoretical Exam and Traffic Safety and Emergency Situations Handling Test. These are easy if you practice enough. The main challenges are Vehicle Control and Parking Test and Road Driving Test. Don’t be nervous. Have your own rhythm…”

New drivers often have a strong desire to share their driving test experiences.

Qian Quan responded, “Got it. I’ll keep it in mind.”

For Qian Quan at the time, if he performed well on the Theoretical Exam and Traffic Safety and Emergency Situations Handling Test, he could immediately take the Vehicle Control and Parking Test and the Road Driving Test. And it wasn’t just for a C-class Driver’s License. He could go for any class of Driver’s License, and even a Racing Driver’s License.

The story unfolded during a rare coincidence where the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays overlapped, causing the holiday season to kick off on September 29th.

On the evening of the 28th, Qian Quan and Ding Linlang arrived early at the high-speed train station. They planned to spend the night in a hotel nearby to catch the earliest train at 6 a.m. the next morning.

They had no other choice. Despite their best efforts to snag tickets, this was the only time slot they could get. They even attempted to book business-class seats without success.

Upon check-in at the hotel, which had a standard room with twin beds, the front desk kindly offered to switch them to a room with a larger single bed.

Qian Quan turned to Ding Linlang and asked, “What do you think?”

She shot him a glare. He chuckled and told the front desk, “We’ll keep this room. No need to change.”

For reasons perhaps related to Ding Linlang’s increasingly longer hair, Qian Quan found himself experiencing an unusual emotion as they shared a room this time.

His feelings wavered even more when she emerged from the bathroom after showering, dressed in her pajamas, with her wet hair framing her face and with a sweet scent in the air.

Most shockingly, Qian Quan found his eyes briefly drawn to the subtle curves of her chest.

Not particularly large, but they had their own contours.

“Aren’t you going to blow-dry your hair?” Qian Quan quickly dismissed his wandering thoughts.

H

I’ll towel-dry it first,” Ding Linlang responded, toweling her hair. “Long hair is so hard to manage.”

Qian Quan laughed and reached for the remote to watch some TV.

Suddenly, Ding Linlang called out to him, “Qian Quan.”

“Yeah?” he looked at her.

“Did you just… glance at my chest?”

Caught off guard, Qian Quan immediately denied it, “1 did not! Don’t accuse me falsely!”

“Talk the talk but can’t walk the walk, huh,” she retorted, heading back to the bathroom to dry her hair.

“That’s a risky statement, just so you know!” Qian Quan yelled after her.

Before long, Ding Linlang finished blow-drying her hair, and Qian Quan went off to freshen up.

By 9:30 p.m., both were in bed.

They had to wake up at 5 a.m. tomorrow, so they should go to bed early tonight. However, opportunities like this were rare for them, so naturally, they had to have a heart-to-heart chat before falling asleep.

They discussed Ding Linlang’s new book and shared their experiences and insights from a month of college life.

Soon enough, it was midnight.

“Let’s sleep. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

The room fell silent, except for the occasional sounds of passing cars outside the window.

After what seemed like a few minutes, a soft voice broke the silence of the night.

“Linglang.”

“Yes?

H

A pause of two or three seconds.

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

The next day, Ding Linlang and Qian Quan arrived at the train station at 5:30 a.m. The station was already packed with people.

They stood in line to enter the station and stood in line again to have their tickets checked.

Once they boarded the train, they sat down to continue their sleep.

“I stayed up late chatting with you last night; lend me your shoulder, will you?”

Ding Linlang said before resting her head on Qian Quan’s shoulder and falling asleep.

As a result, she managed to sleep all the way to the destination, where Qian Quan finally woke her up.

Dragging their luggage, they took a bus from Pearl Town to Riverside Town, planning to transfer to another bus back to Windsor Town.

However, while transferring at Riverside Bus Stop, they ran into three familiar faces.

The trio that had previously cornered Qian Quan at the KFC in Riverside Town: the bald man, the slim and short young man, and the handsome young man.

The trio recognized Qian Quan almost instantly.

The bald man moved closer with a smirking smile, “What a coincidence!”

Qian Quan smiled back but said nothing.

“You’re not close to Liang Wanjun, are you?”

After the “KFC Incident,” they made inquiries with Sun Shaokang and found out that Qian Quan and Liang Wanjun didn’t know each other well and had no shared connections or family ties.

After that day, Liang Wanjun himself never troubled them again, not even sending a message through someone else.

Thus, that day’s event was likely a misunderstanding.

Yet, what confused them was at which point the misunderstanding had originated.

H

Not really,” Qian Quan admitted.

“So why did he help you that day?” The bald man asked cautiously.

“I had an appointment to play chess with one of their hotel guests. He was probably there to fetch me on the guest’s behalf,” Qian Quan explained patiently.

“Oh, so that’s why he asked you if you were there for a chess appointment!”

The bald man looked enlightened, exchanged a wordless glance with his two companions, and they all burst into laughter.

“What a mess this has turned into!”

“And why did you go to Sun Shaokang’s house?” the slim and short young man asked.

“To give him a little scare,” Qian Quan said with a smile.

Feeling more confident, the bald man, with a mixture of resentment and humor, pointed at Qian Quan and said, “You son of…”

Before he could finish, his face was slapped hard.

Smack!

It was quick and forceful.

It was a resounding slap.

This left the bold man stunned, with a throbbing head and a bleeding mouth.

“This slap is for the KFC incident,” Qian Quan explained.

“D*mn…!”

Smack!

Before he could get the word out, the other side of his face was slapped.

“And this one is for today.”

His companions finally realized what was happening and lunged forward.

Qian Quan kicked the slim and short young man away, grabbed the handsome young one by the shoulder, and threw him to the ground.

Before the bald man could react, Qian Quan swung his arm and knocked him down as well.

In less than ten seconds, all three of them were down.

The other passengers waiting for the bus hadn’t even had time to step aside.

Everyone stared in disbelief at the scene unfolding before them.

A young man with an impassive face swiftly took down three grown men.

Wincing and writhing on the ground in agony, the trio seemed unable or unwilling to get back up.

“From now on, don’t use foul language in my presence,” Qian Quan warned.

Just then, the bus arrived.

Ding Linlang, who had been silently standing behind Qian Quan, gently tugged at his clothes.

Turning his head, Qian Quan gave her a warm smile and nodded.

Before boarding, he looked back at the three men still on the ground and asked, “The bus is here. Are you getting on or not?”

Ignoring him, the three men remained sprawled on the ground as if they hadn’t heard..