Chapter 58
Shen Wu gave all the tickets Meng Huaizhi had prepared to Qi Song and let him invite Xu Qiongya himself. He hoped that his mother would find happiness, but that happiness should be chosen by herself.
Qi Song was also a frank person and did not hide it. So Xu Qiongya’s call came to Shen Wu again.
The mother and son now had no misgivings, and Xu Qiongya asked bluntly, “How did you get so many tickets for Qi Song?”
“Didn’t you watch the third episode of Wonderful Adventure? He said he’s my fan,” Shen Wu deliberately joked. “That’s a benefit for my fans.”
He paused and then said seriously, “Uncle Qi… seems to have liked you for many years.”
Xu Qiongya was silent for a long time and then said hesitantly, “…I never knew.”
Shen Wu couldn’t help but laugh, “Mom, you’re just like me.”
Xu Qiongya’s voice was also tinged with laughter, “It should be you who’s like me, okay?”
“Mom,” Shen Wu continued to talk business. “Anyway, I’ll arrange your hotel. I can also take you out to play when I’m not competing, but I might be quite busy… It’s fine if you agree to him, and if you don’t, I’ll invite you. But I think it might be better to have a companion when traveling abroad?”
“Alright, I’ll think about it,” Xu Qiongya said. “Alright, you focus on preparing for the competition and worry less about your mom.”
“Alright, alright, I know.”
After recording the last episode of Wonderful Adventure, Shen Wu was fully prepared and went to Europe to face his first competition.
Later, Shen Ping called him again and told him that he had some work that he couldn’t get away from and that he would come at the second stop.
Shen Wu couldn’t win against Shen Ping and had to say, “You decide for yourself. Just don’t let it affect your work. It’s not a big deal to miss one or two races.”
His tone made Shen Ping a little relieved, “Okay, I’ll also watch the broadcast for the first stop and cheer for you. Be sure to be safe.”
He was no longer like in the novel, where he took the racing team as his home and fought alone. Even for the tedious flight of more than ten hours, there was someone to accompany him.
Meng Huaizhi’s world tour would not start for more than half a month, so he could accompany him to the competition first.
Xu Qiongya and Qi Song were also together, sitting in the seats behind them.
A race was divided into three days: a practice race to familiarize with the track, a qualifying race to determine the starting position, and a main race.
The average speed of an F1 car was around 200km/h, and the maximum could exceed 900km/h, which was no different from flying on the ground.
Just as domestic smartphones had reached the pinnacle of manufacturing technology but were struggling with high-end chip technology, the old domestic car brand Hua’an was the same. The domestic engine was not enough to match a top-tier event like F1.
The president of Hua’an Motors was a racing fan. In the past, he had barely dominated F3 with his own engine. Later, he had spent a huge sum of money and, with the engine provided by one of the old F1 teams, DZ, had barely crossed the threshold of F2. After Shen Wu joined, he had come to the F1 track for the first time.
But for the sake of safety, Shen Wu insisted on switching to Hua’an’s own engine.
Hua’an’s self-developed engine was not powerful enough. Competing with the world’s top drivers for the starting position, he had only gotten 11/20.
However, this result was already quite good.
F1 used a points system. As long as he avoided an accidental retirement in the main race, completed the laps, and finished in the top ten, he could get the corresponding points.
And among the twenty drivers, a small half had a world champion in their hands. Even if Shen Wu was at the bottom as in the novel, the Hua’an team, which was participating in F1 for the first time, would not have any objections. He was still the pride of the team.
But this time, he, who controlled his own destiny, should become a pride that he could also be proud of.
On the third day, Sunday, the official race.
Shen Wu went to the racetrack with Meng Huaizhi and Xu Qiongya. To avoid suspicion, Qi Song had deliberately stayed in a different hotel from them and had set off on his own.
After arriving, Xu Qiongya went to the platinum grandstand that Meng Huaizhi had booked. Qi Song followed and arrived on time.
Shen Wu did a final, careful check of the race car, preparing to face his first official race.
Meng Huaizhi stayed in the command room of the pit stop and, along with the coach and the teammates who were not competing, cheered for him through the monitor screen.
Twenty streamlined F1 cars were lined up in order at the starting grid.
Among the cheering crowd, the woman with her hands clasped to her lips was so out of place.
It was not convenient for Qi Song to hug her, to hold her hand, or to touch her to give her strength.
He could only sit on the side with restraint and comfort her in a gentle voice, “Qiongya, don’t worry. There hasn’t been a major accident on the F1 track for a long time. Xiao Wu also knows the danger, so he specially switched to a domestic engine…”
Shen Wu knew that Xu Qiongya, like Shen Tianheng, did not want him to race. It was just that Xu Qiongya would never say her opposition out loud, but would only worry silently in her heart. So Shen Wu did not tell her much about racing, but only told her to rest assured.
Qi Song had specially studied the F1 races of previous years and had also asked about Shen Wu’s race preparation last time they had met. He had remembered all the trivial details and was now using them to comfort Xu Qiongya, which seemed reasonable.
Hearing this, Xu Qiongya lowered her tense hands, her delicate brow still slightly furrowed, “If he knew the danger, he wouldn’t have come to race…”
“Xiao Wu is already 23. He definitely has his own sense of propriety,” Qi Song smiled, looked around, and then said, “Look, I didn’t expect that so many fans would come to see Xiao Wu’s first F1 race. He even has foreign fans.”
Xu Qiongya looked at the excited fans who were cheering for the driver and only murmured softly, “As long as he comes back safely…”
The race was about to start.
For every lap the race car made, the audience in the stands could only see the same car once. Fortunately, there were commentators who were reporting the race situation in real time.
“It is said that Shen used Hua’an’s self-developed engine,” the commentator first introduced the Hua’an team, which was participating for the first time. “The Hua’an team is the first F1 team from China. Shen is the first and currently the only Chinese driver. Does he want to write a myth from the ancient East on the track?”
The other commentator: “Then let’s see how the Chinese perform.”
“A bad start. Just as it began, Shen, who started in eleventh place, has already fallen to sixteenth…”
“The engine is not powerful enough. It’s a huge disadvantage on the straight.”
“This is a natural shortcoming that cannot be compensated for by the driver’s talent and effort…”
“He once broke the fastest cornering record on the F2 track. This is his first time participating in F1, so his pressure must be very high. And the Monta track has the most complex corners in the world. Can he bring us a surprise here?”
Shen Wu’s first race was on a track with the most complex corners.
Hua’an’s self-developed engine was weaker. If he couldn’t work hard to overtake in the corners here and get a better ranking and more points, he would have an even harder time competing with the foreign teams and foreign engines on the simpler tracks later.
A race had dozens of laps, hundreds of corners, and the gap between the cars in front and behind was only a few hundredths of a second. The race situation was constantly changing.
There were rarely consecutive champions here. A genius could fall from grace in a day, and an underdog could also overwhelm the crowd and break through to become the most dazzling dark horse.
All of this was Shen Wu’s opportunity.
He felt his blood boiling, but his heart was as calm as an ancient well.
He silently and calmly passed five corners and climbed to fifteenth place.
Among the twenty teams, three top teams were dominant, and more than a dozen had been dark horses. The remaining few often changed drivers and were mainly here to see the scenery of F1.
Shen Wu, who was quietly overtaking in the scenic area, did not attract much attention. The fans of the three top teams occupied almost half of the stands and were waving flags and shouting for the competition for the top few places.
After about ten laps, Shen Wu had overtaken to twelfth place and occasionally got a sentence from the commentator, “A beautiful inside overtake!”
Just then, it started to rain.
The spring rain came without any warning. The already complex corners were wet with rain, and the high-speed tires were extremely easy to slip, especially when cornering.
So much so that while Shen Wu was still driving slowly on the straight, he had inexplicably overtaken two cars that had slipped off the track.
And at the corner where they had stumbled, Shen Wu was unhurried, and just like before the rain, he passed smoothly.
Shen Wu broke into the top ten in one go and came to the area where points were competed for. The broadcast finally gave him the camera.
The coach’s reminder came through the earpiece, “Shen Wu, stay calm, take it slow. Safety first. The remaining corners are enough for you to overtake.”
Shen Wu’s voice was even calmer than the onlooking coach, “I know.”
His voice also echoed throughout the command room through the speaker.
Meng Huaizhi still couldn’t put down his anxious heart. He stood there with his body tense, staring at the fiery red race car that was speeding on the monitor screen.
During this period of time, Shen Wu had endured the fear of an unknown death and had repeatedly pondered the few words in the novel about him, this supporting character.
Especially after Meng Huaizhi had told him that the novel might just be a fan fiction.
He felt that he was not scared at all anymore.
How could there be so many fates? Someone else’s fan fiction had arranged for him to be a tragic supporting character, so all the things that had a trace were interpreted as a negative fate.
Since he could return safely after encountering so many accidents on the track, how could something happen during training?
There were no race cars competing with him on the training track, no accidental collisions or scrapes. How could he go off the track and hit a wall?
If the author of the fan fiction did not know the details, he had imagined a few possibilities from the perspective of a professional driver: either because of a malfunction of the engine or other parts, or a problem with the track, or the most common bad weather.
The novel said that he had died in winter, a gloomy and cold winter. There might have been fog, snow, and maybe also rain.
Maybe he had had an accident on a rainy day.
Therefore, he was extra careful in this race. Perhaps because his mentality was calm, while other drivers were cursing the four letters because of the annoying rain, he could occasionally pick up a few leaks and overtake without doing anything.
There were still a few laps left. He was stable in ninth place. The tenth and eleventh were in a fierce battle, but they were a certain distance behind him.
In the hazy rain, he was biting tightly behind the eighth place.
Hua’an’s command room was very lively. Although most of the teammates were not on the field, they were analyzing the battle situation for him one by one. They all thought that he was looking for an opportunity to overtake, waiting for a big corner.
The driver in eighth place did not dare to underestimate him. His car would sway from side to side from time to time, clearly to prevent him from overtaking.
Shen Wu was not in a hurry either.
The coach did not dare to speak at this time to distract Shen Wu, but Shen Wu’s voice sounded in the command room, calm and certain, “Preparing to overtake.”
Meng Huaizhi’s expression flickered slightly, and he did not dare to blink his eyes as he stared at the monitor screen.
He finally reached the corner Shen Wu wanted. It was a blind corner with no grandstand, and there were large buffer lawns on both the inside and outside of the corner.
It was very safe here.
He was about to overtake on the inside, but the eighth place seemed to have seen through his thoughts and had taken the inside line first.
The opportunity could not be missed. Shen Wu went full throttle and chose to challenge the outside line with Hua’an’s engine!
The opponent came to block him again. He scraped against the lawn and, with the smallest entry angle, narrowly overtook him.
Like a blazing flame piercing through the rain.
In an instant, the whole venue was in an uproar, and the commentators were also screaming.
“My god! A spectacular outside overtake!”
“It was so close, so close to slipping out… my heart almost jumped out of my chest.”
“I have to say, Shen’s mentality is very stable, not at all in line with his 23 years of age. I have a feeling that this annoying rain seems to be helping him.”
“That’s right. If it hadn’t rained, Hua’an’s engine would have been difficult to handle an outside overtake.”
And at this moment, the driver in seventh place in front was completely unprepared. Shen Wu, in one go, overtook him again.
Shen Wu instantly came to seventh.
Hua’an’s engine had been pushed to its limit by him. He was satisfied and only hoped to stabilize in seventh.
He heard the commentator’s report. The two top teams in front were in a fierce battle. The two drivers from the same team and one of their old rivals, three former world champions, were in a fierce competition.
Just then, an accident happened. The three race cars had a friction while competing. This kind of friction was normal, but the road was slippery due to the rain. The two leading race cars crashed into each other and went out, severely damaged, and retired on the spot.
The third, in order to avoid them, accidentally slipped off the track.
The top two were forced to retire. The only surviving race car tried to return to the track, but in the few seconds of delay, he could only watch as the several cars behind him overtook him.
The finish line was already in sight. Even a top driver was powerless to turn the tide.
Shen Wu crossed the checkered finish line and unexpectedly took fourth place, with twelve points.
Only the top ten could get points. According to the race situation of the past few seasons, the final top three had points of over 100. With about ten points, one could basically enter the top ten.
In other words, even if he retired early in all the following races, Shen Wu could not be last with 0 points as in the novel.
Shen Wu had a great start.
The top three drivers had to go to the podium to receive their awards. He was not very envious and went to the pit stop with a full heart of good mood, as if he were walking on clouds.
The pit stop was in an uproar, but only Meng Huaizhi’s face was solemn.
So Shen Wu saw him at a glance.
Shen Wu was blocked by his excited teammates and returned their smiles and thanks one by one.
Meng Huaizhi watched him silently from a distance, like a silent mountain ridge in the winter snow.
After much difficulty, he finally passed through the crowd and finally walked up to Meng Huaizhi.
The whole world instantly fell silent.
Shen Wu was inexplicably at a loss and said softly, “Huai…”
Meng Huaizhi suddenly stretched out his arms and pulled him into his embrace.
He couldn’t see Meng Huaizhi’s expression at this moment, but the image of Meng Huaizhi closing his eyes appeared in his mind.
Meng Huaizhi closed his eyes, his quiet features were cold, and he inhaled and exhaled forcefully, as if he were grateful for having survived a disaster.
Even though he had been in the safe pit stop all along.
It was not that he had not seen the broadcast of Shen Wu’s race, but there had never been a moment like this: Shen Wu was racing with death on the track, and he could only watch helplessly in a room separated by a wall.
Not long ago, Shen Wu had even told him about the ending where they would be separated by death.
“That’s great.”
He breathed in by Shen Wu’s neck and then ruffled Shen Wu’s hair again.
The familiar scent in his nasal cavity, the soft and real touch in his hand.
All of this was so good.
