The orange-gold afternoon sunlight streamed through the window, bathing Jiang Mo in light and tracing her silhouette. The entire space felt peaceful and serene.
It was clear Jiang Mo was not okay. Her eyes were still slightly red, her hair was a bit of a mess, and the lines of her shoulders and neck were stiff.
She had just unleashed a torrent over the phone, and it had taken a toll on her, too. The chaotic, agonizing thoughts in her mind hadn't had time to settle.
But now, Jiang Mo straightened her spine. Standing in front of the fax machine, she was the picture of focus and calm, completely absorbed in the document in her hands.
The storm hadn't fully passed, but Jiang Mo had found her composure. Her calm, steady eyes held a faint but resolute light.
People always said Kai looked like his father, but Lu Cheng had always thought Kai was more like his mother. Especially those eyes—steady, yet stubborn. They were cut from the exact same mold. That same resilience and composure were inherited straight from her.
Lu Cheng froze. His heart, which had been stuck in his throat, slowly returned to his chest. He quietly turned and walked away, giving her space.
Then, he pulled out his phone, quickly typed a message, and hit send.
He stood there, stunned, looking at the empty living room. He felt dazed, half-asleep, still unable to believe any of this was real.
Buzz. Buzz.
Kai's phone vibrated, but he was still lost in a fog of melancholy, not having fully recovered.
Ever since he was a kid, his mom had rarely lost her temper. She always tried her best not to bring her work stress home. If she got this angry, it meant things were serious.
Kai felt completely wilted. He listlessly pulled out his phone and glanced at it.
"Your mom is looking at the contract."
Just that one short line. Kai froze. He read it again, and then a third time. Inexplicably, his vision blurred. The knot of emotion in his chest seemed to loosen, and all the pent-up, suffocating tension drained away.
He let out a long breath, and the corners of his mouth slowly began to turn up.
Homework. Right, homework!
Kai moved quickly, leaving the base and dialing Lorenzo's number. He was supposed to go home tomorrow, but it looked like that plan was cancelled.
Lorenzo, clearly, hadn't expected the trial to be over so fast—it hadn't even been two hours. He'd figured it would take at least half a day. After finding a hotel, the sleep-deprived Lorenzo had collapsed into bed and was fast asleep.
As a result, he was in a half-dreaming state when Kai dug him out of his blankets.
When he heard Kai had been accepted into the Ferrari Driver Academy, Lorenzo cheered, genuinely happy for his friend.
But Kai didn't stay. He grabbed his still-unpacked backpack, clapped Lorenzo on the shoulder, told him to go back to sleep, and left as quickly as he'd arrived.
Lorenzo, dazed and confused, collapsed back into his blankets and was asleep again in seconds.
A moment later, his eyes snapped open, his face a mask of confusion.
That didn't feel right. He'd just had a dream that Kai passed the trial, came to the hotel like a whirlwind, and left just as fast.
But why did that dream feel so real?
Slinging his backpack over one shoulder, Kai returned to the Ferrari base. He looked around, trying to get his bearings and find the path to the academy offices.
When he'd arrived that morning, Marchionne and Todt had met him right at the entrance. His attention had been focused on them, and he hadn't had a chance to really look around. It was only now that he realized just how massive the campus was.
Though he hadn't been paying close attention, Kai had an excellent natural sense of direction and spatial awareness. He began to reconstruct the layout in his mind, trying to remember the way.
Just then, a bustling group of figures spilled out of a building ahead of him. It was obvious they had been lying in wait.
Even from a distance, the round-faced boy at the front of the pack started shouting.
"Need some help? Are you lost?"
"It's understandable, no need to be embarrassed. Country bumpkins always get lost their first time here at the Maranello base. You wait right here, I'll go get a golf cart. You know what a golf cart is, right? Totally different from a street car. You'll see, you won't get them mixed up."
The round-faced boy was, of course, Alesi.
It seemed he'd learned his lesson from their first encounter and was back for round two, this time as a full-blown passive-aggressive prick.
But he couldn't keep the act up for even three seconds. The sight of Kai, standing calmly in the sunlight, completely unfazed, lit a fuse in his chest.
Alesi didn't understand. What gave this guy the right to be so calm? Why did he get to look so high and mighty? It was infuriating.
"Times really have changed. Even Ferrari has lost its standards. The trial has become a joke. What do they think this is, 'The Voice of Italy'? Do they just let any stray cat or dog into the Maranello base now?"
"A circus needs clowns, but that doesn't mean Maranello does."
In the end, he lost control. The anger began to burn again, and Alesi was back to his fuming, posturing self.
Seeing Kai still not reacting—just calmly, almost appreciatively, watching the performance—made Alesi feel like he was the one being made into a clown. The rage went straight to his head.
Suddenly, Alesi charged.
A commotion went through the crowd. They wanted to stop him, but they were afraid of attracting attention and exposing the fact that they were ganging up to bully a new guy. The shouts that had started to rise died in their throats.
Zhou Guanyu, who was in the crowd, was getting anxious.
What should I do? What should I do, what should I do? How can I de-escalate this?
He was also an academy driver, but just a regular one. The news of this street racer had rocked the entire base all morning, and Zhou had been even more shocked to learn the new guy was a fellow countryman. He hadn't even had a chance to introduce himself before this happened.
What could he do?
However, before Zhou could react, Kai moved first. He raised his right hand, palm facing forward, as if channeling Doctor Strange and releasing an invisible force. The move was so unexpected it formed an invisible wall, forcing Alesi to skid to a halt.
Alesi was terrified, his heart pounding, worried this bastard was about to pull another dirty trick. He stopped dead.
Zhou was stunned. That actually worked?
The next second, before Alesi could recover, Kai spoke.
"Are you scared?"
Alesi froze, then leaped back as if his tail had been stepped on, the question hitting a raw nerve. "Who's scared? You're scared! Your whole family is scared!"
Kai was all smiles. "Haha, my apologies. I must have misunderstood. I just thought you guys were scared of losing to an outsider like me and looking like fools. I thought you didn't dare to challenge me on the simulator or the track, so you decided to rush over here, gang up on me, and try to solve the problem with your fists instead."
After speaking, Kai's smile widened, deliberately showing all his teeth.
For some strange reason, Zhou Guanyu was suddenly reminded of Jim Carrey in The Mask.
Pfft!
Zhou almost burst out laughing.