At the racetrack, Wu Shi drove into the pit area, parked his kart, and had it inspected.
"Son, congratulations! A win right out of the gate!" Wu Zhenlin stepped forward with his arms open for a hug.
"Thanks, Dad." Wu Shi hugged his father.
"Hello, you must be the young genius's father, right? Do you have a moment to chat?"
A man in sunglasses jogged over, interrupting the father and son. He offered a business card. "I'm from the Chi Su Racing Team. Have you considered joining a professional team? We offer a generous compensation package, training at all kinds of circuits, and guidance from expert coaches..."
"No, thank you." Wu Shi shook his head. 'It's not that I'm arrogant, but who in this country could possibly coach me right now?'
"Hey, little genius, I'm talking to your dad. Can you wait your turn to speak?" the man in sunglasses said.
Seeing how the man in sunglasses spoke to his son, Wu Zhenlin shoved the business card right back at him and said bluntly, "This is my son's decision. If he's not interested, then he's not interested."
With that, he took Wu Shi by the arm and walked away.
"You! Talent alone is useless! Without a good racing team...!" the man in sunglasses yelled at their retreating backs.
"Hey, Zhang Hao, couldn't you tell?" Boss Chen said, displeased. "The father clearly values his kid's opinion. Why are you trying to pull rank like that?"
"Ah, Boss Chen! Hehe, I was just a bit too eager to recruit new talent, a bit too eager. No offense intended," Zhang Hao said with a chuckle.
After that brief incident, Wu Shi sat down to rest. He waited for the races in the senior divisions to conclude, after which came the awards and closing ceremonies.
"Aunt Martina mentioned she was planning to take you abroad, right?" Wu Zhenlin asked as they walked.
"Yeah, she mentioned it," Wu Shi said, looking at his father.
"I'd like you to stay and prepare here for another year. It's mainly to give me some time to get things in order," Wu Zhenlin said.
"Okay." Wu Shi was a little surprised, but he nodded.
'He had originally planned on going to Europe, but since his father wasn't ready, he wouldn't add to his burden.'
When Martina heard this, she couldn't help but marvel at what a good kid Wu Shi was. Then, she turned to her daughter and said, "Louise, Wu Shi won't be coming back to Italy with us until next year, so you have a whole year to learn Chinese!"
"Hey! He's the one coming to Italy, shouldn't he be learning our language?" Louise's mind worked quickly, and she deftly pointed out the flaw in her mother's logic.
"Technically, yes, but just think," Martina said, beaming. "If you can talk to him in his native language, he'll definitely like you more."
"H-Hey! What do you mean, 'like'..." Louise's face turned beet red.
"Aunt Martina!" Wu Shi said, looking over at her, completely exasperated.
"Hehe~!" Martina just grinned in response.
Because karting wasn't very popular in the country, the award ceremony was a rather subdued affair. Aside from the racers, their families, and their coaches, only a few officials from the sports bureau made a brief appearance.
Wu Shi stood in front of a blue backdrop with red lettering, wearing a laurel wreath. He, Zeng Tianyi, and Ling Kang each raised a small bottle of champagne.
CLICK~
A reporter snapped a photo, bringing the Peng City Station event to a successful close.
Aunt Martina and Louise left as well. After Wu Shi said goodbye to Boss Chen, he and his father headed home.
"Dad, I'd like to get a computer," Wu Shi said.
"Oh? No problem. By the way, I hired an English tutor for you, but you still have to go to school. The next race is in Sanshui, around the middle of May."
"Okay, I won't fall behind on my schoolwork."
His father was incredibly efficient. The computer was delivered the very next day. A technician came to run the internet cable, and only left after finishing the setup and confirming the dial-up connection was working.
'This is a novel sight,' Wu Shi thought. 'In the era I came from, dial-up internet was ancient history.'
"After the computer restarts, you need to click this 'Broadband Connection' icon, then click this button here, got it?"
"Uh-huh," Wu Shi nodded.
"Here's your username and password. Keep them somewhere safe. Sometimes you'll need to re-enter them." With that, the technician picked up his tools and left.
Wu Shi marveled at the incredibly retro Windows interface.
He opened a browser, and the first thing he did was search for the 2007 F1 race calendar.
The penalty call against driver number 315 earlier had been based on rules that felt unfamiliar to him. That had led him to suspect that this world wasn't exactly the same as his previous one.
There was only one way he could think of to verify his suspicion: check the F1 race calendar.
As a driver who had raced through both the aero-focused and ground-effect eras, he naturally needed to study the experiences of his predecessors.
Therefore, he was very familiar with the F1 seasons after the turn of the millennium and remembered their general schedules.
This year's Huaxia Grand Prix should be held in October. He found the calendar and fell silent as he read it.
There were only 14 races in total, which didn't match the 17 from his previous life. The Huaxia race, however, was still scheduled for October.
'So this world isn't exactly the same, then?'
'Then again, that makes sense. Even in a parallel world, my arrival is like the flap of a butterfly's wings. It's only normal for there to be some differences.'
RING RING RING!
Just then, the landline in the living room rang. Wu Shi ran to answer it.
"Hello, is this the Wu residence?"
"Yes, it is. Who's calling?"
"Oh! Am I speaking with young Wu Shi himself? This is Ling Kang's mother. He told me you were willing to teach him your racing lines for the Peng City Extreme Speed Racing Circuit? If you're open to it, we'd be happy to pay five thousand for five hours of your time. What do you think?"
"Uh, it's alright, ma'am. You really don't have to do that."
"Nonsense. A driver's racing lines are a valuable secret. We have no other way to compensate you, so we can only offer this small token of appreciation."
Wu Shi had no choice but to accept. They arranged to meet at the Peng City Extreme Speed Racing Circuit the following weekend.
After hanging up, Wu Shi went back to the computer and tried searching for "cryptocurrency." He found nothing. 'Is it because it hasn't been invented yet, or does it simply not exist in this world?'
'My knowledge of things outside of racing is too limited. Otherwise, I could be making some real money.'
Now that he had shaken off his previously gloomy mindset, he was full of ambition. Making money was an essential part of that. 'If I were already in F1, I'm sure I wouldn't be short on cash. But I'm not in F1 yet, am I?'
'Getting into motorsports requires a huge amount of funding, and I don't know if Dad can afford it.'
Sigh.
...
「The weekend arrived quickly.」
Wu Shi arrived at the Peng City Extreme Speed Racing Circuit right on time.
"Be safe. I'll come pick you up later. If it gets too late, you can just stay over at Uncle Chen's," Wu Zhenlin said with a wave, then drove off.
"Wu Shi! I've been waiting forever for you!" Ling Kang exclaimed, bouncing over to him.
"Thanks for coming out today," Zeng Tianyi added.
"No problem." He glanced at the racetrack. It was completely empty.
"We rented out the whole track for the day," Ling Kang said with a mischievous grin.
"Baller," Wu Shi said, giving him a thumbs-up.
"Let's go, then! I can't wait to see how you do it," Ling Kang said, buzzing with excitement.
Once they were on the track, Wu Shi stood at the entry of Turn 1. He pointed to a spot and said, "This is where I start braking, just a tap, as I'm turning in."
"That late? Won't you understeer?" Ling Kang asked.
"Of course. That's why I adjust the carburetor and then get back on the throttle."
"So you oversteer your way into the corner?" Zeng Tianyi asked, looking confused.
"Yep. Since the front end won't point into the corner, I use the rear to aim it instead," Wu Shi confirmed with a nod.
"Hah! If you hadn't beaten me, I'd swear you were just spouting bullshit to mess with us!" Ling Kang yelled. "That sounds completely counterintuitive!"
"Hahaha." Wu Shi burst out laughing.