Chapter 31 Driving Practice

Chapter 31: Driving Lesson

The driver, sitting in the passenger seat, watched as Shen Shiyan didn't even manage to find the car's start button and quietly fastened his seatbelt.

Under his guidance, the car stalled twice before it sped out of the side gate of the courtyard toward the city. After a while, it came to a stop at an intersection. The force of the sudden stop nearly sent Shen Ci flying from the back seat into the front.

Shen Shiyan rested his hands loosely on the steering wheel, watching the 79-second countdown on the red light ahead.

"May I ask your surname?"

The driver's palms were already sweaty. He gripped the seatbelt tightly and replied, "Fourth Family Head, my surname is Su."

The countdown read 56 seconds.

Shen Shiyan glanced in the rearview mirror at Shen Ci, who had just settled back into his seat. Seeing that he wasn't scared, Shen Shiyan felt a little relieved.

"Mr. Su," he said, his gaze returning to the red light, "It's a coincidence. I saw a lady at a banquet a few days ago who's also a Su, and she looks quite like you."

Shen Shiyan's attempt at conversation was far from skillful—it could even be described as clumsy.

The driver, surnamed Su, nervously watched as the countdown ticked down to 17 seconds. He swallowed hard, completely failing to pick up on Shen Shiyan's fishing and answered without a second thought, "That might be my daughter, Xinrou. She works at a logistics park and sometimes handles frozen shipments for some large hotels."

Shen Shiyan nodded in understanding. "I see."

Countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Amidst the impatient honking from the cars behind, Shen Shiyan killed the engine again.

Mr. Su had been driving for twenty-one years and had never had people lay on the horn at him like that before. At that moment, he wished he could get out and take the driver's seat himself.

Shen Shiyan didn't say a word, pursing his lips as he silently apologized to the drivers behind him. With the passenger shouting instructions, he successfully started the car again, then slammed on the accelerator, causing the tires to nearly skid before the car lurched forward at high speed once it stabilized.

The driver let out a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from his forehead, and offered a forced compliment, "It's... much better than at the beginning."

Shen Shiyan hummed in acknowledgment, completely unfazed that his current speed was pushing the speed limit.

"Which logistics park does your daughter work at? I thought the frozen goods at that banquet were quite good. For Yuhe's year-end company party, could I trouble your daughter to contact the supplier through the logistics park?"

He was edging past the speed limit while overtaking another car. Mr. Su felt the right-side mirror was about to scrape against the mirror of the car being overtaken. He closed his eyes in despair, his voice trembling slightly, "Xinrou... works at a logistics park far from the... city center. She doesn't come back often and... doesn't keep in touch much with the family."

Shen Shiyan exchanged a few polite remarks before making two turns and making it back to the Shen residence in one piece, bringing the lesson to an end.

After getting out of the car, the driver detected a note of "I'll look for you again next time for practice" in Shen Shiyan's thanks. He forced a bitter smile and went to report back to Shen Siyu.

Shen Siyu didn't have much work today. Recently, there was only a land development project in the suburbs waiting for new construction, but the price hadn't been settled yet, so things were still at a standstill.

"Really, just driving instruction?" Shen Siyu narrowed his eyes slightly, skeptical.

"Really," the driver recalled the near-accidents on the road several times. "Fourth Family Head's driving skills... are beyond words."

Shen Siyu ran through several possibilities in his mind but ultimately concluded that Shen Shiyan's driving might genuinely be terrible.

He waved his hand, signaling the driver to leave.

Before leaving, the driver earnestly pleaded with Shen Siyu, "Second Family Head, if Fourth Family Head asks for me to instruct him again, please don't agree. Just say I'm busy..."

Shen Siyu remained silent for a moment before nodding.

He had initially thought sending the driver might make Shen Shiyan let his guard down and reveal his true intentions, but it turned out he really just wanted to practice driving.

Shen Siyu was finding it increasingly difficult to figure out this "younger brother."

"Shen Ci."

Shen Shiyan was driving the company car. After dropping off the driver, he leisurely drove back to the side courtyard, but got no response from Shen Ci for a while.

He stopped the car, opened the back door, casually rested his elbow on it, and leaned down to check on Shen Ci.

"Daddy," Shen Ci took a breath of fresh, cold air and continued weakly, "I feel like throwing up."

Shen Shiyan: "......"

So Shen Ci wasn't unafraid—he had been stunned into a daze by Shen Shiyan's extraordinary driving skills.

Shen Shiyan reached over to unbuckle Shen Ci's seatbelt, then watched as the boy stepped out of the car unsteadily, squatted by the roadside, and dry-heaved once.

Only after Shen Ci's face regained a bit of color did Shen Shiyan remove his hand, which had been gently patting Shen Ci's back, and put it in his coat pocket. "Driving practice is over. Want to go to the mall?"

The thought of getting back in the car made Shen Ci feel nauseous again. He whispered back, "Who's driving?"

Shen Shiyan almost laughed. "Me."

The child in front of him, wearing a long black down jacket, seemed to have grown a little taller. Shen Shiyan reached out and measured against the top of Shen Ci's head.

Though he still hadn't reached Shen Shiyan's chest.

A shadow passed over his head for a moment. Shen Ci looked up without asking what Shen Shiyan was doing, simply gazing at the lines of the man's jaw above him. He took four or five deep breaths, his expression as resolute as if he were marching to his death.

"Let's go!"

Before getting into the car, Shen Ci took two more heavy breaths of air, climbed into the back seat, and buckled his seatbelt himself.

Shen Shiyan roughly understood what he was doing—it was as if he were treating himself like an oxygen tank, storing fresh air in advance before being scared into nausea again.

He couldn't help but chuckle.

The car engine soon hummed to life. In the rearview mirror on the dashboard, Shen Ci's eyes were tightly shut, his face flushed red.

Only when the car was moving smoothly and steadily on the road did Shen Ci open his eyes. Though he wasn't scared this time, he was once again stunned.

Soon, the small amount of air stored in this "oxygen tank" ran out. The car was filled only with the warm air and the unique scent mixed with Shen Shiyan's cool, crisp fragrance. Shen Ci snapped back to reality, grabbed the back of the driver's seat, and leaned forward, saying, "Daddy, was the instruction really that effective?"

Shen Shiyan kept his eyes on the road ahead, multitasking. "Sit properly."

Shen Ci obediently sat back but remained vigilant at the first red light, gripping the edge of the seat as he watched Shen Shiyan's partially visible figure in front.

There was no imagined scenario of being flung around the car by the seatbelt—only a slight forward lean due to inertia.

He secretly unbuckled his seatbelt and moved from the left seat to the right.

The view was clearer here, allowing him to see Shen Shiyan's movements and profile as he drove.

"Fasten your seatbelt," Shen Shiyan instructed calmly.

Shen Ci didn't reply, silently doing as he was told before leaning back in his seat and focusing on watching Shen Shiyan drive.

Despite having just obtained his license, Shen Shiyan drove with remarkable skill. By the time they reached the mall's underground parking garage, Shen Ci's eyes widened slightly.

Because he saw his daddy, who had stalled the car three times at noon, now effortlessly steering with one hand to reverse into a parking spot, his movements fluid and seamless. It wasn't until the car engine turned off and the person in the driver's seat turned to look at him that Shen Ci realized they had arrived.

!!!

So cool! My daddy is so cool!