Substitute Driver's Notes

I learned some skills in Chapter 28.

Li Wei, who had been observing Wang Fuyou's driving, saw him stop after passing the tollbooth, get out of the car, and tell him that he needed to switch drivers.

Li Wei agreed and got out of the car to go to the driver's side.

"Brother Wei, before you change shifts, walk around the car once and tap the tires with a hammer to check for punctures."

"Oh!" Li Wei replied, returned to the passenger seat, took out a hammer, and began to pound each of the twenty tires one by one with a ping-pong sound.

When they returned, Wang Fuyou took the hammer and gestured for Li Wei to get in the car.

Finally seated in the driver's seat, Li Wei pressed the clutch, forcefully shifted the gear lever to the left, and pushed it forward with a click.

Li Wei breathed a sigh of relief, loosened the throttle, and released the handbrake and clutch.

The truck made a few groans and then stalled.

Wang Fuyou laughed heartily: "Brother Wei, this car has reverse gear. You thought you were in first gear, but it's actually sixth gear."

After saying that, he turned on the flashlight: "Take a look! Remember that!"

You scoundrel, why didn't you say so earlier? You were definitely just trying to make a fool of me.

With a mental grumble, Li Wei shifted gears, started the engine, and then shifted gears again to start moving.

As a result, the engine stalled again when the throttle was applied too lightly.

"This thing is a bit heavy, so step on the gas harder."

"Oh!" Li Wei humbly accepted.

Just as they were about to start the engine, the young woman handing out toll cards at the tollbooth became impatient, sticking her head out and shouting, "You lousy truck, hurry up and go! Don't you know what's good for you?!"

Wang Fuyou leaned out to look: "Let's go, let's go, what's all the commotion about!"

"Don't you know you can't stop on the highway? Believe me or not, I'll call the police and get you points deducted from your license."

"Oh! Don't be angry, big sister, we'll leave right away."

"Who are you calling 'big sister', you old geezer? Get lost!"

"We're leaving now." Turning back, he said, "Brother Wei, hurry up. This girl must be new. If she really calls the police, we'll be in trouble."

Li Wei immediately broke out in a sweat, knowing that for novice drivers, the more you urge them, the more anxious they become.

After stalling the engine several times, Wang Fuyou became anxious: "Make way, make way, I'm coming, the officer on duty is coming."

The movement was so swift that as soon as Li Wei opened the door and stepped aside, Wang Fuyou jumped over from the passenger seat, sat down, and started the car.

Li Wei ran a few steps to the passenger side, opened the door, and then ran a few steps to get in the car. Through the mirror, he saw the policeman get out, stretch, and then turn around and go back inside.

He made a sharp turn into the entrance and parked in the emergency lane. "Come on, Wei, let's continue."

The hazard lights flashed incessantly as Li Wei watched as cars whizzed past on the main road, followed by a series of other vehicles roaring by.

"It's okay, Wei-ge, don't be nervous. Just keep running, the cars will definitely give way to us."

Li Wei's heart started racing a little as he sat in the driver's seat and began to recall the process of driving the car.

Shift into first gear as you remember it, accelerate hard, release the handbrake, and slowly release the clutch.

Not bad, the front of the car bounced a few times and then slowly started moving.

"You released the clutch a little too quickly; shift gears!"

Li Wei quickly tried to shift to second gear, but with a creak, he failed to shift.

"Don't panic, don't panic. Use both feet to engage the clutch. Our big truck doesn't have a synchronizer, you didn't coordinate the RPMs properly just now."

Taking advantage of the gentle downhill slope, the car slowly glided forward. I lightly pressed the accelerator, then quickly pulled the clutch, and second gear snapped into place.

"Okay! Accelerate, floor it, that's right... Okay, shift to third gear now. Don't forget to shift into neutral, engage, and disengage, right?"

Li Wei didn't even have time to answer, he was so nervous that he was sweating profusely. This time the truck was very cooperative and he succeeded on the first try.

Wang Fuyou was even more anxious than Li Wei, gesturing wildly from the passenger seat: "Turn off the hazard lights, shift up, turn on the lights, and merge into the main road."

Thankfully, it didn't turn into the kind of joke where someone asks, "What did the light do wrong? Why are you hitting it?"

As the truck slowly accelerated, with few vehicles on the highway at night, Li Wei merged into the main lane and firmly shifted into sixth gear.

"Is this your first time driving a big truck, Brother Wei? You have a good feel for the vehicle! Keep a steady speed above 60 km/h; going faster would waste fuel."

"Oh!" The truck was very stable when it started moving. After getting used to it, Li Wei looked ahead and even had time to check the left and right rearview mirrors.

"Don't worry, there are still more than 80 kilometers to the provincial border toll station ahead. At this speed, you'll definitely be proficient by the time you get there." Wang Fuyou said as if he had done something remarkable, lifting his feet and placing them on the control panel.

Li Wei watched as a car whizzed past in the overtaking lane. "Old Wang, how long will it take us?"

"It will be quick, in about ten hours, over 670 kilometers."

I don't want to talk, I want some peace and quiet. At this pace for ten hours straight? How boring!

Wang Fuyou chuckled: "It's alright, you have to get used to loneliness."

Li Wei quickly glanced at him, listening to the nagging voice in his ear.

"Step on the gas! It's uphill ahead, if you don't accelerate you'll have to downshift."

"Disengage gear and coast; that's the most fuel-efficient way."

"Mutualize, accelerate into the overtaking lane, honk the horn to warn them, this piece of junk is running with a flat rear tire."

"Hey, don't worry about those little cars. They're cunning. They flash their headlights and honk their horns. These tiny cars are riding so slowly on the lanes, do they think the highway is their private property?"

Holy crap, no wonder this guy ended up in jail, he's such a chatterbox! I knew it! Good people shouldn't just end up in detention.

After running for a while, seeing that Li Wei wasn't paying much attention to him, Wang Fuyou slowly started to doze off.

Li Wei breathed a sigh of relief, but then felt bored again. This guy seemed to be able to fall asleep at any moment, yet also seemed to wake up at any moment to start nagging.

An hour and a half later, I saw a sign indicating that we were almost at the toll station, and the vehicles seemed to suddenly converge, becoming more and more numerous.

Lifting off the accelerator and lightly tapping the brakes to slow down, Wang Fuyou instantly regained his senses.

"Oh! Four kilometers to go. Park in the square, and I'll weigh you. If you don't know how to jump the scale, the actual weight will cost much more."

"Oh? What technique?"

"Hehe, learn from this! This thing can only be understood intuitively, not explained in words."

"Damn it, you're keeping us in suspense."

As they entered the square, vehicles began to line up. Li Wei saw a row of red taillights ahead and slammed on the brakes.

"My God, you can't brake like that on a truck, it could kill someone. Luckily it's sheet metal, if it were carrying steel coils, we'd both be dead if you slammed on the brakes like that."

"Okay, I understand. You go ahead and drive! I'll learn too." Li Wei humbly accepted the criticism once again.

Sitting in the passenger seat, watching Wang Fuyou skillfully follow the group forward, the car starting without bouncing and stopping smoothly without him even noticing when braking, Li Wei was very impressed.

When they arrived at the toll station, Wang Fuyou stuck his head out and stopped when the front wheel was less than five centimeters away from the scale. After the car in front of him passed, he shifted into half gear and started accelerating, while controlling the handbrake. Li Wei clearly felt the front of the car lift up high.

As the car body lurched forward, Wang Fuyou released the accelerator and depressed the clutch. The front wheels lightly grazed the ground before landing, followed by the second steering wheel and drive wheel, which then smoothly passed over the obstacles.

Wang Fuyou started accelerating hard, and when the rear three-wheeled vehicle approached the weighbridge, he suddenly pulled up the other handbrake, causing the rear three-wheeled vehicle to lock up and be dragged over the weighbridge.

Li Wei stared in astonishment at the numbers before him: a total weight of 42 tons and 39 kJ.

After paying over 100 yuan, the car drove past the tollbooth and ran for over 100 meters before stopping in the plaza.

"Hey Lao Wang, that's a brilliant trick! The actual number is 63, but you can get 42, saving a ton of money."

"Saving money won't give us a raise. These narrow scales will eventually be replaced by large scales. Do you think the toll booths are stupid? They can collect a lot more money if we exceed the toll limit. Who wouldn't be envious of that money?"

"You're really something else. I'll need a long time to practice that move!"

"Brother Wei, get familiar with the driving first! Get out and relieve yourself. Whether you need to or not, give it a good shake. We can't stop more than 260 kilometers ahead."

"Why? Are there bandits on this major artery of Beijing and Shanghai with so many cars?"

"Listen to me! They're much scarier than bandits."