Abstinence Pei, don't be too sweet when chasing your wife

The air conditioner outdoor unit vibrated on the window frame, and Xiao Fangfei kicked off her racing boots for the umpteenth time.

The metal knee pads hit the lockers with a dull thud, startling the sparrows in the sycamore tree outside the window.

She slumped on the plastic stool in the locker room, staring at the rotating ceiling fan - the rhythm of the blades cutting the light inexplicably coincided with the frequency of gear shifting on the court.

The phone vibrated on the shelf, and a new message popped up in the team group.

The teammates were live-streaming the road reconnaissance video for the short-distance rally, and the winding mountain road in the camera was shining with the luster of asphalt.

Xiao Fangfei swiped the screen, but her fingertips hovered over the red "Recording" button for three seconds, and finally locked the screen and threw it away.

The smell of motor oil from her racing suit mingled with the leather in her locker. She loosened her ponytail, the ends of which were still stained with sand from training.

"Sister Xiao, your Kawasaki needs maintenance again."

The mechanic poked half his head in and glimpsed the small pile of energy drink cans at her feet. "How about...running a couple of laps in the back hill?"

Xiao Fangfei knocked on the fuel tank with a wrench, and the metal sound echoed in the empty locker room.

Normally at this time, she should be chasing the wind on the track instead of staring at the stationary timer.

In the locker mirror, her racing suit was wrinkled like a ball of leftover tinfoil, and there was still a red mark on the back of her neck from the pressure of the helmet - the mark had faded, just like her gradually blurring race schedule.

She took out her phone out of boredom and scrolled through her Moments for the third time: Ling Jiuer posted a restoration log at three in the morning, with a picture of a half-assembled bronze sacred tree; Gu Fanxing forwarded the Pei Group's cultural protection proposal, with jokes about the "domineering president" floating in the comment section; even Pei Luonan's business account was updating photos of him in a suit from tonight's charity dinner.

Xiao Fangfei suddenly grabbed her phone and sent a voice message to the three-person group chat: "Xingxing, Jiuer, come and save me, a racer who's about to lose his job! I'll treat you to dinner at the Chengxi Motorcycle Restaurant on Saturday. This is much more practical than gesturing at the bronze lumps in your warehouse."

The moment she pressed the send button, she began to stare at the prompt "The other party is typing", and her Adam's apple rolled unconsciously.

Amid the hum of the air conditioner, scenes from five days ago came flooding back uncontrollably: Ling Jiuer was holding a beer bottle to educate everyone about the rust color of bronze artifacts, Gu Fanxing was using barbecue skewers to draw the floor plan of an ancient tomb on the sand, and Pei Luonan was leaning against the door of the Bentley, handing out hot cocoa, his gold-rimmed glasses reflecting the light from the campfire.

"Master Xiao, is it because you haven't trained enough?" Gu Fanxing replied immediately with a cartoon archaeologist holding a magnifying glass. "Boss Pei is treating me to dinner on Saturday. Can we meet again some other day?"

"Boss Pei? That old fox Pei Luonan?" Xiao Fangfei clenched the wrench so hard that the sharp metal edges hurt her palm. "What? You're enjoying the flowers and watching the meteor shower, and now you're having a candlelight dinner? You're putting women before friends!"

In the restoration room, Ling Jiuer's Luoyang shovel clanged against the base of the pottery figurine.

The dust mask slid down to her chin as she pulled out her phone and opened a voice chat. "That's right, that's right, what happened to the promise that 'archaeologists don't deserve love'? Now we're meeting several times a week, Fei'er, looks like we're going to be fed a lot of dog food!"

Gu Fanxing took a half step back and his lower back bumped into the iron cabinet piled with carbon-14 test reports.

Xiao Fangfei's laughter mixed with the engine noise exploded on the phone: "Even the most determined person can't stand the test of love, let alone the fierce attack of the peerless good man Pei Luonan. Who can resist such deep affection?"

"Alright!" Gu Fanxing's ears burned red as he stared at the unfinished bronze chimes on the restoration table. He suddenly clenched his phone tightly. "Let's take him to the headquarters. We'll save you two from accusing me of prioritizing men over friends."

The moment the message was sent, the group fell into a brief silence.

Xiao Fangfei replied with a robotic voice, "So inseparable? Let him have dinner with us. Aren't you afraid that Jiu'er and I will become your third wheel?"

Ling Jiuer also sent a video. As the camera wobbled, she raised her patina-stained gloves and made a "V" sign. "If Mr. Pei dares to come, I'll use my restoration tools to crack a walnut for him!"

Gu Fanxing bit her lower lip as she typed, her nails tapping rapidly on the screen. "But we agreed that you're not allowed to mention the archaeological sponsorship, and you're not allowed to force me to drink."

"Deal!" Xiao Fangfei's voice was wrapped in the sound of a motorcycle ignition. "This racer has planned the route personally, and I guarantee that President Pei will experience a 'roller coaster-like appointment'. Those who are late—" she deliberately dragged out the last word, "will have to wear Pei's couture suits and do the robot dance!"

Ling Jiuer turned to Gu Fanxing, holding the Luoyang shovel. "Xingxing, send Mr. Pei the location! I'm already imagining him screaming on the back seat of Sister Xiao's motorcycle!"

Gu Fanxing picked up her phone and sent Pei Luonan a message about having dinner with Xiao Fangfei and Ling Jiuer.

A minute later, just as she was about to put her phone down, it vibrated.

Pei Luonan's message popped up, with the roundabout way typical of capitalists: "Why not invite Kong Haoyu as well? The last time we watched Miss Xiao compete, he was the one who cheered for her the most enthusiastically, and his doting eyes overflowed the screen." The accompanying picture was a screenshot of assistant Kong Haoyu's schedule, in which the note "Watch Miss Xiao's competition in person" was circled three times in red pen.

"Your intention is ulterior motive?" Gu Fanxing typed quickly, and caught a glimpse of Ling Jiuer observing the bronze fragments with a magnifying glass.

Pei Luonan replied immediately: "How can I not help my own brother? It's a pity to waste such a good opportunity."

Gu Fanxing burst out laughing, startling the sparrows on the windowsill.

The crisp sound of a Luoyang shovel striking pottery shards came closer. Ling Jiuer came over, shaking her muddy gloves. "What are you talking about? You're laughing so hard that the bronze patterns are shaking."

"Boss Pei said he wanted to bring an assistant as a soldier because he was afraid we would force him to drink." Gu Fanxing quickly locked the screen, his ears burning.

Ling Jiuer narrowed her eyes, and her Luoyang shovel drew a crooked arc on the ground. "Capitalists have so many tricks. But it's not bad to have more people foot the bill—Sister Xiao will definitely be happy with that!"

Gu Fanxing bit her lower lip as she forwarded the location, deliberately skipping the name "Kong Haoyu." "Boss Pei said we need to add some external help and start a cultural collaboration."

When sending the message, he caught a glimpse of Ling Jiuer turning around to sort out the pottery fragments, and quietly forwarded Pei Luonan's screenshot to his own mailbox.

Xiao Fangfei's reply was accompanied by the roar of an engine: "Capitalists, have you come to your senses? You're welcome to bring money into the team! But you can only discuss gears, not contracts, or I'll burn an Oracle on President Pei with my exhaust pipe!"

Dusk drifted into the restoration room. Gu Fanxing looked at the sunset outside the window. Her cell phone vibrated again. She hurriedly picked it up and turned to look at it, afraid that Ling Jiuer would see it.

Pei Luonan sent a cake design: a bronze-patterned sugar plaque inserted between chocolate gears, with the note "Assistant Kong has ordered it."

She touched the tip of her burning ear and added in the group chat: "Boss Pei brought a work partner with him, don't scare everyone."

"Got it!" Xiao Fangfei replied instantly with a screenshot of a racing car dashboard, the speedometer pointing straight to 200km/h. "Attached is a tutorial on 'The Correct Way to Serve Tea for the President's Assistant'!"

Ling Jiuer sent a secretly filmed video, gesturing at the air with a bronze mask raised: "Let the assistant sit in the back seat, Sister Xiao! I want to watch the live broadcast of 'The Shock of Social Animals'!"

Gu Fanxing turned off his cell phone, and the bronze sacred tree on the repair table was glowing with warm light in the setting sun.

Pei Luonan's assist hidden behind the business proposal, Kong Haoyu's repeated viewing of the game videos and the applause, and Xiao Fangfei's unconscious expectations, all meshed quietly like gears.

Perhaps just like the wonderful collision between racing and archaeology, some wonderful stories are hidden in those untold secret tracks.

The cicada chirping outside the window had grown clearer at some point. Gu Fanxing picked up her glue-stained calendar and sketched five figures in the blank space: two archaeologists in helmets, a racer on a motorcycle, a suited CEO, and a young assistant holding a cake. Surrounded by gears and tripod patterns, these five silhouettes grew into a new totem in the twilight—a hidden racetrack about speed, civilization, and heartbeats, about to begin.