Dragons begin with courage

Lu Mingfei looked out the window. The world seemed to be submerged in murky milk, a vast expanse of white, churning. The rain wasn't falling; it was being hurled and pounded wildly by the sky. The dense raindrops shattered upon impact, creating a misty spray. The sky was as black as ink, occasionally a pale bolt of lightning would strike, briefly illuminating the twisted raindrops before being swallowed by the deeper darkness.

"Am I supposed to make my V12 engine crawl like a tortoise?" Chu Tianjiao muttered in the driver's seat, jerking the steering wheel and violently squeezing the car into the emergency lane.

"Damn it, it's completely blocked!" he cursed.

The traffic jam stemmed from a minor fender bender. Two drivers stood in the pouring rain, umbrellas swaying precariously, yelling at each other. The inclement weather slowed down the traffic police, further fueling their anger. Dozens of cars were frozen in place by this trivial incident. Several later drivers got out to try and mediate, but the pushing and shoving only made the situation more chaotic. More horns joined the cacophony of frustration.

Chu Zihang closed his eyes, wishing he could cover his ears. The whole world was raining, arguing, a chaotic and suffocating mess.

Chu Tianjiao impatiently slapped the steering wheel. "I have other things to do after dropping my son off..."

Chu Tianjiao leaned forward, his anxious gaze sweeping through the rain, suddenly fixing on a side road not far away—a fork in the road leading to the elevated highway, almost within reach, the road sign faintly visible behind a clump of wildly swaying willow branches. Strangely, the road was deserted; all the blocked cars seemed oblivious to it, preferring to wait there in vain.

A strange feeling swept through Chu Zihang's heart. It was as if only they had seen this road, or perhaps the other drivers "knew" that the road was impassable. His biology teacher had said that animals have an instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm; camels in the desert would rather be beaten to death than embark on a wrong path leading to a land without water.

"That road leads to the elevated highway, but it's probably closed now," Chu Tianjiao said, but his subordinates didn't hesitate. The Maybach's front end cut through the rain and turned straight into the deserted side road.

As the distance closed, the words "Elevated Road Entrance" on the road sign flashed by, but the number following it was completely blurred by a huge spray of rain that exploded on the windshield.

The car climbed up the approach bridge, and the empty elevated road stretched ahead like a gray python, silently burrowing into the white sea of ​​rain.

"The road is really blocked, what should we do if we go down?" Chu Zihang asked.

"If you can get up there, you can get down there too," Chu Tianjiao said nonchalantly. "At worst, I'll just offer the police a cigarette at the exit and say a few nice words."

"The broadcast said the wind speed on the elevated road is too high and we should take a detour." Chu Zihang felt uneasy as he listened to the howling wind outside the window.

"What's there to be afraid of in high winds? That's something small cars should be worried about." Chu Tianjiao patted the heavy steering wheel smugly. "Do you know how heavy a Maybach 62 is? 2.7 tons! Even a Force 12 gale couldn't move it! With your dad's skills and this car, it's as stable as a mountain. You can relax!"

The Maybach began to accelerate on the eerily empty elevated road, its tires slicing through the water and raising huge hydrofoils. Chu Tianjiao casually turned on the stereo, and the distant, desolate sound of Irish bagpipes flowed out—Altan's "Daily Growing."

As the music played, the father and son began to chat casually. Lu Mingfei, sitting in the back seat, tacitly "slept," his eyes closed, but his ears were firmly grasping every word of the conversation in front of him—every word about this campus legend was precious information to him.

"Want to watch the DVD? We have Shrek 2, a bootleg version." Perhaps because the previous topic didn't get a response, Chu Tianjiao changed the subject, his tone carrying a hint of ingratiation.

"No," Chu Zihang paused, his voice lowering, "This weekend... the three of us are going to see it together."

"The three of us." Even with his eyes closed, Lu Mingfei knew this referred to Chu Zihang, his radiant mother, and the "father" who drove the Mercedes. There was no place for the man in the driver's seat.

That was the ironclad rule set by "Dad". After the divorce, that successful man "deeply" realized the importance of family, so on his packed schedule, he meticulously marked out fixed "family time" every week, just like scheduling important meetings: shopping, watching movies, having a fine dinner, and routine concern for Chu Zihang's studies after dinner.

Not a day less, not a day more, as precise as a Swiss watch. He, a taciturn stepson, enjoys the same treatment as those high-level executives with annual salaries of millions, only because of his mother.

"Is the back seat hot?" Chu Tianjiao asked again, with a hint of cautious eagerness.

"Alright!" Chu Zihang suddenly became irritated. "Stop talking like a driver!"

"You're my father! Do you understand?!" He almost wanted to yell at Chu Tianjiao.

"What's so shameful about being your son's driver?" Chu Tianjiao shrugged, his skin as thick as a city wall, or as dull as a tortoise. "When we were kids, I even let you ride me like a horse."

Chu Zihang's heart clenched as if gripped by an invisible hand, and a bitter taste seeped from its cracks. He suddenly felt exhausted and didn't want to say anything. He leaned his head heavily against the cold leather chair back and looked out at the endless rain.

Lu Mingfei, who was "sound asleep" in the back seat, couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat. He remembered the distant days when he rode on his father's shoulders, when the ceiling of the small single room was high and his father's laughter was loud.

The fragmented images flashed back and forth in the two boys' minds, like an old silent film, the film reel yellowed, yet every frame etched with scorching heat.

Chu Tianjiao's unintentional remark shattered the peace that the two of them had been trying so hard to maintain.

My defenses have been breached...

Chu Zihang glanced at Lu Mingfei, who was sniffling slightly, out of the corner of his eye. He remembered this lower-grade student, who had injured a classmate in anger over a trivial matter: being mocked for not having parents, and finally bowing his head in apology and paying for medical expenses. It was such an insignificant incident that made Chu Zihang remember this lonely figure who was also "left behind" by something, and who was also out of place with his surroundings.

"Take good care of your mother." Silence lingered in the car for a moment, broken by Chu Tianjiao's deep voice. In the rearview mirror, his still handsome but weathered face remained expressionless.

"Yes. I'll keep an eye on her and make sure she drinks her milk before bed," Chu Zihang replied.

"Shilan High School is really damn impressive. I heard they got seventeen students into Tsinghua and Peking Universities this year. Son, keep it up! Don't embarrass your dad!" Chu Tianjiao changed the subject, trying to adopt the posture of a strict father concerned about his son's studies.

"Dad said... he's not taking the college entrance exam in China anymore, he's preparing to study abroad for his undergraduate degree. I'm taking the TOEFL next month," Chu Zihang said. Calling another man "Dad" in front of his biological father wasn't easy, even though he had practiced it countless times. Saying those words felt like a cold needle piercing him, and also piercing the driver's seat.

"What's so good about going abroad?" Chu Tianjiao immediately snorted, his tone carrying an outsider's self-righteous assessment. "China is developing so fast now, opportunities are everywhere. Listen to me, study finance here, and then you can... you can have your 'dad' pull some strings, it's much safer."

Chu Zihang didn't know how this man felt when he heard that "Dad." But at this moment, he only felt as if a needle was being pierced deeper and deeper into his chest, especially the words "Have your stepfather use his connections"—where is your dignity? Where is your dignity? Can you please stop being so servile, so...shameless?

"Shut up!" Chu Zihang growled through gritted teeth.

"What?" Chu Tianjiao didn't hear clearly.

"I told you to shut up!" The boy, like a lion cub that had been thoroughly enraged, bristled all his fur.

When has this man ever truly cared about me? He missed the promised set visits; he missed important parent-teacher meetings; and those earlier, more vague childhood promises about "forever" were long gone…

Just as the atmosphere inside the car was tense and on the verge of snapping, Lu Mingfei, who had been "sleeping" with his face turned towards the window, suddenly opened his eyes. He stared at the straight bridge that seemed to stretch endlessly ahead and disappear into the chaotic rain, and a cold sense of unease crept up his spine.

He turned his head, his voice not loud, but so clear it instantly took everyone's breath away:

"Um... excuse me. Don't you guys think this overpass... is a bit too long?"

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