Shijia Bridge was right above the road. For safety, Li Zhiyuan stood by the roadside under the bridge, glancing southward to see if the car had arrived, and then back at Uncle Qin standing beside him.
Uncle Qin, noticing Li Zhiyuan’s gaze resting on him ceaselessly, lowered his head and asked, "Do you have something you want to ask?"
"Uncle, was the movie tonight any good?"
"Mhm, it was good. It’s a pity, though, you and Alii were sitting too far off to the side, you probably couldn’t see very clearly."
"I saw it fine, it was good too."
After that, Li Zhiyuan stopped talking and no longer looked at the person beside him.
Uncle Qin stood up straight; he thought the boy would ask about that matter, but he did not.
This kid always seemed to know his boundaries, which easily endeared him to others.
However, upon closer thought, it seemed that every time a critical moment came, he would break those boundaries without hesitation, just like last time and this time.
A black sedan slowed down beside the bridge, the car window rolled down, and a woman stuck her head out from inside, her hair permed into wavy curls:
"Hello, are you Li Zhiyuan?"
"Mr. Luo asked me to pick you up. Get in."
The car turned around and came to a stop.
Li Zhiyuan and Uncle Qin got into the car, both sitting in the back seat.
To save time, the car drove fast, hence sometimes it had to swerve the steering wheel hurriedly or slam on the brakes to dodge pedal bikes and tricycles without lights.
After sitting for a while, Li Zhiyuan started feeling unbearable. He was getting carsick.
The situation was urgent and he was too embarrassed to ask the driver to slow down, so he could only fiddle with the small handle on the car door beside him, trying to open the window a bit for some air.
As he cranked, the window didn’t budge; after a few more tries, the small handle was cranked off the door by his own hand.
Li Zhiyuan had no choice but to fit the small handle back on, leaning back on the car seat somewhat helplessly.
At that moment, Uncle Qin leaned over and extended his hand, pressing his palm against the window.
Along with a harsh scratching noise, the window was forcibly pulled down.
Fresh air blew in from outside, and Li Zhiyuan breathed a sigh of relief.
However, he was still a bit worried that the driver would be angry, but the driver seemed too focused on driving to notice the changes in the back.
Li Zhiyuan tried to rotate the small handle in the opposite direction and managed to raise the window back up, which finally set his mind at ease.
After helping open the window, Uncle Qin closed his eyes to rest, appearing to be asleep.
Li Zhiyuan also turned slightly to rest his head against the back of the seat, hoping to nap.
Yet for some reason, the car seemed to vibrate abnormally loudly as it drove, especially with his ears pressed against the seat, he could actually hear the continuous sound of the wind.
At first, Li Zhiyuan thought it was because the window was open, letting the airflow in, so he rolled it up a bit more, leaving just a small crack.
But when he settled back into that position, the wind sound in his ears remained unchanged.
Li Zhiyuan couldn’t help but wonder: How can this Japanese car be as thin as paper?
He curiously pressed his hand against the back of the seat, and then, an indentation was made, and it didn’t bounce back.
Li Zhiyuan silently sat up straight, deciding not to sleep and just endure until the hospital.
His gaze turned to the window; there were no streetlights on the rural road, so there was nothing to see outside in the pitch darkness. However, every time they passed through a town, he could see the shops and a slightly denser crowd.
It’s just that the lights in the shops were strikingly bright.
In a daze, it seemed as if the brightness was not shining in through the window but as if the whole car was glowing.
But this wasn’t the city center; the evening shops in the towns didn’t have dense neon lights.
The car left the rural roads and entered the urban area, where the road conditions improved, but there were more cars on the road.
These cars seemed to have no regard for rules, cutting across lanes and changing lanes without signaling, which infuriated the driver, who constantly honked the horn, muttering curses under his breath.
Authentic Nantong dialect, Li Zhiyuan thought to himself. Even his grandfather, Li Weihan, didn’t speak the local language as authentically.
After a difficult journey, finally, the People’s Hospital building was visible ahead.
However, at this moment, Li Zhiyuan noticed the driver staring at him and Uncle Qin through the rearview mirror, and upon catching Li Zhiyuan’s gaze, they started a staring contest through the mirror.
This puzzled Li Zhiyuan because the driver’s gaze seemed never to return to the front.
Yet by looking through the front windshield, he could see that the car they were in had gone into the oncoming lane, with a truck heading straight for them.
"Watch out for the car!" Li Zhiyuan shouted out loud.
But the driver still didn’t move his gaze away from the mirror, didn’t hit the brakes, and even sped up.
At this rate, they were about to collide with the truck head-on.
Uncle Qin opened his eyes; he lifted his feet and stomped down below.
Li Zhiyuan’s eyes widened, he saw Uncle Qin’s feet pierce through the bottom of the car!
Immediately after, Uncle Qin stretched out his hand to grab the neck of the boy beside him, and Li Zhiyuan felt himself being lifted up.
The sensation was strange because you were in a car, but when lifted, there seemed to be a disconnection in motion between you and the car. What came next defied the physical constants in his mind.
The seat, rear windshield, and rear compartment all smashed past above him.
The body felt the force, a bit painful, but not severe.
In the next moment, Li Zhiyuan found himself being held by Uncle Qin on the road, and what just drove past was a small sedan with a punctured rear seat.