Mount Daqi.
Almost every rich kid in the city had shown up to watch the commotion.
The reason was that Zhu Liuyue of the Zhu family was actually going to race cars with the Zhao kid.
Everyone was stunned.
By the time Zhu Qi rushed over in a panic, the two of them were already sitting in their race cars.
Zhu Qi could only find Ye Yunche standing in the spectator area, his tone carrying a hint of blame: "Brother Yunche, what's going on? My cousin came to find you, and now it's turned into this?"
Ye Yunche had no idea how things had spiraled into this situation either.
He shrugged helplessly.
"I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn't listen."
The most important thing was what Zhu Liuyue had said at the time: "Zhao kid, if you want to bully someone who belongs to me, you'd better ask me first if I'll allow it."
Ye Yunche had been both annoyed and anxious at that moment, and shot back: "What do you mean 'belongs to you'? Zhu Liuyue, don't talk nonsense."
Zhu Liuyue had only turned her head and given him a faint glance.
"Ye Yunche, I'm about to become your sister-in-law. If he slaps your face, he slaps mine."
His thoughts snapped back to the present.
Right now, the temperature at the race track seemed to have gotten hotter.
The roar of the engines nearly drowned out the cheers from the spectator area.
Zhu Liuyue's fingers rested on the steering wheel, her fingertips idly rubbing against the leather.
She was driving a cement-gray Porsche 718 Cayman S.
One of Ye Yunche's "precious girls."
The body was low, mid-engined, with a low center of gravity.
The car hadn't undergone any flashy modifications.
It ran Michelin Cup2 semi-slick tires, with only upgraded suspension, rims, and a tuned four-cylinder engine.
The advantage of this setup was the ability to burst out over four hundred horsepower in a short span.
The Zhao kid's car was a BMW M4 Competition.
That car was a full size bigger than Zhu Liuyue's 718, and also considerably heavier.
It used an S58 inline-six engine, capable of unleashing five hundred and ten horsepower at full tilt.
The Zhao kid leaned against the driver's side window, one hand on the steering wheel, the other lazily gesturing at her.
He was brimming with confidence.
A smirk hung on his lips as he called out arrogantly: "Sister Liuyue, don't go crying later!"
The distance was too far for Zhu Liuyue to hear him clearly.
But she could roughly guess what he meant from his hand gesture and the cocky look on his face.
She just smiled faintly, clearly unconcerned.
Her gaze passed through the glass and settled on the winding asphalt road ahead.
The mountain road at Daqi was famously treacherous.
The ten-kilometer climb was packed with consecutive hairpin turns, blind corners, and a stretch of road hugging the edge of a cliff.
The road was barely wide enough for two cars to pass side by side.
Beyond the guardrails was a ravine dozens of meters deep.
Local drivers called this road "the meat grinder."
Every year, someone who thought they were invincible would send their car to the repair shop, or themselves to the hospital.
Zhu Liuyue withdrew her gaze and twisted the driving mode dial all the way to the right.
The exhaust note shifted from a low growl to a high-pitched scream.
She pressed her forehead against the steering wheel, closed her eyes for exactly one second, and when she opened them again—
Her entire demeanor had changed.
The Zhao kid rolled down his window, still provoking her:
"Sister Liuyue, if you're scared, you can give up right now. I won't make things hard for you since you're a girl."
He paused, then added smugly:
"Although—Ye Yunche will have to call me 'grandpa' a few extra times."
Zhu Liuyue turned her head to glance at him, her expression unchanged.
She said only two words:
"Buckle up."
At the starting line, the flagman raised the fluorescent green flag.
He circled it twice outside the window, then slashed it downward sharply.
The flag dropped, and the two cars shot off at almost the exact same moment.
Zhu Qi stared at the scene, completely dumbfounded, not even sure what he was muttering.
"Wow... so my cousin is this fierce after all."
Ye Yunche's eyes darkened slightly as well. He rubbed his chin and murmured: "Zhu Liuyue studied abroad too, didn't she? Did she do racing overseas as well?"
Unfortunately, no one was around to answer his question.
On the straight stretch after the start, the Zhao kid's car took the lead by half a car length, thanks to the M4's displacement advantage.
But Zhu Liuyue's 718 didn't bother fighting him for position on the straight.
Soon they reached the first hairpin turn.
The road suddenly narrowed from two lanes, and beyond the guardrail was a bottomless ravine.
The Zhao kid braked hard before the corner, the nose of his car dipping as the tail swung outward.
He quickly countered the steering.
The car scraped past the guardrail and sliced into the apex.
The moment he came out of the corner, he floored the throttle, carrying all the brash arrogance of youth—even a hint of recklessness, fearless of death.
Before he pulled away, he caught a glimpse of Zhu Liuyue's car far behind in his rearview mirror.
A smug smile spread across his face.
Did this young lady of the Zhu family really think racing was something anyone with a driver's license could handle?
Several drones were broadcasting the race in real time on a large screen.
One of Ye Yunche's buddies nudged him and joked: "Well, looks like your sister-in-law might lose. You ready to call the Zhao kid 'grandpa' tonight?"
Ye Yunche pressed his lips together, his gaze locked on that gray 718.
If he were the one driving, he was confident he could beat the Zhao kid.
But Zhu Liuyue...
Well, even if she lost, so what.
He just hoped she got down the mountain safely.
Otherwise, his older brother would definitely grab him by the ear and give him an earful.
Ye Yunche smiled mischievously and said: "Who said you have to admit defeat if you lose? Everyone knows I'm a rogue."
So he was actually planning to weasel his way out of it.
The Zhao kid's crew of rich boys all sneered and shot him looks of contempt.
But Zhu Qi was different.
His eyes were glued to the big screen, terrified that his cousin might be in any kind of danger.
On the track.
Zhu Liuyue's speed wasn't actually slow.
It's just that she was taking a different line.
Instead of braking hard on the outside and diving into the corner like the Zhao kid, she used a far more aggressive late-braking strategy.
She pushed her braking point several meters deeper.
She hit the brakes hard when closing in, then precisely released them just as the car approached its limit.
Letting the rear end slide naturally into the apex.
By the time she exited the corner, her steering wheel was already straight.
Throttle wide open, the gap between the two cars didn't widen in that moment—it shortened by a noticeable margin.
The Zhao kid glanced at his rearview mirror.
His previously relaxed expression turned grim.
Because that cement-gray 718 was already glued to his bumper, getting closer and closer.
He frowned hard and slammed the throttle without hesitation. The numbers on his dashboard jumped past triple digits.
The consecutive corners came rushing in after that—left, right, left.
A continuous barrage of twists, hair-raising to watch.
The Zhao kid's strategy was aggressive and reckless. Every entry into a corner made the tires scream against the asphalt, the body leaning at sharp angles.
He was undeniably fast, carrying that reckless, death-defying intensity.
But Zhu Liuyue's driving was entirely different.
Her 718 was steady through the corners.
Every movement of the steering wheel was precise, her transitions between brake and throttle fluid and seamless.
She didn't fight him for the apex, didn't challenge him on the straights.
She simply trailed about a meter behind his rear bumper, calm and unhurried.
