Chapter 1: It Starts with a Coincidence

A red Ferrari pulled out from an upscale neighborhood, took a left turn, and then drove straight onto the wrong side of the road, revving its engine as it charged forward, but just before it was about to collide with an oncoming sedan, the Ferrari finally adjusted its direction in time.

"Bang."

Eventually, the Ferrari crashed into a tree by the roadside. Watching the accident unfold before him, Yang Yi breathed a sigh of relief because if the Ferrari hadn't hit the tree, it would have hit him.

His own car was spared from being hit, and after the shock came joy. Yang Yi whistled, then couldn't help but lament, "Wow, wow, wow, a Ferrari 488, tsk tsk, there goes at least a hundred grand with that crash."

Although he had witnessed an unusual accident, Yang Yi's hands didn't stop moving as he tapped on his phone to collect the fare for the ride.

As a part-time rideshare driver, he had seen all sorts of car accidents, but it was the first time for Yang Yi to see a Ferrari crash into a tree right in front of him.

A woman got out of the Ferrari, and to describe her in the most direct and concise words, she was beautiful, and she also had long legs. Yang Yi estimated that the woman was at least 1.75 meters tall, and most importantly, the beauty was barefaced.

Beautiful women were not hard to find these days, but barefaced beauties were a rare find.

An eye-catching supercar, a costly minor crash, and a beautiful woman – these three elements combined caused congestion on the narrow road.

A minor accident and no injuries, but the real problem was the Ferrari, that had crashed into the tree blocking his way, so Yang Yi, having secured the best viewing angle, had every right to enjoy the sight of the beautiful woman.

She walked to the front of the car, observed the dented hood, and after a moment of contemplation, finally pulled out her phone.

After making an apologetic gesture towards Yang Yi, the woman started fiddling with her phone.

"That's right, after an accident, you should quickly call someone to handle it."

Muttering to himself, Yang Yi thought he could foresee the next steps, but as soon as his phone pinged with a notification, he instinctively checked it, then realized he had a very, very close customer waiting for a ride.

Taken aback for a moment, Yang Yi rolled down the window and poked his head out.

"Beauty, are you the one calling for a ride?"

"Did you accept the order?"

She also surveyed Yang Yi with a questioning look, mainly inspecting his car, and then promptly said, "Take me to the airport."

Yang Yi beckoned with a smile, "Get in."

"I have an urgent matter, I must get to the airport within forty minutes, can you make it?"

Yang Yi immediately decided to give up on this fare. He was in the western third ring of Beijing, and although the customer was a beauty, and even though she had just given him quite a show, there was no way he could make it to the airport within forty minutes.

It was four in the afternoon, and although it wasn't rush hour yet, given Beijing's traffic conditions, it was impossible to reach the airport in forty minutes no matter what.

Unless he sped, but speeding was too great a risk, and Yang Yi wasn't going to sacrifice the big picture for something small.

"Can't make it, sorry. You should ask someone else, please. Could you cancel the order?"

The beauty took another look at Yang Yi's car, and then confidently said, "Your BMW M3 is modified, do you like to race?"

Yang Yi laughed, "I do, but that's exactly why I can't risk getting my license suspended."

The woman wasted no time, "If you get me there on time, I'll give you five thousand yuan."

Yang Yi shook his head like a bobblehead and said apologetically, "You should not waste any more time. Either deal with the traffic accident quickly—it's still blocking my way—or find someone else as soon as possible."

"Ten thousand! I'll give you ten thousand if you make it on time!"

"Uh, well..."

Ten thousand yuan, quite a sum for the cash-strapped Yang Yi, whose already wavering heart was now thoroughly scrambled. Driving a modified BMW M3 as a taxi, if it wasn't for fun, it was definitely due to financial embarrassment, and unfortunately, Yang Yi fell into the latter category.

Upon examining the woman's Ferrari, which had hit the tree, he noticed that the damage to the hood was very light and would definitely not affect the driving.

And so, Yang Yi made up his mind.

"Drive your car, ten thousand yuan, any speeding is on you, deal or no deal?"

"Get in, let's go!"

The beauty was decisively prompt, but Yang Yi needed to park his car. Luckily, just behind him was a spot where he could park without obstructing traffic but would surely get ticketed; so he immediately backed his car into it.

A fine of two hundred for a profit of ten thousand was a deal worth taking.

Yang Yi got out of his car and sat in the driver's seat of the Ferrari.

By the time the beauty got into the car, Yang Yi had already buckled his seat belt and started the engine.

"Do you know how to use the gears..."

As the woman asked Yang Yi, he had already looked in the rearview mirror and started reversing the car out.

The V8 twin-turbo engine roared to life with a low growl, and the car began to move slowly.

"Can you go faster..."

The beauty really looked impatient, and when she couldn't help but urge Yang Yi, she almost bit her own tongue.

Although the 488 is a relatively low-end model among Ferraris, a supercar is still a supercar. With an acceleration that breaks 100 km/h in 3 seconds and 200 km/h in 8 seconds, under Yang Yi's heavy foot on the gas pedal, the talking beauty nearly bit her tongue.

Yang Yi daringly weaved through a gap between two cars, and then he casually said, "Let me make it clear first, given the current traffic, it will take an hour and a half to get to the airport at normal speed. Forty minutes is not impossible, but it will definitely involve serious speeding, and you'll definitely get a lot, a lot, a lot of tickets. If you get caught, your driver's license is definitely gone. I need to make these things clear beforehand."

"No problem."

The beauty appeared unconcerned.

Yang Yi suddenly swerved around a car and then he laughed, "As long as you know, so you won't blame me later. I should also thank you for giving me the opportunity to speed. Hold tight, I'm going to start now."

There were many cars, but Yang Yi, driving a powerful supercar, was always able to weave through traffic. After all, it wasn't rush hour yet. If traffic formed a long queue, then they really would have to switch to a plane.

The beauty had a lot on her mind. Yang Yi's driving was absolutely thrilling, but the lady just stared out the window without any reaction.

"What's the rush, going to the airport to see someone off?"

"Yes."

Upon hearing Yang Yi's flirtatious attempt, the beauty simply responded with a light hum.

"Boyfriend?"

"Sort of."

Yang Yi laughed, pleased with himself, "I guessed as much."

Taxi drivers tend to be chatty, and even though Yang Yi wasn't driving a taxi, he was nearly the same. Consequently, he couldn't escape the custom. Especially when the passenger was a beauty, a few words were a must, otherwise, how boring that would be.

"You just came back from abroad, right? The United Kingdom?"

The beauty finally turned to look at Yang Yi, focusing her gaze on him, and then expressed her surprise, "How did you know?"

Yang Yi was smug, "Observation. Just pay a little attention and you can tell. You drove out of the residential complex and immediately took the left lane, you didn't turn on the blinker but the windshield wipers moved. A normal reaction would be to hit the brakes, but hitting the brakes would have caused a collision with the oncoming car. You accelerated in time and completed the turn without crashing. It doesn't seem like you're a newbie, and if not, that means you must be used to driving right-hand drive cars, right?"

"Then why do you say I came from the UK? Japan also drives on the left."

Yang Yi's smile was one of pride.

"Your bag. Your bag is from a brand in West London that specializes in handmade bags. Actually, it's not even a brand, as it's just a single family-style shop, so while the bag is not cheap, it's not from a major brand. It happens that I recognize it. With these two points, it's enough to conclude you have come from the United Kingdom. Simple, right?"

"Then why do you assume I'm going to the airport to send someone off? Why couldn't it be that I'm picking someone up?"

Yang Yi laughed out loud, after deftly passing two cars with a risky S-maneuver, he said, "You don't look like you're rushing to catch a plane. If you were picking someone up, although being late is bad, you wouldn't be this desperate, right? So, it can only be seeing someone off. Generally, being this anxious and panicked is usually related to boyfriends. Hey, it was just a random guess. It's normal to guess wrong. Don't take it to heart, okay?"

The beauty just nodded and then fell silent, leaving Yang Yi, who had been waiting to be praised for his sharpness, somewhat disappointed.

"What's up? Had a falling-out with your boyfriend?"

Yang Yi was left feeling awkward, as the beauty ignored him.

Finding himself boring, Yang Yi finally shut up, but the chatterbox in him soon prevailed as he couldn't resist trying to say something. From the rearview mirror, he saw the beauty biting her lip, her face filled with vulnerability, as if she was about to cry at any moment, which made him feel it was his duty to enlighten the beauty.

"Miss, even though you are indeed very attractive, calling you 'beauty' all the time isn't really appropriate. It makes me sound frivolous. So, if you don't mind, could you tell me your name?"

The beauty still didn't respond, and Yang Yi felt his ego bruised. He then forced a smile and said, "My name is Yang Yi, not the overflowing passion of 'Yi' but the 'Yi' of 'once and forever'."

"I'm Xiao Ran, 'Ran' as in the fleeting passage of time."

"Great name! Sounds like it could be the protagonist's name in a story."

Yang Yi complimented her offhandedly, but it quashed his desire to continue the conversation.

"Just focus on driving. Also, I want to be quiet."

Yang Yi tactfully did not ask who 'Quiet' was.

The following period Yang Yi didn't speak, not because his ego was hurt or because he lost the desire to continue, but teasing a beauty who didn't want to talk was one of the great pleasures of life. Why give up so easily?

The reason he didn't talk was that there were too many cars on the road, and Yang Yi had to put all his attention on driving. After all, although traffic was slightly lighter on the road limited to 80 or 90 km/h, Yang Yi kept his speed at around 160 to 170 km/h. At this speed, any mishap could be deadly.

Finally, the airport was in sight, and Yang Yi slowed down.

"T3 terminal."

Xiao Ran finally spoke up.

Yang Yi cleared his throat, then said very naturally, "Excuse me, it's now 4:42 pm. It's been 37 minutes since I started driving, which certainly meets your requirement to get to the airport within 40 minutes. Please settle the fare now."

They were about to reach the terminal's drop-off point, and Yang Yi didn't want to wait in the car indefinitely. He had been seriously speeding on the way, and getting his car towed was no big deal, since Xiao Ran didn't seem to care. But if he got detained himself, that would be troublesome, so he needed to leave quickly.

Xiao Ran opened her purse, took a glance inside, and then she said with a very natural demeanor, "I didn't bring my wallet."