Maverick Chef - Chapter 21：He San Qing Joins the Race

After he hung up the phone, Gao Yuan just stared at the dishes blankly. It was not clear what he was thinking about.

Ding Ding changed the topic to try and relieve his moodiness, and she asked softly, “Are you still working? How’s the company? Is there anyone that is bullying you?”

Gao Yuan was startled, he did not answer her questions. Instead, he turned towards Bai Lu. “Let’s discuss something. If I invest the money for a new restaurant, you have to work there once a week, and I will split 30% of the profits with you.”

“Not doing it.”

“Is it because you know what level of the restaurant it will be, so you are not doing it? Are you mad?” Gao Yuan shouted.

“Doesn’t matter what the level is, I will still not work in it, because I am a very busy man.”

“Why are you still alive?” Gao Yuan put down his chopsticks. “Do you have cigarettes?”

After hearing this, Bai Lu made a discovery. “You don’t smoke?”

Ding Ding said, “Do feminine cigarettes count?”

“Yes.”

Ding Ding went to retrieve the cigarettes. Gao Yuan lit it up but all the smoke went into his stomach, and it came out of his nose. Just like that, he savored the endless struggle of each puff without rest.

After 20 minutes, the phone rang again. Gao Yuan said to Ding Ding, “I will take off first. You can go back by yourself later.”

Ding Ding said yes. Bai Lu pondered and asked, “What are you going to do?”

“I will go and be the Saint, to try and mediate between the mortals so that they would not do something foolish!” Gao Yuan said in a bad mood.

Bai Lu pondered again. “I would like to be a witness.”

“Will you stop that already.” Gao Yuan left the apartment. Bai Lu notified Zhang Sha Sha and followed him out the door.

The two of them got into Gao Yuan’s Black Santana and drove out of the residential area. Then they stopped and parked outside the Great 5-Star Restaurant.

Currently, the Great 5-Star restaurant was locked behind a shutter door. Outside of the entrance were remnants of the construction materials left behind from the renovation.

They waited for 10 minutes before two sports cars appeared from the opening of the road. One of them was He San Qing while the other was Si Ma Zhi.

The cars braked to a halt. Three people came out of the vehicles, subtracting He San Qing and Si Ma Zhi away, there was still a robust young man. His name was Liu Ya Long, nicknamed Duckie.

As they got out of the vehicles, Gao Yuan also stepped out. He was unhappy the moment he saw the deflated expression on Duckie’s face, and he said immediately, “Listen to me. Let us just put this matter to rest. It’s only $5 million. Just pretend that you lost it all by trading stocks.”

“It’s not just pretending; I have also lost money in stocks. That’s why I gambled with such high stakes,” Duckie said.

“So are you still thinking of gambling?”

“Otherwise, what can I do? I have to repay the money to Xiao San.”

“Xiao San’s money is not urgent. Can you please not gamble anymore?” It was rare that Gao Yuan had the patience to console somebody.

Duckie hesitated and hesitated. “I refuse to accept it. Yesterday we almost won.” What he meant was that he still wanted to gamble.

Bai Lu listened for a long time, he finally interjected. “You were competing with Yu Shan Yang?”

“No, I was gambling with Yu Shan Yang.” Duckie did not know who this person was, but since he was sitting in Gao Yuan’s vehicle, he must be someone of importance.

Bai Lu made a squishing sound by smacking his lips together. Ever since he left the desert, he never had the chance to drive. When he was in the desert, the long desert highway was his playground. He could accelerate freely as fast as he desired, it was awesome.

All the while, Gao Yuan did not inquire about the exact details that happened during the race. But after hearing what he said, he asked, “Who was the racer?”

“The race was Big Thumb.”

“Big Thumb?” Gao Yuan paused for an instant. “In the past, I would wager with him as well, even if it was 10 tickets. But now, you do not stand a chance against him. Not even Lin Zi would be able to turn the tide of the war in your favor; Just let this incident go.”

“That guy was kicked out from the club. I think that his skills are just average.” Duckie protested.

“Average? An average racer would not even be allowed to join the club, so how would he be kicked out? Speaking of which, you only know that he was kicked out, but do you know what the exact reason for that was? He was too reckless of a driver, what kind of clubs would dare to use such a racer?” Gao Yuan re-emphasized. “Let it go.”

“Five tickets man, how could we just let it go like this?” Duckie remained unconvinced. Realistically speaking, no one in the world would be convinced.

With regards to the history between these Young Masters, Bai Lu was uninterested. The only reason he came with Gao Yuan today was because of Yu Shan Yang. If the two parties escalated into a physical fight, given the opportunity, Bai Lu would be more than willing to contribute a few kicks and punches to that douchebag.

As he imagined this hypothetical situation, a line of sports cars drove into the street with a booming sound. There were eight vehicles in total.

After they stopped, more than 10 men and women stepped out of the vehicles. The ones that were leading the way were the same two people that they met yesterday in the restaurant.

Yesterday, they met the three Young Masters: Chai Ding An, Yu Shan Yang, and Ou Yang.

Yu Shan Yang and Ou Yang walked over. “Are we competing?”

Bai Lu saw them, and he thought, “This bunch of guys are pretty amazing. They managed to locate this place. Could it be that they employed the mysterious secret service agents?”

Gao Yuan stared coldly towards the two of them. Without saying a word, he opened the door and got into the vehicle. He thought that the two of them did not have any right to speak with him.

But from what Yu Shan Yang observed, he thought that Gao Yuan was just afraid of him. He couldn’t hold back his smile. After seeing his ‘terrified manner,’ he wondered why 7th Brother Chai was so fearful of this guy.

Ou Yang was slightly more cautious than Yu Shan Yang. He did not want to offend Gao Yuan, that was why he only spoke to Duckie. “We could give you a chance to recoup your losses. How about betting two tickets per race?”

Duckie had no money, so he had no right to make a decision. He San Qing was fuming mad, he angrily stared down Yu Shan Yang. On the other hand, Si Ma Zhi was giggling at the two of them. It seemed as though he was not involved in the incident at all.

“You still wouldn’t gamble for two tickets? How about if we make it five tickets? As long as you win, you will recover everything that you lost yesterday.” Yu Shan Yang continued to instigate.

During all these discussions, Bai Lu was wrecking his brains. He thought, “How did this bunch of people manage to locate this place?” There were many questions raised that needed to be answered. If they could find Gao Yuan, then they might be able to locate Sha Sha, so he asked Gao Yuan, “How did they know that you were here?”

Gao Yuan looked at Duckie without saying anything.

Bai Lu has finally understood. It must be Duckie that told them, but he was not entirely sure about this. He got out of the car and asked Duckie, “Did you tell them, that we were here?”

Duckie blushed a little, and he replied. “Yes, I wanted to redeem the car so that we could continue the competition. I asked them to wait for me, but they also asked me where I was, so I just conveniently let out the fact.”

He thought, “Oh, now I can rest easy. As long as it was not some secret spy with remarkable ability, then everything is alright.” Bai Lu retreated into the vehicle.

However, he was seen by Yu Shan Yang, so how could he just let it go? The moment he recalled that this fellow was just a little chef, but yet he had the companionship of a little lolita girl, it just made him uncomfortable. What’s even more uncomfortable to him was the fact that this little chef embarrassed him in front of the rest, so how could he not exact his revenge on Bai Lu?

Thus, he walked over to the other side of the Black Santana. He bent over and smiled to Bai Lu, and he said, “Do you still remember what happened yesterday?”

“Who are you? Stop talking to me.” Bai Lu rolled up the window, and he spoke with Gao Yuan. “Everything else is pretty cool, but this window, in particular, is very tiring.”

“What do you know? This is called a unique taste.” Gao Yuan embraced every single opportunity to educate Bai Lu.

“Get out!” Yu Shan Yang ordered.

Bai Lu scratched his head, and then he rolled the windows down again. “What’s up? Rolling the windows up and down is pretty tiring, do you know that?”

Yu Shan Yang was about to explode, but it was still Gao Yuan that was sitting next to the little chef, so Ou Yang had to intervene. He pouted his lips towards Duckie, and then he whispered something to Yu Shan Yang.

Yu Shan Yang was consoled, but he decided to follow up this little victory and press the attack, to take care of them individually. He smiled and walked in front of Duckie. “Have you finished the discussion? Are you still competing or not? If not, we are leaving right now.”

Duckie had no money, so he couldn’t answer the question.

Seeing how arrogant Yu Shan Yang was behaving, He San Qing could not endure any longer. “Who are you trying to intimidate? All you did was hire another racer to compete for you, so why are you acting so arrogant? Do you even dare to compete personally?”

“So what would you do if I said yes? Do you dare to compete with me? You and me, one ticket per race.”

“Sure. The same old rules?” After Yu Shan Yang said these words, he looked at Gao Yuan. In his heart, he still did not submit to his reputation, but since Chai Ding An did not dare to provoke him and even Ou Yang wanted him to be careful, he decided to let him off temporarily and changed his focus to the people around him, attacking them one by one.

“Deal. See you at midnight.” Yu Shan Yang finished his declaration, then he turned around and left. After a while, the line of sports cars drove away boomingly.

“You are competing?” Gao Yuan frowned and asked.

“We lost to Big Thumb, but are we really losing to that lecherous idiot?” He San Qing said.

“Fine, let’s compete then. Do you have cash?” Gao Yuan sighed.

“Lu Zi, lend us some money. It’s already so late. We are lazy to go back home.”

“Sure, how much do you need?”

“Just take one bag will do.” The enormous canvas bag was worth more than $2 million.

Bai Lu agreed. They drove back home to get the money inside He San Qing’s car. But He San Qing changed his mind. “Take two bags instead. $5 million, I will pay it back tomorrow.”

Bai Lu did not say anything. He just went upstairs to get the money. Then he came back down, and they went back to meet up with Gao Yuan.

There were three cars in total. They drove to the 2nd Ring, which was their familiar territory.

Now, it was only 9:30 pm. There were still many vehicles on the road so He San Qing did not dare to accelerate fully. They spent more than 30 minutes to finish one lap.

Gao Yuan was tired of driving in circles, he asked Bai Lu, “Do you know how to drive?”

“Yes.”

“Then I will let you drive so that I can rest a while.” They stopped at the bus stop. Then they swapped driver seats.

The non-drivers will never be able to experience the kind of thrill associated with the freedom of driving. When Bai Lu settled into the car, he stepped on the accelerator pedal, and the Santana rushed forward with a whooshing sound. Bai Lu exclaimed. “Exhilarating!” Following which, he lightly depressed the brakes, to control the speed of the vehicle.

When he said that it was exhilarating, he was referring solely to the accelerating power of the vehicle. It was much more exhilarating compared to driving the gigantic FAW Jiefang Truck. While he drove, he asked Gao Yuan, “What are the specifications?”

Gao Yuan lazily replied. “Even if I said it, you probably wouldn’t understand.”

“Am I being insulted again?” Looking at the dashboard, Bai Lu asked, “Can this go up to 300kmph?”

“Yes.”

“If this car went up to 300? The chassis would probably fall off from the vibration.”

“No, it won’t fall off.”

He tried for quite a while, but because there were too many vehicles, he could not get up to speed. So Bai Lu drove to Dongzhimen and stopped the car there. This location was also the gathering point of the race, which started from here and extended one entire round around the 2nd Ring. The fastest person to drive back here is the winner.

The entrance of the relief road that entered the 2nd Ring was cluttered by more than 10 sports cars. They were the team members of the Race King Club. With colors of red, yellow, white, silver and more, there were all sorts of vehicles with various colors.

Before today, Bai Lu had never seen so many branded cars in his life. He rolled down the windows and carefully examined each one of their vehicles. “What’s this car? How about this? This one looks nice, what’s the brand?”

Against the barrage of questions, Gao Yuan completely ignored him. He just closed his eyes and rested.

As time slowly went by, there were now lesser vehicles on the road so late at night. The sports cars rallied onto the tracks, and they went for a test-drive to assess the road condition. He San Qing placed the money inside Si Ma Zhi’s car. Then he went for a last practice round. Afterward, he snoozed for a while, awaiting the start of the race.

He San Qing drove an Aston Martin, with a top speed of around 300kmph. If he used this car for the race, the speed would not be sufficient. But since his opponent was just Yu Shan Yang, that lecherous hooligan, so He San Qing had the confidence to beat him.

Another half an hour went by, and the clock struck twelve. Yu Shan Yang finally arrived.

Hearing the thunderous roar of the engines, He San Qing opened his eyes. He turned around and looked. And he thought, “Shit, it’s a scam.” Yu Shan Yang secretly swapped his vehicle. He was now driving a Lamborghini.

Now it was impossible for He San Qing to back out of the race. He was never a professional racer to begin with, and the reason for this competition with Yu Shan Yang was because they held a grudge against each other. Who would have thought that this fellow would swap out his car.

At the same time, a tall and muscular bloke walked out. He signaled He San Qing and Yu Shan Yang to come over, and then he explained some simple rules. Afterward, the both of them handed over $1 million each. The race was about to commence.