TF01 26

After Kou Jing finished speaking, Ying Ming instinctively furrowed his brows but didn’t say anything.

He simply nodded to show he understood, then carried his breakfast back to his room.

Shi Yi was still asleep. Ying Ming set the tray aside and walked over to the window, pulling it open. The sun looked strong, but the temperature wasn’t high. A gust of wind rushed into the room, making Ying Ming shiver.

The person on the bed must have felt it too. He stirred, then groggily poked his head out and glanced at Ying Ming. “What’s going on?”

“I brought your breakfast up. Get up and eat, then you can go back to sleep.”

Maybe it was something in Ying Ming’s tone, but even half-asleep, Shi Yi could tell something was up. He frowned and shifted higher up the bed. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Ying Ming poured himself a glass of water, leaned against the bed, and took a couple of sips. His gaze swept down to Chen Fengli outside.

But with the way he was acting, even if he had “nothing” written all over his face, Shi Yi wouldn’t buy it. He paused for a moment, then figured it out. “Kou Jing and the others are here?”

Before they left for dinner, Ying Ming hadn’t been like this. There weren’t many things in a godforsaken place like this that could put him in a mood.

Ying Ming glanced at him but didn’t respond, only nodding.

“They’re still pushing you to sign the contract?”

“No, not that.”

Setting his glass down, Ying Ming shoved both hands into his pockets and leaned back. “Kou Jing told me Dong Xiao signed it.”

A brief silence fell over the room.

Shi Yi raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.

The window was still open, and the wind kept pouring in. Shi Yi was only wearing a bathrobe, and it was getting to him. He pulled the blanket up tighter. “Close the window.”

Ying Ming shut the window with one hand, just in time to hear Shi Yi mutter behind him, “It’s not surprising that Dong Xiao signed.”

In situations like this, the ones most likely to compromise were always the victims.

They had already been through too much. Most of the time, they simply didn’t have the strength to hold out.

Ying Ming stared out the window. “Kou Jing said his face might never heal.”

“I figured it was bad at the time.”

Shi Yi had been there when it happened. He knew.

He glanced at Ying Ming. “So, what are you going to do next?”

Since things had already come to this, dragging it out any longer seemed pointless.

The man leaning against the window didn’t turn around. He only tugged at the corner of his lips. “Dong Xiao signed for himself. I’m not signing for myself too. It has nothing to do with him.”

He refused to sign that contract because it wasn’t even something worth his time.

Whatever choice Dong Xiao made, he was responsible for it. Likewise, Ying Ming not signing was his own decision.

He wasn’t particularly close to Dong Xiao, but in the end, they were in the same line of work. When Dong Xiao got hurt, Ying Ming had been upset because he knew full well that in situations like this, the ones who suffered the most were always the actors themselves.

The rules of this industry were set in stone. Those who shone the brightest on stage were often the most powerless behind the scenes. Most of the time, compromise was forced upon them, not a choice they got to make.

He refused to sign because he wasn’t willing to bow to these rules that everyone had accepted as normal.

If one day he ended up in a hospital bed, he’d want others in the same position to put up more of a fight instead of signing so damn easily.

Shi Yi didn’t seem surprised by his decision. He chuckled, shook his head, and said nothing.

After getting up, he changed his clothes, washed his face, and ate a couple of bites of his now-cold breakfast. Then, once he had packed up his things, he said, “Let’s go.”

At this pace, they had less than a day left before finishing the rally.

“If you’re not signing, then let’s get out of here first. We’ll deal with everything else after the race.”

Shi Yi wasn’t feeling any pressure. That contract meant nothing to him—just because Weisai was tough to handle didn’t mean he wasn’t up to the task.

Ying Ming grabbed his bag and followed Shi Yi out of the service area. Kou Jing’s car wasn’t parked far from theirs. As Shi Yi got behind the wheel, Kou Jing stepped out and glanced their way, probably having spotted them in the cafeteria.

But he didn’t come over.

They simply exchanged a look.

Kou Jing gestured a phone call, telling Ying Ming to contact him after reaching the finish line.

Thanks to the rain, they had rested for nearly half a day and a night. By the time they got back behind the wheel, that dizzy, teeth-clenching exhaustion from before was long gone.

Shi Yi was still the one driving. The final stretch of the course was the toughest part, and since Ying Ming hadn’t slept much the night before, he knew better than to get behind the wheel himself.

And Shi Yi was going all out.

Ying Ming had been in the passenger seat for the entire race, but he had never seen Shi Yi drive like this. When the car bounced violently, as if possessed, he instinctively grabbed the handle above the door. “Shi Yi, did you take the wrong meds?”

Shi Yi just chuckled. “It’s the final sprint. If we don’t drive like it, what was the point of wasting all these days taking it slow?”

As he spoke, he floored the gas pedal again. The car practically launched forward, only to land hard, kicking up dust and debris. Ying Ming was thrown sideways, his head smacking against the window. He spun around and glared at Shi Yi. “Fuck! Can you at least take it easy?”

They had waited out the rain at the rest stop, and naturally, so had the other racers. The storm had reset the playing field, bringing many competitors back to the same starting line. The GPS showed plenty of cars in their vicinity, but Shi Yi didn’t slow down, overtaking more than half of them as they went.

“Wang Yiqi races professionally, right?”

Shi Yi suddenly asked this without taking his eyes off the road.

Then he snorted. “Did you know I used to race professionally too?”

He wouldn’t have agreed to Wang Yiqi’s high-stakes street race if he hadn’t been confident in his skills.

Ying Ming raised an eyebrow, but before he could react, a sharp honk blared beside them. Another car roared past, barely missing them, leaving a trail of dust that coated half their vehicle.

Shi Yi’s so-called “final sprint” lasted over three hours.

Long enough for Ying Ming to start wondering if Shi Yi was going to burn himself out before they even reached the finish line.

The GPS showed fewer and fewer cars behind them. By the time they were nearing the closed-off section of the track, only two cars remained ahead.

One of them was very familiar.

It belonged to the IT company CEO who had helped them rescue Dong Xiao, and then never returned the favor.

Shi Yi only clenched his jaw and muttered through gritted teeth when he finally saw the taillights. “There you are…”

Then, their car trailed right behind as they entered the closed track.

Ying Ming had been in race cars before.

He’d ridden shotgun with Wang Yiqi plenty of times. That kind of extreme speed was exhilarating. Men were naturally drawn to fast cars.

But this was his first time experiencing a high-speed chase on a sealed track in an off-road vehicle.

The visibility alone felt completely different.

Race cars had low suspensions. Even though they moved incredibly fast, the narrow field of vision and lack of reference points made it hard to grasp just how fast they were going.

But a Jeep was another story entirely.

Shi Yi drove like everything in front of them was about to crash into the car. When he turned, the friction between the tires and the track was so intense that Ying Ming could feel it through the seat.

At this point, the race felt more like a movie stunt.

Shi Yi never once eased off the gas.

When he finally overtook the car in front, he let out a loud curse.

Two laps later, they crossed the finish line.

Getting out of the car, Shi Yi stared at the leaderboard with a grin that stayed on his face for a long time.

He turned around, grabbed Ying Ming, and said, “Don’t forget our bet.”

Ying Ming had already suspected something, but now it was clear what Shi Yi had been so fixated on. He frowned. “I wasn’t even the one driving that car. Even if you won, it has nothing to do with me. The bet is void.”

“You’ll see when the results come out.”

Shi Yi held him back from leaving. They waited as the electronic board displayed the rankings. When the top ten results were announced, Shi Yi was in second place, and Ying Ming was in third.

Since Dong Xiao’s accident had never been made public, no one knew about the car switch.

Ying Ming had registered with that car at the start of the race, so the final ranking was based on the vehicle, not the driver. Weisai wouldn’t expose the car swap and risk people questioning them, so they went along with it and gave third place to Ying Ming.

Seeing his name on the leaderboard, Ying Ming froze for a moment.

Then Shi Yi grinned smugly. “Ying Ming, you lost!”

For a split second, Ying Ming had the overwhelming urge to punch him.

With the rankings finalized, the race was officially over.

Some cars were still making their way back, so the event didn’t fully wrap up until past four in the afternoon. Ying Ming and Shi Yi were later assigned to a lounge at the event center to rest. Weisai’s representatives came to see them, including Chen Fengli, though Ke Jing wasn’t with them.

The group spent a long time congratulating them, acting as if they were old friends despite barely knowing each other.

Ying Ming smiled along but wisely kept his mouth shut.

Shi Yi handled all the small talk.

He knew exactly why these people were here, yet every time the conversation steered in that direction, he deliberately changed the subject. The moment they tried to bring it up, he cut them off. By the end of it, he even clapped Chen Fengli on the shoulder and said, “We’re going to be working together in the future. Doesn’t your company trust me? Racing is just for fun, no need to be so cautious. It’s all good.”

The contract was in the hands of the lawyer standing behind Chen Fengli, but Shi Yi didn’t even glance at it. He lounged on the sofa with his legs crossed, cracking sunflower seeds as he chatted about random nonsense.

His behavior was intentional.

From an actor’s perspective, Ying Ming could tell Shi Yi was putting on an act, and not a particularly convincing one. But in situations like this, the more obvious the performance, the more effective it was.

Shi Yi’s stance was clear. He had no intention of touching that contract. The people from Weisai picked up on it and wisely dropped the topic.

As for Ying Ming, he sat back and listened without saying a word. No one dragged him into the conversation, and he had no intention of joining in.

When the discussion shifted to dinner plans, Shi Yi glanced at Ying Ming. Only then did he finally stand up, stretching slightly. “I’ve got an event tonight. It was scheduled in advance, so I probably won’t be able to make it.”

Shi Yi frowned. “You’re such a buzzkill.”

Then he turned to the Weisai team with a half-hearted smile. “Guess we’ll call it off for today. No point if we’re missing people. Next time, I’ll organize something.”

Without waiting for a response, he gestured for Ying Ming to follow and started heading out.

Attending the awards ceremony wasn’t mandatory for them. At this point, sticking around would only make things awkward for everyone. Weisai couldn’t outright force him to sign the contract, but in the end, this was still a snub.

As expected, the people from Weisai hesitated for a moment before smiling and letting them go. They even escorted them all the way to the parking lot, placing the prizes and gifts into their car before sending them off.

Just before getting in the car, Shi Yi finally turned to Ying Ming. “Weisai didn’t even bother asking you about it?”

His refusal had been obvious, but their reaction still seemed too quick.

Ying Ming only smiled and glanced back at the noisy event center. “Ke Jing probably said something to them.”

Friendships weren’t just for show. Kou Jing was capable of handling something like this.

Shi Yi raised an eyebrow at that, then smirked. The two of them got in the car and drove off.