Substitute Driver's Notes

Chapter 39 A Twist Caused by a Cell Phone

Li Wei's heart raced with excitement. He regretted not eating breakfast; otherwise, he would have gotten a whole red card.

This is all we have now, and it doesn't feel quite perfect.

After thinking for a moment, he took out five yuan from his pocket and handed it to Wang Fuyou along with ninety-five yuan: "Give me a big red banknote, it'll feel safer to carry around."

"Alright, now you know the joy of splitting money! See if you're still thinking about food all the time. If you think money is good, next time we'll buy some pancakes and stir-fried pork with pickled vegetables. That'll save us several hundred more a month. When we get home, we can take our wives and kids out to eat. That's the happiest thing."

Li Wei nodded solemnly: "You can arrange it, I trust you."

Seeing the cash made him feel much more at ease. When they went to eat, Li Wei followed him into the kitchen and asked which dishes were cheap, discussing with Wang Fuyou how to eat in the most economical way.

Having had experience before, Li Wei actively ran around, directing the loaders to cover the truck with tarpaulins.

Boss Liu asked Wang Fuyou in surprise, "Did you give Little Li a shot of adrenaline? He was so listless last time, how come he's so enthusiastic this time?"

"We've gotten used to the rhythm, so neither of us is tired."

"I think you're a tired fool! He'll get a beating when he realizes what's happened; you've let him drive on the highway plenty of times, haven't you?"

"Look at what you're saying, I'm training him, improving Brother Wei's skills."

Boss Liu chuckled and gave Wang Fuyou a knowing look that said he already knew everything.

Having learned his lesson, Li Wei went straight to sleep as soon as he left the logistics company, patiently waiting for Wang Fuyou to call him to change shifts.

It wasn't until they crossed the provincial border that Wang Fuyou returned with hot water and called for a shift change. Li Wei rubbed his eyes, got up, and followed procedure by walking around the car once.

Perhaps it was because I got enough sleep this time, or perhaps I learned from the previous experience, but I walked along calmly and even smoked much less.

When they were still dozens of kilometers away from the toll station, Wang Fuyou suddenly got up and asked Li Wei to go to the Xinyi service area to relieve him.

The Xinyi service area is 29 kilometers from the Jiangsu-Shandong provincial border. The early shift change made Li Wei a little puzzled.

"Didn't you say there were ambushes at all six service areas along this route, and we couldn't go in?"

"Oh! That's good. Their buffet is very affordable, and many drivers stop to eat there, so they don't have to rely on the small amount of money from ambushing trucks anymore."

"Is this a good deal? Shall we grab a bite?"

"We'll talk about it later. One day we'll eat less at noon and come over for a big meal in the evening."

That makes sense. Buffets are all-you-can-eat; you can eat less or nothing at lunchtime so you can eat your fill in the evening.

Li Wei obediently went to the service area to change shifts, but after lying down, he realized that the reason was far-fetched.

Since the meal was so affordable, why didn't you mention it last time? There might be something going on here.

After lying down, I listened to the engine and tried my best to stay awake, but I didn't expect that staying up late in the second half of the night was not something I could control at all.

After barely managing to stay awake for more than ten minutes, Li Wei fell into a deep sleep.

This time, instead of entering Zhu Changfei's company, the truck was parked on the side of the road, and Wang Fuyou woke him up.

"Brother Wei, we don't need to load any goods today. This hundred yuan is the money we saved on food. Fifty yuan each. It won't look good if others see it when we get there. You can keep it."

"Huh? Only fifty? How come it's so little?"

"You do the math. When we set off, we paid for two days' worth of food each day, and we even got some food from Boss Liu. Didn't that save us a lot? There's no way we've gotten such good deals on this trip."

"Sure! Even a small grasshopper is still meat, fifty yuan isn't a small amount."

Li Wei happily accepted the money, placing it together with the several bills in his pocket that had been soaked with sweat multiple times. He sat in the passenger seat, watching Wang Fuyou drive the truck towards the logistics company.

Soon we arrived at the logistics compound, where the loaders directed the trucks to back into the shed.

Once the car came to a stop, Wang Fuyou ignored the loaders as they untied the tarpaulin, told Li Wei to get out with his personal belongings, locked the car, and headed straight for Zhu Changfei's office.

Nothing seemed to have changed at Zhu Changfei's place. Secretary Hu was still clinging to his boss, and didn't try to hide when the two of them came in. Zhu Changfei straightened up and invited them to sit down and have some tea.

Wang Fuyou hurriedly greeted him, handed over the freight manifest, and then asked about his mobile phone.

Hu Lijing stood up with a charming laugh, walked to the desk with her long, slender white legs, took out a black plastic bag from the drawer, and handed it to Wang Fuyou.

"Oh dear! This trip was really tough. Without it, I feel like I've just broken up with someone."

As he spoke, Wang Fuyou opened the bag, his face instantly going blank and his hands trembling.

Li Wei curiously leaned over to take a look. Inside the plastic bag were a pile of broken cell phone fragments. He heard Zhu Changfei's voice: "This phone fell on the ground and was run over by your car. I don't know anything about high-tech, so I just swept it up and put it in the bag. Xiao Wang, take this to a phone repair shop to get it fixed. It's cheaper than buying another one."

That old bastard, judging from the shape of these fragments, they weren't run over by a large truck. Even an empty truck would need to weigh sixteen or seventeen tons to run over them, and the fragments wouldn't be this big.

This must have been because Wang Fuyou helped Boss Liu with the payment for the goods, and then Liu happened to drop the phone and pick it up, running it over with his small truck as revenge for Wang Fuyou's meddling.

Such a big boss, yet so petty and narrow-minded. He's two-faced, saying one thing to your face and another behind your back. What kind of skill is it to take your anger out on someone else's phone? The worst part is that he can still laugh and spout nonsense. I've never heard of anyone's phone being repaired after being run over by a car.

Even he himself could understand it; Wang Fuyou was as cunning as a monkey, so there was no way he wouldn't understand.

Li Wei patted Wang Fuyou on the shoulder: "My condolences! Based on my years of repair experience, your broken phone is beyond repair. You can just buy another one."

It took Wang Fuyou a while to come to his senses. He looked at Zhu Changfei and nodded, "Thank you, Boss Zhu. I'll find someone to see if it can be fixed. Oh, the car keys are here. After you unload the car, could you please give Boss Gao a call? We're going home now."

Zhu Changfei chuckled: "It's nothing, it's always like this! No need to thank me."

"Brother Wei, let's go home and rest for the night. Tomorrow morning we'll go straight to that parking lot we went to last time. Make sure you bring a change of clothes this time."

"Oh!" Hu Lijing suddenly exclaimed, her face flushed, and pointed at Wang Fuyou, asking, "Old Wang, you call him Brother Wei?"

Wang Fuyou, his face tense, could no longer hold back and sneered, "It's just something he says casually. This 'Wei' isn't the same as the 'Wei' in the 'Wei.' It seems Old Zhu has used that 'Wei' quite a bit! No wonder there's such a big age gap, yet Secretary Hu is still living such a comfortable life."

Zhu Changfei tapped the coffee table: "What are you saying? Don't tarnish Secretary Hu's reputation."

"Hehe, I was just kidding. Secretary Hu won't mind, will she? Of course, the boss and the female secretary are usually completely innocent. There are all sorts of rumors in society, like 'an old cow eating young grass' or 'a pig's head and a fox'—these are all rumors. The innocent are innocent!"

"Waaaaah," Hu Lijing sobbed, covering her face. "It's all your fault. I'm too ashamed to face anyone."

Zhu Changfei angrily said, "You surnamed Wang, it seems you don't want the shipping fee anymore, do you? Hurry up and apologize to Secretary Hu."

Wang Fuyou sneered, "What do I care about the freight cost? If Gao Youcai dares to shortchange me by even a penny, I'll report him to the labor bureau. Your freight costs are a matter between the two of you. Threatening me with something that isn't mine? Boss Zhu, are you senile?"