"Your job is simple. Come here at 1: 30 every morning and drive me to Tsukiji fish market. When I go there to stock up, bring me back here with the goods. I'll sort them out and you'll deliver them to the designated location. That's the end of the day. Understand, kid?"
"Late at night?! Do I still have time to sleep after all this? "Zhang Heng frowned.
Takeda Tetsuya grinned, revealing a row of yellow teeth. "That depends on your delivery speed. Alright, do you have any other questions?"
"I have one last question."
"Hmm?"
"You'll help me get my driver's license, right?"
The smile on Takeda Tetsuya's face froze. "What did you just say? Say it again?!"
"I don't have a driver's license yet. If I want to deliver the goods for you, I'll have to get one first," Zhang Heng answered truthfully.
"…"
"You don't even have a driver's license, and you're asking me to learn how to race?!" Takeda Tetsuya was utterly defeated. "Brother, are you messing with me? You haven't even touched a steering wheel before. Why would you be so interested in an underground race? "
"I'm not interested in an underground race, but for some inconvenient reasons, I need to participate."
Takeda Tetsuya stared at Zhang Heng for a full minute before he finally said, "Then you'll have to pray that you're faster than a police car."
…
Tokyo in the middle of the night was very different from the daytime.
At 12 o 'clock, most people were already asleep. Only a few windows in the residential buildings near the street were still lit. Zhang Heng took the last train from the school. The carriage was a little empty, with only a few sleepy white-collar workers and a female PR with heavy makeup in tow.
He got off at the terminal and walked a long distance before finally arriving at the seafood store at the appointed time.
Takeda Tetsuya was unusually serious. Instead of sleeping upstairs, he squatted in the store and sorted out the various orders.
When he heard footsteps behind him, he did not look up. "Give me five more minutes," he said.
Five minutes later, he got up, picked up two freshly dead crabs, strung them up with a straw rope, and threw a bunch of keys into Zhang Heng's hand. "Follow me."
The two of them walked out of the seafood store and came to a small open-air parking lot not far away. Takeda Tetsuya shook the iron door, and a moment later, the lights in the duty room turned cold. A stooped old man put on his clothes as he walked over and unlocked the door.
Takeda Tetsuya smiled at the old man and handed the two dead crabs to him. He then pointed at Zhang Heng and said something.
The old man looked very happy as he took the dead crab, and the wrinkles on his face smoothed out. He glanced at Zhang Heng and nodded at him kindly.
"Mr. Crab, to be honest, I don't know what his real name is, but it doesn't matter, no one cares anyway. His wife died a long time ago, and after his son and daughter left the country, they never contacted him again. He found a job in the parking lot to support himself, and at least he has a place to stay. We're old friends, and I gave him the crab that just died and couldn't be sold, and he let me park here for free. Besides, I've already introduced you to him, so you can just come here to return the car."
"Which car is it?"
Zhang Heng's gaze swept across the parking lot, and finally landed on a khaki-colored van in the corner. He raised his eyebrows.
"Isn't it beautiful? Mitsubishi's second generation L300 (Delica), launched in 1982. It's Japan's first four-wheel drive van. " When it came to cars, Takeda Tetsuya was like a different person. He no longer looked like a dispirited uncle. He lit a cigarette and caressed the car. "A 4d56 diesel engine and the same chassis system as Pajero. It's more than enough to cope with harsh weather and bad road conditions. It gives a van the performance of an off-road vehicle …"
"A 1982 car? Are you sure it can still be driven? "Zhang Heng was doubtful.
"Don't worry, I found it in a scrapyard. I've already modified it from a four-wheel drive to a two-wheel drive. In terms of stability, the former is definitely better, but the four-wheel drive will increase the weight of the car. Too much stability isn't a good thing for the driver, and it consumes too much gas."
"… Most importantly, I fixed the cassette player in the car." Takeda Tetsuya opened the door to the front passenger seat, sat down, and picked up the cassette.
Seeing this, Zhang Heng had no choice but to climb into the driver's seat. When he went back in the morning, he did an emergency crash course on driving knowledge, mainly relying on the videos and diagrams he found online. He also downloaded a driving simulation game on his phone and played it all the way on the subway. Now … he still had no confidence in driving.
Zhang Heng inserted the car key that Takeda Tetsuya gave him into the keyhole, turning it three times before the ignition was ignited.
Takeda Tetsuya ignored him completely, waiting for the car to start. Then, he inserted Chuck and Asuka's cassette player into the cassette player. The next moment, the car braked abruptly less than five meters away, and Takeda Tetsuya's head hit the glove compartment in front of him.
Zhang Heng's expression did not change. "Sorry, I stepped on the wrong clutch."
As he spoke, he shifted the gear lever to fifth gear.
"…"
"Please let me know when you participate in a race. I'll help you buy insurance, and I'll fill in my name as the beneficiary. I'm so sorry." Takeda Tetsuya turned off the cassette player. "Start in first gear, step on the clutch with your left foot, and step on the accelerator with your right …"
Three minutes later, Zhang Heng drove the L300 out of the parking lot, and under Mr. Crab's watchful eyes, it slowly crashed into a fire hydrant on the side.
Fortunately, it was the wee hours of the morning, and there were no cars outside.
Zhang Heng steered the L300 onto the road, and when he looked at Takeda Tetsuya, he had already fastened his seatbelt.
The fifteen-minute drive took Zhang Heng twenty-five minutes, stalling the engine five times, running two red lights, and riding along the curb once. Fortunately, he finally arrived at his destination.
Tsukiji Fish Market was the largest fish market in Japan and the world. Not just in Tokyo, but fishermen from all over Japan would send their catch here to sell. At its peak, 3,200 tons of seafood were sold here every day, worth 3 billion yen. More than 60,000 wholesalers patronized the market every day, bidding for their favorite products. To them, this wasn't just a market, it was a battlefield.
Zhang Heng pulled the handbrake. Takeda Tetsuya wanted to say something, but after a few seconds, his mind was still blank. "Wait for me here," he said. He opened the door and hopped out, greeting a colleague he knew. The man took out a pack of cigarettes, and the two smoked as they made their way to the main entrance.
It was an hour later when Takeda Tetsuya returned, a forklift trailing behind him, carrying boxes of seafood. To his surprise, Zhang Heng did not use the time to catch up on his sleep. Instead, he continued to test drive the L300. Compared to his jerky driving skills when he first arrived, he had improved significantly.
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