Chapter 1: Night Drive
Jiangzhou is a city that is neither big nor small. It is not big because it is not on the same level as Kyoto and Magic City, and even has a big gap with Ice City and Liu City. It is not small because it is the provincial capital after all. Although it is not comparable to super first-tier cities in some aspects, the nightlife is just as colorful and rich.
The hustle and bustle of the day did not subside as the sun went down. When the moon rose to the south, people who had already eaten and drunk enough began to vent their anger. People who were used to the bright neon lights had long forgotten the old saying that they worked at sunrise and rested at sunset. The cars whizzing by on the street were mixed with the noise and screams of drunken men and women. The street lights and neon lights on the roadside reflected the faces of those who had not yet found their way home in a variety of colors, red, green, white...
Night, for some people, is the end of a day's hard work, but for others, it is just the beginning of a day's life. Of course, some people go to bed to enjoy life, while others just go to bed to live.
Tan Xuan parked the car on the side of the road, opened the door, sat in the car in the cool breeze of the summer night, fiddling with his phone, complaining that he shouldn't have taken the job of sending people to the train station. If it were somewhere else, he would have completed several orders by this time, but there are more wolves than meat at the train station, and it is difficult for him to get a job as an online car-hailing driver. If it weren't for the high-speed train that he could try his luck on later, he would have stopped waiting here.
At this time, near the exit of the train station, there are two distinct areas for taxis and online ride-hailing cars. One is a huge team, and the other is barely a team. Although they both make a living by soliciting passengers, they also have a contempt chain. Taxi drivers look down on online ride-hailing drivers. In the eyes of taxi drivers, online ride-hailing drivers are just a group of illegal taxi drivers with a different name. Online ride-hailing drivers look down on designated drivers, after all, they have their own cars, while those people are simply "making money out of nothing".
At 10:50, the exit started to be crowded with people. The drivers, who were originally working in groups of three or two, all rushed to the exit and instantly surrounded the exit. For a moment, the area around the exit became noisier than a vegetable market.
"Beauty, would you like a ride?"
"Where are you going, buddy?"
“Has anyone been to the East Market?”
…
Tan Xuan did not get off the car, still fiddling with his mobile phone. Every industry has its own rules, and he could not cross the line, otherwise he would easily be blocked here by a group of taxis that came "under the pretext of doing so". He could only wait for someone to place an order, or wait until the taxis were too busy to pick up a missed passenger.
The cars at the exit left one after another, but Tan Xuan still hadn't waited for the order. There were fewer and fewer people leaving the station, but there were still many cars on the roadside. Only a handful of people were left discussing the price with the drivers. Some empty cars had already started to leave. Tan Xuan knew that he had waited in vain.
"Master, are you driving this car?"
When Tan Xuan closed the car door and was about to move, someone knocked on the right window and asked.
Tan Xuan did not show any joy, he just rolled down the window, looked at the young girl bending over and looking inside the car and said, " Aren't ? Go ask them. This is an online-booked car."
"Where I'm going is far away and they won't go. Can you go?" the girl said pleadingly.
"Far? How far?" Tan Xuan asked. He had noticed this girl a long time ago. She had asked all the cars ahead of him one by one. He didn't expect that she would ask him now. He also knew that being picked out by a group of people would not be good. Although he didn't say it, he was somewhat reluctant in his heart.
"I'm going to Tongyu County." The girl said in a low voice with eyes full of desire.
"What? Tongyu County!" Tan Xuan shouted, then shook his head vigorously, "Sorry, I can't go either, you can ask someone else." As he said that, Tan Xuan began to close the car windows. Now he finally understood why she was refused a ride by so many people. It wasn't a far place.
"Don't..." The girl yelled, then directly stuffed her hands into the car to prevent the window from closing, and begged: "Brother, there are no other cars behind, I'm anxious to go home, please, okay? I can give double the price."
Tan Xuan looked at the girl again. She was young, pretty, and tall, but her face was full of worry. It was obvious that she was in a hurry, otherwise she wouldn't get off the train alone in the middle of the night and take a taxi out of the city in a hurry. Being concerned about others' needs, especially if it could make money, Tan Xuan did not refuse again.
"It's OK only to Tongyu County. I can't go any further. I'm not familiar with the roads at night."
"Just go to the county seat of Tongyu County." Before Tan Xuan could finish his words, the girl answered hastily, as if she was afraid that he would suddenly change his mind.
"Tongyu County is more than 100 kilometers away from Jiangzhou. We have to take the expressway first, then the national road, and finally a section of provincial road. It will cost about 300 yuan including the toll. We will probably have to return empty-handed in the middle of the night. You have to give me 500 yuan before I can go."
"Okay, okay, no problem." Without hesitation, the girl opened the small bag she was carrying and took out the money.
Tan Xuan didn't let the girl pay on the side of the road. He just leaned over and opened the car door. "Get in the car. Just pay when we get there."
"Okay, thank you." The girl was quite honest. She obediently put her backpack back and sat sideways on the passenger seat. Without Tan Xuan saying anything, she fastened her seat belt and Tan Xuan started the car immediately.
The car gradually moved away from the hustle and bustle, and also gradually moved away from the bright lights. Soon there were only cars on the roadside and no people were seen. Once we got on the ring road, it was like being plunged directly into darkness. Only a few cars were still driving along the road, announcing that they were not alone.
The car was very quiet. There were two people in the car, one driving and the other looking outside the car with lifeless eyes, occasionally looking down at his cell phone. They did not disturb each other, and the laughing voice of the host on the radio did not create any atmosphere. On the contrary, as time went on, the anxiety on the girl's face became more and more obvious.
Finally, Tan Xuan broke the silence in the car and asked, "You are in a hurry to go home so late, is there something urgent at home?"
The girl didn't say anything, just shook her head, lowered her head, turned on her phone and looked at it for a few seconds. There was a twinkle in the corner of her eyes, and then she quickly turned her head to look outside the car again.
It was pitch black outside the car, and there was nothing to see. Tan Xuan caught a glimpse of the girl looking at photos on her phone. Based on her state, he guessed something in his mind, so he made small talk: "You are very brave. Not only do you take the train alone, but you also take a taxi out of the city in the middle of the night, and you take a black taxi. Aren't you afraid of encountering bad guys?"
The girl turned her head and looked at Tan Xuan. After a moment of silence, she asked, "Are you a bad person?"
Without waiting for Tan Xuan to answer, the girl rolled her eyes at him, curled her lips, and waved her phone at him, "Do you think I'm stupid? I sent your license plate to my friends before I got in the car. Now we live in a society ruled by law. If something happens to me, you can't get away. If you want to do anything bad, you should consider the consequences first."
“Hehe…” Tan Xuan smiled and shook his head. He didn’t expect that the other party had been prepared for this. He deliberately attacked him, “Which bad guy would consider the consequences before doing bad things? If you know it’s illegal and don’t do it, is that still a bad guy? Tsk! Haven’t you seen the news? How many girls have lost contact for no reason, especially the pretty ones. If something really happens, even if the case is solved, you are still a victim. Even if justice is served, you won’t be able to see it…”
"Ah..." The girl was stunned. When she looked at Tan Xuan again, her eyes were obviously panicked and her body leaned quietly towards the car door.
Seeing that the girl was scared, Tan Xuan felt much better and decided to stop while he was ahead.
"You don't have to worry today. Bad guys won't tell you these things. Bad guys are usually greedy for money or lustful for women. You... you are quite safe."
"you……"
Tan Xuan's words of comfort were really touching. What did he mean by "safe"? Did he not even have the qualifications to be targeted by bad guys? This was too insulting. The angry girl gritted her teeth and glared at Tan Xuan fiercely. Unfortunately, the light in the car was limited, and Tan Xuan didn't see it at all, otherwise the murderous look would definitely make Tan Xuan cut into pieces.
Tan Xuan knew that his words had offended others, so he smiled and explained, "I didn't mean anything else. It's just that there aren't many cars along the way, and having someone to talk to can help relieve the boredom a bit."
"You're sick!" the girl muttered softly, then secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Shocked and annoyed, the girl calmed down a lot. Although she was still anxious, the worry on her face had been washed away. The girl counted out 500 yuan from her bag and handed it to Tan Xuan, still saying in a bad tone: "Here, I'll give you the fare. Don't beat around the bush. You'll worry later that I don't have money to give you."
"That's not right. I'm not urging you. Why are you in such a hurry?" Although he said that, Tan Xuan was not slow at all and did not give the girl a chance to be polite.
The car was quiet again, but it was different from the quiet just now. This time Tan Xuan was driving, and the girl looked at Tan Xuan without any hesitation, as if she wanted to save some face in this way.
Tan Xuan felt very uncomfortable being stared at, especially at this late hour, with someone staring at him with wide eyes. Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore, so he turned his head and glared at the girl, then shouted with a straight face, "What are you looking at?"
"What's wrong with looking? If you're afraid, don't go out." Although the man next to her was not very handsome, he was very young, with an angular face and delicate features. He didn't look like someone with bad intentions, so the girl felt more confident.
"Are you calling out to me? Believe it or not, if I take a little loss on you, you will regret it for the rest of your life." Tan Xuan pretended to be a little fierce.
"You dare! Just try it." The girl did not give in at all. She even puffed out her chest provocatively, further showing off her not-so-obvious figure under the restraint of the seat belt.
"Tsk, I won't fall for your trick." Tan Xuan didn't dare to look at him any more and immediately pretended to drive seriously.
Tan Xuan was scared, and the girl decided to quit while she was ahead. She leaned back in her seat, staring blankly at the little light in front of the car and the deflated face reflected in the glass.
After a moment of silence, the girl turned to look at Tan Xuan again, "You look young, why don't you find a proper job instead of being a black car driver?"
Tan Xuan was very dissatisfied with the title of illegal taxi driver. He corrected her, "Miss, let me formally declare to you that I am an online taxi driver registered on a formal platform, not an illegal taxi driver."
"You still book a ride online?" The girl snorted disdainfully. "I didn't order your car online when I took it, and you still say it's a formal platform?"
"This..." Tan Xuan was unable to refute.
"You accepted cash just now, right? Does your platform support cash payment?" The girl continued to mock, "If you drive an illegal taxi, then drive an illegal taxi. Why are you hiding it? I can't report you. At least you are much better than those taxi drivers. They actually refused to take me, and they looked disgusted. If I wasn't in a hurry to go home, I would have reported them."
Accustomed to bluffing, Tan Xuan smiled and said nothing.
The girl then asked, "Why did I ask for so many taxis at the train station? At first, the drivers were very enthusiastic, but when they heard that I was going to Tongyu, they all refused to take the taxi? I am also willing to pay more for the fare, so why are taxi drivers afraid of the long distance?"
"Which driver is afraid of the long journey? It's not like he doesn't want to get paid." Tan Xuan replied.
The girl was even more puzzled, "Then why don't they go? Are they stupid if they don't want to make money? Or are they afraid of making too much money and getting burned?"
Tan Xuan snorted and laughed, and replied: "They are afraid that the road is too long and they can't go back."
The girl was confused and teased, "What do you mean? How can I not go back? Does the taxi include food and lodging? Let me make it clear to you first, I only pay for the toll, I don't care about anything else."
Tan Xuan didn't care about the girl's tone and said slowly, "There were three serious accidents on the provincial road to Tongyu within a month. They all happened at night, and they all broke through the roadside guardrail and fell into the river in one place."
"Three car accidents!" The girl gasped when she heard this and asked, "It's serious. How serious is it?"
"Eight people died, no, nine to be exact, including a pregnant woman. There was no survivor in the three car accidents." Tan Xuan continued to explain casually, "This matter was spread as a weird thing by people. It was said that the water ghosts there were catching substitutes. The rumors were very detailed, so no one was willing to drive there at night. No one wanted to be the fourth accident..."
"Uh..." The girl didn't continue speaking. She seemed frightened by Tan Xuan's words. Her face turned pale and her body trembled slightly.
"What's wrong? Are you scared?" Tan Xuan asked deliberately, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.
The girl shook her head and said unconvincingly, "No."
"Then why are you trembling?" Tan Xuan continued to ask.
"I feel sorry for those people. Life is so fragile. It can be gone in an instant. You must pay attention to driving safety, especially at night. It is not only responsible for yourself, but also for your family." The girl explained irrelevantly and immediately changed the subject, "Then how dare you go? Others are afraid, but aren't you afraid?"
Tan Xuan chuckled, "What are you afraid of? If you have money, you'd be a fool not to make it. Besides, I can make double the money for each order. I don't mind having too much money."
"You're only interested in making money, not your life." The girl didn't care that Tan Xuan retorted to her with her words. She crossed her arms in front of her. It seemed that the air conditioner in the car was turned on too high, which made her feel a little cold, and she also had the urge to go to the bathroom.
Tan Xuan noticed the girl's nervousness, smiled slightly, and comforted her: "Don't worry, I'll take your money and make sure you get home safely. Young man, I can't brag about other abilities, but I have a lot of drive."
"Tsk! Stop pretending to be a hero. It's your duty to get me to the destination safely." The girl retorted to Tan Xuan, then adjusted her sitting position and shifted her gaze to the window.
"Yeah, it's just people scaring people, there's no need to be scared."
"Stop talking and just concentrate on driving."
The car became quiet again. Not only did the two people in the car stop talking, but even the radio in the car became intermittent due to signal problems, adding a hint of weirdness to the depressing atmosphere, and was finally shut up by Tan Xuan.
After getting off the highway, it was just as Tan Xuan said. There were no other vehicles on the road. Only their car was driving alone on the road. After getting off the national highway and turning into the provincial highway, there were no more cars and even few signboards on the road.
The night road was not completely dark. The bright full moon in the sky made the flat ground look grey and shadowy. Everything was blurry but not quite real. Only the beam of light in front of the car was the brightest.
Both of them looked straight ahead at the road ahead, because the road conditions became very bad after getting off the national highway, with potholes in some places, not even as smooth as the sandy road, so they became very cautious. After driving for a while, the road conditions gradually improved, and they were still the only ones on the two-way road, so the speed was inadvertently increased a lot, and the two people in the car also felt much more relaxed.
"How do you park a car in front? Slow down!" The girl suddenly pointed ahead and reminded.
Tan Xuan seemed not to have heard the girl's words and did not slow down at all, but there was a barely perceptible sneer on his face.
"Look, the driver is waving at us. The driver is a woman. The car probably broke down. It's the middle of the night... brake!" Seeing that Tan Xuan did not respond, the girl became anxious and her whispered reminder turned into loud shouting. But Tan Xuan was like a deaf person. He still looked the same and did not move his hands.
"Are you stupid? Stop the car quickly, or you're going to hit someone..." the girl shouted loudly. Seeing that Tan Xuan had a blank expression on his face and still had no intention of slowing down, the car and the person in front of her were getting closer and closer. She was so anxious that she didn't care about anything else and reached out to grab the steering wheel.
Tan Xuan raised his right hand and pushed the girl back. At the same time, he held the steering wheel with his left hand and stepped on the accelerator. Instead of slowing down, he accelerated and rushed forward.
"No..." The girl screamed heartbreakingly, and then pulled Tan Xuan like crazy, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break free from Tan Xuan's right hand. The distance between the car under her and the person in the car in front was getting closer and closer, and it was in front of her in an instant, and she could even see the person's face.
"Ah..." The girl screamed and closed her eyes in despair, unable to bear to watch this tragedy happen. After a moment, she opened her eyes again, waved her fist and hit Tan Xuan, crying loudly: "You hit someone, didn't you see it? You murderer, stop the car quickly and see how the person is doing, maybe he can still be saved..."
"Are you sick?" Tan Xuan finally spoke, then pushed away the girl who was about to press on him, and stepped on the brakes at the same time. After a series of violent braking, the car finally stopped.
The girl didn't say anything, she unbuckled her seatbelt, opened the door, got out of the car and ran to the back. But she soon stopped beside the car in shock, because under the dim moonlight, there were no cars on the road, let alone people, no matter alive, injured, or dead, not even a shadow. There was only a strangely quiet road, clean and tidy, not like the scene after a tragedy, only the guardrail on the side of the road seemed a little crooked. Looking to the side, there was a silent river on the side of the road. The river surface was like a bright white ribbon under the moonlight, with no end at both ends, and the roadside was the widest here, like a knot.
The girl was startled and remembered the car accidents that Tan Xuan mentioned. She panicked and ran back to the car and quickly closed the door.
"What happened just now?" The girl was extremely panicked and asked Tan Xuan stutteringly while staring at him.
Tan Xuan glared at the girl and said unhappily, "What's going on? I wanted to ask you what's wrong with you. Why are you yelling and grabbing my steering wheel when you're asleep?"
The girl was stunned and asked in confusion: "You said I fell asleep?"
"If you weren't asleep, then what's the point of you being crazy? You said there was a car and someone. Look, where did the car come from? Where did the person come from? You also said I hit someone and I had to turn the other way. There's only one road and I'll fall into the river if I turn the corner. If you don't want to live, don't hurt me. I'm still young and have a lot of good times waiting for me."
"But I wasn't asleep. I really saw a woman trying to stop a car. She was wearing a white dress and her belly was a little bulging. I also saw her expression very clearly when she was hit by you. She was so scared that her face turned pale and her eyes were..."
The girl suddenly covered her mouth with her hands, then looked at Tan Xuan tremblingly, and said tremblingly: "I...we...are not...encountering...a ghost? Didn't you say...those car accidents were...the car fell into the river, and there was a pregnant woman, and here..."
"Let's drive away quickly." The girl grabbed Tan Xuan's arm and begged. It was not advisable to stay here for long. She was completely scared.
"There's no ghost. You're the only one who's so scared." Tan Xuan pushed the girl's hand away. Instead of driving away, he opened the car door and got out.
"Where are you going?" The girl panicked when she saw Tan Xuan getting off the bus. It was just the two of them, and she didn't want to be too far away from him, but she didn't dare to get off the bus. She didn't see anything when she got off the bus just now, and now she was even more afraid of suddenly seeing the woman after getting off the bus.
Fortunately, Tan Xuan didn't go too far away from the car, he just took out a cigarette and started smoking.
"I wasn't scared to death by the ghost, I was almost killed by you, let me smoke a cigarette to calm down."
The girl didn't say anything, but just looked at Tan Xuan with a panicked face. Now listening to Tan Xuan talking, she felt a lot closer to him. No matter whether it was good or bad, it was always better to have someone talking than to be silent. Of course, it would be even better if he could drive away from here now.
Tan Xuan put his hand on the roof of the car and faced the road behind him. He glanced at the water beside him. A sneer appeared on his face. Without smoking the cigarette in his hand, he flicked the whole cigarette onto the ground behind the car, then got back into the car and drove away.
