Chapter 44: Old Driver, Take Me (Seeking follow-up reading, seeking monthly tickets!)

Although Wei Ming was tall, he was very flexible. Under Lao Lao Lao Wei's guidance since childhood, he had mastered the survival skill of climbing trees.

He felt that if there was this event in the Olympics, he would definitely be a strong contender for the silver medal.

As for why not the gold medal.

Wasn't there Lao Lao Lao Wei?

Wei Ming climbed to the position of the little white cat in a few strokes, while the senior was responsible for comforting the philosophy master, Mr. Feng Youlan, below. He was really

There are quite a few stray cats at Peking University, especially in Yannan Garden, where there is plenty of space, few people, and a good ecosystem. The old professors are mostly cat lovers who often provide food, so this is the place where stray cats like to congregate the most.

Mr. Feng is considered a leader among these cat-loving professors. He keeps cats himself, and his daughter, the writer Zong Pu, has written no shortage of essays rambling about the stories between her old father and his cats.

"You're called Meier, right? You really are a cat that lives up to your name~" Its fur is long and smooth; it should be a lion cat, and a little female one at that, but not with odd-colored eyes.

Wei Ming had already pulled down his sleeves. Although the kitten was cute, its little claws were quite sharp in its panic.

"Don't be afraid, Uncle will be gentle~"

He soothed the kitten in a gentle voice, then unexpectedly grabbed the back of its neck, yanked it off the tree trunk in one go, and cradled it in his arms with one arm.

Mr. Feng watched with his heart in his mouth, afraid that Meier would get hurt, and afraid that the young man would fall.

After controlling the cat, Wei Ming performed a one-handed descent from the tree, moving extremely fast, like an ape-man.

Old Mr. Feng took Meier from Wei Ming's hands and thanked him repeatedly: "Many thanks, young man. Come, come, come inside and have a drink of water."

Wei Ming smiled and politely declined, adding, "Old sir, cats are better at climbing trees than people, and this tree isn't high. Next time you encounter something like this, don't be too anxious; it will learn to come down on its own."

"I know other cats can climb trees, but Meier is a bit clumsy and hasn't mastered this skill yet."

"Meow~" Meier stretched its white, tender legs comfortably in its owner's arms.

Wei Ming: Flirty cat!

Old Feng added, "And my Meier is good-looking, it's too attractive to other cats. Just now, a stray cat was chasing it, wanting to make friends, which is what scared it into climbing the tree."

"Ah, was there a stray cat just now?" the senior asked.

"Yes, a yellow-haired one."

Seeing how much the old gentleman doted on his precious cat, Wei Ming didn't want to discourage him; this was purely the mindset of an old father.

The beautiful little cat in your eyes is not as good-looking as those flashy tortoiseshells or calicos in the eyes of a tomcat; those are the real beauties among cats.

After leaving Yannan Garden, the senior looked Wei Ming over: "Ma Xiaowei, you're very good at climbing trees?"

"Let's just say, I've spent the night in a tree."

"Why spend the night in a tree?"

"When I was a kid, I ate the meat prepared for the New Year at home. If I hadn't spent the night in a tree, my dad would have had to use the meat on my butt for the New Year."

"Hahaha, you," the senior was overjoyed, "Well, there's a rather dangerous task here, are you willing to give it a try?"

"What task?"

The senior led him to the front of the main dining hall, where there was a persimmon grove. Around October is the season when persimmons ripen. The ones lower down had already been picked clean by the students, and now only some of the ones high up remained.

Because persimmons fall off automatically after ripening, sometimes they hit people, and if they don't hit people, they land on the ground in a mushy mess, which is also hard to deal with.

Wei Ming looked at the height of the trees. Just this?

"Get me a pair of shears, and call a few more people to hold cloth bags underneath. You definitely can't handle it alone."

Their family had a persimmon tree, much taller than this one. Since he was ten, the job of picking persimmons had been his.

Soon, Wei Ming took the shears and climbed up a tree. People who climb trees often have a good sense of how much weight a tree can bear.

He moved around the main trunk, cutting what he could, and for what he couldn't reach, he simply snapped the branches off and threw the whole branch down. Anyway, he wouldn't be able to reach it next year, so what was the use of keeping it?

After one tree, Wei Ming climbed down and up again, shifting his position. Sure enough, it took several people to keep up with his speed of cutting persimmons.

As a school security staff member, Wei Ming had the bonus of being a writer, was handsome, and was the nephew of Section Chief Wei. The leaders treated him differently, and the female students at Beida—and some male students—admired him greatly. It was impossible for no one among his colleagues to make snide remarks.

But seeing him today, he was the first to charge ahead, unafraid of danger or fatigue. A kind of simple and upright nature of a farm boy made those who had made snide remarks about Wei Ming feel deeply ashamed.

Just then, Wei Pingan happened to pass by and saw Wei Ming in the tree, which made him think of his childhood years in the countryside. This Little Ming really looked just like Brother Jiefang.

Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey, how is Little Ming like him? He's clearly much better than him. Can't compare; how can the light of a firefly compete with the brilliance of the bright moon!

When Wei Ming climbed down from the tree, Wei Pingan walked over.

"Section Chief Wei." Wei Ming was very disciplined; he used titles while working.

"Hmm." Wei Pingan came over and first affirmed everyone's work results.

The senior immediately said, "The key is Ma Xiaowei; how could us old bones be that agile?"

Wei Pingan then took two newspapers from behind his back. "These are yesterday's and today's Wenhui Daily. I only remembered this when I saw the young people in the office reading your novel. This counts as your first published novel, it's worth treasuring."

Then he added, "I'll send you the third one tomorrow after I finish reading it."

The implication was that he was also following the serial.

Wei Ming: Those who follow serials are all angels!

Seeing that Wei Pingan was about to leave, Wei Ming hurriedly grabbed a branch with a dozen bright red persimmons hanging from it.

"Section Chief Wei, we have too many here and can't finish them, why don't you take some."

Wei Pingan didn't stand on ceremony with him and carried the branch back to his office.

Wei Ming got off work at four in the afternoon. They had gathered several baskets of persimmons, and the senior let Wei Ming, the biggest contributor, decide how to distribute them.

Wei Ming only took two branches laden with fruit for himself, and let everyone else distribute the rest to colleagues at various posts.

The senior said, "Alright, I'll tell them later that it was a treat from Wei Ming, haha."

The persimmons were still a bit hard, so after Wei Ming went back, he put them at the South Gate to sun them.

At this time, Liu Zhenyun hadn't finished class yet, Biaozi was still on guard duty, and Mei Wenhua had gone to the figure skating rink for the National Games to wipe the ice—he was particularly good at wiping, after all.

!

So he carried a bag, first returned the five books to the library, and then borrowed a few more.

Then he found the school bus fleet. Besides cars, there were many buses here.

Nowadays, Beida has a branch campus in Changping, and teachers have to be driven there for classes every day. Wang Xiaoping, whom he met today, and her future husband, the famous director Zheng Xiaolong, were studying there.

Someone outside was doing maintenance on a vehicle. Wei Ming asked a question and soon found Liu Shi.

Liu Wenjie happened to have just returned from a trip and was drinking tea and reading the newspaper.

"Oh, Ma Xiaowei, when did you get back?"

"Liu Shi, I just arrived," Wei Ming said as he started digging into his bag, "I didn't fail the mission. The wine has been brought back. I reckon you've been craving this for a long time, so I brought it to you right after getting off work."

"Oh my, no rush, no rush." Liu Shi took it and discovered that Wei Ming had also stuffed the five yuan back.

"Hey, why are you giving the money back to me? This isn't right, and it's five yuan at that."

Wei Ming laughed, "They only sell it for fifteen, so naturally five yuan is left over."

Knowing that Wei Ming didn't care about this bit of trouble money, Liu Shi accepted it with a smile.

"Ma Xiaowei, how about I treat you to a meal today? Any restaurant you want, just say the word." Liu Shi said generously; how much could a meal cost?

Wei Ming waved his hand: "Liu Shi, let's skip the meal. The girls from the Chinese department are lining up to treat me to dinner, but I do have something I'd like to ask for your help with."

As he spoke, Wei Ming pulled out the Da Qianmen cigarettes he had bought earlier and handed one to Liu Shi. These cigarettes were 39 cents a pack and were considered a bit high-end.

In his previous life, he smoked because there were too many bitter things, but in this life, he didn't want to touch it, though it was useful for socializing.

Liu Shi breathed a sigh of relief, took the cigarette, and lit it. Having a request was fine; he was always afraid of owing others favors he couldn't repay, which always weighed on his mind.

Then Wei Ming brought up the matter of wanting to get a driver's license.

Liu Shi exhaled a puff of smoke: "Leave it to me. You don't need to worry about anything, just wait for me to call you."

Then he explained the process of getting a driver's license to Wei Ming.

First, you need an introduction letter from your unit to register at the Vehicle Management Office.

Then, you need an old driver from your unit with more than three years of driving experience to act as your coach, sign, and stamp the unit's approval. Liu Shi was the obvious choice for this old driver.

Then you'll be issued two booklets, one "Traffic Rules" and one "Mechanical Knowledge," to study on your own. After half a year, you apply for the exam and take the written test.

After passing that, you talk about the road test. You can't get this license in under a year.

Hearing Old Liu put it this way, it was quite troublesome, and in this day and age, there were no driving schools. Without an old driver like Liu Shi to guide him, he really couldn't pull it off.

Liu Shi patted Wei Ming on the shoulder and said, "After you get your license, are you planning to come to our school bus fleet?"

"I'm just afraid you wouldn't take me," Wei Ming laughed.

"Talent like you is fought over everywhere. Let me tell you, our school bus fleet really gets to see the big picture. Do you know who I just drove the principal to pick up?"

"Who?"

"Oh, actually no one special, just a Vice President, from the United States~"

Liu Shi calmly exhaled two smoke rings. The smoke rings rose slowly; one formed the character "Niu" (Awesome) and the other formed the letter "b"~

………………

(ps: One formed the character "Yue" and the other formed the character "Piao"~)

(End of chapter)