Cutting In and Crashing – Is This Your Driving School Instructor? 1

Chapter 1: The Driving School Instructor Who Moonlights as a Ride-Hailing Driver

September’s end, a hint of chill in the autumn breeze.

In the northern city of Quancheng, the temperature drop was as dramatic as a sudden breakup. Yesterday, Gu Yin was driving in a sleeveless shirt with the air conditioning on; today, he had to wear a long-sleeved shirt and a jacket, not even daring to open the car windows, bracing himself for the torrential downpour the unreliable weather forecast had predicted.

They say, “Each autumn rain brings a colder spell.”

They also say, “A frozen river is not the result of one cold day.”

But if Gu Yin were to describe the northern temperature drop, he’d only say:

“One autumn rain, one day, and the river freezes three feet deep!”

“Achoo~”

He sneezed, driving a classic BYD Qin ride-hailing car on Jing Shi Road during the evening rush hour. Looking at the endless stream of cars ahead, Gu Yin felt a surge of frustration.

A few sneezes seemed to have landed on the camera on his chest. He shook his head helplessly and pulled out a tissue from the box in his car to wipe it.

Police officers wear body cameras as recording devices for law enforcement; for ordinary people, body cameras are usually used by internet celebrities and stars for vlogs, or for covert filming.

Don’t get me wrong, Gu Yin didn’t have a penchant for covert filming. The reason he was wearing this camera was because he recently participated in a program.

It was a large-scale life observation variety show jointly produced by two entertainment giants, Zijie Jump and E Factory, called *Reconciling with Life*.

The program’s marketing was slick, promising to observe the various aspects of life in different professions and experience different lives.

In reality, it was simply a thinly veiled program that observed the extravagant daily lives of celebrities, internet celebrities, and idols—a low-brow show.

Yes, the program team did invite thousands of workers from various industries—cooks, security guards, delivery personnel… everything. But they only invited a dozen or so internet celebrities and other famous people…

But the combined traffic of all the workers from various industries was less than one ten-thousandth of the traffic generated by those internet celebrities and famous people! You get it!

There was nothing to be done…

People’s lives are already messy enough. When watching a show, they just want to relax and unwind. Maybe they can’t achieve the lifestyles of internet celebrities and famous people, but they don’t want their entertainment time poisoned by the harsh realities of life either.

If you can’t live that kind of life, at least let people fantasize and engage in wishful thinking!

Because of this…

Although Gu Yin, a driving school instructor who moonlights as a night-time ride-hailing driver, joined the show’s filming, the number of viewers in his live stream was in the single digits.

If someone clicked in, they would see 9 people online in the upper right corner, but if you looked closely, 6 out of those 9 people were bots!

The popular, high-traffic content is always not for us ordinary people…

“Tsk tsk…”

Gu Yin clicked his tongue without giving it much thought. The only reason he chose to participate in the show was because they said they would pay him 200 yuan a day plus car allowance. He didn’t expect to become famous through this show.

200 yuan, it’s not much, enough to buy ten kilograms of pork…

Forget it, pork prices have gone up, it’s enough to buy seven or eight kilograms of pork anyway.

Taking it home for his mother would make her happy for a long time.

It was probably because it was rush hour, so the platform pushed a wave of viewers related to his occupation to his stream. There were a few sporadic bullet comments in the live stream:

【Ride-hailing driver? What’s so interesting about that…】

【Ride-hailing cars will be replaced by automated vehicles soon. Who will still take ride-hailing cars?】

【Teaching driving at a driving school during the day and driving a ride-hailing car at night? Brother, your life is pretty tough!】

…

Gu Yin, who was driving, didn’t have time to pay attention to the comments in his live stream. On the one hand, it was easy to get points deducted for looking at your phone while driving; the city’s surveillance cameras are extremely strict, and he couldn’t afford to lose the meager money he earned because of the traffic police.

On the other hand…

It was rush hour, and cars were bumper to bumper, easily leading to someone cutting in line.

To be honest, the traffic jam was really bad!

Quancheng’s Jing Shi Road, with 24 lanes in both directions, is said to be wide enough to be an airplane runway. It’s a main road that runs from east to west across the entire city.

People from other provinces, especially those from Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, often express envy at our many wide lanes. But only locals know how unbelievably congested this road is!

At five or six o’clock, during the evening rush hour, it’s jammed from east to west!

For anyone who works outside of the city center, besides using the elevated road, there are very few who don’t use this road!

Quancheng, a provincial capital city that’s not a first-tier city, whose economic development lags behind that of Daocheng (Qingdao), and is famous for its “electric vehicles,” “bazirou” (a type of braised pork), “spring water”, and “traffic jams”, isn’t kidding around.

The worse the traffic jam…

The more likely people are to cause trouble!

For instance, Gu Yin was at a left-turn lane waiting for a red light when a black Tesla Model Y suddenly came up, signaling to cut into the lane.

Cutting in line…

It’s common.

Anyone who has experienced the morning or evening rush hour on Jing Shi Road knows that “cutting in line” is as easy as eating and drinking for some veteran drivers. When traffic is at a standstill, they immediately change lanes wherever there’s less congestion. Even if you honk your horn, they don’t care. Some of them react so slowly, that by the time you honk, they’ve already changed lanes, accelerated, and are far away, and you only see their taillights.

【What a lack of manners…】

A few viewers who had just joined the live stream through the push, couldn’t help but curse.

Actually, everyone who drives has experienced being cut off, and there are no laws or regulations to prevent it, so some people always take advantage of this.

I heard someone proposed a relevant law, but I don’t know if it will pass…

It was rush hour, and people were anxious to go home to their wives and children after a busy day. This road was particularly congested, and simply waiting at this intersection for the traffic light would take twenty minutes or so…

But if you cut in line, you can simply follow the straight green light and go to the front of the left-turn lane, saving a lot of time; you wouldn’t have to wait.

Therefore…

Some people who think they’re clever choose to cut in line!

This Tesla driver was clearly one of them. As he approached the solid line where he could no longer change lanes, Gu Yin was in a position where, because he had just started a bit slower due to wiping the camera lens, he was targeted by the Tesla driver.

Although it was a green light for a left turn, due to the heavy traffic, the car in front was not moving fast, so the Tesla couldn’t directly cut in, there was still some distance.

Initially, the few viewers in the live stream thought Gu Yin would give way, but unexpectedly, at this moment…

“Beep beep!!!”

A series of intense horn sounds echoed in the live stream.

“Vroom!”

Gu Yin first honked his horn, then stepped on the gas and directly cut in from the inside!

Clearly showing that he wouldn’t let the Tesla cut in line!

Very aggressive!

【Oh ho？】

Several viewers watching the live stream were pleasantly surprised. They didn’t expect this young, handsome ride-hailing driver to be so assertive!

Interesting!

Exciting!

Keep watching!

…

(End of chapter)

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