Chapter 327 — Making Trouble out of Nothing
Years of Heartflutter · Page 3 of 5
Xu Qianhang had been afraid Yang Ce would not follow. When he saw Yang Shuoxuan turn in and pull up behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief—once inside, everything would be easy.
Catching sight of a traffic officer on duty not far ahead, Xu Qianhang thought to himself: just you wait, you're in for trouble in a moment.
Even so, Xu Qianhang's heart still fluttered a little. His license plate really was a Songjiang official-vehicle plate, and for the occasional violation it truly worked well—ordinarily, a traffic officer would not pull him over.
But driving the wrong way down a one-way street with traffic this heavy was a first for Xu Qianhang. So long as official plates were not abused too flagrantly, officers generally let them be; yet with an open, blatant wrong-way run like this, Xu Qianhang did not know whether they would still extend the courtesy. He reckoned they probably would.
Xu Qianhang's wrong-way driving drew a chorus of complaints from the cars traveling legally. The one-way stretch was narrow to begin with—only three lanes—and by driving against traffic he claimed one for himself; they were already jammed, and now it was worse than ever.
Xu Qianhang paid them no mind. To show off, he switched on the police loudspeaker mounted on his car and began blaring it; and it worked—the oncoming cars obligingly cleared a lane for him.
"What he's doing isn't right," Lin Yanhe said with a frown. Clearly Xu Qianhang's behavior did not thrill her; it made her feel ashamed.
"Who knows what he's thinking," Yang Ce said with a shrug. Yang Shuoxuan did violate traffic rules now and then—today's driving, for instance—but he really was out on business, performing official duties, so there was something to be said for it.
But abusing privilege just to go out for a meal, the way Xu Qianhang was doing, was deeply repellent to Yang Shuoxuan. It also struck him as funny. He thought: show off like this in front of Jing Yuxian and she might actually look at you differently, but doing it in front of Lin Yanhe is nothing but begging for contempt.
Xu Qianhang did not see it that way. He assumed girls all liked boys who made a spectacle of themselves, and he was gloating—until a traffic officer walked up and stopped his car.
Xu Qianhang started, but remembering that his plate belonged to the official-vehicle range, he was not too nervous. He rolled down the window and asked the officer, "What's the matter?"
"Sir, this is a one-way street. You'll have to back out," said the officer, who was still giving Xu
Qianhang's plate some face—he did not cite him, only told him to reverse.
After all, the road was long, and Xu Qianhang had only just turned in; backing out would be easier. To keep driving on, though, would be too conspicuous.
Ordinarily Xu Qianhang would have backed out and thought nothing of it. Given the situation, going the wrong way really did smack of making trouble for trouble's sake.
But now Xu Qianhang was out to impress Lin Yanhe. If he slunk away in reverse, he would lose face so completely it would be beyond saving; Lin Yanhe would surely despise him, and all his big talk would have been for nothing.
So Xu Qianhang had no choice but to tough it out. "I have urgent business. Going around from over there is too far—"
"Oh?" The officer was taken aback, not knowing what business Xu Qianhang had. Some official vehicles, to be sure, might have urgent matters, so the officer nodded—but then said, "Sir, let me see your driving license."
People who drove such plates were generally from within the system or from various government bodies, and some were senior executives of state-owned enterprises. But some plates were obtained through connections, and that could not be entirely prevented.