Compared to the older model Great Liberation with its single row of seats, the Jinbei double-row SY132 was clearly more practical and comfortable to ride in.
However, trucks produced during this era all shared a common drawback: they lacked power steering.
Of course, it wasn't just trucks; the vast majority of cars lacked it as well. Only luxury, high-end vehicles had it.
Therefore, it was no exaggeration to say that someone without a strong set of arms couldn't drive a car back then.
If you lacked the strength to learn, there was no point in learning; even if you understood the operational principles of driving, trying to actually move the car was nothing more than a pipe dream.
Mainly, if you couldn't even turn the steering wheel, how were you supposed to drive?
Mu Xueli and Wang Li already knew how to drive, so Wang An simply gave them a walkthrough, and they both picked it up immediately.
Once he received confirmation that they understood, Wang An immediately pulled the car over to the side of the road and said to them
"From now until we reach Harbin, I'm handing the driving over to you two. Which one of you wants to go first?"
As soon as Wang An finished speaking, Mu Xueli, sitting in the passenger seat, said with an eager expression
"I'll go first. I'll drive for a couple of hours, then I'll let Old Fifth take over."
At the same time, Wang Li, sitting in the back seat, also spoke up
"I'll do it, I'll do it! I want to see how this car handles first, then I'll let Brother Mu drive."
Wang An didn't bother with their argument over who would drive first; he simply pushed open the door and got out.
Seeing Wang An exit, Wang Li followed suit. Just as Mu Xueli was about to push open the door, he suddenly felt that since he was in the passenger seat, getting out and walking around the front of the car to the driver's side would be too slow.
Thus, Mu Xueli withdrew his hand, stood up, stepped across with his left leg toward the passenger side, and plopped his backside firmly into the driver's seat, beating the boarding Wang Li by exactly one second.
Sitting in the driver's seat, Mu Xueli said to Wang Li with a chuckle
"Let your big brother drive first. I'll only drive for an hour and then hand it over to you. After that, you can drive as long as you want; I won't fight you for it even if we drive all the way to Harbin."
Hearing this, Wang Li raised his wrist to check his watch and said
"It's 8:30 now. I'll count it as 9:00 for you, and I'm taking over at 10:00."
Mu Xueli agreed readily
"Fine, fine, fine. I'll definitely let you take over at 10:00."
Truth be told, back then, most people who knew how to drive were more than willing to do so, and they found it tirelessly enjoyable.
Of course, this was because cars were still quite novel at the time; sitting in the driver's seat provided a tremendous sense of pride.
If you could actually drive the car away, that pride would instantly peak—you felt practically invincible.
It was a very strange psychological phenomenon!
And so, Wang An climbed into the passenger seat, and Wang Li returned to the back seat.
The engine started, and Wang An asked Mu Xueli
"You can find the way, right?"
Having just encountered this brand-new Jinbei double-row, Mu Xueli was still a bit nervous. Hearing Wang An's question, he nodded
"Yeah, Brother-in-law, I can find the way."
Hearing this, Wang An slid his long legs forward and reclined his upper body halfway into the seat, saying
"Alright then, you two figure out the driving. You four chat some more; no matter who's driving, don't fall asleep. I'm going to nap for a bit; don't wake me unless it's important."
Hearing this, Huang Zhong instinctively asked
"Big Brother, if we're chatting, will you actually be able to sleep?"
Wang An said with a look of disdain
"Forget chatting—even if you guys beat drums and blow horns, I'll still sleep."
Because the semi-reclined position bent his neck too sharply, it slightly obstructed his airway, so shortly after falling asleep, Wang An began to snore.
Meanwhile, Wang Li, Wang Yi, and Huang Zhong continued their conversation about motorcycles, with Mu Xueli occasionally chiming in from the driver's seat.
It must be said that these four people, who knew absolutely nothing about motorcycles, had a surprisingly intense interest in discussing them. They took turns speaking, each sounding more knowledgeable than the last.
At 10 o'clock, Mu Xueli punctually handed the steering wheel over to Wang Li. It was also because Mu Xueli stopped the car that Wang An woke up in a daze.
However, once the car restarted, Wang An fell asleep again.
Sleep is a funny thing; normally, as long as you get enough, it's fine, but if you oversleep, you just get sleepier and sleepier.
This time, Wang An slept until 12 noon, at which point he stretched and became refreshed.
Checking his watch, Wang An turned to ask the driving Wang Li
"Why haven't you found a place to eat? It's already 12."
Wang Li replied
"We've been driving fast; we'll be in Harbin in another half hour or so. Brother Mu and I agreed to wait until we reach Harbin to eat. Xiao Yi and Xiao Zhong also said they aren't that hungry yet."
Wang An nodded
"That works. We'll find a nice restaurant in Harbin and have a proper meal."
After a pause, Wang An asked
"Did we run into any bandits while I was asleep?"
Wang Li said with a smile
"We did. We ran into two gangs. I just floored the accelerator and steered straight for them. Man, it scared the living daylights out of them; they all scattered and ran. Didn't hit anyone."
On the nearly 5,000-kilometer round trip to Jilin Province, highway bandits and road pirates were as common as dirt. Consequently, Wang An and the others had become completely numb to it.
Of course, they had also summarized quite a bit of experience on how to deal with these bastards.
The first step was to ram—ram them head-on. Seeing a car charging straight at them, anyone would be terrified.
If the first step didn't work—for instance, if there were rocks or fallen logs blocking the road—they immediately implemented the second step.
The second step was to take a Type 56 assault rifle and spray a burst of fire out the window.
After a dozen bullets flew out, over 99% of bandits and road pirates would be scared like rabbits, running for their lives as fast as they possibly could, wishing their parents had given them two more legs.
If the first two steps failed, they had to resort to the third.
The third step was somewhat bloodier: firing directly at the feet of the crowd. If someone ended up crippled or even dead, it was just their bad luck.
In short, showing cowardice was useless; you had to fight, and you had to fight ruthlessly.
Wang An nodded and said in a deep voice
"Yeah, charging through is the right way. If anyone dares to hijack the car again, as long as there are no rocks or logs in the way, just ram them. Ram them to death, damn it; they've been spoiled too much."
It had to be said that there were truly many highway bandits at the time; if you weren't ruthless, you simply couldn't travel far.
After another half hour, the Jinbei double-row finally entered Harbin, and Wang An took over the driving.
There was no other way; as the "eldest son" of China and its largest heavy industry city, Harbin's level of prosperity at the time was even greater than that of Beijing or Shanghai.
Therefore, the streets were crowded with cars and people. If Wang Li or Mu Xueli got nervous and had a fender-bender with a pedestrian or another vehicle, it would be a huge hassle.
Huang Zhong and Wang Yi, visiting Harbin for the first time, couldn't take their eyes off the wide streets, the rows of buildings and Russian-style architecture, the ubiquitous cars and motorcycles, and the bicycles filling every street.
Wang Yi said with a look of shock
"Harbin is so big! I reckon Harbin must be dozens of times larger than our DJ County."
Wang Li, sitting in the back, replied
"Dozens is an exaggeration; maybe thirty or forty times."
Wang Yi glanced at Wang Li and felt speechless.
Mainly because the way Wang Li said it sounded like total nonsense.
At the same time, Wang Yi instantly understood why his Big Brother often had to give Fifth Brother a lesson.
Unaware of what Wang Yi was thinking, Wang Li said boastfully
"Let me tell you, Old Sixth, the first time I came to Harbin, I..."
Before Wang Li could finish, Wang An, who was driving, interrupted him with dissatisfaction
"I've noticed you've really gotten cocky, Old Fifth. Just call him Xiao Yi; what's with 'Old Sixth'? I think you're the one acting like an 'Old Sixth'."
Wang Li was stunned and instinctively said
"Fourth Brother, I'm Old Fifth, Xiao Yi is Old Sixth."
To his surprise, Wang An replied irritably
"Xiao Yi is the youngest. You either call him by his nickname or call him 'the little sprout.' Who calls the youngest by a number?"
After Wang An spoke, not only was Wang Li bewildered, but Mu Xueli, Wang Yi, and Huang Zhong were all confused.
Mainly because while Wang An's logic had some merit, it was clearly a stretch!
Among brothers, when using the "Old [Number]" naming convention, the youngest is indeed often not referred to by a number, but if they are, it's not actually wrong.
Thus, Wang An's reaction was clearly a bit too emotional.
Though confused, Wang Li was obedient and immediately said
"Oh, yeah, Fourth Brother, I get it."
After Wang Li spoke, Wang Yi, as the subject of the conversation, asked Wang An curiously
"Big Brother, is there some special meaning behind the term 'Old Sixth'?"
Wang An obviously couldn't say that it was a meme from the future, so he thought for a moment and said
"Of course there's a meaning. I heard it from an old fortune teller.
He said that according to legend, during the time of Fuxi in antiquity, a dragon-horse emerged from the Yellow River. This dragon-horse carried the 'Hetu' (River Chart) and gave it to Fuxi. Then, Fuxi used the 'Hetu' to derive the Eight Trigrams. There are ten numbers in the River Chart, from one to ten."
"In the River Chart, 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 are Yang, while 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 are Yin. The number 9 is the peak of Yang, and when Yang peaks, Yin is born. 4 is the start of Yin, and 6 is the peak of Yin."
After Wang An finished, everyone remained bewildered. After all, things like the I Ching and the Eight Trigrams were not things the people in the car could easily grasp.
Of course, Wang An didn't actually know much either; he hadn't even graduated from middle school.
This explanation of the Eight Trigrams was something an old charlatan—who spent his life scamming food, drink, and women—had told Wang An as a joke while they were cellmates in prison.
Truth be told, that old charlatan had lived a remarkably colorful life. With nothing but a silver tongue, he had tricked a vast number of young girls, married women, widows, and old hags into voluntarily offering money, goods, and their bodies.
If he hadn't been caught while fooling around with a high-ranking official's wife, he would never have become Wang An's cellmate.
Wang An sighed and said, as if frustrated by their lack of intuition
"It's the peak of Yin! Do you still not get it? When Yin reaches its extreme, doesn't that make them a damn 'Old Yin-bi' (sneaky bastard)? Fuck, you pig-headed idiots!"
Sure enough, once Wang An explained it this way, everyone immediately understood, and they all burst out laughing.
After laughing for a while, Mu Xueli suddenly said
"If someone isn't educated, they wouldn't even know what it means if you called them 'Old Sixth'."
Wang Li chimed in
"Exactly. When Fourth Brother scolded me just now, I was totally confused."
After Wang Li spoke, the group burst into laughter again.
While driving, Wang An saw that the front of a roadside restaurant was quite spacious, so he immediately turned the wheel and parked the car in a spot where it wouldn't be an obstacle.
After parking, Wang An said
"Out, out! Let's get some food first, or we'll starve to death."
Walking to the entrance, Wang Yi said
"Big Brother, this is a Western restaurant. Eating in here must be really expensive, right?"
Wang An stopped and looked up at the sign. Indeed, it was a Russian-style Western restaurant.
Wang An waved his hand dismissively
"It's not that much. I'll let you guys taste what Western food is like."
In his previous life, Wang An had eaten these things and knew the Western restaurants in Harbin inside and out.
However, if you called Harbin's Western food "Chinese-style Western food," it wouldn't be wrong, because the way it was eaten was basically the same as Chinese food; the biggest difference was just the dishes.
Entering the restaurant, the group was seated with the guidance of a waiter.
Perhaps because it was their first time in such a high-end place, Wang Yi and Huang Zhong were somewhat constrained.
However, Mu Xueli and Wang Li, who had already seen the world in South Korea, felt nothing.
After all, when Wang An and the others were in South Korea, the luxury of the restaurants and hotels they visited with Han Xiaomin and the others was almost on par with this Western restaurant.
At a Russian-style Western restaurant, the two signature dishes—braised beef in a pot and borscht—were absolute must-orders.
They also ordered a creamy baked salmon, a pan-fried salmon, and some fried prawns, completing the main courses.
Besides the dishes, Wang An ordered several pastries, as well as bread and butter as staples.
The goal was to let everyone taste a bit of everything.
It must be said that the prices of Western food were indeed not cheap. Wang An did a rough calculation based on the menu; this meal would cost over 30 yuan.
30-plus yuan was the monthly salary of a formal employee at the time!
A whole month's salary was being devoured by five people in a single meal.
But the reason it was so expensive was mainly because Wang An had ordered quite a few dishes and pastries.
You couldn't blame Wang An for ordering a lot; the key was that the five people present were all growing boys and young men. If he didn't order plenty, they wouldn't have enough to eat.
Soon, the braised beef and borscht were served. Without waiting for the other dishes, Wang An called to the group
"Eat up, eat up! Let's see how this Western food tastes."
As everyone put the food in their mouths, praises immediately filled the air.
No lie, this Chinese-style Western food was actually quite good. The beef was tender and flavorful, the potatoes and carrots were soft, and the borscht was sweet with a hint of acidity. Overall, it was genuinely great!
After the praise, everyone shut their mouths and focused on enjoying the happiness brought by the delicious food.
After the meal, each person had a cream-covered old-fashioned popsicle. The feeling was simply "ga-ga" comfortable. (End of Chapter)