The moment I stepped out of the driver's seat of the test car, I was overwhelmed with mixed emotions. I was so excited and happy that I could hardly put it into words—I had finally passed the second part of the driving test.

I got up at six in the morning. I had been too nervous to sleep well the night before, so my eyes were all puffy. I hurriedly ate two pieces of bread and drank a bottle of milk, then glanced at the clock—damn, it was already past 6:40! The instructor had said we had to meet at the training ground before seven, and if we were late, we would have to take a taxi to the test center ourselves. I quickly rode my little electric scooter over, only to discover halfway there that my damn luck had struck again: the battery was almost dead, so it was moving incredibly slowly. Luckily, the training ground wasn't far away. I finally arrived at 6:56, without being late.

Then the instructor took me and four other students to the test center. Yes, six people in one car—it should count as overloading, right? I was squeezed into the back seat, which made the half-hour journey seem even longer. After being squeezed around for a while, it was finally 7:30, and we arrived at the test center. The instructor simply dumped us out of the car and drove back himself. Heh, he couldn't even be bothered to wait until we finished the test and give us a ride back.

I was assigned to Group 22 out of a total of 35 groups, so I was toward the back. I couldn't even get into the waiting room and had to stay under a huge metal canopy with no air conditioning. It was very hot. At first, the groups were being called quickly. Group 10 was called after only about ten minutes, and the two students who had come with me went into the waiting room to prepare for their tests. But for the next hour, no more groups were called, and I had no idea when my Group 22 would be called.

I wanted to play Honor of Kings, but I didn't dare play ranked matches. I was afraid that if my number was called while I was playing, I'd have to go AFK. So I could only play against bots and improve my proficiency at the same time. An hour passed, and they started calling Group 11. I closed Honor of Kings and started scrolling through Douyin. Slowly, another hour passed. At around 10:30, they finally called me into the waiting room. It had air conditioning, so it was much more comfortable than the metal canopy outside. The only drawback was that I couldn't use my phone—it had been locked in a cabinet when I came in.

Then I sat foolishly in the waiting room and waited. I chatted with the guy next to me for quite a while—well, not quite a while, but half an hour—before it was finally my turn to perform. When the examiner called my name, I had just hurried out of the restroom. I ran over to Car 1 and raised my hand. At the examiner's signal, I got into the car and prepared to begin the test.

I got in, closed the door, adjusted the seat, and fastened my seat belt in one smooth motion. The artificial-intelligence idiot voice system on my right instructed me to begin the test. The engine was already running, so I only needed to release the clutch. After releasing it a tiny bit, my Car 1 began to shake. I looked down and—damn, I'd forgotten to release the handbrake! Luckily, the artificial intelligence idiot hadn't noticed; otherwise, I would have lost points. I quickly released the handbrake, let out the clutch, and drove toward the first test section.

Reverse Parking

The first section was reverse parking, located just to the left of the stopping point. There were nine parking bays, and we could choose any one of them, but no one happened to be in Bay 1. To be honest, I really didn't want to enter Bay 1, because the instructor had said it was somewhat jinxed. Besides, the students who had taken the test before me had both failed while reverse parking in Bay 1.

However, the examiner shouted through the loudspeaker, “Car 1, hurry up and reverse into Bay 1!” I didn't dare disobey the examiner, so I obediently drove into Bay 1. To be honest, the leg operating the clutch was trembling the entire time.

Once I entered Bay 1, the artificial intelligence idiot told me that the test had officially begun. I prepared to reverse. I glanced at the window on the left and—wow, I loved the previous test taker of this car. They had actually drawn marks on the window with chalk to align with the shoulder and the lines on the ground. With those marks, I instantly felt much less nervous. After all, I had practiced reverse parking more than a hundred times.

Driving in, driving out, driving in, driving out—the two rounds flowed as smoothly as clouds and water, completed in one seamless motion. My positioning was perfect, with no line-crossing or other mistakes, and the artificial intelligence idiot remained silent throughout. It was only after Car 1 had completely exited Bay 1 that it instructed me to proceed to the next test section.

Parallel Parking

I arrived at the entrance to Bay 7 without a ripple of emotion. Of the five sections, parallel parking was the one I felt most confident about. I had practiced dozens of times and didn't seem to have made a mistake even once. But this was still an exam, so I cautiously slowed down and gradually drove into Bay 7. Once I reached the stopping point, I stopped and shifted into reverse. The artificial intelligence idiot told me to begin the second section—parallel parking.

I glanced at the right rearview mirror. The distance was a little wide, so I skillfully turned the wheel to the right to close the gap, then straightened it and effortlessly reversed into the parking space. Next, I stylishly switched on the left turn signal and slowly drove out of Bay 7.

A minor mishap occurred at this point. I had planned to drive straight ahead to the third section, but there happened to be another test taker in Bay 8 ahead of me. I had no choice but to drive out close to the left. I glanced at the distance on the left; it was extremely narrow, and I almost hit the roadside. Fortunately, I eventually made it out of Bay 7 without incident and drove toward the third test section.

Stopping and Starting on a Hill

The third section had four ramps, and I chose the first one, which was closest to me. I aligned the arrow at the beginning of the ramp with the center of the steering wheel, straightened Car 1, kept it level with both sides of the ramp, and began slowly climbing.

Controlling the clutch was the hardest part of going uphill. If I released it too little, the car would roll backward; if I released it too much, the engine would stall; and if I kept it unchanged, the car would gradually speed up. Before I could collect myself, Car 1 had already reached the stopping position on the ramp. I quickly pressed the brake. I glanced at the position on the left. It seemed to have gone slightly past the stopping line, but I decided not to worry about it for the moment. Then I checked the right rearview mirror. Luckily, the distance from the right side of the ramp was within 30 cm, so I probably wouldn't lose any points.

After stopping, it was time to start again. I kept my right foot on the brake and slowly released the clutch with my left foot. Car 1 began to shake, so I released the brake. However, the car suddenly stalled! I instinctively pressed the brake, and the artificial intelligence idiot said, “The engine stalled due to improper operation. Please restart the vehicle.”

My mind went completely blank. After taking a moment to recover, I quickly shifted back into neutral, removed the key, and restarted Car 1. Then I shifted into first gear and cautiously released the clutch and brake. Thankfully, the engine didn't stall again. I slowly drove off the ramp and finally passed the third section.

Driving Through Curves

Immediately after leaving the ramp came the curved section. There was no car in the first curve, which was closest to me, but a car on my right wanted to enter Curve 1. How could I let it get ahead of me? I lightly pressed the accelerator and entered Curve 1 before it did.

Driving through the curves was fairly simple. There weren't many details to pay attention to—just don't cross the lines. The road was also quite wide. During practice, we always drove slowly through the curves because the instructor wanted us to hit the exact reference points. The test didn't have that many requirements, so I relaxed and drove more freely. Maintaining a moderately fast speed, I turned left and right and easily made it through the curves.

Right-Angle Turn

The exit of the curved section led directly to the right-angle turn. It was the fastest of the five sections, but there were also many details to watch out for. The slightest lapse in attention could make you cross the line.

Since I had driven relatively fast through the curves, I hadn't slowed down when entering the right-angle turn. When I saw that the steering wheel was aligned with the middle of the road and that the car was parallel to both sides of the road, I quickly turned on the left signal and gripped the steering wheel tightly, afraid that turning it even slightly to the right would switch off the signal.

At the exact moment I was supposed to turn, I inexplicably hesitated for a second before turning the steering wheel. I immediately thought, I must have crossed the line on the right, right? I quickly checked the left rearview mirror. Sure enough, there was a little more space on the left. When I looked toward the right rearview mirror again, I had already exited the right-angle turn and couldn't see whether I had crossed the line on the right.

At that point, the artificial intelligence idiot fell silent. It remained silent for more than ten seconds, and my heart began beating faster and faster. Finally, after those agonizing seconds, it said, “Your score for this test is passing. Please drive the test car back to the stopping point.” I almost jumped for joy and couldn't wait to go out and share the good news. I pressed the accelerator, quickly drove into the stopping point, shifted into neutral, pulled up the handbrake, unfastened my seat belt, and ran back to the waiting room to get my phone.

The Harder You Work, the Luckier You Get

I hadn't thought about that much during the test; I had simply relied on my instincts. It was only afterward, when I thought back on it, that I realized how frightening it had been. If I hadn't been lucky enough when the engine stalled on the ramp, it probably wouldn't have been so easy to restart the vehicle and continue the test. This was also thanks to how hard I had worked during practice. It was the repeated practice that allowed me to remain calm and composed when faced with mistakes. I finally understood: hardworking people may not be very lucky, but at least things won't turn out too badly for them.