Chapter 79 Part 2

After driving for a while, when the teacher stepped on the gas to accelerate, Chu Yi heard a faint dripping sound over the lively chatter, oddly rhythmic.

He listened closely. The sound happened again during the next acceleration.

"It's low on oil, right?" he asked the teacher.

"Is it?" the teacher shot back.

"It's making a dripping tick-tock sound," Chu Yi said. "When you accelerate."

"See what I mean?" the teacher tilted his head back towards the others. "All you do is chat. Your ears are useless. Didn't I tell you before how to locate problems by listening for odd sounds?"

"I didn't hear anything," Li Ziqiang craned his neck up to the front. "We can't hear anything back here."

"You wouldn't hear it up front either," the teacher said.

"Comments like that just isolate Chu Yi and make him unpopular," Zhou Chunyang said. "We have a dorm tradition of ostracizing stellar students."

Chu Yi laughed.

"What if it's not an oil problem?" the teacher asked him.

"Then it's the valve clearances," Chu Yi said. "Adjust them. If it still makes noise, the engine needs to be taken apart."

"Right," the teacher nodded. "Disassembling the engine for a full inspection gets expensive. Topping fluids, changing filters, adjusting valves - those are more cost effective maintenance options."

From the back came the chorus of "uh-huh"s.

Chu Yi was quite interested in auto repairs, especially seeing the work happening on-site.

Watching the mechanics crawling under the cars gave him an odd sense of accomplishment. He had a feeling he would be well suited for this line of work - not much talking or socializing required.

Find the problem and fix the problem, quick and clean.

"There's this hissing sound coming from my car sometimes," a lady was telling a mechanic. "If you don't pay attention you won't notice it, but when it's quiet you can hear it. Gives me the creeps."

"Any guesses what the issue could be?" the teacher asked them softly.

"Leaky cylinder gasket," Su Bin jumped in.

Not that there was any need to jump in, since none of the other dorm mates looked inclined to hazard a guess.

"Possible," the teacher said. "What do you think?" he looked at Chu Yi again.

"Cracked vacuum tube...vacuum leak..." Chu Yi said as he walked over to stand next to the mechanic. "Right?"

"Yup," the mechanic nodded. "The location is hard to pinpoint. Gotta go by sound."

"There," Chu Yi bent down to look under the car for a few seconds, then pointed to a spot based on the noise.

"I think so too," the mechanic took a look as well, then glanced back at the teacher. "This year's intern?"

"Nah, just brought them by to get a feel for things," the teacher had his arms crossed. "Internships don't start until next year. Just looking around today."

Back at the dorm after dinner, Hu Biao said in a low voice: "Su Bin was pretty miffed today."

"I suggest he picks a fight with Chu Yi to vent his jealousy," Zhou Chunyang said. "Jealousy boosts one's combat abilities. Maybe he can take Chu Yi down."

"No way," Li Ziqiang clicked his tongue.

Chu Yi knew he had made Su Bin lose face today, but both their guesses were valid. It just happened to be the vacuum tube. He sighed. "It's all b-basic..."

"It's all wieners," Hu Biao interrupted with a nod.

"You weirdo," Wu Xu laughed and choked. "Why would you jump in with something so random?"

"He was going to say it's all basic knowledge," Zhou Chunyang said.

"Yeah," Chu Yi nodded.

"Are you deliberately trying to piss us off?" Zhang Qiang looked at Chu Yi. "None of us answered, then you go 'it's basic knowledge' just to rub it in, right?"

"Yup," Chu Yi kept nodding.

"Let's fight then," Zhang Qiang said.

"Sure," Chu Yi nodded again.

"See what I mean?" Hu Biao guffawed. "Mutt is just different now."

"All that forced promotion of his nickname last year is finally paying off," Zhou Chunyang said.

The memory of when Chu Yi first heard someone other than Yan Hang calling him Mutt made him realize just how quickly time had passed.

Back then he was still Shorty Chu Yi, still afraid to speak up and mortified by public attention.

A year had gone by. Recalling his old self, he could still relate to those feelings, yet they were also starting to feel a bit foreign.

"Any plans for the summer break?" Yan Hang sat on the couch flipping through a travel brochure. "Wanna go on a trip?"

Lying on the couch with his head on the armrest and feet in Yan Hang's lap, Chu Yi swung his legs and said, "Teacher Wang found a summer internship for me. How awesome is that?"

"Awesome," Yan Hang nodded, watching Chu Yi's legs swinging. "I can tell how smug you're feeling."

Chu Yi grinned and swung his legs harder.

"When's it start?" Yan Hang asked.

"Mid July," Chu Yi said.

"So there's half a month." Yan Hang said.

"Why?" Chu Yi asked. "Wanna go somewhere?"

"I have 5 days of vacation time..." Yan Hang said.

Chu Yi first froze for a second, then jumped up with a yell: "Really?!"

Startled, Yan Hang flung the brochure at his face. "Kidding!"

"Oh," Chu Yi looked at him.

"I'll split your head open with this knife if you keep shrieking like that," Yan Hang glared at him. "Jumping at every little thing. Some guard dog you are. Even a puppy would be calmer than you."

"I'm just excited," Chu Yi nuzzled against him. "Woof!"

"Get lost," Yan Hang lay down on the armrest of the sofa, continuing to flip through the travel brochure.

Chu Yi followed, draping himself over Yan Hang and wrapping his arms around him. He pressed his nose against Yan Hang's neck and took a deep sniff. "Brother Xiao Tian, you changed your cologne."

"Yeah," Yan Hang ruffled his hair. "Good nose. Smells nice?"

"Smells good," Chu Yi said. "You always smell good."

"Such blatant flattery," Yan Hang tsked. "Couldn't be more obvious."

Chu Yi buried his face in Yan Hang's shoulder, giggling. After a moment he asked again, "Really going on a trip?"

"Yeah," Yan Hang tapped the brochure lightly on his head. "Anywhere you want to go? Somewhere we can get to and back from within five days."

"Don't care," Chu Yi said. "Anywhere with you is fine."

"Well, there is one place I want to visit," Yan Hang said hesitantly. "It's not really a tourist destination but could still be fun."

"Okay." Chu Yi nodded.

"I wanted to ask what you think," Yan Hang said. "I have my reasons for wanting to go, but if I'm taking you along..."