"Song Bo! Remember to wash your hands before eating strawberries! Don't touch them with your dirty hands!"
Zhang Qiaomu's endless nagging started the moment Song Bo opened the door. He gave a perfunctory grunt in response and collapsed onto the sofa.
He curled up, staring blankly, not wanting to move. Even though he had a mountain of homework that made his scalp tingle just thinking about it, he just didn't want to do it. He slowly pulled out his phone, scrolling aimlessly with a look of utter boredom. Even doomscrolling wasn't fun. Out of sheer habit, he opened a video-sharing site.
Suddenly, he shot up, sitting bolt upright.
Wait! These comments?
After the Lunar New Year, Song Bo had started an account dedicated to creating and uploading videos about GP3.
His goal was simple. He wasn't trying to educate the masses about racing or promote the series. He didn't care about fame—he was just a high school student, after all. He just wanted to follow Kai's journey and document his friend's adventure.
And, maybe, let a few more people see what Kai was doing. Specifically, Wang Lin and the other self-righteous idiots in his class.
It was a tiny, humble dream. But reality was cruel. Standing out in the ocean of the internet was an art form he hadn't mastered.
For three months, Song Bo had diligently uploaded a video every week. But so far, his view counts were mostly in the single digits. At best, double digits.
37 views. That was the record holder on his channel.
As for comments, there were a few, but they were all sarcastic remarks, people pretending to be experts, or condescending trolls.
Song Bo had tried arguing with them, but that only fueled the fire, turning his comment section into a toxic wasteland. In the end, he'd deleted them all in a fit of frustration, leaving the comment section a blank, snowy white slate.
And then... nothing.
When Kai swept the weekend in Spain, Song Bo was ecstatic. But he had no one to share his excitement with.
He immediately made a video and uploaded it, pulling two all-nighters to get it done.
Finding footage and data for GP3 was incredibly difficult. Even the official FIA site was a mess, with slow updates and scant information. It was infuriating.
But he had finished it.
This time, after uploading, he felt nervous. Part of him was full of hope, wanting to share his joy. The other part was terrified of being disappointed again.
So, he hadn't dared to open the app since. Until now.
Song Bo rubbed his eyes.
Zhang Qiaomu walked into the living room and saw her son slouched on the couch. "Song Bo! Sit properly! What is that posture?"
"And I told you to wash your hands..."
She saw the wet tissue on the coffee table and realized he had been too lazy to wash his hands, using a tissue to pick up the strawberries instead.
Her anger spiked.
But instead of running away like a scared rat, Song Bo stood up, his face glowing with joy, and shoved his phone screen at her. "Mom, look!"
Zhang Qiaomu glared at him impatiently. "What! Don't try to change the subject!"
"Mom! Mom! Look!"
Seeing the sparkle in her son's eyes, the undisguised happiness flowing from him, she paused. She took the phone. "...What am I looking at?"
"Comments! Views! Likes!"
"Mom, Kai's video blew up! Finally, someone sees him!"
Zhang Qiaomu finally processed what she was seeing.
Views: 1,377. Likes: 428.
And 81 comments.
She looked confused. "Is this... blowing up? I thought viral videos got millions of views. This isn't even ten thousand. It needs a few more zeros."
Song Bo rolled his eyes and snatched his phone back. "I'm not an influencer!" he muttered. But he was beaming again. "This is the first time I've broken a hundred views! And look at the like ratio! Do you see that? Over four hundred likes!"
"Haha! I knew it. I knew Kai was amazing. People should have discovered him ages ago."
Ignoring his mother, he started replying to comments.
Unlike before, the comments were all positive. Song Bo was elated, his earlier fatigue vanished.
"Yes, his name is Kai Zhizhou. He's from the Ferrari Driver Academy. This is his first GP3 season."
"The race wasn't as easy as it looked. The start of the Feature Race was dangerous and chaotic, and he was ganged up on in the Sprint Race."
"He's seventeen..."
Zhang Qiaomu watched him typing away and couldn't help but interject. "Homework? Doctor Song, are you just ignoring your schoolwork? I'm going to confiscate that phone in a minute!"
But despite her words, she didn't press the issue. She turned and walked to the kitchen.
Standing at the stove, she paused, still processing what she'd seen. Then, a smile bloomed on her face, and she began to hum a tune: "Tian Mi Mi" (Sweet Honey).
From offline to online, the ripples were slowly spreading.
However, at the end of the day, it was just a GP3 race. Its influence was limited. It wasn't a storm yet, and for Kai, it didn't feel real at all.
After the weekend, everything returned to calm. Life seemed unchanged.
For Kai, the only tangible reality was the prize money. His first perfect weekend had earned him a check for €97,000. That was more impactful than any internet traffic or media attention. Combined with his three months of earnings in Maranello, after converting the exchange rate, he was now a newly-minted millionaire (in RMB).
Of course, the first race included extra bonuses for "first podium" and "first win." Future perfect weekends wouldn't pay quite as much.
Still, Kai was full of anticipation for the rest of the season.
Unfortunately, the gap between GP3 races was long. The next round, at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, wasn't for another month.
So, after Spain, Kai followed Borreipaire and the team back to the ART headquarters in Burgundy, south of Paris, surrounded by wine and castles.
Here, Kai continued testing and tuning the car. Now that the season had started, they finally had the chance to work together face-to-face.
Clearly, after the first race, no language was needed. Kai had easily integrated into the team, becoming one of them.
Then, he was summoned back to Maranello to help the Ferrari team with simulator testing. The battle between Mercedes and Ferrari was white-hot, and every mid-season upgrade was critical. The importance of simulator testing was skyrocketing.
Training. Testing. Meetings.
Even without races, his schedule was packed. Add in his schoolwork, and his days were full to bursting.
And yet, in the midst of this intense schedule, Kai took a weekend off. He arrived in Monaco.
~~----------------------
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