How Did I Become an F1 Driver?-Chapter 164 - 111: Leaving Home (Part 2)

Qin Miao still has feelings for Ferrari, after all, for four months he saw the yellow prancing horse logo on the red background every day and wore Ferrari’s clothes.

So during practice, Qin Miao went to sit in Ferrari’s P room for a while.

Even because Qin Miao’s skills were recognized by Binotto, when Binotto came to the P room to prepare for work and saw Qin Miao, he chatted with him and arranged for him to sit next to Leclerc’s team engineer to observe Leclerc’s driving data during practice, sort of letting him learn in advance.

But that’s all there was to it, Qin Miao and Qimeng watched this year’s final race as ordinary spectators.

After the race, they parted ways with Zhou Guanyu.

Although the race was over, Zhou Guanyu’s work wasn’t finished; he had things to wrap up with the team, so he didn’t return to the country with Qin Miao and Qimeng.

Eager to return home, Qin Miao and Qimeng took a flight back to the country.

Once again stepping onto domestic soil, Qin Miao recalled the scene of his first trip abroad to the UK to watch the Grand Prix.

Back then, he was full of anticipation and hope for the future, having laid out plans for his future early on. Yet he never imagined that just attending a Grand Prix would lead him directly to becoming a Ferrari youth training driver and staying abroad, with a foreseeable long stay overseas ahead.

After leaving the airport, the two didn’t rest but went straight to the train station with their luggage.

Finally, at six o’clock in the evening, the two returned to their hometown.

Four months had passed, and their hometown hadn’t changed at all since they left, but Qin Miao himself was different, whether in mindset or in other aspects.

Once home, the couple didn’t continue to stick together but went their separate ways, each visiting their own family.

However, before parting, Qimeng said that during their vacation they needed to arrange a meeting between both parents.

Qin Miao didn’t object to this, and after dropping off Qimeng at her home, he returned to his own.

He looked at the familiar neighborhood, the familiar environment, and a car covered with a silver-white car cover, noticeably lower than other vehicles.

Unexpectedly, it should be his Ferrari 488, probably rarely driven by his mom, so she bought such a cover to prevent dust accumulation.

Looking at everything around him, Qin Miao suddenly felt a nerve he had never cared about relax, making him feel incredibly relaxed, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.

Perhaps this is the special significance home has for Chinese people.

It was still work hours, and schools hadn’t started vacation, so the neighborhood was unusually quiet. Qin Miao took out his keys and opened his home’s door.

After placing his luggage and the gift prepared for his mom in the living room, Qin Miao didn’t do anything else and directly fell onto his bed, sleeping deeply.

Even though he hadn’t felt sleepy during the journey, fatigue inexplicably surged over him upon returning home, and he quickly fell asleep, feeling comfortable as if he had shed all his exhaustion.

He slept until the evening, by which time his mom had come home and opened the gift Qin Miao had prepared for her.

It was a set of scarf and a pair of gloves made from some kind of animal skin, chosen with Qimeng’s help, which Qin Miao didn’t pay much attention to, knowing only that they were expensive.

Looking at his mom’s expression, it seemed she really liked the gift prepared by Qimeng and him.

After Qin Miao returned, his mom visibly cheered up, though she remarked that he had changed a lot during this period.

Which made sense; with Qin Miao’s improved physical condition, the outward changes were quite noticeable. His height had slightly increased during this time, now approximately 178 centimeters.

His physique had become significantly stronger, with his upper body bare, showing visibly developed muscles. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

His vitality, energy, and spirit improved extensively.

Although his mom no longer opposed his career in racing, she still held some grievances regarding his decision to take a leave of absence from university.

To her generation, university was a sacred place, and even considering Qin Miao’s grades, he only managed to get into a second-tier university...

Qin Miao could only listen, but fortunately, his mom wasn’t one to nag, and after a brief complaint about her son’s decisions, the matter passed.

Afterwards, the parents from both sides arranged to meet on a Sunday.

Both sets of parents were reasonably open-minded, and seeing that Qin Miao and Qimeng were figuratively "already cooked rice," there was no choice but to accept.

Their relationship was quickly settled without any objections from anyone.

However, since neither was of legal marriage age, the matter of getting married was postponed.

In the days following, Qin Miao only kept up with his basic physical and simulator training, staying indoors most of the time, and spending his days on the computer.

As for the dietary restrictions Lubos mentioned, Qin Miao had long forgotten them.

Though he didn’t eat grilled food three times a day, he did revert to his old eating habits, with chili peppers at every meal undoubtedly.

This lifestyle continued until just before Christmas, as after the holiday he had to shoot the team’s new season promo video and prepare for various aspects of the new season, marking the end of his vacation.

Before departing, Qin Miao uneasily checked his system attributes; his stamina score had inevitably decreased, dropping from 98 points to 95 points, though somewhat acceptable.

Regarding his other attributes, simulator training maintained them, with no reduction in scores, yet no improvement either.

Remarkably, due to constantly staying home playing games and rarely accompanying Qimeng outside, his mom tolerated this hikikomori lifestyle for a couple of weeks but soon began to gossip about Qin Miao.

Thus, when it came time to fly to Italy, his mom showed no reluctance, hurriedly pushing Qin Miao out the door amid Qimeng’s suppressed laughter.

...

Since they left early and since almost all Europeans were off work during Christmas, Qin Miao and Qimeng went first to meet Zhou Guanyu and spent Christmas with him.

After Christmas, the two headed to Italy.

Returning to Italy, Qin Miao first organized his belongings in Maranello before heading north to Prema Racing Team Headquarters located in Vicenza.

Vicenza is a city in the Veneto region of Italy, the provincial capital of Vicenza Province.

It’s situated roughly 60 kilometers west of Venice.

The city boasts a thriving multicultural scene with a long history, housing numerous museums, squares, art galleries, churches, and Renaissance-style buildings.

On the outskirts, there’s a well-known attraction, the "Palladian Villas of Veneto," among which the Olympic Theater is most famous.

The city was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.

In June 2017, Vicenza City had approximately 110,000 residents, with an urban cluster around it housing roughly 270,000 people, with numerous small to medium enterprises contributing to making Vicenza Italy’s third-largest industrial center and one of the wealthiest cities nationwide.

This largely owes to the numerous textile and steelworkers.

Additionally, 20% of Italy’s gold and jewelry is produced here, greatly bolstering the city’s economy.

It’s worth noting that Vicenza is a sister city with Wuxi.

This time, Qin Miao’s destination wasn’t in the city center but on its outskirts.

Despite being referred to as a city edge, the area’s housing resembles rural towns.

Yet, there resides a surprisingly strong F2 team in this unremarkable location.