Chapter Forty-Four: The Shackles of Morality

"You've pretty much reached your limit!"

The war of words between Gu Yin and the female BMW X3 driver naturally caught the attention of several nearby motorists. Notably, the driver of the sedan that Gu Yin had previously overtaken—the one who had shielded him for a bit—also rolled down his window and shouted at the BMW female driver in a fluent local dialect:

"Are you out of your damn mind, you stinking idiot? Just how long have you been driving with your high beams on?!"

"You've had them on since three traffic lights ago! Do you think all these daddies of yours are blind?"

"And you drive so damn slow, like a snail... If you don't know how to drive, go back and learn. If all else fails, take the bus instead of coming out here to disgust people!"

As soon as the big guy opened his mouth...

Several other cars nearby joined in and shouted:

"Exactly..."

"You totally deserved to get flashed!"

"How can you be so oblivious to yourself?"

Actually, when driving at night, if a car behind has its high beams on, the drivers in front can basically see it and get blinded by the glare.

Although the BMW X3 was tailgating Gu Yin closely, she had blinded all the cars ahead of her, including Gu Yin, so everyone had some grievances against her.

Normally, people were busy with their daily lives and had their own things to do. Operating on the principle of "better to avoid trouble than to make more," they wouldn't stoop to her level...

Yet she just had to walk right into the crosshairs.

Wasn't she asking for it?

Wasn't she completely deserving of this?

"You..."

"You people!"

Berated by a crowd of people, the female BMW X3 driver naturally lost her aggressive momentum.

"Use your brain when driving from now on. Not everyone has to give way to you. If you can't learn properly, go back and practice more with your instructor!" Seeing the traffic light turn green, Gu Yin couldn't be bothered to talk nonsense with her anymore, stepped on the gas, and sped away.

Leaving only the female BMW X3 driver grinding her teeth in anger on the spot.

Having vented his pent-up anger and feeling thoroughly satisfied, Gu Yin was in a great mood. The evening breeze drifted in through the crack of the window, making him look radiant and spirited.

"I'm actually curious," Xia Qianyi said, shrinking back into her gray trench coat and asking softly, "aren't there traffic laws to regulate this kind of behavior?"

"No," Gu Yin shook his head bluntly, saying, "Unless something like this causes a traffic accident where she's assigned full responsibility, nobody usually cares."

Traffic laws themselves aren't actually that strict—not because they don't want to be, but mainly because some things on the road are not that easy to define.

For example, take "forceful merging." If someone changes lanes across a dashed line into your lane, you might say they are cutting you off, but they would just say they are merely changing lanes or overtaking. How is that breaking the law?

Or take "driving with high beams on someone's tail." Yes, indeed, that counts as a traffic violation for improper use of lights, which generally carries a fine between 20 and 200, but who has the time to call the police over something like this?

Even if you do call the police, would the traffic police really check the surveillance footage of that road for that specific time period just for you, and then penalize the car behind?

Yes, some places might do that, but Gu Yin was certain that the traffic police around here definitely wouldn't bother. You'd be lucky if they didn't think you were being a nuisance.

You expect traffic police to be nearby at any time and place to snap photos and issue fines?

Unrealistic!

To put it simply, regarding "driving with high beams while tailgating," traffic police will only intervene if the vehicle behind blinds *their* eyes with high beams.

It's as simple as that.

So...

Sometimes, if you want to get even, you really can't count on them.

"Aren't you afraid?" Xia Qianyi asked.

"Afraid of what?" Gu Yin scratched his head.

"What if she has road rage and tries to cut you off maliciously or something?" Xia Qianyi continued to ask.

"If she dares to cut me off, I dare to crash into her. Who's afraid of whom?" Gu Yin spread his hands with a thoroughly nonchalant attitude. "Anyway, after the crash, she'll bear full responsibility, pay for my car repairs, and compensate me for my lost wages."

Hearing this, not to mention Xia Qianyi, many viewers in the live stream were left between laughter and tears...

[The phrasing is rough, but the logic is sound...]

[Everyone understands the logic, but not everyone actually does it.]

[This society still needs more people like Coach Gu.]

[The more we have of this submissive personality type, the more it encourages the arrogance of certain people.]

Do you think the viewers didn't understand what Gu Yin was saying?

No...

Everyone understands.

When encountering line-cutters and tailgaters with high beams on, they also know how to teach the other party a lesson.

Then what is it that makes them back down?

Isn't it that "brainwashing" kind of education and the cruelty of life?

Ever since childhood, adults at home have taught us to learn to take a loss, that taking a loss is a blessing, that retreating a step brings calm waters and open skies, not to pick fights or try to be a hero outside, and that our own personal safety is paramount... and so on.

By its very nature, this is like a shackle tightly wound around everyone's inner self, stopping everyone with a piece of crap called "morality" right before they want to do something impulsive.

As we grow up, the pressures of life and the difficulty of making ends meet make us subconsciously think of the consequences every time we encounter such situations. After thinking about the trouble those consequences bring, we subconsciously think that avoiding trouble is better than making more, and let it go, let it go...

Gradually, "forbearance" became a habit.

Gradually, your forbearance became the reason why others intensified their bad behavior and treated you like a fool.

In the end, even if someone points at your nose and calls you an idiot, after considering the consequences, you still choose to play the turtle hiding in its shell and swallow your pride forever.

So sometimes...

You don't always have to be civil.

Being civil should be reserved for civil people.

When dealing with uncivil people, you have to use uncivil methods.

This was vividly reflected in Coach Gu...

A viewer in the live stream put it this way:

[Sigh... I'm a lost cause. If I met someone like this, I'd probably still back down, but I think Coach Gu did a great job. This society still needs people like him. Thumbs up for someone like this.]

Behind the scenes at the "Reconciliation with Life" live stream, some staff members were actually quite curious: why was the viewer retention rate in the live stream always ridiculously high whenever Gu Yin disciplined those uncivil drivers on the road?

That answer is undoubtedly clear to anyone who drives.

It's because in their daily lives, they always swallow their anger and never dare to retaliate against those who disgust them, whereas Gu Yin did what they didn't dare to do, venting their pent-up anger for them.

For this reason alone, he deserved their admiration.

On the "Reconciliation with Life" show, the account of Gu Yin—a driving school coach and part-time ride-hailing driver—saw its likes skyrocket, already surpassing 900,000 and closing in on one million.

And all of this...

Gu Yin was completely unaware!