Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Chapter 613 Birthday Date (Part Two)

While Lu Mingfei and Su Xiaoqiang were strolling through the flower show along the VIP route specially set up for them by Su Enxi and her team,

On the other side, the entrance for regular tickets was also opened as the opening time arrived.

In the long line, there was a group of people in the middle wearing eye-catching, uniform white uniforms with the "Shilan Middle School" logo printed on their chests.

Shilan Middle School has always emphasized the all-round development of students in moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic and labor aspects. In addition to the regular college entrance examination preparation classes and international departments, there are also corresponding special classes for sports, painting and other arts. This group of people are students in the painting special class of the third year of junior high school at Shilan Middle School.

The reason they came to the city botanical garden today is because it's their outdoor sketching class; they're here to gather inspiration and sketch.

"You can't just wander around once you're inside the venue."

After following the bustling crowd into the city botanical garden, the teacher in charge gathered everyone at the entrance and, as usual, reminded them of the precautions: "It's best not to sketch alone; try to do activities with your classmates. Turn your phone volume up to the maximum, and contact the teacher immediately if anything happens."

After a unified "Received," the crowd dispersed, and the art students began their free time. Some retrieved their easels, others flipped through the visitor brochures, searching for their subjects.

It was the third year of junior high school, and Chen Jiajia, who was still an innocent junior high school student and had no idea who her future blind date, Lu Mingze (Fatty), was. She was idly scanning the map of the entire venue at the entrance of the International Flower Show.

She is a student specializing in painting and often goes out to collect inspiration. She has been to the city botanical garden many times, but this international flower show is said to have specially airlifted many precious flower varieties from abroad. The venue is also well-arranged, which is quite novel.

They called it a field trip, but most of the time it was just aimless wandering around; the actual time spent painting was minimal. They called it finding inspiration, but only Chen Jiajia knew it was just a case of laziness kicking in.

"strangeness……"

Chen Jiajia looked at the map and muttered something under her breath.

She often visits the city botanical garden. Although the international flower show is said to have invited many internationally renowned design firms to set up different themed flower exhibitions, it is only a change within the exhibition hall.

The road layout within the venue should not differ significantly from the existing road layout of the city botanical garden. After all, road planning emphasizes scientific rationality, and any changes could disrupt the flow of movement between different pavilions, impacting the visitor experience.

However, she discovered that the area that should have been located at the very center of the city's botanical garden was not marked on the map. The other pavilions seemed to surround and envelop the central part of the garden like flower petals, but there was an empty gap in the middle of the map, as if someone had used a spoon to scoop out a large chunk of it out of thin air.

Just then, a girl walked over and greeted Chen Jiajia: "Jiajia, what are you looking at?"

"Look at the venue map."

Chen Jiajia lowered her head and nodded, looking hesitant. Then she pointed to the map of the venue and expressed her doubts to her friend.

"Look at the middle of the map, doesn't it look like there's a piece missing?"

"It does look somewhat similar." The girl nodded.

"That's strange... Shouldn't that be the most central location of the venue?"

"Let me take a look."

The girl looked down and opened the visitor's brochure in her hand: "Oh... that should have been the 'Dream Garden' section, mainly exhibiting 'David Austin Roses,' 'French Perfume,' and 'White Ruby,' but it seems that due to the temperature, many flower buds have not yet fully opened, so the 'Dream Garden' is temporarily closed to the public for the next few days."

Chen Jiajia gave a soft "Oh". She had heard of these flower varieties before; they were all quite precious, top-tier foreign rose varieties, very rare in China.

It's quite a pity that I couldn't visit the botanical garden this time while I was there for inspiration. Fortunately, the international flower show will be held for three weeks, so I can come back later.

At this moment, a few boys came over, and the one in the lead greeted them with a grin: "Jiajia, are you looking at the venue map? Want to walk around together?"

Although Chen Jiajia wasn't as famous as Xia Mi, the school beauty in the same grade, her pretty face made her quite well-known in the grade, and several boys in her class were secretly competing with her.

Faced with the boy's invitation, Chen Jiajia didn't intend to accept the suggestion, but the boy clearly knew that Chen Jiajia wasn't so easy to deal with, so he turned around and took the drawing board and painting tools from the girl next to him who was more easily swayed: "Come on, let us help you carry the drawing board. It's heavy for a girl to carry this thing..."

……

Lu Mingfei was unaware that a potential crisis was approaching him.

As he and Su Xiaoqiang walked along, the venue seemed quiet and empty. They didn't see many tourists along the way, as if the long queues they had seen at the entrance were all fake.

The flowers were all quite beautiful. Even Lu Mingfei, a commoner who didn't know much about being cultured, couldn't help but admire the exquisite blooming flowers in the profound and timeless landscape meticulously created by the venue designer. He thought to himself, "These flowers are really beautiful, but the fragrance is a bit too strong, even stronger than the perfume my aunt sometimes wears when she goes out to my uncle's department dinner."

Of course, the most beautiful flower in the venue is the one he's holding in his little hand right now.

Su Xiaoqiang thought it was normal that the flower show was empty. She said, "After all, we came in through the VIP channel. Everyone else entered the venue after us, so they're all behind us. It's normal that we don't see many people. It should get busier in a little while. By the way, Mingfei, do you know where the rose garden in 'Dream Garden' is?"

"Let me look for it."

Lu Mingfei flipped through the brochure that the female staff member had handed him earlier; the colors of the brochure were completely different from the one that Chen Jiajia and the others had.

"At the very center of the venue, we should arrive in about ten minutes if we continue walking along this path."

Su Xiaoqiang took Lu Mingfei's hand and said, "Let's hurry up and go while there aren't many people yet. 'Dream Garden' is the core exhibition area of ​​the flower show. It will definitely get crowded there later when there are more people!"

The two walked through the empty flower-lined path, their figures passing from one camera to another.

In the dimly lit monitoring room with the curtains drawn, Su Enxi nestled lazily in the fabric sofa, munching on a one-pound family-sized bag of Lay's original flavor potato chips.

The monitor's dim, cold light illuminated her sickly pale face, a result of her long hours indoors and lack of sunlight exposure.

"How's the little stage play performance going?" A slightly cold voice came from behind her.

"Everything went relatively smoothly." Su Enxi, who was munching on potato chips, mumbled, shifting her weight off the sofa to make room for the newcomer. "The young male and female leads are heading to the stage we've carefully prepared for them." Jiude Mai leaned back on the sofa, crossed her long legs, and unceremoniously reached into Su Enxi's lap and grabbed a handful of Lay's potato chips. "I think there are more people at the flower show than we anticipated. Will we disturb Lu Mingfei and the others?"

"It's alright, I've already considered this matter, so the central rose garden area is not yet open to the public. Only the path that Lu Mingfei and his group took leads directly to that rose garden."

As Su Enxi spoke, she glared resentfully at the handful of potato chips that Jiu De Mai had snatched away, thinking to herself, "Can't you just open a new bag yourself? You keep taking my things like this... The snack shelf is right next to you, and there are still so many potato chips on it."

Mai noticed her best friend's gaze: "Don't be so possessive of your food. Aren't you worried about gaining weight if you keep eating potato chips like this? I'm just helping you share some of the calorie burden."

"I don't do any field work, so I don't have the pressure of managing my figure, so don't be so demanding. As long as they don't recommend me to choose loose-fitting jeans when I try them on at Levi's, that's fine." Chip Girl is always so carefree.

"A woman of this status wearing Levi's... what's with the girl-next-door act?" Mai Shude muttered.

However, Su Enxi was right. As a top-notch female ninja, her life outside of work wasn't just about shopping and partying.

She spends most of her time working out and practicing ninja drills, including hanging herself from the ceiling. This helps her maintain her flexibility and slender figure, allowing her to adapt to various complex mission environments.

"I wish I could be as carefree as you and Sanwu. What girl doesn't want to do yoga and shop at luxury stores every day? But our family is under a lot of financial pressure. You and that cold-faced girl don't know how to save money at all. Every time you go out, you're like a vandal, sweeping everything in your path. The compensation bills afterward are terrifying..."

Su Enxi shrugged and continued, "Besides, Lu Mingfei's expenses are huge all the time. Just building this dating stage for him cost me over ten million US dollars! Mai, those colorful flowers you see aren't flowers! They're colorful money! Of course, I'll try to save as much as I can."

"We've already spent over ten million dollars, do you think we're going to be short of the little bit of money we save by wearing Levi's? Anyway, the money we save won't end up in our hands anyway, so what's the harm in spending a little more?"

"Whether it ends up in our hands or not, it will end up in Lu Mingfei's hands. The money saved will be your dowry, Mai. Liu Miaomiao and Su Xiaoqiang both married Lu Mingfei with listed companies in their names. You're a newcomer to the family, so we need to save you a bigger dowry so you'll have more leverage in the Lu family..."

"Hey, hey, hey, what kind of nonsense are you spouting?!" Mai Shude interrupted angrily.

Just kidding, just kidding.

Su Enxi pursed her lips, knowing when to stop, but a moment later she grinned mischievously and said cheekily, "Speaking of which, what's it like kissing Lu Mingfei? Is that guy a pretty good kisser? I think you, Mai, were completely mesmerized by his kisses... Ah! Hahaha..."

Before she could finish speaking, Mai Shude jumped over and started tickling her waist.

"Haha... Help me, help me... Grandpa, have mercy, I won't do it again..." Su Enxi was most afraid of this kind of thing from her.

"Want to know what it's like to kiss that guy? Why don't you just kiss him yourself, Chips?"

"Hehehe... I'll kiss you... Hehe... Mai, just stop...!" Su Enxi dodged left and right. The sofa shook and creaked.

Mai stopped. Su Enxi, her shoulders exposed, panted as she adjusted the straps of her dress. Looking at her friend's serious expression, she thought to herself, "Why is Mai getting so sensitive lately? She can't even joke about Lu Mingfei… Could it be that Mai has really fallen for Lu Mingfei?"
Is that kid's kissing skill really that good?
With a slightly cold expression, Mai Shude withdrew her gaze from the potato chip girl, crossed her arms, and turned to look at the monitor screen in front of her.

To be honest, she's not really someone who can't take a joke. Joking around with close friends is normal. Even that cold, aloof girl can take some dirty jokes without batting an eye. Taking it too seriously is actually not good.

But it's so annoying! Every time Chip Girl jokes about herself and that guy, she inexplicably gets a fire burning inside her.

Why bother with a dowry? Why do I have to be paired with that guy? If I want to know what it feels like to kiss him, why don't I just go and kiss him myself?
"Is that the rose garden you were talking about?"

Mai Shude's gaze was fixed on a screen in the center of the surveillance wall, where Lu Mingfei and Su Xiaoqiang's figures had moved from the previous surveillance footage to the new one.

Not far ahead of them was a rose garden surrounded by a transparent glass wall. Brightly colored roses were in full bloom.

"Yes. We specifically hired a professional team to conduct an on-site survey and then replicate it."

"A 1:1 replica?"

Su Enxi also switched from playful to work mode and replied:
"There's no 1:1 replica, that would be too fake. We just use the original scene as a reference. Have you heard of the uncanny valley effect? ​​People feel a sense of familiarity with things that are similar to themselves, but once the similarity exceeds a certain threshold, it can trigger fear. Memory works the same way. Similarity to a scene in memory is enough to stir emotions, but being exactly the same as a memory can trigger a sense of rejection, similar to the uncanny valley effect."

"Very professional," Mai Shude exclaimed.

Su Enxi shrugged: "Practice makes perfect. After all, I've been Lu Mingfei's little nanny for a long time."

Outside of work, she might seem rather eccentric, like a sickly, stay-at-home girl with few skills. But once she starts working, she immediately sheds her lazy attitude. As one of Wall Street's top traders, no one can question her competence.

For example, when she was given the task of helping Lu Mingfei find a date by her boss, she was able to come up with a good idea immediately and quickly assemble a professional team.

Suddenly, Mai said, "I think you could get a promotion, Potato Chips."

"Promotion?" Su Enxi was taken aback. "What kind of promotion?"

Their direct supervisor is the boss, and below the boss are the three of them; there's no one else on the team. The people under them are merely outsourced henchmen, not part of the company's system. This team, which can almost influence the world, consists of only these four people.

Mai says she can get a promotion, but how high could she get? She can't possibly replace the boss, can she? Or is she going to be promoted to a junior manager overseeing Mai and Sanwu?

"correct."

Jiu De Mai nodded with amusement: "You can be promoted from Lu Mingfei's maid to his wife... with the dowry you've saved up. It seems that Lu Mingfei's harem is currently lacking a financial minister-type role like you. Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen don't seem to know how to do accounts very well. When you take control of the Lu family's assets, those older sisters who entered the family before you won't be able to bully you."

Su Enxi finally snapped out of her daze: "Oh, Mai, you actually dared to joke with me."

"Didn't you start it first? Let's call it a draw..."

……

(End of this chapter)