Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Chapter 616 What is a buddy?

Old Lei stretched in his computer chair and yawned.

He is currently sitting at his workstation at the company, which is a relatively small internet company. The company hasn't had much business lately, so his work hasn't been too busy.

He glanced at the timestamp in the lower right corner of the computer screen; it showed 2 PM. He yawned listlessly again.

He gets sleepy around this time every afternoon. It's probably a habit he developed while working as a network administrator at an internet cafe—working night shifts and sleeping during the day. Even though he's been out of work for several months now, his biological clock hasn't quite adjusted back to normal.

After completing the task of transferring the Zhou family's documents, he was transferred from his original position by the college's executive department. To be honest, he still doesn't understand why the college had him infiltrate that Xinyu Internet Cafe for two or three years.

The Execution Department often does this, sending you here and there on all sorts of mysterious secret missions without telling you the secrets of the missions themselves. He could understand that; only those who don't know the secrets can protect them.

As for why he was transferred from his original post, it was probably because the Zhou family's document involved matters far beyond his authority. In ancient China, for safety's sake, messengers like him, who escorted secret intelligence, usually met a fate of being discarded after their usefulness was over. The academy, of course, wouldn't be so barbaric; it simply removed him from his original post.

That's good, after all, he's not getting any younger. He took on a female apprentice from the same city when he was playing MapleStory, and now they've gone from online dating to a real-life couple. They're currently in the honeymoon phase, and if nothing unexpected happens, they should get married in a few years. Being a lowly internet cafe manager forever isn't really sustainable; he needs to think about their future.

"You're someone who's about to settle down and start a family."

Old Lei lay back in his computer chair, sighing, his hands behind his head, gazing wistfully at the ceiling. He would still occasionally think back to the days when he worked as a manager at Xinyu Internet Cafe.

It's not a very interesting place, but every now and then you'll meet some pretty interesting people.

Just then, footsteps echoed in the hallway outside the office. Upon hearing the sound, Lao Lei immediately sat up straight in his computer chair, casually opened a webpage, and pretended to be diligently working, his eyes fixed on the glass. Out of the corner of his eye, he kept glancing at the hallway through the glass.

Fortunately, the supervisor only walked past outside the corridor and did not enter the office.

He secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"After slacking off all afternoon, it's time to get back to work properly, otherwise I won't be able to finish my tasks today."

As Lao Lei thought to himself, he looked up at the computer screen and realized that the webpage he had just opened was actually the Shilan Middle School forum page.

The company browser account is linked to his own account, and logging in automatically syncs his previous bookmarks. When he was a network administrator, he would often go back to his alma mater's forum to take a look when he had nothing to do.

Now that he has resigned and changed jobs, he has less and less free time every day. As the forum's top administrator, he hasn't been back to check on the forum for quite some time.

However, it's not good to slack off and browse forums during work hours. More importantly, if I don't start working now, I really won't be able to finish today's tasks, and I'll have to stay at the company and work overtime.

Just as Lao Lei was about to close the webpage, his eyes suddenly caught sight of the eye-catching title on the screen.

"About the fallen Lu Mingfei and his precarious life... Part 2?"

What the heck? Can this thing even produce a 2?

Is this a viral post on the forum? Just how explosive is the content?

After a moment's hesitation, my interest in my brother's gossip ultimately triumphed over my sense of duty as a working person. Although, frankly, working people don't really have much of a sense of duty anyway.

Old Lei clicked on it out of curiosity and laughed; it was yet another long proclamation.

Huh, why did I say "again"?

Old Lei continued reading, and found a photo attached to the top post.

Although the photo is low resolution, it is still clear that Lu Mingfei is carrying a girl on his back. The girl has her arms around Lu Mingfei's neck and her chin resting on his shoulder, in an intimate pose.

"This girl is..."

He touched his chin and remembered that this was the girl Lu Mingfei had brought with him when he came to the internet cafe before.

He had jokingly told Lu Mingfei that he had no idea he was so lucky with women, with one beautiful girl after another. He never expected that he would actually win over this girl.

"But I remember that Lu Mingfei has a girlfriend, right?"

Old Lei remembered that during Shilan Middle School's anniversary celebration last year, he ran into Lu Mingfei and his girlfriend at the school. She was the girl he had a rumored relationship with in "About the Fallen Lu Mingfei and His Life on Thin Ice 1". Her name was Liu Miaomiao, and she was also the school beauty who was currently being discussed a lot on the Shilan Middle School forum.

Did they break up, or did he cheat?

As the forum administrator, Lao Lei could see the post's view count. Although the post was recognized as a viral post by the system, it had only been published for about ten minutes, and the number of views was only three or four hundred. The number of people who had seen it was probably still relatively small.

If I delete the post now, the impact shouldn't spread too far.

However, the post itself did not violate the forum's rules. There are many similar gossip posts on the forum. Just because Lu Mingfei is a friend, it seems inappropriate to abuse administrative power to delete posts and control comments for him.

Old Lei stroked his goatee and squinted his small eyes into slits.

After a brief moment of contemplation, he made his decision.

No matter what, Lu Mingfei was considered his buddy. As a buddy, faced with this situation, he clearly only had one choice:

—Pinned and featured!
……

"Bye mom!"

At the intersection next to the gate of Shilan Middle School, Liu Miaomiao, wearing a navy blue school uniform and carrying a schoolbag, jumped out of her family's BMW and turned to wave goodbye to Ji Ruyan inside the car.

"Aren't you cold wearing so little? Should you put on a jacket?"

"No need, I'm not cold. It's already summer!" The light turned green, and Liu Miaomiao watched the black BMW merge into traffic and drive away before turning her gaze away.

There's a kind of coldness in the world called "Mom thinks you're cold." Seriously, doesn't Mom ever check the weather forecast? It's been getting warmer and warmer lately...

However, Liu Miaomiao did not complain, because she knew that her mother was concerned about whether she was cold because she was worried about her.

The early summer sun wakes the city up exceptionally early. The air is humid and sticky, as if brewing a conspiracy. Once the plum rains arrive, the pent-up heat will burst forth all at once.

She tiptoed around, thinking that her aunt had been sick and taken the day off yesterday, and that there was no breakfast prepared at home this morning. So she headed to the breakfast shop that Lu Mingfei used to frequent.

As far as she could remember, this was the first time she had ever bought something from a street vendor by herself. She puffed out her cheeks, thinking about the breakfasts that Lu Mingfei often bought, took a deep breath, and smiled at the breakfast shop owner.

"Boss lady, could you please give me a tea egg, a fried dough stick, and a cup of soy milk?"

"Alright! Just a moment, little girl."

"Ah."

While waiting for the shop owner to pack her bags, Liu Miaomiao held onto the straps of her backpack with both hands and hummed softly the tune she would play at the opening ceremony of the school sports meet.

...That's a bit strange.

She subconsciously glanced around; it was the busiest time of day, and everyone around her was a student from Shilan Middle School, just like herself. For some reason, she had a feeling that someone was watching her from behind.

This feeling has always been there; after all, pretty and academically excellent children always receive extra attention. Liu Miaomiao was the typical "other people's child" from a young age. From the time she became conscious, she could feel that there were always admiring or envious eyes secretly watching her from behind.

But the way she was being looked at today seemed a little different. She couldn't quite put her finger on what was different.

"...Hurry up and get to school."

Liu Miaomiao took the bag of breakfast from the proprietress. Just then, the green light at the zebra crossing not far away turned on, and she quickly crossed the zebra crossing, following the flow of people to Shilan Middle School on the other side of the road.

However, even after arriving at school, the strange feeling of being watched from behind didn't disappear. In fact, it became even more pronounced. Liu Miaomiao felt a chill run down her spine and quickened her pace towards her classroom.

It was still early before the first class, and Liu Miaomiao was always the first of the three girls to arrive. However, there were already some people in the hallway outside the classroom.

Feeling puzzled, Liu Miaomiao walked to the classroom door of Class 2, Grade 1, and pushed the door open.

Everyone in the classroom looked towards the doorway.

"..."

There must be something wrong!

At this moment, Liu Miaomiao was finally certain in her heart that this feeling of déjà vu, as if she had fallen into some kind of parallel world's rules and strange tales, was not her imagination.

"...Good morning, Miaomiao."

A girl sitting next to Liu Miaomiao paused for a moment, then quickly put on a bright smile and greeted her.

Her name is Yan Yan, and she is also a member of the group that often hangs out with Liu Miaomiao and Deng Zhuoyi. They have a pretty good relationship.

"Good morning, Xiaoyan." Liu Miaomiao smiled and nodded in return as she sat down in her seat and stuffed her schoolbag into the desk drawer.

"Well……"

"Ok?"

"..."

"Just say what it is," Liu Miaomiao said bluntly. "Xiaoyan, your face is full of 'wanting to say something but holding back' expressions."

Yan Yan was hesitating, unsure how to comfort her friend, when Liu Miaomiao unexpectedly spoke up. And judging from her expression… she seemed more normal and relaxed than Yan Yan had expected, as if nothing had happened.

The more normal Miaomiao acts... the more abnormal her current situation is!

She stammered, "Miaomiao, are you really alright...?"

"thing?"

Liu Miaomiao tilted her head and looked at her strangely: "What's wrong? I've been fine the whole time."

"Miaomiao, please don't do this... I'm scared."

"...?" Liu Miaomiao gradually typed out a question mark.

"He's just a jerk! Miaomiao, we don't need to be sad over him! With your looks and qualities, there's no shortage of guys who want to date you, stretching from Shilan Middle School to Xunli Middle School in the north of the city! We'll find someone even better than that guy!"

"What are you talking about..." Liu Miaomiao was genuinely confused.

Seeing Liu Miaomiao's bewildered expression, Yan Yan felt that her friend's complete lack of understanding didn't seem to be faking it...

Yan Yan asked in a low voice, "Miaomiao, don't you know about what's being talked about on the forum?"

……

(End of this chapter)