Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Chapter 618 Lu Mingfei's Reputation
"Please accept my condolences." Chu Zihang patted Lu Mingfei on the shoulder.

After the morning classes ended, at the lunch cafeteria, Lu Mingfei pretended not to notice the stares from the people around him as he lined up for food. Chu Zihang walked over to greet Lu Mingfei in full view of everyone and joined the line behind him.

"Thank you, senior brother, but I have nothing to apologize for."

Lu Mingfei waved his hand expressionlessly to express a complex mix of emotions, such as "I'm fine" and "Don't worry about me."

How do you measure how far a piece of gossip has spread? Chu Zihang is undoubtedly a very reliable benchmark. This current vice president of Shilan Secondary School and future president of the Lionheart Club has always been oblivious to what's going on outside his school and has never been interested in the rumors circulating on campus.

But if Lu Mingfei's gossip has spread to the point that even Chu Zihang has heard about it, then it means that even the stray cats at school probably know about your little scandal.

"I'm not referring to the rumors at school about you and Liu Miaomiao breaking up. You two didn't actually break up, did you?"

Chu Zihang spoke silently, in a voice so soft that only the two of them could hear, "I mean, the fact that you were dating Su Xiaoqiang at the same time has been exposed. This is a sad thing."

Chu Zihang was the first person in the school to know that Lu Mingfei had multiple relationships. After all, when they first met, Lu Mingfei had unintentionally expressed his beautiful and simple idea of ​​dating Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen at the same time, and even rented a three-bedroom apartment.

Chu Zihang had initially thought that it might take longer for this plan to succeed, but before the first year of high school was even over, Lu Mingfei had already exceeded expectations. Not only had he won over all four of the school beauties chosen by the boys of Shilan Middle School, but he had also brought back a Japanese girl named Erii.

"Are you the only one eating in the cafeteria today?" Chu Zihang looked around. "Where are the others?"

"They're in the literary society's activity room. Little Fairy is shy and can't stand being stared at from behind, so they went to stay in the literary society's activity room first. I packed their lunch for them."

Chu Zihang nodded: "It will be fine in a few days."

"I hope."

Lu Mingfei said. He was already in line at the cafeteria window.

Fortunately, Lu Mingfei arrived when the cafeteria was less crowded, and there weren't many people in the line behind him anymore. His act of packing several meals for himself didn't cause any complaints from others.

"Do you want me to get some for you?" Chu Zihang asked from behind. "Can you carry all these portions by yourself?"

"Thank you, senior brother, but no need," Lu Mingfei said.

He wasn't being polite to Chu Zihang; normally, he would have readily accepted the stoic senior's kindness. However, he was currently at the height of his fame and wanted to cool things down. If he were seen with Chu Zihang again, who knew what strange discussions would arise?

After packing, Lu Mingfei said goodbye to Chu Zihang and hurried towards the literary society with his bags full. The feeling of his hands being completely occupied reminded Lu Mingfei of Teresa Teng's classic song "Going Back to My Mother's Home," and he hummed it softly.

"A chicken in her left hand, a duck in her right, and a chubby baby on her back, ee-ya-ee-de-er-wei..."

Damn, even my own humming is so awful?

Some things are undeniable; whether it's Liu Miaomiao, Su Xiaoqiang, or Chen Wenwen, they are all excellent singers.

Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen sang sweet songs with melodious and natural voices, which Lu Mingfei thought were even better than those of Wang Xinling, the "Sweetheart Queen." Su Xiaoqiang, on the other hand, sang foreign songs exceptionally well. During a previous get-together with the class next door, their rendition of Shakira's "Whenever Whenever" amazed everyone, leading many to believe it was the original recording.

In comparison, Lu Mingfei was far inferior. Although it wasn't terrible, just the level of an average person singing in a plain voice, it paled in comparison to his girlfriends.

During lunch break, the old teaching building is almost deserted, with only the afternoon sun slanting in through the mottled old glass windows, dust motes floating in the sunlight, creating a classic and beautiful scene. This is a physical phenomenon called the Tyndall effect.

Lu Mingfei rushed through the corridor back to the entrance of the literary society. Just as he was about to push the door open, it opened by itself.

"Senior brother, why are you so late? I'm starving!" Xia Mi complained, pouting as she took the lunchbox from Lu Mingfei's hand.

"Then you can come to the cafeteria with me tomorrow."

"No way! Senior, you're right in the center of the school's gossip storm right now. If I'm with you, people will talk about me behind my back!"

Xia Mi stuck out her tongue, then suddenly seemed to remember something: "Hey, but if I'm inseparable from you right now, won't the rumors at school start again that 'you broke up with Senior Sister Su and got together with me'? Thinking about it that way, being with you doesn't seem so bad, does it?"

"Junior sister, have you forgotten that you're portrayed as my cousin at school? Or do you want to be with me on Yosuga no Sora?"

What is Yosuga no Sora?

"Oh, it's nothing. Let's go inside quickly." Lu Mingfei remembered that it was still 2007, and the brother-sister love masterpiece that would later shock the world had not yet been released. It would not be released until the end of 2008, a year later. Xia Mi at this time did not know the evil meaning of the three words "Yosuga no Sora".

But at least it's better than Ghost Father... For some reason, this thought suddenly popped into Lu Mingfei's mind.

As Lu Mingfei entered the literary society's activity room, he made sure to close the door behind him. The girls who were chatting stood up when they saw Lu Mingfei and Xia Mi enter, and took the takeout bags from their hands.

"Thank you for your hard work, Mingfei," Su Xiaoqiang said, her sweet voice unusually tinged with apology. "It's so kind of you to go and pack so many meals for me all by yourself."

"This isn't like you at all, little fairy. Why are you being so polite with me? It's nothing serious."

Lu Mingfei sat down in the empty seat next to Erii. Everyone had already assumed that the seat to Lu Mingfei's left was for Erii, while the seat to his right was open to any of the girls.

"Besides, this whole thing is my fault. I wasn't careful enough. I thought it was a school day yesterday, and the botanical garden is in the suburbs, quite far from the school. I figured no one would recognize us if we went there on a date. I never expected someone to take pictures of us and post them online," Lu Mingfei said.

"Speaking of which, I think I know who the culprit is."

Xia Mi sat down in the seat directly opposite Lu Mingfei, and with a "snap," opened her lunchbox, instantly filling the activity room with the not-so-fragrant aroma of the cafeteria food. Today's regular dishes were Typhoon Shelter Style Shrimp, Steamed Mushroom Boxes, Asparagus and Ham, and Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes.

She mixed the scrambled eggs with tomatoes and rice, scooped up a spoonful and put it in her mouth, puffing out her cheeks as she ate and said, "I used some of my connections to find out that our junior high school art class went off-campus to sketch yesterday, and they happened to go to the international flower show that you and Senior Sister Su went to. The photos that were posted on the forum were taken by a group of boys."

Lu Mingfei said, "Well, it doesn't really have much to do with them... We've always been a bit too intimate, not as cautious as before, so it was bound to be exposed sooner or later. I just didn't expect it to happen so quickly."

Lu Mingfei's original plan was to keep it a secret until at least the end of the semester. After the semester ended, he would take his girlfriends and run away to the capital, where no one in the preparatory class would know about their family background. Even if their relationship became public, he wasn't afraid of Miaomiao and Wenwen's families finding out.

Su Xiaoqiang whispered, "The main thing is that there are still rumors outside that Mingfei and Miaomiao broke up..."

Before she could finish speaking, Liu Miaomiao reached out and grasped Su Xiaoqiang's hand, smiling as she said:

"I just told you, Qiangqiang, that it's okay. Why are you blaming yourself again? I already said I don't care about this kind of thing. As long as we know what our relationship with Mingfei is like, isn't that enough? Besides, I've been monopolizing Mingfei at school for so long, and I feel pretty guilty about it. Now, Qiangqiang, you can openly show your affection with Mingfei at school too."

Lu Mingfei remembered that when he and Liu Miaomiao were giving Xiaotian a birthday gift, Liu Miaomiao suggested that she fake break up with Lu Mingfei and then give up her status as his official girlfriend to Su Xiaoqiang.

However, after discussing it with Lu Mingfei and being rejected, the matter was dropped. Liu Miaomiao gave Su Xiaoqiang a very expensive Shakira-signed "She wplf 2LP" vinyl record as a birthday gift. Chen Wenwen gave him a book. Xia Mi and Erii made a vintage-style handcrafted ornament together and gave it to Su Xiaoqiang. Su Xiaoqiang's villa was decorated in a vintage style, so the ornament was quite suitable.

Unexpectedly, the proposal that was rejected at the time has now come back to us in a roundabout and accidental way.

Thinking of this, Lu Mingfei looked at Liu Miaomiao, and just then Liu Miaomiao turned her head, and their eyes met in mid-air.

After a moment, Liu Miaomiao blinked and said quietly, "I didn't say that I broke up with Mingfei. I just said that I already knew about you and Qiangqiang, and I didn't say anything else. They just made up their own assumptions."

It seems the saying that people who like each other can understand each other is true. The young couple are thinking the same thing.

Chen Wenwen spoke softly: "Actually, I don't care what people say about our relationship. We can just act like we always do. Let others guess... As long as we ignore those rumors, it'll be fine. Once they see that we're the same as before, eating together and going to and from school together as usual, they'll get bored and the hype will naturally die down."

“I also think Senior Sister Wenwen is right,” Xia Mi nodded.

Su Xiaoqiang spoke up, asking curiously, "Speaking of which, why did you call me Senior Sister Su just now, but now you're calling Wenwen Senior Sister?"

Xia Mi replied naturally, "Because there's more than one Senior Sister Chen. Calling her Senior Sister Chen directly might cause confusion."

"?" "?" "?" "!"

The three question marks naturally belonged to Liu Miaomiao, Su Xiaoqiang, and Chen Wenwen. The exclamation mark belonged to Lu Mingfei. Erii listened curiously from the side.

The three girls simultaneously turned their gazes towards Lu Mingfei, sensing that this Senior Sister Chen was most likely connected to him…

After all, Lu Mingfei has always been very good at managing his reputation.

……

(End of this chapter)