Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Chapter 645 Mysterious School Board Member
"Who gave him permission to call me by my first name?"

Even as she reached her room door, Mai Shude was still brooding over her encounter with Lu Mingfei in the elevator. Especially the fact that he had called her by her first name during their parting.

Mai...

She shook her head, clearing her mind, her high Japanese ponytail cascading down her back like a waterfall. The room key beeped as she swiped the door open, and Su Enxi sat cross-legged on the sofa in the suite's living room, looking in her direction.

"Mai, you're back? Hmm... what happened?"

"What? What happened?"

"I mean, your expression looks a little strange."

Su Enxi crunched the potato chip in her hand, without directly asking why Jiude Mai's face looked a little red. Anyone who didn't know better would think she had a chance encounter with some handsome guy in the elevator.

"It's just going downstairs to the restaurant for a meal, what could possibly happen?"

Mai Shude didn't know why she hadn't directly told Su Enxi about running into Lu Mingfei in the elevator. It was probably because she found it too troublesome.

The television set connected to the satellite channel was playing the SBS Wednesday-Thursday drama "Witch Yoo Hee".

Mai also watched a few episodes. The general plot is that the female lead, Yoo-hee, is the female president of an advertising company. Because of her devilish work style, she is known as "Witch Yoo-hee." By chance, she sparks a romance with the male lead, who is a chef. It's one of those typical melodramatic Korean soap operas.

Mai walked over to Su Enxi's sofa with her hands on her hips, looking at her good friend and thinking that compared to the female CEOs in TV dramas, Chip Girl was actually the real "witch".

Having only been in the industry for a few years, she's already become a formidable financial tycoon on Wall Street, capable of influencing the NASDAQ index with a single phone call. Who would have thought such a powerful woman would be a fan of Korean dramas? But that does fit Potato Chip Girl's age, doesn't it? Aren't sixteen or seventeen-year-old girls typically drawn to stories of youthful melancholy?
Nothing else happened; she had originally intended to go back to her room to rest. However, she stopped as soon as she turned around, hesitated for a moment, and then turned back to speak to Su Enxi.

"Oh right, potato chips..."

Mai Shude hesitated, "...If Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen want to transfer to the preparatory class at Kassel College, do you have any ideas?"

"Transferring schools?"

Su Enxi, who was eating potato chips, was taken aback, wondering why her friend would suddenly bring this up: "Transferring schools isn't a big deal. Kassel College doesn't require recommendation letters or anything, isn't it just a matter of passing the 3E exam?"

"That's not what I meant, how should I put it..."

Mai Shude didn't know why she was meddling in Lu Mingfei's business, since it didn't really concern her. But considering she'd been a babysitter for Lu Mingfei quite a bit, meddling once or twice was the same... Since she already knew about it, she might as well ask about Potato Chips for him.

Mai Jiude briefly explained the whole story to Su Enxi, without telling her that she found out about Lu Mingfei by chance in the hotel elevator.

"I see." Su Enxi nodded after listening.

She was actually a little confused. After all, wasn't Mai usually the one who disliked Lu Mingfei the most, saying that she felt uncomfortable whenever he was mentioned... How come she was now taking the initiative to act as Lu Mingfei's babysitter?

"What do you mean?" Mai asked, "Do you have any good ideas about potato chips?"

She tilted her head and thought for a moment, then suddenly clasped her hands together in front of her and said, "This matter is not difficult at all."

"How to say?"

"Wouldn't it be better to just get admitted early?"

Su Enxi shrugged: "Don't many prestigious universities have this kind of system? They admit outstanding high school students in advance. For example, if you win an Olympic gold medal, you will receive an offer of admission from Tsinghua University, Peking University, or Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Kassel College admitted Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen in advance, but after being admitted, they will have to transfer to the branch campus in the capital for their overseas education."

"This will get Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen's parents to agree?" Jiu De Mai remained skeptical: "What's the difference between this and just transferring them to another school?"

"There isn't much difference, but there are some."

Su Enxi spoke eloquently: "What is the ultimate purpose of going to high school?"

Mai frowned and hesitated before answering, "...Go to university?"

"Bingo!"

Su Enxi snapped her fingers: "Isn't the ultimate goal of going to high school to go to university? Mai, put yourself in the shoes of Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen's parents. Shilan High School is a prestigious school in the city, with excellent teachers, first-class facilities, and a high college entrance rate. If your daughter suddenly tells you that she wants to transfer to another high school in the capital, and you know very little about that high school, what would your attitude be? Would you readily agree or feel that it is unnecessary?"

"They'll probably object?"

"That's it. This is basically why Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen's parents wouldn't agree. Shilan Middle School has such a good college entrance rate, why would they suddenly transfer to a school in another province that they've never even heard of? They'd be far away from home and in an unfamiliar place."

Su Enxi continued, "But what if Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen had already been accepted by prestigious foreign universities? After being accepted, they would need to attend a partner school in China and abroad for pre-university orientation. It's similar to going to a language school to obtain a student visa before studying in Japan. If we put ourselves in the parents' shoes, wouldn't that be much easier to accept?"

“It seems so…” Mai Shude crossed her arms and rested her chin on her hand, looking thoughtful. “But how can you be so sure that after Kassel College admits Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen early, their parents will definitely agree to let their daughters accept the college’s guaranteed admission?”

"Relax, relax. Chinese parents are powerless against prestigious schools."

Su Enxi shrugged: "Kassel College spends a lot of money every year to buy its ranking on the QS list. It always claims to be a world-class university, with a principal who is a distinguished alumnus of Cambridge, faculty members from Oxford and Harvard, and the University of Chicago as an endorsement and a $100,000 principal's scholarship. Its propaganda is quite impressive."

After listening to her friend's words, Jiu De Mai found them convincing and patted Su Enxi on the head: "As expected of Lu Mingfei's Xi Ren, she is reliable in handling matters."

“You’re the one who warms his bed,” Su Enxi said, rubbing her head. Of course, she had read Dream of the Red Chamber.

To her surprise, Mai Shude didn't refute her. Instead, she said, "Let's not talk about these things for now and get this done. Although Kassel College has a history of admitting students early, Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen's bloodlines aren't exceptional, so this won't be easy to handle."

"Leave it to me."

Su Enxi stroked her chin and said, "After all, we've given Kassel College a lot of money... we should at least get some special privileges, right?"

Chicago, USA.

The morning sunlight streamed through the dense foliage into the unassuming two-story office. A document lay on Hilbert Jean Angers' desk: "Recommendation Letter Regarding the Early Admission of Lu Mingfei (Student ID AI071721S), a Student of Class 'S'".

Angers flipped directly to the last page, where school board member Beowulf and acting school board member Frost Gattuso had both replied, expressing no objection to the early admission of S-level student Lu Mingfei, A-level student Xia Mi, and Su Xiaoqiang.

However, it is believed that since neither Liu Miaomiao nor Chen Wenwen has undergone formal pedigree testing and there are no mixed-race individuals with excellent bloodlines in their families, it is inappropriate to issue admission notices to them in advance and a longer observation period is needed.

In other words, the Gattuso and Beowulf families have temporarily rejected the proposal.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Angers scratched his head: "It seems that our trick of trying to slip Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen into Lu Mingfei's admission letter has been exposed."

On the computer screen on the desk, Norma's image floated: "Can't you use your principal's authority to approve this opinion directly? As the principal of Kassel College, you have the right to approve student admissions."

Angers shook his head: “I have the right to do so, but I cannot do it. You should know that Frost has been looking for an opportunity to impeach me for a long time. Although I am not afraid of being impeached, I cannot give him an excuse to abuse his power.”

The Information Department at Kassel College is responsible for student records, and matters such as college admissions are usually handled by the Information Department.

Members of the Information Department are responsible for screening applicants worldwide whose ancestry meets the admission requirements. They then send the applicants' information files to the Executive Department, which dispatches admissions specialists to conduct interviews. Passing the interview constitutes preliminary admission. However, final admission to Kassel College depends on the results of the 3E exams.

However, this is just a standard admissions process. There are always mixed-race individuals with superior bloodlines in this world, and a significant number of them will have their bloodlines awaken early, exhibiting spiritual vision phenomena even before the 3E exam.

Hybrids who awaken their bloodline may gradually develop a withdrawn mentality due to the "sorrow of blood." If this group of hybrids is left unattended, the excessive isolation caused by the "sorrow of blood" may lead them to develop socially antisocial personalities.

This is why Kassel College has preparatory programs all over the world. Recruiting students with exceptional backgrounds early provides protection for both the students and society.

However, being admitted to the preparatory class in advance is different from being admitted to Kassel College in advance.

The purpose of enrolling them in the preparatory class is simply to let them learn about dragon-related knowledge in advance; whether they are ultimately admitted depends on taking the 3E exam.

Early admission bypasses the 3E exam, and students will directly become members of Kassel College, with their files permanently stored by the Information Department and Norma.

Therefore, Kassel College almost never admits students in advance; after all, the impact of admitting ordinary people would be immeasurable. The 3E exam is the last line of defense to prevent such accidents.

Even if someone has an exceptional bloodline, or has even awakened their bloodline early, they still need to submit a written statement to the school board for review. Only after the review is approved can they be admitted ahead of schedule.

In the past five years, the Kassel College Board of Trustees has only approved three students' applications for early admission.

They approved the recruitment of Cesare Gattuso, the heir of the Gattuso family, two years ago;

Last year, the recruitment opinions of Charlotte von Göttingen, the current head of the Göttingen family, and Chen Motong of the Chen family were approved.

The first two were heirs from the seven board member families that supported Kassel College, so their bloodlines were beyond question. Chen Motong, on the other hand, had awakened her bloodline in her childhood and had experienced spiritual vision. Principal Angers, Vice Principal Night Watchman, and Norma all assessed her bloodline as A-level or higher.

Given the exceptionally high pedigree of the three individuals, the Board of Trustees approved their early admission.

According to the three mission reports written by Professor Mans's student, Shudeya, S-class student Lu Mingfei demonstrated unparalleled bloodline expressiveness in the Portuguese incident, the Three Gorges mission, and the Tokyo incident.

Furthermore, he had also awakened a high-risk Word of Power, suspected to be serial number 109, called "Word of Power: Sea Wall." Taking all these factors into account, the Board of Directors agreed to Lu Mingfei's application for early admission.

The reason why Natsumi was able to pass the opinion was also because of this. According to Aki's report, when they encountered the Snake-Headed Eight Families, Natsumi also used a high-risk incantation with considerable destructive power.

Although the report is somewhat vague in its description of the specific Words of Power, a hybrid that can awaken a high-risk Word of Power must have a bloodline that is not too low.

As for why Su Xiaoqiang's admission was approved... it was because her mother was Gloria Valentine, who had half Valentine family blood flowing through her veins, and her uncle Louis was one of the seven board members of the academy.

In short, she was able to get some connections and influence through the approval process...

However, Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen are different. They are neither descendants of mixed-race families, nor are either of their parents mixed-race, and neither of them shows any obvious signs of superior bloodline. Apart from being somewhat pretty, they are almost useless.

Therefore, Frost Gattuso's rejection of the two candidates in the recruitment proposal was not directed at Angers, but was entirely reasonable.

Even Frost Gattuso, upon seeing that Angers was actually planning to admit ordinary people with no bloodline, wondered if Angers had finally developed dementia... For the sake of the dignity of Kassel College and the safety of the mixed-race world, it seems that the impeachment proceedings against Angers are indeed necessary.

However, Angers was actually a little troubled when he looked at the two names on the opinion letter.

"Young people will do anything for love," he said with a wry smile.

He knew, of course, that admitting Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen ahead of schedule was clearly against the college's regulations, but if he didn't admit the two of them, Lu Mingfei probably wouldn't be willing to go to the college's preparatory class either.

In addition, there were other people's requests this time.

He rested his hands on the desk, thinking for a moment, then said, "Norma, please send this letter of opinion to the board members again. Also, send them letters to notify them of the board meeting."

Norma asked coldly, "In the principal's name...?"

“Of course not.” Angers shook his head: “In the name of that mysterious board member who has never shown her face. After all, it was she who recommended Liu Miaomiao and Chen Wenwen for admission to the college.”

……

(End of this chapter)