Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Chapter 698, Preparatory Class 674

The afternoon sun shone on the stone-paved road of Gulou East Street, where rows of pedicabs waited by the roadside. The old men on the pedicabs leaned against the handlebars, fanning themselves with palm-leaf fans. They were all wearing white vests and brown shorts, making one wonder if they had all come from the Guanyuan Wholesale Market together.

Retro-style brick buildings and courtyard houses flashed past the car windows from time to time, each with a plaque designating it as a "cultural relic protection unit." Cars driving side by side displayed small flags of the Fuwa mascots. In the year leading up to the Olympics, everything in the capital seemed vibrant and full of life.

"Gulou East Street is the oldest commercial district in Beijing. Since the Yuan Dynasty established its capital here, according to the principle of 'ancestral temple on the left, altar of the land and grain on the right, court in front, market behind,' Gulou Street, located directly behind the imperial city, became the commercial center of Dadu (Beijing). It was officially renamed Gulou East Street during the Qing Dynasty. When I was little, it was very lively here. My parents would often take me for a walk here in the evenings. But it's not as lively now because of the many large shopping malls that have been built. Only tourists still come back here to take photos," Gao Mi explained while driving.

"Senior Brother Gao, are you a local from Beijing?" Lu Mingfei asked from the passenger seat.

“Yes,” Gao Mi said. “My home is in the Dongzhimen area, so I know this area very well. If Junior Brother Lu has any questions about the surrounding area, you can ask me anytime.”

"Okay, okay," Lu Mingfei replied.

Actually, this wasn't Lu Mingfei's first time in the Gulou East Street area, nor was it Liu Miaomiao's. Back when they weren't very close, during their junior high graduation trip, Lu Mingfei and Liu Miaomiao had strolled around this area together, and Qiao Yiran had even forced him to take a picture with Liu Miaomiao.

He wasn't sure if it counted as a return to familiar places, but Lu Mingfei couldn't help feeling a bit sentimental. His gaze swept over the signs on Gulou East Street, and it seemed as if the cake shop where Liu Miaomiao had bought him his birthday cake was in this area.

It's not just a bit nostalgic; this place might be where I had my first date with Liu Miaomiao and where we first fell in love.

More than anything, it's a feeling of感慨 (a complex emotion encompassing mixed feelings, often including regret, and a sense of awe or reflection). It seems that sometimes, fate is truly beyond our control.

After all, last summer I was all alone and stubbornly thought I didn't want to be in a relationship. I pretended not to see Liu Miaomiao's kindness, not wanting to hurt the little girl's feelings.

But now, just a year later, everything seems to have changed.

Lu Mingfei looked up and glanced at the rearview mirror inside the car. In the mirror, several girls were chatting and laughing, making a lively scene.

A slight ripple stirred in Lu Mingfei's heart, like a stone gently thrown into his heart, creating gentle waves in his calm mind.

This peace of mind is my hometown.

"Is the college's preparatory program also located on campus?"

Lu Mingfei looked away and asked Gao Mi.

According to the various preparatory program models he was familiar with, they were either on-campus programs, meaning they were located within the university's main campus, where students could directly access all the university's resources, the courses were directly managed by the university, and the pathway to higher education was clear; or they were collaborative programs, jointly run by external and domestic schools.

However, regardless of the specific model of the preparatory program mentioned above, they all need to be set up on campus. There doesn't seem to be a model where preparatory programs are held independently off campus.

"Well, it's both yes and no."

Gao Mi said with a smile, "It's just ahead. Once you get there, Junior Brother Lu, you'll know what's going on."

Sure enough, it was right ahead. Because Gao Mi had barely finished speaking when the car began to slow down and slowly pull over to the side of the road.

Lu Mingfei's gaze unconsciously turned to the window, and the first thing he saw when he looked up was the "New Oriental English" sign hanging high on an office building.

He paused for a few seconds, then looked around and realized that there was much more to this place than just "New Oriental English." There were signs for all sorts of tutoring centers—language classes, music classes, dance classes, painting classes… It was a small commercial center packed with tutoring institutions.

Gao Mi parked the car in an open-air parking space in the commercial center, and the others got out of the car.

"Is the preparatory course for Kassel College located here?"

Su Xiaoqiang shielded her eyes from the sun with her slender hand, looking up at the rows of tutoring institution billboards in front of her. Although she couldn't say she was disillusioned, the scene before her was still somewhat different from the Kassel College preparatory class she had imagined.

After all, that's Kassel College! Unlike other universities, it's a university that teaches dragon-slaying courses! Graduates face the most realistic darkness of this world!
In Su Xiaoqiang's imagination, such a school should be as mysterious as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Harry Potter! The entrance should be hidden in Platform 9¾, which ordinary people cannot enter, and a special magical train should be there to welcome these magical academies.

...Okay, she admits she's gone a little overboard with her imagination. Flying magic trains probably don't exist in reality; they're just children's literature.

But it shouldn't be this simple... She never imagined that the preparatory class of Kassel College would be located in the same office building as "New Oriental English".

"Is it similar to a language school in Japan?" Chen Wenwen asked.

"Mingfei, look! This is the same institution where I learn piano!" Liu Miaomiao exclaimed in surprise as she found her piano class among a row of tutoring center signs.

"Seems to be."

Lu Mingfei had picked Liu Miaomiao up from her piano class before, so he knew the name of the training institution where she studied piano: "Miaomiao, is the institution where you study piano a nationwide chain?"

“Yes,” Liu Miaomiao replied.

"This is where we teach during the summer vacation."

At this moment, Gao Mi spoke up, "The actual classes aren't held here. Kassel College actually has a partner private international high school, and the college uses their facilities under the name of its international department. However, it's summer vacation now, and the high school is already on break. So the college's summer classes have been temporarily moved here. Hiding them among a bunch of tutoring centers is also to avoid being noticed."

Upon hearing this, Lu Mingfei nodded in sudden realization. He knew that with the principal's flamboyant style, he certainly wouldn't have made the preparatory classes so shabby. He was the kind of person who wore a suit every day and even stuffed roses in his breast pocket.

It seems that middle schools in the capital city have never had a tradition of summer tutoring, and the academy could not continue to conduct classes on campus, so it temporarily rented office space here to conduct classes under the guise of extracurricular tutoring.

It was during afternoon tutoring class time, and the elevator, which could easily hold dozens of people, was full of young-looking middle school students. This was clearly not a good time to squeeze into the elevator.

As soon as the group of people stood in the elevator, everyone's eyes immediately focused on them.

Lu Mingfei took the lead and entered the elevator first, followed by several girls who leaned against him. This had almost become a habit for them; in crowded places, they would subconsciously lean against Lu Mingfei.

Gao Mi pressed the button for the 13th floor, which seemed to be where the preparatory class was located. However, squeezing into the elevator during rush hour was still a torment. The elevator stopped almost every floor, and after a long wait, it finally docked on the 13th floor. When Lu Mingfei stepped out of the elevator, he felt a sense of relief, almost like he was surfacing.

The corridor, with its glass curtain walls, was bathed in a hazy sunlight. Along one side were rows of classrooms. A girl, roughly the same age as Lu Mingfei and his friends, carrying books, walked past them down the corridor. It looked like an ordinary after-school tutoring center, lacking any of the mystique associated with "Kassel College Preparatory Classes."

However, the next moment, Lu Mingfei saw the name of the book the girl was holding.

"Magic Mechanical Design Level 1"

This is an introductory course in Magic Mechanics. If dragon-slaying courses are also divided into arts and sciences, then this probably belongs to the sciences, a branch of alchemy.

When Lu Mingfei enrolled, Professor Guderian had arranged for him to choose "Magical Mechanical Design Level 1" as his major. For thousands of years, humanity had been able to stand against dragons and contend with them precisely because of its ingenious alchemical weapons. Professor Guderian clearly intended to cultivate Lu Mingfei along the path of an alchemy master.

However, after seeing Lu Mingfei's first-semester transcript, it became clear that Lu Mingfei's major courses consisted only of humanities courses like "Introduction to Dragon Family Genealogy" and "Old Norse Language." It was probably that the barely passing grades that made Professor Guderian abandon his hopes.

"Is this the preparatory class?" Su Xiaoqiang looked around curiously.

"It looks quite ordinary, doesn't it?"

Gao Mi smiled and said, "Since we're disguising ourselves as an after-school tutoring center, we should at least make it look convincing. But don't worry about others seeing what we're learning; this entire floor of the office building actually belongs to the academy. Come with me."

Lu Mingfei followed Gao Mi through the corridor and into a classroom.

There weren't many people in the classroom, except for a petite girl sitting in her seat. When she saw Lu Mingfei and the others come in, her pretty face, as clear as ice and snow, turned to look at them and nodded.

"?"

Lu Mingfei suddenly stopped in his tracks, stunned. Su Xiaoqiang, who was following behind Lu Mingfei, had obviously also seen the girl and said with a mixture of surprise and delight, "Zero?"

"It's me," Ling said calmly. "Long time no see."

With golden hair, skin so white it was almost translucent, and sapphire-like eyes, who else could it be but Zero? Lu Mingfei was somewhat stunned; he hadn't expected to encounter Zero here.

"Zero, what are you doing here? Were you also accepted into the preparatory program at Kassel College?" Liu Miaomiao asked curiously. Of course, she knew Zero. They had even shared a room when they were in Japan.

"Yes." Zero reply, simple and concise.

"Did you know Junior Sister Ling before?" Gao Mi asked with a smile.

"Yes," Su Xiaoqiang replied.

“Junior Sister Ling arrived this morning, a little earlier than you. Since you know each other, you can receive freshman orientation together later. Please find a seat first, and I will go find the senior sister in charge of orientation.”

Gao Mi left the classroom, and several girls sat down in the seats next to Ling, curiously striking up a conversation with her. Girls' friendships can start so naturally. Lu Mingfei watched the lively scene ahead; clearly, Ling didn't seem to have experienced anything like this before, and was somewhat overwhelmed by the girls' questions.

Looking at Zero's flustered profile, Lu Mingfei realized that everyone has their weaknesses. Zero, whom Lu Mingfei had always considered omniscient and omnipotent, seemed to be quite bad at handling these kinds of social situations.

At this moment, Zero turned her head slightly to the side, her eyes meeting Lu Mingfei's. Lu Mingfei paused, thinking that Zero had discovered him spying on him.

However, the next moment, a rare look of "help" appeared in the Ice Princess's icy blue eyes.

"..."

Just then, the classroom door creaked open, and Gao Mi returned to the classroom. Another girl, about the same age as Gao Mi, entered with her.

The girl wore a white blouse, a dark green suit with fine silver trim, a deep rose-red scarf, and the World Tree emblem of Kassel College embroidered on her breast pocket.
After entering the classroom, the girl smiled at everyone and said, "Nice to meet you all, junior brothers and sisters."

When Lu Mingfei saw the girl's face, he realized that he had actually seen her before. The girl was Wan Boqian, the senior student who had appeared with Gao Mi in the Nibelungen subway station in Beijing.

"Yes."

Gao Mi nodded and introduced, "This is Wan Boqian, the senior student who will be providing you with orientation. Wan Boqian, please help them with their enrollment procedures. What would you like to drink? We have coffee, hot chocolate, and cola."

"No need," Liu Miaomiao quickly waved her hand in front of her.

“Junior sister, you don’t need to be so polite.” Wan Boqian smiled. “I suggest you have something to drink, coffee or hot chocolate, caffeine can help you calm down.”

"what?"

Liu Miaomiao was still a little confused, but Lu Mingfei raised his hand: "I'd like a cup of coffee."

Seeing Lu Mingfei's unceremonious manner, the girls also announced their desired drinks. Su Xiaoqiang ordered a coffee, just like Lu Mingfei, while Chen Wenwen and Liu Miaomiao both ordered hot chocolate, and Xia Mi ordered a can of cola.

"Here's another document that you junior brothers and sisters need to sign first."

Wan Boqian stepped down from the podium and handed documents to several students' desks. Then she went to the window and drew the curtains, plunging the classroom into darkness, with only the cold light of the incandescent bulbs overhead.

Liu Miaomiao picked it up and saw that it was a strange document written in a mixture of Latin and English. She recognized all the English words, but the Latin was indeed beyond her knowledge. Even Su Xiaoqiang, who was proficient in multiple foreign languages, couldn't understand what was written on the document.

……

(End of this chapter)