Dragon Clan: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

Chapter 709 IF Side Story: A Daily Romance Without Dragons (2)

After an awkward silence, Su Xiaoqiang finally spoke again: "You're Lu Mingfei from Class 2, Grade 9?"

Class 2 of Grade 9 is Lu Mingfei's class in Grade 9. Lu Mingfei scratched his head: "...Should I? There doesn't seem to be another person named Lu Mingfei in Shilan Middle School."

“I think so too.” Su Xiaoqiang nodded, without glancing at him once throughout.

Lu Mingfei, slightly helpless, turned to look at the stage, only to hear Su Xiaoqiang mutter softly, almost inaudibly, "I never expected him to be such a lecher."

……

After that, Lu Mingfei and Su Xiaoqiang didn't say another word until the end of the freshman orientation.

……

The first day of school, in addition to distributing books to students, was also the day for electing class officers.

Lu Mingfei, of course, didn't receive any official position, while Liu Miaomiao was unsurprisingly assigned to the role of vice class monitor. Su Xiaoqiang, who entered the school with the highest score in the entire school, was appointed as both class monitor and academic representative.

After assigning their respective roles, the class officers took turns going on stage to introduce themselves and then bowed to the students below. Then the homeroom teacher went on stage to conclude the first class meeting of Grade 1 (2).

Our homeroom teacher, surnamed Tang, earned the nickname "Old Tang" on the first day of school. He looked quite young, around twenty-five or twenty-six, and had a very capable demeanor. After the class meeting, he sent the class schedule to the class group chat.

Lu Mingfei's seatmate—the class's life committee member Deng Zhuoyi—secretly turned around and asked while the homeroom teacher was handing out the class schedule, "Lu Mingfei, have you decided which club you want to join?"

"No? I've never thought about joining a club." Lu Mingfei answered truthfully; as a member of the Homecoming Club, he genuinely hadn't considered it.

"Huh? There are actually people who don't want to join clubs? I gave up my direct admission spot to the main school, Hsin Li High School, and worked my butt off to get into Shih Lan High School, all because Shih Lan High School has clubs!"

Xunli Middle School is also a prestigious school in the city, with a similar college entrance rate to Shilan Middle School. However, the two schools are quite far apart, one in the south of the city and the other in the north. A drawback of Xunli Middle School is that it doesn't offer the same rich extracurricular activities as Shilan Middle School. Nevertheless, because Shilan Middle School is so far away, students living near Xunli still tend to prefer applying to Xunli Middle School.

But I never expected that Deng Zhuoyi would give up the helicopter tour at Xunli School in order to join the club and travel all the way from the south of the city to the north. After evening self-study, she will probably have to take a bus for an hour to get home. Maybe her family will have a car to pick her up.
While thinking to himself, Lu Mingfei answered her question: "...I'm quite interested in e-sports clubs and things like that, oh, and photography too."

"I've never heard of an esports club... but I do have a photography club."

"A photography studio?"

"Yes, it's the empty classroom on the far left of the second floor of the science and education building. That's the photography club's activity room. Didn't you go to Shilan Middle School for junior high? How come you didn't know?"

Lu Mingfei choked for a moment; he really hadn't heard of this matter.

"Then how did you know?"

Deng Zhuoyi curled her nose: "The student council office and the photography club are only two classrooms apart. Yesterday, when I went to the student council to see Senior Brother Chu, I accidentally saw the photography club's sign. I heard that Senior Sister Chen from the photography club is a real beauty!"

Lu Mingfei wasn't interested in whether the women were beautiful or not, since he was just saying it casually and didn't actually intend to join the photography club.

Upon hearing Deng Zhuoyi mention Senior Brother Chu, the name immediately popped into Lu Mingfei's mind: "Senior Brother Chu, you mean Chu Zihang, the student council's vice president?"

Deng Zhuoyi nodded without hesitation: "Yes."

Seeing Deng Zhuoyi's starry-eyed expression, Lu Mingfei wondered whether he should tell her that Chu Zihang was cursed with a lonely star, and that all the bad romances that came his way would ultimately be for nothing... Never mind, he shouldn't discourage the young girl's first love.

……

Noon came quickly.

After the meal, following Deng Zhuoyi's directions, Lu Mingfei found the classroom located on the far left of the science and education building. The classroom door had the words "Photography Club" pasted on it.

Lu Mingfei tried knocking on the door, but there was no response. He guessed they were still eating, so he turned to leave. Just then, someone happened to come out of the student council room next door.

Student council president Susie was carrying a very heavy stack of documents when she came out of the student council office and happened to see me standing at the entrance of the photography club.

She looked at me, seemingly deep in thought. I forced a smile and greeted her, "Hello, Senior Sister Su."

Her eyes lit up, as if she remembered me: "I remember you... you're Lu Mingfei, right? You came to the student council office looking for Chu Zihang?"

Lu Mingfei nodded, surprised that Susie actually knew him.

"Are you going to the photography studio?" she asked.

Lu Mingfei scratched his head: "But there's no one inside right now."

"Oh, is that so? Wait a minute," Susie said, raising one leg to brace against the heavy-looking stack of documents. Only then did Lu Mingfei notice that she, as the student council president, was not wearing the school uniform, but rather a casual outfit: sandals, a white skirt that just covered her knees, a cool short-sleeved vest, and a white short-sleeved shirt.

She seemed to notice Lu Mingfei's confusion and explained, "In previous years, some students always said that the school uniform was too old-fashioned, so the school ordered a new style of girls' uniform this year, but we haven't decided whether to place a large order yet. I'm just trying it on now."

Lu Mingfei nodded. "The student council works quite hard too."

“Of course, but someone has to do it.” Susie said with a smile, while reaching into her skirt pocket to rummage for something. Lu Mingfei watched her struggling to prop up the stack of documents with her leg and considered whether he should take them from her, but then she tossed something to me. I caught it and found it was a key.

"The keys to the photography club." Susie put her legs down and hugged the documents again. "Go and take a look yourself first. The club president should be back soon."

Lu Mingfei nodded hesitantly, about to offer to help her carry it, when she tilted her head and smiled, saying, "As a boy, next time you see a girl carrying something heavy, you should take the initiative to help her, don't wait for her to ask first."

After saying that, Susie nodded to him and turned to leave.

I stared at Susie's departing figure, stunned for a moment. I wanted to say something, but I didn't know what to say, and I was speechless for a while.

Lu Mingfei used the key Ye Qianlin gave him to open the door to the photography studio. The first thing that caught his eye was a sea of ​​photos, or rather, photographic works.

He observed carefully and found that the photographs were taken all over the country, from the Five Sacred Mountains to the famous Jiuzhaigou, then to Changbai Mountain, Fenghuang Ancient Town, Hulunbuir Grassland... High mountains and flowing water, grasslands and deserts are all included.

The shooting technique may not be particularly sophisticated, but it always gives people a gentle feeling, like the sunlight pouring down from the forest, or like a gentle breeze caressing one's body and mind, making one unconsciously immerse oneself in it.

Just as Lu Mingfei was marveling at how many tourist attractions the photography club members had visited, he suddenly heard a sound behind him. He immediately turned around and saw a long-haired girl in a second-year school uniform standing at the entrance, placing her DSLR camera on a shelf by the door.

Seeing Lu Mingfei turn around, the girl smiled brightly and said, "I didn't mean to disturb you, I just wanted to put the camera away."

"No, I'm the one who's bothering you." Lu Mingfei bowed, then looked up and asked uncertainly, noticing the other person's striking red hair.

"Are you... Club President Chen, Senior Sister?"

"Um."

The girl shrugged and nodded. Just as Lu Mingfei was about to introduce himself, she interrupted me, saying, "You're Lu Mingfei? I heard Susie mention you came to the photography club to find me."

Lu Mingfei was stunned for a moment. All he could say was said by the beautiful Senior Sister Chen, so he could only nod.

Strangely, Lu Mingfei was certain that this was his first meeting with this Senior Chen, but he felt a strange sense of familiarity with her, as if he had seen her before. However, after thinking about it for a long time, he still couldn't recall anything about her.

The girl continued, "I was supposed to go to the freshman orientation, but I was sick that day, so I couldn't make it."

Lu Mingfei recalled the empty chair of the student council vice president and looked at the girl. She gave Lu Mingfei a sly smile, as if she had guessed what he was thinking and confirmed his guess.

No wonder student council president Susie had the key to the photography club; it turns out the president of the photography club was also the vice president of the student council.

She walked over to Lu Mingfei's side, being about half a head shorter than him, but she didn't seem to care. Standing next to him, her gaze also falling on the photography wall in front of me, she spoke to me instead: "Do you like photography too?"

I hummed in agreement. "I've liked it since I was little, but I haven't been to many places."

"I like them very much too. These photos are all pictures I've taken at famous scenic spots I've visited since I was a child. I even went to Weiming Lake this summer, but I haven't had time to upload the photos yet."

She reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear, her voice neither loud nor soft, yet the words "Weiming Lake" evoked endless memories for Lu Mingfei.

Suddenly, Lu Mingfei thought of the girl by the Weiming Lake, and recalled the familiar feeling he had when he first met this senior sister. Suddenly, an unbelievable guess popped into his mind.

Chen Motong stood beside me, and Lu Mingfei couldn't help but look at her profile. The more he looked, the more he felt that she resembled the girl in the photo who was bending over to put on her socks.

Lu Mingfei had a sudden thought and finally mustered up the courage to ask his senior about the specific time of their trip to Weiming Lake this year. Little did he expect that she would turn around and look at him at that moment.

Seeing her puzzled expression, Lu Mingfei found himself unable to speak, so he changed the subject and asked, "By the way, Senior Sister, what's your name?"

She paused for a moment, then said, "I thought you knew my surname was Chen, so you knew my given name too."

Lu Mingfei shook her head, then turned her gaze back to the photo wall, shrugged, and said casually, "Chen Motong, Mo as in ink, Tong as in pupil."

……

Time flew by and it was time to get out of school.

Lu Mingfei's home is not too far from Shilan Middle School, and he usually rides his bicycle home.

However, when he pushed his bicycle to the school gate today, he unexpectedly saw Su Xiaoqiang. Several boys who looked like upperclassmen surrounded her at the school gate. Judging from their school uniforms, they were students from a nearby high school.

Su Xiaoqiang maintained a cold expression, looking extremely impatient with the tall boy in the lead. Perhaps because Su Xiaoqiang was a celebrity among the freshmen, many students around her stopped and turned to look.

Lu Mingfei saw Su Qian, the student council president, rushing out of the student council office on the second floor of the science and education building. After observing the situation, he silently pushed his bicycle over.

As Lu Mingfei approached and stopped in front of them, the group scrutinized me with a mixture of confusion and interest. Lu Mingfei ignored them completely, his gaze sweeping over them to Su Xiaoqiang in the middle. He chuckled and patted the chair, saying, "Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's go."

The tall man at the head of the group looked at Lu Mingfei, seemingly puzzled: "This has nothing to do with you, get out of here."

"But we agreed to go to that new milk tea shop next to school together today." Lu Mingfei remained unmoved, looking at Su Xiaoqiang with an air of seriousness: "Right?"

Su Xiaoqiang seemed to understand what I was going to do, but she didn't seem willing to cooperate. Only when the tall, imposing man looked at her did she push through the crowd and get on the back of Lu Mingfei's bicycle: "Let's go."

Lu Mingfei smiled as he looked at the angry man at the head of the class, then got on his bicycle and left the school gate.

The late summer breeze was blowing in her face, no longer as hot as in the height of summer. Su Xiaoqiang sat sideways in the back seat, the wind blowing her neat bangs into disarray, making her straight ponytail sway, and her fair thighs could be vaguely seen as her skirt swayed.

Lu Mingfei turned his head and glanced at her. She had her head down, but her bangs were fluttering in the wind, which could no longer hide the expression on her face.

We'd only known each other for a day, but at least in that day, I'd never seen her show that expression. It was an expression somewhere between coldness and shyness, like a princess meeting her favorite knight, yet forced to put on airs because of her princess status.

Of course, this is just a metaphor. Lu Mingfei certainly didn't think that such a prominent figure would fall in love with him just because of a hero saving a damsel in distress. He was obviously only in the car today because he had no other choice.

But seeing Su Xiaoqiang's expression, Lu Mingfei was genuinely happy, even though her expression might have nothing to do with him.

He pedaled faster, humming a tune as he faced the wind. Su Xiaoqiang's voice rang out behind me: "Why are you suddenly humming?"

Lu Mingfei could even picture Su Xiaoqiang's slight furrowing of her brow when she asked the question: "Nothing, I just felt happy and wanted to hum a tune. Wouldn't it be too boring to just ride a bike without doing something else?"

Su Xiaoqiang paused for a moment, seemingly surprised by Lu Mingfei's answer, but ultimately didn't press further. Instead, she asked, "Where are we going?"

"Didn't we already say we were going to that new milk tea shop next to the school?"

"Really going?"

"Of course. Did you think I was just saying that offhand?"

The voice behind me remained silent for a long time, so long that I thought she wouldn't speak again, so long that I could already see the milk tea shop in the distance, before she spoke again: "Keep going straight ahead, and turn right at the T-junction. I'll show you how to get there."

She paused for a moment before continuing, "Go to my house."

……

(End of this chapter)