Dragon Clan: Avoid the College Entrance Examination to Slay the Dragon

Chapter 9: Lady Zhuge

In front of the Shilan Middle School gate, where the morning mist had not yet dissipated, Gu Yi leaned against a mottled tree trunk. Just after 6:40, a mint-green taxi rolled over the wet leaves and screeched to a halt in the morning light.

The car door opened, and Chu Zihang stepped out, a black sword pouch slung over one shoulder. He wasn't wearing his school uniform today; his smoky gray turtleneck shirt accentuated his jawline. But the most striking thing about him were his eyes, which, even on a cloudy day, shone with a dark gleam, like a sword-wielding Asura from an ancient scroll.

"Good morning, Senior Brother." Gu Yi stood up straight. "Sure enough, it's the time when the Kendo Club opens again."

Chu Zihang was stunned for half a second, and ripples flashed across his eyes.

"morning."

"I'm giving you a gift." Gu Yi pulled out a steel chain from his school uniform pocket. "Yesterday, Lu Mingfei dragged me to the temple to exorcise evil spirits, and I bought this while I was there."

He suddenly turned away as if he was stuck, "Just treat it as a practice ceremony before you go to the United States."

The metal chain felt warm as it fell into his palm. Chu Zihang noticed the ancient Sanskrit inscription on the inside of the pendant, and his fingertips unconsciously stroked the lines. "Thank you."

"Senior brother, I'll leave first." Gu Yi took a half step back, forced a smile and turned to leave.

Chu Zihang followed in a few steps, "I know a lot has happened recently. If you want to talk, anytime."

Gu Yi was stunned for a moment, and heard the sound of morning training students jogging in the distance. "I know, let's talk about it when you treat us before you leave."

Chu Zihang nodded, and the two separated on the playground.

-

The chirping of June cicadas, swirling with chalk dust, drifted in the beams of light. Lu Mingfei's knuckles slammed hard against his burning temples. The first day of class after a day off always felt like a whip soaked in salt water, whipping him to death.

When the history teacher read out in a voice as hoarse as a dead leaf: "The German army's 900-day siege of Leningrad", he could almost hear the sleepiness flowing in his veins solidifying.

Lu Mingfei rested his chin on his history textbook, his gaze piercing the steaming heat of the classroom. He saw Gu Yi fiddling with the necklace he'd bought yesterday with the tip of a fountain pen. The midday sun melted his profile into a golden edge—a scene that strangely echoed the first day of school five years ago.

The sun in September that year was equally scorching. When Lu Mingfei pushed open the iron gate of Class 3, Grade 7, holding the newly received textbooks, he found that most of the girls' eyes were glued to the black-haired boy sitting by the window in the back row. The boy was wearing an overly stiff white shirt, and his cold white skin shone like jade in the shadows. It was not until the other person suddenly raised his eyes that Lu Mingfei realized that he had been staring at a person of the same sex for a full ten seconds.

When the two looked at each other, Lu Mingfei subconsciously clenched his new schoolbag. This kind of guy with arrogance engraved on his brow has always been the most annoying target among boys.

A turning point in his fate occurred in an alley after school. He was robbed! When three young men with dyed yellow hair surrounded him, Lu Mingfei was so scared that his palms were covered with cold sweat.

Just as he was about to resign himself to his fate and pay, a schoolbag pierced the dusk and struck the leading thug in the face. He watched as Gu Yi's fist, wrapped in the sound of wind, pierced the man's abdomen. The man unexpectedly knocked over two trash cans like a kite with a broken string. The clang of metal startled a flock of white pigeons.

Then Gu Yi bent down and held out his hand to him. The setting sun stretched the shadow of his eyelashes very long. That was the first time Lu Mingfei saw his eyes clearly. The amber irises were filled with starlight like shattered ice.

From that day on, Gu Yi was surrounded by a lot more noise. Lu Mingfei would poke his elbow during morning reading: "Did you know that the teacher's zipper is not zipped up today?" He would remind him during physical exercises: "That girl in the third row has been glancing at you a few times."

At first, Gu Yi would respond with a nasal twang, until one evening after his shift, when Lu Mingfei lamented that Su Xiaoqiang had become more attractive, Gu Yi asked him, puzzled, if he hadn't always had a crush on Chen Wenwen. Only then did he realize that every word he had thought he'd casually thrown into the wind had actually been carefully stored by the other person in a glass jar called memory.

The bell for the end of get out of class interrupted Lu Mingfei's thoughts. He yawned and stretched, and was about to bury his face in the history textbook and continue sleeping when the desk was suddenly knocked three times.

Su Xiaoqiang stood in the aisle. "Lu Mingfei, I need your help." Lu Mingfei rested his chin on the small mountain of textbooks. "How strange! You, the Queen Bee of Shilan, can ask a favor from a worker ant like me?"

Su Xiaoqiang rolled his eyes and said, "Chen Wenwen is organizing a graduation banquet. Go ask Gu Yi if he wants to attend."

Lu Mingfei scratched his ears exaggeratedly. "Is it popular to use roundabout ways to pass on messages these days? Can't you two just go and invite them?"

Su Xiaoqiang's gaze passed through the classroom. Gu Yi was leaning against the window, flipping through a book. The June sunlight melted his outline into a pale golden silhouette. "Chen Wenwen is a little afraid of him. As for me? I don't like talking to him."

Lu Mingfei followed her gaze and said, "Why? Gu Yi is such a good person? And he's so handsome..."

Lu Mingfei's defense was cut short by Su Xiaoqiang's sharp glare. "That was directed at you and that Chu Zihang from senior year. I could sense the distance between him and the rest of the students, and it was something he created on his own initiative."

Lu Mingfei was stunned. Indeed, Gu Yi was always like a snowy mountain shrouded in morning mist—seemingly close, yet always separated by a bitter snowstorm. For five years, his only friends were him and the handsome man who always polished his sword at the kendo gym.

"I can ask, but I can't guarantee that he will be able to go."

"If you go, he will definitely go."

"Why?" Lu Mingfei was puzzled, acting as if she was Gu Yi's girlfriend.

The sunlight slanting into the classroom stretched Su Xiaoqiang's shadow very long. The corners of her lips curled up like a cat: "Because Zhao Menghua and the others will be there too."

Lu Mingfei scratched his head, what a mess.

"Hey!"

During the noisy break, Lu Mingfei sat down on the edge of Gu Yi's desk. The iron corner of the desk hurt his thigh, but he pretended to be nonchalant.

Gu Yi looked up from the book and said, "I'm not saying hello."

"What a cheesy joke to pick up right now, Chu Yuxuan!" Lu Mingfei nearly slipped off the table, only to frantically grab the window frame to avoid disaster. Downstairs came the rustling sound of the weekly student sweeping fallen leaves, mixed with the sneer escaping Gu Yi's throat.

He rubbed his sore knee and muttered, "Chen Wenwen's group's dinner party, are you going?"

The pen spun a silver arc at his fingertips, and Gu Yi's gaze returned to the page: "Are you going?"

"Yes." Lu Mingfei counted on his fingers. "Everyone in the literature club is going, so why shouldn't I go?"

"Literary Club? Will Zhao Menghua be there too?"

The sudden question made Lu Mingfei choke. "I think so."

The pages of the book snapped shut. "Then I'll go too."

Lu Mingfei was stunned. This Su Xiaoqiang was so good at predicting things. Was he going to become the female Zhuge Liang instead of the little angel?
(End of this chapter)