Lu Mingfei, become the King of Elden!

Chapter 225 Your Purity is Questionable
Lu Mingfei thought to himself that this girl was not only stunningly beautiful, but also had a very peculiar way of thinking.

She seemed like the crazy girl who used to drag you around in the fields and alleys when you were little. Every day, she would peek out of the window and pull you away, leading you to chase chickens, tease dogs, and pick flowers. She would pat you on the shoulder and say, "We're brothers, we're like brothers." But when it came to seeing who could pee the farthest, she would hesitate to take off her pants, and only in the end would you realize she was a girl.

It's that kind of unreasonable enthusiasm and overly familiarity that can stir up your whole world, making you both laugh and cry, yet you can't bring yourself to hate it.

"You really want to camp on the lawn for a week?"

Lu Mingfei watched as the monster girl huffed and puffed as she hoisted the huge "tent" onto her shoulder. Her posture didn't seem like she was looking for a place to settle down; it looked more like she was going to conquer some kind of starry sea.

"The security situation here isn't great. After all, this is our free America; shootings happen every day, it's not a joke."

Xia Mi's face quickly fell, like a kitten drenched in rain.

She suddenly sighed deeply, her shoulders slumped, and even the roll of white cloth seemed heavier.

"Senior brother"

Her voice carried a hint of sorrow:
"You don't know, I'm not as well-off as you are. I'm just a poor student living on scholarships and student loans, and I have to be very careful with every penny."

She paused, then raised her large, watery eyes and looked at Lu Mingfei with a resentful expression, her eyes filled with an accusatory "Why don't they eat meat porridge?"

"The survival wisdom of girls from the slums like us is something that you rich people would never understand."

Lu Mingfei felt extremely uncomfortable under her resentful gaze, and quickly raised his hands in a gesture of surrender:
"Stop, stop! Junior sister, you've picked the wrong person to resent! Your senior brother here is no rich guy at all. If we're really talking about it, I'm not much different from those male protagonists in anime who lost both their parents."

He sighed, his expression sorrowful, and began a magical exchange:
"My meager living allowance each year is skimmed off by unscrupulous relatives. I'd be grateful if I could keep even a tenth of it. Now I'm just barely scraping by, trading in secondhand underwear at school. No, I mean doing some small business to foster friendships among classmates."

Lu Mingfei shrugged at Xia Mi, giving her a "we're both in the same boat" look:

"So let's not laugh at each other, we're both proletarian brothers in distress... oh no, brothers and sisters in distress."

As Xia Mi listened to Lu Mingfei's tearful accusations, her large eyes, which had just been on the verge of tears, blinked, the watery light instantly disappearing, replaced by a sly and curious glint.

She stroked her chin, scrutinizing Lu Mingfei from head to toe like a little detective:
"Oh? Unscrupulous relatives? Small business?"

She deliberately drew out her words, clearly not entirely convinced, but her expression had already brightened, and she spoke with great interest:
"Your story sounds even more exciting than my Chicago survival adventure! Tell me more, which relative is so wicked? Maybe I can even help you collect debts when I'm out in the world!"

Lu Mingfei was taken aback by Xia Mi's words. He hadn't expected that this girl with an angelic face would be so witty, able to hold her own against him.

You meet your opponent in chess.

For a fleeting moment, Lu Mingfei had the illusion that he was looking in a mirror.

Lu Mingfei coughed twice and quickly changed the subject:
"Let's not dwell on the past, let's not dwell on it... So, you see, I'm a penniless fellow too, but no matter how poor I am, I can't just watch you go on an adventure in the park. How about this, if you don't mind, we can find a nearby hotel and book a room..."

"Open house?"

Xia Mi turned around abruptly, staring intently at Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei was stunned and frightened away. The half-sentence he was about to say, "Two rooms, I'll pay you back later," was completely swallowed back down.

Even Lu Mingfei, whose moral values ​​had been so eroded that they were almost nonexistent, realized that his invitation might not be appropriate.

Although they were classmates, they weren't close. The 21st century wasn't a border region, and there was no round table hall. They couldn't pick up Xia Mi like they picked up Rodrik and Elena.

The person opposite them wasn't a "fallen faded person" who needed saving, but a living, breathing, beautiful girl with a quirky thought process and unknown combat abilities.

He could almost picture a future where the other man's parents would be chasing him across borders with gas canisters.

"Uh...that's not what I meant..."

Lu Mingfei stammered, trying to salvage the situation:
"I mean, we can each open a room..."

"Each of us should have our own room?"

Xia Mi interrupted him, her eyes widening even more, as if to say, "You have indeed betrayed the revolution."

"Senior Brother Lu! Who was it that said they only had 10% of their living expenses left? Who said they were going to make a living by reselling secondhand... uh, small businesses to foster relationships? And now they're going to splurge US dollars to rent two rooms?"
Your proletarian purity is questionable!

Lu Mingfei was speechless. He felt like he had dug a pit and jumped in without hesitation. For the first time ever, Lu Mingfei didn't know if his吐槽 (tu cao, a form of witty retort) skills had deteriorated at this critical juncture, or if the strange girl in front of him was simply too strong. He, unusually, was defeated.

Xia Mi crossed her arms, tilted her head to look at him, and the expression on her face made Lu Mingfei feel extremely guilty.

“Senior brother,” she said earnestly, as if educating a brother who had gone astray, “we poor folks must have the awareness and backbone of poor folks! How can we be so extravagant and wasteful?”

Lu Mingfei opened his mouth, only to find himself speechless.

This logic... doesn't seem to make any mistakes?
"Then... then what do you suggest we do?"

Lu Mingfei raised the white flag to Xia Mi:

"We can't go to the park, and two rooms are too luxurious... We can't just..."

His gaze drifted to the cold benches in the waiting hall.

Xia Mi followed his gaze, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she clapped her hands sharply:

"Yes!"

Lu Mingfei's heart skipped a beat, and he had a bad feeling.

Xia Mi excitedly pointed to the huge white cloth:

"A tent and a ground mat are ready! Look at this hall, senior brother, it's sheltered from the wind and rain, and brightly lit. It's simply an excellent campsite! We can keep each other company, which greatly increases our safety!"

Lu Mingfei's vision went black.

Sleeping on the floor of the train station lobby with a pretty junior classmate? Isn't something wrong with this plot development?!

"Junior sister."

Lu Mingfei sighed, feeling like a worried old father:
"There's an old saying in my hometown: men and women shouldn't touch each other. Even when camping, you have to sleep in the same tent as your senior brother. Besides, your senior brother isn't that poor."

Xia Mi was stunned for a moment, then, as if she had heard something extremely funny, she clutched her stomach and burst into laughter, laughing so hard that tears almost came out.

"Hahahaha... Senior Brother Lu... You... You actually care about this?"

She wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes, "Who was talking about getting a room just now? And now it's about men and women not being able to touch each other? Senior brother, you're so contradictory!"

Lu Mingfei felt he had never been so embarrassed in his life.

After laughing enough, Xia Mi straightened up, looked at Lu Mingfei who was so embarrassed he wished he could disappear into the ground, her eyes flickered, and she suddenly sighed, her tone softening:

"Okay, okay, I won't tease you anymore. I know you're a good person, senior brother, and you're worried about my safety."

The girl kicked a small pebble at her feet, as if she had made up her mind.

"How about this, we'll go to a hotel. But just one standard room, the kind with two beds!"

Lu Mingfei opened his mouth, about to say something, but Xia Mi interrupted him first:

"This is the bottom line! It saves money while ensuring the girl's safety and your innocence, senior brother."

My innocence?

Lu Mingfei opened his mouth wide.

You mean, a Kassel freshman girl who weighs less than 100 pounds is ensuring the innocence of a super hybrid, the leader of the Storm Knights?
As Xia Mi spoke, she touched her nose a little embarrassedly, but quickly regained her composure:

"I'll pay you back for the room later! And you have to swear you'll sleep well tonight, or else..."

She waved her little fist; it wasn't very intimidating, but it conveyed the message.

(End of this chapter)