Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

When the words "your girlfriend" were mentioned, Liu Miaomiao lowered her head shyly, blushing slightly, and her voice was barely audible.

But the next moment, she bit her lip, raised her head, and looked into Lu Mingfei's eyes, her gaze as resolute as that of a Valkyrie about to take the stage:

"Mingfei, you've done so much for me, I have to do my best too!" Liu Miaomiao said with a smile.

When Lu Mingfei heard the shy, expressionless Liu Miaomiao take the initiative to say that she was his girlfriend, he knew that it must have taken a lot of courage for her to say those words.

It seems that she has changed a lot since she got together with Xiao Mao. She has become bolder and more proactive than before, and occasionally reveals a playfulness and arrogance that I have never seen before. She will also bury her head in my arms and act coquettishly from time to time.

He didn't dislike this change. Rather, he was quite pleased with the change that his loved one was showing.

Most people see Liu Miaomiao as a very well-behaved and quiet girl. Only when she is in front of him will she reveal her girlish side. This is a girl who belongs only to him.

Lu Mingfei lowered his head and said, "Then I'll have to watch you closely from below the stage."

"Dare you not look at me?" Liu Miaomiao snorted lightly, then her beautiful eyes flickered slightly as she took Lu Mingfei's hand.

"Come here for a moment," Liu Miaomiao said.

"What's wrong?" Lu Mingfei asked.

Come here!

Lu Mingfei leaned on Liu Miaomiao and was pulled all the way to the corner of the stairs behind the stage.

Liu Miaomiao hesitated, her eyes darting between Lu Mingfei's face and then looking away. Her charming gaze intrigued Lu Mingfei, who finally couldn't help but ask.

"Just say whatever you want."

"Well……"

"Ok?"

"want……"

"want?"

“…I want a hug.” Liu Miaomiao said, blushing and looking up at Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei's heart melted.

Lu Mingfei suddenly felt like he'd wasted the previous twenty years of his life! Damn it! This is what youth is all about! What kind of youth is it if you don't fall in love! The sun blazes overhead, a gentle breeze caresses their faces, young men and women whisper sweet nothings, their hair twitching...

A beautiful and adorable girlfriend sweetly holds your hand, wanting a loving hug—it's practically every boy's fantasy! If you dreamed of this scene, you'd wake up smiling! It's so beautiful, a true embodiment of youthful idealism!

Lu Mingfei wrapped his arms around Liu Miaomiao's slender waist. Her waist was so thin, without an ounce of excess fat, so delicate that it could be grasped in one hand; yet it was so soft, so soft that if you exerted even a little force, she would melt into your arms.

Liu Miaomiao rested her head against Lu Mingfei's chest, feeling his body temperature, smelling his scent, and listening to her own heartbeat.

“You know what?” Liu Miaomiao said, “I actually have stage fright, and I always get nervous before going on stage.”

"I don't know," Lu Mingfei said truthfully. He really didn't know that Liu Miaomiao, who had to perform on stage at every gala, would have stage fright.

"Now you know. Because I have stage fright, even though I passed the piano grade 10 exam a long time ago, I never dared to take the exam at a level higher than performance level."

Liu Miaomiao gently pressed her face against Lu Mingfei's chest, "But every time I hug you, although my heart is always pounding, I feel very calm and incredibly at ease. It's like my whole body is filled with electricity."

"So you wanted to hug me because you're going on stage soon and you're a little nervous?"

“Yes—” Liu Miaomiao said, “but not entirely! There’s another reason… I just really wanted you to hug me.”

The two whispered sweet nothings, the kind of secrets only lovers share. Lu Mingfei asked, "Now that you're fully charged, are you still nervous?"

"I'm still a little nervous," Liu Miaomiao said, lifting her face. "So you'll have to play along!"

"How do you expect me to cooperate?" Lu Mingfei asked.

Liu Miaomiao closed her eyes.

……

Back in the lounge, both Lu Mingfei and Liu Miaomiao had slightly flushed faces. Lu Mingfei hadn't expected Liu Miaomiao to become so bold after they started dating. One kiss wasn't enough; she wanted to keep kissing like they had that afternoon on the gymnasium terrace.

After kissing Liu Miaomiao's soft, delicate body, she nestled in Lu Mingfei's arms as if melting. Only then did Liu Miaomiao pout and end the intimate moment with a lingering look in her eyes.

If it weren't for the fact that he would be performing the piano on stage next, Lu Mingfei suspected that Liu Miaomiao would have challenged him to another round after taking a break.

This is outrageous! Normally, this little girl is shy and reserved, blushing so much that her face seems to bleed when you hold her hand. Lu Mingfei really thought she was a girl with a calm personality. He never realized that this little girl had such potential to be a femme fatale!

"You're finally back? I was about to go looking for you if you hadn't come back."

Chu Zihang looked at the two people whose expressions were not quite right. Liu Miaomiao's lips were paler than before, while Lu Mingfei's lips were noticeably red, as if he had just eaten Sichuan hotpot. Anyone with eyes could see that the two of them had just been out doing something shady.

However, Chu Zihang didn't say anything. Instead, he calmly said, "We've already performed the thirty-ninth program. Liu Miaomiao, go touch up your makeup. You'll be going on stage soon."

Damn! Lu Mingfei remembered that his and Chu Zihang's performance was number twenty-first, and in the blink of an eye, they were already performing number thirty-ninth. So how long did their kiss last?

When Liu Miaomiao heard Chu Zihang say that, she knew that she must have been caught feeding Lu Mingfei too much lipstick. She quickly returned to the dressing room with a embarrassed face and asked the makeup artist to touch up her lip makeup and adjust her dress.

After the makeup was touched up, it was time for the forty-first performance. Although Liu Miaomiao's performance number was forty-third, she had to start preparing on the sidelines beforehand.

After exchanging glances with Lu Mingfei and receiving his affirmative look, Liu Miaomiao nodded and walked to the waiting area by the stage, waiting to go on stage.

"Shall we go?" Chu Zihang tilted his head towards Lu Mingfei. "We can't see the front of the stage from backstage. Let's go to the director's room."

“Okay.” Lu Mingfei nodded. He had originally planned to return to his own class's area and watch Liu Miaomiao's performance from below the stage. However, the director's room offered a clearer view. Since Chu Zihang had invited him, he accepted without hesitation.

Back in the director's room, the forty-first performance, a group dance, had just finished. Next was a short poetry recitation, a selection from Borges' poems, followed by Liu Miaomiao's grand finale piano solo.

Lu Mingfei looked at the time; it was 10:19, which was basically in line with his plan, with only a few seconds' difference. However, those few seconds could be recovered through the host's control of the situation.

As long as Liu Miaomiao doesn't make any mistakes, the performance at this gala will be completed without any major incidents.

I hope everything goes smoothly...

Lu Mingfei prayed silently, feeling more nervous watching Liu Miaomiao go on stage than when he himself was on stage.

The brief poetry recitation ended, and the reciter bowed as they stepped back from behind the curtain. A beautiful female host, a senior student, stepped onto the stage and glanced at her MC card. Lu Mingfei could tell that she was just as nervous as he was.

"It's nothing." Chu Zihang suddenly patted Lu Mingfei's shoulder gently.

Lu Mingfei nodded.

The female host exhaled forcefully and calmly raised the microphone in her hand:

"Just now, we were all immersed in a feast of poetry. Every line of poetry flowed like a clear spring, cleansing our souls. The world depicted by Borges has both the romance of magical realism and the profundity of realism, which is intoxicating."

"Now that the poetry recitation program has come to a perfect end, we are about to enjoy a different kind of artistic experience. Next, please turn your attention to the center of the stage and welcome Liu Miaomiao's piano solo performance with applause."

……

Chapter 187 It's really time to meet my parents.

The host hurriedly stepped back, and when the red curtain was drawn back, Liu Miaomiao was already standing in the center of the stage. After bowing respectfully to the audience with her hand on her chest, Liu Miaomiao sat down at the piano behind her.

She was wearing a white evening gown today, her fair and shapely legs peeking out from beneath the dress, adorned with rhinestone-studded high heels that accentuated her slender ankles. This created a striking contrast with the black lacquered piano.

The applause from the audience gradually subsided. She was very nervous. Her former piano teacher had told her that if she got nervous performing on stage, she shouldn't look at the audience, but rather at her toes. So she developed the habit of looking down at her toes whenever she was nervous.

But now, she doesn't need it anymore. Her life now has a "sun" that gives her courage.

Liu Miaomiao took a deep breath, spread her fingers, and gently placed them on the piano keys. The first note rang out, and a soft melody flowed around Liu Miaomiao's fingertips.

"This piece of music..."

Ji Ruyan was stunned. What lingered in her ears was not a grand and profound narrative melody, but a simple and unpretentious piano piece. The gentle melody came from the depths of her heart, as if it were a young girl's longing for a beautiful fantasy.

Others in the auditorium might not know, but Ji Ruyan certainly did. This was not the piece she had asked her daughter to play, "Exodus," but rather the piano miniature "The Maiden's Prayer" by the Polish pianist Badazywska.

Ji Ruyan never expected that her daughter would be so rebellious one day, actually changing the performance song without permission at the school anniversary gala.

"Are all these changes brought about by Lu Mingfei to Miao Miao...?" Ji Ruyan wondered.

However, perhaps due to nervousness, Ji Ruyan clearly noticed that her daughter hadn't played the first eight bars correctly. Although the notes were correct, the rhythm was noticeably different from the original piece.

Sometimes it's too fast, sometimes it's too slow. But strangely, at the end of each measure, it always hits the original beat count.

From a listening perspective, although it loses some of the sadness in the original song, it adds a touch of girlish playfulness.

Mixed-race individuals often have far more acute hearing than the average person. Lu Mingfei, in the director's room, also noticed that the melody Liu Miaomiao played on stage sounded slightly different from what he had heard during private rehearsals. It was inconsistent in tempo.

Is the little girl still nervous?

No, she shouldn't be nervous. Standing in the director's room, he could clearly see the expression on Liu Miaomiao's face. Although she kept her lips pursed, her expression was carefree and joyful, as if she had already immersed herself in the performance, treating the school anniversary gala as her piano recital.

When the eight bars were repeated and the variation cycle began, and Liu Miaomiao's melody could no longer keep up with the original beat, Ji Ruyan was startled, as if she had suddenly remembered something.

She suddenly realized that her daughter wasn't playing the original piece incorrectly because of nervousness, but rather because she was improvising.

She interprets this piano piece, composed by Badatevska when she was 18, expressing a young girl's love, according to her own ideas and feelings.

Liu Miaomiao's slender, fair fingers flew across the piano keys, changing keys one after another.

This is still her

After the theme was repeated for eight bars, three variations began, featuring a wavy melodic line and ascending and descending musical patterns. There was no rehearsal or prior practice; her fingertips would press the keys wherever her thoughts led her.

At first, when she chose "A Girl's Prayer" as the song for the party, she simply felt that the song resonated with the innocent and hazy feelings of middle school students and was suitable for playing at the party. That was all.

However, after experiencing so much, her thinking has changed.

Although I don't know where Lu Mingfei is now, he must be watching me very carefully and attentively.

She wanted to convey this piano piece, and the feelings she contained within it, to him exactly as they were, without alteration.

She wanted to express her love to Lu Mingfei with this piece of music in front of all the teachers and students of Shilan Middle School and in front of her parents.

Thinking of this, Liu Miaomiao felt a pang of shame, but her fingers danced more and more smoothly and lightly.

I wonder if the message has been properly conveyed?

Liu Miaomiao thought to herself.

The song is over.

It wasn't until Liu Miaomiao lifted the hem of her evening gown, walked to the center of the stage, bowed deeply, and stepped back from behind the curtain that the audience belatedly erupted in enthusiastic applause.

Liu Miaomiao's piano solo is not uncommon at Shilan Middle School. Anyone who has studied at Shilan Middle School for more than two years can hear her play at the annual gala or Spring Festival celebration.

Most people don't watch Liu Miaomiao play the piano with the intention of appreciating music; they're more there to catch a glimpse of the beautiful young pianist.

However, Liu Miaomiao's performance of this obscure piano piece made everyone feel the vitality of youth.

Even Ji Ruyan was stunned by Liu Miaomiao's performance. She had never imagined that her daughter could interpret this piano piece so brilliantly.

It's often said that love is the lifeblood of art. It seems Miaomiao has found her own source of that lifeblood.