Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from Japan

"Ah, I'm back."

His uncle gave him a brief nod and continued reading the newspaper.

"Mingfei, you're back! Did you bring back the Erba sauce I asked you to bring back?" Auntie shouted from the kitchen.

“Erba Jiang wasn’t allowed on the plane, so I sent her back by express delivery. She’s still on her way,” Lu Mingfei answered loudly.

"They won't even let me bring sauce on the plane? The service from these airline staff is terrible. They let me bring it on the train..." Auntie muttered like a monk, and even the sound of her chopping meat seemed to get louder.

There was no warm welcome. It was as if he had come home from school, not from a long trip; and no one mentioned that yesterday was his birthday.

Hearing his aunt chopping meat with a "crunch crunch" sound, Lu Mingfei, fearing he might get into trouble, decisively and reluctantly slipped back to his room.

I opened that old laptop, logged into QQ, and surprisingly found two messages and an email.

The first message came from my senior, who has facial paralysis.

Chu Zihang (Yesterday 18:00): I saw on the Shilan Middle School forum that your birthday seems to be today? Happy birthday.

Lu Mingfei was moved to tears. He never expected that even after living a second life, his senior brothers would still be one of the few who remembered his birthday.

Lu Mingfei quickly replied: Thank you, senior brother. I was on my graduation trip yesterday and didn't log on to QQ. Sorry for replying late.

The second message came from Su Xiaoqiang.

RoseiraSu (9:17 AM the day before yesterday): Are you there? If you are, please say something.

RoseiraSu (9:19 the day before yesterday): Is he still not awake?

RoseiraSu (11:00 yesterday):…

Unlike his expressionless senior, Su Xiaoqiang didn't wish him a happy birthday. That's understandable, though, since Su Xiaoqiang wasn't in the same class as him yet and didn't know his birthday.

Lu Mingfei typed a reply: My classmates and I went on a graduation trip to Beijing a couple of days ago. I just got back and only just saw this message. Sorry. What's up?

Lu Mingfei shrunk the chat window, opened his QQ Mail, and saw that it was just a birthday greeting email from QQ, wishing him a happy birthday.

Including QQ emails, only three people remembered their own birthdays...

Oh, not just four. After carrying Liu Miaomiao back to the hotel last night, Qiao Yiran also wished him a happy birthday. But she probably told Liu Miaomiao that.

However, when it comes to birthday wishes, quality is more important than quantity. Last night, Liu Miaomiao bought him a cake separately and even personally squeezed the pinyin of his surname "Lu" onto it. Liu Miaomiao, one of the three school beauties, celebrated his birthday alone. How many boys at Shilan Middle School could receive such treatment?

Lu Mingfei recalled the curves outlined by Liu Miaomiao's wet body last night and suddenly felt a little aroused. Just as he was trying to calm down, the QQ chat window started flashing again.

Chapter 48 Sources of Startup Funding

Who would be messaging me at this time?

Is it the senior with facial paralysis, or Su Xiaoqiang?

Lu Mingfei opened QQ, but none of the names were correct. Instead, a golden sycamore leaf avatar was flashing, and the name was "Life is Like a Summer Flower." Lu Mingfei had absolutely no recollection of this name.

Lu Mingfei opened the chat window.

Life is like a summer flower: Senior brother, are you home yet?

Lu Mingfei was startled and replied: Jormungandr?

Life is like a summer flower: Hehe, senior brother, you really know a lot.

Lu Mingfei: Why do you have me as a QQ friend?

Life is like a summer flower: Hehe, it's a secret~ And my current identity is your junior sister! Junior sister's name is Xia Mi, remember that~!

Lu Mingfei: I know, I know, I know your name. I also know you're the captain of the school's cheerleading team and the head of the dance troupe.

Life is like a summer flower: Senior, have you been secretly watching me?! You truly live up to your name, "Lu Mingfei the Fallen"! One senior, Liu Miaomiao, isn't enough for you?! Have you collected information on every pretty girl at Shilan Middle School?!

Lu Mingfei: What the hell? What's this "Lu Mingfei the Fallen" up to?

Life is like a summer flower: Haven't you seen the pinned post on the Shilan Middle School forum? "About the Fallen Lu Mingfei and His Life on Thin Ice" is a non-fiction novel about how you use layers of disguise to win the heart of Liu Miaomiao, the school beauty of Shilan Middle School. The latest volume has been updated to "Tourism in the Capital".

Depend on!

Lu Mingfei quickly logged into the Shilan Middle School forum, on the grass-green forum page.

The post I read before, "About the Fallen Lu Mingfei and His Life of Walking on Thin Ice," was not only prominently displayed on the homepage, but its title was even highlighted in red and bold. It stood out among the many posts with titles in bold.

Lu Mingfei clicked in and glanced at it. The writing style was similar to that of Aunt Qiong Yao, and the content was simply unbearable to read.

Any random passage will contain sentences like "Miaomiao, you can't hate me, you can't hate me because I love you so much" and "Mingfei, you know me so well, how can you blame me for forcing myself on you?"

The replies below were surprisingly enthusiastic:

"Lu Mingfei is absolutely despicable! I don't want to see him when school starts—Author, please update soon!"

"Damn it, Lu Mingfei is too good at this. No wonder the goddess fell for him."

"What should I do if I actually start shipping Lu Mingfei and Liu Miaomiao?"

"..."

Lu Mingfei covered his forehead.

Life is like a summer flower: By the way, I provided some of the material for the "Capital Tourism Chapter" to the author. However, I changed the scene where you protected Senior Liu Miaomiao from Deadpool to you protecting her from some thugs.

Lu Mingfei: Damn! So you were one of the culprits too!

Life is like a summer flower: What does it matter, senior! High school life is so mundane anyway, adding a little spice to the ordinary routine is quite interesting, isn't it?

Just as Lu Mingfei was about to reply, the golden sycamore leaves suddenly dimmed, as if they had exhausted their nutrients, and finally fell from the branches, scattering into the mud.

Xia Mi logged off, and Lu Mingfei's earlier agitation completely subsided. Just as he was about to start playing a game on StarCraft, he heard his aunt's voice coming from outside the room.

"Mingfei, let's make dumplings! Come and lend a hand!"

"Ooh!"

Lu Mingfei sighed, thinking to himself, "If I don't make money, I'll move out and live on my own during high school."

As soon as Lu Mingfei stepped out of the room and closed the door, his QQ started flashing again. This time it was a message from Su Xiaoqiang.

RoseiraSu: Okay.

RoseiraSu: Do you have time tomorrow? Let's meet up at the entrance of Xinyu Internet Cafe.

……

the next day.

Early in the morning, Lu Mingfei arrived at Xinyu Internet Cafe.

Lu Mingfei's hometown is a coastal city. Most coastal cities share a common problem: they are rainy in the summer and the weather is unpredictable.

Often, it's a sunny day when I go out, but by noon I can see a torrential downpour.

However, the weather is unusually good today, at least for now. The sky is clear and the temperature is pleasant, making it a perfect day for an outing.

Lu Mingfei pushed open the door. Perhaps because it was summer vacation, the internet cafe was already full of people, mostly students around Lu Mingfei's age, even though it was only eight or nine o'clock.

Lu Mingfei skillfully navigated around the crisscrossing power lines on the ground and walked to the front desk.

"Boss, please turn on the machine."

Old Lei, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, glanced sideways at Lu Mingfei with his squinty eyes hidden beneath his thick, flamboyant bangs.

"Such manners? You'll be a high school student when school starts, you should really start paying attention."

"Huh?" Lu Mingfei was confused.

"It's nothing, how many hours will it take?"

"Let's drive for an hour first," Lu Mingfei said after thinking for a moment.

Su Xiaoqiang didn't say when they would meet or what they wanted to do, only that she wanted him to accompany her to run some errands. Therefore, Lu Mingfei felt it wasn't good for him to drive for too long.

Moreover, today is July 20th, and the WCG China Regional Qualifiers are about to begin. Lu Mingfei wants to save every penny of his savings to support CN esports, so he doesn't want to play for too long.

Unfortunately, Lu Mingfei is not yet 16 years old and cannot work part-time, so he cannot increase his start-up capital by working.

Sigh, I really need to find a way to make money, otherwise with my meager savings, even if I multiply them a hundredfold, I still won't make much.

Or... should I borrow some from someone?

Lu Mingfei suddenly realized that his current social circle seemed to consist mostly of wealthy men and women. Su Xiaoqiang goes without saying, and his expressionless senior brother and Liu Miaomiao were also from wealthy families, with monthly living expenses probably exceeding ten thousand yuan.

It doesn't seem like a big deal to borrow a thousand or eight hundred from them.

Hmm... My stoic senior brother has always been very loyal to me, and we've been brothers who've been through thick and thin together, so I should lend him the money.

As for Liu Miaomiao... if Xia Mi hadn't erased her memories, she would probably be willing to lend him money. Now, it's hard to say.

And asking women for money...

Lu Mingfei is definitely capable of doing it!

Not only can I do it, but I also want to do it multiple times!

I can't help it, my stomach is weak, and I just love eating soft food.

If you have the chance, try to subtly approach Liu Miaomiao, the rich young pianist, and see if she's willing to give you some support.

Rich woman, Xiangxiang.

As for Su Xiaoqiang... his relationship with her is only so-so right now, not much different from that of an ordinary online friend.

If I suddenly ask her to borrow several thousand yuan, she'll probably suspect that my friendship with her is not for good reason, and she'll immediately break off all ties with me.

Given her personality, she absolutely is capable of doing it.

After receiving the small piece of paper with 18 mysterious numbers written on it from Lao Lei, Lu Mingfei had just laid out two silver dollars on the table when someone else pushed the door open and entered.

It's Su Xiaoqiang.

Su Xiaoqiang opted for a minimalist style today, wearing a pinstripe button-down shirt and a black denim mini skirt that showed off her enviable long legs. She also carried a small, expensive-looking calfskin bag across her body. The look was simple yet dazzling.

"Oh, are you planning to stay online for another two hours before leaving?" Su Xiaoqiang glanced at Lu Mingfei.

Yeah, they're very familiar with this kind of roasting.

"It's a bit of a letdown, it only took an hour." Lu Mingfei spread his hands. "I didn't know how much longer you'd be here, so I just took a short ride."

"Now that I'm here, you don't need to go up. Let's just leave."

"where to?"