Chapter 10: Words That Had to Be Spoken
"Thirty-six thousand dollars a year. At the current exchange rate of 6.83, that comes out to 245,880 yuan. Over four years, that's 983,520 yuan—gasp!" Whenever numbers were tied to money, a middle-aged woman's calculating skills could easily rival those of a veteran accountant.
If the exchange rate didn't fluctuate too much in the coming years, this was a massive sum approaching one million yuan!
In an era when inflation was still relatively low, one million yuan was enough to buy a spacious elevator apartment in downtown, purchase ten Montblanc watches, and sign Lu Mingze up for tutoring classes for a full twenty years!
"Is my nephew really that exceptional?" Aunt asked with a sour tone.
"Extremely exceptional!" Professor Guderian was so excited he was practically incoherent. "Just look at him—two eyes, one nose, and one mouth, all in just the right places, not too many and not too few! That right there is the face of a smart kid!"
"My Mingze has this kind of face too, and he's definitely a smart kid as well. Professor, do you think there's any chance he could go to your Cassel College along with his cousin?" Aunt asked, testing the waters, unwilling to back down.
"Let's get back to talking about Mingfei." Professor Guderian offered an awkward yet polite smile.
"Mingfei is great, but how is my Mingze any worse than him?" Aunt still refused to give up, vigorously pushing her own son.
Since a professor had actually come to their doorstep, if she remained indifferent, wouldn't she be failing as a mother? Even though she knew a forced melon wouldn't be sweet, if she didn't force it a little, she wouldn't even get a bitter melon!
"Being exceptional is really only one factor," Professor Guderian shook his head. "Cassel College almost never recruits externally. It just happens that Lu Mingfei's parents are our honorary alumni who have previously made donations and provided assistance to the college, so there's no need to feel any guilt over a little scholarship!"
Lu Mingfei felt a sudden thud in his chest. Deep within him, a heavy door covered in dust was pushed open, and fresh air and sunlight seeped through the cracks into the darkness that had held sway for years, making him feel momentarily disoriented.
Though he had known he would hear news about his parents today, hearing someone talk about the topic face-to-face invoked an entirely different feeling.
The people you cared about were worlds away, and you had almost forgotten what they looked like, but hearing them mentioned by someone close at hand made their outlines seem to emerge once more.
Lu Mingfei felt an itch in his heart, as if ten thousand ants were crawling across it.
"Before I left, the Principal handed your parents' photographs and letters to me." Guderian pulled the photos and letters from the inside pocket of his suit and pressed them into Lu Mingfei's hands.
The background of the photo was the lush green of vines covering a wall. In front of the vine-clad wall, a man and a woman in casual clothes held hands as they strolled through what looked like an old castle garden. In the setting sun, they gazed into each other's faces with rippling smiles, as if the entire world had grown so quiet that only the two of them remained.
"They're not young anymore, yet they're still trying to be so romantic," Aunt muttered, curling her lip after glancing at the photos.
The contents of the letter were also simple, roughly stating the hope that Lu Mingfei would be an exceptional and kind child, hoping that Principal Anjou could provide help for him to enter Cassel College, and also pleading with the Principal to convey an important message to Lu Mingfei on their behalf.
The letter was signed by Giovanna, Lu Mingfei's mother.
Though it only contained a few brief sentences, Lu Mingfei read and re-read them word for word, repeating them to himself for a long time—so long that every character on the paper began to feel as strange and unfamiliar as if he no longer recognized them.
"Professor, there's still a message to pass on, right? I want to hear it." Lu Mingfei suddenly raised his head and looked straight into Guderian's eyes.
Guderian looked up. The boy's face was calm, but he could see that the boy's eyes were brimming with an emotion called "longing."
"Mingfei, Mom and Dad love you."
Professor Guderian delivered the greeting with dramatic flair, though his pronunciation was a bit awkward.
Lu Mingze was the first to lose his composure, Uncle and Aunt burst out laughing right after, and Ye Sheng and Shitoku Aki couldn't help shaking their smiles away either. Only Nono, standing in the corner, noticed that while everyone else was laughing at the Western old professor's rather unauthentic Chinese, that boy stood amidst the laughter, staring blankly at Professor Guderian.
His body trembled slightly, and there was a light in his eyes.
"I love you too," Lu Mingfei said softly.
Everyone's laughter seemed to be choked off in their throats, cut short abruptly.
A Western old professor struggling through broken Chinese to imitate parents confessing their love to a boy was indeed a scene ripe for howling laughter, and the boy responding foolishly seemed like an even more comical sight, yet they didn't laugh after all.
Because in that single instant, everyone realized that this didn't seem like something to laugh at.
The boy's voice was very soft yet completely sincere, as if the person standing before him wasn't a strange old professor he was meeting for the first time, but his own biological parents whom he hadn't seen in years.
Even though everyone else had laughed out loud, Lu Mingfei showed no trace of embarrassment or dejection. It was as if, even if the entire world were laughing at him, hearing those three words—"I love you"—gave him something to lean on, shielding him from all the mockery outside.
Originally, Lu Mingfei had thought he was fully prepared mentally. He had imagined and simulated today's scenario countless times in his mind: maybe he would just nod, or maybe he would join the others in a lighthearted laugh. But when he truly saw the photos and the letter, and heard the words spoken by Professor Guderian, he suddenly realized that a conversation as cliché as "Mom and Dad love you" and "I love Mom and Dad," though thousands of years old, had to be spoken aloud to truly understand its meaning!
"Uh, let's talk about the enrollment procedures!" Uncle chimed in, trying to sacrifice himself to reignite the atmosphere as he sensed it freezing over.
"If it weren't for the complicated paperwork and visas we still need to process, I'd really want to take Lu Mingfei with me right now!" Professor Guderian said with annoyance.
"When is the earliest I can enroll?" Lu Mingfei asked quietly.
"The college's procedures are quite tedious; the earliest would probably be close to October."
"Alright, sorry to trouble you, Professor."
Seeing that Lu Mingfei had no objections, Professor Guderian felt a surge of wild joy. His lifetime honorary professorship was finally within reach!
And then, Professor Guderian inexplicably thought of a certain good-for-nothing under his command and felt completely heartbroken! Even though he was only that guy's temporary assigned mentor, since he hadn't successfully secured his lifetime honorary professorship yet, that fellow had to take at least half the blame!
No, at least two-thirds!
"Lu Mingfei, at this rate, shortly after you enroll, the school will be holding a 'little activity' called Freedom Day. Hmm... it's about the same as your school's sports day. Do you dare participate?" Nono asked with a provocative tone.
"I don't mind," Lu Mingfei shrugged.
"Aren't you curious about what Freedom Day is like?" Nono furrowed her pretty brows.
"Didn't you just call it a sports day? I can probably guess," Lu Mingfei nodded.
He could indeed guess. It was probably just a bunch of lunatics armed with heavy sniper rifles and miniature tactical nukes shooting each other up, right? Something like a live-action version of Counter-Strike?
Still, to the current Lu Mingfei, the scale of it really wasn't much different from a lively sports day.
"Then go ahead and guess! Just don't get scared out of your wits when the time comes!" Nono said fiercely.
"If anyone actually has that capability," Lu Mingfei said expressionlessly.