Chapter 13: Cassel Gate
The private dining room was chillingly quiet. The atmosphere that Su Xiaoqiang had struggled so hard to ignite plummeted back to freezing, colder even than the thick layer of shaved ice beneath the sashimi.
"You're not just making this up..." Zhao Menghua's hand, holding his shochu glass, froze in mid-air as he stared in a daze.
"Sure, just pretend I'm making it all up." Lu Mingfei poured himself another drink, filling his empty cup, and raised it. "I'll be boarding a plane for America before long. The academy has already taken care of all my paperwork and tickets, so everyone... until our paths cross again."
Listen to that—how touching. Until our paths cross again... my foot!
Everyone stared in a daze at the boy who spoke of traveling thousands of miles away with such nonchalance. Hey, you're the very first person in our class to be accepted early by a prestigious university! What's with drinking a cup of wine in a crowded private room and adopting this pugilistic martial arts vibe of "Gentlemen, the wind is bitter by the Yi River, I shall take my leave first"? Do you think you're starring as Chen Jinnan from the Heaven and Earth Society?
When a student from Shilan High School gets accepted early by a prestigious university, it's such an honor for the ancestors that the adults at home would practically burn incense until the family tombs smoked, and host banquet after banquet until the student graduates.
And look at you—a single cup of wine to toast your peers, and tomorrow we never meet again?
"Isn't it a bit too sudden?" Chen Wenwen buried her face in her shochu glass and said softly.
Though what was inside Chen Wenwen's shochu glass wasn't shochu; it was glowing red pomegranate juice.
"I won't be leaving right away, there's still some time. But during this period, I probably won't be able to attend gatherings like this anymore," Lu Mingfei set down his cup and said apologetically.
"Why are you making it sound like a parting of life and death? This is something to be happy about and celebrate! Congratulations, Lu the Divine!" Su Xiaoqiang gave Lu Mingfei's shoulder a hard smack, making him wince in pain.
Then she boldly chugged another drink.
With the Little Goddess taking the lead, a flurry of congratulations and toasts poured in from all sides. Lu Mingfei was surrounded like a stalk of rice being devoured by locusts. He forced a smile to deal with each of them, cursing Aunt and Uncle in his heart with every cup he drank for telling him, "You must go to the gathering; if you don't attend gatherings, you'll never truly grow up."
Dense blessings, whether sincere or hypocritical, filled the small private room, dispersing the unspoken loneliness hidden in the wine of a few people.
...
Perhaps in *Naruto*, all sorts of ninjutsu techniques are earth-shattering and endlessly varied, but in the real world, the "pee-escape" technique is the undisputed champion of practicality!
Using the excuse of needing to use the restroom, Lu Mingfei finally made his escape, squatting alone at the entrance of the izakaya.
The lively noise was best left inside the private room; he couldn't handle the treatment of being the star surrounded by the moon. Some people are simply born with the script of a crowd favorite, like Caesar. But Lu Mingfei had never been cut out for that. Even after three years of tempering that completely transformed him, he still couldn't help thinking, "If someone is lifted up too high, wouldn't his bottom bloom like a flower when he falls down?"
Life really is strange, Lu Mingfei thought. When he wanted choices, he had none, with only a girl named Erii who didn't disdain him and treated him like the most precious thing in the world; now, many things were within his easy reach, but Lu Mingfei didn't even want to spare them a glance, stubbornly fixated instead on that girl he had never even met.
"Meeting earlier would of course be wonderful, but meeting later... would just give me a lot more time to miss you all by myself." Lu Mingfei muttered to the slanting sun.
"Who are you thinking about?!"A voice came from behind. Lu Mingfei didn't even need to turn around to know who it was, because the glass windows of the fiery red Ferrari parked outside the izakaya had already reflected her figure.
"You really are like a ghost that just won't quit, woman." Lu Mingfei remained squatting, with no intention of standing up at all.
"Is that any way to talk to your Senior Sister?" Nono, wearing a light red kimono, gave the back of Lu Mingfei's head a heavy smack, then lifted the hem of her kimono and squatted down beside him.
"I never acknowledged you as my Senior Sister, so stop flattering yourself." Lu Mingfei retorted.
"Whether you acknowledge it or not, I am still your Senior Sister. Who told you to enroll a year after me?" Nono made a face. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you—I'm here to act as your life coach."
"You, a life coach?" Lu Mingfei shot Nono a sideways glance. "Even if you put on a white wig and glued on sideburns, you wouldn't have Professor Guderian's vibe. Don't bother."
"Why would I impersonate that old coot?" Nono rolled her eyes. "Seeing you squatting here brooding over spring and autumn, I specifically came to tell you a secret. Guess what I saw in the women's restroom just now?"
"You'd better not tell me. I only came out here to squat because I had too much to drink, and if you're going to bring up some disgusting topic, you'd better watch out or I'll throw up all over you." Lu Mingfei said in disgust.
"Get your mind out of the gutter! It's that Chen Wenwen from your class!" Nono said crossly. "I just saw her secretly wiping away tears in the restroom, crying a river, and constantly muttering things like 'why is she leaving so suddenly' and 'we haven't even had a chance to express our feelings'."
"Oh," Lu Mingfei said indifferently.
"Oh?" Nono raised her voice an octave. "Such juicy gossip and you just brush it off with a single 'oh'? Don't you know who she's crying over?"
"What else do you want me to do? Charge into the women's restroom, hug her, and say all macho-like, 'Don't worry, even though I'm leaving, our story will live on in our hearts forever'?"
"Shouldn't you? Isn't that how they always play it out in soap operas?" Nono shot back.
"Watch less soap operas, that stuff really lowers your IQ." Lu Mingfei waved his hand.
"So you don't like Chen Wenwen, and you don't like Su Xiaoqiang either? Not even a tiny bit of affection for them?" Nono asked curiously.
"Besides being friends, not a single bit," Lu Mingfei answered decisively.
"Then who were you thinking about just now?" Nono asked, refusing to give up.
"Erii... Aren't you just a little too free? Anyway, I wasn't thinking about you." Lu Mingfei snapped back.
"Boring. I actually thought I'd get to see some dramatic scene of lovesick youths making passionate confessions today, but all I got were a few timid girls who dare to love but not speak up, and a clueless blockhead squatting by the door." Nono unfastened her light red kimono to reveal that underneath she was wearing a form-fitting athletic outfit.
She popped the butterfly door of the Ferrari and straddled the driver's seat, looking as dashing as if she were mounting a fiery red steed that breathed fire and neighed in the wind.
"Senior Sister will give you a friendly warning: being liked by a few junior girls is a very happy thing. The Cassel Gate is a door that only opens inward, and you still have a chance to turn back now. If you choose the Academy, okay, then you'll have to say goodbye to your old life forever." Nono rolled down the dark-tinted window, her foot pressing on the accelerator as the engine gave a low roar, ready to launch.
"I know what my life is supposed to look like better than anyone else."
Lu Mingfei watched as the red Ferrari roared off into the distance like a beast.