"Ring, ring, ring..." Lu Mingfei snatched up the alarm clock beside him and sat up.
Before him was his familiar room. The furnishings were very simple: in the cramped space stood two beds, each with a bedside lamp, two desks, a fluorescent ceiling light, and a small bookshelf. The two desks presented completely different styles—one chaotic and messy, the other neat and orderly, making the owners' habits instantly recognizable. The books on the shelf were mostly classics and literary digests, the walls bore the doodles of a young child, and the slightly yellowed curtains looked full of age. Because his parents had gone abroad, he had lived here, dependent on the hospitality of his Uncle and Aunt, for all these years.
"Summer vacation is over." Putting down the alarm clock, he sighed. Last night, Aunt had placed this "soul-summoning bell" on his nightstand, claiming it was to prevent him from being late on the first day of school, though in truth it was meant for Lu Mingze, since Lu Mingfei always woke up a little earlier than Lu Mingze.
Because his parents went abroad, he lived under someone else's roof in the same room as his cousin.
Lu Mingfei checked the time; it was already half-past six. Today was the first day of school, and he couldn't afford to be late. He climbed out of bed, got dressed, and looking at Lu Mingze still lost in dreamland, decided he had better wake him up.
"Time to get up, Your Royal Highness." Lu Mingfei shook his cousin, whose thunderous snores filled the room. Yes, every morning he was woken up by this terrifying din.
Crown Prince, this was the nickname of his cousin Lu Mingze. With good grades, exquisite clothes, and a lavish spending habit, he would always rush to pay the bill whenever he ate out with girls, and over time this nickname had stuck.
After breakfast, Aunt came over to help Lu Mingze check the things he needed to bring, while Uncle was already waiting in the car. Driving both boys to school at the start of every semester was a rule Uncle had set.
Lu Mingfei's parents regularly sent money home, and thanks to that money, Uncle had bought a small-displacement BMW, allowing Lu Mingfei and Lu Mingze to attend the best local private aristocratic school—Shilan Middle School.
"I'm heading downstairs first." Without waiting for Aunt's reply, Lu Mingfei went out. Compared to Aunt, he much preferred spending time with Uncle.
He hadn't seen Chen Wenwen for an entire summer, and a small thrill fluttered in Lu Mingfei's chest. Recalling his first meeting with Chen Wenwen—that breeze-swept summer, in the corner by the window, the pure white girl holding a copy of Marguerite Duras's *The Lover* as she sat on a bench, the sunlight spilling over her, her cotton dress and fair skin shimmering, her soft long hair dancing in the gentle wind.
"That must be the belle of our class," the honest boy had said, right before someone beside him stepped fiercely on his foot.
That boy was Lu Mingfei, and that pure white girl was Chen Wenwen.
To Lu Mingfei, Chen Wenwen was special. At just one glance, he had fallen for her, and at fifteen, he felt the happiest thing in the world would be to marry Chen Wenwen.
Lu Mingfei had always believed he stood a chance, because Chen Wenwen was the one who had invited him to join the Literature Club. She had only ever invited two people: one was Lu Mingfei, and the other was Zhao Menghua. Who was Zhao Menghua? Simply put, he was the guy in school most likely to become the "second Chu Zihang." As for who Chu Zihang was...
"Mingfei, stop daydreaming and get in the car." Uncle's call for Lu Mingfei to board broke his train of thought.
Lu Mingfei climbed into the car, glanced at Lu Mingze beside him, and turned his head toward the window.
"Check and see if anyone left anything behind. If not, we're off," Aunt poked her head in from the front passenger seat.
As the scenery outside the window slowly receded, the atmosphere inside the car lapsed back into silence.
"Mingfei, it's the final year of high school now. Do you have any plans?" Aunt asked.
"Wherever my score gets me, I suppose." To be honest, Lu Mingfei had never considered it.
"Do you want to try going abroad?"
"That's assuming someone actually wants me."
Uncle joined the conversation as well: "Give it a try. Look, your parents are both archaeologists, and all these years they've been busy with some massive project on the scale of the 'Loulan Ancient City,' they haven't even come back to see you. If they won't look for you, can't you go look for them?"
"My grades aren't good enough." Uncle's unintentional remark undoubtedly struck Lu Mingfei's sore spot. Every time, his parents' letters promised they would definitely return next time, but next time never came, each letter merely informing him that the project had made major progress and their plans to return had to be postponed.
"Exactly, even if he went abroad he couldn't get into a good school anyway, where would he get the guts to go looking for his parents?" Lu Mingze showed a rare flash of concern for his older cousin's future destiny.
"Mingfei, don't listen to your brother's nonsense." Aunt glared at Lu Mingze. "Your grades aren't good enough to get into a top tier domestic university, but your English is good. Didn't you take that IELTS or TOEFL test? Trying more options can't hurt. Tonight when we get back, Aunt will help you weigh things over."
Lu Mingfei didn't answer, staring blankly out the window. Of course he knew what Aunt was thinking. She had never cared about Lu Mingfei's studies; right now, the sound of her abacus clicking could probably be heard all the way by Qiyana on the moon.
Lu Mingze was a year younger than Lu Mingfei, and although his grades were slightly better, getting into a top-tier university was still a stretch, let alone a Double First Class institution. So Aunt had thought of studying abroad. In an unfamiliar land far away from home, Aunt naturally couldn't bear to let her own precious son suffer abroad, and in this situation, Lu Mingfei was undoubtedly the best guinea pig.
"I'm talking to you. What are you daydreaming for?" Aunt seemed a bit impatient.
"Right. Sorry to trouble you, Aunt."
"Mom, do you really think he's Chu Zihang? Going abroad?"
Chu Zihang was Lu Mingze's idol. Dressed in British-style Burberry, with great grades, a handsome basketball game, and skills on the cello, he had once caused two girls to fall out and face school disciplinary action over a fierce argument about "whose boyfriend Chu Zihang was."
Last year, Chu Zihang was admitted to an affiliate school of the University of Chicago in the United States. Such prestigious affiliate schools were on par with the Ivy League, the kind of places locals weren't even guaranteed to enter.
"Bro, have you ever heard the rumors about Chu Zihang?" Lu Mingze's interest was clearly piqued.
"Hmm?"
"I thought you guys would have heard of it, seeing as I'm two grades below Senior Brother Chu and know so little." Lu Mingze looked pleased with himself. "Remember that massive typhoon in 2004? After the rain stopped, flooded and damaged cars were being towed off the overpass one by one. Someone saw Senior Brother Chu standing by a pile of cars near the overpass, refusing to leave no matter what."
"At first, people thought one of his family members was injured inside one of the cars. But after all the cars were towed away, the traffic police noticed he still hadn't moved. Seeing a middle schooler standing there all alone, the police went over to ask him why. He said he was waiting for a battered old Maybach. The strange thing was, nobody in his family drove a Maybach back then."
"And then?" For some reason, hearing the words "Senior Brother Chu" spoken by Lu Mingze made him somewhat uncomfortable. Perhaps he disliked this kind of blatant name-dropping, or perhaps he simply didn't care about these things to begin with.
"Isn't it bizarre? Right after a torrential downpour, how could he be in a place like that? Senior Brother Chu doesn't even drive, it's not like the car could drive itself. Besides, rumor has it the owner of that car still hasn't been identified."
Lu Mingfei shook his head. "Cars these days all have to be registered with the vehicle administration office, how could they possibly not find it? It's not like the owner has connections reaching the heavens and managed to wipe their registration records clean."
"That's why they're called rumors. I came to check it with you, only to find you haven't heard a thing about it." Lu Mingze spread his hands.
"Stop chatting, we're almost there." Uncle intervened once again, interrupting Lu Mingze's spellcasting.