Chapter 11: The Breeze Cuts Like a Knife Across the Face

Lu Mingfei had not anticipated this situation.

Actually, he really wanted to say that it was nothing, that he was already used to it, and that he wasn't unaware of it himself... but when he looked at Chen Shu's standard greeting and heard the voice that revealed a faint trace of anger beneath its calm tone.

He couldn't bring himself to say those words.

Come on, brother, someone else is standing up for you.

If he were alone and acted cowardly, losing face wouldn't matter; it wasn't like he hadn't lost it before. Anyway, he had thick skin, and he could just grin and bear it to get through another day.

But to act cowardly now would be to lose someone else's face.

"Besides, Chen Shu is only taking care of me because he received orders from Senior Brother Chu. If he finds out this matter wasn't handled well, will it cause him to have his pay deducted?"

Lu Mingfei wildly conjured up another reason for himself.

【Warning, the scheduled time for 【Self-study】 has arrived...】

Great, one more reason.

Three against one; what to choose goes without saying.

At this very moment, the aunt and her family outside the car were filled with a mix of terror and confusion.

Who is this "Young Master Lu"? His style of doing things is so damn overbearing! Even the driver is so arrogant; aren't they afraid of hitting them and having to pay for it?

But even the aunt, who was always aggressive, couldn't bring herself to lash out. On one hand, she was shocked; on the other, the uncle, who knew her personality well, reacted quickly, pulled her, and said, "Four million."

This one car was twice as expensive as all the money Lu Mingfei's parents had sent over these past years combined?

Although the aunt was a shrew, she still knew how to do the math.

It was precisely thanks to that money that their family could buy a small-displacement BMW, she could lose money at the mahjong table, the uncle could buy some high-end replicas, and Lu Mingze could attend a private school and hold the title of "Crown Prince Ze" at Shilan Middle School...

It was also precisely because of this that she knew what it meant when a single car could be more expensive than all that money combined.

They couldn't afford to provoke him!

Even if they really had been hit, they could afford the compensation, let alone the fact that they hadn't been hit at all.

Thus, under the gaze of the aunt, the uncle, and their cousin Lu Mingze, who had yet to recover their senses—

A boy who looked familiar yet strange stepped out of the car.

"Lu Mingfei?!!"

The aunt's family exclaimed, then immediately fell into an eerie silence.

Chen Shu had a great eye for choosing clothes; it was true that he had said he was in a rush and didn't have time to coordinate them.

After seeing Lu Mingfei in person, while Lu Mingfei was doing Fitness, he had ample time to arrange a set consisting of a long trench coat, a turtleneck sweater, and jeans for Lu Mingfei. As for the brand... Lu Mingfei still didn't recognize it.

With his physique, which still belonged to that of a skinny monkey, he couldn't pull off clothes that required specific physical conditions.

Fortunately, although Lu Mingfei was thin, he wasn't short; he was 178cm tall. The long trench coat highlighted his height advantage well, and the slightly padded shoulder design and open, streamlined fit covered up his thinness...

As the saying goes, clothes make the man; after being dressed up, the once sloppy Lu Mingfei now looked completely different and possessed a certain temperament. Of course, the most important thing was his posture—he held his head high and his chest out, no longer shrinking his neck or hunching his shoulders!

If he were still like before, no matter how well the clothes were matched, his temperament would be severely undermined, making him look particularly ridiculous.

Fitness is like this; the standard requirement for using the vast majority of equipment is to hold your head high, puff out your chest, sink your shoulders, and tuck in your abdomen. Otherwise, if the movement isn't standard, you'll end up working out other muscles, which will lead to big problems over time.

If you want to make a regular gym-goer lose their cool, you can try complimenting their well-developed trapezius muscles...

PS: It is not recommended to try this if you cannot beat them in a fight.

And Lu Mingfei's 【Fitness】 ensured that his movements wouldn't go astray, because every increase in Proficiency was accompanied not only by strength and stamina but also by an understanding and mastery of standard movements!

If the movement wasn't standard, the electric shock countdown would arrive right on time.

After three hours of strength training, on Lu Mingfei's current status panel, the Fitness column was 【Fitness LV1—Proficiency 20/200】!

Even if it were just pure muscle memory, Lu Mingfei could still maintain the most basic control over his posture.

Such an outfit and the change in temperament brought about by his improved posture were a devastating blow to the image of the pathetic loser that the aunt's family had always held of him...

Most importantly, Lu Mingfei had just stepped out of a four-million-yuan Mercedes-Benz, and the driver had even run over specifically to open the door and invite him out!

It is true that one should look at someone with new eyes after three days of separation, but it hadn't even been three days for him; not even a full day had passed!

"Thank you, Chen Shu."

Lu Mingfei's gaze swept over the aunt's family. He paused slightly when he looked at the uncle, but ultimately skipped over him and quickly turned to Chen Shu to thank him softly.

"It's all in a day's work." Chen Shu smiled slightly, "See you tomorrow, Young Master Lu."

"See you tomorrow." Lu Mingfei nodded slightly and turned to walk toward the aunt's house.

He didn't look at the aunt's family again, nor did he say anything else.

Lu Mingfei had fantasized about similar scenes in his mind countless times.

The most ideal situation he had constructed was that at some school-wide assembly, a helicopter would fly in, and a group of men in black suits and sunglasses would rappel down.

They would apologize to the others, saying, "Sorry to disturb you, but the world needs Mr. Lu Mingfei now," then drape a black long trench coat over Lu Mingfei, crowd around him as he boarded the helicopter, and leave amidst the stunned gazes of his classmates.

Although the current scene wasn't that ideal and had many discrepancies, it wasn't bad as a rehearsal.

Having fantasized about it for so long, Lu Mingfei knew where the point lay—

Saying anything at a time like this was meaningless; only the breeze stirred up when turning around felt like a knife cutting across one's face!

As for the countdown that was already in progress? It was nothing but a bit of background noise.

Lu Mingfei's footsteps became a little lighter.

"What is he doing? Ah, acting tough in front of us? He even wanted to hit us! I'm going to call and tell his parents!"

Finally, after coming to their senses, the aunt began to vent and accuse him in the living room, her voice faintly drifting out.

"We don't have his parents' contact information..."

The uncle's subsequent voice was very low; it was unclear what he said, but it was likely something to smooth things over.

Visibly, a four-million-yuan Mercedes-Benz, a dedicated driver, and a brand-new Lu Mingfei had stunned the aunt's family with such a violent and sudden change.

Because if this had happened in the past, the aunt would have rushed in to question him directly. Even if she hadn't gone in, her thunderous voice should have made the walls buzz, unlike now.

The unfathomable unknown, and the fear that naturally follows in its wake.

【Warning, electric shock countdown...】

Lu Mingfei withdrew his focus, put on his headphones, and continued his Self-study.

In truth, he was at the end of his rope; even with the support of 【Physical Recovery】, while he could still move normally, exhaustion had already permeated every part of his body.

It was the kind where the moment you close your eyes and open them again, it should be broad daylight.

But he still couldn't sleep, because he deserved it—he had set himself a Schedule Plan to Self-study until midnight!

"Study, study, study!"

Because it was Self-study rather than a class, he was free to allocate which subject to study.

With almost no hesitation, Lu Mingfei chose Mathematics.

His Mathematics was the worst among all his subjects, yet Mathematics was the foundation of the sciences; whether it was calculation, logic, or spatial imagination, it was incomparably important, and the importance of prioritizing its improvement went without saying.

As for the method of Self-study... that was naturally an indispensable part of the third year of high school: the endless, never-ending test papers.

Soon, Lu Mingfei once again entered a Flow State.

He could not hear his aunt throwing a tantrum outside, nor could he see anything other than the math problems; his attention was highly concentrated, and his brain was whirring at high speed!

The benefit of Self-study lies in not having to follow the teacher's rhythm as one must during class.

【Through diligent Learning, your 【Mathematics】 level has increased, gaining 1 point of Proficiency】

【Through...】

The obscure and difficult math problems finally became understandable, and his analysis and mastery of the knowledge points further improved!

"High school mathematics is divided into algebra, functions, trigonometric functions, geometry, vectors, probability and statistics, calculus..."

Lu Mingfei began to ponder.

As Proficiency increases, the feedback on different items varies.

For example, things like Basketball and Fitness that focus on the body mainly provide feedback in terms of physical strength, posture control, and the mastery of movement standards.

Whereas for knowledge-based subjects like Mathematics, which require brainpower, the feedback is naturally in terms of knowledge mastery and understanding.

From the initial mess of pulling out any book to read and writing on any test paper he grabbed, to now, the knowledge mastery brought by Lu Mingfei's increased Proficiency finally supported him in planning from the perspective of the overall situation!

"Studying in a chaotic mess makes it hard to organize the knowledge points; it feels like hitting a nail here and a tack there, which is a pure waste. It's better to take them one by one—conquer and master one, then switch!"

Because Lu Mingfei was pondering how to improve Learning efficiency at this moment, the Electric Shock Warning did not sound.

He lowered his head to look at the math test paper he had struggled to do halfway, then pulled it to the side, rummaged through the bookshelf for a while, and found a copy of "Five Years of College Entrance Exams, Three Years of Simulation: Mathematics: Combined Edition" tucked inside.

Although it had been piling up for some time and a thin layer of dust had fallen on the side, after wiping it off, it was as good as brand new.

Compared to math test papers with mixed knowledge points, it was naturally more efficient to use a supplementary book that had organized knowledge points, specific listings, and attached specialized college entrance exam questions.

Not to mention that this didn't even count as "review" for Lu Mingfei; to be precise, he was just "Self-studying," and it wouldn't be wrong to say he was learning it for the first time!

Soon, Lu Mingfei was pleasantly surprised to discover the effect of changing his Self-study method—

【Through diligent Learning, your 【Mathematics】 level has increased, gaining 2 points of Proficiency...】

Sure enough, the efficiency was higher, and the Proficiency gained was correspondingly greater!

Lu Mingfei paused; he realized a problem—was it the results of his Learning that were reflected in the rise of Proficiency, or did the rise of Proficiency lead to an improvement in the knowledge he learned?

Or perhaps... they complemented each other?

【Warning, electric shock countdown...】

Forget it, nothing to agonize over; having improvement is a good thing!

He immersed himself in it once more, until—

【Warning, the 【Sleep】 plan time has been reached, please execute immediately...】

Finally, he could sleep!

Lu Mingfei tossed the gel pen in his hand aside and looked around; his cousin Lu Mingze had not returned to the room.

Perhaps he felt it was shameful to have been scared into wetting himself in the morning, and with the huge changes in Lu Mingfei that evening, even his aunt was intimidated... he just didn't know where he was sleeping.

Lu Mingfei didn't think too much about it; having exited the Flow State, he only felt mentally exhausted, and the fatigue in his body's muscles surged up like a tide; he could barely keep his eyelids open!

After simply taking off his clothes, he lay on the bed and took one last look at the panel after expanding the 【Learning】 main column—

【Chinese LV0—Proficiency 65/100 (+13)

Mathematics LV0—Proficiency 68/100 (+32)

English LV0—Proficiency 82/100 (+2)

Physics LV0—Proficiency 48/100 (+6)

Chemistry LV0—Proficiency 49/100 (+5)

Biology LV0—Proficiency 52/100 (+7)】

"After a day of classes and disorganized Self-study, the Proficiency of every subject has risen, and among them, Mathematics, which I just focused on, rose the most..."

Lu Mingfei looked at the upward trend, felt a joy in his heart, and naturally gave rise to a craving.

"If I spend all my free time tomorrow focusing on Mathematics, the Proficiency will definitely break through one hundred and reach Level 1! By then, I wonder what kind of entry will be rewarded?"

Full of anticipation, Lu Mingfei completely forgot about other things; sleepiness struck again, he stopped resisting, closed his eyes, and instantly fell into a comatose sleep.

On the other side—

Chen Wenwen finished her test paper and logged onto QQ.

She habitually clicked on invisible first, then looked through her message list.

There were many jumping messages; she looked through them one by one, replying... until the cursor slid to that line of the unmoving gray avatar.

That was a big-headed bear, looking a bit cheeky when it smiled, very much like Lu Mingfei. Chen Wenwen had once said something, and then Lu Mingfei changed his avatar to this, and it had never changed since.

Clicking on the message, it was the last one Lu Mingfei had sent a day ago—"Go for it!"

Chen Wenwen was not surprised by this; there always had to be one side to end a conversation, and if she were to end it every time out of politeness... the conversation would never end.

Chen Wenwen logged in once after three o'clock this afternoon, but there was no message. And now, nine hours later, whatever urgent business she had should be finished, right?

But still, no message had been sent.

In fact, Chen Wenwen knew Lu Mingfei liked her; a girl's thoughts are always more delicate, especially for one who is pretty and has been liked by people around her since she was small—how could she not know?

But if others don't confess, she couldn't possibly go to them one by one and say, "I don't like you, it's impossible between us," could she? That would be far too undignified.

Moreover, Chen Wenwen did have a bit of affection for Lu Mingfei, though this affection wasn't the kind of romantic feeling between a man and a woman, but rather... like encountering a pitiful puppy on the side of the road?

Pity, yes, that's exactly it: pity.

Because Lu Mingfei had no friends, and no one included him in class activities. That afternoon when the two of them stayed behind for cleaning duty, Chen Wenwen had a sudden inspiration: why not invite him to join the Literature Club!

At that moment, when their eyes met, Chen Wenwen knew she had made a mistake.

What would a puppy, battered by wind and rain, do after receiving the first ray of warm sunshine in its life? Naturally, it would trot happily behind her, unwavering.

But since she had already spoken, how could she take it back? Drag him out of hell only to kick him back down to the eighteenth level?

Torn, she didn't make a decision, thinking she would just wait until Lu Mingfei confessed and then reject him.

And so, nearly three years flashed by.

Chen Wenwen waited for a long time, but Lu Mingfei never confessed.

Until today, right now.

The puppy that had always followed behind her suddenly stopped listening, and just... without any warning, even gave a lousy excuse.

What happened?

Chen Wenwen waited for nine hours, but she never received the opening line that Lu Mingfei used to send—the one that was always so easy to tell he had racked his brains to think of—nor did she get an explanation.

The puppy she had casually saved back then, which had followed behind her ever since, was about to leave, yet she had absolutely no idea why.

To some extent, this was a good thing; no need to be conflicted anymore, right?

But who could have no feelings at all for a puppy that had followed them for three years?

At the very least, there should be a reason!

Chen Wenwen bit her lip lightly, her fingers hovering over the keyboard before lifting again; after some hesitation, she finally typed and pressed enter to send.

"Are you there?"

The night was already deep.

Lu Mingfei was sleeping soundly.

PS: Look at the author's note below↓

I hope everyone clicks on the latest chapter every day to follow along; the follow-read data during the new book period is too important! It relates to recommendations.

Also, please vote with monthly tickets and add to your library~ Many thanks~

There is one more chapter, will post it later!

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(End of chapter)