Chapter 17: Liu Miaomiao

Three hours of Basketball training is exhausting, but with 【Physical Recovery】, Lu Mingfei recovers quickly.

Furthermore, since tonight is for playing Piano rather than Fitness, the Schedule Plan does not allocate an hour for dinner and rest like last time; the dinner time is extremely short.

This actually makes Lu Mingfei feel a bit awkward; after all, he was the one who offered to treat, so what kind of situation is it to eat so fast now!

Fortunately, Chu Zihang seems to have urgent business as well; he eats even faster than Lu Mingfei—it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it wolfing it down.

After instructing Chen Shu to take Lu Mingfei to the piano shop and then deliver his things to the "new home," he leaves first.

"What is Senior Brother going to do?" Still in that Mercedes, Lu Mingfei asks with some curiosity.

"I'm not exactly sure, it seems to be... winter break homework for the Cassel College that the young master attends?" Chen Shu thinks for a moment and says, "Something like extracurricular practice."

"Foreign universities actually have winter break homework?" Lu Mingfei is stunned upon hearing this.

"They say it's something like imitating the Schedule Plan of Chinese schools..."

Lu Mingfei shudders all over; he can't stand the words "Schedule Plan" right now, he has a bit of PTSD.

The piano shop isn't too far away; after just a short chat, the car slows down, and Chen Shu says: "Young Master Lu, we're here."

"Thank you, Chen Shu!"

This time, there is naturally no need for Chen Shu to open the door; Lu Mingfei opens the door himself and jumps out of the Mercedes, looking at the piano shop in front of him with some curiosity.

The last remnants of twilight sink down along the glass curtain wall, and the entire peculiar building with its artistic style is refracting the sunset glow into a gradient scale.

The lights inside are already on; passing through the one-way privacy curtain wall, there is only a hazy view, adding a touch of mystery to the already elegant style.

The only thing that ruins the mood is a bronze plaque hanging on the glass door, which outlines a rather unwelcoming message in elegant strokes—【By appointment only, no visitors】.

Yet, there is no contact information left on the plaque at all.

How domineering!

Lu Mingfei has heard of similar situations; after all, the Shilan Middle School he attends is an "aristocratic high school," where the students' families are either rich or noble, only he, a husky, has mixed into the wolf pack.

When classmates around him brag, they occasionally mention some special high-end clubs that do not recruit new clients through any conventional means; only through the introduction and approval of internal members is one allowed to join...

In short, money is useless; you have to rely on connections!

Of course, it's not that absolute; as long as there is enough money, connections will naturally come.

【Warning, the time for the 【Learn Piano】 plan has arrived, please proceed to the location immediately...】

Facing the start of the countdown, Lu Mingfei steps onto the stairs.

However, before he can figure out whether he should knock on the door himself or turn back to ask Chen Shu, the glass door in front of him automatically slides open to both sides.

A gentle and soft mature female voice approaches, accompanied by "tap-tap" footsteps.

"Mm-hmm, should be here soon, the boy named Lu Mingfei, right? Zihang, why don't you come to Shanshan Ayi's place? Have extracurricular practice? Alright..."

The owner of the voice walks around the corner; she is a woman in a cheongsam and high heels, about thirty or forty years old.

Time has left some sediment at the corners of her eyes, but even so, she can be called stunning; it is clear that she was absolutely a beauty who could topple cities in her youth.

Her figure is excellent; if Su Xiaoqiang, who has the best figure in Lu Mingfei's class, represents "youth," then this "Shanshan Ayi" represents "maturity."

"Oh, you must be Zihang's friend, student Lu Mingfei, right?" Shanshan Ayi walks up with a smile and hands the phone to him.

"... Senior Brother?" Lu Mingfei takes the phone.

"Forgot to tell you," Chu Zihang's tone is as flat as ever, "Shanshan Ayi will be teaching a female student today as well."

"Oh, oh, I have no problem with that!" Lu Mingfei hurriedly assures him.

In fact, the Schedule Plan only requires Lu Mingfei to learn piano; as for how to learn it, Lu Mingfei didn't write it on the Schedule Plan, so there is no rigid requirement.

Theoretically speaking, even if Lu Mingfei found a broken, dilapidated piano to teach himself, it would meet the requirements.

It's just that Chu Zihang doesn't act unless necessary, and when he does, it's at this level... then Lu Mingfei will definitely accept it; the amount of Proficiency gained is directly linked to the quality of Learning!

"That's good," Chu Zihang pauses, deciding to give a heads-up, "If Shanshan Ayi says anything strange, don't take it seriously."

"Oh, oh, okay..."

Lu Mingfei quietly glances at Shanshan Ayi; could such a beautiful aunt really say anything earth-shattering?

"Your personal items have been sent to the new home." Chu Zihang says.

"Okay!" Lu Mingfei's heart stirs slightly; a new "home"?

Actually, in his view, the former him had no home; he lived in "Aunt's house."

It's not that he didn't have a home, it's just that in his memory, that building full of ivy, the home with his parents was too far away—so far that he couldn't find it, so far that his memory blurred...

And now, does he, himself, have a "home"?

Those days of living under someone else's roof are finally over; Lu Mingfei inexplicably feels his back straighten a bit.

Although he is still living in Senior Brother Chu's house, the nature of it is different!

In Lu Mingfei's heart, Senior Brother Chu is already a "brother."

Between brothers, there is no need to say too much; helping each other is a matter of course, if there's something, just call and he'll be there, even life and death can be cast aside!

"Thank you, Senior Brother."

Lu Mingfei says in a deep voice; he notices his voice is somehow a bit hoarse, so he hurriedly coughs twice, "Senior Brother, I hope your extracurricular practice goes well too!"

"Okay." Chu Zihang says, "I'm hanging up now."

"Goodbye, Senior Brother!"

Lu Mingfei hands the phone back to Shanshan Ayi, meeting Shanshan Ayi's gaze, which is full of interest, as if she is prepared to get to the bottom of things.

"Hello..." Lu Mingfei doesn't know how to address her for a moment; he is struggling with whether he should bow first?

"You are Zihang's 'friend,' just call me Shanshan Ayi too!"

Shanshan Ayi smiles lightly, deliberately emphasizing the word "friend," and then her tone suddenly becomes a bit resentful, "Zihang doesn't usually take the initiative to talk to us this much; you young people really get along well..."

"Actually, Senior Brother doesn't talk much to me either, we just encountered some things."

Lu Mingfei now knows why Senior Brother gave him a heads-up; he can only respond with a sheepish smile.

"Don't lie to your aunt, okay, come in."

Shanshan Ayi turned and walked in front to lead the way, "Zihang said you are a beginner; do you have any prior understanding of the Piano?"

"Uh..."

Lu Mingfei followed, thinking to himself, what kind of understanding could he have? His understanding of the Piano was even less than his understanding of Basketball! At least he had watched Basketball games and touched a ball a few times, but as for the Piano, he had truly only "viewed it from afar and never played with it."

However, after racking his brains, he did think of something—back when he was bored, he had once asked Liu Miaomiao, who sat in front of him in class, how to Learn Piano.

Liu Miaomiao was one of the few people in class willing to pay attention to Lu Mingfei, and even for such a casual question, she answered very seriously, even playing a few bars forcefully with one hand on the window glass, causing the glass to vibrate slightly.

"I asked a classmate before, and they said it's very hard work, and you have to practice finger strength from a young age," Lu Mingfei replied.

"It was a female classmate, right?" Shanshan Ayi smiled.

"How did you guess that?" Lu Mingfei asked, puzzled.

"Girls are naturally more inclined to Learn Piano; boys all prefer percussion or guitar and the like. Zihang is the same! He won't learn the Piano from me..."

Speaking of this, Shanshan Ayi looked indignant. Clearly, she had been well-protected and could still retain a bit of childlike innocence at her age.

Shanshan Ayi changed the subject, a hint of mischief appearing on her face, "Hey, Mingfei, tell Shanshan Ayi, is the girl you asked very pretty? Is the reason you want to Learn Piano because of her?"

"Huh?"

Lu Mingfei was stunned. In the past, he was a brave general under Chen Wenwen and belittled Liu Miaomiao as a "little brat," but deep down, he still acknowledged that Liu Miaomiao was a little beauty.

Ever since that time Liu Miaomiao performed for him by playing on the window glass, Lu Mingfei no longer called her a "little brat."

Lu Mingfei was the type of person who could remember even the slightest kindness shown to him for a long time; perhaps the more one lacks something, the more one cherishes it.

As for whether he wanted to Learn Piano because of Liu Miaomiao... from a certain perspective, it really was!

At the time, it was just because he didn't know what to fill in for the rest of his Schedule Plan, and remembering Liu Miaomiao saying she had to go to Piano lessons, Lu Mingfei had a brain fart and added Piano.

But he was also very clear that the question Shanshan Ayi asked was definitely not the meaning he understood...

It just took him a moment to sort this out, leading Shanshan Ayi to think he was "hesitating," and her face already showed sudden realization as she let out an "Oh~" with a rather teasing tone.

"No, Shanshan Ayi, you misunderstood!" Lu Mingfei explained dryly.

"I understand, I understand, young people are all like this; I was young once too!"

Shanshan Ayi winked playfully.

"But you have to be careful, Zihang should have told you already, right? Ayi is going to teach you and a female student together today. She's a little beauty too, so don't go changing your affections and become a big flirt!"

Lu Mingfei decisively chose to shut up; it was clear this matter could not be explained.

The two walked through the corridor and arrived at the door of a room that wasn't closed tightly.

Lu Mingfei could already hear melodious piano music coming from inside; even with his almost zero understanding of the Piano, he could tell the music was smooth and silky.

With such a huge gap in skill, could Shanshan Ayi even manage to teach? Would he be mocked or looked down upon?

Lu Mingfei habitually began to overthink.

But his overthinking was quickly replaced by even greater shock—Shanshan Ayi pushed open the door, and the face of that performer, the girl who was about to take lessons with him, appeared before his eyes.

Just as Shanshan Ayi said, she was indeed a little beauty.

And, this little beauty, Lu Mingfei actually knew.

"Liu Miaomiao???"

(End of chapter)