Chapter 28: Meeting the Parents

The weather has been nice these past few days.

The orange-red sunset ignites the sky, and vast stretches of clouds burn, outlining gold and red. The slanting sun pours its remaining glow before sinking behind the mountains in every direction, segmented by window frames, leaving strings of light spots on the plastic ground.

With a "squeak," a patch of light is crushed by a pair of sneakers coming to a sudden stop; the sharp sound of friction between rubber and plastic hits the empty court, the echo rippling like waves from a falling water droplet.

But the lingering sound of a single ripple does not exist, because this is merely the "whistle" for a complete workout!

The moment Lu Mingfei stops, the Basketball traces a mechanically precise arc, landing exactly in his open palms; only after the "thud" sounds does he start moving.

The Basketball hitting the ground and his footsteps form a perfect musical note, with panting as the occasionally interspersed interlude; one person and one ball coordinate in a rhythm that can be called "silky smooth" as they head toward the basket on his side, then leap up with the ball and send it in lightly.

Thus, the ball goes through the net, but before the "swish" sound finishes singing, the thud of Lu Mingfei landing takes the stage again!

He catches the falling Basketball, throws it toward the half-court line, and then jogs over, panting.

Anyone could see that the throw was very casual; Lu Mingfei had no "aiming" step, he didn't even look that way!

But the Basketball still rotates, traveling along a not-so-fixed trajectory toward a fixed destination.

Just as it arrives, Chu Zihang pauses and catches it perfectly.

He turns, dribbles, performs a Three-step layup, and then turns again to throw it toward half-court. Unlike Lu Mingfei's trajectory, which is casual every time, his throw carries mechanical precision, the path almost identical.

The Basketball does not pause, flying into the hands of the suddenly stopping Lu Mingfei.

This is definitely a high-intensity combined training session; the two have been practicing for over two hours without a break!

The cause of this was Lu Mingfei discovering that he was better suited to focusing on practicing the Three-step layup.

Judging solely by difficulty, this technique is actually not very high compared to others.

But from the perspective of "practice," it is almost irreplaceable for the current Lu Mingfei!

Because of 【Precision Hit】, Lu Mingfei doesn't even need to look for shots within ten meters; playing Basketball like this was fine at first, but it became very boring after a while.

No matter how many fancy techniques there are, they all ultimately aim to hit the basket, and as long as Lu Mingfei still has strength, his shots will not go astray.

The Three-step layup doesn't really require aiming anyway, and it consumes a lot of physical energy, making it perfect for training.

Chu Zihang agrees with this; he modified his usual training method and turned it into the aforementioned training process.

【Warning, the 【Eat Dinner】 scheduled time has been reached...】

"Hoo, hoo..."

Lu Mingfei lands after another layup, and upon hearing the warning, he stops, exhausted, gasping for air. Beads of sweat drip from his eyelashes onto the ground, bursting into small splashes of water.

He waves his hand, barely swallowing the metallic taste in his throat, "Sen... Senior, that's about enough, it's time..."

"You've improved again."

Chu Zihang walks over slowly; he read a book called "How to Improve Motivation" during his free time yesterday, which mentioned that timely positive feedback makes it easier for people to persist, so he is applying what he learned.

As for why he would read such a book—Chu Zihang is still a bit worried about Lu Mingfei slacking off again; he had paid attention to Lu Mingfei for a period of time when they were still at Shilan Middle School and understood Lu Mingfei's personality.

Although he seems determined to change now, what if he wants to slack off again because it's too difficult for a moment?

"There is a little bit, yeah..."

Lu Mingfei glances at the Proficiency panel, which has risen to 32/200, smiles weakly, and finally manages to straighten his back.

He looks at Chu Zihang again.

Compared to him, Chu Zihang's state is much more relaxed. Not only is he not gasping for air, but his breathing is only slightly faster, and there isn't even much sweat on him.

But Chu Zihang's body hasn't fully recovered yet... how strong would he be after a full recovery?

"Senior, how come you don't look tired at all?"

Lu Mingfei asks curiously while panting, "What was your original complete training process like? I feel like you're a Saiyan!"

"..."

Chu Zihang is slightly silent upon hearing this; the popularity of Dragon Ball is such that even he, who has no interest in it, has heard of it through his classmates' conversations, and he roughly knows the background of the protagonist, the Saiyan...

A Saiyan playing Basketball—what would the opponent have to be, an Ultraman?

"It's just removing the 'passing the ball to half-court' segment; I would play both sides by myself. As for not being tired... I just practiced more before."

"Senior is awesome!"

Lu Mingfei is immediately filled with awe.

He catches the ball at half-court, runs the full court back and forth plus a Three-step layup, and after two hours, he is exhausted to death; yet, the Senior's Schedule actually involves running the full court and playing both sides by himself?

It's simply absurd; playing like this, his stamina bar must be infinite!

He soon thinks of the day before yesterday, when he first met Chu Zihang here and heard the series of Basketball thuds through the door that were as wild as a storm of drumbeats; surely that must have been Chu Zihang in his prime state practicing!

"As long as you persist, you will be able to do it too," Chu Zihang says.

Lu Mingfei only feels that he has been moved.

【Emotion Perception】 has long been in effect; every word Chu Zihang says has an emotional feedback for him, which is simply "firm, unwavering trust"!

How is it that Senior Chu seems to trust him even more than he trusts himself?

Bathing, changing clothes.

The Schedule is still quite humane in this regard; changing clothes before playing Basketball and showering afterward are included in the "scheduled activities," which are mandatory steps and will not trigger warnings.

Of course, intentionally delaying time is another matter.

There is a slight accident when Lu Mingfei and Chu Zihang meet after showering and changing, preparing to "Eat Dinner."

"What?"

Lu Mingfei is shocked, even a little visibly nervous, "Go... go to your house to eat, Senior?"

What is going on? How did it suddenly fast-forward to the "meeting the parents" stage? He isn't ready yet!

In Lu Mingfei's eyes, Chu Zihang's home belongs to the "holy land" level; how could a mere mortal easily trespass!

A family capable of raising a dragon among men like Chu Zihang, who excels in both character and learning—Senior Chu's father and mother must also be the elite of the elite, right?

The standards of the elite must be very high; Senior Chu being good to him is one thing, but Senior Chu's father and mother are another; why would they think highly of him?

Relying on the fact that he was still living in someone else's villa, and using their Fitness room and Piano?

Therefore, at the thought of meeting, Lu Mingfei suddenly felt a bit unnatural all over.

If he showed up at their door, would Senior Brother Chu's mom and dad get the feeling that a "social delinquent is corrupting a good kid and even coming to the door to provoke them"... he would be fiercely looked down upon, right? Being ignored would be considered a sign of respect!

"My mom just called and told me to go home for dinner."

Chu Zihang said, this good-boy persona was somewhat at odds with his usual cold, aloof, and poker-faced image, unexpectedly having a bit of contrasting cuteness.

"After dinner, I have to practice Tai Chi. My house has a suitable space, so I told my mom I'd bring you along. She was very happy and even said she would cook in person."

Senior Brother, are you sure she's very happy and not very angry?

I'm afraid that behind her smile there are already eight hundred axemen lying in ambush, just waiting for a wine cup to be smashed on the ground for everyone to swarm out, slice me up for half an hour, and mince me into meat paste!

"You're not going?"

Seeing Lu Mingfei looking conflicted, Chu Zihang frowned slightly.

"Going, going, going, of course I'm going!"

Lu Mingfei gave a start, his body reacting quite honestly.

"I'm just a little embarrassed, but since you've invited me like this, Senior Brother, then I'll just have to look forward to your mother's cooking."

Lu Mingfei said with a grin, rubbing his hands together like a fly; he had always been quick to adjust his mindset—anyway, at worst he'd just be looked down upon or despised for a while, something he was already used to.

Hearing this, Chu Zihang was silent for a moment, his expression looking unexpectedly troubled.

He finally spoke, giving a low-voiced instruction.

"My mom will probably only make one dish, so just taste a little bit when the time comes, don't take too much..."

"I get it, I get it, don't worry, Senior Brother!"

Lu Mingfei was a bit confused at first, but quickly realized what he meant and patted his chest to guarantee it.

Come to think of it, it made sense; it wasn't easy for his mother to cook specifically for her son, so she must have wanted her son to eat it all himself. What kind of person would he be to eat too much as an outsider!

Lu Mingfei didn't consider himself a foodie, so he was sure he could control himself on this point.

He had already decided that when the time came, he would only pick the dishes that the fewest people were eating, and would absolutely not cause any trouble for Senior Brother Chu, who had been so good to him!

There is one more chapter, but since I couldn't finish writing it in time, it will be posted after midnight! Those who can't wait can go to sleep and read it tomorrow morning!

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(End of chapter)