Beep, beep.
Just as Lu Mingfei was thinking about Nono, the phone in his pocket chimed again.
"Huh?"
Lu Mingfei paused, wondering who could possibly be messaging him now. He leisurely pulled out his phone and looked at the screen.
"Lu Mingfei..."
"The Literature Club is having lunch at eleven thirty in Private Room Two at Sophie Lade's Pizza. Come join us!"
Lu Mingfei quietly read the message aloud, but what truly caught his attention was not its contents. It was the person who had sent it.
"Heh heh heh..."
"Chen Wenwen..."
A lecherous grin appeared on Lu Mingfei's face as the image of a lovely girl as pure and beautiful as a lily surfaced in his mind.
"Still, she's already with Zhao Menghua. She has nothing to do with me anymore..."
"But free food is still great news!"
With that thought, Lu Mingfei practically skipped toward the pizza restaurant. When it came to crashing meals, he was a true expert.
"He's a complete loser. I still don't understand why Jovian wants us to watch this idiot."
Xia Mi, who had been secretly observing him the entire time, offered her assessment.
"Haha..."
Jovian chuckled softly as he listened to Xia Mi complain through his earpiece. He offered no explanation. He could not be bothered.
Before long, Lu Mingfei arrived at the restaurant.
The toilet seat hanging around his neck made him look completely out of place inside the restaurant, but Lu Mingfei did not care. More accurately, he had already grown accustomed to people staring at him.
As long as he refused to feel embarrassed, the embarrassment belonged to everyone else.
Maintaining his composure, he entered the restaurant and followed an employee toward the reserved room.
"Heh..."
On the way, Lu Mingfei noticed a handsome man dressed in a perfectly tailored suit. The man looked mature, charming, and successful, drawing the attention of nearly every woman in the restaurant.
He paid no attention to their gazes. Instead, when Lu Mingfei entered, the man smiled faintly at him and raised the wineglass in his hand.
"Hello."
Lu Mingfei froze.
He glanced around and confirmed that there was no one else in the direction the man was looking. Only then did he smile and return the greeting.
At the same time, he studied the man's clothes and silently thought, "He kind of reminds me of Caesar."
Lu Mingfei's gaze continued upward until his eyes finally met the man's brilliant pupils.
Boom!
An immense presence struck Lu Mingfei head-on.
For a fleeting moment, the figure sitting there no longer seemed human. He resembled a towering dragon looking down from far above.
No, that was not quite right.
Lu Mingfei looked above the dragon's head and saw a throne forged entirely from gold.
The man sat upon it with one leg crossed over the other, overlooking all creation like a god.
"Heh..."
"He brought his own toilet seat to a restaurant. How humiliating."
"He's ruining the atmosphere of the entire place..."
The employee leading Lu Mingfei had noticed that the handsome, successful businessman had ignored everyone else since entering the restaurant. He had merely ordered the most expensive bottle of wine on the menu and sipped it with elegant composure.
Yet he had smiled and raised his glass at Lu Mingfei.
She naturally assumed the businessman had found Lu Mingfei's ridiculous appearance amusing. With growing impatience, she glared back at Lu Mingfei.
"Uh..."
Although the employee had spoken quietly, Lu Mingfei heard every word clearly.
Having long since grown accustomed to this kind of ridicule, he merely lowered his head. He shook away the wild thoughts inside his mind and followed her into the reserved room without hesitation.
"Lu Mingfei just entered that lousy pizza place. By the way, I'm starving. When do we get to eat?"
The successful-looking man watched Lu Mingfei disappear into the private room before turning away. At the same time, an impatient voice sounded through his earpiece.
"You didn't need to report that. Lu Mingfei just walked right past me."
The man smiled faintly as he answered.
"What?"
"He walked past you?"
"Jovian, don't tell me you're hiding inside the pizza restaurant."
"No, you bastard. You're sitting inside the restaurant right now, aren't you?"
The girl's irritated voice came through his earpiece.
"Guess. I'll tell you if you get it right."
Jovian answered with a faint smile.
Bang!
The restaurant doors were forcefully pushed open the instant Jovian finished speaking.
A girl wearing a baseball cap entered alongside a beautiful red-haired girl whose delicate features made her resemble a porcelain doll.
"Um, is there anything I can help you two with?"
The employee grew nervous at their aggressive entrance, but their beautiful appearances helped her regain her professional composure.
"Jovian, get over here!"
The two girls completely ignored the employee.
The one in the baseball cap immediately located Jovian in the dining area and rushed toward him.
"You've got some nerve! You're hiding in here drinking wine and enjoying the air conditioning while making two beautiful, adorable girls work for you under the burning sun!"
"Are you even human? Where is your conscience?"
"What's going on?"
"Is this some kind of romantic dispute?"
"Those two girls look awfully young..."
"Men like him are never good news."
The previously quiet dining area immediately erupted. Everyone who loved gossip began whispering excitedly.
"Sit down. Order whatever you want."
Jovian smiled at Xia Mi.
"Do you think I'm only angry because I'm hungry?"
Xia Mi grabbed Jovian by the tie and shouted at him.
"I'm paying."
Jovian smiled.
Smack!
Xia Mi instantly dropped into the seat.
"Server, bring me one of everything on your most expensive menu!"
After giving her order, Xia Mi glared fiercely at Jovian.
"I'm going to bankrupt you."
"Heh."
"I can't go bankrupt. Unless the United States vanishes from the face of the Earth, I will never run out of money."
Jovian calmly swirled the wine in his glass.
"You evil capitalist!"
Xia Mi glared at him indignantly.
She immediately converted all her anger and resentment into appetite and began devouring everything placed before her.
Meanwhile, the closed restaurant doors opened again.
Lu Mingfei's former classmates entered one after another. Naturally, they also noticed Jovian's table.
The boys, who had only recently started college, were immediately captivated by Xia Mi and Erii's beauty.
"Those two girls are so cute..."
They stared at Xia Mi and Erii with flushed faces, but they were afraid the girls might notice their furtive glances. They stiffly continued walking toward the private room while repeatedly sneaking looks in their direction.
The boys believed their movements were perfectly subtle.
Unfortunately for them, Xia Mi and Erii noticed everything.
"Should I kill them?"
With an innocent and adorable expression, Erii spoke words that sent a chill through the air.
"That won't be necessary."
Jovian waved a hand.
He knew Erii was afraid those boys might interfere with his plans. In reality, insignificant nobodies like them did not matter. Jovian paid them no attention whatsoever.
Inside the private room, Lu Mingfei exchanged greetings with his classmates before one of them spoke.
"Lu the Legend, did you see those two girls in the dining area when you came in? They're both unbelievably cute, especially the red-haired one."
"The red-haired one?"
Lu Mingfei paused.
He had certainly seen an adorable red-haired girl today, but it had not been inside the restaurant.
"They both look taken, though. That guy sitting with them is pretty handsome."
"Guy in a suit..."
Hearing his classmates, Lu Mingfei remembered the elegantly dressed man he had seen upon entering, the one who had seemed like a god seated upon a golden throne.
Cold sweat immediately covered his forehead.
"Whew..."
"The dragon-slaying mission must have messed with my head. I'm starting to hallucinate."
Lu Mingfei tried to reassure himself.
"You're still looking?"
"We're already engaged, and you're staring at other women?"
"No, just let me explain."
"What is there to explain?"
"You clearly don't love me. Are you still thinking about your ex?"
As Lu Mingfei comforted himself, loud arguing approached from outside.
The main organizer of the reunion, Zhao Menghua, pushed open the door while arguing with his fiancée, Liu Miaomiao.
"Zhao Menghua and Liu Miaomiao are together now? Then what happened to Chen Wenwen?"
Lu Mingfei stared at them in confusion. His brain seemed too small to process the situation.
A while later, he went to the restroom and happened to overhear a conversation between Liu Miaomiao and Zhao Menghua. He also saw Chen Wenwen standing alone with a heartbroken expression.
The two of them returned to the table together, maintaining an unspoken agreement. Lu Mingfei did not ask what had happened, and Chen Wenwen said nothing.
"I have an announcement to make. Liu Miaomiao and I are engaged. She's mine now, so none of you are allowed to chase her anymore."
Unfortunately, even if Lu Mingfei refused to ask and Chen Wenwen refused to speak, someone was determined to make sure everyone knew.
After eating and drinking his fill, Zhao Menghua placed an arm around his new girlfriend's shoulders and addressed the entire group.
It seemed the only reason he had organized the reunion was to announce that he and Chen Wenwen had broken up and Liu Miaomiao was now his fiancée.
Chen Wenwen finally lost control.
She began to cry, utterly devastated.
"Tch..."
Lu Mingfei felt deeply uncomfortable.
He could not stand watching the girl he loved, or perhaps the girl he had once loved, cry.
He had no idea where his courage came from. Perhaps after killing a dragon, ordinary concerns no longer seemed as frightening.
Lu Mingfei rose to his feet and confronted Zhao Menghua.
"Do you have any humanity left?"
Everyone fell silent in shock.
They stared at Lu Mingfei as though seeing him for the first time.
The old Lu Mingfei would never have dared speak to Zhao Menghua like that. What had he experienced over the past year?
Everyone wanted to know.
"Lu Mingfei, you fucking..."
Zhao Menghua might not have cared if anyone else had challenged him, but he could not tolerate it coming from Lu Mingfei.
Years of anger and wounded pride erupted at once.
Even now, Zhao Menghua had not forgotten the day Cassell College accepted Lu Mingfei with great fanfare.
He still remembered how the Literature Club's errand boy, the laughingstock of the entire school, had suddenly experienced his glorious transformation into "Lu the Legend."
Zhao Menghua remained convinced that he could never lose to someone like Lu Mingfei.
His pride would not allow him to fall behind the boy who had spent years at the bottom of their class.
Now that Lu Mingfei had interfered in his relationship with Chen Wenwen, Zhao Menghua finally had an excuse to unleash all the fury inside him.
"So what if some Cassell College accepted you last year? You think studying overseas makes you important? What gives you the right to interfere in my business?"
Zhao Menghua grabbed Lu Mingfei by the collar and shouted in his face.
"We're all classmates. Don't do this."
Seeing that Zhao Menghua might hit Lu Mingfei, the others began trying to calm him down.
"Fuck this. We're done eating. Bring the check!"
Zhao Menghua shouted angrily before glaring at Lu Mingfei.
"You can pay for your own food."
"Fine."
Lu Mingfei did not care.
After leaving the private room, he took out the black card issued by Cassell College.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept library cards."
The employee looked at Lu Mingfei's black card and shook her head.
"This really isn't a library card."
Lu Mingfei stared helplessly at her. He had no idea how to explain it.
"Could that be an American Express Black Card? The legendary card with no preset spending limit?"
One of the classmates who recognized it could not help speaking.
Everyone immediately stared at Lu Mingfei in amazement.
"Lu the Legend really is different."
Someone spoke with a mixture of envy and bitterness.
Beep, beep, beep.
In the next moment, however, the employee informed Lu Mingfei that his card had been declined.
All that envy and bitterness instantly transformed into mockery.
No one stepped forward to help him. Everyone seemed content to watch him humiliate himself.
Even Chen Wenwen hid behind the others and remained silent.
"Hahahaha!"
Just as everyone whispered and quietly mocked Lu Mingfei, a burst of loud laughter drew their attention.
The self-proclaimed elites inside the restaurant frowned at the sound. They turned toward it with disdainful expressions and saw Jovian laughing openly.
The moment they noticed his expensive suit and composed bearing, their contempt vanished.
Zhao Menghua, whose English was better than most of the others, prepared to demonstrate his skills. He intended to politely remind Jovian that laughing so loudly in a place like this was inappropriate.
"Put his bill on my tab."
Before Zhao Menghua could begin his performance, Jovian walked over to Lu Mingfei and addressed the employee in fluent English.
He then turned toward the bewildered Lu Mingfei.
"Hello, Lu Mingfei."
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