"You were tidying up an hour ago. And you're still at it now?" Finger poked his head out, clearly losing patience.
"I'm nervous," Lu Mingfei said. His voice was actually shaking.
"It's not like you've never gone out to eat together before. Why are you nervous this time?" Finger couldn't figure it out.
"..." Lu Mingfei fell silent.
Finger was right.
Under normal circumstances.
-
Yesterday.
The red-and-white plastic track. Zero on the left. Lu Mingfei on the right.
After days of training, Lu Mingfei could clearly feel the change in his body. In the past, running a thousand meters nearly killed him. Now, after half an hour at a much faster pace, he wasn't even breathing hard-and could still chat casually with Zero.
"I heard tomorrow is a very special day in China," Zero said.
"Huh?" Lu Mingfei froze. "Is it?"
He never checked calendars. Especially lunar ones.
Those festivals changed every year. Back in China, he usually only found out because people around him started preparing or talking about it. Now he was overseas, surrounded by foreigners. Even though the school used a Chinese system, it was completely normal not to know specific traditional holidays.
So Lu Mingfei genuinely had no idea.
Should I take out my phone and check the calendar now? he thought.
That felt... embarrassing.
"I think it's called Qixi," Zero said calmly.
"Oh-right! Qixi!" Lu Mingfei reacted instantly, pretending enlightenment. "China's Qixi Festival. Basically our version of Valentine's Day."
"So that's what it is," Zero said.
Then her tone shifted slightly.
"Do you want to eat together tomorrow?"
"Huh?!"
Lu Mingfei stumbled and almost fell.
"Unwilling?" Zero stopped running, frowned faintly, and looked at him. "Or do you already have plans?"
For some reason, an icy chill ran straight through Lu Mingfei's spine.
"No! Of course I'm willing!" he answered immediately.
But his thoughts were already in complete chaos.
If Zero were just asking him to eat together, that wouldn't be strange. They'd done that plenty of times.
The problem was the timing.
If that were all, it would still be fine. In Lu Mingfei's mind, Zero might simply know it was a special day without understanding its meaning.
But he had already explained it to her.
With those two facts combined, how could he not overthink it?
It was impossible not to.
-
After telling the whole story to his deadbeat senior in the upper bunk, Finger immediately jumped down.
"What? Empress Zero asked you out on a date?!"
"Shh! No!" Lu Mingfei panicked. "It's just dinner! The timing is just... a little coincidental! That's all! Zero probably doesn't care about that stuff!"
"Say no more." Finger waved him off. "Back in the day, your senior was quite the romantic. I understand girls, and I understand you."
He pointed a finger straight at Lu Mingfei.
"If the other side doesn't take the lead, you'd stay stuck forever."
Then he delivered the finishing blow.
"If you really believed what you just said, would you be this nervous? Lying to yourself is the most intolerable behavior!"
"..."
Lu Mingfei couldn't argue.
Because Finger was right.
It was almost funny, in hindsight.
Back then, if a girl borrowed his pen once, he'd fantasize endlessly-only to find out she really just needed a pencil. Now, when a girl was practically spelling it out for him, he didn't dare believe it.
Was it inferiority?
Or was she simply too outstanding?
"Tsk, tsk. Look at what you're wearing. No, no." Finger snapped his fingers. "Perfect timing. I just remembered-I still have a suit from back then. Want to try it?"
"Senior... your build..." Lu Mingfei glanced at Finger's broad chest and thick arms. He looked nearly twice Lu Mingfei's size. "Will it even fit me?"
"Back then I wasn't this tall or jacked," Finger sighed. "After years of eating well at school, I accidentally gained some size. I used to have your elegant, refined figure."
"There's no way the difference is that small!" Lu Mingfei said helplessly. "This violates basic-"
A bundle of clothes smacked him in the face.
Just touching it, Lu Mingfei could tell the fabric was top-tier.
"Should fit." Finger sized him up, then slapped his own forehead. "Oh right, I suddenly remembered I still have business at the News Club. I'm heading out."
He turned, already walking away.
"Remember-when it's time to act, don't hesitate. Just do it. If you don't try, how will you know? Besides, she's clearly interested. Don't embarrass me wearing that suit."
Lu Mingfei watched as Finger put on his own suit.
The lazy, deadbeat aura vanished instantly.
Standing there was a tall, straight-backed man who radiated elite from head to toe.
Like a completely different person.
But that wasn't what shocked Lu Mingfei most.
From this senior who usually cared about nothing except gossip and games, Lu Mingfei felt something unfamiliar-yet painfully familiar.
It flashed by in an instant.
Only after Finger left did Lu Mingfei remember what that feeling was called.
Loneliness.
And beneath it-
Endless sorrow.
-
An anonymous restaurant.
Calling its decor "royal" wouldn't be exaggerating. It had no name. It wasn't open to the public. Entry required more than money-a lot of money-it required qualification.
Per-capita spending meant nothing here.
You could spend a few dollars on a simple burger.
Or enough to buy an island on something else.
Tonight, this symbol of power and wealth had turned everyone away.
Only a single lamp lit the central table. Everything else lay submerged in darkness.
The place had been fully booked.
At the table sat a woman in an exquisite red cheongsam.
Her face was beautiful without being gaudy. But what drew the eye most was her figure-one that would dominate even among models in Arabian robes.
And she was wearing a cheongsam.
Perfectly tailored.
One phrase described her best.
Every movement was a finished work of art.
But the dishes before her had already gone cold.
They shouldn't have.
Yet they had.
Because the other party-
Was late.