Camping (1)

It was PE class. After they finished running laps, the PE teacher let the students do whatever they wanted. Lu Mingfei thought sweating it out on the track sounded pretty pointless.

So he went back to the classroom to review his high school material. Wasn't it perfectly normal for an ordinary high school student to prepare for the college entrance exams?

"Lu Mingfei, have you gotten everything ready for tomorrow?" Su Xiaoqiang poked him where he sat beside her.

Su Xiaoqiang had come back to the classroom during PE class too.

She might have gone to watch the boys play basketball for eye candy before, but now she had no interest in watching basketball at all. She had something much more interesting to do.

"Huh? Got what ready?" Lu Mingfei asked, unable to make sense of what she was saying.

"Tomorrow's Saturday. Our whole class is going camping in the wilderness! What are you spacing out for?" Su Xiaoqiang reached out to touch his forehead. "Let Mom check. You don't have a fever!"

"Hey, hey, hey." Lu Mingfei gently slapped her hand away. "Don't take advantage of me."

"What's this about camping tomorrow? When did the class decide that? How come I didn't know?"

Lu Mingfei felt like he was in some kind of fantasy. He really hadn't heard about this class outing.

"They didn't announce it in class. They posted it in the class group chat. It was the night I walked you home. The class had been planning it for a week already. You mean you haven't checked the group chat? Come to think of it, you haven't replied to any of the QQ messages I've sent you these past few days either. What's going on?"

Su Xiaoqiang explained, then took the opportunity to press Lu Mingfei about why he hadn't replied to her messages.

"So that's why I didn't know about the camping trip."

Lu Mingfei sighed.

"My cousin and I share a computer. He's been having relationship problems lately and is a little depressed. When he's home, he keeps hogging the computer and staring blankly at his chat history. So I haven't been on QQ lately, and I haven't replied to you. Of course I didn't know about the notice in the class group chat either."

"Oh, oh! So you weren't ignoring my messages on purpose!" Su Xiaoqiang said, suddenly understanding.

"The point is, I didn't know about the notice in the class group chat!" Lu Mingfei slapped the desk.

"Hehe!" Su Xiaoqiang gave him a big smile.

Lu Mingfei was speechless.

"So that means you haven't prepared anything for the camping trip!" Su Xiaoqiang said.

"Yeah. Looks like I'll have to scramble to get everything after school today. There's barely any time!" Lu Mingfei slumped over his desk in despair.

Su Xiaoqiang gave him a mischievous look.

"That look on your face is suspicious!" Lu Mingfei sensed something was up.

Su Xiaoqiang stood up and looked at Lu Mingfei smugly. "Rejoice, Xiaoming! I knew you'd be unreliable, so I've already prepared the food for you. All you have to do tomorrow is show up."

Su Xiaoqiang was already very pretty, with the air of a mature woman about her, but right now Lu Mingfei thought she was adorable.

"Then I thank you, heroine!" Lu Mingfei stood up and gave her a clasped-fist salute.

"Rise, Xiaoming!" Su Xiaoqiang waved grandly, full of swagger.

Soon it was time to go home. After saying goodbye to Su Xiaoqiang, Lu Mingfei walked out of the school gate.

It was December, and the weather had grown chilly. The sky outside darkened quickly, and even though school had just let out, dusk was already falling.

There was still plenty of time. He remembered that his uncle had a set of camping gear. His uncle had bought it back when he'd gotten interested in camping for a while.

He could ask his uncle when he got home.

But his hair seemed a little long now. It was time for a haircut. Since he was going camping tomorrow, he might as well try a new look.

With that in mind, Lu Mingfei walked up to a hair salon.

The salon was tucked away in a corner of the street. Its sign read "Cut and Style." It looked ordinary enough—yeah, just right for him.

"How much longer?" Lu Mingfei asked when he entered the salon.

The owner looked like a rather pretty woman.

"Not long. I'll be done with this customer soon, and then there won't be anyone else. About ten minutes," the owner replied, giving Lu Mingfei a quick once-over.

"Okay." Lu Mingfei found a seat.

He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was a little past six. After waiting a short while, the customer ahead of him was finished.

It was Lu Mingfei's turn. The owner's eyes suddenly lit up. She hadn't gotten a good look at him before. Turns out he was a handsome young man.

And he clearly had great features. He looked handsome even without making much effort to groom himself. She wondered what he'd look like after a proper styling. The owner's hands began to itch.

The way the owner looked at him was like she'd found some priceless treasure. Lu Mingfei felt a little uncomfortable.

But he was already there, so he could only grit his teeth and get the haircut.

He sat down in the chair, and the owner draped a cape over him.

"Handsome, how would you like it cut?" the owner asked.

"Just cut it a little shorter. As long as it doesn't cover my eyebrows, that's fine."

"Sure. Any other requests?" the owner asked.

"No, that's it. Do whatever you think looks good. Just don't make it too ugly," Lu Mingfei answered casually.

"Then leave the rest to my skills. Don't worry, handsome. I'll create a perfect work of art."

The owner's artistic spirit was stirring. It had been a long time since she'd met a subject who excited her this much.

What do you mean, a work of art? I'm just getting a haircut!

Lu Mingfei complained to himself. Did hair salons call their customers "works of art" these days?

After the haircut, Lu Mingfei looked at himself in the mirror. He had to admit, the owner knew what she was doing.

After her careful work, his face looked sharply defined, and his features were as sculpted as if carved with a knife. After fusing with the Shinigami Power over this past while, Lu Mingfei wasn't as scrawny as before either.

Yeah, he looked a lot better than he used to.

The owner looked at Lu Mingfei and knew he had good features, but she hadn't expected the result to surpass even her expectations.

If she were ten years younger, she'd definitely try to go out with this boy.

"How is it, handsome? Not bad, right?" the owner asked.

"Fantastic!" Lu Mingfei gave her a thumbs-up.

"Of course. I used to compete in the World Hairdressing League," the owner said proudly.

She was a well-known figure in the hairdressing world. She'd opened a shop here simply to fulfill her childhood dream: finding a quiet place and opening an ordinary little salon.

She never would have imagined it. She'd picked an ordinary-looking hair salon at random, right there on the street, and it turned out to be hiding such a remarkable person inside.

Lu Mingfei almost couldn't keep a straight face.

He paid without changing his expression and left the shop.

"Come again next time, handsome!"

He could still hear the owner calling after him.