Su Xiaoqiang

The next day, Lu Mingfei opened his eyes and woke up in bed. He looked at his chubby cousin in the bed beside him and sighed. Who knew when he'd get a space of his own here?

"Lu Mingfei, Lu Mingze, get up and eat!" His aunt's voice came from the living room outside.

Lu Mingfei sprang out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash up.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Lu Mingfei saw his hair sticking up all over the place. Even the best features would look like a loser beneath a bird's nest like that.

Besides, his general air hadn't been much to speak of before, either. No wonder nobody at school had ever thought much of him.

Once he'd washed up, he took some time to fix his hair. It wasn't nearly as messy as before.

In the living room, his uncle and aunt had already prepared porridge and a few side dishes. They were just waiting for Lu Mingfei and Lu Mingze to come out and eat.

When Lu Mingfei came out of the bathroom, his uncle noticed that he looked different from usual. With his hair tidied up, he looked neat and clean.

He also no longer had that habit of keeping his head down all the time.

"Not bad, not bad. Fixing yourself up like this makes you look so much more energetic, Mingfei," his uncle praised him.

Lu Mingfei smiled at his uncle.

During breakfast, his aunt was still lecturing Lu Mingze about how he shouldn't dawdle when getting up. Look at Lu Mingfei—he'd gotten up so quickly today.

Lu Mingfei was flattered. Though he knew Lu Mingze hadn't studied at all the night before, he kept saying that Lu Mingze must have studied too late and that was why he'd been so slow to get up. Lu Mingze shot him a grateful look.

Breakfast passed in the midst of this battle of wits.

Before they left for school, their uncle reminded them, "Mingfei, Mingze, I heard there have been several disappearances in the city lately. When school lets out, come straight home. Don't hang around outside for too long!"

The two boys nodded repeatedly.

After Lu Mingfei left, his aunt said, puzzled,

"Don't you think Mingfei seems a little different today? He used to always lower his head when talking to us, so you could never see his eyes. But when I spoke to him over breakfast today, he kept looking me in the eyes and smiling."

"That's true. Mingfei was sitting up straight today, too. He looked pretty energetic. But kids go through all kinds of changes during puberty. Who knows? Maybe he just had a sudden change of heart," his uncle replied as he sipped his porridge.

"True." His aunt nodded.

At the entrance to Shilan High School, Su Xiaoqiang climbed out of the Mercedes-Benz S500 that had brought her from home. She wore a limited-edition Valentino dress and light makeup. Even at the school gates, pride danced in the corners of her eyes.

After all, Su Xiaoqiang's family owned the biggest mining business in the area. Lu Mingfei used to mooch snacks off her all the time.

"Morning, Little Goddess." Lu Mingfei had arrived at the school gates, too, and greeted Su Xiaoqiang.

"The sun must be rising in the west today. You're actually greeting me?" Hearing the familiar voice, Su Xiaoqiang reflexively took a jab at Lu Mingfei.

She turned around, ready to mock him a little more, but suddenly froze. Who was this handsome young man in front of her?

Lu Mingfei's hair was only slightly messy today. His clear eyes seemed to have a pull of their own, making them hard to look away from. He actually looked kind of handsome.

Su Xiaoqiang shook her head hard, trying to clear it. No, he was her sworn enemy. She couldn't let his looks fool her like this. But this was just too ridiculous. How could this possibly be Lu Mingfei?

Watching her bizarre reaction, Lu Mingfei began to wonder if Su Xiaoqiang had gone a little crazy today.

"By the way, Lu Mingfei, I heard Chen Wenwen asked you to put together a list of people going to the weekend event yesterday. You turned her down?"

Su Xiaoqiang came back to her senses and walked alongside Lu Mingfei toward their classroom, asking as they went.

"Yeah. Is that weird? I have things of my own to do. I need to go home and study," Lu Mingfei said, making it up as he went.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it were someone else, but you're Lu Mingfei, and she's Chen Wenwen!" Su Xiaoqiang exclaimed. Lu Mingfei was already full of surprises today, but the idea of Lu Mingfei rejecting Chen Wenwen was even more unbelievable.

"Heh. Stop looking at me through that shallow lens of yours. I'm not the same as I used to be. From now on, call me the God of the New World!" Lu Mingfei launched into a melodramatic speech.

"I was stupid to get my hopes up about you." Su Xiaoqiang looked at him like he was beyond saving.

The bell rang.

"Crap, class is starting!" Lu Mingfei hurried toward the classroom.

"Hey, wait for me!" Su Xiaoqiang hurried after him, holding her bag.

Lu Mingfei's seat was by the window in the second-to-last row—a place full of miracles.

Every class had a few central figures. This class's core revolved around a rich kid named Zhao Menghua, the literary girl Chen Wenwen, the gentle little piano beauty Liu Miaomiao, and the Little Goddess Su Xiaoqiang. Each of them could form a circle with themselves at the center.

Lu Mingfei, on the other hand, used to be just their sidekick.

But today, Lu Mingfei left the whole class stunned. He was simply sitting quietly in his seat, yet his classmates kept finding themselves inexplicably drawn to him.

Lu Mingfei had always been good-looking. It was just that he used to seem gloomy and never knew how to take care of himself, which had earned him a poor reputation.

Now, with nothing more than a little effort spent fixing his hair, he looked completely different. And he'd once been a captain in the Gotei 13, after all. No captain lacked presence.

His handsome features and striking presence had everyone in class whispering about how much he'd changed.

"What's with Lu Mingfei today? Why does he feel so different from before?" the chubby twin brothers Xu Yanyan and Xu Miaomiao muttered at their desks. "Boss, what do you think?"

"I think with my eyes open!"

Zhao Menghua also felt like he'd seen a ghost. How had Lu Mingfei suddenly turned into a handsome guy? They said three days apart called for a fresh appraisal, but yesterday Lu Mingfei had still been a loser, and today he'd undergone a sudden evolution. There hadn't even been time for anyone to adjust.

Lu Mingfei hadn't noticed any of this. He was just thinking how painful it was that he still had to take the college entrance exams.

He'd spent ten years in Soul Society, where the usual solution to any problem was to cut it down. He hadn't learned anything like Chinese or math.

During break, Lu Mingfei sat at his desk thinking about college and felt a headache coming on.

A figure walked over.

"Lu Mingfei, yesterday I was going to ask you to put together a list of people coming to the Literature Club event this weekend, but you had to leave early. So I'm asking everyone myself now. Are you coming on Sunday?"

Chen Wenwen had come over and asked him gently.

Chen Wenwen had noticed Lu Mingfei's change today, too. She'd already thought he seemed a little different yesterday, and today he'd given the whole class a shock. The contrast had caught her off guard.

Lu Mingfei looked up. When he saw Chen Wenwen, he simply smiled and said, "I'll pass. You can ask someone else."

"But you're an officer in our Literature Club. You usually come to these events where we go read at the library, don't you?" Chen Wenwen pressed him.

Xu Yanyan and Xu Miaomiao popped up just then. "Lu Mingfei, this is a Literature Club group event. We're just going to the library to read together this weekend. What could you possibly have to do?"

Lu Mingfei felt a headache coming on as he thought about how to turn them down.

"Hey, if Lu Mingfei doesn't want to go, then he doesn't want to go. What's it to you?"

Su Xiaoqiang sat two rows ahead of Lu Mingfei. Seeing them back Chen Wenwen up like that, she couldn't help speaking up.

"And you, Chen Wenwen. Can't you tell Lu Mingfei doesn't want to go?"

When Xu Yanyan and Xu Miaomiao saw Su Xiaoqiang step in, they immediately wilted.

"I'm sorry, Lu Mingfei. I didn't mean it that way," Chen Wenwen murmured in explanation.

"It's fine. I know that's not what you meant, so you don't have to explain. I really don't have anything planned this weekend. I just don't want to go to the library. If it were somewhere else, I'd probably go," Lu Mingfei said with a wave of his hand.

Chen Wenwen was taken aback. She hadn't expected that to be his reason. Hadn't he used to like going to the library to read? Still dazed, she returned to her seat.

Lu Mingfei gave Su Xiaoqiang a look of gratitude.

"Hmph." Su Xiaoqiang lifted her chin slightly to show that she accepted his thanks.