Happy New Year

The show moved on to the song "Herbal Medicine." The interplay between the male and female vocals had an oddly catchy quality.

"Bzz, bzz."

His phone vibrated.

Lu Mingfei sneaked a glance at his aunt and uncle. They were engrossed in the show, so he quietly slipped into the bedroom.

He unlocked his phone and saw a QQ message from Su Xiaoqiang: "Mingfei, I'm watching the Spring Festival Gala right now. What are you doing?"

Lu Mingfei typed back: "Same here. Jay Chou's song is so good."

"Hehe, I think so too!"

She sent him a selfie. Sitting on the sofa, she flashed a peace sign.

Her face was close to the camera. Her eyes sparkled, her skin was fair, and though she wasn't wearing lipstick, her lips looked rosy. She was absolutely beautiful.

Lu Mingfei smiled, took a picture of the fireworks outside his window, and sent it to her.

Su Xiaoqiang nestled into the sofa and looked at the photo Lu Mingfei had sent. She pouted. Darn it, why wasn't it a picture of him?

After she asked him again and again, Lu Mingfei finally took a picture of himself and sent it over.

In the photo, Lu Mingfei wore a bright smile and made the same peace sign as Little Goddess, though he was sitting on his bed.

Little Goddess happily saved the photo and set it as her screensaver.

"Mingfei, do you have any plans for the New Year? My parents are taking me to Germany. Don't miss me too much while I'm gone." Su Xiaoqiang sent the message with a big smile.

"What a coincidence! My uncle's taking us to Japan for a few days. I can't wait!"

Lu Mingfei's reply came through.

"What are you looking forward to?" Su Xiaoqiang was curious. As far as she could remember, Lu Mingfei was a pretty dispassionate person. Aside from snacks, she'd never seen him get interested in anything.

"Come on, it's the birthplace of all kinds of anime, like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Fate! I heard we're going to Tokyo. I've got to check out Akihabara. Maybe I'll even find an Asahina Mikuru body pillow!"

The message arrived right away.

Su Xiaoqiang could tell from the phone just how excited Lu Mingfei was. So he was an otaku after all?

Another message popped up: "If I buy a body pillow, can I mail it to your place? I think my aunt would kill me if I brought it back to her house!"

Su Xiaoqiang sent a helpless reply: "You're unbelievable. Just send it over and I'll receive it for you."

Lu Mingfei was overcome with gratitude.

Some time later, midnight arrived. As the Spring Festival Gala ended, everyone went back to their rooms.

Lu Mingfei opened his phone. Quite a few people had sent him New Year's greetings on QQ.

Little Goddess: [Happy New Year, Little Ming! I hope you're as happy as I am all year long!]

Lu Mingfei smiled and replied.

Then there were messages from Chen Wenwen and Liu Miaomiao: [Happy New Year, Mingfei.]

They were more or less the same, so Lu Mingfei sent back a routine response.

[Happy New Year, Brother Lu!]

What the heck? Zhao Menghua had even sent him a New Year's greeting.

Then there was a long message from Old Tang. Lu Mingfei had no idea where he'd found those greetings, but the message filled an entire screen. Had he copied it from Baidu?

[Happy New Year, junior!] The text was from Chu Zihang. Lu Mingfei was surprised. Senior Brother Chu always seemed so aloof, yet it turned out he sent New Year's greetings like everyone else.

[Happy New Year to you too, Senior Brother Chu! May everything go smoothly for you, may dragons soar, and may good fortune come your way.]

Lu Mingfei tweaked the greeting Old Tang had sent him and forwarded it. Well, he only changed the name.

Chu Zihang read Lu Mingfei's reply at home and fell silent. It was exactly the same greeting his father had sent him years ago, except for the name. So it had come from the internet?

After replying to everyone, Lu Mingfei turned off his phone and lay down on the bed. Before he knew it, he'd made so many friends.

One evening, after visiting relatives, the family sat down to dinner.

His aunt scolded Lu Mingze. "Can't you learn a thing or two from your older cousin? When we visited relatives this time, everyone was talking about how much he'd changed. Then they asked about his grades, and, wow, he came first in the province in the mock exams. Then they asked about you. Why is there such a huge gap between you and your cousin?"

"After the New Year, I'll sign you up for a few more tutoring classes. You'd better study hard, understand?"

Lu Mingze put on a pained expression but didn't dare talk back. His heart was aching. I'm in the top ten in my class, okay? Why compare me to my cousin, who's a freak?

Lu Mingfei quietly ate his meal without saying a word, afraid the argument would turn to him.

"All right, all right. Mingze's grades are pretty good, so don't give him such a hard time. We should be thinking about what to bring back from Japan in a couple of days," his uncle said, trying to smooth things over.

His aunt waved a hand. "I've already told my colleagues and relatives that we're going to Japan in a few days. They've all asked me to bring back foreign products, things like Shiseido cosmetics, Meiji chocolate, and Canon compact cameras. We can pick up a few things we like while we're there."

Like an Asahina Mikuru body pillow, Lu Mingfei thought.

"Oh, and Section Chief Chen is coming with us this time. They won the same travel voucher, so we'll go together," his uncle said.

"Is that the head of personnel at your work?" his aunt asked suddenly.

"That's right," his uncle replied, nodding repeatedly.

"Section Chief Chen has a daughter named Jiajia. Her full name is Chen Jiawei. She's about the same age as Mingfei and Mingze, and she goes to Shilan High School too. She's just a year younger than Mingze, so she should be in her first year of high school."

"Oh," Lu Mingfei and Lu Mingze replied, utterly uninterested.

His aunt thought it over and got a little idea. As she remembered it, Jiajia was reasonably pretty and pleasant, and her family was well-off. Though she was still in high school, if Mingze and Jiajia got together one day, perhaps that would help Lu Gucheng move up the ranks.

More importantly, Jiajia was both pretty and from a good family. It would be ideal if things worked out, but if not, so be it.

She'd talk to Lu Gucheng when they got back to their room that night and make some preparations for their future plans.

Of course, Lu Gucheng had no idea what she was thinking. At the dinner table, he was bragging about his recent business dinners, telling them how he'd impressed everyone by showing off without making it obvious, and how they'd praised him afterward.

It was one of his favorite routines. Whenever his uncle was in a good mood, he'd tell Lu Mingfei and the others these stories. His aunt never stopped him. After all, she thought it was nice to have a little prestige outside the home.

As usual, she chimed in every now and then, then went straight back to her room after dinner.

Time really flew. Before they knew it, they'd been back for several months.