Chapter 150: David Ricardo

After a dull Thursday, the last Friday of September arrived as scheduled.

One week of military training, one week of exams, and then one week of being busy with Su Xiaoqiang and Liu Miaomiao's matters, and just like that a month had passed.

Although it was just a Friday that seemed like any other, there was a palpable sense of restlessness in the air. The sun was strong, the wind was rustling, and even the meows of the cats in heat in the school seemed to be louder than usual.

Lu Mingfei was confused at first by this change in mood. It was not until he was collecting school bags after school and heard Zhao Menghua, Xu Yanyan and Xu Miaomiao chatting beside him that he suddenly understood why there was so much anxiety on campus.

"Boss, where are you going to travel during the National Day holiday?" Less than a month after school started, Xu Yanyan and Xu Miaomiao had already recognized Zhao Menghua as their big brother.

Saturday was September 9th, and this weekend was connected to the National Day. After studying abroad for several years, Lu Mingfei almost forgot that there were seven days off for the National Day.

No wonder Lu Mingze sent him a message on QQ last night, saying that his uncle asked why his phone was turned off and asked him if he would go back on Friday.

"We went to Australia last year, and this year we will probably go to New Zealand or Nepal," Zhao Menghua said loudly.

"Wow! Boss, please give me a hug!"

"What's there to be proud of? In fact, October is the dry season in Nepal. The weather is extremely dry. The locals eat radish strips and green vegetable leaves. The scenery is just so-so. I would rather stay in China."

He always says this, but I never saw him actually stay in the country during the National Day holiday.

Zhao Menghua narrowed his eyes and waved his hand, then turned to ask Chen Wenwen what her plans were for the National Day.

"I will probably just stay at home." Chen Wenwen said after thinking for a while.

"Don't you want to go on a trip?"

"Yeah." Chen Wenwen shook her head, "I'm not going out."

One thing Lu Mingfei clearly felt was that in recent times, the kind of vague interaction between Zhao Menghua and Chen Wenwen seemed to be increasing.

However, Lu Mingfei couldn't tell exactly when this kind of interaction began to increase.

Hey, why are you thinking so much? Lu Mingfei shook his head.

Maybe in their previous life, these two people had this kind of interaction very early on, but at that time I was only focused on Chen Wenwen, so I didn't notice it.

Because he had promised Su Xiaoqiang that he would take care of his appearance tonight in preparation for tomorrow's dinner, Lu Mingfei was not in a hurry, but packed his schoolbag slowly.

When most people in the classroom had left, Su Xiaoqiang stood up, holding the bag of his schoolbag behind him with one hand.

"Go?" asked the little goddess.

Xia Mi was still asleep; Jiude Mai had already told her in advance that she might not be back until very late tonight, and left her some money for her to have something to eat; her uncle had already said that he would be back on the weekend.

Lu Mingfei searched his mind and confirmed that everything had been arranged properly, so he nodded and said, "Let's go."

Before they even reached the school gate, they could already see the black Audi A8 from Su Xiaoqiang's family from a distance. Uncle Li stood by the car door and opened the back door for them in advance.

Su Xiaoqiang got on the car first, and Lu Mingfei said hello to Uncle Li before getting in.

"Where is the styling shop you mentioned?"

“It’s right in the city center.”

Su Xiaoqiang said, "But we have to go to the old town first. The suit has been altered for you. We will take it to the styling shop with the suit. After the styling is done, we will try it to see if it matches your image. If not, we will have to alter it."

Lu Mingfei didn't say anything. He knew that the preparations for attending a dinner party were very troublesome.

When Caesar attended the banquet, there was a whole row of makeup artists waiting in the dressing room, ready to touch up Caesar's makeup at any time. Compared to this, the torture he experienced was relatively small.

"Then when we get to the old city, can we stop at Wuyi Road first?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"Wuyi Road?" Su Xiaoqiang frowned, "Is your phone broken?"

Wuyi Road was originally a street for electronic products here, from the earliest pagers to the later big brothers to the current mobile phones and MP3s, both parallel imports and genuine products are available.

However, with the establishment of several new business districts in recent years, young people prefer to go to convenience stores represented by Dayang Classic Mall to buy electronic products, and the business on Wuyi Road is no longer as good as before.

"No, I lost my SIM card and need to apply for a new one."

Lu Mingfei scratched his head. The Nokia N73 that Liu Miaomiao had given him had not been unpacked yet, so he did not tell them that the Nokia N73 had been damaged by water.

"how long?"

"About half an hour."

"Okay, hurry up as much as you can."

It's really inconvenient to not have a mobile phone these days. I'm going to the old town soon, so I'll buy a mobile phone for Jiude Mai and get a new phone card for myself.

Although Jude Mai didn't give him her ID card...well, she seems to be Japanese, so it should be her passport.

However, in this era, mobile phone numbers are not yet required to be real-name registered, and anonymous phone cards can be sold everywhere on the roadside.

When I arrived at the business hall on Wuyi Road, the staff had not yet left work. The process of reissuing a phone card takes some time.

Taking advantage of this time, Lu Mingfei went to a nearby mobile phone store and bought an expensive Sony mobile phone for Jiude Mai.

Of course it’s not because of what Jude Mai said, “Pay him back double,” but simply because she is Japanese and should be more accustomed to using a Japanese phone!
After buying the phone, I came back with a new SIM card.

Lu Mingfei returned to the car and asked, "Let's go to the tailor shop next?"

"no need."

The little angel said lightly, took out a paper bag from her feet and stuffed it into Lu Mingfei's arms, then pointed to her Longines watch.

"I've already gone to the tailor shop to get your suit back. It took you an hour to get a new SIM card!"

Fortunately, although Su Xiaoqiang sounded very unhappy, he did not say anything more. Instead, he asked the driver, Uncle Li, to drive the car directly to a styling shop in the city center. His fingertips, painted with bright-colored nail polish, tapped on his thighs like playing the piano.

Lu Mingfei glanced at Su Xiaoqiang's profile and felt that the little angel seemed to have changed a little. According to Lu Mingfei's vague understanding of her in another world, the little angel cared a lot about the concept of time.

At that time, Zhao Menghua was half an hour late for a literary club gathering, and the little angel scolded him for a long time.

It seems that after returning to high school, those personalities or images that were once firm in my heart have undergone distorted and blurred changes.

Su Xiaoqiang was not as unruly and unreasonable as he had imagined; Liu Miaomiao was not aloof, but rather warm and clingy; Chen Wenwen was still the quiet and artistic girl, but she no longer gave him the feeling of being a good match for family life.

"By the way, where are you going to play during the National Day holiday?" The little goddess suddenly asked when Lu Mingfei was deep in thought.

"Forehead……"

In the past, every National Day, he and Lu Mingze would squeeze into the same air-conditioned room to fight for the old broken laptop to play, and sometimes they would watch anime together in harmony. Now that he has moved out and lives alone, he no longer has to squeeze into the same room with Lu Mingze to fight for the same computer, but he should still do the same things.

If the incident with Liu Miaomiao's mother hadn't happened, he actually had an option to ask Liu Miaomiao to watch "Baby Project" and enjoy their unfinished youth. This was something he had thought of a long time ago.

But now he and Liu Miaomiao are temporarily out of touch, so he probably can't ask her out.

"What?" Lu Mingfei asked, "What are your plans?"

"Even if there is a chance, it has nothing to do with you." Su Xiaoqiang bared his teeth and made a face.

"cut."

Lu Mingfei curled his lips in disdain, but what he was thinking in his heart was that the interaction between him and the little goddess seemed to be getting stronger and stronger?

……

A villa in California Sunshine Community.

Liu Miaomiao walked across the corridor, came to the door of the room and knocked gently.

1, 2, 3... She counted silently outside the door. When she counted to 5, the familiar voice from inside the door finally said, "Come in."

She pushed the door open and closed it behind her.

It was her parents' shared room, but only her mother was there at the moment. The National Day was approaching, and her father was still in a meeting at the company, making arrangements for the holiday.

Seeing her daughter come in, Ji Ruyan's tense face gradually relaxed. She smiled, called Liu Miaomiao to her side, and gently touched her head.

"Are you tired of practicing the piano?" Ji Ruyan asked.

"Not tired."

"You must have practiced the previous piece for a long time, right? It's really a bit difficult for you to suddenly change the piece you play."

Liu Miaomiao shook her head. The song "Exodus" was quite a classic. She had practiced this song many times when she was learning the piano, so she was able to get the hang of it very quickly.

What really made her feel tired was not the sudden change of piano music, but...

Seeing that her daughter's face was always full of sorrow in recent days, Ji Ruyan knew the reason.

It's true that girls can't be kept when they grow up... Ji Ruyan now finally understood the meaning of this sentence.

However, there will be some pain at first, but it should be gone after a while.

Ji Ruyan thought to herself and took out two tickets from the drawer and handed them to Liu Miaomiao.

Liu Miaomiao took the ticket from her mother and was stunned after taking a look at it: "What is this?"

"These are tickets for Huang Yujia's private music salon. She will have a music salon at the Prens InterContinental Hotel this Saturday night. I bought them with the help of several friends."

Huang Yujia is a well-known musical talent. She is also her most admired pianist and was even her goal at one point.

In the past, Liu Miaomiao would have jumped for joy and hugged her mother, but the atmosphere between her and her mother was a little subtle. For a moment, she was at a loss and just held the ticket blankly.

Ji Ruyan knew the conflict in Liu Miaomiao's heart and didn't say much. She just gently rubbed her daughter's head.

"Shall we go together tomorrow night?"

"Ah."

……

Su Xiaoqiang was talking about a "styling shop". Lu Mingfei originally thought it might be a place similar to a hair salon or a beauty salon, but with a bigger storefront and the hair cutters looked more professional and might speak with a Hong Kong accent or a Japanese accent.

But I didn't expect that what the little angel was talking about this time was really just a store. Not only was the storefront quite small, but the location was also quite hidden. The car circled the alleys for several times before arriving at a small storefront.

"This styling salon is a membership-based one and does not normally receive regular customers."

Lu Mingfei followed Su Xiaoqiang in and found that the space inside was actually quite large and seemed to have several floors.

The pretty receptionist at the front desk greeted them with a smile. After Su Xiaoqiang took out his membership card from his card wallet, one of the receptionists took them into a private room.

After Lu Mingfei finished washing his hair and sat down, several makeup artists with delicate and beautiful faces who had been waiting silently beside him rushed over to him. The feeling of being surrounded by beautiful women made Lu Mingfei think for a moment that he was back in the host club in Takama-ga-hara.

They did all sorts of things to Lu Mingfei, with a clear division of labor: some were responsible for stripping off his clothes, some were putting a cloth around him, some were preparing the tools they would use later, and the rest took out something and smeared it roughly on his face and neck, just like they were marinating chicken.

"Gently, gently..."

Lu Mingfei grimaced in pain. The little goddess crossed her arms and smiled with gloating. Her smug look made Lu Mingfei wonder if the little goddess was playing a trick on him.

However, the rough application did not last too long. After a few minutes, he was put on a facial mask and then the hairstylist combed his hair from behind.

"What kind of hairstyle do you want, bro?" the beautiful hairdresser asked Su Xiaoqiang.

The little goddess came over, looked Lu Mingfei up and down, and then said a bunch of nouns. Lu Mingfei knew every word individually, but he couldn't understand them when they were put together.

The hairstylist nodded, and the silver scissors began to fly over the slightly longer ends of his hair.

Now his face is wrapped like a dumpling, who knows what kind of sissy makeup will be put on him later.

Lu Mingfei looked at himself in the mirror and suddenly felt like he was opening a blind box. It all depended on luck whether the object would be a god or a devil, or whether he didn’t know whether it would be a god or a devil.

But thinking about his experience as a gigolo in Takama-ga-hara, he surely wouldn't put on more exaggerated makeup than when he was a gigolo, right?
Su Xiaoqiang stood opposite him with a frown on her face, and from time to time she made new requests to the stylist. It was thanks to her that she could remember so many terms that Lu Mingfei couldn't understand.

It was unknown how long it took for the stylist to finally finish her performance. In the mirror, Lu Mingfei's hair was cut short, dyed, combed into a slicked back hairstyle, and his face was also painted with appropriate light makeup.

It has to be said that the little angel's aesthetic taste is really on point. She thought that Lu Mingfei had the temperament of an old British ruffian, so she specially picked the most common "Preppy Chic" British academic style slicked back hair among high school students in British aristocratic schools.

It neither reveals his age too much nor conceals Lu Mingfei's youthful student temperament, but also gives Lu Mingfei a kind of hidden nobility.

Lu Mingfei looked at himself in the mirror and thought that if he walked beside Ange with his current appearance, maybe someone would believe him even if he said he was his illegitimate son.

"Not bad." The little goddess looked Lu Mingfei up and down with an approving look.

I didn't expect this guy to look so good after dressing up. Even if he stands next to Chu Zihang now, he's probably not inferior to him at all, right?
No, maybe he will be even better. After all, he is several centimeters taller than Chu Zihang.

"There's a changing room next door." Su Xiaoqiang snapped his fingers. "Put on that suit and come out for me to take a look. I want to see if it fits you."

……

　The word count of this chapter has returned to 4000+ words. I will write another chapter in the early morning and post it at noon tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)