Chapter 179 Classmates
A year later, the literature department of Shilan Middle School got together again. This was their first reunion after graduation, but a boy named Lu Mingfei was missing.
"Hey, have you heard? Lu Mingfei has become the Prime Minister of Japan!" Xu Yanyan suddenly spoke, breaking the originally relaxed atmosphere. He held his cell phone and shouted to the classmates next to him with excitement.
“Don’t mention it!” A classmate sitting in the corner suddenly put down his water cup and waved his hands exaggeratedly. “When I saw Lu Mingfei’s face appear in the news, I spit out a mouthful of water! It turned out to be Lu Mingfei!”
"Is this true?" Liu Miaomiao frowned slightly, her fingers clenching the pages of the book in her hand. "Although the person on the screen looks like Lu Mingfei, his name is clearly Yuan Yusuke. I have never dared to recognize him."
The atmosphere gradually became heated, and everyone's expression was filled with shock and confusion. For a moment, they were unable to connect the man standing on the podium in the news with the boy in their memory who was so ordinary that he could not be more ordinary.
Chen Wenwen, who was sitting nearby, lowered her head slightly, her hands unconsciously tugging at the hem of her white dress. Her expression was a little hesitant, and she wanted to say something, but was worried about causing even bigger noise.
At this moment, a deep voice came from the corner: "That person is Lu Mingfei."
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and found that Zhao Menghua, who had been drinking silently since he entered the room, was looking up at them. There was a hint of displeasure on his face and his tone was gloomy: "Someone from the National Security Bureau came to me a few days ago and asked about Lu Mingfei. I confirmed the news from them."
"What the hell!" Xu Yanyan couldn't help but curse. He almost jumped up, and was so surprised that he could hardly hold the phone.
"Someone from the National Security Bureau also came to see me yesterday." Chen Wenwen's voice was not loud, but at this moment it was like a stone thrown into an already restless lake, causing even more waves.
"No wonder, two days ago, Teacher Wang posted a comment on QQ, saying that he 'cultivated a leader for a country'. I thought he was bragging, but it turns out he was really talking about Lu Mingfei!" Liu Miaomiao couldn't help but cover her mouth, her voice full of amazement, "Oh my God, our school actually produced a prime minister!"
"I didn't expect that the one who did the best among us was Lu Mingfei." Xu Yanyan sighed, scratching his head. "I thought it was impressive enough that the eldest brother got into Peking University and the rest of us got into Tsinghua and Fudan, but Lu Mingfei became the prime minister directly. It's incredible."
Xu Yanyan's words caused the whole room to fall into silence for a short time.
After hearing what Xu Miaomiao said, Zhao Menghua's face became even gloomier. He originally thought that he was already the best among these classmates, but he didn't expect that there was still someone who was better than him, and would always be better than him. He knew that he would never reach the height of a prime minister of a country.
"By the way, little angel, I thought you went to Japan for a trip some time ago, and you just came back these two days. What was the situation like with the earthquake?" A classmate asked Su Xiaoqiang, who was also drinking alone and didn't say a word as soon as he entered the room.
"That's not an earthquake..." Su Xiaoqiang said coldly.
"If it's not an earthquake, then what is it?"
The atmosphere in the Department of Literature suddenly froze after Su Xiaoqiang's words, as if an invisible hand had grasped the air in the entire room. Everyone's eyes were focused on her, and even Zhao Menghua's hand holding the wine glass stopped in mid-air.
"It's not an earthquake?" Xu Yanyan was stunned for a moment, with a look of confusion on his face, "Then what else could it be? The news said it was a magnitude earthquake!"
Su Xiaoqiang did not answer immediately. Instead, she lowered her head and gently turned the wine glass in her hand. The amber liquid swayed in the glass, reflecting her expressionless face. Her silence made the atmosphere in the whole room even more weird.
"Hey, little angel, stop pretending to be so deep." Xu Yanyan felt a little uncomfortable with the depressing atmosphere, and said with a forced smile, "If you know any inside information, tell us quickly, don't make us anxious."
"I just happened to be there." Su Xiaoqiang finally raised her head. Her voice was cold and calm, with an indescribable sense of oppression. "I saw it with my own eyes... It wasn't an earthquake."
"What on earth is it?" Chen Wenwen couldn't help but ask, her hands unconsciously clutching the hem of her skirt, a hint of uneasiness in her eyes.
Su Xiaoqiang's eyes swept over everyone present and finally stopped on the empty wine bottle on the table. She slowly exhaled, as if weighing whether to tell the truth.
"That night, I was near Tokyo Tower, and suddenly I saw a huge beam of light appear in the sky. It was so dazzling that it seemed to tear the sky apart." Her voice was low and clear, and every word seemed to fall into everyone's heart. "Then, everything began to collapse. The ground shook violently, and the surrounding buildings collapsed one after another, but..."
"But?" Xu Yanyan asked anxiously.
"But there was something moving in that beam of light." Su Xiaoqiang closed his eyes, as if recalling the unbearable sight. "I didn't see it clearly, but I can be sure that it was definitely not a natural disaster."
The room was dead silent, no one spoke, only the occasional sound of the breeze outside the window broke the silence.
"You mean..." Liu Miaomiao's face turned pale and her voice trembled, "You mean that is... what kind of monster?"
"I don't know." Su Xiaoqiang put down his glass and folded his hands on the table. "But I'm sure Lu Mingfei must know what it is. He is not only the prime minister, he must be involved in something that we can't understand at all."
"This is ridiculous!" Xu Yanyan's face was full of disbelief, "Light column? Monster? You can even make that up?"
"I don't need to make it up." Su Xiaoqiang replied coldly, his eyes as cold as ice.
Zhao Menghua finally put down his wine glass. His face was frighteningly gloomy, and his voice was so low that it seemed to be squeezed out of his throat: "No matter what it is, that kid is now much taller than us."
For a moment, the atmosphere in the Department of Literature became increasingly solemn, and more questions emerged in everyone's mind. Lu Mingfei's identity, what he had experienced, and the so-called earthquake seemed to be shrouded in a thick fog. The more they uncovered it, the deeper it became, but the truth could never be seen clearly.
"Perhaps, we don't understand him at all." Chen Wenwen said softly, with a hint of confusion and uneasiness in her voice, "The Lu Mingfei we thought of might just be the appearance we saw."
Her words seemed to touch everyone's heart. Yes, they thought they understood Lu Mingfei, but who was he really?
In the silence, Su Xiaoqiang stood up and grabbed her coat: "Whether you believe it or not, it was not an earthquake. There are some things in this world that are best not touched or asked about." She walked to the door and left these words. The people in the room looked at her back and no one spoke.
"Some people just like to play tricks." Zhao Menghua sneered, but his tone could not hide a hint of irritation and inferiority. "She talks as if she saw it with her own eyes. Ming Fei became the prime minister, and she took the opportunity to tell some mysterious stories to make herself more prominent?"
"Zhao Menghua!" Chen Wenwen couldn't help but speak, with a hint of anger in her voice, "Su Xiaoqiang would never make up these things casually."
Zhao Menghua raised his head and looked at her gloomily: "Do you believe it? Light column? Monster? Why is she so sure? Is it because she went to Japan? Or is it because she seems to know more than the rest of us?"
Chen Wenwen was speechless for a moment when he stared at her, but the uneasiness in her heart became stronger and stronger.
"That's enough." Liu Miaomiao pulled Chen Wenwen's sleeve, "Stop arguing. Su Xiaoqiang may have her reasons for what she said, but there's no point in arguing about it now."
"It's really meaningless." Zhao Menghua said in a low voice, his face becoming more and more ugly. He lowered his head, no longer looking at others, and just tapped the table unconsciously with his fingertips, trying to restrain some emotions.
Su Xiaoqiang actually didn't tell everyone she knew. When the disaster broke out, she immediately ran to the embassy for refuge. Fortunately, the embassy was not breached by monsters again. She saw on the embassy's TV the scene of Lu Mingfei riding on the sacred sedan chair and fighting against the monsters with two swords in hand. She could never forget that godly figure.
And how could the huge dragon shadow and violent explosion in the sky be hidden? She heard from the embassy that it was a nuclear explosion. She didn't know that much, but she understood that it was definitely not an earthquake. There was power in this world beyond human imagination.
-
"Boss, here are the documents you need to sign." Su Enxi came to Lu Mingfei's office carrying a large stack of documents.
Since Lu Mingfei took office, Su Enxi has become his full-time secretary.
"Put the documents here. How is the disaster relief situation outside?" Lu Mingfei asked while signing the documents.
"With the cooperation of the eight families of Sheqi, the disaster relief is going smoothly." Su Enxi reported, "The Ryoma family and Sakurai Akira have successfully gained control of the Self-Defense Forces. By the way, your approval rating has also come out, and it's as high as 95%."
“Ninety-five percent?” Lu Mingfei stopped writing, raised his head slightly, raised his eyebrows, and a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, but this smile was indescribably complicated, and even a little self-deprecating. “It seems... people have high expectations for the savior.”
Su Enxi stood there in a daze, hesitant to speak. She wanted to say something, but found that she didn't know how to start. The man sitting behind the desk in front of her with the halo of "savior" looked no different from usual, but she knew that behind that seemingly calm expression, there were too many things hidden.
"Okay, you can go down." Lu Mingfei lowered his head again and continued to review the documents, his voice still calm.
Su Enxi nodded and turned to leave, but just as she reached the door, she seemed to suddenly remember something and turned back to say, "By the way, Boss, Prussia will send a delegation tomorrow to discuss post-war assistance and cooperation with you."
"Prussia?" Lu Mingfei raised his head slightly, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, "I understand."
"Then I'll go prepare first." Su Enxi nodded and left, closing the office door.
The moment the door closed, Lu Mingfei finally stopped writing, leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath. He closed his eyes and gently pressed his temples with his palms, trying to relieve the fatigue accumulated in his mind.
After Su Enxi left, Lu Mingze appeared beside Lu Mingfei, "Brother, how is it, you really started to take control of the power this time."
Lu Mingfei didn't open his eyes. He just leaned back in his chair and sighed softly. There was no joy or fatigue in his voice. "Power? I never need these things. Lu Mingze, you should know better than anyone."
Lu Mingze stood beside his desk, a familiar, teasing smile on his lips, his golden eyes reflecting the complex expression on Lu Mingfei's face: "But you are sitting in this office now, signing documents that affect the lives of countless people. You are doing no worse than any politician, or even better, right? Brother, you are born to be in control of this situation."
Lu Mingfei opened his eyes and glanced at him with a cold look: "I just have to do it. If there is someone else sitting here, I would like to leave and never care about these things again."
"Oh? Really?" Lu Mingze smiled lightly, his voice tinged with a hint of teasing, "But, brother, you know very well that no one else can sit in this position except you. If it weren't for you, the consequences of the nuclear explosion in Tokyo would be completely out of control. Those guys who were grateful to you and regarded you as their savior would have turned to ashes long ago. Without you, where would their 'savior' come from?"
Lu Mingfei was silent for a while, tapping his fingers unconsciously on the table. After a moment, he said, "Lu Mingze, what do you want to say?"
"I just want to remind you, brother," Lu Mingze tilted his head slightly, his tone relaxed but with deep stinging meaning, "Everything you have now, power, reputation, support, and even the respect of those around you, is because of the power in your hands. If one day you no longer have such power, do you think they will still remember you as the 'savior'?"
Lu Mingfei's eyes turned cold, and he slowly sat up straight: "Are you warning me?"
"Warning? No, of course not." Lu Mingze smiled slightly, as if he really wanted to think about Lu Mingfei. "I just want to remind you, brother, that power is a double-edged sword. Those who control it will often be bitten back by it. And I just don't want to see you become the poor person who gets bitten back one day."
Lu Mingfei stared at him for a long time, with complex emotions flashing in his eyes. Finally, he raised the corners of his mouth slightly with a sneer: "Thank you for your reminder, but you know what, Lu Mingze? Rather than being bitten by power, I am more afraid that one day I will become like you."
Lu Mingze was slightly startled, and then his smile became even brighter: “Brother, you are always so cold and hurtful, but this is you, my lovely brother.”
After saying this, his figure slowly disappeared into the air, as if he had never existed.
The office fell silent again. Lu Mingfei sat on the chair, looking up at the ceiling, his fingers still tapping lightly on the table, lost in deep thought.
(End of this chapter)
