Lu Mingfei, why are you slaying dragons if you're not involved!

Chapter 71: Lu Mingfei's level seems a bit too high.

"A joint discussion among four leaders?"

"A complete novice to piano who has never touched anything except for three hours of basic training," Lu Mingfei pondered for a moment.

"A joint meeting of the leaders of the four countries? What major international event has happened recently?"

Aunt Shan Shan's smile froze. How did she come to that conclusion?!

"The fingers are the 'hands,' and the instrument is the 'play.' Four-hand piano playing means a piano duet for two people."

she explained.

"The two of them sit together on the piano bench and play a piano piece together."

"Oh! So it's a four-handed piano duet. I thought..."

Lu Mingfei suddenly realized what was happening and was scratching his head when he froze, his voice becoming somewhat stuttering.

"Me, me and Liu Miaomiao? A four-hand piano duet?"

"What, do you want to come with your aunt?" Aunt Shan asked with a smile.

"I'm worried that she'll dislike me if I don't play well..."

Lu Mingfei looked dejected. "Although I'm not entirely clear on the requirements for a four-hand piano duet, the two players should at least be at a similar level, right? She's a Grade 10 pianist, and I've only practiced for a total of three hours..."

Aunt Shanshan was taken aback upon hearing this, and realized that something was wrong.

Generally speaking, when a guy hears that he needs to get close to a girl to accomplish something, his reaction can reveal how he feels about her.

Lu Mingfei, who neither shows disgust nor blushes, is a difficult person to deal with.

This means that he probably only sees Liu Miaomiao as an ordinary friend... at most a good friend!
Is he just a blockhead who's never been in a relationship and doesn't understand things, or is he simply indifferent to Liu Miaomiao?

The former is still salvageable; just keep playing straightforward. But if it's the latter…

Aunt Shanshan shook her head slightly, deciding not to think too much about it and to trust the "operation" she had arranged.

"It's just ahead."

Aunt Shanshan pointed to the door in front of her, then suddenly exclaimed, "Oh dear, I forgot to bring water. I'll go get it. You go in first."

Without waiting for Lu Mingfei's response, she started walking away.

Lu Mingfei didn't think too much about it; in fact, his schedule didn't allow him to think too much either.

[Warning, electric shock countdown, three...]

Lu Mingfei took two steps forward and pushed open the door to the practice room, which was already only slightly ajar.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of the music room, the city skyline faded into the twilight.

A high-gloss black Steinway & Sons Model B grand piano stands quietly in the center of the practice room, its lid half-open, reflecting the shimmering golden light of the lamp.

【two……】

Liu Miaomiao was sitting on the piano bench, staring blankly at the sheet music, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the edges of the keys. Hearing Lu Mingfei push open the door, she turned her head.

Lu Mingfei was stunned.

Under the deliberately dimmed main light, a vintage copper table lamp was lit on each side of the music stand, its warm light lingering on the girl's trembling eyelashes.

A wisp of cedarwood scent wafted through the air, and her usually well-behaved eyes blinked, suddenly becoming somewhat unfamiliar—so unfamiliar that…she looked rather beautiful.

In an instant, Lu Mingfei recalled the scene when he saw Chen Wenwen in his class when he first entered high school.

At the time, he thought there would never be another scene, another person, that could give him that feeling of "a tremor in his heart".

As it turned out, he was wrong.

[I. Electric shock release!] "Ugh!"

Lu Mingfei groaned. As the intense pain surged through him, in order to avoid being killed, he only had time to make one last reaction—grab the door and slam it shut!
Liu Miaomiao was stunned and somewhat taken aback. She had just been shy because Lu Mingfei's eyes were practically glued to her, but what was this reaction?
Reject...?

She was a little disappointed and was about to lower her head when, just then, the door to the practice room was slowly opened again.

Lu Mingfei staggered weakly to the stunned Liu Miaomiao and sat down on the piano bench without any ceremony.

He looked at Liu Miaomiao, his eyes and tone full of resentment: "Three times already..."

"Three times...what?"

Liu Miaomiao swallowed nervously. She pretended to be looking at the sheet music intently and asked in a low voice, not daring to look Lu Mingfei in the eye.

The distance between the two had long exceeded the social distance and reached the standard of "intimate distance".

The piano bench was long enough, but Lu Mingfei didn't think much of it when he sat down, and he was practically sitting right next to Liu Miaomiao. They were practically shoulder to shoulder, and they could clearly smell each other's scent.

Of course it's because you got shocked three times!
Lu Mingfei was inwardly frustrated. At this moment, Liu Miaomiao was starting to seem like a "femme fatale" to him. Including the last time, he'd been electrocuted a total of eight times—that was 3/8, almost half!

However, saying something like "I was electrocuted because of you" is not something that can be said directly. It not only sounds a bit perverted, but it might also be considered a sign of mental illness... Therefore, Lu Mingfei thought for a moment and changed his way of describing it.

"My heart rate broke 300 three times, all because of you, Liu Miaomiao..."

Lu Mingfei said quietly.

If Liu Miaomiao was still a little shy just now, then after Lu Mingfei said those words, her face instantly turned bright red, and she felt completely overwhelmed.

Aunt Shanshan, who had been eavesdropping at the crack in the doorway, had her red lips parted in an "O" shape.

Are young people these days so bold? Such direct love confessions!

"No...it can't be that exaggerated."

Liu Miaomiao finally managed to come to her senses.

"Really? If you don't believe me, just put your hand on my chest and listen." Lu Mingfei opened his arms.

Lying on her chest?
Liu Miaomiao, who had finally managed to restart, was easily defeated twice and crashed again.

Still reeling from the electric shock, Lu Mingfei didn't think much. Filled with grief and helplessness, he said, "Shouldn't you properly compensate me for the physical and mental damage?"

"How...how will you compensate me?" Liu Miaomiao asked blankly.

"let me see."

Now it was Lu Mingfei's turn to ponder: how to compensate? Good question. He'd only blurted it out in a fit of grief and indignation; he'd never really expected Liu Miaomiao to agree…

"Got it, wait a minute..."

Lu Mingfei had barely begun his sentence, "If I don't play the four-hand piano duet well later, you can't scold me," when Aunt Shanshan, who had just pushed open the door, interrupted him.

"I'm back with the water, time to practice the piano!"

Aunt Shanshan had a reason for coming in at this time. She believed it was necessary—

If she didn't interrupt, even if Lu Ming insisted on saying something like, "Come to my house after you finish practicing and watch the cat doing backflips on my bed," the piano prodigy would still vaguely agree!
At this moment, she had something she wanted to say to Liu Miaomiao: Hey, this "operation" is meant to deal with Lu Mingfei, so why does it seem like you've taken yourself down first? You haven't even hurt the enemy 800, but you've already hurt yourself 1000, right?
However, there's nothing that can be done about it. Lu Mingfei's skill level seems to be a bit too high; his direct attacks are more and more natural than the last.

Does this mean he knows Liu Miaomiao likes him? Very likely, those who are favored often take it for granted!
Aunt Shan glanced at Lu Mingfei, but this only made the problem more serious... How could a guy of such high caliber not know that there are two other beautiful girls who like him?
Is he pretending to be ignorant on the surface, but actually planning to catch them all in one fell swoop while juggling three relationships at the same time?
Miaomiao, the guy you've fallen for is probably a total jerk!
[Warning, electric shock countdown...]

Unaware that he had been branded a "scumbag," Lu Mingfei was looking at the sheet music as the warning sounded again.

"A wedding in my dream?"

He slowly read out the song title and scratched his head.

"That's strange, I haven't learned that before, how come..."

(End of this chapter)