Chapter 13: Red Hair and Crimson Eyes, Are You Shana?

“Cassell Academy?”

The grade supervisor actually had some impression of Lu Mingfei—after all, the boy had quite a notorious reputation for fights back in middle school.

But he recalled that the list of the top fifty students in the grade didn’t seem to include anyone with the surname Lu. So why had this boy received an interview invitation?

He slightly turned his head and glanced at the interviewer beside him, who had come from Cassell Academy, and offered a gentle smile.

“What a coincidence, Chen. The transcripts of the invited students haven’t been compiled yet, and here you are already meeting one of them.”

Dressed in Cassell Academy’s uniform and posing as an interviewer embedded at Shilan High School, Chen Motong returned a polite smile.

“Yes, I didn’t expect Lu Mingfei to take the interview with our school so seriously. It’s truly... an honor.”

That settled the grade supervisor’s doubts. It seemed that the invitation letter in Lu Mingfei’s hand was genuine.

Judging from the expressions of the subject teachers earlier, he had almost thought Lu Mingfei was the victim of a scam.

After all, students had indeed been conned before by fraudsters impersonating foreign university admissions offices, extorting hefty fees.

“In that case, Lao Liu, please approve Lu Mingfei’s leave.”

The grade supervisor smiled as he made the decision, simultaneously arranging a favor—or rather, a convenience—for Lu Mingfei.

“Chen mentioned earlier that he wanted to visit Shilan High School. Since Lu Mingfei is excused from classes today, why don’t you show him around?”

“Your wish is my command.”

“Hehe, then Lu Mingfei, please take good care of your future senior.”

“Ah? Uh, sure, no problem.”

Lu Mingfei’s attention was fixated on Chen Motong’s striking red hair. He hadn’t really listened to what the supervisor was saying but responded instinctively.

A moment later, holding his leave note, Lu Mingfei led the girl who might soon become his senior out of the office.

Her long, slender legs clad in matte black stockings stepped along the school path. The tall, radiant girl cast a sidelong glance at the absent-minded boy and couldn’t help but wave her hand in front of his face.

“Wake up, focus.”

In his blurred vision appeared a pale arm adorned with a silver Omega watch studded with diamonds. Lu Mingfei’s pupils refocused.

He looked at the girl who withdrew her hand, his gaze first landing on her cascading red hair, then settling on her dark red eyes, which seemed to be enhanced with colored lenses.

Those features were remarkably similar.

For a fleeting moment, he almost mistook her for the person buried deepest in his heart.

Fortunately, their appearances had clear distinctions, and their temperaments were strikingly different.

Both were beautiful, but this woman looked cool and aloof, exuding an intelligent, cunning fox-like aura.

She was nothing like his adorable and charming wife.

Seeing Lu Mingfei finally return to normal, the girl named Chen Motong tilted her head, a teasing smile lighting up her delicate and radiant face.

“Is your sister really that beautiful to leave you so spellbound?”

Chen Motong was actually “Nono,” the girl who had previously challenged Lu Mingfei with a suspicious advantage and was soundly defeated.

—

To understand why Lu Mingfei had run away from home, she had come to investigate firsthand.

Now, seeing this foul-mouthed guy behave so poorly in front of a beauty she didn’t take too much pride in, the lingering resentment from last night instantly faded away.

It just showed what an unworldly child he was. She was wasting her time dealing with a kid who hadn’t even held a girl’s hand before.

After only a brief encounter, Nono was convinced she would dominate the conversation to come.

Lu Mingfei was nothing special!

Yet reality soon taught her that anything was possible.

The boy, who had just been lost in her beauty, now looked her up and down and said in a reluctant and perfunctory tone:

“Not bad, just slightly better than Shana.”

Who was Shana? Was there such a person at Shilan High?

Nono searched her mind and finally realized that Lu Mingfei was probably referring to the heroine of a wildly popular Japanese anime. The transformed character’s appearance did closely resemble hers.

“So, you were spacing out earlier thinking I was cosplay?”

The red-haired girl quickly glanced down at her curvaceous figure beneath the dark green school uniform skirt. There was no way she matched the cosplay standards of a flat-chested lead character!

Lu Mingfei hadn’t intended to dwell on the topic, but thinking that this red-haired, red-eyed girl surnamed Chen might be related to his wife, he decided to pretend to be an otaku from his chūnibyō days to extract some useful information.

Clearing his throat, he imitated his younger self obsessed with geek culture and struck up a conversation with this Cassell Academy high achiever.

“Isn’t it obvious? Your hair must have cost a fortune for Tony to style—it looks even better than a wig.

But your colored contacts are a bit too dark. Shana’s nickname is ‘The Flame-Haired Killer.’ You might want to try a brighter shade next time.

Also, your makeup is a little too meticulous, and you like wearing expensive accessories. It looks somewhat out of character. Next time you could—”

Nono: “...”

She clenched her fist.

The red-haired girl forced a smile, like she was humorously tolerating an ignorant, inquisitive kid.

“Is it possible that this is just natural?”

Lu Mingfei was sure it wasn’t, but he said otherwise.

“Impossible. Absolutely impossible! Believing your hair and eyes are natural is like believing Emperor Qin Shi Huang really came back to give me money.”

The girl, though half a head shorter, gave off an air as if looking straight down on him. She suddenly let out a cold laugh.

She reached out her hand, five slender, jade-white fingers unfolding like petals.

“To be honest, I am Qin Shi Huang!

Give me three hundred as startup capital, and when I resurrect the Terracotta Army to conquer the world, I’ll reward you with gold and appoint you as the Commander of the Imperial Chariots, at my side.”

Pure nonsense—what was there to be afraid of?

When she went wild, even her boyfriend was scared!

—

Lu Mingfei hadn’t expected Nono to drop her act and reveal her true nonsense so abruptly. He exclaimed:

“You’re nuts! The Terracotta Army is made of clay—how could they come back to life?

And what kind of ‘Commander of the Imperial Chariots’ nonsense is that? You want me to become a eunuch like Zhao Gao? That’s downright evil!”

“No, it’s a beautiful blessing. It means you’d be second only to the emperor,” Nono shook her finger, smiling like a mischievous fox.

Besides...

The real Terracotta Army in history wasn’t made of clay, young man~

“Pfft, I’d rather be Fusu.”

“And then get poisoned by Hu Hai’s forged imperial edict?”

“...You’re no fun to talk to,” Lu Mingfei half-closed his eyes at her, clearly signaling that if she kept this up, he’d stop responding.

Since he was still an immature high schooler, what was wrong with playing innocent to gain some verbal advantage?

After all, Cassell Academy hadn’t even waived his tuition!

“Hehe.” Nono smiled silently. The pure silver four-leaf clover pendant on her earlobe swayed, its embedded diamonds sparkling as brightly as her mood.

Indeed, his powers only existed online. Face-to-face, she just needed to take it a little seriously, and he’d fold.

Just as she was about to continue teasing her future junior, he unexpectedly turned the conversation around.

“By the way, do you really have no relatives in Japan?”

Lu Mingfei clasped his hands loosely, mimicking a slicing motion.

“A red-haired, red-eyed girl who likes games, watches TV, and practices kendo—someone named Chen Shana, Chen Xiyuan, Chen Chichi, or something like that.”

He was overly specific, as if such a girl truly existed.

But Nono seemed not to catch on, her smile softening slightly.

“You’re out of luck. I’m an only child.”

When she said this, she was already braced for Lu Mingfei’s apology.

Like everyone else who’d heard that before, apologizing for the unintentional offense.

Yet this boy took an unusual path. In her somewhat indifferent gaze, he said something surprising:

“Then you must be really good at games!”

Nono suddenly grew a little wary, thinking he had seen through something.

“How so?” she asked calmly, her dark red eyes like a priestess’s crystal ball, clearly reflecting the boy’s slender figure.

“Because you don’t need to protect your family, you can attack others without restraint.”

Lu Mingfei spoke matter-of-factly, a trace of world-weariness in his brows.