Chapter 35: Are you a Border Collie or a German Shepherd, to be so keen on fawning over foreigners?

Lu Mingfei had been listening with interest to the terms Kassel College was offering, idly wondering if he could borrow their supercomputer to locate Uncle Chu and the missing siblings.

He had not expected Nono to suddenly blurt out that specific phrase popular among Japanese netizens. Shocked, he nearly spat out his drink.

"Cough, cough... Who, who taught you to say that?" Lu Mingfei picked up a napkin to wipe the cola from the corner of his mouth, frowning at the red-haired girl across from him.

If someone of a similar age or older had said this, the cola would have been sprayed directly onto their face. But looking at this overage, bratty girl who lacked both family and manners, he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of a reaction.

Nono didn't understand these avant-garde internet slang terms. She frowned and asked, "I thought of it myself. What's wrong with that?"

She was perplexed. She had carefully considered this phrase, thinking it would be devastatingly effective against Lu Mingfei. Why did it not only fail but seem to backfire?

Although he had appeared indifferent when he received the photos and letters from his parents, that later remark about wanting to wish his mother a happy Mother's Day had revealed the turmoil in his heart. The files indicated that Lu Mingfei had spent more time with his mother, and she held a greater, heavier weight in his heart; his essays titled "My Mother" always scored higher than those titled "My Father" in school. Because he had lost his mother at a very young age, Nono was sensitive to such things, and in empathy, she had assumed it would touch him.

Unfortunately, the idea was good, but the execution was abysmal.

To Lu Mingfei, as long as his parents didn't show their faces or contact him, he might as well consider them buried in the ground. How could a dead person raise their head? That would be a resurrection, and as the saying goes, no spirits are allowed to manifest after the founding of the People’s Republic!

After wiping away the cola, Lu Mingfei gestured for Nono to stop with the shocking remarks.

"Let's end this meal here. Don't come looking for me again."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Nono frowned, sensing things were going south.

"It means I want you to leave gracefully and stop bothering me. If you can't distinguish between a polite refusal and a harsh one, I can be even more blunt."

Lu Mingfei’s gaze gradually cooled. He leaned back in his chair, pressing one hand on the table while tapping his finger rhythmically. Usually, he was an easygoing person, but he couldn't stand people who insisted on being insulted. Zhao Menghua was like that, Chen Wenwen was like that, and this girl named Chen Motong was no different. Initially, because of her hair color, eye color, and surname, he had shown her more tolerance, but she was truly unappreciative—like someone wearing high heels and tap-dancing on his head.

"You say Kassel College values me, but what is the reality? It’s Professor Guderian making empty promises and rushing off, it’s Ye Sheng and酒德亚纪 (Jiu De Ya Ji) busy looking for internships. It’s letting a rude, arrogant, and self-righteous freshman challenge my patience time and again, trying to force me to submit with all sorts of underhanded tactics."

"What’s wrong with being a freshman? I often do part-time work with the professors, and what do you mean—" Nono tried to retort, but Lu Mingfei, devoid of any gentlemanly conduct, cut her off directly.

"So that’s it—serving foreigners abroad and giving your own countrymen attitude back home? After breathing the 'sweet air' of America for a year, you think you’re superior and look down on others? Tell me, are you a Border Collie or a German Shepherd, being so eager to worship the West? Do you know that in the past, this kind of behavior would be called betraying the proletarian revolution and you'd be nailed to a pillar of shame? Furthermore, since you work part-time in the US, you should know that the customer is God. But look at you; your service is completely insincere, and you only want to use dirty tricks to force God to sign an enrollment form. What did I ever do to earn such disrespect that you wouldn't even call me 'God Lu'?"

Lu Mingfei lowered his voice, his slightly drooping eyes and deliberate tone carrying a hint of the Godfather’s charm. This was a result of him practicing hundreds of times on his godson before the child could even speak—a habit that later led the boy to call him "Godfather" more readily than he called his own father.

Nono listened to his "indictment" with an expressionless face. In truth, from the moment Professor Guderian entrusted her with the burden of recruiting Lu Mingfei, she had realized there might be trouble. Changing negotiators midway was a grave mistake, especially since Lu Mingfei was clearly hiding deep secrets and held a certain disdain for his peers. She had thought she could handle it and pushed forward, only to hit a wall.

"So, what? Do you want me to apologize?"

"I don't have the patience for meaningless chatter," Lu Mingfei tapped the table. "Since your principal values me so much and specifically requested my enrollment, have him come and talk to me himself. Otherwise, get lost and don't appear before me again."

Nono remained expressionless: "You think you can just swap negotiators? Do you think we’re the Kassel Bathhouse and the principal is the front-desk manager?"

"That’s your problem. Even if you renamed it the 'Kassel Pet Transport Center,' it would have nothing to do with me." Lu Mingfei glanced at her coldly. "Tell Guderian: it’s not Kassel interviewing me; it’s me interviewing Kassel. If we can talk, we talk. If not, get out."

With things having reached this point, Nono had nothing more to say. She pulled out her phone and dialed Professor Guderian.

In Beijing, Professor Guderian, who was on his way to the airport, saw the caller ID and answered without hesitation. Like a family member waiting outside a delivery room, he asked with nervous excitement, "Hello, Nono! Has Mingfei agreed to enroll?"

"No. I messed up. He demands that the principal speak with him personally."

On the other end, Nono confessed her failure and relayed Lu Mingfei’s demand. Her tone was cold, as if she were saying, "I'm sorry, although we couldn't save your wife and child, we really did our best to resuscitate them."

Professor Guderian’s smile froze. He hadn't expected things to reach this point. He sighed silently, realizing it had been too early to let Nono act on her own. But this wasn't the time for lectures. He told Nono to hand the phone to Lu Mingfei. "Mingfei, are you still there?"

"I am," Lu Mingfei replied, sparing no words.

"I am very sorry. It was my error that led to this unsatisfactory turn of events..." Professor Guderian scratched his messy hair, trying hard to appease him. "The principal is a very busy man; even I have to make an appointment to see him. But rest assured, I will give you a satisfactory answer regardless."

Lu Mingfei chuckled at this, holding no expectations.

Guderian heard the meaning behind the laugh and grew more desperate. "How about this: I’ll fly back to see you right now. I’ll wait with you for the principal’s reply, all right?" While excellent students from Russia were important, A-rank students were common, but an S-rank student only appeared once every forty years—he knew exactly where the priorities lay.

After the call ended, Guderian scrambled to report to the academy and get Norma to change his flight. Meanwhile, Lu Mingfei had already asked the waiter to pack his fried rice.

The red-haired girl sat there, expressionless, cutting her sirloin steak—just cutting, not eating.

"You know, I occasionally see a familiar shadow on you. It looks a lot like the pathetic loser in the mirror when I was thirteen," Lu Mingfei said as he stood up to leave, his tone light and soft.

"Everyone hides a stubborn, dead child in their heart. But I’ve moved on. What about you?"