Chapter 4: Since When Did Cassell Become a University?

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Lu Gucheng, in his early forties, had slogged through the ranks as a first-level senior clerk long enough to qualify for a shot at becoming a researcher. Lately, he had been busy cultivating connections everywhere.
His daily work was a tightrope walk; on his rare days off, he still had to take his child to piano lessons. After finally getting half a day free, his eldest nephew was embroiled in a quarrel with his wife, needing his mediation once again.
The helplessness of a middle-aged man was fully laid bare at this moment.
After catching his breath, Lu Gucheng looked up and saw that the imagined aunt-nephew showdown had not erupted; the living room was left with only his sour-faced wife, her expression unsettled.
At least there was no fight.
Lu Gucheng quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Just after hanging up the phone, he had rushed home to put out the fire, only to be stopped by the doorman who said there was a package awaiting his signature.
Without much thought, he signed and grabbed the package to leave. Had it not been for Mingze, the curious child, who opened it to look inside, he would have had to come up with an excuse to divert the attention of his wife and nephew.
“Ahem, dear, don’t be angry. Mingfei is still just a kid,” Lu Gucheng began, resorting to his tried-and-true peacemaking skills.
As a professional mediator, he played the role of a bridge both at work and at home—calming his superiors, advising subordinates, soothing his wife, and comforting the children.
Though he didn’t understand why his eldest nephew had suddenly dared to stand up to his fierce wife today, it was probably sparked by some trivial matter that escalated beyond control.
“He’s still a kid? His wings are so strong he could fly shoulder to shoulder with the sun by now!”
His wife, having just been put in her place, now took the step offered by her husband and added a jab at Lu Mingfei, shifting the blame to Lu Gucheng:
“Your nephew is threatening to run away from home. You deal with it. I’m done.”
“But Mingfei’s study abroad application...”
“I said you handle it. I’m done worrying about that!”
Throwing down the gauntlet, his wife stomped off like a sulky bride weighing a hundred or eighty pounds. She sent Lu Mingze, who had just walked in casually, to run errands:
“A box of discounted bagged milk, half a pound of Guangdong sausage, and your novel magazines. After buying, help me pick the vegetables!
And no elevators!”
“Huh?” The chubby child glanced at the basket handed to him and then at his fierce mother, his plump face full of doubt about maternal love.
“What ‘huh’?” His mother shot him a glare, increasingly frustrated with his hefty 160 cm, 160-pound frame:
“You never want to walk more, look at how fat you’ve gotten! From today on, I want you running for half an hour every day!”
The innocent chubby nephew wailed and ran downstairs with a long face, silently blaming his unlucky cousin Mingfei.
After venting her anger, his wife unplugged the landline and slammed the door shut behind her.
She pulled out a savings book from the wardrobe, one she had been contributing to for six years but never managed to save much. Her eyes were filled with hesitation and reluctance.

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Today’s outburst from Lu Mingfei caught everyone off guard.
His behavior was not the kind of sudden rage from a long-suffering innocent finally pushed too far, but rather…
It was as if a fierce, unyielding spirit had taken over his timid body, wielding a blade to slice away the oppression bit by bit. Anyone who dared to menace him would be met with a decisive strike.
It was a stranger’s fierceness that was frightening.
She was self-aware enough to know that staying at the scene would only escalate the conflict and deepen the rift beyond repair. After all, she knew exactly how foul her temper could be.
With emotions running high on both sides, one careless word might push Mingfei to throw himself out the window, performing a reckless dive without protection.
So it was better to let Uncle Lu try to reason with him first.
In the living room, Lu Gucheng looked helplessly at the bedroom door slammed shut, clutching a thin envelope and a FedEx package as he approached the brothers’ room.
The door was open, revealing the bunk bed with a backpack half-filled beneath it.
The thin boy, whose figure was out of sync with the rest of the family, stood by the computer, deftly erasing all traces related to himself.
He cleaned up chat records, uninstalled StarCraft, and even deleted hidden study materials labeled “Derivative Formulas” from the D drive.
The chubby cousin was fragile as it was—such soul-draining stuff was best avoided.
Noticing the hesitant gaze behind him, Lu Mingfei didn’t turn around:
“Uncle, don’t bother persuading me. I’ve made up my mind.”
If anyone in this family truly cared for him, it was probably this hen-pecked uncle.
Though Lu Gucheng liked to take small advantages, he never acted shamelessly afterward. When Mingfei ran away in anger before, his uncle had taken half a month off work to search everywhere for him.
Lu Gucheng felt overwhelmed and tried to reason: “Mingfei, what exactly is going on?”
“Just think of it as me being unable to stand living under someone else’s roof. I’m planning to make a nest of my own and live on my own.”
Closing the computer, Mingfei glanced at the drawer on the right of his desk labeled “Fei.” Feeling in his pockets for a key but finding none, he resorted to force to open it.
Three fingers hooked under the drawer’s edge. The lean muscles in his arm tensed before he gave a sharp pull.
With a bang, the lock snapped, and the drawer opened smoothly.
Inside were his ID card, student card, a “handsome guy” ID, and other miscellaneous cards, along with some ten letters and an anime wallet decorated with a little yellow-haired character from Konoha.
The letters were from his mother, and the wallet was full of loose change. Without examining them, he stuffed everything into his bag.
Seeing the violently forced-open drawer and his nephew’s indifferent expression, Lu Gucheng knew that things were truly, probably, irreparably out of control.

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His nephew’s calm words earlier suggested that leaving this home was already a settled matter for him, an unchangeable fact regardless of anyone’s wishes.
But…
“What do you mean by ‘living under someone else’s roof’? We’ve always treated you as family!” Lu Gucheng tried to appeal to his emotions.
“And where do you plan to go? The college entrance exam is coming soon. Even for studying abroad, you need time to prepare.”
He waved the envelope and package in his hands: “Your study abroad application has been approved. They’re planning to schedule an interview.”
“Family?” Mingfei glanced sideways and scoffed lightly:
“If that’s how you define family, then those livestream salespeople are family too. But in the end, it’s all about the money in their pockets.
As for college, forget it. Family knows family matters—I’m not cut out for studying. Going to some no-name foreign university would just be a waste of money.”
Lu Gucheng didn’t understand the references to livestream salespeople, but after years of experience at work, he caught the gist immediately:
“The university interested in you isn’t some no-name school. It’s called Kassel, a private university in the U.S., affiliated with the University of Chicago!
And their professor is currently on an academic visit in China and can interview you anytime!”
Mingfei had been tuning out, but the moment he heard “Kassel,” he straightened up and stared at his uncle:
“What’s that school called? Kassel?!”
Seeing his nephew’s interest, Lu Gucheng stepped forward and handed over the envelope and package: “Yes. Have you heard of it?”
He had heard of it all too well. If only the person in charge of the Kassel Trust had understood the reality, he wouldn’t have been forced to wander homeless!
Mingfei muttered curses internally as he took the items and began to read.
The letter, written in Chinese, started by informing him that he had not been accepted by the University of Chicago and to seek other options—that is, to go to Kassel College.
“They got my application materials from the University of Chicago? There’s never any privacy when it comes to personal information,” Mingfei grumbled, finding America far too democratic.
Setting aside the motive, the letter urged him to promptly contact Professor Goodrian at Kassel College to arrange the interview. If he had any questions, he could reach out to the college secretary, Norma Lawns.
He didn’t know who Norma was, but Goodrian seemed to be the same clueless person his aunt had easily talked her way past—the one in charge of the trust!
Such a blundering fool could be a professor?!
That was pure sabotage of students!
America really was doomed!