Dragon Raja 2; Chapter 14: A Birthday Cake is the Grave of Youth (3)

Dragon Raja 2

In Lu Mingfei’s mind, they seemed as distant as myths.

“I love you”—that shouldn’t always have to be relayed through someone else, right? Writing it a thousand times in a letter was fine, but someday, they should say it face-to-face. Lu Mingfei longed for the day when his parents would prove their sincerity, showing up unexpectedly, suitcase in hand, standing amid the steam of a train or the exhaust from a plane, silently watching their troublesome son, and with a slight quiver in their voice, say, “You’ve… grown so much?”

Right? That would be truly moving! It would make it hard not to crouch down and cry while simply saying, “You’re back.”

Come on, heroes! Prove to this unfortunate kid that you’d cross mountains and seas just to see him and say an emotional “I love you!”

But so far, to Lu Mingfei, his parents were only a signature at the end of a letter, an exercise in rhetoric, and two elegant names in the alumni directory: Lu Lincheng and Giovanni “Qiao Weini”.

Lu Mingfei fell silent, the knife chopping down on the cutting board with hollow sounds.

Auntie immediately understood, giving a scornful smile. “I knew your parents couldn’t be relied on. I was even thinking they could help recommend Mingze. Good thing I had foresight; if we waited for them, could Mingze have gotten into Austin University?”

His cousin, Lu Mingze, had just received his acceptance letter from Austin University, and the whole family had cheered. Auntie had been living under the shadow of “even a loser like Lu Mingfei got into an American university” for a year, but now she could finally stand tall. Her back straightened, her legs stopped aching, and she no longer gasped while talking—an American university acceptance letter was like a calcium supplement for Auntie.

“Don’t cut the pieces so big! They won’t absorb the salt!” Auntie shouted.

“Got it, got it.” Lu Mingfei was sweating profusely.

“Apply to Austin University with us, it’s a prestigious school. Everyone here is very friendly, and the professors are super nice,” came Lu Mingze’s voice from the back room. He was wearing a headset, chatting on QQ voice, with his feet propped up on the desk. The air conditioning was on full blast, keeping him cool. The soft praise from the girl on the other side made him feel on cloud nine, and his voice grew even more animated. Though he was only 160 cm tall and weighed as much, when it came to flirting, Lu Mingze was much more reliable than his cousin. It was said that his cousin was still single, and if Lu Mingze could find a girlfriend first, he’d be what his mom called a “life winner.”

Actually, Lu Mingze had no real reason to dislike Lu Mingfei. With Austin University backing him, he felt he was leagues ahead of his cousin in every possible way. But since he was so outstanding, he naturally felt entitled to show off a bit.

Amid the clattering of the keyboard, Lu Mingfei stacked the radish strips in the pickle jar, layering them with coarse salt and sealing it. The salt seeped into his skin, leaving a slightly rough feeling.

“Take the jar to the balcony! Look at you, clumsy as always. You didn’t learn to cook while you were in America, did you?” Auntie pointed her finger.

One of the most indomitable beings in the world is a middle-aged woman—down-to-earth, resilient, and sharp-eyed. With just three questions, she can strip a show-off brat back to his true self. To a middle-aged woman, if you have no parents, no girlfriend, and no money, then what are you bragging about? No matter how capable you are, even if you’ve slain dragons, it’s not worth anything. Even if you become strong enough to master something like “Platinum Star,” you still need a “reason to throw a punch,” right? But you have nothing, not even a reason to fight… Are you only fighting for eternal justice?

What nonsense!

“Hurry up, hurry up! How many times have I called you? Lazy and poor—haven’t you heard that saying? Lazy people are poor!” Auntie was getting sharper.

Lu Mingfei hastily clicked the “send” button and was about to rush out. Auntie’s brain-penetrating voice—even a man like Uncle, who had trained in Golden Bell Shield for twenty years, couldn’t block it.

“Ricardo M. Lu, you have an unread email.” A new window popped up on the screen.

“Dear Ricardo,

According to your admission records, your birthday is July 17th. Today you turn nineteen.

On this important day, I would like to extend birthday wishes to you on behalf of Principal Hilbert Ron Anjou and all the professors of the Academic Committee.

Thank you for attending Cassell College and sharing this wonderful time with us as we grow together.

Yours sincerely,

Norma

P.S. According to school policy, students having a birthday can collect a birthday cake from the college cafeteria. However, since you are currently in China for summer vacation, the free birthday cake service is canceled. Additionally, the summer term will begin on July 20th. Your report card from last semester shows two courses with grades of ‘D,’ which means you either failed or did not pass. Therefore, we regret to inform you that you must retake and re-examine these subjects during the summer term. I have already booked your return ticket to campus; please be prepared to depart at any time.”

“Birthday?” Lu Mingfei was stunned.

These past few days after returning home, he’d been doing chores for Auntie during the day, playing Starcraft at night, and living in a daze—he’d completely forgotten.

So he was already nineteen? In the blink of an eye, time flew by. He thought of other legendary figures at nineteen, like Zhou Yu and Sun Ce, who had already established their base in Jiangdong and married the Qiao sisters, living a life with territory and women. And here he was, nineteen already?

“Damn it! What kind of congratulatory email is this? It’s just notifying me that my free cake is canceled and that I failed classes!” Lu Mingfei reread the content after the “P.S.” and suddenly realized.

Actually, birthdays didn’t matter much to Lu Mingfei. Who would remember it? Uncle and Aunt? Don’t make him laugh. His parents? That was highly unreliable. Was there really anyone in the world who truly cared about him, Lu Mingfei, as he took another step toward the future of becoming a creepy uncle?

A birthday without anyone to celebrate with was just an ordinary day, and he had already had plenty of those.