Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 52: Black Sea and White Moon (4)

Dragon Raja 3

At that moment, his phone beside the pillow buzzed with a text. Lu Mingfei grabbed it and looked, freezing in shock.

“Ricardo M. Lu, this message is to inform you that you have been assigned an internship task by the Execution Bureau. You are scheduled to depart for the airport at 7:00 AM today. A car will be waiting for you in front of the dormitory, and you will take special express CC1000 to Chicago. For task details, please consult the person in charge of this mission. Do not worry about attendance and credits; the Execution Bureau has already arranged leave with your professors.” —Sender: Norma.

Lu Mingfei threw off the blanket and jumped out of bed—everything was exactly as Lu Mingze had said, and once again, the Execution Bureau’s mission had fallen on his head. It must have been urgent, otherwise the Execution Bureau wouldn’t be so inconsiderate as to notify him in the middle of the night. The glow-in-the-dark clock showed it was 4:00 AM, giving him only three hours to prepare. But what should he take to Japan? He rummaged through the bookshelf for that “100 Practical Travel Phrases in Japanese” booklet, patted his head, then went to the closet to look for his electronic dictionary. Thinking about it, he also took out wool socks from his wardrobe—he heard Japan wasn’t that warm, and if he were unlucky enough to be dropped into Hokkaido, it would be miserable without wool socks… but the socks weren’t in the wardrobe, and that old suitcase he’d brought from home was gone too. Lu Mingfei started to panic.

Then he saw a silver aluminum-magnesium alloy suitcase standing by his bedside, strapped with a red and blue luggage belt. Even with his limited knowledge, he knew this was a pricey Rimowa suitcase made in Germany, something that should never appear in his and Finger’s dorm room. Their collection of ragged belongings didn’t deserve such a sleek, expensive, and shiny suitcase… He suddenly remembered what Lu Mingze had said in his dream, that look on his face that screamed “I’m your dear Sebastian” while saying, “I’ve already packed your suitcase.”

Damn it! Who the hell needed his help packing a suitcase? Did he know that he wanted to bring the “100 Practical Travel Phrases in Japanese”? However, there was a yellow sticky note on the suitcase, written in beautiful handwriting with a warm and friendly reminder: “The ‘100 Practical Travel Phrases in Japanese’ is in the pocket on the inside of the suitcase lid, the wool socks are rolled up inside your pants, but your electronic dictionary was a 498-yuan discounted model from a store promotion, with a crippled feature set that doesn’t support Japanese. So you’ll have to rely on your half-baked Japanese skills. Included is a quick guide to Japanese traditional culture, ‘100 Lectures on Japanese Mythology and History,’ and an entertainment-oriented beauty art book, both in your backpack.”

Only now did Lu Mingfei notice his backpack leaning against the suitcase, and inside there was indeed a small booklet on Japanese mythology and an exquisite art book. Just one look at the cover of the art book made Lu Mingfei want to grab some tissues to wipe his nosebleed… The girl wrapped in an Indian sari was graceful and shrouded in mystery, sitting cross-legged in a traditional Japanese room. The afternoon sunlight streamed through the paper-covered wooden doors onto her back, and although nothing was explicitly revealed, Lu Mingfei could easily imagine that the girl beneath the sari was naked… With just a glimpse of her wine-red hair in the sunlight, he could guess who it was.

He knew that Nono and Susie had taken some sexy photos together, with the photographer being a Finnish woman. She had taken those photos of the girls during their prime for free, then sealed the film in sturdy metal boxes along with their childhood photos, burying them in snail-shaped containers underground. Thirty years later, the containers would be unsealed, and the owners of the photos would see their images from their most beautiful years again, even though they themselves would be old. Facing their own youthful sensuality, some might smile, while others might break down in tears.

“Let me see, just a sneak peek!” Lu Mingfei had said shamelessly when he heard Nono was taking sexy photos.

“No way! Even Caesar doesn’t get to see them, so why should you, huh?” Nono pretended to poke his eyes, “You’ll get a stye if you look!”

“What’s the point of taking photos if no one can see them?” Lu Mingfei asked.

“You can see them in thirty years! By then, anyone who wants to see them can. I won’t stop anyone.” Nono grinned mischievously, “When I’m fifty, I’ll show those sexy photos to young boys. When they get all excited, I’ll tell them, ‘This is me in my youth, but you’re too late now. Wanna hold my hand? Take a look at the wrinkles first.’”

Lu Mingfei fell silent, thinking that thirty years later, the ones eager to see those pictures might not be young boys, but those who used to have a crush on her. In her most beautiful years, they fantasized about her in all her sensuality, but when they finally got to see her that way… all they would get to touch was her wrinkled hand, with nothing left to do except fill their hearts with regret. Was this photographer trying to “preserve beauty”? Or perhaps she was just making those who coveted her beauty back in the day suffer by showing them what they could never have?

There was only one person who would look at that collection and smile without any regrets, and that was the one who married her. Because he had seen her through all her youthful beauty and aging, without any regrets.

Who knows what kind of method Lu Mingze used, but he actually managed to steal these films and develop them into a beautiful album. Page by page, it showed Nono immersed in a clear spring, with only her head above the water, the ripples distorting her body; Nono in a soaked red dress walking the streets of old Chicago, with fine raindrops in the air and steam from a manhole blowing up her skirt, revealing the seductive outline of her lingerie beneath the wet fabric… The earlier photos were the photographer’s works, but later were Nono’s own treasured keepsakes: her dressed in her Cassell College uniform on her first day, her official portrait; her in a black tulle dress as the Black Swan in a ballet competition; her holding the reins of her horse, Sasha; her sitting alone on an empty field after her high school graduation ceremony; her attending her first dance in a gown and high heels; her standing barefoot in a white dress in the center of St. Mark’s Square in Venice on her fifteenth birthday… As the photos went on, Nono looked younger, her face more rounded. The last picture was of a baby lying in an incubator, wailing, with a big round face that was adorably ugly.

Flipping through these photos felt like time was being pulled back rapidly by an unseen hand—this was truly a game of time… Finally, he lightly touched the chubby cheek of that little baby, feeling as if he had somehow witnessed the birth of this tiny baby.

Suddenly, Lu Mingze’s voice echoed in his ears, “Brother, think carefully before deciding to give up. What you’re giving up isn’t just a wedding with a girl and the promise you made with her; it’s her entire life.”

Lu Mingfei closed the album and locked it in his bookcase. At that moment, he suddenly realized something—throughout the entire album, Nono was always alone. There was no Caesar, no parents, no friends, no classmates. These photos were handpicked by her as the most cherished moments of her life, and in the most treasured times of her life, she was always alone?

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