Scene One: The Gates of Castle

2. Dreams

"It must be a scam by someone we know in the neighborhood! Only someone familiar with us would know that our family is well-off and Mingfei has applied to study abroad. They're just doing this to tease us!" Aunt slapped the letter and said resolutely.

"Then who would send a mobile phone just to tease us? A N96! Even second-hand ones are selling for over 4,000 yuan now, and new ones cost over 5,000 yuan." Uncle kept pressing his fingerprints on the pure black N96, like an old woman caressing her ancestral jade bracelet.

Uncle was a very particular person. He always talked non-stop at the dinner table to Lu Mingfei and Lu Mingze, saying that a mobile phone, a watch, and a lighter were the symbols of a man's status and taste. It was not easy to tell whether socks costing ten yuan for four pairs from a street stall were of better quality than high-grade woolen socks costing fifty yuan a pair. But this trio of items was meant to be displayed on the table for others to see. Occasionally, Lu Mingfei had the honor of going out to dinners with Uncle and saw that Uncle would lightly tap the table with the mobile phone in his left hand and the lighter in his right, and casually roll up his sleeves during a conversation to reveal his high-quality replica Montblanc watch bought in Guangzhou, thus winning unanimous praise for his taste. Recently, Uncle was quite dissatisfied with his worn-out Samsung phone and was always searching for reviews and prices of new phones on various mobile phone websites. More than once, he mentioned to Lu Mingze that the newly released N96 was "high-end." However, Aunt, who held the family's financial power and didn't want to pay for Lu Mingfei's application fees, would never agree to him getting a new phone.

"What university is this? Just bragging, right? A scholarship of $36,000 per year? Impossible! Last year, Chu Zihang, the top student in our grade, didn't get a scholarship when he went abroad. Chu Zihang, his whole family has already moved to the United States and got green cards. One of his cousins is a professor at a university. Chu Zihang said that undergraduates don't get scholarships. The better the major, the fewer scholarships there are. Most scholarships are for majors that Americans don't want to study, so they have to pay Chinese students to attend." Lu Mingze was unusually interested in his brother's future.

Lu Mingfei knew that Chu Zihang was Lu Mingze's idol. When most people in their middle school were still wearing Nike and Adidas clothes, Chu Zihang had already started using brands like"Burberry." Chu Zihang was one of the spiritual idols in their school. He was far away in the United States, but in fact, no one knew what Chu Zihang was doing there. Maybe Chu Zihang was working part-time in a restaurant, frantically washing dishes. Lu Mingfei always thought about this when he saw the envious look in people's eyes when they mentioned Chu Zihang.

Lu Mingfei was such a person. When others were thinking positively, he would weirdly associate things in the opposite direction.

Once, Lu Mingfei's Chinese teacher used his composition as a counterexample in class and severely criticized it, saying that this composition showed no sign of fantasy spirit and was full of pessimistic sentiments, so it would have no sense of progress either.

At that time, Lu Mingfei really had the urge to stand up and say something. When he was a child, watching Ge You and Xu Fan acting in "Be Together," Xu Fan said that Ge You had no ideals and no prospects. Ge You got anxious and drew the Mount Everest on the blackboard, blew up the middle part of it, and said, "I also have an ideal. My ideal is to blow a hole in the Mount Everest so that the warm wind from the southwest can enter the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and turn this desolate snowfield into the water towns of the Jiangnan area!" However, when the Chinese teacher criticized him, she had lofty ambitions and a far-reaching vision. She stared at the students who were dozing off in the last few rows of the classroom, so she didn't even glance at Lu Mingfei, let alone ask him to explain his thought process when writing the composition. So Lu Mingfei lost the opportunity to defend himself when standing up.

Lu Mingfei's fantasies went through two stages. When he was in junior high, he still admired his archaeologist parents very much. So he fantasized about becoming Indiana Jones and forming an exploration team with his unreliable parents to seek ancient cities in the South American rainforest.

In high school, Lu Mingfei's fantasies reached a higher level, which stemmed from his seeing three consecutive screenings of "The Matrix." He felt that he should have some amazing abilities that were yet to be discovered, just like "Neo," being "the one." Some day, a mysterious person would discover this ability, and he would transform in the dazzling eyes of everyone...

As to what he would transform into, he hadn't figured it out yet. Whenever the class held a Spring Festival party, when the little beauty Liu Miaomiao, who had a piano proficiency level of ten, played the piano on the stage, and the boys in the class danced gracefully around the piano in black tuxedos, Lu Mingfei would sit in a forgotten corner with his chin on his hands, lost in reverie. He was thinking that maybe a helicopter would descend from the sky to pick him up. A group of men in black sunglasses would walk into the venue as cold as CIA agents in the movies and say in a steady voice, "Mr. Lu Mingfei, it's not time to watch the Spring Festival party. The organization is calling you. War is about to break out." Then they would dress him in a black military uniform and a long trench coat, unknown to all, and escort him away under everyone's watchful eyes. Outside the venue, a jet-black helicopter would roar, and its huge rotor blades would stir up a gale that seemed like a knife cutting into the face. At that time, whether it was the little beauty Liu Miaomiao or the dancing boys, they would all stop and stare blankly at Lu Mingfei's retreating figure.

Every year on his birthday, Lu Mingfei would think if a helicopter would come to pick him up, but from the age of fifteen to eighteen, he didn't even see a hair of a helicopter.

Lu Mingfei knew that these grand imaginations were just to kill time for himself, but he really had nothing remarkable about him. As "Lu Mingze's brother," he couldn't find any merits in himself to be proud of. For him, his future should be to attend an obscure university, date in university, get a job after graduation, rent an apartment, and maybe his parents would occasionally remind him to get married. Then he would get married, have a child, and go to work every day.

With this letter from the United States, his life, like still water, seemed to be about to change. But in this family meeting, he was just an outsider. He had shrunk into a corner of the sofa, placing his hands honestly on his knees, while the living room was echoing with the endless chatter of Uncle, Aunt, and Lu Mingze.

Lu Mingfei knew that Aunt and Lu Mingze were a little bit hit. If this letter was real, it would be an incredibly lucky break, the kind that would befall a person only once in ten years, and Lu Mingfei got it first. Next year, when Lu Mingze applied, he would be at a disadvantage. Lu Mingze was not happy first, and Aunt didn't like to see this listless child suddenly perk up. Uncle was actually a fairly easy-going guy. He probably would be willing to help Lu Mingfei get passports, visas, etc., as long as Lu Mingfei was willing to give that mobile phone to Uncle. Uncle had emphasized repeatedly that the mobile phone was no use in the United States, as it was a 2G machine customized by China Mobile. America was already on 3G.

He got up and left the living room. No one noticed that the protagonist had left. Uncle, Aunt, and Lu Mingze were still arguing about the authenticity of this admission notice.

Lu Mingfei returned to his own room, turned on that old laptop, connected to the Internet, signed in to QQ, and stared at the profile picture of the girl with a baseball cap. That profile picture was still gray, meaning she was either offline or invisible. In any case, there was no message. Lu Mingfei glanced at the wall clock. He had left a message 18 hours ago, asking Chen Wenwen if she wanted to participate in the Literary Society's activities tomorrow night.

Chen Wenwen didn't actually wear a baseball cap. She had long, soft, straight hair, was very pretty, and didn't need a baseball cap to cover up. Lu Mingfei met Chen Wenwen on the day he entered school. Chen Wenwen was sent by a Passat in a very low-key manner. She was wearing a white cotton skirt and a pair of white short socks with lace trim, and there was a Hello Kitty hair clip on her long hair.

The most eye-catching girl in Lu Mingfei's class should be "The Little Angel" Su Xiaoqiang. Su Xiaoqiang seemed to have been sent by a BMW 750i or a Mercedes-Benz S500 that day. The angles of her eyes and eyebrows were brimming with pride. After waving goodbye to her father, who ran a coal mine business, she became a student in the class and looked at the new male classmates with a scrutinizing gaze, expecting them to look at her with amazed eyes. But the boys were all looking sideways at Chen Wenwen, who was not as eye-catching as Su Xiaoqiang, because after Chen Wenwen completed her procedures, she was reading Duras' "The Lover" on the bench by the corridor. The sun shone on her white cotton skirt and skin, making everything seem transparent.

"The Little Angel" had been proud for fifteen years and had been defeated on the first day of high school by a little literary girl. She was full of indignation. Just at this moment, there was a tactless boy standing beside her, pointing at Chen Wenwen and saying to "The Little Angel," "That one is probably the prettiest girl in our new class." "The Little Angel," being so conceited about her looks and never having suffered such humiliation, stepped heavily on the boy's foot and turned around and walked away.

That boy was Lu Mingfei.

Actually, Lu Mingfei was a very straightforward person. He felt that Chen Wenwen was prettier than The Little Angel, so he said it. Who knew that he would become sworn enemies with The Little Angel for a whole three years. He said so with no evil intentions because at that time, the boys surrounding Chen Wenwen, there were no less than seven or eight of them, each stronger than him. Later these people formed a Literary Society. The core of this literary society was Chen Wenwen. There were weekly activities, reading some cold and sad European and American literary works and writing feeling papers to submit to the Chinese language teacher for correction. According to Lu Mingfei's uncle, the books they read were all the ones read by "middle-class white women." It was understandable why Lu Mingfei, such a scatterbrained guy, could be the council member of the Literary Society.

However, for Lu Mingfei, Chen Wenwen was the first female idol in his life, giving him the image of a good girl suitable for marriage, making him abandon the idea of finding a lively girl when he was only fifteen and feel that the greatest happiness in the world was to marry Chen Wenwen. Lu Mingfei felt a little bit of hope because it was Chen Wenwen who invited him to join the Literary Society. President Chen Wenwen had only invited two members. One was Lu Mingfei, and the other was Zhao Menghua, whom The Little Angel was determined to get. It was easy to describe Zhao Menghua. He was the one in school who was most likely to become "The Second Chu Zihang."

But this muddled Cassel Academy had sent the admission notice to Lu Mingfei.

Even with a scholarship of 36,000 US dollars, Lu Mingfei couldn't become "The Second Chu Zihang," because he didn't have that aura.

"Play a game?" A big-faced cat avatar popped up on QQ, with the name "Nuo Nuo." Lu Mingfei didn't remember when he had added this person, but he never turned down invitations as there were few people who would add him in the first place.

"Sure." Lu Mingfei replied casually.

Lu Mingfei was still using the red dot controls to operate. He was preoccupied, lazy, but just wanted to kill some time. Moreover, it seemed that this "Nuo Nuo" was a girl. The players who could really play well in his channel were mostly middle-aged uncle level figures who had kids.

But soon, Lu Mingfei found that this opponent was not only fierce but also cunning. In the instant he was distracted, the scouting worker ants he had sent out were eaten by the opponent with two dogs. Losing a worker ant was no big deal, but that delicate trap and precise operation made Lu Mingfei alert. He reinforced his defense at home and sent out six dogs to patrol nearby. This saved his life. The opponent's team of dogs during the invasion was immediately detected by him, and without a chance to sneak attack, the dog team had to retreat immediately.

Lu Mingfei broke out in a cold sweat and dared not be negligent anymore. He abandoned the red dot controls and connected the mouse.

The real battle had just begun. The main force unit of both sides was upgraded from dogs to Hydralisks, and both sides coincidentally used Mutalisks to launch a sneak attack during the Hydralisks' fierce assault. When the Queens appeared, the battle between both sides had become extremely intense. Lu Mingfei's hands on the keyboard were jumping like playing the piano. Both sides had four bases each, and the mixed units were locked in a fierce tug-of-war on the open space in the middle. Pools of plasma were spilled on the battlefield. Lu Mingfei had almost no time to think, switching rapidly among different operation interfaces. He knew that the opponent was also struggling. Both sides were operating micro-controls at a rate that was almost comparable to that of professional players.

This was the first time he had encountered such a strong opponent in a wild battle. He became competitive and decided to risk upgrading the main base to Level 3, dispatching the "Triple Threat" of Devourers, Guardians, and Mammoths. This was a fundamental strategic transformation. If the opponent hesitated a little and didn't attack while Lu Mingfei was spending resources on upgrading, Lu Mingfei would surely win.

The upgrade progress bar was slowly increasing. Lu Mingfei's heart was beating faster, and his palms were sweating. He bluffed by putting together a team of Hydralisks, a team of worker ants, and three lurkers outside. If the opponent believed that Lu Mingfei was stockpiling a large force and didn't dare to attack, then she had been deceived. Lu Mingfei only had so many troops and had spent all his resources on upgrading.

Almost there, the upgrade was about to be completed. The "Triple Threat" elite forces would advance air and ground together and could steadily devour the enemy's base one after another. Lu Mingfei felt the dawn of victory.

"You are upgrading to a Level 3 base." At this time, a line of text popped up at the bottom of the screen.

Lu Mingfei froze.

"You'd better back off. I have four teams of Hydralisks and four teams of dogs, all upgraded to Level 2 offensive and defensive." Nuo Nuo continued to type.

The progress bar was about to reach the end, but Lu Mingfei could only type "GG" (meaning goodgame, praising the opponent for doing well and admitting to losing.) to reply to Nuo Nuo. He had been found out. The opponent was sharing his vision while typing, and Lu Mingfei clearly saw outside the Level 3 base he was upgrading that, as Nuo Nuo said, an overwhelming force loomed and was ready to attack at any moment.

Lu Mingfei exited the game, returned to the QQ interface, and said to Nuo Nuo, "I admire you."

Nuo Nuo didn't respond and left an emoji of a grinning wolf with its mouth wide open and went offline.

For the first time in his life, Lu Mingfei felt as though someone had seen through him. It was as if it was the closest of friends, who had been separated for many years and had come back to him. He sat there in a daze for a while, clicked to view Nuo Nuo's profile, but it was blank. He searched his memory and was sure that he had never known such a great StarCraft II player, let alone a girl.

Suddenly, he panicked. He saw Chen Wenwen's avatar blinking, but it was gray, which meant Chen Wenwen had been online and then left.

"Go ahead and go. See you the day after tomorrow." This was Chen Wenwen's message to him.

He waited for about nineteen hours, but only saw these five words. But his earlier low mood seemed to evaporate, and he jumped onto the bed, whistled, and twisted his waist. His face was full of joy, and he had forgotten about the loss to Nuo Nuo.

When Lu Mingze walked into the bedroom they shared, he looked at his elder cousin up and down and said impatiently, "Mom and Dad said we'll call the people from the school tomorrow and see what happens."

Lu Mingfei instantaneously returned to the real world and remembered the troublesome matter of going abroad. He didn't want to talk to Lu Mingze and buried his head in the pillow, hearing Lu Mingze tapping away on the keyboard. Lu Mingfei felt a mischievous joy in his heart. He believed that when he logged in to the QQ account "Sunset Marks" tomorrow morning, he would see a moving long poem or a lyrical essay from Lu Mingze.