Lu Mingfei, why are you slaying dragons if you're not involved!

Chapter 108 Math LV2! (3.4K)

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Lu Mingfei wisely changed the subject—if you can't win, you have to change sides!

"Zero, I remember you said this morning that there were two books that would be more suitable for me to learn advanced mathematics... are 'Mathematical Analysis' and 'A Course in Calculus'?"

"Yes."

Zero turned and walked towards the stairs. "I put it on your desk in your room. You can throw away 'Advanced Mathematics'. There's no need to keep reading it."

"Oh……"

Lu Mingfei stepped forward, intending to follow him up the stairs.

He paused slightly, thinking that when he opened the door and turned on the lights, he would see Liu Miaomiao across the window.

Liu Miaomiao should recognize him, but with such a big change, shouldn't it be better to explain?
Even if you're only a dozen meters away, and you risk disturbing the peace by shouting across the street, not to mention the possibility of another vegetable farmer coming to your door to slaughter your pig, there's also the risk of being electrocuted if you spend too much time explaining...

Lu Mingfei suddenly slapped his forehead. He realized—what era is this?

The information age!
So he took out his phone and logged into QQ for the first time in seven days.

A barrage of messages flashed by, mostly from friends added in the StarCraft game group, probably wondering why "StarCraft: Eternal King" hadn't been online for so long.
Don't even think about it, your king is never coming back...

Lu Mingfei walked slowly while quickly skimming the surface, his fingers flying across the keyboard... Suddenly, his hand stopped.

When did Chen Wenwen send me the message?

He blinked, glanced at the message, and saw it was from six days ago, and it was a vague and unrelated message... so he decided to ignore it.

Finally, he turned to Liu Miaomiao.

……

Liu Miaomiao took a deep breath, her fingertips unconsciously twisting the edge of the manuscript paper, crumpling the smooth corner of the paper slightly, and then gently smoothing it out.

"it does not matter."

Even when she was just thinking about it, her voice was still so soft it sounded like she was soothing a frightened fawn.

"It's not a big deal."

She sat in that expensive Herman Miller Aeron chair, holding the piano score she had revised repeatedly until it was finally quite finalized, her gaze unfocused on the paper.

"Thinking about it carefully, although Ling was in his room at night, they didn't talk much... Lu Mingfei was engrossed in studying the whole time."

Zero was just sitting next to him… well, only a tiny bit closer than me, and for almost two hours.

At the edge of the draft paper, she quietly gestured with her fingertip to indicate the "tiny" distance, as if that would convince herself.

"During the day in the classroom, I sit in front of Zero, and Zero sits next to me... the distance between us is practically the same!"

This thought made her feel a little relieved.

"Moreover, if we're really going to go by that, Su Xiaoqiang is the one who lives the furthest away from him and sees him the least frequently. Although she got a key to Lu Mingfei's house, it's impossible for her to actually move in..."

Thinking that she wasn't the one at the bottom, she even felt a little smug.

Thoughts drift lightly towards tomorrow, like petals carried by the wind.

"Tomorrow is the day we'll have our piano lesson together."

She looked down at the sheet music in her arms, her fingertips gently tracing the notes.

"I've already finished a third of my piece. I'll just say I'm short on time and ask him to join in so we can test the ensemble effect first..."

Just imagining that scene—two people, a boy and a girl, sitting side by side on the piano bench, their fingertips dancing together on the black and white keys, the notes intertwining…

Her cheeks suddenly flushed, as if dyed by the sunset.

Liu Miaomiao hurriedly buried her face even lower, and the sheet music was raised so close that it was almost touching her, as if this could hide the unruly blush.

Perhaps because she has been so engrossed in composing music lately, her musical talent, which Aunt Shanshan described as "world-class," has been further activated. She can almost picture the corresponding scene just by hearing the music.

Furthermore, her imagination has become increasingly vivid. With just a thought, she can see the scene she wants appear, complete with background music, just like watching a movie.

Just then, a beam of warm yellow light suddenly shone, leaping across the front yard, skipping the street, and climbing up her windowsill. Finally, it gently landed on her lowered eyelashes.

Liu Miaomiao's heart skipped a beat as the light came on.

She knew it from the corner of her eye, from that familiar angle, through that familiar floor-to-ceiling window.

Lu Mingfei is back.

She was holding a manuscript in her hands... What a perfect excuse! When someone is immersed in creating, their thoughts wander, and it's perfectly normal for them to fidget a little, right?
So, pretending to be unconscious, she tapped the ground very, very lightly with the tip of her foot, which was clad in soft indoor socks.

The bearings of the expensive ergonomic chair beneath me were so smooth that it immediately and silently began to slowly rotate with an elegant languor.

That's good, that's "natural".

She held her breath, and casually raised her gaze a little bit higher, then a little bit more, until it finally crossed the top edge of the manuscript and looked at the lit window opposite.

She had to appear "indifferent," to seem very "confident," and not at all bothered whether Zero would be in his room with him...

But the next second, her breathing stopped.

Lu Mingfei.

Under the light, the person walking into the room with a phone in one hand was indeed Lu Mingfei.

Even from a distance, even though it looked like a completely different person, she recognized him at a glance.

How could the Imperial Green, which I've pondered for so long, be unfamiliar?
The long, messy hairstyle of the past, which was almost like the "Shamate" style that was popular on the streets last year, has disappeared. Under the refreshing short hair, her face is revealed without any concealment.

Like a beautiful jade that has been wrapped in rough stone skin for too long, the skin has finally been completely peeled off, revealing a warm and translucent interior that makes it impossible to look away once you see it.

How can it be...so beautiful?
She stared blankly, and then the smooth bearings of the seat beneath her became a flaw again—even though she had touched it very lightly, the seat was still slowly continuing to rotate.

As my gaze slowly shifted, it was about to disappear from sight. The feeling was like the impending loss, and my heart leaped into my throat.

Liu Miaomiao realized what was happening and, as if burned, abruptly put her foot down, which had been dangling and not touching the ground.

In her haste, she grabbed the handrail to steady herself. Then she froze, staring blankly at Lu Mingfei walking toward the window across from her.

Lu Mingfei walked all the way to the window.

Of course, he saw the blank expression on the girl's face, as if she had seen an alien. The vanity that he hadn't been able to satisfy before was now doubled, swelling up so much that it almost floated out the window.

"That's right! That's a normal reaction!"

It felt like a little voice inside him was laughing hysterically with its hands on its hips.

This is not to say that Zero's reaction was bad, but that kind of seemingly "plain" but actually unexpected "direct attack" tactic... if it happened a few more times, Lu Mingfei felt that his young heart would probably retire prematurely.

Liu Miaomiao's reaction was the most acceptable!
He grinned, pressed the button, and sent the message he had prepared beforehand. Then he waved his phone vigorously at Liu Miaomiao, poked it to show her, and sat down just before the electric shock warning. He opened the book "Mathematical Analysis" that Ling had placed on his desk long ago.

Liu Miaomiao snapped out of her daze, her heart still pounding. She almost fumbled to her backpack and pulled out her phone.

The screen lit up; it was a QQ message from Lu Mingfei.

A photograph, and a line of text.

The photo was clearly a selfie taken on the stairs of his house—Lu Mingfei was making faces at the camera, his usual cheeky expression now looking rather quirky, and he even made a peace sign.

The text below reads: Save this now! I got a haircut, and I'm afraid it's all a dream. If I ever go back to my old look, remember to show me this photo so I can be handsome once!!!

"Pfft~"

Liu Miaomiao couldn't help but laugh out loud, and the dazedness and slight unfamiliarity she felt earlier vanished without a trace.

These words, which are both cheeky and cowardly, are probably only something he could say.

After the laughter subsided, the room fell silent.

That was the lingering melancholy that gradually rose in my heart after the tide of joy receded.

Liu Miaomiao knew that Lu Mingfei was outstanding. She knew it from the very first day he played the piano.

At that time, he was like an inconspicuous stone carelessly discarded by the roadside. A crack in his skin faintly revealed the color of imperial green.

The gap grew larger over time, attracting Liu Miaomiao to secretly pick it up, hold it in her palm, and try to hide it away.

But before it could even be warmed up, it was seen by others. One after another... Su Xiaoqiang, Ling, both were dazzling figures.

The enemy was too powerful; she didn't even have the strength to struggle.

It seemed the stone was truly about to be taken away. The only thing she could grasp and cling to, and the only thing she could hope for, was the thin string in her hand that connected the two, a string called "four-handed piano playing."

This thread was given to her by her strategist, Aunt Shanshan, who told her it would definitely work.

Liu Miaomiao really believed it; she had no choice but to believe it, as she had no other options.

However, now the stone skin has completely peeled off.

That's no ordinary imperial green.
It is clearly the long-lost Imperial Seal, which is said to have been carved from the He Shi Bi jade and symbolizes the Mandate of Heaven!

By the mandate of Heaven, may your life be long and prosperous... He who obtains it will gain the world!
Holding a thin thread, trying to pull back such a "treasure" that is destined to stir up storms and be coveted by countless people?
For the first time, the girl was forced to confront this cold, hard question so clearly.

"real……"

She tried to force a smile, but found it incredibly difficult, and it ultimately turned into a bitter and powerless curve.

"Will it work?"

……

"Mathematical Analysis is truly extraordinary!"

Not long after he opened it, Lu Mingfei realized that Zero's evaluation was exceptionally accurate.

"If the difficulty of 'Advanced Mathematics' is around 60 to 70... then the difficulty of 'Mathematical Analysis' is at least 100, or even higher!"

Having only self-studied most of "Advanced Mathematics," he is now reading "Mathematical Analysis"... The contrast between the two is, in Lu Mingfei's view, simply too obvious.

The former is basically easy to understand and learn. This is because most of the knowledge is introduced along with high school mathematics, starting directly with functions and limits.

But the latter? It begins by devoting considerable space to rigorously establishing the completeness of the real number system! The least-limit principle, nested intervals…

Lu Mingfei had never heard of these words before.

He could sense that a whole new world was being unveiled to him... it was real mathematics!

Although what he sees now is probably not even a drop in the ocean, at most a small section of foundation at an unknown depth in an endless abyss...

But he couldn't help getting excited.

Difficult is good, because difficulty means more skill points will be gained!
He quickly became immersed in it—"flow mode" activated!

[Through hard work, your [mathematics] skills have improved, and you have gained 10 proficiency points.]

【go through……】

at last.

Just before the [sleep] plan was about to begin—

Congratulations! Through your hard work, your [Mathematics] level has increased to LV2.

You have obtained the term "Spatial Configuration"!

[Entry: Spatial Configuration]
Effect: Within ten seconds, your ability to perceive and visualize space within a ten-meter radius is greatly enhanced.

This entry will consume a lot of energy, please use it with caution.

(End of this chapter)