Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei finds a Freylian

My aunt took a few sips of champagne, her face flushed red, and she uttered humble words, but in her heart she believed she was shining brightly in the candlelight.

My uncle is an extremely dignified person, and the current occasion is one that he finds very dignified.

When he hosted a banquet for Director Chen's family in such a place, he immediately felt that the long-standing rank difference between him and Director Chen was being diluted inch by inch by glass of Burgundy red wine, and he even vaguely felt that he was superior to Director Chen.

My uncle's family of three and Director Chen's family of three were all dressed to the nines for the banquet. My uncle brought his proud aristocratic three-piece suit—a Dupont heavy-duty lighter, an iPhone 4S phone, and a Longines watch, and his suit was so well-ironed that there wasn't a single wrinkle. My aunt also wore those high-heeled sandals that she had spent a long time gritting her teeth to buy at the duty-free shop at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport.

But when their group arrived at the white building, they were all stunned by the restaurant's grandeur. Everything was so orderly, unlike in Chinese restaurants where someone shouts to call for waitresses. Brass carts carrying wine and desserts moved silently between round tables covered with white tablecloths. The waiters, dressed in black tailcoats, quietly introduced the rural stories of the origin of each cheese. Their crisp, thick white shirts seemed to be even more proud than the most expensive V-neck wrinkle-free shirt in their uncle's wardrobe.

What made my uncle feel that this meal was absolutely worth the money was that there was even a Frenchman with a high nose and deep-set eyes among the waiters.

When the waiter confirmed that "Mr. Lu's reserved seat for tonight has been prepared," the uncle breathed a huge sigh of relief.

He was terrified that his family would be embarrassed in front of outsiders by the unseen whispers of his wife.

The waiter led them to a table by the window in the second-floor hall, where candlesticks and crystal glasses cast a soft glow on the mahogany table.

However, instead of following the usual practice in Chinese restaurants to have them order from a long, incomprehensible menu, he handed each of them a very simple, special menu for the day, explaining that the executive chef had already prepared a "chef's menu" for them, and they only needed to check if there were any dishes they couldn't eat. This saved my uncle from a huge embarrassment, because he not only didn't understand French at all, but his English was also quite poor. If he had been asked to order from those leather-bound menus with handwritten French names, it would have been absolutely impossible for him.

Even the pre-dinner champagne and several side wines were arranged in advance. My uncle couldn't understand the ancient letters wrapped in cursive script on the labels, but when he tasted them, he felt that they were all authentic flavors that had traveled across the ocean. Every sip was like sipping 16th-century court etiquette. Although they were just wines provided by the restaurant, they were in no way inferior to his own treasured 15-year-old Moutai.

The fragrance of clothes and the shadows of hair, the warm glow of candlelight.

Director Chen was initially a bit reserved, his shoulders stiff, but after a few drinks he relaxed and toasted his uncle like long-lost brothers. Mrs. Chen and her aunt also developed a sisterly intimacy, chatting about Jiajia's childhood piano lessons and occasionally glancing at their children out of the corner of their eyes.

Even Jiajia, who is usually quiet, finally turned her head and, in a voice only she and Lu Mingze could hear, curiously guessed what ingredients were used in the mousse on the plate that could leave such a wonderful fragrance on the lips and teeth.

The aunt watched with delight, feeling increasingly pleased that her son and future daughter-in-law were a perfect match. As the wine on the table grew stronger, she began to tell Mrs. Chen about the many hardships of life in America, saying that it was heartbreaking for parents to send their child there all alone, without any support. She said that it would be so reassuring if the child had a companion to look after each other.

Mrs. Chen sighed in agreement, saying that Jiajia had always been honest since she was a child. She would be at ease if she could find a reliable boyfriend in America, but she was afraid that Jiajia was too naive and would be deceived.

Madam Chen was not unaware of her aunt's scheming, but her attitude towards Lu Mingze was at most one of non-decisive dissatisfaction. She was always worried that if she gave in, it would be difficult to break off the engagement later.

But tonight, sitting in the Parisian chef's turf, she was thoroughly taken aback by the lavish hospitality her aunt and uncle had shown at the restaurant, finally clearly feeling the underlying power of their wealth. Turning to look at the slightly overweight, bespectacled young man sitting next to her daughter, she found him much more agreeable.

Auntie was about to succeed at the last step, and the final piece of the puzzle she had been rehearsing in her mind was almost done. Just then, a waiter led a man and two women over, and they stopped politely behind Uncle, tentatively speaking.

"Are you all with this Mr. Lu? Mr. Lu claims that you are taking his seats."

Everyone was stunned. Uncle's wine glass, which had been hanging in mid-air, stopped next to the candlestick, and Aunt's smile froze as if it had been frozen.

Lu Mingze looked up from beside Jiajia, wanting to see which clueless guy had come to ruin his candlelight dinner tonight. Then he saw Lu Mingfei, dressed in a sharp suit, with two stunning girls standing beside him, trying his best to suppress his temper.

Chapter 816 Lu Mingfei, a Dragon Among Men

Lu Mingfei stood by the dining table, looking at the six neatly arranged faces in front of him.

The uncle's fork was still hanging in mid-air, the aunt's smile hadn't faded yet, Lu Mingze stared at him with his mouth agape, and Jiajia curiously looked at the two strange girls beside him.

The scene was so absurd that Lu Mingfei mentally went through all the stupid things he had ever done in his life and ranked them, finding that tonight's events probably made it into the top three.

But he had no other choice. Caesar had paid a high price for this meal, and he had to convince Erii to go to America with him tonight. He couldn't possibly take Erii and Frilian to eat oden on the street.

“This Mr. Lu is my uncle,” Lu Mingfei pointed to his uncle, trying to appear as if he wasn’t undermining him in public, “Although I reserved this seat. But since we all share the same surname, how about we share a table? This meal is on me.”

The uncle's expression went through a series of rapid changes in a short period of time, from confusion to shock to embarrassment, finally settling on a forced, somewhat guilty smile.

Before he could even reply, "Great, great, what a coincidence!", the waiter had already professionally taken over Lu Mingfei's words, bowed slightly, and said, "No problem at all. We will immediately adjust your seating and serve the three new guests according to tonight's chef's special menu."

Within two minutes, three well-trained waiters silently brought in three walnut chairs and matching tableware, and everything was rearranged neatly at the end of the large French table, as if the table had always been prepared for nine people.

Lu Mingfei sat in the newly added seat, with Frilian to his left and Erii to his right.

After Erii sat down, she quietly placed her hands on her knees and sat upright for a while.

Twelve slender white candles were lit on the table, placed in silver three-headed candlesticks, their light refracting into tiny, iridescent rings on the rim of the crystal glasses.

Erii stared at the halos of light for a long while, then noticed the plates with their silver rims drawn with extremely fine lines. The plates were placed on gilded stands, and as the tray was gently turned, the entire visual angle slowly changed with the stand. She was like a cat being released from a sealed wooden box for the first time, her ruby-like eyes sparkling in the candlelight, but her body never left the chair.

Frillian sat silently to Lu Mingfei's left. She wore a dark gray, one-shoulder dress, and her long silver hair cascaded down her back, shimmering like a pale moon in the candlelight.

She showed no curiosity about anything in this Michelin three-star restaurant. After sitting down, she simply picked up the crystal glass that the waiter had just poured for her, glanced at it in the candlelight, and then took a small sip.

Lu Mingfei wasn't sure what she was drinking at first, but after glancing at her, he realized that the waiter had poured her a glass of ice water.

He started chatting with the other people at the table.

Chatting with uncles and aunts is an art, but fortunately he doesn't need to try to please anyone today; he just needs to be polite.

The family I could really chat with was Jiajia's family.

Director Chen was quite curious about the two foreign girls next to Lu Mingfei, and politely asked him in English with a Chinese accent if they were friends he had met in the United States.

Lu Mingfei simply went along with him and gave a brief introduction.

He said this person was named Frillie, a student of the college's vice-chancellor, who worked in ancient literature and linguistics. She was usually quiet and reserved, but her knowledge was so vast that it was awe-inspiring.

When Jiajia's mother heard this, her eyes lit up, and she asked if Jiajia was an academic. Lu Mingfei nodded and said that she was, and that Jiajia had a deep understanding of classical Chinese and could read the original version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Although Director Chen didn't fully understand what "ancient literature" and "linguistics" meant, he immediately became interested when he heard about "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". He discussed with Lu Mingfei across the table the topic of where Cao Cao lost the Battle of Red Cliffs. The two had a very congenial conversation.

Lu Mingfei then introduced Erii, saying that her name was Uesugi Erii, and that she was an office worker from the localization appraisal institute. He had brought her to Tokyo specifically for this purpose.

While he was speaking, Erii lowered her head and wrote diligently in her notebook.

The waiter had just served her a foie gras mousse as an appetizer, and after she finished eating it, she wanted to write down the taste of the dish in her notebook.

She handed the notebook to Lu Mingfei, on which was written "very delicious" in neat, rounded handwriting.

This natural movement made Jiajia's mother take a few more glances at her, and then she asked softly, "Can't she speak?"

Lu Mingfei nodded and naturally added, "Yes, but she understands everything, she just communicates by writing."

A layer of undisguised pity immediately surfaced in Jiajia's mother's eyes. Every mother would feel a pang of heartache when looking at other people's well-behaved and sensible but flawed beautiful girls.

Jiajia herself was also secretly observing the two girls.

She sat next to Lu Mingze, wearing a light pink dress tonight, her hair tucked behind her ears with pearl hair clips, looking delicate and quiet.

She felt she had dressed up very carefully today, but when she saw Erii's almost transparent face in the candlelight and Frilian's eyes as calm as an ancient well, she suddenly felt that all her carefully prepared makeup was like children playing house.

This was certainly not something the two girls did intentionally. Erii was intently studying whether a cherry decorated on a tray was edible, while Frilian rarely took her eyes off her plate from beginning to end.

But Jiajia's heart sank for some reason.

The sensitivity to appearance among girls is an intuition ingrained in their bones; they can make accurate judgments without anyone saying a word.

She silently admitted to herself that these two girls far surpassed her in appearance.

The aunt sat at the other end of the long table, holding a champagne glass in her hand, staring silently at Lu Mingfei across from her.

The unease in her heart was like a soup simmering over a low flame, bubbling and bubbling ever since Lu Mingfei appeared at the table.

What do you mean? What do you mean I reserved the table? You're clearly here to sabotage us!

She had finally managed to push the situation to the brink at this table. Mrs. Chen had begun to soften her stance, and Jiajia had started to chat with Lu Mingze. In another half hour, she would finally break through that barrier.

Then Lu Mingfei suddenly appeared out of nowhere with two incredibly beautiful girls. After sitting down, he chatted and laughed, talking about the Three Kingdoms with Director Chen, discussing academics with Mrs. Chen, and exchanging flirtatious glances with Jiajia, drawing everyone's attention to his half of the table.

The aunt felt like a balloon that had been painstakingly blown up for three hours, which had suddenly been punctured with a needle. The air that had been held back for half her life was now leaking out at a speed ten times faster than when she had poured it in.

Looking at her son, she glanced at Lu Mingze and almost crushed the champagne glass in her hand.

That brat Lu Mingze was actually staring at the girl Lu Mingfei brought.

He stared at the girl named Erii with such intense longing that he almost stared straight ahead. He was so engrossed in her that he didn't dare to look for too long, yet he couldn't help but sneak another glance.

Chapter 817 Family Dinner?

As soon as the elevator doors slid open a crack, Yuan Zhisheng squeezed out to the side. The hem of his black trench coat was caught in the gap in the door, but he tore it off without looking back.

Yaksha and Crow followed closely behind, their three pairs of combat boots making a series of rapid footsteps on the concrete floor of the Genji Heavy Industries underground parking lot.

Sakura had already descended the stairs to the car and was now sitting in the driver's seat of the red Ferrari 599 GTB. The engine was already running, and the V12 naturally aspirated engine roared deafeningly in the concrete space. Two beams of xenon headlights firmly locked onto the ramp leading to the parking lot exit.

"Who provided the clue?" Yuan Zhisheng asked as he pulled open the car door, sat in the passenger seat, and fastened his seatbelt.

“The manager of Chateau Joel Robuchon, Ayumi Higashijo.” Sakura shifted gears, the Ferrari's rear wheels spun half a circle in place before it shot off like an arrow. “It’s the restaurant where you used to often take Ms. Erii to dinner. Tonight, a customer named Lu has made a reservation there for a family dinner of eight. The person who brought Ms. Erii there is a Chinese man in his early twenties. Mr. Higashijo said he looks like a college student, wearing a suit, and he was accompanied by another silver-haired girl.”

She quickly glanced at the back seat in the rearview mirror. Yaksha and Crow were still in the Hummer and hadn't caught up, but she wasn't going to wait any longer.

"Although Ms. Erii specifically instructed Mr. Toujou not to call you, he was worried that she might be kidnapped, so he secretly contacted Yasha. He is currently at the restaurant keeping those people occupied."

“Lu Mingfei?” Yuan Zhisheng asked.

"The photos haven't arrived yet. But for a Chinese man surnamed Lu to be in Tokyo at this time, and with Miss Erii, the possibility that it's not Lu Mingfei is extremely slim." There was no seat for Sakura in the passenger seat, so she used the car's hands-free system to play the crow's voice into the car.

"Then what about the remaining six people? What does 'family gathering' mean?" Yuan Zhisheng frowned.

"Perhaps Lu Mingfei has some relatives in Tokyo? Could he arrange for Miss Erii to formally meet the man's parents?" When asked this question, Crow had no idea what to do and could only give a vague answer.

"Is this really necessary?" Yuan Zhisheng turned his head and stared at the car's intercom, his gaze so cold it seemed it could pierce through the plastic panel and burn a hole in the crow on the other side.

The crow in the Hummer far behind shrank its neck, inwardly groaning.

The manager of Dongcheng had emphasized several times on the phone that Miss Erii and that Chinese man surnamed Lu looked like they were deeply in love tonight. Whenever the girl couldn't understand the menu or figure out which fork to use, she would go over to look at the words the young man wrote in his notepad.

I didn't report this passage specifically because it wasn't directly related to the search task itself, and I wouldn't dare tell you, sir, that your sister is being fluttered around by an exotic butterfly after a long day of meetings, just as you're about to relax with a glass of whiskey.

Crow and Yaksha stared at each other through the mute buttons on their intercoms, their weathered faces pressed together, silently confirming the judgment they had held in their hearts for so long: Genjiro's anxiety for Erii had long surpassed the boundaries of any mission. Throughout history, when had the head of the clan ever personally led a team to track down his runaway sister, just to stop any outsiders from taking her away?

Genji glanced at the Hummer's truck headlights in the rearview mirror, then looked away.

He had already hung the knife up before jumping into the Ferrari.

He knew perfectly well what Yasha and the crow were gossiping about in private. He and Erii were not blood-related siblings; he only called her "sister" within the family according to seniority and title.

And he was the only living person Erii had ever trusted since she was a child.

To outsiders, the two were a perfect match in terms of identity, status, and appearance. If one day the Snake Clan were to issue a marriage certificate and force them to enter into a marriage contract, it would be the most logical political marriage in the entire Kanto underworld. They might even be able to produce more pure offspring, further purifying the imperial bloodline.

But Yuan Zhisheng knew better than anyone else that the family would never allow Erii to fall in love with anyone.

She was not a princess to be married off; she was an extremely evil ghost, deeply corrupted by dragon blood and destined from the fetal stage to never grow into a normal human being. She was more unstable and more dangerous than any born ghost.

Every time she had a physical exam, the blood samples taken and centrifuged didn't just contain blood, but also a large amount of dragon protein and hormones that shouldn't have been in her serum.

All her descendants should be put to death the moment they are born.

Yuan Zhisheng was furious simply because those three lunatics at Kassel College had actually resorted to such a despicable tactic as using a handsome man to seduce someone.

They infiltrated the Genji Heavy Industries not to steal intelligence or assassinate anyone, but to kidnap the head of the Uesugi family.

The guy named Lu Mingfei was currently wearing the formal attire that Caesar had arranged for him, sitting under the candlelight looking quite respectable as he offered her Lafite.