Chapter 54: The Prisoner Lu Mingfei

"Liu Miaomiao, what would you like to eat? Choose whatever you want, Su Xiaoqiang is treating!"

Hearing this, Su Xiaoqiang froze, taking a good few seconds to process what had just happened.

"Damn it! Why am I the one treating?" Su Xiaoqiang spun around and glared at Lu Mingfei.

The female clerk was also stunned. How could this guy freeload with such absolute confidence and righteousness?

It wasn't that Su Xiaoqiang couldn't afford a hundred or so yuan. The issue was: you're trying to win over a girl, you're trying to flirt, and you want *me* to foot the bill? Where are your manners?

"Isn't it because I'm broke?" Lu Mingfei spread his hands.

"Hah, what a justified excuse you have. Since you don't have enough money, why did you pull... drag us in here?"

Remembering how she had been held by the hand by Lu Mingfei just moments ago, Su Xiaoqiang felt a guilty flutter and subconsciously reached back to touch her wrist.

"Then how about you lend me a few hundred, and I'll pay you back later?"

"Heh, not lending you a dime." Su Xiaoqiang crossed her arms over her chest.

"Fine." Lu Mingfei put on a helpless expression, turned to look at Liu Miaomiao, and asked, "Liu Miaomiao, Su Xiaoqiang refuses to treat. How about you treat us instead?"

Liu Miaomiao bit her lip, her face flushed red. She was still lost in her own riddle, pondering why on earth she had let Lu Mingfei hold her hand. Seeing Lu Mingfei turn back to look at her without even registering what he had just said, she nodded in a daze and answered, "Okay."

She then reached out to unzip her little Prada handbag.

Seeing this, Qiao Yiran hurriedly reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Miaomiao, are you running a fever? Why are you just agreeing to whatever Lu Mingfei says?" Qiao Yiran muttered under her breath.

"I mean, it's just treating everyone to some dessert..."

Watching Liu Miaomiao obediently agree like a docile little wife, anger surged within Su Xiaoqiang's chest. She thought to herself that this girl looked pretty, clever, and dressed with such natural elegance, yet she turned out to be the ultimate hopeless romantic, foolishly saying yes to anything Lu Mingfei suggested.

With a fierce stamp of her foot, Su Xiaoqiang waved her slender arm.

"Forget it, I'll pay for it myself. Just pick whatever you want." Su Xiaoqiang shot Lu Mingfei a fierce glare before turning to Liu Miaomiao and saying with supreme loyalty, "Don't worry about it."

"Wouldn't it be a waste of your money?"

"And wouldn't it be a waste of yours?" Su Xiaoqiang waved her hand dismissively. "You don't need to be polite with me, just pick whatever you like."

It was only a little over a hundred yuan; she could easily afford it. But she simply couldn't stand watching Lu Mingfei bully such an obedient, pretty girl like this.

If she got the chance, she really needed to knock some sense into this girl.

While romances between poor boys and wealthy girls were classic tropes, sister, you cannot just let a man push you around like this!

Su Xiaoqiang had already made up her mind to rescue Liu Miaomiao from the depths of misery. At the very least, she had to pull her back from the edge!

She wondered what kind of love potion Lu Mingfei had fed Liu Miaomiao to make her obey him so completely, Su Xiaoqiang mused inwardly.

***

After the group finished choosing their desserts, they sat down at a small table inside the shop. Lu Mingfei and Su Xiaoqiang sat on one side, with Liu Miaomiao sitting opposite Lu Mingfei, and Qiao Yiran seated beside Liu Miaomiao.

The female clerk heated up the pastries that required reheating and served them uniformly to Lu Mingfei and his group.

Liu Miaomiao had chosen tiramisu—the exact same one Lu Mingfei had used to feed Su Xiaoqiang earlier.

Su Xiaoqiang had originally wanted the tiramisu as well, since she had quite liked its taste during the free tasting earlier.

However, seeing that Liu Miaomiao had chosen tiramisu, and recalling the scene of Lu Mingfei feeding her earlier, she opted for a plate of Margaret biscuits instead to avoid any awkward suspicions.

Qiao Yiran chose a red velvet cake, while Lu Mingfei picked a sea salt croissant. The total came out to 112 yuan.

In the early 2000s, 112 yuan was considered a quite substantial expense.

After all, steamed dumplings at a regular diner only cost 1.5 yuan a basket back then. Spending 112 yuan on just a few random pastries for four people demonstrated how expensive the place truly was.

Because the dessert shop wasn't very large, the tables provided were on the lower side, and the stools were only slightly taller than small benches.

All the girls were over 1.6 meters tall. Aside from Qiao Yiran, who wore jeans, both Su Xiaoqiang and Liu Miaomiao wore skirts that hit right at the knee, revealing their pretty, well-proportioned calves.

Once they sat down, because the stools were so low, they had no place to tuck their legs and were forced to stretch out their fair, slender legs, leaving them extended horizontally.

"Don't you dare look!" Su Xiaoqiang, sitting beside Lu Mingfei, issued a fierce warning.

Liu Miaomiao, sitting across from them, didn't say anything, but she kept tugging desperately at the hem of her skirt in a frantic attempt to cover her thighs.

"Who even wants to look?" Lu Mingfei grumbled, though he couldn't resist sneaking a couple of glances in Su Xiaoqiang's direction anyway.

The Little Heavenly Queen truly lived up to her name. While Liu Miaomiao matched Su Xiaoqiang feature-for-feature when it came to their faces, Su Xiaoqiang's mixed-heritage advantages became entirely undeniable when comparing their figures.

Though both were around 1.6 meters tall, Su Xiaoqiang's legs were slender and straight, with a youthful pinkish flush faintly visible beneath her fair skin.

Liu Miaomiao's calves were also thin, but further up near the tops of her thighs, they began to curve into a fuller, fleshier shape with a touch of softness.

It was hard to say whose legs were definitively better-looking, though. Wasn't there a saying: "When thighs pinch the flesh, even the gods can't save you"?

Sensing Lu Mingfei's gaze, Liu Miaomiao hesitated for a moment before taking off the sky-blue cardigan she had draped over her shoulders and laying it across her lap.

Su Xiaoqiang and Qiao Yiran simultaneously cast looks of utter disdain at Lu Mingfei.

After this small interlude, the group fell silent and began eating their desserts in quiet isolation.

After all, at this point in time, none of them really knew each other well, and the sole common denominator between Liu Miaomiao and Su Xiaoqiang was Lu Mingfei.

"Ahem!"

Seeing that everyone remained silent, Qiao Yiran took the initiative to break the ice.

"Su Xiaoqiang... That is your name, right?"

"Yeah." Su Xiaoqiang nodded.

"May I ask what kind of relationship you have with Lu Mingfei?"

Acting like a tennis player executing a tactical shot, Qiao Yiran directly lobbed an outside-spin serve at Su Xiaoqiang on behalf of her best friend!

Su Xiaoqiang hadn't expected Qiao Yiran to ask so directly. Her eyes instinctively flicked toward Liu Miaomiao, only to find that Liu Miaomiao was also staring right at her with unbearable nervousness.

Did this girl really like Lu Mingfei this much?

Su Xiaoqiang shifted her legs into a crossed posture, placed her hands on her lap, and answered truthfully:

"Lu Mingfei and I are just ordinary friends, I suppose? No, strictly speaking, we should probably be considered internet friends?"

"Internet friends?"

"You know, friends from the internet, we met playing StarCraft together," Lu Mingfei quickly chimed in to explain.

"Really?" Qiao Yiran looked suspicious, then suddenly turned to Liu Miaomiao. "Lu Mingfei's birthday was a few days ago. When you went on a date with him to deliver his cake, did he feed you?"

Lu Mingfei's birthday was a few days ago?

Catching this crucial piece of information, Su Xiaoqiang glanced at Lu Mingfei sitting right beside her.

"What are you even talking about!" Liu Miaomiao blushed with embarrassment and anger, lightly hitting Qiao Yiran's shoulder. "It wasn't a date at all, I just brought him a small cake."

"Fine, fine, even if it wasn't a date, did he feed you cake back then or not?"

Liu Miaomiao lowered her almond-shaped eyes. "Mingfei and I are just ordinary classmates, why would he do something like that..."

"See? Even Miaomiao has never been fed cake by Lu Mingfei. Would ordinary internet friends feed each other cake?"

Su Xiaoqiang glared at Lu Mingfei irritably. "Then you'll have to blame this boundary-less guy here. He suddenly thrust a piece of cake right up to my mouth and asked if I wanted it. What was I supposed to do?"

"I just saw that the dessert shop had free samples, and I wanted to let you taste a piece too..."

Lu Mingfei tried to offer a righteous defense, but suddenly noticed all three girls staring fixedly at him with identical gazes. His bravado instantly evaporated, and he mumbled, "Fine, my fault."

Mainly because Liu Miaomiao's gaze was far too pure, making Lu Mingfei feel a twinge of guilt whenever he met her eyes.

Lu Mingfei suddenly recalled something his good friend Hachiman Hikigaya from Japan had once said: To unite a group of people, what you need is not a wise leader, but a common enemy.

Have I somehow been relegated to an outsider?

"Ahem, ahem." Qiao Yiran cleared her throat. "The truth is now crystal clear. It's entirely Lu Mingfei's fault that the rest of us ended up with misunderstandings. Therefore, this court will now deliver its sentence upon the chief culprit, Lu Mingfei."

A wave of ominous foreboding suddenly washed over Lu Mingfei. "What do you want to do?"

Qiao Yiran flashed a mischievous smile. "This court sentences you: you must also feed Miaomiao a bite of cake."