r18novel Chapter 46 Banquet Invitation—"The Feast at Hongmen"
Chapter 46 Banquet Invitation—"The Feast at Hongmen"
Inside the Golden Curtain: The Future World, Kassel College, Dormitory Room 303, Zone 1
October 4th, 11:47 PM.
Outside the window, the autumn night at Kassel College unfolds, the sycamore leaves rustling in the night breeze, and the distant clock tower chiming its deep hour. Only a single lamp is lit in the dormitory, its dim yellow light dividing the room into fragments of light and shadow.
Lu Mingfei sat at his desk, staring at the laptop screen, his finger hovering over the touchpad, hesitant to tap.
Two unread emails are displayed side by side on the screen.
The email on the left, sent by "Gattuso·K", has the subject "Student Council Dinner Invitation". The body of the email is concise and formal, typical of the Caesar style:
To: Mr. Ricardo M. Lu
From: Caesar Gattuso, Student Council President
Subject: Student Union Dinner Invitation
Time: 10 PM, October 5th
Location: Amber Pavilion Main Banquet Hall
Dress Code: Formal
Note: All members of the Student Union will be attending. We look forward to your presence.
The email on the right, sent by "RedWitch," has only a simple "?" in the subject line. Clicking on it reveals an even simpler message:
Tomorrow night at 7 PM, Amber House.
Wear decent clothes.
—Nono
Two emails arrived three minutes apart.
Lu Mingfei stared at the two emails, feeling his heart pounding wildly in his chest. A student council dinner? An invitation to him? And it was an email personally sent by Caesar?
This looks like a trap.
"Hey, look who got an invitation!"
Fingel's voice came from behind, with his usual cheeky tone. He had somehow gotten close, a lollipop dangling from his mouth, a cup of instant noodles in his hand, his eyes glued to two emails on the screen, clicking his tongue in disapproval.
"The student council dinner, huh? It's one of Kassel's biggest annual events." Fingel slurped up a mouthful of noodles. "Last year, we spent two hundred thousand dollars on drinks alone. The foie gras was flown in from France, the caviar was from the Caspian Sea, and even the waiters were a professional team hired from Switzerland."
Lu Mingfei felt a chill run down his spine.
Two hundred thousand US dollars? Foie gras? Caviar? Professional waiters?
What does this have to do with him? He's not even very good at holding a knife and fork.
"And look," Fingel pointed at the screen with his chopsticks, "Caesar personally invited you, and the entire student council is attending—this is clearly a show of force. Think about it, you're a freshman, an S-class student, you even took down the student council president with a single shot on Freedom Day, and now you're going to date his ex-girlfriend..."
He paused, then winked and said, "What else could this be but a trap?"
Lu Mingfei's face turned even paler.
Of course he knew this was a trap. He knew it the moment he saw the email. Who was Caesar Gattuso? The student council president, the heir to the Gattuso family, a man as proud as the sun. How could someone like that, whom he had publicly "killed" on Freedom Day and whose girlfriend had been "stolen" by him—though strictly speaking, not stolen, as Nono had chosen her herself—why would she genuinely invite him to dinner?
They definitely wanted to humiliate him in front of everyone.
Make him look foolish.
Let him know that even if you are an S-rank, even if you win a day of freedom, even if Nono chooses you, in this academy you are still nothing.
Lu Mingfei's fingers curled up.
He wanted to refuse.
I want to say, "I'm sorry, I haven't fully recovered yet," or "I have other plans for that night," or "Thank you for the invitation, but I can't go."
He was used to retreating, used to escaping, used to hiding himself before he could get hurt.
This has been the only way I've protected myself for the past eighteen years.
"But speaking of which," Fingel suddenly changed the subject, put the instant noodle bowl on the table, patted Lu Mingfei on the shoulder, "Junior brother, this is a good opportunity."
Lu Mingfei looked up blankly: "What good opportunity?"
"What a great opportunity to make money!" Fingel's eyes lit up. "Just think about it, the student council banquet, that's where all the college's elites gather. If you go, dress shabbily, act cowardly, and get publicly humiliated by Caesar—what great news material! 'S-Class Freshman Slaughtered by Student Council!' 'The Gray Prince at the Feast!' 'Nono's New and Old Flames Clash!'"
He got more and more excited as he spoke: "Any one of these titles, if posted on the forum, would get over 100,000 views! Then the commission, tips, exclusive interview fees... wow, that'd be enough for us to live well for a year!"
Lu Mingfei's face darkened: "Senior brother, you..."
"Just kidding, just kidding," Fingel chuckled, but immediately became serious. "But seriously, junior brother, you should go."
"Why?" Lu Mingfei asked, puzzled. "Knowing it would be humiliating, why would you still go?"
"Because Nono also wants you to go." Fingel pointed to the second email. "She told you to dress decently, which means she'll be going and hopes you'll go too."
Lu Mingfei remained silent.
Yes, Nuonuo also let him go.
Although it was just a simple sentence, "Tomorrow night at seven o'clock, Amber House," and she didn't even give a reason, she still... let him go.
This is enough.
"Moreover," Fingel leaned closer and lowered his voice, "junior brother, you know that in Kassel, some things are unavoidable. Caesar can treat you to dinner and humiliate you today, but tomorrow he can 'accidentally' seriously injure you on the training field, and the day after tomorrow he can have the entire student council ostracize you. You can run away one day, but you can't run away the next."
He paused, his tone unusually serious:
"Some battles you must fight. Some humiliations you must endure. Only by enduring them can you truly gain a foothold in this academy. Otherwise, you will always be that loser who is ridiculed, ostracized, and looked down upon—even if you are an S-rank."
Lu Mingfei stared at him blankly.
Fingel usually seemed carefree and only interested in making money, rarely saying anything so serious. But at this moment, his eyes were so earnest that Lu Mingfei had no choice but to take his words to heart.
Yes.
He can't hide forever.
In the Bronze City, he chose not to hide, but to face the Dragon Servant and to detonate the Rhine—although he almost died, he survived and won.