Lu Mingfei Development Program

Chapter 163: Lakeside Pavilion (4k)

There is a lake in a corner of southern Jiangsu. It is neither too big nor too small, and the scenery is pretty good. It is also one of the few scenic spots in southern Jiangsu. There are various snack stalls and shops on the commercial street by the lake. Various shouts and advertisements gather together, which is quite lively.

Following Chen Motong's address, Lucrecia walked curiously along the path by the lake, listening to the shouts from the other side of the lake and watching the boats making ripples on the lake. The handrails in the aisle were made of wood, carved with various flowers and plants, antique and fragrant, exuding the scent of new wood, as if they had been installed not long ago.

There is a pavilion at a distance on the walkway, also made of wood and covered with tiles. The path and the pavilion stretch for several kilometers along the lakeshore, adding a bit of the flavor of the Jiangnan water town to southern Jiangsu.

This small lake originally had no name, and after the scenic spot was built, it was solemnly named Nanhu. Originally, it was not very attractive, and most locals were too lazy to patronize it. But after a costume drama was filmed here, the local government realized that this might be an opportunity.

So the local government allocated funds to renovate the place and promoted it by taking advantage of the popularity of the TV series. It was not until the National Day holiday not long ago that it was opened to the public.

As for whether it is popular or not... Lucrecia looked at a quiet path and then at the busy snack street across the lake. It can only be said that the local government has chosen the wrong direction.

However, nothing is absolute. Although the attraction has not received much attention, it has become a good place for young people to have a tryst. Lucrecia has seen it more than once, young people huddled in the small wooden pavilion, whispering to each other, looking very intimate.

There was also a girl who released a river lantern by the river. There were words on the lantern. I don’t know whose name she wrote together with hers. But not long after the lantern was released, it was blown down by the wind. The girl sighed on the shore, probably sighing for the love that ended before it even started.

Lucrecia wore a long skirt, high-heeled shoes, and a simple coat today. She looked ordinary, not like a young lady from a big European family, but more like an ordinary girl who was out playing with her bestie.

But the word "average" doesn't quite fit her. Her delicate face with blonde hair and blue eyes, even with just ordinary clothes, still makes her the brightest flower in Nanhu tonight.

"Thank you, I'm not short of companions." Speaking standard Mandarin with a hint of Henan accent, Lucrecia rejected the boy who invited her in broken English.

Behind the boy, several boys of similar age booed. Then they pushed each other to let the next person come up to talk. Ignoring them, Lucrecia looked at the lake in surprise. Someone was paddling a small boat slowly towards her and invited her to board.

Lu Mingfei held Lucrezia's hand and helped her get on the boat. Then he used the oars to push the boat to the shore, and the black-sailed boat left the shore and returned to the lake. Lucrezia sat down under the awning, where there was a small table with some food and drinks on it.

She looked at Lu Mingfei, who was swinging a long pole left and right, with some curiosity and said, "Although I know that Nuonuo has always been eccentric and confusing, this time he really surprised me."

"I was also surprised. She caught me off guard." Lu Mingfei said truthfully. He was really shocked, especially when he knew that Chen Motong even helped him rent the boat.

"Can you row?" asked Lucrecia.

When she was walking by the lake, she had taken a special look and found that those rowing boats on the lake were all elderly people. Rowing boats seemed to be a skill that was not very useful. Except for the children of some fishermen, it seemed that few people deliberately learned it.

Lu Mingfei said: “…I was occasionally interested in it when I was a kid, and then I learned it.”

In fact, it was not occasional, nor was it out of interest, but Chu Tianjiao had a whim and brought them here to fish. This lake is adjacent to the Yangtze River, and fish often stray into it. Over time, a school of fish was formed, and it is still a good place loved by anglers.

There were fishing boats on the shore at that time, so Chu Tianjiao rented one and took him and Chu Yuyi into the lake to fish. At that time, Sister Chu cast a beautiful net and caught a group of startled fish. The fishermen who were accompanying them were amazed by the full harvest and corrected Lu Mingfei's clumsy pole-holding action.

Chu Yuyi cast the net and Lu Mingfei rowed the boat, this was Chu Tianjiao's arrangement at the time. He sat at the stern of the boat calmly, holding a fishing rod, not caring how the boat was shaken by Lu Mingfei, fishing for an artistic conception.

Along the way, Lu Mingfei learned how to row the boat by staggering, Chu Yuwei learned how to cast a net on the staggering boat, but Chu Tianjiao... he caught nothing.

Later, the fisherman stopped fishing and rented boats instead. Half of the boats on the lake were his, and he made a lot of money in the past few days of vacation. When he saw that it was Lu Mingfei who came to pick up the boat, he was happy and asked Lu Mingfei if he wanted to row it himself.

After that, Chu Tianjiao brought them here several times, and then he found a quiet place to cast his rod, letting Lu Mingfei and Chu Yuyi do it themselves... Of course, he still caught nothing in the end. Lu Mingfei also rowed on this lake more than once, and he was quite confident in his fishing boss.

Lu Mingfei chose to go on his own, and the fisherman's boss prepared food and drinks for him, which was a treatment that ordinary guests did not have.

"Really? Actually, I can row a boat, and it's also my hobby." Lucrecia looked at Lu Mingfei's surprised eyes and said with a smile, "I learned it from the locals when I went to Venice."

Lu Mingfei felt a little surprised, but it seemed to be the way it should be. When Lucrecia put on the aura of a young lady, the maids in lace white dresses, led by Patsy, stood behind her with sharp eyes. Even the ancient European archduchesses probably didn't have such aura.

When she was approachable, the old scavengers passing by might even chat with her. Lu Mingfei thought that if he really invited Lucrecia to eat the braised large intestines on the street, she might really agree, and then nod with satisfaction after taking a bite...

Lucrecia opened the lid of the clay pot on the small table. There were a few pieces of burning charcoal under the pot, fixed in the small table by a special tray to prevent sparks from flying when the ship was shaking. Thanks to this, the food on the small table was still hot.

The soup in the clay pot was the one that had been simmering since before Lu Mingfei brought the boat. The fisherman brought it in and gave it to him.

Lucrecia took the small bowl beside her, scooped up a mouthful, and immediately hummed with satisfaction. As an Italian, she has the same foodie spirit as the Chinese.

The fish used to make the fish soup is naturally local fish from the lake, and the seasoning is made by the surrounding fishermen themselves, which is not available in restaurants outside. Lucrecia also tried other snacks, each with its own taste, and then she did not hesitate to praise it.

"Well, it's hard to describe the feeling, but I just feel very comfortable." Lucrecia said with satisfaction. She also presented Lu Mingfei with a bowl of fish soup and put it aside for it to cool down. Lu Mingfei was a little embarrassed by her praise. Although Chen Motong rented the boat on his own initiative, the food was indeed added by the fisherman boss for his sake!
"Do you want to release river lanterns?" Lu Mingfei pointed to the two small lanterns under the bench under the awning. These were not prepared by the fishing boss. There were one or two on each small boat, which was considered a standard service.

Lucrecia took out two river lanterns, looked at them curiously and said, "We have some here too. I was just trying to see where I could buy them."

The river lanterns were placed under the seats, so she didn't see them the first time she came up. The reason why she was wandering on the path along the shore was because she saw some girls releasing river lanterns, and she wanted to try it on a whim, but she couldn't find a place to buy them.

"You have to go across the street to buy this." Lu Mingfei said.

"I see, I went the wrong way." Lucrecia said, fiddling with the river lantern and asking, "How do I use this?"

Lu Mingfei stopped the boat in the lake, walked into the awning and said, "Write your wish on the river lantern, light the lantern and put it into the lake. The farther the river lantern floats, the greater the chance that the wish will be seen by the gods and the greater the chance that it will come true."

"Okay, I see." Lucrecia found a pen and a lighter under the seat again. She left one for Lu Mingfei and picked up the other to start writing and drawing.

Lu Mingfei took the river lantern and hesitated for a moment while holding the pen. He was not interested in such activities. After all, most of the people who played with the river lanterns were girls, and the wishes they wrote were nothing more than "so and so likes me".

However, seeing how serious Lucrecia was, Lu Mingfei couldn't refuse. He picked up the pen and wrote a few big words, "Don't step into the trap!" He also poked a hole in the river lantern because he used too much force.

He glanced at Lucrecia and found that her expression was extremely serious and her writing movements were extremely careful. The sun gradually set in the west, and the afterglow cast on her smooth face, like the goddess of dawn in the Pantheon.

Lu Mingfei suddenly became curious. According to Chen Motong, Lucrezia was born with the key to the Bank of Rome in her mouth. What wish did she have that required such caution? Seeing how serious she was, Lu Mingfei did not remind her... The native gods of China probably couldn't understand Italian.

Soon, Lucrecia also wrote her wish. She and Lu Mingfei lit the river lantern together, gently put it into the water, and watched the small river lantern with the wish drifting on the lake.

Suddenly, Lu Mingfei's face turned dark, because the river lantern he had just put into the lake shook twice and then sank neatly.

The quality of the river lanterns is not bad. They are made of waterproof paper. After all, it is just for good luck. If customers are happy, they will buy more. Naturally, the merchants will not dare to be careless. Even if the river lanterns are blown by the wind or overturned by the waves, they will not sink as soon as they are put into the water!
Lu Mingfei thought about it and felt that it was the hole he had just poked that caused the trouble. To put it simply, he had dug his own grave...

"What a pity..." Lucrecia expressed her sincere regret to Lu Mingfei, although she also wanted to say that she had dug her own grave.

Lu Mingfei did not answer, because the plan of pretending to be dead popped up again, "I am very sorry that the hero's wish was not successfully delivered. A limited-time task is issued to provide Lucrecia with an unforgettable date. After completion, 50 reward points will be issued."

Lu Mingfei gritted his teeth secretly. Here it comes again. This crappy plan looks like a task that gives out bonus points. The traffic war task that was triggered on Su Xiaoqiang before was inexplicably completed after he tickled Su Enxi for a while.

That was fine, but the task of listening to troubles that was triggered when Lucrecia had lunch was also completed inexplicably! The inexplicable gift of this broken plan gave him a feeling that there must be supplies before the war, which was quite bad anyway!
"The temporary word spirit, show me the flowers, can be used. Please decide when to use it."

Flowers? Flowers? Lu Mingfei almost spit out a mouthful of water. Does that mean he is going to have a problem with flowers today?

Unlike Lu Mingfei's river lantern that sank in a second, Lucrecia's river lantern was steady and floated farther and farther away. Lucrecia stared at the river lantern intently, with a little nervousness on her face, fearing that it would sink accidentally.

Suddenly, an inexplicable wind blew, and ripples appeared on the lake. Not only Lucrecia, but even Lu Mingfei became anxious. Fortunately, the river lantern just shook and then stabilized.

Lucrecia breathed a sigh of relief, but Lu Mingfei became nervous because the lake surface was covered with mist. Lu Mingfei sniffed and found no smell of Deadpool, it seemed to be just ordinary mist.

The river lanterns floated into the fog, drifting farther and farther away, until even the last trace of light disappeared.

Looking at the river lanterns disappearing into the water, Lucrecia said with a look of disbelief on her face: "My wish... has it been fulfilled?"

"Yes, it has been conveyed." Lu Mingfei also felt a little incredible, as if an invisible hand was pushing Lucrecia's river lantern further and further away. Well, that hand also pressed down his river lantern at the same time.

Lu Mingfei looked at Lucrecia curiously: "What wish did you write?"

Although the two look similar, he can understand English, so he didn't retreat from Italian.

"A wish won't come true if you say it out loud." Lucrecia winked at Lu Mingfei, then returned to the awning with him.

A light drizzle began to fall from the sky, and the raindrops hitting the awning made a strangely comforting sound. Lu Mingfei and Lucrecia huddled in the awning, eating and watching the unmanned boat drifting aimlessly on the lake.

As night fell, the raindrops gradually decreased, but the small awning made people feel warm both physically and mentally because of the fish soup. At some point, the inexplicable rain stopped, and Lu Mingfei looked out and found that they had floated to the center of the lake, and there was a small pavilion there.

(End of this chapter)