174: Chapter 174 A casually pulled out invitation, and the whole family went crazy.

After coming out of the study, Wang Peng and Lu Yaoguang were both still floating. To be precise—their feet were on the floor, but their souls were in mid-air.

The two exchanged a glance, both reading the same meaning in each other's eyes.

We can't be the only two who know about this.

The next second, Wang Peng had already taken out his phone.

Lu Yaoguang lowered her voice to remind him, "Don't take a picture of the whole thing."

"I know, I know, I'm not stupid."

"Do you have few enough moments of stupidity?"

"..."

Wang Peng's mouth twitched, but his hands moved niftily. With two quick clicks, he took photos of the invitation cover and a portion of the inside pages.

The angle was very precise—it allowed the family to understand what it was, without revealing all the information.

For a twelve-year-old primary school student, he was surprisingly proficient at intelligence work.

Three seconds later.

A picture was tossed directly into the family group chat.

The group name was, as always, full of middle-aged and elderly aesthetic vibes—[Run, Dear Relatives].

Immediately after, Wang Peng typed a line of text.

[Wang Peng]: Family, I found this in Brother's room.

The moment the message was sent, the group went quiet for two seconds.

That kind of quiet was the silence of everyone simultaneously clicking on the image, zooming in, and having their pupils shake in shock.

Then, it exploded.

[Second Aunt]: ???

[Third Uncle-in-law]: What is this?

[Mother Lu]: Xiao Peng, what kind of picture did you send?

[Little Aunt]: Wait a moment, let me zoom in and take a look... This wouldn't be...

[Father Lu]: Wang Peng, don't joke around with this kind of thing.

[Wang Peng]: I'm not joking! Really! I just found it in Brother's drawer!

[Lu Yaoguang]: Confirmed, it's real.

Once this sentence appeared, messages in the group began to pile up at a rate of three per second.

[Second Aunt]: My God!!!

[Third Uncle-in-law]: Is it really a military parade invitation?!

[Little Aunt]: When did Lu Li receive this? How come there wasn't even a whisper of news?

[Mother Lu]: Lu Li! Come out and explain!

[Father Lu]: Did the country send this to you?

[Wang Peng]: Yes! Brother just admitted it himself!

[Wang Peng]: He said "Oh, military parade invitation"! With the same tone as saying "Oh, the takeout is here"!

[Little Aunt]: ...

[Second Aunt]: ...

[Third Uncle-in-law]: This child is speaking more and more frighteningly now.

In the living room, Lu Li had just sat down when his phone started vibrating crazily.

One ring after another.

It vibrated as if someone were using a power drill to bore a hole in the coffee table.

He looked down at the screen, and his eyelid twitched.

Family group chat, 99+.

Missed calls, three.

Two were from Mother Lu, one was from Father Lu.

He looked up at Wang Peng and Lu Yaoguang sitting opposite him.

"Did you two send it?"

Wang Peng immediately looked up at the ceiling.

Lu Yaoguang pushed the Apple plate toward him without changing her expression.

"Brother, have some grapes."

Lu Li: "..."

He knew it.

These two, one is responsible for lighting the fire, the other is responsible for handing over the lighter.

The next second, the phone rang again.

Caller ID: Mom.

Lu Li sighed and pressed answer.

On the other end of the phone, there was first a sharp intake of breath, clearly filled with excitement, and then came Mother Lu's rapid-fire questions.

"When did you receive it?"

"Why didn't you tell the family?"

"Is this an official invitation?"

"Are you going to Jingzhou or somewhere else when the time comes?"

"What are you wearing? Did anyone notify you about the procedure?"

"Don't you dare show up looking all lazy; you can't mess around at an occasion like that!"

Lu Li held the phone a bit further away, waited for her to finish in one breath, and then gave a hum.

"Received it a couple of days ago."

"It's official."

"Someone is handling the procedure."

"I won't be wearing slippers."

There was a moment of silence on the other end.

Immediately after, Mother Lu's voice shot up by half an octave.

"You were actually thinking of wearing slippers?!"

Lu Li: "..."

He shouldn't have added that last sentence.

Beside him, Wang Peng couldn't help it and "puffed" out a laugh, but the moment he started, he was given a faint glance by Lu Li.

That glance had no murderous intent, but Wang Peng's laughter got stuck in his throat, and he didn't even dare to open his mouth.

On the other side, Father Lu took over the phone.

His tone was heavier than usual, as if trying hard to maintain the steadiness a father should have.

But that irrepressible excitement was still seeping out bit by bit from between the words.

"When going to such an occasion, your manners must be on point."

"When you see leaders or elders, speak as you should."

"Don't find it troublesome."

"And your clothes, prepare them in advance; if they don't fit, get new ones made."

"Tidy up your hair as well."

"You can be as casual as you want usually, but this time you cannot."

Lu Li leaned back in the sofa, listening and responding.

"Got it."

"Mm."

"Alright."

"I won't."

"I also won't sleep at the venue."

On the other end, Father Lu paused.

"...You had better really not."

The corners of Lu Li's mouth curled slightly.

He suddenly noticed something.

Usually, when Father Lu called, he never said so much at once.

He would hang up after three or five sentences; he found even one extra word to be too wordy.

Today, on this call, he had spoken for nearly two minutes.

And every sentence was an instruction.

Clothes, hair, manners, way of speaking.

Every single detail, so trivial that it didn't seem like things a taciturn middle-aged man would worry about.

But he said them anyway.

Sentence by sentence, earnestly and seriously.

Lu Li held the phone, not answering, just listening.

In his past life, he spent his days immersed in the laboratory; he wouldn't necessarily answer when the phone rang, and occasionally when he did, he would hang up after just a few words.

He always felt there was plenty of time.

He always thought that after finishing this project, after conquering this topic, after achieving this breakthrough—he would go home and visit.

As it turned out, he never lived to see the day he finished "waiting."

So in this life, he listened very carefully to every extra word his father said on the phone.

It wasn't because the content was so important.

It was because being able to hear these words in itself was already something he had gained.

When the call finally ended, Lu Li breathed a sigh of relief.

But before he could put the phone down, a new round of messages surged up in the group chat.

[Second Aunt]: I said it, this child Lu Li has been extraordinary since he was small!

[Little Aunt]: Our family's ancestral grave must be emitting green smoke!

[Third Uncle-in-law]: More than just green smoke, this must be emitting golden light directly.

[Wang Peng]: My brother is no longer an ordinary entrepreneur now.

[Wang Peng]: This is state-certified awesome.

[Wang Peng]: It's simply even better than me getting the Invincible mount in World of Warcraft.

[Lu Yaoguang]: Your grasp of culture isn't high, but your summary is decent.

[Mother Lu]: Lu Li, don't just look at the group and laugh; really prepare your clothes in advance.

[Mother Lu]: Also, pay attention to your manners.

[Mother Lu]: Don't be lazy when the time comes.

[Father Lu]: Correct.

Lu Li watched the messages scrolling rapidly on the screen, his thumb hovering in the dialog box for two seconds.

He typed a line, then deleted it.

In the end, he only sent two sentences.

[Lu Li]: Got it.

[Lu Li]: I won't embarrass our family.

Once the message went out, the group was filled with "Good, good, good," "So promising," and "What an achievement."

Second Aunt sent a string of applause emojis.

Little Aunt forwarded a "My child is amazing" GIF, even though the "child" in that GIF was clearly a three-year-old.

Third Uncle-in-law even dug out a photo of Lu Li from his childhood, with the caption "Could tell from a young age he was material for doing big things."

In the photo, Lu Li was about five or six years old, wearing a white shirt that was clearly two sizes too big, standing under a crooked tree, his expression blank, his eyes hollow, looking as if he had been forced to stand there for the photo.

It had nothing to do with "doing big things."

But everyone in the group was earnestly agreeing.

It was incredibly lively.

Wang Peng sat beside him, watching the group messages, his eyes shining.

"Brother."

"Your status in the family group is no longer just that of a cousin."

"Then what is it?"

"A totem."

Lu Li turned his head to look at him.

The words that this damn fatty occasionally popped out with were so funny that one couldn't even refute them.