[Chapter 063] Lu YunFei: I haven’t even flaunted yet, wait for your turn

    Du Xin never expected for her father to call her back to say, “Isn’t your current seat quite good? Don’t make things difficult for your teacher. Furthermore, why must you switch your seats? Do you like someone?!”

    “Of course not,” Du Xin denied.

    “That’s that then. I’m hanging up, I’ve got something on,” Du Xin’s father said and ended the call.

    Du Xin was incensed, but could only vent about Li Li to her girl friends.

    Since Li Li didn’t manage to change her seat, she decided to approach Bian JinYuan to help her solve a question, “Student Bian, could you help me with this question please?”

    Bian JinYuan responded as usual to such situations without lifting his head: “I don’t have time”.

    Du Xin’s tone was gentle, “It won’t take much of your time, please take a look.”

    Saying this, she pushed the test paper next to him, but Bian JinYuan didn’t even give it a look.

    Du Xin felt a bit awkward. Seeing this, Lu YunFei asked helpfully, “What question? Let me take a look, I can help you.”

    Du Xin looked at him with barely a hint of disdain, but her tone carried an obvious contempt, “English reading. Are you capable?”

    Lu YunFei didn’t expect his kindness to be repaid with scorn, and so he couldn’t be bothered to interact with her further and replied courteously, “I’m not, you had better figure it out yourself.”

    Du Xin thought about the discussion posts that she had read, and saw the slight aversion in his eyes. She looked away to try to coax Bian JinYuan, only to see that Bian JinYuan had turned to Lu YunFei, “Have you finished your Mathematics paper?”

    “I have.”

    “Compare answers with me.”

    Lu YunFei rummaged through his stack of books and retrieved the paper to compare their answers.

    Du Xin said discontentedly, “Bian JinYuan, why don’t you explain this question to me before comparing answers.”

    Bian JinYuan turned back to glance at her and said indifferently, “Why are you still here, don’t you know that you’re being a hindrance?”

    The girl sitting in front of Bian JinYuan heard his words and almost laughed out loud. She shook her head slightly, thinking that Du Xin was too foolish. Everyone in class one knew that only Lu YunFei was able to influence Bian JinYuan. Now that she had ridiculed Lu YunFei, she had gone and cut off her path.

    Du Xin choked at Bian JinYuan’s words and didn’t know what to say in the moment. At this time, the bell rang for class, and so she could only pick her paper up to go back to her seat in a huff.

    After Bian JinYuan and Lu YunFei were done comparing answers, he circled two improper workings in the paper, “You should know now why you always get one or two marks deducted here.”

    Lu YunFei sighed, “I can’t help it, I sometimes summarise things while writing. I’ll look out for it next time.”

    “Then remember to,” Bian JinYuan emphasized.

    It was a Tuesday, so Bian JinYuan didn’t have to tutor Lu YunFei, but he had to work at Liu Mo’s shop. As he came out after changing into his work uniform, he noticed Du Xin eating cake at a windowside table nearby. Bian JinYuan’s brows creased slightly as he started his work at the cashier.

    Du Xin watched him as she ate her cake. Truth be told, she wasn’t totally infaturated with Bian JinYuan. It was just that Bian JinYuan was considered to be a popular person in school. He was handsome and had good grades, plus he was this year’s school grass. This sort of person was naturally optimum to be her boyfriend.

    She ate as she waited for Bian JinYuan to end work. At past 8pm, Bian JinYuan and the other staff cleaned up the cake shop and changed out of their uniforms. It was then when Du Xin came up to him.

    “I’ll send you home,” she stopped in front of him.

    Bian JinYuan couldn’t be bothered with her, and silently headed towards the bus stop.

    Du Xin walked beside him as she said gently, “Don’t be so aloof. Didn’t your small aunt teach you to interact with others courteously?”

    Bian JinYuan heard the words “small aunt” and halted his steps. Normally, people would mention “your parents”, and not “your small aunt”.

    Du Xin turned to her side slightly, her skirt fluttering like a flower blossom, her words clear, “I know about your situation, everything about you. Your family situation isn’t too good, you don’t know who your father is, and your mother passed on early. You followed your small aunt and her husband, but unfortunately, he passed away too, and even spent all of your fortune before he died. And so you and your small aunt can only live at a 500 yuan per month house. Am I right?”

    Bian JinYuan looked at her with a cold, piercing stare, “What’s your objective?”

    “I simply want you to become my boyfriend,” Du Xin tilted her head as she smiled and said, “I’m the school flower, while you’re the school grass. Aren’t we a pair? Don’t worry, you’ll be treated well as my boyfriend if you’re willing to treat me well. I can give you money so that you won’t have to work part-time after school. I could also proide a better place for you and your small aunt to stay in. As long as I’m happy, I could even give you a house. Lu YunFei didn’t provide any of those did he.”

    Bian JinYuan scoffed and turned to leave.

    Du Xin chased after him, “Isn’t this beneficial for you? You don’t have to contribute anything, and you even get to earn some money. You should cherish this opportunity.”

    Bian JinYuan didn’t respond. He walked to the bus stop and swiped his card as he boarded the bus.

    Du Xin didn’t follow him. She shouted from outside, “I’ll let you think about it tonight. Don’t ignore the good intentions of others.”

    Bian JinYuan sat at the end of the bus and closed his eyes as he rested.

    Du Xin gritted her teeth as she watched the bus get further away, scoffing angrily, “He thinks too highly of himself, rejecting such a good opportunity.”

    She headed towards her personal driver’s car, opened the door and got in.

    The next day at school, Du Xin searched for Bian JinYuan once more. Bian JinYuan continued to ignore her, causing Du Xin to vent angrily to her friends for a long while.

    The cleaning duties in class was based on a roster, and today was Lu YunFei and Bian JinYuan’s group. One of them was to sweep the floor, while the other mopped. Lu YunFei was sweeping the floor when he heard the girl cleaning the window call his name.

    “What’s up?” Lu YunFei asked.

    “Help me to clean the top please,” the girl said, “it’s too high up, I can’t reach.”

    Lu YunFei walked over and took the cloth from her hands. He intended to rinse it, but found that the water in the tub was slightly murky, so he carried the tub outside to change the water.

    When Bian JinYuan mopped to where Du Xin sat, she used her foot to stop the mop.

    Bian JinYuan looked up at her, and she asked, “What’s your answer.”

    Bian JinYuan looked at her, and his thin lips parted, “Scram.”

    Saying this, he pulled hard at the mop.

    Du Xin was infuriated by him telling her to “scram” and rebuked, “You shouldn’t reject my goodwill!”

    The students who were on cleaning duty were startled by her shout and looked at them.

    Bian JinYuan couldn’t be bothered with her nonsense and continued to mop the floor.

    Du Xin felt the stares from everyone and suddenly felt put on the spot. She tried to save face, “Forget it, why should I bother to argue with you. You’re merely a mouse that is charming on the outside, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re still living in the stinky sewers. Go ahead and pull, you’re nothing outside of this school.”

    Bian JinYuan looked up blandly and taunted, “What does that make you then? Using money to chase after a mouse like me without hesitation, are you a maggot hiding in the dark? Perhaps an underground slug?”

    Du Xin had never been mocked like this in her life. She was so incensed that she rose her hand at Bian JinYuan, who caught it and swung it aside.

    Du Xin furiously took her cup of water from her desk to splash it at Bian JinYuan. He dodged it, but couldn’t avoid being splashed on his shoulder. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Du Xin.

    “Du Xin.”

    As Bian JinYuan prepared to retaliate, a sudden sound interrupted.

    Du Xin instinctively looked back. In the next second, a tub of water was poured onto her. The chilling water pierced into her bones as it wet her from head to toe.

    Lu YunFei cast the tub aside and clapped his hands. Under the shocked gazes of everyone, he walked to Du Xin and who was still frozen in shock and said frostily, “Don’t throw your little princess tantrum in class one. I haven’t even flaunted yet, wait for your turn.”

    It was then that Du Xin woke from her stupor, her lips quivering as she stared at him, “You… you…” She pointed at Lu YunFei, “I won’t forgive you.”

    “Great, I don’t need it,” Lu YunFei laughed lightly.

    He then cast his eyes from Du Xin to Bian JinYuan who looked surprised at his actions. He walked around Du Xin to go over and was about to speak when Bian JinYuan suddenly pulled him into his chest.

    Lu YunFei didn’t understand what was happening until he turned to see Bian JinYuan gripping Du Xin’s arm.

    Bian JinYuan looked at Du Xin unwaveringly. However, Du Xin knew just how much her arm was hurting.

    “Let go,” she said, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

    Bian JinYuan continued to grab onto her arm, the strength in his grip increasing, “Stop making sneak attacks.”

    Saying this, he then released his grip on Du Xin’s arm. Tears swam in Du Xin’s eyes as she thought about her embarassing situation. Lu YunFei and Bian JinYuan were bullies. She packed her bag and ran out of the classroom.

    Lu YunFei looked at Bian JinYuan’s wet shoulder and asked, “Are you cold?”

    “It’s nothing,” Bian JinYuan said softly, “More importantly, now that you’ve poured an entire tub of water out, what are you going to clean the windows with.”

    Lu YunFei exclaimed with an “Ah”, and said helplessly, “I’ll have to get the water again.”

    “Go,” Bian JinYuan said.

    Relieved that he hadn’t seemed affected by Du Xin, Lu YunFei went to pick up the tub in order to fill it with water again. The rest of the people observed that the drama had ended and continued busying themselves, exclaiming inwardly: How exciting.

    After Lu YunFei and Bian JinYuan were done with their cleaning duty, they left the school and climbed into uncle Li’s car. Lu YunFei touched his shoulder, “It’s still damp.”

    “It’s okay,” Bian JinYuan said, “I don’t feel it anymore.”

    “Get a change of clothes when we get home later,” Lu YunFei said, “it just so happens that I bought too many clothes which were too large for me during the 11.11 sale. I couldn’t be bothered to return them, so they’re just decorating my wardrobe.”

    “We’ll see.”

    Lu YunFei heard his reply and thought, it wasn’t a rejection. He could take it that it was a silent consent.

    When they arrived home, Lu YunFei ran up to the second floor without taking off his bag. He quickly uncovered a heap of clothes ranging from sweaters, coats, jeans, and even a few pairs of shoes.

    “Try these on, see which you like?” Lu YunFei said, “I bought these on impulse, but they’ve been neglected ever since.”

    He even picked out a few items to hold against Bian JinYuan’s body, “Try this, quickly.”

    Bian JinYuan wanted to refuse, but soon Lu YunFei reached out to help him undress, scaring Bian JinYuan into taking a step back hurriedly, “I can do it myself.”

Unrelated to this chapter, but I just wanted to gush that I recently started translating using OmegaT, a free open source Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) tool that has given me such peace of mind! My process hasn’t really changed much, and in fact there are some extra steps that I have to take now because I’ve got to go through the final text one more time to make formatting styles such as italicising, hyperlinking to notes etc, BUT the reason why I’ll continue to stick with it is because of its ability to compile a glossary for this series and the fuzzy matches that it remembers from past chapters. I imagine that his would come in useful when it comes to translating the wacky usernames of the discussion threads. Before, I’d have to scour through my translated chapters to search for what I had translated those usernames as, which was so. time. consuming.

There are also options to install plugins such as a dictionary and machine translation in OmegaT too, but I couldn’t figure out how to install those to test them out. In any case, my current setup is sufficient for my needs! Here’s a screenshot of my translation using OmegaT for this chapter. I was going through my second pass, which is why everything’s already in English – the top part before my active line had been proofread, while the bottom part was my first pass where I usually translate literally without regard to word structure:

There’s a little bit of a learning curve and I took about a week to read up on tutorials and troubleshoot my way into being more comfortable with it, but overall I think that a CAT is very worth your time if anyone is interested in making your own translations in any language!