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[Chapter 026] Bian JinYuan: Come find me
The English spelling took up 20 minutes of morning reading. The rest of the 10 minutes were used to read aloud English.
Lu YunFei took the chance to carefully read the grammar that Bian JinYuan had helped to compile for him, and realised that Bian JinYuan must have spent a good portion of consideration on it. Each grammar structure had various definitions and even came with examples. There were even notations as to which ones usually appeared in tests.
Lu YunFei thought about how he had stayed up till late for him just to compile these grammar for him, his heart softened.
“I’ll treat you to a meal,” he said softly while everyone else was reading aloud.
Bian JinYuan wasn’t reading aloud. Instead, he was working on extra-curricular English papers. Hearing that, he glanced at Lu YunFei and said, “No need.”
“Don’t be this way, it won’t take up too much of your time, just
”
Lu YunFei was stuck at ‘just’. Now matter how he went about it, since Bian JinYuan had to go to his part-time work in the afternoon and night, how was he going to treat him? And it’s under circumstances where he didn’t take up too much time?
Bian JinYuan saw his pensive look and asked interestedly, “Just what?”
Lu YunFei heard this and immediately hit the table with his palm — of course, he hit it softly, “Just treating you to breakfast! Coincidentally it’s my turn to bring breakfast to Li YuanQing and co, so I’ll bring your share too.”
“No need,” Bian JinYuan rejected, “I eat at home.”
“Don’t, you should sleep more. I’ll bring your share, that’s settled.”
Bian JinYuan had not agreed to this.
However Lu YunFei didn’t care about whether he agreed or not, in any case he was bound to find a way for Bian JinYuan to agree eventually. What he was more curious about was, “What is your part-time work in the afternoon? Where is it? Do you still get to eat lunch?”
Bian JinYuan didn’t answer him, and once again continued working on his paper.
Lu YunFei moved closer to him, “How about I bring you lunch?”
Bian JinYuan turned to look at him, “Classmate, it’s time to memorise grammar.”
Lu YunFei had to give up for now.
However once it was almost time for the school afternoon break, he asked again, “Are you really not telling me? If you’re not careful it might just be the same as National Day when I discovered your workplace.”
“Then you can try that,” Bian JinYuan said indifferently.
“What if I really catch you?”
Bian JinYuan raised his head. At that moment, the bell rang. Seeing the teacher leave, he also stood up and said in a low voice, “Then I’ll treat you to milk tea.”
Saying that, Bian JinYuan made to leave. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to instruct Lu YunFei, “Don’t follow me.”
Lu YunFei cupped his chin as he replied, “Don’t look down on me, I don’t have to tail you, after all we’re fated.”
Bian JinYuan raised his brows, “Then I’ll look forward to our encounter~”
Lu YunFei pouted as he watched him leave. He didn’t believe that with his intellect, that he wouldn’t be able to find out just where Bian JinYuan works in the afternoons!
During lunch that day, Lu YunFei told his two best friends his goal for the week.
“Within a week, we’ll need to find out where Bian JinYuan has been working part-time?”
“Wouldn’t you know if you simply tailed him,” Wen MingYi said.
Lu YunFei spread his hands, “He didn’t allow it.”
“He said you couldn’t follow him, but he didn’t say that I couldn’t follow him,” Wen MingYi smiled smugly.
“What’s the difference between you and me, it’s not like he doesn’t recognise you.”
“What do you plan to do then? Search for a needle in the sea # ?” Li YuanQing asked as he ate his Mǐxiàn.
Lu YunFei had already considered the situation earlier, “Our afternoon break is only two hours. Given that he needs to travel to work, this means that his job doesn’t take up the full two hours. A normal shop pays by the hour, which means that it’s highly likely that his job takes up an hour or an hour and a half.”
“That’s right,” Wen MingYi affirmed.
“When I met him the last time it was around 3.15pm. If he does work for an hour and a half, it’s not possible for him to arrive in the classroom at his usual time. So that means that his job is only an hour long, and that his workplace has to be within a 15 minute radius. If he takes 20 minutes to travel, then his total travel time will take up 40 minutes. Adding up to his working time, this is too rushed.”
“We could use our school as the centre of the circle. Using 15 minutes as a radius, the area covered is still too broad,” Li YuanQing said as a matter of fact.
“You don’t have the littlest hint?” Wen MingYi looked at him, “Give us a clue my dear.”
Lu YunFei bit his chopsticks and thought, but Bian JinYuan had been airtight, how was he supposed to get a clue. As he thought, he suddenly remembered what Bian JinYuan had said before class — “Then I’ll treat you to milk tea.”
Why would Bian JinYuan say that? He obviously hadn’t drunk a lot of milk tea in front of Bian JinYuan, so why would he tell him that he would treat him to milk tea? It wasn’t as if he were Wen MingYi. Unless

“Are there a lot of milk tea shops near our school?”
“There are a lot,” Wen MingYi’s opinion as a milk tea aficionado was authoritative, “There are franchise shops, independent shops, and all sorts of shops. However a lot of them don’t have good milk tea. Why, are you planning to treat me to milk tea?”
“I’m not treating you, but someone wants to treat me.”
“Oh?” Wen MingYi’s interest was piqued.
“If I’m not wrong, Bian JinYuan is working part-time at a milk tea shop nearby. I’d like to suggest from this afternoon onwards, we’ll split up to search for him, let’s see if we can find him within a week.”
Li YuanQing found this to be bothersome, “Why must we look for him? Can’t we just let it be?”
“Of course not, I’ve already said that I would. If I can’t find him I’d lose face.”
Li YuanQing exhaled a sigh at his words, “The both of you really are
”
Wen MinYi helped him to follow up, “very extra.”
“Then we’re set. We have to find Bian JinYuan within a week.”
“I’ll try.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Here, let’s split up the sections.”
Lu YunFei said this and opened up the map on his phone drawing out the sections of the map for everyone to search.
The three of them quickly chose the areas they wanted to search. After lunch, they took taxis down to their respective areas.
Yi Zhong was a well-located school. It was situated near the city centre, and was only a stop and a half away from the consolidated marketplace of X town. Of course this prime location was not exclusive to Yi Zhong. Many schools ranging from kindergarten to high school were situated in the area. It was to the point where some teachers and students had never left the area ever since they were of school age. It could be said to be an ecosystem.
Wen MingYi had chosen the eastern section, Li YuanQing had chosen the northern section, and the rest were relegated to Lu YunFei. The three of them decided to check the places near schools first. After all, there were two favourite spots of milk tea shops – one was the shopping centre, and the other was the school area.
However they still hadn’t caught a trace of Bian JinYuan even after an hour of searching. Left with no choice, they returned to school and waited till the next day to continue their search.
Bian JinYuan and Lu YunFei had virtually stepped into the classroom one after another. It was rare that Lu YunFei was not in the classroom when he returned, and he unwittingly let out, “You didn’t really go look for me did you?”
“A gentleman’s word, once uttered, cannot be retracted alright?” Lu YunFei saw that he had stood up to let him through, and sat at his desk.
“Then did you have any leads?”
Lu YunFei smiled and replied, “Secret.”
He said this and proceeded to lie on the table to rest.
Quack Notes
# ‘Search for a needle in the sea’ (ć€§æ”·æžé’ˆ, dĂ  hǎi lāo zhēn) is an idiom similar to ‘finding a needle in a haystack’. It literally means to scoop a needle out of a vast sea, and signifies that the task is extremely hard.