Rock Sugar And Pear Stew

Chapter 3 - An accident (Translated by Xing and edited by Souhi)

Tang Xue"s birthday was coming up. She informed Li Yubing a week in advance and told him to prepare a gift.

Li Yubing did not intend to spend any effort to celebrate this fellow"s birthday. He initially planned to fold a paper plane and present it as a birthday gift.

However, that day, he saw fake spiders for sale at the supermarket. The fake spiders were made of plastic and the size of a soup bowl. Their dark and lifelike appearances were enough to send tingles down one"s spine.

Such a disgusting item was very suitable to be used to disgust a scoundrel.

As a result, Li Yubing secretly bought a spider and even spent an additional two dollars for the shop owner to wrap it up nicely for him.

While wrapping the spider, the shop owner asked: "Who are you giving this present to?"

Li Yubing pursed his lips and honestly replied: "My deskmate."

"Oh, is your deskmate a boy or a girl?"

"A girl."

The shop owner pa.s.sed over the wrapped present and concernedly warned: "Kid, if you give this to a girl, I"m afraid you"re going to get beaten up."

Tang Xue began to impatiently tear open the gift the moment Li Yubing gave it to her.

He stood at the side and silently observed her facial expression, antic.i.p.ating the moment she turned pale with fright.

Tang Xue revealed a face of surprise upon seeing the spider. She stroked the back of the spider with her fingers and said: "I almost thought it was real and jumped up from shock."

Jumped up from shock…… why not you really jump for me to see……

Li Yubing was disappointed. He asked: "Aren"t you afraid?"

"Not at all. My mother said that all animals are afraid of humans."

Li Yubing found Tang Xue mildly terrifying.

During lunch, Tang Xue hung the spider down Li Yubing"s back. When the two of them reached the canteen, other children started crying from the fright and they almost caused a stampede.

Their parents were even notified because of this incident.

When Mrs Li heard what happened, she felt extremely incredulous. On the way back home, she asked Li Yubing: "Are you daft, it"s a birthday present for a girl and you chose to give a spider? You"re going to end up single for the rest of your life being like this."

Li Yubing"s mood was gloomy and he stared blankly out of the car window.

His journey to get even with Tang Xue was way too arduous.

In the beginning of November, Tang Xue welcomed the school event that she loved loved loved the most—autumn excursion.

This year, the location of their autumn excursion was Mount Lu that was in the suburbs. Mount Lu overlooked Lu Lake Park and was in actual fact only a small hill. There were numerous apple trees planted on this hill. Every autumn, the whole expanse of the hill would be strewn with bright red apples that seemed like thousands of small lanterns, looking exceptionally beautiful. Thus, locals also commonly referred to Mount Lu as "Apple Mountain".

Since the excursion location was Apple Mountain, the planned activities would definitely include watching apples being picked by the farmers. It was also reportedly said that they will get to personally pick some apples if they were obedient enough.

Upon arriving at Mount Lu, the children started twittering about noisily like birds that had just escaped from their cages. Looking at these restless little monkeys, Teacher Zhao warned: "Listen to my instructions. Stop running about. There are tigers on this hill that specially eat small children…… Tang Xue, why is your red scarf like that?"

Tang Xue accidentally undid her scarf while playing with it a moment ago and was not able to get it back into its original shape. She gave up retying after trying a few times and casually draped the red scarf over her neck, looking like someone who just came out from the public bath.

"Teacher, I don"t know how to tie it." Tang Xue said.

Teacher Zhao did not have time to bother with her at this moment. She called out Li Yubing: "Li Yubing, help Tang Xue to tie her red scarf."

Li Yubing was a little reluctant to do so but could only helplessly do as he was told.

As he tied the red scarf, Tang Xue keep fidgeting and shifting her head. Li Yubing impatiently said: "Stop moving."

The two of them were standing very close to each other. Tang Xue examined Li Yubing"s face. His eyelashes were very long, just like a pair of tiny fans. Li Yubing"s lips were also tightly pursed which resulted in an extremely stern and serious look on his face.

"Li Yubing, you look like my doll."

"Stop talking."

Tang Xue suddenly felt her hands itching. Hence, she raised them and began to knead Li Yubing"s face. Her hands were one moment on the left and another on the right, with actions of kneading and pinching that seemed like she was playing with dough.

Li Yubing wrinkled his brows: "Stop fooling around."

He must had acc.u.mulated a whole lifetime"s worth of bad karma to be punished with helping her to tie her scarf while letting her play with his face.

Teacher Zhao led the children on foot to a relatively flat area. With an un.o.bscured view of the entire Lu Lake, this area was perfect for a lunch picnic.

She then directed everyone to sit down for lunch.

After lunch was a short period of free time where students were allowed to do their own things. However, they were not allowed to roam too far and had to remain within the teachers" sights.

Li Yubing sat on the gra.s.s and observed the scenery serenely—the light reflecting off the lake, the colours of the hill, the birds flying above, the boat in the lake…… this trip was not purely for leisure. An essay a.s.signment had to be completed after heading back.

Fortunately, Tang Xue that fellow did not came to bother him. She was noisily playing tag with someone else.

Li Yubing sat there for a while more. Then, someone unexpectedly tapped his back. He turned his head to see Tang Xue beaming at him.

"Li Yubing, look, what"s this?" Tang Xue cheerfully shook her hand in front of him.

Li Yubing"s gaze lowered and saw Tang Xue holding a fleshy looking worm in her right hand. The worm was around the size and length of a finger, and was a dull bean green with a smattering of multi coloured spots along its back. At this moment, the worm was being held upside down, resulting in the struggling twists and turns of its fat and meaty body.

Li Yubing"s face instantly changed. He leaped up and broke into a run.

Honestly speaking, he was not afraid of any snakes, rats or even c.o.c.kroaches. The only thing that he was scared of was exactly this type of worm.

This was because he once had the nightmarish and traumatizing experience of having a caterpillar crawl into his ear.

Tang Xue took one look at the scene of Li Yubing running and burst into laughter. She held up the worm and chased after him while saying: "Stop running. Look at how adorable it is!"

Li Yubing picked up his pace and ran even faster.

He was like a wild little pony, franticly and aimlessly running towards any direction that could get him away.

Teacher Zhao saw that something was wrong and immediately yelled: "Hey! Li Yubing, Tang Xue, what are you two doing? Stop running and come back."

Li Yubing turned a deaf ear to her words.

He was running way too fast, to the extent that it was abnormal. Tang Xue was a little frightened. She hurriedly threw away the worm and called out: "I"ve thrown it away. Stop running. Look, I have nothing in my hands now!"

But it was too late.

Li Yubing had been running too fast. He stumbled over something and tripped in an instant, his tiny body flying out with a whoosh like a leaf caught in the autumn wind. Teacher Zhao felt her heart in her mouth at this sight……

Li Yubing landed in the bushes at the side of the road.

Teacher Zhao"s temples started throbbing and she hastily ran over.

Upon hearing that her son was in the hospital, Mrs Li cast aside her uncompleted work and rushed over.

She ran into consultation room 1 of the paediatrics department and saw her son sitting on a chair. A doctor was applying medicine for him with a cotton swab. The doctor was female with loosely permed waves and a pair of spectacles with thin golden frames. While applying the medicine, the doctor said: "Tell me if it"s painful. Don"t hold it in."

Teacher Zhao was standing at the side and watching concernedly.

Mrs Li gave out a sigh of relief. In her mind, her son was already closer to a corpse more than anything else. It was a great blessing that he was able to be still sitting like this.

She walked in, relaxed her tone and asked: "Doctor, my son he…… how is he?"

The doctor did not raise her head. She continued applying the medicine and replied: "He fell into some thorn bushes. It"s nothing much so don"t worry…… Your son is really tough. He did not cry out in pain or make a scene at all. This child is definitely going places when he grows up."

"Why does he still need to apply medicine if it"s nothing much?"

"His face was scratched a little by the thorns. I just cleaned the scratches for him and am now applying a little antiseptic for disinfection. It is a good thing that it"s currently autumn. The thicker clothing protected him from further scratches on his body."

Mrs Li furrowed her brows and looked at Li Yubing. No matter whether he was currently fine or not, her heart ached for him as his mother……

Teacher Zhao said: "Sorry, Mrs Li. It was my negligence in failing to look after the children properly. They ran too fast and I did not have ample time to respond."

Mrs Li was about to reply when a tiny figure unexpectedly appeared from behind Teacher Zhao.

The tiny figure sprouted two ponytails and possessed a fair face with a pair of dark round eyes, looking cute beyond measure.

The child walked in front of Mrs Li and thrusted an apple into her hands. The apple was bright red and looked especially fresh. There were even some dew drops on the apple surface, seeming like the apple had just been freshly picked off a tree.

Mrs Li"s heart melted. She bent down, stroked the child"s head and smiled: "Tang Xue? What are you doing here? My goodness, why are your eyes red, who made you cry? Stop crying, auntie will help you to whack that person."

Teacher Zhao explained: "Li Yubing fell and she insisted on coming along no matter what."

At this, the doctor who was applying the antiseptic for Li Yubing suddenly burst into soft laughter and spoke: "She"s feeling guilty. Teacher Zhao, take her back and question her. She must had played a part in this incident. If she dares to not tell the truth, just inform her father."

Mrs Li felt that the doctor"s words were a little strange. She asked: "Do you know Tang Xue?"

"Of course. I"m her mother."

Mrs Li"s first reaction was astonishment, followed by a sense of affinity. This was her first time meeting Tang Xue"s mother. In the past, Princ.i.p.al Tang was always the one who attended the parent-teacher conference. However, since the two families" children were deskmates, there was naturally a stronger sense of familiarity between them as compared to the parents of other students. Furthermore, Tang Xue was such an adorable child.

Mrs Tang straightened up, looked at Mrs Li somewhat apologetically and said: "I"m really sorry about this. My child is too mischievous. I sincerely apologize to you."

"Ah? It"s not a big deal. It"s perfectly normal for children to be rowdy," Mrs Li rubbed Tang Xue"s tiny head and concernedly look at Li Yubing. There was something that she was quite worried about. She carefully asked: "That is…… Li Yubing he, will he be disfigured? If he ends up with a pockmarked face, how will he get himself a wife in the future……"

Mrs Tang laughed in amus.e.m.e.nt and answered: "Please rest a.s.sured that if your son is disfigured, I"ll marry my daughter to him as compensation."

In this instance, Li Yubing who had been bearing the pain and resisting the urge to cry suddenly teared up.

"Can I refuse……" He weakly protested.

I know, the genders for the photo are reversed. I couldn"t find a photo of a boy tying the scarf for a girl so you guys have to make do with this instead. There should be another chapter out by the end of this week.