Rock Sugar And Pear Stew

Chapter 38 - Difficulty: Hard (Translated by Xing and edited by Souhi)

It was only on the next day when Tang Xue reported to the west wing and obtained the ice skating gears that her heart which had been highly strung for the entire period finally relaxed.

It was a dream came true.

At the same time, her curiosity was piqued.

"Coach Chu, may I know why you changed your mind?" Tang Xue could not hold in her curiosity and asked her quietly.

"Rather than having the energy to mull over this, why not put in effort to think about how to regain your muscles within the shortest time." Coach Chu pointed to the pile of items that Tang Xue held. She rapped the box holding a pair of skates at the very top. "This pair of skates alone is 4,800 yuan."

Tang Xue was aware of its value. She owned a pair herself and usually brought her own skates to the ice rink to show off. However, she had used that pair of skates for quite long and it was time to switch.

This was the greatest drawback of ice sports; too much money was needed. Speed skating was already considered cheap compared to the others. For instance, Yu Yan"s figure skating required him to have his own team and engage people to specially design his clothes and ch.o.r.eograph his programs. Next, looking at Li Yubing, his years of ice hockey had chalked up an astronomical sum based on his equipment and coach training fees alone. Furthermore, he would head overseas for training every year with Canada being the most travelled country.

Without coming from a family with some wealth, no one would be willing to burn their money like this. This chapter is a labour of love that should not be found outside of teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.

"Coach Chu, I won"t let you down." After saying this, Tang Xue went to keep the items. She would not be going on ice for the time being.  This afternoon, she would be training her muscles and sense of balance.

There were quite a few people in the practice venue and nearly all of them were student athletes. While Tang Xue trained, she could distinctively sense unveiled looks of disdain tossed towards her from all directions…

"Say, what is the fastest way to gain muscles?" During lunch, Tang Xue asked Li Yubing. She exhaled a long sigh. "I can"t believe that I"m saying this but I actually kind of miss the nickname "She-hulk"."

Li Yubing pointed to her lunch tray. "You"re asking me this while eating sweet and sour pork and red braised pork?"

"Ah, I was too tired and forgot." Looking at the food on her plate, Tang Xue felt a little reluctant thinking of the delicious food that she would have to part with. She asked, "Not even red braised pork? Previously, I could eat red braised pork when I was still doing speed skating."

"It"s not suitable for you now at this stage."

"Oh, alright." Tang Xue drew in a deep breath and strengthened her resolve. "This will be the last time; I"ll take it as an official farewell." Saying this, she stretched her chopsticks towards the red braised pork.

Swiftly, Li Yubing used his chopsticks to intercept and snap her chopsticks shut.

"Not farewell—funeral." He swept all of the red braised pork onto his own plate.

As for the sweet and sour pork, it would end up in the rubbish bin.

Tang Xue looked at him with chagrin.

Li Yubing saw that she was so annoyed her eyes were glistening, which looked especially adorable. Li Yubing placed his hand over his forehead. Lately, he kept feeling that Tang Xue looked adorable. There must be something wrong with his brain.

Fine, so be it. If this was the case, he admitted it.

He went back to the canteen stalls and helped Tang Xue to buy a new set of food. When he returned, he saw Tang Xue staring blankly at the red braised pork but her chopsticks were untouched.

Li Yubing hovered his finger over the red braised pork and sweet and sour pork. He counted them piece by piece. After he was done, he concluded, "Good, not a piece missing."

Tang Xue was not going to let things rest like this. She pointed to the red braised pork and said, "To be honest, I licked every single piece."

Li Yubing savoured the red braised pork like he could not care less. When he was done, he even stretched out his tongue to lick the corners of his lips. He smirked, clearly trying to provoke her.

"I have something that I don"t understand," Tang Xue said.

"Oh?"

"How have you lived till now without being beaten to death?"

"It"s because I always have this strong belief."

"Oh?"

"That if Tang Xue can do it, so can I."

Li Yubing, 1 point.

After lunch, Li Yubing told Tang Xue, "Your performance today wasn"t too bad. I have a reward for you."

Tang Xue was unable to trust his words…

Sure enough, he did not let her down; he bought her an avocado.

An avocado!

With its exotic taste, Tang Xue had always wonder about the shameful methods that avocados had used to disguise themselves and be cla.s.sified as fruits.

"You can ingest food with fats. However, "superior" fats that fill you up are preferable." Li Yubing moved to pa.s.s the avocado to Tang Xue.

Tang Xue was a little unwilling to take it. "I don"t think I"m worthy of these "superior" fats. I"ll go eat some of lesser quality."

"Your objection is invalid." Seeing how Tang Xue"s face was scrunched up from her unwillingness, he grabbed her hand and stuffed the avocado into it.

Tang Xue"s hand was much smaller than his. The skin on the back of her hand was soft and delicate. When he held it, the sensation made him a little reluctant to let go. When he released her, the tip of his thumb subconsciously lingered for a moment on the area between her thumb and index finger.

Tang Xue"s attention was on the avocado. Disdain was clearly expressed on her face.

Li Yubing said, "Next week onwards, you"ll come with me for extra training."

The entire following week, Tang Xue adhered to the diet regimen set by Li Yubing and followed him for extra training. Every day, she would end up as exhausted as a darned dog. Never mind the physical exhaustion on her body, but Li Yubing seemed h.e.l.l-bent on grinding down her spirit. This translation is meant to be released only on teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.

Once, the two of them were at the sports field climbing the stairs sideways. This exercise was great for training leg muscles. Tang Xue was slow and instead of encouraging or consoling her, Li Yubing whipped out a skewer of red braised pork and waved it in front of her. He taunted, "You need to be faster if you want any."

Tang Xue was infuriated. Was Li Yubing treating her as a dog brought out for a walk? She gnashed her teeth her and stared daggers at him. "Li Yubing, I"m going to kill you today."

Li Yubing turned and ran.

Tang Xue chased after him.

The two of them sprinted down the stand and across the track. When Li Yubing was on the gra.s.s, Tang Xue stretched out her hand and grabbed him. He lunged towards the ground, bringing Tang Xue along with him to the gra.s.s.

Tang Xue scrabbled up and found herself straddling Li Yubing"s body. She took this opportunity and seized his throat. "Would you still dare to be a jerk?"

Li Yubing panted, his chest heaving heavily. He lay on the ground and looked at her. "No."

Tang Xue did not expect him to surrender so quickly. She withdrew her hand, intending to stand up. The next moment, Li Yubing unexpectedly twisted his body. In one smooth motion, he spun their positions around and became the one pinning her down instead.

Tang Xue lay on the gra.s.s. One of Li Yubing"s arm was bent and propped next to her ear.  He enveloped her with his body.

She shoved him. "What are you doing."

Li Yubing used his other hand to ruffle her hair. Then, his palm stilled on her head as he bent and gazed down at her.

Tang Xue felt that the atmosphere was a little odd.

Li Yubing suddenly lowered his head. Shocked, her body tensed and she closed her eyes swiftly.

The two of them drew closer and closer. They were so close that it seemed like their chests would touch when Tang Xue breathed in and her chest rose. Tang Xue attempted to wriggle free. "Hey!"

"Don"t move." He pressed her still and lowered his head even closer.

Li Yubing"s lips was almost touching her nose bridge. At this distance, he paused for a few seconds. Then, he remarked, "Still here?" As he spoke, he lightly pressed on a spot on her head with the tips of his fingers.

There was a scar there. Hidden beneath her hair, it usually could not be seen. This scar was the result of Tang Xue playing with tree branches when she was young. At that time, she had bled all over the place and appeared like she had injured her head badly, giving everyone a huge shock.

During that incident, Li Yubing was trailing behind her and helping to pick up tree branches. He also did not know why they were collecting tree branches in the aftermath of a gale…

After seeing the scar, Li Yubing released Tang Xue. The two of them stood up and discovered everyone nearby staring at them.

Tang Xue touched her nose. Without speaking a word, she turned and walked back to the stand.

Li Yubing followed behind leisurely. After walking for a while, he suddenly breathed out a laugh.

Tang Xue twisted her head and glared at him. "What are you laughing at?"

"I"ll say." Li Yubing bent his head, his limpid gaze clearly landing on her face. "You can"t possibly thought that I was going to kiss you, were you?"

"Lunatic."

I was at Chapter 99 of the RSAPS raws and planning to finish the novel when I discovered that the chapter I was at didn"t match up with what I read a while back. I then checked and realized that Jiu Xiaoqi had updated some of the chapters just last month.

*Gasps*

Luckily, I saved a copy of the original version with the censored content. Since I"m translating from the original site, you guys will also be getting all the extra content that she replaced the original version with. (More stuff to read, yay!) I wanted to merge the two versions but some parts wouldn"t flow. I would probably upload the original chapters/paragraphs in separate posts as "unofficial" chapters.

The edited chapters are towards the end of the novel so they won"t be happening so soon! I"ll probably do a poll or ask for suggestions on how to handle those chapters when the time comes.