Chapter 75 - A lame joke (Translated and edited by Xing)
After escaping quickly, Tang Xue ran two laps around the public square outside the ice stadium to vent. Coach Chu was out for fresh air and happened to catch sight of her doing so. Coach Chu waved her over and asked curiously, "What are you doing?"
"Warming up."
"All right, go for training and stop running around aimlessly."
"Mm."
"Tang Xue," Coach Chu suddenly halted her.
"What"s wrong, Coach Chu?"
"Do your best for the National University Championship and bag a medal."
"Just watch me, Coach Chu!"
For the compet.i.tion in the afternoon, Li Yubing"s ice hockey stick was the focus of his fans" attention.
The ice hockey stick was wrapped in pink! Heavens, is our Ice G.o.d possessed by Sailor Moon…
After the compet.i.tion, the fans enthusiastically discussed Sailor Bing"s[1] pink hockey stick in the group chat. Though the sight of a 1.88 m man using a pink hockey stick is a little hard to bear, so what! We fans naturally look at our idol with rose-tinted gla.s.ses. The more we look at it, the more adorable it gets…
Mama Li was lurking in one of her son"s fan group. She read the group chat quietly, the flood of messages making her dizzy.
She had infiltrated her son"s fan group with the aim of finding out who he was pursuing. However, she felt that his fans were more in the dark than she was after some observation. His fans gauged his relationship with others through his interaction with them. Since Li Yubing interacted most frequently with his teammates, his fans had created numerous ships with him and his teammates. But his teammates were all males… Feeling that these kids had fallen into the same trap that she had fell into earlier, Mama Li was somewhat mournful.
Now, looking at her son using pink tape, Mama Li immediately knew that something was up. She texted her son as the curiosity was killing her.
Mama Li: Sailor Bing?
Li Yubing: …
Mama Li: Is the tape from that girl?
Li Yubing: Mm.
Mama Li: Just who exactly is she? Tell mommy, won"t you…
Li Yubing: No.
Ding—Mama Li transferred him 10,000 yuan.
Li Yubing: …
Mama Li: Are you saying?
Li Yubing: Mom, don"t be like this. = =
Ding—another 10,000 yuan entered his account.
Ding, ding, ding…
A 10,000 and another 10,000, and another 10,000. His mother began to flood his notifications using money.
Li Yubing was greatly alarmed looking at this. He quickly muted all notifications from his mother.
Her plan to crack her son thwarted, Mama Li shifted her attention back to the fan group. The fans were still spamming the chat. It"s nice to be young. Look at how fast they type.
She saw someone upload a fanfic on Li Yubing and Jiang Shijia. Feeling her head hurt, she could not help replying: Li Yubing likes girls.
The fans asked: Ah? How do you know?
Mama Li: I"m his mother.
Strings of ellipsis flooded the screen.
System Notification: You have been kicked out of the group "Li Yubing Lake City Fan Group 3"
Mama Li was hurt, extremely hurt. This chapter is a labour of love that should not be found outside of teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.
Li Yubing texted Tang Xue immediately after the compet.i.tion but she did not reply. Li Yubing took it that she was busy with training and only called her when it was dinnertime but she rejected his call.
Tang Xue did not dare to face Li Yubing, primarily because she did not know how to face him.
She was afraid that Li Yubing would find her after training at night and purposely left ten minutes earlier.
When she returned back to her dorm, she did not do anything else besides putting down her bag and sprawling across the table in a daze.
Xia Menghuan just came out of the shower. Wearing pyjamas, she walked past Tang Xue while drying her hair and said, "What"s wrong, my king? It"s a bit disconcerting to see how docile you"re being."
"Oh," Tang Xue gave a non-committal reply. Then, she sat up and fished out the amber that Li Yubing gave her before playing with it under the light.
As she looked at it, what happened in the changing room that afternoon flashed across her mind. Her face immediately reddened.
The amber caught Xia Menghuan"s attention. "Wow! That"s so pretty!"
This sentence attracted her two other roommates over as well. Ye Liuying and Zhao Qin both came over to examine the amber. After gushing over it, they pa.s.sed the amber back to Tang Xue and asked, "Where did this come from? It"s expensive, isn"t it? Better start locking your drawer. A thief appeared in our building last semester and someone lost their phone and laptop."
"Say…" Pinching the amber, Tang Xue shook it lightly and watched the golden, petal-like fragments in it. She asked, "What does it mean when a guy gives a girl this?"
Xia Menghuan replied quickly, "Well, he"s definitely not looking to become sworn brothers with you."
Tang Xue"s lips raised in a smile. She lowered her head and kept the amber carefully. As Ye Liuying looked at Tang Xue"s faint smile and her expression that was suffused with warmth, she could not help sighing, "Someone"s spring[2] is here…"
After keeping the amber, Tang Xue crossed her arms and with a still slightly red face, declared, "I announce that I want to date a man."
Her three roommates chirped in unison, "Li Yubing?"
Tang Xue startled. "How do you know?"
The three people thought, because we"re not blind!
Recalling Tang Xue"s initial denial, Ye Liuying placed a hand on the back of her chair and reminded mischievously, "Why do I seem to remember someone saying that she"ll like Li Yubing only if her head gets cracked by the door?"
"Cough." A little embarra.s.sed, Tang Xue replied with a straight face, "We should go through all sorts of experiences in life."
As she spoke, a notification came in on her phone.
Her roommates all squeezed over to Tang Xue"s side. "Who is it, is it Li Yubing?"
Yes.
Tang Xue clicked into the message and did not shield her phone from her roommates. The four of them read the message together.
There were only two words in Li Yubing"s message: Say something.
"Woah, an overbearing CEO!" Ye Liuying clutched her chest.
Zhao Qin said, "I can"t believe that this is the same Sailor Bing from this afternoon."
Xia Menghuan nudged Tang Xue gently. "Reply him quick, my king!"
Tang Xue was suddenly unsure of what she should say. Should she be bolder or should she be more reserved?
Li Yubing: I won the compet.i.tion today.
Tang Xue: Congratulations, Sailor Bing.
Li Yubing: …
Li Yubing: Reward.
Tang Xue had yet to react when her roommates freaked out.
"Woah, this dude!"
"Tang Xue, reward him with a Tang Xue!"
"My king, my king, reply him quick! I want to see it! Where"s my popcorn…"
Tang Xue was embarra.s.sed. "What, what do I say?"
"Confess, confess, you can confess!"
Under everyone"s encouragement, Tang Xue clenched her teeth and replied: Li Yubing, you know what? My head has been cracked by the door.
Li Yubing: …
Her roommates, "…" Good grief, how is this a confession?
Li Yubing: How come?
"Say it quickly, be honest," her roommates urged. Please just reward yourself to him already!
Tang Xue pursed her lips, her fingers tapping swiftly as she replied: Do you remember how I used to eat walnuts all the time as a child in order to boost my brain and become first in cla.s.s?
Li Yubing: Mm.
Tang Xue: I cracked those walnuts with the door.
Li Yubing: So?
Tang Xue: So by boosting my brain with those walnuts, it means that my head has also been cracked by the door.
Li Yubing: …………
Her roommates face-palmed and collapsed in unison. Translated by Xing for only teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.
It was not enough that she failed to confess but she even managed to make sense of her words?? We"ll kowtow to you in respect this very instant!
Tang Xue tossed her phone onto the table and exclaimed in frustration, "I can"t say it!"
"Don"t fret, my king." Xia Menghuan comforted her while munching on popcorn. "Usually, it should be the guy who takes initiative for this kind of thing, isn"t it?"
Ye Liuying and Zhao Qin quickly nodded in agreement. "Right, let Li Yubing confess first!"
That night, Li Yubing posted a new Weibo status. One could discern faint sorrow from his words.
Rock Sugar And Pear Stew: Thought you would reward me with a kiss but all I got was a lame joke.
His only real follower "Deer Leashed To Left, Ferret Raised In Right"[3] gave him a "like".
This is an original work of 酒小七 (Jiu Xiaoqi) translated by Tea Fragrance. If you are not reading this at teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com, this translation has been reposted without the translator"s consent. Head there for extra content or to leave feedback and comments on the novel translation.
Translator"s Notes:
[1] Mentioned this very long ago but the Bing in Li Yubing is the Chinese character for "ice". So when people call him "Ice G.o.d", they"re also saying "Bing G.o.d". Similarly, though I translated it as "Sailor Bing", you can also take it that people are calling him "Sailor Ice".
[2] Spring is a Chinese metaphor for romance.
[3] This account ID, 左牵狍，右擎貂 (zuǒ qiān páo, yòu qíng diāo) is a play on an ancient poem by Chinese poet Su Shi. The original line, 左牵黄，右擎苍 (zuǒ qiān huáng, yòu qíng cāng), is related to hunting and speaks of having a hunting dog leashed to the left hand and a falcon raised in the right hand.
"Head gets cracked" chapter is Chapter 40!