Chapter 47 – Departure and arrival (Translated and edited by Xing)
In the latter half of December, Li Yubing was summoned by the China male youths’ ice hockey team to participate in the annual World U-20 Ice Hockey Championship held in Poland. “U-20” referred to the age criteria of the competition, meaning that only players under the age of 20 could participate.
Along with him was another ice hockey player from the RCU team named Jiang Shijia.
The two of them would first head to Harbin to gather and train with the rest of the team for a month before flying to Poland. Jiang Shijia was originally from Harbin and the training trip was like a trip home for him.
The day they flew happened to be the day before the province speed skating championship. Even though the speed skating team only assigned a few training goals to complete that day, Tang Xue set a few more goals for herself since she was not participating in the competition. However, her plans were thwarted by Li Yubing’s insistence that she sends him off.
His reason was that it was embarrassing to have no one sending him off.
“Li Yubing, are you a princess?” Tang Xue scoffed.
Rather than getting annoyed, Li Yubing laughed, “I’ll wait for you.”
Tang Xue rolled her eyes at her phone.
Though she rolled her eyes, she still agreed to head over.
They took a taxi to the airport. As the two suitcases were too big, the taxi boot could only fit one and the other had to be placed in the front passenger seat. The three of them sat in the backseat with Li Yubing sitting in the middle. This chapter is a labour of love that should not be found outside of teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.
Normally, there was no problem with three people sitting at the back. However, Li Yubing and Jiang Shijia were too fit and tall. Tang Xue felt that space was cramped with the three of them squeezed together. Li Yubing sat in a bold and aggressive manner like a bandit. They sat so near that her thigh was touching his. She was not used to sitting so close to another person and felt slightly unaccustomed to being enveloped by his foreign yet familiar scent.
The atmosphere was a little strange; no one in the car spoke. The driver was a little aggrieved and felt that his car tires were about to blow from the tension. He wanted to grumble out loud but was afraid to do so.
Li Yubing was the first to speak. He asked Tang Xue, “Don’t you have a parting speech before I leave?”
“It’s not like you’re never coming back.” Tang Xue curled her lips. She really had nothing to say. After thinking for a while, she asked, “How about I sing a song for the two of you?”
Li Yubing quickly stopped her. “Don’t. Have mercy.”
Annoyed, Tang Xue swung her knee to hit him. Li Yubing laughed as he dodged to the side.
Beside them, Jiang Shijia looked out of the window silently.
As they messed around, the car suddenly jolted. Tang Xue’s body lurched with the momentum and her head swung towards the car window. In a flash, Li Yubing raised his long arm and put his hand next to the window with his palm spread like a shield.
Tang Xue’s head bumped into his palm instead.
She was still a little confused at first, only realizing what had happened when she raised her head and saw his hand pressed against the window.
Tang Xue stare blankly at the lines on Li Yubing’s palm, at a loss how she should react.
She was really unaccustomed to how considerate Li Yubing was…
Someone, please return that annoying Lunatic Li back…
Seeing Tang Xue in a daze, Li Yubing smoothly withdrew his hand. He commented, “You’re already a fool. If you bump your head, you’ll become even more foolish than you are now.”
Tang Xue glared at him.
——
In the midst of his morning training break, Yu Yan’s mind wandered as he drank electrolyte water.
He was thinking about many things, such as when Tang Xue would return, if the plane would be delayed, if Li Yubing that utterly shameless person would do anything to her, and….
“Yan Yan.” A voice called him from behind.
Yu Yan snapped out of the whirlwind of thoughts and twisted his head. He was astonished when he saw who it was. “Mom, why are you here?”
The one who called him was his mother, Mrs Liang.
Mrs Liang wore a light grey skirt suit. Her makeup was impeccable and appropriately applied, showing off a good complexion with clear, glowing skin. Unfortunately, she had obvious wrinkles on her forehead and thin lips that had grown even more prominent with age. This made her face appear a little harsh and unfriendly.
When she saw Yu Yan, a smile spread across her face. “Aren’t you going for a competition soon? I’ll here to visit you.”
“There are still several more days to the competition.”
The province skating championship was split into short track speed skating, long track speed skating and figure skating. The short track speed skating competition was the earliest to be held while the figure skating competition would take place five days later.
“I’ll accompany you for the next few days,” Mrs Liang said. Seeing how Yu Yan opened his mouth to speak but hesitated, her smile disappeared. “Don’t you want to see me?”
“Ah? I don’t mean that…”
Yu Yan only felt a little strange.
After chatting with his mother for a while, he put aside his doubts for the time being and resumed his training.
As for Mrs Liang, she went to look for Coach Yang and started talking with her at the side.
Yu Yan had the best potential in the entire figure skating team. Tinted by her excellent impression of Yu Yan, Coach Yang treated Mrs Liang warmly. When Mrs Liang asked about Yu Yan’s performance, Coach Yang was full of praise for him.
However, after praising Yu Yan, Coach Yang added, “That being said, I feel that Yu Yan has been a little distracted lately. Are there any issues at home?”
“Not at all. Both his father and I are doing very well.”
“Mm. Perhaps he’s young and still maturing. Of course, there shouldn’t be an issue with this competition. Oh right, a few days ago, Coach Ma Rui—the head coach for the national team—saw Yu Yan’s competition footage and felt that his skating skills and performance aesthetics are top-notch. In particular, Yu Yan’s excellent performance aesthetics is quite rare among Chinese athletics. From what he said, I feel that Coach Ma Rui is quite keen on accepting Yu Yan into the national team. What do you think of it?”
Mrs Liang had a clear plan on her son’s professional career. Hearing Coach Yang’s words, she smiled and said, “I think that Yu Yan is doing very well under you. There’s no need to head over to the national team.”
Coach Yang was extremely flattered by Mrs Liang’s words. She laughed with a wide smile and waved her hand. “The national team is still a great choice.’
Mrs Liang pursed her lips and suddenly said, “Coach Yang, I’ll like to ask about a person.”
“Oh?”
“It’s this young lady called Tang Xue.”
The truth behind Mrs Liang’s sudden appearance at RCU was not as simple as merely wanting to spend time with her son before the competition.
In order to learn more about her son’s activities, she had installed the RCU app and clicked into the school forum. After typing Yu Yan’s name into the search bar, she found a stunning amount of news of a relationship scandal.
What an outrage! Yu Yan was only seventeen!
What made the whole affair even more ridiculous was that the relationship scandal involved not two, but three people. Toying around with two different guys at the same time with no qualms—how could a girl of such character exist? Did her parents know about her behaviour?
Upon reading the details of the scandal that her son was embroiled in, Mrs Liang was unable to sit still and immediately rushed to find Yu Yan.
After hearing Coach Yang’s feedback that Yu Yan had been distracted lately, she confirmed her suspicions.
It looked like she would have to meet Tang Xue for herself.
Chapter 47 – Departure and arrival (Translated and edited by Xing)
In the latter half of December, Li Yubing was summoned by the China male youths’ ice hockey team to participate in the annual World U-20 Ice Hockey Championship held in Poland. “U-20” referred to the age criteria of the competition, meaning that only players under the age of 20 could participate.
Along with him was another ice hockey player from the RCU team named Jiang Shijia.
The two of them would first head to Harbin to gather and train with the rest of the team for a month before flying to Poland. Jiang Shijia was originally from Harbin and the training trip was like a trip home for him.
The day they flew happened to be the day before the province speed skating championship. Even though the speed skating team only assigned a few training goals to complete that day, Tang Xue set a few more goals for herself since she was not participating in the competition. However, her plans were thwarted by Li Yubing’s insistence that she sends him off.
His reason was that it was embarrassing to have no one sending him off.
“Li Yubing, are you a princess?” Tang Xue scoffed.
Rather than getting annoyed, Li Yubing laughed, “I’ll wait for you.”
Tang Xue rolled her eyes at her phone.
Though she rolled her eyes, she still agreed to head over.
They took a taxi to the airport. As the two suitcases were too big, the taxi boot could only fit one and the other had to be placed in the front passenger seat. The three of them sat in the backseat with Li Yubing sitting in the middle. This chapter is a labour of love that should not be found outside of teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.
Normally, there was no problem with three people sitting at the back. However, Li Yubing and Jiang Shijia were too fit and tall. Tang Xue felt that space was cramped with the three of them squeezed together. Li Yubing sat in a bold and aggressive manner like a bandit. They sat so near that her thigh was touching his. She was not used to sitting so close to another person and felt slightly unaccustomed to being enveloped by his foreign yet familiar scent.
The atmosphere was a little strange; no one in the car spoke. The driver was a little aggrieved and felt that his car tires were about to blow from the tension. He wanted to grumble out loud but was afraid to do so.
Li Yubing was the first to speak. He asked Tang Xue, “Don’t you have a parting speech before I leave?”
“It’s not like you’re never coming back.” Tang Xue curled her lips. She really had nothing to say. After thinking for a while, she asked, “How about I sing a song for the two of you?”
Li Yubing quickly stopped her. “Don’t. Have mercy.”
Annoyed, Tang Xue swung her knee to hit him. Li Yubing laughed as he dodged to the side.
Beside them, Jiang Shijia looked out of the window silently.
As they messed around, the car suddenly jolted. Tang Xue’s body lurched with the momentum and her head swung towards the car window. In a flash, Li Yubing raised his long arm and put his hand next to the window with his palm spread like a shield.
Tang Xue’s head bumped into his palm instead.
She was still a little confused at first, only realizing what had happened when she raised her head and saw his hand pressed against the window.
Tang Xue stare blankly at the lines on Li Yubing’s palm, at a loss how she should react.
She was really unaccustomed to how considerate Li Yubing was…
Someone, please return that annoying Lunatic Li back…
Seeing Tang Xue in a daze, Li Yubing smoothly withdrew his hand. He commented, “You’re already a fool. If you bump your head, you’ll become even more foolish than you are now.”
Tang Xue glared at him.
——
In the midst of his morning training break, Yu Yan’s mind wandered as he drank electrolyte water.
He was thinking about many things, such as when Tang Xue would return, if the plane would be delayed, if Li Yubing that utterly shameless person would do anything to her, and….
“Yan Yan.” A voice called him from behind.
Yu Yan snapped out of the whirlwind of thoughts and twisted his head. He was astonished when he saw who it was. “Mom, why are you here?”
The one who called him was his mother, Mrs Liang.
Mrs Liang wore a light grey skirt suit. Her makeup was impeccable and appropriately applied, showing off a good complexion with clear, glowing skin. Unfortunately, she had obvious wrinkles on her forehead and thin lips that had grown even more prominent with age. This made her face appear a little harsh and unfriendly.
When she saw Yu Yan, a smile spread across her face. “Aren’t you going for a competition soon? I’ll here to visit you.”
“There are still several more days to the competition.”
The province skating championship was split into short track speed skating, long track speed skating and figure skating. The short track speed skating competition was the earliest to be held while the figure skating competition would take place five days later.
“I’ll accompany you for the next few days,” Mrs Liang said. Seeing how Yu Yan opened his mouth to speak but hesitated, her smile disappeared. “Don’t you want to see me?”
“Ah? I don’t mean that…”
Yu Yan only felt a little strange.
After chatting with his mother for a while, he put aside his doubts for the time being and resumed his training.
As for Mrs Liang, she went to look for Coach Yang and started talking with her at the side.
Yu Yan had the best potential in the entire figure skating team. Tinted by her excellent impression of Yu Yan, Coach Yang treated Mrs Liang warmly. When Mrs Liang asked about Yu Yan’s performance, Coach Yang was full of praise for him.
However, after praising Yu Yan, Coach Yang added, “That being said, I feel that Yu Yan has been a little distracted lately. Are there any issues at home?”
“Not at all. Both his father and I are doing very well.”
“Mm. Perhaps he’s young and still maturing. Of course, there shouldn’t be an issue with this competition. Oh right, a few days ago, Coach Ma Rui—the head coach for the national team—saw Yu Yan’s competition footage and felt that his skating skills and performance aesthetics are top-notch. In particular, Yu Yan’s excellent performance aesthetics is quite rare among Chinese athletics. From what he said, I feel that Coach Ma Rui is quite keen on accepting Yu Yan into the national team. What do you think of it?”
Mrs Liang had a clear plan on her son’s professional career. Hearing Coach Yang’s words, she smiled and said, “I think that Yu Yan is doing very well under you. There’s no need to head over to the national team.”
Coach Yang was extremely flattered by Mrs Liang’s words. She laughed with a wide smile and waved her hand. “The national team is still a great choice.’
Mrs Liang pursed her lips and suddenly said, “Coach Yang, I’ll like to ask about a person.”
“Oh?”
“It’s this young lady called Tang Xue.”
The truth behind Mrs Liang’s sudden appearance at RCU was not as simple as merely wanting to spend time with her son before the competition.
In order to learn more about her son’s activities, she had installed the RCU app and clicked into the school forum. After typing Yu Yan’s name into the search bar, she found a stunning amount of news of a relationship scandal.
What an outrage! Yu Yan was only seventeen!
What made the whole affair even more ridiculous was that the relationship scandal involved not two, but three people. Toying around with two different guys at the same time with no qualms—how could a girl of such character exist? Did her parents know about her behaviour?
Upon reading the details of the scandal that her son was embroiled in, Mrs Liang was unable to sit still and immediately rushed to find Yu Yan.
After hearing Coach Yang’s feedback that Yu Yan had been distracted lately, she confirmed her suspicions.
It looked like she would have to meet Tang Xue for herself.
