Rock Sugar And Pear Stew Chapter 17

Chapter 17 – Life Coach (Translated by Xing and edited by Souhi)

Tang Xue fell into a deep sleep after going back to bed. When she woke again, she discovered that Xia Menghuan has been up for some time. The smell of soy milk and youtiao [1] wafted through the room.

“Why are you up so early?” Sprawled across her bed, Tang Xue peered at Xia Menghuan.

“I’m really happy!” Xia Menghuan raised her arm and pa.s.sed a bag of youtiao to her. “Breakfast?”

Tang Xue took one from the bag and immediately took a bite. Without chewing it first, she asked Xia Menghuan, “What made you so happy?”

“Earlier in the morning, that girl named Yu Wei WeChat transferred me 50 dollars. She even said that she wants to reserve future chances to deliver Li Yubing’s breakfast. This is way too entertaining.”

Tang Xue was a little surprised. “Li Yubing believed it? He didn’t say anything?”

“Nope.”

“Hmm, looks like he’s not on guard. We can continue to auction opportunities to deliver him breakfast then. We won’t stop till Li Yubing yells us to.”

……

Tang Xue did not have cla.s.s that afternoon. Xia Menghuan wanted to work during this free period and was unable to hang out with her. Bored, Tang Xue followed her to the ice rink.

She needed to make the most of her free ice skating perk. After all, this was a benefit that she “sold” herself for.

Being an ice rink crew member was physically demanding work that required one to practically spend all time on ice. For those like Xia Menghuan who did not know how to skate, they would first be trained on how to do so. However, after taking one look at how frail and fragile Xia Menghuan was, the manager a.s.signed her to look after the equipment rental instead.

Xia Menghuan was puzzled and asked Tang Xue, “Say, why do you think I got selected when I’m obviously not the best person for this job? Wasn’t there supposed to be intense compet.i.tion over

it?”

She and Liao Zhenyu were still in the dark that they were selected due to their friends.h.i.+p with Tang Xue.

Tang Xue threw out her best guess. “Maybe it’s because you’re pretty.”

Xia Menghuan believed her.

The ice rink they were at was located in the East Wing of the indoor ice stadium. RCU’s indoor ice stadium was separated into two wings. The East Wing held the main stadium with the biggest ice rink. It could seat more than 1,000 spectators and was capable of hosting compet.i.tions. On days without any special events, the ice rink was open to public with the earnings used to maintain its daily operations. It was said that in the past, the RCU Ice Stadium was consecutively in the red. However, ever since ice stadium’s management was taken over by Dauntless Dragon Club, its financial reports had drastically improved.

The results of RCU’s partners.h.i.+p with Dauntless Dragon Club did not stop there.

RCU’s ice sports teams consisted of the short track speed skating team, the figure skating team and the ice hockey team. The ice hockey team was the last to be established and had the worst achievement of the lot. It did not manage to attain much even numerous years after establishment. Without solid achievements, funding was tight. To make things worse, ice hockey was a sport that required ma.s.sive funds to sustain…… Gradually, the ice hockey team had difficulties operating and fell into shambles.

RCU had no choice but to resort to the unorthodox method of sustaining the ice hockey team with a school-business hybrid operational model.

This partners.h.i.+p was in the works for over a year. Originally, both parties haggled extensively over the potential benefits and was unable to come to a consensus. The partners.h.i.+p almost collapsed.

It was the start of a new academic year last September that a new first year student named Li Yubing reported at Rain City United University.

Then, as an ordinary student, he ran over to the ice hockey team and raised a

a ruckus. He said that he wished to join the ice hockey team, and that he was fully capable of carrying[2] them. Head over to teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com if translator’s notes are missing or if you simply want to read without ads.

The ice hockey coach had truly not seen someone so pretentious for years. At that time, he was a little muddleheaded and actually didn’t hit Li Yubing.

Following this, Li Yubing also did not say much. He changed into ice hockey equipment, played against the ice hockey team members, and managed to successfully join the ice hockey team that very day.

After discovering this new player on the team, Dauntless Dragon Club swiftly yielded and signed a cooperation agreement with RCU.

The presence of Li Yubing and Dauntless Dragon Club resulted in rapid changes for the RCU ice hockey team. This January, at the National University Winter Games, the RCU ice hockey team managed to obtain a gold medal despite facing strong compet.i.tors. With this compet.i.tion alone, Li Yubing achieved fame and became the subject of numerous discussions. After appearing in further ice hockey compet.i.tions in the subsequent months, he gradually gained some fans. Male fans thought that he had great skills while female fans thought that he was hot. The club boss thought that he was a money tree while the school management thought that he was the breakthrough in reversing the fortunes of the ice hockey team……

Everyone placed him on a pedestal.

……

It was at the equipment rental counter that Tang Xue heard all these gossips from the young female cas.h.i.+er.

She was great at dramatizing, and both Tang Xue and Xia Menghuan had listened till they were dazed. Tang Xue was a little sceptical. “Him, really? Are you sure he’s that good?”

“Definitely. Everyone reverently calls him “Ice G.o.d”. Do you think that this was just for show?”

Tang Xue’s lips curled. She shook her head. “I don’t think this name fits him.”

“What do you think fits him then?”

“b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”

The girl’s face darkened and she heatedly said,

heatedly said, “I’m a fan of his. Mind your words!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Tang Xue quickly apologized. “This sister over here, let me divulge something to you about Li Yubing. Are you interested to know?”

“Oh? What is it?”

“I’m the one who brought him into ice hockey.” Tang Xue pointed to herself. “Really, I’m not lying. I’m his life coach.”

The girl was full of admiration. “Most people would claim to be his girlfriend. You must be the first and only one to say that you’re his life coach. What a refres.h.i.+ng and creative way of boosting. If there was a boosting compet.i.tion, I’ll definitely vote for you.” If you see this, this translation has been reposted without permission from teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.

Tang Xue wasn’t too motivated in continuing the conversation and strolled off.

She originally wanted to ice skate but as she pa.s.sed by the door on the west, she saw that the door was open and on it hung a sign that said “no unauthorised entry”.

Usually, the more something was forbidden, the bigger the itch to investigate it.

The west door wasn’t an exit but led to the West Wing.

Tang Xue knew that only the East Wing of the ice stadium was open to public. The West Wing was a restricted area reserved for athletes’ trainings. She was a little curious on how it looked like. She looked left and right, saw that no one was looking and in a flash, sneaked inside.

Behind the door was a pa.s.sageway. At the end of this pa.s.sageway was curiously enough, yet another door.

She pushed open this door to see a security guard silently staring at her.

“Cough.” This was awkward.

“Who are you looking for? You need to register yourself at the main entrance.”

“I’m…… just looking around.”

“You’re not allowed to do that here.”

“Can’t I just take a small peek……” Tang Xue mumbled. Seeing the security guard’s unyielding att.i.tude, she was about to turn when she suddenly saw a familiar figure in the distance. “Manager Wu!” She yelled.

Hearing her cry, Manager Wu looked Manager Wu looked over, saw that it was Tang Xue and smiled. “Oh Tang Xue, are you here for Li Yubing?”

“Ah? Ah.” Tang Xue nodded.

“Go ahead. It just so happens that he’s about to end training. You know where he’s at, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” Tang Xue lied through her teeth.

As a result, Manager Wu left her to her own devices.

Tang Xue successfully sauntered into the West Wing without supervision.

……

Manager Wu went to settle some things at the East Wing. When he returned to the West Wing, he chanced upon Li Yubing who was about to head out with his bag. He saw Li Yubing’s quiet look of confidence and beamed at him. “Going for cla.s.s?”

“Mm.”

Seeing how Li Yubing was alone, he curiously asked, “Has Tang Xue left?”

Li Yubing halted. “Tang Xue?”

“That’s right. She came to find you. I just saw her not long ago.”

Li Yubing wrinkled his brows and wondered what that scoundrel was up to this time.

He was unable to guess her mind. Feeling uneasy, he turned back to look for her.

Translator’s Notes:

[1] A traditional Chinese breakfast. Youtiao is a deep fried piece of dough usually eaten on its own, or dipped into soy milk or porridge. Savoury instead of sweet.

Youtiao. Photo Credit: Living Nomads

[2] For older readers or readers who don’t game, the “carrying” here isn’t literal. It refers to someone who is really good at something and able to support or bring others through that something due to their proficiency. This term is traditionally used in gaming (e.g. a strong player who is able to carry the team to victory / a weak player begging to be carried) but can also be used for other areas that involve working with others such as sports or school projects. The original Chinese equivalent of this phrase was 带他们飞 (dài tā men fēi), which interestingly means to bring them to flight.