Rock Sugar And Pear Stew Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Retaliation (Translated by Xing and edited by Souhi & Sabrina)

Tang Xue picked up a red ballpoint pen cartridge. She went around playing with this pen cartridge, giving herself several ? on her exercise book while writing a big fat zero for Li Yubing.

Following this, a disaster befell Li Yubing's literature textbook. Every single animal ill.u.s.tration in the book gained a fresh coat of blood red lipstick. Even the frog was not spared…… at first glance, the textbook looked akin to an encyclopaedia of monsters.

This was not all. She then drew a watch on Li Yubing's wrist.

With her holding his hand, Li Yubing felt both angry and awkward. His face flushed and he said: "Stop fooling around."

"Stop moving, I'll draw a ring for you."

Li Yubing was so annoyed he immediately rolled his eyes.

Teacher Zhao's discovery that Li Yubing was once again being bullied made her heart ache a little.

As a result, when she was retained by Princ.i.p.al Tang after the school meeting to share more on her cla.s.s's condition, she decided to spill everything as it is after some hesitation.

Your daughter, she's really a tyrant……

Princ.i.p.al Tang was so angry that his nose flared after listening to Teacher Zhao's comprehensive report. When he returned home in the evening, he spanked Tang Xue's palm. With just one light strike that was not even exerted with much force, this brat started tearing up. The large glistening tears in Tang Xue's eyes made her seem to be in an extremely pitiable state.

Princ.i.p.al Tang hated himself for being useless at how his heart instantly softened.

He looked at the little rascal with a stern face, "Have you understood what you've done wrong?"

"Understood……"

"Will you still dare to bully your cla.s.smates in the future?"

"No……"

Tang Xue's palms were spared but she was still sentenced to stand as punishment.

Be it eating dinner or doing her homework, Tang Xue was not allowed to sit at all.

As she completed her a.s.signments, Tang Xue gritted her teeth and muttered: "How dare you tattle? Li Yubing, just you wait!"

The next day at school, the first thing that Tang Xue did was to criticize Li Yubing for being a tattletale.

Li Yubing was extremely puzzled, "I didn't do anything."

Tang Xue of course, did not expect him to admit it.

In a fit of anger, she finished his bear biscuits and Hot-kid milk[1]. During lunch when everyone was eating in the school canteen, she continued by polis.h.i.+ng off his sweet and sour pork.

Li Yubing was forced to make do with the celery that Tang Xue detested.

This was not all. After lunch, Tang Xue dragged Li Yubing to the minimart where he was forced to buy a Kinder Joy for her.

Confession time: Original text was ambiguous on whether it was a Kinder Joy, Kinder Surprise, or simply a Chinese knockoff so I randomly choose one.

Kinder Joy was currently the latest fad among primary school children. Shaped like a duck egg, each Kinder Joy could be opened to reveal chocolate and a different surprise toy. It was very interesting, with the only downside of being expensive.

After buying the Kinder Joy, Li Yubing touched the remaining two coins in his pocket. His face darkened.

Saving up is not easy when you're a primary school kid ……

On the other end, Tang Xue was in a super good mood after having obtained a Kinder Joy. She ate the chocolate while playing with the mini helicopter that was inside the egg. After returning to cla.s.s, she showed off the helicopter and basked in the envious looks thrown her way, looking as if she was a winner in life.

Tang Xue told Li Yubing: "I've decided to forgive you." She then paused for a while before adding on, "But you still have to let me drink your Hot-kid milk tomorrow."

Li Yubing thought, things cannot go on like this.

He needed to retaliate.

There were lots of candies in Li Yubing's home. The majority was given by his parents' friends.

However, his parents did not allow him to eat too many candies. This meant that most of these sweets were often kept past their expiry date.

This day, looking at his mother throwing away the expired candies, Li Yubing suddenly asked: "What would happen if someone ate these?"

Mrs Li tried to scare him: "You'll get a tummy ache and have to go to the hospital to get an injection before you can get well. So don't ever eat food that has expired."

Li Yubing obediently nodded his head. He pointed to the discarded jar of candies in the bin and said: "Can I take some?"

"Mm? What for?"

"To feed stray dogs."

Li Yubing brought the expired candies to school. As expected, he had only taken out the candies for a moment when Tang Xue immediately scooted over like a dog that had seen a bone.

"These are even imported candies." Tang Xue pointed to the foreign words on the wrappers and said.

"Mm." Li Yubing purposely replied in an indifferent tone, seeming as if the candies were something very ordinary to him.

Tang Xue swallowed her saliva: "Lemme help you taste them?"

Listen to this, just listen, how can someone be so shameless……

Without waiting for Li Yubing's reply, Tang Xue nonchalantly took a candy, unwrapped and popped it into her mouth at lightning speed. She was in no way giving him a chance to refuse.

Li Yubing turned his head to the side, the corners of his mouth slightly turning up.

"Stray dog." With his back facing her, he quietly murmured.

"What did you say?" Tang Xue did not catch that and questioned him while sucking on the candy.

Li Yubing did not reply. He tossed the remaining two pieces of candies in his hand onto her desk before fis.h.i.+ng out his brand new literature book - the previous encyclopaedia of monsters had already been thrown into the rubbish bin by him. This was a new book that his mother had just bought.

His mother even called him a blockhead for being able to lose his book from just attending school.

Even though his eyes were fixed on the textbook, Li Yubing's attention remained on Tang Xue who was sitting beside him. He could not wait to see this fellow get a tummy ache before being sent to the hospital to get an injection. It would be perfect if he could personally hear her anguished cries while receiving the injection.

Craaack——

After Tang Xue bit down on the candy in her mouth, she suddenly felt that something was wrong and immediately halted after that one bite.

Li Yubing tilted his head to the side and secretly observed her.

With just one glance, his mind instantly went blank.

Tang Xue was bleeding.

One side of her cheek was puffed up like a bun from the candy. Her mouth was slightly agape and bright red blood was trickling down the corners of her mouth. The trickle of blood slowly increased and increased until it seemed like a red waterfall. It was a shocking sight to see.

Li Yubing was so stunned that his whole body felt cold and his limbs went numb.

Tang Xue felt the edges of her mouth itching and raised a hand to rub it. She looked down at her fingers and saw them covered in blood.

She was immediately scared silly. She twisted her head to stare blankly at Li Yubing.

Li Yubing was staring blankly at her as well. Her tiny face was deathly pale and tears were welling up in her eyes.

Their abnormal behaviour quickly gained the attention of their cla.s.smates. At this moment, the school bell rang to signal the start of cla.s.s. Teacher Zhao stepped into the cla.s.sroom and said: "Stop messing about, can't you hear that it's time for lessons? Sit down properly!"

Mo Xiaolu who sat in front of Tang Xue cried sharply: "Teacher, Tang Xue is throwing up blood!"

Teacher Zhao turned towards Tang Xue, and saw that her complexion was pale and there was indeed blood at her mouth. What was even odder was that one side of her cheek was severely puffed up. Teacher Zhao immediately put down the lesson plan she was holding and quickly ran over in a fright. She bent down and cradled Tang Xue's face with one hand. She gently touched the swollen cheek with a thumb. The swollen area was solid and firm.

"What's going on? What did you eat?"

Tang Xue was in a state of shock. She looked blankly at Teacher Zhao in silence.

In a trembling voice, Li Yubing said: "It's candy, it's exp, exp——"

Teacher Zhao interrupted him and told Tang Xue: "Spit it out."

Tang Xue obediently lowered her head, opened her mouth and spat.

What came out was the two split halves of the candy.

Tang Xue spat again.

This time, what came out was a white object covered in blood foam.

Upon seeing it, Teacher Zhao's shoulders instantly relaxed: "Tang Xue, you're changing teeth."

Teacher Zhao brought Tang Xue to rinse her mouth. Afterwards, lessons resumed as per normal. Actually, quite a few students in cla.s.s had changed teeth before. However, cases like Tang Xue's that had managed to re-enact a scene from a horror movie were rare exceptions.

Having just recovered from a shock, Tang Xue looked exceptionally demure. After sitting down, she told Li Yubing: "I thought I was going to die."

Li Yubing replied in a low voice: "Me too."

Tang Xue felt that she needed to calm her nerves by eating some candy. She silently reached towards the two remaining pieces of candy on her table.

Li Yubing quickly took them away.

"Hey." Tang Xue was a little unhappy.

"Stop eating." Li Yubing said.

Tang Xue ignored his words. She stretched an open palm towards him, "You've already given them to me."

Li Yubing: "I regretted it."

In the front of the cla.s.s, Teacher Zhao rapped the blackboard: "Pay attention! Tang Xue, Li Yubing, do you two have a lot to say? Why not come up here and tell it to the whole cla.s.s?"

Tang Xue immediately shut her mouth. Nonetheless, she continued to stare stubbornly at Li Yubing with her palm outstretched.

Li Yubing unwrapped the two candies and gave each piece a lick. He then rewrapped and dropped them into her palm.

"Enjoy."

Tang Xue: "……"

Author's Bonus Content

【Q】How did your marriage proposal went?

Top Comment: The first proposal was in primary 2. She drew an engagement ring on my finger.

Originally translated at teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Head there for extra content or to leave feedback and comments on the novel translation.

Translator's Notes:

[1] It is called 旺仔牛奶 (wàng zǎi niú nǎi) in Chinese. It's not actual milk but a sweetened milk flavoured beverage that's a childhood staple and favourite for most kids growing up in some Asian countries.

Behold, Hot-kid milk

:Hugs Li Yubing for the shock he got from Tang Xue:

Not sure about you guys, but some Chinese readers find TX a bit of a brat though I personally feel that most of her interactions with LYB are pretty darn cute. Hang in there until these few chapters of their childhood are over because the future payoff is definitely worth it.

For those of you who are less amused with TX’s antics and just want to see LYB get even, come back at chapter 8. It’s the chapter where LYB “escaped” from TX, which will definitely bring back some bittersweet moments and hilarious consequences later on. I won’t recommend you to completely skip the childhood chapters though. Maybe just stockpile them and quickly skim through as the novel will still mention some of those events here and there.

If you like this please thank my beautiful friends Souhi and Sabrina for helping me to edit and get this chapter out to you guys so quickly. (And maybe also help to give this novel a more decent rating on NovelUpdates. You can always modify the rating later on if the story wasn't up to your expectations. For some reason, it received 3 one star ratings on its first day. What exactly have Tang Xue and Li Yubing done in just the first chapter to offend you guys? :o)