Chapter 6 - The source of his happiness (Translated by Xing and edited by Souhi) ?

Princ.i.p.al Tang thought, the frequency in which Tang Xue this la.s.s was stirring up trouble was in no small part due to an excessive amount of free time.

He needed to find something to occupy her.

For now, there was no need for academic related remedial lessons. He was capable of tutoring his own child.

"What about something more physically active? Such as dancing, swimming, or taekwondo?" Mrs Tang discussed with him.

"Taekwondo is definitely out of the question. She's already bullying cla.s.smates as she is. Letting her learn taekwondo would be inviting a huge disaster." Princ.i.p.al Tang pre-emptively got rid of activities that could potentially incite violence.

After school, Princ.i.p.al Tang casually strolled through the area in front of the school entrance, collecting a number of flyers. After several rounds of evaluation and consulting Tang Xue, they temporarily settled on ice skating.

That day, Tang Xue did not head home immediately after school. Instead, she waited at the school gate with her father for the public bus. As school had just dismissed, the area was a little chaotic and bustling with activity just like a marketplace. It was not only packed with people and cars but also small carts and vans selling various snacks.

Tang Xue, who was carrying a little backpack, busily glanced around before suddenly yelling out in a certain direction: "Li Yubing!"

Seeing that it was Tang Xue, Mrs Li delightfully headed over with Li Yubing in tow. Mrs Li knew that Tang Xue stayed in the faculty accommodation located on campus. Looking at how they were waiting for the bus, she straight away knew that they were not going home. Thus, she asked: "Where are you heading to?"

"I signed her up for a cla.s.s."

"What sort of cla.s.s?"

"Ice skating."

"How is it?"

"She haven't gone yet. Today's the first lesson meant for trying out. Do you want to bring Li Yubing along to give it a try? Trying out is free."

Mrs Li thought this was something quite novel. She looked down at Li Yubing, asked: "Do you want to give it a try?"

Li Yubing decisively shook his head.

After much coaxing and persuasion, Mrs Li finally got her son to reluctantly nod his head. Mrs Li did not spare him time to regret this decision and happily hauled him into the car.

Tang Xue and her father had the good luck to hitch a ride.

Li Yubing made good on his words. He said to simply pop by for a casual look and did exactly just that. He primly sat on the plastic benches by the indoor ice rink, his mannerism calling to mind that of an inspector.

The coach brought the skate gear over and invited him to give them a try. Li Yubing merely shook his head.

Mrs Li felt her head hurt, "He hates exercising the most. Sigh, this child of mine. He's young but very strong willed. I may be his mother but I'm still not able to convince him otherwise."

After changing into the skates and protective gears, Tang Xue followed her father onto the ice rink. Yes, that's right. His Excellency the princ.i.p.al knew how to skate as well.

After that, Tang Xue's father threw her to the coach and merrily skated off.

For any single child learning to skate, the first step would always be to fall. Tang Xue had barely moved under the coach's guidance when she fell with a "plonk" on the ice.

Sitting outside, Li Yubing's lips curled upwards.

Tang Xue did not cry. She got up and continued skating before shortly falling down again with another thump.

Li Yubing tiny figure shook with laughter, his eyes glistening.

Tang Xue continued to fall while Li Yubing continued to laugh. Halfway through, he could not help but to start clapping.

Sweat beaded at Mrs Li's temple. She exasperatedly[1] prodded his head: "You silly lad! It's one thing to not cheer someone on and another to start clapping!"

In any case, Li Yubing's goodwill towards the sport of ice skating increased by leaps and bounds. This was to the extent that he was willing to personally give it a go.

Li Yubing changed into the gear, stepped into the rink, and his first step was also to unsurprisingly stumble and fall.

Tang Xue: "Hahahahaha!"

If it wasn't for Tang Xue expressing schadenfreude at the side, he would probably had found this activity tiresome and given up after a few falls. However, there was just this annoying fellow clamouring noisily beside him. Somewhat crossed, he got back on his feet and continued on from before. He listened to the coach's instructions while slowly getting a hang of the entire process. Just like that, he actually prevented himself from falling after a while.

Afterwards, Li Yubing casually skated past Tang Xue. Even though his movements were not fluid, he was calm and unperturbed, putting on an act of posing[2] that absolutely merited full marks. Head over to teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com if translator's notes are missing or if you simply want to read without ads.

"Eh?" Tang Xue was a little amazed.

Li Yubing clasped his hands behind his back, leaving Tang Xue with a back view that was the very image of profoundness.

"How did you manage this?" Tang Xue chased along, and in a moment of anxiousness, fell again with yet another thump. She could not help but to let out an "ouch".

Li Yubing continued skating and cracked a smile. However, he did not dare to express his mirth too obviously and the smile only lightly tugged at his lips.

In short, his happiness was derived from her pain.

Princ.i.p.al Tang skated past the coach and heard him mused: "Kid's got a flair for this."

Princ.i.p.al Tang was quite happy: "Are you referring to our la.s.s?"

"No, I was talking about that boy." The coach raised his chin and looked towards Li Yubing's back.

"What about ours?" Princ.i.p.al Tang doggedly asked in dissatisfaction.

The coach contemplated for a while, trying to think of some strengths: "St.u.r.dy, resilient to falls."

Princ.i.p.al Tang was terribly offended: "Do you take her for a Nokia……"

Translator's Notes:

[1] Original phrase used, 恨鐵不成鋼 (hèn tiě bù chéng gang), means hating the iron for not becoming steel. There is exasperation in this phrase where a person is feeling annoyed or angry at another person for what they are doing. However, in this particular case, this exasperation is directed towards the other person (usually a junior in the family) for failing to meet certain expectations or develop in a more satisfactory manner.

[2] The phrase used is 裝逼 (zhuāng bī), which refers to acting in a manner that makes one seem more amazing than he or she actually is. 裝逼 can also go the other way and refer to someone who is acting in a more una.s.suming manner than who they really are. This phrase can either be used with derision to criticize another's behaviour or jokingly among friends.

Posing/poser feels like a very outdated word to me but I can't think of a less awkward way of translating this in English. Take note of this phrase as it will come up again and again in this novel. I will probably indicate when this phrase is used and copy this explanation over in the translator's notes.

Edit: I tried to update NovelUpdates after posting this chapter and was so surprised to see that it updated automatically.