Chapter 64 - Angry? (Translated and edited by Xing)

Tang Xue was caught off guard by the sudden pounding of her heart. She blinked.

Then, she quickly pressed a hand against her forehead and lowered her head without saying a word. Using her chopsticks, she slowly picked up a piece of meat and started flipping it from one side to another like grilling a flatbread. She did not eat it.

Their eyes met for barely a second or two. Li Yubing did not discover any abnormality and instead found Tang Xue's sudden movements kind of strange. He asked, "What's wrong?"

"I suddenly remembered that I have something else on. I'll be leaving first." As Tang Xue spoke, she put down her chopsticks, stood up, took her bag and left. Her steps were as swift as the wind.

"Hey." Li Yubing watched her leaving figure and felt extremely puzzled.

Hearing his voice, Tang Xue walked even faster.

It was only until she walked out of the restaurant and felt the light, cool wind outside brush against her forehead that she felt like she had escaped from some amorous web.

"No, no, no, this can't be real." Tang Xue muttered to herself as she walked. "This must be an illusion! Even if I'm that thirsty, there's no way that I could have fallen for him?" As she said this, the earlier image of Li Yubing surfaced in her mind, looking absolutely delectable…

Ahhhhh, no!!!

After Tang Xue left, Li Yubing lowered his head and stared at the grill in a daze. He was not certain if she was angry.

Though he could not think of any reason that might have caused her anger, she was a girl after all. Who knew for sure?

Li Yubing sent a text to his roommate Old Deng. Old Deng was someone with insights on male and female relations.h.i.+ps.

Li Yubing: What do girls usually get angry over?

Old Deng: Short, ugly, poor, brief, small, fast. Choose one yourself.

Li Yubing: …

Li Yubing took in a deep breath and resisted the impulse to block him

Then, Li Yubing turned to Jiang s.h.i.+jia. Though Jiang s.h.i.+jia did not have much relations.h.i.+p experience, from Li Yubing's day-to-day conversations with him, it felt like he still knew a thing or two.

Li Yubing: What do girls usually get angry over?

Jiang s.h.i.+jia: Eh, this would depend on the scenario. What did you say to the girl?

Li Yubing: Call her sis-in-law.

Jiang s.h.i.+jia: Don't show off your love to me over the New Year, thank you very much!

Li Yubing briefly summarized what happened earlier. Jiang s.h.i.+jia immediately saw the crux of the matter.

Jiang s.h.i.+jia: Eh, bro! By endlessly putting meat on her plate, are you trying to hint sis-in-law that she has a huge appet.i.te? You should be thankful that she didn't beat you up!

Li Yubing: That's… the case?

Jiang s.h.i.+jia: For sure!

Li Yubing felt that Jiang s.h.i.+jia was too dogmatic due to his inexperience. Though it was possible for other girls to mind the size of their appet.i.tes, it was impossible for Tang Xue to have this problem. Usually, she was fiercer than guys when fighting with him for food. Furthermore, she could gnaw on pig trotters in front of him with no pressure.

Therefore, Jiang s.h.i.+jia's advice could not be trusted as well.

Li Yubing felt that he was approaching this matter wrongly. He should be contacting other girls for advice as girls are more familiar with each others' perspectives. However, after flipping through his contact list, he did not find any girl whom he was close enough with that he could talk to regarding this matter. The main reason for this was that since secondary school, he was much busier than his peers of the same age. He had to maintain good grades while making sure that he was performing well in ice hockey. On the rare occasion that he had some spare time, he would be reading, practicing cello, spending time alone, or bringing his binoculars to the suburbs to gaze at stars.

Therefore, it was impossible for him to squeeze out time to attend social activities, especially those with girls since it required more patience and energy. This caused him to be mere acquaintances with all the girls he got to know. Among them, there were even some who blocked him when he rejected their confessions…

Right now, the only person who could provide him with advice was actually his mother. This chapter is a labour of love that should not be found outside of teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.

Li Yubing did not want to seek advice from his mother. This was mainly because his mother had been displaying odd behaviour lately. He could not specify the details but simply felt that his mother's every gaze was loaded with meaning. She would also frequently exchange glances with his father and whisper with him… It was all very puzzling behaviour.

After dinner, Li Yubing did not wander elsewhere and headed home straight. When he returned, his parents had already eaten. They were done with the food but not with the alcohol—his dad sat in front of the French window, nursing a gla.s.s of red wine and savouring it with small sips.

This was another recent development that Li Yubing found puzzling. His father had been drinking excessively the past few days due to unknown reasons and his mother did not seem to care at all.

What had happened to this family for so many puzzling things to occur?

Mama Li was watching a movie t.i.tled 'Lan Yu' (BL movie). Li Yubing walked over to sit next to her and asked, "What's wrong with my dad?"

"Nothing, the two of us are doing very well."

"Drinking like this? Doing very well?"

"Oh, that's his final few indulgences."

Li Yubing seemed to have understood after thinking about it for a while. "He's going to quit drinking?"

"Mm. After the New Year is over."

"That's good." Li Yubing nodded. He approved his father's decision to quit drinking.

At this moment, Papa Li walked over with the wine bottle in one hand and his wine gla.s.s in the other. He sat next to his wife and called out to his son, "Yubing, do you want some? Let us two men drink together?"

Li Yubing shook his head. He felt that something was wrong. His father was usually fine and did not drink excessively. Why would he want to quit drinking out of the blue?

"Dad, is there something wrong with your health?"

Mama Li waved her hand and said, "If something is wrong, he won't even have the chance to touch the wine gla.s.s, don't worry."

"Then…" Why did he suddenly want to quit drinking?

Mama Li said very seriously, "Yubing, let me ask you a question. You have to answer me honestly."

"Okay."

"If, I'm saying if… if your father and I want to have a second child, would you mind?"

Li Yubing was startled. He had no idea that this was what his parents were thinking about. He shook his head and said, "This is between the two of you. I won't mind."

"Yubing, you're such an understanding child. Your father and I have not made any concrete decisions on whether to have a second child. But don't you worry, dad and mom would always respect and support you no matter what."

There it came again, that indescribably odd feeling. Li Yubing felt that there was something wrong with the logic behind his mother's words. Was there a necessary connection between the decision to have a second child and the choice to support and respect him?

He pinched his forehead and suddenly thought of something. He then said, "Dad, mom, I need you to help me with something."

"Oh? What?"

"I'll like to find out more about a person, such as information on his family or his societal connections. The more details you can find, the better it is."

The person that Li Yubing was talking about was Bian Cheng. He briefly shared what he already knew. When Papa Li and Mama Li heard that it was a guy around his age, they exchanged glances, their hearts completely unperturbed at this point.

Tang Xue strolled through the streets aimlessly. After she had cooled down for some time, she finally headed to her grandparents' house. Translated by Xing for only teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.

From young, she was her grandparents' heart and soul. At her grandparents' place, she was never scolded and always enjoyed treatment befitting an emperor. On this, her father had criticized that grandparents were the biggest obstacle to a wholesome upbringing for a child.

It was said that all fathers in the world agree with this statement, at least until they themselves become grandparents.

Tang Xue's sudden arrival delighted her grandparents. Her grandmother asked her, "Tang Xue, why are you here? Did you argue with your father?"

"No way, can't I simply have missed you?"

"Fine, fine, fine, let granny cook glutinous rice b.a.l.l.s for you. What flavours do you want?"

"Mm… a mixture of red bean and sesame. Don't forget to add salt."

Her grandmother went to cook the glutinous rice b.a.l.l.s while her grandfather dragged her over to show off his new Purple Clay teapot. After the glutinous rice b.a.l.l.s were ready, her grandmother prepared a few other dishes for her. Tang Xue snapped a photo of the food and took two selfies with her grandparents before posting it on her Moments.

Caption: People who love me best in the entire world!

Seeing her post, Princ.i.p.al Tang fumed until his nose was almost crooked. He pointed at his phone and ranted to Mama Li, "She's showing off her might! She thinks that she's invincible behind the protection of the four heavenly guardians!"

The four heavenly guardians naturally referred to all four of Tang Xue's grandparents.

"She should consider," Princ.i.p.al Tang said, "Who would still be willing to protect her if I show these photos to them!"

Mama Tang was watching a melodrama. Hearing his words, she retorted, "Forget it. You might very well give the elders a heart attack. I feel that though we have to educate her well on this issue, your approach is wrong. Aren't you familiar with that waspish temper of hers? She's one who bows to gentle persuasion and not intimidation. The more you reprimand her, the more it'll backfire."

Princ.i.p.al Tang replied to her with a "humph". After a moment, he said to his wife, "Help me ask her very seriously who loves her most in the entire world."

Mama Tang picked up her phone and commented on Tang Xue's Moments post as instructed by her husband.

In the end, Tang Xue replied: "My two grandpas and grandmas and also mom."

All right, her father was kicked to the curb just like this.

Mama Li did not have the heart to show this reply to her husband. She put down her phone and picked up the photos on the coffee table again. She looked through them one by one and asked Princ.i.p.al Tang, "Say, do you think it's possible that we might have accused her mistakenly?"

"Words are but wind, but seeing is believing. With the truth in front of us, how could we have accused her mistakenly?"

"What if, this is only the partial truth?"

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.

Life update: Thank you for everyone's well wishes last week but the job doesn't seem to be working out. To be frank, I hesitated if I should share this because it feels like I've been oversharing about myself over the past year of translating. At the same time, I want to alert readers as these are changes in my life that would affect the translation releases. All of you have absolutely understanding and nice so far and I'm really grateful for that.

Drama update: They've wrapped up filming! Look at the kids in the third photo! With how TX towered over LYB, it's no wonder he suffered under her brash personality as a child. It's too adorable to imagine the shorter LYB solemnly helping the taller TX to tie her red scarf while she just wants to run off impatiently.

Compet.i.tive ice skating romance , produced by the team behind , and starring and , has officially wrapped up filming after 100 days!

— c-drama tweets (@dramapotatoe)