Chapter 73 – Gift (Translated and edited by Xing)

Tang Xue wanted to ignore Li Yubing but she was unable to shake him off . He followed by her side with slow, leisurely steps . Though he did not say a single word, his domineering presence was impossible to overlook .

When they were out of the stadium, Tang Xue headed to the bicycle parking lots . Trailing one step behind her, Li Yubing suddenly spoke, “The club requested it . ”

Tang Xue paused her step, turned and look at him . “What?”

Li Yubing said, “The club requested me to give my signature to the fans . ”

“Oh . ” Tang Xue tossed her head, unmoved as she continued walking . “Not like that’s my business . ”

Li Yubing did not expose her pretence . His lips quirked as he followed behind her . “Just take it that I’m showing off . ”

Tang Xue was extremely annoyed with how gleeful he was . “It’s so common to have some fans these days . What are you going on about it for?”

After she found her bicycle, she put her bag into the basket and was about to unlock it when Li Yubing suddenly grabbed her wrist . When he did so, Tang Xue felt her heart gave a sudden quiver .

She tried to pull her hand back but Li Yubing tightened his grip . He said, “Follow me . ”

“Why should I?”

“Come . ”

Tang Xue was pulled away bewilderedly like this . Li Yubing pulled her to a street light by the public square .  This chapter is a labour of love that should not be found outside of teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com .

Then, he fished out something from his pocket and held it out to her .

Tang Xue lowered her head and looked at it . That object was round and wrapped in a colourful wrapping paper . The excess paper was tied at the top like how Christmas apples were wrapped . However, it was smaller than an apple .

Puzzled, she asked, “Is it a sweet?”

“No . ”

“Chocolate?”

“No . ”

“Century egg?”

“No…”

Li Yubing did not dare to let her continue guessing . He pulled her hand over, stuffed the gift into it and explained, “I was tidying up a few days ago and found a leftover souvenir from Poland that hasn’t been given out . ”

Tang Xue’s lips curved as she started unwrapping the gift . She thought that the souvenir was most likely a trinket like a badge or a small toy . When she finally tore the paper open excitedly, she was stunned .

It was a piece of amber slightly smaller than an egg . Smooth to touch and a clear, translucent amber colour, it came in the shape of a slightly misshapen heart .

As Tang Xue looked at the amber, her heart beat wildly . Afraid of letting Li Yubing sense how affected she was, she gripped the amber between her thumb and index finger and examined it closely .

Inside the amber were some tiny leaf fragments . The placement and shape of the fragments preserved the way that they were initially trapped in the resin, and felt like they were going to swirl away any moment . Tang Xue raised the amber towards the light . Under the light, the fragments were surrounded by a pale golden glow . The golden glow s.h.i.+fted and changed as she turned the amber around . It looked as if there were countless tiny golden petals caught in a dance, looking beautiful beyond words .

“It’s really pretty…” Tang Xue could not help sighing in admiration .

Li Yubing’s lips quirked . “As long as you like it . ”

Cough .

That was a common phrase but when Tang Xue heard it, she felt a wave of sweetness . She calmed herself down and asked, “This… should have been quite expensive?”

Li Yubing shook his head . “Nope . You can find amber for sale everywhere in Poland . ”

“… Really?” Tang Xue did not quite believe him .

“Mm . ” Li Yubing nodded . “The locals all drive their own excavators to mine for amber . ”

Tang Xue raised her leg and pretended that she was going to kick him . “Li Yubing! Do you think I’m an idiot?”

Li Yubing dodged with a laugh . When Tang Xue put her leg down, he drew back next to her and asked softly, “Not angry anymore?”

Nope, nope, not only was she no longer angry, she even felt like hopping up and giving him a kiss .

“No, no, no . I can’t be so weak-willed…” Tang Xue shook her head and muttered to herself .

——

When Li Yubing returned to his dorm at night, he logged into his main Weibo account, cleared all his notifications and posted an advertis.e.m.e.nt arranged by the club . After completing all these, he switched into his side account .

For his Weibo side account, he had a total of 21 followers . 20 were fake followers a.s.signed to him by the system and the only actual person following him was Jiang s.h.i.+jia . Jiang s.h.i.+jia once said, “I’m the only man in the world who knows Brother Bing’s side account . In short, I’m Brother Bing’s only man . ”

Ever since he became Brother Bing’s ‘only man’, the way Jiang s.h.i.+jia looked at Li Yubing was a little weird . Amidst the respect he had was a trace of fear and amidst the fear was a tinge of sympathy . In turn, amidst the sympathy was a touch of concern .

This was because Brother Bing’s Weibo side account had completely captured the love-obsessed idiot that he was . It was a sight hard to bear and made worse by how girly his account ID was .

—Rock Sugar And Pear Stew!

Look at this, look at this, does it even sound like something that a guy would use?

Though Jiang s.h.i.+jia scoffed at this name for a good while, he did not dare to share it with anyone .  

……

That day, Li Yubing logged into his side account and posted a status to record his feelings .

Rock Sugar And Pear Stew: You ate vinegar[1] while I ate sweets .

When Jiang s.h.i.+jia saw this Weibo status, his teeth soured . While despising Brother Bing, he could not resist giving him a ‘like’ fawningly .

My feelings polarize too much, he thought .

Translator’s Notes:

[1] ‘Eating vinegar’ is a Chinese phrase for saying that someone is jealous .