Chapter 81 - Fate's arrangement (Translated and edited by Xing)

Tang Xue and Li Yubing ran all the way to the public square outside the ice stadium. Torn between not wanting to be caught and not wanting to shake her off completely, Li Yubing ran at a controlled speed. He would turn and glance back at her from time to time. In Tang Xue's eyes, he was purposely provoking her with this behaviour.

She pushed up her sleeves. "Li Yubing, I'm going to kill you!" She took a breath and rushed forward.

Li Yubing suddenly stopped, turned and opened his arms.

Thud—

Headfirst, she ploughed into his embrace.

Li Yubing caught her very cooperatively.

Tang Xue, "…" Who am I, where am I, what am I doing here?[1]

A short distance away stood Jiang s.h.i.+jia who was antic.i.p.ating the sight of Brother Bing getting into trouble. "…" Sorry for intruding, goodbye.

Li Yubing had long arms. He used one hand to hold Tang Xue's waist and the other to circle her back, trapping her like a cage. Tang Xue squirmed and heard him spoke into her ear. "I want the world to know that we're together, what's wrong with that?"

He sounded quite indignant.

Tang Xue stared blankly. Though she was mad that he went behind her back, she was somewhat touched. Thus, she groused, "Why didn't you tell me earlier and snuck to posted a Weibo instead?"

"The Weibo was posted accidentally. I've already deleted it."

"What's the use of deleting, people have already taken screenshots."

Li Yubing tightened his arms. He murmured, "I'm sorry." His voice was soft and meek.

Tang Xue was someone whose att.i.tude mirrored what she faced. Defenceless against Li Yubing's endearing apology, she squirmed and said, "Let go of me first. There are so many people here."

Li Yubing released her reluctantly and lowered his head to gaze at her.

Tang Xue was a little embarra.s.sed. She self-consciously twisted her head to stare into the distance and ran a hand through her hair. Her thick, inky black hair was ruffled by her fair fingers before falling back into place, each distinctive strand soft and glossy.

Even her hair is adorable.

Li Yubing thought.

He took advantage of how she was not paying attention and suddenly lowered his head to land a kiss on her head. He was afraid that she would be angry and did not linger. He straightened up immediately after his lips grazed her hair, satisfied with the light touch.

The hair near her temples was a bit thinner and Tang Xue felt his kiss. Her heart gave a violent lurch and in order to hide how affected she was, she purposely glared at him.

Li Yubing looked into her eyes and asked, "Why do you not want others to know that we're together?"

"Li Yubing, my father doesn't agree to us being together. There's always so much attention on you. If he finds out about us… sigh, I have no idea how he'll react."

"Father-in—ah, I meant, your father really dislikes me?"

Tang Xue thought for a while before shaking her head. She replied, "It's not exactly dislike. He thinks that you're too clever and astute, which worries him if we're together. "

Li Yubing felt somewhat aggrieved. He had an honest character and that one time he happened to do something bad, he was caught by his father-in-law. How sad.

Though sad, he did not dare to grumble a single word. He gave a depressed sigh and said, "I will prove to him that you can entrust yourself to me for the rest of your life."

Entrust for life. This was no frivolous vow.

Tang Xue felt sweetness in her heart but thought that "entrust for life" was not a phrase suitable for her. She was fully capable of grasping her own life and living well without the need to entrust herself to anyone.

If they were to speak of entrusting, Li Yubing should be the one entrusting himself to her.

Something suddenly struck Tang Xue. This chapter is a labour of love that should not be found outside of teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.

"Li Yubing, do your parents dislike me?"

Li Yubing shook his head at once. "How is that possible? My mom really likes you."

Tang Xue found it odd. "Doesn't your mom know what I did to you when we were young?"

He shook his head again.

"You didn't tell her?"

Another shake of the head.

"Why not?"

Why not? Probably because as a boy, he was being bullied every day by a girl. His pride would not let him tattle. Regarding this, the worst that his mother knew was the time when Tang Xue chased him with a caterpillar and caused him to fall into some thorn bushes. However, she did not do so intentionally and their teacher and cla.s.smates could witness it. In the end, Tang Xue's actions were deemed to an accident and she was punished by Princ.i.p.al Tang. His mother did not blame her either.

Tang Xue saw that Li Yubing was lost in thoughts. She stared at the sky and sighed. "Li Yubing, you should have let your parents know."

"If I did, my parents would have transferred me to another school. We would have been separated and I wouldn't have followed you to ice skate and learn ice hockey. I wouldn't be who am I now and we wouldn't have the chance to reunite. Or even if we met again, we would only be primary school cla.s.smates who barely interacted and couldn't even remember each other's names. After saying hi, the two of us would go our separate ways."

"Li Yubing…" When Tang Xue thought of that possibility and imagined how her life would have turned out without the person named Li Yubing, she was suddenly very upset. Her eyes even reddened.

Li Yubing looked at her and smiled. He said, "Tang Xue, more than once, I regretted missing the six years of your secondary school life. But right now, I feel extremely fortunate because at least I still have those six years of your childhood."

Tang Xue's heart softened into mush. She turned her back on him and mumbled, "Lunatic, bringing up such emotional things out of nowhere."

Li Yubing rubbed her head and remarked, "Sometimes, I think that fate's arrangement is amazing."

Li Yubing's gratefulness towards fate lasted till dinnertime. Translated by Xing for only teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.

At night, he was having dinner with Tang Xue at the Sky Yard. Tang Xue was bored and began browsing Weibo. She wanted to see his fans' reaction towards Li Yubing revealing his relations.h.i.+p.

Right after going on Weibo, she discovered that her number of followers and the amount of news on her had increased drastically. When she clicked in curiously, your mom's egg!

There were no secrets on the internet. Last year's rumours of her being in a love triangle were once again dug out and spread around. An overwhelming amount of pictures and text painted a vivid story. It was no wonder that those people had kept those pictures till now.

Rather than calling those rumours truth backed up by picture evidence, it was more accurate to call it tales spun from some pictures. It was as sensationalized as they come. Many believed the rumour that Li Yubing caught her cheating with Yu Yan at a hotel. Just how blind were the ma.s.ses?

Oh, yes, Yu Yan was involved as well. This particular rumour even attracted another group of people's attention. Yu Yan, who was currently in Beijing, was one of the three involved parties in the supposed love triangle; he was someone with fans as well…

The whole bunch of them was not satisfied with stirring up the past rumours; they even dug out her Weibo account.

At the moment, numerous fans were circling her account for a trial.

Those with better tempers requested her for an explanation. Those with shorter tempers directly rained her with terrible insults.

Actually, the bulk of the crowd was simply there to watch a show and was restrained in their actions. However, it was inevitable that widespread attention would attract some extreme fans. At least from the numbers, it could be seen that the number of extreme fans increased the more attention this got.

Vexed by the extreme fans' insults, Tang Xue threw her phone onto the table with a loud thud.

Li Yubing received a shock. He observed her face furtively and in a careful tone, asked, "What's wrong?"

"Dear Ice G.o.d," Tang Xue glared at him, the corners of her lips raised in a dangerous smile. "Your girlfriends are all calling me a b.i.t.c.h." She pa.s.sed her phone over as she spoke.

Li Yubing took the phone. His heart sunk with just one glance. Oh, no!

Without even finis.h.i.+ng her dinner, Tang Xue ran out with a darkened expression.

Li Yubing grabbed their bags and slung them over his shoulder before rus.h.i.+ng out after her.

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.

Translator's Notes:

[1] Who am I, where am I, what am I doing here: An expression for showing how utterly confused the speaker is.

Did Li Yubing get whacked today? No.