Chapter 89 - First compet.i.tion (Translated and edited by Xing)

10 September that night, the "Silk Road" Supreme Hockey League (SHL) welcomed its first compet.i.tion of the season.

Though the name of this league sounded like something out of a primary school essay, it was one of the major professional ice hockey leagues in the world. It was preceded by the Major League of the Russian Champions.h.i.+p (VHL), which was second in Russia behind the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

Russia's strength in ice hockey was unquestionable. However, they had a problem with funding. With how even numerous clubs in the KHL defaulted on the wages of their ice hockey players, the VHL could fare no better.

China faced the opposite problem from Russia. Her ice hockey strength was a little weak but she had a lot of funding…

Right off the bat, both sides foresaw running the VHL together as the solution to their problems.

And that was how the SHL was established.

This year, the SHL consisted of 30 teams from countries in the Belt and Road Initiative. The regular season, played in a double round-robin format, would take place from September to February.

China organizing this compet.i.tion was somewhat akin to a person buying a business for his or her youngest son to run. One of her goals was to nurture home-grown ice hockey players for the 2022 Winter Olympics. In order to provide more chances for native players to play, the Chinese teams partic.i.p.ating in the compet.i.tion were required to have no less than 10 Chinese players out of all 24 registered players.

They had no choice but to implement this rule. This was because out of economic considerations, most clubs chose to sign on foreign players, especially Russian players. It was the same for teams outside China as well. Canadians played a large part in helping American clubs to dominate the sport.

Dauntless Dragon Chinese team welcomed a Caucasian team on their home ground for the Silk Road League's opening compet.i.tion this year. It was rather significant as it was the first compet.i.tion held after the Silk Road League changed its name. A few government officials sat in the stands of the Dauntless Dragon Ice Hockey Stadium. The reporters flashed their cameras towards the officials. Mm, that was their news for the night.

The boss of Dauntless Dragon Club sat next to the officials. Though he had a slight smile on his face as he interacted with them, he was actually quite nervous. He hinted to the officials that their native players have boundless potential.

In other words, this meant that these players still have a long way to go. Translated by Xing for only teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.

Thus, it would be best if everyone was not overly focused on the outcome of the compet.i.tion…

Perhaps due to extensive marketing, the stadium was fully filled. Tang Xue sat in the VIP section and had a fantastic view. There was a girl doing a live broadcast behind her. She babbled without stopping and when Li Yubing went onto the rink, she shrieked in excitement. "Oh, oh, oh, my boyfriend is here!"

Tang Xue rolled her eyes silently.

Within the span of a few words, the compet.i.tion started.

Ice hockey compet.i.tions had a fast pace with numerous physical collisions. Virtually every moment was a standoff. Shortly after the compet.i.tion started, the stadium atmosphere became tense and the crowd would gasp or cheer subconsciously. Though the girl broadcasting initially narrated the ongoing compet.i.tion, she was soon caught up in the excitement and forgot about her broadcast audience.

It was only until the momentum on the rink paused for a face-off that the girl remembered she was still broadcasting. She said, "I'm going to focus on the compet.i.tion and stop broadcasting. Bye bye!" She kept her phone and raised her eyes just in time to see Li Yubing manoeuvring the ball nimbly. He dodged a large dude attempting to check him and went on to successfully pa.s.s the ball to his teammate. The girl could not help but praise, "Wow! That's my husband, all right!"

Tang Xue stared at Li Yubing's figure. She muttered out of a corner of her mouth "Philanderer."

Li Yubing's pa.s.s had a huge effect. As it was unexpected and fast, right after his teammate received the ball, he shot it towards their opponent's net before they could defend against it. The tiny puck slipped past the gap in their defence and flew right into the net.

Whoo—

The crowd erupted into cheers, the sound reverberating throughout the stadium.

Seeing the crowd in such enthusiasm, the leading official nodded in approval. He pointed towards the rink and asked the club boss, "Who is that player?"

The ice hockey players on the field were moving faster than horses. It was impossible for the club boss to know who he was pointing to. He could only guess, "Are you referring to the player who scored? That's Pang Wei, a Chinese-Canadian. He has played in the National Hockey League before."

At the present moment, their domestic ice hockey teams were keenly accepting overseas Chinese players into their ranks. Under current rules, players could choose to naturalize as Chinese citizens after playing in China for two years and represent China in compet.i.tions.

The official nodded. "Oh, then what about him? s.h.i.+rt number 19." He seemed to sense the club boss's problem and straightforwardly called out the s.h.i.+rt number.

The boss said, "That's Li Yubing. He…" The boss was suddenly at a loss on how he should summarize Li Yubing. He was a newbie player with limited experiences. Three months ago, he was still in a school team. Compared to professional players, the compet.i.tions he partic.i.p.ated in were relatively small-scale and he had yet to prove himself with substantial achievements. It was tough for the boss to praise him extensively. After some thought, the boss merely said, "He has great tactical ac.u.men."

Princ.i.p.al Tang happened to chance upon the sight of Li Yubing, player with great tactical ac.u.men, shuttling across the rink in the battle.

Princ.i.p.al Tang was watching television and had tuned into the sports channel. When he saw that it was broadcasting an ice hockey match, he could not help watching it.

Mama Tang walked over and glanced at the screen. It happened to be a close-up and she was surprised. "Ah? Isn't that Li Yubing?"

Princ.i.p.al Tang recovered his senses. A little embarra.s.sed, he raised the remote to change the channel.

"Don't change." Mama Tang sat down next to him and s.n.a.t.c.hed the remote over. "Let's watch for a while."

"It's you who wants to watch it."

"Sure, you can close your eyes if you don't want to," Mama Tang said.

Princ.i.p.al Tang did not close his eyes. He kept silent and focused on the compet.i.tion.

After watching for a while, Mama Tang commented, "From how I see it, this child is pretty good. The commentator kept praising him as well."

Mm, she was not good at understanding the compet.i.tion. Thus, Li Yubing was good as long as the commentator said so.

Princ.i.p.al Tang snorted, "He's too clever. With how artless Tang Xue is, she'll end up helping him to count money after being cheated by him."

"There's something wrong with your logic. A person's intelligence is unrelated to his character. Must a clever person necessarily be bad while a fool be honest? There is no link. How did you become princ.i.p.al with your logic?"

"Slept my way up," Princ.i.p.al Tang was still peeved.

Mama Tang was tickled. She pointed to the doorway. "Look at yourself in the mirror. What gave you the confidence to say this."

Princ.i.p.al Tang had finally realized that whenever they argued, he was never able to win his wife in a battle of wits.

Such was the fearsome talent of women. This chapter is a labour of love that should not be found outside of teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.

The two of them stopped bickering and continued to watch the compet.i.tion. The first period ended with the Dauntless Dragon Chinese team taking a 2-1 lead. During the intermission, Princ.i.p.al Tang went to take a call while Mama Tang washed some fruits. She was cutting the fruits when she heard her husband hollered from the living room, "Dear, it's starting!"

"Coming, coming!" Mama Tang put down the knife and brought the fruits out into the living room.

Three minutes into the second period of the game, a little accident happened.

The Caucasian team went on an offensive with the puck. Li Yubing and his teammates manoeuvred into a defence in front of the net. When their opponents saw that there was no opening, they suddenly pa.s.sed the puck back into the rear, where a player readily received and shot the puck. Like a bullet, the tiny puck flew towards the net.

The puck ultimately failed to score and stopped halfway in its track. Subsequently, Li Yubing suddenly collapsed onto the rink.

"What happened?" Mama Tang was shocked. "What just happened?"

Princ.i.p.al Tang's brows were furrowed. He was not sure as well. "Li Yubing seems to be injured. I didn't see what happened."

The commentator was also confused. The broadcast director replayed the footage in slow motion. After replaying it twice, the commentator finally realized what happened. "At that moment, Li Yubing turned and the puck just so happened to hit the back of his head a little below his helmet. Or perhaps it was his neck. What are the odds!"

The other commentator added, "Indeed, I wonder how serious Li Yubing's injury is. Dauntless Dragon will need to change player. Li Yubing he… Ah, Li Yubing has stood up. He managed to get off the rink on his own. Hopefully, it wasn't anything major. His performance today has been excellent. As a newbie, I think he deserves full marks."

Princ.i.p.al Tang turned his head and asked Mama Tang, "Do you think it's fine?"

"I don't know…" Mama Tang shook her head. Numerous severe medical cases flashed into her head. "The nerves in that area are quite concentrated."

When Li Yubing fell, Tang Xue felt as if her head took a hit as well. There was a buzz in her head and her mind went blank.

She automatically leapt to her feet and stared blankly at his figure on the ice. Her heart felt a squeezing pain.

The world ceased to exist for her. She lost all sense of time as she watched him. After an unknown period of time, he finally stood up.

Thank heavens.

She stopped watching the compet.i.tion as her gaze closely followed his figure. She watched him head to the players' bench and sat down. The team medic checked his injury while the coach observed from the side. After that, they spoke for a while. Li Yubing touched his neck as he spoke.

There did not seem to be a major problem. Tang Xue's heart, which had been hanging on the edge, settled back in place.

"Hey, hey?" The girl behind patted Tag Xue's shoulder.

"Ah?" Tang Xue turned around in a daze.

"Is it possible for you to sit down? I can't see," the girl said.

"Oh, sorry."

After Tang Xue sat down, she heard the girl spoke again, "Miss, you seem to look a little familiar?"

She ignored the girl, her eyes fixed on Li Yubing.

Li Yubing seemed to sense her gaze. He suddenly turned his head by a few degrees and quirked his lips in her direction.

After smiling, he even put two fingers to his lips and sent a flying kiss.

The girl behind her shrieked.

While Tang Xue almost burst into tears.

Someone please correct me on all the sports terms/narration of the compet.i.tion. I'm pretty sure that I'm doing something wrong even though I kept googling everything. I almost wilted while translating this chapter.