Chapter 90 - A battle to make his name (Translated and edited by Xing)

Li Yubing rested on the players' bench for the entire second period. He watched his teammates head in and out as they changed players.

As ice hockey is an extremely physically demanding sport, changing players is frequent and there are no limits to the changes. The subst.i.tution would happen tacitly without any pauses in the game.

The frequent subst.i.tution creates a chaos that makes it hard for the referee to keep track. As not everyone keeps to the rules, sometimes, an extra person would appear on the ice halfway through the compet.i.tion, just like a ghost appearing from nowhere.

Therefore, there is a strong emphasis in ice hockey compet.i.tions on the penalty of having too many players on the ice.

In the second period of the compet.i.tion, the Dauntless Dragon Chinese team's 2-1 lead was shrunk by their opponents to a 3-3 tie. Their battle odds did not seem promising.

After resting on the players' bench for a period, Li Yubing felt that there was nothing wrong with him. Thus, he requested to go on ice in the third period.

Their coach was a Russian who agreed to it decisively. This small injury was probably no big deal to people like him who were always battle-ready.

"Li Yubing went up on ice. Hmm, it looks like he's fine. First, let's applause for him. Everyone in the stands is currently cheering for Li Yubing. Indeed, he deserves those cheers. I wonder if Dauntless Dragon is able to make a breakthrough and break the deadlock…" The commentator was eloquent with his words.

"Looks like he's okay," Princ.i.p.al Tang muttered.

Mama Tang gave a slight frown. "He should still go to the hospital for an x-ray."

However, from his subsequent performance, it looked like there was no need for an x-ray. Dauntless Dragon managed to score twice during this period and both were by Li Yubing. He brought the score to 5-3, which sustained till the end of the compet.i.tion. With two goals and one a.s.sist under his belt, he was awarded the most valuable player of the compet.i.tion.

The stadium atmosphere was fuelled to an extreme. When the compet.i.tion ended, the cheers seemed to raise the roof.

The government officials had only meant to take a look and show their presence for the cameras before leaving. However, the compet.i.tion—especially the last period—was simply too exciting. They stayed to watch it all.

In the end, they clapped along with the crowd as well.

The club boss was both elated and relieved. Earlier, he was afraid that they would lose badly but now they had actually won. What a terrific job. Li Yubing was really quite the natural star.

The club boss invited the leading official to say a few words to the ice hockey team and he gladly agreed. This chapter is a labour of love that should not be found outside of teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.

After listening to the official's speech and taking a photo with him, the team medic brought Li Yubing to the hospital. Though Li Yubing personally felt that there was nothing wrong with his body, he needed to at least take an x-ray for everyone to rest a.s.sured.

The two of them left through the ice stadium back door. At the door, Li Yubing suddenly stopped moving. "I'm waiting for someone."

"Who?" the team medic asked. When he saw a young lady ran over, he nodded and said, "I'll wait for you in the car."

"Mm."

Tang Xue ran over to Li Yubing's front and saw him lowering his head to look at her. There was a faint smile in his eyes. She dropped her head, took another step forward and buried into his arms before embracing him gently.

She was usually like a little tiger but at the present moment, she seemed more like a tiny lamb. This made Li Yubing a little unaccustomed. He returned her hug and ruffled her hair. "What's wrong?"

"My heart almost stopped." Tang Xue whispered. When watching the compet.i.tion earlier, half of her was tensed and excited while the other half was scared stiff. She could only rest her mind slightly after hugging him like this.

Li Yubing knew that her concern made her unable to keep calm.

Her reaction made him acutely aware of the soft pounding beat in his chest. He bent down and kissed her hair, murmuring, "I'm okay."

Tang Xue's hand moved up past his back. She tiptoed and hooking on to his neck, she felt the back of his brain.

Li Yubing's heart quivered at the touch of her soft and warm fingers.

"Is it painful?" Tang Xue asked.

"It'll stop hurting if you kiss it."

Tang Xue did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Stop joking at a time like this!"

Li Yubing's face was solemn. "I'm not joking. In the future, you have to kiss me every time I win a compet.i.tion."

"What if I win a compet.i.tion?"

"Then I'll kiss you."

"Consort Dog is clever indeed, making only the best deals." As Tang Xue spoke, she seized his collar and tugged him towards her.

Li Yubing went along with her pull and bent over slightly. He looked down at her, his eyes twinkling bright.

Tang Xue looked at his cherry blossom-coloured lips and swallowed her saliva.

At that exact moment, the car in the distance horned several times.

The team medic was a little at the end of his patience as he waited for them to stop being so lovey-dovey.  He rolled down the window and looked at them. "Are we still heading to the hospital?"

Tang Xue followed Li Yubing to the hospital. She only fully rested her worries after the x-ray came back and confirmed that everything was normal.

A battle to make his name!

That was how the media described Li Yubing the next day. Tang Xue's brows ticked when she saw it. She thought, isn't that too much of an exaggeration!

Those reports narrated how Li Yubing returned to the rink after being accidentally injured and how he scored manically to turn the losing battle around. His explosive performance dominated everyone's attention and was the highlight of the compet.i.tion. This was in spite of their opponents' strength, which made his performance all the more remarkable… After a ton of praises, the media attached a das.h.i.+ng photo of Li Yubing.

Okay, fine, to most people who were not familiar with ice hockey, the key was that das.h.i.+ng photo.

Tang Xue sent a screenshot of the article to her father. This was accompanied by the words: Introducing to you, your son-in-law.

Princ.i.p.al Tang pretended to not see it. Translated by Xing for only teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com.

The words "Li Yubing" became a hot search overnight. For many who were not clear what was going on, they curiously went to search "Li Yubing" after seeing others discussed him. Their first reaction was always, d.a.m.n, this dude is hot.

Everything else came second.

Some ice hockey fans were worried that outsiders could not understand what happened and gave a simple summary of yesterday's compet.i.tion. There was no lack of praises in the summary and when people read it, they were greatly impressed with how sharply the game was reversed.

Following this, other related phrases such as "Ice Hockey" and "Silk Road League" all became popular searches as well. Many people began to follow this sport and this compet.i.tion.

Li Yubing's Weibo followers increased rapidly. What made things comical was that his account ID was still "Tang Xue's Global Fan Group". When all the new fans went to search who Tang Xue was, they were stuffed with a mouthful of dog food.

[He's not only hot but outstanding, and is in a blissful relations.h.i.+p with a beautiful girlfriend—this guy is the legendary 'winner in life', isn't he? Compared to him, I feel like the twenty years of my life is s.h.i.+t.]

That was what someone lamented in the forum.

In the end, his long-time fans all replied:

[What if I tell you how much he scored for the university entrance exams?]

[What if I tell you that he knows how to play the cello?]

[What if I tell you that he comes from a rich family?]

[Wait, wait, the person above, Li Yubing comes from a rich family? Are you sure? I've never read any gossip on this?]

[Trust me, by being able to play ice hockey for so many years, it's most likely that his family is rich.]

[Flips a table! Did Tang Xue save the galaxy or something?]

[What do you mean by this, our Xue Xue is also pretty outstanding, all right! She got into RCU with her results, showing that she excels in her studies. She's not only beautiful but has a great personality with a high EQ, and has also won a national champions.h.i.+p before. How is she not a match for Ice G.o.d? I can only say that outstanding people like to hang out together. If you want to find a good partner, there's no need to save the galaxy. Just work hard at improving yourself.]

[The girl above, you're too amazing. While we're all eating dog food, you're the only one feeding us chicken soup. Please accept a bow from me.]

Blah blah blah…

At first, Tang Xue thought that Li Yubing's Weibo followers were bought for him by the club to flaunt. Later, she found that her own followers had increased greatly as well. In fact, people would come up to her for her signature. At this point, she had to admit that Li Yubing's followers were real.

That rascal was famous.

Tang Xue felt a little sour with jealousy. However, it was not clear what the exact target of her jealousy was.

At night, she messaged him.

Tang Xue: Li Yubing, do you know how many girlfriends you have out there?

Li Yubing: Well, they can only fantasize about me while you have the real thing to…

Tang Xue: Go on, let me see how far you can carry on.

Li Yubing: Come over, I'll let you see how far I can carry on. ^_^

First update of the year! Sending my best wishes to everyone!

A reason why I started translating Rock Sugar And Pear Stew was that there were countless times when I felt really down or stressed out by life and I was able to seek refuge in a good novel (especially comedic novels like this). I want to give back to the community and do the same for others as well.

To my readers, regardless of whether you've binged the past chapters in one go or followed along week by week, I hope that the translations have brought you joy and provided a quick escape from the world. May the upcoming year bring bright, s.h.i.+ning days for everyone.

P.S. Everyone's worried about Li Yubing's injury but don't worry! This is a comedy after all! I hope n.o.body minds me spoiling it like this but I a.s.sume that no one reading Rock Sugar And Pear Stew is reading this to stress themselves out.

P.P.S. Jiu Xiaoqi gave a very solemn apology for her inconsistent updates for RSAPS this chapter. It has been almost 1.5 years since she stopped writing but she just started a new story. The literal t.i.tle translation of that novel is "I'm Willing To Ride The Wind" and it's in the Xian Xiish genre. I haven't read it but there is a parrot in the first chapter and I think it's the male lead LOL.

She will not be monetizing it so you guys can head over to to google translate it or something! It will be updated every Wednesday and Sat.u.r.day at 8 pm (UTC+8).