Rock Sugar And Pear Stew Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - Becoming a father (Translated by Xing and edited by Souhi) ?

Teacher Zhao brought Tang Xue and the rest of the cla.s.s on an excursion to a chicken farm.

The chicken farm reeked to high heaven. The stench was so terrible for Tang Xue that it was to the point of being surreal. She pinched her nose and asked Li Yubing: "Do you smell something disgusting?"

"What do you think?" Li Yubing was also pinching his nose when he replied her.

"Let's go? I don't want to stay here."

"We can't. Teacher said to collect some eggs. Each person needs to collect five."

"Oh, help me to collect them then." Tang Xue thrusted her little basket into Li Yubing's hands.

Li Yubing rolled his eyes. Lately, he had been rolling his eyes so frequently that it was now a habit.

After collecting the eggs, Teacher Zhao brought them to tour the hatchery. Here, Tang Xue observed for the first time the entire process of an egg hatching. From how a baby chick determinedly pecked its way out of its sh.e.l.l to the actual moment when it fully broke free and haphazardly took its first steps, the entire process was waaay too cute!

Tang Xue did not know how to accurately describe what she felt at that moment. After heading home, she told her father that even though the stench was killing her, the instant she saw the baby chick hatching from the egg made her unbelievably happy, that she had no regrets on going, and so on and so forth……

Princ.i.p.al Tang taught her a new idiom called "a worthwhile trip", and roughly explained the meaning to her.

With a look of enlightenment on her face, Tang Xue vigorously nodded her head like a chick pecking at rice: "That's exactly it!"

Princ.i.p.al Tang thought that his daughter was simply too adorable when she was behaving. In a good mood, he rubbed Tang Xue's tiny head and started explaining the principles behind hatching an egg.

A can of worms was thus opened.

After hearing the principles, Tang Xue took out an egg from her fridge and held it in her palm. She was determined to personally hatch an egg herself.

Princ.i.p.al Tang thought that Tang Xue was doing this on a whim and left her to her own devices. However, who knew that this little fellow ended holding the egg for the entire day, unwilling to put it down even while eating or sleeping. This behaviour sustained for a week……

At this point, Princ.i.p.al Tang couldn't bear to inform Tang Xue that the type of egg she had was one that cannot be hatched.

Tang Xue held onto the egg even during lessons. While teaching, Teacher Zhao would casually sweep her eyes across the cla.s.s and have her attention immediately arrested by Tang Xue. Arrested by her upright sitting posture, her face of concentration, and her left hand that was resting on the desk while clutching a beige coloured egg…… That image, honestly no matter how times Teacher Zhao saw it, remained a sight that she was unable to get accustomed to.

The person most unaccustomed to this was Li Yubing.

Even though nothing had yet to hatch, Tang Xue was already treating the egg like her precious child and addressing herself as the mother. Since she was the mother, Li Yubing was naturally the father. She even held a serious discussion with Li Yubing over what they should name this child of theirs.

Li Yubing found himself strangely becoming the father of an egg. Even though he could not pinpoint what exactly was wrong, he still felt very awkward.

His only form of resistance was to run away.

Therefore, ever since finding himself saddled with an egg son, this "father" had been slipping off immediately after lessons were over. He was always the first to run out of cla.s.s. Even Teacher Zhao sighed with gratification over the rare sight of Li Yubing actively heading outdoors.

Li Yubing's behaviour was not to Tang Xue's satisfaction. She grumbled to her mother after heading home. Mrs Tang told her that this was the "widow-style parenting[1]", which was very much the country's dominant parenting style and that there was no need to be alarmed. Head over to teafragrance[dot]wordpress[dot]com if translator's notes, author's bonus content or fan art of TX & LYB are missing, or if you simply want to read without ads.

Even though she did not understood a thing, Tang Xue felt much better at her mother's words.

As for Li Yubing, he was about to pay a small price for s.h.i.+rking his duties as a father.

——The school bullies had set their sights on him.

A few upper primary students had gathered together to form a small gang that specialized in extorting allowances from lower primary students. They even used the threat of violence to prevent victims from telling their teachers and parents.

Li Yubing was not only small and skinny but also quiet. He did not mingle much with the other students and hence easily became their target.

After a few rounds of observation, they finally sprang into action.

When lessons ended that day, Li Yubing once again ran out of cla.s.s. After strolling through the campus for a while, he was caught off guard and hauled into a corner.

Li Yubing saw a few male students with what he considered to be intimidating physiques smirking evilly. They informed him to "loan" them some money to spend.

Li Yubing remembered a teacher once said that when faced with extortion, the first step was to hand over the money in order to prevent being beaten up. Afterwards, he could then report the incident to a teacher or his parents to make a police report.

Therefore, even though he was a little nervous, he was not completely overwhelmed by fear and quietly started to retrieve his money.

At this moment, a youthful voice interrupted the scene: "What are you guys doing?!" The voice was delicate and crisp, akin to the freshly sprouted buds of spring.

Everyone gazed over to see a little doll. The little doll had a tiny build and her hair was gathered into two ponytails. She wore a loose fitting school uniform with a messily tied red scarf around her neck. The blue school pants were a tad too big and completely submerged her legs.

The little doll showed a face of n.o.ble righteousness. Her right hand was imposingly rested on her waist while her left hand……her left hand was holding an egg.

There was something off about this whole image.

Even though she was emitting an aura of righteousness (minus the egg), the bullies were unimpressed with this fellow child who was so much smaller than them. Therefore, the leader of the bullies tried to fiercely intimidate her: "Scram! If not we'll beat you up along with him!"

"You dare! My dad is none other than the princ.i.p.al! He'll beat you up along with your dad!"

It was as if the word "princ.i.p.al" was the Imperial Sword[2]. The few boys were instantly terrified and did not hesitate in letting Li Yubing go. Before leaving, they did not forgot to throw out a warning: "Don't you dare tattle!"

Li Yubing leaned on the wall and saw Tang Xue walking towards him.

She held the egg while heading over, a spring in every step while surrounded by an air of satisfaction. It seemed like Tang Xue was in an excellent mood. Her two ponytails swung merrily with her movements, making her look like a little rabbit.

For one moment, Li Yubing thought that this person was not that detestable after all.

Tang Xue walked in front of him. She called out: "Eggy's dad."

Li Yubing felt like banging his head on the wall.

Tang Xue said: "Is your money still there?"

"Uh," Li Yubing pursed his lips and lightly paused before murmuring, "Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'm the only one who can spend your money."

The tiny spark of appreciation in Li Yubing's heart immediately died.

Author's Bonus Content

Q: When was the first time you became a father?

Li Yubing: Primary 2. Our child was called Eggy.

Q: What happened next?

Li Yubing: My father-in-law ate it.

Translator's Notes:

[1] "Widow-style parenting" refers to a parenting style where one parent is heavily involved in the rearing of a child while the other plays an almost non-existent role due to work or a lack of emotional rapport with the child. This usually happens because of the traditional perception that husbands are the breadwinner of the house solely in-charge of bringing in income while wives stay at home to look after all other aspects of a family, which includes children.

[2] The Imperial Sword, or 尚方宝剑 (shàng fāng bǎo jiàn), is a sword in ancient China used by the emperor or certain members of the imperial family. This sword may sometimes be bestowed by the emperor to extremely loyal and trusted ministers. Seeing this sword is akin to seeing the emperor's will, which gives wielders a tremendous power. The sword is usually used only under dire circ.u.mstances.

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