IYDGTH – CH 14

Credits for translations to dD. These are not my translations..I will take these down if she wishes

Zhong Yuan’s Temper

I arrived at the practice room at 3 o’clock, where there was already a group of people waiting.

I walked inside with the force of a champion. I warmed up and drank some water. I looked around at the audience that had gathered and recognized a few familiar figures.

My girls were standing there, watching me enthusiastically. They even raised their hands with thumbs up. I’d already warned them not to come. I was just going to get beat up, so what was there to watch?

They looked at me and then quickly pushed their way to the front. Boss pat me on the back and earnestly told me, “I came to cheer you on.”

Lil’ Second said, “I came to take photos.”

Miss Fourth chimed in, “I came so I could carry you out later.”

I was speechless.

I glared at each of them, one by one. And then I walked up to the match site with grandeur.

The club president was presiding as referee. He raised a small flag and waved it. Ready, start.

Senior Ling Ling’s piercing eyes were fixed on me. A murderous aura spread from all over her body. With bare feet, she hopped on the floor. And she kept hopping, like a rabbit.

I imitated Bruce Lee’s opening gesture. And then, like a great warrior, I stood very still.

Senior Ling Ling suddenly cried out. Her foot went up to kick me.

Before her foot could hit my chest, I fell to the ground and held my chest, crying. I howled in pain as I whimpered, “Senior, I’ve lost. I’ve lost, OK…?”

Senior Ling Ling looked down at me on the ground, confusion on her face. When she realized that I was faking it, she viciously bent over to pull me up. “Get up! I haven’t even hit you yet!”

I remained on the ground, whimpering, refusing to get up.

 

Up to that point, things had gone exactly according to my plan. But then something I hadn’t planned for happened.

My ferocious Miss Fourth suddenly charged onto the floor. Before anyone realized what was happening, a stable flying kick hit Senior Ling Ling in the jaw.

A miserable shriek resounded in the air. Senior Ling Ling took a heavy fall three meters back. This time, she was the one crying. And it was the kind of wailing that came from deep within a person’s soul.

At the turn of events, the audience all stepped forward.

Miss Fourth must have found the match unfulfilling. She kept mumbling awful things like, “What’s the big deal about knowing how to fight? I was already fighting when you were who-knows-where sucking on lollipops…” She angrily charged towards Senior Ling Ling, like she wanted to take a few more kicks, but fortunately, Lil’ Second and Boss grabbed her.

Trembling with fear, I picked myself up from the ground. “Fourth… I-I’m fine…”

Just then, one of the people gathered around Senior Ling Ling called out, “It’s bad! Senior Ling Ling’s jaw is dislocated!”
—

 

From forehead to chin, Senior Ling Ling’s face was wrapped up in bandages. It was pretty funny. She was shooting daggers from her eyes at me… She didn’t dare look at Miss Fourth. It seemed that sometimes, one needed to fight to prove their strength.

The rest of the club members had left by then, leaving only Miss Fourth and myself to offer our apologies to her… Well, I’d had to drag Miss Fourth along with me; she was simply too formidable. She dislocated Senior Ling Ling’s jaw, but she still hadn’t had enough. When Senior Ling Ling overheard Miss Fourth’s words, the anger on her face turned to awe.

I grabbed Senior Ling Ling’s hand.” Senior Ling Ling, I’m sorry.”

She was about to shake my hands off when she saw Miss Fourth’s fiendish look. She immediately corrected her attitude and grasped my hands. Her expression was filled with such anguish.

I found Senior Ling Ling’s constipation-like expression was burdensome, so I called over Miss Fourth. “Fourth, good job today. Thanks. Why don’t you… head back first? I’ll treat you to a meal later…”

“Don’t worry about it. Same rules as always. Get my water for a week.” When she finished speaking, Miss Fourth shot a menacing look at Senior Ling Ling and then turned to leave.

After Miss Fourth left, Senior Ling Ling’s awe-inspiring aura returned. Unfortunately, her bandaged face majorly affected her image and force. And since she couldn’t speak normally due to her injury…

She opened her mouth and seemed to be saying something to me. I mulled over it for a while before I realized she had said: Mu Er, good job.

I was about to respond when suddenly Zhong Yuan rushed into the room. I almost thought that I was seeing things. Wasn’t this guy supposed to be at a soccer match? Unless he was a reserve player again…

When Senior Ling Ling saw Zhong Yuan, she turned into a hurt rabbit, her eyes watery with tears. She looked over at Zhong Yuan excitedly and slowly tried to speak. “Oh… Dong… Wan…”

Zhong Yuan was still dressed in his uniform, which proved that he’d been on the field. He was covered in sweat too. He came over and grabbed me, checking me from top to bottom. “Are you all right?”

I felt so touched. I quite enjoyed Zhong Yuan’s recent bouts of ‘turning into a good person’. I nodded. “I’m fine.”

Senior Ling Ling kept calling, “Dong… Wan…”

Zhong Yuan glanced over at her and then asked me, “Did you do that to her?”

I replied, “No, it was Miss Fourth… But aren’t you supposed to be at a game? Why are you already back?”

Zhong Yuan said, “I heard that you were beaten to a pulp so I came to retrieve your corpse.”

!

I wiped my sweat. “OK, thanks.” Although he was a tyrant sometimes, at least he was loyal. Mm, Zhong Yuan totally had it in him to become a good person.

Zhong Yuan asked, “So what happened exactly?”

I didn’t quite know how to explain it. “Um… Haha…”

Zhong Yuan’s eyes swept over Senior Ling Ling again and he said, “Let’s talk outside.”

“But Senior Ling Ling…” I hesitated. Although I didn’t like Senior Ling Ling much, she was still in this wretched state because of me. I felt bad leaving her like this all by herself.

Zhong Yuan didn’t say anything else and just dragged me out the room, leaving behind an inarticulate, whimpering Senior Ling Ling…
—

 

Zhong Yuan pulled me over to a sitting area in the hospital corridor and asked fiercely, “Blockhead, you’re all grown up now, huh? You even learned to fight?”

I scratched my head. Something felt strange. “Zhong Yuan, shouldn’t you be at H University right now? Reserve players are important too, you know. You shouldn’t take your role lightly…”

Zhong Yuan shouted, “Shut up! Who said I’m a reserve player?! Have you ever seen a reserve wearing the number one?!”

I carefully looked at his uniform, and indeed, there was a one on it. “Oh, then, what does number one do?”

“Goalkeeper.” Zhong Yuan started pacing, his expression dark. “No, wait, we weren’t talking about that. You’re getting me all confused… Hey, who told you to fight? Look at yourself. Who do you think you could beat in a fight?”

Zhong Yuan seemed very angry. I thought that if I told him the whole story, he would be get even angrier, so I just scratched my head and laughed. “Zhong Yuan, you’re mistaken. I just wanted to learn some martial arts from Senior Ling Ling. Haha…”

“Learn. Martial. Arts?” Zhong Yuan asked, emphasizing each word. He looked at me with narrowed and sinister eyes. Suddenly, he put his hand up against the wall and narrowed the distance between us. Coldly, he said, “Did you really think no one would have told me what happened?”

Miscalculation. Miscalculation! How could I have forgotten that there were a lot of club members who knew about this? Maybe someone had called Zhong Yuan right away after they saw me get knocked down? They probably hadn’t gotten the story straight, which is why Zhong Yuan thought I’d been beaten up. Hm… I don’t know if he was genuinely worried about me or if he was worried about the trouble that it would bring him. If he’d really been worried for me, shouldn’t he be relieved now after seeing I’m OK? Shit. He must be really angry right now because of all the trouble I created. Since Senior Ling Ling got hurt, his share of problems wouldn’t be small. Wait, wait a minute. Why did he think that my getting into an accident would naturally bring him troubles? He wasn’t my guardian!

Sweating… The more I thought about it, the more confused I became. So without thinking, I put on a flattering smile. “I’m sorry. Senior Zhong, I really didn’t intend on making a bet on you with Senior Ling Ling…”

“A bet? You made a wager over me?” Zhong Yuan’s words were chilly. The hospital was already chilly as is, but now I started shivering.

I lowered my head, unable to look at Zhong Yuan. I suddenly realized that Zhong Yuan must have been trying to get me to reveal what happened. In such a short time, he couldn’t have found out the whole story with such detail. Too bad that I only just now figured that out…

“Blockhead, if you don’t tell me the truth now, forget about getting next month’s pay. Don’t try to test my patience.”

I suddenly grabbed Zhong Yuan’s arm, my eyes moist as I spilled the whole story to Zhong Yuan. At the end, I added, “Senior Zhong, I told you everything. Please don’t deduct my pay.”

Zhong Yuan’s expression was unclear. After he listened to my explanation, he pushed away my hands and stomped off to the side. Unable to hold back his anger, he shouted, “Great! What a great thing you’ve done! You made a bet on me?! With a third-degree black belt?! You really wanted to lose and get rid of me, right?!”

Stuck in a tough spot, I looked at him. “You’re not mine anyway. Whether I lose or not, it’s all the same.”

“Right, I’m not yours. I’m… not yours.” Zhong Yuan muttered a few times and then he suddenly looked me in the eyes. “It’s true that I’m not yours, but you are mine!”