My Deskmate Chapter 10 (Part 1)
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 10.1
This state of helplessness persisted for half a class period.
Wen Xiao opened his eyes, his consciousness not fully awake. The sound of the teacher's voice reached his ears. "‘The people thought highly of his virtue, so they built a temple for him west of Anyang Pavilion.’ This student, you were just drinking water, not a thousand-yuan bottle of wine. So, could you please stop acting like you’re tipsy?"
She continued, "Now, let’s continue. ‘Every—’ You two, are you having a friendly chat?"
Wen Xiao felt a tightness in his chest, the discomfort keeping him from reacting immediately. Then he heard Chi Ye's voice. “Teacher, everything you're seeing right now is an illusion.”
The teacher raised an eyebrow. "The way you two are holding hands so tightly, I highly doubt it’s an illusion."
Only then did Wen Xiao realize that he was gripping Chi Ye’s right wrist, nearly turning it blue with how tightly he was holding it.
He froze.
The teacher wasn’t truly angry. Partly because, honestly, she could barely keep herself awake while teaching the classical Chinese text. And partly because, despite Chi Ye’s constant absences, he wasn’t a disruptive student. Other than his lack of interest in studying, he was quite a good kid. And Wen Xiao, since transferring to this school, had been a quiet and diligent student, making a good impression.
So, she came up with an idea. “Since you two are getting along so well, why don't you keep holding hands? Don’t let go until the bell rings.”
Wen Xiao: “......”
Chi Ye: “......”
As the teacher walked back to the podium, Wen Xiao was the first to speak. “Sorry.”
Chi Ye: “No need.”
With one person holding the other's wrist, and all the eyes subtly glancing over, Chi Ye thought this was all so absurd. He should have struggled when Wen Xiao first grabbed his wrist!
But someone, apart from Yaya, holding his wrist like this was a first in his seventeen years.
Clearing his throat to break the strange tension, Chi Ye tried to lighten the mood. “What kind of dream did you have? You’re gripping my wrist so hard, I feel like my bones are going to snap.”
Wen Xiao didn’t respond right away. He muttered another “sorry” and glanced at Chi Ye’s hand. “Is your fingertip numb?”
Chi Ye had been enduring this for a while now. “It’s been numb for a while.”
After a moment, Wen Xiao suggested, “How about you hold my wrist instead?”
Thinking it was a fair trade, Chi Ye waited for Wen Xiao to let go, shook his hand a bit, and then grasped Wen Xiao’s wrist.
As soon as he tightened his hold, he let out a “tsk.” “You really are fragile. This wrist is too thin.”
Wen Xiao coolly responded, “I can lift a plastic water pipe with one hand. In a minute, I’d have you on the ground, weighed down by injury.”
“......” Chi Ye instantly remembered his deskmate's destructive power and quickly tried to salvage the situation. “So, this just goes to show that you can’t judge a book by its cover.”
Wen Xiao gave a quiet “Mm,” acknowledging the point.
Chi Ye didn’t dare move his fingers as he gripped the slender, pale wrist. His thoughts briefly flashed to the earlier morning when Li Pei had come to apologize. “By the way, Li Pei is no good. Him coming to apologize to you with all those injuries was just a trap.”
Wen Xiao knew clearly that Chi Ye had taken the blame for it all, completely clearing him out of the mess. “I owe you again.”
Chi Ye lazily curled his lips into a grin. “It’s nothing, don’t mention it.”
His mind searched for something else to talk about, but there was nothing. Relying on Wen Xiao to start a conversation was about as likely as the Director of Discipline not lurking at the school gate waiting to catch students.
Time seemed to drag on. Finally, when the bell rang signaling the end of class, Chi Ye felt a wave of relief and quickly released his grip.
Ahead of them, Zhao Yiyang and Shangguan Yu turned their heads in unison. “Damn, that was intense! But you two actually held hands for the whole class?”
Chi Ye leaned back in his chair, casually responding, “What else?”
Shangguan Yu replied with a sympathetic look, “Actually, you could’ve just kept your hands under the desk. The teacher wouldn’t have seen it from the podium.”
After hearing this, Chi Ye turned his head, locking eyes with Wen Xiao. He couldn’t hold back and muttered a single word, “F*ck.”
During the morning break, the entire school was scattered across the sports field like pieces on a black-and-white chessboard. The principal stood at the podium, microphone in hand, addressing the students. He announced the discovery of an ancient tomb in the northeastern corner of the sports field and warned everyone not to approach the area.
Someone nearby exclaimed in surprise, "Is it really Wang Zhongming’s tomb? We’ve studied that in literature class. He was a literary figure, philosopher, educator, and a pioneer of Neo-Confucianism. I have a feeling this is going to be on the final exam!"
Chi Ye turned to his deskmate, who was standing beside him. “So, we’ve been jumping to morning exercises on top of a cenotaph.”
Zhao Yiyang, with his ears always tuned in, asked, “Jumping on what?”
Wen Xiao stood tall, his posture straight. “Nothing.”
Not long after returning to the classroom, Xu Rui hurried in, breathless. “Report! Latest news from the front lines!”
Seeing all eyes turn toward him, Xu Rui looked pleased with himself.
Someone urged, “Well, what’s the new news?”
“I’m just organizing my words!” Xu Rui cleared his throat. “The latest news is that they found not only Wang Zhongming's tomb but also a burial tomb for one of his disciples in the northeast corner of the sports field. The entire area has been cordoned off with warning tape and blue barriers. No one is allowed to go near it.”
“Anything else?”
Xu Rui: “Of course! Experts came and took away all the valuable artifacts.”
“Then why is the area still so heavily guarded? Why can’t we go near it?”
“Afraid you’ll get too close and walk into a ghostly wall, haha!”
With the transition from second to third year, everyone felt more pressured. Even the slightest stir was enough to get everyone excited for the rest of the day.
Over the next two days, Xu Rui kept bringing in various rumors. One moment, a team of experts had come and gone. The next, the school had made it onto TV. Then, after evening study, a couple was spotted secretly meeting on the sports field, and they claimed to have seen a white figure floating out of the northeastern corner, accompanied by the sound of crying.
After sharing the latest gossip, Xu Rui pondered aloud, “Crying? Could it be that back in the day, Wang Zhongming assigned too much homework to his disciples?”
“You’ve got too little homework yourself!” The homeroom teacher, Xu Guangqi, stormed into the classroom and shooed Xu Rui away from the podium. “You can keep up with the news about the tomb, but don't get any funny ideas. I repeat, none of you are allowed to go near the northeast corner, and don't stay on campus after evening self-study! Got it?”
The entire class responded with half-hearted replies, “Got it.”
Xu Guangqi nodded, satisfied. “Good. Now, let’s take a look at the math homework you turned in this morning. Ugh, the accuracy rate is terrible! Luckily, I only have to deal with you for another year and a half. Otherwise, I’d never be able to keep my hair...”
Later that evening, Xu Guangqi took his subject representative to the office to grade assignments. The first three minutes of study were relatively quiet, but once no one was watching, it quickly turned into chaos, like kindling slowly catching fire under the floorboards.
Xu Rui crouched down, walking sideways like a crab, and finally stopped at Zhao Yiyang’s desk. “I have an invitation for you to join a top-secret mission. Are you accepting this invitation?”
As he spoke, Xu Rui handed over a piece of tissue, on which the words “Invitation” were written.
Zhao Yiyang couldn’t help but laugh. “So cheap! Alright, alright, what’s the mission? Tell me!”
Xu Rui played it up, acting all mysterious, then turned to Shangguan Yu. “Your Majesty, would you like to accept this invitation?”
Shangguan Yu and Zhao Yiyang were good friends, so when he saw Zhao Yiyang had accepted it, he took one too. “I approve.”
(T/N: He was using the self-address of emperors here.)
With the invitations handed out, Xu Rui lowered his voice, still trying to build suspense. “The secret mission is... a midnight adventure!”
Zhao Yiyang grinned. “Damn, I knew we were thinking the same thing! Let’s go, this sounds exciting!”
Studying was already boring enough, and with the principal and the homeroom teacher repeatedly warning everyone not to go near the northeastern corner of the sports field, their curiosity only grew. Instead of dampening their spirits, it sparked a rebellious urge to break the rules.
“Old Xu told us not to go, so we’re going to check it out. Who knows, maybe that couple wasn’t lying, and there really is a ghost crying at night!”
Xu Rui nodded eagerly. “I knew it, you guys are definitely as crazy as I am!”
The two exchanged a grin. Then Zhao Yiyang asked, “Who else is joining the mission?”
“Just the three of us — Shangguan, you, and then we’ve got Chi-ge.”
“Chi-ge?” Zhao Yiyang was confused. “Didn’t Chi-ge disappear during the break this afternoon?”
Xu Rui: "I asked him on my phone. Chi-ge wasn’t interested at first, but after I offered him a two-thousand-yuan appearance fee, he reluctantly agreed. With Chi-ge around, even if there are ghosts, his bad aura will keep them away!"
"Really?" Zhao Yiyang sized up Xu Rui. "I didn’t know you had that much money!"
Xu Rui frowned. "It’s not that much. It’s just my New Year’s lucky money. I’ve already given all of it to Chi-ge."
Suddenly remembering something, Zhao Yiyang turned to Wen Xiao, who was sitting behind him, and asked, "Do you want to join our midnight adventure?"
Wen Xiao was still focused on his physics exam, and without looking up, he simply said, "No."
Xu Rui chimed in from the side, "Chi-ge already said that Wen Xiao definitely won’t go. He’s too fragile and delicate. If he does, and a cold wind blows, he’ll probably get sick. That wouldn’t be good."
The pen Wen Xiao was holding pressed hard against the exam paper, leaving a deep dot on it.
After a moment, Zhao Yiyang nodded thoughtfully. "You’re right. Then it’s settled — just the four of us."