My Deskmate Chapter 13 (Part 2)
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 13.2
Boys at seventeen or eighteen were always hungry. Wen Xiao hadn’t really felt it at first, but as soon as the smell of cumin from the barbecue hit his nose, his stomach growled. Without hesitation, he ordered a mix of meat and vegetables.
Once he was done, Chi Ye turned to Yaya. "Do you want a bowl of small glutinous rice balls?"
Yaya sat up straight on her plastic stool, her eyes glued to the phone screen. "Yes!"
The fried rice came out first. Chi Ye grabbed a silver metal spoon from the chopstick holder and dug in, taking several bites before his stomach finally settled enough to stop aching and threatening to make him sick.
Noticing that Wen Xiao was sipping his tea, Chi Ye’s gaze drifted over to Wen Xiao’s fingers before he spoke up. "That guy’s a contractor from around here.I was talking to him about whether he could buy supplies from my store for the job he's taken on. I've checked the prices at a few other stores, and they're all higher than mine. He’s one to cut corners, though, so I lowered the price by a bit. It should work. That guy’s had a rough time before, I can tell. It’s like he’s trying to get back at people, so now that he has the chance, he’s making everyone drink."
Wen Xiao thought about asking why he still drank despite knowing it made him so sick, but then realized, sometimes there was no real reason for things.
If it weren't for the heavy burden on one's shoulders, who would do that themselves?
Chi Ye changed the subject. "What’s the homework for today?"
Wen Xiao: "You want to do it?"
Chi Ye shrugged. "Not really. Just asking. That way I'll know I still have homework." He found Wen Xiao interesting. He didn’t talk much, but every word felt sharp, with a distinct personal style.
Just then, the barbecue was brought out on a tray. Chi Ye set the stainless steel tray in the middle and took a skewer of grilled pork ribs with green peppers. Seeing Wen Xiao watching him, he said, "Want to try some? Go ahead, grab it yourself, but don’t get any ideas about this skewer. If you don’t want the peppers, just leave them on the plate."
Wen Xiao raised an eyebrow. "How do you know I don’t like green peppers?"
Chi Ye chewed on a piece of rib, his voice laced with a smile. "Last time we ate at my shop, you had a plate of shredded pork with green peppers. You only picked out the pork as if the peppers were invisible. Your chopsticks never even touched them."
Wen Xiao’s mind wandered for a brief moment.
His dislike for green peppers was something his parents knew, but no one else ever did.
He didn’t respond right away. Instead, he picked up a skewer of lotus root slices. The owner of the restaurant had a heavy hand with the seasoning. The lotus root was spicy enough to bring tears to one's eyes with a single bite.
Once they had finished the barbecue, Chi Ye put his phone away and turned to Yaya. "No more phone, okay? Watching too much will ruin your eyes, just like those kids in your class with glasses. Those things are heavy and a hassle."
Yaya nodded and looked at Wen Xiao. "Cola-gege wears glasses too."
Wen Xiao played along with Chi Ye’s little lesson, taking off his glasses. "I don’t really need them. They're just clear lenses."
Chi Ye was a bit surprised. "Your glasses... are just for show?"
As he took another look at Wen Xiao, Chi Ye understood why his deskmate wore glasses.
Without the usual silver-framed glasses to soften his expression, Wen Xiao’s eyes looked colder and sharper. If one had to describe it, it was like a thorn, piercing and sharp.
If he hadn’t worn glasses on the first day of school, no one would have pegged him as the typical bookish, good student.
Wen Xiao broke the silence. "Seen enough?"
Chi Ye tore his gaze away. "Yeah, I’ve seen enough."
The next day, Wen Xiao’s desk remained empty. Zhao Yiyang didn’t yap about Chi Ye anymore, having come to terms with the fact that Chi Ye’s absence from school was the normal state of things. It was only when he showed up that it was the exception.
The Chinese exam scores were the first to come in. Since the basic points were the same, the scores didn't vary much. When the teacher read off Chi Ye’s name, she glanced at the empty desk. "Can his deskmate pick up his score? Sixty points."
Wen Xiao stood up and took the test paper.
Shangguan Yu turned to look at Chi Ye’s paper, his gaze lingering on the glaring "60" in the total score section. "Every time there’s a test, I’m torn between thinking Chi Ye’s either a true genius or a real disaster."
Zhao Yiyang, who had been lamenting about his own mistakes in classical poetry and literature, overheard and said, "Whatever it is, Chi-ge is definitely a master at controlling his scores. All this time, I’ve never seen him score anything other than sixty!"
After making too many mistakes on the poetry section, Zhao Yiyang spent most of the morning muttering to himself. He kept regretting listening to things like "Flying straight down three thousand feet, not as good as Wang Lun sending me off with his affection" and "Drink today, my dream is far away," just before the exam. As a result, when he was filling out the paper, he couldn't remember what to fill in for the second half of the blank.
Wen Xiao shut out Zhao Yiyang's endless rambling, but then Zhao Yiyang turned around and knocked on Wen Xiao’s desk. "Wen Xiao! Wen Xiao!"
The repetitive "knock knock knock" was getting annoying.
Wen Xiao paused his pen and responded, "What?"
Zhao Yiyang slid his phone through the gap between the two desks and handed it to Wen Xiao. "It’s Chi-ge calling!"
"Chi Ye?"
"Yes!"
Wen Xiao took the phone and held it to his ear. "This is Wen Xiao."
The noise on Chi Ye’s end was deafening. The sound of machines clanking and someone shouting loudly in the background made it hard to hear clearly.
After the call ended, Zhao Yiyang looked at Wen Xiao with curiosity. "What did he want? I thought he was calling me, but as soon as I picked up, he told me to pass the phone to you."
Wen Xiao handed the phone back to Zhao Yiyang, stood up, and walked toward the door of the classroom.
Zhao Yiyang froze for a second. "Where are you going?"
"To ask Old Xu for a leave."
Wen Xiao had no trouble getting a leave. He said he wasn't feeling well, and before he could even specify what was wrong, Old Xu readily approved his leave, advising him not to put too much pressure on himself and that his health was the most important thing. After all, there were only two classes left, so it wasn’t a big deal.
Wen Xiao thanked him and returned to the classroom, grabbed his bag, and left.
In Class 3, Grade 1, Yaya had already packed her bag and was waiting. When she saw Wen Xiao at the door, she curiously leaned forward to look behind him. "Cola-gege, where’s my gege?"
"Your ge is busy, so he sent me to pick you up," Wen Xiao said, still thinking about how to explain. But Yaya had already understood and nodded. "Thank you, Cola-gege!"
After getting off the the bus at Jiuzhang Road, Yaya led the way. They went up to the apartment and she found her keys to unlock the door.
The layout of Chi Ye’s house was identical to Wen Xiao’s grandmother’s. There wasn’t much furniture, but everything was neatly arranged. Wen Xiao glanced at the living room window and realized he hadn’t been mistaken — his bedroom window really did face Chi Ye’s. With the lights on, he could make out vague figures through the glass.
As Yaya opened her bag and started on her homework, Wen Xiao asked, "What are you having for dinner?"
Yaya: "There’s food in the fridge that my gege made. It just needs heating up."
Wen Xiao took off his black shoulder bag, hesitated for a moment, then said, "You do your homework. I’ll go check the kitchen."
It was past nine o'clock when Chi Ye arrived downstairs. Someone on the ground floor had their TV volume turned up, and as he passed by, he could hear the host of "News 1+1" giving the opening remarks.
He opened the door with his key. The lights were on in the house, and there was a flat, slow voice reciting a textbook passage, "The little swallow says that spring rain is green. Look, when the spring rain falls to the ground, the grass turns green..."
Chi Ye paused at the door. He thought to himself that the swallow probably had a deadpan expression.
After a few lines, the reading stopped. Wen Xiao turned around. "You're back?"
His gaze briefly swept over the bruise on Chi Ye's hand, but he pretended not to notice.
Chi Ye quickly explained, "I was moving things and scratched myself." He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to explain.
"The dishes in the kitchen need washing. Yaya finished her Chinese homework and has read the text and prepared for her lessons. She’s about to start math. I'm going now."
Leaning against the wall, Chi Ye felt very relaxed. He hummed in response and lazily smiled. "Thanks, Teacher Xiao Wen."
"No need to thank me," Wen Xiao replied, giving him a quick glance. "If you can't understand any of Yaya's math problems, you can ask me."
“......” Chi Ye straightened his back, laughing as he cursed, "F*ck off, you next-door grandpa!"