My Deskmate Chapter 23 (Part 1)
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 23.1
Chi Ye was holding his phone. Yaya walked over, having just finished watching her cartoon. Nervously, she spoke up, "Gege, stop looking at your phone. If you stare at it too much, your eyes will go bad."
Chi Ye responded dismissively, "Gege is an adult. Only kids' eyes go bad if they look at their phone screens too much, not adults."
His logic made sense, so Yaya was convinced.
The chat screen lingered on the words "Nice drawing" from the message. Just as Chi Ye was about to put his phone down, he heard the familiar "ding" of a new message.
Opening it, he saw Wen Xiao had sent an image of Conan, the same one he had just shared.
Chi Ye typed back, "Blatantly stealing my sticker? But since your Chi-ge is generous, this one's on me."
After sending the message, Chi Ye got up to supervise Yaya in packing her bag. He used to do it for her, but Yaya, now in the second half of first grade, felt grown-up enough to do it herself. Chi Ye could only nod, shifting from packing to standing by and watching.
Yaya didn't have much to pack. Her pencils, erasers, and sharpener were neatly organized in her pencil case. The watercolor pens were stored separately, and her books and notebooks were stacked neatly. Catching sight of a lollipop in her schoolbag, he asked, "When did you buy this? Aren't you worried about getting cavities? If you keep eating sweets, you'll have a mouthful of rotten teeth before long."
Yaya pulled the lollipop out of her bag. "Uncle Qian gave it to me. I told him I didn’t want it, but he still shoved it in my bag."
Chi Ye frowned. "Which Uncle Qian?"
Yaya struggled to describe the man. "He’s a bit broad! He comes to the store often to buy things, and he's much shorter than gege. He even tried to pull my ponytail, but I wouldn’t let him. Then when gege came out, he was scared away."
A middle-aged man’s face appeared in Chi Ye’s mind. He had only seen the man try to mess with his sister’s hair. He didn’t know about the candy. Ruffling Yaya’s hair, he said, “Good job. You shouldn’t take things from strangers. If there’s anything you want...”
Yaya happily chimed in, “Tell gege, and gege will buy it for me!”
“Very good.” Chi Ye thought for a moment, then added, “Next time you see this Uncle Qian, remember to tell me.”
Yaya raised a hand, her thumb and index finger forming a circle while the other three fingers stuck up, her smile bright. “OK, no problem!”
Scrolling through his Moments, Chi Ye belatedly realized that today was April Fools' Day.
Zhao Yiyang had been sharing links to “April Fools’ Day pick-up lines” and “How to confess on April Fools' Day (don’t worry if you get rejected, no awkwardness).” The most recent post read, “Forgot to set the previous two posts to Friends Only. Mom’s convinced I have a secret crush now. Seventeen-year-old single dog is now online looking for a crush [smile].”
Chi Ye casually tapped ‘Like.’
Switching to his message list, Chi Ye opened Wen Xiao’s profile. After a moment of thought, he sent a message: “Your shoelace is untied.”
Wen Xiao, who had been focused on math problems, instinctively looked down, only to realize he was wearing slippers, which didn’t have laces. He replied, “I’m wearing slippers.”
Chi Ye laughed aloud, then quickly typed, “Hahaha, you fool! Happy April Fools' Day!”
Chi Ye glanced at the window across from him, where the light was still on. Wen Xiao sent a string of ellipses. Soon, a new message appeared: “Festivals should honor customs and traditions.”
Wen Xiao held his phone, and after a long pause, he replied, “Happy April Fools' Day.”
Re-reading the few lines of conversation from WeChat, Chi Ye leaned back in his chair, his lips curling slightly.
The next day, Old Xu entered the classroom and saw the subject representative running around the room collecting homework, like a debt collector. He casually grabbed a test paper from the front row, glanced at it, and muttered, “Your handwriting is like a celebrity's signature, so messy it's almost stylish.”
Someone replied, “It's all because there’s too much homework!”
The response earned a chorus of approving hisses.
Ignoring them, Old Xu flipped through a math test paper, only to realize it was better not to look at it at all. After reading it, his mood only worsened. Hearing the low chatter still buzzing around the room, he set the paper down and tapped his fingers on the desk. “Still talking? If you like to talk so much, come up to the podium and talk!”
The classroom immediately fell silent.
The bell for class had recently been changed to the “Turkish March,” and Old Xu was still not used to it. It wasn’t until Xu Rui quietly reminded him that class was starting that he cleared his throat and said, “Alright, quiet down. It’s time for class.”
As Old Xu stood at the podium, Zhao Yiyang called out, “Teacher, your shirt’s on backward!”
Holding a piece of chalk, Old Xu looked down and, seeing that his shirt was perfectly fine, snapped, “Stop making things up!”
Seeing that Old Xu had fallen for the prank, Zhao Yiyang and a few other boys grinned mischievously and called out, "Happy April Fools' Day, Old Xu!"
Old Xu pretended to be angry, but he couldn't stop smiling. He tapped the chalk in mid-air and said, "You little brats. It’s already April 2nd, and you’re still lingering in the spirit of the holiday?" He couldn’t help but sigh. "Being young is great. Even with so much homework, you’re still so full of energy..."
Meanwhile, below the podium, Wen Xiao was chatting with Chi Ye.
Chi Ye: "How's your cold?"
Wen Xiao typed back: "Much better."
Chi Ye: "Do you want some soy milk?"
Wen Xiao hadn’t eaten breakfast that morning, so he replied: "Yes, and add two meat buns."
Chi Ye sent back several question marks. "Is that all you're eating?"
Soon, he followed up with another message: "I’ve bought them. Wait for me."
By the time Chi Ye arrived, the first class had just ended. He entered through the back door of the classroom. Xu Guangqi looked up but acted as if he hadn’t seen him. He returned to organizing his lesson plan.
Zhao Yiyang spotted the breakfast bags in Chi Ye’s hands and joked, "Chi-ge, didn’t you have time for breakfast this morning? You’re tempting all the hungry classmates within a two-meter radius—"
Before Zhao Yiyang could finish his sentence, he saw Chi Ye stride over to Wen Xiao’s desk, placing the soy milk and buns he was carrying on the table. "Still warm."
Wen Xiao nodded in thanks, inserted a straw, and took a sip of the soy milk. "Thanks."
Zhao Yiyang blinked, then asked, "Is this... breakfast for Wen Xiao?"
Chi Ye set down his backpack and replied, "If it’s not for my deskmate, am I supposed to eat it myself?"
Zhao Yiyang let out an exaggerated cry. "We’ve known each other for almost two years, and you’ve never brought me even a single grain of rice!"
Chi Ye leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and casually grabbed a pen from Wen Xiao’s desk, twirling it between his fingers. "Do you really need my breakfast?"
Zhao Yiyang thought to himself that he didn’t exactly need it, but neither did Wen Xiao! Was this a case of favoritism between deskmate and the people sitting in front and behind? Who the hell had ever seen Chi Ye bring breakfast for anyone else before?
After class, Old Xu, as usual, retreated to the office to chat with other teachers, never wandering to the back door of the classroom to spy on his students. Chi Ye confidently pulled out his phone and typed, "Stayed up until 3 AM studying again last night?"
Wen Xiao had just finished the meat buns Chi Ye brought him. Feeling indebted for eating someone else's food, he felt it wouldn’t be right to be too blunt. But he still found it weird that the person sitting right next to him insisted on sending WeChat messages. He kept his reply short: “Yes.”
Chi Ye remembered looking out the window towards Wen Xiao's room last night. The light was on, and he saw someone get up to close the curtains. From the distance between the buildings, he could vaguely see a figure.
He didn't know why he asked that question, but he didn't want to end the conversation, so he changed the subject. "Shall I bring you breakfast again tomorrow?"
Wen Xiao replied with a simple "Okay," then quickly added, "Soy milk, three parts sugar."
Damn, did he think I ordered milk tea?
With a smile in his eyes, Chi Ye looked at his deskmate's expressionless side profile and said, "Okay, I remember. I'll buy it for you with three parts sugar."
His tone was lazy, casual, and tinged with amusement. It was a bit ticklish to the ears.
Zhao Yiyang was utterly confused. This didn't make any sense. What sugar?
Just then, Old Xu, who was supposed to be chatting with other teachers in the office, miraculously appeared at the classroom door and called out specifically, "Chi Ye, Wen Xiao, come to my office."
Zhao Yiyang followed them out into the hallway. "Old Xu actually called you both to the office? What’s going on?"
No one responded to him, so he continued talking to himself. "Could it be that Chi-ge’s chronic tardiness have reached 666 times, and now Old Xu wants to give you an award?"
Chi Ye glanced sideways at him. "You've gotten so bold over time that you even dare to make fun of your Chi-ge?"
Zhao Yiyang sidestepped, a grin on his face. "Not joking, just needed to use the bathroom. Can’t hold it in anymore!" He dashed off before anyone could say anything more.