My Deskmate Chapter 26 (Part 2)
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 26.2
The four of them took their seats in the back of the classroom, then Zhao Yiyang cleared his throat. “This all goes back to eighteen years ago!”
Chi Ye couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Open any storybook, and eight out of ten stories start this way.”
“I’m just repeating what I heard, okay? The guy from the next class told me all this! Don’t interrupt! What if I forget the details?!” He cleared his throat again and began dramatically, “The Chi and Wen families are both old mafia families. Eighteen years ago, both families had sons. And because these two families are sworn enemies, the two heirs couldn’t stand each other. Do you know why Wen Xiao transferred to this school? It’s because Chi Ye is here! He came here for you! And then, the two of them became deskmates. After countless secret battles and bloody storms, they finally issued a challenge last night and fought a duel under the dark of night!!”
Wen Xiao remembered how Zhao Yiyang had once told him that some people believed Chi Ye was the leader of a small gang. Now, it had evolved into the heir of an entire family of mafia. After hearing Zhao Yiyang’s elaborate story, he simply commented, “The logic of this story is seriously flawed.”
Zhao Yiyang looked at Chi Ye. “Chi-ge, what do you think?”
Chi Ye casually draped his arm over Wen Xiao’s chair. “The story is mostly accurate, but there are some details that are wrong or missing.”
Zhao Yiyang was curious. “What is it?”
Chi Ye: “My family and Wen Xiao’s family are actually pretty close. For example, before we were even born, our parents arranged a marriage for us. We were betrothed to each other before we even existed.” He turned to Wen Xiao, suddenly serious. “Right, Xiaoxiao?”
Wen Xiao glanced at Chi Ye, who was making up nonsense with a completely straight face and calling him by that ridiculous nickname. He thought to himself that their fight last night hadn’t been thorough enough. Maybe it was time for round two.
In school, aside from answer keys, the fastest thing to spread was gossip.
By the time the first class ended in the afternoon, the story had already morphed into something completely different: “Wen Xiao and Chi Ye were betrothed before they were even born. Unfortunately, both were male, causing a lifelong feud between them, sworn to never rest until one of them was dead.”
Zhao Yiyang held up two fingers, swearing, “Chi-ge, I swear this version wasn’t mine! This story didn’t come from me or Shangguan! Look at it, this version is all over the place, the logic is completely mixed up. There’s no way it came from us!”
Chi Ye raised an eyebrow. “Who else did you tell this to?”
Shangguan Yu and Zhao Yiyang exchanged a glance. Finally, Zhao Yiyang pulled out his phone, opened WeChat, and pointed to the top of the chat window, where two neat characters were displayed — Xu Rui.
At that moment, Xu Rui was huddled in the farthest corner of the hallway, surrounded and still looking rather confused.
"I shouldn’t have snuck in two boxes of chicken nuggets this morning. The worst part is, I didn’t even share any with you guys! It’s all my fault. Those carnivorous dinosaurs next to me grabbed both boxes in seconds. I swear, I didn’t mean to leave you out!"
Zhao Yiyang was stunned. "You brought chicken nuggets?!"
Xu Rui blinked. "You didn’t know? Wait, no, then what did you want from me? I only have one copy of the answers for One Question, One Practice. I really only got one copy!"
Shangguan Yu was just as surprised. "You still haven’t handed in the answers for One Question, One Practice?"
Realizing he’d said too much, Xu Rui quickly slapped his hands over his mouth, but a small gap remained, and he blurted, "No, I don’t have anything! Really, nothing at all! What do you guys actually want to know?"
Chi Ye: "I heard that Wen Xiao and I were betrothed before we were born?"
Xu Rui’s hands involuntarily parted a bit more as he continued talking. "Yeah, I heard that too. Apparently, there was even a a marriage contract and—"
He suddenly froze, his eyes widening in realization. Wait a minute... the people involved are standing right in front of me!
Chi Ye leaned casually against the wall, his tone still relaxed. "So, there's a marriage contract, anything else?"
Xu Rui shook his head quickly, then shook it again for good measure. "I wasn't even a month old back then, Chi-ge, how would I know, haha, hahaha."
Chi Ye raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you weren't even a month old back then? You were so detailed in your story, I thought you were there at the scene taking notes."
Xu Rui gave an awkward laugh. "Ha, no, no way I was taking notes. I didn’t even know how to hold a pen back then."
Chi Ye looked at Wen Xiao. "Fianc—"
Before the word "fiancee" could leave Chi Ye’s mouth, Wen Xiao kicked his leg sharply. "I’ll give you a chance."
"Teacher Xiao Wen, my deskmate," Chi Ye's eyes gleamed with laughter, "What do you think we should do?"
Wen Xiao glanced at Xu Rui, who was watching expectantly, and thought for a moment. "Simple. Just tell us the story. You can explain it yourself."
Xu Rui had thought they might ask him to buy a round of barbecue or something, but he hadn’t expected Wen Xiao to be this devious. How was he supposed to tell the story of how they, heirs of rival mafia families, had been betrothed before they were even born? Of how they’d grown up as enemies, constantly at each other’s throats, only to settle everything in a dramatic showdown at the peak of the Forbidden City, vowing to fight to the death? Just imagining himself recounting it all to Wen Xiao and Chi Ye made him want to dig a hole and bury himself alive out of sheer humiliation!
He would honestly rather treat them to three full meals of barbecue.
Sighing with a look of indignation, Xu Rui muttered, "This story actually has some basis in reality, you know!"
Chi Ye raised an eyebrow. "For example?"
Xu Rui, feeling righteous, replied, "For example, Chi-ge, the bruise on your eye, wasn’t that from Wen Xiao last night? Wen Xiao's combat power is bronze level, but he managed to knock you, a diamond-ranked fighter, down like that. With my years of sharp intuition, there’s definitely more to this story!"
Suddenly, the image of Wen Xiao’s cold, stubborn gaze from when Chi Ye had held him down on the cold cement floor flashed in his mind. Without thinking, Chi Ye glanced at Wen Xiao, only to find that Wen Xiao was also looking at him. Their eyes met.
After two seconds, both of them quickly averted their gazes, each pretending nothing had happened.
For some reason, Chi Ye felt a bit uneasy.
Xu Rui was still rambling on. "So, there’s only one possible explanation: you both have powerful backgrounds, with countless subordinates at your command!"
Chi Ye: "There's another version? Alright, go ahead and tell us that one too."
Xu Rui's mind practically short-circuited. What the hell?
After hearing the absurd story about his and Wen Xiao's supposed deep animosity, Chi Ye was about to slip away. But as he was heading downstairs, he ran into Old Xu. He stopped, stood up straight, and greeted him.
Old Xu had been eyeing the bruise on Chi Ye’s face for a while. Finally, he seized the opportunity to ask, "What happened to your eye? Did you fall off a motorcycle? I told you to wear a helmet, but you didn’t listen, did you?"
Chi Ye lightly pressed his finger against his eye, not really bothered. "No, I didn’t fall. It’s just a little scratch. My cat swiped at me. It looks worse than it is, but it doesn’t hurt anymore."
Wen Xiao’s knee was probably hurting today as well. After all, last night he had scraped it against the cement floor. But Wen Xiao was so tough that, when he walked or sat down, one couldn’t tell at all.
Old Xu was puzzled. "What kind of cat has that much strength? Are you sure you’re not pulling my leg?"
"I’m not. I just got it recently. It's a bit aloof, picky with food, but—" Chi Ye's eyes held a faint smile as he thought of Wen Xiao. "It’s a lot of fun."