My Deskmate Chapter 32
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 32
The taxi pulled up to the curb. Chi Ye was about to pay when Wen Xiao stopped him. "I'll pay."
Chi Ye didn't move, ready to step in and help when his deskmate struggled to figure out the value of the bills. To his surprise, Wen Xiao took out a ten-yuan note, then four one-yuan notes, arranging them neatly before handing them to the driver, adding a polite "Thank you."
The driver took the money, then turned his head curiously. "Is your friend really drunk?"
Before Chi Ye could speak, Wen Xiao answered for himself, "Drunk."
Driver: ??
The two of them got out of the taxi and stood on the sidewalk, watching the taillights disappear into the traffic. Chi Ye turned to Wen Xiao and asked, "How did you figure out you were drunk?"
In Chi Ye's experience, most people who were drunk either insisted they weren’t, saying, "I can still drink, there's no way I'm drunk!" — or they simply blacked out, unable to remember who they were or how they got there.
Wen Xiao rubbed his forehead, the faint flush on his face still lingering. He explained in a hoarse voice, "Headache, dizziness, dry throat, upset stomach, feverish all over, and I have no idea why or when we ended up standing here. So, I’m definitely drunk."
The logic was clear, the reasoning sound. He was drunk, and in an elegant, almost poetic way. Chi Ye asked again, "Then why am I standing here?"
Wen Xiao's gaze was steady as he looked at Chi Ye for a while before finally answering, "I forgot."
Chi Ye couldn’t help but laugh.
His deskmate was a little cute after getting drunk.
The sky had darkened, and lights were twinkling everywhere. The warm glow from the streetlamps bathed the scene in a soft, fuzzy glow, adding a touch of warmth to the night.
Someone pushed a cart past them, with flowers wrapped in transparent plastic. Chi Ye thought back to the way Wen Xiao's eyes had glistened in the car. “Want some flowers?”
Wen Xiao gave him an incredulous look. “I’m not a girl.”
Chi Ye shifted his gaze further down the street and spotted another target. “Over there, there’s someone pushing a cart. How about some grilled chicken wings?”
Wen Xiao followed his gaze to the red three-wheeled cart, its sign displaying grilled chicken legs, with the words "Orlean Roasted Wings" written beside it. He shook his head. "It's dirty. Eating that will probably poison you."
The reasoning was irrefutable, so the second option was discarded.
Wen Xiao was so unusually rational that Chi Ye began to question his state of mind. "Hey, am I handsome?"
After hearing the question, Wen Xiao studied Chi Ye's features with a surprising amount of focus, as if truly analyzing every detail.
His eyes were already deep, and without his glasses, the warm light softened the coldness in his eyes. Moreover, because he had been drinking, the blush on his face hadn't faded, making his lips even fuller and more pronounced than usual.
Chi Ye had the sudden urge to press his fingers against Wen Xiao’s lips.
After observing him carefully, Wen Xiao came to a conclusion. “Very handsome.”
“Damn.” Chi Ye laughed again — not just “handsome,” but handsome with an adverb attached.
At that moment, Chi Ye was a hundred percent sure Wen Xiao was drunk.
Adding it all up — what did Wen Xiao think of him? A very handsome Chi Ye.
Maybe it was because Wen Xiao usually spoke so harshly, but these rare, drunken words felt precious. Chi Ye savored them a few times, feeling quite pleased. “So, where to now? My place or my store?”
Even drunk, Wen Xiao was decisive. “I’m not going to your place. You’re coming to mine.”
The sentence sounded fine, the wording and meaning all in order, yet Chi Ye couldn’t shake the feeling that something about it felt... off?
The nearby buildings were all built from the same blueprint, mass-produced, and looked exactly the same inside and out. Chi Ye stood at the door while Wen Xiao found his keys and unlocked it.
Inside, it was dark, with no lights on. Obviously, no one was home. Chi Ye turned on the lights and swapped his shoes for a pair of slippers, and when he looked up, he saw Wen Xiao walk straight into the bedroom, sit down at the desk, and begin—
Doing homework?
Wen Xiao sat up straight, his posture perfect, his side profile serious and focused. Chi Ye stood there, stunned. Who the hell gets drunk, goes home, and immediately starts doing homework?
However, after looking at the material for a while, Wen Xiao noticed, “This is pirated.”
Chi Ye raised an eyebrow. “How do you know it’s pirated?”
Wen Xiao's expression showed some confusion, before he nodded in certainty. “Because I can’t understand what it says. So, it has to be pirated.”
Chi Ye struggled to keep his expression in check. With a smile tugging at his lips, he stood next to Wen Xiao, his right hand bracing the edge of the desk and the other resting on the back of Wen Xiao’s chair. He leaned in. “Here, I know all the words in this pirated material. I’ll read the problem to you. At the origin of the xOy plane, there is a particle source that emits a large number of positively charged particles of the same kind at the same speed v at a certain moment…”
After hearing the problem, Wen Xiao quickly gave the answer, then fixed his gaze on Chi Ye’s face, sharply catching the oddity. “Why do you know the words in this pirated material?”
Before Chi Ye could respond, Wen Xiao added, “The truth is clear.”
“What truth?”
“You’re the one who wrote this pirated material.”
Chi Ye was momentarily at a loss for how to refute the accusation. He simply accepted this temporary identity. “Yes, that's right. A lot of the pirated study materials on the market were made by me. Now that you’ve figured it out, what are you going to do?”
Wen Xiao actually paused to think. After a long moment, he said, “I won’t report you.”
“Why?”
However, Chi Ye didn’t get an answer because right before him, Wen Xiao’s eyelids slowly drooped, then finally closed. He had fallen asleep.
Sitting on the chair wasn't an option. Chi Ye reached out, trying to simulate a supportive motion, but he couldn’t quite get the hang of it. In the end, he bent down and simply lifted Wen Xiao in a classic bridal carry.
Wen Xiao wasn’t heavy. As Chi Ye stood upright, he tested the weight and found that Wen Xiao felt a bit too light. Turning toward the bed, he lowered his gaze to find Wen Xiao’s face pressed against his chest, his eyes closed, the tips of his lashes trembling with each breath. His cheeks had a faint flush. For some reason, Chi Ye's heartbeat quickened.
He inhaled softly.
Carefully, he placed Wen Xiao on the bed, pulled the blanket up to cover him, leaving the bedside lamp on. Chi Ye thought it was time to go. Yaya was still at home, and if he stayed any longer, he would have to fulfill another order.
But the bed seemed to have become a magnet, and no matter how hard he tried, his feet wouldn’t move.
The dim light created a haze of muddled emotions, and that’s exactly how Chi Ye felt now.
He first stared at Wen Xiao’s forehead, noticing there wasn’t a single pimple, not even a mark to be found.
His eyelashes, too, were thick and dense. With his eyes closed, , Chi Ye could see the delicate curve of his eyelids, subtly lifted, perfectly shaped.
Finally, his gaze drifted down to Wen Xiao’s lips.
His lips were no longer the pale pink they usually were. Now, Wen Xiao’s lips seemed to have taken on a soft, translucent red. Chi Ye stared at them, and in the quiet room, he could clearly hear both his own breath and Wen Xiao’s, tangled together.
Finally, as if possessed, he reached out and, controlling his strength, ran his right thumb over Wenxiao's lower lip.
The next morning, Wen Xiao was woken by the ringing of his phone. The sunlight streaming through the window had grown brighter, hinting at a pleasant day outside. His head pounded with a dull ache, and it took him a moment to gather himself. Slowly, his hand emerged from beneath the covers, reaching for his phone.
“Hello?”
His voice was hoarse, still laced with sleep.
On the other end of the line, Chi Ye urged him, “Still not up? You’re going to be late for school, deskmate.”
Wen Xiao instinctively sat up, tilting his head to look out the window. The sunlight was so bright it made him squint. He replied sleepily, “It’s Saturday.”
“That’s not right, how do you know?”
Propping up his pillow, Wen Xiao lay back down, his other hand resting on his forehead to block out the light streaming through the window. “I just had some drinks. I didn't lose my mind.” After thinking for a moment, only fragmented memories of the previous night came back to him. “Did you come to pick me up yesterday?”
“You remember?”
“Just a vague recollection.”
Chi Ye’s voice carried a hint of laughter. “It’s almost eleven. Time to get up and have lunch, or your stomach won’t be able to handle it.”
At the mention of it, Wen Xiao realized that his stomach wasn’t feeling too great. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I got it. I’ll get up now.”
After washing up, Wen Xiao came out of the bathroom and saw his grandmother, wearing an apron, standing in the kitchen.
“You’re up? I made you some lean pork congee and kept it warm. Have a bowl first.” His grandmother noticed his disheveled hair and the clear signs of sleep on his face. She smiled kindly. “I figured you’d feel bad after drinking, so I didn’t wake you up. Did you feel any better after some rest?”
Wen Xiao sat down at the table, confused. “How did you know...?”
“I came back yesterday and happened to see your deskmate leaving. He told me you guys had finished your exams and decided to relax, so you went out for some barbecue. It seems you accidentally drank a little too much.”
Wen Xiao paused, the spoon in his hand frozen midair. “You saw Chi Ye?”
“Yes, he’s very polite and tall. I’m sure many of the girls at school must like him.”
Wen Xiao thought of the group of girls who often gathered in the hallway between classes. “Yeah, a lot of them.”
His grandmother smiled. “I thought so. He’s got that same pretty boy look like you. It’s rare to find a guy who looks almost exactly like Xiaoxiao.”
Wen Xiao silently sipped his congee. Of course, every elder thought their child was the most handsome. His grandmother was no different.
After finishing his meal, Wen Xiao stood up to leave. His grandmother asked, “Where are you going?”
Wen Xiao hesitated for a moment before answering, “I’m going to meet my deskmate to do some homework.”
The moment the words left Wen Xiao’s mouth, he felt a pang of guilt. He couldn’t help but think that if Old Xu saw Chi Ye actually doing homework, he might rush downstairs and buy a lottery ticket right away.
The person Wen Xiao was supposed to be studying with was currently reconciling accounts, with his phone on speakerphone. The voice on the other end had a distinct regional accent.
Wen Xiao could tell the person was speaking the local dialect of Mingnan. He could catch about half of what was being said. The rest was a mix of things he could guess and things that were beyond him. He didn’t speak up, simply found a chair and sat down.
It reminded him of home. His mother would sometimes slip into Mingnan dialect when she was speaking. The accent here was nasally and soft, almost tender. But since Mandarin was spoken everywhere except a few remote areas in Mingnan, his parents never made him learn it.
A few familiar words drifted through the conversation, and Wen Xiao found himself zoning out.
Once the call ended, Chi Ye looked at Wen Xiao. “Does your head still hurt?”
As he spoke, his gaze once again landed on Wen Xiao’s lips.
There was no real difference from usual, yet Chi Ye couldn’t shake the feeling that Wen Xiao’s lips looked a little more vivid than before. His own guilt made him nervous. Fearing that Wen Xiao might notice something was off, he quickly averted his gaze.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore.” Wen Xiao came back to his senses, and after a brief pause, he asked, “Last night... did I say anything?”
“I don’t think you said anything too special. What exactly do you mean?”
“Anything strange.”
“You didn’t say anything strange,” Chi Ye replied. Seeing Wen Xiao visibly relax, he smiled and added, “Oh, but there was one thing you said that I still remember.”
Wen Xiao’s fingers, resting on his thigh, twitched slightly. “What?”
Chi Ye straightened up, intertwining his fingers, leaning lazily against the chair with a grin. “You said that Chi-ge is the most handsome man you've ever seen.”