My Deskmate Chapter 34
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 34
It wasn't until they sat down at KFC that the group finally seemed to snap out of their daze.
The movie had ended late, missing the usual lunch rush, so the fast-food restaurant was quiet. Wen Xiao and the others claimed a large table by the window.
Chi Ye pushed his cup of iced cola slightly to the side. Wen Xiao took it, inserting a straw, then realized Zhao Yiyang was staring at him without blinking.
"What’s up?"
"No-nothing," Zhao Yiyang muttered, scratching the back of his head. "Actually, no, something’s up!" But when it came to actually asking, he wasn't sure what to say. "I mean, it’s nothing."
Chi Ye tore open the plastic wrapping around his straw and, out of habit, twirled it a few times in his hand. "Master, do you have something to say or nothing?"
Zhao Yiyang, who prided himself of his eloquence, now found himself tongue-tied. He quickly switched to a different topic, "That scumbag was disgusting, though. He actually snuck into the women’s bathroom at the mall to take pictures!"
"Yeah, thanks to Wen Xiao’s kick, we stopped him from getting away. I wish Wen Xiao had kicked him harder, maybe make him bleed out or something. He’s lucky," Xu Rui added, his tone full of outrage. "The woman who chased after him was so scared she started crying. People like that should be locked up!"
At the mention of the incident, Xu Rui’s anger turned into excitement. "Wen Xiao, your moves were so cool! You’re like the sweeper monk of our school!"
Hearing this, Chi Ye turned to look at Wen Xiao with a grin. "The sweeper monk character sounds pretty cool. A bald head would suit you too."
Wen Xiao sipped his cola, too lazy to pay them any mind.
It took Zhao Yiyang and the others a while to process everything. After all, Wen Xiao had never claimed to be bad at fighting. It was just that his appearance was so deceiving.
Xu Rui chewed on a chicken nugget and daydreamed aloud, "Hey, what do you think would happen if I told Old Xu about today? How would he react?"
Zhao Yiyang cleared his throat and mimicked Old Xu’s voice, "You’re always coming up with these fantasies instead of focusing on math. Why don’t you make up a story where I suddenly switch careers and start teaching Chinese instead?"
The table burst into laughter, then Xu Rui asked, "What about the Director of Discipline?"
Shangguan Yu raised his hand. "You! I’m talking about you! You think I don’t know you’re Chi Ye just because you're wearing a Wen Xiao face mask? Chi Ye! Stop getting into fights pretending to be your deskmate! Otherwise, I’ll have to deduct your conduct points!"
Hearing that, Zhao Yiyang and Xu Rui couldn’t hold back and broke into loud laughter. They quickly covered their mouths when they noticed the people around them staring. They struggled to keep from laughing even harder.
Xu Rui slammed the table, "Damn, Your Majesty really is majestic! So lifelike, like Cheng Xiaoning possessed you!"
Tears of laughter streamed down Zhao Yiyang’s face. "But the question is, does Chi-ge still have any conduct points left to be deducted?"
The group laughed even louder.
Chi Ye stirred the ice cubes at the bottom of his cup, the sound sharp and clear. A smile tugged at his lips. "You guys are laughing too much. My conduct points are all gone. There won't be any positive numbers left, only negative infinity."
The table in front of them was piled high with burgers, fries, and roasted chicken wings. Wen Xiao picked up a chicken leg burger and began peeling off the wrapping, but before he could even get started, Chi Ye snatched it away.
Xu Rui, with a fry dipped in ketchup hanging from his mouth, exclaimed, "Chi-ge, stealing food like that? Unethical! There are plenty of other burgers!"
Chi Ye glanced up. "What do you mean, stealing food? This burger has green peppers in it. He doesn't like them."
“He” obviously referred to Wen Xiao.
"Oh? Is that so?" Xu Rui said, realizing he'd misunderstood. Then he teased, "Let’s do a live interview. You’re not really childhood sweethearts, are you, Chi-ge? How do you know Wen Xiao doesn’t like green peppers?"
Chi Ye met Wen Xiao's gaze and quickly brushed it off. "It’s because I have a good memory."
Wen Xiao lowered his head and unwrapped another burger.
Halfway through his meal, Wen Xiao noticed Zhao Yiyang across from him staring at him with wide eyes, rubbing them in disbelief as if he was trying to confirm what he saw. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it at the last moment and quickly averted his gaze.
Xu Rui, meanwhile, was dipping fries into lemon sauce. "Lemon sauce with fries is too weird. Sweet and sour sauce tastes better. I’m officially on the sweet and sour team now," he suddenly paused, his gaze shifting past Wen Xiao and Chi Ye. He hesitated. "That person—"
"If you don’t like lemon sauce," Zhao Yiyang quickly interrupted, his eyes blinking rapidly, "Should I go get some more sweet and sour sauce for you? We, the sweet and sour team, need to support each other!"
Xu Rui didn’t respond, his eyes still fixed on something. "No, Zhao Yiyang, did you see that? Is that—"
"You’re seeing things. Do you still want the sweet and sour sauce?"
At that moment, he just wanted to shove a burger into Xu Rui’s mouth to make him stop talking.
Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance. Chi Ye had already turned his head to look behind them.
Zhao Yiyang slapped a hand over his face and muttered quietly to Xu Rui, "Damn it, is lemon sauce really the only thing that can shut you up? Can’t you just pretend you didn’t see anything?"
Xu Rui finally started to piece things together and lowered his voice, "I’m just so surprised. Damn, is that really Zhang Mingfeng?"
Zhang Mingfeng.
The name clicked in Wen Xiao’s mind. He remembered when he first transferred, he was with Zhao Yiyang and Shangguan Yu, having fried rice at a small street food stall outside the school. Someone had mentioned that the guy Chi Ye had beaten to a pulp and left with a broken bone was named Zhang Mingfeng.
While Zhao Yiyang and Xu Rui were still bickering quietly, a boy around their age had walked over.
"Fancy meeting you here," Zhang Mingfeng said with a fake smile, holding a cup of orange juice. After exchanging pleasantries, his gaze turned cold as he looked at Chi Ye. "If the owner of this place knew you intentionally hurt someone and almost killed them, do you think they’d still let you in?"
Chi Ye casually took a sip of his cola, completely unfazed, showing no sign that he took Zhang Mingfeng seriously.
Zhao Yiyang and the others remained silent, sensing the tension in the air.
When no one replied, Zhang Mingfeng didn’t bother looking at Chi Ye anymore. His gaze shifted across the group, finally resting on Wen Xiao.
Zhang Mingfeng put on a fake smile. "You must be Chi Ye’s new deskmate, right? I’ve heard from some of my old classmates that you’re an academic overlord." His eyes gleamed with obvious malice. "You probably didn’t know, but when this guy rushed into the classroom and beat me up, he didn’t act like a normal person. He was like a madman! After that beating, I almost died. So, new guy, maybe you should ask Old Xu to switch your seat? Otherwise, your safety might not be guaranteed. What do you think?"
Chi Ye’s face remained indifferent, his eyelids lowered, giving nothing away. But his left hand, hidden under the table, had already clenched into a fist.
Wen Xiao caught sight of the veins popping up on the back of Chi Ye’s hand. He lifted his eyelids, glancing at Zhang Mingfeng and replying, "Then, can you tell us what you did to make Chi Ye beat you up?"
The atmosphere froze.
Chi Ye tilted his head and looked at Wen Xiao.
Some emotion flickered in his eyes before being quickly suppressed.
Wen Xiao’s cold gaze remained fixed on Zhang Mingfeng, his voice clear and calm, "Can't you say?"
"He's a maniac! A crazy person! What reason does a madman need to hit someone?" Zhang Mingfeng’s temple veins bulged, making his face look even more grotesque. "Just wait until the day you end up in the hospital, don’t say I didn’t warn you!"
Before he could finish, he threw the cup of orange juice at Chi Ye.
In a blink, Wen Xiao reacted, intercepting the orange juice hurled at Chi Ye, redirecting it back at Zhang Mingfeng, drenching him completely.
Wen Xiao's eyes seemed to hold a deep, icy spring as he pointed out, "You’re feeling guilty."
Zhang Mingfeng's shirt was soaked with juice. Instinctively, he tried to take a step back but forced himself to stop. His Adam's apple bobbed as he spoke, his voice squeezed out through gritted teeth. "You’re not a good person either. Maybe you’re just as crazy!"
With that, he turned and quickly walked away.
The ice cubes at the bottom of his cup clinked softly as Wen Xiao stirred it with his straw. When he noticed Chi Ye still staring at him intently, he sat down and asked, "What are you looking at?"
Chi Ye smiled. "Looking at someone who’s as crazy as me."
Zhao Yiyang and Xu Rui exchanged a glance and saw the same thing in each other's eyes — Chi-ge’s smile was way too flirtatious!
The weekends always seemed too short. On Monday, the classroom in Class 1 felt like a last meal before execution. Some were eating breakfast, others handing out snacks. It was as if they were just missing a few cocktails to complete their descent into decadence.
When Old Xu entered the classroom, he frowned. "What’s that smell? Someone open a window! Otherwise, when your teacher comes in, he’ll be knocked out by the stench!"
Someone called out, "Teacher, have the results come out?"
That opened the floodgates, and soon, several students were asking the same question. Old Xu raised one finger and shook it like a pendulum. "It’s useless to ask me. The score sheets haven’t even made it to me yet. But I did recognize some of your handwriting. Wei Xinyan, your multiple-choice answers were solid. You only got two wrong."
The girl whose name was called visibly exhaled in relief.
"Shangguan Yu, you got the first two parts of the last question right, but you missed points on the third," Xu Guangqi said, glancing at the test papers.
Shangguan Yu adjusted his glasses. "What about the other questions?"
"They seem fine. I just took a quick look," Xu Guangqi replied, his gaze drifting off. "And Wen Xiao, you and the math representative from the class next door were the only two in the entire year level to complete the last big problem correctly. You both scored full marks."
As soon as Xu Guangqi finished speaking, someone in the room let out a dramatic groan. "These questions went beyond the syllabus! The difficulty level broke the human limit!"
"It's not that the questions were hard, it's that you guys didn't use your brains!" Xu Guangqi shot back. "I told you before that speed is the key when doing problems. Use any means necessary! What happened? A lot of you were so slow, you didn’t even see the last question, did you?"
The classroom fell silent. The math problems were indeed difficult, and many had run out of time to even look at the last one. But now, it seemed that even if they had seen it, they still wouldn’t have been able to solve it.
Xu Guangqi then announced the last item, "The parent-teacher meeting is tomorrow. The report cards and rankings will be handed out then. I’ll kindly remind you all to mentally prepare yourselves."
A chorus of groans echoed through the classroom.
By the time afternoon PE class rolled around, the whole class had lined up to take attendance. The PE teacher, swinging a whistle on a cord, looked at them and asked, "What’s going on? Did the cafeteria forget to serve you enough food at lunch? Didn’t get enough to eat?"
The response came in a weak, drained tone. "We... ate... enough..."
"Then why do you sound like that?"
The class representative raised his hand. "Teacher, the parent-teacher meeting is tomorrow!"
"Oh, that’s what it is. Congratulations, everyone, you're about to face the storm!" The PE teacher, understanding the cause, waved his hand. "Since you're all in a bad mood, you need exercise to get that blood pumping! Come on, everyone, let's run!"
They barely rested for most of the class, and when the teacher blew the whistle to signal the end, Xu Rui plopped down onto the ground. "I’m out of energy. I don’t even have the strength to worry about tomorrow’s parent-teacher meeting. This trick the PE teacher pulled is genius."
Chi Ye glanced at his deskmate. "Want to go to the equipment room and grab a basketball?"
Wen Xiao, aside from breathing a little faster than usual, showed no other signs of fatigue from the exercise. "Let’s go."
The equipment room was small, only opened during PE class, and it always had that stuffy, plastic scent. They weaved around a rack of badminton racquets, and Chi Ye asked, "This your first time in the equipment room?"
"Yeah." Wen Xiao followed behind Chi Ye, watching his straight, strong back. Many boys, in the midst of growing taller, tended to hunch their shoulders, especially from leaning over their desks while doing homework.
Chi Ye didn’t have that problem. Maybe because... he didn’t really study much?
"We’re here. The basketballs are all piled in this bin, but the ones in the equipment room are pretty crappy. A lot of them are nearly flat," Chi Ye said, crouching down to pull one out and dribble it on the ground. "See? Almost no air left."
He tossed the ball into another bin and reached for another one.
Neither of them noticed they were aiming for the same ball.
The surface of the basketball was rough, and their fingertips brushed against each other.
Sunlight filtered through the window, casting beams where tiny dust particles floated in the air. In that instant, every nerve in Wen Xiao’s skin seemed to come alive, the faint itch spreading down his fingers and into his palms. His fingers, still touching the ball’s surface, instinctively pulled back, feeling a slight warmth bloom in his hand.