My Deskmate Chapter 3
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 3
Wen Xiao finished washing the dishes and stepped out of the kitchen. His grandmother was sitting on the couch, wearing her glasses as she read a book.
Switching on the nearby reading lamp, Wen Xiao gently reminded her, “Grandma, the light’s too dim. It’s not good for your eyes.”
“You finished washing the dishes so quickly?” his grandmother asked with a smile as she took off her glasses. “I’m getting old. I forgot to turn on the light.” She pointed to a stack of books on the coffee table. “Remember I mentioned a former student of mine who teaches at a high school now? He came by this afternoon and brought over all these textbooks, study guides, and practice tests for you. See if any of them are useful. If something’s missing, we’ll buy it later.”
Wen Xiao sat down on the couch and picked up the physics textbook on top of the pile. Flipping through a few pages, he found the material somewhat familiar and replied, “One study guide is enough. No need to get more. The school seems to have their own materials for every subject, and they’re pretty comprehensive.”
“How are you finding the classes after these two days? Can you follow along?”
Seeing Wen Xiao stop flipping through the book and look at her quietly, his grandmother chuckled. She knew her grandson’s pride when it came to academics. He had never backed down, much less felt intimidated. “Alright, alright. Grandma was wrong. I shouldn’t have doubted your ability. Of course, our Xiaoxiao understands everything!”
“Mm.” Wen Xiao stood up, gathering the entire stack of books in his arms. With a strawberry in his mouth, he mumbled, “I’m going to study.”
“Go on, then.” His grandmother put her glasses back on. “If you get tired, come out and have some fruit. Give your eyes a break.”
Just as Wen Xiao reached his bedroom door, she lowered her gaze to her book and spoke in a softened voice, “Xiaoxiao, even though... even though things are like this, don’t push yourself too hard. All I want is for you to live a healthy life. I’m sure your parents would want the same.”
The words froze Wen Xiao in his tracks, as though someone had pressed pause on him. The faint shadow he cast on the light-colored wooden floor trembled like a candle flickering in the wind. After a long moment, he finally responded, his voice quiet but steady, “Don’t worry. I understand.”
Wen Xiao’s luggage arrived on Saturday morning. When he came to Mingnan, he had only brought one suitcase, half of which was filled with books and the other half with clothes. The rest of his things had been packed separately and sent by regular mail. It was cheap, but painfully slow, leaving Wen Xiao wondering if his large packages had first made a couple of detours around the Earth.
The postal worker's voice was unusually loud. “These are heavy! What on earth did you pack? We don’t deliver to your door, so you’ll have to come pick them up yourself!”
The voice, distorted by static, made Wen Xiao pulled his phone away from his ear.
When the person finally finished speaking, Wen Xiao leaned back in and responded, “Got it. I’ll come right over.”
Despite the winter season, Mingnan was already basking in early spring weather, with gentle winds and sunshine gracing the past two days. Coming out of the building, Wen Xiao squinted against the sunlight. He pulled up the hood of his black hoodie and lowered his head slightly, which made him feel much better.
The post office wasn’t far, about a fifteen-minute walk. Standing on the street, Wen Xiao pulled out his phone map, studied the route, and chose a shortcut.
Jiuzhang Road, as the name suggested, was as complicated as a math problem. Wen Xiao, holding his phone, stood in front of a brick wall, deeply questioning whether the map was wrong or if the wall itself was the problem. Either way, there was no way he could have gotten lost.
Just as he was about to turn around and retrace his steps, a short, pink figure suddenly darted around the corner. Her small pigtails swished through the air in a half-circle as she charged ahead like a little cannonball.
Wen Xiao recognized her instantly — the little girl who always got her math problems wrong. He reached out and grabbed the hood of her jacket. “Stop running, there’s no way forward up ahead.”
The little girl came to an abrupt stop, her uneven bangs resembling roadside weeds. She looked up and exclaimed, “Cola-gege?” She then blinked her big eyes and stared at the wall behind Wen Xiao for a moment. After two seconds of silence, she suddenly shouted, “Ge—” and, unsure of what to say next, repeated Wen Xiao’s words, “Stop running, there’s no way forward up ahead!”
As if by magic, the words had barely echoed twice in the alley when a person in a black thin jacket appeared in front of Wen Xiao. He opened his mouth and said, “Damn it, who's so heartless that they wasted their leftover New Year's money on building a wall here?”
Wen Xiao thought to himself, That’s about what I was going to say.
From his appearance, the newcomer looked to be around the same age as Wen Xiao. His hair was cut in a standard buzz cut, each strand sticking straight up. His features were sharp and clean, and he was quite good-looking. He was wearing baggy cargo pants with a silver chain that had gotten so dusty, one'd wonder if the smog in Mingnan was really that bad.
Standing nearby, Wen Xiao heard the sound of hurried footsteps approaching and quickly warned, “Someone's coming.”
Then he saw the newcomer’s first reaction was to shield his sister behind him.
Chi Ye glanced around and saw a broken clothes drying pole on the ground. Without minding the dirt, he hooked it with his toe, grabbed it mid-air, swung it around a couple of times out of habit, and then turned back to ask, “Yaya, how far can you count now?”
“1, 2, 3, 4, 5—”
“Can you count to three hundred?”
Yaya proudly answered, “I can!”
Chi Ye smirked, a hint of mischief in his eyes. “That’s enough. Go stand by the wall, close your eyes, and press your face against it. Count to three hundred, got it?”
“Got it!”
“Good, go ahead. Don’t open your eyes until I tell you.”
After giving the instructions, he waited until Yaya began muttering as she leaned against the wall, counting. Only then did he seem to notice Wen Xiao. “Brother, if you’re leaving, better hurry. Otherwise, they'll think you're my accomplice—”
“Chi Ye, you little shit, you found a helper so quickly? I thought you liked flying solo? Afraid of your grandpas now?”
Chi Ye gave Wen Xiao a helpless smile and shrugged. “There's nothing we can do about it now.”
He looked Wen Xiao up and down — tall, but thin and frail-looking. His face and lips were pale, lacking color, making one wonder if he was undernourished or just hadn’t exercised enough.
Chi Ye suggested, “How about you go count with my sister?”
Wen Xiao shot him a glance but remained unmoved.
Chi Ye spun the broken clothes rack in his hands. “What do you think? If I shout a couple of times and say you’re just a passerby who needs to go home for dinner, will they believe me?”
Wen Xiao doubted this guy's intelligence. “It’s 10 a.m. right now.”
“Oh,” Chi Ye quickly corrected himself, “Then you’re rushing home for lunch?”
Wen Xiao decided that this guy really wasn’t very bright.
The people across from them were already in position. A rough estimate put the number at no less than ten, and they were shouting and trying to intimidate, each one sounding like they had studied the "200 Essential Insults" manual.
Wen Xiao turned his gaze away and asked Chi Ye, “Where did you manage to stir up this hornet’s nest? It’s buzzing nonstop.”
“Gege’s too fragrant. Isn't that what attracts bees and butterflies?” Chi Ye laughed, the corners of his eyes curling downward, but there wasn’t a trace of humor in his gaze. He stared at the group across from them and asked Wen Xiao, “Not leaving? If you don’t go now, it’ll be too late.”
Wen Xiao ripped a piece of discarded plastic pipe, about the length of his forearm, from the wall nearby and held it in his hand. It felt surprisingly comfortable. He then asked Chi Ye, “If I leave, can you protect your little sister on your own?”
Chi Ye tilted his head and studied Wen Xiao seriously, his tone a little more earnest. “Thanks. I’ll buy you a drink sometime.” After a pause, he added, “The kind that costs five yuan a bottle. Can’t afford the expensive ones.”
Wen Xiao didn’t bother responding.
“81, 82, 83, 84, 84, 85...”
Chi Ye was the first to charge forward, sweeping the pole across in a wide arc that landed squarely in the face of the man in front. The man screamed in pain, blood splattering from his nose. Chi Ye followed up with a punch to knock down another attacker. He even had time to say, “Here's a lucky start for you!”
As he fought, Chi Ye caught a glimpse of Wen Xiao out of the corner of his eye. The guy was wearing thin silver-rimmed glasses, his hood pulled tightly over his head like a bookish nerd with social phobia — a weak and meek chicken. Unexpectedly, his attacks were both fierce and precise, wielding a broken plastic water pipe as if it were Zhao Xin's halberd, hitting every target with deadly accuracy.
He had thought it was just three-of-a-kind, but it turned out to be a royal flush.
“97, 98, 99, 101—”
“Yaya, did you drink your 100 mL A&D calcium milk last night?”
Upon hearing Chi Ye’s words, Yaya’s counting paused for a moment, and after a few seconds, she tremblingly resumed, “99, 100, 101...”
After taking down three of them, Wen Xiao switched the plastic pipe to his left hand, his right still numb from the blows. He asked Chi Ye, “Isn’t it a bit arrogant of you to make your little sister count to three hundred?”
With a swift kick, Chi Ye sent the guy sneaking up behind Wen Xiao crashing to the ground. He twirled the clothes rack in his hand and arrogantly whistled. “Don’t worry. She’s terrible at counting. Once she reaches 199, she'll start again at 101. Ever since she was little, she's never been able to count properly.”
Wen Xiao: ......
Overall, the fight was easier than Wen Xiao had anticipated, or maybe it was because his teammate was so reliable and didn't hold him back.
Either way, Wen Xiao was thoroughly enjoying himself. He realized that, with the cold weather, a little exercise was a good way to stay warm.
By the time the last person had fled, Wen Xiao tossed the plastic pipe aside, brushed the dust off his hands, and finally removed his hood.
From behind him, he could still hear Yaya counting: 199, 101, 102.
Chi Ye leaned against the wall, supporting himself on one foot, his posture casual as he called out to his sister from a distance. “Tired from counting? Take a break?”
Yaya stopped counting and whined, “I’m tired. Why isn’t three hundred here yet?”
Chi Ye: “I was about to ask the same thing. Why isn’t three hundred here yet?”
He beckoned his sister over, then turned his attention to his temporary teammate standing beside him.
As he took a closer look, he realized that this wasn’t the face of a social-phobic nerd at all. In fact, it looked more like the face of someone who enjoyed causing trouble for little girls! His movements were cold and sharp, but with the glasses covering his eyes, Chi Ye hadn’t noticed it at first.
Just as he was about to thank him, the temporary teammate asked his sister, “What happened to your hair? Did a dog chew on your bangs?”
Yaya touched her fringe seriously and answered, “It wasn’t a dog. It was my gege who cut it!”
Chi Ye: “......”
He cleared his throat, bringing both of their attention to himself, and ruffled his sister’s hair on top of her head. “Do you know him?”
Yaya nodded. “This is Cola-gege!”
Chi Ye understood now. This was the guy who bought the cola and was overcharged with three yuan — his creditor.
With his hands in his black cargo pants pockets, Chi Ye spoke seriously to his sister. “Yaya, you can’t call him ‘Cola-gege,’ you understand?”
Wen Xiao: “......”