My Deskmate Chapter 42 (Part 2)
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 42.2
Chi Ye felt the heat in his fingertips, his heart racing faster than usual. He tried to control himself several times, but finally, he couldn’t hold back. Reaching out, he gently brushed his thumb across the corner of Wen Xiao's lips.
Wen Xiao looked up, puzzled. "What’s wrong?"
Casually retracting his hand, Chi Ye explained, "You had a bit of oil on the corner of your lips."
Wen Xiao stared into Chi Ye's eyes for several seconds, not saying a word. In those clear eyes, all of Chi Ye's hidden thoughts seemed to have nowhere to hide.
Just as Chi Ye’s throat went dry, he heard Wen Xiao ask, "How about now?"
"Now, it’s fine."
"Mmm." Wen Xiao nodded and lowered his head again, continuing to eat the fried egg he hadn’t finished.
Watching the person across from him, Chi Ye could clearly feel that deep in his heart was a primitive forest, where a wildfire had started. In just a moment, it had spread everywhere.
He wanted to say, “You eat first, I’ll go stand by the door,” but his mouth felt glued shut. Not a single word could escape. He forced himself to look away, focusing on the wood grain of the table, trying to calm his mind.
His thoughts, however, wandered back to the parent-teacher meeting when Wen Xiao had given him that calming pear blossom. Before that, there was the time Wen Xiao had gotten drunk and Chi Ye had asked him why he hadn’t invited his parents to the meeting. Wen Xiao had answered that it would make Chi Ye sad.
Although his eyes were fixed on the wood grain, his mind was consumed with thoughts of the person sitting across from him.
A few minutes later, Wen Xiao put down his bowl and chopsticks. "I’m done," he said, standing up to clear and wash the dishes.
Chi Ye followed him silently.
After placing the clean dishes aside, Wen Xiao recalled, "Old Xu said this morning that there’s been an increase in phone thefts at the school gate. Be careful."
"Mmm," Chi Ye responded lazily, then added, "By the way, I probably won’t be able to go to school for the next couple of days."
Wen Xiao didn’t look up. "Why are you telling me this all of a sudden?"
Chi Ye smiled lazily. "Naturally, it’s to avoid making my deskmate worry, wondering where I’ve gone off to."
Wen Xiao's hand, which was rinsing under the tap, paused. He lowered his eyelashes and replied after a few seconds, "Then don’t do anything to make people worry, like last time."
Chi Ye’s heart skipped a beat, as if a cat’s paw had brushed against it. He leaned his back against the edge of the stove and stepped closer to Wen Xiao, turning his head to study his profile with a curious gaze. "Really worried about me?"
Afraid of breaking the moment, his voice dropped a few tones.
Wen Xiao raised his eyes, briefly scanning the slender scar beneath Chi Ye’s eye. Finally, his gaze met Chi Ye’s, unwavering and clear, as he answered without hesitation, "Yes, I’m worried about you."
Their gazes were equally clear, both filled with the cold sharpness of youth.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Finally, it was Chi Ye who broke the silence. "Isn’t the sports festival coming up soon? The third years aren’t allowed to participate. I guess this will be our last one in high school."
Wen Xiao thought for a moment. "I think someone’s already signing up people for the events."
"Think?"
"Someone came and asked me what event I wanted to sign up for. They said I had to choose one. At the time, I was doing chemistry problems, so I just randomly ticked the first option." Wen Xiao turned to Chi Ye and asked, "What’s the first one?"
"100-meter sprint for men." Chi Ye mentally pictured the scene. "Deskmate, you probably didn’t even see the person's face clearly, couldn’t read the words, and all you could think about was NaO2, right?"
Wen Xiao didn’t deny it. "Are you signing up?"
"I’m not signing up. Whether I can even make it to school that day is still up in the air." Chi Ye leaned in a couple of inches, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Deskmate, you can do it."
It was only after Chi Ye’s reminder that Wen Xiao realized nearly everyone in the class was discussing the event. The pressure from schoolwork was so heavy that every day felt monotonous and tedious. Even the slightest change would make the whole class react.
Originally, the entertainment committee had wanted to organize a performance for the opening ceremony, but Old Xu shut it down. "We already discussed this in the meeting. To avoid disrupting the second year students’ studies and to save your time, the second years won’t perform. The first years will put on a show for you. Isn’t that good enough?"
The whole class was disappointed. We want to be disrupted. We want to waste our time! We’re willing to!
When the bell rang for the end of evening self-study, a few people walked out with the crowd. Zhao Yiyang made a basketball shooting motion. "This sports festival is going to be a joke. Everyone will wear the same uniform, shout some ridiculous slogan, walk halfway around the track, then stand around listening to the school leaders give speeches. It’s so boring."
Xu Rui carried his backpack neatly. "Yeah, it’s pretty pointless, but at least it’s a two-day break. Two days off from classes — that’s luxury for a school like ours that only gives students ten days for winter break!"
Zhao Yiyang glanced at him. "You've got a point."
"Right? Plato once said that those who learn to console themselves will have lasting happiness." Xu Rui adjusted his glasses. "But there are exceptions. I heard the dance team is going to perform at the opening ceremony. Isn’t the school dance team mostly made up of students from our year? The third years have dropped out, and there are only a few first years. Our year is the main force. So, by rounding up, it’s almost like we, the second years, are performing at the opening ceremony."
Shangguan Yu, who had been listening nearby, said, "Academic officer, you’ve really grasped the essence of rounding off."
Xu Rui puffed out his chest proudly. "Of course!"
The lights in the hallway of the academic building flickered on and off. Xu Rui rubbed his arms. "If it weren't for all these people walking around, this would feel like a horror movie."
Zhao Yiyang laughed at him. "Do you have a nerve as thin as a tungsten filament?"
The group said their goodbyes at the school gate. Wen Xiao boarded Bus 117 and found an empty seat near the back.
It was already the last two buses, and the vehicle was mostly empty. The bus swayed slowly down the road. Wen Xiao gazed out the window, mentally running through the steps of the last math problem.
What Chi Ye saw after getting on the bus was exactly this picture.
His deskmate was dressed in a blue-and-white school uniform, sitting in the last row by the window, with only his profile visible. In the empty bus, the light and shadow alternated constantly with the passing streetlights, flitting and wandering over him like an old silent film.
And he was the only audience in that moment.
After watching for a while, Chi Ye noticed that Wen Xiao, swaying with the bus, had slowly started to doze off. Not long after, his head tilted to the side, lightly bumping against the transparent glass.
And just like that, he stayed asleep.
Passing through the narrow aisle, Chi Ye made his way to the last row and sat down. He reached out, his palm gently resting against Wen Xiao's temple, guiding his head to rest on his shoulder.
Wen Xiao instinctively stirred, but Chi Ye didn’t let go. He whispered softly, "It’s me."
As if subconsciously recognizing Chi Ye, Wen Xiao's trembling eyelashes settled, and he relaxed. He leaned against Chi Ye’s shoulder, the straight line of his nose cast in a shadow by the oblique light.
In that posture, Chi Ye lowered his head slightly, his eyes drifting over Wen Xiao's eyebrows, lashes, and lips, but he didn’t move.
After a long while, he leaned in, gently brushing his nose against Wen Xiao's scalp.
In the shadow, where the light barely reached, Wen Xiao's fingers, resting on his lap, trembled slightly.