My Deskmate Chapter 58 (Part 1)
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 58.1
After Chi Ye left, the hospital room was quiet except for the sound of cartoons playing on the TV. Faintly, the cries of a child could be heard outside, mixed with a parent’s soothing voice and a doctor’s calm inquiries. Wen Xiao set his black backpack aside and sat down on the accompanying chair.
The blue seat cushion still seemed to retain Chi Ye’s warmth.
Sitting on the hospital bed, Yaya tilted her head in confusion. “Cola-gege, why did you cover my eyes just now?”
Caught off guard, Wen Xiao took five seconds to come up with an excuse. “I was comparing my hand to Yaya's face to see which one is bigger.”
“Oh, I see!” Yaya cupped her small face with the hand not connected to the IV drip. Her eyes, when she smiled, somewhat resembled Chi Ye’s. Confidently, she declared, “My face is definitely bigger than your hand, Cola-gege!”
Wen Xiao held out his hand with a faint smile. “My hand is bigger. I win.”
“Ah, how can that be?” Yaya examined his palm with a mix of disappointment and curiosity. Reluctantly, she accepted her defeat. Then, as if remembering something, she proposed, “Cola-gege, there are some biscuits in the cabinet. Can I have one?” She paused, then added earnestly, “Gege said those biscuits are okay for kids. They won’t make me sick or dumb if I eat them.”
Wen Xiao took out a packet of biscuits with a cartoon panda on it, carefully unwrapped it, and handed it to her. “Want some water?”
“Thank you, Cola-gege, but I’m not thirsty.” Yaya nibbled at the biscuit, speaking through small bites. “Gege bought these especially for me. Usually, he doesn’t let me have snacks. He says if I eat too many, I won’t eat proper meals, and if I don’t eat meals, I won’t grow tall.”
Wen Xiao: “Your gege is right.”
The drawer by the bedside table was filled with an assortment of items Chi Ye had bought — wet wipes, tissues, snacks, fruit, neatly separately packed toothbrushes, toothpaste, and towels. There were also two storybooks and two first-grade textbooks. After tidying up the items, Wen Xiao glanced at Yaya. She was sitting with her head lowered, half a biscuit still in her hand, but she had stopped eating.
“Yaya?” Wen Xiao called her name softly.
She looked up, crumbs clinging to the corner of her lips, her eyes red and brimming with tears. Her voice trembled as she began to cry. “Cola-gege, I shouldn’t have gotten sick. Gege is so busy every day. I shouldn’t have made him worry!” Her tears spilled over, streaming down her cheeks.
Wen Xiao wasn’t sure if she had been holding back while Chi Ye was present, but now her sobs grew louder. She clutched the biscuit tightly, her little shoulders shaking with every breath. Her nose turned red from crying so hard.
He grabbed a tissue and gently wiped her tears away. “Yaya didn’t want to get sick. It’s not your fault, so don’t blame yourself, and don’t cry, okay?” Not entirely sure how to comfort a young girl, he fumbled for words and added, “If you focus on getting better, eating well, and resting, you’ll recover soon and get to go home.”
Yaya’s wet lashes fluttered as she sniffled. “The doctor lady said gege doesn’t care about me. Gege didn't say anything. He didn't explain anything to the doctor. The doctor doesn't know that gege is so busy. He doesn’t even have time to sleep at night. He works so hard. I shouldn’t have gotten sick. Mommy is sick too. Gege is so tired...”
Wen Xiao felt a pang in his chest as he recalled the messages Chi Ye had sent earlier. He softened his tone, lightly pinching her nose. “It doesn’t matter what others say about your gege. As long as you understand him, he won’t feel sad or hurt.”
She nodded, then wiped her eyes messily with the back of her hand. “I won’t cry anymore. I don’t dare to cry when gege is here because I’m afraid he’ll cry with me.”
Wen Xiao’s breath caught slightly. “Cry with you?”
Yaya beckoned Wen Xiao closer. When he leaned in, she whispered, “I won’t tell anyone else, but once, I had a fever in the middle of the night. Gege took me to the hospital. We had to wait in line sitting on the chairs in the hallway, and it was so, so cold. I felt awful and started crying. Gege held me and... he cried with me. When I saw him crying, I stopped. He looked so pitiful. I’d never seen gege cry before.”
Her voice still carried a faint nasal tone from crying earlier. “Gege works really hard,” she added, then emphasized again, “Really hard. When I grow up, I’ll take care of him so he doesn’t have to work so much.”
Wen Xiao took a quiet breath, trying to ease the ache rising in his chest. He gently tapped her forehead. “Yaya will grow up very soon.”
He couldn’t help but picture it — Chi Ye, still just a teenager himself, rushing his sick little sister to the hospital in the middle of the night, waiting on a cold hallway bench. Wen Xiao imagined the worry, the heartache, and even the fear that must have consumed him.
And yet, there had been no one there to hear Chi Ye voice even a single complaint.
Yaya rubbed her cheek against Wen Xiao’s palm, her eyes curving into a smile. “Yes! When I grow up, and when Mommy stops having fevers, gege can be happy every single day!”
The words “when Mommy stops having fevers” made Wen Xiao’s hand pause for a moment. In the end, he simply replied, “Yes.”
Not long after, Wen Xiao’s phone vibrated with a message from Chi Ye:
“I’m home.”
Wen Xiao typed back: “Send me a photo.”
Chi Ye replied almost instantly: “Damn, is my credibility that low with you?”
Despite his words, he still sent a selfie.
The lighting in the photo was dim, but it was clear Chi Ye was at home. The shot was casual and unpolished, but his striking features and balanced proportions more than made up for it. If anything, the low lighting added depth, the shadows along his nose and jawline emphasizing the sharp contours of his face.
Chi Ye was smiling faintly in the photo, his expression carrying a trace of helplessness. Yet, the warmth in his gaze as he looked at the camera was unmistakable.
Wen Xiao’s fingers moved instinctively, saving the photo to his album before he even realized it.
After sending the picture, Chi Ye began to report his plans for the evening:
“About to shower. After that, I’ll make some fried rice with eggs. Then there’s a pricing spreadsheet I need to finish before going to bed.”
Wen Xiao didn’t question why the spreadsheet couldn’t wait until later or even the next day. After all, others didn’t care if someone in your family was ill or if you were so overwhelmed you could barely manage. The world didn’t concern itself with the process, only whether you got the job done.
Wen Xiao: “Can I handle the pricing spreadsheet for you? If I can, I’ll do it.”
Before Chi Ye responded, Wen Xiao found himself reopening the selfie and staring at it twice more. Still, there was no reply.
He sent another message: “Trade secret?”
After a few seconds, a new message popped up in the chat: “Your Chi-ge doesn’t keep secrets from you.”
“Take a look.”
Moments later, three spreadsheets came through.
The pricing spreadsheet was straightforward. It only required aggregating scattered data: categories, quantities, and prices from the three documents, then compiling everything into one cohesive table.
Wen Xiao: “No problem.”
Chi Ye: “You have an exam tomorrow.”
Raising an eyebrow, Wen Xiao typed back: “I could stay up all night gaming and still come out on top.”
To that, Chi Ye responded with just one word: “Damn.”
Meanwhile, Yaya leaned against her pillow, engrossed in her cartoon. Wen Xiao focused on the spreadsheets. It seemed to be a record of construction hardware Chi Ye supplied to building sites. The list was extensive, some items he recognized, others he’d never heard of. Relying on quick mental calculations, he efficiently totaled the pricing before organizing the data into a clean summary table.