My Deskmate Chapter 6
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 6
The afternoon break lasted nearly half an hour. As soon as the music for eye exercises began, some students lay down to sleep, while others busily worked on their assignments.
The workload for second-year high school students was heavy. It was as if all the teachers had attended a meeting and agreed to assign one to three test papers for almost every subject. If they didn't take advantage of their nap time and breaks to do homework and only left it for evening self-study, they wouldn't be able to finish it at all.
Wen Xiao casually grabbed a test paper, signed his name on it, then tossed the pen aside and stood up.
Zhao Yiyang, as if he had eyes on the back of his head, turned around. "Wen Xiao, where are you going?"
"Supermarket."
"Wait for me, I’m coming with you!" Zhao Yiyang eagerly responded, patting his school uniform pocket to check if he had money. "I'm starving! Can you believe the cafeteria only allowed one chicken leg per person at lunch? Do they look down on our appetite just because we're still young? Wen Xiao, weren’t you hungry too?"
Wen Xiao nodded. As he stood up to leave, he noticed that his deskmate was nowhere to be found.
Chi Ye was mostly invisible. He slept through class, napped between lessons, and seemed to live as if he worked late into the night, like a thief who stole time. He must be so exhausted, he has to make the most of every minute of daylight to catch up on sleep.
The school’s supermarket was far away. To get there from the second academic building, they first had to cross the main road between the Confucius statue and the basketball court, and then go around the library.
Zhao Yiyang loved to laugh. When he did, the dimples on his cheeks showed. He was well-liked by everyone. As they walked out of the second academic building, they ran into several familiar faces, all of whom greeted him. Wen Xiao, on the other hand, was quiet and usually ended conversations too quickly. Zhao Yiyang, however, persisted. "I went to the office this afternoon to ask the math teacher some questions. I saw Old Xu was working on the class' grade statistics graph. His eyes were almost glued to the computer screen. He was so focused."
Wen Xiao: "Hmm, he’s very responsible."
"Yeah, even though we're not in our third year yet, Old Xu is already worrying about our college entrance exam results. At this rate, his hairline won't survive until graduation," Zhao Yiyang rambled on, "Speaking of which, our school's college entrance exam scores might not be the best in the city, and the teaching quality isn't necessarily the best in Mingnan either, but if we're talking about history, our school can basically look down on any school in the country!"
Pretending to calculate with his fingers, he said with a hint of pride, "Our school's site dates back about two thousand years! Of course, now and in the future, it's your school too. See that statue of Confucius? It's been standing there motionless for over three hundred years."
Wen Xiao: "An old, ancient school... Isn’t it easy to get haunted?"
"......" Zhao Yiyang Zhao Yiyang clasped her hands together. "Amitabha, we still have evening self-study!"
The school supermarket wasn’t very large, but it had everything. One could find drinks, snacks, band-aids, pencil sharpeners, etc.
Zhao Yiyang was really hungry. He grabbed two bread rolls, a box of biscuits, and a bottle of milk. Still not enough, he shoved a bottle of juice into his uniform pocket.
Seeing Wen Xiao standing still in front of the shelf, he sidled over and began recommending items. "Look, that sandwich with bacon is delicious! It’s a specialty of our school. If you don’t grab it now, it’ll be gone in a flash."
Wen Xiao reached out and took one, also picking up a navy blue pen refill.
To his surprise, after they paid and walked out of the supermarket, the pen refill leaked ink and smeared all over his hands.
Wen Xiao, who had a slight mysophobia, asked, "Is there a faucet nearby?"
Zhao Yiyang was unwrapping a bread roll to eat. "Yes, yes, there is, but the sink at the entrance is so gross. It's full of people soaking instant noodles and leaving behind greasy residue. I'll take you to the one behind the supermarket. There are fewer people there, and it's cleaner."
Behind the supermarket, there were indeed fewer people. A flock of sparrows, pecking idly, scattered at the sound of approaching feet. The sink was somewhat precariously positioned, leaning against the wall at an odd angle. It could probably be washed away by a heavy rain one night.
Wen Xiao twisted the rusty faucet. After a few "hisses," a thin stream of water finally trickled out. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of something. He turned his head, and by chance, saw someone scaling the school’s wall.
The figure moved quickly, taking a few steps to gain momentum, leaping up to grab the stainless steel bar, and then pulled himself over the wall with a swift motion. In a moment, he had jumped down to the other side.
Wen Xiao thought the figure looked familiar. After thinking for a moment, he realized it was his deskmate, Chi Ye.
He was climbing the wall.
Chi Ye noticed Wen Xiao as well. From a distance, he put his index and middle fingers together, held them up to his brow in a cocky salute, and smirked in Wen Xiao's direction before hopping off the wall and leaving.
Wen Xiao turned to Zhao Yiyang, who was standing beside him. "Did you just see—?"
Zhao Yiyang turned to look at him. "See what?"
Wen Xiao: "Didn't you see?"
Zhao Yiyang chewed on his straw, emphasizing, "See what? I didn't see anything. Weren't there just a few sparrows hopping around on the ground? I even fed them a couple of crumbs."
Wen Xiao: "......"
Oscar-worthy acting.
Nowadays, primary schools let out early in the afternoon. By the time Chi Ye reached Ningyuan Primary School, the gates were already empty. The only person left was a security guard, bundled in a military coat, napping in the guardhouse.
He stood at the door of Class 3, Grade 1, casually leaning against the doorframe. He curled his fingers and knocked on the green classroom door. "Yaya, working hard on your homework?"
Hearing the voice, Yaya jerked her head up. Her small braids swayed with the movement. "Ge!" she called out, before frowning again.
There was no one else in the classroom except for Yaya. Chi Ye walked in and watched his sister stuff a Barbie princess pencil case into her schoolbag. "What’s going on? Who made you upset?"
Yaya hugged her bag and pouted. "My little pink bow clip, I lost it during PE class when I was running."
"You’re upset over that?" Chi Ye slid his hands into his pockets, pulling out a fist and holding it in front of his sister's eyes. "Get ready. Look carefully."
He opened his hand, revealing a small pink plastic bow clip resting in his palm.
Yaya’s eyes went wide with surprise. "Gege, where did you find my clip?"
Find it? This little silly girl would lose ten or eight of these clips every week. He’d already bought a hundred identical ones online.
"Your ge's magical powers are limitless." Chi Ye reached out and grabbed Yaya’s small water bottle, wrinkling his nose in disdain. "Another pink one?"
"Ge, you picked it out for me. It's a princess color."
Yaya strapped on her backpack, her clothes thick and bulky, making her small frame look round and chubby. It gave Chi Ye an odd feeling that he was walking around with a pink, bouncing ball on a leash.
The motorcycle was parked outside the school. Chi Ye placed the smallest helmet on his sister’s head, then put on his black face mask, hooking the straps behind his ears. He swung his long legs over the bike.
Yaya climbed up skillfully and settled herself behind him, holding onto his shirt. "Ge, what time did you wake up this morning?"
Chi Ye rested his legs on the curb. "Five o’clock. Why?"
Yaya stuck out her tongue, a smug grin on her face as she triumphantly exposed him, "You’re lying. I woke up to go to the bathroom, and you weren’t home. I checked the time, it was three o’clock."
"You were just half asleep and saw the time wrong," Chi Ye countered. "Maybe you didn’t even get up at all, and you were just dreaming."
Yaya, confused for a moment, then had a sudden realization. "Oh, so I never actually got up to use the bathroom last night!"
The food at the Mingnan Affiliated High School cafeteria was nothing special. There were only five different menus that cycled throughout the semester. Naturally, no one could stand it. The snack street next door became the most popular place.
The snack street was narrow, but it somehow managed to fit all the food stalls on both sides. Stainless steel tables, gas canisters, and stretched-out blue tarps combined to create a tempting little shop.
Sitting down on the plastic stool, Zhao Yiyang ordered three plates of fried rice and then recommended to Wen Xiao, "The stir-fried pickled vegetable in this place is absolutely amazing. Once you try it, you'll be thinking about this taste for the next ten years!"
Seeing that Zhao Yiyang was about to continue, Wen Xiao, already understanding his routine, turned to the owner and said, "Another order of pickled vegetable."
Zhao Yiyang gave a thumbs-up. "You, my friend, have good taste!"
Shangguan Yu, who was sitting nearby, cracked open his disposable chopsticks and added, "No, it’s not that he has good taste. He just doesn't want to hear you talk so much."
Someone sat down at the empty table next to them. His voice was loud, and his pre-pubescent laughter sounded like a saw cutting through wood.
"That surnamed Chi insulted me during physics class. Ha, his deskmate probably doesn’t even know that Chi Ye isn’t some nice guy. The neighboring classes have 42 people, but why does our class only have 41? It's all because of Chi Ye. He broke someone's leg, fractured his arm, and what else? Right, ruptured spleen! If he hadn't been sent to the hospital for emergency treatment two minutes later, he might have died."
As he spoke, his eyes turned toward Wen Xiao’s table.
Another person continued, "If he were an adult, he could definitely be convicted of attempted murder, right? Otherwise, why wouldn't any teacher at the school dare to discipline him? Aren't they afraid that one day, they might be beaten to death by Chi Ye?"
Zhao Yiyang slammed his chopsticks on the table. "They won’t say anything to his face, but gossip behind his back? Are they all eunuchs or what?"
Shangguan Yu leisurely chimed in, "You’re insulting eunuchs."
The person on the other side raised his voice even louder. "I still remember it clearly. Back in the first year, during evening study, Chi Ye went crazy and suddenly kicked the door open, pinned Zhang Mingfeng down and started beating him up. He looked like a madman, his face full of murderous intent." The speaker pretended to shrink his shoulders. "Scary."
When it was time to pay, the person from the adjacent table stood up and passed by Wen Xiao. With a sinister look on his face, he said in a low voice, "You don’t look like your bones are tougher than Zhang Mingfeng’s. Be careful. One wrong word, and Chi Ye might just beat you to death—"
Wen Xiao stepped aside, his voice cold as ice. "Are we familiar with each other?"
The unfinished words were instantly choked back.
Once the person had walked away, Zhao Yiyang spoke up. "Look, I’ve been sitting next to Chi-ge for a year and a half. Even though he’s not often in school, he’s really not that kind of person. Although... although, the part about him hitting someone, that’s definitely true."
His voice trailed off, realizing that the second part had only made things worse. Zhao Yiyang, who had always prided himself on his eloquence, now felt like he was digging himself into a deeper hole.
Wen Xiao, half a head taller than Zhao Yiyang, lowered his gaze and asked, "Are you worried I’ll misunderstand?"
Zhao Yiyang nodded vigorously. "Well, it’s not really a misunderstanding, no, wait, yes, it’s a misunderstanding!"
Wen Xiao handed Zhao Yiyang the fifteen yuan for the fried rice, his tone as indifferent as ever. "I have eyes. I can see what kind of person he is."