My Deskmate Chapter 66
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 66
Wen Xiao turned on the desk lamp and spread out his textbooks and test papers. He stood for a while, but fatigue made him retreat a few steps and lie back on the bed. His limbs felt heavy and dense. Although he wasn't cold, he unconsciously arched his back and curled up, his spine leaving a faint line under his clothes.
That night, after finishing his homework, Wen Xiao opened the study app on his phone and began working on physics problems. He mechanically moved to the next question after completing each one, occasionally glancing at the window across from him.
It wasn’t until the clock's hands pointed to five that the light in the window belonging to Chi Ye turned on, standing out starkly in the dark before dawn.
Wen Xiao couldn’t focus on the words in the problems anymore. He was completely absorbed, staring at the light across from him in a trance.
Twenty minutes later, the light went off. Chi Ye must have gone to sleep. Wen Xiao pulled his attention back and continued working through the questions.
Outside, the chirps of small birds echoed among the thick tree branches, and the faint glow of early morning light began to rise. The sounds of people talking could be heard sporadically. At six-thirty, there was a slight noise at the door. Wen Xiao stood and moved to the window, waiting. Despite staying up all night, he felt surprisingly alert.
Before long, the light in Chi Ye’s window flickered on again.
His grandmother’s footsteps stopped at the door. "Xiaoxiao, are you up? You’re going to be late."
"I’m up," Wen Xiao replied, noticing only then how hoarse his voice was. He answered again, more clearly this time. "I’m up."
The classroom was as lively as usual. Someone tossed a basketball from the back row to the front, while others secretly passed around the latest entertainment magazines and manhua. When Xu Guangqi entered, someone raised an eyebrow and said, "Old Xu, did you walk into the wrong classroom again? It’s Thursday today, we have Chinese class!"
Not long ago, Xu Guangqi had made the same mistake. On a Tuesday, he thought it was Wednesday, and five minutes early, he walked in with his lesson plan, ready to start the class. When the biology teacher entered, he even tried to shoo them out, saying, "Wrong room, wrong room! This is my class!"
"This time I’m not wrong!" Xu Guangqi stood at the front of the class in a blue striped shirt, with a conspicuous black belt around his waist. He positioned himself by the blackboard. "Class monitor, come up and clean the board. Your Chinese teacher can’t make it today because of something at home, so we’ve swapped lessons. Today we’ll have two consecutive math lessons. How do you feel about that? Happy? Excited?"
No one answered.
Under the desk, Wen Xiao’s phone lit up. It was a message from Chi Ye, saying that Yaya's teacher wanted to speak with him, and that he’d come by during the second break.
Thinking back to the light that had only been off for an hour and a half the night before, Wen Xiao’s finger hovered over the screen for a long moment before he typed a simple "Okay."
Rarely did they have two consecutive lessons, so Xu Guangqi wasted no time diving into them. He slammed his lesson plan against the podium, making a loud "clap" sound. "Class, between the three main subjects, Chinese, Math, and English, do you know where your weaknesses show up? Math! Math is the subject that drags your scores down the most! Look, is it easy to score 100 or 110 in Chinese? It's easy. What about 120? It's a bit difficult. 130? For most of you, it's easier to dream about it. What about scoring 90? That's also difficult, right? Can you really justify scoring below 90 in your mother tongue, something you’ve been speaking since childhood?
"...Math is different. Those who are good at math can score 150. Those who are not good might only get 50. In Chinese or English, you can at least fill in some words to make it look like you know something. But math is different. If you look at a math problem twice and still don't understand it, you can only write the word 'solution' in fancy handwriting!"
Zhao Yiyang muttered quietly, "Old Xu must’ve paid Cheng Xiaoning to tutor him. His words are so smooth and convincing."
The two lessons were split in half — one spent on motivational speeches and attitude adjustment, the other on just three problems. The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Xu Guangqi was still deep in thought as the students began to file out into the hallway, heading downstairs for morning exercises.
Zhao Yiyang turned around, calling out, "Wen Xiao, we’ll — hey, where’d he go?"
Behind the supermarket, few people paid attention. The collapsed sink still hadn’t been repaired, and even a few wild green grasses had sprouted in the cracks.
Wen Xiao sat on the edge of a stone platform, his long legs resting on the ground. A few flower petals, blown by the wind, lay at his feet.
When he saw Chi Ye nimbly and swiftly climbing over the wall, Wen Xiao called out, "Caught you."
Thinking he had imagined it, Chi Ye turned around. When he saw it was Wen Xiao, a smile appeared on his face. "What are you doing here waiting for me?" He walked over, smiling as he did. "Well, you caught me. What’s the punishment?"
Wen Xiao’s toes brushed the ground. "Looking forward to it?"
"If the punishment is something like a kiss, I wouldn’t mind at all." Chi Ye sat down beside him, handing over the breakfast he had been carrying. "Here, it’s still warm. The breakfast vendor knows me so well now. Every time I show up, she says, ‘Here comes the one with three parts sugar.’"
Wen Xiao took the soy milk and pancake, his gaze fixed on the back of Chi Ye’s hand. "What happened to your hand?"
It wasn’t just the back of his hand. Chi Ye had several small cuts on his finger joints and fingertips, but none of them were as alarming as the long gash on his hand.
The wound was clean and straight, as if it had been made by something sharp and precise.
Chi Ye followed his gaze and looked down, shrugging nonchalantly. "It’s from a fight yesterday. It’s not serious. See, it’s already scabbed over. In a few days, when the scab falls off, you won’t even notice it."
Wen Xiao grabbed his wrist and pulled it closer, gently pressing his lips to the wound on the back of Chi Ye’s hand.
Chi Ye could see the lashes of Wen Xiao's lowered eyes and jokingly said, "If I had known this would be the reward, I should’ve gotten a few more cuts."
He was immediately met with a cold glare.
Wen Xiao opened the straw, inserted it into his drink, took a sip, and then placed it by Chi Ye’s mouth. "What time did you sleep last night?"
"I didn’t really pay attention. When I got home, I checked on Yaya to make sure she hadn’t kicked off her blanket, then I lost track of time. I just lay down and fell asleep right away." Chi Ye took a sip of the warm soy milk, drinking from the white straw in Wen Xiao's hand.
For the past couple of days, his temples had been throbbing with a dull pain, and he couldn’t help but rub them.
Seeing his bloodshot eyes and concerned he might not have slept enough, Wen Xiao couldn't help but ask, "Do you have anything to do this morning?"
"Yes, I’m meeting someone for lunch. We’re scheduled for eleven-thirty. I’ll go home, spend about ten minutes preparing the materials, and then I’m free after that."
"After taking Yaya to school, why didn’t you go back and catch up on some sleep first?"
The drive from Yaya’s school to home was no more than nine minutes, and if he slept until eleven, he could get about three hours of rest.
"Are you worried about me?" Chi Ye pinched Wen Xiao’s earlobe, a lazy smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "Your Chi-ge isn’t that fragile. I can handle it. Besides, seeing you is more important."
The music for morning exercises drifted over from the sports field, startling a flock of birds. Chi Ye tried to think of something to talk about, but after a moment of thought, he realized there was nothing much to say.
He hadn’t been to school in almost a month, so he was out of the loop about everything — what had happened in school, the latest gossip, or the progress of the lessons. He didn’t even know what Wen Xiao had been up to, including the time Wen Xiao had taken sick leave to stay home. As for himself, apart from the dry, tedious business of material deliveries, contracts, and pricing, or the meaningless pleasantries exchanged among adults, there was nothing else of interest in his life.
He was stuck in this routine every day, feeling bored and stifled. Even when he loosened his standards and tried to pick something to focus on, he couldn’t find anything worth talking about.
Negative emotions began to bubble up inside him, making him restless. The two of them seemed to have no common ground. Now that they were sitting together, there was nothing to say. He understood exactly how this had happened, but felt powerless to change it.
Lost in these thoughts, and still feeling the headache, Chi Ye instinctively raised his hand to rub his temple.
The next moment, a hand pressed against his forehead. It felt cool and soothing.
Before Chi Ye could say anything, Wen Xiao spoke up. "You have a fever."
"What?"
"You have a fever." Wen Xiao’s tone was firmer now. He pulled his hand away and moved closer, pressing his forehead against Chi Ye’s. He repeated what he had said, his voice soft but serious, "Chi Ye, you have a fever."
The sudden proximity caused their noses to briefly touch, and Chi Ye instinctively denied it. "No, I’m fine. I don’t feel unwell."
"Your forehead is really hot." Wen Xiao stated the fact, his throat tight with concern. "Do you want to go to the school infirmary?"
Hearing Wen Xiao’s suddenly hoarse voice, Chi Ye’s lips tightened. He stopped denying it, his tone light as he tried to comfort Wen Xiao. "I have some fever medicine at home. Don’t worry, it’s just a mild fever. I’ll be fine."
Wen Xiao wanted to ask if he could cancel the lunch meeting, if he could skip preparing the materials, if he could go to the hospital, or if he could just go home, take some fever medicine, and sleep peacefully... He wanted to ask if he could use the time meant for rest to actually rest, without going out of his way to meet him.
But not a word escaped his lips.
Because he knew, deep down, exactly what the answer would be.
Chi Ye was proud, and he was stubborn. He stubbornly tried to shoulder the weight of his seriously ill mother, his little sister, his heavy academic load, and their relationship — all on his own, never showing weakness. He would even smile and say, "Don’t worry, I’m fine."
But... was he really fine?
Wen Xiao suddenly realized that his heart had become fragile and sensitive, all because of this person. The sharp pangs came relentlessly, like the quiet fall of needles.
That evening, Wen Xiao changed his shoes at the door. His grandmother, hearing the noise, took off her reading glasses and placed them on the paper she had printed out. "Xiaoxiao’s home? Are you hungry? I’ve kept the food warm, and the rice is still hot."
She brought the dishes from the kitchen and set them on the table. After pouring him a glass of water, his grandmother sat across from him. "Didn’t sleep well last night? Your face looks pale."
Wen Xiao poked at his rice, avoiding his grandmother's gaze as he lowered his eyes. "I couldn’t sleep very well."
"You should get to bed earlier tonight. Even though young people are full of energy, if you keep staying up, what will happen when your body wears out?" His grandmother pushed the water glass toward him. "Drink some water, don’t eat too fast. It’s bad for your health."
Wen Xiao followed her advice and drank some water. He held his chopsticks but didn’t touch his food. After a few seconds, he suddenly asked, "Grandma, what do you think about the question of 'bread and love'?"
"Bread and love? I see. My Xiaoxiao has reached the age where these things are worth pondering." His grandmother’s hair was neatly combed at her temples, and after a moment of thought, she spoke gently. "Everyone has a different opinion on this question. In my opinion, the most basic premise is survival. Nothing can be achieved with just courage alone.
"Of course, there can be many different answers depending on one's own experiences, rationale, knowledge, and circumstances. But Xiaoxiao, you already have the answer to this question in your heart, don’t you?"
After washing the dishes and returning to his room, Wen Xiao stood by the window, holding his phone for a long time before finally sending a message to Chi Ye. "Has your fever gone down? Have you taken any medicine?"
Wen Xiao had just finished listening to an English audio clip when Chi Ye finally replied: "I’ve taken the medicine twice. It’s already gone down."
After reading the message, Wen Xiao typed a response, but just before sending it, he deleted each word one by one. He then opened the next listening exercise.