My Deskmate Chapter 8 (Part 1)
Translated by Q the Panda (ko-fi)
Chapter 8.1
The next day, it was already halfway through the morning when Chi Ye climbed over the school fence. He didn’t head to his classroom but took the path along the perimeter wall and turned towards the administration building.
The staff member in the Logistics Department was playing matching blocks on her mobile phone when she heard footsteps. Thinking it was a supervisor doing a spot check, she quickly put away her phone, sat up straight, and looked towards the book "Education on Adolescent Thought" placed in front of her.
Chi Ye pretended not to notice. He knocked on the door, his black backpack slung over one shoulder.
The logistics teacher relaxed when she saw him. With a warm smile, she asked, "Hello, what can I help you with?"
"Teacher, I need to buy a new school uniform."
She flipped the phone face down on the desk, cleared her throat, and took out the registration book. "Name, gender, class, and reason for purchase," she said, glancing at her watch. "Isn't it class time?"
"Our class is having PE right now, so I thought I'd come to the logistics office to buy the uniform while I had the time. I won't be missing any lessons. My name’s Chi Ye, 'ye' meaning 'wilderness,' male, second year, science program. The reason... I left my uniform on the back of my bike after school, and by the time I got home, it was gone."
Remembering something, he glanced at the registration book and casually asked, "Teacher, how many people have come to buy uniforms since the start of the school year?"
The logistics teacher filled in "Lost" in the reason column and answered, "Do you think everyone is as careless as you? There’s been just one other person — someone from your class. I think he's the new transfer student? I didn't have any stock left, so I gave him one set first. A couple of days later, he said his original one was missing and bought another two sets."
Chi Ye’s gaze fell on the registration book, and sure enough, the name "Wen Xiao" was written neatly in the column next to his own.
This page had only their two names.
He remembered being cornered at the intersection of Qixia Road and Jiuzhang Road that day. He was beaten until he couldn't move, and he was slashed badly on his waist, losing a lot of blood. Lying on the ground in the rain, he was soaked to the bone and felt like he was about to die.
Later, wrapped in that piece of clothing, he was at least not as cold. He used the fabric of his sleeve to press down hard on the wound and lay there for a while before he regained his strength.
At first, Chi Ye had thought about trying to find the "owner" of the uniform to thank them. But the shirt was soaked in blood, and no matter how many times he scrubbed it with soap, it only left large rust-colored stains. After a few attempts, he gave up.
He glanced back at the name on the register and recalled Wen Xiao's expression, which looked as if he wanted to distance himself from everyone by ten thousand miles. Chi Ye felt sure that giving him the uniform, then turning and walking away, was exactly what Wen Xiao would do. After all, the fact that he hadn’t just tossed it aside to cover his face and let him rest in peace was already a high-level treatment.
Outside the logistics office, Chi Ye hadn’t even had the chance to put on the new uniform when the Director of Discipline, Cheng Xiaoning, walked toward him.
Chi Ye secretly glanced at the ceiling — he was starting to wonder if some tracking device had been implanted on him. How else could he run into him here?
The moment Cheng Xiaoning saw Chi Ye, he ignored the teacher accompanying him and started to fume, “Let me see who this is! Chi Ye! What time is it? Aren’t you supposed to be in class? You have no business being here at this hour!”
Chi Ye held the uniform out in front of him. “I came specifically to buy a uniform, to uphold the school's standards and follow the rules.”
Cheng Xiaoning saw the new uniform in his hands and remembered meeting Wen Xiao here a few days ago. “Did a dog take your uniform too?”
The teacher standing beside Cheng Xiaoning was confused. "A dog took it?"
Cheng Xiaoning tilted his head. "Teacher Wang, you don't know, there was a transfer student named Wen Xiao. On his second day of school, he didn't wear a school uniform. Can you believe that? I caught him and asked why he wasn’t wearing it, and he had the nerve to lie to my face with this ridiculous excuse. What do you think? Don't you think it's perfunctory? Shouldn't he be punished and made to reflect under the statue of the sage?"
Hearing this, Chi Ye couldn’t help but laugh — to hell with the dog stealing it.
"What are you laughing at?" Cheng Xiaoning looked at Chi Ye, then recalled, "What about you? What happened to your uniform?"
Chi Ye replied lazily, "Unfortunately, my uniform was also stolen by a dog."
Cheng Xiaoning: "......"
Chi Ye: "I’m not lying. Wen Xiao and I live close to each other, Maybe it's because it's been cold lately, but the dogs in our area seems to like grabbing our school uniforms. It's also a proof that our uniforms are of good quality and keep you warm."
After putting on his new uniform, Chi Ye entered the classroom and immediately saw his deskmate working on some problems.
Shangguan Yu noticed Chi Ye and his gaze fell on his uniform. "New one?"
Chi Ye placed his black backpack on the desk and nodded. "Yeah, the old one got stolen by a dog, so I went to the logistics office and bought a new one."
As he finished speaking, he glanced at Wen Xiao.
His deskmate didn’t react at all.
Zhao Yiyang, who had been napping with his head down, sat up when he heard the noise. "Is that true? What kind of dog steals a school uniform?"
Suddenly feeling bored, Chi Ye sat down and leaned back in his chair. "It’s not true. There’s no dog."
"I knew it," Zhao Yiyang said, remembering something. "By the way, Chi-ge, you came back on Monday and then disappeared again in the afternoon. That jerk Li Pei and his gang were badmouthing you when they were eating outside the school gate."
Chi Ye replied casually, "Who’s Li Pei?"
"He's the one who mocked Wen Xiao in physics class and got shot down by you," Zhao Yiyang lowered his voice, "That jerk even warned Wen Xiao to stay away from you, otherwise one day, if he says the wrong thing, you might—"
"Beat him to death?" Chi Ye picked up Zhao Yiyang’s unfinished words. His eyes were still smiling, but there was a hint of sharpness in them.
"That's right." Zhao Yiyang cleared his throat, worried he might upset Chi Ye, so he quickly added, "But Wen Xiao didn’t believe a word of it."
Out of the corner of his eye, Chi Ye noticed Wen Xiao’s pen had paused for a moment. Suddenly intrigued, he asked, "Did my deskmate say something?"
Zhao Yiyang's tone became excited as he recounted, "Wen Xiao said he knew what kind of person you are. He has eyes, you know, and he can see!"
Chi Ye’s smile widened at that, though he quickly reined it in. "He really said that?"
"Yes—"
"Zhao Yiyang." Wen Xiao tightened his grip on the black ballpoint pen, his voice carrying a chill. "Last class, Old Xu told you to go to his office during the break."
"Shit, I totally forgot about that!" Zhao Yiyang grabbed a math test paper and quickly ran out, pen in hand.
Chi Ye turned his head to look at his deskmate. A bright sunlight shone in from the window, highlighting the small mole at the corner of Wen Xiao's eyes. Chi Ye thought of the dog that liked to steal uniforms and opened his mouth. "Your uniform—"
"Shut up."
Wen Xiao cut him off, but Chi Ye wasn’t angry. He stretched his long legs and casually twirled the pen in his hand. "Fine, no problem."
Wen Xiao glanced at him. Was this guy’s brain broken? He didn’t seem quite normal.
It was Wen Xiao’s turn to be on duty today. The physics teacher disliked using the projector. He firmly believed that a teacher should only need a piece of chalk to conquer the world. But his handwriting was messy, scattered all over the blackboard, filling every corner.
After wiping the blackboard, chalk dust accumulated on the eraser. Wen Xiao went to the cleaning corner to tap it clean. After only a few taps, he heard someone yelling from the side, "Are you doing this on purpose, new student? You've gotten chalk dust all over my pants!"
Wen Xiao ignored him, tapped the chalk dust off the eraser before standing up, and looked at the person blocking his way. "Move."
Li Pei didn't intend to move. He was clearly looking for trouble. "This new kid acting arrogantly, you—"
Wen Xiao shot him a cold look.
Instinctively, Li Pei felt a chill crawl up his spine. He had always thought of this new student as a weak, bookish nerd — wearing glasses, looking frail and weak, introverted, never speaking, and always sporting a cold, aloof face.
But at this moment, the eyes he met were devoid of any emotion. His heart skipped a beat, and his feet moved involuntarily to the side, making way for him.
Chi Ye watched the entire exchange from his seat and thought to himself, My deskmate is weak and fragile, they said. What a joke.