Desk-mate, Do You Like Me? - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The bell for the end of class rang just as Li Mo arrived at the classroom.

Lin Yi’s desk was immediately surrounded by people.

Lin Yi had just taken out the list of events when it was snatched away. He sighed helplessly: “Hey, you all say you won’t participate, so why are you so eager to look at the list?”

“Exactly, exactly.” Yang Di, Lin Yi’s deskmate, was pushed onto Tang Dawei’s seat and spoke while patting Li Mo’s back: “Move aside, let Brother Mo, who must sign up for two events, pick first.”

Li Mo cursed: “Damn it.”

The registration form was in his hands. He quickly skimmed through it: long-distance running, sprinting, relay race, high jump, long jump… and so on.

Lin Yi said: “Just write your name next to the event you want to sign up for. Good luck, Brother Mo~”

“Sigh… A handsome man sure suffers.” Li Mo picked up a gel pen, wrote his name next to long-distance running and high jump, and then pushed the form onto Xu Qing’s desk: “Top student, do you want to sign up for something?”

Xu Qing glanced at it: “Too lazy to move. No.”

“Alright then.” Li Mo picked up the form and gave it back to Lin Yi.

“You might even run into your Bai Yueguang,” Xu Qing paused. “He signed up for long-distance running last year. Not sure about this year.”

Li Mo responded: “Ah… it’s fine if I do. I’ve been running since I was a kid whenever I got hit; no one can run faster than me.”

Xu Qing chuckled: “I wish you success.”

The last class in the afternoon was PE. He Zheng told them to go to the field five minutes early to line up and asked the sports representatives of both classes to bring the registration forms down.

The class bell rang. As usual, they ran two laps first. He Zheng stood in the middle of the field, looking at the registration forms.

He had distributed the forms to the sports reps in the morning. There should have been quite a few names by now.

Unfortunately, Class 12 only had three or four names on the form, and Class 4 had nearly ten, but there were still many blank events.

He Zheng was furious. He stopped the two classes, who had only run one lap, stood in front of the line, and held up the registration forms: “What’s going on? I handed out the forms this morning, so why are there so few people signed up now? Does anyone have any dissatisfaction with PE? Where are the sports representatives? Come out now!”

Who would dare to express dissatisfaction? Lin Yi and Bai Sheng walked forward and were met with a torrent of scolding from He Zheng, the content being along the lines of, “How are you doing your job as a sports representative?!” “If you can do it, do it well! Get your attitude right!”… and so on.

“Now, before the class is over, I must see these two papers filled with names!” He Zheng threw the registration forms onto the ground and turned, walking angrily toward the teaching building.

“That scared the living daylights out of me…” Lin Yi picked up the forms, glanced in the direction of the teaching building. He Zheng was probably so mad he went back to the office to drink iced tea. They were dismissed on the spot for free activity.

Lin Yi held the registration form, shouting across the field: “Handsome guys and beautiful girls of Class 4, please sign up! Only a few people have signed up. Brother Zheng is going to kill me when he comes back!”

Ji Lin and her friend Yang Yue sat on the field, watching Lin Yi with schadenfreude: “That’s really too bad. We have our special time next week. What a pity, but you go get ’em, Yi Yi.”

Lin Yi wanted to cry: “Damn it, I’ve never seen you two be so punctual with that…”

“Aiya, good brother, let me bless you.” Tang Dawei smiled, hooking his arm around Lin Yi’s neck. “I’ll reluctantly sign up for the shot put.”

Lin Yi was a little hesitant: “You know how to throw a shot put?”

Tang Dawei chuckled: “No, I’ll just throw it casually when the time comes. It’s better than running.”

Heh heh, Brother Zheng is definitely going to punish you.

Despite his internal skepticism, Lin Yi still wrote down Tang Dawei’s name. It wasn’t him who would suffer, anyway.

“Shu~ Yi~” Lin Yi slowly ambled over to Shen Shuyi, his face close to his with a lecherous smile. “Help me out~”

Shen Shuyi shivered: “Relay race then… Get away from me, you’re too scary like this.”

“Okay! Sprint and relay race!”

“Hey! I didn’t say two events!”

Lin Yi circled around and managed to gather names for half the class, but the relay race was still missing one person. After circling back, he set his sights on Xu Qing: “Brother~ Xu~”

Xu Qing was sitting in the shade, looking at his small notebook for memorizing vocabulary. He didn’t even lift his head: “No signing up, no participating, no exercise.”

“…”

“Don’t be so heartless.” Li Mo, sitting next to him, nudged Xu Qing with his elbow. “You run the first leg, and then let the last three legs make an impossible comeback.”

Lin Yi quickly nodded: “Yes! Brother Xu, you run casually. Let Shen Shuyi run the last leg and make an impossible comeback. If he can’t, we’ll beat him up when he gets back!”

He could only plead with Xu Qing. The remaining girls were absolutely not going to participate, and many people had already signed up for two events. He couldn’t force them to sign up for three… that would be inhumane.

“Oh.” To his surprise, Xu Qing agreed so easily. “Then write down my name, but I have to state upfront that my stamina has never been great. Don’t blame me if we lose.”

“I promise not to blame you! We’ll blame Shen Shuyi if we lose! I love you, Brother Xu!” Lin Yi cheered, excitedly holding the full registration form and running toward the teaching building. He had to show Brother Zheng this excellent achievement.

Bai Sheng’s situation was much better. Thanks to his handsome appearance and good popularity, many people in his class were willing to fill the slots. As for what kind of results they would achieve, no one cared.

Seeing that Lin Yi had already run to the teaching building, Bai Sheng also took his registration form and left.

In the office, He Zheng held a bottle of iced tea, cursing and taking a sip.

Knock-knock

“Teacher?” Lin Yi pushed the door open, only daring to poke his head in. “The registration form is complete…”

He Zheng still seemed angry, replying with a cold “Oh”: “Come in, put the form on the desk, and go to the equipment room to get the gear.”

“Yes, teacher.” Lin Yi placed the form on the desk and ran out of the office without stopping.

When Lin Yi came out, Bai Sheng had just arrived at the door. He Zheng similarly told him to put the form down and go with Lin Yi to the equipment room to get the gear.

The equipment room was on the north side of the field, in a standalone little house. After unlocking the door with the key, Bai Sheng tossed the key to Lin Yi: “It’s your turn to hold the equipment room key. Keep it safe and don’t lose it.”

Lin Yi steadily caught the key and put it in his pocket: “Got it.”

It was nearing the end of class. The two didn’t take much, only a few mats and a high jump stand.

“Brother Mo! I brought the gear for you!” Lin Yi shouted, holding the high jump stand with both hands, toward Li Mo.

Li Mo was dozing off against Xu Qing. Waking up to Lin Yi’s shout, he rubbed his eyes: “My god… I thought we’d start practicing tomorrow.”

Xu Qing was still looking down, memorizing vocabulary: “He Zheng won’t let go of any time. He’ll probably make you train tonight too.”

“Good thing I’m a non-boarder and don’t have evening self-study.” Li Mo stood up and stretched. He looked back at Xu Qing: “Come over with me. It’s boring sitting here alone.”

Xu Qing looked up once, then quickly looked away: “Bai Sheng’s there. I’m not going.”

“Well… alright then.”

Li Mo scratched his head and walked toward Lin Yi.

Bai Sheng was laying down the mats. He looked up and saw Li Mo slowly approaching. He was a little surprised: “You signed up for the high jump?”

“And long-distance running,” Li Mo took off his school jacket and tossed it aside. “The capable do more work. Someone as outstanding as me is no exception.”

Bai Sheng hummed: “I also signed up for long-distance running. Should we put your clothes with mine? So they don’t get taken or lost by others.”

“No need.” Li Mo waved his hand, turned his head, and shouted to Xu Qing: “Qing Qing—help me watch my clothes—”

Xu Qing looked somewhat impatient. He put away his notebook and quickly walked over, completely ignoring Bai Sheng in front of him: “I’m not your mother…”

“Thanks.” Li Mo picked up his jacket from the ground and placed it in Xu Qing’s hands. “Watch me jump two meters three later.”

Xu Qing chuckled: “Why not jump three meters?”

“My legs aren’t that long.”

Watching Li Mo and Xu Qing interact so harmoniously, Bai Sheng felt uncomfortable. His dislike for Xu Qing deepened. He turned and walked to the track to warm up.

“Really two meters, Brother Mo?” Lin Yi adjusted the height of the stand, still asking with uncertainty.

One meter eighty was already considered high, let alone two meters.

Li Mo raised his hand and made a “8” gesture: “My height is one eighty-eight.”

Lin Yi: “…” Okay, I’m only 179!! (Biting handkerchief JPG.)

After Lin Yi set the height, Li Mo stood farther away. He habitually jumped twice before running. Then, with his long legs striding forward and his feet pushing off the ground, his posture was like a dolphin leaping out of the sea. He effortlessly cleared two meters, landing heavily on the mat.

Li Mo quickly stood up and, in a show-off way, spread his arms: “That’s right, I’m this awesome. Are there any junior brothers who want a hug?”

Tang Dawei cheered him on from the side, speaking in a high-pitched voice: “Wow—Brother Mo, you’re so handsome. I’m going to faint from you. Ah ah ah ah ah!”

Lin Yi punched him: “Talking like that is disgusting. Shut up, don’t make Brother Mo throw up.”

Li Mo laughed twice: “That move works on Yang Di. Wei Wei, go use it to gross him out.”

In the evening, the sun was setting in the west.

As school was about to end, Li Mo was about to leave when Bai Sheng stopped him: “Li Mo, can you help me move the equipment back to the equipment room? I can’t manage it all by myself.”

Upholding the spirit of a helpful citizen, Li Mo agreed without hesitation.

Lin Yi carried the high jump stand by himself, and Li Mo and Bai Sheng carried the large and small mats. At the equipment room door, Bai Sheng said to Lin Yi: “We’ll need it tonight. Teacher He said not to lock it. You go eat first.”

“Alright!” Hearing he could go straight to dinner, Lin Yi ran off without a second thought.

Bai Sheng was organizing the equipment in the room. Li Mo stood at the doorway, yawning: “Bai Yueguang, if there’s nothing else, I’m heading back. I need to eat, too.”

“Okay, you go first, but can you hand me that tennis racket first?” Bai Sheng pointed to a tennis racket diagonally in front of Li Mo, buried under a pile of things.

“Oh, sure.” Li Mo grasped the handle of the racket. He pulled hard twice but couldn’t get it out. The racket seemed to be stuck by something. He exerted a lot of effort to pull it out from underneath.

At the same time, due to the inertia, his foot stepped on a ping-pong ball that had fallen on the ground. Li Mo fell backward completely.

“Oh, damn it!”