Desk-mate, Do You Like Me? - Chapter 36

Chapter 36

The next day, Li Mo surprisingly woke up early.

As he left his room, he ran into Yu Wencheng, who was about to leave for work.

Yu Wencheng was a little surprised: “You’re up so early today? The school gates aren’t even open yet.”

“Haven’t been to school in a while, I’m a little excited…” Heh, even he didn’t believe that.

“Alright, you can go in with me,” Yu Wencheng said. “Do you want some porridge this morning?”

Li Mo waved his hand: “No, no. I’ll just grab a hand-grabbed pancake.”

At six in the morning, the uncle and nephew left the house together.

There was a breakfast shop near the gate of Huaying No. 1 High School. It sold steamed buns, soy milk, and fried dough sticks, and surprisingly, also hand-grabbed pancakes.

The shop wasn’t too crowded. Yu Wencheng and Li Mo found a random spot to sit.

“Wow, I didn’t know they sold hand-grabbed pancakes here.”

“They also have egg-filled pancakes. Do you want one?”

Li Mo declined: “I don’t like eggs.”

It was already mid-October. It was only just beginning to get light, and the wind blowing was chilly.

Li Mo kept glancing outside, staring at the closed school gate.

“Since when did you like school so much?” Yu Wencheng felt something was amiss. “You… aren’t you having a puppy love? Eager to go to school to see what’s-her-name? Class?”

Li Mo had just inserted a straw and taken a sip of soy milk. Hearing that, he almost spat it all out.

“Uncle, it’s called crush.” Li Mo pulled out a tissue to wipe his mouth, smiling. “Where did you learn that word?”

“Don’t all the young people call it that nowadays?” Yu Wencheng sighed and shook his head. “I’m getting old and can’t keep up with the trends.”

Li Mo didn’t answer, his gaze drifting back to the school gate.

The streetlights were still on. Under the dim yellow light, he could see a figure moving in the guard’s booth. Most of the creeper leaves on the iron fence had turned red, falling rustlingly with the wind.

The desire to see Xu Qing inexplicably reached its peak.

“Uncle, I’m heading off first.” With that, before Yu Wencheng could react, Li Mo grabbed his unfinished hand-grabbed pancake and soy milk and left.

Since the school gate wasn’t open yet, Li Mo skillfully went around the back.

He put the pancake and soy milk into a bag, then held the plastic bag in his mouth, gripped the top of the wall with one hand, pushed off with his foot, and flipped over.

From here, he could easily reach the dormitory building.

The dorm wasn’t staffed with a supervisor yet, so Li Mo entered easily.

He went straight to 308.

The curtains in 308 were drawn. In the dim room, Li Mo could vaguely make out the bulging blanket on the bed.

He turned the handle and pushed the door open.

“Are you f***ing bored…” Xu Qing tossed and turned on the bed, rubbing his sleepy eyes, his voice still a little hoarse.

“I told you yesterday, didn’t I?” Li Mo closed the door behind him, pulled out a chair, and sat down. “You’d see me as soon as you opened your eyes.”

Xu Qing pulled the blanket over his head, covering his face. Li Mo couldn’t tell if he was shy or just sleepy.

“Qing Qing, do you want breakfast?” Li Mo asked, taking out the soy milk, which had spilled a bit.

“No,” Xu Qing’s voice came out muffled through the blanket.

“What’s wrong? Have you missed me because I haven’t been to school for so long?”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I’m just sleepy.”

Xu Qing tossed and turned a few times, finally kicking off the blanket in annoyance, getting out of bed, and heading to the bathroom to wash up.

Li Mo smiled at Xu Qing’s retreating figure, then tidied the stack of exercise books on the desk.

When Xu Qing came out after washing, his hair was still dripping water, and droplets trickled down his neck and into his collar. He quickly rubbed it twice with a towel and looked up to see Li Mo staring at him.

“What are you looking at?” Xu Qing grumpily tossed the towel onto the back of the chair.

“Looking at how good you look.” Li Mo smiled and pushed the soy milk towards him. “Drink it quickly before it gets cold.”

Xu Qing glanced at the half-spilled cup of soy milk, the corner of his mouth twitching: “Did you climb the wall carrying it like this?”

“Yeah, almost spilled it all.” Li Mo scratched his head. “But the hand-grabbed pancake is fine. I protected it well.”

Xu Qing sighed, picked up the soy milk, and took a sip. The sweetness was just right—it was the flavor he liked.

This realization inexplicably softened his heart for a moment, but he immediately put on a straight face: “Don’t climb the wall next time. You’ll get a demerit if you’re caught.”

“Are you worried about me?” Li Mo’s eyes sparkled.

“I’m afraid you’ll get crippled again.” Xu Qing lowered his head and took a bite of the hand-grabbed pancake, though the corner of his mouth secretly turned up.

The dormitory door suddenly opened—it was Yang Di walking in, yawning. He froze when he saw the two of them: “Li Mo? You’re back?”

“Morning,” Li Mo waved. “What are you doing here?”

Yang Di’s gaze shifted between the two of them, and he suddenly showed a knowing smile: “I wondered why Xu Qing was so out of sorts these past few days. Turns out he was waiting for—”

“Tsk.” Xu Qing threw a pillow at him. “The homework is on the desk. Grab it yourself.”

“Got it!” Yang Di was there to copy homework. After grabbing it, he quickly darted away.

Li Mo was all smiles, leaning close to Xu Qing and asking softly: “Were you really out of sorts?”

“You believe his nonsense?” Xu Qing’s ear tips were red. He abruptly stood up. “Let’s go to the classroom.”

The early autumn morning light streamed through the corridor windows. The two walked side by side in the quiet hallway. Li Mo suddenly reached out and gently hooked Xu Qing’s pinky finger.

“What are you doing?” Xu Qing glared at him, but didn’t shake him off.

“It’s been a while since we walked to school together,” Li Mo’s voice was soft, laced with a smile. “Let me hold your hand for a bit.”

Xu Qing turned his face away without speaking, but his fingers secretly held back his. The morning breeze blew, carrying the scent of osmanthus, scattering the feelings of the young people into the morning sun.

The school bell rang in time, startling the sparrows on the tree outside the window.

“Yo, morning, Brother Mo.” Lin Yi ran up from behind and clapped Li Mo’s shoulder.

“Good…” His voice suddenly trailed off, as if he noticed something.

The atmosphere became awkwardly silent.

Shen Shuyi quickly stepped forward, hooking an arm around Lin Yi’s neck and covering Lin Yi’s eyes with the other hand. He said as he walked: “You said you’d treat me if I got first place last time, didn’t you? Let’s go, let’s go.”

Lin Yi was half-dragged, half-pulled forward by Shen Shuyi, still struggling indistinctly: “Hey, hey, what are you doing! I haven’t talked to Brother Mo yet…”

Before he could finish, Shen Shuyi pressed down on his head, muffling his voice in his throat.

Li Mo raised an eyebrow, not exposing them, only subtly tightening his intertwined hand with Xu Qing’s.

Xu Qing’s fingertip moved slightly. He didn’t look back, but the base of his ear was redder than before. He didn’t stop walking, continuing toward the classroom.

The classroom was already quite full. When Li Mo entered, several gazes turned toward him. The girl in the front row turned around and quietly greeted him: “Li Mo, you’re finally back! I organized the notes you missed while you were on leave.”

“Thanks,” Li Mo replied with a smile, pulling Xu Qing toward their seats in the back row.

As soon as they sat down, Xu Qing discreetly pulled his hand back, took out a textbook from his desk, and pretended to flip through it, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the edge of the pages.

Li Mo didn’t tease him further. He took out the remaining half of the hand-grabbed pancake from his backpack and brought it to Xu Qing’s mouth: “Still want some? You barely ate anything just now.”

Xu Qing tilted his head to dodge, lowering his voice: “Class is starting.” But his peripheral vision caught sight of the pancake in Li Mo’s hand, and he couldn’t help but take a small bite.

At the podium, the teacher started writing on the blackboard with chalk, the chalk dust falling onto the podium desk.

Li Mo propped his chin up, not looking at the blackboard, but at Xu Qing’s profile—the morning light fell on his long lashes, casting a small shadow, and along with the poorly hidden trace of a smile, everything looked soft.

“Look at the blackboard.” Xu Qing suddenly turned his head, his eyes meeting Li Mo’s, his voice so soft it seemed afraid of disturbing something.

Li Mo curved his eyes, not responding, but he did turn his head back, though he couldn’t suppress the smile on his lips.

Math class was very dry and boring.

Li Mo could only write with his left hand. He scribbled a few incomprehensible words on a notebook cleaner than his face, then casually tossed the ballpoint pen aside, covered his face with his book, and buried his head in the shadow.

He was still bothered by Yu Wenxiu’s words, “a student like you.”

He had originally wanted to treat those words like a gust of wind, letting them drift far, far away. But the wind had turned a circle and blown back.

The tip of his pen poked a small dent in the notebook. Li Mo stared blankly at the indentation.

He couldn’t recall the look in Yu Wenxiu’s eyes when she said those words. He only remembered the phrase “a student like you” was like a tiny thorn stuck in his throat, unable to be swallowed or coughed out.

Beside him, Xu Qing’s writing pen paused. As he turned his head to look at Li Mo, his eyelashes brushed against his eyelid, bringing a gentle breeze.

“Zoning out again.” The voice was muted between the pages of the textbook, not loud, but it hit Li Mo’s ear perfectly.

Li Mo pulled at the corner of his mouth, trying to smile, but failed. He only vaguely mumbled “Mhm.”

Xu Qing didn’t say anything more, but pushed his exercise book towards Li Mo.

A difficult problem had just been solved on it, the steps clearly written. Next to the equal sign in the last step, a crooked little sun had been drawn at some point, lightly sketched with a pencil, as if afraid of being seen.

Li Mo’s fingertip brushed against the little sun, and he suddenly remembered the past. When he and Yu Wenxiu were still crammed into the rental room, there was a wall in the bedroom. Most of the wallpaper had peeled off, revealing the dusty wall underneath.

Little Li Mo had drawn a little sun on it back then.

At that time, he naively thought that if he drew a sun on the wall, the warm sunlight could fill that dark, cramped little room.

“Hey,” Li Mo suddenly spoke, his voice low enough for only the two of them to hear. “Am I… a lot of trouble?”

Xu Qing’s hand holding the pen stopped. He looked up at Li Mo.

The morning light shone from behind his ear, making the slightly red ear tip glow. “What nonsense are you talking about?”

He frowned but didn’t look away. “Who was it who said they’d bother me every day last time? Backing out after only a few days?”

Li Mo was stunned. He remembered he had indeed casually said that to Xu Qing in the dorm before. At the time, he only meant to tease him, but now it had become Xu Qing’s retort.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Li Mo scratched his head. He wanted to talk about Yu Wenxiu, but swallowed the words back—he couldn’t tell Xu Qing that his mom thought he was an unreliable person.

Xu Qing, however, seemed to have seen through something. He tapped his pen on the exercise book, right next to the little sun: “What others say doesn’t matter.” He paused, his voice getting even softer. “It’s enough that I know what you’re like.”

At the podium, the teacher was still talking about function monotonicity. Chalk dust settled on the windowsill, accumulating in a thin layer.

Li Mo looked at Xu Qing, who was writing problems with his eyes lowered. The small thorn stuck in his throat seemed to have been blown away by the wind.

He picked up his pen and awkwardly used his left hand to draw a crooked smiley face next to the little sun Xu Qing had drawn.

Right after he finished, Xu Qing suddenly turned his head, quickly glanced at it, pursed his lips, and didn’t speak. But he quietly pushed the exercise book slightly further towards Li Mo, letting the two small drawings get closer.

The scent of osmanthus from outside drifted in again, mixing with the morning light, warm and cozy. Li Mo suddenly felt that math class wasn’t so boring anymore.