Desk-mate, Do You Like Me? - Chapter 37

Chapter 37

During the last class of the morning, all the teachers were called to a meeting. The classroom, unsupervised, was noisy.

Li Mo held the pen awkwardly with his left hand. The characters in his notebook were wobbly, like small crawling insects. He frowned, placed the pen on the desk with a ‘tsk’, and muttered, “Writing with my left hand is worse than using my foot.”

Xu Qing glanced at his notebook, let out a soft laugh, and commented mercilessly: “It looks like a pile of dog shit.”

“Qing Qing, your words really hurt my heart.” Li Mo leaned closer to look. Xu Qing’s fingers were distinctly jointed, his fingertips slightly pink as he held the pen, and the handwriting on his practice questions was elegant and beautiful.

He mimicked the posture and lifted his pen, but his wrist still trembled, and the line he drew turned into a wavy mess.

“Damn it, I’d rather write with my foot.” He tossed the pen away and leaned back against the chair.

Xu Qing put down his pen, turned to look at him, and rolled his eyes: “Idiot.”

“Qing Qing, you can’t just call people an idiot.” Li Mo said solemnly. “Idiot, abbreviated as SB in English, stands for ‘Sweet Baby.’ So you can only call me ‘Sweet Baby,’ or I’ll get jealous.”

Xu Qing: “…”

Xu Qing: “Go to hell.”

While they were joking, the girl in the front row turned around again, holding an English book: “Li Mo, I still don’t understand that cloze test from this morning. Can you explain it to me again?”

As she spoke, she placed a bottle of warm milk on Li Mo’s desk. “I just bought it downstairs. Drink it while it’s hot.”

Li Mo’s grades weren’t particularly bad. English and Chinese were his best subjects, followed by Chemistry.

However, he never expected that he would one day be asked questions by others.

The girl in the front was named Zhou Yueyue. Li Mo didn’t have a deep impression of her; she seemed to be generally quiet.

Before Li Mo could respond, a soft ‘thud’ sound came from beside him—it was Xu Qing placing his thermos on the desk.

Thin beads of water condensed on the thermos wall. Xu Qing didn’t look at Zhou Yueyue. He just pushed the thermos toward Li Mo’s hand and said lightly, “He doesn’t like milk.”

Zhou Yueyue froze, a slight blush on her face. She didn’t say anything more, turned back, and resumed looking at her book.

Li Mo picked up the thermos and took a sip. It was neither hot nor cold, just right. He turned to look at Xu Qing, holding back a laugh: “How did you know I don’t like milk?”

Xu Qing lowered his head to write, the tip of his pen creating a small dot on the paper: “Guessed.”

“You guessed that accurately?” Li Mo leaned closer to him, lowering his voice even more. “Are you jealous?”

Xu Qing suddenly looked up and glared at him, but his gaze lacked any real force and seemed slightly flustered: “Jealous of your father.”

Li Mo’s shoulders shook with laughter. He deliberately pushed the thermos towards Xu Qing: “Then drink your father’s water?”

Xu Qing slapped his hand away, drawing a long line on the paper with his pen: “Get lost.”

The noise in the classroom grew louder. A few boys in the back row even started passing notes and messing around.

Li Mo glanced at the podium, confirming that no teacher would come for a while. He turned sideways, resting his elbow on Xu Qing’s desk edge: “Qing Qing, teach me how to write.”

Xu Qing didn’t even look up: “No.”

“Why?”

“Teaching a dog would be faster than teaching you.”

Li Mo dramatically clutched his chest: “Are you calling me a dog?”

Xu Qing finally looked up, expressionless: “Yes, and a Husky at that.”

Li Mo was amused. Just as he was about to retort, he heard Tang Dawei behind him curse, “Holy shit.”

Li Mo turned to him: “Cursing whom?”

Tang Dawei opened his mouth in shock. It took him a moment to close it: “No… are you two dating behind my back?”

Xu Qing continued writing, his expression unchanged.

Li Mo paused, then smiled: “What if we are?”

Tang Dawei narrowed his eyes, shifting his gaze between the two: “What can I do? You two each give me twenty thousand bucks, and then cook two dishes for me.”

“Hmph, Tang Dawei, dare to speak without the nerve?” Li Mo raised an eyebrow. “At least you should give us a gift, and then cook for us, shouldn’t you?”

“You want all the benefits?”

“Fucking idiot.”

“Li Mo,” Xu Qing suddenly called him.

“Huh?” Li Mo turned back, leaving Tang Dawei to his own devices.

“Your right hand…” Xu Qing paused. “When will it get better?”

Li Mo shook his bandaged right wrist, smiling carelessly: “What, worried about me?”

Xu Qing immediately picked up the English book and swatted him in the face.

The English book hit Li Mo’s face with a “smack.” The force wasn’t heavy, but it was enough for him to let out an exaggerated “Ouch,” leaning back in his chair. The chair legs creaked and wobbled, almost tipping over.

Xu Qing’s eyelid twitched. He instinctively reached out and grabbed Li Mo’s collar, pulling him back: “…Can you stop being so dramatic?”

Li Mo leaned forward, almost bumping into the tip of Xu Qing’s nose. Their breaths mingled, the distance so close he could see the curve of the other’s eyelashes.

Xu Qing abruptly let go and retreated, the base of his ears turning an almost imperceptible shade of red.

Li Mo stared at him for two seconds, then suddenly laughed: “Wow, Qing Qing, your ears are red.”

Xu Qing grabbed the eraser from the desk and threw it at him: “Get lost.”

The eraser hit Li Mo right on the forehead. He hissed, clutching his head and playing the victim: “Qing Qing, this is husband murder.”

Xu Qing sneered: “Husband? Are you worthy?”

“Why not?” Li Mo propped his chin up with one hand, smiling naughtily. “I’m handsome, talented, excellent in studies, gentle, and considerate. Most importantly—”

He drew out the words, deliberately lowering his voice, “I really like you.”

Xu Qing’s pen tip paused, and a small smudge of ink bled onto the paper. He looked up, expressionless: “Li Mo.”

“Yes?”

“If your right hand doesn’t heal, I’ll break your left hand too.”

Li Mo blinked: “Wow, that’s fierce? Then who will write love letters to you?”

Xu Qing: “…”

He took a deep breath, about to curse again, when a cough was heard from the classroom’s front door.

The homeroom teacher stood at the entrance with his hands behind his back, his sharp gaze sweeping across the class: “Quite lively, aren’t we? I could hear your class from the hallway.”

The classroom instantly fell silent.

The homeroom teacher slowly walked to the podium and tapped the blackboard: “Since you all have so much energy, we’ll have a pop quiz this class.”

The whole class groaned.

Li Mo turned to Xu Qing, whispering: “I’m screwed. With my left-hand writing, I’ll probably hand in a blank paper.”

Xu Qing glanced at him but didn’t speak. He just quietly pushed his notebook towards Li Mo. It contained neat class notes.

Li Mo raised an eyebrow: “Huh? Are you letting me copy?”

Xu Qing said coolly: “I’m afraid you’ll lower the class average.”

Li Mo’s eyes curved in a smile: “Saying one thing and meaning another.”

Xu Qing: “Shut up, or I’ll tear it up if you talk anymore.”

Li Mo obediently shut up, lowered his head to copy the notes. His left-hand writing was still wobbly but slightly better than before.

After the teacher handed out the quizzes, the only sound in the classroom was the rustling of pens. Li Mo struggled to write on the paper with his left hand. The writing was still messy but at least legible.

Xu Qing finished quickly, stopping his pen in less than twenty minutes. He glanced over and saw Li Mo still grappling with the first major question, his eyebrows furrowed enough to kill flies.

He discreetly moved his own quiz paper slightly closer to the side.

Li Mo’s eyes lit up. He immediately leaned over for a peek but was pushed away by Xu Qing’s hand pressed on his face.

“What are you looking at?” Xu Qing whispered. “Write your own answers.”

Li Mo whined pitifully: “I really can’t write with my left hand.”

Xu Qing said coldly: “Then use your foot.”

Li Mo: “…”

He sighed, resigning himself to wrestling with the quiz. But after only writing two lines, Xu Qing suddenly pushed a small note toward him.

Li Mo was startled. He secretly unfolded it. It contained Xu Qing’s neat handwriting: “Question 3 is C, Question 5 is A.”

He couldn’t help but laugh out loud, which earned him a glare from Xu Qing before he managed to stifle it and dutifully copied the answers.

After a while, Xu Qing pushed another note over: “Steps for the major question are on page 35 of the notebook.”

Li Mo flipped to that page and indeed saw the detailed steps Xu Qing had already written out, even with a small arrow drawn next to it, labeled “Key Point.”

He couldn’t resist turning his head to look at Xu Qing. The other boy was twirling his pen, his eyelashes lowered, looking completely unconcerned.

Li Mo’s lips curved. He wrote a sentence on the back of the note: “Qing Qing, you’re so good to me. How should I repay you?”

Then he secretly slipped it back.

Xu Qing unfolded it, expressionlessly crumpled it up, and threw it directly into the trash can.

Li Mo was persistent. He wrote another note: “How about I offer myself to you?”

This time, Xu Qing didn’t even look. He just tore it up.

Li Mo was about to write another, but the homeroom teacher suddenly walked down from the podium to patrol. He quickly lowered his head, pretending to answer the questions seriously. After the teacher walked away, he realized Xu Qing had already handed in his quiz.

Li Mo: “…?”

He widened his eyes, silently mouthing: “Why did you submit it so early?”

Xu Qing glanced at him, silently mouthing back: “I didn’t want to watch you cheat.”

Li Mo: “…”

He looked down at his half-finished quiz, then at Xu Qing’s empty desk. Suddenly, an idea struck him. He dramatically wrote a sentence at the end of the last major question:

“Teacher, my right hand is injured. My left-hand writing is too slow, so I couldn’t finish. But I know the answers. If you don’t believe me, you can ask my deskmate, Xu Qing. He knows everything.”

Then, he confidently handed in the paper.

Xu Qing: “…?”

He abruptly turned and glared at Li Mo, his eyes clearly saying, “Are you f***ing crazy?”

Li Mo winked at him, smiling innocently.

The homeroom teacher took Li Mo’s quiz. After reading the last line, he looked up at Xu Qing: “Xu Qing, Li Mo said you know everything. Is that true?”

Xu Qing: “…”

The whole class instantly quieted down, all eyes focused on him.

Xu Qing took a deep breath, then replied expressionlessly: “No, it’s not. He has brain damage.”

Li Mo: “…”

The whole class burst into laughter.

The homeroom teacher couldn’t help but smile, shaking his head: “Alright, class dismissed.”

When the bell rang, Li Mo grabbed Xu Qing, who was about to stand up, and complained pitifully: “Qing Qing, how could you do that to me?”

Xu Qing sneered: “Serves you right.”

Li Mo: “I don’t care. You have to compensate me.”

Xu Qing: “Compensate you with what?”

Li Mo leaned closer, smiling: “Accompany me to the hospital for a bandage change after school?”

Xu Qing paused, then turned his face away: “…Whatever.”

Li Mo pushed his luck: “And then have dinner with me after the change?”

Xu Qing: “…”

Li Mo: “Silence means yes.”

Xu Qing was at his limit. He pushed Li Mo’s face away: “Get lost.”

But he didn’t deny it.

Li Mo’s eyes curved up in a wide smile.