Desk-mate, Do You Like Me? - Chapter 66

Chapter 66

The video call lasted for nearly an hour, until Yu Wencheng knocked on the door to remind Li Mo to rest early, and only then did the two reluctantly hang up.

Putting down his phone, Xu Qing looked around the single dormitory room that belonged only to him.

The lingering excitement Li Mo brought, along with his unique, sunny scent, still seemed to hang in the air. Now that it was quiet, Xu Qing felt somewhat unaccustomed to it. He went to the washing room and splashed cold water on his face. Looking at his face in the mirror, still not entirely devoid of blush, he took a deep breath, trying to calm his troubled heart.

Returning to the dorm, he closed the door, and the world fell completely silent. He picked up his phone. Li Mo’s final message, 【Qingqing good night! Dream of me! (Starry eyes.jpg)】, was still on the screen.

Xu Qing rubbed his fingertip across the screen but ultimately did not reply. He placed the phone on his desk, preparing for bed. As he lay down, however, he found the single dorm room to be unusually spacious tonight.

He slept lightly.

…

Over the next few days, Li Mo, although a day student, used every possible moment to stick to Xu Qing.

During the ten-minute breaks between classes, he would definitely lean on Xu Qing, joke around, or ask about problems he didn’t understand. During the lunch break, he would even brazenly carry snacks and homework, knocking on the door of Xu Qing’s single dorm room, claiming he “needed a quiet study environment.” In reality, he would sit beside Xu Qing, reading and doing problems, occasionally sneaking a quick kiss or squeezing Xu Qing’s fingers when no one was looking, earning a warning glance and slightly reddened ears from the other boy.

Xu Qing maintained his usual cool demeanor on the surface, often responding to Li Mo’s clingy behavior with brief remarks like “Get lost” or “Are you annoying?” But he tacitly allowed him entry into his private space, was more patient when explaining problems, and even actively helped him organize common mistakes. Li Mo felt the indulgence in these details.

However, beneath the sweet surface, the gap in reality gradually became apparent.

A week later, the monthly mock exam results were released.

Xu Qing, without surprise, comfortably held the top spot in his grade, scoring full marks in Physics and Mathematics. Li Mo’s report card, however, was a bit dreadful, hovering in the middle of the class, almost failing Mathematics and Physics.

During a class break, Li Mo took his test paper and returned to his seat, looking at the bright red scores and Xu Qing’s nearly perfect answer sheet. The smile on his face was a little strained.

He scratched his head, attempting to cover up his disappointment with his usual teasing: “Aiya, these questions were too abnormal. These topics must have a vendetta against me…”

Xu Qing took his paper and quickly scanned it, his brow furrowing slightly. Most of the mistakes were due to a shaky foundation or careless reading of the questions.

“Here, you memorized the formula incorrectly,” Xu Qing pointed at a major question with his pen. “And here, you didn’t convert the units.” His voice was calm, not accusatory, merely stating the facts.

But this calmness made Li Mo feel worse. He knew how outstanding Xu Qing was and was acutely aware of the gap between them. Before, he could be indifferent, thinking “good enough” was fine, but now… he wanted to attend the same university as Xu Qing.

This goal, like a towering mountain suddenly blocking his path, gave him unprecedented pressure.

“I know…” Li Mo drooped his head, his voice muffled.

Xu Qing looked at his crestfallen appearance, like a large dog soaked in the rain, and his heart softened slightly. He put down the paper and softened his tone: “Come to my dorm tonight. I’ll organize your mistake types for you.”

“Mhm.” Li Mo nodded but lacked enthusiasm.

…

After school, Li Mo went to Xu Qing’s single dorm room as usual.

This time, he didn’t enter with his usual grin but sat quietly at the desk. Xu Qing had already taken out a notebook and pen and began to organize his incorrect answers. The single dorm room was silent, broken only by Xu Qing’s cool voice explaining and the gentle scratch of the pen on paper.

Li Mo looked at Xu Qing’s focused profile and the smooth, neat handwriting beneath his pen, feeling a mix of admiration and annoyance. For the first time, he clearly realized that if he fell in love with someone too excellent and didn’t strive to catch up, even walking side-by-side would become difficult.

“Xu Qing,” Li Mo suddenly spoke, his voice carrying a rare seriousness. “Am I… quite useless?”

Xu Qing’s pen paused. He looked up at him. Li Mo’s eyes were devoid of his usual playful demeanor, showing a hint of unease and self-doubt.

“Now you realize the gap?” Xu Qing didn’t answer directly but counter-questioned, his tone flat.

Li Mo nodded honestly: “Yeah. I used to think hovering in the middle was fine, since… I didn’t have any specific school I wanted to go to.” His family didn’t expect him to achieve great things either.

He paused, then looked at Xu Qing, his eyes becoming resolute. “But it’s different now. I want to be with you.”

Xu Qing’s heart felt a gentle nudge. He looked at the determination ignited in Li Mo’s eyes because of him, remained silent for a few seconds, then lowered his head again. His pen moved across the paper, his voice still cool, yet with an undeniable force:

“If you know the gap, then catch up.”

“I’ll wait for you.”

Li Mo was momentarily stunned. He watched Xu Qing’s profile as he resumed explaining. The words “I’ll wait for you” were like a shot of adrenaline, instantly dispelling the gloom and self-doubt in his heart.

That’s right! It’s not too late to start trying now!

With Xu Qing, this super academic, as his private tutor, why would he be afraid of not catching up?

Li Mo took a deep breath, straightened his back, and refocused on the mistake book. Fighting spirit ignited in his eyes.

“With my genius, this stuff is easy-peasy.”

Xu Qing heard Li Mo’s familiar, slightly smug tone. Without stopping his writing, he tossed out a calm retort: “Genius? Are you referring to the genius of writing the Law of Conservation of Momentum instead of the Work-Energy Theorem?”

Li Mo’s newly ignited fighting spirit was precisely struck, and his face instantly fell: “…Qingqing, can you offer some encouragement?”

“Just telling the truth.” Xu Qing didn’t even look up, circling another basic mistake on Li Mo’s paper with a red pen. “Encouragement won’t help you raise your scores.”

Li Mo pouted, but he knew Xu Qing was right. He put away his joking attitude and leaned in again, seriously listening to Xu Qing’s explanation.

The light in the single dorm was warm and quiet, casting the shadows of the two boys sitting side-by-side onto the wall.

Xu Qing’s explanations were clear and focused, making it easier to grasp the key points than classroom lectures. Li Mo wasn’t inherently dull; he just hadn’t been fully dedicated to studying before. Under Xu Qing’s “special training,” he gradually caught up to the rhythm.

“Oh, so that’s how it is. Why didn’t I figure out this curve before?” Li Mo had an epiphany and excitedly slapped his thigh, nearly hitting Xu Qing next to him.

Xu Qing subtly leaned away and glanced at him: “Be quiet.”

“Hehe, got it, got it. Professor Xu is mighty!” Li Mo scratched his head and chuckled stupidly, his eyes bright as he looked at Xu Qing, filled with conviction and… dependence.

…

In the following days, Li Mo seemed like a different person. He no longer ran wildly around the classroom during breaks but either clung to Xu Qing to ask questions or buried himself in organizing notes. He invariably showed up at Xu Qing’s dorm during lunch break, sometimes even staying half an hour after school, until Xu Qing chased him away, citing “disruption to rest.”

His backpack was no longer routinely stocked with games and snacks but with the mistake book and targeted practice sheets Xu Qing had organized for him. Even on his walk home, the headphones no longer played pop songs but English listening exercises or lecture recordings—which Xu Qing had recorded for him.

Yang Di tried to drag Li Mo out to play basketball several times, but he refused, citing “studying.”

“Seriously, Brother Mo, are you for real? Did Brother Xu put a spell on you?” Yang Di was stunned.

Li Mo hooked his arm around Yang Di’s neck, his tone cocky yet earnest: “What do you know? I’m fighting for great love and a glorious future!”

Xu Qing saw Li Mo’s efforts. He still didn’t talk much, but when Li Mo solved a difficult problem, he would quietly say, “That’s an improvement.” When Li Mo zoned out from fatigue, he would tap his desk with a pen. When Li Mo’s mom worried that her son was staying up too late, Xu Qing would proactively message her to explain the situation and assure her that he would make sure Li Mo rested on time.

He even quietly adjusted his own study plan, freeing up more time to help Li Mo catch up. In his desk drawer, there were suddenly more of Li Mo’s favorite candies and energy bars.

In another small quiz, Li Mo’s math score improved by more than twenty points compared to the monthly exam. Although still far from excellent, the bright red “Pass” and the obvious progress made him excitedly spin several times in Xu Qing’s dorm, hugging the paper.

“Xu Qing, look! I passed! I told you I’m innately gifted!” His eyes were astonishingly bright, like a child demanding praise.

Xu Qing looked at his silly behavior, took the paper to examine it closely. Indeed, he had avoided several repeatedly emphasized common mistakes this time. The corner of his mouth curved imperceptibly. He handed the paper back, his tone still flat: “Mhm, keep it up. Next target: seventy points.”

“No problem!” Li Mo was overflowing with confidence. He leaned over to Xu Qing and quickly kissed him on the cheek. “A reward.”

Xu Qing froze, his ears instantly flushed. He pushed him away: “…Get lost and do the problems.”

Li Mo laughed and dodged, picking up his pen, full of drive to dive into the next “battle.”

The leaves on the sycamore trees outside the window gradually turned yellow, and the autumn deepened. In the single dorm room, one seriously explained, one intently listened, occasionally interspersed with a few bickering words and someone’s wail after being tapped on the forehead.

The gap still existed, and the road was still long.

But Li Mo looked at Xu Qing’s clear profile beside him, feeling his silent support and company, his heart filled with unprecedented motivation and hope.

However, the path of learning is not always smooth. When Li Mo’s scores steadily climbed to the middle-to-upper range of the class and he started aiming for the seventy-point goal, he hit a bottleneck.

More complex combined problems and a more flexible application of knowledge points began to shake his newly established confidence. Over several consecutive small quizzes, his scores hovered between sixty-five and sixty-eight, as if an invisible barrier was obstructing his progress.

That night, in Xu Qing’s dorm, facing a complex mechanics problem he kept getting wrong, Li Mo irritably threw down his pen and ran his hands through his hair.

“Why is it wrong again… I’m really out of ideas,” his tone carried clear frustration.

Xu Qing picked up his scratch paper and examined it carefully: “You missed a friction force in your force analysis. You’re skipping steps too fast, making it easy to overlook details.”

“Details again.” Li Mo slumped onto the desk, burying his face in his arms, his voice muffled: “I think this is as good as I get. Maybe I’m really not cut out for studying… I’m so far away from you.”

He said the last sentence very softly, but it was like a small thorn, pricking Xu Qing’s heart.

Xu Qing looked at the fluffy, dejected head on the desk and remained silent for a moment. He didn’t, as usual, calmly point out the problem. Instead, he put down his pen.

“Li Mo,” he called his name.

Li Mo didn’t move.

Xu Qing reached out, hesitated, and then gently placed his hand on the back of Li Mo’s neck, his fingertips feeling the warmth of his skin.

“Look up.”

Li Mo’s body stiffened slightly. He slowly raised his head, his eyes slightly red, unsure if it was from anger or grievance. He avoided Xu Qing’s gaze, feeling a bit ashamed.

Xu Qing’s hand didn’t withdraw. Instead, he used a little force, gently squeezing the back of his neck, like a silent comfort. His voice was lower and softer than usual:

“What’s the rush?”

“I’m waiting for you, not telling you to achieve success in one step.”

“One step at a time. Find that missed friction force, one time after another.”

Li Mo stared blankly at him. Xu Qing rarely spoke so much, and even less often in such a… nearly gentle tone. The calm conviction in his eyes was like a stabilizing force, slowly settling Li Mo’s anxious mood.

“But… it’s still so slow,” Li Mo’s voice was hoarse, with a subtle dependence.

“What does it matter if it’s slow?” Xu Qing withdrew his hand, picked up his pen again, and meticulously broke down the force analysis of the problem step by step on the scratch paper. “Look here. Step by step, don’t skip. Your thinking isn’t wrong; your execution is crude.”

His fingertip tapped the diagram. His voice returned to its usual coolness, yet it inexplicably made Li Mo feel secure.

Li Mo sniffled, straightened up, and leaned in to watch. This time, he forced himself to slow down, following Xu Qing’s steps, clarifying every force, every formula, bit by bit.

When he finally solved the correct answer independently and completely, he let out a long sigh of relief, feeling as if the stone blocking his heart had been moved away.

He didn’t shout excitedly as before. Instead, he turned his head, looked at the quiet Xu Qing beside him, and suddenly reached out, hugging his waist tightly, burying his face in his neck.

“Xu Qing…” he called out muffledly, his voice carrying the exhaustion of relief and deep dependence. “I’m glad I have you.”

Xu Qing’s body stiffened initially, then slowly relaxed. He didn’t push him away or hug him back, just let Li Mo hold him, feeling the warm breath on his neck and the clean scent of the boy. After a long while, he raised his hand and awkwardly patted Li Mo’s back.

“Mhm,” he responded softly.

The moonlight outside the window was bright. The chill of the autumn night was kept out. Inside the single dorm room, the lights were bright. The two boys quietly held each other, one offering clumsy yet firm solace, the other drawing courage and strength to continue moving forward.

The bottleneck was still there, but Li Mo knew he was no longer facing it alone. He had a safe harbor to rely on, someone who would wait for him, accompany him, and help him find the “missed friction force.”

That was enough.