Desk-mate, Do You Like Me? - Chapter 67

Chapter 67

That brief embrace was like a small secret, warming Li Mo’s heart and becoming his source of energy when tackling tough problems. Xu Qing’s awkward yet gentle response was more powerful than any words of encouragement.

The bottleneck period still persisted, and the pace of improvement seemed to slow down, but Li Mo’s mindset became much more stable. He no longer obsessed over the few points gained or lost in a single test but genuinely calmed down, following Xu Qing’s rhythm, “digging into the details” bit by bit, retrieving those “missed friction forces” one by one. He knew Xu Qing disliked being impatient or rash.

Habits continued in the subtle details, and Li Mo was delighted by them.

He clearly remembered the consumption pattern of snacks in Xu Qing’s drawer, always managing to “casually” restock before they ran out. He was even meticulous enough to note which flavour of energy bar Xu Qing took more often, buying extra of that one next time. Meanwhile, in his backpack, the mistake book, labelled “Conquering Xu Qing Battle Plan,” grew thicker. Although his handwriting was still not beautiful, it was at least much neater, simply because Xu Qing once said, “Clear steps make reviewing easier.”

When Xu Qing saw that title on the cover, he stared blankly for a few seconds, then raised his hand and lightly flicked Li Mo’s forehead. Li Mo covered his forehead and chuckled foolishly, but his heart felt like it held a little sun.

…

The schedule at Huaying No. 1 High School remained tight, with a chance for genuine relaxation only every two weeks. On this rare weekend, the campus was quieter than usual, but the teaching building still housed many boarding students.

This Saturday afternoon, Li Mo predictably showed up at Xu Qing’s single dorm room.

Xu Qing had many family issues. His parents’ divorce was at a standstill, and Liu Lan was staying at “Uncle Chen’s” place, so Xu Qing felt awkward going there and simply stayed at school.

Sunlight streamed through the window, casting warm patches of light on the desk. Xu Qing was bent over calculations, his profile looking particularly focused and gentle in the light.

Li Mo softened his steps as he walked over. Instead of his usual noisy greeting, he quietly placed a chilled bottle of mineral water, Xu Qing’s usual brand, next to his hand. Only then did he sit in the chair beside him, taking out his test papers and “Battle Plan.”

Xu Qing’s pen didn’t stop. He merely glanced up at Li Mo, his gaze lingering on the water bottle for a second. He gave an almost imperceptible nod, a quiet greeting.

“I’m still a bit unsure about the force analysis on this problem,” Li Mo leaned closer, pointing at a question in the book, his tone uncharacteristically humble. “I keep feeling like I’m missing a force, but I can’t find it.”

Xu Qing put down his own pen, took the book, scanned it, and then picked up his ruler and compass to redraw the diagram on the scratch paper. His explanation was concise yet went straight to the heart of the matter.

“Look here, the contact surface, did you overlook it?” Xu Qing tapped an inconspicuous spot on the diagram with his pen tip.

Li Mo had an epiphany and slapped his head: “Right! I knew it.”

He excitedly turned his head, about to say something, but his eyes met Xu Qing’s at close range. Xu Qing seemed startled by his sudden movement, leaning back slightly, his clear eyes reflecting Li Mo’s image.

They were too close. So close that Li Mo could clearly see Xu Qing’s slightly trembling eyelashes and his lips lightly pressed together from concentration. The air seemed to freeze, leaving only the faint sound of birds singing outside the window and their shallow breaths.

Li Mo’s heart skipped a beat, then began to pound frantically.

His Adam’s apple bobbed. An impulsive desire to draw closer surged unexpectedly. He noticed Xu Qing’s ear tips slowly turning red at a visible rate.

“Look at the problem.” Xu Qing was the first to break eye contact, his voice a fraction huskier than usual. He lightly tapped the desk with his pen, refocusing his gaze on the scratch paper, though his grip on the pen seemed to tighten slightly.

Li Mo felt like he had been granted amnesty. He quickly sat up straight, forcing his attention back to the problem, but the corner of his mouth couldn’t help but curve upwards. The ambiguity of that moment and Xu Qing’s rare shyness were like a stone thrown into the lake of his heart, causing ripples.

He felt that, compared to academic progress, discovering these subtle fluctuations beneath Xu Qing’s cool exterior brought him a secret delight.

He was no longer impatient or easily discouraged. He knew that on this slightly empty campus weekend, in this quiet single dorm room, someone was patiently accompanying him in their own way, waiting for him to slowly catch up.

…

Li Mo was still immersed in the secret joy of “Xu Qing is shy,” but his stomach suddenly let out a loud, uncooperative “grumble” that was remarkably clear in the quiet dorm.

The previously lingering ambiguous atmosphere was instantly shattered.

Xu Qing looked up, giving him an expressionless glance.

Li Mo’s face flushed. He quickly covered his stomach, trying to save face: “Ahem, that… it’s just a shout for energy to power the brain’s rapid operation.”

He knew himself how ridiculous that sounded.

Xu Qing didn’t reply. He simply put down his pen, stood up, walked to his locker, and accurately tossed Li Mo a separately packaged, soft, sweet milk-flavored bread.

“Tide over.” Brief and to the point.

Li Mo fumbled to catch it. Seeing what it was, his eyes instantly lit up: “Wow! Qingqing, you really know me best! This is the exact bread I was craving from that shop…”

As he unwrapped it, he habitually jabbered: “Tell me, have you been secretly keeping tabs on me? How did you even know I love this flavour?”

Xu Qing sat back down, picked up his pen, his tone flat and unwavering: “Supermarket discount, buy one get one free.”

Li Mo took a large bite of the bread, his cheeks stuffed, and mumbled a rebuttal: “Liar. This brand never has a discount. You bought it specifically for me. Qingqing, admit you love me.”

Xu Qing’s pen paused. He neither admitted nor denied it, but his ear tips seemed to redden slightly again. He chose to ignore the large chewing machine beside him and refocused his attention on the problem.

Li Mo happily ate the bread, feeling it was sweeter than any he had ever tasted before. While eating, he was still restless, lightly bumping Xu Qing with his clean elbow: “Hey, Professor Xu, seeing how hard I’m working, ‘studying diligently,’ shouldn’t there be some kind of reward system?”

Xu Qing didn’t look up: “Such as?”

“For example…” Li Mo’s eyes darted around, and he grinned slyly. “If I score seventy or above on the next Physics quiz, you promise me one condition? A small one!” he quickly added, afraid Xu Qing would immediately tell him to “get lost.”

Xu Qing finally turned his head, scrutinizing him up and down: “What condition?”

“Haven’t decided yet! But I promise it won’t be illegal, unethical, or outside your capabilities, great Scholar Xu.” Li Mo raised three fingers as if swearing an oath, his expression serious, if one ignored the bread crumbs on his mouth.

Xu Qing looked at his comical yet earnest appearance, remaining silent for a few seconds. Just when Li Mo thought there was no chance, he spoke faintly: “Eighty.”

“Huh?” Li Mo was dumbfounded.

“A minimum eighty-point increase in total score.” Xu Qing repeated, his tone brooking no argument. “Achieve that, and I’ll agree to your condition.”

Li Mo gasped, feeling the bread in his mouth had lost its flavour.

Eighty points! That was an exponential leap! But was he, Li Mo, the kind of person to easily admit defeat? Clearly not!

“Deal!” He stuck his neck out, looking completely reckless. “Just eighty points. I’m all in.”

He finished the remaining bread in a few bites, slamming his hand on the desk with gusto: “Come on, next! Bring on all the difficult problems! Today, it’s either me or these Physics problems!”

Xu Qing watched his sudden burst of enthusiasm. The corner of his mouth twitched subtly, as if he wanted to laugh but held it back.

He shook his head, picked up his pen again, pointed to the next incorrect problem, his voice carrying a hint of indulgence he hadn’t even noticed himself:

“First, wipe your mouth clean. And the one that is going to ‘die’ is the problem on your mistake book, not you.”

Li Mo: “…” Okay, you’re handsome, you’re right.

He hastily wiped his mouth with his sleeve and threw himself back into the “battle.” This time, his motivation was even stronger. Besides the formulas, his mind was already calculating what kind of “reward” he should ask for once he reached the goal. Just thinking about it made him feel like… studying wasn’t so tedious after all!

Hehe.

…

The highly motivated Li Mo indeed showed astonishing resilience. Although the goal of “an eighty-point increase in total score” felt like a small mountain, with Xu Qing, his “human cheat,” by his side, he felt the mountain wasn’t impossible to move.

It was just that the process of moving the mountain occasionally hit a snag.

For example, right now, Xu Qing was explaining a comprehensive problem on electromagnetic induction, his thought process clear and his logic rigorous. Li Mo nodded repeatedly, feeling his mind clear up, on the verge of enlightenment… Ah, no, a breakthrough.

“So, the effective length cutting the magnetic field lines here is $L$, not $2L$,” Xu Qing concluded, pointing at the sketch.

“Got it, got it!” Li Mo was full of confidence. He grabbed the pen and started writing on his paper. “It’s just like cutting a cake, you have to calculate carefully which part is edible…”

He muttered while writing furiously. After finishing, he proudly handed it to Xu Qing for inspection: “Professor Xu, please review. Absolutely standard this time!”

Xu Qing looked down, was silent for two seconds, then looked up at Li Mo, his expression blank: “Are you cutting your cake using the Work-Energy Theorem?”

“Ah?” Li Mo was stunned. He snatched the paper back and laughed at himself—his mind had been so occupied with the “reward” and “cake” that he had automatically written down the Work-Energy Theorem formula from the previous problem here.

“A mistake, a pure mistake!” Li Mo quickly grabbed his eraser, wishing he could completely erase that dark history. “My mind and my hand didn’t coordinate the commands…”

Xu Qing watched his flustered movements and let out a light sigh. His look clearly said, This idiot is hopeless, but what came out was: “Concentrate. Don’t you want your reward?”

“Want it, want it! Definitely want it!” Li Mo immediately sat up straight, forcibly kicking the flying “cake” and “reward” out of his mind, refocusing on the magnetic field lines.

…

During study breaks, Li Mo’s “theatrics” were numerous. When Xu Qing got up to pour water, he would tilt his head and stare at Xu Qing’s back, from his straight spine to his slender fingers holding the water cup, silently sighing: Tsk tsk, even pouring water is so elegant. Truly the person I like.

Xu Qing felt the burning gaze behind him and turned to look at him: “What are you looking at?”

Li Mo grinned, blurting out: “Looking at how handsome my boyfriend is even when pouring water!”

“Pff—”

Xu Qing nearly choked on the sip of water he had just taken. He coughed twice, and the familiar pink blush crept up his ears again.

He glared at Li Mo, his tone a warning: “Li Mo!”

“Present, present!” Li Mo answered with a chuckle, not the least bit afraid. “What are Professor Xu’s instructions?”

“Say one more useless word, and you’re out.” Xu Qing used his ultimate weapon.

Li Mo immediately zipped his mouth shut, blinking his eyes, indicating that he would be quiet as a mouse. But the light twinkling in his eyes clearly read, I’m quiet, but I’m still thinking.

Occasionally, Li Mo would also be completely overwhelmed by difficult problems, tearing at his hair in frustration. Once, he was stuck on a circuit analysis problem for almost half an hour. He let out a wail, collapsed on the desk, weakly tapping his forehead against the tabletop: “I’m done, done. Brain cells are all dead. Xu Qing, I need artificial respiration…”

Xu Qing didn’t even spare him a glance. He simply picked up a thick copy of $5$ Years of Gaokao, $3$ Years of Mock Tests nearby and placed it firmly on the back of his head.

“Physics edition artificial respiration, is that enough?”

Li Mo was pressed and let out a “yow!” instantly “sitting up in sickness,” pulling a long face: “Professor Xu, how cruel your heart is…”

“No need to be too gentle with you.” Xu Qing retrieved the book, his tone flat, but a fleeting, extremely faint smile crossed his eyes.

It was in these days, a mixture of playful teasing and serious studying, that Li Mo’s scores actually steadily improved.

Although still some distance from the goal, he could feel that solving problems was becoming easier. Those formulas and theorems that once seemed hateful now felt much friendlier and cuter under Xu Qing’s “guidance” and his own “muddling through.”

On another weekend afternoon, the sun was still beautiful. Li Mo finished a test paper, stretched widely, and turned to look at Xu Qing, who was reading a book beside him.

“Xu Qing.”

“Mhm?”

“When my total score increases by eighty points…”

“Mhm.”

“That condition…” Li Mo leaned in a bit, his eyes sparkling, with a hint of slyness and anticipation. “I’m going to think about it carefully.”

Xu Qing’s action of turning the page paused slightly. Without looking up, he simply responded faintly:

“As you wish.”

Li Mo looked at his feigned composure and slightly reddened ear tips. His heart felt gently tickled by a feather—itchy and sweet. He sat back down, picked up the next test paper, his motivation even stronger than before.

For that promise of “As you wish,” let alone eighty points, he had to figure out a way to get a hundred and twenty!

Mhm, studying is interesting after all, Li Mo thought happily.