Desk-mate, Do You Like Me? - Chapter 73

Chapter 73

Ye Zhong entered the study, casually closing the door slightly ajar, muffling most of the noise from outside. He didn’t approach immediately but stood at a comfortable distance, calmly observing Li Mo.

In just a few days, the boy’s once vibrant face had become thin, his eye sockets sunken, and his lips slightly cracked from dehydration and tension. But his eyes, though bloodshot, shone astonishingly bright, burning with an almost fanatical flame mixed with vigilance, hostility, and unyielding stubbornness.

Ye Zhong’s gaze finally rested for a moment on Li Mo’s tightly clenched left wrist, which wore the black jade bracelet.

“Your mother is very worried about you,” Ye Zhong began, his voice still having that characteristic steady tone, without much discernible emotion. “She hasn’t slept well these past few days.”

Li Mo pressed his lips together, offering no response. Worried? He only felt control. He built a wall with his silence.

Ye Zhong was not surprised by his reaction. He calmly sat down in the chair behind the desk, his posture relaxed, as if this were just an ordinary conversation. “Tell me about it. This Xu Qing.” His tone was as casual as asking about the weather. “What kind of… friend is he?”

Li Mo snapped his head up, his eyes sharp as he looked at Ye Zhong, trying to find any trace of mockery or probing on his face, but there was none. Ye Zhong’s expression was calm, even showing a hint of willingness to listen.

“…He’s very good.” Li Mo’s voice was hoarse from not speaking much. He chose his words carefully, with an instinctive need to protect. “He studies very well, and he’s very good to me.”

“How is he good?” Ye Zhong pressed, his tone still calm. “I hear his family situation is a bit unusual?”

Li Mo’s heart tightened, and he immediately retorted: “That’s his business! It has nothing to do with him as a person! He never relied on his family, he—”

He paused, realizing his reaction was too intense. He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. “Uncle Ye… you don’t need to fish for information. I like him because he is Xu Qing, nothing more. It has nothing to do with his family or his background.”

Ye Zhong nodded, his fingers lightly tapping the mahogany desk, making a rhythmic light sound. “I understand. Young people, pure emotions, regardless of gain or loss.” He subtly changed his direction. “But Mo Mo, have you thought about why your mother is so opposed?”

The corner of Li Mo’s mouth twisted into a bitter arc: “Because she finds it disgusting, she thinks I’m abnormal, she thinks I have Li Dong’s blood in me, and sooner or later I’ll become a bastard just like him!”

“That’s part of it,” Ye Zhong did not deny it, looking at him with deep eyes. “But the deeper reason is, she’s afraid.”

“Afraid?” Li Mo was startled.

“She’s afraid you’ll get hurt, afraid you’ll choose a path far more difficult than the average person, afraid you’ll discard the broad, safe road she painstakingly paved for you, only to end up with a broken head and bleeding.” Ye Zhong’s voice was low and slow. “She experienced a failed marriage and knows the cruelty of reality. She protected you too well, so she cannot accept any potential risk outside of her understanding, especially… the risks that come from relationships.”

Li Mo fell silent.

Ye Zhong’s words were like a surgical knife, precisely dissecting the mother’s heart, wrapped in fear, beneath Yu Wenxiu’s intense reaction. This made Li Mo feel a complex, powerless heaviness, more so than if Ye Zhong had directly accused him or sided with his mother.

“So, should everything be strangled in the cradle?” Li Mo’s voice lowered, filled with exhaustion. “Just because of fear of the unknown, I don’t even have the right to try?”

“I am not judging who is right or wrong.” Ye Zhong stood up and walked to the window, looking outside. “I am simply telling you the logic behind your mother’s actions. As for right or wrong, you need to figure that out yourself.”

He turned and looked back at Li Mo, his eyes showing a hint of seriousness: “But Mo Mo, threatening to kill yourself is the most foolish and irresponsible thing to do. It not only hurts your mother but also tramples on yourself. If that Xu Qing knew you were maintaining your relationship in this way, how do you think he would feel?”

Li Mo’s body trembled violently, his face turning even paler. Ye Zhong’s words were like a heavy hammer, striking through the emotional fog clouding his mind. He remembered Xu Qing’s clear yet firm eyes. If he knew…

“I…” Li Mo opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

“I will persuade your mother to temporarily hold off on the transfer.” Ye Zhong walked toward him, looking down at him, his tone carrying an unquestionable authority. “But the confinement won’t be immediately lifted. You need time to cool down, and so does your mother. During this time, think carefully. Is there a more mature way to handle this, besides intense confrontation and suicidal threats? A way to prove to your mother that your choice isn’t just an impulse, and that you are capable of taking responsibility for your own future.”

Ye Zhong’s gaze swept over the black jade on Li Mo’s wrist again: “The things you cherish are not protected by destroying yourself.”

With that, he said no more and left the study. The door closed again, but this time, Li Mo felt that the door was no longer as cold and despairing as before.

He slowly slid to the ground, burying his face in his knees. Ye Zhong’s words echoed repeatedly in his mind. The anger and grievance still existed, but a deeper thought about responsibility and the future began to quietly germinate.

He lowered his head, looking at the smooth black jade on his wrist, his fingertips gently stroking it.

Xu Qing, what should I do?

…

After Ye Zhong left, silence returned to the study, but this silence was different from the suffocating despair before, as if a breath of circulating air had been introduced. Li Mo remained curled up for a long time. His stepfather’s words were like cold spring water, extinguishing some of the blindly burning anger in his heart, but also allowing him to see the tragic and childish nature of his situation more clearly.

“Threatening to kill yourself is the most foolish and irresponsible thing to do.”

“If that Xu Qing knew you were maintaining your relationship in this way, how do you think he would feel?”

“The things you cherish are not protected by destroying yourself.”

Every sentence struck his heart. He imagined the disappointment and reproach that would show in Xu Qing’s clear eyes if he knew Li Mo had threatened his mother with his life. Someone as proud and independent as Xu Qing would never agree with this approach. Was the person he loved truly a coward who only resorted to extreme measures to solve problems?

This realization brought a wave of shame over Li Mo. He claimed he wanted to protect their relationship, but what he actually did was push it toward a more difficult situation in the worst possible way.

He looked down at the black jade on his wrist. Its smooth touch seemed to carry a cool, warning sensation. This bracelet was earned by Xu Qing’s hard work, bearing hope and cherish, not for him to use as a symbol of sacrifice or reckless defiance.

He could not just sit and wait for the inevitable, nor could he continue the intense confrontation. Uncle Ye was right—he needed a more mature way.

…

Over the next two days, Li Mo’s behavior surprised Yu Wenxiu.

He stopped refusing to eat. Although he still ate little, he finished the meals brought by Zhang Yi on time. He no longer sat listlessly by the window all day but began to actively ask for textbooks and practice questions. He even tidied the study a little, no longer leaving it in the messy state of the previous days.

He was still silent, but the silence was no longer hostile defiance. It was more like the calm before accumulating strength.

Yu Wenxiu observed him through the door crack. Her doubts did not diminish, but the tense atmosphere had indeed eased. She wasn’t sure if this was just Li Mo’s delaying tactic, but Ye Zhong advised her to “wait and see the results,” so she could only temporarily suppress the urge to send him away immediately.

On the third night, when Zhang Yi delivered dinner, Li Mo made a request.

“Aunt Zhang,” his voice was calm. “Could you please tell Uncle Ye that I’d like to use a laptop to look up some study materials? Or, he could help me print some recent simulated physics and chemistry competition questions.”

He didn’t directly ask to contact the outside world, but instead presented a reasonable, even “proactive” request.

Zhang Yi relayed the message to Ye Zhong and Yu Wenxiu.

Yu Wenxiu immediately became wary: “He wants to use a computer? Absolutely not! Who knows if he’s trying to contact that Xu Qing!”

Ye Zhong pondered for a moment, then shook his head: “If he wanted to contact him, there are plenty of ways. He wouldn’t use one that’s so easily monitored. Asking for competition questions, however, is a signal.” He looked at Yu Wenxiu. “He’s trying to use the method you want to see to gain a little space and trust. Guidance is better than blocking, Wenxiu.”

Ultimately, with Yu Wenxiu’s reluctant and dubious consent, Ye Zhong had his assistant print several sets of the latest simulated competition questions and personally delivered them to the study.

“I’ve placed the questions here,” Ye Zhong set the thick stack of papers on the desk, his gaze sweeping over Li Mo’s slightly thin but clear-eyed face. “If you need anything else, you can tell Aunt Zhang.”

“Thank you, Uncle Ye,” Li Mo responded quietly, his attitude neither overly humble nor defiant.

Ye Zhong nodded, said nothing more, and left.

After the door closed, Li Mo walked to the desk and picked up the stack of papers that smelled of fresh ink. His fingers tightened slightly, even turning a little white at the tips. This was not just a stack of problems; it was his first step to breaking the deadlock.

He sat down, took a deep breath, and opened the first page. The scratching sound of his pen on the scrap paper became the only sound in the study.

This time, his purpose in doing the problems was no longer just for scores. It was to secure an opportunity—a chance to pave the future for him and Xu Qing, relying on his own strength rather than extreme confrontation.

Li Mo picked up his pen again.

The scratching sound of the pen across the paper was exceptionally clear in the silent study.

He forced himself to concentrate fully on the complex circuit diagrams and chemical equations. Initially, his thoughts would uncontrollably drift toward Xu Qing, worrying that he would be anxious not being able to reach him, worrying about him facing school gossip alone, and even more worried that his mother might secretly cause trouble for him…

Whenever this happened, he would forcefully pinch the web between his thumb and forefinger. The pain instantly sobered him, and he would direct his gaze back to the densely packed questions. He knew that wallowing in anxiety was useless. Only by showing tangible results could he possibly change the current situation.

He worked with extreme seriousness, even more focused than any previous exam preparation. The difficult problems that once gave him headaches now seemed like steps toward freedom. He recalculated repeatedly, scrutinized carefully, and wrote down the solutions clearly and neatly. Sweat sometimes dampened his hair, but he was oblivious.

A few days later, he gave the completed and carefully checked papers to Aunt Zhang, asking her to pass them to Ye Zhong and politely inquiring if he could help grade them or provide the answer key.

When Ye Zhong saw the neat handwriting, the clean paper, and the noticeably improved accuracy, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes. He found the answer key and personally checked them, finding that Li Mo not only got all the basic questions right but also had clear thought processes and complete steps for several challenging final questions.

He handed the graded papers and a new set of exercises to Yu Wenxiu.

“Look,” Ye Zhong pointed to the bright red checkmarks and Li Mo’s detailed solutions on the paper. “He’s not being perfunctory. He is genuinely settling down to study. And, he’s highly efficient.”

Yu Wenxiu flipped through the papers, her emotions complicated. This was indeed the “prodigal son returning” scene she had hoped for, but the thought that her son was working so hard possibly only for that Xu Qing made her feel choked, as if she had a wad of cotton stuck in her throat.

“Who knows how long he’ll keep it up?” she said stiffly, but her attitude was no longer as resolute as before.

“At least it’s a start,” Ye Zhong said calmly. “We can observe further. If he can maintain this state, and… show improvement in other areas, perhaps we can appropriately relax some restrictions.”

The “other areas” were mutually understood.

Li Mo seemed to keenly sense this subtle shift. The next time Aunt Zhang delivered a meal, he whispered a “Thank you, Aunt Zhang” after she set down the tray. Although the sound was low, it was enough to surprise Aunt Zhang and be conveyed to Yu Wenxiu as a sign of change.

He even started making his own bed—a makeshift cot in the study. Though his movements were clumsy and the blanket was folded crookedly, when Yu Wenxiu walked in one time (under the guise of bringing fruit), what she saw was no longer chaos, but an effort to maintain dignity.

These small, seemingly insignificant changes, like trickles of water, quietly softened the ice.

One afternoon, Yu Wenxiu stood outside the study door and heard Li Mo reciting an English text in a low, earnest voice. Through the crack in the door, she saw her son sitting at the desk, his back straight, his profile focused and serene in the sunlight. The black jade bracelet on his wrist was intermittently visible as he turned the pages.

At that moment, she suddenly remembered Ye Zhong’s words—”He’s trying to use the method you want to see to gain a little space and trust.”

A corner of her heart, subtly, began to thaw.

A few days later, when Li Mo again requested new study materials through Aunt Zhang, Yu Wenxiu was silent for a moment, then told Aunt Zhang: “Tell him he can spend half an hour in the living room after dinner. Only on the first floor, and he is not allowed to go outside.”

This was the first time the study door had been unlocked since the confinement began.

When Aunt Zhang delivered the news to Li Mo, he was working on a physics problem. His pen stopped, leaving a deep ink dot on the scrap paper. He looked up, a flicker of disbelief in his eyes, but quickly lowered his gaze, concealing any potentially revealing emotions. He only nodded slightly: “I understand. Thank you, Aunt Zhang.”

His reaction was calm, but the fingers holding the pen tightened slightly.

This small concession was like the first ray of light penetrating the darkness. Li Mo knew that the path he had chosen, though long, was the right one. He had to continue, using more solid effort to gain greater space, until… he could reconnect with the person who occupied his every thought.