CY – Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Just off the basketball court, Lu Bai went to the washroom with a few classmates to wash his face. As Lu Bai bent down, a wet hand slapped him on the lower back.

“If you ask me, Lu Bai, you’re still a kid. Playing this game with us today is like teaching you to be a man again,” Li An said, wiping his hands a few times on Lu Bai’s clothes.

“Get lost, who are you wiping your hands on?” Lu Bai dodged and cupped some water to splash on his face.

“Look at you, so clean,” Li An tutted. “Weren’t you the one spitting everywhere just now?”

“Beat it!” Lu Bai cursed with a laugh. “That was my passionate commentary on the game!”

The boys burst into laughter.

“Hey, haven’t seen you trying to warm up to your new deskmate’s cold shoulder these past couple of days?” Li An asked.

“I see he doesn’t even bother with Lu Bai,” a boy said. “He keeps a straight face every day, like everyone owes him a fortune.”

“Exactly, I don’t know what makes him so arrogant.”

“Honestly, Lu Bai, you’re wasting your energy on him,” Li An continued. “He’s not the first student to buy their way into our class, and you weren’t this enthusiastic. Besides, he might not be here for long; he could fall out of the ranking again in the next exam.”

Li An talked to them for a while, but Lu Bai didn’t respond. He nudged Lu Bai with his shoulder. “Did you hear me?”

“Huh?” Lu Bai seemed to snap back to attention, nodding vaguely. “Heard you, heard you.”

Actually, Lu Bai hadn’t heard a single word.

After observing for a few days, Lu Bai realized his new deskmate was exceptionally difficult to approach.

Over the past few days, Lu Bai had tried to talk to him frequently, greeted him when they met on the road, and even occasionally offered him snacks. But Zhang Xiaotian was like an iron wall; he didn’t accept snacks, didn’t engage in conversation, and his greetings were perfunctory and cold, as if Lu Bai had offended him. Even though Lu Bai considered himself thick-skinned, he was starting to feel a bit awkward.

However, no matter how long Zhang Xiaotian stayed in Class One, Lu Bai still hoped their relationship could improve slightly, after all, they were deskmates.

Lost in thought, Lu Bai reached the classroom door and saw Zhang Xiaotian sitting upright at his desk.

He wondered when he had returned. He disappeared the moment physical education class ended; where had he been hiding? Lu Bai grumbled, walked to his side with a straight face, leaned back, and sighed deeply.

Zhang Xiaotian hesitated, then tossed him a pack of tissues. “Wipe your hands, you’re getting water everywhere.”

“Thanks,” Lu Bai took a tissue and wiped his hands, then turned to throw the crumpled tissue in the trash. Accidentally, he knocked Zhang Xiaotian’s pen off the desk. Just as Lu Bai was about to bend down to pick it up, Zhang Xiaotian had already quickly stooped down.

Lu Bai looked down at him picking up the pen and suddenly felt very depressed.

He considered himself not exactly universally loved, but he had never been treated with such coldness. Staring at the back of Zhang Xiaotian’s head, Lu Bai suddenly sat up straight, placed his arms neatly on the desk like a primary school student, but let his elbows jut out over the edge of the desk.

Zhang Xiaotian retrieved his pen. As he stood up, his head seemed to bump into something, and he couldn’t stand up straight.

Zhang Xiaotian didn’t think anything of it. After tidying his desk, he heard a “plop” beside him. Zhang Xiaotian looked at Lu Bai, who was pretending to be serious.

“Nerve,” Zhang Xiaotian thought, “what’s so funny about bumping into a desk?” He ignored Lu Bai.

During math class, they were going to discuss the pop quiz from a few days ago. Lu Bai rummaged through his backpack like a chaotic pot, unable to find his test paper. “Help me look too, deskmate. Did you mistake it for yours and put it away?” Lu Bai said while searching his bag.

“How could that be? Can’t I recognize my own test paper?” Zhang Xiaotian retorted, but he also started searching his desk drawer.

“Look again,” Lu Bai pulled out a workbook and slammed it onto the desk with a “snap,” creating a small gust of wind that blew Zhang Xiaotian’s test paper off the desk. Zhang Xiaotian reached out to catch it but missed.

“Sorry, sorry!” Lu Bai said without looking up. “Pick it up yourself.”

Zhang Xiaotian had to bend down to pick it up. As he stood up, he deliberately kept his head far from the desk, but he still bumped his head.

This time, the bump was quite forceful, but surprisingly it didn’t hurt. Zhang Xiaotian mused that it didn’t feel like hitting the desk, but he didn’t see anything else when he looked up. Perhaps he had moved too quickly? Zhang Xiaotian sat up and saw Lu Bai engrossed in a test paper on his desk. After he sat down, Lu Bai even asked, “Are you okay?”

Zhang Xiaotian ignored him and stared at him for a while.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Bai asked innocently.

“Found your test paper?” Zhang Xiaotian asked. “That quickly?”

“Yeah,” Lu Bai grinned, revealing a row of white teeth.

The math teacher was a stocky man with a very heavy accent that was hard to place. While it wasn’t completely incomprehensible, Zhang Xiaotian still needed time to adjust. Zhang Xiaotian was busy taking notes and accidentally knocked an eraser off the corner of the desk at some point. He couldn’t be bothered to pick it up, his pen moving non-stop.

“Hey, you dropped something,” Lu Bai said. Zhang Xiaotian grunted in response but didn’t stop writing.

After a while, Lu Bai said again, “Don’t forget to pick up your things.”

“I know,” Zhang Xiaotian replied without looking back.

“Sigh, it fell too far away for me to reach. Otherwise, I would have picked it up for you,” Lu Bai said, looking down.

“I’ll pick it up myself.” Zhang Xiaotian was furiously writing and finally finished the last sentence, then bent down to pick up his things.

Lu Bai quickly positioned himself and extended his elbow, but after waiting for a long time, Zhang Xiaotian didn’t bump into it.

Why was he taking so long to pick it up? Lu Bai wondered. He looked down and met Zhang Xiaotian’s gaze as he crouched on the floor.

“What the heck, I was discovered so quickly?” Lu Bai awkwardly smiled. “What are you doing, deskmate? Why are you squatting on the floor and not getting up?”

“Bored,” Zhang Xiaotian sat back up, not sparing him an extra glance.

“Hey, how did you find out?” Lu Bai nudged him. “I did this to my previous deskmates, and they never found out.”

Zhang Xiaotian ignored him.

“In middle school, I used to do this to my deskmate. I kept it up for half a semester! I only stopped because I got bored myself.”

Zhang Xiaotian picked up his pen. “We’re in class, don’t talk to me.”

“Hey, look at you!” Lu Bai shamelessly leaned closer. “Are you really angry? You can’t take a joke anymore!”

Zhang Xiaotian frowned at him.

“Alright, alright, I won’t say anything more. If we can’t talk in class, you don’t talk much to me after class either.” Lu Bai pouted and stopped bothering him.

As soon as the class bell rang, the math teacher, briefcase in hand, disappeared from the front of the classroom without delay. Zhang Xiaotian flipped through his incomplete notes and sighed softly.

He looked around. He wasn’t familiar with anyone and didn’t know who to ask to borrow notes. Just as he was worrying, a gentle breeze wafted over from beside him.

Zhang Xiaotian looked over and saw Lu Bai fanning himself with his math notes.

Lu Bai rested his chin on his hand, casually looking at Zhang Xiaotian. When their eyes met, he even raised an eyebrow at Zhang Xiaotian.

Zhang Xiaotian felt speechless. He really didn’t want to deal with him, but looking at his notes, he finally said:

“Uh, can I borrow your notes?”

“Hmm? What did you say?” Lu Bai asked with a wicked grin. “Borrow what?”

“Never mind,” Zhang Xiaotian turned to put his own notes away.

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t give up!” Lu Bai stopped him and tossed his notes onto Zhang Xiaotian’s desk. “It’s not like I won’t lend them to you.”

Zhang Xiaotian glanced at him, then opened his notes.

“Oh my, not even a thank you,” Lu Bai exaggeratedly clutched his chest. “My heart hurts so much.”

“Thank you,” Zhang Xiaotian muttered, then buried his head in filling in his notes.

After finishing his notes, Zhang Xiaotian flipped through Lu Bai’s. People say handwriting reflects the person, but Lu Bai’s handwriting was surprisingly neat and clean, looking very elegant. The content was concise and well-organized, not at all what he expected from Lu Bai’s notes. Zhang Xiaotian looked at his own handwriting and wondered if he should practice his calligraphy. Zhang Xiaotian filled in the gaps and when he was done, he wanted to return the notes to Lu Bai, only to find Lu Bai propped on his desk, staring at him.

“What, are you so impressed by the wisdom contained in my notes?” Seeing Zhang Xiaotian stop writing, Lu Bai snatched the notes back and deliberately waved them in front of Zhang Xiaotian’s eyes. “Don’t admire me too much, deskmate, I’ll get embarrassed.”

Zhang Xiaotian thought no one in the world could be more shameless than Lu Bai.

After the eighth class ended, Zhang Xiaotian tidied his desk, planning to go to the school gate to find his mother. He used to eat at his father’s house, but after their brief conversation in the car that day, his mother came to bring him food every day. He didn’t want to see his mother too soon, so he packed up slowly. Normally, by the time he was done, he would be the only one left in the classroom, but today, Lu Bai was also packing up late.

Zhang Xiaotian walked to the back door, looked back at Lu Bai still sitting on his stool, and couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you going to eat?”

“Huh?” Lu Bai paused. “I was thinking of just buying something from the supermarket next door later.”

“Oh,” Zhang Xiaotian felt a bit awkward, not knowing what to say next, so he turned to leave.

“Wait a moment.” Before he had taken a step, Lu Bai called out again. “Wait for me, I’ll go out with you.”

High school students are like starving ghosts. They disappear as soon as the bell rings, so very few people leave school at this hour. The two walked side-by-side down the long path, occasionally passing a few students, all with the same hurried expressions.

“You’re coming out this late, you definitely won’t get any food,” Lu Bai asked. “Those small eateries opposite our school have very limited space. Want to go to the supermarket with me?”

“No,” Zhang Xiaotian said. “My mom is coming to bring me food.”

“Impressive,” Lu Bai tutted in surprise. “My mom is too lazy to bring me food. Your mom treats you really well.”

Zhang Xiaotian didn’t say anything.

His mother, who had been absent for years, suddenly returned to the country and immediately took over almost all aspects of his life, which made Zhang Xiaotian feel unsettled. She had hardly paid any attention to him before, and now she was involved in everything, arranging almost every aspect of his daily life. Zhang Xiaotian couldn’t refuse, so he could only cooperate as much as possible.

“Is that your mother?” Lu Bai suddenly said. “The one standing at the school gate.”

Zhang Xiaotian looked over. At the school gate, his mother was still wearing her black trench coat and mid-heeled boots, holding a thermos food container.

Zhang Xiaotian walked over and called out, “Mom.”

“Xiaotian, you’re out late,” Xiaotian’s mother handed him the thermos. “I’ll pick you up here again tonight.”

“Hello, Auntie!” Lu Bai also came over and greeted her. “I’m Zhang Xiaotian’s deskmate.”

“Hello.” Zhang Xiaotian’s mother smiled slightly upon seeing Lu Bai. “Are you going to eat?”

“Yeah,” Lu Bai nodded. “I’m just going to buy something to eat and then head back.”

“Go on then.” Xiaotian’s mother watched Lu Bai’s receding figure, then asked Zhang Xiaotian, “How is his studying?”

“Haven’t paid attention,” Zhang Xiaotian replied.

“If he’s someone who doesn’t care about studying, tell me, and I’ll have your homeroom teacher switch your desk for you. Stay away from him as early as possible.” Xiaotian’s mother withdrew her gaze and reached out as if to touch Zhang Xiaotian’s face. Zhang Xiaotian instinctively turned his head, and her hand froze. Seeing her unhappy expression, Zhang Xiaotian felt he had been a bit ungracious and was considering leaning his face back in, but she had already lowered her hand.

“Alright, you can go back too,” she sighed, then added, “Don’t forget to read after you’ve eaten.”

Zhang Xiaotian nodded, turned, and walked back into the school.