Chapter 27 – My Deskmate

translator: xiin
editor: butter

“……”

The entire class was silent.

The corners of Song Yu’s mouth pulled down, what was with the ‘my husband Brother Yu’, it was clearly ‘Your Husband, Brother Yu’. Don’t engage in these falsehoods, sisters.

He didn’t seem to want to expose his identity because he was afraid of making things troublesome for himself, but in reality he wasn’t really bothered by it at all.

He dropped his gaze and met her eyes. His pale colored eyes were completely unconcerned, and his tone was also provocative, “What do you think?”

The girl was stared at for a long time. Her face grew red and she bowed her head in embarrassment. The stars in her black hair glittered, like the light in a person’s eyes.

What do you think? This arrogant tone––I think you’re him, ahhhh!

Ou Yilian was also stunned. What husband Brother Yu. Did the female students these days not want to study well and get ahead in life? What were their brains filled with.

Sure enough, this person, Song Yu, was really a rat––he’d better not let her catch wind of any dirt about him, otherwise she’d definitely make sure he quits school.

The class was shrouded in a very restless atmosphere and quite a few people began to whisper amongst themselves.

Ou Yilian’s anger flared, “Quiet!” She looked up and stared coldly at Song Yu, “Class is almost over, don’t waste time.”

Song Yu just had to go against her. He smiled brilliantly, “Don’t do that, teacher. I’m afraid that I won’t be able to finish praising my deskmate even if I had an entire class worth of time.”

Song Yu’s deskmate… was Xie Sui.

Hiss.

The sound of a group of girls sucking in a cold breath could be heard very clearly in the classroom.

As a result, the atmosphere became even more restless.

Ou Yilian was so angry that her expression nearly twisted, “Song Yu––I’m only giving you one minute!”

“One minute? Then I’ll sum it up.”

Song Yu laughed briefly. He stood there on the platform and thought for a moment, then said, “My deskmate, his name is Xie Sui, he’s first in the grade and is especially good at his studies. He has an especially good character, he’s also especially good looking, and everything about him is especially good.”

The last words ‘especially good’ seemed to hold a hint of laughter, gentle and clear.

Class one, beneath the podium.

The girls, “Woaaaaaah!!”

Ma Xiaoding was totally confused by this wave of cheering––what was going on, what was the deal, big sisters? Just now, you all looked at me like I was an idiot when I was cheering, yet now you’re all starting to call out yourselves?

Xie Sui sat in his seat, his dark eyes smiling as he looked at him.

Especially good character… It was really, a very rare compliment across both his lifetimes.

Song Yu stepped down while everyone watched on. He’d attracted countless fangirls during the first night of self-study, and after he went up against Wang Ci, he’d become even more of a mysterious character to the whole of Class One. Now that he’d revealed his name, Song Yu, and the fact that he was deskmates with Xie Sui, they were all thinking about the information Brother Sadako had spread on the forums last night.

The girls in Class One were going crazy!

However, regardless of whether their guesses were correct or not, in any case, there would be another night of bloody storms in the forums tonight!

Ou Yilian was filled with anger. She’d originally planned to lead the whole class in isolating Song Yu, but as a result, things had turned out like this. Her gaze swept around coldly and she scolded loudly, “Quiet! Next!”

The girls all suppressed their emotions a little. The next person to come up to speak was Xie Sui, and it was probably exactly because the next person to speak was him that they were able to suppress the shock that Song Yu had brought them.

The classroom was incredibly quiet when Xie Sui went up to the podium. Countless pairs of eyes were curious and excited.

Only Song Yu wasn’t looking at the podium.

He originally hadn’t planned to attend Ou Yilian’s English class at all. From the start, he’d already taken out a reading comprehension book and started working on it himself.

He’d just finished reading an English article before going up to the podium. He was afraid that he would lose his sense of it when he stepped back down, so he quickly picked up his pen to answer the questions.

Xie Sui wrote down his name on the blackboard, then turned his head and looked in his direction.

Song Yu was sitting by the window. The teenager had a delicate and serious side profile. His hair looked extremely soft and, when he didn’t lift up his eyes or speak, he looked very well behaved. His posture of holding his pen was very cute, and when he did the test paper, there was a sense of gritting teeth and forging ahead.

The glass scattered the sunlight. There were clear skies and clouds outside, the classroom and blackboard inside. All his memories of youth seemed to be here.

It was the complete opposite of the dream he’d just had.

A faint smile sparked at Xie Sui’s lips. He remembered a series of things.

Narrow corridors, dirty smells.

Gossip behind his back, finger pointing, depressing and silent school days.

It was the same classroom, the same students, but he’d never stood on the podium. Instead, there were the rumors of AIDS, Wang Ci’s harassment, the teacher’s deliberate encouragement of such things, and other students’ cold gazes.

Day after day of part-time jobs and never getting enough sleep.

Like a nightmare that he could never wake up from.

“My deskmate.”

Xie Sui’s voice was very light, but unlike Song Yu’s clear and bright, youthful voice, there was a kind of elegance and calm that went beyond his age.

The class all took a breath.

Many girls had already quietly pressed the recording button on their cell phones.

This atmosphere infected Song Yu. He stopped at a question, hesitating between answer B or D, and also looked up.

He was a little curious about how Xie Sui would introduce him.

He’d given him so much face just now. Xie Sui wouldn’t just bite the hand that fed him and use those embarrassing anecdotes to damage his reputation.

Xie Sui met his gaze and smiled slightly. The outside edges of his peach blossom eyes curved up, and the insides turned down. His indifferent and cold temperament showed a trace of tender gentleness at this moment, but his appearance was extremely aggressive, giving this gentleness an oppressive and suffocating feeling.

This smile struck the hearts of many girls. They all screamed internally, their breathing becoming disordered and their hands shaking with excitement.

The teenager standing on the podium spoke slowly.

“He’s very kind, very lovely, and very smart.”

Kind, lovely, and smart.

A wild and wanton hot sun that fell into his world, dispelling the darkness and melting the barrier of ice.

There were many secrets surrounding Song Yu. His sudden approach, and his unclear motives.

However, so what?

At least, for now, he didn’t feel any rejection towards him. 

Xie Sui smiled, “Maybe, we’ll spend a very happy three years together.”

Finally, he called out his name, enunciating each word, “Song Yu.”

“Aaahhhhhhh––!!”

The screams were on a higher level than the reaction to the ‘especially good’ from earlier!

The sound of the bell was drowned out by this wave of screams.

Ma Xiaoding covered his ears with his hands and was almost scared to death––was there a problem with these women?!

Song Yu was also stunned, the train of thought in his mind interrupted––Damnit! Xie Sui praised him for being smart?! That was too damned worth being happy over. He’d thought that after the 720 incident last time, Xie Sui would stamp a ‘doesn’t work’ on his brain.

Sure enough, he’d convinced him of his intelligence over the course of a few days? Brother Yu was really too strong!

Ma Xiaoding had covered his ears and then shielded his head with a book. He couldn’t bear it anymore and said, “Praising him for being lovely or gentle or something? It’s not like it’s a public confession, what’s there to be excited about?”

Xi Bowen glanced at the girl students whose faces were thoroughly red and filled with excitement, then silently swallowed his words back into his stomach––it wasn’t normal to praise a boy for being lovely, okay? Also, could Brother Yu’s temperament even be called lovely? More like scary. God Xie’s filters were too thick.

When Xie Sui came down from the platform, he was warmly welcomed back by his deskmate.

“Have some candy, have some water. Since you know how to say good things, then say more of them.”

Song Yu was in a great mood and high spirits.

Xie Sui laughed, “You’re so happy about me praising you for being lovely?”

Song Yu: “It has nothing to do with being lovely, you praised me for being smart. You have great vision.”

Xie Sui thought back, then said lightly, “Oh, that sentence was something I made up on the spot.”

Song Yu: “???”

Xie Sui stared at him for three seconds, then didn’t tease him anymore. He laughed, “Mm, smart, especially smart.”

Song Yu was instantly elated and proud, “If I’m not smart, how would I become the future number one in the city.”

Ma Xiaoding exposed his ears that had been ravaged by screams from the girls.

As a result, the first thing he heard was Song Yu’s shameless reply.

He tilted his head and said sincerely to Xi Bowen, “I’ve basically figured out one of Brother Yu’s characteristics––if he’s given some sunshine, he becomes brilliant, and if he’s given some color, he’ll open a dye house.”

Xi Bowen didn’t have time to respond.

Ma Xiaoding had already forged ahead, unafraid of death, “However, didn’t he get a whole pile of green yesterday? His dye house will probably be opened up on a green grassland.”

Xi Bowen: “…….”

Xi Bowen: “Hahahahahahahaha!”

.

He looked up ahead.

After talking with Xie Sui, Song Yu had dived back into the sea of English learning and was deaf to everything around him.

This was a fortunate thing. Otherwise, Ma Xiaoding may not be able to leave the classroom upright today.

Xi Bowen held up a book to block his face, then lay down on the desk and asked in a low voice, “Is Brother Yu really the same Brother Yu on the forums?”

Ma Xiaoding didn’t want to recall what had happened yesterday. He just looked to the side with an expression full of the vicissitudes of life.

Class was clearly over, but the crowd of students were still sitting in their seats, not leaving at all as they frantically took photos with their cell phones.

He said desolately, “Guess.”

“But no matter what, the forums are going to go crazy again today.”

This was the last class of the morning. It was followed by lunch break.

Grandma Meng was concerned about all aspects of Song Yu’s body and wouldn’t let him eat in the canteen, so Song Yu could only go back to his apartment every day to eat.

“Would you like to come upstairs and eat at my place? Aunt Bai’s skills aren’t bad.”

Without noticing it, they’d already walked out of the classroom.

Song Yu was holding his books as he extended this invitation while they were on the school boulevard.

Xie Sui shook his head and smiled, “No thanks, see you in the afternoon.”

He still had some things to deal with.

Regarding Zhu Zhixing.

“All right.”

Song Yu went back to the apartment. After eating, he went through his cell phone and was too lazy to go and read the forums. It was just that Ma Xiaoding was more anxious than he was, and had already sent over several messages in the time it took to eat a meal, chattering noisily and practically providing him with a live broadcast of the forum situation. In fact, Song Yu could guess what was going on without him saying it.

He already had a headache just thinking about those ‘ahhhhh’s.

The corner of Song Yu’s lips twitched.

While he was idle between writing answers to English questions, he logged into the forums.

Forum user accounts had their own private space. Clicking on the user’s avatar would generally display the user’s name and a personal message.

Previously, Song Yu’s personal message area had been blank.

Now, he decided to add some words.

[ Your Husband, Brother Yu ]

[ Little brothers, don’t guess anymore. In any case, I’m someone you can’t afford to provoke in reality. Why do something unnecessary? ]

The entire forums: “…….”

He. was. really. as. crazy. as. always!

The posters in the ‘Happy Together’ forum thread who’d been practically about to fly up to the sky switched to a new hot post, “I fricken’ found Brother Yu!”.

Song Yu didn’t bother to click in and read it.

His fingers flicked, and he saw a new topic title.

[ What does the personal message mean? ]

Was it so hard to understand?

Song Yu replied.

––5L Your Husband, Brother Yu: Don’t disturb my studies.

Amidst the screams from a group of fangirls.

The original poster struggled to make themselves heard.

––34L Original poster: ?? What?? Is Brother Yu about to retire from the internet.

Song Yu glanced at the test paper on the table.

––35L Your Husband, Brother Yu: No, I just want to get a full score. Friends on the forum, please uninstall the forums so that I can be quiet on my own.

––36L: …………

––37L: How can there be such shameless demands in this world?

—

Butter’s Thoughts:
While editing, I found Xiin forgot to add a “g” to Song Yu’s name, so he became Son Yu. Son Yu denies ever having a daddy, because he’s your daddy, and if you don’t acknowledge your elder, he will beat you [verbally].
Father Yu then [verbally] beat Son Yu, who is now going to open a dye house on the grassy plains far away from Father Yu.

xiin:
XS: “He’s very kind, very lovely, and very smart.”
SY: HE SAID IM SMART
everyone else: how heavy are your filtered glasses? kind and lovely?