I Miss You Even in the Daytime [Rebirth GL] - Chapter 1

The moon was bright and the stars scattered, the mountain breeze was gentle, and the distant town was brightly lit. A car sped past the mountain body, racing along the mountain road, which was a patch of dense, inky blackness.

It was a winter night, close to the end of the year, yet there was no snowstorm or thunder and lightning. The night was unusually calm, which only amplified the tumultuous chaos in Xu Liming’s heart. Her mind kept replaying the timid words of her assistant two hours earlier.

The voice was soft, but to Xu Liming’s ears, it was like rolling thunder.

“Liming, River Wind won the first prize, but…”

But in the columns for the director and screenwriter, her name, Xu Liming, was absent. Instead, it was Lin Wan.

Her lover.

At this moment, the ringing that had been echoing repeatedly in the car finally ceased. The call that hadn’t gone through was finally answered, and a woman’s gentle voice came from the other end.

This voice had always made Xu Liming’s heart swell with joy, but today, she was left only with endless resentment. Tragically, despite this, Xu Liming still instinctively softened her tone.

“Hello, Wanwan.”

“What is it?” Lin Wan’s voice sounded a little tired. “I’m busy right now, let’s talk later.”

With that, she prepared to hang up, but Xu Liming called out to stop her.

“River Wind won an award, and the winner is your name, Wanwan. I want an explanation.” Xu Liming’s voice turned cold, her eyes filled with a stinging bitterness.

There was silence on the other end for a moment, then a cheerful laugh. “I’m preparing for a new project, and I need an award to bolster my reputation. It’s just a short film, and you’ve helped me before.”

“‘Just’?” Xu Liming repeated. She gripped the steering wheel tight. “Is helping you the same as giving it to you? Besides, River Wind is different. I worked on the concept for a whole year…”

Her anger was quickly and nonchalantly interrupted by the person on the other side. Lin Wan symbolically played the coquette.

“Okay, okay, I know. I’ll apologize properly when I get back, alright? I really have an urgent matter. I have to hang up now.”

With a click, the car fell silent, quiet enough to hear the loud thump-thump of her own heart. The heartbeat was so loud it gave Xu Liming a headache, and she forcefully slammed her fist onto the steering wheel.

The mountain road ahead had no lights. Xu Liming switched on her high beams and reached for the dial pad again. However, the previously quiet car stereo suddenly came to life with the voices of a man and a woman in conversation.

Xu Liming’s hand froze in mid-air, her fingertips trembling slightly and turning pale.

She was familiar with the voice, terribly familiar.

“Why did you take so long to answer the phone? Hearing that Xu woman’s voice just infuriates me.” The man exhaled a heavy, rough breath through his nose. “Where the hell am I inferior to her? Having to hide around every day like a rat!”

“A-Jun, go slow…” Lin Wan’s tone was completely different from the earlier coldness, the end of her words lingering seductively.

“That woman is constantly clinging to me; she drives me crazy with annoyance.”

“If she couldn’t help me with my career, why would I be with a woman? Wait a little longer, I’ll find an excuse to break up with her soon…”

Lin Wan had accidentally bumped the phone and hadn’t actually hung up.

Xu Liming’s hand was still suspended in the air. Her mind went blank with the words coming from the opposite end. The pain of shock and fury intertwined, spreading to her fingertips. She almost wanted to roar and curse, but she quickly and silently pressed the record button, then stomped on the accelerator.

She was going to personally slap both of them across the face.

With a sound like a firecracker’s boom, a brilliant silver flower exploded in the distant sky. The fireworks shattered the silence. At that moment, the car drove around a bend. The sound of rolling rocks was masked by the fireworks.

By the time Xu Liming saw the sign that read, “High Rockfall Area Ahead,” it was too late. She watched, wide-eyed, as a massive, dark object hurtled toward the front of the car, and she instinctively slammed on the brakes.

Then came the sound of a heavy impact. Her eardrums felt instantly torn apart. As the world spun around, Xu Liming gritted her teeth and closed her eyes.

The darkness, along with the crushed stones, buried her ridiculous life.

It was already spring, but a late cold snap had set in. The day that should have been sunny and warm was instead surprisingly chilly.

A few withered leaves from last year scattered on Nanshan Road. A loud, sharp guitar sound drifted from an inconspicuous doorway on the street. The folk singer hummed a tune, lulling the entire pub into a drowsy state.

There weren’t many people in the pub, chatting in small groups. Only the person sitting by the window was alone, staring blankly at the traffic outside.

“Xu Liming.”

A hand appeared in front of Xu Liming, its five fingernails multicolored. It placed a drink in front of her, and then smiled ingratiatingly. “Great director, when did you get off work?”

“A few days ago,” Xu Liming replied after taking a sip of the drink.

“So when are you going back to school?” the person asked again.

The bitterness of the alcohol made Xu Liming’s throat sour, so she set the glass down. “In a few days.”

Chen Yan was stuck for a response by her answer and sat down awkwardly. “Xu Liming, I spent a lot of money opening this pub, so you see…”

Xu Liming drifted into a daze again. After a while, she snapped out of it, glanced at Chen Yan, and then her soul wandered off again, leaving Chen Yan utterly confused, unsure whether she had agreed or not.

“Well, you drink for now, and order more if you like, it’s on me,” Chen Yan said with a forced smile before leaving. As soon as her back was turned, she frowned, quietly cursing that in less than half a year, Xu Liming had become even more difficult to handle.

“Oh, and next time you ask for a favor, call me ‘Jie’ (Sister),” Xu Liming suddenly said.

Chen Yan’s face fell even more, but she didn’t dare utter a sound, clattering away in her exaggerated high heels.

Xu Liming started staring blankly again. The alcohol made the scene in front of her feel somewhat illusory. The familiar Nanshan Road, lined with plane trees, seemed no different from how it would be in the future, yet six years truly separated the two moments.

Yes, she had been reborn. She was now only nineteen, she hadn’t made River Wind, and she hadn’t successfully pursued Lin Wan.

The nineteen-year-old Xu Liming was the same as the twenty-five-year-old Xu Liming: her eyes were only for Lin Wan. Every day, she followed Lin Wan around like a dog, willingly acting as an ATM—a foolish person with lots of money.

Even attending this university was just to be closer to Lin Wan.

Xu Liming, of course, knew what people said about her behind her back, but she didn’t care. As long as she could follow that person, nothing else mattered.

It was the last day of the break. School would start tomorrow, and she would see Lin Wan.

A look of unconscious mockery curled on Xu Liming’s lips. She picked up the glass and brought it to her mouth.

A crisp sound came from beside her; someone seemed to have knocked over a glass. Xu Liming briefly glanced over. Her peripheral vision caught a hunched figure—a girl with a lifeless low ponytail, with messy hair covering her features.

She looked young, likely a temporary holiday worker. She was constantly bowing her head in apology to a customer, so humbly that she looked as if she wanted to bury herself in the floor.

Only half of her profile was visible, paper-white in the flowing lights of the pub. Xu Liming felt a flicker of familiarity, as if she had seen such paleness a long, long time ago.

But the memories of her teenage years were too distant for her now. Unable to recall when she had seen it, she dismissed the thought.

“You clumsy oaf, what are you even doing!” Chen Yan rushed over in a fury, shoving the girl’s shoulder with a slap. The girl’s body swayed inside her oversized clothes, and she stumbled to catch the table’s edge.

Chen Yan was about to curse more, but Xu Liming clapped her hands, interrupting her unforgiving mouth.

“Waitress, come here,” Xu Liming said.

Chen Yan needed something from Xu Liming and didn’t dare offend her openly, so she glared at the girl and stormed off again.

Xu Liming withdrew her gaze and didn’t look back, draining the cocktail in two sips.

Lin Wan came from a scholarly family, always proper and disciplined, and didn’t allow Xu Liming to smoke or drink. Therefore, in her past life, Xu Liming had abstained from alcohol to please her, not knowing her own limit. As a result, this single glass of mixed drink had already made her about sixty percent drunk.

A slight breeze touched her cheek from beside her. Xu Liming looked up. The holiday worker was standing behind her. After meeting her gaze, the girl frantically lowered her head, only vaguely revealing the lower half of her face.

Too drunk to notice anything amiss, Xu Liming pointed to the empty glass on the table. “Another one.”

The holiday worker quietly walked away. Xu Liming leaned her head on the palm supporting it, only then belatedly recalling the appearance of that half-face: lips bitten a vibrant red by her teeth, like a berry dropped in the snow.

A clatter came from the table by the window. Chen Yan, who had just finished cleaning up, looked up to see Xu Liming had somehow passed out. Her glass was tipped over, and the golden liquid was soaking her soft silk shirt.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, you spoiled brat…” Chen Yan cursed, preparing to go over, but a figure reached her first. While picking up the glass, she also gently pulled Xu Liming away from the table. Then, semi-crouching, she lowered her head to wipe the sticky liquor stains off Xu Liming’s sleeve.

Her palm clenched tight, the motion could be called reverent, as cautious as if she were polishing a precious object.

…

Xu Liming experienced the feeling of being controlled by alcohol for the first time. Spinning uncontrollably was insufficient to describe the peculiarity of the sensation. The dark road flowed with a glittering river of lights, and the figures in front of her crisscrossed into a spiderweb.

She was being pulled by these webs, hazy and unable to distinguish between her past and present life. In her confusion, she tightly hugged the person who was helping her up, treating them like a piece of driftwood after nearly drowning.

The person would flinch and shrink back every time she touched them, as if they were afraid of something. But whenever Xu Liming was about to fall, they would come close again, holding her with trembling hands.

Cautiously, steadily.

The traffic disappeared. She didn’t know when she had arrived in a spacious room. The moment her hand released, her body sank into the soft quilt. The feeling of the supporting driftwood vanishing was unpleasant. Xu Liming frowned and grabbed it back.

The driftwood was soft, yet also hard, stiffly shrinking in her arms, not moving at all.

“Why?” Xu Liming thought of Lin Wan and began to wail loudly.

The “driftwood” tried to slip away. The fear of losing everything surrounded Xu Liming. She found strength from somewhere and wrapped her arms around the person’s waist, simultaneously rolling over. The moment her arms were filled, it felt like plunging into the deep sea, her body saturated with the clear, salty scent of seawater.

Xu Liming opened her eyes. Under her blurry, drunken gaze was the girl’s creamy face and an alarming paleness.

She was trembling.

Xu Liming lost consciousness after that. She only remembered letting go of the person, but they didn’t try to run away again.

Finally, the person stopped trembling. Xu Liming felt the dampness on her hand.

“I’m the one who got cheated on, why are you crying?” Xu Liming mumbled groggily.