I Miss You Even in the Daytime [Rebirth GL] - Chapter 16

Xu Liming watched those four words, her heartstrings tugging for a moment, followed by a sense of melancholy.

These words recorded someone’s joys and sorrows, remaining quietly in the past, coming to an end along with the love they represented. She glimpsed an absurd sense of familiarity in these fragments; though it was another person’s world, she felt a strange déjà vu.

It was exactly how she felt when she liked Lin Wan—obsessing over everything about her. If she didn’t see her for a day, her heart felt like it was on a searing griddle; once she saw her, she could be happy for the rest of the day.

Some people are just like that: when they like someone, they lose their heads, swaying between gain and loss, putting the other person on a pedestal as high as the heavens.

Back in senior year, when Lin Wan transferred to a private high school, Xu Liming even begged Xu Sheng and shamelessly followed her there.

Xu Liming was lost in these scattered phrases. Just as she was about to scroll down further, two people sat down next to her, interrupting her reading.

“Xu Liming? Why are you here so early today?” Tao Ning yawned, leaning on the desk, her face covered in marks from her nap. “Help… why is it Drama History again!”

“I’m going back to sleep. Remember to take notes for me.” Tao Ning closed her eyes.

“Class is starting!” The teacher walked in from the back door with a stern face, casually giving Tao Ning a light smack on the back, startling her into sitting bolt upright.

The teacher for this course was an old-fashioned lady in her fifties, still very robust. She wore reading glasses all day and walked briskly while clutching a stack of books. She never used PPTs, saying she wasn’t used to those “lazy gadgets.”

“Everyone, perk up! I never pull people up in my exams. A fail is a fail. If you don’t listen and take notes now, don’t come begging me when you flunk!” The old lady’s voice was sonorous as she tossed her books onto the lectern.

The previously lethargic crowd suddenly acted like bamboo shoots after rain, straightening their backs one after another. Her eyes were sharp as torches, and she suddenly glanced toward the corner. “The tall one there, stand up and tell us Aristotle’s definition of drama.”

Xu Liming, who was still looking at her phone, was nudged twice by Sun Muya. Only then did she belatedly realize the “tall one” was her.

A few low giggles came from the front rows.

She stood up speechlessly, fumbling through her desk for her book and frantically flipping through the table of contents.

“We just learned this! Forgotten it already?” The old lady glared at Xu Liming, then turned her gaze toward the front. “Little girl, you do it.”

Xu Liming gave up on the book, put her hands in her pockets, and whispered to Tao Ning, “Is my height really that prominent?”

Tao Ning whispered back, hiding her face behind a book, “Not really, but our Old Lady Huo is only five feet tall.”

“Fair point,” Xu Liming conceded.

While they were whispering, the second person called on by the old lady stood up. Lu Baitian kept her head down, her thin shoulders swamped in a baggy hoodie, looking very small.

Her voice was like a drifting breeze: “Aristotle defines tragedy as an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament…” [1]

Complete, and not a single word missing.

“Well memorized. Sit down,” the old lady nodded, then looked at Xu Liming. “Look at her study attitude. You sit down too.”

Xu Liming sat. When she looked up again, she caught Lu Baitian’s gaze before the girl could withdraw it. But in the next blink, she could only see the girl’s back. She thought she saw panic in that gaze—the panic of someone afraid of making her angry.

Is Lu Baitian this cautious with everyone? Xu Liming wondered, propping up her chin.

When the bell rang, Xu Liming finally struggled out of her drowsiness. The old lady had already marched out. Almost everyone let out a sigh of relief, competing to stretch.

“One session of this class is more tiring than ten of any other. She calls on people at the drop of a hat,” Tao Ning said, twisting her stiff waist. “Thank goodness the class tonight is an elective.”

“Did you two manage to snag ‘Appreciation of Chinese and Foreign Film’?” Tao Ning asked. “I had three friends help me try to grab it last week, but the school network was so jammed I couldn’t even get in.”

“I didn’t,” Sun Muya said with regret. “That class is fun and an easy way to get credits. Too many people trying for it.”

“Good, good, good. I feel better knowing you both failed too.” Tao Ning beamed, reaching out to hook their arms. “Come on, go with me to ‘Chinese Martial Arts’.”

However, the hand reaching for Xu Liming caught only air. Xu Liming stepped back, holding up her phone with a smile. “I got in.”

“Dammit!” Tao Ning wailed.

Tao Ning and Sun Muya hurried off to the cafeteria. Xu Liming was the only one left, leisurely stuffing those magazines into her bag. She opened the list of students for the class, looking for familiar names.

Since electives are open to any college, most names were strangers, and those she recognized were just nodding acquaintances.

A second before she closed her phone, a name quietly caught her eye.

“Lu Baitian,” she murmured. Her again.

It was nearing dusk. The rain that had been held back all day still hadn’t fallen; instead, the dark clouds tore open, squeezing out a few golden rays of sunset.

Lu Baitian took off her clean clothes and stuffed them into her backpack, changing into a black jacket. She was going to work in the cafeteria later and didn’t want to get her nice things dirty.

Those few rays of sunlight spilled onto her desk, dyeing it a warm color. The color was quickly blocked. Lu Baitian looked up, clutching her backpack straps.

She gripped the straps tight.

Xu Liming was standing in front of her, looking down. The sunset fell behind her, gilding her hair with a gold rim.

“Want to go to the elective together tonight?” Xu Liming had her bag over one shoulder and a hand in her pocket, her tone light. “We can sit together. I don’t like watching movies with strangers.”

Lu Baitian’s jaw stiffened. She forgot to nod and forgot to shake her head.

“It’s settled then. I’ll go early to save seats. See you in the classroom.” Xu Liming smiled at her, then turned to leave, her coat hem brushing against the desks and chairs with a crisp sound.

Long after Xu Liming had left and the classroom was empty, Lu Baitian remembered to breathe. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and the flush on her face from holding her breath gradually faded.

The cafeteria was crowded. Lu Baitian used a mop to clean the shoe prints everyone left behind. Several times, she stood in a daze until Auntie Fang called out to her at the top of her lungs. Only then did she hurriedly lower her head to work.

After this happened a few times, even Auntie Fang noticed something was off. She snatched the mop away and tilted her head to look at her.

“Xiao Lu, what’s with you today? Mopping the same spot forever. Are those kids bullying you again?” Auntie Fang set the mop aside, her tone concerned.

“No, no,” Lu Baitian shook her head quickly. She reached for the broom, but Auntie Fang blocked her with her body.

“Blushing! You’re blushing!” Auntie Fang clapped her hands like a child and laughed. “That means our Xiao Lu has a situation. Tell Auntie Fang, I won’t tell anyone else.”

“Our Xiao Lu is so pretty, it’s normal to like some boy. Tell me, I’ll help you evaluate him!” Auntie Fang stopped cooking and tossed the mop aside.

Lu Baitian’s face grew redder under the excessive enthusiasm. She didn’t dare look her in the eye. “It’s just… I’m going to class with her later.”

“I smell like kitchen grease. I’m afraid she’ll smell it,” Lu Baitian said softly. “Auntie, can I leave early? I want to go back to the dorm to take a shower.”

“Aiya! Why didn’t you say so! I’ll do the work, you go.” Auntie Fang sized up Lu Baitian with a smile. “Which boy is it? From your Directing class?”

“It’s not…” Lu Baitian waved her hands quickly, not daring to say more.

“Fine, fine, little girl is shy. If you won’t say, you won’t say.” Auntie Fang pinched Lu Baitian’s cheek. “Let me tell you, even a pretty girl needs to know how to dress up. It’s fine to look like this normally, but it’s different when seeing someone you like!”

“My daughter is the same age as you. I just washed some of her clothes, they should be dry now. Come, Auntie will dress you up!” she said excitedly.

“No need, Auntie Fang, I just want a shower…” Lu Baitian’s lake-like eyes blinked as she turned to run, but Auntie Fang grabbed her.

“What are you afraid of? When I was young, I was the best at dressing up. I was the ‘Flower of the Village.’ Don’t worry, leave it to me.”

Lu Baitian tried to refuse again but was yanked downstairs and dragged all the way to the staff dormitory.

By the time Xu Liming reached the classroom, it was already quite full. Only a few seats in the middle of the back row were still empty. She tossed her bag on the table and sat down to play with her phone.

Because everyone was from different majors and didn’t know each other well, the room wasn’t noisy; only the hum of the air conditioner could be heard.

Usually, Lu Baitian was the earliest to arrive to study. Xu Liming checked her watch. There were less than five minutes left before the bell, and Lu Baitian still hadn’t shown up.

Just as Xu Liming thought she wasn’t coming, a sequence of pitter-patter footsteps approached. A girl, bringing with her the cool air from outside, stopped next to her out of breath.

“Sorry, I’m late,” she whispered.

“It’s fine, class hasn’t started yet,” Xu Liming answered casually. She reached out to move the bag she used to save the seat and looked up. “Sit down first…”

Her words stopped abruptly the moment she saw Lu Baitian. Xu Liming’s mouth hung slightly open, forgetting what she wanted to say.

The girl in the dress stood there, her fingertips white with tension. The dress was well-tailored, outlining her waist like a breeze, revealing straight, snowy-white legs that rarely saw the sun.

Her black hair, usually tied in a low ponytail, was now draped down over her shoulders. Her collarbone was half-hidden by her dark hair, the exposed part smooth and warm.

Her body was unexpectedly beautiful, youthful like a tender spring bamboo shoot, except…

People were constantly turning their heads, looking over one after another.

Xu Liming was dazed for a long moment before she recovered her senses. She looked down and chuckled, gesturing for Lu Baitian to sit, and pulled out a wet wipe to hand to her.

The white projection screen was lowered, and the lights were turned off appropriately. Everything fell into darkness except for the snowy-white screen.

“Lu Baitian, who did this makeup for you?” Xu Liming held back the corners of her mouth from curling up.

“You look like a little calico cat.”