I Miss You Even in the Daytime [Rebirth GL] - Chapter 21

The two walked back to the dormitory one after the other along the stairs. Lu Baitian walked in front; her dusty hem, illuminated by the dim lights, kept drifting into Xu Liming’s line of sight.

So did those bare calves beneath her shirt, marked by two glaring scrapes.

It’s all that dream’s fault for making me overthink, Xu Liming scolded herself inwardly. She quickened her pace to walk side-by-side with her.

“Wait a moment,” Xu Liming whispered as they entered the room. She found some ointment in a drawer, pulled Lu Baitian over, and forced her to sit in front of her.

The bewildered girl sank into the soft lounge chair. She scrambled to try and get up, but the more she moved, the deeper she sank, until finally she could only grip the armrests tightly, with only her ankles exposed.

Her pretty toes were tensed.

A strange sensation welled up in Xu Liming’s heart. She forced her eyes downward, extinguishing the spark of electricity that had flashed through her for a split second.

She lowered her head to apply the medicine.

Neither of them mentioned what had just happened. They climbed into their respective beds in silence and slept until dawn.

At least, Xu Liming slept until dawn.

By the time she finished washing up, Tao Ning and Sun Muya were flanking Lu Baitian, cursing up a storm.

“What’s happened?” Xu Liming asked as she walked over, tying up her hair.

“That account we found yesterday updated again today, and it’s even more disgusting.” Tao Ning looked like she wanted to throw up.

“They even forged a video.” Sun Muya handed the phone to Xu Liming. Looking at the images inside, Xu Liming instinctively began to feel nauseous.

She turned off the phone.

Lu Baitian didn’t say a word; she didn’t cry or make a scene. She was staring blankly at the wall, lost in thought. Only her hands, clenched so tightly they were nearly bleeding, betrayed her fury.

Xu Liming walked past her and inconspicuously pried her palms open.

“You two go to class first,” Xu Liming said. “Baitian, you go too.”

“I’ll solve it myse—” Lu Baitian initially wanted to refuse. She didn’t want to trouble Xu Liming this much; she had already caused her enough worry.

But she was interrupted.

“You two stay with her. Don’t worry, since I’ve taken this on, I’ll see it through to the end.” Xu Liming’s tone was light. She patted Lu Baitian’s shoulder with a smile. “If you trust me, give me your phone and go to class.”

As her phone was taken away, Lu Baitian gazed at her blankly.

Then, she wiped away her tears, shouldered her backpack, and obediently walked out the door.

She would always trust Xu Liming.

Xu Liming took another leave of absence. Since she frequently took leaves and the counselor was currently overwhelmed with work, it was approved quickly.

She sat in the dorm, browsing through the filth on the site while simultaneously looking through Lu Baitian’s social space. There were very few photos on Lu Baitian’s homepage—only three or four posts, all of which were scenery from Huachuan.

Yet these few photos had all been saved and posted to the app along with the candid shots to create an atmosphere of “sharing her daily life.”

Xu Liming looked at the two phones, her fingertips tapping the edge of the desk. After graduating in her past life, she had seen several similar news stories. How did the other girls fight back?

Xu Liming picked up her own phone, hesitated for a long moment, and dialed a number that had been neglected in her contacts for a long time.

“Hello, Auntie Xue,” she said softly.

Xue Yi’s voice came from the other end. She seemed extremely surprised that Xu Liming would call her, stammering for several sentences before finally speaking with joy: “Liming? What is it? Do you need to find your father? Did something happen?”

“No, I have something I’d like your help with. I remember you studied law in university, right?” Xu Liming was as polite as possible. “Do you know any reliable lawyers? Preferably a woman.”

“I do, I have plenty of contacts here.” Xue Yi’s voice grew tense. “Did something happen to you? Should we tell your father?”

“It’s not me, it’s a friend of mine,” Xu Liming quickly denied.

She didn’t want to go to Xu Sheng. That man was busy as hell; if his own daughter wanted to reach him, she might have to schedule an appointment with his secretary.

“That’s good then. Wait a moment, I’ll find someone for you right away.” Xue Yi hurriedly hung up and soon sent several contacts over.

In the meantime, Xu Liming took a few photos of birds outside the window and posted them on Lu Baitian’s homepage.

To avoid raising suspicion, she also edited a few captions that sounded like she’d “lost the will to live.”

She posted the same photo four times. Each one had a tiny, distinct mark added to a corner, and each post was set to be visible only to a specific group.

One group for the boys in class, one for Lin Wan’s circle, and two groups for other miscellaneous Huachuan alumni.

Fortunately, Lu Baitian had very few friends on her list. Every Huachuan student was categorized with a note, making precise grouping quite easy.

After finishing this, she turned off the phone and stood up to go to her morning class.

To her surprise, as soon as the morning class ended, her plan already had a response. Tao Ning and Sun Muya pulled her all the way to the bustling cafeteria before they dared to discuss it in low voices.

“Liming, look, it updated again.” Tao Ning whispered in her ear.

The account on the app had indeed posted another thread. Below captions that were hard to look at were several photos—and the one Xu Liming had just posted was among them.

Xu Liming looked up. In the distance stood Lu Baitian. She was using a hair tie to gather her stray hairs, standing amidst the grease in a corner of the cafeteria, head down as she wiped filth off a countertop.

In such an environment, her jacket was naturally covered in oil stains. There was something on the floor that wouldn’t come off, so she was almost kneeling on the ground, using her hand with a rag to scrap at it.

A tiny, easily ignored body, focused intently on a patch of grease.

Xu Liming withdrew her gaze and clicked on the image. Beneath the rock in the bottom right corner, an ant had been inconspicuously photoshopped in.

It was the first group. Xu Liming was slightly surprised. She opened the group list; there were 9 people in total, all classmates.

“These two can be excluded; they went to a competition this week and aren’t at school,” Sun Muya pointed at names on the list to remind her.

“These two can also be excluded. They’re in the Student Union. During the break on the day that photo of the white dress was taken, they were called away with me to an emergency meeting,” Sun Muya added.

That narrowed the range down to 5. Xu Liming quickly sent out the next set of prepared images.

“Just wait,” she said with a smile.

Xu Liming felt that the person behind the rumors wasn’t very smart. In fact, they seemed quite smug that their actions had caused such a massive scene.

Because only two days later, the person couldn’t resist posting again, and they included the photo with the specific mark.

The name of this person was outside of Xu Liming’s expectations, yet also exactly within them.

Xu Liming had been worried that posting photos so frequently might tip the person off, but now that the dust had settled, she truly breathed a sigh of relief. Now that the slanderer had been found, the rest would be easy.

It just so happened that today’s class was Stage Physical Technique. She put away her phone, ready to go find Lu Baitian directly.

“Holy crap, Xu Liming, you’re a genius! You caught this bastard so fast!” Tao Ning followed Xu Liming, cursing at the person with words so foul and creative that Sun Muya had to cover her ears.

Once she finally finished venting, she caught her breath. “But speaking of which, why are you going to such lengths to help Lu Baitian? I’m not saying she’s bad.”

“It’s just that you two look like… you really aren’t from the same world.” Tao Ning touched her hair.

One was a flashy, high-profile rich kid; the other was an unnoticed “nobody.” It was as if they had absolutely nothing in common.

Why? Xu Liming paused. She didn’t really know either.

She just felt that such a good girl shouldn’t be treated this way.

“Just acting as a hero. I can’t stand this kind of thing,” Xu Liming said, feigning an aloof air as she tucked her hands into her pockets.

When they reached the Physical Technique classroom, most people had already arrived. Xu Liming saw Lu Baitian standing in the back row at a glance. She looked as if she wasn’t a part of this world, staring into the void in a daze.

The same group of boys was giggling as usual, their gazes darting toward Lu Baitian from time to time. The other girls were stretching in front of the mirrors.

When Xu Liming entered, Lin Wan glanced at her.

“Baitian,” Xu Liming spoke. Her clear voice cut through the crowd and reached Lu Baitian’s ears. The girl’s body trembled, as if her soul had been called back.

Amidst the surrounding whispers, Xu Liming walked to Lu Baitian’s side and showed her the phone.

The light spilled over the girl’s thin shoulders. She stood behind the crowd, looking almost tiny. Her fingertips were trembling, and the shaking soon spread through her entire body.

“Don’t be too…” Xu Liming started to comfort her, but her eyes widened in surprise.

She watched as the girl brushed past her like the wind and delivered a stinging slap across the face of Li Yunfeng, who was still snickering in the middle of the classroom.