If the World Had No Daylight - Chapter 10

By the time Bai Tian’s appearances at a certain adult products specialty store had become routine, the earth-shattering storm at school had gradually faded into nothing more than lingering echoes.

Ye Wan had long since returned to school and continued playing her role as the perfect honor student, as if those hidden undercurrents had never affected her in the slightest.

Bai Tian still felt incomparable disdain toward this. As usual, she did not have any unnecessary interaction with Ye Wan at school. It was not that she deliberately had to pretend they were not close; rather, she did not like this version of Ye Wan, yet she could not simply keep her out of sight and therefore out of mind. So she could only avoid too much contact.

Strangely enough, the Ye Wan in private was actually even less likable. Those young-lady flaws she usually restrained were often fully exposed at times like that. Whether it was the way she spoke sharply and unpleasantly, or the way she acted like someone who stretched out her hands for clothes and opened her mouth for food, she seemed like a spoiled little girl.

But Bai Tian felt much more at ease getting along with that kind of Ye Wan.

Only people with flaws counted as human. Otherwise, what difference was there between them and machines?

Glancing at the person beside her who was explaining a problem to a girl, Bai Tian yawned, took out her phone, and started playing Tetris.

The classroom’s back door faced their seats directly. Someone called from the doorway, “Class Monitor, someone’s looking for you.”

Bai Tian turned back and glanced over, meeting a face that was not unfamiliar.

The girl with a ponytail stood somewhat uneasily at the doorway, waiting until Ye Wan walked over and stood before her. The two of them quietly said something, then left the classroom doorway together.

One moment of distraction, and the perfect layout on Bai Tian’s phone screen became Game Over.

Somewhat irritated, Bai Tian closed the game, stood up, stuck her hands in her pockets, and walked out of the classroom.

The little fatty darting around the aisle rushed over and grabbed her, saying excitedly, “Boss, Boss, Class C got a transfer student! She’s seriously gorgeous, holy crap.”

Bai Tian nodded without much interest and prepared to leave the classroom, only to be dragged back again.

“Really, you’ve definitely never seen someone this good-looking before! I’ll take you to have a look. Come on, come on.” Liu Ran was always the most enthusiastic about fresh excitement like this, so much so that even someone like Bai Tian, who paid no attention to the world beyond the window, could always learn gossip at the earliest possible moment.

But in truth, Bai Tian did not know what she wanted to do outside the classroom either. Maybe the classroom simply felt too stuffy and she wanted some air. Since she was going out anyway, it made no difference where she went. Thinking this, she let Liu Ran drag her to the door of Class C.

Class C was downstairs from them, right beside the stairwell. People came and went there every day, and at this moment, it was even more packed with people.

The crowd who liked watching excitement had no idea how to conceal themselves. They all gathered in front of someone else’s classroom door, blocking the hallway. Bai Tian glanced from a distance and immediately wanted to turn back. What kind of joke was this? There was no way she wanted to squeeze into a place packed with people like that.

Liu Ran insisted on dragging her over for a look before he would give up. Bai Tian and he pulled and tugged at each other by the stairwell, getting into a contest of strength. This little fatty really was strong. Bai Tian’s frame was small, and she could not beat him in raw strength at all. But because she had been tossing woks around since she was little, her arm strength was also quite good. For a while, the two of them were stuck in a stalemate.

Not far away, someone carrying a bucket of water ran over quickly. There were too many people, and he did not see Bai Tian. Just as he was about to crash into her and spill dirty water all over her, someone with sharp eyes and quick hands pulled Bai Tian aside, brushing past the bucket.

“That was close.”

A clear, refreshing voice sounded behind Bai Tian. That hand was wrapped around her waist and did not let go even after the person carrying the bucket had gone far away.

Bai Tian’s entire body tensed. It took her great effort to suppress the urge to give the other person an over-the-shoulder throw. She tugged at that hand and said, “You can let go of me now.”

“Oh, sorry. Are you okay?”

Bai Tian truly did not want to respond to such nonsense, but the other person had helped her after all, so she could only say thank you.

That person let go of her. Bai Tian turned around and first saw Liu Ran’s dumbstruck, slack-jawed face.

“What are you looking at? Let’s go. Back to class.”

The words “back to class” coming from Bai Tian’s mouth were truly unbelievable, but Liu Ran did not notice that at all. He looked at the person beside Bai Tian and stammered, “You… aren’t you that new… transfer student…”

Only then did Bai Tian raise her head and look over. Then she froze slightly.

Liu Ran was right. This person really was very good-looking.

She had a tall, slender figure, neat shoulder-length short hair, fair and delicate skin, and eyes that were large, round, and full of spirit. Most importantly, there was an indescribable air about her. It made even this old-fashioned school uniform look like the latest fashion.

The other person looked at Bai Tian, gave her a bright smile, and said, “Hello. My name is Zhao Yuelan. I’m the transfer student who just arrived today.”

Bai Tian came back to herself and nodded. “Hello.”

Then she grabbed the dazed Liu Ran and walked back.

Even after they returned to the classroom door, Liu Ran still looked like his soul had left his body. Excitedly, he said to Bai Tian, “Boss, did you see her? I swear, in my whole life, I’ve only ever seen one beauty that stunning.”

Bai Tian did not really want to bother with him.

How many years have you even lived? And you’re already acting like you’ve never seen the world.

Besides, there were plenty of good-looking people. Their class had one too.

Although she thought this, Bai Tian still had to admit that the new girl was indeed exceptionally outstanding.

With that kind of presence, people would believe it if someone said she was a celebrity on TV.

The class bell had been ringing for quite a while before Ye Wan finally arrived late.

Bai Tian sat in her seat with her head propped up. Seeing Ye Wan come back and sit down, for some reason, she suddenly said, “That girl… is she okay?”

Ye Wan paused, then shook her head. “Not really.”

As for how exactly she was not okay, Ye Wan clearly did not plan to continue.

This matter was too sensitive. As an outsider, Bai Tian was not in a position to ask further, and she was well aware of that.

But there was an inexplicable emotion pulling her into paying attention to this matter—or rather, paying attention to that person.

The way that girl looked at Ye Wan…

Bai Tian turned her head and looked at the textbook on her desk, forcing away the messy thoughts in her heart.

“If circumstances allow, do you want to persuade her to transfer schools?” Bai Tian said this unconsciously. After a long while, she rejected the idea herself. “No, that won’t work either. Suddenly transferring schools would make people speculate even more easily.”

Ye Wan looked at her, smiled, and said, “Don’t pay too much attention to this matter. It has nothing to do with you in the first place. There’s no need to get involved.”

Bai Tian paused, pressed her lips together, and said nothing more.

Keenly sensing the change in her mood, Ye Wan thought for a moment and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

After saying that, Bai Tian lay down on the desk, looking as if she were preparing to sleep.

This meant she no longer wanted to continue the conversation. Ye Wan looked at her for a long time, unable to understand why. Only when the English teacher came in did she withdraw her gaze.

Not another word passed between them that day.

By mid-November, the influence of the second monthly exam had completely disappeared, and the incident that had happened at school had finally become an old matter no one even brought up during casual conversation after meals.

Principal Ye had cleaned up the mess without any serious mishap, and he was still the principal of No. 7 Middle School.

But some things had still changed silently.

The students had put on thicker clothes, preparing to welcome another winter, as well as the imminent midterm exams.

Bai Tian remained completely out of place with the class atmosphere. Everyone had long since gotten used to her idle appearance. Even if they felt dissatisfied, they could not “willingly sink into depravity” the way she did.

After all, they still had to constantly challenge themselves and improve.

It was said that the new transfer student quickly blended in. This was actually not simple. Because the students of No. 7 Middle School carried a certain pride. They were used to letting ability speak, and toward someone like this—outstanding in appearance but seemingly not outstanding in grades—they did not overly worship her.

But Zhao Yuelan was an exception.

The reason she had entered Class C was because she had previously been studying abroad. Her grades could not be judged according to domestic standards, and she was not yet familiar with the domestic education model.

So in reality, she did not belong among students with poor grades. On the contrary, she was very smart, had high emotional intelligence, and was especially outstanding in sports. She was highly popular among both boys and girls.

Even many people from Class A secretly went to the gym during lunch break to watch her play basketball. The people on the school basketball team also quickly became familiar with her, calling each other brothers and hanging out together all day, playing and joking around.

All of this gossip was poured into Bai Tian’s ears word for word by Liu Ran every day at lunch.

Forced to accept a whole basket of useless information, Bai Tian considered countless times whether she should mix two sleeping pills into Liu Ran’s food so he would completely shut that rambling mouth of his.

Liu Ran was completely unaware. While eating a stuffed pancake, he secretly stuffed the plain milk into Bai Tian’s desk. There were only a few people in the classroom, and he sat in the seat in front of Bai Tian’s desk as casually as if he were in his own home.

“Tell me, how did someone like that not end up in our class? I heard Old Baldy Li thinks very highly of her. It’d be great if she could transfer into our class.”

Bai Tian sneered, looked at him, and slowly asked, “You like her?”

Liu Ran choked on a mouthful of bacon so badly he nearly died. He drank a huge gulp of yogurt, his face flushed red, and hurriedly said, “What nonsense are you saying! I… I don’t!”

Sima Zhao’s heart was obvious to everyone.

Bai Tian was too lazy to expose him. She took the plain milk from inside her desk and stuffed it into her schoolbag.

“Didn’t they say you’re not allowed to take it away?” Liu Ran looked at her and asked instinctively.

Bai Tian shouldered her schoolbag and stood up, pushing her chair back in. She looked at Liu Ran with disdain and tossed her head. “If that kind of lousy rule worked on me, would I still be Bai Tian?”

Liu Ran admired her so much he practically prostrated himself. Watching her walk away with carefree grace, he shouted enviously, “Boss, my mom’s birthday is tonight. Remember to come eat!”

Without turning back, Bai Tian waved her hand to show she knew.

She skillfully avoided crowded places, took a detour to the back of the gymnasium, and prepared to climb over the wall from the new foothold she had found.

Old Baldy Li was far too cunning. Every time, he managed to eliminate the places she had scouted in advance, forcing her to spend another week wandering around the school looking for a new spot.

Bai Tian slung her bag onto her back, humming an off-key little tune as she passed through the small grove and arrived outside the back wall of the gymnasium.

After confirming that the place where she had left her mark was safe, Bai Tian lifted her schoolbag and measured the distance. Then, with one forceful swing, she threw it up, and it landed precisely on top of the wall.

She took a few steps back, preparing to sprint forward, when a voice suddenly sounded behind her.

“Classmate, are you trying to climb over the wall?”

Bai Tian had not expected anyone to be here. Her heartbeat sped up for several seconds. She turned around and saw a face still fresh in her memory.

She paused, withdrew her gaze, then jogged forward and rushed toward the wall.

That person looked at her and hurriedly said, “Don’t climb up…”

Bai Tian climbed onto the top of the wall, turned back to look at the person below, and said coldly, “None of your business.”

After saying that, she withdrew her gaze and turned to look outside the wall. Then, utterly unprepared, she met a pair of eyes that were not unfamiliar at all.

Zhao Yuelan’s unfinished second half of the sentence finally arrived belatedly:

“…There are school security guards patrolling outside.”

Bai Tian: “…”

This was not the first time Bai Tian had been caught by Old Baldy Li and scolded fiercely, nor was it the first time she had been punished by having to clean the flowerbeds in front of the teaching building.

But this was the first time she had “dragged” someone else into being punished with her.

Ever since Zhao Yuelan transferred in, everyone loved her. Teachers smiled until their eyes narrowed when they saw her, and classmates blushed and their hearts raced. When had she ever suffered this kind of grievance? Not to mention that this matter had absolutely nothing to do with her.

But just as the rumors said, Zhao Yuelan’s temper was excessively good. At this very moment, she was holding a garbage bag and bending down to pick up trash in the flowerbed. There was no impatience or resentment on her face at all.

Seeing her like this, Bai Tian actually felt a little sorry.

“There’s still half of lunch break left. Go back and rest. I’ll do the rest. It had nothing to do with you in the first place anyway.”

Bai Tian squatted on the ground and said this to the person ahead of her, then continued lowering her head to clean up the trash.

The person bending over stood up, turned around to look at her, smiled, clapped her hands, and replied, “If I had stopped you earlier, it wouldn’t have developed into this. I bear joint responsibility.”

After saying that, she continued walking forward, carefully bending down to clean as she went.

Bai Tian thought about it, then sped up and walked in the opposite direction. By the time the two of them finished cleaning, the bell signaling the end of lunch break still had not rung.

One after the other, they carried the garbage bags toward the trash cans behind the small shop. After throwing away the trash, they washed their hands at the sink nearby and prepared to return to the classroom.

Bai Tian called out to her. “Wait for me.”

Zhao Yuelan turned back and stood in place, watching Bai Tian walk into the small shop.

A few minutes later, Bai Tian came out holding two boxes of milk tea and handed one to Zhao Yuelan.

The temperature in the small shop’s warming cabinet was just right. Zhao Yuelan held it to warm her hands, then thanked Bai Tian, unwrapped the straw, inserted it, and began drinking.

The two of them drank milk tea and slowly walked back through the cold wind.

“My name is Bai Tian. Class A,” Bai Tian said suddenly as she walked beside Zhao Yuelan.

“Mm, I know. We met before, didn’t we?”

Vaguely remembering that she had not introduced herself that time, Bai Tian glanced at her. Meeting that frank smile, she paused, then stopped thinking too much about it.

“I’m really sorry about today. I got you punished with me.”

Although apologizing was something that made people feel very awkward, Bai Tian still did not want to owe anything. Otherwise, over time, it would become an unfixable debt.

If there was a grudge, settle it on the spot. If there was a mistake, admit it on the spot.

After it passed, stop dwelling on it. Only then could a person move forward freely.

Bai Tian, who had always lived with this mindset, did not know that sometimes, being too clean-cut and decisive was instead a kind of coldness.

Zhao Yuelan looked at her calm side profile, and a trace of a smile quietly flashed past. She suddenly hopped two steps forward and stopped in front of Bai Tian. Turning around to look at her, she then reached out a hand and smiled. “Since we’ve shared hardship together now, why don’t we get to know each other properly again?”

Bai Tian looked at her clean, beautiful eyes. After a long while, she reached out her own hand.

The girl with shoulder-length short hair took that hand and gently tugged forward, pulling Bai Tian in front of herself. Then she leaned closer and said softly, “You have to hang out with me often from now on, new friend.”

The other person’s breath had become a warmth Bai Tian could feel just by lifting her head. Bai Tian tilted her head up somewhat uncomfortably and gave a vague “Mm” before her hand was finally released.

The bell rang at just the right time. Bai Tian felt as if she had been rescued and hurriedly said, “Then I’ll go back to class first.”

She waved her hand, then quickly walked into the teaching building without looking back.

Watching that somewhat small figure disappear into the stairwell, the person standing in place raised her head and met the gaze from the corridor on the third floor.

The girl wearing pink crystal hair clips held a stack of test papers and stood in the middle of the corridor directly facing the flowerbed below. Expressionlessly, she looked at the bright eyes hiding a sly look. Then she turned and walked into the classroom behind her.

When Bai Tian returned to the classroom, Ye Wan was distributing test papers at the lectern. Those whose names were called went up one by one to get theirs, then quickly counted how many red crosses were on the paper.

The test papers Class A usually did were not graded. The teacher only marked a red cross beside each wrong question. Because the teachers of the elite class did not have that much energy, and the students did not need to know their scores either.

Every wrong question could make them hang their heads in dejection, only for them to quickly rally again.

Bai Tian was somewhat absent-minded when she walked into the classroom. She did not even hear Ye Wan call her.

The person standing at the lectern paused, placed the test paper facedown, and continued calling the next person’s name.

After handing out everyone’s papers, Ye Wan took her own and Bai Tian’s two papers and walked down. She reached out and waved her hand in front of the person sitting there in a daze.

Bai Tian still did not come back to herself.

Ye Wan looked at her for a few seconds, then suddenly pinched her nose.

The person whose weak point had been pinched finally woke from her soul’s flight to the heavens. She frowned at Ye Wan and asked, “What are you doing?”

The other person did not slap her hand away, which was already equivalent to tacit permission. Ye Wan finally pulled out a not-very-obvious smile, then pinched that small nose again before stopping.

“The test papers have been handed out.” As she spoke, she sat down and pulled out the book for the next class.

Bai Tian had no mood to settle accounts with her. She took the paper on the desk that belonged to her and shoved it messily into her desk without even looking at it.

“You got caught by Teacher Li again today?”

Ye Wan asked despite knowing the answer.

This successfully drew out the frustration Bai Tian had been holding in her heart. She rolled her eyes at Ye Wan, no longer bothering to hide anything as she spoke.

“That smug look of yours gives me reason to suspect you’re the one who snitched.”

This was Bai Tian’s true nature.

A sharp tongue exactly like Ye Wan’s in private.

Ye Wan’s mood finally improved a little. Without the slightest concern that they were in the classroom, she made a mocking expression and said with a smile, “This is you biting people randomly because you’re embarrassed and angry.”

Bai Tian glared at her, looking as if she might jump up at any moment and drag her into a one-on-one fight.

Restraining the laughter that was almost overflowing, Ye Wan reached out and patted Bai Tian’s cheek, even casually pinching it once before withdrawing her hand just before she completely enraged the other person.

“Silly child, when evil rises one foot, virtue rises ten. Why do you never learn to be smarter?”

After fighting wits and courage with Teacher Li for so many years, did she still not understand how shrewd he was?

It was only that he had not had the energy to spare for Bai Tian during the previous period. Now that the winds had calmed and the waves had stilled, Bai Tian’s good days were also over.

“You should just attend class properly, before Teacher Li decides to scatter glass shards over every wall.”

“!!!”

Bai Tian widened her eyes and looked at Ye Wan in disbelief. “Holy crap, he wouldn’t go that far, would he?”

Ye Wan lowered her head and leisurely opened her physics textbook, answering ambiguously, “Who knows? I only happened to hear a sentence or two.”

While Bai Tian was caught between shock and doubt, the person wearing crystal hair clips slowly used one final sentence to crush Bai Tian’s unrestrained, freedom-loving heart.

“Better to believe it exists than believe it doesn’t.”

People were sometimes divided into pessimists and optimists. Optimists often would not imagine things developing toward the worst possible result, while pessimists were precisely the opposite.

Unfortunately, Bai Tian was a pessimist.

She had long been used to preparing for the worst, so this time, Bai Tian was indeed fooled by Ye Wan.

From then until after the midterm exams passed, Bai Tian did not skip school again.

This was not because she had extinguished the blazing fire of freedom in her heart, but because she intended to use this to lull Old Baldy Li’s vigilance.

For Bai Tian, who had rarely settled down, staying at school every day was no longer as unbearably dull as it had been during junior high. Now, she occasionally competed with Ye Wan openly and secretly and exchanged sharp words with her. During lunch break, she hid behind the gymnasium to slack off. She slept during class and played on her phone after class. Day after day passed like this.

It was worth mentioning that Bai Tian could always run into Zhao Yuelan during lunch break.

The other person was either on her way to the gym to play basketball, or had just finished playing and was passing by. Then, naturally, she would chat with Bai Tian for a while.

Day after day like this, after feeling that the other person was indeed quite decent, Bai Tian gradually dispelled the distance and wariness she had toward strangers.

She felt that being with Zhao Yuelan was much more comfortable than being with Ye Wan. This person would not deliberately make things difficult for her, and her speech was generous and interesting. More importantly, Zhao Yuelan had seen much and knew much. Her knowledge was even more abundant, and Bai Tian could learn from her about many places she had never seen, as well as all sorts of strange anecdotes from around the world.

“…So, the deer in Nara are actually just a kind of tourist selling point. Those deer aren’t as cute as they look at all. If you’re not careful, you might even get bitten.”

Bai Tian walked with Zhao Yuelan on the way back to the teaching building, listening to the other person talk about what she had seen and heard during her travels, somewhat captivated.

In a rather good mood, she wore a smile as she turned a corner around a building with the person beside her, preparing to cut through the flowerbeds on this side and take a shortcut back.

From the corner of her eye, Bai Tian inadvertently caught sight of something. Her steps paused, and she looked over.

The person who had still been talking endlessly noticed her expression and followed her gaze, also freezing.

Not far away, beneath a low tree, the girl with a ponytail was held in someone’s arms and being gently comforted. That intimate posture and atmosphere were vastly different from so-called friendship, appearing especially ambiguous.

Bai Tian looked at that side profile. The crystal hair clips glittering in the sunlight refracted a piercing beam of light, making Bai Tian unable to help narrowing her eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

The person standing beside Bai Tian asked softly.

Bai Tian returned to herself and shook her head. “Nothing. I saw a classmate.”

She took the lead and continued walking back. Zhao Yuelan followed behind her. After a few steps, she turned back to look. By sheer coincidence, her gaze met a pair of eyes that had looked over at some unknown point.

She calmly withdrew her gaze. Before she had walked more than a few steps, the phone in her pocket vibrated.

Zhao Yuelan took it out and glanced at it. Then she smiled, deleted the text message, and put the phone back into her pocket.

She took a few quick steps forward and wrapped an arm around Bai Tian’s shoulder like a good buddy. Laughing loudly, she said, “Do you actually drink your milk every day or not? Why do you still never grow taller?”

With a dark face, Bai Tian struck back mercilessly. “You drink that much milk every day too, but I haven’t seen your chest get any bigger.”

Zhao Yuelan, whose sore spot had been hit: “……”