If the World Had No Daylight - Chapter 2

The Grade Nine graduation ceremony at S City No. 7 Middle School ended very early.

Most of the students at the school chose to advance directly into the senior high division, so there was not much sorrow over parting. After agreeing to meet again when the first year of high school began, they left the school in groups of twos and threes.

The blazing summer sun made people avoid it at all costs. Before one o’clock, the Grade Nine teaching building had already emptied out. Even the teachers had disappeared without a trace.

Bai Tian, who had been called into the office by her homeroom teacher because she had arrived late, was suffering terribly. She stood with her head lowered in front of the bald, fat old man, listening to him rant endlessly with spit flying from his mouth. In her heart, she counted how many times he had repeated the words “completely outrageous” so far.

“You really are completely outrageous!”

Bai Tian silently added another “1” in her heart.

“Usually, it’s one thing if you’re late or leave early, but what day is today? Do you still want your graduation certificate or not?”

Old Baldy Li was so angry that he picked up his teacup and took another sip. The fan in the office had fallen into disrepair from age. As it spun, it made creaking noises that irritated him even more.

A person holding a stack of folders stood at the office door and knocked lightly. In a crisp voice, she said, “Reporting. May I come in, Teacher Li?”

Old Baldy Li turned his head to look. A smile immediately appeared on his face. He put down his teacup, beckoned, and said, “Come in, come in. Why haven’t you gone home yet?”

His voice was so gentle it was as if he had seen the principal’s daughter.

Bai Tian quietly turned her head and glanced over, then pulled her head back.

Oh. It really was the principal’s daughter. She mocked inwardly, though her face still wore an obedient expression of admitting her mistake and not daring to make a sound.

Old Baldy Li watched the person who had stepped into the office place the documents neatly on the desk, then politely say goodbye to him. He responded, his eyes full of gratification.

But when he turned back and saw this little brat who had given him no peace for three years, his anger instantly surged again.

“Hurry up, take your graduation certificate, and get home this instant!” Old Baldy Li grabbed the red certificate from the desk and handed it over.

Bai Tian quickly accepted it. After timidly thanking him, she prepared to oil the soles of her feet and flee.

Old Baldy Li looked at her weak and pitiful appearance. If he had not already figured out over the past three years that her obedient surface hid a nature that loved mischief most, he really would have let her fool him.

“Stop.”

Those two light words frightened Bai Tian, who had already shuffled to the door. She trembled, turned her head, and asked pitifully, “Is there anything else, Teacher Li?”

Hearing that form of address, Old Baldy Li sneered and slowly said, “When the first year of high school starts, if you’re late one more time, I’ll make you raise the national flag.”

Bai Tian choked, then quickly reacted and revealed a smile. “Teacher Li, you’re a teacher in the junior high division. Once I’m in senior high, I won’t be seeing you anymore.”

The smugness in her tone could no longer be contained.

Old Baldy Li returned her words with a kind, benevolent smile. Looking at his stubbly face, Bai Tian suddenly had a very bad feeling.

“You came too late, so you didn’t hear.”

As he spoke, he turned off the fan and began packing up his things.

“Starting next semester, I’ll be the homeroom teacher for the first year of high school. Although the class rosters haven’t been announced yet, the students from our class are all advancing directly. I’ll still be in charge of you then.”

Old Baldy Li stood up and patted Bai Tian on the shoulder.

“Good luck, Student Bai Tian. Don’t be late for the opening ceremony.”

Bai Tian’s face turned ashen.

“Boss, just accept your fate. For the next three years of high school, you won’t be able to escape Old Baldy Li’s clutches.”

“Liu Xiaopang! Did you eat too much or what? Say one more word and I’ll tell your mom every place you hide your snacks!”

Liu Ran stood in front of a small food stall. He pulled a crumpled five-yuan bill from his pants pocket, handed it to the stall owner, and did not forget to add, “Aunt Wang, don’t put vinegar in mine.”

Aunt Wang agreed, took the money, and nimbly began frying potato spirals.

He swallowed, then turned to look at Bai Tian’s gloomy face and comforted her, “Boss, thinking so much about it is useless. Unless you transfer schools, just behave yourself and don’t let Old Baldy Li catch you. Or are you really thinking of going to raise the national flag?”

Bai Tian immediately looked as if someone had stepped on her foot. She snapped, “I’m not going! Whoever likes performing like a monkey in public can go!”

She swung the backpack she had been holding against her chest onto her shoulder, then impatiently glanced at the people passing by. By sheer coincidence, her eyes met those of a tall boy who had been staring at her.

He was wearing the uniform of the vocational school next door. They were also on break today, so it was not strange for him to appear on this snack street that nearby students loved most.

What was strange was that beside him stood a girl wearing the uniform of No. 7 Middle School. Bai Tian glanced at the girl’s side profile and felt that she looked a little familiar.

“Liu Xiaopang, who is that?” She tugged at Liu Ran’s sleeve and asked in a low voice.

Liu Ran accepted the bowl of potato spirals Aunt Wang handed him and impatiently took a bite. Following Bai Tian’s words, he looked over and immediately choked, coughing several times.

“Holy crap, isn’t that the class belle from Class D? Boss, did you forget? At the last sports meet, she ran the relay in the same group as you and even caused you to fall flat on your—”

Liu Ran swallowed and shut his mouth under Bai Tian’s death glare.

The tall boy held the girl’s hand and slowly disappeared into the alley at the end of the street. That alley led to two streets: one full of internet cafés, and the other full of motels.

Bai Tian looked in that direction with great interest. She rested her hand on Liu Ran’s shoulder and let out a careless whistle.

“Big gossip.”

Hearing the tone of her words, Liu Ran could not help shivering. He hurriedly advised her, “That guy hangs around with Zhang Laowu from the vocational school. Don’t provoke him. We can’t afford to mess with that kind of street thug.”

“It’s not like I’m bored after eating too much.” Bai Tian could not stand his nagging. With a wave of her hand, she grabbed her schoolbag and left.

“Boss, where are you going? Aren’t you eating the potato spirals?”

“Is one bowl enough for you? Since it’s break, of course I’m going to play games. Don’t bother me if there’s nothing important.”

Liu Ran looked at her back. For some reason, he felt a little uneasy. He watched as she passed by that alley entrance without even glancing at it and continued walking forward. Only then did he finally relax. Then he accepted the second bowl of potato spirals, happily held it in his hands, and walked home from the road in the opposite direction.

The back alley of the internet café street was a gathering place for bad students. Bai Tian rarely took that road. After all, although she was late, left early, and did not hand in homework, she knew she was a good student.

Even today, she bypassed that alley and planned to take a slightly longer route to the internet café to play games. Of course, it was not a proper internet café.

But Bai Tian never imagined that even though she never walked by the river, today she would still get her shoes wet.

The sounds of fists and feet striking flesh came from deep inside the alley, along with a boy’s screams and a girl’s crying. Bai Tian stood at the entrance for a long time, hesitating.

On a weekday afternoon, there were not many people passing by on the road. Bai Tian looked around, and in the end, gritted her teeth and quietly walked into the alley.

The closer she got, the clearer those chaotic sounds became. Bai Tian carefully walked close to the wall, then stood at the corner and peeked over.

A boy curled up on the ground, being beaten by four or five young men, held his head and kept letting out screams.

Bai Tian’s gaze shifted upward. She saw the girl whose hand was being held by the tall youth, unable to move. She was crying pitifully, her pretty little face covered in tears.

Bai Tian inwardly cursed. Weren’t these two the vocational school boy and Class D’s class belle she had just seen?

“…I’m begging you. Please let him go, okay? I was wrong. I know I was wrong…”

Bai Tian had not figured out the situation and did not dare to do anything. She tightly gripped her phone, her eyes constantly observing the situation in the alley.

There was a slender figure wearing a gray hoodie leaning against the wall the entire time, head lowered without saying a word. From Bai Tian’s angle, she could only see the person’s side profile. Even their face was mostly hidden beneath the hood, revealing only a fair chin.

Class D’s class belle was still crying. The person curled up on the ground had already stopped moving. The young men who had been beating him stopped, leaving only her sobs in the alley.

Bai Tian felt that she could not wait any longer. If she waited any later, someone might really die.

She lowered her head and looked at her phone, only to realize that her hand was shaking. Bai Tian took a deep breath, forced herself to suppress the trembling, and quickly tapped a few numbers on the keypad.

Just as the call connected, the sounds in the alley came to an abrupt stop at that very second.

Bai Tian froze. Holding her breath, she leaned over and peeked.

The four or five young men surrounding the boy had already dispersed and were walking toward the other exit of the alley. Class D’s class belle knelt on the ground, covering her face as she sobbed, while the gray figure stood straight in front of her.

For a moment, only three people remained in the alley. Just as Bai Tian hesitated over whether she should rush in, that person suddenly spoke.

“Let me ask you.” The person lowered her head and looked at the still-crying girl. The moment her voice came out, Bai Tian’s eyes widened.

A strand of black hair slipped out from beneath the hood. The person crouched down and looked Class D’s class belle in the eye.

“Are you going to be with him?”

The sobbing girl shuddered violently. She was silent for a while, then suddenly raised her head. All the weakness from before vanished as she shouted loudly, “That’s right! I like him! Who I want to be with is my freedom. What right do you have to do this?”

The crouching person quietly looked at her without saying anything. The girl grew frightened again. She lowered her head and begged, “I’m begging you. Please let me go.”

After the words fell, there was another stretch of silence.

Just when Bai Tian thought that person was about to lose her temper, she calmly stood up and put both hands into her pockets. The oversized hood of her sweatshirt slipped down along with the motion, revealing long black hair and a delicate, beautiful face.

She smiled lightly and replied unhurriedly, “I only hope you won’t regret it.”

When the ambulance sped past, Bai Tian was hiding inside a small shop at the street corner, drinking soda.

The cold sweat all over her had already been dried by the blazing sun, but that chill still firmly enveloped her, making her uneasy from the bottom of her heart.

Bai Tian tried to comfort herself with the excuse that perhaps they only looked alike, but the side profile in her mind was far too vivid. No matter what, she could not separate it from the face in her memory. Even though neither the expression nor the clothing nor the posture was similar in the slightest.

It was as if they were two people with the exact same face.

“I really should let Old Baldy Li see this side of her with his own eyes.”

Bai Tian muttered, hugged her schoolbag, and walked home.

People all had the instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm. Even a troublemaker like Bai Tian, who was rebellious by nature, knew what could be done and what could not be done.

Exposing this matter to the police or the school would not work. Helpless as it was, the world was simply full of countless injustices that could never be avenged.

So Bai Tian could only force herself to forget this matter. She was just an ordinary student. She had already done everything she could. Things beyond her ability really left her with no options.

She could not even let anyone know she had been involved in this matter.

Especially not the people involved.

The moment she thought of that face, Bai Tian’s heart crawled with unease.

She made up her mind. In the future, if she saw that person at school, she would take a detour. She would hide as far away as possible.

But there was a saying: things never went as one wished.

On the first day of high school, before Bai Tian had even recovered from the fatal blow of seeing Old Baldy Li again, she discovered that a large crowd of people had gathered around her seat, chattering noisily. It was unbearably loud.

“What are you doing? Move.” Bai Tian, whose mood had already hit rock bottom, stood there with her schoolbag and shouted. She successfully dispersed the crowd, opening up space for herself to walk in.

The person sitting beside Bai Tian’s seat raised her head and looked over, revealing a gentle smile. With apology in her voice, she said to Bai Tian, “I’m sorry. There were class matters to discuss, so we used your seat for a bit. Please wait a moment. We’ll be done soon.”

“Oh, Class Monitor, don’t mind her. She’s just that kind of person. She doesn’t have the slightest sense of collective honor.”

A group of people echoed in agreement. The seated person smiled and said no more, continuing to fill in records on the form.

Bai Tian gripped the strap of her schoolbag, silently withdrew from the crowd, turned around, and left.

Liu Ran entered through the back door while eating a jianbing guozi, and bumped straight into Bai Tian, whose head was lowered.

“Whoa, Boss, watch where you’re walking. Class is about to start. Where are you going?”

“I’m skipping class.” Without raising her head, Bai Tian slipped out of the classroom at lightning speed and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Liu Ran stared dumbfounded at her vanishing figure and muttered to himself, “Does she even know who our homeroom teacher is?”

Of course Bai Tian knew, but she still skipped class without hesitation.

While Old Baldy Li was cursing loudly and searching everywhere for her, Bai Tian curled up in an arcade and lost all the game tokens she had saved for half a month.

The proprietress took the crumpled bill from her hand with disgust and handed her a new box of game tokens. “Why are you skipping class on the first day of school? If your Third Uncle finds out, you’ll get another harsh scolding.”

Bai Tian held the game tokens with a dejected face, then looked up at her and asked, “Sister Hua, do you think if I tell my Third Uncle I want to transfer schools now, he’ll agree?”

The proprietress was startled. “What did you do at school this time?”

“Alas.” Bai Tian sighed with the air of someone far older than her age, then turned around and found a machine to sit at.

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

The principal’s daughter had brought thugs to beat up a classmate in an alley. Who would believe something like that if she said it out loud?

Bai Tian thought about the person sitting beside her seat, as well as the perfect honor student image she had portrayed. She only felt a cold draft rush up from the bottom of her heart.

She held her head and seriously considered the possibility of transferring schools. Then she took out her phone and called her Third Uncle.

Half an hour later, Bai Tian was dragged back to school by her furious Third Uncle. After he handed her over to Old Baldy Li, whose face was dark with anger, he left without looking back.

Bai Tian glanced at Old Baldy Li, who was standing at the lectern with spittle flying nonstop, then glanced at the girl beside her who seemed to be listening very seriously. Her vision went dark, and she collapsed onto the desk. Her smooth forehead knocked against the wood with a loud, crisp bang, interrupting the words coming from the person at the lectern.

“Bai Tian! Get out and stand outside!”