If the World Had No Daylight - Chapter 4

The cicadas in the trees outside the window shrieked themselves hoarse on the sweltering summer afternoon, while the chalk tapping against the blackboard added another symbol.

The student in front of Bai Tian secretly opened an insulated bottle. The cola released its carbonation with a soft pop, and the breeze carried over its somewhat icy, refreshing scent.

Propping up her mathematics textbook to block the sunlight from the window, Bai Tian glanced sideways and began calculating how long an iced cola would stay cold inside an insulated bottle.

But carrying a schoolbag was already exhausting enough. Bringing another bottle would make everything even heavier and more cumbersome.

Ah, this is so annoying. I’ll just make Fatty Liu carry it.

Wiping away the fine beads of sweat sliding down her neck, Bai Tian unconsciously fanned herself with one hand and listlessly watched the fat old man writing on the blackboard with his other hand behind his back.

Time always passed especially slowly during mathematics class.

When Bai Tian remembered that the next period would most likely be mathematics again, the urge to skip class resurfaced.

The person beside her handed her a wet wipe. Bai Tian took it, tore open the package, and wiped her face and neck, finally feeling a little cooler.

“Thanks,” she said while wiping herself.

The other girl merely smiled before lowering her head and continuing to take notes.

From Bai Tian’s angle, she could clearly see the neat, beautiful fountain-pen handwriting. Every line flowed smoothly and elegantly, making it a pleasure to look at.

But after seeing what Ye Wan had written, Bai Tian could not help twitching the corner of her mouth.

What a performance.

She turned her head away and continued resting with her eyes closed right under Old Baldy Li’s nose.

In everyone’s eyes, Ye Wan’s excellence was directly proportional to the effort she invested.

No one could remain fully attentive in every lesson for every subject, never allowing their mind to wander and never missing a single classroom note. People were not machines; everyone grew tired eventually.

But whenever someone yawned and began daydreaming, they only had to glance over to see Ye Wan listening attentively and taking notes.

They would then reluctantly pull their wandering thoughts back while marveling, “As expected of the top-ranked student.”

If someone more outstanding than you worked even harder than you did, what excuse did you have not to work hard?

Under Ye Wan’s subtle influence, Class A’s enthusiasm for studying reached unprecedented heights, filling Old Baldy Li with gratification.

Bai Tian scoffed at the whole thing.

She would bet all three boxes of snacks Liu Ran had hidden that her deskmate had already finished learning everything covered in the first year of high school.

Perhaps even more than that.

Recalling the time she had slipped back into the classroom during physical education and accidentally seen an open copy of Fundamentals of Applied Mathematics for Economics on Ye Wan’s desk, Bai Tian glanced from the corner of her eye at the girl still diligently taking classroom notes and wanted nothing more than to roll her eyes.

Still, she could understand Ye Wan’s behavior to some extent. After all, someone who excelled without making any effort would genuinely attract resentment.

Someone like Bai Tian herself, for example.

“Bai Tian!”

The moment Old Baldy Li turned around and saw her dozing off, he let out a furious roar and hurled the chalk stub in his hand at her.

Bai Tian skillfully ducked to the right and dodged the attack with perfect accuracy. Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, the person beside her raised her head and looked over.

“Hiss—”

The back of Bai Tian’s ear collided solidly with something, and tears of pain instantly sprang into her eyes. She sat upright and tried to pull away, only for a sudden pain to tug at her scalp.

“Wait.” The person to her right stopped her and raised a hand to feel around. “I think your hair got tangled.”

Bai Tian: “…”

She expressionlessly held her head to the side, allowing the other girl to carefully untangle the knotted strands.

Bai Tian felt she might end up with a bald patch.

Sympathetic gazes turned toward them from all directions, while someone secretly laughed. Seeing Old Baldy Li’s expression grow increasingly dark, Bai Tian had an ominous feeling that she was in trouble.

“What are the two of you huddling together for?”

“Mr. Li, Bai Tian’s hair accidentally got tangled in my hair clip…”

Old Baldy Li immediately found an outlet for his anger. “Bai Tian, what are you doing?!”

Bai Tian: “?”

Who started this? Was it me?

Silently cursing, Fuck, Bai Tian could not be bothered with him. She simply tilted her head and said, “Don’t move. I’ll do it.”

The hair behind her ear was tangled around the hair clip on the other girl’s head. Since Bai Tian was slightly taller from their current angle, she could see it more clearly.

When Bai Tian saw the tangled mess of hair, she let out a long sigh, picked up the crystal hair clip, first freed it from the other girl’s hair, then yanked hard and tore it out of her own.

Bai Tian looked at the hair clip and plucked away some of the strands wrapped around it. Because she used too much force, one of the heart-shaped crystals embedded in the clip popped loose and fell to the floor. The remaining strands were tangled too tightly to remove.

Silence descended.

Looking at the damaged hair clip, Bai Tian said somewhat uncomfortably, “Sorry. I’ll buy you a new one.”

Ye Wan looked at her. After a long moment, she smiled, shook her head, and said, “It’s all right. It wasn’t expensive.”

Yeah, right. There was no way something with that level of craftsmanship came at an ordinary price.

Bai Tian scratched her hair in frustration, sat upright, and propped her mathematics textbook before her, pretending to listen to the lesson.

Old Baldy Li let the matter go, and the others withdrew their gazes. Even the person beside Bai Tian resumed listening to the lesson as though nothing had happened.

But Bai Tian could not pretend that nothing had happened. She disliked owing anyone, especially someone who was dangerous to provoke.

Liu Ran squeezed his way out through the crowd at the convenience store, his arms full of things, and handed Bai Tian an old-fashioned ice pop.

Bai Tian accepted it, tore open the wrapper, and took a bite.

“I’m furious.”

She squatted beneath a tree without the slightest concern for appearances, biting into the ice pop one mouthful at a time. It crunched loudly between her teeth as though she were chewing human flesh.

Liu Ran plopped down on the ground, opened a bag of potato chips, and asked while eating, “Boss, are you really going to replace it? That thing didn’t look cheap. My cousin has the same one, and it’s some designer brand called Losiqi or something.”

Bai Tian paused and said darkly, “Don’t tell me you mean Swarovski.”

Completely incapable of reading the room, Liu Ran nodded frantically. “Yes, yes, that’s it! Boss, you’re so smart! You even know that!”

Bai Tian: “…”

After school, Bai Tian boarded a crowded bus heading in the opposite direction from home.

Beneath the scorching afternoon sun, she crossed the endless streams of traffic like a dried salted fish and walked through three streets before finally spotting the gleaming silver “SWAROVSKI” sign beneath a shopping mall.

Bai Tian steeled herself and walked inside. Ten minutes later, she emerged without looking back.

Throughout the following month, Ye Wan never mentioned the hair clip Bai Tian owed her. She genuinely seemed not to care. When Bai Tian thought about it, that made sense. Why would the principal’s daughter lack such things? But whether Ye Wan needed one was her business; whether Bai Tian repaid what she owed was Bai Tian’s.

By mid-October, the weather had finally cooled down completely. Many people wore jackets when they went out, only removing them for a while around noon.

Under Ye Wan’s supervision, Bai Tian had barely skipped class again, which considerably improved Old Baldy Li’s mood.

Ye Wan had not merely been talking that time. She truly intended to “help” the class-skipping girl return to the right path.

This caused Bai Tian endless distress. Unfortunately, the other girl was not someone she could afford to provoke, and Bai Tian still owed her something.

She made up her mind that once the debt was repaid, she would draw a clear boundary between them once and for all.

Although Bai Tian was a troublesome problem student who gave everyone headaches, she knew exactly what she was capable of and greatly valued her own life.

Only half a month remained before the second monthly examination. After the humiliating rankings from the first examination, every class except Class A was exerting its full strength to wash away the disgrace.

But Class A was not having an easy time either.

That was because their class had not only Ye Wan, the perennial top-ranked student in the grade, but also Bai Tian, who always ranked among the top thirty.

Many students from the other classes had once placed their hopes on Bai Tian.

They believed that someone like Bai Tian, who had no interest in studying, had only entered Class A in middle school because of extraordinary luck. As long as she continued performing poorly, someone else could compete for her place.

Disappointingly, however, she had never once fallen out of the top thirty in the grade.

At first, some people thought it was a coincidence. As time passed, everyone gradually understood.

It was true that she caused trouble, skipped school, and cut classes, but her grades were equally genuine.

If she could rank among the top thirty while playing around, would anyone else stand a chance if she ever became serious?

Thus, after they entered high school, although most of the students were still the same group as before, Ye Wan had now joined them. Faced with two prime examples of how comparing yourself to others could drive you to despair, the unfortunate students of Class A studied with even greater anxiety.

Being a member of Class A was not merely a personal honor for them; it was also something their parents could boast about.

Behind every child studying diligently stood parents who desperately hoped their child would achieve great success. If their grades declined, what awaited them would certainly involve far more than a mere sense of defeat.

Yet within such an atmosphere, Bai Tian remained completely unaffected. Instead, the amount of time she spent sleeping in class grew longer by the day. Other than Old Baldy Li, none of the teachers bothered managing her. High school was different from middle school; the teachers no longer included every single student in their considerations. They could not save those who had given up on themselves, so they might as well devote more attention to teaching the students who genuinely worked hard.

The English listening material for the new unit played inside the classroom after class. Bai Tian grew increasingly drowsy. The words entered through one ear and left through the other without a single one remaining behind.

There was only one final self-study period before school ended. She had to seize the opportunity to catch up on sleep.

The person beside her suddenly lay down on the desk, facing her. Bai Tian opened her eyes drowsily and saw a somewhat pale face.

After thinking for a moment, she felt around inside her desk drawer, took out a peppermint candy, tore open the wrapper, and held it out.

“Eat something sweet. You’ll feel a little better.”

The other girl’s long eyelashes trembled. She opened her eyes halfway and looked over, then suddenly parted her lips and swallowed the candy directly from Bai Tian’s hand.

Bai Tian’s fingertip brushed against something warm and moist, and she instinctively withdrew her hand.

The strange sensation climbing up her back put her slightly on guard, but after eating the candy, the other girl closed her eyes again as though what she had just done had been entirely unintentional.

“Do you have low blood sugar?”

Bai Tian discreetly wiped her hand and asked the question aloud.

The person lying on the desk gave a soft “Mm” through her nose, the sound descending as weightlessly as a feather.

“If you feel too sick, go to the infirmary and drink some glucose. A peppermint candy won’t help much.” Bai Tian propped up her head and yawned.

Ye Wan opened her eyes and looked at Bai Tian’s profile.

“Bai Tian.”

“Hmm?” Bai Tian responded instinctively, her voice carrying a hint of weariness. Staying up late for so long was still too much for her. Even though she caught up on some sleep during class, she could never summon much energy.

“Do you hate me?”

The multimedia system in the classroom continued playing the English listening exercise. The room was hardly quiet after class, with students noisily gathering in groups of twos and threes to discuss various things. No one noticed the air suddenly freeze in this small corner.

The young woman lying sideways on her desk had smooth, jet-black hair. She watched the short-haired girl sitting on her left with gentle eyes and delicately curved brows. Wisps of the other girl’s hair fell across her forehead, making her expression difficult to discern.

But Ye Wan still keenly detected the sharp aura Bai Tian revealed the moment she put away her usual carelessness.

She was like the cub of a ferocious beast suppressing its anger after being provoked, its sharp claws and fangs concealed beneath soft fur, ready to lunge forward and deliver a fatal strike to its enemy at any moment.

Without concealing the somewhat malicious amusement in her smile, Ye Wan raised her eyes and met Bai Tian’s gaze.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t like you either.”