If the World Had No Daylight - Chapter 7

Before classes began that afternoon, the teachers ordered all students to keep quiet and stop discussing the related topic.

No. 7 Middle School had always been a prestigious school watched closely by others, known for its strict discipline. This shocking scandal that had suddenly erupted had caught everyone off guard. With even the slightest mishandling, No. 7 Middle School’s reputation would be completely ruined.

But how could rumors and gossip truly be stopped? Students had plenty of ways to communicate, and so the matter continued to ferment.

Because it had been an anonymous report, no one knew who the victim in this incident actually was. But at such a critical time, Ye Wan’s unusual absence stood out as especially abrupt. The reason for her leave was said to be illness, but some people still connected it to her. After all, the timing of this absence was too coincidental.

Until school ended, the class’s secret discussions about this matter never stopped. In fact, their guesses only grew more and more outrageous.

Listening to the two boys on her right whispering to each other, Bai Tian sat up somewhat irritably, slammed her hand hard on the desk, and roared, “You’re so noisy. Are you going to class or not?”

Perhaps because her image as a bad student had already taken deep root in everyone’s hearts, the classmates were not willing to provoke her easily. Although the two boys felt dissatisfied, they still lowered their voices.

The surroundings finally quieted down a little. Bai Tian lay back down on the desk, but no matter what, she could not fall asleep.

She kept flipping her phone open and closed. In her mind, Ye Wan’s reaction when Bai Tian had spoken harshly to her replayed over and over, until Bai Tian almost could not tell which of those expressions had been real and which had been imagined by herself.

The next day, Ye Wan still did not come.

Because of this, some of the guesses that had only begun to emerge the previous afternoon spread even further, impossible to stop. Bai Tian had had enough of the omnipresent rumors. Taking advantage of the fact that the teachers were all too busy to pay attention, she successfully skipped school once again.

After sneaking out of school, she headed straight for the bus stop, then dialed that number on the bus.

No one answered.

Bai Tian did not know where the unease in her heart came from. Maybe she simply wanted to find Ye Wan and apologize to her face once more.

So it turned out that, in a place Bai Tian knew nothing about, Ye Wan had been bearing such a frightening matter all alone and had unhesitatingly reached out to help the victim. Yet Bai Tian had misunderstood Ye Wan again and again and had even said so many excessive things.

People really did love being self-righteous. Once preconceived notions took deep root, the truth could no longer be seen clearly.

Sitting on the bus, Bai Tian felt both lost and suffocated.

If… if only she had realized the truth earlier.

Leaning weakly against the bus seat, Bai Tian lowered her head and looked at her phone.

What kind of person was Ye Wan, exactly?

Sitting on the bus, Bai Tian suddenly began thinking about this matter.

At school, Ye Wan was the perfect honor student, the class monitor loved by classmates and teachers alike. But in truth, beneath her easygoing surface, she was cold at her core, and she often mixed with delinquent youths outside school. She had clearly once brought people with her to surround and beat up a boy from the neighboring school, yet now she had silently helped a harmed classmate.

Bai Tian thought about it in a daze, and the Ye Wan she had seen in the restaurant suddenly appeared in her mind.

The girl in a school uniform had sat in the corner, quietly eating a cheap set meal, yet she had eaten it with great satisfaction. The woman sitting across from her had features that were fifty percent similar to hers. The two of them sat facing each other, and even without saying a word, the atmosphere between them had been especially warm.

Back then, there had actually been no real smile on Ye Wan’s face.

She had been very calm, very relaxed, as if she had taken off all her disguises.

That was why Bai Tian had found her especially unfamiliar.

She had seen many versions of Ye Wan. Whether it was the gentle Ye Wan, the indifferent Ye Wan, the wicked Ye Wan, or the obedient and harmless Ye Wan, all of them were her, yet at the same time, none of them seemed to be.

The creature known as Ye Wan was the most complicated contradiction Bai Tian had ever seen.

That was why Bai Tian always resisted contact with Ye Wan. Her instincts gave her the awareness to protect herself, making her very cautious toward unknown danger.

But now, the moment she thought of the name Ye Wan, the first image to appear in Bai Tian’s mind was of Ye Wan holding her hand and walking quickly through the late-night streets.

That thin body, that indifferent expression, yet the warmth in her palm had not been as cold as Bai Tian had imagined.

Bai Tian thought that, back then, she had been very grateful to Ye Wan.

When she had been most helpless and terrified, she had never imagined that the person who would help her would be Ye Wan. Even though Ye Wan had seemed rather wicked at the time, in truth, she had indeed saved Bai Tian, and she had never once done anything to hurt her.

That night, Bai Tian had wavered toward Ye Wan for the first time.

She had begun to think that perhaps Ye Wan was not as unbearable as she had imagined. So what if this person had a side that others did not know? In truth, she was only an ordinary high school student too, and she also had a kind and brave side.

But just as that thought had begun to sprout, Bai Tian had once again witnessed Ye Wan “bullying” a classmate. That was why she had been especially angry, even stepping in to interfere.

It was that inexplicable, irrational emotion that had blinded her eyes and caused her to overlook many things.

This made Bai Tian feel somewhat uneasy, because this kind of emotion was unfamiliar to her.

Bai Tian closed her eyes and let herself gradually calm down on the somewhat bumpy bus, sorting through her thoughts bit by bit.

The bus finally arrived at the stop. She opened her eyes, stood up, and got off.

A weekday morning was relatively quiet. Bai Tian slowly walked along this street she had not set foot on for several days, arriving before a small shop. She looked at the four large characters written above it, gritted her teeth, pushed open the glass door, lifted the cloth curtain, and walked inside.

The boy sitting bored behind the cashier counter watching a movie raised his head and looked over, meeting Bai Tian’s somewhat uncomfortable gaze.

He stubbed out the cigarette in his hand, put his leg down, and asked, “Looking for Ye Wan?”

Standing in this shop in broad daylight allowed Bai Tian to see the surrounding merchandise even more clearly. She had no idea where to put her hands or feet. Looking straight into the boy’s eyes, she did not dare glance even slightly to the side.

She nodded.

The boy pointed at the cloth curtain behind him and said, “She’s upstairs.”

As Bai Tian walked over, she answered quietly, “Thank you.”

The stairwell was lit with suggestive pink lights. Unusually revealing posters were pasted on both walls. Bai Tian did not dare look too much and quickly walked upstairs with her head lowered, arriving before the iron door on the second floor.

The door was not locked. Bai Tian hesitated for a moment, but still gently pushed it open and went inside.

Unexpectedly, behind the door was a clean and bright suite. Bai Tian stood in the living room and looked around for a while, discovering that this place was no different from an ordinary person’s home. There was a living room, a kitchen, and even two bedrooms.

“Ye Wan, are you here?” Bai Tian called softly as she slowly walked in.

The television was on and playing a drama, but there was no sign of anyone in the room.

Bai Tian turned around somewhat blankly, then obediently stood in the living room, not daring to wander around.

She flipped open her phone, found the number she had just saved, and dialed it. Very soon, a phone ringtone sounded. Bai Tian followed the sound and walked over, discovering that it was coming from one of the bedrooms. The bedroom door was half-open, and there was no other movement inside.

She stood at the door for quite a while, but no one answered the phone from inside. In the end, Bai Tian still pushed the door open.

Compared with the clean and tidy living room, the bedroom was much messier. Worn clothes had been thrown onto the carpet, some men’s and some women’s. With sharp eyes, Bai Tian spotted a No. 7 Middle School uniform mixed among them.

This should be Ye Wan’s bedroom, but Ye Wan was not there.

The phone on the bed was still ringing. Bai Tian stood at the door and did not go in.

She ended the call and rather helplessly thought about how to find her. In the next second, a voice sounded from behind her.

“What are you doing here?”

The voice was so close it was as if it had been pressed against her ear. Bai Tian was genuinely startled and stumbled forward. Her foot caught on the clothes on the carpet, and losing her balance, she fell face-first onto the carpet.

She moved slightly on the ground, pained. Before she could get up, a pair of damp legs stood before her.

Bai Tian looked upward along them, then immediately lowered her head.

“Why… why aren’t you wearing clothes?”

The person wrapped in a bath towel looked at her inexplicably and said, “You ran into my home, and you’re asking me why I’m not wearing clothes?”

The bath towel was somewhat short, barely covering the tops of her thighs. Looking up from below was truly improper, so Bai Tian simply kept her head lowered as she answered, “I didn’t mean to. I came to find you. The person downstairs said you were upstairs, so I came up.”

The person with wet hair draped over her shoulders crouched down and looked at her, asking strangely, “Why are you looking for me?”

That tone was only short of directly saying, “We’re not close. What do you want?” Bai Tian naturally heard it, but she was the one at fault, so she had no right to be displeased.

“I came to apologize to you.”

She told the truth.

Ye Wan, however, stood up and said indifferently, “You already said it. You don’t need to say it again.”

She kicked aside the clothes on the carpet, picked up a shirt from the bed, then took off the bath towel and threw it onto the floor.

Bai Tian had just climbed up from the ground. When she saw this scene, she immediately crouched back down.

Strange. They were both girls, so why was she embarrassed?

A pair of fair, bare legs swayed back and forth in front of her. Bai Tian could only make conversation. “I know what I did before was very excessive, and you don’t have to forgive me. But I want to make it up to you. As long as it’s something I can do, I can agree to it.”

Bai Tian could not owe someone with a clear conscience, no matter who that person was.

Ye Wan put on the shirt. As she buttoned it, a smile appeared on her face.

That smile vanished in an instant. By the time she turned around, it had already disappeared completely.

“But what can you do?” she asked bluntly.

To be honest, Bai Tian was stumped by the question.

Indeed, Ye Wan could do too many things. She had excellent grades and came from a wealthy family. But Bai Tian was only a problem student with no money and no power. What could she do for Ye Wan?

The person wearing only a shirt casually sat on the bed and crossed her smooth, fair legs. As long as Bai Tian, crouching on the floor, raised her head, she could see the faintly visible area beneath that shirt.

She looked away, racking her brains for a long time before suddenly asking, “Are you… hungry?”

Ye Wan froze slightly, turned her head to glance at the clock on the wall, and answered with or without interest, “It is indeed about time for lunch.”

Bai Tian’s confidence returned. She stood up, clapped her hands, and said, “I’ll cook you a meal.”

The person sitting on the bed looking at her only smiled after a long while and asked, “Just one meal?”

That did seem rather insincere. Bai Tian weighed it for a moment, then compromised. “Then… ten meals?”

The other person looked at her and did not answer.

Bai Tian clicked her tongue and held up a number with her fingers. “Fifteen meals. No more than that.”

The person with damp hair draped over her shoulders nodded noncommittally and reluctantly agreed. “Deal.”

Immediately feeling relieved, Bai Tian stood up and said, “Wait for me a while,” then walked out of the bedroom.

She was quite satisfied with the result of this negotiation.

As the saying went, no good was greater than knowing one’s mistakes and correcting them. Even if she skipped class, ran away from school, and did not do homework, she truly was a good girl, so she had to bear responsibility for her own mistakes.

Now that both sides had reached reconciliation, the result was already much better than she had expected.

Feeling comfortable in both body and mind, she walked into the kitchen. After skillfully sweeping her gaze around, she casually opened the refrigerator. In the next second, Bai Tian’s smile froze on her face.

“Why would you put condoms in the fridge, you bastard! Apologize to the refrigerator, okay?!”

Everyone had a sacred place in their heart that could not be violated. To Bai Tian—the only heir of the Bai family restaurant—the kitchen was that sacred place.

The refrigerator was an absolutely inviolable fortress.

The person in the bedroom who heard this roar laughed. She sent a message to the culprit downstairs, telling him to solve lunch on his own.

The other party was already used to such “ditching brothers for a woman” behavior. He sent over a curse, then quietly became invisible.

“Whoa. Are you Cooking Master Boy?”

At Bai Tian’s command, Ye Wan had finally put on pants. She sat at the dining table, looking at the three dishes and one soup that looked, smelled, and tasted complete, and let out a sincere sigh of admiration.

“That would be me.”

Bai Tian untied the apron and, quick-eyed and quick-handed, slapped the hand reaching for the chopsticks.

“Not washing your hands before eating? You’re basically not human.”

Although Ye Wan wanted to say that her hands were very clean, she still tactfully went to the kitchen and washed them.

Bai Tian served three bowls of rice. When Ye Wan came back and saw them, she said, “You served one bowl too many.”

“Is that big brother downstairs not eating?” Bai Tian pointed below.

Ye Wan picked up her chopsticks and sat down, casually saying, “He doesn’t like Chinese food.”

Bai Tian believed her and nodded, sitting down and picking up her chopsticks as well.

The dishes were very ordinary, just home-style tomato fried egg soup, fish-fragrant eggplant, twice-cooked pork, and cold-dressed fish mint.

But Ye Wan ate them with great curiosity. She picked up some fish mint with her chopsticks and asked, “What is this?”

Bai Tian swallowed the rice in her mouth and answered, “Fish mint. You had it in your kitchen, so I made it. Haven’t eaten it before?”

Rather, that was the only thing in the kitchen. Bai Tian had temporarily bought the rest of the vegetables nearby.

Ye Wan shook her head, put it into her mouth, then furrowed her brows. “The taste is so strange. Can this be eaten?”

“Not only can it be eaten, it can also clear heat and detoxify, improve immunity, and fight bacteria and viruses.”

Half-believing and half-doubting, Ye Wan chewed and swallowed it, then could not help picking up another chopstickful.

“Strange. The more I eat it, the more it seems pretty good.”

Bai Tian secretly smiled, then pointed at the fried egg soup and said, “Drink some soup before the meal. It can lower the incidence rate of esophagitis and gastritis.”

“You actually know quite a lot.” Ye Wan picked up a spoon, ladled herself a bowl of soup, and drank it in small mouthfuls.

Bai Tian accepted this praise calmly. After all, she had not read those books for nothing.

Neither of them liked talking while eating, but today, they chatted for a long time. As Bai Tian talked, she would suddenly find it strange. So she and Ye Wan could actually have this much to say to each other?

They felt so familiar, as if the tit-for-tat confrontation not long ago had been an illusion.

But Bai Tian had to admit that she did not dislike the current situation.

After the meal, Bai Tian tidied up the kitchen, came out, glanced at the time, and asked the person sitting there watching TV, “Are you not going to school today?”

Ye Wan lazily leaned against the sofa cushion and replied, “I don’t want to go.”

Even though Bai Tian knew that Ye Wan’s behavior at school was all put on, she still could not help finding this rare.

“Are those words a class monitor should say? If Old Baldy Li heard them, he’d probably faint on the spot.”

Although it was a teasing remark, considering the relationship between the two of them, it was somewhat overstepping. Bai Tian quickly realized this too. She scratched her cheek, preparing to say goodbye.

But Ye Wan patted the sofa and said, “Sit.”

Bai Tian was indeed a little tired. Hearing this, she sat down without ceremony, deciding to rest a while before leaving.

“Why are you staying here?” Bai Tian looked at the TV. Perhaps because the atmosphere was relatively relaxed, she unconsciously asked the question she had been wondering about.

“Then why did you know I was here?” Ye Wan asked in return.

Bai Tian propped up her chin. After thinking about it, she shook her head and said, “I don’t know why. Maybe intuition.”

“Then your intuition is really accurate.” Ye Wan teased, seemingly both sincere and insincere.

Bai Tian had already gotten somewhat used to this side of Ye Wan. Or rather, compared to Ye Wan’s appearance at school, Bai Tian could actually get along better with this version of Ye Wan.

She herself did not know the reason.

“Because I don’t want to go home,” the person sitting beside her said softly.

Bai Tian froze. Only then did she react and realize that Ye Wan was answering her question.

“Why?” she asked instinctively.

But after asking, Bai Tian immediately regretted it. This question was not merely overstepping. It could even be called offensive.

Ye Wan, however, did not mind. She was silent for a while, then answered the question honestly.

“Yesterday, I went to the police station to give my statement.”

Bai Tian turned her head and looked at her side profile, holding her breath as she waited for what came next.

“The reputation of No. 7 Middle School, which the principal worked so hard to build, was destroyed by my own hands. In any case, nothing good would be waiting for me if I went home. So I might as well not go back.”