If the world had no daytime (GL) - Chapter 4

The cicadas outside the window were shrieking their lungs out in the sweltering heat of the afternoon. The chalk screeched against the blackboard, leaving behind another character.

The student in front of her quietly opened a thermos. With a “pop,” the carbonated cola fizzed, and a hint of icy coolness was carried in by the breeze.

Propping up her math textbook to block the sunlight coming in from the window, Bai Tian glanced over, her mind already calculating how long the ice cola could stay cold in the thermos.

But carrying a school bag was already tiring enough. Adding another bottle would make it even heavier.

Ugh, so annoying. She’d just have to make Fat Liu carry it.

Wiping away the sweat that had trickled down her neck, she subconsciously fanned herself with her hand and listlessly looked at the chubby old man at the podium writing on the blackboard.

Math class always drags on forever.

Thinking that the next class would probably be math too, Bai Tian started to consider skipping.

Her deskmate passed her a wet tissue. Bai Tian took it, tore it open, and wiped her face and neck, finally feeling a little cooler.

“Thanks,” she said as she wiped.

The other person just smiled and lowered their head to continue taking notes.

From Bai Tian’s angle, she could clearly see the neat and beautiful handwriting, flowing smoothly, word by word. It was pleasing to the eye.

But when she looked at the content, Bai Tian couldn’t help but twitch the corner of her mouth.

Such a show-off.

She turned her head and continued to close her eyes and rest under Old Bald Li’s watchful eye.

In everyone’s eyes, Ye Wan’s excellence was directly proportional to her efforts.

No one could be fully engaged in every subject, every class, without getting distracted or missing notes. Because humans aren’t machines, everyone gets tired.

But when someone was yawning and daydreaming, if they glanced over, they could see Ye Wan listening to the lecture and taking notes.

So, while they resentfully put their thoughts aside, they couldn’t help but exclaim, “The top student is truly the top student.”

If even those who are better than you are working harder, what excuse do you have for not trying?

Under Ye Wan’s subtle influence, the learning atmosphere in Class A became unprecedentedly thick, making Old Bald Li very pleased.

Bai Tian scoffed at this.

She bet Liu Ran’s three boxes of snacks that she, her deskmate, had already finished learning all the content for the first year of high school.

Maybe even more than that.

Thinking back to a certain PE class when she sneaked back to the classroom and accidentally saw the other person’s open economics and applied mathematics textbook on their desk, Bai Tian glanced at the person who was still diligently taking notes and wanted to roll her eyes.

But she could more or less understand the other person’s behavior. After all, people who are excellent without having to work hard would really be hated.

Like herself.

“Bai Tian!”

Standing on the podium and turning around to see the person who was dozing off, Old Bald Li roared, and threw the chalk eraser at her.

Bai Tian dodged to the right skillfully, precisely avoiding the attack. Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, the person next to her looked up.

“Ouch!”

Her ear was hit hard, and tears welled up in Bai Tian’s eyes. She sat up straight and tried to back away, but her scalp suddenly felt a sharp pain.

“Wait,” the person on her right called out to her, reaching out and touching her hair. “Your hair seems to be tangled.”

Bai Tian: “…”

She turned her head expressionlessly and let the other person carefully untangle the tangled part.

Bai Tian thought she might have a bald spot.

Sympathetic glances came from all around, and some people even snickered secretly. Seeing Old Bald Li’s face getting darker and darker, Bai Tian had a feeling that she was in for it.

“What are you two doing huddled together?”

“Teacher Li, Bai Tian’s hair accidentally got caught in my hairpin…”

Old Bald Li immediately found an outlet, “Bai Tian, what’s wrong with you?!”

Bai Tian: “?”

Who started it? Was it me?

Muttering “Damn it” in her heart, Bai Tian was too lazy to pay attention to him and turned her head, saying, “Don’t move, let me do it.”

The hair behind her ear was tangled in the other person’s hairpin. From her angle, she was taller and could see clearly.

When Bai Tian saw the messy tangle of hair, she sighed, picked up the crystal hairpin, first untangled it from the other person’s hair, and then pulled hard, tearing it out of her own hair.

Bai Tian looked at the hairpin. She pulled off some of the hair on it, and because she had pulled too hard, a heart-shaped crystal embedded on it was broken and fell to the ground. The tangled hair couldn’t be cleaned either.

A moment of silence.

Bai Tian looked at the broken hairpin and said awkwardly, “I’m sorry, I’ll buy you a new one.”

Ye Wan looked at her, smiled after a long while, and shook her head, “It’s okay, it’s not worth much.”

Right. How could the craftsmanship be anything but expensive.

Feeling a little annoyed, Bai Tian scratched her head, sat up straight, and picked up the math book on the desk, putting on an appearance of listening to the lecture.

Old Bald Li stopped there, and everyone else also looked away, even the person sitting next to Bai Tian continued to listen to the lecture as if nothing had happened.

But Bai Tian couldn’t just pretend nothing happened. She didn’t like owing people, especially not someone who was difficult to deal with.

••••

Liu Ran squeezed out of the crowd of people in the cafeteria, holding a bunch of stuff, and handed Bai Tian an ice pop.

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

“I’m so pissed.”

She squatted under a tree without any proper posture, biting the ice pop one bite at a time, making a crunching sound as if she were biting into human flesh.

Liu Ran sat down on the ground with a thud, tore open a bag of chips, and asked as he ate, “Boss, are you really going to pay for it? That doesn’t seem cheap, my cousin has the same one, and it’s a Swarovski brand.”

Bai Tian paused, her face dark, “Don’t tell me it’s Swarovski.”

Liu Ran nodded frantically without any sense of tact, “Yes, yes! Boss, you’re so smart, you know this!”

Bai Tian: “…”

After school, Bai Tian carried her backpack and squeezed onto a bus heading in another direction.

She walked through the bustling traffic under the scorching sun, like a dried salted fish, and walked for three blocks before finally seeing the shiny “SWAROVSKI” sign at the bottom of a shopping mall.

Bai Tian walked in with a stiff neck and walked out without looking back ten minutes later.

For the next month, Ye Wan didn’t mention the hairpin that Bai Tian owed her. It seemed like she really didn’t care. Bai Tian thought about it, too. How could the principal’s daughter lack such a thing, but whether she lacked it or not was someone else’s business, it was still her own business.

••••

In mid-October, the weather finally turned completely cool. Many people went out wearing coats and only took them off for a while at noon.

Under Ye Wan’s supervision, Bai Tian had hardly skipped any more classes, which made Old Bald Li much happier.

Ye Wan wasn’t just saying it for show; she was genuinely determined to “help” the truant girl get back on track.

This made Bai Tian incredibly distressed. Unfortunately, the other girl was not someone to be trifled with, and she still owed her something.

She made up her mind that once she had paid her debt, she would completely cut ties.

Although Bai Tian was a troublesome student, she was very clear about her own limitations and valued her life.

With only half a month left before the second monthly exam, and based on the disastrous rankings of the first monthly exam, all the classes except Class A were determined to redeem themselves.

But Class A was not at ease either.

Because their class not only had an eternal year-one top student but also Bai Tian, who always ranked in the top thirty of the grade.

Many students from other classes had once held high hopes for Bai Tian.

They thought that someone like Bai Tian, who didn’t like studying, could only get into Class A in junior high school by sheer luck. As long as she continued to do poorly, her spot could be taken by someone else.

But disappointingly, she had never fallen out of the top thirty in the grade rankings.

At first, some people thought it was a coincidence, but as time went on, everyone realized.

It was true that she was naughty, skipped school, and cut classes, but her grades were also real.

If she could play around and still rank in the top thirty, what would happen if she got serious? Wouldn’t there be any room left for others?

So after entering high school, although most of the students were still the same group of people, Ye Wan was added. Under the best examples of “people comparing themselves to others and dying of envy,” the poor students in Class A studied even more nervously.

They should know that being a member of Class A was not only their own glory but also their parents’ bragging capital.

Behind every hard-working student were parents who hoped their children would succeed. Once their grades dropped, what awaited them would definitely be more than just frustration.

In such an atmosphere, Bai Tian was not affected at all, and instead, she spent more and more time sleeping in class. Except for Old Bald Li, the other teachers completely ignored her. Because senior high school was different from junior high school, the teachers would no longer put every student into consideration. They couldn’t save those who gave up on themselves, so it was better to teach those who were truly working hard.

After class, the new unit’s English listening was playing in the classroom. Bai Tian was drowsy, and the words went in one ear and out the other, leaving nothing behind.

There was only one more self-study period left before school was over. She had to seize the time to catch up on her sleep.

The person beside her suddenly buried their face in the desk, facing her. Bai Tian opened her eyes groggily and saw a slightly pale face.

She thought for a moment and took a mint candy from her desk drawer, tore open the wrapper, and handed it over.

“Eat something sweet, it will make you feel better.”

The other person’s long eyelashes fluttered, half-opened their eyes to look over, and then suddenly opened their mouth and swallowed the candy that Bai Tian handed over.

Her fingertips were touched by something warm and moist, and Bai Tian reflexively retracted her hand.

The strange feeling that climbed up her back made her a little wary, but the other person closed their eyes again after eating the candy, as if it had just been an unintentional action.

“Do you have low blood sugar?”

Bai Tian wiped her hands nonchalantly and asked.

The person lying on the desk let out a soft “hm” from their nose, like a feather without weight, falling down.

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

Ye Wan opened her eyes and looked at her profile.

“Bai Tian.”

“Hmm?” Bai Tian responded subconsciously, her voice a little weary. Staying up late for a long time was still too much for her, even if she caught up on some sleep in class, she still couldn’t muster up her spirits.

“Do you hate me very much?”

The multimedia in the classroom was still playing English listening, and the classroom after class was full of noisy chatter. Students were discussing things in groups of three or five, no one paid attention to the small corner where the air suddenly froze.

The girl lying on the desk sideways had a head of soft, black hair. She looked at the short-haired girl sitting to her left with gentle, soft eyes. The girl’s broken hair fell on her forehead, making it difficult to see her eyes clearly.

But Ye Wan was still very keenly aware of the sharp aura that the other party suddenly revealed after putting away her casualness.

Like a young beast that had been offended and was hiding its sharp claws under its soft fur, ready to pounce on its enemy at any time.

Without hiding her somewhat malicious smile, Ye Wan raised her eyes and met hers.

“It’s okay, I don’t like you either.”

T/N: Haha… I hope you don’t swallow your words later.