“Yun Hui!”
In her dream, a voice shattered the window. Yun Hui, who had been fighting Sadako from the TV screen, was sucked out by a strong gust of wind.
She fell from the windowsill to the ground, countless leaves brushing against her face.
“There’s no time!”
Bai Yueming and Meng Yao practically carried Yun Hui down, one putting shoes on her feet, the other combing her hair.
By the time Yun Hui opened her sleepy eyes, they were already pulling her down the stairs.
“Where’s Sadako?” Yun Hui squinted at her two roommates.
Meng Yao patted Yun Hui’s head. “Damn, girl, you won an award! Snap out of it! Don’t trip later—they’re recording the whole thing!”
Huh?
Realizing the physical contact, she suddenly woke up. “Don’t touch me!”
Bai Yueming: …
Meng Yao: …
Meng Yao’s inner thoughts: Seriously? That’s what you focus on? You winning an award is the important part, right?
Bai Yueming stepped back. “Yun Hui, you got third place in the ‘Regret’ category of the Love Poetry Contest.”
Yun Hui, frozen in place, rubbed her eyes.
Third place in what?
The Love Poetry Contest!
Since when am I this good?
Now it was Yun Hui’s turn to panic. “Why give me an award out of nowhere… I… Where am I supposed to go?”
“Hurry up! Don’t you want the prize?” Meng Yao waved her hand.
Yun Hui’s brain short-circuited. “Go! Go! But where?”
Meng Yao led her in a jog. “The ‘Joy’ category is at the third sports field, the ‘Regret’ category is at the second sports field! Hurry, the fields are packed!”
“Which field?” Yun Hui asked, chasing after her.
Meng Yao suddenly felt a bit annoyed. “Just follow me!”
Yun Hui jogged along, her shoulder-length hair swaying. Her stamina was decent, but she’d just woken up! Her brain hadn’t even booted up yet—what was she supposed to say?
When they reached the sports field, Yun Hui curled her toes and looked at the sea of spectators in the stands.
“Bai Sadako, what should I do?” Yun Hui asked softly, her voice tinged with urgency.
Bai Yueming: “I’m not called Bai Sadako.”
“Bai Suzhen… oops, I mean, Yueming, what should I do? Do you… have a script?”
Bai Yueming had anticipated this—Yun Hui, with her slow-paced nature, never expected to win an award.
“Here, I even read your poem and wrote one based on it. Don’t underestimate my Chinese Literature major skills.” Bai Yueming smoothed her curly hair with confidence.
Yun Hui took the speech script from Bai Yueming with her small hands. She skimmed it quickly—it seemed passable…
At that moment, spotlights swept across the night sky. The sports field was filled with students, their faces lit up in alternating blue and red, looking quite amusing.
“So many people.”
Yun Hui tucked the speech script into her arms as if she’d found a lifeline.
Bai Yueming led Yun Hui to a spot she had specially arranged. Knowing Yun Hui was socially anxious, she had asked the photography club to save a prop space for her.
“Sit here. This way, no one will see you.” Bai Yueming pointed to an empty spot next to the photography equipment. The raised gear beside it was like a mountain, perfectly shielding her position.
“Thank you, Yueming!” Yun Hui squeezed herself in, lowering her head and smiling at her.
Yueming glanced around. “I’m going to find my friends. Meng Yao is with her boyfriend too. It shouldn’t be hard to find them at this time, right?”
Yun Hui nodded.
Bai Yueming looked at Yun Hui worriedly, afraid another “orange circle” friend might show up and whisk her away.
“Don’t worry! I’m not that foolish.”
Her voice was soft and gentle, making Bai Yueming very happy.
Except for that unpleasant nickname “White Sadako.”
The screen at the front of the sports field lit up. Since Yun Hui had arrived late, she missed the announcements for the rankings after third place.
Now displayed were her work and those of the other two contestants.
“The champion, runner-up, and third-place winner have been decided. Let’s all briefly appreciate these three exquisite six-line poems!”
The vice principal held a microphone, his Mandarin not very standard.
On the screen—
“Whispered Love”
His voice clamors,
I search the desert for a single pearl.
Pure gardenia seeps into bone,
Our love drifts like a feather onto the grass.
Without a sound,
Glowing in secret.
“The Moth”
Tiny figures float in the night sky,
Flickering like the love in a lover’s eyes.
Moths dance in this dark night,
Like love, persisting through countless hopeless moments.
Even lost in the mist, they must bravely press on,
Using their faint light to illuminate your entire life.
“Painting”
I’m accustomed to painting late at night,
Because during the day, her dark eyes won’t meet mine.
I ask, how long is forever?
So long that even the twilight of old age can’t glimpse its shadow.
I paint a basin of water,
Her name is tears.
“The top ten works have all been displayed. Now, let’s invite the tenth-place winner to the stage to share their acceptance speech!”
Thunderous applause erupted. Deafening cheers rose from the audience.
Yun Hui was extremely nervous. Like someone who hadn’t studied before an exam, she clutched her speech draft, frantically “reviewing” it in hopes of achieving a better result.
…
“Please welcome the fourth-place winner to the stage!”
Thump, thump, thump…
Yun Hui’s heart was pounding uncontrollably. Even her hand holding the speech draft felt a bit unsteady.
With every word spoken by the award-winning boy on stage, Yun Hui’s heart skipped several beats, like the strings of a guzheng, producing echoes with the slightest pluck.
“Thank you… Now… please… the third-place winner… Yun Hui, please come to the stage to share your acceptance speech…”
The vice principal’s words sounded fragmented in Yun Hui’s ears. She looked around in confusion, struggling to lift her feet and stand up.
A spotlight instantly fell upon her. Instinctively, she raised a hand to shield her eyes from the glaring light, then followed the path cleared by the crowd toward the award podium.
Countless gazes converged on her. She kept her head bowed so low that, if not for her flushed cheeks, she might have looked like a hunched old lady from afar!
That walk felt agonizing, each step like treading on steel nails—piercing and utterly uncomfortable.
Standing on the podium, she instinctively glanced at the crowd below and nearly fainted from fright!
The people below looked like a sack of black sesame seeds—not only pitch-black but also staring at her with wide eyes. Some were even recording with their phones!
Most importantly, not far from the stage, a mirrorless camera kept “scanning” her relentlessly.
The light from the flashes was truly blinding!
Yun Hui felt as if she were being executed, forced to deliver a final speech before her demise.
“Good evening, everyone. I… I am Yun Hui, the author of the love poem ‘Painting.'” Standing on the podium, her face flushed deeply. Facing everyone’s gaze, she didn’t even dare to look at them directly!
As soon as she began speaking, the audience below immediately grew restless.
“This girl looks just like the first love from my dreams. Her personality seems so gentle… Ah, my youthful heart is melting!”
“She’s shy! She’s shy! This is so fun, does anyone know her? I want a V!”
“Me too, me too, she’s so sweet!”
Yun Hui frowned as she finished reading the script Bai Yueming had given her. Just as she was about to step down, the vice principal called out to her, “Student Yun Hui, aren’t you going to take your certificate and prize?”
“Hahaha!”
Roaring laughter erupted across the sports field.
The sound struck Yun Hui like lightning, freezing her in place. She stiffly accepted the certificate from the vice principal, her expression looking as if she were about to cry.
So embarrassing! Someone save me!
Sister, come save me!
Down below, Meng Yao laughed uproariously: “Hahahaha! Damn, if I were Yun Hui, I’d already be dead up there! You Bo, you know, she’s the ultimate social recluse. Being laughed at like that would really kill her!”
Standing among her friends, Bai Yueming wore a faint smile. Had Yun Hui never won an award before? She didn’t even know the procedure.
With a heart as cold as ashes, Yun Hui clutched her certificate and prize, buried her face in her hair, and dashed straight toward the dormitory building.
“I might as well die!” she muttered, touching her burning cheeks, not daring to look back even once.
“Since the second-place winner has an urgent family matter, let’s invite the first-place winner of the love poetry competition’s ‘Regret Group’—Student Chu Wenliu—to come on stage and share her thoughts!”
First place…
Amidst the surrounding clamor, only Yun Hui remained enveloped in utter silence.
She gazed at the radiant Chu Wenliu on stage, a storm of emotions raging within her.
Over there, under the brilliant lights, endless praises surged toward Chu Wenliu’s figure. Standing on stage, she raised a ring high, smiling as she thanked the audience and judges, as if it were all perfectly natural.
Yun Hui’s eyes reflected Chu Wenliu’s beautiful silhouette, leaving behind a trace of jealousy in the darkness.
“My poem is titled ‘Whispered Love,’ but I want to shout my love out loud! It is quiet yet deafening! Hua Xunyan!”
Chu Wenliu looked toward a girl in the audience and shouted her name at the top of her lungs.
The two embraced tightly, the bright stage lights piercing Yun Hui’s eyes. They stood on stage like victors, mockingly tearing open the wounds that had just begun to scab over on Yun Hui’s heart.
She really is amazing—if she says she’ll win, she absolutely will.
The faces of the audience below were filled with shock. Their bold love had broken through the shackles of convention and also shattered the dam in Yun Hui’s heart.
She used to be that brave too! She used to be that bold too!
Why, when they share the same sexual orientation, are their outcomes completely opposite… Why…
Memories flooded back—countless blows raining down on Yun Hui, several parents standing in broad daylight, their eyes filled with disgust and contempt: “Damn it, this vixen seduced my daughter, I’ll beat you to death!”
“Stay away from my child, you’re a pervert!”
“Psycho!”
“If someone like this is allowed to remain at this school, I’ll be the first to transfer my child out. What bad luck!”
…
Who says there are no wolves in broad daylight?
As long as the wolves believe it’s time to “hunt,” then daytime can also be called “night.”