Incurable Pain

Incurable Pain | Chapter 1 Part 1

At Linlan City. Class 3 of Third Middle School.

While the rising moon was like a bloodied scythe* cutting through the skies above their century-old school, Bai Xunyin laid on her desk in an empty class. Her slender fingertips lightly tapped the sunken wood on the cracked table.

T/N: A tool used for cutting crops such as wheat, with a long-curved blade at the end of a long pole connected to a handle

One by one, she was counting.

There was no clock inside the classroom. But as soon as the count reached about 300, the security guards responsible for patrolling the school grounds would come over, see that Class Three’s lights were still on, then let her out.

It wasn’t the first time she was locked in their classroom after school. Bai Xunyin gradually adapted- you can even say that she could still find some ‘fun’ in it.

Sitting on a chair, her slender calves formed a beautiful arc as she kicked the table with a shake.

Sure enough, over ten minutes later, the patrol security guard Liu Chen frowned when he noticed that class three had not yet turned off their lights.

As he took out the key and opened the door, he saw a girl lying on a table inside.

For a moment, he felt some mixed feelings, “Little girl, were you locked in the classroom again, ah?”

Bai Xunyin stood up with her school bag on her back. Her white fingers pinched the shoulder straps as she smiled at him gracefully, calm and gentle.

Liu Chen forced a smile in return, “Hurry home.”

Bai Xunyin nodded obediently and carried her bag away.

Liu Chen watched the girl’s slender back walk further before sighing unnoticeably.

He had been working in Linlan City’s Third Middle School for many years, and had always been in charge of patrolling classrooms every evening.

Over the past six months, Liu Chen had always noticed that Class Three would always leave their lights on after school.

Every time he opened the door to help turn off the lights, he would find a girl alone inside- as if waiting for him to open the door to let her out.

Liu Chen found it a bit scary at first, but only later did he figure out what was going on.

This girl was intentionally locked in the classroom by her classmates after school. This was a common occurrence, happening once or twice a month, and the lights of the third class were her ‘distress signal’.

Liu Chen at first felt quite angry and also made a special effort to talk to Shen Langli, the class teacher of the third class, about this problem. He said that the willful actions of the students would not only give the staff trouble, but was also very dangerous.

The main thing was, this was an act of hidden school violence. The Third Middle School has always been strict in upholding their school’s spirit. How would they allow this kind of thing to happen?

It’s just that, Liu Chen did not expect that Shen Langli also wasn’t able to manage this problem. He indeed reacted to this matter which calmed the students’ behavior for a while, but within a few days, Class Three’s lights were still on.

Bai Xunyin couldn’t get the help she needed because being locked inside the classroom didn’t count as ‘school violence’.

Liu Chen once told the girl to call out for help next time, but he hadn’t realized at that time that Bai Xunyin was mute.

She couldn’t scream out, so she could only rely on the light for help.

An hour has already passed since the end of school hours. But when Bai Xunyin came out of her class, it was already past seven o’clock. The sky was almost pitch black in Linlan City, with only a starry haze remaining.

Usually, the school grounds were quiet and uncrowded at this time of day.

Her small feet wrapped in white sneakers stepped noiselessly in the corridors, almost blending into the quietness of the school’s atmosphere. Yet as she walked down the stairway and turned to a corner, she heard a faint sound.

In addition to herself, there were actually other teenage girls on the campus at this hour.

“Yu Luoyin, I have two movie tickets here, let…… us go see it together on Saturday, okay?”, a timid and bashful girl said in a delicate voice which showed a hint of imperceptible sweetness.

Bai Xunyin retracted her footsteps when she heard this voice, and she subconsciously hid behind the wall.

She had been sensitive to voices since the time she was unable to speak, so she recognized the voice as Sheng Churan’s from the same class.

Sheng Churan hated her.

She herself was not willing to get into conflict with others. Bai Xunyin thought that it would be better to hide here and wait for her to leave first.

Lest we run into each other, and she decides to dislike me even more.

“It’s a very famous movie recently, called ……”

“No time.”

Sheng Churan was unable to finish her sentence as she was cut off by someone.

A lazy male voice responded. His voice was low and clear, bringing forth a burst of coolness, “Find someone else.”

“Ah…”

Sheng Churan seemed to murmur regretfully, “Do you have no time? But I just want to watch it with you.”

Sheng Churan has always been a rather capricious girl. But at this moment, her delicate voice carried a hint of submissiveness, which was very different from her usual airy and domineering appearance.

Bai Xunyin was a bit surprised as she looked down at her white sneakers. A vague idea gradually came into her mind.

She then heard the boy named ‘Yu Luoyin’ reply, still with the same three words as earlier, “No time.”

There was a moment of silence.

Only after a long time, Sheng Churan stomped her feet and turned around to walk away. The sound of her running away made the listeners feel indignant just listening to it.

Bai Xunyin breathed a sigh of relief. She thought that it was fortunate that she left quickly, or else if she was delayed so long, she wouldn’t be able to get home before eight o’clock.

It’s just that Sheng Churan and the boy stayed at school so late, were they……

Dating?

Bai Xunyin lowered her head, lost in thought, and waited for about five minutes. Thinking that the two people must have gone far away, she dawdled and prepared to go downstairs to leave.

However, as soon as she stepped out of the corner, she met a pair of dark eyes.

The teenager was standing on the steps leaning on the railing while wearing a large school uniform. His body was covered in blue and white clothing, but they felt dull in comparison to his icy white complexion.

The boy had stern eyes that held no concealment, as if they were sheathed swords. His eyebrows were inky black and even, partially hidden by his slightly long bangs blown by the evening breeze.

He bit a cigarette between his thin lips, yet wore a school uniform in the school grounds which brought a hint of ‘taboo’, wild and reckless.

Bai Xunyin did not expect that there would actually still be someone else. Her footsteps stopped, feeling overwhelmed.

The teenager was very tall, thin and slender. But the shoulders were very broad, and even only standing brought a sense of oppression.

Yu Luoyin looked at the girl’s deer-like eyes, which showed a clear reflection of his own smiling eyes. He slowly asked, “Eavesdropping?”

“Classmate, this isn’t good.”

Although Bai Xunyin’s footsteps were very light, as early as when Sheng Churan spoke with him, Yu Luoyin had already heard the sound of someone walking around the corner.

It was just that he didn’t say anything, wanting to wait and see who it was – but he didn’t expect it to be such a little girl.

It was also a pretty girl, agile and slender, with a timid appearance.

The teenager’s lazy teasing voice made Bai Xunyin’s ears redden instantly. The redness quickly spread to her white chin and cheeks.

She didn’t expect this boy called Yu Luoyin to actually know……although she didn’t mean to eavesdrop.

Bai Xunyin couldn’t say anything, she could only shake her head somewhat helplessly. Her fingers unconsciously gripped the shoulder straps of her backpack even harder.

“Hmm?”

Yu Luoyin pulled out the cigarette that had burned out between his lips and with a careless toss of his slender fingers, he cast it into the trash can not far away.

“Why don’t you say anything?”

Unable to say the words ‘I didn’t mean to’ and ‘smoking is bad’, Bai Xunyin bit her lip.

The two people were ‘frozen’ at a distance, rather looking like children being punished to stand as penalty.

This scene made Yu Luoyin feel a little helpless and funny, which made him let out a light laugh.

Bai Xunyin pursed her lips, simply lowered her head, and ran away from him.

“Classmate.”

Seeing that she was about to run down the stairs, Bai Xunyin suddenly heard the boy call her from behind, “What’s your name?”

Bai Xunyin’s footsteps halted, her long nails sank into her palms.

For the first time …… she felt a little powerless being unable to speak. Even if it would mistakenly give the impression of being rude towards him, she couldn’t answer the boy’s question.

Bai Xunyin took a deep breath and turned back to the boy, her lips opened and closed soundlessly.

Yu Luoyin froze as he vaguely saw the young girl’s pink lips, seeming to say the word ‘cloud’.

Then, Bai Xunyin smiled at him, turned back and left without stopping her footsteps. Her dainty figure gradually moved away.

Yu Luoyin reacted belatedly. This was the first time he took the initiative to ask a girl’s name, uncontrollably and unconsciously.

As a result, that person has not told him.

It turned out to be a bit of a nuisance*

T/N: Lu Luoyin thought Bai Xunyin thought of him as a nuisance, that’s why she refused to answer.

Lu Luoyin snorted. His long eyelashes lowered as he looked towards the group of boys sweating on the basketball court downstairs.

One of the boys who had tied his school uniform around his waist flipped a handful of sweaty wet hair and ran up the stairs with gusto.

“Brother Yu! How was I? I pulled off a big enough score just now, right?”

Li Yuan smiled and revealed two small tiger teeth*. His sunny face shined as he arrogantly said, “I told you to go on the field but you didn’t come, unfortunately you missed a great game! Where’s Xin Sui ah? Did he go to the barbecue restaurant first to book us a seat?”

T/N: Showed his canine teeth

Yu Luoyin expressionlessly threw the water in his hand into his arms, “Don’t ask me to wait for you when you play soccer in the future.”

Li Yuan gulped the water, not forgetting to ask in a puzzled manner, “Huh? What’s the matter?”

Yu Luoyin had his hands in his pockets and had already slowly descended the stairs. His voice was calm as he responded with a hint of boredom, “It’s easy to meet people handing out movie tickets.”

It’s boring.

“Huh?”

Li Yuan froze for a long time and mumbled back, “Are there still movie ticket distributors in our school? How come I haven’t come across such a good thing!”

“……”