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Join the ServerBai Zhinuo heard her own hoarse reply, thick with tears and a stuffy nose.
Shen Qingci looked at her, the dark light in her eyes brightening slightly.
“Are you sure?”
She asked, her voice calm and flat.
Bai Zhinuo closed her eyes.
The tears clinging to her lashes were squeezed off and rolled down her cheeks.
She sniffed and nodded hard.
“Mm-hmm.”
Shen Qingci watched her for a very long time.
Suddenly, she let go of Bai Zhinuo’s elbow, stepped back, and pulled the twenty-yuan bill from her pocket.
It was the same one she had handed to Bai Zhinuo earlier, now wrinkled from being clenched.
She pressed it back into Bai Zhinuo’s palm.
“Go eat first.”
Bai Zhinuo opened her eyes and stared blankly at the bill in her palm.
She took it numbly.
Shen Qingci turned around, no longer looking at her, her tone returning to that calm, unreadable flatness.
“Come find me in classroom 204 tomorrow morning.”
She walked away.
Bai Zhinuo watched her back.
The hem of her school skirt swayed gently with each step.
The swollen mark on her left cheek glowed dark red against the backlight.
Almost all the softness about Shen Qingci had vanished, leaving only a cold, killing aloofness.
If anything, this version of her matched her icy good looks far better.
At the bike shed exit, Shen Qingci paused without turning around.
“Bai Zhinuo.”
Bai Zhinuo clutched the bill, a choked sound caught in her throat.
“If you don’t show up tomorrow.”
Shen Qingci tilted her head, showing only half her profile, the corner of her lips curving up, her words carrying undisguised anticipation.
“I guarantee, every word I’ve said, I’ll make good on every single one of them, on you.”
Her footsteps faded into the evening wind.
Bai Zhinuo stood alone in the bike shed for a long time.
Her knees were still weak.
Her back was soaked with cold sweat.
The school uniform clung wetly to her skin, and the wind made her shiver.
She looked down at the twenty-yuan bill in her hand.
It was deeply creased from her grip, the edges stained with sweat, crumpled like a piece of scrap paper.
Still, she carefully smoothed it out, folded it, and tucked it into the innermost pocket of her uniform, pressing her palm over it.
She straightened up and wobbled a few steps toward the cafeteria, crying as she walked.
This cry was different from before.
Tears streamed out uncontrollably, but the heart racing in her chest was slowly calming down.
She could hear her heartbeat gaining strength again.
She was alive.
She could stay alive.
She wouldn’t starve to death after all.
When that realization hit her, she cried even harder.
The light outside the bike shed dimmed.
The aroma of braised pork from the cafeteria drifted across the playground and reached her nose.
Bai Zhinuo snapped back to her senses, wiped her face with her sleeve, sniffed, and hurried toward the cafeteria.
She needed to eat.
She needed to live.
And tomorrow morning, she had to go see Shen Qingci.
Who knew whether the drastically changed Miss Shen would treat her as a complete punching bag?
She needed a full stomach to endure whatever was coming.
Bai Zhinuo crossed the playground on unsteady feet, as if walking on cotton.
But her stomach didn’t hurt anymore.
Bai Zhinuo pushed open the cafeteria door.
The hot, fragrant steam hit her in the face, almost stinging tears from her eyes.
Clutching the twenty-yuan bill, she walked to the counter and stood behind the last girl in line, tiptoeing to see ahead.
Behind the glass, the big metal trays still held the last few servings of braised pork.
Glistening chunks soaked in dark brown sauce sat next to golden scrambled eggs and green vegetables.
She swallowed, a loud gulp in her throat.
“What do you want, classmate?”
The cafeteria lady tapped the edge of the tray with her ladle and called out to her.
Bai Zhinuo snapped out of it and handed over the twenty-yuan bill.
“One braised pork rice, one tomato scrambled eggs, and…”
She paused, biting her lip.
“An extra bowl of rice! Please, please give a little more…”
The woman glanced at her, then at the crumpled twenty-yuan bill, but said nothing.
She deftly served three portions onto a tray and gave her the change.
Bai Zhinuo carried the tray to a corner and sat down.
She stared at the bowl of braised pork for a long time, chopsticks raised midair, fingers trembling slightly.
It all felt so unreal.
A moment ago she was a girl about to starve to death.
Now she could sit in the cafeteria and eat her fill.
She lowered her head, picked up a piece of meat, and stuffed it into her mouth.
Salty, sweet, greasy.
The moment the meat juice burst on her tongue, her tears fell again.
She ate while crying, cheeks stuffed full, nose clogged with snot, barely able to breathe, but her chopsticks never stopped.
Luckily she was sitting in the corner of the cafeteria.
No one paid attention to her being odd.
It had been too long since she had a proper meal.
She stirred the braised pork sauce into the rice, sending grain after grain into her mouth.
The warm sensation slid down her esophagus into her empty stomach.
Halfway through, Bai Zhinuo stopped and picked up the bowl of seaweed egg drop soup, taking a big gulp.
The hot soup flowed down her throat, stirring the heart that had been frozen in her chest for too long.
She set down the bowl, looked at the small piece of seaweed left at the bottom, and remembered Shen Qingci’s last words.
“Every word I’ve said, I’ll make good on.”
Bai Zhinuo shuddered.
Startled, she picked up another piece of braised pork, chewed hard, and swallowed hard.
Scared as she was, she had to live now.
Only the living could be afraid.
Once dead, there was nothing to fear.
She knew this better than anyone.
Outside, the sky had gone completely dark.
The lights in the cafeteria came on, illuminating Bai Zhinuo clearly in her corner.
She carefully scraped the last grain of rice from the plate into her mouth.
It had been a long time since she had eaten this much and felt this satisfied.
The unfamiliar comfort of a full stomach was soothing.
Of the twenty yuan, she had ten fifty left.
She counted the change coins one by one, put them in her pocket, carried the empty tray to the return counter, and walked out of the cafeteria.
Tomorrow morning, classroom 204, Shen Qingci.
Bai Zhinuo zipped her school uniform up to the top and walked toward the school gate with her neck tucked in.
The streetlights stretched her shadow thin and long.
She knew what going to see Shen Qingci tomorrow meant.
But she had already nodded.
She, Bai Zhinuo, might be poor, hungry, and cowardly, but she never went back on her word.
If she promised something, she did it.
She clutched the ten yuan fifty in coins in her pocket and walked out of the school gate.
You’ve got to see this next! The Phantom of the Library will keep you on the edge of your seat. Start reading today!
Read : The Phantom of the Library
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