Pale Requiem: Transformed into a Girl

Chapter 1: My Beautiful Teacher

So, was the ending of a story really that important?

He did not know.

......

The ending was a station one was destined to arrive at, but never the home where the soul dwelled.

When flowers bloomed, they were fated to fall into the dust.

A train was destined to stop at its final destination.

This was the footnote written by time, which no one could alter.

Yet, it was the fragrance that trembled the air when flowers bloomed, the mountains and rivers that surged into one’s sight as the train rushed past, the warmth of a hand clasped tightly, and the surging breath within the chest.

Those were the blazing, unique imprints that life carved as it moved forward.

“To do one’s utmost and leave the rest to fate” was not about folding one’s arms and waiting for the ending.

It was about giving one’s whole sincerity to dance, to struggle, to love, and to suffer.

To engrave in every inch of time the deep mark of “I was here.”

When the soul had been steeped in the frost and starlight of the journey, the ending was no longer a trial hanging on a high platform.

It was merely a period at the end of a story, falling gently.

The story began in earnest...

——

The night at the hospital.

The smell of disinfectant was overwhelming.

Bai Lengci sat alone on a plastic chair in the corridor, resting with his eyes closed.

The overhead lights cast a cold white glow, making his pale complexion look even paler.

The chill of early winter crept in through the cracks of the window.

Even with his coat pulled tightly around him, he still instinctively hunched his shoulders.

“Click—”

The sound of a door opening and closing was especially sharp in the silence of the corridor.

A middle-aged man came out holding a report sheet, relief mingling with fatigue on his face.

His eyes swept unintentionally over the figure on the chair, and his steps paused for a moment.

A trace of faint surprise flickered in his gaze.

That profile with closed eyes, under the cold light, looked almost translucent.

The gentle contours seemed unworldly.

But he did not look longer, because he knew that if nothing unexpected happened, their lives would never intersect.

It was far more important to hurry home and spend time with his wife and children.

Not long after the man hurried away, a voice came from inside the consultation room.

“Bai Lengci!”

The voice was not loud, but in the quiet corridor, it was especially clear.

Bai Lengci opened his eyes.

His gaze was bright and carried an unusual calm.

He stood up, tall and slender, though with a faint, almost unnoticeable frailty, and pushed the door open to enter.

Inside, a middle-aged female doctor was facing the computer screen.

She raised her head at the sound, and when her eyes fell on his face, she was visibly stunned.

The photo on the registration screen was delicate, but it was nothing compared to the impact of the living person before her.

Overly refined features, skin so flawless it seemed without blemish, and an air of cold detachment that made her almost mistake his gender for an instant.

She coughed lightly to cover her slip, quickly shifting her eyes back to the results on the screen.

“Ahem… Bai Lengci, right?”

She adjusted her tone, adopting a professional gentleness.

“I’ve checked the results. There’s nothing serious. Mainly, your constitution is weak, and with the sudden cold weather recently, you’ve caught a chill. The symptoms of a cold are obvious. I’ll prescribe some mild restorative medicine to help your resistance. What matters most when you go back is rest, keeping warm, and drinking lots of hot water. Get a good sleep, relax, and you’ll recover soon.”

Bai Lengci listened quietly.

He had long been used to such diagnoses, and he had already anticipated such an answer.

He only gave a slight nod and said softly, “Mm, I understand. Thank you, doctor.”

He took the prescription sheet, turned, and left the consultation room.

......

Carrying a plastic bag of medicine, Bai Lengci’s figure was stretched long by the bright shop windows on the street.

The reflection of the youth in the glass was tall and slender, his face under the cold lights appearing especially aloof.

His frailty was something he had carried since birth.

Aunties used to whisper that he was a premature child, born weak.

He had been sent straight to an orphanage after being born before term, surviving only after struggling in an incubator for a long time.

Bai Lengci guessed that it was probably because of his weak body that his biological parents had abandoned him at the orphanage.

Later, he had been briefly adopted by a couple eager for a child, but because of his frequent illnesses and his quiet personality, he was eventually “returned” to the orphanage.

Afterwards, he relied on scraping by online, little by little saving money, stumbling his way to his final year of high school.

He endured past the age of eighteen, stepping into adulthood in the eyes of the law.

A gust of cold wind swept through.

He instinctively pulled his collar tighter, his gaze falling casually on a 24-hour convenience store at the street corner.

Just then, his steps froze.

Next to the automatic door of the convenience store, curled up against the glass wall at the base of the wall, was a figure.

She was wearing a pure white tracksuit, now dust-stained.

Her arms tightly hugged her bent legs, and strands of her wet hair clung to her cheeks.

Her head was lowered, her forehead resting on her knees.

Her whole body trembled slightly in the wind, looking unusually pitiful.

Bai Lengci almost thought he was mistaken.

But that exquisite profile—hidden in shadow though it was—he could never mistake it.

Yan Junzhu, his literature teacher.

Although he did not know why Teacher Yan was sitting there.

Bai Lengci was someone who rarely meddled in others’ affairs, but thinking of the care Teacher Yan had shown him at school, he still walked over.

“Teacher Yan?”

His voice was not loud, a little hoarse from his cold, but clear enough in the quiet night.

The figure flinched, then slowly lifted her head.

When she saw who it was, shock flashed in Yan Junzhu’s eyes, followed by a trace of panic, and then deeper embarrassment.

She quickly turned her face away, fumbling with the back of her hand to wipe away the tears on her cheeks.

The motion was clumsy and helpless.

“Bai… Bai Lengci?”

Her voice was tense, thick with nasal tone.

“Why are you… still out this late?”

Bai Lengci shook the plastic bag in his hand.

“I caught a cold. Just went to the hospital to get medicine.”

His gaze fell on her trembling shoulders and the soaked hems of her pants.

“Are you… alright?”

“Me? I’m fine!”

Yan Junzhu denied quickly, her voice rising briefly before falling again.

She forced a smile, but under the pale convenience store lights, that smile looked especially fragile.

“I just… twisted my ankle a little, so I sat here to rest. You should hurry home. It’s cold out, and since you’ve just gotten medicine, you need to rest even more.”

She urged him, yet her eyes did not dare meet his.

Bai Lengci nodded, but he did not move.

He looked at the way she avoided the truth, feigning composure while unable to conceal her distress and helplessness.

He had never been interested in school gossip, but having interacted with Teacher Yan often, he knew at least a little.

He looked at her silently, his clear gaze calm as still water under the night.

Just then—

“Boom!”

A sudden clap of thunder exploded overhead without warning.

The next moment, heavy raindrops came crashing down, instantly forming a dense curtain of rain.

The rain was cold, bone-chillingly cold.

The awning at the convenience store’s entrance was too small to shield against the slanted wind and pounding rain.

Water quickly drenched Yan Junzhu’s hair and thin jacket.

She let out a startled cry, shrinking further inward instinctively, but with nowhere to hide, she looked even more pitiful.

The icy rain also fell on Bai Lengci’s face.

He frowned slightly.

He tightened his grip on the medicine bag, the plastic rustling faintly.

“It’s raining, Teacher.”

“Ah?”

Bai Lengci ignored her faint sound of confusion.

He bent down slightly, lowering his voice so it carried clearly through the noise of the rain into her ear.

“The rain is heavy. Teacher Yan, would you like to come to my place for shelter?”

Bai Lengci tilted his head and smiled.