Early morning.
Bai Ye was jolted awake by a sharp sting on her cheek. Instinctively, she reached up and felt a patch of sticky wetness. As she opened her eyes, she saw pale yellow stains blooming across her pillowcase, mingled with flecks of blood.
"What…"
Her voice caught in her throat.
The sight in the mirror made her breath stop.
What had once been a few scattered pimples on her forehead and chin had, overnight, spread across her entire right cheek. Angry red bumps, some capped with yellow-white pus, oozed and burst. The worst areas looked as if the skin had been corroded—raw flesh exposed beneath the peeling layers.
Her hands began to tremble.
She grabbed the acne needle from the sink and stabbed the largest pustule. Pain exploded in her face, blinding her for a moment—but the pus that gushed out brought a twisted sense of relief. One after another, she attacked them like she was performing a ritual, purging her face of its imperfections. By the time she stopped, her entire face burned, and the sink was dotted with flakes of skin and thin threads of blood.
"Yezi! Breakfast's ready!"
Her mother's voice, Li Zhen, called from downstairs.
Bai Ye scrambled to cover the wounds with foundation. The acne needle fell to the floor with a crisp metallic clink. As she bent to pick it up, she caught sight of her reflection again—her pajama collar had slipped, revealing fresh red scratches along her collarbone. Left by the new knife she bought last night.
At the dining table, Bai Hua was reading the newspaper, a steaming cup of soy milk in front of him. Li Zhen pushed a fried egg toward her daughter, then suddenly frowned.
"What happened to your face?"
"Allergic reaction," Bai Ye replied quickly, lowering her head to sip her soy milk, avoiding her mother's eyes.
"I told you not to use those messy cosmetics." Li Zhen tapped her daughter's face with her chopsticks. Bai Ye winced in pain. "Go see Dr. Zhang after school. Don't let it leave scars."
Bai Hua set down his newspaper, glanced at his daughter, hesitating. Over the past two years, father and daughter had grown increasingly distant. Every time he tried to speak, his wife would cut him off. Now, the wounds on Bai Ye's face pained him, but he knew that any concern he voiced would be mistaken for blame.
"I'm full."
Bai Ye grabbed her backpack and rushed out, leaving no chance for her father to speak.
The June air in Shanghai was already oppressively humid.
As Bai Ye walked to school, sweat stung her wounds like acid. Passing a convenience store, she bought a mask and some alcohol swabs. Crouching behind a shelf, she disinfected her festering cheek. The instant the alcohol touched her open skin, she bit her lip to stifle a scream—tears welled up in her eyes.
"Bai Ye?"
A familiar voice startled her.
She turned sharply and saw Chen Meng standing by the beverage cooler, holding a popsicle.
Chen Meng was the class rep—round-faced with a few freckles and two deep dimples when she smiled. Now, she was staring wide-eyed at the half-rotten side of Bai Ye's face.
"What are you staring at?" Bai Ye snapped, fumbling with the mask.
"N-nothing…" Chen Meng took a step back. Drops from the melting popsicle formed a small puddle by her shoe. "Your face…"
"None of your damn business!"
Bai Ye shoved past her and stormed out of the store.
Behind her, the clerk's concerned voice trailed off,
"Is that girl okay?"
The sunlight outside had become blinding.
Under the mask, Bai Ye's face throbbed and burned.
Chen Meng's startled expression looped in her mind—not concern, no—it was shock.
Mockery.
She was sure of it.
Just like last week, when Mr. Zheng criticized her essay as "hollow and aimless," and the class snickered below the podium.
In the school hallway, groups of students stood chatting in twos and threes. Bai Ye kept her head down and walked quickly, but fragments of conversation still reached her ears:
"Did you hear? Mr. Zheng might be quitting…"
"Bai Ye's so brave…"
"Why is she wearing a mask today…"
At the classroom door, Liu Ming was waiting for her.
The tall, skinny boy pushed his glasses nervously the moment he saw her.
"Your face…"
"Shut up."
Bai Ye dragged him toward the stairwell and pulled down her mask.
"Disgusting, isn't it?"
Liu Ming gasped but quickly adjusted his expression.
"No… I mean, what happened?"
"I don't know."
Bai Ye stared straight into his eyes behind the lenses.
"Chen Meng saw it at the convenience store. She'll tell everyone. I know she will."
"She won't. She's not like that…"
"Oh? You're defending her now?"
Her tone sharpened instantly.
"You like her?"
"Of course not!"
Liu Ming flailed, his glasses slipping down his nose.
"I just…"
Bai Ye suddenly leaned in.
Her rotting face was just inches from his.
She watched, satisfied, as he instinctively leaned back.
"I want Chen Meng's mock exam paper."
"What?"
"The one the homeroom teacher's collecting this afternoon."
She pulled her mask back on.
"You know what to do."
Liu Ming swallowed hard.
Ever since becoming Bai Ye's "accomplice," he had done plenty for her—stealing test papers, spreading rumors, even giving false testimony to frame Mr. Zheng.
Every time, he told himself it was the last.
But Bai Ye always had a way to pull him back in.
"…Okay."
His voice was barely audible, just like every time before.
The school bell rang.
As Bai Ye stepped into the classroom, she felt dozens of eyes snap toward her.
Head held high, she walked to her seat, pretending not to hear the whispers all around.
Chen Meng sat in the front row, occasionally glancing back at her, concern clouding her eyes.
How fake, Bai Ye thought.
Halfway through class, the teacher announced a surprise quiz.
When Bai Ye received her paper, she noticed Chen Meng turning around again—this time with a faint, almost invisible smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
A sharp twist gripped Bai Ye's stomach.
Under the mask, her face itched and burned.
She was sure of it—Chen Meng was laughing at her.
After the quiz came the lunch break.
Bai Ye locked herself in the last stall of the girls' bathroom, disinfecting her wounds with alcohol pads.
Pus and blood oozed steadily, soaking the inside of her mask.
From beyond the stall door came the sound of laughing voices.
"Did you see Bai Ye's face? It's terrifying…"
"I heard it's contagious…"
"She deserved it. Framing Mr. Zheng like that…"
Bai Ye bit her lip until she tasted blood.
She recognized one of the voices—it was one of Chen Meng's close friends.
Now she was certain.
Chen Meng wasn't just mocking her—she was spreading rumors.
Before the first class in the afternoon, Liu Ming quietly slipped Bai Ye a folded sheet of paper.
She unfolded it.
Chen Meng's mock exam.
Red pen markings circled the grade at the top: A.
Bai Ye crumpled the paper and stuffed it into her bag. A cold smile curved beneath her mask.
After school, she was the last to leave the classroom.
Making sure the hallway was empty, she hurried to Chen Meng's desk, pulling a small glass bottle from her bag.
Inside was the concentrated sulfuric acid she had stolen from the chemistry lab during lunch.
She tilted the bottle—
A few drops dripped into the drawer, the wood hissing and blistering where the acid touched it.
Then, carefully, she laid Chen Meng's mock exam inside, letting the edge soak in the corrosive liquid.
The paper began to blacken, curling like dry leaves caught in fire.
"Let's see you smile now," she whispered.
Her mood lifted as she walked toward the school gate.
Old Zhang, the janitor, was trimming the hedges. When he saw her, he froze.
Only then did Bai Ye realize—
She was still wearing the mask, and the yellow pus had begun to seep through.
"You okay, girl?" Zhang asked, putting down the shears. His face wrinkled with concern.
Bai Ye shook her head and quickly walked away.
Outside the gate, Liu Ming was waiting for her, holding two bottles of soda.
"It's done?" he asked in a hushed voice.
Bai Ye nodded, taking one bottle.
The cold fizz slid down her throat, easing the burning on her face for a moment.
Suddenly, she yanked off the mask and stared straight at him.
"Disgusting, isn't it?"
Liu Ming flinched, spilling soda on his shirt. But he didn't look away.
"I… I looked it up. It might be pyoderma. You need antibiotics."
"Why are you looking this up?" Bai Ye narrowed her eyes.
"I… I wanted to help…" His ears turned red.
"My uncle's a dermatologist. If you want—"
"I don't."
She cut him off, pulling the mask back on.
"Tomorrow, Chen Meng will realize her test paper is gone. Her mock exam score? Voided."
Liu Ming looked down.
"She's… actually a nice person…"
Bai Ye suddenly grabbed his wrist. Her nails dug into his skin.
"If you say a word, I'll tell everyone you watched girls change in the locker room. Remember that incident in Year Two?" Her voice dropped. "I have photos."
Color drained from Liu Ming's face.
He had accidentally walked past the changing room once in Year Two, and Bai Ye had caught him—and apparently, photographed him.
"I won't say anything…" he murmured.
Bai Ye let go and smiled—though she knew he couldn't see it through the mask.
"Good. See you tomorrow."
On the way home, Bai Ye ducked into a pharmacy.
The young clerk behind the counter flinched when he saw her face.
"C-can I help you?" he stammered.
"Antibiotics. The strongest kind," Bai Ye said, her voice muffled through the mask.
He pulled out a tube of cream. "This one works really well for acne—"
"Not that one."
Bai Ye pointed to a box in the glass cabinet.
"That's prescription-only. I'm afraid I can't—"
She ripped off her mask.
The pus-filled, rotting skin underneath made the clerk go pale.
"You think I still need a prescription for this?"
Panic flickered across his face as he fumbled to open the cabinet and hand her the box.
As she paid, Bai Ye caught a glimpse of herself in the small mirror beside the register.
Half her face looked like it had been scorched by fire.
But her eyes—
They were glowing. Like ghost flames in the dark.
By the time she got home, it was nearly 7 p.m.
Her father, Bai Hua, was cooking dinner. Her mother, Li Zhen, hadn't returned from work.
Bai Ye slipped into the bathroom and swallowed two tablets of the antibiotics she'd just bought.
The mirror showed a face even worse than this morning's.
Much of the skin on her right cheek had peeled off entirely, exposing red, raw flesh.
"Yezi? Dinner's ready," her father called from the kitchen.
"Coming."
She quickly pulled on her mask again, letting her bangs fall over her forehead to hide the wounds.
At the dinner table, Bai Hua had made her favorite: braised fish.
He picked out a soft, fatty piece from the belly and placed it gently in her bowl, his eyes lingering on the mask.
"Dad, I'm fine," Bai Ye said before he could speak.
"It's just a mild reaction."
Bai Hua sighed. "Your mom said Dr. Zhang—"
"I said I'm fine!"
Her voice snapped. She slammed her chopsticks onto the table.
A tense silence fell over the room.
Her father lowered his head and continued eating without another word.
Bai Ye looked at the streaks of grey in his hair.
A strange ache rose in her chest—
But she pushed it down.
Instead, her mind conjured the image of Chen Meng tomorrow, discovering her ruined exam.
After dinner, Bai Ye returned to her room.
From under her bed, she pulled out a shoebox—her treasure chest.
Inside were her trophies:
The broken pieces of Zhou Xiaomei's pencil case,
A fountain pen stolen from Mr. Zheng's office,
A hair clip Chen Meng had lost last semester…
She ran her fingers gently over each item, like touching medals.
On her desk was a photo frame:
Eight-year-old Bai Ye, dressed in a white dress, smiling pure and sweet.
Now, she picked up a small knife and slowly drew a line across the photo's perfect cheek.
"Liar," she whispered.
Then she turned to the mirror—
and carved the same line into her own rotting skin.
Blood gushed out, mixing with the pus.
It dripped onto the glass of the photo frame,
blooming like a flower.