The kitchen was square-shaped, with a decent amount of space. An L-shaped dark countertop lined one side, with a gap for the refrigerator, and cream-colored cabinets mounted above. The addition of several appliances made the space feel more cramped than before.
Wen Yifan walked to his side, watching the noodles already bubbling in the pot. After a moment of silence, she rolled up her sleeves, turned on the faucet, and washed her hands. Then, she pointed to the items nearby.
“Should I put these back in the fridge?”
Sang Yan glanced sideways: “Leave the vegetables out.”
Wen Yifan: “Okay.”
She had just picked up the box of meatballs when Sang Yan suddenly asked: “You’re not eating the meatballs?”
Wen Yifan paused: “If you want to eat them, we can add some.”
“What about the dumplings?”
“Just put in a few then.”
“Oh.” Sang Yan picked up the soy sauce nearby and added, “Hand me two eggs.”
“…” Wen Yifan was a bit speechless at his insistence on having everything in this situation. Unable to contain herself, she didn’t want to waste food: “Sang Yan.”
Sang Yan: “What?”
Wen Yifan calmly reminded him: “You’ve cooked an entire package of noodles.”
“…”
In the end, only some vegetables and mushrooms were added as side dishes, while Wen Yifan put everything else back in the fridge. She took out two bowls from the cabinet, one large and one small, and handed the larger one to him.
Sang Yan accepted it and began filling it with noodles.
Wen Yifan stood beside him, looking at the pot almost overflowing with noodles. She felt that eating just a little wouldn’t make any difference in this situation and worried that Sang Yan might force her to eat bowl after bowl.
Given his personality, he was indeed capable of doing that.
Wen Yifan suddenly said: “I probably won’t be able to help you much.”
Sang Yan had just finished filling a bowl and reached out to her: “What?”
Wen Yifan handed him the bowl in her hand, her expression tactful: “I’m not particularly hungry.”
“…” Seeing her expression, Sang Yan immediately understood what she was thinking and said expressionlessly, “I know.”
Since the Spring Festival Gala was still playing and the two didn’t have much to talk about when sitting together, they simply returned to the living room.
The noodles were still hot from the pot, so Wen Yifan placed her bowl directly on the coffee table.
At this moment, a comedy sketch was playing on the TV, which seemed to be halfway through. Wen Yifan hadn’t watched the beginning, so she wasn’t quite sure what it was about and watched with some confusion.
After watching for a while longer and still not understanding, she lowered her head and scooped up some soup.
She stared hesitantly for a few seconds before slowly drinking it.
The taste was unexpectedly quite good.
Wen Yifan breathed a sigh of relief.
When she looked up, she happened to meet Sang Yan’s inscrutable gaze.
“…” Wen Yifan swallowed the soup and politely complimented, “These noodles you cooked are quite tasty.”
“Your expression,” Sang Yan hadn’t touched his chopsticks yet and spoke leisurely, “I thought I had just put some poison in the noodles.”
“…” Wen Yifan said, “I just never imagined you cooking anything.”
Sang Yan chuckled lightly, his tone both puzzled and arrogant: “Is there anything I can’t do?”
Wen Yifan sincerely replied: “Aren’t there quite a few things?”
Sang Yan raised an eyebrow: “Such as?”
“For example,” Wen Yifan thought for a moment, “cooking a single portion of noodles.”
“…”
Perhaps because it was a holiday, or maybe because of Sang Yan’s small mishap while cooking the noodles, the two were getting along more harmoniously than usual.
Originally, since it was New Year’s Eve, Wen Yifan had planned to make herself a simple New Year’s Eve dinner after work. But after returning home, she felt too lazy to move, and since she wasn’t feeling hungry, she simply gave up on the idea.
Wen Yifan suddenly felt a bit incredulous.
She never imagined that in her lifetime, she would eat a “New Year’s Eve dinner” prepared by the young master Sang Yan.
Wen Yifan ate at a steady pace, appearing to chew slowly, but before long, she had finished the noodles in her bowl.
Just as the program ended, she stood up, intending to get some more.
Noticing her movement, Sang Yan casually asked: “Where are you going?”
Wen Yifan paused, pointing towards the kitchen: “To get more noodles.”
“…”
Although he had only cooked too much and let her eat some as a result, adhering to the principle of not biting the hand that feeds you, Wen Yifan voluntarily offered: “Do you want me to get you some more too?”
“If you’re full, don’t force yourself,” Sang Yan looked her up and down, saying leisurely, “If you get sick from overeating, it’ll be on me.”
“No, it’s not that.” Wen Yifan was taken aback and said directly, “I just want to eat more.”
“…”
Seeing that he still had quite a bit left in his bowl, Wen Yifan didn’t ask again and went to the kitchen herself. Afraid of eating too much and having trouble sleeping due to poor digestion, she only filled her bowl halfway with noodles but filled it to the brim with soup.
She walked back to the sofa and sat down.
Wen Yifan glanced in Sang Yan’s direction.
At some point, his brows had relaxed slightly, his posture lazy, and his mood seemed quite good.
His gaze was now fixed on the television.
Wen Yifan blinked and looked towards the TV as well. The previous magic show had ended, and now a song performance was starting, performed by several recently popular actresses.
With bright smiles on their faces and sweet voices, it was particularly pleasing to the eye and ear.
“…”
Oh.
Wen Yifan instantly understood.
…
As time passed, Wen Yifan hadn’t planned to stay in the living room for so long.
But before they knew it, it was past midnight.
During this time, they both sat at opposite ends of the sofa, without much conversation, but neither went back to their rooms early. Occasionally, when Wen Yifan commented on a program, Sang Yan would respond with a noncommittal “mm.”
The new year had arrived.
Wen Yifan suddenly realized that they had stayed up to welcome the new year together.
At this moment, her phone vibrated several times.
Zhong Siqiao and Xiang Lang sent New Year’s greetings in the group chat right on time.
Wen Yifan’s fingers moved, about to reply, when she caught sight of Sang Yan lowering his lashes to look at his phone. She suddenly stood up, her voice slow and gentle: “I’m going to bed then.”
Sang Yan slowly looked up.
Wen Yifan naturally added: “Happy New Year.”
Sang Yan looked at her.
She didn’t expect him to reciprocate and was about to return to her room after speaking.
But Sang Yan’s attitude tonight was unexpectedly good.
He looked away and reciprocated. However, his tone was still as perfunctory as usual.
“Mm, Happy New Year.”
–
Back in her room.
Wen Yifan spent some time replying to messages before putting her phone down and starting to drift off to sleep. She turned off the bedside lamp and stared into the pitch-black void with her eyes open, her thoughts wandering.
She thought back to what had just happened.
A strange thought suddenly occurred to her.
It turns out the Spring Festival Gala can be quite enjoyable too.
Pulling back her thoughts, Wen Yifan was about to close her eyes and sleep when she suddenly remembered she had just eaten a bowl of noodles. She immediately got up to brush her teeth, and after finishing her nightly routine, she belatedly realized she felt a bit full.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had gone to sleep with such a feeling of fullness.
Wen Yifan felt a bit guilty.
This seemed to be the first time they had eaten a meal alone together since their reunion.
And both were unusually calm and peaceful.
It felt like their relationship had eased, or perhaps it was just softened by the holiday spirit.
It was a familiar feeling to her.
As if they had returned to that period from the second semester of their second year of high school until the college entrance exam.
At that time, Wen Yifan had just moved to Beiyu City and had been living in the new environment for a few months. Compared to her time at Nanwu No. 1 High School, she had become more reserved. Living in a closed boarding school environment, she would return home once every two weeks.
Every day, she did nothing but study.
She only occasionally turned on her phone to take a quick look.
Perhaps it was because she had sent that text message about her grades to Sang Yan.
After the final exams of the second semester of their second year, a few days later, Wen Yifan received another message from Sang Yan.
Sang Yan: [Are you free now?]
When she saw this message, Wen Yifan had a feeling that he might be coming.
Wen Yifan: [What’s up?]
Sang Yan: [First time in Beiyu, don’t know the way.]
Sang Yan: [It’s fine if you’re not free.]
The distance from Nanwu to Beiyu wasn’t far, about an hour and a half by high-speed train.
Wen Yifan had never thought he would come, and when she saw this message, she was stunned for a good while. After asking for his location, she immediately left.
At that time, because it had been raining for several days, the temperature in Beiyu had dropped a few degrees.
Sang Yan didn’t know where her house was, only knew which high school she attended, so he waited for a while at her school gate. He was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt but seemed unaffected by the cold. When he saw her, he raised an eyebrow and smiled.
“You came so quickly?”
Before that time.
The two of them hadn’t spoken for a long time.
Not only because Wen Yifan had transferred to Beiyu, but even in the period before her transfer, the two had been like strangers at school.
So when he said this after Wen Yifan responded with an “mm,” the scene immediately fell into silence again.
After a moment.
Sang Yan suggested: “Want to get something to eat?”
Wen Yifan agreed and took him to a nearby noodle shop.
The two ate noodles for a while.
The presence of the person beside her was particularly strong.
Wen Yifan took the initiative to break the silence and asked softly: “When are you going back?”
Sang Yan looked up and asked in return: “When do you have to go home?”
Wen Yifan casually said: “Around six.”
“Oh.” Sang Yan’s chopsticks paused, and the corner of his lips curled up, “Then I’ll leave at six.”
…
That seemed to be the beginning.
After that, Sang Yan would come to Beiyu to see her once in a while.
The visits weren’t frequent, and each time he would only have a meal with her before leaving, not taking up too much of her time. Neither of them talked much about their affairs as if they were just meeting for the sake of seeing each other.
There was no other purpose.
–
Over the next few days.
Sang Yan continued to leave in the morning and return around seven or eight in the evening as usual.
The timing was particularly stable as if he was being kicked out by his family at a set time.
Wen Yifan had asked him when these relatives might leave, and he seemed to show little emotion, simply replying with a perfunctory “don’t know.” She put herself in his shoes and indeed felt that his situation was a bit pitiful.
Being kicked out to stay elsewhere during the New Year holidays.
After that, she didn’t bring up the subject much with him.
At noon on the third day of the New Year.
Wen Yifan had just come out of the bathroom, and when she checked her phone again, she saw messages from Sang Yan from ten minutes ago.
Sang Yan: [I’m coming back this afternoon.]
Sang Yan: [I might bring my sister.]
A few minutes later.
Sang Yan: [Is that okay?]
Before they started living together, Wen Yifan had mentioned this requirement, that they should inform each other before bringing someone back.
Wen Yifan replied: [That’s fine.]
After replying, Wen Yifan didn’t think much of it. She turned on her computer, found a drama to watch, and before she knew it, it was dinner time. She got up, and left her room, intending to get a cup of yogurt from the fridge.
At this moment, the sound of the door opening came from the entrance.
Wen Yifan looked over and saw Sang Yan walk in with his keys. He was carrying bags of various sizes, his expression indifferent, saying to the person behind him: “Go barefoot, there are no shoes.”
The next second, Sang Zhi’s figure also appeared in Wen Yifan’s view.
She didn’t immediately take off her shoes, nor did she respond to Sang Yan’s words.
Since it was her first time here, Sang Zhi instinctively scanned her surroundings. Noticing Wen Yifan’s presence, her gaze fixed, and she blurted out: “Brother, is this sister your girlfriend?”
Sang Yan didn’t say anything.
Wen Yifan smiled and took the initiative to answer: “No, we’re just roommates.”
“Oh, she’s so pretty—” Sang Zhi blinked, muttering softly, “I guess she can only be a roommate then.”
“…”
Wen Yifan didn’t want to disturb them and was about to get her yogurt and return to her room.
But the next moment, Sang Zhi spoke again, as if she had just realized something: “Sister, were you and my brother classmates in high school?”
Wen Yifan was taken aback: “You still remember me?”
Wen Yifan hadn’t met Sang Zhi many times.
Back then, she was still small and didn’t look very old. And since so many years had passed, Wen Yifan thought she would have long forgotten about her, and didn’t expect to be recognized.
Seeing the little girl from back then turn into the tall, slender, pretty young woman now, Wen Yifan found it amazing and couldn’t help but say a few more words: “You got lost at that time and asked me to help you find your brother. Later, you said you wanted to treat me to ice cream. You remember that?”
Sang Zhi thought for a moment and honestly said: “No.”
Wen Yifan: “Hm?”
“I wasn’t lost at that time.” Sang Zhi spoke slowly, “But my brother said I was lost.”
“…”
“So I could only be lost.”
“…”