This seemed to be the first time Sang Yan had called her name since their reunion.
Wen Yifan’s nerves were stretched to the limit, and in her panic, she even felt as if she had imagined hearing it. She had no time to stop and confirm, unconsciously running a few more steps forward.
The next moment, Sang Yan grabbed Wen Yifan’s wrist.
Sang Yan pulled her towards himself, his grip not gentle. Wen Yifan looked up, her vision filled with his rigid profile. His lips were pressed into a straight line as he opened the car door with one hand, looking somewhat angry.
“What are you standing there for?”
Due to uncontrollable fear and her sprint, Wen Yifan’s breathing was rapid. She raised her eyes to look at him, not speaking, and following his actions and words, she got into the car.
Sang Yan closed the door.
Through the car window, Wen Yifan saw him casually press the lock button.
The three men had already caught up.
Seeing this scene, the man with the tiger tattoo glanced into the car, and after confirming there was no one else inside, he said sleazily, “Handsome, is this your girlfriend? She’s quite pretty.”
Sang Yan looked up and said, enunciating each word: “None of your business.”
Due to his attitude, the tiger-tattooed man instantly became displeased and stepped forward to push his shoulder: “What’s with that attitude? Did I say it was my business? Can’t even take a compliment, huh?”
Sang Yan quickly grabbed his arm, tightening his grip, then quickly threw it off as if he had touched something dirty.
His eyes were cold, his tone flat: “Are you leaving or not?”
“Alright, I’m not an unreasonable person,” the tiger-tattooed man took this as a concession and pointed towards Wen Yifan. “Just let that slut in your car come out and apologize to me first. With a face that looks like it’s begging to be f—”
As if hitting one of Sang Yan’s nerves, he suddenly and without warning kicked the tiger-tattooed man in the abdomen.
This kick used full force, without any restraint. Even from inside the car, Wen Yifan could hear the loud impact.
The tiger-tattooed man’s words were immediately cut off. He stumbled back a few steps, his waist and abdomen bent downwards, and he struggled to spit out a curse: “F**k your mother…”
The other two behind him were stunned.
After hearing the tiger-tattooed man’s cursing, they seemed to react and came to help.
Wen Yifan lowered her eyes and, suppressing her trembling, took out her phone to call the police.
Sang Yan had always been lazy and indifferent, seeming not to care about anything. When looking at people, he always had a faint mocking smile, but now he seemed truly angry, his face devoid of any expression.
His eyes were pure black, filled with ferocity, looking at the men in front of him as if they were just rotten meat.
Two men simultaneously went to grab him, trying to restrain him.
Sang Yan, quick as lightning, grabbed one man’s hair, yanked it upwards forcefully, and smashed it against a nearby streetlight. The other man took advantage of this moment to punch Sang Yan hard in the face.
Unable to dodge in time, Sang Yan’s head jerked to the side.
Frozen for a moment.
Sang Yan seemed to have lost all reason and sense of pain. Despite being injured, he started laughing.
Knowing that if she went out, she wouldn’t be able to help and would only hold Sang Yan back, Wen Yifan closed her eyes briefly. She didn’t want to see Sang Yan being beaten, but she was also worried that some of them might be carrying weapons.
She could only open her eyes again, watching outside without blinking.
Unless the other two men were too entangled with him, all of Sang Yan’s actions were targeted, focusing all his strength on the tiger-tattooed man. At one point, Wen Yifan saw his lips move, saying something brief.
But from this distance,
Wen Yifan couldn’t hear what he said at all.
Fortunately, the nearby patrol officers arrived quickly, shouting: “Hey! What’s going on here!”
Seeing this, Wen Yifan immediately got out of the car and walked towards Sang Yan. Afraid that the police might think he was part of the trouble, she blocked Sang Yan behind her and said, trying to appear calm: “Officer, I was the one who called the police. This is my friend…”
Sang Yan’s facial injuries were obvious, with blood at the corner of his lips, several abrasions, and some bruising on the side of his face. The emotion in his eyes had dissipated somewhat. He lowered his gaze, staring at Wen Yifan’s fair nape, not saying a word.
…
They were taken to the police station to give statements.
Judging by the injuries on both sides, this couldn’t be considered self-defense, but rather a mutual fight. However, the tiger-tattooed man had a prior record, and he had gone to harass a previous victim on the day of his release, which made his situation more serious.
Except for the tiger-tattooed man, the others were given a verbal warning and fined a few hundred yuan before being allowed to leave.
Outside the police station.
Wen Yifan secretly glanced at Sang Yan’s face and pressed her lips together: “Do you want to go to the hospital?”
Sang Yan was in a bad mood and didn’t respond to her.
“Do you have any other injuries?” Feeling guilty for dragging him into this and worried, Wen Yifan said, “Let’s go to the hospital. It shouldn’t take too much time…”
Sang Yan interrupted her: “Wen Yifan.”
Wen Yifan looked up: “What is it?”
Sang Yan looked at her and said inexplicably: “Couldn’t you see me standing there?”
Wen Yifan didn’t understand: “What?”
“Why did you run if you weren’t calling for my help?”
“…”
“You didn’t hear me telling you to come over either?” Sang Yan’s tone was not polite at all, full of sarcasm, “So you’re blind, deaf, and mute, with only your legs left to run, is that it?”
Wen Yifan didn’t take offense at his nastiness. He had saved her and gotten injured, so she felt she was in the wrong no matter what: “I did want to ask for your help, but I didn’t know if they would get violent. I didn’t want to drag you into it.”
Sang Yan looked at her intently, listening to her explanation.
“Besides,” Wen Yifan said honestly, “mainly because there were three of them, I didn’t think you could beat them.”
“…”
Sang Yan laughed bitterly, speechless at her words.
They happened to pass by a pharmacy.
Wen Yifan stopped, glancing at his face again, and then said: “Wait here for a moment.”
Without waiting for Sang Yan to respond, Wen Yifan went into the pharmacy and bought some medicine for bruises and injuries. When she came out, she scanned the surroundings and found a bench in a secluded area nearby.
They walked over.
“Put on some medicine,” Wen Yifan handed him the bag, sincerely saying, “You can’t go out like this, people will stare.”
“…”
Sang Yan’s breathing seemed a bit uneven. He looked at her for a while, then wordlessly tore open the bag containing the medicine.
Wen Yifan didn’t say anything either, watching him roll up his sleeve and spray medicine on the bruises on his arm. The more she looked, the stronger her already intense feelings of guilt became.
Sang Yan’s method of applying medicine was very rough, prioritizing speed over effectiveness. Wen Yifan felt there wasn’t much difference between him applying it and not applying it at all.
Then came his knee, and finally his face.
The process became difficult from this point on.
Because the face was a blind spot, and there was no mirror nearby, Sang Yan could only apply the medicine blindly. His touch was uncontrolled, and he often applied it to the wrong places, unconsciously furrowing his brow.
Wen Yifan couldn’t bear to watch anymore: “Let me help you.”
Sang Yan looked at her for a moment, paused for a few seconds, then handed her the things in his hand.
Just as Wen Yifan was about to lean in, she heard him say:
“Don’t try to take advantage of me.”
“…”
Wen Yifan paused, then said, swallowing her anger: “Alright, I’ll be careful.”
She picked up a cotton swab with iodine and, focusing on the wounds on his face, carefully dabbed it on. As soon as she touched his wound, Sang Yan reacted as if she had stabbed him with a needle, clicking his tongue.
Wen Yifan immediately froze.
As if looking for trouble, Sang Yan said discontentedly: “Can’t you be more gentle?”
Wen Yifan: “…”
She felt like she hadn’t even touched him yet.
Wen Yifan said good-naturedly: “Okay, I’ll be even gentler.”
The distance between them gradually closed.
Wen Yifan focused intently on his wounds, being extremely cautious with her touch, afraid of displeasing him again. Gradually moving downwards, she reached the corner of his lips. She took a new iodine-soaked cotton swab, broke it, and gently dabbed it on.
After thoroughly treating the wounds, Wen Yifan’s gaze moved upwards, meeting his eyes.
The air stilled for a moment.
“It’s just applying medicine,” Sang Yan’s eyes were dark, his voice a bit hoarse, “Do you need to be this close?”
“…” Wen Yifan sat up straight, “I’m sorry. The lighting here is poor, I couldn’t see clearly.”
Then she added: “It’s done.”
There wasn’t much else to do after that.
Sang Yan leaned back in his chair and casually asked: “What’s your situation?”
Wen Yifan lowered her eyes, tidying up the things on the bench, and slowly explained: “I guess you could say we have a grudge. The biggest guy from earlier lives next door to me. He often knocks on my door. I called the police before and had him locked up for five days. Maybe that’s why he holds a grudge against me.”
Hearing this, Sang Yan’s expression wasn’t pleasant: “You’re still going to live in that dump tonight?”
“I’ve already found a new place, but I haven’t had time to move. Tonight I’ll just find a hot—” She paused here and changed her words, “I’ll stay at a friend’s place.”
Sang Yan didn’t respond immediately, only giving a sound of acknowledgment after a long while.
Noticing the time, Wen Yifan stood up first: “Let’s go. It’s late, you should go home and rest. Su Hao’an’s car is still parked in my neighborhood, you’ll have to make another trip there.”
Sang Yan just nodded, not saying a word.
They hailed a car and returned to Chengshi Jiayuan.
After getting out of the car, before Wen Yifan could say goodbye, Sang Yan started walking towards the residential complex. Not knowing what he was doing, she hurriedly followed: “Do you have something else to do?”
Sang Yan turned his head: “Going up to pack your things.”
Wen Yifan was stunned: “Huh?”
His words were full of disdain for the complex: “You’re still planning to come back to this dump?”
“…”
It seemed he was planning to accompany her upstairs to pack.
Wen Yifan had been worrying about this, as she didn’t dare go up alone for the time being, and she couldn’t find anyone to accompany her at short notice. She also didn’t feel comfortable asking Sang Yan for help.
But since he had brought it up, she felt relieved.
Wen Yifan said gratefully: “Thank you.”
Sang Yan couldn’t be bothered to respond.
The property management of this complex was indeed poor.
Several floors in Wen Yifan’s building had broken lights, making it so dark that one could barely see the way. No one had come to replace them. There was also a lot of uncollected garbage at the corners of the stairwell, smelling damp and unpleasant.
Wen Yifan hadn’t felt much about it before, but with this young master here, she inexplicably felt her situation was somewhat embarrassing.
But this time, Sang Yan didn’t say anything.
Arriving at her door, Wen Yifan took out her key to open it.
Sang Yan didn’t rashly enter the young woman’s home, instead standing outside with his hands in his pockets: “I’ll wait for you out here.”
Wen Yifan nodded.
Wen Yifan went in and pulled out a suitcase from under the bed.
She had been in Nanwu for less than three months. Before coming, she had sold or discarded many of her belongings, and she hadn’t had time to buy new things. So packing now wasn’t much different from when she first came to Nanwu.
One suitcase and one duffel bag were enough to pack everything.
After making sure nothing was left behind, Wen Yifan opened the door and walked out.
Sang Yan glanced at her luggage: “Just this much?”
Wen Yifan: “Mm.”
He didn’t say anything more, directly helping her carry the two pieces of luggage downstairs. After leaving the complex, Sang Yan put the luggage in the trunk and then got into the driver’s seat: “Where does your friend live?”
Wen Yifan was contemplating whether to find a hotel to stay in or to discuss with Wang Linlin about moving in today.
Sang Yan became impatient: “Did you hear me?”
Wen Yifan had no choice but to say: “Shangdu Huacheng.”
Sang Yan frowned at her and started the car.
It was a short drive from here to Shangdu Huacheng, less than five minutes.
As they were approaching the destination, Sang Yan casually asked: “Which building does your friend live in?”
“…” Wen Yifan remembered the location but hadn’t specifically noted which building, so she honestly said, “I don’t remember.”
Sang Yan wasn’t in a hurry: “Ask them.”
Wen Yifan had already messaged Wang Linlin on WeChat, but she might not have seen her phone as there was still no reply. Not wanting to trouble Sang Yan for too long, she said: “She hasn’t replied yet. It’s fine, you can just drop me off at the entrance.”
Silence.
Sang Yan’s voice was emotionless: “Do you have a friend living here?”
“…” Wen Yifan didn’t understand his meaning, “What?”
Sang Yan didn’t speak again.
At the entrance of Shangdu Huacheng, Sang Yan got out of the car and helped her take out the luggage.
Wen Yifan politely thanked him again: “You’ve helped me a lot today. When you’re free sometime, let me treat you to a meal.”
“No need for a meal,” Sang Yan’s tone was cold, his words quick and decisive, “Even if it was a stranger today, I would have done the same thing.”
Wen Yifan stared at the bruises on his face and couldn’t help saying: “If you’re always so ready to be a hero, how often does your face look presentable in a year?”
“…”