For Wen Yifan, this situation was no different from a bolt from the blue. And it came without any warning.
Far from being consulted, Wen Yifan hadn’t even heard Wang Linlin mention finding a new roommate. This was a matter that concerned her the most, yet she had become an outsider in the decision.
By the time Wen Yifan learned about it, it was already a done deal.
She found it absurd.
Even with Wen Yifan’s usually calm demeanor, once she processed the situation, she felt quite angry. She stared at Sang Yan standing before her, resisting the urge to kick him out immediately.
After all, judging from Sang Yan’s reaction earlier, it was clear he was also unaware of the situation.
Wen Yifan wasn’t in the habit of misdirecting her anger at others. She took a moment to compose herself, then looked down to remove her shoes. Afterwards, she pointed to the sofa, as if welcoming a guest: “Please, have a seat for now. I’m not quite clear about this situation, so I need to make a phone call to inquire.”
Sang Yan remained standing where he was.
Without waiting for his response, Wen Yifan walked into her room.
It was nearly eleven o’clock by now.
Wen Yifan’s original plan was to quickly take a shower and go to bed after returning home. She hadn’t anticipated having to deal with this vexing situation. Without considering whether Wang Linlin might already be asleep, she dialed her number directly.
After about ten rings, the other end finally picked up.
Wang Linlin, true to form, had already entered her beauty sleep. Annoyed at being woken up, her tone was impatient: “Who is it?! Are you crazy?! I’m sleeping here!”
Wen Yifan: “Sister Lin, it’s Wen Yifan.”
Wang Linlin: “Whatever it is, tell me tomorrow. I’m dead tired.”
“I don’t want to disturb you either, I just have one question,” Wen Yifan’s tone was even, showing little emotion. “Did you give the key to someone else? There’s another person in the apartment now.”
“Huh?” Hearing this, Wang Linlin’s voice became more alert, “Who went there? It’s not my boyfriend, is it?! Don’t you dare secretly flirt with my boyfriend!”
“It’s not,” Wen Yifan said. “It’s Sang Yan.”
“Oh, I see.” Wang Linlin noticeably relaxed and explained, “Oh, right, I remember now. You know I’ve been trying to find someone to take over my place, right? I was quite worried about it, so I couldn’t help mentioning it to my boyfriend a few times.”
Wen Yifan listened patiently.
“He probably didn’t want to see me so upset, so he must have sorted it out for me privately,” Wang Linlin began to brag in a coquettish voice: “I didn’t even know about it myself. He must have wanted to surprise me.”
“…”
Wen Yifan had thought she would feel at least a little apologetic. She had thought too highly of her.
She truly, extremely, absolutely hated dealing with these matters.
To put it nicely, one might say she had a good temperament and a magnanimous personality, not bothering to quibble over such trivial matters with others. But in reality, she knew herself well enough to know that she simply felt that other people’s actions had nothing to do with her.
Whether others were good or bad, alive or dead today, it was all irrelevant to her.
She just needed to live her own life well.
If someone misunderstood her, treated her poorly, or spoke to her with sarcasm, as long as it didn’t cause her any substantial harm, what did it matter?
It didn’t affect her emotions.
After all, there were countless vexing things in this world. If one were to fret over every little thing, how could one live?
For years, Wen Yifan had approached everyone with this mindset.
As long as they didn’t do anything that affected her life, she wouldn’t argue with people, wouldn’t offend anyone, and wouldn’t choose to stand in opposition to others.
Wang Linlin was still talking on the other end: “That Sang Yan’s current house caught fire, so he needs a temporary place to stay. Come on, just live with him. It’s not like—”
Wen Yifan interrupted her: “What did you tell me before?”
“…”
Perhaps unaccustomed to hearing Wen Yifan speak to her in such an impolite tone, Wang Linlin was stunned for a few seconds before responding: “Why are you being so fierce? You scared me. It’s not like he’s some creepy guy. Sang Yan is tall and handsome, and his family is rich too. When you think about it, aren’t you getting a good deal?”
Wen Yifan repeated: “Just tell me, what did you say to me before?”
“Well, I don’t remember! Why are you blaming me? Really!” Wang Linlin, having just been woken up and now irritated by Wen Yifan’s accusatory tone, began to lose her temper as well. “Oh, I get it. You don’t need to overthink it, worrying that he might still like you.”
Wang Linlin: “I heard from my boyfriend that Sang Yan never had a girlfriend during his four years in university. He was never seen getting close to any girl either. He just hung out with another campus heartthrob from his dorm all the time. Everyone at their school assumed they were a couple.”
Wen Yifan laughed bitterly, curious to hear what other nonsense she might come up with.
“He hasn’t dated anyone until now! There must be something seriously wrong with him. Maybe he’s gradually come to terms with his sexual orientation over these years,” Wang Linlin said. “Come to think of it, my boyfriend might be in a bit of danger.”
Wen Yifan knew Wang Linlin was unreliable.
But she never imagined she could be this unreliable.
Wen Yifan closed her eyes briefly, not wanting to say another word to her.
Wang Linlin had lost patience with the conversation: “Don’t worry, he’s gay. And even if we don’t consider that, there’s nothing wrong with living with someone of the opposite sex. One of my exes was someone I met while sharing an apartment.”
After she finished speaking, Wen Yifan finally responded: “From what you’re saying, you and Su Hao’an must be very close.” Wen Yifan’s speech was slow as if wrapping gentle needles in softness: “Then the person who’s been picking you up in a Ferrari lately must be his friend.”
Wang Linlin suddenly fell silent: “What do you mean?”
“Oh, right, since you think living with Sang Yan is so great, why don’t you come back and live with him?”
“…”
“After all, one more wouldn’t hurt. Juggling two or three relationships at once,” Wen Yifan smiled, “Isn’t that just a walk in the park for you?”
–
At the same time, in the living room.
Sang Yan had dialed Su Hao’an’s number, barely containing his anger: “Are you out of your mind?”
“Whoa.” Su Hao’an’s end was quite noisy, sounding like he was in a bar. “Bro, take it easy, okay? Peace, alright? What’s with you, why are you cursing as soon as you start talking?”
Sang Yan laughed coldly: “Don’t tell me you didn’t know someone else was living in this apartment.”
Realizing what this was about, Su Hao’an immediately relaxed, speaking as if it was perfectly natural: “Why would you live in such a big apartment all by yourself? Finding a roommate could save you some rent money for renovating your house.”
Sang Yan: “Do I look like I need to share an apartment with someone?”
“You might not need to, but isn’t this person our Goddess Wen?” Su Hao’an chuckled, “Alright, alright, I understand. You don’t need to thank me. We’ve been brothers for how many years now?”
“I’m not going to waste my breath on you,” Sang Yan couldn’t reason with him, “I’m coming to your place now.”
“Get lost, I’ve got plans tonight. Don’t come and bother me.”
“I’m a grown man,” Sang Yan said, “Do you think it’s appropriate for me to live with a girl?”
“Come on, you can say that with a straight face? What about when you told me about ‘Shangdu Huacheng’? Why didn’t you think about what you’re saying now?” Su Hao’an said, “Don’t think I don’t know what happened to your face that got beaten up like a dog. Alright, stop pretending in front of me. We both know what’s going on…”
“…”
“Besides, our Goddess Wen is so beautiful. Don’t you think something like this could happen a second time?” Su Hao’an said, “Sang, my man, go be her knight. Who knows, maybe one day she’ll have a change of heart and fall for you—”
Before he could finish, Sang Yan heard the sound of a door opening from inside the apartment.
His stomach churned with anger, and he immediately hung up the phone.
The next moment.
Wen Yifan appeared before him. She looked at him and said gently and calmly: “Can we talk?”
…
The two sat at opposite ends of the sofa, silent.
Wen Yifan spoke first: “This situation seems to be a misunderstanding. It’s very late now, so how about this: I’ll help you book a hotel nearby.”
Sang Yan leaned back against the chair, looking at her lazily.
Wen Yifan thought for a moment and added: “You can find a suitable apartment later. How does that sound?”
Hearing her arrange his future so neatly, Sang Yan said with a half-smile: “You’ve certainly got everything planned out.”
“You haven’t moved in yet, so there’s no need to waste time settling in. Since neither of us knew about this beforehand, we don’t need to compound this mistake,” Wen Yifan explained. “Besides, you probably aren’t used to living with a roommate.”
Mistake.
Sang Yan latched onto those two words.
As she spoke, her brows were furrowed, and her lips were pressed into a straight line. It was a stark contrast to her usual demeanor of remaining unperturbed by any situation.
As if she had encountered something that deeply troubled her and was extremely difficult to accept.
Yet she didn’t dare express it directly.
Afraid of offending him, and also afraid of him latching onto her.
So she carefully spoke words that he might find acceptable.
Sang Yan looked up, repeating with an inscrutable tone: “And how do you know what I’m used to?”
Wen Yifan patiently said: “Living with a roommate requires time to adjust, and people usually choose to share an apartment due to financial constraints. Your economic situation doesn’t require you to compromise by living with someone else.”
“My house burned down,” Sang Yan paused, “All my money went into renovations.”
Wen Yifan reminded him: “You own a bar.”
Sang Yan replied in an irritating tone: “It doesn’t make much money.”
“…” Wen Yifan sighed inwardly and said diplomatically, “Besides, being a journalist isn’t a nine-to-five job. My schedule is very irregular, I often work overtime and come and go at odd hours. It’s very likely to disturb your rest.”
“Oh,” Sang Yan deliberately made things difficult for her, “Then just try to be quieter when you come back.”
“…”
Since he seemed determined to misunderstand no matter what she said, Wen Yifan decided to be more direct: “We’re of opposite sexes. There will be many inconveniences. You probably don’t want to have to think twice about everything you do at home, right?”
“Why would I need to think twice?” Sang Yan stared at her intently, suddenly smiling, “Wen Yifan, your attitude is quite interesting.”
Wen Yifan: “What do you mean?”
Sang Yan’s voice was cold, speaking slowly: “Do you think I’m still hung up on you, that I’ll cling to you like before?”
“…” Wen Yifan nearly choked, “That’s not what I meant.”
“I didn’t expect that in your heart, I was such a devoted person.”
“I’m just reasonably explaining our current situation. You don’t need to misinterpret my words.”
“I’ve already brought my luggage up, and I’m too lazy to move again. I’ll stay for three months at most, and I’ll move out once my house is renovated,” Sang Yan curled his lip, “I hope that while I’m living here, you won’t try to get close to me in any way.”
Wen Yifan couldn’t help but say: “You only have one suitcase.”
“I’d like to ask, why are you so concerned about this?” Sang Yan tilted his head slightly, looking at her cockily, “What’s the matter? Did I get it wrong?”
“What?”
Sang Yan looked her up and down, then casually dropped a sentence.
“Is it you who can’t get over me?”