At this moment, in the master bedroom.
Wen Yifan stared at the numbers on her phone, falling into silence. She thought that if the order were reversed to “250,” it would be much better than the current situation. But she wasn’t nervous and calmly typed: [This is the extra money you gave me. I’m transferring it back to you.]
—Send failed.
They weren’t friends on Alipay.
The interface immediately popped up with “Become friends to chat, send verification to add as a friend.”
At the same time, Sang Yan sent her a WeChat message.
[?]
“…”
It was indeed a question mark.
Wen Yifan could guess his reaction just by seeing that “520.”
It was spot on.
Before Wen Yifan could reply, Sang Yan sent another message: [Do you need something?]
This number was indeed thought-provoking, but it wasn’t something Wen Yifan had made up out of thin air. She sat up, deciding to explain it to him properly: [That’s the price difference I’m refunding you.]
Wen Yifan listed the prices one by one: [Rent is 9,000, deposit is 2,500, utilities are 400.]
Then, she sent over the receipt for the washing machine: [The washing machine cost 1,190.]
Wen Yifan: [I’m not good at keeping accounts, so you don’t need to give me extra money first. We can bring it up later when we need to buy something.]
After a while.
Sang Yan sent a voice message: “Calculate it yourself again.”
His tone was flat, sounding even colder through the speaker. But towards the end, his voice unconsciously curled up, rising, with an inherently provocative meaning.
It made one want to reach through the screen and fight him.
“…”
But at this moment, Wen Yifan felt a bit confused.
What did he mean by that?
Was he saying she had miscalculated?
Looking at the string of numbers she had sent out, Wen Yifan wasn’t so sure anymore.
It shouldn’t.
Be that.
Bad.
She didn’t reply immediately, instead opening the calculator to recalculate.
The result was “505.”
“…”
This was like a bolt from the blue for Wen Yifan.
Unwilling to face the truth, at this moment, she felt that only the correct number could prove her innocence. She cleared the calculator and recalculated once more, unwilling to give up.
Still, there was no change.
Wen Yifan froze in place, her mind racing, thinking about how to explain next.
Soon, as if unsurprised, Sang Yan sent another voice message.
He laughed faintly as if giving her a way out, but his tone seemed to be covering up for her: “Alright. I understand, you miscalculated, right?”
“…”
Wen Yifan had never met someone like Sang Yan before.
She figured it out though. Dealing with someone like him, she could only pretend not to understand his meaning and forcefully steer the situation back to normal.
Wen Yifan: [Yes, thank you for the reminder.]
There was no reply from the other end.
About ten minutes later.
Wen Yifan sent another message: [The extra fifteen yuan I gave you…]
Wen Yifan: [You can just transfer it to my WeChat.]
“…”
–
After putting things away and seeing the dust on the floor, Wen Yifan opened the door. She noticed that the living room light was already off, with only the hallway light still on. She went out to the balcony to get the cleaning tools.
Wen Yifan finished cleaning, washed the mop clean, and carried it back to the balcony.
Just as she was about to return to her room, passing by Sang Yan’s door.
He suddenly opened the door.
Wen Yifan’s footsteps paused, and her gaze met his.
Sang Yan’s hair was half-wet, black strands casually falling across his forehead. He was wearing only casual loungewear, looking more approachable than usual. He glanced at her but didn’t speak at first.
Wen Yifan also remained silent, withdrawing her gaze and walking back to her room.
She locked the door behind her.
It was just past eleven o’clock, and Wen Yifan couldn’t fall asleep yet. She moved her computer to the desk and wrote for a while before starting to feel sleepy. But having changed rooms, she felt unfamiliar and couldn’t fall asleep right away.
Sang Yan next door was also quiet.
Wen Yifan belatedly had a strange feeling.
When they first met, she thought they wouldn’t have much interaction.
It should have been the kind of relationship where they’d lose contact after graduation, not even nodding to each other when they met.
Because their personalities were poles apart, and neither of them liked to initiate conversations. So from the beginning of the semester when they were late and became desk mates, Wen Yifan and Sang Yan hadn’t had any other conversations for a while.
Moreover, this deskmate arrangement didn’t last long.
Later, it was because of private rumors among classmates.
That they had another intersection.
The source of the rumors was extremely simple.
It was just because they were both late on the first day of school, and they were both extremely good-looking.
So they were forced to become a couple in others’ eyes.
These rumors even had several versions.
Some said they were middle school classmates, had been together for several years, and were a couple of academic stars who had agreed to attend First High School together;
Others refuted that they actually didn’t know each other before this, but because of the camaraderie of being late together, other feelings developed, and now they were in a secret relationship;
There were even claims that they had actually fallen in love at first sight on their way to school, and to not miss this heaven-sent opportunity, they specifically found a place to express their feelings to each other, and only after confirming their relationship did they come to register hand in hand.
Wen Yifan didn’t know about these rumors at first.
The class was arranged according to high school entrance exam scores, so she wasn’t in the same class as Zhong Siqiao and Xiang Lang. These words were only discussed privately in Class 17. Wen Yifan didn’t have particularly close relationships with anyone in the class, so no one mentioned the gossip to her, the person involved.
It was because of Su Hao’an that Wen Yifan began to know about these rumors.
Because Su Hao’an persisted in mentioning it to Sang Yan every day.
She remembered it was during a long break when they were coming back from doing radio calisthenics on the playground.
Wen Yifan was queuing at the school water dispenser in the corridor when she suddenly heard Su Hao’an’s voice from the front.
Su Hao’an had good relationships in the class, was talkative and friendly, and in just these few days since the start of school, he had already made good connections with most of the class. At this moment, he was laughing raucously, talking while punching the chest of the person behind him.
“There’s new information today, celebrity, do you want to hear it?”
Wen Yifan instinctively looked up.
She saw that the person standing in front of her was Sang Yan, his tall and thin back, his words carrying an obvious tone of impatience.
“That’s enough from you.”
“What? Don’t pretend with me here.” Su Hao’an said, “This dance student is so pretty, you must be secretly happy to be rumored with her like this. When she sat behind me the first day, I didn’t even dare to talk to her.”
Sang Yan: “What’s wrong with you?”
Su Hao’an: “Just tell me! Haven’t you secretly—”
Before he could finish, Su Hao’an’s eyes glanced over and suddenly noticed Wen Yifan behind Sang Yan. He immediately fell silent, and after a long while, he raised his hand and stammered a greeting to Wen Yifan: “Hi…”
Sang Yan looked back accordingly.
As if she hadn’t heard anything, Wen Yifan just smiled and nodded, then lowered her head to look at her vocabulary book.
After a few seconds.
Sang Yan took the initiative to call her: “Junior.”
Wen Yifan looked up again.
“You heard it, didn’t you?” Sang Yan’s lips curled slightly, his tone teasing, “Or do you just want to pretend you didn’t hear?”
Wen Yifan answered honestly: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Sang Yan lowered his eyes, his tone sarcastic: “They’re saying I’m dating you.”
“…” Wen Yifan was stunned, “You and me?”
“Mm.”
“I didn’t know, no one told me about it.” Wen Yifan didn’t care about these things, “You don’t need to worry too much, they probably won’t talk about it for long.”
After all, they rarely interacted.
There had to be some clues for rumors to keep spreading. Without any, it would naturally die down.
Sang Yan raised an eyebrow, casually saying: “That’s for the best.”
At that time, they were just very ordinary classmates.
Unfamiliar with each other, barely able to say a few words.
So now, the reason Wen Yifan could be sure that Sang Yan didn’t like her, besides not being so presumptuous, was also because the emotions Sang Yan showed were similar to when they first met.
But in reality, his attitude towards people he liked and disliked.
Was worlds apart.
Sang Yan was extremely proud and equally passionate at his core.
When he liked someone.
Even if it was one-sided, he didn’t mind letting the whole world know.
–
The next day.
Wen Yifan slept until almost ten o’clock before getting up.
After getting herself ready, Wen Yifan pulled the coat from the coat rack and left the room. As soon as she entered the living room, she saw Sang Yan lying on the sofa playing with his phone.
Hearing the movement, he lazily lifted his eyelids, not bothering with her.
Wen Yifan initially wanted to politely greet him, but then remembered his previous words about “not trying to get close,” so she decided against it.
She took a packet of instant coffee from the TV cabinet, boiled some water, and then sat down on the sofa. Wen Yifan opened a package of small biscuits, tore open the instant coffee, and poured it into a cup.
During this interval, Wen Yifan lowered her head to light up her phone.
She found that Zhong Siqiao had sent her several messages.
Zhong Siqiao: [Sis! Ter! Dear!]
Zhong Siqiao: [I’ve! Found! A roommate for you!]
Wen Yifan blinked, replying: [I forgot to tell you.]
Wen Yifan: [I’ve already found a roommate.]
Just as she was about to explain more clearly, the water boiled. Wen Yifan had to put down her phone and pick up the kettle to pour water into the cup. Just as she put the kettle down, Zhong Siqiao called.
Wen Yifan answered, stirring her coffee.
Zhong Siqiao: “You’ve found a roommate? Who is it?”
Hearing this, Wen Yifan instinctively glanced in Sang Yan’s direction, deciding to skip over the latter question and tell her later: “Yes, I just found one. But I won’t be staying long, I’ll move out in three months.”
Wen Yifan: “I forgot to tell you, can you apologize to your friend for me?”
“What do you mean my friend? Alright, I can’t hold it in anymore.” Zhong Siqiao suddenly burst out laughing, then seemed to be talking to someone beside her, “Okay, Xiang Lang, stop just listening without saying anything, aren’t you uncomfortable?”
Wen Yifan was surprised: “Is Xiang Lang with you?”
Hearing this, Sang Yan finally showed some reaction, turning his head slightly.
The next second, a bright male voice came from the other end of the phone, filled with laughter.
“Yes, it’s me.”
“When did you come back?” Wen Yifan smiled, “How come there was no warning, I didn’t hear Qiao Qiao mention it.”
“How did I not mention it,” Zhong Siqiao exclaimed, immediately explaining, “Didn’t I tell you before that this guy was coming back next month? You just forgot.”
Come to think of it, Wen Yifan and Xiang Lang hadn’t seen each other for a long time.
She hadn’t been back to Nanwu since moving to Beiyu. And Xiang Lang had gone abroad after graduating from high school, it had been several years now. They had only kept in touch intermittently in between, and as time went by, they contacted each other less.
Wen Yifan mostly heard about his recent situation from Zhong Siqiao.
“Isn’t it Monday today? Qiao Qiao, aren’t you at work?” Wen Yifan asked, “How come you two are together?”
“Our company has already started the holiday,” Zhong Siqiao explained, “We just met, that’s why we sent you messages early in the morning, wanting to meet up with you. But you only replied now.”
Wen Yifan said frankly: “I just woke up.”
Xiang Lang laughed: “I guessed as much.”
“Alright then, you’d better go eat something, you’re going to work later, right?” Zhong Siqiao said, “We know you’re busy today, so let’s set another time. When do you have a day off, let’s meet up, the three of us?”
“In a couple of days,” Wen Yifan thought for a moment, “I’m off work on Wednesday.”
Zhong Siqiao asked again: “How many days do you get off for the New Year?”
Wen Yifan: “Three days.”
“Damn, ah, wuwuwu our Yifan is too pitiful,” Zhong Siqiao said, “Okay, I won’t bother you anymore, so we’ll see you in a couple of days. Remember to bring my bracelet.”
Xiang Lang added: “Don’t stand us up.”
Wen Yifan laughed: “Of course not.”
After hanging up the phone, Wen Yifan lowered her head to take a sip of coffee. When she looked up again, she suddenly met Sang Yan’s gaze. Thinking it was just a coincidence, she withdrew her gaze but then saw from the corner of her eye that he seemed to still be looking at her.
Just as Wen Yifan was about to ask if he had something to say, Sang Yan suddenly brought up the content of her recent phone call.
“You’re off on Wednesday?”
Wen Yifan looked at him: “Mm.”
Sang Yan put down his phone: “Planning to go out?”
Wen Yifan nodded, unconsciously saying: “Xiang Lang is back in the country, so we’re just meeting up.”
After answering, she looked at Sang Yan, casually saying: “You two should know each other, right? He seems to have told me you were in the same class in your third year of high school.”
Sang Yan: “Oh, don’t remember.”
“…”
Wen Yifan didn’t know what he was trying to do, but she didn’t continue the conversation.
A moment later.
Sang Yan asked again: “Have you chosen a place?”
Wen Yifan: “No.”
“Then why not come to my bar?” Sang Yan crossed his legs on the sofa, speaking leisurely, “We’re roommates after all, help take care of my business, won’t you?”