The atmosphere seemed to have reached an impasse.
In the quiet space, the thick soup in the pot bubbled, making a gurgling sound. The smoke swirled before their eyes as if adding a filter, blurring Sang Yan’s features.
“I didn’t originally intend to choose this major,” Wen Yifan lowered her eyes, naturally coming up with an excuse. “There was a problem with my estimated scores at the time. I couldn’t get into the major I wanted, so I was reassigned to New Media.”
Hearing this, Sang Yan also withdrew his gaze and calmly took a sip of alcohol.
Sang Zhi looked at Sang Yan, then back at Wen Yifan, feeling that the atmosphere was somewhat strange.
Wen Yifan, however, seemed oblivious to it all and continued, “But now, I think you can see your scores before applying for majors. You can refer to the previous years’ score lines when you apply, so you’ll have a better idea of where you stand.”
“Okay,” Sang Zhi obediently replied, “Thank you, Sister Yifan.”
The topic gradually shifted to other matters.
The earlier awkward moment seemed to have been glossed over.
After dinner.
Sang Yan, being the one who cooked, finished eating, and sauntered off like a young master, sitting on the sofa to play with his phone.
Sang Zhi was about to habitually walk towards the living room, but noticing Wen Yifan standing up to start cleaning, she stopped and went back to help.
Wen Yifan looked at her and smiled, “You go study, I can clean up.”
“It’s okay,” Sang Zhi smiled, “It won’t take much time.”
“Then help me put those dishes together.”
“Alright.”
Half a minute later.
“Sister Yifan,” out of curiosity, Sang Zhi lowered her voice and whispered, “Can I ask you a question?”
“What is it?”
“If you don’t want to answer, just pretend you didn’t hear me,” Sang Zhi asked somewhat embarrassedly, but still wanted to know, after all, she couldn’t get this information from Sang Yan, “Did you and my brother date before?”
“…” Wen Yifan said, “No.”
Getting a negative answer, Sang Zhi wasn’t surprised: “Because my parents mentioned that my brother had a premature romance in high school, and then I thought about the time I ‘got lost’ in front of you before, so I thought it might be you.”
“…”
“So he didn’t manage to pursue you,” Sang Zhi pondered for a moment, guessing, “Later, he switched to—”
Before she could finish, Sang Yan suddenly stood up: “Kid.”
Sang Zhi turned around: “What?”
“Let’s go,” Sang Yan grabbed his jacket from the sofa, saying coolly, “I’ll take you home.”
Sang Zhi hadn’t finished her gossip, her expression dull: “Can’t I stay a bit longer?”
“Weren’t you in a hurry to go back and do practice questions?” Sang Yan put on his jacket. Having had some alcohol, he only took the house keys, “Or were you just bluffing?”
“…” Sang Zhi had no choice but to say to Wen Yifan, “Sister Yifan, we’ll talk next time. I’m leaving now.”
Wen Yifan looked up: “Alright, be careful on the way.”
…
After leaving the community, Sang Yan hailed a taxi.
Sang Zhi got in first, fastened her seatbelt, and mentioned, “Brother, I feel like your attitude towards Sister Yifan isn’t very good. Isn’t she quite nice? She speaks so gently too.”
Sang Zhi had met most of Sang Yan’s friends, but they were almost all male.
Nearly all of them were chatterboxes, childish and boisterous when together. Sang Yan’s attitude towards those friends couldn’t be described as good either, his words were vicious and arrogant, making people want to fight him to the death on the spot.
But his way of treating Wen Yifan was different.
It was close to cold indifference, even his words were icy.
However, Sang Zhi hadn’t seen any other girls around him.
She didn’t know if this attitude was considered normal.
“Is this your current method of picking up girls?” Sang Zhi stared at his face, muttering softly, “But just looking at appearances, you two aren’t from the same world.”
Sang Yan glanced at her.
Sang Zhi very sincerely gave him advice: “Besides, brother, girls won’t like this kind of attitude.”
“…”
“They generally like gentle ones,” Sang Zhi thought for a moment, counting on her fingers one by one, “good-tempered, attentive, not always ignoring people. It doesn’t matter if the family background isn’t great—”
Thinking of how Sang Yan had been unemployed for so long without looking for a job, Sang Zhi wanted to remind him: “You just need to be ambitious and hardworking, not be an unemployed loafer at home all day.”
Sang Yan finally spoke, impatiently: “Is Duan Jiaxu your ideal type?”
“…”
Sang Zhi immediately shut up.
The ride was quiet until they reached the entrance of the community.
Sang Zhi got out of the car, and when she turned back, she saw Sang Yan still in the car. She was stunned and asked suspiciously: “Why aren’t you getting out?”
Sang Yan: “You go up by yourself.”
Sang Zhi realized and said in disbelief: “You’re not coming home to sleep tonight?”
Sang Yan: “Mm.”
“Aren’t you afraid Mom and Dad will break your legs!” Sang Zhi hadn’t thought he would be so bold, “Then call them yourself, otherwise they’ll ask me when they come back later.”
Sang Yan clicked his tongue, too lazy to even pretend: “What’s wrong with you making up something for me?”
“…”
“I’m off.”
–
After cleaning up the dining table, Wen Yifan returned to her room.
Wen Yifan didn’t immediately go to shower, but sat at her desk and checked her phone. She found that Zhao Yuandong had sent her several more WeChat messages. The content was similar to before, all telling Wen Yifan to take care of herself while working overtime during the Spring Festival and to come back to see her when she had a holiday.
She replied with a “Okay.”
After sending it successfully, Wen Yifan opened a new episode of a drama and started watching.
Before she knew it, her mind had wandered.
She recalled Sang Zhi’s words from earlier.
— “Because my parents mentioned that my brother had a premature romance in high school.”
If she wasn’t mistaken.
The person they were referring to should be her.
In high school, the teachers thought they were in a premature romance and called them both in to talk about it. She remembered this happened twice, once in their first year and once in their second year of high school.
Wen Yifan’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing.
She answered the call and heard Zhong Siqiao’s voice: “Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”
Wen Yifan made a sound of agreement.
Zhong Siqiao: “Sigh, we haven’t seen each other these past few days.”
Wen Yifan laughed: “It’s not like we won’t have another chance.”
“Why do we live so far apart…” Zhong Siqiao continued to sigh, “I’ve been visiting relatives for a few days, it’s both tiring and boring. If they’re not asking me if I have a partner, they’re asking if I want them to introduce me to someone, as if they’ve agreed on it.”
“How are things going with your crush?”
“I thought we were getting somewhere, but he still hasn’t said anything,” Zhong Siqiao sounded a bit troubled, “Is he keeping me as a backup? Or is he waiting for a more meaningful holiday to confess to me?”
“If you like him, there’s nothing wrong with you taking the initiative. But you need to see clearly what kind of person he—” Before she could finish, Wen Yifan suddenly heard the sound of the door opening and closing at the entrance. Her voice paused.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing, I heard some noise in the living room,” Wen Yifan hadn’t expected him to come back tonight and casually said, “It’s probably Sang Yan coming back.”
Zhong Siqiao was surprised: “He’s not staying at home on the third day of the New Year?”
Before she could answer, Zhong Siqiao continued: “But I still find it a bit weird to hear that you two are living together. After all, didn’t he like you before? Nothing happened between you two?”
Wen Yifan honestly replied: “We’ve barely even seen each other’s faces.”
“Alright then.” Zhong Siqiao said, “I guess that’s true, after all, it’s been so many years.”
Thinking about the university topic that came up tonight, Wen Yifan brought up something: “Qiaoqiao, was Xiang Lang originally planning to apply to Yihe University? I don’t have much impression of this.”
“He did, but he only mentioned it a few times at the beginning of our first year of high school,” Zhong Siqiao realized, “You’re talking about what he said during that truth or dare game when we went out, right? I also wanted to point it out when he said it, but I held back.”
“…”
“He was just being a jerk, those words were deliberately said for Sang Yan to hear. They didn’t get along well when they were in the same class in their third year of high school,” Zhong Siqiao laughed, “I forgot to tell you, after sending you back, this idiot accidentally let it slip. He said he was used to it and forgot how many years had passed. He also said that Sang Yan seems too cold now, it’s not interesting anymore. In the past, if he said things like this, he could provoke Sang Yan into hundreds of rounds of sarcastic exchanges.”
“…”
They chatted for a while longer.
After hanging up the phone, Wen Yifan stood up.
As she was about to go take a shower, she picked up her phone again. She pursed her lips and opened her WeChat chat window with Sang Yan, slowly typing: [About what Xiang Lang said before about going to Yihe University with me]
She stared at the screen, her actions stopping there.
Who knows how long passed?
Wen Yifan let out a breath and deleted all the typed words.
Forget it.
How long had it been since all that happened?
Bringing it up now seemed a bit strange.
Besides, she hadn’t handled the situation well back then.
Even if she wanted to explain now, there was no reason to.
–
The brief three-day holiday ended.
Wen Yifan went back to her daily routine of preparing to leave as soon as she opened her eyes and closed her eyes to sleep right after washing up when she got home. The slightly more harmonious interaction with Sang Yan seemed to have disappeared along with the end of the holiday.
After that, they returned to their normal state.
They would see each other every day.
But the number of conversations was pitifully few.
However, Wen Yifan felt that this interaction couldn’t be called unpleasant, at most it could be said that their relationship hadn’t been brought any closer during this time, fulfilling their initial promise of non-interference, each living their own life.
Before they knew it, the entire month of February had passed.
It seemed that overnight, the bone-chilling cold was driven away by the arrival of spring, and the temperature gradually rose.
Wen Yifan hadn’t visited Zhao Yuandong during the previous Spring Festival.
Perhaps because of this, since then, the number of times Zhao Yuandong contacted her has increased. She would talk to her every day, and by the end, it would always turn into “When will you have time to come see Mom?”
As time went on, Wen Yifan felt that dragging it out like this was also troublesome, so she decided to meet once to get it over with. She thought that after the meeting, the frequency of Zhao Yuandong contacting her would probably not be as frequent as it is now.
Wen Yifan’s day off was the day after Arbor Day.
That afternoon, following the address Zhao Yuandong had given, Wen Yifan took the subway there.
As soon as she reached the entrance of the community, she saw Zhao Yuandong’s figure.
Zhao Yuandong was wearing a long dress, her makeup light, her hair reaching her waist and permed into curls.
Time seemed to have left no trace on her face. Compared to a few years ago, her appearance hadn’t changed much. She was unbelievably beautiful, with the charm befitting her age.
Wen Yifan’s looks mostly took after her.
Seeing Wen Yifan, Zhao Yuandong’s gaze paused, and she immediately walked over. The excitement in her demeanor was completely unconcealed, but her movements showed awkwardness, only lightly holding her arm: “Ajian, you’re here.”
“Mm.”
“How come you’re wearing so little coming out?”
Wen Yifan, holding the fruit she had just bought on the way, smiled and said: “It’s not cold.”
Silence fell.
Zhao Yuandong’s gaze rested on her face.
The two hadn’t seen each other for many years and felt unfamiliar with each other.
Looking at her face, Zhao Yuandong’s eyes gradually reddened, and she unconsciously turned her head away: “Look at me…”
“…” Wen Yifan disliked dealing with such situations. She lightly pursed her lips, “Let’s go in first. I have something to do later, I’ll have to leave after dinner. I can’t stay here for too long.”
“Alright, alright, come home with Mom.” Zhao Yuandong wiped her eyes, “Mom also doesn’t want to disturb your work and rest. If you’re not free, I can come over to your place for a visit. In the future, if you want to eat anything, just give Mom a call, and I’ll come over to cook for you.”
“I’m sharing a rental with someone, I’m afraid it might affect my roommate.”
“Then come over more often when you’re free,” Zhao Yuandong looked her up and down, her eyes filled with concern, “Look how thin you are, there’s no meat on you at all. Have you not been eating properly?”
Wen Yifan: “I have been eating.”
Zhao Yuandong looked at her several more times, sighing: “Our Ajian has grown up, much prettier than before.”
Wen Yifan just smiled.
The two walked to the building where Zhao Yuandong lived.
The house Zhao Yuandong was living in now wasn’t the same place Wen Yifan had moved to with her after she remarried. She had probably moved a few years ago. It was a new high-end residential complex with good landscaping and property management.
The space was also much larger.
In her memory, Zhao Yuandong had mentioned this to her.
But Wen Yifan hadn’t paid much attention, so she didn’t remember when it happened.
As they got into the elevator, Zhao Yuandong spoke beside her: “Oh right, you haven’t met Xinxin yet.” As she said this, her smile became more obvious: “He’s almost three years old now.”
The Xinxin Zhao Yuandong mentioned was named Zheng Kexin.
He was Wen Yifan’s half-brother.
“Your Uncle Zheng is still at work.” The elevator had just arrived, and Zhao Yuandong took out her keys from her pocket, “Jiajia isn’t home either, she only comes home once every few weeks since she started university. And she specifically told me once before that she was too young back then and had too much malice towards you, but now she has come to terms with it and feels sorry for you.”
Wen Yifan gave a mild “mm” in response.
Zhao Yuandong opened the door and let Wen Yifan in first: “Sit down first.”
As she said this, she suddenly remembered something: “Oh right, Ajian. Your aunt is also here. A few days ago, when she heard I said you had come to Nanwu, she specially came over from Beiyu today, saying she wanted to see you—”
Hearing this, Wen Yifan raised her eyes.
At the same time, she saw Che Yanqin, the aunt Zhao Yuandong mentioned, walk out of the room.
“Oh, Shuangjiang is here.” Che Yanqin had a perm that made her look like an older woman, about the same age as Zhao Yuandong, but they looked like they were from different age groups. Her voice also sounded coarse, “Come, come, let auntie have a look at you.”
“…”
“How many years has it been,” Che Yanqin walked over while laughing and scolding, “You ungrateful child, after you went off to university, it’s like you forgot where your home was, not even coming back to see your aunt once.”
Wen Yifan’s expression froze, and she turned her head to quietly look at Zhao Yuandong.
Zhao Yuandong didn’t notice and just asked: “Where’s Xinxin?”
“He’s sleeping, he was running around all afternoon and is tired now.” After saying this, Che Yanqin brought the topic back to Wen Yifan, “Shuangjiang has grown more and more beautiful.”
Zhao Yuandong smiled: “Yes, you can’t take your eyes off her.”
Che Yanqin: “She’s much prettier than you were when you were young.”
“Of course,” Zhao Yuandong laughed, then pulled Wen Yifan’s hand, tugging her to sit down, “Let’s sit down first, Ajian can sit with Mom and chat.”
“…”
Che Yanqin sat on another sofa and casually asked: “What kind of work is Shuangjiang doing now?”
Wen Yifan didn’t respond.
Instead, Zhao Yuandong answered for her: “Still the same as when she was at Yihe, a news reporter.”
Che Yanqin frowned: “Doesn’t that not make much money? And it’s hard work.”
“It’s fine as long as Ajian likes it,” Zhao Yuandong said, “As long as it’s enough to live on, she doesn’t need too much.”
“That’s true.” Che Yanqin suddenly reached out and patted Wen Yifan’s arm, seemingly about to get angry, “Shuangjiang, how come you don’t greet your aunt when you see her, has studying too much made you lose your manners?”
Wen Yifan raised her eyes to look at her, still not saying a word.
“Ajian’s personality is more steady now than before, she doesn’t talk much…” Seeing the atmosphere become awkward, Zhao Yuandong’s smile carried some embarrassment, “Ajian, what’s wrong with you, why don’t you greet your aunt? She has been kind to us, she even helped Mom take care of you for a few years before.”
Che Yanqin again put on a smiling face: “That’s right, I treated Shuangjiang like my own daughter.”
Wen Yifan felt like their voices were like bombers, so noisy that her head was about to explode.
She lowered her head, resisting the urge to stand up and leave right now.
“Yuandong.” Glancing at the fruit on the table, Che Yanqin said, “Look, Shuangjiang bought fruit, didn’t she? Go wash it, let’s cut it and eat, don’t waste her thoughtfulness.”
Zhao Yuandong just remembered this: “Alright, we’ll have some fruit and then I’ll start preparing dinner.”
After Zhao Yuandong went into the kitchen, Che Yanqin stared at Wen Yifan’s face, clicking her tongue: “Shuangjiang, you, you don’t know how to use your advantages. You’re so beautiful, you could just find a good husband and get married, why live such a hard life?”
Wen Yifan acted as if she hadn’t heard.
“Don’t think auntie is annoying, auntie is just looking out for you, I don’t feel good seeing you live such a tiring life.” Che Yanqin said, “Quit your job and come back to Beiyu with auntie, so I can continue to take care of you.”
“Your uncle has a business partner who is very rich, just a bit older than you, but very kind to people.” Che Yanqin said, “Let auntie introduce you, don’t keep living like this, you need to find someone to pamper you.”
Wen Yifan raised her eyes.
Che Yanqin continued: “Also, your brother is getting married this year, and he doesn’t have a marital home yet. We took care of you for so long before, you should help out a bit. After all, you’re just a girl, you don’t need much—”
The “brother” she mentioned was Che Yanqin’s son, Wen Ming.
“I recently met a company boss,” Wen Yifan interrupted her, expressionlessly saying, “He’s also very rich, and coincidentally, he likes men. Do you need me to help introduce Wen Ming to him?”
“…” Che Yanqin was stunned for a moment, then immediately got angry, “How dare you talk like that!”
Hearing the commotion, Zhao Yuandong immediately came out of the kitchen: “What’s going on?”
Since she came in, Wen Yifan hadn’t taken off her bag, and now she stood up directly. She felt her patience had reached its limit. She straightened her clothes: “I won’t come here again.”
Zhao Yuandong didn’t hear clearly: “What?”
Wen Yifan’s gaze met hers, clearly repeating: “This is the last time I’m coming here.”
“…”
“Originally, I didn’t want to contact anyone. But my dad told me that after he was gone, I should take good care of you.” This time Wen Yifan couldn’t even muster a smile, slowly saying, “I can’t pretend I didn’t hear his last wish.”
“…”
“So you might as well consider me dead along with him.”
–
When Wen Yifan got home, the sky had completely darkened.
She changed into her slippers, and as she looked up, she saw Sang Yan lying on the sofa playing with his phone as usual. He was wearing casual clothes, his bangs falling over his forehead, his sitting posture lazy, looking extremely comfortable.
He overlapped with the image of the young boy who used to sit behind her in class, constantly nudging her chair with his leg to get attention.
The living room TV was on, playing some unknown movie, currently emitting exaggerated laughter.
Wen Yifan stopped in her tracks and inexplicably called out to him: “Sang Yan.”
The two hardly ever communicated at home.
Perhaps surprised, Sang Yan looked up and put down his phone: “What?”
“…” Wen Yifan came back to her senses, swallowed what she was about to say, and smiled, “I might need to rest early today, could you turn down the TV volume before 9 o’clock?”
Sang Yan stared at her for a while, and this time he was very agreeable: “Sure.”
Wen Yifan nodded: “Thank you.”
She returned to her room and quickly took a shower.
After coming out of the bathroom, Wen Yifan felt utterly exhausted, so tired that it seemed she could fall asleep as soon as she closed her eyes. But her brain was uncontrollably filled with countless images flashing by, slowly tearing apart her spirit.
Finally, she was gradually pieced back together by dreams and drowsiness.
…
Meanwhile.
Seeing Wen Yifan return to her room, Sang Yan directly turned off the TV. Feeling that something wasn’t quite right with her, he continued playing games for a while, but quickly lost interest and just quit.
Sang Yan opened his chat window with Wen Yifan: [What’s wrong with you?]
After staring at it for a while, Sang Yan didn’t hesitate for long and promptly hit send. Afterward, he casually started another game, but even after finishing a round, there was still no reply from her.
Did she fall asleep so quickly?
Seeing that it was getting late, Sang Yan put his phone aside and got up to return to his room. He picked up his change of clothes and walked towards the bathroom. Glancing in the direction of the master bedroom, his gaze paused, and he went back to the living room to get his phone.
Only then did he enter the bathroom.
Sang Yan turned up the volume on his phone, took off his clothes, and started showering.
When he finished showering and lit up his phone screen again, there was still no reply from her.
Sang Yan’s lips twitched slightly. He put on his clothes and left the bathroom. He put his phone back in his pocket and used a towel to dry his hair as he walked towards the kitchen, intending to get a bottle of cold water to drink.
He had just reached the dining area.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a door opening behind him.
Sang Yan turned around.
He saw Wen Yifan come out, her movements somewhat slow, her expression dazed.
He raised an eyebrow and draped the towel over his neck: “What are you doing?”
Wen Yifan didn’t speak, walking towards him.
She stopped in front of him.
“You come out right after I finished showering? No need to be so purposeful,” Sang Yan looked down at her, his tone teasing, “Want to see a handsome man come—”
Before he could finish speaking, Wen Yifan suddenly reached out and hugged him.
“…” Sang Yan’s body froze.