It was colder outside than when she had arrived earlier.
The only warm sweater, now soaked through, had been stuffed into her bag. By the time she reached her front door, Wen Yifan felt her body was no longer her own. She opened the door and instinctively glanced across the hall.
At this hour, the man opposite probably hadn’t returned yet.
Usually, it was around two or three in the morning when she had already fallen into a deep sleep, that he would pass by her door with a smile, maliciously knocking twice on the door panel. The force was heavy, sounding like thunder in the dead of night.
Then he would return to his apartment.
Doing nothing else.
It was infuriating, yet there seemed to be no way to resolve the issue.
Wen Yifan had reported this situation to the landlord several times, but it appeared to have no effect.
After locking the door, Wen Yifan boiled some water and sent a WeChat message to Zhong Siqiao: [I’m home.]
Zhong Siqiao’s place was far from Shang’an, and she was still on the subway: [So fast? I still have several stops to go.]
Zhong Siqiao: [Hey.]
Zhong Siqiao: [The wind just now reminded me of Sang Yan’s behavior tonight.]
Zhong Siqiao: [Do you think Sang Yan was afraid you’d be cold, so he threw you his jacket? Then he was too embarrassed to say so and made up that excuse.]
Wen Yifan was rummaging through her wardrobe for a change of clothes. Glancing at this message, she paused: [Say something more realistic.]
Zhong Siqiao: [?]
Zhong Siqiao: [What’s unrealistic about what I said!!!]
Wen Yifan: [He came to solve a problem.]
Wen Yifan: [So he probably feared I’d catch a cold and try to extort medical fees from him.]
Zhong Siqiao: […]
Zhong Siqiao: [Then why didn’t he just ask someone else to give you a jacket?]
Wen Yifan: [It’s not easy to do that in such cold weather.]
Zhong Siqiao: [?]
Wen Yifan reminded her: [He might not have been able to borrow one.]
Zhong Siqiao: […]
Just then, a low battery notification popped up.
Wen Yifan put her phone on the table to charge and entered the bathroom. As she gradually removed her makeup, she stared at her face in the mirror, her movements suddenly halting.
The unfamiliar eyes and brows she had seen not long ago flashed through her mind.
Wen Yifan lowered her gaze, absentmindedly tossing the makeup remover pad into the trash.
Setting aside the present, even when they were most familiar with the past, Wen Yifan didn’t understand Sang Yan that well. So she couldn’t tell if he was pretending not to recognize her, or if he truly didn’t recognize her.
It was like a coin toss game.
With no clues to follow and no way to guess, one could only rely on luck to get the result.
After all, in her view, both possibilities…
Were things he was capable of doing-
After blow-drying her hair, Wen Yifan habitually opened her computer and wrote news articles for a while. Only when she started feeling drowsy did she return to bed, reaching out to grab her phone from the table.
Not long after she had entered the bathroom, Zhong Siqiao had sent a few more messages: [Anything is possible, even if it’s not, we can imagine it to make ourselves feel better.]
Zhong Siqiao: [I’m quite curious, how do you feel now when you see Sang Yan?]
This was followed by a gossipy emoji.
Wen Yifan thought for a moment: [He is indeed quite handsome.]
Zhong Siqiao: […]
Zhong Siqiao: [That’s it?]
Wen Yifan: [I haven’t thought of anything else yet, I’ll tell you when I do.]
Wen Yifan: [I’m going to sleep now, I’m so tired.]
To be honest, saying she had no feelings at all would be a lie. But she felt there was nothing worth mentioning, and bringing it up would lead to a lot of discussion. It was better to get more sleep at that time.
She tossed her phone aside and began to drift off.
As usual, Wen Yifan slept poorly.
She was in a state between sleep and wakefulness, entangled in bizarre dreams. Just when she felt she was about to break free and fall into deep sleep, she was awakened by that idiot next door slapping her door.
Pulling the blanket down from her head, Wen Yifan felt irritated from head to toe.
Wen Yifan was known for her good temper, her ability to calmly handle any situation, and her rarely showing much emotional fluctuation.
Perhaps everyone needs an outlet for release.
So her morning temper was extremely severe.
Being woken up would make her lose her rationality.
Especially in this situation, when she felt she was about to fall into deep sleep.
Wen Yifan tried to calm herself down, only hoping the person outside would quickly leave after knocking a few times, as usual.
Unexpectedly, this time he seemed possessed, continuously knocking on the door, hiccupping from alcohol: “Not awake yet? Beautiful sister, help me out, my bathroom is broken… Let me use yours to take a shower…”
Wen Yifan closed her eyes briefly, got up to find her camera, adjusted its position, and started recording the door. Then, she picked up her phone and directly dialed 110, clearly reporting her address and the situation.
After all this commotion, what little sleepiness she had left completely disappeared.
Middle of the night, living alone, a drunk man harassed her outside the door.
Wen Yifan felt that in this situation, she should be scared. But at this moment, she only felt angry and exhausted, with no energy left for other emotions.
Because he received no response, the man had returned home before the police arrived.
Wen Yifan showed the recorded footage to the police and requested to resolve this issue at the police station. Since it had escalated to calling the police, she had no intention of reconciling and planned to move out after this incident.
In the video, the door shook violently from the knocking, accompanied by the man’s incoherent voice. It was chilling to watch.
The police knocked on the door across the hall.
After a while, the man opened the door, irritably saying: “Who is it!”
“We received a report,” said the police officer, “that you were harassing your neighbor in the middle of the night.”
“What harassment.” The man paused for a few seconds, pretending to be disoriented, his tone was no longer as aggressive as before, “Officer, I just came back after drinking, I might have knocked on the wrong door while drunk. It’s just a misunderstanding.”
The police officer maintained a stern face: “The person provided a video, you knocked on the wrong door and asked to take a shower in their place? Don’t try to fool me here. Hurry up, come with us to the police station.”
In this weather, the man was only wearing a tight-fitting short-sleeved shirt, revealing the fierce tiger tattoo on his arm. His build was sturdy, muscles bulging like a wall.
The man tried to explain a few more times, but seeing it was useless, he quickly gave up.
He raised his head, his gaze deep, staring at Wen Yifan standing behind the police officers.
Wen Yifan leaned against the doorframe with her arms crossed, staring back at him expressionlessly. Her eyes were cold, showing no fear, instead looking as if she was staring at something dirty.
…
At the police station.
The man insisted he was just talking nonsense while drunk, while Wen Yifan clearly explained the situation over the past period. But this incident hadn’t caused her any financial loss, only leading to mental sensitivity and weakness.
In the end, the man was fined a few hundred yuan and detained for a few days, and that was it.
Before leaving the police station, one of the older officers kindly advised her not to live in shared rental housing.
Not just for this kind of problem, but also for other safety concerns.
Previously, due to a fire caused by an electrical overload in a shared rental house, the Nanwu government had started to pay attention to this issue. Once the policy was approved, they would begin to manage it.
Wen Yifan nodded and thanked him.
Outside, the sky had already brightened.
She decided to go straight back to the TV station.
After returning to Nanwu, Wen Yifan applied through social recruitment to the “Convey” program of Nanwu TV Station’s City Channel.
“Convey” was a livelihood news program at the station, mainly reporting on livelihood news in the city and surrounding counties and towns, with the purpose of “focusing on people’s lives and conveying people’s voices.”
Wen Yifan felt her situation was quite worthy of attention, and randomly thought about whether she should submit this incident as a topic proposal as she entered the office.
The lights were on inside, but no one was there.
She went to the pantry to make a cup of coffee, feeling completely drained at this point, with no appetite even for breakfast. But she couldn’t sleep either, so she scrolled through news apps and began writing articles.
The entire day passed in a daze.
When the new intern Fu Zhuang went out with her for an interview, his expression was hesitant throughout, and he finally couldn’t help but ask: “Sister Yifan, did I do something wrong?”
Wen Yifan only then realized that her morning temper had lasted nearly a whole day.
After finally submitting the news piece, for the first time, Wen Yifan didn’t choose to work overtime and directly packed up to leave.
The night temperature was low, the cold wind like sharp ice blades cutting past her ears.
After walking a few steps, Wen Yifan received a message from Zhong Siqiao.
Zhong Siqiao: [Wen Yifan, I’m dead.]
“…”
Wen Yifan: [?]
Zhong Siqiao: [I! Really! Am! Going! To! Die!]
Zhong Siqiao: [My bracelet is missing!]
Zhong Siqiao: [The one my idol gave me! I’ve barely worn it a few times, wuwuwuwu!]
Wen Yifan: [Couldn’t find it?]
Zhong Siqiao: [No TAT]
Zhong Siqiao: [I only noticed it was missing this morning at the company, I thought it was at home, but I just got back and couldn’t find it either.]
Zhong Siqiao: [But I feel like I left it at Sang Yan’s bar.]
Zhong Siqiao: [Can you help me ask about it after you get off work? It’s too far for me to go to Shang’an.]
Wen Yifan: [Okay.]
Wen Yifan: [Don’t worry too much.]
Wen Yifan’s brain felt rusty, slowly processing the direction, before finally lifting her feet again. Fortunately, Duoluo Street wasn’t far, just a seven or eight-minute walk.
Further in, she found the “Overtime” bar.
She walked in.
Unlike last night’s style, the circular stage was now occupied by a rock band, the music so loud it made one’s ears ache. The bar was dimly lit with a lively atmosphere, colorful lights flashing rapidly.
Wen Yifan walked to the bar counter.
The bartender with dyed yellow hair was still there.
Wen Yifan called out to him: “Excuse me.”
The bartender smiled: “Good evening, ma’am. What would you like to drink?”
Wen Yifan shook her head and directly stated her purpose: “I came here with a friend yesterday and lost a bracelet. I wonder if you’ve found it?”
Hearing this, the bartender seemed to recognize her and immediately nodded: “Yes, we have. Please wait a moment.”
“Okay, thank you for your trouble.”
Wen Yifan stood waiting.
She watched as the bartender pulled open a drawer on one side and rummaged through it. Then he opened another drawer and searched again. His movements suddenly stopped, and he looked up in a certain direction, waving and calling out: “Yu Zhuo.”
The waiter called “Yu Zhuo” came over: “Yes, Brother He, what’s the matter?”
Wen Yifan looked over.
She immediately recognized him as the waiter who had spilled drinks on her yesterday.
The bartender asked, puzzled: “The bracelet you found yesterday, didn’t I put it here? Why can’t I find it?”
“Ah? That bracelet…” Yu Zhuo was also confused, then suddenly remembered, “Oh, right. Brother Yan took it when he came down to get his clothes.”
“…”
Thinking she had misheard, Wen Yifan was stunned and couldn’t help but speak up: “What?”
Yu Zhuo reflexively repeated: “Brother Yan took it.”
“…”
This time Wen Yifan heard clearly and could hardly believe it.
The owner of such a large bar.
So blatantly took possession of a customer’s accidentally lost property.
The bartender didn’t know about this and looked very confused: “Why would Brother Yan take it? Where did he go? Wasn’t he just here a moment ago?”
Yu Zhuo seemed oblivious: “I don’t know.”
There was a moment of silence.
The bartender looked back at Wen Yifan somewhat embarrassedly: “I’m sorry, our lost and found is usually managed by the boss. Why don’t you leave your contact information, or wait a bit, and I’ll contact the boss now.”
Wen Yifan didn’t want to stay here too long, thinking it would be the same to come back tomorrow: “It’s alright, I’ll leave my contact information.”
“Okay.” The bartender pulled out a business card from the side and handed it to her, “Please write it on this.”
Wen Yifan lowered her head and wrote a string of numbers on it, then handed it back to him: “Please help look for it again. If you find it, just call this number—”
Before she could finish speaking.
The business card was suddenly snatched from behind.
Wen Yifan turned around, caught off guard.
She saw Sang Yan standing behind her, very close, as if confining her. He was tall, slender, and handsome, tilting his head slightly, casually glancing at the business card.
Then, his gaze met hers.
The scene of colorful lights and alcohol, the deafening music, and the mixed scent of tobacco and sandalwood.
The man’s features naturally carried a cold air, but now mixed with a hint of playfulness.
A familiar yet strange look.
As if he had recognized her.
In an instant.
The corner of his lips relaxed, and he said with a half-smile: “Still not giving up?”
Not understanding his words, Wen Yifan was stunned.
Sang Yan casually tossed the business card back in front of her, slowly straightening up and distancing himself from her.
“Came especially to leave your contact information?” he asked.