After the live broadcast ended, Zhen Yu interviewed a few nearby citizens who had come to watch the fireworks show.
Afterward, the group packed up their things and headed back.
Thinking about what had just happened, Wen Yifan felt uneasy inside. She called out to Fu Zhuang, who was sitting in the back seat with her: “Da Zhuang.”
Fu Zhuang responded: “Yeah?”
Wen Yifan, still wearing her mask, asked: “If you saw me on the street like this, wearing a mask and clothes you’ve never seen before…” She paused, then asked seriously: “Would you recognize me?”
“Just wearing a mask?” Fu Zhuang considered carefully, then asked very precisely, “Nothing else covered? Like sunglasses or a hat or something?”
“Just like I am now.”
Fu Zhuang replied matter-of-factly: “Of course I would!”
“…”
“Sister Yifan, to be honest, I’ve never seen anyone as beautiful as you,” Fu Zhuang said, scratching his head embarrassedly. “On my first day of work, when I saw you, I thought you were some big star who had wandered into the wrong place.”
Zhen Yu in the front passenger seat laughed: “Xiao Fan is indeed beautiful.”
“That’s certainly true,” said Qian Weihua, much more amiable during leisure time than usual. He joked, “Xiao Fan, do you have a boyfriend? One of these days, I should introduce you to my son.”
Zhen Yu laughed and scolded: “Oh come on, isn’t your son still in elementary school?”
Fu Zhuang grinned cheekily: “Well, how about considering me then?”
Not annoyed by their teasing, Wen Yifan smiled and replied: “Let’s wait until that New Year’s wish of yours comes true first.”
Fu Zhuang exclaimed: “Sister Yifan, how could you!”
After saying this, Fu Zhuang leaned in close and said quietly: “But you know.”
Wen Yifan: “Hm?”
“Sis, I was so touched that you gave me a hand warmer today,” Fu Zhuang said, his big eyes seeming to seek praise. “So when I made my wish, I made one for you too.”
“What did you wish for?”
“I hope you find a boyfriend who treats you super well, really soon,” Fu Zhuang said, clenching his fist. “Someone with great qualities all around, and as handsome as that guy we saw today!”
“…”
–
It was nearly two in the morning when Wen Yifan got home.
Staying up late was routine for her, so she didn’t feel sleepy, just too exhausted to move. She changed into slippers and sat directly on the carpet by her bed, lazily scrolling through her phone.
Due to the mass message she had sent earlier, there were quite a few missed calls and unread messages.
She replied to them one by one as she continued scrolling down.
Even after reaching the lower part of the message list, there was still no response from Sang Yan.
She tapped into their chat.
Catching sight of the phrase “It’s fine if you’re not happy,” Wen Yifan felt a twinge of unease.
“…”
At the time, she hadn’t thought much about it, just wanting to make a joke to lighten the mood, so she hadn’t felt anything was amiss.
But looking at it now, it seemed to have taken on a different tone.
Like she was taunting him.
Since he didn’t want to engage with her, Wen Yifan didn’t say anything further to invite rejection. Her mind began to wander, and she inexplicably thought of Sang Yan’s conversation with his sister Sang Zhi today.
And then, she recalled their time in the first year of high school.
Back then, both of their grades were very poor, ranking near the bottom of the lowest-ranked class in their year.
Wen Yifan had entered South Wu First High School as a dance specialty student, so naturally, her academic performance wasn’t very good. As for Sang Yan, he was extremely unbalanced in his studies, only focusing on math and science while completely ignoring other subjects. Each time report cards came out, he looked like they had been chewed up by a dog.
He would score nearly perfect marks in math and science, but mostly 30 or 40 points in other subjects.
Every time exam results came out, Sang Yan would look at her science test papers, raising his eyebrows and smiling as he examined them.
After this happened many times, even the good-tempered Wen Yifan couldn’t help but say: “Sang Yan, looking at my test papers won’t do you any good. You need to find the problems in the questions you got wrong yourself.”
“Hm? What kind of misunderstanding do you have about me?” Sang Yan raised his eyes to look at her, his fingertip tracing a circle around a red X on her test paper. He said in a cocky and irritating manner, “Things like this don’t exist on my papers.”
…
Wen Yifan snapped back to the present and grabbed her change of clothes to take a shower.
Regarding Sang Yan pretending not to know her, she could understand it.
He probably saw her and instantly recalled the stupid things he had done for someone unworthy in his reckless youth, remembering that one black mark in his life history. Because of this, he didn’t want to have any more contact with her.
Pretending not to know her was the best choice.
Thinking of this, Wen Yifan considered the situation from Sang Yan’s perspective.
A long-forgotten former crush suddenly appears at his bar and makes what seems like a proposition to hire him;
Deliberately leaving behind a bracelet to secure a second meeting;
Intentionally sending New Year’s greetings to get closer;
Finally, pretending to be bumped into to have physical contact with him.
“…”
Who knows how many things he must have imagined from all this?
–
The new year continued as usual.
On New Year’s Day, Zhong Siqiao sent Wen Yifan the WeChat contact of her classmate who worked in real estate.
But based on Wen Yifan’s desired price range, the several apartments this person recommended were all shared rentals like before or else single rooms in the suburbs.
In the end, Zhong Siqiao gave her a suggestion.
She could find someone to share an apartment with.
Because splitting the rent on a two-bedroom or three-bedroom apartment would be much cheaper.
Wen Yifan accepted this suggestion but didn’t know where to find a roommate. The neighbor next door had left too much of a psychological shadow, making her wary of finding a stranger as a roommate.
She only wanted to find a female friend she knew.
On Thursday afternoon, Wen Yifan came out of the editing room and went to the bathroom.
As she exited the stall, she happened to run into Wang Linlin from her team.
Wang Linlin had been with the “Convey” column for three years, was a few years older than her, and had a sweet appearance and voice. She had been off duty on New Year’s Day, and since she often came late and left early, Wen Yifan felt like she hadn’t seen her in a long time.
Wen Yifan took the initiative to greet her.
Wang Linlin looked at her through the mirror: “Hey, Xiao Fan, what shade is your lipstick? It’s quite pretty.”
Wen Yifan reflexively said: “I’m not wearing any today, but the shade I usually use is—”
“Oh my!” Before she could finish, Wang Linlin interrupted her, saying coquettishly, “What do you mean you’re not wearing any? We’re both women, let’s be honest with each other, okay? If you want to ask about my makeup brands, I can tell you too.”
Having said this, without waiting for a response, Wang Linlin walked out of the bathroom in her high heels.
Wen Yifan stood bewildered in front of the mirror, then hesitantly rubbed her lips with the back of her hand.
“…”
She wasn’t wearing any lipstick.
Back in the office.
Wen Yifan returned to her seat. Wang Linlin’s desk was diagonally behind hers, and at the moment she was half-sitting on her desk, turned to talk to Su Tian at the next table over.
Su Tian had joined the company at the same time as Wen Yifan, they were about the same age and had a fairly good relationship.
Wen Yifan smiled and asked: “What are you chatting about?”
Su Tian: “We’re talking about Sister Lin’s New Year’s Eve with her boyfriend.”
“Just casual chat,” Wang Linlin waved her hand dismissively, speaking very casually, “I was just lucky to have New Year’s Day off, so I went to Huaizhu Bay with my boyfriend for the night. We had a candlelit dinner and enjoyed the hot springs and such. He even transferred me 5,200 and 1,314 yuan. We didn’t do much, it was quite boring.”
“I’m so envious of you, Sister Lin.” Su Tian forced a smile and changed the subject, “By the way, Yifan, aren’t you looking to move? Have you found a new place yet?”
Wang Linlin looked surprised and immediately asked: “Oh, Xiao Fan, you’re moving?”
Wen Yifan: “Yes.”
“What a coincidence!” Wang Linlin jumped up, looking very excited, “I’ve been worrying about this recently. My previous roommate quit her job and went back to her hometown, and I haven’t found a suitable person to live with yet.”
Wen Yifan was taken aback, not yet having processed this information.
Wang Linlin: “Would you like to consider my place?”
Su Tian proactively asked: “Sister Lin, where do you live? Yifan wants to find a place closer to the company.”
Wang Linlin: “It’s in Shangdu Huacheng, very close.”
Wen Yifan knew this residential complex. It was very close to where she currently lived, and she passed by it every day on her way to and from work. It was a newly built complex in recent years, considered one of the more upscale areas in that district.
Su Tian glanced at Wen Yifan and asked again: “So, apart from you, are there any other roommates?”
“No, no, just me,” Wang Linlin patted Wen Yifan’s shoulder, smiling cutely. “Don’t worry, I won’t bring random people home. If we become roommates, we can discuss some ground rules before moving in and such.”
“If you’re interested, after work today, you can come to check out the apartment with me—” Wang Linlin paused mid-sentence and corrected herself, “Oh no, not today. Let’s do it tomorrow, I’m going to the movies with my boyfriend tonight.”
Wen Yifan replied: “Alright, tomorrow then.”
…
While Wang Linlin was in the break room.
Su Tian leaned in, looking somewhat worried: “Are you going to live with her? I find her quite annoying, always bragging about her newly acquired rich boyfriend. And I feel like she’s always speaking to you with a sarcastic tone because you’re pretty.”
Wen Yifan had a general understanding of Wang Linlin’s personality.
She didn’t have any bad intentions, just spoiled and gossipy, which Wen Yifan didn’t consider a major issue. Most of the time, Wang Linlin was quite easy to get along with.
She blinked and said softly: “I’ll take a look at the apartment first.”
–
After work the next day.
Wen Yifan and Wang Linlin took the subway together to Shangdu Huacheng.
The apartment Wang Linlin currently lived in was a three-bedroom, but the landlord only rented out two rooms. One small room was used by the landlord for storage and was always locked. The remaining rooms were a master bedroom with an en-suite bathroom and a secondary bedroom.
So the rent was relatively lower.
But overall it was quite nice, with a kitchen, dining area, balcony, and all necessary facilities.
Wang Linlin had always occupied the master bedroom.
Wen Yifan looked at the secondary bedroom.
The room was spotlessly clean, without a speck of dust on the desk.
Wang Linlin said beside her: “Since I’m in the master bedroom, I’ll pay a bit more rent than you. You’ll pay 2,000 a month, and we’ll split utilities and such. How does that sound?”
This price was slightly higher than her previous shared apartment, but still within her acceptable range.
And the conditions were much better in all aspects.
Wen Yifan didn’t speak, still considering.
“Think about it some more,” Wang Linlin didn’t pressure her for an immediate answer, knowing that moving wasn’t a small matter. She glanced at the time, “It’s getting late, let’s go have dinner first. I’m starving.”
Wen Yifan wasn’t in the habit of eating dinner and wanted to decline. But thinking that they would likely become roommates, and build a good relationship, she agreed.
Just as they left the complex.
Wang Linlin’s phone rang. She answered, her voice becoming several degrees sweeter: “Hello, darling. What’s up?”
Wen Yifan walked quietly beside her.
“I’m out with my colleague right now, we were just about to get dinner.” Wang Linlin started to act coy, “Sure. Where are you? I just left the complex entrance, my feet are so tired from walking… Oh, you’re driving over now? Are you almost here? Okay then, I won’t distract you while you’re driving. I’ll be a good girl and wait for you at the entrance, come pick me up quickly, okay?”
After she hung up, Wen Yifan tactfully said: “I’ll head back then, tomorrow I’ll—”
“Why are you suddenly leaving? Didn’t we agree to have dinner together?” Wang Linlin frowned, then suddenly realized, “Oh, don’t feel awkward, you won’t be a third wheel. My boyfriend is bringing a friend too, just think of it as going to a small gathering.”
Wen Yifan didn’t have time to refuse again.
A black car had already stopped in front of them.
The front passenger window rolled down, and the man in the driver’s seat turned to look over, smiling: “Darling, get in quickly.” The next moment, he caught sight of Wen Yifan standing next to Wang Linlin and was taken aback: “Oh, Wen Yifan?”
Wen Yifan looked over and was also stunned.
She hadn’t expected Wang Linlin’s rich boyfriend to be Su Hao’an.
“Wow, it’s been so many years…” Before he could finish, a honk sounded from behind, “Shit. Quick, you two get in the car first, we can’t park here.”
Wen Yifan: “No…”
Su Hao’an urged: “Hurry!”
“…”
She could only reluctantly get into the back seat.
After getting in, Wen Yifan realized there was already someone else in the back seat.
She looked over carefully.
The interior of the car was darker than the outside.
The man didn’t make any sound, his breathing shallow, but his presence was extremely strong. At this moment, he was sprawled in the seat as if boneless, eyes closed, looking lazy and drowsy.
As if completely unaware of what was happening around him.
The car started moving.
Su Hao’an looked back through the rearview mirror, driving while stirring up trouble: “Hey! Sang Yan, wake up quick! Come see your first love!”
Wen Yifan: “…”