“What’s wrong with you?! I-I didn’t say anything!” Che Xingde supported himself with one hand on the ground, using the other to forcefully break free from Sang Yan’s grip. With a slurred tongue, he said, “I just came here for a f-fucking drink! Who’s causing trouble for who?!”
Sang Yan released his hand, looking at him with an unreadable expression.
“Is this how you treat customers?” Che Xingde struggled to sit up, painfully rubbing his head. “Son of a bitch, you just wait, you fucking piece of shit…”
As if feeling disgusted, Sang Yan said nothing and stood up.
Che Xingde looked up at him, his forehead smeared with some dirt and a few scrapes. He revealed his yellowed teeth, smiling smugly: “Oh, I get it. I touched your woman, and you’re not happy about it, right?”
Hearing this, Sang Yan’s eyelids lowered slightly.
“Is it necessary? We’re both men, you should understand, right?” Che Xingde was still smiling, “Besides, it’s just a woman. Shuangjiang’s not much of a catch anyway—”
Before he could finish, Sang Yan forcefully kicked him in the stomach.
Completely unprepared, Che Xingde’s body instantly slammed back against the wall, the impact making a loud thud. He immediately fell to the ground, supporting himself with both hands and involuntarily started retching.
Sang Yan stared at him expressionlessly, his bangs falling over his forehead, obscuring the emotion in his eyes.
“You motherfucker…” Che Xingde’s voice trembled with discomfort, but noticing there was no one else around this street, he didn’t dare say anything more to provoke him. “I’m gonna call the cops…”
Sang Yan crouched down again, viciously grabbing his hair and yanking it upwards.
“Call the cops for what?”
“…”
“Didn’t you just get drunk and fall because you couldn’t stand straight?” Sang Yan’s lips curled slightly, speaking carelessly, “I was just trying to help you up. Why are you repaying kindness with enmity?”
As he spoke, Sang Yan stood up, effortlessly lifting Che Xingde and slamming him against the wall again.
Che Xingde’s body once again hit the rock-hard cement wall, feeling as if his internal organs were about to be crushed.
Sang Yan stared directly at him, not hiding an ounce of the murderous aura emanating from him. Looking at Che Xingde’s miserable state, his expression remained unchanged as he spoke in a measured tone: “How come you lost your balance again?”
“…”
“Che Xingde?” Sang Yan recalled his name from memory, speaking slowly, as if squeezing each word out through gritted teeth, “Do you need me to help you up again?”
Che Xingde couldn’t speak, only waving his hand and trying to move his body to the side.
At this moment.
Sang Yan heard his phone vibrate. His eyelashes flickered slightly as he paused his actions, casually taking out his phone from his pocket to glance at it.
It was a message from Wei Yifan.
Wei Shuangjiang: [When are you coming home today?]
Wei Shuangjiang: [I’m already home. After the interview, my colleague dropped me off downstairs.]
Sang Yan looked at it for a few seconds and replied: [I’ll be late today]
Sang Yan: [Go to sleep first]
After replying, Sang Yan rotated his neck, playing with his phone. He made no further moves, standing in place and looking down at Che Xingde: “I hope this is the last time I see you.”
Che Xingde was terrified, feeling as if the man before him was like a demon, and he was completely powerless. He instinctively raised his arm, shielding his head in a protective gesture.
“Otherwise,” Sang Yan’s voice was cold and hard as he spoke nonchalantly, “you’ll suffer again.”
…
After Sang Yan left, Che Xingde sat there for a while until he recovered, then slowly stood up, supporting himself against the wall. His expression was vicious as he cursed under his breath, making his way out of the alley and hailing a taxi to go home.
After moving out from Zhao Yuandong’s place, Wen Liangxian’s family rented a small apartment in an urban village in Nanwu. The location was good with high foot traffic, but the only drawback was the poor security.
When he got home, Che Yanqin opened the door for him. Noticing the injuries on his face, she frowned: “What happened?”
Che Xingde immediately started cursing: “It’s all because of that ill-mannered bastard Shuangjiang found! I went to his bar for a drink and he dragged me out and beat me up! Sis! You have to help me—”
Wen Liangxian, hearing the commotion from the master bedroom, shouted: “Can you stop making noise?!”
Che Xingde immediately fell silent.
Che Yanqin’s expression also looked unpleasant as she suppressed her anger and said: “Dezai! Did I not make myself clear before? Can you stop causing trouble everywhere? How long has it been since you got out? Your brother-in-law has already argued with me many times over this!”
Che Xingde muttered: “I just can’t swallow this anger.”
“Let it be, don’t go looking for them again,” Che Yanqin said, also suffering the consequences of Che Xingde’s various actions and having a hard time at home. “Shuangjiang, that wild girl, has no conscience. She’s an ungrateful wretch. What can we do about it?”
Che Xingde spat.
Che Yanqin twisted her mouth, speaking sarcastically again: “She’s working at the TV station now, with so much power. We ordinary people can’t fight against her.”
“…”
The two sat back down on the sofa.
Noticing the pretty woman sitting on the other sofa watching TV, Che Xingde’s anger gradually subsided, and he forced a smile: “Xiaolin, you’re back?”
A flash of disgust passed through Zheng Lin’s eyes, but she remained silent.
Just then, Wen Ming came out of the bathroom. His expression was gentle as he walked over and sat next to the woman, putting his arm around her shoulder and asking: “What happened to Uncle again?”
Zheng Lin snorted: “Went to cause trouble for your cousin again.”
“Uncle,” hearing this, Wen Ming’s expression also turned unpleasant, “Please stop doing these things.”
Che Xingde had just retracted his gaze, saying unhappily: “Why is everyone blaming me? What trouble did I cause? I’m the one with injuries on my face!”
Zheng Lin didn’t speak again, just looked at Wen Ming and rolled her eyes.
–
On the way home, Qian Weihua stopped the car by a roadside fruit stand to buy a watermelon. Seeing this, Wei Yifan also bought one. After getting home, she put the watermelon in the freezer and went to her room to take a shower.
After coming out, Wei Yifan returned to the kitchen, planning to make some watermelon juice.
Just as she took the watermelon out, there was a noise at the entrance.
Wei Yifan continued her actions.
Soon after, Sang Yan entered the kitchen, staring at her actions: “What are you doing?”
Wei Yifan answered honestly: “Making watermelon juice. Do you want some?”
Sang Yan raised an eyebrow: “Yes.”
“Then is half of this enough? This watermelon is a bit small.” Wei Yifan rinsed the kitchen knife, gesturing as she spoke, “By the way, what did you do at ‘overtime’ today?”
Sang Yan took the knife handle from her hand: “Met with Qian Fei.”
Wei Yifan paused: “Did he come out this time?”
“Mm.”
Wei Yifan turned her head: “Did you hit him?”
Surprised by her first reaction, Sang Yan found it absurd: “Am I a violent maniac?”
“Sang Yan,” Wei Yifan didn’t comment on this, carefully choosing her words and earnestly advising, “don’t use violence to solve problems. We live in a society governed by law.”
Hearing this, Sang Yan’s lips relaxed: “What if it’s someone detestable?”
As if thinking of something, Wei Yifan was silent for a few seconds before still saying: “It’s the same.”
“…”
“Don’t hit people anymore, it’s not good.” Wei Yifan watched him start to cut the watermelon, continuing to admonish, “Qian Fei and Duan Jiaxu didn’t do anything too outrageous, and they’re your friends—”
Sang Yan stuffed a piece of watermelon into her mouth: “I know.”
Wei Yifan’s remaining words were consequently stopped.
Seemingly not taking this matter to heart, Sang Yan spoke lazily.
“I’m being careful.”
–
Whether it was due to the effect of calling the police or not, for quite some time after that, Wei Yifan didn’t see Che Yanqin or Che Xingde again. She wasn’t sure if it was just her psychological effect, but after clearing things up with Sang Yan, everything seemed to be getting back on track.
In late October, Wei Yifan received a WeChat message from the landlord.
The gist was that his daughter was preparing to get married and they needed to reclaim this apartment as a marital home. They asked Wei Yifan and Sang Yan to move out by March of next year, according to the contract terms.
Seeing this message, Wei Yifan suddenly realized that she and Sang Yan had been living in this shared apartment for almost two years. She snapped out of her thoughts and quickly replied “Okay.”
Su Tian, sitting next to her, came over for some casual chat: “Yifan.”
Wei Yifan looked up: “Hm?”
“I suddenly remembered something,” Su Tian propped her chin on her hand and asked, “Weren’t you sharing an apartment with a guy before? Now that you’re with King Duck Sang, doesn’t he have any objections?”
Wei Yifan paused for a moment, then admitted directly: “He is my roommate.”
“…”
After a good while.
Su Tian finally cursed: “Damn, where did you find such a roommate? I want one too.”
Wei Yifan laughed: “Aren’t you afraid Lin Sun will hear you?”
“He’s used to it by now,” Su Tian said with a grin, “Hey, so you two are living together now, right?”
Wei Yifan thought for a moment: “Not really.”
Su Tian: “How is it not? Don’t you sleep in the same room?”
“Mm.” Wei Yifan said honestly, “We still sleep separately.”
“…” Su Tian was shocked, unable to believe it, “I remember you’ve been with him for quite a while now, right… Are you still at the Platonic stage?”
Wei Yifan didn’t answer directly: “We’re just not living together.”
Su Tian: “Why?”
Wei Yifan replied very righteously: “It’s not legal.”
“…”
Understanding now, Su Tian found it a bit amusing. She laughed to herself for a while, then said: “So when are you planning to make it legal? Have you met his parents?”
Wei Yifan instinctively said: “No—” Before she could finish, she suddenly changed her words: “I’ve met his mother.”
“Huh?”
Before Wei Yifan could explain further, her phone on the desk suddenly rang. Seeing that the caller ID was “Qian Weihua,” she said to Su Tian, “Wait a moment,” and then answered the call.
Qian Weihua’s voice came through: “Are you at the office now?”
Wei Yifan: “Yes.”
Qian Weihua: “Where’s Dazhuang?”
Hearing this, Wei Yifan glanced to the side: “He’s writing a script nearby.”
Qian Weihua said briskly: “Alright. Come downstairs and bring Dazhuang along. We’re going on an assignment to Beiyu.”
…
This wasn’t the first or second time this had happened, so the two of them efficiently grabbed their equipment and headed downstairs.
Wei Yifan habitually got into the front passenger seat and asked about the situation: “Teacher, has something unexpected happened in Beiyu?”
Qian Weihua started the car and explained: “We just received a tip, and the police haven’t released any information yet. There was a case of a female college student who went missing in Beiyu four years ago. Recently, a woman brought an audio recording to the police station to report something related to this case.”
Wei Yifan listened while opening her laptop and typing notes.
“This female college student was raped and murdered at the time. They’ve found the body in the back hills of Beiyu’s suburban area,” Qian Weihua said. “Now they’ve formed a task force to solve the case and are currently pursuing the suspect.”
As he said this, Qian Weihua suddenly remembered something: “Oh right, Yifan, you should know this suspect.”
Wei Yifan paused her actions and looked up: “Hm?”
“It’s the one who kept causing trouble for you before,” Qian Weihua glanced at her briefly, “Che Xingde.”