As soon as the words left her lips.
Noticing Sang Yan's displeased expression, Wen Yifan instantly realized that her remark sounded no different from saying, "Your face is utterly unbearable to look at."
Moreover, she seemed to have made similar comments more than once tonight.
Like an ungrateful wretch who kicks down the bridge after crossing it.
Wen Yifan decided to salvage the situation: "But even if disfigured—" She paused, sensing something amiss, then awkwardly corrected herself, "Even with temporary facial injuries, it doesn’t diminish your handsomeness in the slightest."
Sang Yan stared at her impassively.
At that moment, Wang Linlin happened to reply to her WeChat message.
Wen Yifan glanced down at her phone—an "ok" emoji. Relieved, she took the initiative: "My friend replied. I should head in now."
Sang Yan didn’t respond, merely quirking the corner of his lips.
"Oh," she added before leaving, recalling the night's events. "No matter what, even if you consider it a small favor, I owe you one. If you ever need help with anything, just let me know."
Sang Yan gave a nonchalant hum and waved dismissively before returning to his car.
His gaze flicked to the medicine bag on the passenger seat, then out the window.
He watched as Wen Yifan placed her duffel bag atop her suitcase, gripping the handle as she trudged slowly toward the residential gate. Perhaps due to the heavy luggage, her pace was sluggish.
But she never once looked back.
Only when her figure completely vanished from sight did Sang Yan withdraw his gaze. He was about to start the car when memories of her earlier predicament and her struggle to recall her friend's address resurfaced, making him pause.
He rolled down the window, resting his elbow on the frame, lingering.
His thoughts drifted to Wen Yifan from their high school days.
With strikingly flamboyant beauty and a quiet, reserved demeanor, she had been perceived by others as aloof and difficult to approach. Consequently, she hadn’t been particularly popular in class.
Even though, in truth, her temperament was so mild it was almost nonexistent.
Over time, as classmates grew familiar with her, they gradually understood her nature—and became bolder. Privately, they dubbed her the "Vase"—someone who couldn’t do anything right, devoid of common sense, with nothing to offer beyond her looks and dancing skills.
Sang Yan wondered whether the Wen Yifan from back then would have cried if faced with tonight’s situation.
But he was certain she wouldn’t have been able to speak to him as calmly as she had tonight, acting as if nothing had happened. Throughout this period, he hadn’t seen her seek comfort from anyone.
Only expressing gratitude to those who helped her.
As though she’d lost all emotion.
Sang Yan lowered his eyes, reaching for a cigarette, but the motion was interrupted by an incoming call.
He answered.
Su Haoan's voice blared through the speaker: "Are you coming to 'Overtime' tonight or not? If you are, bring my car back. What the hell am I supposed to drive if you take it? How am I supposed to pick up girls without a car?!"
Sang Yan: "Fine. I’ll return it soon."
Su Haoan: "But why’d you leave so suddenly anyway?"
"Don’t you know?" Sang Yan scoffed. "Do I really need to spell it out for you?"
"..." Su Haoan fell silent for three seconds before admitting defeat. "Alright, alright, I won’t bring her next time, okay? The others have already taken turns giving me shit for it."
Sang Yan couldn’t be bothered to respond.Su Haoan started complaining again: "So what if I like clingy girls! That's just my type, is there something wrong with that?"
"Finished?"
"Of course not," Su Haoan continued grumbling. "Can't you be a little more patient with me? Just treat me like your future girlfriend and humor me a bit, okay? I'm feeling really complicated right now."
"Hanging up."
Sang Yan ended the call, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and put one between his lips.
Just as he was about to look for a lighter, Su Haoan called back. He answered absentmindedly, turned on the car's interior light, and rummaged through the storage compartment in front.
"You're so heartless. I only have time to talk to you now because my date went to the bathroom," Su Haoan accused him. "How could you just hang up like that!"
Sang Yan replied indifferently, "Oh, I can hang up a second time."
"..." Su Haoan sighed. "Sigh, dealing with women is so exhausting. I thought this Linlin was cute at first, but today she's just so annoying."
"Then don't date."
"No way, dating is too much fun."
"..." Sang Yan scoffed. "You're just asking for trouble."
As he spoke, under the light, Sang Yan noticed something shiny under the passenger seat. His gaze paused, and he squinted, leaning over to pick it up.
Straightening up, Sang Yan examined the object in his hand thoughtfully.
It was a set of keys.
Wen Yifan had been waiting outside Wang Linlin's house for about two hours.
It wasn't until midnight that Wang Linlin finally arrived. Seeing Wen Yifan's state, she was surprised: "Xiao Fan, what happened to you? Why do you look so disheveled?"
Wen Yifan explained, "There was some trouble with the place I was staying at. I'm really sorry for interrupting your date and making you come back early, Linjie."
"It's fine," Wang Linlin said as she opened the door, sighing. "I could've come back even earlier, but my boyfriend was being so clingy. I'm the one who should apologize for making you wait so long."
The two walked in together.
Wang Linlin said, "It's late, so go ahead and get settled. I'm exhausted—I'm just going to shower and sleep. We can talk about the details tomorrow."
Wen Yifan nodded quickly.
Wang Linlin took a couple of steps toward the master bedroom, then turned back. "By the way, how did you get back today? The place we ate was pretty remote. I forgot to remind you when you left."
Wen Yifan replied, "Sang Yan happened to be leaving too, so I asked him for a ride."
"You asked him?" Wang Linlin burst into laughter as if she'd heard the funniest joke. "Why didn't he offer to drive you?"
Wen Yifan didn't understand what was so funny about it. "He didn't have to give me a ride."
Wang Linlin shook her head sympathetically. "Don't do that again. He's probably secretly thrilled right now, laughing about it with his friends."
Wen Yifan blinked. "Huh?"
"Since he couldn't get you before, if you start chasing him now, he'll definitely play along for a while—until he gets bored and dumps you. You should be careful." Wang Linlin walked back and patted her shoulder. "Trust me, I have plenty of experience with this. These rich playboys are all the same—no difference at all."
"..."Wen Yifan wanted to say she had no intention of forcing herself on Sang Yan and didn’t think he was that kind of person either.
After all, he didn’t even want to acknowledge her now.
But Wen Yifan had never been one to argue, so she simply took it as well-meaning advice.
“I understand.”
Living with Wang Linlin turned out to be far more harmonious than Wen Yifan had imagined.
Because the two of them barely crossed paths at home.
Wang Linlin kept a very health-conscious schedule, religiously adhering to her beauty sleep—she insisted on getting a full eight hours every night and made sure to be in bed by eleven unless absolutely necessary. When she woke up, she moved quietly, did her makeup, tidied up, and left without a fuss.
Wen Yifan, on the other hand, was constantly running around for news stories, so busy that she barely had time to stay home. Her schedule was erratic, and the apartment was essentially just a place for her to sleep.
The neighborhood was safe, the location was close to work, and having a roommate felt no different from living alone.
For Wen Yifan, this was already the most perfect co-living arrangement she could have hoped for.
After learning that Wen Yifan and Wang Linlin were actually living together,
Su Tian had asked her about it several times. Only after confirming that Wen Yifan was genuinely fine with the situation did she finally relax.
The following Wednesday afternoon,
Wen Yifan had just finished a phone call with an expert when Su Tian returned from the break room. She sidled up to Wen Yifan and lowered her voice to share some gossip: “I just heard Wang Linlin is quitting.”
Wen Yifan’s attention was immediately caught. “Really?”
“It’s probably true. Didn’t she mention it to you since you live together?” Su Tian said. “I heard she’s already submitted her resignation. The way she’s been acting lately makes it obvious she doesn’t want to work here anymore.”
“How can you tell?”
“She’s been coming in late and leaving early all the time. The editor-in-chief has been really unhappy with her lately—if she doesn’t quit, she’ll probably get fired soon anyway. Today, I saw her pretending to look up some information, but she didn’t actually do any work before leaving.”
Due to frequent unpaid overtime, working hours in journalism were relatively flexible. When things got busy, they could pull all-nighters, but once the work was done, they could also come in late or leave early.
There weren’t many restrictions.
Even though they shared the same office, some colleagues barely saw each other over the course of a week.
Wen Yifan hadn’t paid much attention to these things and didn’t find it unusual. “Maybe she’s switching jobs because she doesn’t want to chase news stories anymore? The base salary alone isn’t enough to live on.”
“Didn’t she hook up with some rich second-generation guy?” Su Tian couldn’t help adding, “And he seems seriously wealthy. A few days ago, I saw Wang Linlin getting into a Ferrari. Nowadays, all she does is brag to me—she doesn’t talk about anything else.”
Wen Yifan chuckled. “Just let it go in one ear and out the other.”
Su Tian muttered under her breath, “I just can’t stand her smug attitude.”
Before Wen Yifan could respond, Fu Zhuang suddenly wedged his head between them, grinning. “Whose smug attitude can’t you stand?”
No one had noticed when he’d returned.
Su Tian jumped, shoving him away irritably. “Who else? You!”
Fu Zhuang: “?”
Su Tian: “What are you eavesdropping for, kid? Get lost.”
“What kid?!” Fu Zhuang immediately protested, holding up a drink bottle like a microphone. “Aren’t the three of us the ‘Fan-Fu-Su Squad’? You two have to share all the workplace gossip with me—you can’t leave me out!”
Su Tian was both annoyed and amused. “What kind of lame squad name is that? Did I agree to this?”
Fu Zhuang: “It sounds great, doesn’t it?”
Wen Yifan smiled but didn’t join the conversation, continuing to type on her keyboard.Silence fell.
Seeing that neither of them was paying him any attention, Fu Zhuang took the initiative: "Sisters, do you have plans tonight? How about celebrating with Da Zhuang? To celebrate Da Zhuang's first solo-edited piece making it to air, let’s throw a party!"
Su Tian patted his head. "Go home and drink your milk, kid. Sister’s got plans."
Fu Zhuang turned to Wen Yifan. "Then, Sister Yifan..."
Hearing her name, Wen Yifan looked up, clearly having not been listening to their conversation. Spotting the drink in his hand, she took a few seconds to react before offering a perfunctory reply, "Thanks, but I don’t drink."
"..."
With that, Wen Yifan went back to organizing her thoughts for the news script. Only after finishing the first draft did she lean back against her chair to rest for a while, casually checking her phone.
Her former landlord had sent her a WeChat message two hours ago.
Landlord: [Xiao Wen, did you forget to leave the house keys behind?]
Wen Yifan froze for a moment, not immediately processing the message.
She had informed the landlord via WeChat the night she moved out. A few days later, the landlord had transferred the remaining rent and deposit back to her through WeChat, and they hadn’t been in contact since.
She had no use for the keys and hadn’t given the matter any thought.
Wen Yifan replied: [Yes, my apologies. Let me know when you’re free, and I’ll return them to you.]
Though she replied this way, Wen Yifan couldn’t recall where she had put the keys.
Had she lost them?
For some reason, Wen Yifan suddenly thought of Zhong Siqiao leaving her bracelet at Sang Yan’s bar. Just as she was reassuring herself that she couldn’t possibly be that unlucky, two more messages came in.
Seeing the sender’s name, Wen Yifan had a sinking feeling.
She instinctively opened them.
The first was a photo—the very keys the landlord had just asked her about.
Followed immediately by the second message.
Sang Yan: [I wouldn’t recommend using the same trick twice.]
OpenNovel