Wen Yifan's breath hitched slightly as she lifted her gaze to Sang Yan.
"Yihe?" Su Haoan was baffled, sensing something off. "Wasn't your last flight for a business trip? Did I remember wrong? But why would you go to Yihe for no reason? And when did you even go? How come I didn't know?"
Sang Yan tilted his head. "How many questions is that?"
"Oh, I get it." Perhaps due to drinking too much, Su Haoan was more animated than usual and said irritably, "You fucking went to see Duan Jiaxu, didn't you?"
Sang Yan didn't respond.
"I can't believe this," Su Haoan roared. "If it weren't for me! Failing to get into! Nanwu University! He wouldn't even be the one people link you with in rumors!"
"..." Sang Yan said impatiently, "Can you keep it down?"
Zhong Siqiao, who also graduated from Nanwu University, immediately understood Su Haoan's words and burst into laughter. She leaned toward Wen Yifan, explaining between giggles: "That Duan Jiaxu Su Haoan mentioned is from our school too."
Wen Yifan recalled Wang Linlin's words and nodded.
"They were in the same department, same major, same class, and even the same dorm," Zhong Siqiao continued. "Plus, both of them were ridiculously good-looking. At first, everyone privately called them the twin department hunks of the computer science department."
Over on the other side, Su Haoan was still ranting.
Here, Wen Yifan listened quietly as Zhong Siqiao shared the gossip, while Xiang Lang also leaned in to listen.
"At some point, someone posted on our school forum asking if there was a school hunk," Zhong Siqiao said. "The post blew up, with tons of people nominating department hunks from various majors. Most of the photos were candid shots."
Wen Yifan: "And then?"
Zhong Siqiao: "Of course, Sang Yan and Duan Jiaxu got nominated. Almost half the posts were photos of them. But here's the thing—photos nominating Sang Yan had Duan Jiaxu in them, and vice versa."
"..."
"Then everyone realized that in over eighty percent of these candid shots, the two of them were together in the same photo." Zhong Siqiao paused for effect. "The impression this gave was—they were practically glued to each other every day."
"..."
"On top of that, throughout all four years of college, no one ever saw them get close to any girls." Zhong Siqiao found it increasingly amusing as she spoke. "So later on, whenever people mentioned them, they called them 'that pair of gay school hunks from the computer science department.'"
Zhong Siqiao was enjoying herself, her voice carrying.
Su Haoan overheard and immediately chimed in: "That's just selective blindness! Qian Fei and Chen Junwen were in those photos too, but just because they're ugly, they got treated like air!"
"..."
"Ah, I've got nothing left now," Su Haoan suddenly lamented. "I'm never dating again."
"..."
He turned to Sang Yan, looking pitiful. "Bro, you're my best friend. You're all I need. You gotta make me your number one too, okay?"
It was unclear what they were talking about.
But since the subject of the gossip was right there, Zhong Siqiao sensed the awkwardness and glanced at Sang Yan. Tactfully changing the subject, she said, "It's all just jokes anyway, nothing worth mentioning. Come on, let's keep playing dice."
Wen Yifan leaned forward and reached out to shake the dice cup.From the corner of her eye, she could see Sang Yan remaining motionless, not responding to Su Haoan's words either. Leaning back in his chair while scrolling through his phone, he suddenly stood up and said nonchalantly, "You guys have fun."
Su Haoan: "Huh? Where are you going?"
Sang Yan replied casually, "Tired. Going back to sleep."
Su Haoan: "It's still early."
For once, Sang Yan offered an explanation: "Slept late last night."
Then, he swiftly downed three glasses of alcohol. The corner of his lips lifted slightly as he said slowly, "I ruined the mood today. You guys keep playing."
He glanced at Su Haoan: "You host. Put it on my tab."
With that, Sang Yan didn’t look at anyone else, bent to pick up the lighter from the table, and walked away.
Sang Yan’s mood seemed perfectly normal—compared to his earlier expressions and attitude, this could even be considered gentle. No one else found anything amiss, but Wen Yifan felt inexplicably stifled.
After a few more rounds, without Sang Yan around, Su Haoan began to feel out of place among the three childhood friends. Soon, he too found an excuse to leave.
Only the three of them remained.
The atmosphere didn’t cool down with the departure of the other two, but Wen Yifan was somewhat distracted.
Listening to their conversation, she suddenly called out, "Qiaoqiao."
Zhong Siqiao: "Hmm? What’s up?"
"That Duan Jiaxu you mentioned earlier," Wen Yifan asked, "is he close with Sang Yan?"
"Probably very close, otherwise the rumors wouldn’t be like that." Zhong Siqiao said, "But I’m not too sure either—we weren’t in the same department. One of my roommates used to have a crush on Sang Yan, so she saw Duan Jiaxu as her biggest rival."
"..." Wen Yifan asked, "Is Duan Jiaxu in Yihe now?"
"Yeah, I think he’s from Yihe. He went back to work there after graduation." Zhong Siqiao blinked. "Why the sudden interest? Did you see him when you were in Yihe?"
Hearing this, Wen Yifan relaxed slightly: "No, just asking."
Out of consideration for Wen Yifan’s work the next day, the three didn’t stay much longer. They left the bar shortly after ten. Xiang Lang had intended to pay, but Su Haoan, who hadn’t left yet, adamantly refused and even enthusiastically escorted them to the parking lot.
Since he was driving, Xiang Lang hadn’t drunk all night. Wen Yifan and Zhong Siqiao got into the backseat.
On the way home, Zhong Siqiao remembered Wen Yifan’s living arrangement with Sang Yan: "Hey, Dian Dian."
She occasionally called Wen Yifan by this nickname. "Are you really okay living with Sang Yan? If not, you can stay at Xiang Lang’s place and let him room with Sang Yan instead."
Xiang Lang: "I don’t mind."
"What could possibly happen?" Wen Yifan chuckled. "At home, we’re like strangers—barely talk. You saw how he was tonight; he just doesn’t engage much. It’s purely a roommate situation."
Xiang Lang hummed in agreement: "Just let me know if you need to move."
...
Since Xiang Lang and Zhong Siqiao lived nearby, they dropped Wen Yifan off first.
Remembering Sang Yan’s earlier remark about "going back to sleep," Wen Yifan instinctively softened her movements when entering the house. Noticing the pitch-black living room, she paused before switching on the light.
The room showed no signs of anyone having returned.Wen Yifan changed into her slippers and headed toward her room. As she passed the second bedroom, she instinctively glanced inside before quickly looking away. It was getting late, so she hurriedly took a shower after returning to her room.
When she came out, she picked up her phone.
Just then, she noticed Sang Yan had sent her two WeChat messages.
Sang Yan: [Not coming back tonight.]
Sang Yan: [Just lock the door.]
"..."
Wen Yifan froze for a moment before replying: [Okay.]
After sending the message, she went to the entrance to lock the door. Feeling exhausted and with her hair still damp, she suddenly couldn’t be bothered to dry it. She sat on the sofa and scrolled through the news for a while, then absentmindedly turned on the TV, hoping to find something to watch.
The city channel was already on, currently replaying the morning news segment from Convey .
It happened to be covering the follow-up to the attempted rape case she had previously submitted.
The male vendor’s face was blurred with mosaic, yet he still appeared honest and kind.
This segment reminded Wen Yifan of her encounter with Zheng Kejia at the municipal hospital. Completely losing her mood, she grabbed the remote and turned off the TV before heading back to her room.
Wen Yifan opened her laptop.
At that moment, Zhong Siqiao sent her a message: [Like my WeChat Moments post for me!]
Zhong Siqiao: [I’m going for BBQ tomorrow! A hundred likes will get me a hundred-yuan discount!]
Wen Yifan immediately replied with an Okay .
She clicked on Zhong Siqiao’s profile to check her Moments and liked the latest post. Scrolling down, she suddenly noticed a post from New Year’s Eve—
Zhong Siqiao: Watching the firework show tonight! [/happy] But I should’ve picked East Nine Plaza instead—maybe then I could’ve celebrated New Year’s with my poor Fanfan who was stuck working overtime [/tears].
Wen Yifan smiled faintly and liked that post too.
Since she had woken up late today, she didn’t expect to feel sleepy so early.
But perhaps because she’d had a bit to drink tonight, her eyelids grew heavy not long after staring at the screen. Wen Yifan cherished any drowsiness she could get, so she didn’t work on her draft for long before lying down.
Before falling asleep, she thought about Sang Yan, who hadn’t come home tonight.
But recalling what Su Haoan had said earlier, it made sense.
Sang Yan was probably comforting Su Haoan.
Su Haoan must have found out about Wang Linlin’s infidelity.
...
Perhaps because so many past events had been brought up today, Wen Yifan dreamed about high school.
Due to her slow-to-warm personality, while others had already gotten close, Wen Yifan still hadn’t made many friends in class. So for a long time after the semester started, she would eat with Zhong Siqiao and Xiang Lang.
Once,
Zhong Siqiao had club activities, so Wen Yifan ended up having dinner alone with Xiang Lang.
Then, in the cafeteria, they ran into Sang Yan.
Sang Yan was extremely popular among the boys. Every time Wen Yifan saw him, he was surrounded by a group of guys—some were regulars, while others changed frequently.
The scene was always lively and rowdy.
After getting their food, the group looked for seats.
Suddenly, they noticed Wen Yifan sitting across from Xiang Lang, eating dinner together.
Sang Yan raised an eyebrow.
A few of the boys started teasing.
But they soon left.
That evening during self-study,
The already persistent rumors about the two of them flared up again because of this incident.
And gave rise to new developments.They said that Gentle Vase didn’t actually like Sang Yan’s type at all. She had only agreed to be with him because he was relentlessly persistent. But once she met someone better, she immediately switched sides and cheated on him.
Unlike her classmates, Wen Yifan didn’t have to attend evening self-study sessions in the classroom. During that time, she usually practiced dancing in the studio, so she had no idea about any of this gossip afterward.
Not a single person in the dorm would bring up rumors to the person involved.
Still, she vaguely sensed that the atmosphere in the dorm seemed a little off.
The next morning during reading period.
When Wen Yifan returned to the classroom, she noticed the strange looks others were giving her. At first, she didn’t think much of it, assuming it was just another round of baseless rumors, and she didn’t pay it any mind.
However, during the long break between classes, while heading to the restroom, she accidentally overheard her classmates talking about her.
“I never thought Gentle Vase was this kind of person…”
“Pretty disgusting, honestly.”
“What’s so great about being pretty?”
“What’s the point of being pretty if you’ve got a rotten personality?”
……
Wen Yifan was utterly bewildered. She had no idea what had happened or why she had suddenly become the “disgusting” person in everyone’s eyes. After they left, she finally stepped out of the stall, slowly washing her hands.
She tried to think of anything bad she might have done recently.
But nothing came to mind.
In the end, she decided to ignore it—letting the words go in one ear and out the other.
Back in the classroom.
The moment Wen Yifan sat down at her desk.
Sang Yan suddenly grabbed a boy by the collar and dragged him over to her. “Apologize.”
The commotion was abrupt.
Wen Yifan froze, thinking he was demanding an apology from her .
Seeing his aggressive, ready-to-throw-hands demeanor, she instantly lost all backbone. Even though she didn’t think she’d done anything wrong, she wisely chose to comply. “I’m sorry.”
“……” Sang Yan’s temple twitched. “Not you.”
The boy he was holding by the collar wore glasses and looked utterly terrified.
Sang Yan glanced down at him. “Need me to teach you?”
“I was just joking around…” Glasses Guy forced a nervous laugh. “It was all in fun, and it’s not like I was the only one saying it… Can you, uh, let go first?”
“Joking?” Sang Yan smirked. “You’re a grown man gossiping like this. Aren’t you ashamed?”
“……”
“I’ll make this clear. If I hear anyone spreading this bullshit again—” Sang Yan lifted his gaze, sweeping a casual but pointed look around the room before enunciating each word, “—I’ll settle the score with every single one of them.”
“I’m not interested in much,” Sang Yan said arrogantly. “My only hobby is holding grudges.”
With that, he released his grip on the boy’s collar.
Glasses Guy immediately bowed his head and apologized to Wen Yifan. “S-sorry. I was the one who told people you cheated. But I had no proof—I just made it up. It won’t happen again.”
“……”
Cheated?
Wen Yifan was completely lost.
After apologizing, Glasses Guy tried to return to his seat.
Sang Yan lifted his leg, propping it against the metal bar under a nearby desk to block his path, then lazily reminded him, “Am I not the victim here?”
“……”
“Could you at least consider the facts? What’s this about her dumping me for someone better?” At this, Sang Yan suddenly glanced at Wen Yifan. “If there were a situation where I was chasing someone relentlessly—”
Wen Yifan looked up at him.
Half his face was cast in shadow, his expression as arrogant as ever."He can only be utterly infatuated with me, understand?"
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