For the next three days, Wen Yifan went to work as usual.
Sang Yan seemed to be occupied with something. After the gathering, he hadn't returned home at all. However, he strictly adhered to the rules they'd previously discussed. Every night at ten o'clock, Wen Yifan would promptly receive a message from him on WeChat.
As time passed.
The number of words in his messages gradually decreased.
First day.
Sang Yan: ["Not coming back tonight. Lock the door."]
Second day.
Sang Yan: ["Not back. Lock door."]
Third day.
Sang Yan: ["Lock door."]
"..."
Wen Yifan's attitude remained consistent throughout.
Each time, she replied with a simple ["Okay."]
The next afternoon.
After finishing an interview assignment outside, Wen Yifan and Fu Zhuang went to the editing room to cut the footage.
Due to school matters recently, Fu Zhuang had taken several days off, so he'd been working for a full week without a break. Slumping over the desk, he sighed dramatically: "Ah, this is too hard."
Wen Yifan casually responded: "What's hard?"
"Old Qian chewed me out again yesterday," Fu Zhuang sat up straight, vividly imitating Qian Weihua's tone, "saying what I edited was shit even a dog wouldn't take! That giving me revision notes was harder than him re-editing the whole thing from scratch!"
"Hmm?" Wen Yifan tilted her head. "Then let him edit it."
"..."
"That'd make things easier for him."
After a brief silence, Fu Zhuang continued editing obediently: "I'd rather suffer a bit more then."
"..."
Wen Yifan didn't comment further. She reviewed the news script she'd just written, confirmed it was correct, and sent it to the editor.
While waiting for the script to be approved, Fu Zhuang struck up another conversation, bringing up the fire incident at Zhongnan Century City from before: "Oh sis, let me tell you something. Remember that interview with your classmate we included in the news segment?"
"Yeah?"
"Yesterday I found someone made a compilation of bizarre interviews and included that clip," Fu Zhuang found this hilarious, shaking with laughter, "It's pretty viral too—he got ranked as one of the top ten most badass figures on a certain site."
"..."
"Really living up to my 'tragic yet awesome' description. Now everyone's calling him 'handsome, cool, and tragic'," Fu Zhuang said. "Even though we blurred half his face, his looks still totally shine through."
Wen Yifan didn't follow such things and was unaware of this: "Is the impact serious?"
"Not really, since his face was blurred. It's just pretty funny."
"That's good then," Just then, the script got approved. Wen Yifan forwarded it to the voiceover host and stood up, saying, "You can download the host's voiceover later yourself. Let me know if there are any issues. I need to go back and work on the outline."
"Got it." Fu Zhuang composed himself dramatically. "Loneliness! The inevitable path of the strong!"
"..."
Wen Yifan didn't work Overtime that day. After finishing the outline, she headed home.
Opening the door, Wen Yifan habitually reached for the light switch, only to find the lights already on. She paused, instinctively glancing toward the sofa area. The living room remained empty.
Several shoeboxes now stood stacked neatly by the entryway, forming tall layers. The shoes beside them appeared haphazardly placed, as if kicked off upon entering without any arrangement.
Wen Yifan looked toward the secondary bedroom.
She couldn't tell whether Sang Yan was currently in his room or if he'd come back and left again.Wen Yifan didn't pay much attention and sat down on the sofa to pour herself a glass of water. Sipping slowly, she glanced around, feeling as though something in the house had changed.
There seemed to be a lot more stuff now.
Under the coffee table were several cans of different brands of milk powder, alongside fruit cereal and cocoa flakes. The TV cabinet door was left ajar, stuffed to the brim with all kinds of snacks—some even placed directly in front of the TV.
On the dining table sat several black boxes wrapped in cling film, likely containing fruits.
Wen Yifan averted her gaze.
Thinking to herself, this young master's standard of living is indeed quite high.
Bored out of her mind, Wen Yifan recalled Fu Zhuang's words.
She took out her phone and downloaded a certain app. After finishing her water, she got up and walked into the kitchen.
Just as the download completed, Wen Yifan opened the app and saw the phrase "beautiful, arrogant, and tragic" in the title of the top-ranked recent video. She rinsed her cup while tapping to play it.
Instantly, Sang Yan's icy voice blared from her phone.
—"I'm very happy. I hope you can be as happy as I am."
The volume was turned up a bit too high, making it practically deafening in the quiet space.
Wen Yifan was startled.
She immediately turned off the tap and used her free hand to lower the volume.
At the same time, footsteps sounded behind her.
Wen Yifan turned around to see Sang Yan entering the kitchen as well.
"..."
Lowering her head, Wen Yifan turned off her phone screen, feeling somewhat awkward.
She wasn't sure if he had heard the audio just now.
But Sang Yan acted as if he hadn't even noticed her presence.
He didn't speak or glance her way, silently opening the fridge instead.
Wen Yifan didn't initiate conversation either. She slipped her phone back into her pocket and, as she looked down, suddenly noticed that the previously leaky faucet had been fixed—no more dripping now.
Taking in the sight, Wen Yifan finally took a proper look around the kitchen.
The stove that always failed to light had been replaced with a new one. Next to it were an induction cooker and a microwave, even a juicer and an oven. Her brows twitched, and her scalp tingled.
The first thought that popped into her head was:
—How much would splitting all this cost?
Hesitantly, Wen Yifan asked, "Did you buy all these?"
Sang Yan looked like he had just showered, wearing casual light-colored pants and a jacket thrown on haphazardly. Ignoring her, he grabbed a pack of instant noodles from the top of the fridge and tore it open.
Apparently planning to make dinner himself.
Wen Yifan found the scene somewhat incongruous. After all, in her eyes, this person should be a pampered young master who wouldn't lift a finger for household chores.
If no one cooked for him, he'd probably just order takeout.
Who knew he'd actually step into the kitchen on his own?
Wen Yifan continued, "If you did, could you make a list? I'll transfer my share to you."
Sang Yan gave a noncommittal "Mhm," filling a pot with water from the tap.
"..." Sensing his obvious disinterest in engaging with her, Wen Yifan wasn't sure what was going on. Her lips moved again, "Then I'll head back to my room. Just send me the list on WeChat when you're done."
As expected, there was no response.
Wen Yifan couldn't tell if this was his usual demeanor or if he was just in a bad mood. She didn't push further and retreated to her room. Sitting at her desk, she opened her phone and checked her bank account balance.
Suddenly, she sighed.
Maybe she should find a chance to talk to him.
If they were going to buy more shared items in the future, they needed to discuss it first...At this thought, Wen Yifan recalled Sang Yan's attitude earlier.
Sigh.
Communicating with him was no easy task either.
After a while.
Wen Yifan inexplicably felt this state of affairs seemed rather normal.
After all, Sang Yan had explicitly emphasized not to get too familiar with him. The only reason they'd had any conversation before was because he wanted to drum up business for his bar.
But in the end.
He hadn't earned a single cent—instead, he'd lost nearly a thousand.
Wen Yifan wondered if his displeasure stemmed from this incident.
After some hesitation, she opened the calculator to tally the bill from that day. She wanted to pay for Zhong Siqiao and Xiang Lang's shares too, but the amount wasn't small for her.
In the end, Wen Yifan could only cover her own portion.
But several days had already passed.
Suddenly transferring him the money now felt somewhat awkward.
Putting down her phone, Wen Yifan decided to wait until he sent the itemized bill before transferring everything together.
Yet the entire night passed.
Without any movement from Sang Yan's side—
Only then did Wen Yifan belatedly realize.
Sang Yan seemed to treat her as if she were completely invisible, as though he couldn't perceive her existence at all. Occasionally, when she inadvertently made some loud noise, he acted as if he hadn't heard, not even lifting an eyelid.
It was as if the two of them were living in the same place but in different dimensions.
Wen Yifan wasn't one to seek out rejection.
After mentioning it a few times, she stopped initiating conversation.
She simply accepted that their cohabitation had officially begun on terms of mutual non-interference.
On the evening before New Year's Eve.
While gathering clothes from the balcony, Wen Yifan received a call from Zhong Siqiao. Clutching the clothes and setting aside the drying rack, she listened as Zhong Siqiao asked, "Are you working Overtime tomorrow night?"
"Tomorrow night?" Wen Yifan replied, "Barring any surprises, probably not."
"Then are you going home tomorrow?"
"Probably not."
Zhong Siqiao invited her, "Then do you want to come to my place? We can celebrate the New Year together."
Wen Yifan was honest, "I can't be bothered to travel that far."
"..." Zhong Siqiao said, "Then out of all your days off, can't you spare one for me!"
"You're really cruel—" Wen Yifan entered the living room and abruptly stopped speaking.
She wasn't sure when Sang Yan had come out of his room, but he was now sitting on the sofa with his eyes lowered, scrolling through his phone. He had changed clothes, his expression as indifferent as ever, looking like he was about to go out.
Wen Yifan averted her gaze and headed toward her room, calmly continuing her conversation with Zhong Siqiao, "When I actually have many days off, then you can say such things to me, okay?"
Zhong Siqiao laughed, "But compared to usual, isn't this break of yours quite long?"
Wen Yifan, "I just want to sleep for three full days and nights."
Back in her room.
Zhong Siqiao suddenly asked, "By the way, is Sang Yan going home for the New Year?"
"Of course he is." Finding the question somewhat odd, Wen Yifan replied puzzledly, "His family is local, and it's not like he has a bad relationship with them. Why wouldn't he go home for the New Year?"
"Oh." Zhong Siqiao said, "Right."
Wen Yifan lay down on the bed.
Zhong Siqiao added, "How are you getting along with him?"
"It's not really 'getting along.' We're just," Wen Yifan carefully chose her words, "two strangers living under the same roof. There's zero interaction. Whenever I see him now, it feels like he's a ghost."
"It can't be that exaggerated!" Zhong Siqiao said, "Wasn't everything fine at the gathering the other day?"
Hearing this, Wen Yifan froze.For some reason, the answer Xiang Lang gave during the truth game suddenly flashed through her mind. Quickly snapping out of it, she smiled: "It's pretty much the same as how I was during the gathering."
After chatting for a while, Wen Yifan heard the sound of a door closing from the entrance.
After hanging up.
Wen Yifan checked WeChat again and noticed Sang Yan had sent her messages five minutes ago.
Sang Yan: [Won't be back until the 8th day of the new year. Lock the door directly.]
Sang Yan: [Help finish the stuff in the fridge.]
Sang Yan: [Thanks.]
Wen Yifan blinked and replied with her usual "Okay."
On New Year's Eve, Wen Yifan returned home by 7 p.m.
She locked the door, took a shower, and after completing all her bedtime preparations, brought a small blanket to the living room. Lying on the sofa, she turned on the TV where the Spring Festival Gala had already been airing for some time.
Zhong Siqiao kept urging her, simultaneously bombarding her with messages on WeChat.
Wen Yifan replied: [I've turned on the TV too.]
Scrolling through her messages, she responded to all the New Year greetings one by one. When she saw Zhao Yuandong's message, she hesitated before replying: [Have to work overtime tonight. Happy New Year.]
The windows were tightly shut, but without heating, it was still quite cold.
Apart from the lively sounds from the TV, the room was silent. Wrapped in her blanket, Wen Yifan stared at the cheerful scenes on screen, completely unable to share in the festive mood. If not for the holiday, she might not even have remembered it was New Year's Eve.
She sighed and absentmindedly browsed Weibo, soon feeling like retreating to her room.
Truth be told, Wen Yifan wasn't particularly interested in the Spring Festival Gala.
She'd always thought it was just background noise for family gatherings on New Year's Eve. Watching it alone felt strangely out of place.
But Zhong Siqiao on WeChat was enthusiastically discussing the show with her.
Not wanting to dampen her friend's excitement, Wen Yifan considered getting something to eat.
Just then, the doorbell rang. Wen Yifan checked the time—it was nearly 9 p.m.
Who could it be at this hour?
Feeling both curious and uneasy, she went to the entrance and peered through the peephole.
In the brightly lit hallway stood Sang Yan, hands in his pockets.
Relieved, she opened the door: "Why are you back?"
Sang Yan glanced at her and unusually offered an explanation: "Relatives came over. No place to sleep."
"..." Wen Yifan nodded without further questions and returned to the sofa.
Sang Yan changed into slippers and sat on the opposite couch.
Both remained silent.
During such holidays.
The sudden presence of another person in the space made Wen Yifan feel somewhat unaccustomed, her gaze unconsciously drifting toward him.
After a while, Sang Yan moved first.
He stood up and headed toward the kitchen.
Noticing this, Wen Yifan watched as he took a pack of noodles, a box of meatballs, and some vegetables from the fridge. Then he retrieved a pack of frozen dumplings from the freezer—apparently planning to make a late-night snack.
Wen Yifan seriously doubted his cooking skills.
She secretly hoped he wouldn't use the gas stove.
An induction cooker would be more than enough for this.
She was terrified he might burn down the kitchen.
Several minutes later.
Wen Yifan heard the sound of the gas stove igniting.
"..."
Her anxiety grew.
But considering their current relationship dynamics, she hesitated to intervene.After fidgeting uneasily for a while,
The sound of boiling water came from the kitchen.
At the same time, Sang Yan suddenly called her name.
"Wen Yifan."
Given their previous interactions, hearing him say her name was harder than climbing to the sky.
This made Wen Yifan even more certain that something was wrong. She immediately stood up and walked over.
"What's the matter?"
As soon as she entered the kitchen,
Wen Yifan saw Sang Yan still holding the empty noodle package in his hand. His movements were stiff as he stared at the boiling pot—apparently, he had dumped the entire package of noodles in.
The scene seemed frozen.
A few seconds later,
Sang Yan lifted his head and said expressionlessly, "I cooked too much."
"..."
Sang Yan lowered his gaze, tossed the package into the nearby trash bin, and casually added,
"Help me eat some?"
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