The kitchen was square-shaped and relatively spacious.
An L-shaped dark countertop had a gap where the refrigerator stood, with beige cabinets embedded above. Due to the addition of several appliances, the space felt more cramped than before.
Wen Yifan walked over to Sang Yan’s side, watching the noodles already boiling in the pot. After a brief silence, she rolled up her sleeves, turned on the faucet, and washed her hands. Then, she pointed at the items nearby.
“Should I put these back in the fridge?”
Sang Yan glanced sideways. “Leave the vegetables.”
Wen Yifan: “Okay.”
Just as she picked up the box of meatballs—
Sang Yan suddenly asked, “Not eating the meatballs?”
Wen Yifan paused. “If you want some, we can add a few.”
“What about dumplings?”
“Just a couple is fine.”
“Oh.” Sang Yan picked up the soy sauce and casually added, “Grab me two eggs.”
“……” Wen Yifan was speechless at his insistence on having everything, even in this situation. Not wanting to waste food, she couldn’t hold back anymore. “Sang Yan.”
Sang Yan: “What?”
Wen Yifan calmly reminded him, “You cooked an entire pack of noodles.”
“……”
In the end,
only some vegetables and mushrooms were added as toppings—everything else was returned to the fridge by Wen Yifan. She took two bowls from the cabinet, one large and one small, handing the larger one to him.
Sang Yan accepted it and began filling the bowl with noodles.
Standing nearby, Wen Yifan watched the pot, which was nearly overflowing with noodles. Given the situation, she felt that eating just a little wouldn’t make much of a difference and worried Sang Yan might force her to eat bowl after bowl.
After all, given his personality, he was entirely capable of doing so.
Wen Yifan suddenly said, “I might not be able to help you finish much.”
Sang Yan had just finished filling one bowl and reached out. “Huh?”
Wen Yifan handed him her bowl, her expression tactful. “I’m not particularly hungry.”
“……” Taking in her expression, Sang Yan immediately understood her thoughts and said flatly, “Got it.”
Since the Spring Festival Gala was still playing and the two had little to talk about,
they simply returned to the living room.
The freshly cooked noodles were still piping hot, so Wen Yifan placed her bowl directly on the coffee table.
A comedy skit was currently playing on TV, already halfway through. Having missed the beginning, Wen Yifan had no idea what was going on and watched in confusion.
After a while, still unable to follow, she lowered her head and took a sip of the broth.
She hesitated for a few seconds before slowly swallowing.
Surprisingly, the taste was quite good.
Wen Yifan sighed in relief.
When she looked up, she met Sang Yan’s inscrutable gaze.
“……” After swallowing the broth, she offered a polite compliment. “The noodles you made are pretty tasty.”
“With that expression,” Sang Yan, who hadn’t touched his food yet, remarked leisurely, “I thought I’d poisoned the noodles.”
“……” Wen Yifan said, “I just never expected you to know how to cook.”
Sang Yan scoffed, his tone both puzzled and arrogant. “Is there anything I can’t do?”
Wen Yifan replied earnestly, “Aren’t there quite a few things?”
Sang Yan raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”
“For example,” Wen Yifan thought for a moment, “cooking a single serving of noodles.”
“……”
Perhaps because of the holiday, or maybe due to the small mishap with Sang Yan’s cooking, the atmosphere between them was more harmonious than usual.Originally, Wen Yifan had planned to make herself a simple New Year's Eve dinner after work since it was Chinese New Year's Eve. But once she got home, she felt too lazy to move and wasn't particularly hungry, so she gave up on the idea.
Wen Yifan suddenly found it somewhat unbelievable.
She never thought that in her lifetime, she’d get to eat a "New Year's Eve dinner" made by Young Master Sang Yan.
Wen Yifan ate at a decent pace—though she appeared to be chewing slowly, she finished the noodles in her bowl in no time.
Just as a program on TV ended, she stood up, intending to get herself another serving.
Noticing her movement, Sang Yan asked casually, "Where are you going?"
Wen Yifan paused and pointed toward the kitchen. "Getting more noodles."
"..."
Though he had only let her have some because he’d cooked too much, out of courtesy—since she was eating his food—she offered, "Do you want me to get you some more too?"
"Don’t force yourself if you’re full," Sang Yan glanced at her leisurely, "I don’t want to be blamed if you overeat."
"No," Wen Yifan was taken aback and replied bluntly, "I just want to eat more."
"..."
Seeing that his bowl was still quite full, she didn’t ask again and went to the kitchen by herself. Worried that eating too much might upset her stomach and keep her awake, she only took a small half-bowl, though she filled it generously with broth.
She returned to the couch and sat down.
Wen Yifan glanced in Sang Yan’s direction.
At some point, his expression had softened slightly, his posture relaxed, and he seemed to be in a rather good mood.
His gaze was fixed on the TV.
Wen Yifan blinked and also turned her attention to the screen. The previous magic show had ended, and now a song performance by a few recently popular actresses had begun.
They wore bright smiles, their voices sweet and pleasant—a truly delightful sight.
"..."
Oh.
Wen Yifan suddenly understood.
...
As time passed, Wen Yifan hadn’t planned to stay in the living room for so long.
But before she knew it, midnight had arrived.
Throughout this time, the two of them sat at opposite ends of the couch, exchanging little conversation, yet neither left early for their rooms. Occasionally, Wen Yifan would comment on a program, and Sang Yan would respond with a nonchalant "Mm."
The new year arrived.
Only then did Wen Yifan realize they had stayed up together to welcome it.
At that moment, her phone buzzed a few times.
Zhong Siqiao and Xiang Lang had sent "Happy New Year" messages in the group chat right on time.
Wen Yifan moved her fingers, about to reply, when she caught sight of Sang Yan, who was now looking down at his phone. She suddenly stood up and said softly, "I’m going to bed now."
Sang Yan slowly lifted his eyes.
Wen Yifan naturally added, "Happy New Year."
Sang Yan looked at her.
She didn’t expect him to return the sentiment, so after saying it, she prepared to head to her room.
But Sang Yan’s attitude tonight was unexpectedly decent.
He averted his gaze and actually reciprocated—though his tone was as indifferent as ever, as if he were just going through the motions.
"Mm, Happy New Year."
—
Back in her room.
Wen Yifan took some time to reply to messages before putting her phone down and trying to fall asleep. She turned off the bedside lamp, staring into the pitch-black darkness, her thoughts drifting.
She thought back to what had just happened.
A random notion popped into her head.
Turns out, the Spring Festival Gala wasn’t so bad after all.
Pushing the thought aside, she was about to close her eyes when she suddenly remembered the bowl of noodles she’d eaten earlier. She immediately got up to brush her teeth. Only after finishing did she belatedly realize she was feeling a little too full.She couldn't remember the last time she'd fallen asleep feeling this full.
Wen Yifan felt slightly guilty.
This seemed to be the first time they'd eaten a meal alone together since reuniting.
And both of them were unusually calm.
It felt like their relationship had eased, or perhaps it was just softened by the holiday atmosphere.
It was a familiar feeling to her.
As if she'd returned to that period from the second semester of sophomore year until the college entrance exams.
Back then, Wen Yifan had just moved to Beiyu City and spent several months adapting to the new environment. Compared to her time at Nanwu No.1 High School, she became even more silent. Living a closed-off boarding school life, she only went home once every two weeks.
Every day, she did nothing but study.
She only turned on her phone occasionally to check it.
Perhaps it was because she'd sent Sang Yan that text about her grades.
A few days after the final exams of sophomore year ended, Wen Yifan received another message from Sang Yan.
Sang Yan: [Are you free right now?]
When she saw this, Wen Yifan had a premonition that he might have come.
Wen Yifan: [What's up?]
Sang Yan: [First time in Beiyu, don't know my way around.]
Sang Yan: [If you're busy, it's fine.]
The distance from Nanwu to Beiyu wasn't far—about an hour and a half by high-speed rail.
Wen Yifan had never imagined he would come. She stared at the message in shock for a long moment before asking for his location and immediately heading out.
At that time, because it had been raining for several days straight, the temperature in Beiyu had dropped by a few degrees.
Sang Yan didn't know where she lived, only which high school she attended, so he waited for a while at her school gate. Wearing just a short-sleeved shirt, he seemed unaffected by the cold. When he saw her, he raised an eyebrow and smiled.
"You came so fast?"
Before that day.
They hadn't spoken in a long time.
Not just because Wen Yifan had transferred to Beiyu—even in the period before she transferred, the two of them had acted like strangers at school.
So when he spoke, and Wen Yifan responded with a quiet "Mm,"
the atmosphere immediately fell into silence again.
After a moment.
Sang Yan suggested, "Want to get something to eat?"
Wen Yifan agreed and took him to a noodle shop nearby.
They ate in silence for a while.
The presence of the person beside her was overwhelmingly noticeable.
Wen Yifan broke the silence first, asking softly, "When are you going back?"
Sang Yan looked up and countered, "When do you need to be home?"
Wen Yifan answered casually, "By six, I guess."
"Oh." Sang Yan paused his chopsticks, the corner of his mouth lifting. "Then I'll leave at six."
...
That seemed to mark a beginning.
After that, Sang Yan would come to Beiyu to see her every now and then.
It wasn't frequent, and each time, he would just have a meal with her before leaving, never taking up too much of her time. Neither of them talked much about their own lives, as if these meetings were just for the sake of seeing each other.
Nothing more—
Over the next few days.
Sang Yan continued leaving in the mornings and returning around seven or eight in the evening.
His schedule was remarkably consistent, as if he was being kicked out of his relative's house at the same time every day.
Wen Yifan had asked him when his relatives were planning to leave, but he seemed indifferent and simply replied with a "Don't know." Putting herself in his shoes, she couldn't help but feel he was in a tough spot.
Being kicked out to stay elsewhere during the New Year.
After that, she didn't bring it up again.
On the afternoon of the third day of the new year.
Wen Yifan had just stepped out of the bathroom when she saw a message from Sang Yan sent ten minutes earlier.
Sang Yan: [I'm going back this afternoon.]
Sang Yan: [Might bring my sister along.]
A few minutes later.
Sang Yan: [That okay?]Before moving in together, Wen Yifan had set this rule: they had to inform each other before bringing anyone over.
Wen Yifan replied: 【Sure.】
After responding, Wen Yifan didn’t dwell on the matter. She turned on her computer and started watching a show, losing track of time until dinner. She got up, left her room, and headed to the fridge to grab a cup of yogurt.
Just then, the sound of the door opening came from the entrance.
Wen Yifan glanced over and saw Sang Yan walk in with his keys. He was carrying several bags, his expression indifferent as he spoke to the person behind him: "Just go barefoot. No slippers."
A moment later, Sang Zhi appeared in Wen Yifan’s line of sight.
She didn’t immediately take off her shoes or respond to Sang Yan.
Since it was her first time here, Sang Zhi instinctively scanned the surroundings. Noticing Wen Yifan, her gaze lingered, and she blurted out: "Brother, is this sister your girlfriend?"
Sang Yan stayed silent.
Wen Yifan smiled and answered proactively: "No, we’re just roommates."
"Oh, she’s so pretty—" Sang Zhi blinked and muttered under her breath, "Guess it really is just roommates."
"……"
Wen Yifan didn’t interrupt them, planning to grab her yogurt and return to her room.
But then Sang Zhi spoke again, as if realizing something: "Sister, were you and my brother high school classmates?"
Wen Yifan paused: "You remember me?"
Wen Yifan and Sang Zhi had only met a handful of times.
Back then, Sang Zhi had been tiny, looking very young. So many years had passed—Wen Yifan assumed she’d long forgotten her and was surprised to be recognized.
Seeing the little kid from back then grown into this tall, slender, and beautiful girl, Wen Yifan found it fascinating and couldn’t help adding: "You got lost back then and asked me to help you find your brother. Later, you even said you’d treat me to ice cream. Remember?"
Sang Zhi thought for a moment and admitted honestly: "No."
Wen Yifan: "Huh?"
"I wasn’t actually lost," Sang Zhi said slowly. "But my brother said I was."
"……"
"So I had to be lost."
"……"
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