First Frost

"……"

Wen Yifan was dumbfounded, feeling as if a massive pot had suddenly been dropped onto her head. She pondered his words, wanting to explain, but no response seemed quite right.

If she answered with a straightforward "yes," it would confirm his statement—that she indeed hadn't been looking at him. But if she denied it with a "no," it would sound like she was continuing his line of thought—yes, she hadn’t been looking at him.

Wen Yifan felt a bit tangled up in his logic.

It gave her the impression that Sang Yan was airtight in his reasoning, capable of phrasing questions in a way that left the other person at a disadvantage no matter how they answered, always giving him room to pick apart their response.

She wanted to give a foolproof answer and thought very carefully.

Facing Sang Yan, she wasn’t in a hurry, taking her time.

Her prolonged silence, in Sang Yan’s eyes, was tantamount to admitting she had indeed done what he accused her of but was too intimidated by his pressure to admit it outright.

Sang Yan’s faint smile vanished as he yanked the graduation album back.

Noticing the movement, Wen Yifan looked up.

Their gazes met.

Sang Yan stared at her for two seconds before looking away and standing up. He tossed the album aside, dropping the topic, his tone slightly displeased: "Go to sleep."

Wen Yifan studied his face and said softly, "But I haven’t finished looking at it yet."

His features were sharp and handsome, and he rarely smiled. His usual demeanor was aloof and aristocratic, creating a strong sense of distance from strangers. Now that he was angry, this impression intensified.

The sharpness in his expression seemed amplified.

Though Zhong Siqiao had mentioned several times that Sang Yan was especially intimidating when his face turned cold—so much so that the temperature around him seemed to drop, making others afraid to even speak—his presence carried an overwhelming sense of intimidation.

But strangely enough,

It was only now that Wen Yifan clearly realized she wasn’t the least bit afraid of him like this.

In fact, she almost wanted to laugh.

Knowing that laughing would only pour fuel on the fire, she didn’t speak immediately, intending to calm her emotions first before properly coaxing him.

The next second, Sang Yan’s hand suddenly landed on her head. The pressure wasn’t heavy, just enough to tilt her face upward. His gaze bore into her, as if trying to see what expression she was wearing.

Noticing the faint smile at the corner of her lips, Sang Yan froze, his face still expressionless.

"……"

Wen Yifan immediately schooled her features.

"Fine. I thought you were bowing your head in remorse," Sang Yan withdrew his hand and let out a cold laugh, his voice icy. "Turns out you were just secretly enjoying yourself after looking at some handsome guy."

"……" Wen Yifan almost laughed again. "No."

Sang Yan ignored her.

Wen Yifan leaned in a little closer and asked knowingly, "Are you angry?"

Sang Yan couldn’t be bothered to respond, pretending not to hear.

Wen Yifan said gently, "Then can I still look at your graduation album? I haven’t finished yet."

"……"

Sang Yan looked up again, leaning back slightly to gaze down at her. His fingers tapped lightly on the album beside him. Though he seemed to agree, his words carried a clear warning: "Fine. Take it."

Wen Yifan pretended not to notice the edge in his tone, acting as if he’d genuinely agreed. "Then I’ll take it?"

Sang Yan made it even clearer: "Dare to, then take it."

Wen Yifan nodded and pulled the album out from under his lightly pressing hand.

"……"Sang Yan stood beside her, watching her actions, his stomach aching faintly from anger.

After retrieving the photo album, Wen Yifan shifted closer to him.

Sang Yan suddenly said, "Sit farther away from me."

Wen Yifan ignored him and flipped open the group photo at this distance. She looked at Sang Yan in the photo, then at him. Noticing his still cold expression, she suddenly asked, "Why are you suddenly mad at me?"

Sang Yan glanced at her. "Reflect on yourself."

Suppressing a laugh, Wen Yifan thought for a moment. "Are you feeling guilty?"

Sang Yan: "?"

Wen Yifan continued flipping through the album. "I just wanted to see what my love rival looks like."

"..." Sang Yan's eyelashes flickered slightly as he frowned. "Say something a human can understand."

"Didn’t you have rumors with this Duan Jiaxu?" Wen Yifan recalled Zhong Siqiao’s words and slowly repeated, "I heard you two were the famous couple from the Computer Science Department at Nan University—"

"..."

"Gay school hunks."

Sang Yan: "..."

The topic gradually veered in another direction.

Yet Sang Yan’s expression relaxed considerably, completely unfazed by the so-called "rumors." He raised an eyebrow thoughtfully and said leisurely, "Wen Shuangjiang, aren’t you in the news business?"

Still flipping through the album, Wen Yifan responded, "Hmm?"

Further in were photos of various dormitories, and soon she found one of Sang Yan with his three roommates. In this photo, his eyes held a faint smile as he gazed lazily at the camera, exuding an air of noble confidence.

"So you believe in hearsay and unverified rumors like this?"

"..." Wen Yifan shook her head. "I don’t believe it."

"Oh." Sang Yan pressed his hand over hers, issuing a bold invitation. "Then when are you going to verify it?"

...

Because of his actions, Wen Yifan couldn’t focus on flipping through the album, wasting a lot of time. In the end, she only hastily located all the photos of Sang Yan, glanced at them briefly, and then was urged by him to go back for a nap.

Returning to her room, Wen Yifan changed clothes and lay on the bed with the voice recorder Sang Yan had given her. For some reason, she felt nervous and only after a while did she find the new recording, clicking to play it.

Sang Yan’s voice came through.

His tone was cool, the ends of his words always rising unconsciously, carrying a unique cadence.

"Wen Shuangjiang, be safe at work. Your man wants you home in one piece."

"..."

Wen Yifan froze, then clicked to replay it several times.

Be safe.

Home in one piece.

Her heart skipped a beat as she instinctively touched the spot behind her ear, recalling the injury she’d suffered back in Beiyu.

It had been a while now—the wound had long healed, leaving no scar behind. But Sang Yan seemed to dwell on it. Every time she worked late, as long as he was home, he would stay awake waiting for her return.

Wen Yifan was lost in thought.

After a long while, she carefully placed the recorder back in its box.

She lay in bed, trying to fall asleep. But after being awake for so long, she couldn’t quite drift off.

Images of Sang Yan from the graduation album kept surfacing in her mind.

More mature than in high school;

Yet more youthful than he was now.

A phase she had never seen, never been part of.

Wen Yifan stared blankly at the ceiling.At that very moment.

Wen Yifan felt with absolute clarity an emotion that had surfaced countless times before but had never been fully grasped.

She regretted it.

Deeply, profoundly regretted it.

Not long after Valentine's Day, the Spring Festival arrived.

Similar to last year, Wen Yifan only had a brief three-day holiday. Although Sang Yan's company often required overtime work, it was surprisingly considerate enough to extend the holiday until the seventh day of the lunar new year, even granting two extra days off beforehand.

He had significantly more free time than she did.

Except for New Year's Eve, when Sang Yan didn't return until around eight or nine o'clock, he spent most of the holiday at Imperial Capital Flower City. The entire Spring Festival break, the two of them spent together.

After the third day of the lunar new year, Wen Yifan resumed her duties at the company. Fortunately, this New Year was unusually peaceful, and there wasn't much work at the station, so it wasn't as busy as she had anticipated.

Wen Yifan was able to leave work on time every day.

It wasn't until the seventh day, when everyone returned to work, that she became truly swamped.

On the evening of the eighth day.

Wen Yifan had to work overtime unexpectedly and barely managed to wrap up her tasks by nine o'clock. She packed her things, wrapped her scarf around her neck, and left the office to wait for the elevator.

Before long, she noticed someone standing beside her out of the corner of her eye.

She instinctively turned to look.

It was Mu Chengyun.

During this period, even someone as slow as Wen Yifan could vaguely sense that Mu Chengyun was avoiding her. She could guess the reason, but since it didn't affect work, it didn't matter much to her.

Mu Chengyun smiled at her and greeted, "Sister Yifan, are you heading home now?"

Wen Yifan nodded.

Silence fell.

Both elevators stopped at each floor for over ten seconds, and after a long wait, they were still far from reaching her floor. Seizing the moment, Wen Yifan took out her phone and sent a WeChat message to Sang Yan: "I'm done. Heading over now."

Sang Yan replied immediately: "I've been drinking. Should I get someone to pick you up?"

Wen Yifan: "No need."

She casually added: "I'll ride with a colleague."

The next moment, Mu Chengyun spoke again, "Sister Yifan, when I came up earlier, I saw a man looking for you downstairs. But the security guards stopped him. Did you offend someone?"

Wen Yifan froze and looked up. "Who?"

In this line of work, it was inevitable to offend people now and then.

Wen Yifan had previously witnessed an older colleague in her office being confronted by a subject of one of his reports—because the person felt the content had negatively impacted their life.

Such incidents were common at the station, which was why security downstairs had become much stricter.

"Not sure, he looked to be in his forties," Mu Chengyun recalled. "But he didn't seem malicious. Maybe someone you know."

Wen Yifan pondered but couldn't figure out who it might be, so she simply nodded.

Mu Chengyun added, "Still, it's better to be careful."

Wen Yifan smiled. "I know. Thank you."

Silence returned.

"Sister Yifan, actually—" Mu Chengyun suddenly exhaled, looking as if he had struggled for a long time before finally getting to the point. "There's something I need to tell you."

Wen Yifan looked at him. "What is it?"

"You've probably noticed, before I..." Mu Chengyun hesitated, too embarrassed to finish, and changed his approach. "But now, it's gone."

Wen Yifan didn't understand. "Hmm?""I didn't have any experience in this area, and it was my first time trying to pursue someone... so I asked a lot of people for advice. My sister taught me several tricks, and I tried to follow them all."

"..."

"Basically, before pursuing someone, you need to eliminate any romantic rivals first—tarnish their reputation. And you have to defeat them in terms of presence." Saying this, Mu Chengyun seemed a bit embarrassed. "But since you're already together now, I wanted to explain it to you."

His words came out of nowhere, leaving Wen Yifan momentarily stunned.

"What I told you before—about what Senior Sang said during the graduation ceremony—was made up." Mu Chengyun smiled awkwardly. "He never said those words, and they didn't mention you at all during their graduation."

Those words had been spoken a long time ago, and Wen Yifan barely remembered them now.

She tried to recall.

"I think they did mention something that day—about some senior who had been someone's backup for years or something. I don't remember clearly." Mu Chengyun continued, "Then Senior Sang spoke, but I really didn't catch what he said."

Hearing the term "backup," Wen Yifan immediately looked up, a certain image flashing through her mind.

Mu Chengyun added, "For a while, I didn't know how to face you, but I've come to terms with it now."

Wen Yifan nodded. "Why bring this up suddenly?"

Mu Chengyun scratched his head. "I was afraid it might affect your relationship."

Wen Yifan chuckled. "It's not that serious."

Hearing this, Mu Chengyun visibly relaxed. "That's good."

Just then, the elevator arrived.

The two stepped inside.

It was crowded, forcing them to stand near the door.

Mu Chengyun pursed his lips, his gaze unconsciously drifting toward Wen Yifan as he recalled the first time he had seen her.

She had followed behind Qian Weihua, and the moment she entered, the dimly lit room seemed to brighten.

Her striking features were so beautiful they could steal anyone's attention—impossible to look away. Hers was a face that stunned at first glance and remained stunning the second time.

Mu Chengyun had fallen for her instantly.

That was why he had specifically asked his classmate Fu Zhuang whether Nanwu Broadcasting was still hiring and had subtly inquired about whether she had a boyfriend. Later, through campus recruitment, Mu Chengyun had joined the Transmit program team with absolute determination.

Hoping to get closer to her.

But the more time he spent with her, the less courage he had to approach her.

Because although she always seemed gentle and warm, in reality, she appeared indifferent to everyone—extremely hard to get close to. Outwardly kind, yet at her core, she seemed almost cold, as if nothing could truly matter to her.

Like an unattainable presence.

But that day, Mu Chengyun had seen how Wen Yifan acted when she was with Sang Yan.

And it hadn’t seemed that way at all.

Mu Chengyun shook off his thoughts, refusing to dwell on it further.

Even though he had spent this time adjusting his emotions, now that he was completely heartbroken, he still felt a pang of bitterness. He knew very well that these words would only worsen her impression of him.

Yet he still hoped.

That the person he had liked for nearly a year would be treated well.

And that she could, without any hindrance, stay happily with the person she loved.

—Meanwhile.Sang Yan repeatedly declined but was still forced to drink a few glasses of wine. Having been indoors for a while, he was starting to feel a bit warm. He loosened his tie and glanced at his phone, replying to a message: [Let me know when you arrive.]

Then he turned off the screen.

At that moment, Sang Zhi leaned over and whispered to him, "Bro, I’m going to wish Qian Fei a happy wedding, then I’ll head back first, okay?"

Sang Yan glanced at her. "You can get back on your own?"

Sang Zhi nodded. "There’s a bus right outside. I know the way."

"Mm." His tone was lazy. "Be careful."

After Sang Zhi left, Su Haoan, sitting across from him, couldn’t resist teasing, "Hey, Sang, is your girlfriend coming or not?"

Sang Yan looked up.

Perhaps the alcohol had gone to his head, but Su Haoan was in high spirits. "Did you just make up having a girlfriend to show off?"

Sang Yan scoffed, ignoring him.

Chen Junwen chimed in, "I think so too."

As he spoke, Chen Junwen looked up and happened to see someone approaching behind Sang Yan. He grinned and asked, "Lao Xu, do you share the same opinion as us?"

Following his words, Sang Yan glanced to the side.

The man was also dressed in a formal suit with a dark red tie, as if he had just returned from the restroom. His hair fell slightly over his forehead, his eyelids deeply creased, and his eyes shimmered with light—just a casual glance from him seemed flirtatious.

Perhaps unaware of their earlier conversation, he curved his lips slightly. "Hmm?"

"Duan Jiaxu," Su Haoan called out irritably upon seeing him. "Where the hell have you been?! You’re not even drinking on a day like this! What are you even doing here?! Just go back to Yihe already! So damn annoying!!!"

Duan Jiaxu chuckled softly, his tone gentle as if flirting. "Why do you still have so many complaints about me?"

Sang Yan let out a derisive laugh and took another sip of wine.

The next moment, Duan Jiaxu glanced at the empty seat beside Sang Yan. Then, he raised a brow slightly and looked at Sang Yan.

"Gege."

"..." Having endured this form of address all night—and recalling Wen Yifan’s recent mention of "gay"—Sang Yan gave a forced smile. "Are you out of your damn mind?"

Duan Jiaxu laughed to himself for a moment. "Where’s your sister?"

Sang Yan replied casually, "She just left."

"Is that so? Lend me your car keys," Duan Jiaxu picked up his jacket from the side, his expression natural. "It’s not safe for a girl to go back alone at this hour. I’ll take her home."

Sang Yan tossed the keys to him without hesitation. "You’re pretty attentive to that kid."

Duan Jiaxu smiled. "It’s only right."

Hearing this, Sang Yan looked at him again.

The man before him had pale, cold-toned skin and a tall, lean frame, paired with mesmerizing peach-blossom eyes. His features were strikingly handsome—when he smiled, the corners of his eyes curved slightly, and his lips were an unusually vivid shade. Even just his facial features alone were eye-catching.

Like a reincarnated male enchantress.

He definitely seemed like the type to attract young girls’ attention.

Sang Yan suddenly remembered how Wen Yifan had praised Duan Jiaxu’s looks after seeing his graduation photo. His brow twitched slightly as his gaze swept over Duan Jiaxu from head to toe, scrutinizing him. Then, he abruptly turned to Chen Junwen beside him. "Hey."

Chen Junwen, who had been looking at his phone, raised his head in confusion. "What?"

Sang Yan: "Let me ask you something."

Chen Junwen: "?"

Sang Yan: "Is Duan Jiaxu handsome?"

Duan Jiaxu, who had been about to leave, paused at these words and raised an eyebrow."..." Chen Junwen was utterly speechless. "Are you out of your mind? Seriously turning gay now?"

Sang Yan was a bit impatient but couldn't be bothered to press him further, shifting his gaze to Su Haoan instead.

"Su Haoan, you answer."

"Duan Jiaxu?" Su Haoan was already drunk, his face flushed red. He stared at Duan Jiaxu's face and shook his head. "Just average, not even one ten-thousandth as handsome as me."

Duan Jiaxu smirked. "Then what's with you?"

Su Haoan: "?"

Duan Jiaxu continued leisurely, "Blushing the moment you see me."

"..." Su Haoan looked like he was about to vomit. "You really haven't changed a bit in centuries."

Feeling like none of them could give a normal answer, Sang Yan turned his attention back to Chen Junwen. "Hurry up and answer."

Chen Junwen was thoroughly annoyed. "...Handsome, handsome, your partner's the most handsome! Happy now?"

"Oh, well." Sang Yan ignored his tone and turned to Duan Jiaxu with an unreadable look. "Between me and Duan Jiaxu, who's better-looking?"