The neighboring table wasn't aware of the full context and only caught the word "Substitute." Knowing about Sang Yan's past struggles in pursuing Wen Yifan without success, they couldn't help but look at him with a hint of sympathy.
Sang Yan's temple twitched as he lifted his head to glare at them expressionlessly.
At that moment, Su Haoan turned to Wen Yifan like a concerned mother hen: "Wen Yifan... I get it, Sang Yan's personality isn't something normal people can handle—"
Wen Yifan listened blankly.
"And looks-wise, he might not be much to look at either," Su Haoan continued. "Just got lucky with that dimple that caught your eye... But you can't just treat him as a—"
Sang Yan had heard enough. He stood up, grabbing Su Haoan by the collar. Glancing at Wen Yifan, he announced, "I'm taking him to sober up," before dragging Su Haoan out, clicking his tongue. "Let's go, stop embarrassing yourself."
After they left, the private room didn't immediately return to its lively atmosphere, remaining quiet for a moment.
Wen Yifan thought for a bit before asking, "Could you all tell that the first love I mentioned earlier was Sang Yan?"
One girl replied, "We could guess."
Several others chimed in with affirmative answers.
Relieved, Wen Yifan noticed another table still paying attention and added with a smile, "Good. I chased Sang Yan for a long time before, and I was too embarrassed to say it. Sang Yan cared about my pride, so he never told his friends about it."
The others laughed and agreed, smoothly moving past the topic.
After a while, Xiang Lang turned to Wen Yifan, amused. "More like you were protecting Sang Yan's pride. I heard from Su Haoan that Sang Yan's been bragging everywhere about you chasing him, but no one believes him."
"..."
Meanwhile.
Su Haoan forced Sang Yan to splash water on his face. Once he broke free, he was mostly sober. "Damn, are you trying to kill me? How was I supposed to know Wen Yifan's White Moonlight also had a fucking dimple!"
"..." Sang Yan let go, looking exasperated. "Are you mentally deficient?"
Su Haoan: "?"
Still, the term "White Moonlight" pleased Sang Yan. He smirked, deciding not to bother with this idiot anymore. "If you can't hold your liquor, don't drink. Stop acting like a moron."
Su Haoan leaned on the sink, spitting out water. "My alcohol tolerance is just fine."
Sang Yan pulled out a pack of cigarettes.
"Why aren't you bringing it up anymore? Don't hold back—no need to act tough in front of me." Su Haoan sighed, patting his arm. "Think it over. You can't spend your whole life being cuckolded like this."
Sang Yan tilted his head, voice icy. "Did it ever occur to you that the White Moonlight is me?"
Su Haoan fell silent before patting his shoulder again. "Stop dreaming."
"..."
They walked out to the hallway, smoking by the window at the end.
Su Haoan lit his cigarette, gradually piecing things together. "So Wen Yifan's first love really was you?"
Sang Yan raised a brow, neither confirming nor denying, but his expression made it obvious.
"I give up," Su Haoan said, watching his smug face and feeling his earlier guilt had been wasted. "Just tell me the truth—have you two been secretly dating all these years?"
"..."
Su Haoan clapped sarcastically. "Impressive. Back when I suggested you two live together, you fucking blew up at me.""Me," Sang Yan said with a cigarette between his teeth, his voice slightly muffled, "I don't take kindly to such underhanded tactics."
"..."
"But since you've already delivered my wife to my doorstep," Sang Yan exhaled a smoke ring, his features distorted in the swirling haze as he drawled, "of course, I have no reason to refuse."
Su Haoan really wanted to punch that shameless look off his face, but hearing the word "wife" made him a bit melancholic: "Ah, Fatty's married. I thought you'd have to wait another decade or so, but now you're getting married too."
Sang Yan shot him a glance.
Su Haoan grew increasingly despondent: "Even Duan Jiaxu managed to snag your sister."
"..."
"And me? I got dumped again—" At this point, Su Haoan paused, then corrected himself bitterly, "broke up again."
"What was the reason this time?"
"She said I was too much of an idiot, completely lacking emotional intelligence." Su Haoan draped his arm over the railing and scoffed disdainfully. "She can say whatever she wants about me, but call me an idiot? No emotional intelligence? Then how did I manage to charm so many girls?"
Sang Yan remarked lazily, "So that's why you keep getting dumped?"
Su Haoan stared at him, unfazed by his words. After a few seconds, his expression relaxed slightly. "True. Even if a handsome guy has nothing, he's still in demand."
"..."
After the gathering, the two returned home.
Thinking about Su Haoan's words and Sang Yan's long-standing disdain for his own dimples, Wen Yifan belatedly pieced something together. Smiling, she called out to him, "A-Yan."
Sang Yan turned on the living room air conditioner. "Hmm?"
Wen Yifan leaned in to examine the corner of his lips. "Did Su Haoan always say your dimples made you look girly?"
"He was bawling like a banshee tonight—he has the nerve to call me girly?" Sang Yan pulled her into his arms, drowsy. "But yeah, that might be part of it."
"Huh?"
"After all, didn’t he try to hit on me before?"
"..."
Wrapped in his embrace, Wen Yifan caught the mingled scents of tobacco, alcohol, and sandalwood. She leaned closer, studying his overly confident expression, and laughed. "I like your dimples."
Sang Yan lowered his lashes. "Yeah, you've said that before."
After a moment’s thought, Wen Yifan rephrased Su Haoan’s words: "Dimple Ace."
"..."
Wanting to dispel any lingering doubts from others' comments, she added, "Your dimples are actually pretty manly."
Sang Yan smirked arrogantly. "Anything on my face is manly. Look at that brat—what do hers look like?"
"..." Wen Yifan thought of Sang Zhi’s two dimples when she smiled and felt a pang of envy. "Are your dimples hereditary? Can our future kids have them too?"
Sang Yan looked at her, his tone teasing. "You asking for my help with that?"
Wen Yifan found his phrasing inaccurate. "It’d be your kid too."
In the next moment, Sang Yan pressed the back of her neck, tilting her head down, while his other hand gripped her wrist. His lips brushed her collarbone, nipping lightly as he made his offer: "Want to stay up late?"
Wen Yifan immediately pulled back, grabbing his hair.
"No, it's time to sleep."
"I’ll ask for your help in a couple of years. It’s still a bit early." Wen Yifan spoke gently, negotiating. "Take care of your health, keep a regular schedule. No smoking or drinking, early to bed and early to rise. When the time comes, I’ll naturally—"Before she could finish speaking, Sang Yan picked her up and stood. He glanced at the clock on the wall—just past ten.
“What time counts as staying up late?”
Wen Yifan paused, then answered casually, “Midnight?”
Sang Yan’s dark eyes gleamed as he kissed her while heading toward the bedroom, compromising in an understanding manner.
“Fine, then we’ll sleep early today.”
During this National Day holiday, Sang Zhi also returned from school. On the day before she was set to go back, Li Ping called the others, asking them to come home for a meal if they had time—just to chat and catch up.
Since both Wen Yifan and Sang Yan were still on break, they arrived at the Sang household by noon.
Everyone else was present, except for Duan Jiaxu, who was still at work and could only join them for dinner. The family chatted idly, but as mealtime approached, Sang Rong and Li Ping were suddenly called away by some old friends for a meal.
Without a second thought, they left the four of them behind.
There weren’t many ingredients at home, and no one could decide where to eat out, so after some discussion between Wen Yifan and Sang Zhi, they settled on buying groceries to make hot pot.
Just as they stepped out of the building, Duan Jiaxu’s car pulled up.
The three of them got in.
Not long after the New Year, Duan Jiaxu had returned from Yihe to Nanwu and opened a gaming studio here.
Dressed in a white shirt, his peach-blossom eyes slightly narrowed, Duan Jiaxu showed no signs of fatigue after a full day’s work. His voice was smooth and unhurried, gentle to the core: “What would you like to eat?”
Sang Yan lounged in the backseat like a boss, lazily ordering, “Drive to the supermarket nearby.”
Sang Zhi was sitting in the passenger seat, her seatbelt still unfastened. Hearing this, she turned to glance at Sang Yan, suppressed her irritation, and said to Duan Jiaxu, “Just charge him the base fare, but at this hour, it should be double.”
Duan Jiaxu chuckled softly and leaned over to fasten her seatbelt for her.
Sang Zhi made an outrageous demand: “Charge him a thousand.”
“Fine,” Sang Yan said leisurely. “I’ll deduct it from your allowance next month.”
“…”
Wen Yifan sat quietly beside them, choosing not to get involved in the siblings’ squabble, content to be a freeloader.
Duan Jiaxu, however, spoke up at this moment, gently ruffling Sang Zhi’s hair, his peach-blossom eyes softening. “It’s fine. Let him deduct it. I’ll cover it for you.”
Sang Zhi, instantly mollified, muttered, “Oh.”
The car started.
After a moment of pondering the flow of that thousand yuan, Sang Zhi quickly realized something was off. “Wait, that means you’re the one losing out.”
“…”
If you thought about it…
Didn’t that mean Duan Jiaxu was just giving Sang Yan a free thousand yuan?
She turned back. “Bro, you don’t have to pay.”
Sang Yan drawled, sounding utterly shameless, “Wouldn’t that be inappropriate?”
Sang Zhi: “It’s appropriate. You two are so close—charging money would be inappropriate.”
“Even brothers settle accounts clearly, or it’ll hurt feelings.” Sang Yan fiddled with his phone, adopting a businesslike tone. “Besides, I brought two dependents. Buddy, how about three thousand?”
“…” Sang Zhi felt like she’d shot herself in the foot. Swallowing her anger, she said, “Just don’t count me. I’m riding in my boyfriend’s car. No charge.”
“Brother, aren’t I your dependent too?” Duan Jiaxu smiled. “Not counting me?”
No matter how many times he heard it, Sang Yan found it utterly unbearable to hear a grown man call him “brother” like that. He scoffed, his voice devoid of emotion. “Are you out of your damn mind?”Wen Yifan was also drawn in, lightly pursing her lips as she observed Sang Yan's expression, which seemed either displeased or embarrassed. There was an odd feeling that he was flirting with his little sweetheart right in front of her.
Seeing Sang Yan finally uncomfortable, Sang Zhi perked up: "Brother, no personal attacks."
"..."
One after another, they seemed to be playing a game of verbal tag.
Wen Yifan felt that staying silent the whole time would dampen the mood. Besides, even her former rival had called Sang Yan such an intimate nickname. After hesitating, she decided she couldn’t lose face and couldn’t help but lean closer to Sang Yan.
Noticing her movement, Sang Yan also tilted toward her, his eyes asking, What’s wrong?
Wen Yifan moved near his ear and whispered to him.
"Brother."
"..."
OpenNovel