Nan Hong – Chapter 9

Home of Adapted as Chinese Drama NovelAboutNovelsContactPrivacy PolicyMyDramaNovelTranslating Tomorrow's TV Drama Hits, Straight from the Pages of Chinese NovelsHomeFirst FrostNan Hong - Chapter 9First FrostNan Hong – Chapter 9A moment of silence.

As these words fell, Wen Yifan's mind flashed back to what happened on New Year's Eve—she was bumped by a passerby, accidentally colliding into his arms, then apologized to him, and he nodded to indicate "It's okay."

The entire process was no different from an interaction between strangers.

Even though Wen Yifan guessed he had probably recognized her, they both likely knew this implicitly.

But she hadn't expected him to be so straightforward about it.

After all, from the beginning, all of Wen Yifan's responses had been playing along with his various behaviors.

So now, while she still thought this act could continue, he felt the situation couldn't be maintained and preemptively acted as if to say, "What's the point of pretending not to know each other?"

Making himself appear as someone who was very sincere in dealing with people and matters, never doing anything hypocritical or roundabout.

In summary, it was the story of "Wen the Farmer" and "Sang the Snake."

Wen Yifan was silent for two seconds, then decided not to save face for him anymore: "Not really, I thought you hadn't recognized me."

Sang Yan tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"After all, I was wearing a mask then, my face completely covered." She calmly met his gaze and said slowly, "I didn't expect your eyesight to be so good."

Sang Yan raised an eyebrow: "Good eyesight?"

Quickly, he added sarcastically: "Ah, sorry for the misunderstanding."

Wen Yifan: "What misunderstanding?"

"I didn't see you in person, it was my sister who recognized you," Sang Yan said calmly, without a hint of guilt, "She told me you kept staring at me."

"…"

Wen Yifan's expression remained unchanged as she continued: "That's indeed the case."

Sang Yan looked at her.

"Because, when I saw you then," Wen Yifan decided to give him a taste of his own medicine and started making things up, "your fly was open."

"…"

Fearing this might cause another misunderstanding, Wen Yifan added: "Quite a few people around me were discussing it."

Sang Yan: "…"

"You don't need to worry too much about it, it's been several days now." Wen Yifan smiled, pretending to comfort him, "Let's not chat anymore, I have some work to do, so I'll head back first."

Before she could move, Sang Yan suddenly called out: "Hey."

Wen Yifan: "?"

Sang Yan: "Do you remember where Su Hao'an parked the car just now?"

She nodded instinctively.

"Alright." Sang Yan jerked his chin up, "Lead the way."

–

Wen Yifan was quite bewildered.

She had thought that after leading him to the car, he would at least reciprocate by asking if she needed a ride. But after finding the car, apart from "goodbye," Sang Yan didn't say a single word to her.

He showed no intention of accompanying her.

Originally, she didn't think this was a big deal.

But Wen Yifan had just observed that this restaurant was located on a very secluded street. She checked her phone map and found that the nearest subway station was several kilometers away.

There were hardly any passing cars around, and looking out, it was pitch black all around.

Wen Yifan hesitated, staring at Sang Yan's car that hadn't started yet, and could only reluctantly knock on the passenger window.

A few seconds later, Sang Yan lowered the window, giving her a cold glance.

Wen Yifan said softly: "Could you give me a ride? It's a bit remote here."

Sang Yan said flatly: "Where do you live?"

Wen Yifan: "Chengshi Jiayuan."

"Oh." Sang Yan looked away, "Not on my way."

"…"

Wen Yifan had never met someone so petty in her life. She put on an apologetic smile and added: "I'm not asking you to take me home, just to the nearest subway station would be fine. I appreciate it."

Sang Yan stared at her directly, and after a few seconds, he reluctantly said.

"Get in."

Wen Yifan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, got into the passenger seat, and lowered her head to fasten the seatbelt.

Sang Yan started the car.

The car was excessively quiet, the space enclosed and small.

Sang Yan didn't turn on any music, nor did he show any intention of conversing with her.

Feeling that staying silent while getting a free ride made her seem like she was treating Sang Yan as a driver, Wen Yifan initiated a topic: "Why did you suddenly decide to leave? Wasn't it a friend gathering?"

Sang Yan replied perfunctorily: "Noisy."

"…"

Wen Yifan wasn't sure if he meant the gathering was noisy or if he was calling her noisy.

Her lips moved, but she didn't speak again.

Wen Yifan turned her head to look out the window, watching the scenery flying by outside, streetlights stretching into bright lines, dazzling and disorienting. She gradually began to space out.

She thought about the conversation with Su Hao'an in this car on the way there.

It was indeed seven or eight years since Wen Yifan had seen Su Hao'an.

But not with Sang Yan.

Wen Yifan hadn't told anyone about this.

From Su Hao'an's reaction, it seemed that Sang Yan, like her, hadn't told others either.

It was as if only the two of them knew about it.

In the second semester of their second year of high school, Wen Yifan moved to Beiyu City with her uncle's family due to his job transfer. After that, except for her childhood friends Zhong Siqiao and Xiang Lang, she hadn't contacted anyone from her old school.

Except for Sang Yan.

Initially, Wen Yifan had thought they would lose touch.

But from some forgotten day, Wen Yifan would receive text messages from Sang Yan now and then. He wouldn't chat with her about anything or actively ask her questions, he would just send her his scores and rankings from every minor and major exam.

This continued until the end of their second year of high school.

When the final exam results for the second year came out, Wen Yifan happened to receive a text from Sang Yan. She had hesitated for a long time, but finally, looking at her report card, she slowly typed her scores into the message box and pressed send.

He probably hadn't expected her to reply.

After a long while, he responded.

[Looks like our scores aren't that different, why don't we try for the same university?]

A moment later.

He sent two more characters.

[Okay?]

…

Wen Yifan sighed inaudibly.

Noticing that they had passed several subway stations outside, she was startled and reminded him: "I think we've gone too far. I remember there's another subway station a bit further ahead, you can drop me off there?"

Sang Yan said coolly: "Am I a driver?"

"…"

Wasn't this what was agreed upon from the beginning?

Seemingly annoyed by this comment, Sang Yan didn't stop the car and continued driving forward.

Wen Yifan couldn't help but ask: "Where are you heading?"

"Your home," Sang Yan's tone always carried a hint of mockery, "Where else could we be going?"

"…"

Wen Yifan felt that they couldn't have a normal conversation at all. When he spoke, there were always subtle barbs present, vague yet noticeable, making the dialogue feel off.

Wen Yifan wanted to have a proper talk with him.

But she also felt there was no need to talk.

Before she knew it, they had arrived at Chengshi Jiayuan.

This residential complex was about ten years old, with old buildings and facilities, and not much space. It was full of walk-up apartments, and the property management barely took care of anything. At this hour, there was no security guard at the entrance.

Even the barrier wasn't lowered.

Sang Yan didn't drive into the complex, instead stopping directly at the entrance.

Wen Yifan unfastened her seatbelt and said politely: "Thank you so much for today, I'll treat you to a meal when you're free."

"Hm?" Sang Yan leaned back in the driver's seat, turning his head, his expression entirely lacking seriousness, "Thinking about the next meeting so soon?"

"…"

Wen Yifan was quite curious.

This so-called "street bad boy" title he had acquired over the past few years, how popular was it exactly?

That he could take any casual remark as someone having ulterior motives.

Or was it because of what she had said at the bar earlier, causing him to misunderstand her?

Wen Yifan decided to explain: "Earlier at the bar, I accidentally misspoke—"

Before she could finish, Sang Yan interrupted: "Which part."

Sang Yan: "The 'that's quite a pity' part?"

"…"

Wen Yifan gave up, directly skipping this topic, and reached out to open the car door.

"Drive safely on your way back."

Wen Yifan walked into the complex.

She lived in the building closest to the complex entrance, just a few steps to the right after entering.

Taking out her keys, Wen Yifan opened the door at the bottom of the building and slowly climbed up. This building had six households per floor, and she climbed to the third floor where she lived and then walked to the end of the corridor to reach her home.

Wen Yifan was about to walk over when she suddenly noticed three men standing at her door, bringing a strong, unpleasant smell of alcohol. They were smoking and laughing loudly, telling various dirty jokes, and using foul language.

It wasn't clear if they had just returned or had been waiting there for a while.

The hallway light was broken, making it very dark and impossible to see their faces. But through the light from outside, Wen Yifan could roughly recognize one of them by his build as the man living next door to her.

Wen Yifan suddenly realized.

Counting from the day she called the police, it had been about five days.

Her movement stopped.

But the keys in her hand made a slight noise.

The men immediately looked over.

The man with the tiger tattoo laughed: "Beautiful sister, you're back?"

Not knowing why they were inexplicably standing there, Wen Yifan felt uneasy.

"Brothers, it's this beauty who said I was harassing her," the tiger-tattooed man sighed, his voice hoarse and turbid, "I'm so innocent, how is knocking on a door considered harassment?"

"Beauty, haven't you seen it before?" another man laughed, "Do you want to know what real harassment is?"

Wen Yifan said nothing and turned to go back downstairs.

"Why is she running?"

"How would I know why she's running? Beauty! We're not going to do anything! Can't we just chat?"

"I don't blame you, beautiful sister! I just want to improve our relationship, we're neighbors, right? Don't make things so awkward."

As they said these things, they also followed Wen Yifan downstairs.

The men's strides were large, and they were laughing excitedly as if playing around, but in this darkness, it seemed sinister.

Wen Yifan didn't even have time to take out her phone from her pocket to call the police. She ran to the first floor, opened the main door, and ran towards the complex entrance. She wanted to seek help from the security guard but suddenly remembered that the guard booth was empty when she came back.

The location of this complex wasn't particularly remote, and after going out, there was a food street after walking for a while.

Wen Yifan thought if she could just reach a crowded place, it would be fine.

The footsteps behind her seemed to be getting closer.

At this moment, Wen Yifan saw that Sang Yan's car was still parked where it had been outside the complex entrance. He was leaning casually against the passenger door, his posture relaxed, looking as if he was on the phone.

Noticing the commotion, Sang Yan looked up, meeting her gaze.

Wen Yifan slowed down slightly, a fleeting thought of asking him for help crossing her mind. But after a quick mental calculation, she still chose to run towards the food street.

Wen Yifan was about to pass by him.

Sang Yan had already ended his call and called out to her: "Wen Yifan."

She looked up, meeting his gaze once again.

Catching sight of her current expression, and the three ominous-looking men following behind her.

Sang Yan's expression was indifferent, excessively calm.

"Come here."