First Frost
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Chapter 29
Did You Not Have Feelings Before?
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Wen Yifan objected and said, “I’m not afraid-“
When she met Sang Yan’s eyes, she realised the “too” in his sentence and paused for a few seconds. Wanting to save his face, she added, “…I think?”
“…”
Wen Yifan never thought Sang Yan would be afraid of this. After all, he always presented himself as someone who was not the least bit frightened of anything. From what she could recall, this wasn’t the first time Sang Yan had watched a horror film around her.
Once in their first year of high school, it was pouring outside and they couldn’t conduct their PE lesson. The teacher in charge told the PE representative to inform the class that they could either do some self-studying in class, or switch on a movie to pass time.
The class computer back then had no internet connection, and the only classmate with a USB flash drive only had a horror film in it. Since the majority of the class did not want to spend time self-studying, there was no other choice but to put the movie on, despite some minor protests.
At that time, Wen Yifan was seated at the third row, while Sang Yan was at the corner of the fourth, a row behind hers.
Wen Yifan had already seen the movie, so she wasn’t paying much attention. She was solving her homework while periodically looking up at the movie.
One of those times, she looked up right when the ghost appeared.
And at the same time, a loud scream echoed from the side, causing her to turn towards the direction.
It was Sang Yan’s seat-mate.
He probably got such a shock that he leaned too far backwards, his chair tilted along with him. In his panic, he grabbed onto Sang Yan’s chair to stop the fall.
But his physique was large and ended up dragging Sang Yan down with him.
And hence the commotion.
Everyone had their focus on the two boys.
Sang Yan looked like he had just been disturbed from his sleep. His brows were knitted and was cranky as he stood up. “What’s wrong with you?”
His seat-mate was still in shock and said, “Bloody hell, that scared me to death.”
“…”
Hearing that, Sang Yan turned towards the screen, coincidentally seeing how the ghost crawled out of the television. His gaze was fixed to the screen and his expression didn’t change.
“Is that bloody enough to scare anyone to death?”
…
So at the time, Sang Yan was sleeping because he was scared?
That sounds plausible.
Because Sang Yan gave a pat on the sofa, Wen Yifan naturally took a seat next to him.
The house was silent apart from the running movie. There was a lingering scent of Sang Yan’s shower gel around him. He had been quiet for most of the time, but his presence felt particularly strong.
Wen Yifan poured herself a cup of warm water and continued watching, but she wasn’t really paying attention.
It wasn’t until a while later did she notice that she wasn’t seated at her usual spot. And they were seated closer to each other than usual.
For some reason, the closeness caused her mind to drift off to what happened at the supermarket earlier. How Sang Yan suddenly appeared next to her.
Whoosh.
She disconnected from her surroundings.
The damp smell accompanied by a rainy day was replaced by a familiar scent of a guy in a split second. When she lifted her eyes, amidst the fog, she came face to face with Sang Yan. They were close, so close that she could even count the number of hairs on his brows-
Her train of thought was broken when Sang Yan reached forward to grab a cup for himself.
And closed the distance between them.
For some reason, Wen Yifan felt nervous and stood up abruptly.
Sang Yan looked up.
Without waiting for him to speak, Wen Yifan calmly said, “I’m gonna get some yogurt for myself. Do you want some?”
“Nah,” said Sang Yan, as he looked away. “I don’t.”
Wen Yifan returned to the living room after taking a strawberry yogurt from the refrigerator.
Sang Yan was calmly drinking from his cup and wasn’t paying attention to the movie. Wen Yifan paused a step before turning and seemingly taking her usual seat out of habit.
She didn’t return to his side.
Once the movie ended, Wen Yifan casually shared some of her thoughts about the movie, but didn’t specifically say anything to hurt his ego about how he didn’t have to be afraid. She took her things and returned to her room right after.
She brought out her nightwear, and her thoughts started to wander off to the movie they’d just watched.
And the web entry of Mu Chengyun that she’d just seen much earlier.
Wen Yifan was a little slow, and only now did it dawn on her.
Isn’t it too much of a coincidence?
Did Sang Yan see the headline in the web entry earlier? Was that why he searched up this particular movie to watch?
Wen Yifan then recalled what Sang Yan said after his shower.
…”Give me some recommendations for a horror film to help me fall asleep.”
Wen Yifan panicked and stopped her mind from wandering off too far.
The next morning, Wen Yifan came out to the living room to make breakfast after dressing up. She brought out the milk powder from under the counter and glanced at the empty couch at the side, feeling a little odd.
From what she’d observed during the time they’ve been housemates, Wen Yifan noticed that Sang Yan’s daily schedule was disorganised. His bedtime was irregular and sometimes he’d be asleep late in the afternoon.
However, regardless of how late he went to bed, he’d always wake up early.
When Wen Yifan comes out of her room every morning, Sang Yan would be on the couch with his eyes glued to his phone.
Looking bored and sleepy.
Perhaps Wen Yifan didn’t realised it because she barely stayed with Wang Linlin for long, but now that Sang Yan was supposed to move out in a month’s time and she had to look for a new housemate, she was feeling a little weird.
It wasn’t like she was unhappy, but she couldn’t put a finger on it.
Wen Yifan blinked.
It should be normal, right?
We have been interacting for the past two months now.
If there’s a first time, when it’s time to say goodbye to the next housemate again, I’d probably get more used to it by then.
Wen Yifan made some toast when she went to the kitchen. When she entered the dining hall, Sang Yan came out from the washroom. Water was dripping down his face like he just finished washing up.
He glanced at her breakfast when he passed by.
Wen Yifan froze before asking, “Want some?”
“Ah,” Sang Yan paused in his footsteps and casually pulled out a chair. “Thanks.”
“…”
When he saw her cup of milk, Sang Yan lightly tapped the table as if he was in a restaurant. “A cup of milk too, thanks.”
Wen Yifan was speechless.
It wasn’t a big deal, so she endured it and went to the counter to make another cup of milk with the remaining water from the counter. Just as she was about to take the cup, Sang Yan got up and went over to grab himself some fruit cereal.
He tore the packaging and conveniently took the cup of milk before returning to the dining hall.
Wen Yifan was at a loss for words at his actions and merely trailed after him.
They were seated next to each other.
Their cups were really close to each other too.
While Wen Yifan sat, she noticed that Sang Yan was still standing. He poured the cereal into her cup.
She looked at him and said, “That’s the wrong cup.”
Sang Yan muttered a silent ‘oh’ before realising what he’d done. He then corrected himself and poured it into his cup.
It felt like his mind was still in a blur after waking up, so Wen Yifan didn’t care too much about it. She simply used a spoon to scoop out the cereal and ate them.
After giving it a thought, she asked, “Have you found out about the renovations?”
“They didn’t pick up my calls,” Sang Yan said distractedly. “I’ll go over and have a look in two days.”
She didn’t mind since she wasn’t in a rush, after all.
“Sure.”
Tuesday morning.
Wen Yifan was on the way to work. While waiting for the train, she casually swiped through her phone and saw that Zhao Yuandong had messaged her again.
Since the day Wen Yifan left, Zhao Yuandong had been persistently speaking to her, but she only used text to explain her situation. Perhaps the woman didn’t dare to call her.
Wen Yifan never replied, but looking through them was affecting her, so she enabled the “Do Not Disturb” setting.
The train arrived just in time and Wen Yifan pocketed the device.
She barely got on the train before her phone started ringing. It was an unknown caller but it was from a Nanwu number. She picked it up and greeted them politely, “Hello, may I know who is this?”
“Shuang Jiang, it’s aunt.” Che Yanqin’s smiling voice immediately came from the other end of the call, “This child… If I hadn’t met you that day, I wouldn’t have known that you’ve blamed me all this while. Let’s have a proper talk. Aunt was the one who brought you up all these years anyway. Besides, all that was just a misunderstanding on your part-“
“…”
Without listening till the end, Wen Yifan hung up, and blocked the number.
Since her uni days in Yihe until she started working in Nanwu, she had changed her phone number a few times now. Che Yanqin should have had no means of contacting her anymore.
This number was obviously given to her by Zhao Yuandong.
Wen Yifan had no clue how long Che Yanqin was going to be in Nanwu before she returned to Beiyu and that frustrated her.
She rolled her tongue and quickly managed her emotions.
Nanwu was huge. The chances of stumbling into her was slim.
In addition to that, Wen Yifan had not mention a thing about herself to Zhao Yuandong, including where she lived or what her job was. It was unlikely that they could find out where she was.
Wen Yifan treated this as a minor inconvenience and moved on.
She barely got to her seat before Fu Zhuang stumbled over to speak to her.
“Sister Yifan, Teacher Zhang resigned.”
“Teacher Zhang?” asked Yifan. “Why’re so many people resigning recently?”
An older journalist was passing by and heard her remark. He stopped and corrected her, “People have been resigning all this while.” said the man before continuing on his way.
“…”
“It’s true, how many people have left after we arrived. Didn’t Sister Lin resign recently too? And right before that Brother Chen ran away too. We’re too short-handed now,” said Fu Zhuang. “I overheard the Director saying that we need new recruits.”
“That would be good,” said Wen Yifan.
“I think they’re holding public recruits and school recruits,” Fu Zhuang said with a giggle. “A classmate found out that I’m having my internship in Nanwu Broadcasting Station and approached me two days ago to ask if we were still recruiting.”
“You can give him a reply now,” said Wen Yifan.
“I’ve already told him. He’d probably come for an interview soon,” said Fu Zhuang.
They didn’t talk for along and got back to their own respective works.
After a whole day of work, Wen Yifan returned home at 10.
The house was dark and quiet. Wen Yifan reached out to switch on the lights and her phone pinged. It was a text from Sang Yan.
【 I’ll be home late. 】
【 Sure. 】Wen Yifan replied.
Sang Yan only managed to get back at two in the morning because something cropped up in the bar. He carefully entered and shut the door. From the entrance, the house was dark, other than the light from the street lamp streaming in.
Sang Yan didn’t bother switching on the lights and got a bottle of ice water from the kitchen before returning to the living room.
He just unscrewed the lid when he heard the door to the master bedroom open.
Sang Yan looked over and Wen Yifan came into his view. She was in her nightwear. Without a word and an expressionless face, she walked to the sofa and quietly sat down.
“…” Sang Yan found it weird and observed her. “What’s up with you?”
Wen Yifan remained silent.
Sang Yan asked, “Trouble sleeping?”
She said what sounded like a ‘hm’.
“Then go switch on the lights,” Sang Yan leaned back on the sofa, feeling like something wasn’t right. “I mean, you don’t actually need to receive me when I come home so late at night, it’s kinda scary-“
Before he could finish his sentence, Wen Yifan had already stood up.
He thought she was going to switch on the lights so he didn’t continue his sentence and merely watched her movements.
Who’d think that she practically ignored his words and headed back to her room instead.
It was like she was walking around without her soul.
A few seconds later and her door shut.
“…?”
The next day was her break, so when Wen Yifan woke up, she didn’t get out of bed immediately.
She even stayed in bed for the next few hours.
When the time was almost up, Wen Yifan got out of bed to wash up and got ready to meet Zhong Siqiao.
Zhong Siqiao had already asked her out. The next time Wen Yifan had a break, they would go shopping.
She got to the entrance and put on her shoes, ready to leave.
Sang Yan came out of the kitchen and caught her attention. He stood his ground with an expressionless face, his eyes seemed to be waiting for her to say something.
Wen Yifan grabbed her set of keys and asked, “What time did you come back last night?”
Sang Yan raised a brow. “You don’t know?”
“No,” Wen Yifan felt that his reaction was a little weird and explained, “I slept quite early last night, so I didn’t notice when you came back.”
“…”
When he didn’t say any more, Wen Yifan opened the main door. “I’m leaving, okay?”
Sang Yan remained quiet, as if he was pondering over something.
After a few seconds he looked her way and said, “Hm.”
Wen Yifan met Zhong Siqiao at the station.
Both of them hadn’t had lunch, so they found a nearby noodle house to eat. While they were waiting for their food, Wen Yifan brought out the signature from before, asking, “Do you know this actor?”
Zhong Siqiao took it and stared at it for a while, “What words are these?”
“…Mu Chengyun,” said Wen Yifan.
“Don’t know him.”
“I met him when I was out for an interview. He thought I was a fan of his and gave me a signature,” said Wen Yifan. “After I did some research, turns out he’s probably the male ghost in Met a Ghost When I Woke Up.“
“The male ghost in Met a Ghost When I Woke Up?” Zhong Siqiao laughed. “He’s probably a nobody, right?”
“He took time to sign it, I feel bad to just throw it away,” Wen Yifan said with a sigh. “Fine, I’ll just use another notepad.”
They changed the topic.
“Oh, right,” Zhong Siqiao recalled something. “I caught a high fever a few days back and went to the hospital with my sister-in-law. Guess who I met there.”
“Who?”
“I met Cui Jingyu. We even spoke for a bit. She’a already married and carrying her second child now,” Zhong Siqiao said. She felt like time had passed so quickly and exclaimed, “The only thing I remembered of her was that she used to like Sang Yan a lot in senior high. She wasn’t subtle about it too.”
Wen Yifan had a vague impression of her.
“Oh, speaking of which, I’m still quite curious,” said Zhong Siqiao. “I don’t think I’ve ever asked you about it.”
“What is it?”
“Did you really not have any feelings towards Sang Yan in the past?”
“…” Wen Yifan frowned a little and said, “Why are you asking me that?”
“Because he’s handsome! He’s really dazzling too,” Zhong Siqiao said as she held up her chin. “Plus, even though I barely spoke to him back then, I knew he really liked you. Seems like he was really good to you too.”
Zhong Siqiao’s words and the name associated with it left Wen Yifan in a momentary trance, as she was sucked into a memory from the past.
After Sang Yan’s spoke to the guy with the spectacles, no one else in the class gossiped about the relationship between the two. There were no more weird rumours or lies being spread around either.
As time passed, the others realised that Wen Yifan was rather nice to be with. It just took her a while to warm up to people. Since she was pretty and had a good temper, people eventually started speaking to her more, and she started making some close friends too.
She wasn’t sure when it started, but there was an obvious shift in Sang Yan’s attitude towards Wen Yifan. It was quite clear that he favoured her with how blatant he acted. He seemed to have no thoughts of masking his intentions as if it was second nature to treat her so.
That’s why many of their classmates had asked her in private, if she had really started dating Sang Yan.
Wen Yifan was clueless about it all.
She thought that it was just Sang Yan in his natural habitat, and that there was no way the boy would think of things like love. There was probably no way he’d talk it out either.
That was why whenever she was questioned about it, she would just smile and deny it.
The good thing was that this would only pop up occasionally and only for a while.
And for some reason the news passed on and landed in the next class, where Cui Jingyu was.
Their classmates were well aware about her existence because Cui Jingyu would always appear at their classroom looking for Sang Yan. She’d either have things to pass to him, or she would scour for topics to start conversations with him. It was apparent that the girl was quite obsessed with him.
She didn’t give up even after being rejected by the boy.
When the rumours reached her ears, Cui Jingyu arrived at their doors.
It was right before class.
They had just finished morning exercises that day. Students were all making their way back to their respectively classes. Wen Yifan was at the back of the line, and when she reached their classroom, she saw Sang Yan being blocked by Cui Jingyu at the door.
Cui Jingyu was as bold as she was pretty and her bright eyes burned with purpose.
“Sang Yan, people have been saying that you’re trying to pursue the dance student from your class?”
Sang Yan had a Cola in his hands. He looked a little irked because his path was obstructed.
“What’s that to you?”
“I’m just asking out of curiosity, since everyone’s been talking about it,” Cui Jingyu laughed and noticed Wen Yifan at the back. “Oh, but it’s all just hearsay, you don’t have to get upset.”
When he heard what she said, he glanced at Cui Jingyu before following her gaze and saw Wen Yifan.
His pursed lips loosened at the sight of her before they stretched into a smile.
The sunlight stretched down the hallways, painting a light shade of gold over his body. It was like the boy was emitting light himself. At that moment, Wen Yifan realised that when Sang Yan was smiling fully, he had a little dimple on the right side of his cheek, next to his lips.
“Well, these rumours have been spreading around for so long, I think these people really have nothing better to do,” Cui Jingyu continued, “I know they must be nonsense, so I just wanted to let you know.”
Sang Yan raised his brows and looked her way. He spoke with his sloppy tone of voice,
“Have I denied anything?”
TL/N :
We have decided to pick up the novel translation after receiving the okay from the previous translator who dropped the series. Please remember that these translations are free of charge as we do not own them. Do support the author by purchasing the official novel, or purchasing the English version if and when it is made available to you.
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