First Frost
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Chapter 34
This Little Stunt
“…”
Wen Yifan stared at her screen. She felt goosebumps crawl up her skin at the words ‘Your desire’ and ‘Take me’. Her face hardened a little and her thumb glided over the screen and pressed a question mark.
But before she managed to send out the message, Su Tian came out from the printing room and that distracted her.
Su Tian rolled over on her chair and whispered, “Gosh, I bumped into the intern on the way in. That gave me a fright. I thought I’d gone the wrong direction.”
Wen Yifan unconsciously locked her phone screen as she looked up, “Huh?”
“The new male intern,” Su Tian intentionally fluttered her eyelashes like she just fell in love. “My goodness, I’m in love. What a cute little handsome guy. He’s tall, handsome and cute.”
Wen Yifan found her amusing and said, “I don’t see you calling Zhuang a little puppy.”
Fu Zhuang coincidentally walked pass.
Su Tian rolled her eyes and replied straightforwardly, “He’s more like a small dowdy dog.”
“…” Fu Zhuang immediately stopped. He hadn’t heard the first part of the conversation, but he somehow registered the last part and said, “Sister Tian, what’s with this sudden personal attack? Why am I dowdy?”
Su Tian merely waved him away, “Wasn’t talking about you.”
After Fu Zhuang left, Su Tian continued gossiping, “I feel like the little puppy keeps looking over here. Did either of us catch his eye?”
Once she finished her sentence, she caught a glimpse of Wen Yifan’s side profile and corrected herself, “Fine, I brought this on myself.”
“…”
Wen Yifan naturally trailed her eyes over.
Mu Chengyun was at his desk calmly staring at his computer screen. He probably felt the two pairs of eyes fixed on him and looked up. When he caught them staring, he bashfully smiled.
He did look quite cute.
Wen Yifan politely returned the smile before looking away. She didn’t feel any different.
“I don’t think he’s thinking all that. It’s his first day. He’s probably just trying to warm up with his colleagues.”
“I was just trying to gossip. How are you so indifferent to handsome guys?” Su Tian got a little curious and asked, “Hm, is this not your type?”
“Huh?”
“Why do I feel like you’re completely uninterested. Do you have a specific type? What’s your ideal type?” Su Tian started listing it out, “Gentle ones? Cold ones? Optimistic ones? …”
Wen Yifan froze. For some reason, Sang Yan’s insufferable face appeared in her mind.
Her breathing stopped at the thought of it and noticed Su Tian waiting for her reply. After a few seconds of silence, she got rid of the thought and smiled without saying anything.
Their little conversation ended.
Wen Yifan continued writing her manuscript but recalled a little later that she hadn’t actually replied Sang Yan’s message. She unlocked her phone and read his chain of messages again. It suddenly felt like she’d received spam messages instead.
But after a period of time had passed, she didn’t feel too bothered by it.
In fact she felt a little numb towards it.
Wen Yifan deleted the question mark she had typed and rewrote a reply.
WYF :【Then,】
WYF :【Are you alright?】
Three seconds later,
SY : 【?】
She practically didn’t know what she’d done while she sleepwalked, and she wasn’t getting an elaboration. After looking out for the ‘victim’, she asked,
WYF : 【How do you want to settle this?】
SY : 【We’ll talk about it later.】
Wen Yifan impatiently replied : 【You seem to have been thinking about it for a long while now.】
Sang Yan sent another voice message, like he was too lazy to type.
Just a short and simple, “Yeah,” like it was the most logical thing to say.
“…”
Nothing else.
As though he was saying, you’d still wait even if I think about it for ten years.
Wen Yifan held back and nicely replied : 【Fine, then think about it thoroughly.】
Although that was what he said, Sang Yan seemed to have forgotten all about the incident. That was, as long as Wen Yifan didn’t bring it up.
It seemed like he could go about not mentioning the incident, but if Wen Yifan showed any signs of forgetting it, he would remind her directly with his nonchalant face.
So that she wouldn’t be able to forget her ‘evil deeds’.
To not forget that he was the small, lowly little one who was at the receiving end of mistreatment.
And that she was the ruthless and merciless, p.l.a.y.e.r.
After a while, Wen Yifan started to feel like something possessed her every time she sleepwalked, and she would turn into a client*. And the only person available for her to hook up with at home, was the extremely unfortunate and famous Star of Duo Luo Street, Star-Sang.
His price was too high to afford.
And she was now in debt.
She was terrified of this calmness before the storm.
She couldn’t help but feel like amidst the calmness, somewhere out of sight, Sang Yan was preparing a big counterattack.
On Friday, the team received two new journalists through the public recruitment drive.
After a few days, the director picked a day when everyone’s schedules matched and organised a little party to welcome the newcomers. At noon, he had informed everyone about it. Only the location had yet to be confirmed.
Fu Zhuang went to Wen Yifan to complain once they received the notice, “Sis, the director said that I’ll also be one of those being welcomed in the party.”
Wen Yifan didn’t really register what he meant and said, “What wrong with that?”
“I’ve been an intern for four months now! He said that he didn’t have favourites,” Fu Zhuang was boiling, “So he didn’t want to leave me out!”
“That’s not bad,” Wen Yifan comforted, “If he hadn’t included you this time and only welcomed Fang Li and the others, then wouldn’t you practically be non-existent in the team?”
“…That makes sense too,” said Fu Zhuang.
Mu Chengyun overheard their conversation from the side and joined in, “Sister Yifan, are you coming tonight?”
The gathering wasn’t compulsory since everyone still had work the next day. The director did mention that it was free and easy, but for the sake of courtesy, most of the staff were going.
Wen Yifan had arranged a phone interview with a specialist for an article at night, so she was uncertain.
“I’m not sure. I’ll see how it goes.”
Fu Zhuang was a little crestfallen, “Ah, do you have something on tonight?”
Mu Chengyun also added, “Will you be late?”
“Yeah,” said Wen Yifan. “I’ll try to make it.”
By the time Wen Yifan had completed the interview and wrote up the first draft, it was already 9 p.m. She packed up and was about to leave when the director coincidentally came out of his office.
Wen Yifan froze before asking, “Director, are you not going to the gathering?”
The director was Gan Hongyuan. He was in his fifties and had a slight belly. When he smiled his eyes would disappear into slits, and he was as kind as the Sun.
He had a messenger bag in hand as he smiled and said, “I just got out of a meeting.”
Wen Yifan nodded.
“Have you just finished too? Let’s go together,” said Gan Hongyuan. “They’re already done and went to a different venue. It’s nearby so let’s head over.”
Wen Yifan hadn’t planned to go, but she had to agree.
On the way, Gan Hongyuan spoke about many things of the past. His voice was gentle and warm, lulling her to sleep. At the end, he’d even added some wise words and philosophical opinions, hoping to incite some inner response from Wen Yifan.
Wen Yifan wasn’t really connecting with his stories, but could only pretend to be responding.
They did get along harmoniously, though.
While Gan Hongyuan was indulging in his past experiences, Wen Yifan had a quick peek at her phone. Her colleagues had left messages in the group chat that their second venue was at OverTime. Some of them had already arrived and had booked a table for them all.
And Wen Yifan thought about Sang Yan.
Wen Yifan hadn’t seen the man in a while. He had been busy as of late. He barely stayed at home, unlike before where he’d either be playing with his phone on the couch or sleeping in his room.
She never asked what Sang Yan had been up to.
She figured he probably found a new job and joined the office-worker life.
When they reached the bar, they were ushered over to where their colleagues were by a waiter.
Wen Yifan could hear their loud, excited noises from afar, but once they saw Gan Hongyuan, the noise died down.
But Gan Hongyuan only dropped by for a while and left soon after.
Wen Yifan was late so she had no idea what they were playing and sat quietly at the side. At first she was seated next to Su Tian, but people were getting up to the washroom. After some back and forth with constant seat changes, the one seated next to her became Mu Chengyun.
The boy must’ve had a little too much to drink since his face was quite red and he was a little tipsy. When he saw Wen Yifan, he smiled and politely called out, “Sister Yifan.”
Wen Yifan nodded and reminded him, “Don’t drink too much. You still have work tomorrow.”
“Not much,” Mu Chengyun looked docile. “I only had this bottle.”
Just then, Fu Zhuang returned from the washroom and sat on Wen Yifan’s other side. He looked like was here to gossip and excitedly said, “Sister Yifan, I just saw that classmate of yours!”
“Who?” asked Wen Yifan.
“That-“
He paused. It was obvious he couldn’t remember their name.
“Hm?”
Fu Zhuang scratched his head and racked his mind, and all he could come up with was, “That! Hot guy!”
Wen Yifan swept her gaze around.
The bar was too dimly lit and she couldn’t see much from where they were seated, that’s why she missed Sang Yan. She just smiled a little without replying the boy.
It was Mu Chengyun who replied instead, “What hot guy?”
“Have I not told you before?” Fu Zhuang brought out his phone and searched up the video in a flash. “Come, let’s admire my idol! My life’s goal is to be like him! Rich, handsome, and awesome!”
Mu Chengyun took the device and watched for a while and said, “Isn’t this Senior Sang Yan?”
Fu Zhuang was surprised. “You know him too?”
“Have you not seen the school’s forum?” Mu Chengyun returned the phone after looking at it a little while more. “The forum to vote for the most handsome guy on campus**. It’s still up there on the main page. People are still voting.”
“What’s the point of me noticing who’s the most handsome guy on campus. I’m not gay,” said Fu Zhuang. “So what you’re saying is this hot guy is also from Nanjing Uni?”
“Should be,” The video had been blurred, so Mu Chengyun wasn’t too sure either. “If I’m not mistaken.”
“If he could get into Nanjing Uni,” Fu Zhuang grew even more uneasy. “Doesn’t that mean that his grades are amazing too?”
“Yep. I met him once too,” said Mu Chengyun. “My previous department head was classmates with him. After their graduation ceremony, I tagged along to their gathering.”
“What happened after that?” asked Fu Zhuang. “Was there anything shocking?”
“Nothing much. It just carved a strong impression on me,” Mu Chengyun laughed. “Because they’d just graduated, everyone ordered some drinks, but they didn’t overdo it since everyone still had work the next day.
“But as for Senior Duan and Senior Sang, for some reason, one of them didn’t touch a drop of alcohol, and the other downed ten bottles.”
“Who downed the ten bottles?” asked Fu Zhuang.
“Senior Sang,” said Mu Chengyun.
Hearing that, Wen Yifan stopped drinking and looked over.
“Did he enjoy drinking so much back in the day that he opened a bar?” Fu Zhuang made a logical conclucsion.
“I don’t think so,” Mu Chengyun thought about it. “He didn’t seem to be in a good mood that day. He was just quietly drinking without a word. Some had advised him to stop, but he didn’t listen.”
“Hm,” Fu Zhuang wasn’t much interested in the topic and casually said, “Something probably happened. Couples break up a lot when graduation comes along. He probably got dumped, or his confession failed, or the person he liked moved to a different city far away.”
“Probably,” said Mu Chengyun. “I heard him say something that night.”
That piqued Fu Zhuang’s interest. “What did he say?”
Mu Chengyun tried to recall it and frowned. “It’s been too long. I forgot.”
“Then don’t bring it up!” Fu Zhuang exclaimed.
“…”
They moved on to other topics.
Hearing Sang Yan’s past from others, Wen Yifan felt a little weird, even though she hadn’t participated in the conversation. She lowered her head and stared at the bubbling beer in her cup.
It wasn’t until a while later did she snap out of it.
Wen Yifan was feeling tired since she had been busy the whole day and she had work the next day too. She didn’t stay too long and finished up her beer before finding an excuse to leave.
Mu Chengyun followed along and said, “I should leave too.”
The others were still quite into whatever game they were playing. They only told them to be careful on the way back and didn’t hold them back.
Both of them left.
Wen Yifan unconsciously glanced over the bar counter when they walked past and she quickly looked away.
After exiting the bar, Wen Yifan was going to head to the train station when she remembered Mu Chengyun.
“Are you heading back to Nanjing Uni?”
Mu Chengyun didn’t look like he could hold his alcohol that well. His eyes were hazy and he looked drunk.
“Hm, yeah.”
“Then let’s head to the station together,” said Wen Yifan.
“Sure,” said Mu Chengyun.
After a few steps, Mu Chengyun fumbled over his steps and looked like he was about to fall. Wen Yifan caught his arm to support him and asked, “Are you alright?”
“I’m a little wobbly,” he muttered.
Just as Wen Yifan was figuring out how to handle the situation, someone came from behind. The man reached out and grabbed the hood of the boy’s sweatshirt.
“Can’t stand on your feet now, can you?”
At the sound of his voice, Wen Yifan turned around.
And came face to face with Sang Yan.
Contrary to his usual appearance, Sang Yan was dressed up in a black suit. His tie hung loosely from his neck and his blazer was unbuttoned, showing the white shirt he had under it. The formal outfit did nothing to make him look more put together, neither did it suppress any part of his arrogance. Instead, it amplified it.
Sang Yan stared at Wen Yifan’s hand on Mu Chengyun’s arm.
He then glanced at her.
Wen Yifan was about to speak, but Sang Yan interjected, “Let go.”
And she did.
At the same time, Sang Yan dragged Mu Chengyun along unceremoniously, like he was doing him a favour. They were both tall and had longer strides. It didn’t take long before they were a distance away from the woman.
Mu Chengyun eventually wrestled out of his grip. He didn’t look as hazed as before.
“Senior Sang?”
Sang Yan drew back his hand and sized him up. “Who’re you?”
“I’m a student from Nanjing Uni,” Mu Chengyun smiled, “I’ve seen you before.”
“Hm,” Sang Yan bit his lips and said, “You’re all sobered up now?”
Mu Chengyun didn’t look the least bit guilty as he scratched his head. He didn’t look sober at all. “What?”
Sang Yan looked at him and laughed, “Hey, quit the act.”
Mu Chengyun paused.
“Don’t you have any other tricks? This little stunt of yours,” Sang Yan’s expression was sloppy, like he wasn’t taking him seriously. “I’ve already used it a thousand years ago.”
“…”
Sang Yan smirked at him.
“If it was effective, you wouldn’t even have the chance to use it now.”
TL/N :
*Client – I couldn’t find a better word to describe someone who visits brothels.
**Most handsome guy on campus – “校草” directly translates to ‘campus grass’ 😂. which is the opposite of “校花” which is the ‘Campus Belle’ or ‘Campus Flower’.
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