First Frost
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Chapter 61
Anything At All
TW : Brief drunk harassment and confrontation at the start of the chapter continuing from the previous chapter.
Because of Sang Yan’s sudden appearance and actions, Che Xingde backed away a little. He barely stayed steady as he pointed Wen Yifan in a haze. “Who… Who am I? I’m her uncle!”
Hearing that, Sang Yan looked at Wen Yifan again, like he was questioning the authenticity of those words.
Wen Yifan bit her lips. “No he’s not.”
“Hey! Shuang Jiang, I’m not? What do you mean I’m not?!” Che Xingde was annoyed and came forward. “You can even say those words, is your conscience not pricked? I even bought you food and clothes, do you not remember any of that?”
Wen Yifan looked up, the hatred in her eyes unable to be concealed. She didn’t want to lose her composure, neither did she want to pour any of her emotions over the insignificant person in front of her.
“I don’t know you.”
Perhaps he thought that Wen Yifan’s words had made him lose face. Che Xingde was even more upset and wanted to grab her again.
Noticing his intentions, Sang Yan immediately protected Wen Yifan, pushing her behind him. He grabbed Che Xingde’s arm, looking down on him like he was a piece of trash. He tightened his grip until Che Xingde was howling in pain before letting him go.
Sang Yan voice was condescending, “Don’t understand human language now, do we?”
“Are you crazy?! I’m talking to my niece, what’s that got to do with you?!” Che Xingde had came to this bar a few times and recognised Sang Yan. He thought that Sang Yan was just the boss meddling in things. “Get lost, get lost! This is a family matter, why’re you butting in?! Crazy!”
Sang Yan was too lazy to deal with his nonsense.
Noticing the commotion, He Mingbo came over. “Brother Sang, what’s going on?”
“He got drunk and is kicking up a fuss here. Get Big Jun in to toss him out.” Sang Yan didn’t give him the time of the day and simply said, “Don’t let this affect the other customers.”
“What did I do, you’re kicking me out now?” The smell of alcohol was strong on Che Xingde. He was getting more upset at Sang Yan’s treatment and yelled out, “The boss is hitting and chasing out customers, eh? You thinking being the boss is everything now, eh?”
Che Xingde’s actions were gaining quite the attention from the customers around.
“What now?” Sang Yan didn’t care about what the others had to say and coldly laugh, “Now that you’ve said it, don’t you think not using my fist would be taking your words for granted?”
“…”
Wen Yifan nervously grabbed Sang Yan’s hand.
Sang Yan held her hand, trailing his fingers over hers, while his gaze was fixed on Che Xingde.
Seeing how he wasn’t joking, Che Xingde gave up and didn’t dare to yell around. He glanced at Wen Yifan again and noticed their intimate action and suddenly understood. “Shuang Jiang, are you dating this boss?”
Wen Yifan didn’t say anything.
“Oh, boss.” Che Xingde’s face-swapped at lightning speed and smiled, “I’m her uncle. I don’t mean any harm. We’re our own people, why should we fight? I just hadn’t seen my niece in a while, and got excited-“
Before Che Xingde finished, the two bouncers who were at the entrance came in and carted him out.
One of them even warned, “Stop making a fuss.”
“What! What fuss did I make!” Che Xingde started again. “What’re you guys doing?!”
Sang Yan’s eyebrow twitched. In a split second, Che Xingde looked somewhat familiar, but it was just a passing thought and it disappeared as quickly as it came. He couldn’t recall when or where he’d seen him before.
His originally good mood was now dampened. He glanced down at Wen Yifan. “Shall we go back?”
“Huh?” Wen Yifan snapped back and forced a smile. “Sure.”
Sang Yan regretted calling Wen Yifan over a little. He tilted his head and gave He Mingbo some instructions before leaving with Wen Yifan, hand in hand. He softly asked, “Were you hurt?”
Wen Yifan distractedly responded, “Hm?”
“That guy,” Sang Yan gently caressed her wrist. “Did he hurt you?”
Wen Yifan looked up and curved her lips up, “No.”
Sang Yan obviously noted Wen Yifan’s emotion, and very obviously noticed that from the moment she met the guy, something was wrong with the state she was in. His expression was unreadable as he asked, “Do you know that guy?”
Wen Yifan was quiet for a few seconds before answering honestly, “He’s the brother of my oldest uncle’s wife. We’re not related by blood. He’s not considered my uncle either.”
“Has he always been like that?”
“What?”
“The way he treats you.”
Wen Yifan looked down again as she tried her best to sound calm. “I’m not close to him. He’s not a good person either. If you see him again, ignore him. Just treat him like a stranger.”
She’d never expected to meet them again.
She even hoped that her family’s stupid issues won’t affect Sang Yan.
Silence.
After a while, Sang Yan suddenly spoke up. “Wen Shuang Jiang.”
“What’s up?”
“If there’s anything, you can tell me,” said Sang Yan. “Anything at all.”
Like she noticed her responses had affected his mood, Wen Yifan smiled and her voice carried a tone of comfort. “It’s nothing big.”
She then looked away and calmly said, “I can handle it myself.”
They both got home.
Just after a car ride, Wen Yifan reverted back to normal. Her expression was normal, like they’d never met the guy. She talked to Sang Yan as usual.
But she never mentioned the incident again.
Wen Yifan made some honey water for Sang Yan and said, “You should lay off the alcohol. You’ve got so many bad habits. You smoke and drink, you even stay up late. Your body’s gonna break down sooner or later.”
Sang Yan raised his brow. He felt like she was making it sound worse than it actually was. “I just had two mouths.”
“That won’t do either,” Wen Yifan continued to pick at his problems. “You always drink ice cold water too.”
Sang Yan laughed, “What’s wrong with that?”
“It’s not good for your stomach.”
“Fine,” Sang Yan was usually most annoyed when people nagged at him, but this time it didn’t feel all too bad. “I got it.”
“Then go to bed earlier after drinking that.” Wen Yifan was too tired and let out a yawn. She sat next to him as he drank, and suddenly leaned in for a hug. “I’m going to bed.”
Sang Yan hugged her back. “Not in a good mood?”
Wen Yifan shook her head. “I’m just tired.”
Seeing how she wasn’t willing to say anything, Sang Yan didn’t prod further. He reached out to ruffled her hair. They both stared at each other and he gave her a light peck on her lips. “Go to sleep.”
After Wen Yifan went back to her room, Sang Yan hung around in the living room for a bit. His head hung low as his fingers drummed over the coffee table like he was trying to recall something.
After a long while, Sang Yan got up to wash up before heading back to his room.
In the middle of the night.
Sang Yan woke up. His expression was horrible. At that moment, he finally recalled where he’d seen Che Xingde.
Before this, he’d only met him once.
It was the last time he went to Beiyu to meet Wen Yifan.
That day, Sang Yan got down the bus and habitually walked along the alley. Before he arrived, he’d sent Wen Yifan a message, but this time he didn’t get a reply after a long time.
He was going to go directly to her dorm to wait for her.
But even before he got there, Sang Yan saw Wen Yifan being harassed by a guy at the end of the alley.
The guy was a generation older than her, slightly plump and was holding onto her saying something. He had a wide smile on his face and it was clear his intentions weren’t good.
At that moment, Sang Yan’s good mood was instantly washed away by that scene. He immediately rushed forward and put Wen Yifan behind him. The young man couldn’t control his emotions, he was so upset, all he wanted to do was to kill the man in front of him.
The man wasn’t too tall and was pretty weak. It didn’t take much before he was on the ground groaning in pain.
Before Sang Yan could get ahold of himself, he was stopped by Wen Yifan and she dragged him off in the opposite direction. He stared at her back and asked, “Who was that?”
Wen Yifan didn’t look back and calmly said, “I don’t know him.”
The face of that man slowly pieced itself together, and merged with Che Xingde’s face.
Sang Yan didn’t want to believe his memories. He kept trying to recall how Wen Yifan’s expression and mood was like back then, but he couldn’t clearly remember.
Sang Yan shut his eyes but all remnants of sleep had vanished. He got up and left his room. Just as he was about to get himself some cold water from the kitchen, he spotted Wen Yifan sitting quietly at the living room.
Sang Yan understood what he saw. He didn’t go to the kitchen and changed his direction. Just like every time before, he grabbed the stool next to the sofa and sat in front of her.
Like she hadn’t noticed his presence, Wen Yifan blankly stared at the clock.
Sang Yan reached out and held her hand with a smile. “Why do you always stare at the clock?”
Wen Yifan didn’t blink, neither did she say a word.
“Staying in the living room by yourself in the middle of the night, don’t you think you’ll scare someone? It’s so dark out here,” said Sang Yan, “How about I don’t close my door when I sleep. You can just enter my room then, alright?”
Wen Yifan had no response.
Sang Yan sat across her and didn’t say another word, silently accompanying her.
After a long time.
Sang Yan saw Wen Yifan’s gaze leave the clock and her head hung low. She stared at her hands resting on her knees. One of them was still being held by Sang Yan. Her face was blank, just the same whenever she decided to return to her room.
He couldn’t decipher her expression.
Just when Sang Yan thought it was the end of her sleepwalk,
he suddenly notice something fall on the back of his hand.
Sang Yan’s face froze over as his gaze trailed down, seeing a tear stain on the hand that was holding hers.
He glanced up again and all hints of a smile vanished from his face.
Wen Yifan’s eyes were blank as she silently sat there. Their surroundings were quiet, as something dripped down continuously,
landing on the back of his hand,
just like glistening stars.
Her tears.
TL/N : I just want to hug her so bad. Buckle up for the angst
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