Hard to Deceive

It was colder outside than before she came.

The only sweater that could keep her warm was drenched and kept in her bag. When Wen Yifan walked to her front door, she felt like her body was not hers anymore. She opened the door and subconsciously glanced at the room opposite her.

I guess the man opposite my room isn’t back at this hour yet.

Normally, he would pass by her door with a smirk on his face around two or three o’clock in the middle of the night and maliciously knock on her door twice, which sounded like thunder in the middle of the night.

Then, he would go back to his room.

There was nothing else he did.

It was frustrating, but she couldn’t do anything about it.

Wen Yifan had told the landlord about it several times, but it seemed like nothing had worked.

After Wen Yifan locked the door, she boiled a kettle of water before sending a Wechat message to Zhong Siqiao, “I’m home.”

Zhong Siqiao’s house was far away from Shang An, so she was still on the subway: So soon? I still have several stations to go.

Zhong Siqiao: Hey.

Zhong Siqiao: I recalled Sang Yan’s behavior tonight as soon as the wind started blowing.

Zhong Siqiao: Do you think Sang Yan threw his coat to you because he was afraid that you would be cold? Maybe he was too embarrassed to admit it, so he randomly came up with an excuse.

Wen Yifan took out her clothes from her wardrobe, she stopped when she saw the messages: Say something that makes more sense.

Zhong Siqiao: ?

Zhong Siqiao: What did I say that doesn’t make sense???

Wen Yifan: He was only resolving an accident.

Wen Yifan: I guess he was worried that I would fall sick and claim medical fees from him.

Zhong Siqiao: ......

Zhong Siqiao: Then, why didn’t he simply ask someone else to pass you a coat?

Wen Yifan: It’s not easy to find a person to do that on such a cold day.

Zhong Siqiao: ?

Wen Yifan reminded, “Perhaps he couldn’t find someone to borrow a coat.”

Zhong Siqiao: ......

The insufficient battery reminder popped up just in time.

Wen Yifan placed her mobile phone on the table to charge before going into the bathroom. She carefully removed her makeup, but suddenly stopped when she stared at her face in the mirror.

The eyes who saw a stranger flashed in her mind.

Wen Yifan looked downwards and absent-mindedly threw the cotton pads into the trash can.

Back when they knew each other, Wen Yifan honestly didn’t know much about Sang Yan, not to mention now. So, she couldn’t clearly tell if he pretended not to recognize her, or he really didn’t recognize her.

It was like a coin-flipping game.

There were no clues to be found, no guesses to be made. The results could only be obtained by luck.

To her, those two possibilities were possible if it were him. 

After drying her hair, Wen Yifan habitually turned on the computer and wrote a press release for a while. She worked until she began to feel sleepy and went to bed. She reached out and grabbed her mobile phone from the desk.

Not long after she entered the bathroom, Zhong Siqiao had already sent several messages, “Anything is possible, even if it’s not, we can still make it up for fun.”

Zhong Siqiao: I’m curious. What did you feel when you met Sang Yan?

She ended the message with a mischief emoji.

Wen Yifan thought for a moment before replying: He’s really handsome.

Zhong Siqiao: ......

Zhong Siqiao: That’s it?

Wen Yifan: I suppose so. If there’s anymore, I’ll be sure to tell you.

Wen Yifan: I’m so tired, I’m going to sleep.

To be frank, it would be a lie to say that she had no other feelings. However, there was no need to say, otherwise, she would need to give a long explanation. She might as well use that time to get more sleep.

She threw away her mobile phone and went to sleep.

Wen Yifan undoubtedly had a poor night’s sleep.

She was half asleep throughout the night, entangled by strange dreams. At the moment when she felt that she was about to break free and finally fall asleep, the idiot next door knocked on her door and woke her up.

Wen Yifan pulled the quilt off her head, and her anger was flowing throughout her body

Wen Yifan was known to be good-tempered and would solve everything with full composure, so her emotions rarely fluctuated.

However, normal human beings would always need a place to vent out their frustration.

Therefore, she was extremely grumpy when she got up from her sleep.

Being woken by someone else was a rational reason to feel grumpy.

Not to mention when she was on the verge of falling asleep.

Wen Yifan tried to calm herself down and awaited the person outside to leave after several knocks as usual.

Little did she know that this time, he seemed like he was possessed by the devil, he continuously knocked on her door and burped, “Are you awake? Miss, please do me a favor. My toilet is broken… Can I take a shower here…”

Wen Yifan closed her eyes and got up. She took out her camera, adjusted the angle to record in the direction of the door. Then, she picked up her mobile phone and directly dialed 110, she reported her address and situation clearly.

After this ordeal, her desire to sleep was long gone.

She was living alone and there was a drunk man harassing her outside her door in the middle of the night.

Wen Yifan should be terrified under such circumstances. However, she only felt frustrated and exhausted, she had no energy to contain other emotions.

The man returned home before the police arrived because there was no response.

Wen Yifan showed the captured footage to the police and was asked to go to the police station to resolve this matter. Now that she had reported to the police, she had no intentions to reconcile. She planned to move away after this incident.

In the video, the door was knocked followed by a drunk man’s voice. It was nerve-racking.

The police knocked on the door opposite hers.

After a while, the man opened the door and snapped, “Who is it!”

He was just wearing a tight-fitting T-shirt in this weather. His tattoo of a tiger was revealed on his arms. He had a buff body figure with muscles bulging like a wall.

“We received a report.” The policeman added, “A report stating that you have harassed your neighbor in the middle of the night.”

“What harassment?” The man remained silent for a few seconds, pretending to be not fully awake, his attitude was toned down, “Sir, I just came back from drinking. I was drunk, maybe I had knocked on the wrong door. It’s a misunderstanding.”

The policeman said with a straight face, “The person had provided videos of proof. You knocked on the wrong door and shouted to go inside someone’s house to take a bath? Enough with your b*llshit. Hurry up and go to the police station with us.”

The man tried to explain but he gave up as soon as he noticed his efforts were useless.

He looked up and gazed deeply at Wen Yifan who was standing behind the policeman.

Wen Yifan crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame. She looked back at him fearlessly with a straight face, as if she was looking at something filthy.

……

They arrived at the police station.

The man insisted that he had talked nonsense because he was drunk. Wen Yifan explained clearly to the police about the incident that happened at that time. Fortunately, it only caused her to be mentally distressed but no financial losses.

In the end, the incident was resolved where the man was fined several hundred dollars and was taken into custody for several days.

Before leaving the police station, an old policeman kindly reminded her to avoid living in sharing units.

Not only could a similar incident occur, but other potential dangers too.

A sharing unit once caught on fire due to overloading electricity usage. The Nanwu government had begun to pay attention to this matter, and they would start managing this matter once the bill was approved.

Wen Yifan nodded and thanked them.

It was already dawn outside.

She went straight to her office in a TV station.

After returning to Nanwu, Wen Yifan had submitted her resume to the  department of Nanwu’s TV station through social recruitment.

was a news column dedicated to the people in the town, which mainly reported the people’s livelihood in the city and the outskirts of town. The main purpose of this news column was to pay attention to people’s lives and to deliver people’s voices.

Wen Yifan felt that her story needed to be known by the public. She was struggling with whether to report this incident as a news topic as she went into her office.

The lights were on, but nobody was there.

She went to the pantry and made a cup of coffee. She was exhausted and had no appetite for breakfast. Nevertheless, she couldn’t sleep, so she scrolled the news application and started writing.

She was having a hard time working that day.

Fu Zhuang, who was an intern, had gone out for an interview with her. He seemed like he was holding back something, but he finally couldn’t resist asking, “Sister Yifan, did I do something wrong?”

It was only then that Wen Yifan realized she had been grumpy for almost the whole day.

Wen Yifan submitted her news report before picking up her stuff and left directly. It was the first time she refused to work overtime.

The weather was cold at night. The cold breeze was like sharp ice blades piercing through her ears.

Not long after she left, Wen Yifan received a message from Zhong Siqiao.

Zhong Siqiao: Wen Yifan, I’m doomed.

“……”

Wen Yifan: ?

Zhong Siqiao: I! Am! Really! Doomed!

Zhong Siqiao: My bracelet is missing!

Zhong Siqiao, “My Prince Charming gave it to me! I wore it only a few times…”

Wen Yifan: You can’t find it?

Zhong Siqiao: Ya…

Zhong Siqiao: I noticed it was missing when I was going to work this morning. I thought it was at home, but I still can’t find it when I got home.

Zhong Siqiao: I feel like I might’ve left it at Sang Yan’s bar.

Zhong Siqiao: Could you go to the bar after work, please? It’s too far for me to go Shang An.

Wen Yifan: Alright.

Wen Yifan: And don’t worry too much.

Wen Yifan’s mind was blurry, she slowly recalled the bar’s location before walking. Fortunately, the Depraved Street was not far from her, it could be reached in seven to eight minutes.

She went further into the street and found the “OverTime” bar.

She went in.

The ambience of the bar was different from last night. The round table was replaced by a rock band, and the music was extremely loud that they made her ears go numb. The bar was dimly-lit with a lively atmosphere and flashing colorful lights.

Wen Yifan went to the bar.

It was still the same blonde bartender.

Wen Yifan greeted, “Hello.”

The bartender smiled, “Good evening, Miss. What would you like to drink?”

Wen Yifan shook her head and mentioned the reason she was here, “I came with my friend yesterday and I lost a bracelet, I wonder if you might’ve found it?”

The bartender seemed to have recognized her and immediately nodded, “Yes, please wait a moment.”

“Alright, sorry to bother you.”

Wen Yifan stood there and waited.

She saw the bartender pull a drawer open and searched. Then, he pulled another drawer open and searched. His movements suddenly halted, he looked up and waved towards a person, “Yu Zhuo.”

The waiter called “Yu Zhuo” came and said, “Hey, Brother He, what’s up?”

Wen Yifan looked towards the direction.

She recognized he was the waiter who spilled wine on her yesterday.

The bartender was confused and asked, “Didn’t I keep the bracelet you found yesterday here? Why can’t I find it?”

“Ah? The bracelet…” Yu Zhuo was dumbfounded and suddenly recalled, “Oh, yesterday when Brother Yan came to get his clothes, he also took the bracelet away.”

“……”

Wen Yifan thought she misheard, she was stunned, but she couldn’t hold back, “What?”

Yu Zhuo subconsciously repeated, “It was taken by Brother Yan.”

“……”

Wen Yifan had clearly caught the message this time, but she couldn’t believe it.

A boss who owned such a big bar.

He blatantly took the property that the customer accidentally left behind.

The bartender obviously didn’t know about it, he looked puzzled, “Why would Brother Yan take it away? So where is he now? Wasn’t he here just now?”

Yu Zhuo naively said, “I don’t know.”

They were silent for a moment.

The bartender looked at Wen Yifan awkwardly, “I’m sorry, our boss is usually in charge of the Lost and Found items. Do you mind leaving your contact information behind, or could you wait for a while, I’ll contact the boss now.”

Wen Yifan didn’t want to stay here for too long, she thought that it would be the same for her to come again to get it tomorrow, “It’s okay, I’ll leave my contact number.”

“Alright.” The bartender took out a business card from the side and gave it to her, “Please write on it.”

Wen Yifan looked down and wrote her phone number on it. She handed it back to him, “Please help me to look for it again, if you found it, you can call this number…”

She didn’t manage to finish her sentence.

The business card was suddenly taken away from a person behind her.

Wen Yifan was caught off guard and she turned behind.

Sang Yan was standing behind her closely as if he could confine her. He was born tall and attractive. He tilted his head sideways and glanced at the business card. 

Then, their eyes met.

The vivid colors of the neon lights, the ear-piercing music, and the aroma of tobacco mixed with sandalwood.

That man’s eyes were distantly cold, with a little bit of mischief.

His gaze was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

He seemed like he recognized her.

Out of sudden.

His lips relaxed and smirked, “You have not given up yet?”

Wen Yifan couldn’t understand him, she was stunned.

Sang Yan threw the business card in front of her. He straightened his back slowly and pulled away from her.

“You came here just to leave your contact?”