Hard to Deceive

Wen Yifan could still vaguely remember.

At that time, Sang Yan coldly answered when she casually revealed her name. He didn’t say anything else after that.

Now that she thought about it, she could still imagine what he was thinking at that moment. It probably went, “I want to know how manly your name is.” and then, “Wen Yifan?” and finally, “Oh, nothing special.”

His extreme arrogance was almost the same as it was now.

Perhaps it was due to his age, he was not as cheerful as he was as a teenager. Or maybe it was because they haven’t seen each other for many years and have become strangers. He was cold and indifferent as if he had no other emotions.

She arrived at the subway station.

Wen Yifan took out the subway access card and her mobile phone from her bag. She saw Zhong Siqiao’s message and replied to her. Then, she suddenly remembered that she had Sang Yan’s contact in WeChat.

Wen Yifan registered an account two years ago when more and more people started using WeChat. At that time, she chose to import all of her mobile contacts from her phone directly. She had Sang Yan’s number on her mobile phone, so she had also sent him a friend request.

He probably casually accepted the request.

They didn’t start a conversation after the approval of the friend request.

Wen Yifan was sure that he didn’t know that the person was her when he accepted the friend request.

Because she had already changed her phone number.

Having that in mind, Wen Yifan opened her contacts and scrolled to the ‘S’ section to find Sang Yan. She clicked into Sang Yan’s profile picture and scrolled his empty moments, but she exited his profile soon after.

There were no posts in his moments.

Perhaps he blocked me, or did he delete me a long time ago?

Or is this person I added not Sang Yan at all?

Maybe he had changed his phone number a long time ago.

Wen Yifan hesitated for a few seconds to click on the delete button, but she eventually chose to exit the application.

After all, she didn’t have the habit of deleting people, even for those whom she was unsure of.

It was no big deal for him to stay in her contacts.

-

Once she reached home, Wen Yifan called the landlord to discuss ending her rental in advance.

Her landlord was really kind. He agreed because she had told him about this situation several times and he sympathized with her living alone. He could refund her deposit and the rent she paid in advance if she wanted to move now.

Wen Yifan thanked the landlord with gratitude.

After settling the problem, she turned on her computer and started to visit rental websites.

She couldn’t find any suitable units after visiting several websites.

This was because accommodations in Nanwu were really difficult to find.

Accommodations in first-tier cities had fully furnished rooms and a living room. It was close to Shang An with decent security systems. According to Wen Yifan’s survey, the cheapest rent per month would have to be between three and four thousand.

That was a difficult amount to fork out during the current economic situation.

Wen Yifan was having a headache.

She decided to tell Zhong Siqiao: Qiao, I’ve decided to move.

Wen Yifan: Could you ask your friends if they have any suitable units for rental when you’re free?

Not long after, Zhong Siqiao called her.

Wen Yifan picked up the call.

Zhong Siqiao felt strange and asked without hesitation, “What happened? Why are you suddenly moving out? Didn’t you just pay your three months worth of rent?”

“My neighbour harassed me.” Wen Yifan calmly replied and told her what had happened that day. “I called the police in the middle of the night and I went to the police station with him. Now he has to be detained for five days, I worry that he will seek revenge. It’s better for me to move as soon as possible.”

“......” Zhong Siqiao was dumbfounded, she responded after a long time, “Are you alright? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It’s okay, he didn’t do anything too aggressive before this, he just knocked. It was three or four o’clock in the morning when we reached the police station, there were police officers. It was safe, there was no need for you to come.” Wen Yifan added, “Your house is so far from here, and it was very late at night too.”

“I’m sorry…” Zhong Siqiao felt guilty, “I thought that unit was good, it was cheap and close to your workplace.”

“What are you apologizing for? I would be sleeping on the streets without you helping me to find a place to stay.” Wen Yifan giggled, “And this unit was great. If it wasn’t because of my neighbour, I would’ve stayed here for a long time.”

“Geez, so what are you planning to do? Do you want to sleep at my house for the time being?”

“No, didn’t your sister-in-law just give birth to her second child?” Wen Yifan added, “If I were to go to your place, I’m afraid it will make them feel uncomfortable. It’s fine, I will move once I find another unit.”

Zhong Siqiao had many family members. Besides her brother who was married, she was also living with her sister who was in high school and her parents. She usually would help to take care of her sister and nephew after work.

Zhong Siqiao knew of her own family’s situation, so she stopped offering and sighed.

“Do you want to go to your mom’s place?”

“I didn’t tell her I came to Nanwu, and she doesn’t have room to accommodate me anyway.” Wen Yifan changed the topic before she had the chance to ask, “I’ll stay at your place for a few days if I can’t find a house before the neighbor gets released.”

Zhong Siqiao was relieved, “Okay.”

Wen Yifan changed the topic again and cracked a joke, “I slightly regret my impulsive actions. My neighbour’s legs are as thick as pails, I would have to use half an hour to chop it.”

“......” Zhong Siqiao couldn’t hold back, “You’re scaring me.”

“That’s why I’m worried.” Wen Yifan said slowly, “Perhaps this will happen if he held the grudge and wanted to get back at me.”

“What?”

“I might not even be able to defeat him with a chainsaw.”

“……”

-

She hung up the phone.

Wen Yifan opened another rental website and scrolled. After a long time, she still couldn’t find a suitable unit. She simply turned off her computer and took a shower.

There wasn’t any need to be desperate to move. It would be worse if she was desperate and simply moved into a house with other hidden problems which would end up wasting her energy and money instead.

Wen Yifan didn’t want to trouble anyone. If she couldn’t find a house in a short time, she would have no choice but to go to Zhong Siqiao’s house for a period of time.

The next day was the last day of 2013.

Nanwu city’s government and Nanwu TV station collaborated and held a New Year’s fireworks show. It was divided into two viewing areas, namely the Huai Zhu Wan Resort and the Dong Jiu Plaza. The tickets were free of charge, however, the tickets could only be booked in advance through the online platform.

Only the citizens who had made bookings and won the lottery could join the show.

Zhong Siqiao had made a booking at the Huai Zhu Wan Resort area and she invited her to go after she won the lottery.

Wen Yifan didn’t waste her ticket.

The show was approved by her company two weeks ago. Wen Yifan had to work overtime and conduct a live broadcast as usual. But unlike Zhong Siqiao, she went to Dou Jiu Plaza.

Wen Yifan requested an interview car from her company.

A group of people had gone in advance to prepare, while her senior Qian Weihua drove her there. Besides the two of them, Fu Zhuang and an old reporter Zhen Yu also followed.

There was still plenty of time before the start of the fireworks show when they arrived.

There were three entrances in the plaza and it was divided into three unconnected areas. There was already a crowd queueing up to check their ID cards and tickets at the entrance.

They were just a group of employees assigned from their company, and they were assigned to area A.

Besides them, there were many reporters from other TV stations and news companies that attended this event.

Qian Weihua started to prepare his equipment once they found a suitable shooting location. This was a relatively large-scaled event. It was crowded with no fixed seats. The people came from different occupational backgrounds and ages.

People were intrigued by their camera equipment. Soon, they were surrounded by people and the people were gossiping about them.

The plaza was covered in the colors of seawater and moonlight. The skyscrapers in the distance were emitting colourful beams. The chilly and humid sea breeze blew on their faces and seeped into their bones.

Wen Yifan hadn’t completely adapted to the humid and cold weather in Nanwu. She was starting to feel uncomfortable as it was the first day of her period.

She took out a mask from her bag and put it on.

She stood there for a while.

Wen Yifan looked at the time and decided to go to the washroom during her spare time. Qian Weihua and Zhen Yu were still communicating with the broadcasting team. She didn’t want to interrupt them so she informed Fu Zhuang instead.

She finally saw the public washroom after walking for a hundred meters. There was also a shabby little hut beside the public washroom, which was full of people resting or waiting.

The washroom was not spacious, girls were queueing up five meters out from the entrance.

However, there was no one in front of the gent’s washroom.

Both sides were complete opposites.

Wen Yifan had no choice but to queue.

Bored, she took out her mobile phone and scrolled through her Weibo. Not long after, she heard a conversation not far away from her. One of the voices was familiar to her.

Wen Yifan looked towards the direction.

The lights outside the little hut were strikingly white and bright.

She squinted and she saw Sang Yan who she just met yesterday as her vision became clearer.

She thought she was having illusions.

She could only see his side profile from her angle.

The man was leaning against the little hut with his indifferent expressions on his face. He was wearing an army green windbreaker, which made his shoulder appear wider and his legs longer. He wiped his hands with a tissue paper and looked as if he had just come out from the washroom.

He slightly bent forward as he was talking to a middle-aged woman beside him.

The woman lifted her head and looked at him, “Done?”

Sang Yan, “Yup.”

The woman stood up, “Then wait for Zhi Zhi here, she’s still waiting in line there. I’m going to find your father.”

“......” Sang Yan stopped moving and slowly looked up, “I have to wait for her to go to the washroom?”

“Isn’t there a lot of people?” The woman replied, “And I’m going on a date with your father. Why would I want you to follow?”

“So why did you ask me to come then?” Sang Yan was angry and smiled, “To take care of your child?”

The woman patted on his arm and seemed pleased, “You should’ve realized this a long time ago. I don’t have to squeeze my brain to make an excuse like what I did just now.”

Sang Yan, “......”

The woman added before she left, “By the way, you can talk to your sister, I think she’s under great pressure lately. She has lost weight recently.”

Sang Yan smirked, “Me? Talk to her?”

The woman, “Ya, why?”

“I don’t only have a generation gap with her.” Sang Yan took out his phone from his pocket, he casually said, “The gender is also a problem. So I’ll just leave her to you.”

There was silence for three seconds.

The woman said, “You don’t listen to me anymore, do you?”

“……”

After the woman left, Wen Yifan realized she was constantly listening to their conversation. The queue was moving, she regained her consciousness and took a few steps forward.

She couldn’t see Sang Yan at her position.

Around a minute had passed.

Zhong Siqiao had sent her three messages.

Zhong Siqiao: [Image]

Zhong Siqiao: I’m shooked.

Zhong Siqiao: I casually sent him a message of blessings by bulk, but he never replied. I thought he stopped using this WeChat account.

Wen Yifan clicked the image.

It was a conversation between Zhong Siqiao and Sang Yan.

Sang Yan had sent a message.

It seemed like it was a message sent in bulk, it only had four words: Happy Chinese New Year.

Upon seeing this message, Wen Yifan unconsciously left the chat box and glanced at the unread messages.

She didn’t see Sang Yan.

However, the display picture of Sang Yan in her contacts was the same as the screenshot.

So, maybe she didn’t add the wrong person.

Then why didn’t she receive the bulk message?

Would he be so narrow-minded and didn’t send her the message on purpose?

Or the messages were not sent in bulk?

However, she saw him being nagged by his mother not long ago. He didn’t look like he had the free time to send blessing messages to everyone.

She gave it a thought for a while.

Wen Yifan felt that the greatest possibility was as previously thought.

He had already deleted her.

Once she had this in her mind, she recalled several people in her contacts. She simply created a bulk message and excluded the contacts that she had blocked.

Not long after it was sent out, there were more than a dozen responses.

Wen Yifan clicked on the messages from the bottom to top and replied occasionally.

Wen Yifan was stunned when she clicked the topmost message.

This was because she was horrified to find out.

The person who replied was the main culprit who sparked her urge to send out a bulk message. She just mistakenly thought he had deleted her not long ago, and the person was just standing a few meters away from her.

He only sent a question mark.

Sang Yan: ?

“……”