Chapter Fifty-One: Heartbroken, Perhaps?

Perhaps he had fallen for Jiang Muwen long ago, only he hadn’t realized it yet.

Wen Yichen lay with his eyes closed, his brows gently furrowed, long, thick lashes trembling subtly. The lamp’s gentle glow spilled over him, casting a faint shadow across his face.

Listening to Bai Xu’s voice calling through his headphones, Wen Yichen felt his heart grow more restless—when he saw Jiang Muwen again, how would he face her? Even if he liked Jiang Muwen, he had no clue what she felt about him… What if she didn’t like him? What then?

A barrage of questions bombarded Wen Yichen’s mind, throwing him off balance. It was as if he had never encountered such a problem before—this felt harder than the most difficult exam questions he’d ever seen.

“Wen Yichen! Wen Yichen?? Are you deaf? Can you hear me?” Bai Xu’s voice continued in his headset.

Wen Yichen heard every word—he simply didn’t feel like responding for the moment.

When Bai Xu saw that Wen Yichen hadn’t replied for ages, his courage grew. He tried again, calling into the microphone, “Son? Can you hear your father? Tsk—so young and already deaf, how pitiful. Don’t worry, your dad won’t give up on you…”

…

Bai Xu was getting carried away, not expecting Wen Yichen to slowly open his eyes and slip his headphones back on. “I heard everything.”

Wen Yichen’s words left Bai Xu dumbstruck. After a brief silence, Bai Xu spoke again, “Bro, I was just joking—”

“I’m done playing. You go ahead…” The game wasn’t finished, but Wen Yichen wanted out. His mind was in turmoil; he had no patience for gaming now.

If this had happened before, Bai Xu would have scolded Wen Yichen thoroughly. But hearing Wen Yichen’s unusually serious tone, Bai Xu didn’t dare say a word, obediently agreeing—afraid that if he said anything, Wen Yichen might turn the tables and scold him instead.

After quitting the game, Wen Yichen found himself unable to do anything else. He stared blankly at his phone’s screen, as if waiting for something.

A moment later, the phone vibrated slightly and the screen lit up—a message.

Wen Yichen sat up straight, eyes fixed intently on the phone. Yet, when he unlocked it, his gaze dimmed—the sender was not the person he hoped for.

The message was from Xia Manman: “Bro Wen… There are some questions I don’t understand. Could you help me?”

She followed her words with a picture, marking the problems she struggled with.

---

Looking at his phone, Wen Yichen felt a surge of inexplicable irritation. He sighed deeply, tossed the phone onto his bed, and let it vibrate endlessly.

…

Friday passed with no words between Jiang Muwen and Wen Yichen; Saturday, too, was silent. Sunday morning, as Jiang Muwen returned to the neighborhood with fresh produce, someone called out to her.

It was Su Yu. Seeing Jiang Muwen pause, Su Yu hurried over and naturally linked her arm with Jiang Muwen’s, as if greeting an old friend she hadn’t seen in years.

Jiang Muwen looked at Su Yu, sensing she had something to say.

“Auntie… is there something you want to talk about?” Jiang Muwen asked softly.

Su Yu got straight to the point, “Yes, yes, yes~ Little Wen Wen, let me ask you—has Wen Yichen lately…”

Her voice faded, trailing off, as if what she wanted to say was hard to express.

Hearing Wen Yichen’s name, Jiang Muwen’s heart tightened—the two had gone nearly two days without reaching out to each other. Was this… a cold war?

As Jiang Muwen pondered, Su Yu’s voice sounded again, “Is he heartbroken?”

Jiang Muwen was startled, looking at Su Yu in bewilderment. “Wen Yichen… what happened?”

“I’ve noticed he has no appetite lately, always gloomy. From my experience, that child must be heartbroken,” Su Yu said, frowning as if something didn’t add up. “But that can’t be right—when did he fall in love? How come I never heard about it?”

Su Yu’s question made Jiang Muwen embarrassed to admit that Wen Yichen’s unhappiness was because of her.

After returning home, entrusted by Su Yu, Jiang Muwen decided to send Wen Yichen a message, thinking that maybe a conversation would ease his mood.

She spent ages crafting her words, but after much editing, all she sent was, “Are you there?”

As soon as the message was sent, Wen Yichen picked up his phone, and at last, a long-lost smile appeared on his face.

His fingers tapped lightly on the screen: “Here.”

---

But just as he was about to hit “send,” he paused—he was still angry at Jiang Muwen. How could he answer her so easily?

He deleted the words in the chat box and typed instead: “What do you want?”

Wait… that still wasn’t aloof enough.

He deleted everything again, and wrote: “So? You finally remembered to talk to me?”

No… sending that felt odd, like a girl sulking with her boyfriend after an argument.

He deleted everything from the chat box once more.

Jiang Muwen stared at the screen, seconds ticking by, watching Wen Yichen’s repeated edits. She imagined he might send her a lengthy essay—could it be a break-up letter? Or… a confession?

Jiang Muwen was lost in her thoughts when suddenly her phone vibrated, pulling her focus back to their chat. Yet, Wen Yichen hadn’t sent a break-up letter, nor a confession. All that appeared was two simple words:

“Not here.”

“…???” Jiang Muwen was baffled, staring at her phone, half amused and half exasperated. Still, Wen Yichen had replied to her—that meant he probably… wasn’t angry anymore?

Thinking this, Jiang Muwen typed: “So… about the exhibition at the terminal, are we still going together?”

She held on to the last bit of hope, hesitated for a long time before finally mustering the courage to send it.

Then she quickly added: “I heard the tickets are hard to get. If we’re going, we should book early.”

Within seconds, Wen Yichen replied: “You flunked math. Not going.”