Chapter Seventeen: Why Are You Running?

When Wen Yichen asked this, Jiang Muwen instinctively shuddered, as if he had touched a sore spot. After a moment, Jiang Muwen’s head emerged from her bag, and she offered Wen Yichen a feeble smile. “No, maybe it’s just hidden deeper, I’ll keep looking…”

Wen Yichen believed her, naturally. When she finished speaking, he turned away, casually twisted his key, and entered his apartment with Bai Xu, leaving Jiang Muwen in chaos outside the door.

Jiang Muwen refused to believe it and started searching again.

This time, she simply sat down at her front door and patiently removed her books from her backpack one by one, stacking them neatly on the ground, followed by some miscellaneous little items. Yet, even after emptying her entire bag, she still couldn’t find her key.

“That’s strange… I clearly remember putting my key in my bag this morning…” Jiang Muwen stared in disbelief at the now-empty bag, muttering under her breath.

Time ticked by second after second. Jiang Muwen sat cross-legged in front of her door, clutching her emptied backpack, slowly coming to terms with the fact that she had forgotten to put her key in her bag. All she felt was despair, nothing but despair.

Of all the times not to forget her key, it had to be when her parents were away on a trip. There was no spare key hidden outside, and besides, she lived on the eleventh floor. If only it were the first floor, she could have considered climbing in through a window.

Jiang Muwen’s eyes were hollow as she gazed straight ahead, looking like someone who had seen the vicissitudes of life and become indifferent to the world.

Slowly, she turned her head toward Wen Yichen’s door, contemplating whether or not to knock. But she quickly turned back in hopelessness—even if she wanted to, she didn’t have the courage.

She didn’t know how long had passed when, half-asleep, she suddenly heard the sound of a lock turning next door. Instantly alert, she hurried to stuff her scattered books back into her bag.

She had just crammed the last book inside when Wen Yichen’s door opened.

A clean hand appeared first, holding a bag of garbage. As the trash bag hit the ground with a thud, Wen Yichen’s voice followed, “Why are you still here?”

Feigning composure, Jiang Muwen reached into her backpack. “Still looking for my key…”

The moment she said it, she regretted it—even she didn’t believe her own excuse.

“It’s been half an hour. Do you want to try chanting a spell to summon it?” Wen Yichen saw through her lie easily. He leaned lazily against the doorframe, arms crossed, a faint smirk playing at his lips. Her clumsy acting was truly foolish, but he had no desire to expose her.

“If chanting a spell would work, I’d have done it long ago…” Jiang Muwen muttered, head lowered, as she zipped up her bag.

“Come in—” Wen Yichen said, instinctively opening the door wider.

His reaction seemed to catch Jiang Muwen off guard. “Huh?”

“If you don’t want to, then forget it.” Wen Yichen grasped the handle to close the door.

Seeing the door about to close, Jiang Muwen sprang to her feet and rushed over. “I’m coming!”

But she’d been sitting cross-legged for so long that she’d forgotten her legs were numb. As she stood, her feet gave way and she stumbled forward, losing her balance.

Just as she was about to fall into Wen Yichen, time seemed to stretch endlessly. Countless images of herself falling into his arms flashed through her mind.

But to her astonishment, at the last moment Wen Yichen sidestepped nimbly—he dodged. He actually dodged…?

Just as she braced herself for a hard landing with the floor, a force yanked her back—it was Wen Yichen.

Perhaps he had grabbed her a bit too firmly, because pain radiated up her arm, and she couldn’t help but rub her shoulder.

“Thank you,” Jiang Muwen said softly.

Wen Yichen offered no reply. He simply turned and shut the door.

Once inside, Wen Yichen strolled leisurely toward his bedroom. Seeing Jiang Muwen still standing there, he stopped and looked at her as if she were an oddity. “Why are you just standing there?”

Jiang Muwen looked at him sheepishly. “My legs are numb…”

“…”

“When you can feel your legs again, change your shoes and come in.” After saying this, Wen Yichen slipped into his bedroom in his house slippers, leaving Jiang Muwen standing awkwardly at the entrance, just like a child being punished.

Only when the pins and needles in her legs had faded did Jiang Muwen squat down, take off her shoes, and—just as she would at home—pull a pair of pink slippers from the shoe cabinet. Aunt Su Yu had prepared those especially for her.

When Jiang Muwen entered the bedroom, she saw Bai Xu lounging on a beanbag, engrossed in a mobile game.

“Jiang Muwen, come play with us!” Bai Xu called, eyes glued to his screen.

Jiang Muwen set her backpack on a nearby chair, Bai Xu’s invitation reminding her of the days when her teammates had begged her to uninstall the game. “But I already deleted it… and I’m not very good.”

“Just download it again! With us carrying you, what’s there to be afraid of?” Bai Xu insisted.

In the end, under Bai Xu’s persuasion, Jiang Muwen launched the game and joined Wen Yichen and Bai Xu for a 5v5 match.

Because her skills were so lacking, Wen Yichen made her pick a support character—the so-called healer.

As the game loaded, Wen Yichen’s voice sliced through the silence. “Jiang Muwen, just stick with me later. Don’t wander off.”

The match soon grew intense. When Wen Yichen was waiting to respawn, Bai Xu sought her out for healing—but things didn’t go his way. “Jiang Muwen! Why are you running away?!”

“You’re chasing me—how could I not run?” Jiang Muwen’s explanation sounded perfectly reasonable.

Seeing that she was only healing Wen Yichen, Bai Xu grew indignant. “You’re supposed to be the team’s healer. Can’t you heal me, just once?”