Qian Fei thought that letting Li Yifei stay a while longer might not be a bad idea. At least she’d have someone around, even if that someone was a lazy, shameless, gluttonous jerk with a sharp tongue. On those long, restless nights before her period, she could pick fights and bicker with him—better than suffering alone, gnawed by anxiety.
After her second failed relationship, she had completely lost interest in dating. But her family kept pushing, giving her no time to heal. Her father even said over the phone, “Once you find the next one, you’ll naturally get over the last. What’s there to heal? By the time you’re ‘healed,’ even a cactus would’ve bloomed! Hurry up and find someone to marry—that’s what matters!”
Qian Fei half-heartedly agreed but didn’t take it seriously.
One day, Xiaoyuan told her that an old colleague who had since changed jobs was getting married on Saturday and asked if she wanted to go. Qian Fei had worked with her in the back-office service department, and they’d gotten along well. After some thought, she decided to attend and give a gift.
On Saturday, she went to the wedding with Xiaoyuan. During the ceremony, the emcee asked her former colleague why she had chosen to marry the groom.
This colleague was similar to her—she’d once been in a seven-year, earth-shattering relationship that ended when the guy cheated. Afterward, she declared she no longer believed in love and was determined to stay single forever.
Qian Fei listened as the bride said on stage, “I had long stopped believing love existed in this world. But once, when I was sick with a 39-degree fever, I posted about it online. Many people replied, telling me to drink more water and take medicine—so much concern. But in the end, he was the only one who showed up at my door with a bag full of medicine. I asked him why, and he said, ‘No reason. I just want you to get better soon.’ That was when I started believing in love again—and also the moment I decided to marry him.”
Somehow, those words struck a chord in Qian Fei’s heart. She was deeply moved.
Miraculously, she even caught the bridal bouquet. Later, during the toast, the bride took her hand and said, “Qian Fei, Xiaoyuan told me about what happened to you. I just want to say—don’t lose heart. Don’t give up on love just because of one or two scumbags! You’re the kind of girl who gives without expecting anything in return. Someone as good as you—fate will definitely be kind. You’ll find a wonderful partner. I’ll be waiting to celebrate at your wedding!”
Normally, such sentimental, Qiong Yao-esque optimism would’ve made her cringe. But that day, her nose stung with emotion.
She realized she really had always been the one giving—pouring everything into someone without a second thought, never considering herself or whether she’d get anything back.
But she wasn’t immune to wanting reciprocity. She, too, wished someone would bring her medicine when she was sick, stay and talk with her, or cook her a bowl of porridge.
When she got home from the wedding, she immediately signed up for a profile on Baihe.com.
Li Yifei, seeing her browsing the site, raised an eyebrow and asked, “Since when are you this desperate?”She struggled to resist the urge to roll her eyes at him, trying to maintain a serious tone as she said, "I'm not desperate—I'm earnestly looking for a life partner! I just want someone who can bring me medicine when I'm sick. It's that simple!"
Li Yifei looked at her, then after a few seconds, curled his lip. "Then why are you on Baihe dating site? You should just dial 120!"
Qian Fei finally couldn't hold back—she glared at him fiercely and hurled a slipper his way.
She would never again attempt to have a heart-to-heart with this spoiled brat.
※※※※※※
The next day, Qian Fei stayed home browsing the internet.
Her bedroom door was left open.
Li Yifei sprawled on the sofa, shouting at her that he wanted stir-fried eggplant strips for dinner again. Qian Fei ignored him.
Annoyed, Li Yifei rolled off the sofa and barged right up to her.
"Damn! No wonder you're ignoring me—you're still scrolling through Baihe!"
Qian Fei shooed him away. "Could you at least act like a tenant? A landlord's room isn't someplace you can just waltz into whenever you feel like it, okay?"
Li Yifei smirked. "Promise me stir-fried eggplant for dinner, and I'll leave right now."
Qian Fei rubbed her temples. "Dude, were you so poor as a kid that you couldn’t afford eggplant? You’ve eaten it three days in a row—isn’t that enough?"
Li Yifei scoffed. "Young Master here grew up feasting on imperial banquets every meal, thank you very much! Haven’t you seen that Empress Dowager Cixi drama? After gorging on delicacies all her life, one bite of roasted sweet potato had her so overjoyed she forgot which way was north! Same principle applies to me."
Qian Fei nearly gagged.
"You really have no shame!"
After a pause, she said, "Answer one question for me. If you do it well, I’ll make you the eggplant."
Li Yifei tilted his chin. "Ask away."
Qian Fei thought for a moment. "What kind of woman can truly keep a man?"
Leaning against the doorframe, Li Yifei lazily looked her up and down, clicking his tongue. "Definitely not someone like you."
Suppressing the urge to kick him to death, Qian Fei asked, "What’s wrong with me?"
Li Yifei ruffled his hair, striking a pose before adopting a sage-like tone. "You? You’re like one of the guys—carefree, sloppy, cracking jokes left and right, never getting mad no matter what anyone says about you. Sure, it’s great—men have fun around you. But they don’t see you as a woman, got it? Over time, you’re just a buddy without a dick."
Qian Fei was stunned, her face falling. "Am I really like that? I seem like a guy? What do I do?"
Seeing her utterly defeated expression, Li Yifei pondered for a second. "If you want to change, it’s not hard. But first, you can’t be so stingy with yourself. Look at your clothes—do you own a single decent piece? Wear those rags with a bowl in front of you, and people would toss you coins! You’ve got to understand—life is like childbirth. Only through painful effort do you get a screaming, messy, but ultimately rewarding result."
At first, Qian Fei thought this sounded profound. But upon closer reflection, she realized the metaphor was... questionable.
Her brows furrowed. "Could you phrase that in a classier way? Like, 'Only through effort comes reward'?"Li Yifei raised his eyebrows. "Too pretentious, doesn't suit this young master's style!"
Qian Fei almost dropped to her knees.
Was there anyone in this world more pretentious than him?...
She heard Li Yifei sighing beside her.
When she asked why he was sighing, he drawled dramatically, "Oh nothing much. Just that seeing you raise your eyebrows earlier was rather terrifying. When others do that, it's called 'delicate brows arching in anger.' But when you do it, it's more like 'two unhappy clumps of weeds.'"
Qian Fei dejectedly picked up a nearby mirror. "Sigh, it's because I don't know how to shape my brows. My crazy best friend knows how, but she's gone to Dalian!"
Li Yifei leaned his face close to hers, squinting as he said, "Make me stir-fried eggplant tonight, and I'll help you with an ugly duckling transformation!"
Qian Fei, with her two unhappy weed-like brows, asked, "Am I really that ugly?"
Li Yifei looked at her and hesitated before replying, "About that earlier sentence... you've already achieved the first four words."
The flames of wanting to kick him out roared back to life in Qian Fei's heart.
※※※※※※
For the sake of the evening's stir-fried eggplant, Li Yifei domineeringly began implementing his so-called "ugly duckling transformation" plan. He dragged Qian Fei away from her computer, out of the house, and toward the mall.
"If you want to live like a human being, first you have to dress like one!" he lectured Qian Fei like an authority figure.
Qian Fei struggled along the way. "I'm poor, I can't afford nice clothes, just let me go home! I'll make you the eggplant, okay?"
Li Yifei absolutely wouldn't allow her to retreat, pulling her forward by the wrist.
"Qian the Miser, living so stingily—do you think that does justice to your surname? Didn't I promise to pay more rent every month?"
Qian Fei continued struggling vigorously. Li Yifei's grip on her wrist was so tight his hand started aching. Growing impatient, he said, "Fine, fine, I'll compromise. I won't force you to buy anything too expensive. We'll just go to Fuli Plaza for some low-end bargains, how's that?"
Qian Fei nearly tripped over her own feet in shock.
His pretentiousness was acting up again—since when was Fuli Plaza considered low-end? She usually couldn't even bear to go window shopping there!
Li Yifei forcibly dragged Qian Fei into the mall.
Entering a store, he stood casually in the middle with his hands in his pockets and told Qian Fei, "Pick out two outfits yourself first. Whatever you like—take them! Don't look at the price tags, just see if you like the styles."
Qian Fei chose two items according to her own taste.
Holding the hangers up to herself, she asked Li Yifei, "How do they look?"
The look of disdain on Li Yifei's face was enough to make thin-skinned people want to die.
He walked over and hung the two items back on the rack. "Actually, I just wanted to see how bad your taste could be. Now I regret testing you—after seeing your outfit choices, I feel like life might as well end here!"
He pulled Qian Fei to another clothing rack and picked out two items she would normally never look at—clothes and a skirt she would classify as bizarrely styled and weirdly shaped. "Try these on!" Then he asked the sales assistant, "Do you have leggings here? If so, get her a pair!"
Qian Fei tried to stop him, whispering, "Hey! Why buy leggings here? They're several hundred yuan! On Taobao they're only 28 with free shipping!"
Li Yifei pushed her toward the fitting room. "Less talking, more trying on clothes!"
He waited outside.After waiting for a long time, Qian Fei still hadn't come out.
Growing impatient, he went over and knocked on the fitting room door, "Hey sis, can you come out already?"
Qian Fei mumbled inside, "I think this outfit looks really weird. Maybe I should just change back!"
Li Yifei let out a long sigh, "Miss Qian, could you at least come out first so I can see how weird it looks?"
With a click of the latch, Qian Fei emerged from the fitting room, walking awkwardly.
She had never worn a V-neck this deep before—she felt like her cleavage was about to show. Nor had she ever worn such a short skirt; even with leggings, she still felt like too much was being revealed.
She shuffled out, head lowered shyly, and asked, "It's weird, right?"
No response.
She looked up.
Li Yifei was stroking his chin, staring at her.
To her surprise, his expression actually held something resembling... approval.
She was stunned.
"Li Yifei," she called out, "don't you think this looks strange?"
Li Yifei raised an eyebrow at her and answered evasively, "Didn't expect you to have some curves! Waist's pretty slim, legs are long, and you've even got some chest—tsk tsk! A woman's body with a man's soul. How come the Thai ladyboy shows never recruited you? With you, they'd definitely make a star!"
Qian Fei flushed red—first from shyness, then purely from anger.
"You haven't even played Dongfang Bubai yet, who am I to perform as a Thai ladyboy?" she gritted through clenched teeth.
Li Yifei gave her a flirtatious wink, wagging his finger. "Nonono! Dressed like this, you can't talk so roughly. Otherwise, people will think you're a man crossdressing!" Ignoring Qian Fei's bristling anger, he turned away to pick out a coat and draped it over her shoulders. "Come on, let's grab some high heels and you'll be all set!"
Author's Note:
Dear beautiful readers, please hear my tearful plea: If possible, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could subscribe via the website, as web subscriptions give authors a larger share. Mobile subscriptions split the earnings in half with other parties!! Right now, I'm working day and night—barely five hours of sleep between business trips and writing—and thinking about how much of my earnings get taken away makes me want to cry T_T
If daily web subscriptions are inconvenient, you can set up auto-subscription on the website and then read daily on your phone. If you decide you don't want to continue, you can always cancel auto-subscription.
So, beauties, please subscribe via the website!!!
Jiuge will keep writing daily updates despite her aching spine! Love you all!!! (Ugh, this shameless donkey author is begging for sympathy again!)
Thank you to all the beautiful readers who sent over thunder, grenades, and rockets—your generosity means the world! Jiuge will keep writing diligently with your encouragement >3<
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