Qian Fei heard from the project team that Li Yifei seemed to have broken up with his new girlfriend. The girl was heartbroken and had come to see him, returning his things before leaving in tears.
In the afternoon, Qian Fei saw Gui Lili, who looked radiant, with a secret joy shining from the corners of her eyes and brows.
After work in the evening, Qian Fei let Li Yifei leave first while she went to the pharmacy to buy some medicine to mail back home for her father. When she returned, she noticed the security door was slightly ajar, and from the doorway, she could clearly hear the conversation inside.
From the voices, it was clearly a man and a woman—the man was naturally Li Yifei, but the woman surprised Qian Fei—it was Gui Lili.
They were in the middle of an intense exchange, and Qian Fei hesitated at the door, unsure whether she should enter.
Standing there, she heard Gui Lili sobbing, "Yifei, let's get back together! I finally realize material things aren’t what I truly want—it’s you I love most! Seeing you at the company every day, yet you don’t look at me, don’t smile at me, don’t even say my name—it’s agony!"
Qian Fei shuddered. That long-lost Mary Sue feeling had returned in full force with Princess Gui.
She heard Li Yifei reply coldly, "Chairman Niu would be heartbroken to hear you say that."
Gui Lili choked back tears and asked, "Yifei, do you really not love me anymore? I don’t believe it! That new girlfriend of yours—wasn’t she just a ploy to make me jealous? She looks so much like me! Aren’t you just using her as my replacement? I don’t believe your heart is as cold as your words!"
Qian Fei shuddered again. What a loss to the acting world that this girl hadn’t pursued a career in drama.
She heard Li Yifei scoff. "Ha! How can you be so full of yourself? How did I never notice this before? You’re utterly ridiculous and tiresome! Let me make this clear—I’ve always liked girls with long hair, fair skin, and big eyes. How does that suddenly make her your replacement? Gui Lili, you weren’t like this before. Now you’re acting so melodramatic it’s bordering on brainless!"
Gui Lili wailed in despair, "I don’t believe it! I don’t, I don’t! You’ve stayed here all this time, refusing to move—isn’t that because you’re waiting for me to come back? I don’t believe what you’re saying reflects how you truly feel! You’re just saying this because you’re angry with me, aren’t you, Yifei?"
Li Yifei’s voice dripped with sarcasm. "I have no interest in secondhand goods. Don’t tell me you haven’t slept with Chairman Niu. If you dare claim you haven’t, I’ll actually take you back!"
Gui Lili cried in anguish, "Yifei, don’t treat me like this!"
Li Yifei’s tone turned impatient. "How others treat you is a consequence of your own actions. Enough—stop crying here endlessly. Leave before you completely exhaust whatever little goodwill I have left for you!"
Qian Fei froze, sensing the drama was nearing its end, and quickly stepped aside to clear the doorway.
No sooner had she moved than Gui Lili flung the door open and rushed out, weeping dramatically, her face buried in her hands as she fled toward the elevator.Qian Fei stared at the half-open door, unsure whether she should enter. Just as she was hesitating, she heard Li Yifei's irritated voice from inside: "The show's over, aren't you going home? Waiting for the sequel or what?"
Qian Fei chuckled awkwardly and stepped in.
"So... you okay?" she tentatively asked.
Li Yifei raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Qian Fei pointed outside. "What made her come back to look for you?"
Li Yifei scoffed. "Who knows? Premarital jitters, probably!"
Qian Fei didn't quite get it. "Premarital jitters? With who? Chairman Niu?"
Seeing Li Yifei nod, Qian Fei found it unbelievable. Gui Lili was truly a broad-minded, compassionate woman of the new era—even when about to marry a tycoon, she still couldn't forget her ex-boyfriend from her struggling days.
She asked Li Yifei, "If you had actually agreed to take her back, what kind of ending do you think I'd see in this sequel?"
Li Yifei wore a mocking expression. "Nothing much—just her coming back to sleep with me for one night, then telling me the next morning she still has to marry the tycoon, begging me not to hate her, and asking if she can come sleep with me whenever she wants in the future because she loves me!"
Hearing the word "sleep," Qian Fei felt like she was about to throw up.
For dinner, she had originally planned to make stir-fried eggplant strips for Li Yifei, but for some reason, she suddenly lost all motivation.
She left the eggplants piled in the kitchen and grabbed two cups of instant noodles—one for herself and one for Li Yifei—telling him, "I'm feeling a bit melancholic today. This is dinner. Eat it or don't, figure it out yourself if you don't want it."
Li Yifei hugged the instant noodles with a confused look, complaining, "What's going on? Is it that time of the month? Since when do you get so moody and melancholic?"
Qian Fei carried her instant noodles to her room door. Before closing it, she paused, turned back, and said darkly, "Show some respect for 'that time of the month.' At least it's an elder!"
●︶3︶●
Li Yifei was sent on a two-week business trip at short notice. His company had assigned him to a province to conduct due diligence for a company planning to issue corporate bonds. Since he had worked on bond issuance projects before, the team specifically borrowed him for the job.
Before leaving, Li Yifei smugly told Qian Fei, "Sanitary pad, I have a feeling you're really gonna miss me!"
Qian Fei was utterly disgusted by his repeated use of the nickname: "Li Yifei, just because of those three words—'sanitary pad'—I can guarantee I won't miss you!"
But Qian Fei soon realized that Li Yifei's jinx of a mouth had been right—she actually did miss him a little.
She suddenly felt that being home alone was really lonely.
Somehow, without her noticing, from the moment she opened her eyes in the morning, through work during the day, to returning in the evening, and until she closed her eyes to sleep at night, she had been spending almost every waking moment with Li Yifei.
Unconsciously, they had already been keeping each other company for so long that his absence on this trip made the house feel empty and a little lonely.
And from being near-strangers who had initially been a bit disdainful of each other, they had gradually grown so close—like friends, like brothers, like partners.
Li Yifei called her every few days. The two of them would always end up bickering over the phone, refusing to back down until one of them was thoroughly exasperated.Li Yifei said, "Sanitary pad, you know what? My colleagues say listening to our phone calls could give them a heart attack! Too many dramatic highs and lows!"
Qian Fei laughed.
Actually, encountering someone who could match her in banter was exhilarating. That back-and-forth chemistry and the joy of trading barbs was something outsiders just couldn’t understand.
On a weekend evening, after a casual dinner, Qian Fei turned on the TV. Whenever she used to watch Hunan TV, Li Yifei would always mock it, and the more he mocked, the more she enjoyed it. Now, without his sarcastic commentary, she suddenly found TV programs rather dull. She turned it off and went to set up the treadmill for some post-meal exercise.
Just as she stepped on it, her phone rang.
She rushed to grab it from her room—the screen flashed with the name "Li the Drama Queen." Her lips curled into a smile.
"Sanitary pad, I’m coming home tomorrow. Make me something good to eat—must have stir-fried eggplant strips!" Li Yifei demanded as soon as the call connected.
Qian Fei felt a flicker of happiness but kept her tone grumpy. "What, did your company starve you on this business trip? You sound desperate."
Li Yifei scoffed. "Sanitary pad, isn’t your birthday coming up?"
Qian Fei paused. "Maybe. Why?"
Li Yifei said, "No reason. I’m by the sea right now, so I could dig up some rotten seaweed to make you a soup. Isn’t that what they always do in those Korean dramas you love? Oh, and you’re welcome!"
Qian Fei retorted fiercely, "Then tomorrow I’ll make you a special dish—arsenic stir-fry with meat. You’re welcome too!"
They bickered a while longer before hanging up.
Qian Fei turned off the treadmill and went back to watching TV.
Somehow, Hunan TV seemed entertaining again.
●︶3︶●
The next evening, Li Yifei returned from his trip to a table full of delicious dishes. Between bites, he half-heartedly praised, "Sanitary pad, your cooking beats the five-star hotel food from my trip!"
Qian Fei kicked him under the table. "Talking about sanitary pads at the dinner table—how gross!" Then she leaned in eagerly. "Is my cooking really that good now?"
Li Yifei shot her a sidelong glance and said airily, "Well, I just said that to make you happy. If you take it too seriously and expose my lie, that’d be no fun."
Qian Fei stood up to snatch his chopsticks and bowl. "If it’s no fun, then stop eating!"
Li Yifei dodged, clutching his bowl protectively. "Hey, hey! Stop it! This tableware is expensive—if you drop it, you’ll cry over the pieces!"
Qian Fei didn’t believe him. "Yeah, right. It’s not like it’s solid gold. If I break one, I’ll buy ten more!"
Li Yifei snorted. "If you can even replace half of it, I’ll call you ‘Grandma’!" He turned back, tapping his chopsticks against the bowl and then the plate on the table. "Hear that crisp sound? This is the same porcelain reserved for state banquets!"
Qian Fei grabbed his bowl, inspecting it closely.
Li Yifei cursed. "Our bowls are identical—why do you have to take mine? What’s wrong with you?"Qian Fei ignored him. After examining the bowl for a while, she handed it back and said, "The bowl looks nice, but it's just a high-quality replica, right? I don't believe porcelain specially made for the central government would end up in the hands of an ordinary person like me!"
Li Yifei burst out laughing.
He had guessed right—she really did say the words "high-quality replica."
After dinner, Li Yifei helped Qian Fei tidy up the house. She realized that over time, without her noticing, he had started taking the initiative to share some of the household chores.
Once everything was put away, they watched TV for a while. Li Yifei said he was tired and went to the bathroom to wash up. Qian Fei also returned to her room to freshen up and use the toilet.
While on the toilet, she was scrolling through jokes on her phone. Laughing too hard, she turned to press the flush button and accidentally slipped—her phone tragically fell into the toilet. Staring at the colorful toilet bowl, Qian Fei was on the verge of tears. Fighting the urge to vomit, she used a plastic bag to cover her hand and fished the phone out.
She rinsed the phone and then blasted it with a hairdryer. After drying it, she tried turning it on, but the screen remained completely dark.
With a heavy heart, she consoled herself: "Forget it, time for a new phone. Maybe even the heavens disapprove of me not using an iPhone anymore."
Lying in bed, she suddenly felt unsure how to fall asleep. She used to play with her phone for a while before sleeping. She got up, opened the door, and peeked outside. Li Yifei's door was open, and he was still in the bathroom washing up.
She paced out and knocked on the bathroom door, asking, "Li Yifei, do you have a spare phone?"
Li Yifei opened the door, his mouth full of toothpaste foam, and mumbled, "What do you need it for?"
Qian Fei muttered vaguely, "My phone fell into the toilet..."
Li Yifei stared at her without saying a word, then quickly turned back to rinse his mouth. When he turned around again, he wiped his lips and looked at Qian Fei with a teasing smirk, raising an eyebrow. "Did you somehow guess what birthday present I got for you?"
Author's Note:
Believe me, every plot point has a reason. When the story is finished, you'll understand everything looking back~ (●︶3︶●)
Just a reminder: Comments like "Flowers flowers flowers flowers flowers" or "Points points points points points" are considered score manipulation under JJWXC's rules. So please avoid leaving such comments. Try to write something related to the story content, and if it's over 25 characters with a 2-point rating, I'll send points when I see it!
Lastly, thank you all for your continuous love and support. Love you guys! (Not sure why I'm feeling extra sentimental today.)
Special thanks to all the beautiful readers who gifted thunder and bombs! A deep bow of gratitude!! Sorry for making you spend money~
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