Qian Fei coughed lightly and said to the classmate who had leaned in to gossip, "Counting the days, I reckon he's probably about to marry the niece of their company's vice president soon!"
The classmate looked at her in surprise. "You still don't know? Oh right, you arrived late and didn’t hear. The class monitor asked him when we could celebrate his wedding with his new girlfriend, and he said they broke up during the New Year!" Another classmate chimed in, "I heard it was because the girl had a terrible temper and was rude to Wang Ruohai’s mom during the holidays!"
Qian Fei froze for a moment. Just then, the class monitor came over with a notebook and said, "Everyone, write down your contact info. A lot of classmates have changed their phone numbers. Once I’ve collected them all, I’ll compile a directory and send it to everyone!"
The monitor handed the notebook to Qian Fei to write her number. She took it and glanced at the page—the last entry was Wang Ruohai’s number.
She pursed her lips and pushed the notebook back to the monitor. "I’ll write mine after everyone else is done."
The monitor chuckled. "Wow, you’re really holding a grudge!"
Just as he was about to take the notebook to someone else, Qian Fei suddenly remembered something and quickly snatched it back.
She stared at Wang Ruohai’s phone number, and the more she looked, the more familiar it seemed.
The monitor was baffled by her behavior and asked what was wrong. She shoved the notebook back into his arms and said, "Nothing!" before walking to a corner to check her phone.
Strangely, no matter how much she searched, she couldn’t find the text message from her birthday.
Returning to her home screen, she suddenly had an idea and checked the blacklist in her 360 security app.
There, she found the "Happy Birthday" text.
The number matched the one written after Wang Ruohai’s name in the notebook.
She laughed silently, thinking it was fate—even her phone couldn’t stand Wang Ruohai and had automatically blocked him.
Just as she was about to turn off her screen, a voice suddenly sounded beside her: "Why did you block me?"
Qian Fei looked up to find Wang Ruohai standing right in front of her, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere.
●︶3︶●
Qian Fei turned off her screen and smirked at Wang Ruohai. "Didn’t you block me too?" Recalling how all her calls had gone straight to voicemail that day, she suddenly understood everything. "Wang Ruohai, you’re really something. Even after breaking up, you had to pull this stunt. Thanks for remembering my birthday, by the way! But why block me right after sending the text? Afraid I’d think you still cared and start clinging to you relentlessly?" She gave him a mocking look. "You really overestimate how much people care about you."
Wang Ruohai studied her, confusion flickering in his eyes despite her sharp words. "Qian Fei, you seem... different now."
She used to talk to him like a tomboy, but now there was an indescribable charm in her every glance and expression. In less than a year, who had changed her so much, giving her this feminine grace?
Qian Fei glanced at him, no longer interested in continuing the conversation, and turned to leave.
But Wang Ruohai suddenly grabbed her arm. "Qian Fei, let’s talk—"
Before he could finish, Qian Fei glared up at him and hissed, "Let go!"
Wang Ruohai’s palm tingled at her sharp tone.He let go and looked at Qian Fei, saying, "Fine, I'll let go! Qian Fei, let's make a deal—unblock each other, okay?"
Qian Fei gave him a mocking smile. "Are you drunk? Is that really necessary?"
Wang Ruohai chuckled. "I drove here, so I didn't drink."
She rolled her eyes at him and turned to leave.
After exchanging contact details, everyone clamored to go sing. Qian Fei tried to leave, but the class monitor physically dragged her back.
"Yao Jingjing not coming was already a huge loss. If you leave too, the whole vibe will be completely dead!" He practically manhandled her into joining them at the karaoke bar.
When it came time to book the room, Wang Ruohai paid again.
The class monitor couldn’t help but whisper to Qian Fei, "Look at Da Hai’s demeanor—he’s practically a different person from before!"
Qian Fei scoffed and curled her lip.
Though disdainful, she had to admit that Wang Ruohai had indeed changed in some way. He seemed less superficial now, more composed.
Apparently, money carried a certain weight—enough to refine a loser into a successful man.
Sitting on the sofa, Qian Fei felt awkward. While their classmates sang, Wang Ruohai sat not far from her, his gaze still shamelessly sweeping over her. The class monitor, perhaps deliberately, kept pulling her aside to endlessly praise how much better and more capable Wang Ruohai had become—how touching, how admirable, how he’d taken care of everything the monitor himself should have handled.
After listening for a while, Qian Fei couldn’t take it anymore and snapped, "Did Wang Ruohai promise to cover the karaoke bill if you talked him up to me?"
She was just venting, but the monitor’s eyes widened. He drunkenly patted his face. "Was I that obvious? You could tell? Damn, I must be wasted—my wife’s gonna kill me when I get home!"
Qian Fei didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
"Monitor, just drop it, okay? We broke up, and he was the one who ended it. There’s no chance of us getting back together!"
She stood, put on her coat, and walked over to Wang Ruohai, looking down at him. "Come outside for a second."
Wang Ruohai promptly stood and followed her out of the room.
Once they stopped, Qian Fei stared at him and asked slowly, "Wang Ruohai, what do you want?"
He met her gaze without flinching from her razor-sharp glare. "I’m not entirely sure. But seeing you today, I just… couldn’t look away."
Qian Fei sneered. "And then what? Want to get back together?"
To her surprise, Wang Ruohai nodded. "That thought did cross my mind."
She asked coldly, "Since when? Surely not around my birthday? Back then, you were so afraid I’d cling to you that you blocked me!"
Wang Ruohai was honest, answering with shameless candor, "I was hesitating between New Year’s and your birthday. But the moment you walked in tonight, I made up my mind." He stared at her unblinkingly. "You’ve really changed—not just on the outside, but inside too. You’re not the same petty, ordinary girl you used to be."Qian Fei let out a cold laugh. "Wang Ruohai, you're really something! Did a donkey kick your brain? What gives you the right to hesitate? As if I've been waiting around for you! Oh, so you got lonely after the breakup and now you want to come crawling back? But then you hesitate because I'm not good enough for you in so many ways? Who do you think you're keeping as a backup? Where do you get the nerve? And why should I, just because I've changed, look back and want you?" She fixed him with a glare and said icily, "Wang Ruohai, I never realized how shameless you could be!"
With that, she turned and walked out of the karaoke bar.
As she stood by the roadside waiting for a taxi, Wang Ruohai followed her out.
"Take my car, I'll drive you! It's hard to get a cab here!" he said.
Qian Fei snorted and ignored him, striding straight toward an approaching taxi.
Of course she knew it was hard to get a cab here, but she also knew how to use ride-hailing apps to turn "hard to get a cab" into "easy to get a cab."
Wang Ruohai stood behind her and called out loudly, "Qian Fei, I'll give it a try!"
Seeing his brazen expression, Qian Fei almost got out of the taxi to fling a handful of snot in his face.
●︶3︶●
Starting from the day of the gathering, Wang Ruohai sent a bouquet of flowers to Qian Fei's office every day.
The first day: lilies of the valley, with a card that read: Let's start over.
The second day: eighty-eight red roses, with a card that read: I'll make up for all my mistakes with my heart.
The third day: deep red roses, with a card that read: I just want to be with you.
On the fourth day, Qian Fei had had enough. She took Wang Ruohai's number off her blacklist and called him. "What are you trying to do?"
Wang Ruohai chuckled smugly over the phone. "I just wanted to get off the blacklist. Looks like it worked!"
Hearing his self-satisfied tone, Qian Fei felt like throwing sulfuric acid in his face.
"Wang Ruohai, stop this. Don't make me despise you," Qian Fei said, rubbing her temples.
Wang Ruohai paused, then said, "Qian Fei, back then we were poor, so there were many dissatisfactions. Now I have a car, a house, a high salary, and a good position. We'll never fight about saving money again. You've changed—believe me, I've changed too!"
Qian Fei found him utterly baffling. "Wang Ruohai, you should think about who it was that got you a car, a house, a high salary, and a good position all within a year. Now that you've climbed over another woman's shoulders, you come back to your old flame wanting to rekindle things. Don't you think that's shameless and ridiculous?"
She hung up, her chest tight with the urge to cry, wondering why this farce of a life was playing out for her.
In the days that followed, Wang Ruohai continued sending flowers to her office as usual. By this point, Qian Fei couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge him.
For some inexplicable reason, their classmates had taken to hosting dinner parties in rotation, leaving almost no evening free. Qian Fei tried to make excuses to skip them, but the host of the evening would inevitably show up at her office after work, giving her no chance to resist or hesitate before whisking her off to the dinner.
And at every dinner, she would see Wang Ruohai. He kept sidling up to her, no matter how much she sneered or smiled with hidden daggers. He would sit beside her with a grin, thick-skinned and unshakable, making her so uncomfortable she wanted to jump off a building.The classmates all seemed to be aware of Wang Ruohai's feelings for her and kept persuading her, "Why not give him another chance? We all think he's really improved now. Just look at his demeanor—he’s got that leading man vibe from romance novels, so much more mature than before, like a completely different person!"
Afraid that hearing such persuasion too often might sway her resolve, she called Yao Jingjing, hoping to hear a different voice—one that would angrily denounce the scumbag.
But Yao Jingjing told her, "Feifei, Wang Ruohai has called me countless times, and I’ve cursed him so much my uvula nearly fell out! But the weird thing is, this bastard has been nothing but polite the whole time, totally different from before! He told me he genuinely wants to win you back, blah blah blah, and that he’d never reconcile with that deputy general manager’s niece. He even said he has client resources now and would resign from Qiansheng if you weren’t willing. I used to loathe him with every fiber of my being, but after days of cursing him out, I feel like I’m about to switch sides—what’s happening to me?!"
Qian Fei leaned against the wall and hung up the phone.
Her mind was unsettled, and that night, she forgot to close the window before sleeping. By the next morning, she was burning up so badly she couldn’t get out of bed. She called in sick to work, took some fever-reducing medicine, and lay back down.
Somehow, over the next two days, her high fever refused to break.
She drifted in and out of consciousness, only getting up when hunger became unbearable to make some porridge before collapsing back into bed.
Her mind wandered through countless memories—from university, her early career days, her breakup with Wang Ruohai, and even the day Li Yifei had kissed her.
Hazily, she thought, Li Yifei has been away on business for over half a month now, hasn’t he? Why hasn’t he come back yet? If only he were here—just talking to him would make her feel less unbearably lonely and fragile. Though he was pampered and utterly clueless about taking care of others, she believed that if he were here, he’d at least wring out a towel for her.
For some reason, she felt especially awful tonight. She dug out the thermometer and took her temperature again—39.9°C. At this rate, she’d probably be completely delirious soon.
Suddenly, she really wanted to talk to Li Yifei. She picked up her phone and called him.
But after ringing endlessly, he didn’t answer.
She felt an indescribable sadness, both physical and emotional, weighing down on her.
Was he really that afraid she’d cling to him?
She realized that when people are sick, they become incredibly vulnerable. A single rejection at such a time carries the force of a thousand blows, and she felt as though she’d suffered an internal injury from the pain.
●︶3︶●
Dizzy with fever, Qian Fei’s phone suddenly rang. Eyes closed, she fumbled to answer it, half-hoping it was Li Yifei calling her back.
But the voice belonged to the one who had once betrayed her.
Wang Ruohai asked over the phone, "Why haven’t you come to the gatherings these past two days?"
Eyes still shut, Qian Fei croaked out, "Because seeing you annoys me!"
Wang Ruohai frantically asked what was wrong, why her voice sounded like that.
Too tired to deal with him, she hung up.
Then she slipped back into unconsciousness.
When she next managed to rouse herself slightly, she found Wang Ruohai standing in her home.Amidst the shifting, illusory figures around her, she heard him say it was a good thing she hadn’t changed her habit of hiding the key under the doormat. Then she heard him ask in anguish, "Why didn’t you tell me you were this sick?"
With all her strength, she managed to retort, "None of your damn business!" before slipping back into unconsciousness.
When she opened her eyes again, she was lying in a hospital bed.
The doctor was telling Wang Ruohai, "Fortunately, the patient has a strong constitution. Any later, and the fever would have turned into pneumonia!"
The doctor advised her to stay overnight for observation and ordered an IV drip. The nurses struggled to insert the needle—her veins were too fine. Eventually, the head nurse from the pediatric department was called in and finally managed to get it done.
Wang Ruohai cradled her hand, now dotted with puncture marks, sighing in distress.
"Why didn’t you tell me sooner?"
Qian Fei’s eyes stung. Irritated, she yanked her hand back and ignored him, closing her eyes to sleep.
When she woke up, she felt much better. Wang Ruohai had bought porridge and tried to feed her, but she turned her head away, snatched the spoon, and shakily fed herself. After she finished, he brought a warm towel to wipe her hands, then fetched water and helped her take her medicine. Watching him bustle about, she suddenly felt a pang of irony.
Back when they were together, even if she worked overtime until 2 a.m., he had never bothered to pick her up. Who would have thought he could now be so attentive?
With a mocking smile, she asked why he had suddenly become so good at taking care of people. He answered earnestly, "First, I’ve changed. I really didn’t know how to cherish you before, but now I’ve learned. Second, you’ve changed too—you’re no longer so tough, you’ve become someone who makes people want to take care of you."
Too weak to argue, Qian Fei only spat out, "Shameless! Twisting logic!"
He stayed the whole night, no matter how much she yelled at him or tried to drive him away.
She even pointed at his nose and snapped, "Wang Ruohai, you’re such a scumbag!"
Yet he didn’t argue or get angry at all.
The next morning, he took leave from work and continued fussing over her, attending to her every need.
Propped up in bed with the IV drip, Qian Fei watched him come and go, her thoughts drifting to their past together—until, inexplicably, her mind wandered to Li Yifei.
A sudden wave of sorrow overwhelmed her, and she burst into uncontrollable tears.
She hated herself for becoming so fragile whenever she fell ill.
Startled by her crying, Wang Ruohai sat beside her and asked what was wrong. She didn’t answer, just kept weeping. At a loss, he pulled out his phone and started reading jokes from Weibo to cheer her up. But the more he read, the harder she cried.
Finally, he tossed his phone aside and pulled her into a tight embrace.
She sobbed and pushed at him, shouting, "Get away! Where were you before? Only now you decide to treat me well!"
Wang Ruohai held her desperately, refusing to let go no matter how she struggled, murmuring, "Feifei, I was wrong. Give me another chance, okay?"
Qian Fei didn’t respond for a long while.
Sensing something amiss, he released her and checked her hand—his face fell instantly.
The IV needle had slipped out of her vein.He hurriedly called for the nurse. The moment the nurse entered and saw the scene, she nearly lost it—taking in Qian Fei's tear-streaked face and Wang Ruohai's flustered state, she yanked out the IV while scolding, "Can't you save the dramatic love quarrels for when there isn't a needle stuck in her arm? Is having the IV dislodged some kind of thrilling fun for you two?"
Qian Fei wiped her tears and glared daggers at Wang Ruohai, saying to the nurse, "It's all his fault! Nurse, please kick him out for me!"
The nurse shot her an exasperated look, nearly at her wit's end. "Miss, could you please calm down? I'm begging you! Do you even realize how difficult your veins are to find? The entire nursing station is about to go crazy because of you!"
Chastened by the nurse's words, Qian Fei guiltily stopped crying. Watching this, Wang Ruohai suddenly started laughing inexplicably.
The nurse had to call in the head nurse from pediatrics to reinsert the IV for Qian Fei.
By the time the morning IV drip finished, Qian Fei's fever had completely subsided. The doctor told her she could go home.
Wang Ruohai tentatively asked, "Should I take you home?"
Qian Fei glanced at him, a whirlwind of thoughts flashing through her mind in that instant. Then she nodded. Wang Ruohai seemed almost overwhelmed by the gesture, carefully helping her into the car.
On the way back, Qian Fei received a WeChat message from Li Yifei: "Was dining with clients yesterday, had a bit too much to drink and didn’t hear my phone. Did you need something?"
Qian Fei felt her eyes sting. Suppressing the emotion, she replied: "I forgot what it was about too. Have a good business trip."
●︶3︶●
Li Yifei stared at his phone, feeling an inexplicable sense of loss. Having been away for over half a month, his feelings had progressed from missing her a little to missing her quite a bit, and now even more—though it still hadn’t reached the point where he couldn’t bear being apart from her.
Lying in bed, he thought to himself: If he reached that unbearable level of longing, he’d confess his feelings when he returned. If not, he’d move out and maintain their friendship as it was.
With this resolution, he felt a weight lift off his shoulders, as if the problem that had plagued him during last night’s drinking—how to handle their relationship—had been perfectly resolved.
He usually never drank heavily with clients, but for some reason yesterday, he’d wanted to get thoroughly drunk, as if intoxication would reveal a solution to his troubles.
●︶3︶●
After recovering from her illness, Qian Fei became less resistant to Wang Ruohai’s presence.
Yao Jingjing asked if she was considering rekindling their old relationship. Instead of answering, Qian Fei asked, "Do you remember what I said to you last year when I was moving?"
Yao Jingjing chuckled. "You’ve said so many things to me—how could I possibly remember every single one? What exactly are you referring to?"
Qian Fei laughed along. "Never mind if you can’t recall."
●︶3︶●
Back then, while moving into her new place, she couldn’t bring herself to throw away an old photo album. Yao Jingjing had angrily asked why she was keeping it—was she planning to reconcile with Wang Ruohai someday?
Her response had been: "If that ever happens, next time it’ll be my turn to cheat. I’ll find some rich guy, book a hotel room, and make sure he wears the green hat of shame!"
Yao Jingjing had forgotten those words, but Qian Fei still remembered.
Author's Note:
Don’t worry, Wang Ruohai is just making a brief two-chapter cameo—it’s not too much, just necessary for the plot~ Li Yifei will be back from his business trip tomorrow, yay! Look forward to his return ^_^Jinjiang has been acting up so shamelessly these past two days, damn it ahhhhhhhh!
So, I came up with this ridiculously dramatic plot idea while taking a bathroom break and got super pumped! Planning to write it after finishing my current project and taking a short break, wahahaha! Can't hold back anymore, so here's a teaser~ If you're interested, feel free to bookmark it in advance wahahaha!
A year ago he said: "Let me help you, but you'll have to give yourself to me."
So she slept with him.
As they kept sleeping together, she didn't just give him her body - she gave him her heart too.
Not sure if anyone will comment with the site acting up like this today, holds face ! Don't abandon this dumb donkey of an author!!!!! Woof woof! [The site's so glitchy today - some points were sent successfully while others failed. I'll make up for all of them once it stabilizes, clenched fist!!!]
You're still giving me rewards even though I'm updating so sporadically, I'm so touched I'm crying uncontrollably!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you all!!!!!!! Love you!!!!!!!!!!
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