Gui Lili often clogged the sink, and Qian Fei felt she seemed to lack a lot of common sense in daily life—like not knowing what could and couldn’t be poured down the drain. The first two times, Qian Fei painfully forked out several hundred yuan to call a plumber. By the third time Gui Lili told her the drain was clogged again, she couldn’t bear to spend the money anymore.
She recalled how the plumber had fixed it the previous times, then rolled up her sleeves and tackled the problem herself.
Though the process was a bit disgusting, the result was good—after some reluctant poking and prodding with a wire in her hands, the drain finally cleared. From then on, she happily realized she had successfully mastered yet another survival skill: unclogging drains.
While the drain issue was now something she could handle anytime, she soon faced another pressing problem—the fridge crisis.
The market was a bit far from home, so she usually bought enough groceries for three or four days and stored them in the fridge. But gradually, Gui Lili had turned the fridge’s cooling compartment into her personal face mask storage. She had piled up mountains and oceans of face masks in there! The first time Qian Fei saw that sea of face masks gathered in the fridge, she thought even if she had ten enormous faces, it would still take her a decade to use up all that sticky stuff.
She couldn’t bring herself to say to Gui Lili, "You have too many face masks—can you leave some space for my groceries?"” So she could no longer stock up on food in the fridge and had to make the long trip to the market every day to buy fresh ingredients.
Luckily, the weather was getting cooler. After October, even without refrigeration, the vegetables wouldn’t spoil. Qian Fei had never loved autumn as much as she did this year.
Before she knew it, late October arrived—the most unbearable time of the year in Beijing. The city hadn’t started heating yet, and with winter setting in, the indoors felt like an icebox, freezing hands and feet. Every day, Qian Fei could only comfort herself by browsing Weibo and seeing southerners wailing, “We need heating in the south too!”
At least she had something to look forward to—soon, the city’s central heating would kick in and warm things up. But those poor southern compatriots had no choice but to endure one bitterly cold winter after another.
Lately, Qian Fei had been hearing the couple next door arguing nonstop over trivial matters.
Sometimes she thought that if a relationship was this miserable, with fights as frequent as clocking in for work, it’d be better to just break up like she and Wang Ruohai had.
They often had earth-shaking fights over who should take out the trash, sweep the floor, clean the bathroom, or do the laundry. Each argument would lead to two or three days of cold war, during which neither would tidy up. In the end, the garbage in the kitchen, living room, and study would pile up until Qian Fei had to clean it herself.
One evening was especially bad. The moment she got home, she saw Gui Lili and Li Yifei arguing in the living room. The battleground had shifted from the bedroom to the living room—apparently, the bedroom was no longer navigable. And the core of their fight, as always, revolved around household chores.
Gui Lili said, “Li Yifei, I’m your girlfriend, not your maid. You can’t expect me to do everything!”
Li Yifei retorted, “Gui Lili, as a woman, isn’t it your duty to do laundry and cook?”
Gui Lili shot back, “I’m an only child—my parents raised me like a son. Why should I have to do all this?”Li Yifei said, "If you can't even do these things properly, can you even call yourself a woman?"
Gui Lili retorted, "Li Yifei, can you stop bullying me? I don’t want to do housework!"
Gui Lili seemed a bit drunk, swaying unsteadily in the living room.
Qian Fei, overhearing this exchange, felt extremely awkward. She quickly lowered her head, silently praying, "Don’t notice me," as she tried to slip unnoticed back to her room. But just two steps from her door, Gui Lili called out to her.
Still swaying, Gui Lili exclaimed, "Qian Fei! You're back! Perfect!" She stumbled over and grabbed Qian Fei’s hand, turning to Li Yifei with excitement. "Yifei, I have an idea!" She looked back at Qian Fei. "Qian Fei, how about you do our housework for us? We’ll pay you!"
Qian Fei was stunned.
Li Yifei strode over and pulled Gui Lili away. "Gui Lili, can you sober up? Can you stop coming home drunk after drinking with your boss and making a scene? Can you stop embarrassing yourself? Look clearly—she’s the landlord! You’re living in her house! She’s not a cleaning lady! She’s been patient and kind enough to you already. Can you stop taking advantage of good people?"
Li Yifei shot Qian Fei an apologetic glance before dragging Gui Lili back to their room.
Qian Fei stood frozen in place for a moment, staring blankly at the door.
Suddenly, she thought Li Yifei wasn’t so bad after all. Though he seemed arrogant and difficult, he at least had a sense of fairness. For instance, he recognized her kindness.
She returned to her room.
That night, even with earplugs in, she could hear them arguing well into the early hours.
※※※※※※
The next morning, to avoid an awkward encounter, Qian Fei left the house early.
At work, she received a WeChat message from Hu Zining, asking if she was free for dinner that evening.
She replied, "Sure."
Their relationship was progressing smoothly—they occasionally went out for meals or movies. Last month, during a movie, Hu Zining had held her hand. The week before, for his birthday, Qian Fei had splurged on a wallet as a gift. Hu Zining had been overjoyed all evening, and before parting ways, he kissed her.
When his handsome face leaned in, Qian Fei realized she didn’t feel as thrilled as she’d imagined.
The kiss felt like nothing more than the touch of her upper and lower lips—it didn’t make her heart race or skip a beat.
She remembered the first time Wang Ruohai kissed her—her entire body had burned, her ears roaring as if boiling water were inside. By the time the kiss ended, her heart had pounded so hard it nearly leapt out of her throat.
Even later, when the initial passion of their relationship faded, kissing him had still felt comforting and exhilarating.
So why did Hu Zining’s kiss leave her completely unmoved?
She didn’t even want to deepen the kiss. So when Hu Zining tried to part her lips with his tongue, she pulled away.
Assuming she was shy, Hu Zining smiled at her, his voice dripping with charm. "What’s wrong, hmm?"
For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to meet his flirtatious, handsome gaze. Lowering her head, she mumbled, "It’s just… too fast!"
He chuckled and pulled her close, speaking in a doting tone. "Shy, are we? My little Feifei is so innocent and adorable!"She shuddered all over upon hearing that.
So she could be described in such a cringeworthy way.
※※※※※※
After work that evening, Qian Fei and Hu Zining had dinner at the food court on the seventh floor of Parkson. After eating, Hu Zining suggested, "It's still early. Why don’t you come to my place to check it out?"
Qian Fei thought about it—she had nothing to do at home anyway—so she agreed.
Hu Zining rented an apartment with a classmate, but no one was home when they arrived.
He turned on his computer and prepared to play a movie.
"What kind of movie do you want to watch?" he asked.
"Anything is fine, as long as it's good!" Qian Fei replied.
Hu Zining thought for a moment, then asked, "How about Lost in Beijing ?" As he spoke, his gaze at her was noticeably more tender and affectionate than usual.
Qian Fei had never seen the film before. Judging by the title, she assumed it was an inspiring story about a hardworking farmer-turned-entrepreneur who made a fortune by growing and selling apples. She nodded and said, "Sure! Let’s watch that!"
Hu Zining pulled up the movie, set it to full screen, and pulled Qian Fei onto the sofa with him.
Qian Fei settled in, expecting a heartwarming socialist tale praising the diligence of the working class. But as the film played, she was instead greeted by a completely naked Fan Bingbing and Tong Dawei moaning and groaning in a steamy bathroom scene...
She realized Hu Zining had quite a thing for Fan Bingbing.
She wanted to look away but feared Hu Zining would think she was being prudish. Yet staring at the screen made her unbearably awkward. Just as she was torn between watching or not, she felt Hu Zining’s hand creeping up her thigh in a lingering, suggestive way.
His head leaned in, his lips brushing her ear, and she could hear his breathing growing heavier. She didn’t dare move, afraid any shift might give him the wrong idea.
On the screen, Liu Pingguo was being pressed against the bathroom wall by her husband, gasping and moaning. Meanwhile, Hu Zining was now licking her ear.
His hand slid from her thigh up to her waist.
She held her breath.
His lips trailed from her ear to her cheek, then moved toward her mouth.
Qian Fei leaned back slightly and asked awkwardly, "When is your roommate coming back?"
Hu Zining cupped her chin, preventing her from retreating further, and murmured in a suggestive tone, "Don’t worry, he won’t walk in on us."
With that, he kissed her, his tongue pressing insistently against her teeth.
Qian Fei’s mind raced—should she let him have his way or push him away?
Physically, she felt no desire to be pinned down and moaned over right then. But he seemed so worked up—would rejecting him now be too harsh? Would it hurt his pride?
Just as she hesitated, her phone suddenly rang. She felt like she’d been rescued from her indecision.
At first, Hu Zining didn’t want to let her go, but her phone kept ringing relentlessly until he finally gave up in frustration.
Grudgingly, he pulled back and let her answer.
Qian Fei checked the caller ID—it was Gui Lili. She wondered what drama the princess had in store for her this time.
For a fleeting moment, she thought it might have been better to just let Hu Zining have his way.The moment the call connected, she heard Gui Lili's delicate and pitiful voice asking, "Qian Fei, when are you coming home? The power suddenly went out, and I'm a little scared! Yifei had something to attend to and won't be back until later. Could you come home first to keep me company?"
Qian Fei pinched her forehead, torn inside.
Should she choose to be pressured by Hu Zining or go home to face this high-maintenance goddess?
After some thought, she decided that giving in tonight would seem too fast—it would make her body seem too easily obtained. So she told Gui Lili, "Wait for me half an hour. I'm coming home now!"
As she hung up, she saw Hu Zining's displeased expression.
She forced a dry laugh and explained, "That girl is just timid!"
Hu Zining looked annoyed and said, "But Feifei, you're her landlord, not her mom! Do you know that for tonight, my classmate deliberately went to stay at a friend's place?"
Qian Fei's heart skipped a beat.
No wonder he had reassured her earlier that they wouldn’t run into his classmate—he had planned all along to bring her home tonight to watch a "get-rich" movie and then sleep with her.
Qian Fei couldn’t quite muster a smile anymore. Smoothing her slightly messy hair, she bid Hu Zining farewell: "This... isn’t something that has to happen right away. I should go home first."
Hu Zining seemed a little upset and didn’t offer to see her home. She comforted herself—even if he had, she would’ve declined anyway. The outcome was the same either way.
She walked to the subway station alone.
Once on the train, she couldn’t help but send Hu Zining a WeChat message:
"Sorry, Zining!"
Almost twenty minutes later, he replied: "It’s fine. What can I say—you’re just too kind!"
She used to love hearing him praise her kindness, but tonight, for some reason, she couldn’t shake the suspicion that he was mocking her.
Author's Note: Some readers have asked whether Feifei would feel uncomfortable later when she gets together with Li Yifei, knowing he was once with Gui Lili in that room. Well, what about Li Yifei thinking about Qian Fei’s seven years with Wang Ruohai? Overthinking can be terrifying—many details are just too real. It’s better not to dwell on them, or you might get hurt.
Let me tell you a true story about a colleague of mine. Her ex-husband was a scumbag—the typical cheating type. They divorced. In Beijing, she had a female friend, A, who was living with a guy, B. Both A and B were great people, but their personalities didn’t mesh, so they broke up amicably and remained friends. Later, A married someone else and is very happy. Then A thought my colleague was also a great person and decided to set her up with her ex-boyfriend B. Now, my colleague and B are married and deeply in love. I’m friends with both of them on WeChat, and whenever I see them posting pictures of their adorable little daughter, my heart melts.
That’s just how reality is. Stories where a virgin meets another virgin, falls in love, gets married, and stays together for life—do such fairy tales still exist in Beijing? Probably very, very few. This city is too pragmatic—if you’re not, you won’t survive.
Why did the topic suddenly get so heavy...
Also, Ninth Brother and Professor are both looking at you with teary eyes—leave comments and toss some flowers!!!!!!!
(Huh? Who said Professor looks like Xiao Shenyang? (╰_╯)#)
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