In late September, the hotel celebrated its anniversary, and the executives sent out invitations to the teams from two securities firms to join the festivities.
The celebration was divided into two parts: first a dinner, then a nightclub outing. The first part was limited to the project team members, while the second was more casual—each team member could bring up to three friends to join the fun.
Yao Jingjing wasn’t there, so Qian Fei brought Xiao Yuan and her two girlfriends along to the nightclub.
Li Yifei also attended. Zhao De, however, had drunk too much during dinner and felt too weak to continue, so he went home to rest.
At the nightclub, Li Yifei was quite popular. Many heavily made-up women, young and old, approached him with drinks in hand, trying to flirt.
He sat on the sofa, unfazed by the swarm of moving rouge pots and perfume bottles vying for his attention.
Crossing his legs and holding a glass, he had a pair of tanned beauties in hot pants seated on either side of him.
When they tried to strike up a conversation, he neither responded nor moved away. Instead, he sipped his drink, his narrowed gaze fixed on Qian Fei in the distance.
He thought irritably, Why did she take off her jacket?
Then he counted—she had glanced at him exactly three times. All three times, it was because the three women beside her had forcibly turned her shoulders toward him while whispering something.
His silent, indifferent demeanor eventually bored the two beauties beside him. With a huff, they both got up and left.
He set down his glass and stood up as well.
●︶3︶●
At the nightclub, Xiao Yuan asked Qian Fei, "Why are you dressed like a proper housewife in a place like this? That strapless mini dress underneath is so much hotter! And you’re covering it with a jacket—it’s so mismatched! Take it off already!" As she spoke, she yanked off Qian Fei’s jacket, leaving her shoulders bare.
Qian Fei protested helplessly, "What are you doing, forcing me into debauchery?"
Ignoring her, Xiao Yuan grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. "Feifei, I think that handsome sponsor rep is looking at you."
Qian Fei glanced over and saw Li Yifei—that pretty boy—sandwiched between two tanned women in hot pants, looking like an Oreo cookie.
She turned back and said, "You’re mistaken. He’s got two girls next to him—why would he be looking at me?"
Xiao Yuan’s friend No. 1 grabbed her shoulders and turned her toward Li Yifei again. "No, seriously, Qian Fei, he is looking at you. Trust me, my eyesight’s amazing lately—20/20 vision! The farther something is, the clearer I see it!"
Quan Fei turned back with a pitying look. "You poor thing, you’re already getting presbyopia!"
No sooner had she spoken than friend No. 2 grabbed her shoulders and spun her toward Li Yifei again.
Qian Fei snapped, "What now?"
Friend No. 2 said, "I feel bad for that hottie over there! He’s been staring for so long and only gets to see your back. I’m helping him out—let him see your face for once!"
Qian Fei was starting to regret bringing these two ridiculous women along.
At one point, two guys came over to hit on Qian Fei, but she politely shut them down.
Xiao Yuan grumbled beside her, "I’m never going out with you again. When did you become such a man-magnet? All the guys come to you and ignore me!"
Qian Fei ignored her and sipped her drink.
Suddenly, Xiao Yuan jabbed her hard. Qian Fei asked impatiently, "Now what?"Xiao Yuan pointed behind her and said, "The handsome insurance agent is coming over!"
She turned around and was met with Li Yifei's face, so strikingly handsome under the flickering lights it almost seemed devilish.
●︶3︶●
Li Yifei leaned in close to Qian Fei and said succinctly, "Manager Qian, can we talk over there for a moment?"
Qian Fei shrugged and followed him to a corner.
"Go ahead, first sentence," she leaned against the wall casually and asked.
Li Yifei looked down at her and said, "Did you see me sitting over there?"
Qian Fei nodded, "Second sentence?"
Li Yifei stared unblinkingly into her eyes and said, "Then can't you at least show a little jealousy over me?"
Qian Fei shrugged again, "I haven't been in the mood for anything sour lately."
With that, she turned to leave, but Li Yifei grabbed her shoulder and pinned her back against the wall.
"But I was jealous over you!" he said before suddenly lowering his head and pressing his lips forcefully against hers.
Qian Fei's eyes widened in shock for several seconds, her lips already wet from his tongue before she realized what was happening.
She began pushing against him with all her might, but he held her firmly in place, unmovable no matter how hard she struggled.
In her panic, her hands flailed wildly, and her right palm unexpectedly landed a crisp "smack" across his cheek.
Finally, he released her.
●︶3︶●
Qian Fei stared blankly at Li Yifei's face, now bearing the mark of her accidental slap.
Though she despised his sudden act of hooliganism, she genuinely hadn't meant to hit him... It was just an unfortunate flailing motion that happened to land on his fair face.
They stood there, staring at each other in wide-eyed silence.
She wasn't sure whether to scold him first for his behavior or apologize for the unintended slap.
While she hesitated, Li Yifei spoke first.
"Two sentences," he began, once again with that phrase.
"This slap felt pretty good," he said hoarsely, touching his cheek—his first sentence.
"The second one's a bit long," he looked down at her, his expression turning serious. "My mom passed away early, and my dad, pitying me for not having a mother, spoiled me rotten since childhood, leaving me with a terrible temper. I never thought it was a problem before, but seeing how it's kept you ignoring me for so long made me realize it is. But I don't know how to fix it myself, so will you help me? I never really knew how to be in a relationship properly—always just putting on airs, which ended up upsetting you. Give me another chance to learn how to be genuine in a relationship, will you?"
He held his breath, watching Qian Fei intently as he waited for her answer.
Qian Fei tilted her head up, staring at him unblinkingly for a long while—so long that he began to feel uneasy—before finally speaking softly.
"That second sentence really was a bit long."
The breath Li Yifei had been holding rushed up to his throat.
He truly felt he was at the mercy of this enemy.
Clearing his throat, he pressed on stubbornly, "Will you?"
Qian Fei looked at him and said, "I need a few days to think about it."
●︶3︶●
Li Yifei had never been this obedient before.
Since Qian Fei asked for time to consider, he waited quietly without complaints or pestering. When the waiting became unbearable, he’d go bother the edgy young man at Dajun's place to vent his restlessness.The troops were utterly exasperated by his antics and finally snapped, "Bro, can you act like a man for once? What’s with this pathetic waiting-to-get-picked act?"
Li Yifei ignored him and, when he wasn’t looking, gifted away his newly acquired top-tier gear—this time to a female character with the charmingly self-deprecating name "Half-the-Night-Thinking-of-a-Name."
As "Half-the-Night-Thinking-of-a-Name" thanked him, the troops howled and lunged at the computer, shoving Li Yifei aside. With trembling fingers, he typed into the chatbox, "Beauty, please give my gear back! Someone hacked my account just now! I never meant to give it to you!"
Without hesitation, "Half-the-Night-Thinking-of-a-Name" instantly went offline.
The troops sobbed and threatened to call Qian Fei, begging her to stop overthinking things—if she kept hesitating, he wouldn’t survive much longer.
●︶3︶●
Two more days passed. Just as Li Yifei was growing restless, he unexpectedly received a call from Yao Jingjing.
Her voice was strained. "Listen, Young Master Li, why are you silent when you shouldn’t be? Where’s that shameless persistence of yours when it actually matters? Go help Feifei already!"
Li Yifei hurriedly asked what was wrong with Qian Fei.
Yao Jingjing said, "Her dad’s sick. He’s coming to Beijing for treatment, and she’s selling her apartment!"
Li Yifei froze, gripping the phone like a wooden statue.
●︶3︶●
When Li Yifei arrived at Qian Fei’s place, she was refunding rent to the legendary "squatter sister" who was always away on business.
Red-eyed and exhausted, Qian Fei apologized profusely. The sister waved it off and breezily dragged two large suitcases toward the elevator.
The first thing Qian Fei said to Li Yifei wasn’t "What are you doing here?" but, "How ungentlemanly of you. She’s dragging two suitcases alone, and you didn’t even offer to help."
Seeing she still had the energy to tease him, Li Yifei relaxed slightly.
"From now on, my chivalry is reserved for you alone."
He followed her inside.
"Are you really selling your apartment?" he asked.
Qian Fei nodded. "Yes. My dad’s sick—liver problems from drinking."
"Doesn’t he have medical insurance?"
"Their company’s been struggling. They stopped paying into it ages ago. The old man never mentioned it to me."
"Where is he now?"
"Still at home, waiting for a bed at * Hospital."
"Has the apartment sold yet?"
She shook her head. "Not yet. It’s listed with an agency."
Hesitantly, he asked, "What if I said I’d find a way to lend you the money so you don’t have to sell?"
She shook her head again. "His kidneys are also acting up. Who knows how much treating both will cost? Relying on borrowed money isn’t sustainable."
Finally, he asked, "Why didn’t you tell me about something this big?"
She met his gaze. "So you’d think I only came to you because of an emergency?"
His heart clenched.
Meaning if she sought him out, she didn’t want it to be because of a crisis—but for something else. He silently interpreted it that way.
That loaded "something else" sent ripples through his heart.He suddenly got very excited and pulled Qian Fei aside, saying, "I remember Da Jun has a friend who's been wanting to buy a place in this area. Wait here, I'll get in touch with him for you!"
●︶3︶●
In the end, Qian Fei's apartment was sold to Da Jun's friend at a decent price.
On the day of the sale, Qian Fei's eyes welled up with tears.
She asked Da Jun's friend if she could delay moving out for a few days, as the old man needed to go to Beijing for medical treatment soon, and she hadn't had time to look for another place yet.
Da Jun's friend pointed at Li Yifei and said to her, "You'll have to ask him about that—I've already leased the entire place to him!"
Qian Fei was stunned and turned to look at Li Yifei.
Li Yifei smirked at her, narrowing his eyes. "The tables have turned—now I'm the landlord!"
Author's Note:
Now it's Li Yifei's turn to be the second landlord...
The old man's illness was actually hinted at earlier—he was mentioned to enjoy drinking a little, and during the New Year, he had a hospital scare when the ER doctor irresponsibly dismissed it as indigestion from overeating. It got delayed.
Also, did you all notice? Da Jun's nemesis is that "Spend Half the Night Thinking Up a Lousy Name" guy...
A few words:
The day before yesterday, someone said my narrative perspective was too one-dimensional, so yesterday I tried to improve it. Then someone else said the descriptions felt repetitive and padded. I cried and said I was almost losing my mind... So I’ve decided to stick to my own style from now on and not be overly influenced by comments (though I’ll still take reasonable suggestions into account).
Quietly sitting in the last spot of the seventh row is... The voting rules are: Voting is open until April 30, 2014. No login required, and each IP can vote once per day. If it’s not too much trouble, please click and vote. Bowing in gratitude to everyone!!!
Yesterday, I was feeling down about some things, and then so many lovely readers sent gifts—thunder, bombs, cannons—I was so touched I almost cried. Thank you, thank you all. I’ll try to keep my emotions in check and focus on writing properly!
←Lunatic No. 622 here. My dear friend Guan Jiu’s new story has already hit 30k words—go check it out! (Remember what number lunatic I am?~~)
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