The next day at work, Li Yifei arrived very late. His face looked terrible, and he was so gloomy that the air around him for three feet seemed ready to frost over.
Qian Fei couldn’t help but approach him and quietly offered some words of comfort.
“Didn’t sleep well last night, did you? You’re quite worried, aren’t you? Sigh, a girl staying out overnight, it’s so unsafe! You’re a man, after all, so be a bit more understanding. Give her some leeway, otherwise, you’ll just make yourself miserable too!”
She meant well, but her words only earned her a look of disgust and impatience from Li Yifei. “Qian Fei, can we maintain some distance? Apart from being landlord and tenant and colleagues, we’re not that close, are we? Can you please mind your own business?” He looked at Qian Fei as if he could no longer tolerate something, and said sarcastically, “Do you think your boyfriend is any better? Why do you have such a sense of superiority to meddle in others’ affairs!”
His words infuriated Qian Fei. If there weren’t so many people around, she would have slapped Li Yifei’s foul mouth, slapping him until his face turned as red as a lotus flower in the sun, to teach him the consequences of having a loose tongue.
Zhao De, noticing the tense atmosphere between them, came over and tentatively asked, “Oh? What’s going on here? Yifei, you’re not bullying our Feifei, are you? Feifei, what’s wrong? Why do you look so upset?”
Qian Fei gritted her teeth and forced a smile at Zhao De: “It’s nothing, just Lu Dongbin’s thigh itching for a dog bite!”
She didn’t wait for Zhao De’s bewildered expression to clear and walked back to her seat.
After lunch, the three of them, breaking their usual routine, didn’t set up their game of Landlords.
As soon as Li Yifei finished eating, he sat at his computer with headphones on, playing Counter-Strike, killing people with guns and knives as if venting his frustrations.
Zhao De approached Qian Fei and asked, “So who exactly offended whom between you two?”
Qian Fei snorted, “What do you think? I’m such a model citizen, do I look like someone who would cause trouble?” She glanced at Li Yifei and then pouted at Zhao De, “Don’t you think this young master’s temper is too much? I’m a woman and I’ve already gotten over it, yet he’s still sulking. What gives him the right?”
Zhao De chimed in, “Exactly! What gives him the right? He’s even living in your house!”
Hearing this, Qian Fei suddenly had an epiphany. She immediately perked up, slapping the table and stomping her feet, “That’s right! How did I not think of that? Li Yifei is living in my house, what right does he have to sulk at me? I’ll kick him out if he doesn’t believe me!”
Zhao De also slapped the table, enthusiastically agreeing, “That’s right, that’s right!”
As the two of them were getting worked up, Li Yifei took off his headphones.
Amid her passionate rant, Qian Fei felt Li Yifei seemed to be looking at her.
She turned her head slightly, and indeed, Li Yifei was watching her. His expression was as serious as if he were attending a funeral.
Qian Fei turned to face him directly, “What are you looking at? Never seen a landlord assert their authority before?”
Li Yifei continued to look at her with a stern face, almost making Qian Fei uneasy. After a while, he finally spoke: “Qian Fei, what I said this morning wasn’t entirely out of anger. I hope you can think about it carefully.” He put his headphones back on after speaking.
Qian Fei was left standing there, bewildered by his words.
What did he say this morning? It seemed to be—
—Do you think your boyfriend is any better? Why do you have such a sense of superiority to meddle in others’ affairs?
But what did this have to do with Hu Zining? He didn’t even know him.
Qian Fei turned to ask Zhao De, “What does he mean?”
Zhao De shook his head blankly, “I don’t know, maybe he has a crush on you!”
Qian Fei almost choked on her lunch and nearly sprayed it on Zhao De’s face.
Qian Fei was the type of person who, from childhood, could only remember when others were kind to her. With a grateful heart, she would remember such kindness for a lifetime if she could. But if someone spoke harshly to her or gave her the cold shoulder, even if she was furious at the time and swore to end the friendship, she would forget about it in two days. Especially if they gave her something good to eat or treated her to a meal, she could act as if she had amnesia, completely forgetting any previous unpleasantness. Yao Jingjing had once tearfully commented on her personality trait: she remembers the food but forgets the beating.
So two days later at work, when Li Yifei threw a bag of dried mangoes at Qian Fei with an expressionless face, Qian Fei instantly forgot everything, completely erasing all the previous unpleasantness between them.
As Qian Fei chewed on the dried mangoes, she felt like embracing the world with the most tolerant heart and the most philanthropic bosom to save all darkness and evil in the world.
While eating, she mumbled to Li Yifei, “Where did you get these dried mangoes?”
Li Yifei, without lifting his head or opening his eyes, his face so expressionless it looked like a failed plastic surgery, said, “Found them.”
Qian Fei stood there with her mouth open, unsure whether to swallow the half-chewed mango in her mouth or spit it on Li Yifei’s face.
Li Yifei looked up at her, seemingly amused by her dumbfounded expression. He suddenly broke his days-long expressionless state, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards, “It won’t poison you, what are you afraid of!” After a pause, he finally showed some kindness and told Qian Fei the truth, “Brought them back from the bar.”
Qian Fei felt relieved. Then she remembered that he had come home very late last night, so he must have gone to the bar to drown his sorrows.
With food in hand, she couldn’t resist letting her saintly light shine. She felt that although this kid Li Yifei was putting on a brave face at work, he must be suffering so much inside!
When Li Yifei looked up again, he saw Qian Fei gazing at him with eyes full of sympathy and affection. His hand trembled, dropping the mouse, and he said to Qian Fei, “Damn! What kind of look is that? Isn’t it disgusting? Forget it, just give me back the dried mangoes!”
Qian Fei turned away, stuffing the dried mangoes into her pocket, and started working, “You gave them to me and now you want them back? Have you no shame!”
Just like that, the two of them reconciled.
At noon, while playing Landlords, Li Yifei said while playing cards, “I didn’t expect you to be so forgiving.”
Qian Fei, looking at the few good cards left in her hand, couldn’t help but feel elated: “What’s a grudge? I only remember food and money! Haha, Li Yifei, watch me make you cry for your mommy this round!”
Zhao De nudged her from the side, with a sympathetic look, “Feifei! While you were bragging, Li Yifei had already played all his cards!” He sighed dramatically, “With your intelligence, you can only find joy in eating some food and losing some money!”
Qian Fei was stunned. She looked at Li Yifei and shouted, “Shameless! You deliberately distracted me by talking, how can you use such tactics!”
Li Yifei didn’t even look at her, “I’m teaching you a life philosophy. Getting up early doesn’t necessarily mean good health, and having two big jokers doesn’t guarantee you won’t lose, understand?”
Just as Qian Fei was about to criticize his shameless sophistry, Li Yifei’s phone rang.
She saw Li Yifei’s expression change instantly. She guessed the call must be from Gui Lili.
Li Yifei walked out to take the call.
Zhao De said he was going to the bathroom.
She sat in her seat, shuffling the cards over and over out of boredom.
After a while, Zhao De came back first, with an excited look on his face. He told Qian Fei, “Oh my, Feifei! I heard Yifei arguing with his girlfriend in the bathroom! He told his girlfriend, ‘If you want to come back, come back. You ran out on your own, do you expect me to beg you to come back on my knees? Gui Lili, are you brain-dead? Are you trying to provoke me with your boss? Is he waiting for you? You’re telling me not to regret it? Then go with him! Let me tell you, Gui Lili, don’t try to provoke me with this. If you think someone else is better, go to them. I don’t care about stopping you!'”