Qian Fei felt that allowing Li Yifei to stay a while longer might not be so bad. At least she would have someone to keep her company, even if he was quite a piece of work—lazy, greedy, gluttonous, with a sharp tongue to boot. Still, during those long, agonizing nights before her period arrived, she’d have someone to pick fights with, which was better than enduring the discomfort alone.
After her second failed relationship, Qian Fei had lost all enthusiasm for dating. However, her family was pressuring her urgently, barely giving her time to heal. Her father even told her over the phone, “Once you find the next one, you’ll naturally get over the last one. What’s there to heal from? By the time you’re ‘healed,’ even cacti will have bloomed! Finding a partner and getting married should be your priority!”
Qian Fei agreed halfheartedly, not taking it to heart.
One day, Xiao Yuan informed her that an old colleague who had changed jobs was getting married on Saturday and asked if she wanted to attend. She used to work with this colleague in the backend service department and they had a good relationship. After some consideration, Qian Fei decided to go and give a wedding gift.
On Saturday, she attended the wedding with Xiao Yuan. During the ceremony, the officiant asked her old colleague why she decided to marry the groom.
This colleague, like Qian Fei, had previously experienced a seven-year, earth-shattering romance that ended with the man cheating. Afterward, the colleague declared that she no longer believed in love and was determined never to marry.
Qian Fei heard the bride say on stage, “I had long since stopped believing in love. But once when I was sick with a fever of 39 degrees, I posted about it on social media. Many people replied, telling me to drink more water and take medicine. There was a flood of concern. But in the end, only he showed up at my home with a big bag of medicine. When I asked him why, he said there was no reason—he just wanted me to get better quickly. From that moment on, I believed in love again, and it was then that I decided to marry him!”
Somehow, these words struck a chord with Qian Fei. She was moved to tears.
Amazingly, she caught the bride’s bouquet later. When the bride came to toast her, she held Qian Fei’s hand and said, “Qian Fei, I heard about your situation from Xiao Yuan! I just want to tell you, don’t lose heart. Don’t give up on love because of one or two scumbags! You’re a girl who never hesitates to give. You’re so wonderful, heaven will surely treat you well and give you a great partner! I’m waiting to drink at your wedding!”
Normally, hearing such a sappy, romantic novel-esque speech about the future would have made her cringe, but that day it brought tears to her eyes.
She realized that she had always been giving, being good to someone, heads down, without considering herself or expecting equal treatment in return.
But she discovered that she did long for reciprocation. She too hoped that someone would bring her medicine when she was sick, keep her company, and cook her a bowl of porridge.
Upon returning from the wedding, she immediately registered an account on Baihe, a dating website.
When Li Yifei saw her browsing Baihe, he asked in surprise, “How did you get so desperate?”
Trying hard to resist rolling her eyes at him, she attempted to create a solemn atmosphere and told him, “I’m not desperate. I’m seriously looking for a life partner! I want someone who will bring me medicine when I’m sick. It’s that simple!”
Li Yifei looked at her for a few seconds, then sneered, “Why are you on Baihe then? You should just dial 120 directly!”
Qian Fei finally couldn’t hold back, giving him a fierce glare and throwing a slipper at him.
She would never try to confide in this good-for-nothing bear again.
The next day, Qian Fei was curled up at home, surfing the internet.
Her bedroom door was open.
Li Yifei, lounging on the sofa, called out that he wanted stir-fried eggplant strips for dinner again. Qian Fei ignored him.
Displeased, Li Yifei got up from the sofa and marched straight to Qian Fei.
“Damn! I thought you were doing something important, ignoring me like that. You’re still browsing Baihe!”
Qian Fei tried to shoo him away, “Can’t you have some awareness as a tenant? This is the landlord’s room. You can’t just barge in whenever you want!”
Li Yifei said, “Promise to make stir-fried eggplant strips for dinner, and I’ll leave immediately!”
Qian Fei felt a headache coming on. “Brother, were you too poor to afford eggplant as a child? You’ve been eating it for three days straight. Isn’t that enough?”
Li Yifei let out a cold laugh, “Young master here had full-course imperial feasts every meal when I was little. Haven’t you watched that TV series about Empress Dowager Cixi? She usually ate all sorts of delicacies, but one day she had a roasted sweet potato and found it so delicious she forgot where north was! It’s the same principle for me!”
Qian Fei nearly threw up.
“You’re shameless!”
After a pause, she said, “Answer one question for me. If you answer well, I’ll make you stir-fried eggplant strips again.”
Li Yifei curled his lip, “Ask away!”
Qian Fei thought for a moment and asked, “What kind of woman can keep a man?”
Li Yifei leaned against the doorframe, looking at her lazily. His gaze swept her from top to bottom, clicking his tongue, “Certainly not someone like you!”
Qian Fei resisted the urge to kick him to death and asked, “What’s wrong with me?”
Li Yifei ruffled his hair in a show of coolness and adopted a tone of profound wisdom, “You’re like a big man, careless and sloppy, cracking all sorts of jokes, not getting angry no matter what jokes others make about you. It’s nice in a way, men will be happy around you, but they won’t see you as a woman, you know? After a while, you’ll just be a buddy without the little brother!”
Qian Fei was stunned. With a defeated look, she asked, “Am I like that? Do I seem like a man? What should I do?”
Seeing her lightning-struck, deflated eggplant look, Li Yifei thought for a moment and said, “If you want to change, it’s not difficult. But first, you can’t be so stingy with yourself. Look at your clothes. Is there even one presentable piece? If you wear those clothes and someone puts a bowl in front of you, people will throw money at you! You need to know that life is like giving birth—only with effort and hard work can you have a painful yet happy outcome!”
At first, Qian Fei thought his words made sense, but upon closer inspection, she immediately realized the vulgar undertone.
She furrowed her brows, “Can’t you say that in a more dignified way? Like, ‘In life, you only reap what you sow!'”
Li Yifei raised an eyebrow, “Too pretentious. Doesn’t suit young master’s style!”
Qian Fei nearly fell to her knees.
There was no one more pretentious than him in this world…
She heard Li Yifei sigh beside her.
She asked him why he was sighing; Li Yifei sighed three times and said, “It’s nothing, just that when you furrowed your brows earlier, it was a bit scary. For others, it would be called ‘knitting one’s brows,’ but for you, it’s more like ‘two piles of weeds being unhappy.'”
Dejected, Qian Fei picked up a nearby mirror. “Alas, who told me I don’t know how to groom my eyebrows? My crazy best friend knows how, but she’s gone to Dalian!”
Li Yifei leaned his face close to hers, squinting as he looked at her, and said, “Make me stir-fried eggplant strips tonight, and I’ll help you with an ugly duckling transformation!”
Qian Fei, sporting two piles of unhappy weeds, asked, “Am I that ugly?”
Li Yifei looked at her, and hesitated for a moment, “You’ve achieved the first four characters of that sentence.”
The flame of wanting to kick him out reignited in Qian Fei’s heart.
For the sake of the evening’s stir-fried eggplant strips, Li Yifei imperiously began implementing his so-called “ugly duckling transformation” plan. He yanked Qian Fei away from the computer and dragged her out of the house and toward the shopping mall.
“If you want to live like a human, first you need to dress like one!” he lectured Qian Fei like an authority figure.
Qian Fei struggled on the way, “I’m poor, I can’t afford it. Let me go home! Isn’t making you stir-fried eggplant strips enough?”
Li Yifei refused to let her back down, pulling her wrist as he strode forward.
“Miss Penny-pincher, living so stingily, aren’t you disgracing your surname? Didn’t I promise to pay you more rent each month?”
Qian Fei still struggled desperately. Li Yifei’s grip on her wrist was so tight his palm was starting to ache. He said impatiently, “Alright, alright, I’ll compromise. I won’t force you to buy anything too expensive. I’ll just take you to Fuli Plaza to buy some low-end, cheap stuff. Is that okay?”
Qian Fei nearly stumbled and fell face-first.
His pretentious act was killing her again. Fuli Plaza, low-end? She usually didn’t even dare to window shop there!
Li Yifei forcibly dragged Qian Fei into the mall.
Walking into a store, he stood in the center with his hands in his pockets, looking nonchalant, and said to Qian Fei, “First, pick two items yourself. Whatever style you like, grab it! Don’t look at the price tags, just see if you like the style or not!”
Qian Fei chose two items according to her taste.
She held the clothes up against herself and asked Li Yifei, “How’s this?”
Li Yifei looked at her, his face showing such disgust that it would make anyone with thin skin want to disappear.
He walked over and put the two items Qian Fei had chosen back on the rack. “I just wanted to know how bad your taste is. Now I regret it. I shouldn’t have tested you because after seeing your outfit, I feel like my life should just end here!”
He pulled Qian Fei to another rack, picked out two items she would never even look at—clothes she would categorize as bizarre in style and monstrous in design—and a short skirt, and handed them to her. “Try these on!” Then he asked the sales assistant, “Do you have leggings here? If so, get her a pair!”
Qian Fei tried to stop him, whispering, “Hey! Why buy leggings here? They cost several hundred yuan! On Taobao, they’re only 28 yuan with free shipping!”
Li Yifei pushed her into the fitting room, “Stop talking nonsense, go in and try on the clothes!”
He waited outside.
After waiting for a long time, Qian Fei still hadn’t come out.
He grew impatient and went to knock on the fitting room door. “Sister, can you come out already?”
Qian Fei mumbled inside, “I feel like these clothes are very strange. Why don’t I just change back?”
Li Yifei let out a long sigh, “Sister Qian, can you come out and let me see how strange it is before we decide?”
The fitting room latch clicked, and Qian Fei walked out awkwardly.
She had never worn such a deep V-neck top before. She felt like her cleavage was about to show. She had also never worn such a short skirt. Even though she had leggings on, she still felt like people could see many things they shouldn’t.
She walked out shyly, head lowered, and asked, “It’s weird, right?”
There was no response.
She looked up.
Li Yifei was staring at her, stroking his chin.
On his face, she saw an expression resembling “approval.”
She was shocked.
“Li Yifei,” she called out, “Don’t you think this outfit is very strange?”
Li Yifei looked at her, raised an eyebrow, and answered off-topic: “I didn’t expect you to have a figure! Your waist is quite slim, your legs quite long, and you even have some chest, tsk tsk! A woman’s figure with a man’s soul, why hasn’t a Thai ladyboy show recruited you? If they did, they’d certainly make you a star!”
Qian Fei’s face turned red from his words—at first, it was a bit of shyness causing her to blush, but later it was purely out of anger.
“You haven’t even played Dongfang Bubai yet, how could I qualify to be a Thai ladyboy?” she said through gritted teeth.
Li Yifei fluttered his eyes flamboyantly, wagging his index finger at her, “No, no, no! Dressed like this, you shouldn’t speak in such a rough manner! Otherwise, people will think you’re a man in drag!” After saying this, he ignored Qian Fei’s two piles of unhappy weeds rising again, turned to pick out an overcoat nearby, and put it on her. “Come on, let’s go get a pair of high heels, and we’ll be all set!”