Qian Fei didn’t end up spending the last day of the year alone after all.
At eight in the morning, she was awakened by her phone ringing.
Cradling her throbbing, hungover head, she answered the call. Yao Jingjing’s voice came through, as solemn as if she were singing the national anthem: “Feifei, I’ll be at the Capital Airport in two hours. Come pick me up!”
Qian Fei’s heart skipped a beat, sobering her up considerably. “Alright! Send me the flight details, I’ll be there on time!”
After hanging up, she noticed her eyelid twitching.
She suspected something must have happened to Yao Jingjing in Dalian.
She got up to wash and was about to leave when Li Yifei emerged from his room with disheveled hair to use the bathroom.
After a moment’s thought, she stopped him. “Li Yifei, I probably won’t be able to make you stir-fried eggplant tonight. Why don’t you eat out with your girlfriend?”
Li Yifei looked at her, bewildered. “Huh?”
In a rush to leave, Qian Fei said, “What do you mean ‘huh’? I’m saying I’ll be spending the evening with someone else, so don’t come back especially to have dinner with me!”
She finished speaking and noticed Li Yifei staring at her intently. A few seconds later, he replied expressionlessly: “Understood.” Then he turned stiffly and went to the bathroom.
Qian Fei had no time to analyze the emotions behind those three words. She hurried out the door.
After Li Yifei came out of the bathroom, he was wide awake and couldn’t go back to sleep.
He texted Da Jun: I’ll take Jin Tian out during the day. In the evening, could you organize a KTV gathering for us to celebrate New Year’s Eve together?
A moment later, Da Jun replied: Li Yifei, you bastard! You called me drunk at 2 AM last night saying we weren’t meeting today, and now you’re telling me to organize a gathering for tonight! You jerk, do you think I won’t end our friendship?
Li Yifei responded: Don’t make a fuss. Your brother is in a bad mood.
Da Jun, ever the chatterbox, asked: What’s wrong? What happened? Did Jin Tian upset you? So you don’t want to spend the evening with her? But didn’t you just say you were taking her out during the day?
Feeling a wave of irritation, Li Yifei replied: Stop asking. Just organize the gathering!
How could he tell Da Jun that he was upset because the tomboy had ditched him? They’d tease him about it for a year.
When Qian Fei picked up Yao Jingjing at the airport, she was startled.
“What foundation did you use? Your face is way too pale!” Qian Fei peered closely at Yao Jingjing’s face, teasing her.
Yao Jingjing looked as if she had just done something monumental and was exhausted. “Stop it, I’m tired! Quickly take me to your place so I can sleep!”
Yao Jingjing had given up her rented apartment in the second month after going to Dalian. Now her only refuge was Qian Fei’s debt-ridden little place.
Qian Fei led her to get a taxi. Sitting in the car, she asked Yao Jingjing, “What’s wrong, Demon? Why are you so listless during the New Year?”
Yao Jingjing replied wearily, “I’ll tell you the details when we get home. Let me sleep for now. I barely slept last night, and on the plane, the kid next to me kept kicking me the whole way. I haven’t had a chance to close my eyes until now!”
Qian Fei guided Yao Jingjing’s head to her shoulder. “Poor thing, hurry and rest on your big sister!”
Yao Jingjing leaned on her shoulder, wrapping both arms around one of Qian Fei’s. “Feifei, it’s so good to have you!”
Qian Fei patted her shoulder with her free hand. Yao Jingjing quickly fell asleep. Looking at her pale face and the dark circles under her eyes, Qian Fei’s heart sank. She could no longer maintain the lighthearted teasing from earlier.
She felt certain that Yao Jingjing must have suffered some injustice in Dalian.
When Qian Fei brought Yao Jingjing home, Li Yifei had already left.
She made a pot of porridge for Yao Jingjing and blanched some broccoli. After eating, Yao Jingjing collapsed onto her bed and slept like the dead. When she finally woke up, it was already evening.
Qian Fei was preparing dinner when Yao Jingjing, after washing her face, came to help in the kitchen.
“I’m making a few special dishes tonight. We’ll celebrate New Year’s Eve together!” Qian Fei said excitedly.
While sorting vegetables, Yao Jingjing studied Qian Fei. “Feifei, are you dating someone new?”
Qian Fei shook her head while scrubbing a pot. “No, why do you ask?”
Yao Jingjing tilted her head, looking at her thoughtfully. “Impossible! You look better than before, and you’ve become more feminine!”
Qian Fei chuckled. “So you’re saying dating makes people look better? Then why did you say I looked more and more like a country bumpkin when I was with Wang Ruohai?”
Yao Jingjing examined her closely. “If it’s not dating, then someone must be pursuing you! Just like Auntie did back then!” She paused, then added, “Feifei, I’ve noticed you can now mention Wang Ruohai calmly and on your initiative!”
In the short months she’d been away, Qian Fei seemed to have undergone many changes, which surprised her.
Qian Fei lit the stove and poured oil into the wok. While waiting for the oil to heat up, she thought for a moment. “I guess you’re right. It seems I don’t get angry anymore when mentioning that bastard Wang Ruohai!”
Yao Jingjing smiled. “That’s great, you’ve finally let him go!”
Qian Fei tossed the fish into the wok to fry. Yao Jingjing, having finished sorting the vegetables, stood nearby with a plate, waiting to transfer the fried fish.
“Demon, why did you suddenly come back from Dalian?” Qian Fei tried to ask casually.
“Nothing much, just tired,” Yao Jingjing replied briefly.
Qian Fei sensed something was seriously wrong. She had never seen the talkative Yao Jingjing so tight-lipped, nor had she ever known Yao Jingjing to refrain from chatting and joking with her.
She stopped asking and focused on cooking.
She fried a fish, stewed potato and beef brisket, stir-fried shrimp with bamboo shoots, made a cucumber and jellyfish salad, and prepared an egg drop soup. After finishing the dishes, she sat Yao Jingjing down at the table. After a moment’s thought, she went to the kitchen and brought out some leftover beer she and Li Yifei had been drinking.
“I’ve been thinking, even though we’ve been close friends since school, we’ve never had the chance to celebrate New Year’s Eve together. Today, we must have a proper celebration!” Qian Fei opened a beer and handed it to Yao Jingjing.
Yao Jingjing took the beer and looked at it. “Imported? Feifei, who provoked you into improving your quality of life?”
Qian Fei laughed it off. “I didn’t buy these. That spendthrift did!” She pointed towards Li Yifei’s room.
Only then did Yao Jingjing remember Li Yifei. “Oh right, where is he? Will he mind me staying here?”
Qian Fei rolled her eyes. “He’s just a tenant. How dare he have an opinion! I’d kick him out!” She put a piece of fish on Yao Jingjing’s plate. “He’s probably out with his girlfriend. I doubt he’ll even come back tonight.”
Yao Jingjing asked, “Did he reconcile with his girlfriend?”
Qian Fei shook her head and sighed. “How long has it been since we’ve had a proper chat? You’re out of touch with what’s happening around me! What reconciliation? He’s found a new one!”
Yao Jingjing said “Oh,” then asked, “Does he still keep in touch with his ex-girlfriend?”
Qian Fei thought for a moment and said, “From what I can tell, it doesn’t seem so.”
Yao Jingjing lowered her eyes. “If he’s dating someone new while still entangled with the old one, his current girlfriend must be heartbroken!”
As Qian Fei listened, she gradually began to sense something.
“Demon,” she called softly to Yao Jingjing, “Did that rich guy get back together with his ex-girlfriend?”
As soon as she asked, she noticed two drops of water fall on the back of Yao Jingjing’s hand.
Qian Fei was stunned.
This fearless Yao Jingjing, who had never lost a fight standing up for her, was crying.
Qian Fei went to the kitchen and brought out all the remaining beer. She decided to get Yao Jingjing drunk to make her spill the truth.
But the great Yao Jingjing’s alcohol tolerance was truly impressive, befitting an outstanding representative of CBD white-collar elites. Her complexion hadn’t changed even after two cans.
Qian Fei had no choice but to keep her company, drinking several more cans with Yao Jingjing.
Later, when she saw Yao Jingjing starting to see double, the alcohol finally loosened her tongue.
Clinging to Qian Fei’s arm, she began to sob. “Feifei, I met him through a blind date, as you know. At first, I didn’t take it too seriously. I just thought he was quite rich, but I’ve met plenty of rich men before, so he wasn’t necessarily indispensable! But there was something about him like he was toying with me. I couldn’t stand that attitude, so I wanted to smooth out that edge and make him submissive. That’s why I went to Dalian with him!
“In Dalian, he never said whether we were together or not, but I’m not stupid. I understand men too well, okay? I knew he was stringing me along! I thought, let him string me along. One day, I’ll tame him and make him stick to me!
“He asked me what I saw in him, and I said I liked that he was rich. I said it on purpose. I couldn’t stand him always toying with me. If he could play with me, why couldn’t I play with him?
“We went back and forth like this, toying with each other. One day, a woman came looking for him, saying she was his ex-girlfriend. I tried to indirectly ask him if there was still a chance between him and his ex. If there was, I wouldn’t interfere. I’d go straight back to Beijing and do my own thing.
“He told me there wasn’t. But he also said that if I wanted to go back to Beijing, I could. I said, if you’re not planning to rekindle old flames, why should I go back? It’s much more fun to stay here and pester you. He just smiled.
“He rarely smiles, but when he smiled at me that day, I thought, oh no, I think I’m getting serious! Before, it was all just talk, but that smile made my heart skip a beat. I think I fell for him.
“After that, I started getting more and more upset every time I saw his ex-girlfriend. It made me feel sick to my stomach. She kept coming to find him, often right in front of me. On Christmas Day, he called and asked if I wanted to have dinner together. I said yes. But I ended up waiting at the restaurant for over two hours, and he didn’t show up. I called him, but he didn’t answer. When he finally came, I asked what happened, and he just said there had been a situation. That was it.
“Yesterday, I received a picture message from his ex-girlfriend. She sent me a photo of them having dinner together on Christmas Day. Do you understand, Feifei? He was late because he was having dinner with his ex-girlfriend!
“I felt terrible last night, couldn’t sleep at all. This morning, I suddenly had a moment of clarity. I decided this was it. I’m done with him!”
Yao Jingjing wiped her tears and said, “Your big sister isn’t playing his game anymore!”
Qian Fei stared at her, dumbfounded.
“Demon, can you show me that photo?”
Yao Jingjing handed her phone to Qian Fei.
Qian Fei noticed the blocked message icon on the 360 security app. She looked at Yao Jingjing and asked, “Did you block the rich guy? It looks like he’s been trying to text you! Do you want to check?”
Yao Jingjing said, “No need. I’ve decided I’m done playing. What’s the point of looking? I’ll get a new number tomorrow!”
Qian Fei knew her temperament. Once she made up her mind about something, no one could change it.
Qian Fei looked at the photo.
It was taken from a very strange angle, not a selfie, nor taken by a third person. She felt like she had seen this angle somewhere before. She thought carefully and finally remembered. Once, when visiting a client who had some legal trouble with the company, to ensure safety and have evidence, she had secretly propped her phone against a computer to record the conversation. Looking at the photo on Yao Jingjing’s phone again, she understood.
This must be a screenshot from a secretly recorded video.
The rich guy in the picture was quite handsome, with a slightly furrowed brow and a cold expression, his thin lips pressed together. His ex-girlfriend was also pretty, but Qian Fei couldn’t help but feel there was something affected about her demeanor.
She looked at the picture again and again, feeling more and more that she should secretly open the blocked messages to see what the rich guy had said.
She thought about it and did just that.
She saw a series of messages from the rich guy:
“Why aren’t you answering your phone?”
“Where did you go?”
“Why can’t I reach you?”
“Stop messing around, call me back!”
“Yao Jingjing, where are you?”
“Yao Jingjing, tell me where you are!”
“Yao Jingjing, are you trying to drive me crazy? Tell me where you are!”
Through the phone screen, Qian Fei felt she could see a man who was already furious with anxiety.
She had a vague feeling that perhaps the rich guy’s interest in Yao Jingjing wasn’t as simple as just stringing her along.