When Yao Jingjing called her, she asked, “Who inspired you to study so hard? Didn’t we burn our books and swear on graduation day that we’d never study again, and whoever studied hard in the future would be a loser?”
Qian Fei replied, “The problem is, when you see a living, breathing picky guy who only cares about his looks and showing off, never doing any real work, wishing he could go through life without lifting a finger, utterly useless but extremely skilled at arguing with his girlfriend, you’ve never taken him seriously. You’ve looked down on him, thinking he’s just a pretty face. But suddenly one day, you discover he’s not just a pretty face, he’s a freaking genie in a bottle! The kind that pops out and scares you while showing off his skills!”
Yao Jingjing smacked her lips and said, “I see, you’ve been motivated by that arrogant tenant of yours! It’s impressive. Back then, even when Wang Ruohai used every harsh word to push you to study, he couldn’t get you to move an inch from your bed. How come this arrogant little tenant gives you such motivation now?”
Qian Fei said righteously, “That’s because Wang Ruohai was one of our own back then. You don’t need to save face in front of your people. He could say whatever he wanted. If he called me lazy, I’d agree. If he said I had no shame, I’d accept it. But Li Yifei is an outsider. In front of outsiders, we good Chinese children need to stand up for ourselves!” She paused, then angrily rebuked Yao Jingjing, “Hey, didn’t we agree not to mention Wang Ruohai anymore?”
Yao Jingjing surrendered, “Okay, okay! We won’t mention him anymore, alright? But seriously, why are you acting like you have a mental disorder, going from normal to outburst in an instant? Fine, if we’re not talking about Wang Ruohai, let’s talk about Hu Zining. How are things going with him lately? Has he tried to sleep with you again?”
Qian Fei chuckled and said in an affected voice, “How could I just sleep with him? I’m saving my best self for my husband on our wedding night!”
Yao Jingjing made retching sounds, “Can you be any more shameless? You’re talking as if you’re still some fresh, innocent maiden!”
After chatting a bit more, Qian Fei hung up and began studying for her CPA exam, tuning out the bickering from next door.
The next evening after work, Hu Zining invited her to dinner and a movie. The film was an artsy blockbuster bordering on soft porn. The lead actors groped and kissed passionately on the big screen, with occasional sounds of clothes being ripped off. The movie seemed to arouse Hu Zining; as they left the cinema, he pulled Qian Fei to a corner, wanting to get passionate with her. Qian Fei thought about how she hadn’t let him past her teeth in previous encounters and decided it wouldn’t be right to keep acting like a chaste maiden this time. So she slightly relaxed her jaw.
Hu Zining took the opportunity to dive in, his tongue aggressively exploring her mouth.
Feeling a bit breathless from his kiss, she turned her head away.
Hu Zining, slightly panting, murmured, “What’s wrong, Feifei, hm?”
Qian Fei, also breathless, shook her head, “Just catching my breath!”
Hu Zining took her hand and guided it toward his lower body, “Feifei, look how crazy you’re driving me!”
Qian Fei’s hand touched something rod-like. She quickly withdrew her hand as if burned.
“Don’t do that, someone might see!” she said, blushing furiously.
Hu Zining grinned mischievously, “Don’t go home tonight. Come to my place, okay?” He breathed hotly into her ear.
Qian Fei felt like she might collapse. After just a few days, he was thinking about sleeping with her again. She never realized she was so sexually stimulating.
She used the most common excuse women use to refuse sex, whimpering to Hu Zining, “I’m on my period!”
Hu Zining looked at her, his handsome face alternating between white and red as if he was holding something back. Finally, he took a deep breath, allowing his face to gradually return to its normal color. “Alright, then let me take you home!”
Qian Fei checked her watch. It was 9 o’clock, still early, so she said to Hu Zining, “You can just drop me off at the subway station!”
Hu Zining held her hand as they walked towards the station.
As they neared the station, he suddenly said, “Feifei, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
Qian Fei stopped and asked, “What is it?”
Hu Zining said, “It’s like this. There’s an opportunity now. A close friend of mine is planning to open a trading company and has agreed to let me invest. The registered capital needs to be 500,000 yuan. He’s putting in 350,000, and I need to contribute 150,000. But I only have 50,000 on hand right now. Feifei, do you think you could lend me 100,000? Trust me, this is a sure profit deal. My friend said we could earn back the initial investment in just three months!”
Qian Fei looked troubled, “Zining, I’m not lying to you. I only have 2,000 yuan on hand right now!”
Hu Zining looked at her, his eyes showing confusion, “Don’t you get good bonuses working on projects at an investment bank? Feifei, you have to trust me. I’m not an outsider. When we get married in the future, won’t all the money I earn be under your management anyway? As a couple, we shouldn’t keep secrets from each other!”
Qian Fei felt uncomfortable under his sincere and expectant gaze. “Zining, I am not lying to you! I used all my money to buy a house! I’m sorry, Zining, I can’t help you!”
Hu Zining looked at her for a while longer, then forced a smile, “It’s okay!” He then saw her off at the subway station.
That night, Qian Fei couldn’t sleep due to her troubled mind, so she decided to call Yao Jingjing and disturb her instead.
Yao Jingjing cursed her for calling so late at night but asked, “What’s the matter?”
Qian Fei recounted the evening’s events in a monotonous way, making Yao Jingjing suffer through the story.
“I was already sleepy, and you’re telling the story like you’re chanting a sutra! Couldn’t you make it a bit more exciting? Are you doing this on purpose?” Yao Jingjing complained.
Qian Fei chuckled, “I was afraid of getting you all worked up and unable to sleep. You should appreciate my good intentions!”
Yao Jingjing responded emotionally, “Bullshit!”
Qian Fei said, “We’ll discuss the bullshit later. Listen, vixen, let me ask you something. He finally gathered the courage to ask to borrow money, but he happened to run into a poor soul like me. Why do I feel like I’ve let someone down?”
Yao Jingjing yawned and said with a thick tongue, “You are a little bitch! Let me tell you, borrowing money while dating is not a good thing. You’d better be careful!”
She then hung up, complaining about being tired.
Qian Fei stared at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep for a long time.
For the next few days, Hu Zining didn’t come to see her.
Qian Fei wondered if he was angry, thinking she had money but didn’t want to lend it to him. She sent Hu Zining a WeChat message, asking, “Zining, shall we go hiking this weekend?”
After about ten minutes, Hu Zining replied, “I don’t have time this weekend. I need to raise money.”
Qian Fei suddenly felt as if she’d been slapped in the face, leaving her feeling awkward and uncomfortable.
As the on-site work at the hotel gradually got into full swing, the two securities firms worked closely together, and the staff quickly bonded.
Besides Li Yifei, there was another person in his company named Zhao De, also in his twenties. The others were slightly older. As a result, Qian Fei, Li Yifei, and Zhao De became closer.
As they spent time together, Qian Fei discovered that all three of them tended to be sarcastic and sharp-tongued. In this aspect, they were quite like-minded and compatible.
Every day after lunch, the older colleagues would complain about their age and need to take a nap. The hotel staff was responsible for coordinating with them on work matters and the representative from the hotel’s securities department had specially prepared rooms for their afternoon rest.
Qian Fei felt that lying down with a full stomach right after eating might risk throwing up and wasting the meal, so she chose not to nap. Li Yifei and Zhao De were energetic and didn’t like to sleep, so the three of them opted out of the older colleagues’ health-conscious nap routine.
The three of them bought a deck of cards to play “Fight the Landlord” (a popular Chinese card game). Qian Fei said they could just play online in a virtual room, with no need to buy physical cards. Zhao De joked that it wouldn’t look good for three people to get a room in broad daylight. Li Yifei said that way lacked the rhythm of playing cards. Qian Fei had no choice but to compromise.
At first, they kept scoring without involving money, which made Qian Fei play without much enthusiasm. Li Yifei and Zhao De always won and found it boring. To stimulate Qian Fei’s competitive spirit, they suggested changing from a point system to playing for money.
Qian Fei piously raised both hands in protest. Zhao De also piously told her, “Qian Fei, put your hands down. Surrendering is useless. In the struggle between peasants and landlords, surrender and captivity won’t earn you any sympathy. The only thing we need to do is maintain our unwavering faith in Chairman Mao!” As he spoke, he righteously took out a pink banknote and placed it on the table, “See, just like this!”
Qian Fei objected, “I just want to keep my faith in Chairman Mao in my wallet!”
Zhao De said, “Okay, let’s not say I’m bullying you. We’ll take a vote, two out of three. Ask Yifei. If he also says we shouldn’t play for money, then we’ll continue with the point system!”
Qian Fei turned to look at Li Yifei, her eyes sparkling with hopeful innocence.
Li Yifei glanced at her without saying a word, then directly took out his wallet and placed a Mao-faced banknote on the table.
Qian Fei stood up abruptly, covering her mouth with her hand and faking a yawn, “To better contribute to the construction of our motherland this afternoon, I’ve decided to start practicing napping from today!”
Zhao De grabbed her and pulled her back to her seat, “No way! We two gentlemen have already put our money on the table. If you go practice napping now, I won’t let you off the hook!”
Qian Fei glared at him, “So you’re using force now?”
Zhao De looked at her, raising his eyebrows and chuckling, “Yes! I’m using force! Even if you scream your head off, no one will come to save you!”
Qian Fei: “Help! Help!”
Zhao De: “… Qian Fei, can you be serious? That joke is so old, I feel like I’m wasting my life even despising you for it! And I’m trying to act villainous here, can you cooperate a bit?”
Qian Fei whimpered and played along, “Alright, brave sir, are you here to rob me of my money or my virtue?”
Li Yifei, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up, “Qian Fei,” Qian Fei turned to look at him. Li Yifei looked her up and down and said, “You’re quite safe. We don’t have anything worth robbing from you!”
Qian Fei looked indignant.
She took a deep breath, pulled out a handful of money from her pocket, and slammed it on the table with a loud “bang.” With great bravado, she said, “Don’t look down on me! Your ladyship may not have the looks for you to rob, but don’t I have money?”
Zhao De choked on his breath, unable to contain his laughter.