Qian Fei looked carefully and was certain she hadn’t seen wrong. The woman was indeed Gui Lili and the man she was arm-in-arm with appeared to be around forty, slightly chubby, with the air of a wealthy gentleman.
Qian Fei quickly ducked to the side and turned her back.
Gui Lili gracefully passed by with the older man. Her attention seemed entirely focused on the sparkling pigeon egg-sized diamond on her finger, and she didn’t notice Qian Fei at all.
Qian Fei faintly heard the older man ask, “Do you like it?”
Gui Lili replied coquettishly, “I love it, but I feel it’s too expensive!”
The man patted her hand, “As long as you like it! By the way, didn’t you fancy that Lexus sports car? I’ve already arranged everything with the dealership. I’ve transferred the money, and you can pick up the car next week!”
Gui Lili said something else, but Qian Fei couldn’t hear clearly as the couple had moved further away.
Combining this with the argument she had overheard between Li Yifei and Gui Lili earlier, Qian Fei guessed that the older man might be Gui Lili’s fabled boss.
She stood there, sighing endlessly, feeling as if she had witnessed a profound drama of life.
Suddenly, she felt a bit of sympathy for Li Yifei.
Looking at how this big boss wooed women, with such grand gestures and willingness to spend – offering pigeon egg-sized diamonds and Lexus sports cars – while Li Yifei was now just a junior investment banker sharing a rental apartment. Even if Li Yifei was handsome, good looks couldn’t be eaten or spent. Moreover, with his pampered nature, not do any housework, is too lazy to even operate a fully automatic washing machine, and often extravagantly sends clothes out for dry cleaning. In comparison, Qian Fei almost felt that if she were Gui Lili, she might have run off with the wealthy boss too.
After returning home, her eyelid kept twitching. She wanted to ask Li Yifei what he planned to do about his relationship with Gui Lili, and whether she should tell him what she had seen that afternoon to sound an alarm. But she hesitated, thinking it might be too crushing for someone as face-conscious as Li Yifei.
As she was hesitating, her phone suddenly rang. She looked at the caller ID and was stunned.
It was Gui Lili.
Answering the call, she heard Gui Lili say on the other end, “Qian Fei, it’s like this. I’ve decided to break up with Li Yifei. I’ll come back tomorrow to get my things. Could you help me tell Li Yifei to pack up my stuff? I’ll come pick them up and leave tomorrow.”
Qian Fei was taken aback, “Well, Gui Lili, why don’t you tell Li Yifei yourself? It’s not appropriate for me to relay this kind of message, is it?”
Gui Lili sniffled, her voice tinged with a wronged, tearful tone: “I can’t talk to him right now. He’s hurt me too deeply!”
Qian Fei suddenly remembered the scene she had witnessed at the entrance of “City of Love” earlier that day.
If she hadn’t seen her that afternoon, hearing her aggrieved voice now would have certainly softened Qian Fei’s heart. But knowing she could accept material benefits from another man and still cry out in such a delicate voice, Qian Fei was impressed. Life is like a play, all about acting skills – this saying wasn’t wrong at all. She had truly encountered a great actress.
“Gui Lili,” Qian Fei didn’t want to be a manipulated fool anymore, “I’m just your landlord. I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to relay this kind of message. You should tell Li Yifei yourself!”
She was about to hang up when Gui Lili called out loudly, “Qian Fei! Wait!” Qian Fei, in a moment of mental lapse, actually waited.
“Qian Fei! I’m begging you! Just help me pass on this message this once, okay? Please! If I call him myself, he’ll throw away all my things! Many of my clothes are very expensive! Qian Fei, please! Go talk to him nicely, persuade him to part on good terms, and not act impulsively. Then help me sort out my things, okay?”
Her voice grew increasingly soft and pleading, giving Qian Fei a headache.
“Gui Lili, I’m an outsider. You should discuss breaking up face-to-face with Li Yifei. Using a third party to relay messages, what kind of behavior is that? Don’t you agree?”
Gui Lili continued to beg, “Please help me, Qian Fei. I’m afraid to call him!”
Qian Fei felt a bit irritated, “Gui Lili, I really can’t get involved in this. At most, I can only pass on a message for you, okay?”
After hanging up, Qian Fei felt a throbbing pain in her head.
She took a deep breath and walked to Li Yifei’s room, knocking on the door.
The moment Li Yifei opened the door, Qian Fei felt as if she had time-traveled to a chaotic era.
Li Yifei’s room was as messy as if it had been ransacked by enemy troops.
Qian Fei was dumbfounded: “Li Yifei, are you serious? You can live in a room this messy? And still manage to go to work looking presentable every day? How do you do it? You make me witness miracles daily!”
Li Yifei’s face was cold, “Don’t act like you’re just seeing my room for the first time!”
Qian Fei was taken aback. She had glimpsed him kicking the coffee table from his doorway before, but at that time, her attention had been drawn to his foot, and she hadn’t noticed what his room looked like.
Qian Fei asked incredulously, “Your room, it hasn’t been this messy since you moved in, has it?”
Li Yifei raised an eyebrow at her, “You didn’t come knocking on my door to discuss the cleanliness of my room, did you?”
Qian Fei was stunned, remembering what she had to say next, and immediately felt her scalp tingle.
“It’s like this, Gui Lili called me and said, well, for you to pack up her things or something. She’s coming to get them tomorrow…”
Her voice grew weaker as she spoke, seeing Li Yifei’s face turn increasingly ashen.
“What does she mean? Why didn’t she call me herself?” he asked coldly.
Qian Fei didn’t dare meet his furious gaze for a moment, her eyes darting around, “How would I know? This is between you two. I’m just passing on the message. Don’t shoot the messenger!”
Li Yifei gave a cold laugh, stepped back, and cleared the doorway, “Didn’t she tell you to pack up her things? Then you come and pack for her!”
Qian Fei was stunned. How could these two be so unreasonable?
She couldn’t bear it anymore: “What’s wrong with you two? Whether you want to break up or live or die, can you leave me out of it? I’m just an ordinary landlord among thousands, not a community mediator! Look, I’ve delivered the message. Whether you pack her things is your business, whether she comes to get them is hers. Just forget about me! Goodbye!” With that, she clutched her startled heart and leaned against the wall as she returned to her room.
As she stayed in her room, she suddenly heard a series of loud noises outside. When it quieted down a bit, she quietly opened the door and peeked out.
What she saw made her furious.
Li Yifei had thrown all of Gui Lili’s belongings into the living room, creating a huge mess.
She held back her anger, went to the kitchen to find several large black garbage bags, and started packing Gui Lili’s things.
As she was tidying up, Li Yifei’s room door opened, and like an invisible hand, he tossed out several more of Gui Lili’s items, including a bottle of perfume that clattered on the ground, startling Qian Fei. She feared the glass bottle might not be sturdy and would shatter as it rolled.
Seeing the just-cleaned living room instantly become messy again, and watching Li Yifei about to throw out lotions and toners, Qian Fei immediately lost her temper and shouted to stop him: “Li Yifei, don’t you dare throw those! I’ll call the police and report you for misconduct!”
She wanted to ask Li Yifei if his parents had never taught him to be ethical, polite, and not destructive in other people’s homes.
She said irritably, “Alright, stop throwing things! I’ll go in and pack them up myself, okay? Please have some consideration for my apartment!”
She dragged the black garbage bags, restraining herself from having a brain hemorrhage, gritting her teeth with each step as she entered Li Yifei’s room.
As she stuffed things into the bags, she resentfully wondered how she had been so deaf and blind as to rent the apartment to these two troublemakers.
Qian Fei had a bit of a compulsive habit. While packing up Gui Lili’s things, she couldn’t help but tidy up other messy areas as well. By the time she finished dealing with Gui Lili’s belongings, she had inadvertently made Li Yifei’s room look somewhat orderly. When she straightened up and realized this, Qian Fei hated herself so much she could almost spit blood.
She wanted to pretend to have a sudden mental breakdown and mess up the room again like before!
She piled the black bags in the living room, waiting for Gui Lili to come and get them tomorrow.
That evening, feeling a bit tired, she lay down on her bed and fell asleep. She slept deeply. The next morning, she was rudely awakened by a woman’s shrill crying.
Even through her earplugs, she could hear the crying person almost reaching dolphin-like pitches.
She pulled out her earplugs, rolled over, and got out of bed. As she changed her clothes, she heard Gui Lili crying heartbrokenly outside the door.
“Li Yifei, why are you doing this? How dare you call me a slut! How dare you say I only care about money! I just want to live more comfortably and be good to myself, is that wrong? I was thinking we could part on good terms, but why are you like this? Do you have to destroy the last bit of affection between us to be satisfied?”
She shook her head as she heard Li Yifei say, “You’re not a slut? If you’re not a slut, who’s that man waiting downstairs? You think I don’t know? Isn’t he your boss? Tell him to come up!”
She heard the sounds of scuffling outside. Fearing they might start fighting, she didn’t even bother to wash up, just opened her door and rushed out.
Li Yifei was trying to rush out the door, while Gui Lili was desperately trying to stop him.
Qian Fei breathed a sigh of relief.
For a moment, she didn’t know whether to retreat to her room.
Gui Lili saw her and cried out, “Qian Fei, don’t just stand there like an idiot! Come help me hold him back!”
Seeing that Li Yifei indeed looked like he was about to rush downstairs, Qian Fei quickly came over to help Gui Lili restrain him.
Li Yifei shouted at her, “Qian Fei, this is none of your business. Let go of me!”
Gui Lili also yelled at her, “Qian Fei, you must hold him back! You take over here, I’m leaving first!” With that, she let go.
Qian Fei instantly felt all of Li Yifei’s weight and strength transfer onto her. Meanwhile, Gui Lili ran towards the door in tears.
When she reached the door, she stopped, turned back, and said to Li Yifei with infinite sorrow: “Yifei, let’s leave it at this. Maybe separating is best for both of us! Please don’t go down to find him, okay? I don’t want to see either of you get hurt because of me! Yifei, I know you’re doing this because you can’t let go of our feelings, or me, but our personalities aren’t compatible! Even though I love you so much, I’ve decided – let’s break up! From today on, just forget about me!”
After saying this, she pushed open the door and continued her tearful exit.
Qian Fei felt truly impressed by Gui Lili’s performance, one scene after another, just like in a play.
She sensed that Li Yifei was almost driven mad with anger.
“To hell with not being able to let go of you! Damn it, I just can’t stand you making me a cuckold!”
He struggled against Qian Fei while shouting, “Qian Fei, let go of me! Let me go! Are you even a woman? Why the hell are you so strong?”
Qian Fei had already endured a bellyful of inexplicable anger from these two early in the morning. When the words “damn it” reached her ears, they ignited her last shred of patience.
She promptly let go of Li Yifei.
The next second, she didn’t know how she suddenly became possessed by the spirit of a crazy Korean drama protagonist. Without thinking, she directly slapped Li Yifei across the face.
Li Yifei was stunned.
He held his face, his eyes wide as if he’d seen aliens invading Earth, “You hit me? Qian Fei, you damn well dared to hit me!”
Hearing him say “damn” again, Qian Fei, without thinking, slapped him once more.
This slap was intercepted by Li Yifei in mid-air.
Li Yifei gripped her wrist, asking furiously, “Qian Fei, have you gone mad?!”
Qian Fei shook off his hand, “Li Yifei, no matter how pampered you are at home, in my place, stop with your endless ‘damns’! You have a mother too. Would you like it if someone kept cursing your mother?”
Li Yifei stared at Qian Fei, his gaze as if he wanted to swallow her whole. For a moment, Qian Fei even thought he was about to raise his hand to slap her back.
Fortunately, he just glared at her, and she stubbornly met his gaze. Until she felt her legs start to tremble from his intense stare while maintaining a strong facade, he finally turned his face away.
The room suddenly became very quiet.
Qian Fei quietly looked at Li Yifei. She surprisingly saw something akin to nostalgia and sorrow surging in his eyes from the side.
Her heart instantly softened.
He had just been dramatically cheated on and broken up with by his girlfriend, and then she had slapped him and said such harsh words. He must be feeling hurt right now.
Feeling sympathetic, she mumbled softly to him, “I’m sorry…”
Li Yifei ignored her, glared at her sideways once, then turned and went back to his room, closing the door.
Qian Fei stood in the living room, looking at Gui Lili’s things still in the corner – she had fled in such a hurry that she hadn’t taken anything.
Feeling disgusted, she moved all those big black bags outside to the stairwell, then sent Gui Lili a text message, telling her that her things were placed at the front door and she could come quietly to take them away without needing to come inside.
After a while, Gui Lili replied with a message: “Is he okay?”
Looking at her question, Qian Fei felt extremely irritated. She felt that this aspect of Gui Lili was as annoying and detestable as Wang Ruohai – if you’ve decided to break up, don’t come with the “I still care about you” routine.
She replied to Gui Lili: “When you come back to get your things, please leave the key under the doormat.”
A few seconds later, Gui Lili sent another message: “Qian Fei, could you please take care of Yifei for me these few days? I left so suddenly, I’m worried he can’t let go!”
Qian Fei glanced at the text and couldn’t help but laugh. This girl’s sense of superiority was almost on par with a mental breakdown.
She replied, “You should focus on taking care of yourself first. I’m a bit busy, so I can’t talk right now.”
She tossed her phone onto the sofa and suddenly felt a twinge of pain in her arm. Rolling up her sleeve, she noticed a large bruise on her forearm—clearly from when she and Li Yifei had been grappling moments earlier.
Gritting her teeth, Qian Fei glared at the purple mark, her anger rising. She felt no guilt over the slap she had just delivered; in fact, she thought she could have swung even harder.