Qian Fei patted Yao Jingjing’s back, comforting her, then asked, “Shall we go home now?”
Yao Jingjing shook her head and said, “I’m hungry!”
Qian Fei nearly fell to her knees in exasperation. How could she still be hungry after drinking so much?
She looked up at Lu Ze and said, “I’ll take her to Jin Dingxuan for some porridge before going home. You can go about your business!” Then she turned to Li Yifei and said, “You should hurry back to your friends too. They’re probably waiting for you!”
Li Yifei gave her a withering look, pulled Yao Jingjing away from her, and handed her to Lu Ze standing nearby. “You take care of this woman,” he said. Then, half-dragging, half-supporting Qian Fei, he walked towards Jin Dingxuan, grumbling, “Would you stop worrying about others? You’d be better off paying more attention to yourself!”
As Qian Fei was being pulled along, she looked back and called out, “Hey, Lu Ze, don’t get any funny ideas about running off with her. I’m keeping an eye on you! Hurry up and follow us with the little minx!”
In her hazy state, she thought she saw Lu Ze frowning deeply, looking quite displeased as if he wasn’t used to being ordered around.
Seeing his expression, Qian Fei felt particularly pleased, as if she had somehow avenged Yao Jingjing.
Once inside Jin Dingxuan, Li Yifei asked the waiter to find them a small private room.
Qian Fei initially wanted to pull Yao Jingjing to sit next to her, but Lu Ze silently and firmly refused.
He sat down next to Yao Jingjing, carefully resting her head on his shoulder so she could rest. Then he asked the waiter to bring a cup of hot water and set it aside to cool for her.
Li Yifei sat down next to Qian Fei.
Qian Fei took out her phone to check the time, but when she lit up the screen, she noticed a missed call from Li Yifei.
“You called me? What did you want?” she asked, looking up at Li Yifei beside her.
Li Yifei replied irritably, “I was bored, so I called you! It was a mistake!”
Qian Fei responded with an “Oh,” then nudged him, “Go find your friends. I need to have a chat with this gentleman here!”
Li Yifei shoved her hand away in disgust, “I wasn’t talking about you, and now you’re trying to get rid of me!”
As he spoke, anger visibly rose on his face.
He angrily asked Qian Fei, “What are you doing out here in the middle of the night instead of staying at home?”
Qian Fei grinned stupidly at him, “What a coincidence that you’re here too!”
Li Yifei’s eyebrows furrowed darkly, “Qian Fei, let me tell you, you’re a woman. You can’t compare yourself to men. You need to have some self-respect, you know? Smell the alcohol on you! Is this how a woman should behave?”
Qian Fei smiled at him, “Are you having a late-night snack with us or going back to your friends?”
Li Yifei slammed the table and shouted, “You’re lucky I was here today. If I hadn’t been here to intervene, wouldn’t you have been dragged away? Do you realize you could have been ruined after tonight?”
Qian Fei blinked her slightly unfocused eyes wide open and asked, “I want to order some white fungus and papaya soup. What would you like?”
Li Yifei replied irritably, “Get me some lung-nourishing tea. I need to cool down!”
He unbuttoned his shirt collar and pulled it apart, “You’re driving me crazy!”
But as he said this, he realized that Qian Fei had somehow managed to divert his anger, and he didn’t feel as angry anymore.
He glanced at Lu Ze and Yao Jingjing. The former was feeding water to the latter as if feeding a small bird. He had a feeling that Lu Ze was using this as a pretext to eavesdrop on his conversation with Qian Fei.
Feeling that a man’s dignity shouldn’t crumble so easily in front of others, he put on a tough front and slammed the table again, shouting at Qian Fei, “Sister, I’m in the middle of being angry here. Can you be serious and wait for me to finish before ordering food?”
Qian Fei respectfully handed him the menu with both hands, “Okay, okay! You be angry, you be angry! Order when you’re done!”
Looking at her thick-skinned demeanor, Li Yifei’s anger completely dissipated.
He wondered how his temper had suddenly improved so much. In the past, if this had happened between him and Gui Lili, they would have been arguing furiously by now.
He suddenly realized that Qian Fei had a great quality: she could absorb a lot, especially when others were angry. Regardless of whether the other person was right or wrong, she would just smile along, effectively defusing their anger.
He watched Qian Fei blinking at him. He couldn’t bring himself to shout anymore, but he wasn’t ready to give up entirely. So he poked her forehead fiercely and said with gritted teeth, “Sister Qian, I’m begging you, please be more careful!”
Qian Fei was happily eating her white fungus and papaya soup while staring wide-eyed at the half-asleep Yao Jingjing, who was drinking porridge with her face almost buried in the bowl.
She couldn’t help but giggle at the sight.
Across from her, Lu Ze glanced at her, his eyes filled with mild reproach. He put down his porridge bowl and began to carefully feed Yao Jingjing.
Qian Fei found this even more amusing.
Suddenly, a group of people outside started screaming as if someone had stepped on their tails.
Qian Fei was startled for a moment before realizing it was midnight.
A new year had begun!
She put down her spoon, raised her arm, and turned to Li Yifei, shouting, “Happy New Year!”
She saw that in her excitement, a small piece of white fungus she hadn’t swallowed flew out of her mouth in a beautiful parabola and landed on… Li Yifei’s… face…
She watched as Li Yifei’s eyebrows immediately knitted together. He angrily grabbed several napkins and wiped his face vigorously, then glared at her fiercely, saying, “Don’t be so disgusting when you eat. I’m happier than anything!”
Qian Fei grinned at him stupidly, “It’s the new year, quick, wish me to marry a good man this year!”
Li Yifei glanced at her in disgust, his lips twitching as he asked, “Could you be any more desperate?”
From across the table, Lu Ze suddenly interrupted them: “Qian Fei, can we talk?”
Qian Fei turned to look at him, tilted her head to think for a moment, then turned back to Li Yifei, “You should go back to your friends. I need to have a chat with him!”
Li Yifei had thought her tipsy behavior was approaching cute tonight. But hearing her words, his eyebrows immediately shot up.
“You know what they call this? Ditching your savior!” he said, looking very displeased.
Qian Fei patted his shoulder, “Be good, don’t fuss. I have important things to discuss with him!”
Her manner of coaxing him like a child made him extremely unhappy. He shrugged off her hand irritably and gave her a sidelong glance, saying, “I do need to go back and explain things. You wait here, and I’ll come back to take you all home later!”
Qian Fei waved her hand, “Okay, okay! Go on, go on!”
Li Yifei stood up and left the private room. Qian Fei adjusted her sitting position to face Lu Ze. Yao Jingjing was sprawled on the table, mumbling incoherently.
“Was that guy just now your boyfriend? Do you live together?” After staring at each other for a while, Lu Ze started with this question.
Qian Fei shook her head vigorously like a rattling drum, “He’s not my boyfriend. He’s my tenant!” Then she asked Lu Ze, “My turn to ask. Tell me, how did you manage to torment my sister to this state?”
Lu Ze frowned, his aloof aura instantly flowing from his tightly knitted brows.
“Can I first hear how Jingjing described our relationship to you?” he asked.
Qian Fei figured there was no harm in saying more, so she rattled off a description.
As she spoke, she carefully observed the expression of the aloof rich man. However, his expression remained largely unchanged throughout. Only his eyebrows moved, furrowing, relaxing, then furrowing again.
Qian Fei secretly thought that being his eyebrows must be quite tiring.
“Anyway, as the chief and possibly only confidante of the little minx, I think you’ve hurt her badly with this. If you can’t give a good explanation, I might have to come up with some ways to upset you. I’m not afraid of your wealth; I’ve despised the rich since I was young!” She looked at Lu Ze, trying to intimidate him in her way.
Lu Ze remained silent, turning to look at Yao Jingjing, who was sprawled on the table, smacking her lips. He reached out to pat her head like a beloved pet, then turned back to Qian Fei and said, “Now, please listen to this matter from my perspective.”
“I was introduced to her through her company’s senior management. On our first date, or rather, blind date, I felt she wasn’t as affected as other girls. Her animated way of speaking was interesting, and I thought being friends with her wouldn’t be boring. So when she suggested coming to Dalian to work for me and help me expand my branch company, I didn’t refuse.
“Initially, I didn’t think she was sincerely interested in me. Once, when I asked her what she liked about me, she said she liked that I was rich.
“She seemed very much like the type of girl who loved dressing up and material enjoyment, and that’s what I thought at first. But after she said that to me, I realized she wasn’t at all what she appeared to be.
“Gradually, I discovered she was a girl who brought more surprises the more you got to know her. She appeared cunning, but was pure-hearted; she seemed like someone who could let go easily and speak harshly, but in reality, her heart was more fragile than anyone’s.
“I had a girlfriend before, and after years of arguing, we were both exhausted and finally broke up. To be honest, since the breakup, I’ve been afraid of having another girlfriend. I’m tired of arguing. So I never explicitly asked Jingjing to be my girlfriend, but without even realizing it myself, I gradually started treating her like one.”
At this point, Qian Fei couldn’t help but interrupt him.
“How come you seem to talk so little and appear so cold, but when you analyze your inner world, you become so articulate and poetic? Let me ask you one thing: do you like the little minx?”
Lu Ze stared at her steadily, “Actually, I don’t like being interrupted when I’m speaking!” After a pause, he continued, “Do you think I would fly over in the middle of the night if I didn’t like her?”
Qian Fei’s alcohol-dulled brain took a moment to process this. “Oh, so you do like her? Then tell me, what was the deal with that dinner with your ex-girlfriend on Christmas Day?”
Lu Ze stared at her again, saying flatly, “Actually, I don’t like being interrogated!” Then after another pause, he continued, “My ex-girlfriend now lives in Shanghai. To try and win me back, she came alone to Beijing and then to Dalian. She’s been pampered since childhood and has never lived independently, so she fell ill after arriving in Dalian. On Christmas Day, she told me she had a fever and didn’t have any family around to take care of her. She sounded so pitiful that I felt sympathetic and took her out for a bowl of porridge. I didn’t expect her to secretly take a photo of me during the meal and send it to Jingjing.”
Qian Fei tapped her fingers on the table as she pondered, then looked up at Lu Ze and said, “Let me ask you one more question. If you can answer this well, you’ll pass my test, and I’ll remove you from my list of rich people to despise!” She took a sip of water, then asked, “What’s your current attitude towards your ex-girlfriend? If you truly like Jingjing, how do you plan to handle your ex-girlfriend?”
Lu Ze reached out to pat Yao Jingjing’s head like a pet again, and said, “What’s past is past. We won’t get back together, nor will we have any lingering attachments. When we return to Dalian, I’ll make things clear to her and make her realize that if you don’t cherish what you have when you have it, once it’s gone, it’s gone. You can’t get it back.”
Qian Fei felt a twinge in her heart at these last two sentences.
She sighed lightly, “Alright, given your clear attitude, I’ll consider you to have passed my test. However, whether the little minx is willing to go with you or not is up to her to decide.”
Lu Ze looked at her, frowning again as if holding back something.
Finally, he couldn’t resist and said to Qian Fei in a deep voice, “Actually, no one in my company dares to speak to me so casually as you do.”
Qian Fei thought he was displeased and felt quite happy about it. Just as she was about to share her joyful feelings, she saw him suddenly smile strangely: “But this feeling is quite special! You and Jingjing are birds of a feather!”
Qian Fei was dumbfounded. Could it be that this seemingly noble and aloof gentleman enjoyed being teased, like some sort of empty-hearted masochist?