On Thursday, when Qian Fei returned home from work, she found that Gui Lili and Li Yifei had moved in.
The living room and kitchen were cluttered with their belongings. Seeing her return, Gui Lili said somewhat embarrassedly, “We have too many things, and we haven’t had time to put everything away! Were you planning to cook? If so, I’ll move the stuff out of the kitchen first!”
Qian Fei had bought groceries, but seeing the messy state of the kitchen with no room to move, she changed her mind.
“It’s okay, I won’t cook today. You two carry on with your unpacking! Let me know if you need any help!”
She glanced at their room and saw Li Yifei sitting on the sofa like an old man, with a laptop on his lap, either playing games or doing something else.
She managed to find a spot to stand at the kitchen doorway, contorting her body to stuff the groceries into the refrigerator. She then grabbed a box of instant noodles and retreated to her room.
As she ate her noodles, she heard Gui Lili asking Li Yifei through the door, sounding a bit unhappy, “Can’t you lend a hand to help clean up? If it’s just me alone, when will we ever finish? Are we not going to sleep tonight?”
She heard Li Yifei reply, also sounding displeased, “I told you, I’m writing a report! We have a meeting tomorrow morning to discuss it! If we can’t finish unpacking, we’ll do it slowly. Just make the bed for now, and that should be enough!”
Then came a series of crashing sounds. It seemed Gui Lili was throwing things around in frustration.
She heard Gui Lili’s voice tinged with tears.
“Li Yifei, can’t you show some concern for me? Can’t you write the report after we finish unpacking?”
Li Yifei sounded like he kicked the coffee table, saying impatiently, “I’m so tired of your fussing lately! Can’t you understand? Why did we have to move these past few days? This project needs to be reported to the Securities Regulatory Commission next week. If I don’t finish writing the discussion points today, we can’t have the meeting tomorrow, and next week I might as well quit and live on air, okay? Forget it, I’m going to the office!”
Qian Fei heard some rustling sounds, followed by a loud “bang” of the door closing.
As she slurped her noodles, she thought, it was a good thing that the coffee table was bought from Taobao at a 70% discount, otherwise, she’d be heartbroken about it.
Before going to bed, she heard the door outside. Li Yifei had returned.
After he left, Gui Lili didn’t continue unpacking. Qian Fei guessed she was crying in the room, as she could faintly hear the sound of nose-blowing.
She was worried that when Li Yifei returned, the two would argue again, but whatever Li Yifei did, there was silence in their room.
Surprisingly peaceful.
Her anxious heart settled down.
It was good that she didn’t have to struggle with whether to intervene in their quarrel in the middle of the night.
As she was lying in bed, almost asleep, a WeChat message came through on her phone.
It was from Hu Zining.
“Are you free tomorrow night? I’ve got two movie tickets for Wangfujing Hengdian Cinema. If you’re free, let’s go together!”
Without thinking, Qian Fei replied: I’m free!
She had been lonely for too long. Today, seeing Gui Lili and Li Yifei argue, she was a bit envious. She also wanted someone by her side, even if it was just to argue with her.
So for Hu Zining’s invitation, she was almost grateful to tears.
The next morning, as they left for work, Qian Fei, Gui Lili, and Li Yifei ended up leaving together.
Feeling awkward walking with them, Qian Fei stopped at a small stand to buy breakfast.
Gui Lili said goodbye to her, Li Yifei glanced at her without a word, and the two of them went ahead.
Qian Fei thought she could at least avoid taking the same subway as them, so she set off again with her jianbing guozi in hand. But after being squeezed to Fuxingmen station, she unexpectedly encountered Li Yifei again at the exit.
She remembered that Yao Jingjing had once mentioned that Li Yifei, like her, worked in investment banking, but she hadn’t realized he also worked in the Financial Street area.
Li Yifei saw her too. He seemed a bit surprised and initiated conversation for the first time: “You work in Financial Street too?”
Qian Fei nodded, smiling dryly, “What a coincidence!”
Li Yifei asked, “Do you work in a bank?”
Qian Fei shook her head, “No, I’m in investment banking, but I’m just a rookie!”
Li Yifei made an “Oh” sound, “We’re in the same field. We should exchange ideas sometime.”
Qian Fei wanted to say “I wouldn’t dare,” but before she could, she saw Li Yifei stride ahead with his long legs, leaving her with his back view and a parting “I’ll go ahead.”
Qian Fei stared at his back, her feelings complicated.
Could this person have a complete conversation with her? After all, she was his landlord. He talked to her when he felt like it and walked away when he didn’t. Was this okay? Was her presence too weak?
Lost in these thoughts, Qian Fei arrived at her company, feeling dejected.
Before leaving work in the afternoon, Qian Fei borrowed Xiao Yuan’s makeup bag again. As Xiao Yuan handed it to her, she said, “Feifei, you’re not planning to rely on my makeup bag for your entire love life, are you?”
Qian Fei grinned shamelessly, “Support me a few more times. If I’m sure I can make it work with this guy, I’ll buy my own set. Otherwise, it’s a waste of investment, unnecessary!”
Xiao Yuan made a “huh” sound, “I’d say you’re stingy, but you let me use your meal card every day. But then again, I’ve never seen a woman so reluctant to spend money on her face. Qian Fei, are you even a woman anymore?”
Qian Fei applied foundation while looking in the mirror, “For now, yes, but if I don’t find a man to nourish me soon, I might not be for much longer!” She pointed at the corner of her mouth for Xiao Yuan to see, “Look, I’m about to start growing a beard! I asked my other single female classmates, and they say they’re about to grow beards too. We all agree it’s a sign of lacking a man. We need to absorb some yang to balance our yin!”
Xiao Yuan almost spat water on Qian Fei’s face, “Qian Fei! Can you be normal? My thousand-yuan foundation on your face can’t hide your rough man essence!”
Qian Fei smugly flipped her ponytail, “I’m a rough man in front of you, but in front of men, I’m a little vixen! I’m off!”
Xiao Yuan rolled her eyes at her in exasperation, “That line might fool ghosts and yourself!”
Qian Fei arranged to meet Hu Zining at the entrance of the Wangfujing Department Store. Annoyed by the subway security checks, she took the bus instead. She thought she’d arrive first since she was closer, but the Friday evening rush hour on Chang’an Avenue was peaceful with all vehicles basically at a standstill. It took her an hour to travel just a few stops, and she still hadn’t arrived.
When Hu Zining messaged her saying he had arrived, she had just reached Tiananmen East Station. She reluctantly replied: I’m sorry, I didn’t take the subway. The bus is a bit stuck in traffic. I’m still one stop away from Dongdan!
She anxiously waited for a reply, fearing the other party would express displeasure.
In the past two years of dating Wang Ruohai, she never dared to be late. Once, they had agreed to meet after work to buy a shirt at the mall, but she was delayed by over half an hour due to a last-minute task assigned by her boss. When she finally arrived, Wang Ruohai’s face was as cold as frost. Pointing at his watch, he coldly told her, “You’re thirty-eight minutes late. If you don’t want to spend money and want me to keep wearing old clothes, just say so. Don’t pull these late stunts!” He turned and left after speaking.
No matter how she apologized, explained, or coaxed, it didn’t work. After that, she never dared to be late again.
Her phone chimed with a message from Hu Zining.
“No worries, I just left work early. Beautiful girls are worth waiting for!”
Qian Fei looked at her phone screen, and her heart bloomed like a flower.
She couldn’t help but secretly switch to her phone’s front camera, sneaking glances at herself.
He said she was a beautiful girl!
Suddenly, the bus driver slammed on the brakes, and Qian Fei stumbled forward. Her phone flew over several people’s shoulders before falling to the floor.
Thankfully, those shoulders cushioned the fall, otherwise the screen would have been ruined.
She quickly apologized while squeezing forward, “I’m sorry, please let me through, I need to pick up my phone!”
The bus was too crowded. Amidst a chorus of complaints, Qian Fei inched towards her phone bit by bit.
As she was concentrating on squeezing through, she suddenly saw a hand reaching out to her from among the shoulders, holding her phone.
She quickly took the phone, thanking the person profusely. She looked up along the arm, wanting to see what her helper looked like.
To her surprise, she saw Li Yifei’s face…
Her expression froze as she greeted him, “What a coincidence, we meet again!”
Li Yifei’s lips curled slightly as he nodded at her, then gestured towards her phone with his chin, “The bus is crowded now, not suitable for selfies.”
Seeing his meaningful look, Qian Fei’s face completely froze.
Finally reaching Dongdan, Qian Fei got off the bus as if escaping for her life.
Watching the wheezing bus drive away, she let out a long sigh.
She admired those women who could confidently take out their mirrors anywhere and everywhere to check themselves. How could they be so relaxed and natural about preening in public? She had just secretly tried to look at herself on the bus, and upon being discovered, she felt so embarrassed she wanted to hang herself.
She patted her face, muttering to herself to comfort her shocked and embarrassed heart, “It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m not that close with that Li Yifei anyway! No need to be embarrassed!”
She turned to walk towards the underground passage.
But as she turned, she saw Li Yifei again…
He was standing right behind her, and she strongly suspected that he had seen and heard her every move and word just now because one corner of his mouth was very obviously curled up unpleasantly.
Qian Fei lost her composure a bit and couldn’t help asking, “How… did you get off at this stop too?”
Li Yifei raised an eyebrow, “Actually, we’re not that close, so I don’t have to tell you why, but since we’re living together now, I think it’s better if we gradually become more familiar. Someone invited me to dinner at Cheng Fu.” He waved at the stunned Qian Fei, “See you, landlord.”
Qian Fei felt like she was slowly cracking, like a character in a comic book…
She was going to watch a group-buy movie with tickets at 25 yuan each, while he was going to dinner at Cheng Fu with an average cost of over 1,000 yuan per person. They got off at the same stop in Dongdan, but how could the gap between people be so large? And she was even his landlord…
She watched Li Yifei’s retreating figure, sourly categorizing his behavior in her mind.
“Showing off wealth! Bragging! Making fun of others! And what else… being smug!”