Qian Fei was startled, “What birthday? What gift?”
Li Yifei snorted, walked past her back to his room, rummaged around for a while, then came out again. When he came out, he was holding an iPhone 5 box. He handed the box to Qian Fei, saying, “I was planning to give this to you for your birthday at the end of next month, but your toilet probably couldn’t stand seeing me keep it from you!”
Qian Fei took the phone box in a daze, looked at it, and then anxiously tried to push the box back to Li Yifei, “Are you crazy? A gift worth over 5,000 yuan for my birthday? Don’t tell me you’re trying to use this to offset the rent. I only want cash, not a phone!”
Li Yifei cursed, “Put away your petty thoughts. When have I ever defaulted on your rent? I saw how you were drooling over it when I got my iPhone 5 at the end of last year. I was afraid you’d embarrass yourself looking at others using it, so I got one for you to play with!”
Qian Fei was still shocked and anxious, “The gift is too expensive. You dare to give it, but I don’t dare to accept it!”
Li Yifei looked at her shrinking her neck and shoulders, holding the phone box like she was about to cut off her arm to return the phone to him, but the envy in her eyes was impossible to hide. He found it particularly interesting, “You don’t want it?”
Qian Fei took a deep breath and said firmly, “I want it! I want it so much I could cry! But if I want it, I should buy it myself. I can’t just accept such an expensive gift from someone!”
Li Yifei sighed inwardly.
What an honest, silly girl. But he felt that this honest, silly girl made him want to be good to her more than those girlfriends who would smile like flowers and throw themselves into his arms, kissing his cheek and sweetly saying “You’re so good” after receiving a phone or necklace.
His mind quickly turned, and he said, “Actually, this phone is from a friend of mine in customs. It was confiscated as smuggled goods, but somehow a few weren’t recorded, so he sold them cheaply to people around him. When I was on my business trip, my phone screen broke, so as soon as I got off the plane, I thought about going to him to buy a new phone. Because it was cheap, one for 300 yuan, two for 500 yuan, I simply bought one for you too. So, this gift isn’t that expensive at all, not even as much as taking you out for a nice meal.” He paused, pushing the phone box into her arms, “Now do you dare to accept it?”
Qian Fei hugged the box and looked at it lovingly. After looking for a while, she raised her head and said decisively, “Then I have to give you 250 yuan! If you don’t take this money, I won’t take this phone!”
Li Yifei’s eyelids twitched at her behavior, “So, it’s like you bought this phone yourself? And I still have to give you another gift?”
Qian Fei smiled and shook her head, “That’s not necessary. This phone is still a gift from you, of course! Because if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have had the chance to buy a phone for so little money!”
She hugged the phone and went back to her room. When she came out again, she decisively handed Li Yifei 250 yuan.
Li Yifei, with a dark expression, dug out a one-yuan coin from the sofa crevice and threw it to Qian Fei, “Here’s one yuan back! I don’t want to be an idiot along with you!”
Qian Fei laughed, “You even hid money on the sofa?”
Li Yifei replied irritably, “Hide my ass! It fell in there when I was buying beer that day. I was too lazy to dig it out at the time!”
Qian Fei couldn’t let go of her new phone worth 250 yuan. Thinking that tomorrow was Sunday and she didn’t have to work, she decided not to rush to sleep and opened her laptop to find tutorials on WeiFeng to learn how to transfer her contacts.
Fortunately, although the screen of the phone that had just taken a toilet bath refused to light up, it still showed some response when plugged in with a data cable.
Qian Fei fiddled around for a long time and finally transferred all her contacts to the new phone, then downloaded many commonly used apps.
As she was playing with her new phone lovingly, a WeChat message popped up.
Li Yifei asked her, “Are you asleep?”
Qian Fei replied, “No, just finished transferring my contacts~”
Li Yifei: “Perfect, can you help me transfer my contacts too?”
Qian Fei: “Bring your phone over~”
Li Yifei brought both his new phone and the one with the cracked screen to Qian Fei. In no time, Qian Fei not only helped him transfer his contacts but also his text messages and memos into the new phone.
Li Yifei clicked his tongue and said, “You live up to the title of ‘tomboy’. You even know the phone flashing skills of Otakus!”
Qian Fei irritably shooed him away, “Is this how people in your village compliment others? Get out!”
Li Yifei refused to leave, “I guess this is how they would compliment a tomboy like you in Zhongguancun!” He clapped his hands and said, “Help me wipe everything from the cracked screen phone. I want to give it to my friend to play with the parts.”
As he was giving instructions, he walked around the room, his eyes following his footsteps, scanning everywhere. His gaze landed on something by the bedside that, as a respectable man, he shouldn’t have been staring at – something with two bowls. Li Yifei squinted, instinctively calculating. He had always thought B was her good friend, but it turned out her true close companion was C.
Qian Fei spoke up beside him, and he rubbed his ears, casually shifting his gaze away.
Qian Fei grunted, “Young master, can you and your friend be any more prodigal? If the screen is broken, just replace it. Why dismantle it for parts? Does your grandfather know how wasteful you are?”
Li Yifei snorted, “Like he has any control over me!” He continued to wander around Qian Fei’s room as he spoke.
Qian Fei finished fiddling with his phone and started playing with her phone enthusiastically. Not paying attention to him, she lowered her head and said, “Didn’t you say you were tired and wanted to rest earlier? Why are you still strolling around in my room?”
Li Yifei walked to a cardboard box in the corner, stopped, saw a photo album at the bottom of the box, bent down, picked it up, and said, “Since I’m already here, let’s chat for ten bucks worth!”
Qian Fei, still playing with her phone, said, “Then who pays whom?”
She asked but didn’t hear Li Yifei’s response for quite a while. She was a bit puzzled, temporarily put down the phone in her hand, and raised her head to look for Li Yifei.
When she saw him standing in the corner of the room, flipping through that album she least wanted to touch, Qian Fei stood up from her chair abruptly and walked over quickly, snatching the album away.
“Why are you rummaging through other people’s things?” Her tone was unusually displeased.
Li Yifei looked down at her, his face expressionless, only the corners of his mouth lifted slightly in a mocking angle, “Is that guy in there your cheating ex-boyfriend? He cheated on you and broke up with you, yet you still keep these photos?”
Qian Fei was a bit angry, “None of your business!”
“You’re not still thinking about this guy, are you?” Li Yifei squinted and asked.
Qian Fei got even angrier, “None of your business!”
“Qian Fei, have some self-respect!” Li Yifei’s eyes widened, a strange anger inexplicably appearing on his face.
“None of your business!” Qian Fei pushed him to the door, then walked back to the desk, picked up his phone, and fished out ten yuan from the pile of parts on the table. She walked back to Li Yifei, and stuffed the phone into his hand, “Take your phone!” Then she threw the money at him, “Here’s ten yuan, we’re done chatting, goodbye!” Then she slammed the door shut with a “bang”.
Li Yifei clutched the ten yuan, full of anger, wishing he could break down her door.
The phone stuffed in his hand suddenly vibrated.
He picked it up and saw it was Da Jun calling him.
He walked back to his room, closed the door, and answered the phone.
“Hey buddy, yesterday you said your phone screen was broken, and you urgently asked me to buy you two iPhone 5s. I thought you and Jin Tian were going to use a couple of phones. But today Jin Tian told me you accepted her as a sister. What’s going on? Who did you buy that phone for? It’s not for that tomboy, is it?”
Li Yifei, who had just been kicked out by Qian Fei and humiliated with ten yuan, replied to Da Jun without much pleasantry: “I just gave it to her, what’s wrong? None of your business!”
Da Jun choked, “Hey if you want to give it, go ahead. I’m not stopping you. Why are you so aggressive?”
Li Yifei continued unpleasantly: “I’m just being aggressive, none of your business!”
Da Jun also became unpleasant: “Li Yifei, you bastard, did you eat gunpowder or something?”
Li Yifei chuckled coldly: “In our circle, the only one who could be considered my elder uncle is your dad! And whether I eat gunpowder or not, it’s none of your business!”
Da Jun was thoroughly angered: “Damn it, Li Yifei, you’re cursing my dad! I’m going to end our friendship!”
Li Yifei continued to laugh coldly: “You’re the one who cursed your dad, go end your friendship with yourself!”
Da Jun was pushed to the brink of tears: “Li Yifei, what’s wrong with you tonight?”
Li Yifei remained unmoved: “None of your business!”
Da Jun finally broke down: “Li Yifei, go to hell! I’m ending our friendship!”
After shouting this, he angrily hung up the phone.
Li Yifei felt the oppression in his chest had mostly dissipated. It turned out that having a scapegoat to vent on when angry was such a comfortable thing. It turned out that saying “none of your business” when extremely unhappy could be so satisfying.
Suddenly he paused again.
That damn girl had said “none of your business” so many times in a row. Just how unhappy was she earlier? She couldn’t still be hung up on that cheating ex-boyfriend, could she?
He felt a bit too restless to sleep.
Qian Fei threw that photo album back into the cardboard box.
She had already forgotten about this album, and she didn’t know how Li Yifei had discovered it.
She also didn’t know why she got so angry when she saw Li Yifei flipping through this album. She thought carefully and figured it must be because he had so recklessly stumbled into her past that she’d rather not recall, giving her no time to prepare.
She kicked the cardboard box further into the corner, thinking vengefully that she must burn this album someday when she had time.
On Sunday, Li Yifei went out for the whole day. At noon, Qian Fei sent a message asking if he was coming back for dinner, but he didn’t reply.
Qian Fei held back all afternoon, but finally couldn’t resist and sent another message to Li Yifei: “You’re not still angry about yesterday, are you?”
After a while, the phone finally had a response.
Li Yifei: “You think everyone is as heartless as you, able to forget instantly?”
Qian Fei: “But you were the one who went through my things first, how come you’re angrier than I am…”
There was no response for a long time.
Qian Fei: “Why aren’t you responding?”
No response.
Qian Fei sent again: “Why are you so temperamental?”
No response.
Qian Fei sent again: “With such a bad temper, do your friends still want to be friends with you?”
No response.
Qian Fei continued to send messages happily: “Why aren’t you responding? That’s so impolite! Can we still play happily together in the future?”
This time Li Yifei finally replied: “Qian Fei, are you a chatterbox? Can you give angry people some space to vent?”
Qian Fei ignored his words and replied gleefully: “The new phone is nice to use! Thank you~”
After a short while, Li Yifei sent back a message: “I want to eat stir-fried eggplant strips tonight!”
A second later, another message followed: “And I’m not washing dishes after eating!”
Qian Fei: “Okay ^_^”
Da Jun watched as Li Yifei put down his phone, the corner of his mouth curling up at a strange angle, an angle that should be called “secretly delighted”.
Da Jun was shocked.
“Damn! What did that tomboy say? Yesterday you were venting your anger on me! This morning you were still angrily looking for me to drink! Just now you were furiously refusing to reply to messages! How did you suddenly lose your temper? I want to see what she said to you!”
Taking advantage of Li Yifei’s unpreparedness, he snatched the phone, opened WeChat, and quickly scanned through the chat history.
“Damn! Just praising the phone as good to use made you so happy and lost your temper? Li Yifei, you bastard! Can’t you have some self-respect?”
Li Yifei suddenly felt that the last sentence sounded familiar as if he had said the same thing to Qian Fei yesterday.
He grabbed back his phone and said to Da Jun, “Get lost! None of your business!” Then he paused.
The tomboy had replied to him the same way yesterday.
He couldn’t help but shake his head and smile.
Yes, self-respect is something that comes from within. Wanting to have no self-respect towards someone is one’s own business, what does it have to do with others?
He picked up his phone and typed in the reply box: “I want to eat stir-fried eggplant strips tonight!”
Thinking that reconciling like this seemed to lack face, he viciously added a few more words: “And I’m not washing dishes after eating!”
Click send.
The other side replied almost instantly: “Okay ^_^”
He curled up the corner of his mouth again.
Beside him, Da Jun yelled as if his tail had been stepped on: “Li Yifei, you bastard, you can’t be serious! Don’t tell me now you have to wash dishes after every meal. This is too shocking, damn it, I’m going to go crazy!”
Li Yifei looked at him, expressionless, and nodded once.
Da Jun held his head and started banging it against the wall…