Before bed that night, Qian Fei called Yao Jingjing to recount the events and asked, “Am I being too sensitive by making a fuss about him recognizing a sister?”
Yao Jingjing replied bluntly, “Not at all! I think any woman who isn’t foolish would take issue with this kind of thing! Silly girl, aren’t you usually quick-witted? How come you couldn’t argue your point at such a crucial moment? Give him an example. Ask him how he’d feel if you recognized Wang Ruohai as your brother, and then this brother of yours begged you to attend a gathering, wanting to use you to connect with some powerful figure. You secretly took this brother along. Ask him how he’d feel about that. Wouldn’t that settle it? If he says it’s normal and not worth making a big deal over, I’ll buy a plane ticket immediately and kneel before him!”
Qian Fei felt slightly reassured and stopped questioning her character. However, she felt an indescribable sadness.
Yao Jingjing asked about her plans. Qian Fei replied, “Let it be. After all, he and I aren’t from the same world.”
Yao Jingjing scoffed, “Which world are you from? Which world is he from? Aren’t you both from the same poor, backward, developing Third World country? How are you not from the same world? Besides, didn’t Liu Huan sing in 2008, ‘You and I, heart to heart, we all live in the global village’? Everyone in the world is a villager in the same village. How are you and Li Yifei so special? Is one of you an alien or something?”
Qian Fei was confused, “Can’t you have a consistent viewpoint? You keep agreeing with me one moment and disagreeing the next!”
Yao Jingjing explained, “Actually, I want to say that regarding this brother-sister issue, Li Yifei was indeed wrong, but you don’t need to completely write him off over this ‘different worlds’ thing. Men don’t start off being sensible; you need to gradually train them. You haven’t even tried to train him and you’ve already written him off. Tell me honestly, won’t you regret it later?”
Qian Fei paused, then asked, “So what do you suggest? I’ve already said what I said, and from now on, we’ll just interact like ordinary people. He agreed to that too.”
Yao Jingjing sighed, “Since it’s come to this, just keep going. If he’s willing to swallow his pride and come back to you, consider if he’s still trainable. If he is, work on changing his ways. If he’s not, or if he doesn’t come back at all, just let him go completely.”
Qian Fei thought for a moment and asked, “What counts as him coming back to me?”
Yao Jingjing replied, “If he calls you within three days. If it’s more than three days and he contacts you, don’t bother with him. From then on, eat when you should eat, drink when you should drink, go on blind dates when you should. If you see him suffering, just happily add fuel to his fire of misery. Understand?”
Qian Fei said she understood and hung up.
She knew why Yao Jingjing said three days. Yao Jingjing had told her about it when she had a falling out with Lu Ze, explaining why she forgave him so quickly.
“He came after me so promptly, following me just one day later. I had given him three days. If he had come on any of those three days, I would have considered giving him a chance. But after three days, it would have been over. Three days is enough for a person to sort out their feelings. If they truly love someone, no matter how angry they are, they can’t endure more than three days without seeing that person. After three days, even if they come looking for you, both of your mindsets would have already changed. It’s like craving a certain food so badly that you feel you’ll go crazy if you don’t eat it. On the first day, you can’t get it, and you feel miserable. On the second day, you still feel miserable, but the pain isn’t as sharp as the first day. By the third day, you’ve gotten used to the pain, and once you’re used to it, it doesn’t hurt as much anymore; it becomes a kind of numbness. And on the fourth day, when you finally get to eat it, the satisfaction isn’t as intense as it would have been on the first day. You might even think, ‘Is this it? Was it worth all that obsessing?'”
Qian Fei hadn’t fully understood Yao Jingjing’s food analogy before. But over the next three days, she deeply experienced the wisdom of Yao Jingjing’s “three-day theory” through her feelings.
The first day was the hardest for her. Her emotions were mired in sadness and a sense of being lost. Although she and Li Yifei had agreed to just be friends, and he said he would respect her wishes, she didn’t know if it was Yao Jingjing’s words stirring up her feelings or if she had invested more in Li Yifei than she’d realized, but she kept thinking about whether that bad-tempered boy would come looking for her.
She couldn’t help checking her phone repeatedly, wondering if she had missed any messages. When someone called, she would startle and quickly grab the phone to look. Each time she saw it wasn’t him, her heart would sink with disappointment and desolation.
On the second day, there was still no word from him. Qian Fei’s sadness and sense of being lost gradually turned into a mix of numbness and sorrow.
By the third day, he still hadn’t sent a single message. Qian Fei’s sadness had completely transformed into numbness. She didn’t even cry, simply telling herself it was truly time to let go of this fleeting dream.
After she had made up her mind to bid farewell to the past, on the morning of the fourth day, she unexpectedly received a text from Li Yifei.
Li Yifei sent her two messages. The first one read: “Come to our company for a meeting this afternoon. We need to discuss some project issues. Can you find your way? If not, I’ll meet you downstairs.”
The second one said: “Still angry?”
Looking at these two messages, Qian Fei deeply experienced the feeling of finally getting that long-desired food on the fourth day.
Was this man, these two messages he sent, really worth her anxiously waiting for three days?
On the night of their argument, Li Yifei had forcibly dragged Dajun away from his computer desk and taken him to a bar, compelling him to drink together.
Dajun wailed all the way, begging Li Yifei to let him go. “Damn it, we have a group battle today, bro! With my awesome equipment, if I don’t join, our team is doomed! Please let me go back, bro!”
Li Yifei ignored him and took out his phone, pretending to call Dajun’s mother. Dajun cried out and snatched the phone away.
“Li Yifei, you’re such a jerk, a total jerk! What do you want?!”
Li Yifei put away his phone and said, “Nothing, just thirsty.”
Dajun looked at him and clicked his tongue twice. “Coming out to drink before it’s even dark, you’re either drowning your sorrows or planning to get wild after dark. I’m telling you, I’m very pure, don’t get any ideas about me!”
Li Yifei glared at him coldly and said, “Even your family’s Doberman is more attractive than you. As long as your dog is still alive, I’d have to be blind to have any ideas about you!”
Dajun’s face contorted, “You won’t even spare animals, you’re worse than a beast!”
Li Yifei smacked the back of Dajun’s head, “Shut up! I’m not in the mood for your nonsense today!”
Dajun asked what was wrong. After downing three glasses of whiskey, Li Yifei frowned and asked with a puzzled voice, “Do you think all women, no matter how special, open-minded, or tough they seemed at first, become overly sensitive after being in a relationship for a while?” He finished his fourth glass and continued, “Why are women like this? I’ve done so much for her and changed so much, can’t she see that? With one sentence about us not being from the same world, she negates everything! Fine, if she wants to end it, let’s end it. We’ll see if I’ll indulge her temper!”
Dajun listened to this long speech, blinked, and asked slyly, “Are you talking about Qian Fei? Did you two fight?”
Li Yifei, displeased by his expression, raised his hand and smacked the back of Dajun’s head again. “Whether we fought or not, what’s with that seemingly gleeful expression of yours?”
Dajun continued blinking, “I’m just wondering how serious your fight was if you’ve broken up completely, and if I might have a chance!”
Li Yifei raised his hand to hit him again, but Dajun dodged.
“Do you have a death wish? Still haven’t given up? Haven’t you heard a friend’s wife is off-limits’?”
Dajun remained cautious, avoiding another smack, and said, “I’ve only heard a friend’s wife – don’t hesitate’! Anyway, if you think she’s being overly sensitive and plan to treat her like a sister or something, I wouldn’t mind becoming your brother-in-law!”
Li Yifei grabbed an empty glass and threw it at Dajun’s face.
“Let me tell you, don’t even think about it! Give up that idea right now!”
After a while, Dajun cautiously edged back and said to Li Yifei, “Look, just mentioning the idea of pursuing her got you so angry that you forgot about our friendship since kindergarten and threw a weapon at me! If you care about her this much, why do you insist on maintaining your young master attitude? Aren’t you afraid you’ll drive her away? Do you think everyone is as devoted as me, sticking around despite your abuse for half a lifetime?”
Li Yifei kept a stern face and said, “If she leaves, she leaves. It’s not a big deal. You think I can’t live without her?”
Dajun looked at him weakly and said, “Based on your current behavior, I think you’re not far from being unable to live without her. Young master, you’ve never drunk away your sorrows over a woman before, have you?”
Li Yifei quickly raised his hand and smacked the back of Dajun’s head again, making him cry out in pain.
“I don’t understand. If she’s jealous, why can’t she just say she’s jealous? Why does she have to be so sensitive and talk about being from different worlds?”
Dajun was silent for a moment, then said weakly, “But I feel like she’s not being jealous. She’s seriously stating that you two aren’t compatible. I think she’s a pretty sincere tomboy. She’s not being sensitive; she’s being serious!”
Li Yifei squinted at him for a long while, making Dajun nervous, before asking ominously, “Tell me the truth, you’re not still interested in my woman, are you?”
Dajun rolled his eyes at him, “That’s none of your business! Anyway, don’t be too cocky. Even if I’m not interested, who knows if someone else might be? You refuse to indulge her quirks, but someone else might be more than happy to. Be careful, young master. If you put on too many airs, you might lose her!”
Li Yifei fell silent.
After a while, Dajun asked him what he planned to do.
Li Yifei said, “Let’s both cool down for now.”