That afternoon, Qian Fei brought the documents to Li Yifei’s company. The receptionist led her to the conference room. After a while, someone entered. Qian Fei turned to look; it was Li Yifei.
Li Yifei sat opposite her, staring intently as he asked, “Did you bring the documents?”
Qian Fei handed him the folder.
Li Yifei lowered his head, flipping through the folder. Without looking up, he suddenly asked, “Still angry?” Then he raised his head, looking at Qian Fei with raised eyebrows, “Your temper is even worse than mine!”
Another person pushed open the conference room door and entered. It was Zhao De.
Qian Fei looked at Li Yifei and said seriously, “Mr. Li, it’s work hours now. Let’s keep things professional.”
Zhao De sat down with a puzzled expression, looking from Li Yifei to Qian Fei, muttering in confusion, “What’s going on? Feifei, relax. Although Yifei passed the exam and got promoted to head of three departments, our friendship from playing cards together won’t change. You don’t need to be so formal!”
He muttered emotionally, but surprisingly, no one paid attention to him…
Li Yifei glared at Qian Fei with narrowed eyes, then lowered his head to flip through the documents again. “These are all copies. Where are the originals?”
Qian Fei replied, “The originals are at our company. If we need to submit the materials to the Securities Regulatory Commission tomorrow morning, I’ll bring them directly.”
Li Yifei closed the folder and looked up, saying, “I need you to bring the originals now.”
Qian Fei stared at him without blinking, “Is that necessary? The content of the copies is identical to the originals.”
Li Yifei insisted, “I’ve determined that I need the originals now.”
Qian Fei glared at him without speaking.
Zhao De, feeling the unusual atmosphere between the two, couldn’t keep up with the situation. “What’s wrong with you two? It feels like you’re trying to pick on each other.”
Li Yifei and Qian Fei both glared at him.
Qian Fei took a deep breath and stood up. “Alright, Mr. Li. I’ll go back to the company to get the originals now. Also, Mr. Li, please let me know if you need any other documents. I don’t want to come here only to find out you need something else.”
Li Yifei tapped his fingers lightly on the table. “Just bring the originals first, and we’ll see.”
Qian Fei took a deep breath, pulled out her chair, and left the conference room.
After watching her walk away through the glass wall, Li Yifei frustratedly covered his forehead, frowning with his eyes closed and letting out a muffled sigh.
He was truly becoming hopeless. In the past, he would have found this situation with other girls satisfying and gratifying. But now, with Qian Fei, why did he feel so frustrated and dejected?
Zhao De nudged him, “Hey, Mr. Li, did you take the wrong medicine? Why are you deliberately making things difficult for our Feifei?”
Li Yifei looked up, “You think I’m deliberately making things difficult for her?”
Zhao De nodded, “Putting on that face and making her go back to get the originals and all that. Isn’t that deliberately making things difficult?”
Li Yifei spread his hands, “Don’t you think the originals for tomorrow’s submission to the Securities Regulatory Commission should be brought to our company this afternoon for the overlapping seal?”
Zhao De paused. Put that way, it was indeed Qian Fei who had been negligent in her work.
“But couldn’t you have said it in a better way?” Zhao De said weakly.
Li Yifei glared at him, “Didn’t you hear her tell me to keep things professional?”
Zhao De glared back, “Well, she’s told you to go die many times before, but you didn’t do that either!”
Qian Fei was fuming back. In her heart, she cursed Li Yifei over and over, from his ancestors down to his entire family line.
When she got back to the company, she angrily retrieved the original documents. Before leaving the office, she saw other colleagues getting documents stamped.
She immediately slapped her forehead.
She had been so careless. With her mind wandering these past few days, she had forgotten about getting the overlapping seal on the documents.
Thinking about this, she started to feel that the curses she had mentally hurled at Li Yifei on the way were a bit too harsh. She should probably cut them in half, preserving some karma by only cursing his ancestors and sparing his family graves.
She asked Xiao Yuan to handle the stamp, adding her company’s overlapping seal, and then rushed back to Li Yifei’s company.
Li Yifei and she sat in the conference room, staring at each other, while Zhao De took the documents out to get them stamped.
Li Yifei crossed his arms and spoke first: “Do you feel particularly wronged?”
Qian Fei tried to remain calm as she said, “At first, yes, but it was indeed my oversight.”
Li Yifei paused, then said, “I’m not talking about the document issue today.”
Qian Fei frowned, “Mr. Li, I believe we’ve discussed keeping things professional during work hours.”
Li Yifei looked at his watch and said, “It’s 5:10 PM. We’re off work now.” He put his hand down and lightly tapped his interlocked fingers on the table. “It’s been quite a while. Shouldn’t you have cooled down by now?”
Qian Fei gathered her things and stood up. “Since we’re off work, I’ll be going. Zhao De can take the documents to the Securities Regulatory Commission tomorrow.”
She turned and walked out of the conference room.
She heard footsteps behind her. Li Yifei had followed her out.
He followed her to the elevator.
Qian Fei ignored him.
The elevator arrived, and Qian Fei stepped in.
Li Yifei followed her in.
The two stood side by side. Li Yifei, staring straight ahead, said in a low voice, “Can we stop this nonsense? If we keep going on like this, it’ll hurt our relationship.”
Qian Fei also stared straight ahead, remaining silent.
It wasn’t until they left the elevator and exited the building when there was no one else around, that Qian Fei stopped, turned around, looked up at Li Yifei, and said word by word: “Li Yifei, how come you still don’t understand? Do you think I was joking when I said we should just be friends? Or do you think I’m just throwing a tantrum or playing hard to get? Can you stop being so full of yourself? Can you seriously respect other people’s thoughts from their perspective?” She paused, took a breath, her voice filled with resignation, “Li Yifei, I’ll say it solemnly one more time: I’m not playing games. What I told you is true. We’re not suitable for each other.”
She finished speaking and turned to leave, leaving Li Yifei standing there, dumbfounded.
She was being serious with him!
Li Yifei started to feel scared.
From what he knew of Qian Fei, she was a person with an incredibly good temper and a very soft heart. She was most afraid of holding grudges against others, always empathetically considering others’ temperaments and personalities when speaking or acting, and doing her utmost to ensure that her words wouldn’t make others feel unpleasant or uncomfortable. With such a pushover personality, he never imagined she would truly harden her heart and stand firm against him.
Had he pushed this rabbit too far?
He began to reflect on himself. Had he been too confident before? Thinking that although Qian Fei hadn’t explicitly defined their relationship, she had feelings for him in her heart, so he indulged his temper and emotions as he always had.
Based on their previous interactions, whenever he was unhappy, she would scurry around, smiling, telling jokes, and making delicious food. She indulged his temper so much that he never even considered that one day, she would look at him with such determination and say: Li Yifei, I’m serious, we’re not suitable for each other.
He once heard a female childhood friend say that a woman’s tolerance for a man is inversely proportional to her love for him. The more she loves, the less she can tolerate even a speck of sand in her eye. When you’re not her boyfriend, she can calmly watch from the sidelines with a smile as you cheat, talk nonsense, or play with other women. But once you become her boyfriend, if she can still calmly watch from the sidelines with a smile as you do these things, it means she doesn’t love you at all. Otherwise, she’ll either cut you with scissors and then take care of you for the rest of your life, or she’ll cut ties with you completely and have nothing more to do with you.
He used to dismiss this idea, but now thinking about it, he felt it perfectly described his situation with Qian Fei.
In the past, he had zero tolerance for girls. If they threw tantrums or acted up, he’d tell them all to get lost, to go cool off wherever they liked. He never indulged their whims. When the other party was heartbroken and devastated, his emotional health bar was always full.
But this time, after this falling out with Qian Fei, he felt a bit worse for wear.
He spent three days calming down and waiting, waiting for Qian Fei to come to him like before, her saint-like personality kicking in, wanting to have a good talk like the nice person she was. He had it all planned out; he wouldn’t be too difficult. Just one meal of stir-fried eggplant strips, and he’d make up with her.
But three days passed, and Qian Fei showed no signs of reaching out.
For the first time, he realized that when this saint decided to act up, her temper could be quite formidable.
Over the three days, he went from being irritated on the first day, to anxious on the second day, to feeling lost on the third day, and finally to being unable to cope on the fourth day. He sadly realized that he might be falling for this woman for life.
The idea of “not indulging her bad habits” finally gave way to his longing for her on the fourth day.
On the fourth day, to save some face, he sent her a text message under the pretext of asking her to bring documents to the company: “Still not over it?”
These four words might not mean much to others, but for him, they were practically a milestone in his life—he had never lowered his head to a woman like this before.
As he was reluctantly lamenting his impending fall into unprincipled degradation, Qian Fei told him that she wasn’t just throwing a tantrum; she was serious.
He found this result hard to accept. For him, it was like being stabbed with a bloody knife, both psychologically and in terms of face.
After the initial indignation of having his pride hurt, he began to imagine what it would be like if he were to be a man of integrity and character. If he were to do as Qian Fei said from now on, and they just remained friends, how would he feel?
As he thought about it, he suddenly felt a dull pain in his chest.
He thought he absolutely couldn’t just let her have her way and end things like this. He couldn’t be the only one suffering from heartache.
Everyone in Li Yifei’s company felt that the pretty girl from the partnering company had been showing up quite frequently lately.
The receptionist gossiped with someone from the project department: “That girl in the conference room right now, she’s been coming almost every day lately, always saying she’s bringing documents for Mr. Li. What do you think, has she fallen for our Mr. Li?”
A female employee from the project department said: “I think that’s most likely! Our Mr. Li is young and promising. He’s not only a sponsor representative but I heard he also has his own company outside. And he’s super handsome too. If I didn’t know my place, I’d like him too!”
Another female employee from the project department said: “Even if she likes him, she should be more reserved, right? Isn’t she being too obvious?”
A male employee from the project department retorted: “Are you just jealous that she’s prettier and more attractive than you?”
The second female employee shot back: “What’s that supposed to mean? Have you fallen for her? If you have the guts, why don’t you just go for it?”
The male employee replied: “You know what, I might just do that! When she comes out of the conference room, I’ll ask for her business card!”
Zhao De, lying face-down on the desk, wearily shouted at the group of gossipers: “Alright, everyone, break it up! What’s wrong with your eyes? It’s our Mr. Li who’s trying every way to torment an innocent young lady. Can’t you see that?”
Qian Fei felt like she was going crazy.
Ever since that day when she stepped out of the elevator and cleared things up with Li Yifei, she felt that Li Yifei had been using work as an excuse to carry out personal revenge against her.
He could find reasons every day, whether it was missing this document or lacking that certification. He always had a way to make the boss point at her head and call her name, making her run back and forth to deliver materials to the partnering company.
It wasn’t enough that she delivered the materials each time. Li Yifei would also make her sit in the conference room and go through the documents page by page with him, making sure even the full-width and half-width punctuation marks were correct before letting her go back.
This went on for three days. During these three days, Qian Fei noticed that all the female employees in Li Yifei’s company were looking at her more and more strangely. Finally, while in the bathroom, like a cliché scene from a TV drama, she was squatting in one stall when she overheard two other women chatting in the adjacent stalls. Only then did she unravel the mystery hidden in those strange gazes.
It turned out they were gossiping about her having fallen for Li Yifei.
The gossip also included comments from other male colleagues about her.
It concluded with, “Do you think what Zhao De said is true? Is it our Mr. Li deliberately tormenting that girl?”
Then Qian Fei heard the two women wash their hands and leave the bathroom.
She tapped her numb legs and stood up, gritting her teeth as she decided that if the boss asked her to deliver documents again tomorrow, she would cry out, “Oh no! My low blood sugar is acting up!” and faint on the spot with her eyes closed. The boss could do whatever he wanted, but she was determined to do this!
Since that day when Qian Fei stepped out of the elevator and said she was indeed serious, Li Yifei couldn’t reach her anymore.
He sent her messages, but she didn’t reply.
He called her, but she didn’t answer.
He went to her home at Shoucheng International to find her, but she wouldn’t open the door.
He made a desperate decision to find the key himself and break in. So he squatted down to look for the spare key under the doormat. He didn’t find the key, but he did find a note that read: “Moved. Goodbye.”
Li Yifei was furious. He couldn’t believe he couldn’t make his presence felt.
After much thought, he came up with a plan—find reasons to make Qian Fei come to deliver documents.
He communicated directly with her boss, who then pressured her to “cooperate well with Mr. Li from the partnering company for a while.”
Every day, he eagerly waited for her to come. And every day when she came, he would detain her, nitpicking even the punctuation marks as if looking for faults. Several times, he saw her almost lose her temper because of his actions, but each time she managed to hold back at the last moment.
Every time he saw her like this, he felt a bit disappointed.
When they could argue, he blamed her for being too sensitive. Now, she wouldn’t even argue with him.
Zhao De told him that the female employees in the company had started spreading baseless rumors, saying that she kept finding excuses to come to the company because she had fallen for him.
He asked Zhao De: “So you just listened? Didn’t you say anything to help her?”
Zhao De replied: “I did say something. I said it wasn’t Feifei who liked you, but you who didn’t like her, so you were deliberately finding faults with her!”
He felt like kneeling before this blockhead Zhao De.
He asked irritably, “Why are we talking about useless things? Can’t you just tell them I’m interested in her?”
Zhao De was momentarily taken aback, then exclaimed, “What? You like Xiao Feifei too?”
Li Yifei was genuinely furious this time. “Who else could like her? Is it you?”
Zhao De shook his head, cradling his face in his hands. “I missed my chance! It’s from the Project Department Two. I asked Xiao Feifei for her business card yesterday!”
Li Yifei glared at Zhao De, his teeth clenched and made a resolute decision in his mind. Starting tomorrow, he needed to change his approach to make his presence known. He could no longer let her come to their company; it was time for him to go to hers!