Sometimes Qian Fei felt that Li Yifei was quite an extraordinary person. What others considered difficult, he always managed to accomplish quickly using his methods. Moreover, he never let her know how much effort or hardship he went through in the process. He would only casually say to her after the fact: “I’ve taken care of this for you. If you want to thank me, just hurry up and marry me.”
Qian Fei found this side of Li Yifei particularly manly.
This time was no different. In just a few days, Li Yifei had made good on his word and brought her to his company, even in the same department. He was her direct supervisor, and she became a colleague with Zhao De.
When she asked Li Yifei how he managed to be so efficient, he replied, “If we weren’t quick, we’d miss the exam registration deadline!”
The sponsor representative exam could only be registered through a securities company; individuals couldn’t register on their own. Seeing Li Yifei so attentive to her affairs, Qian Fei felt a warmth in her heart and an indescribable sense of gratitude.
A week later, she officially started working at the new company and, with Li Yifei’s help, registered for the sponsor representative exam.
The female employees who had gossiped about her before all looked surprised when they saw her.
Qian Fei imagined they might have another toilet stall meeting:
“My goodness, that woman is thorough! She even chased our Manager Li to our company!”
Imagining this scene, Qian Fei suddenly found it quite amusing.
When Zhao De saw her, he was completely shocked, his mouth gaping wide enough to swallow an egg: “Feifei? It’s you! I was wondering who it could be that made our Manager Li bang on the table and insist on hiring. I didn’t expect it to be you! That’s great, now the three of us can play Fight the Landlord together again!”
Qian Fei chuckled. She thought Zhao De was really quick to forget the pain, having already forgotten about the “six twos” incident.
With only two months left until the end of the year, it was the busiest time. Rumors said that the Securities Regulatory Commission was going to implement major reforms to the new stock issuance policy, and everyone was on edge waiting for new moves from the higher-ups.
During this busiest time, however, Qian Fei was fiercely protected by Li Yifei. He let her focus solely on studying and didn’t assign her any work. Or rather, the work that should have been assigned to her was done by him instead. He created every possible condition for her to study and review peacefully.
Qian Fei could sense that some people from other departments were quite dissatisfied with her behavior. She had mentioned to Li Yifei that maybe she should work on projects with them during the day and study at home in the evening.
Li Yifei didn’t agree.
He said, “You’ve already fallen behind others because you had to take care of your father. Now there’s only a month left, if you don’t give it your all, you definitely won’t pass the exam! If you don’t pass, I might not be able to protect you! I told the higher-ups that I brought you in because you would pass the sponsor representative exam!”
Qian Fei said, “But Zhao De secretly told me that people have started gossiping behind my back, wondering what the company leadership is thinking, why they’re paying someone to be idle all day just reading books. They say everyone wants to take the sponsor representative exam, why is she the only one who gets to focus on preparing for it!”
Li Yifei pondered for a moment and said, “Don’t mind those gossips. They’re just jealous that I dote on you so much! I love you and dote on you because I want to, what business is it of theirs? Just focus on studying and don’t worry about anything else. I’ll handle whatever comes up!”
One day later, after lunch, Li Yifei took Zhao De to a meeting at a company, leaving Qian Fei alone at her desk studying. At some point, the deputy general manager of the investment banking department strolled over, smiling and asking, “Qian Fei, what projects are you working on right now?”
Qian Fei answered as Li Yifei had instructed her beforehand: “I’m mainly following Manager Li on the hotel and CBD trading company IPO projects!”
The deputy general manager let out an “Oh,” still smiling but then sighed: “Ah, IPOs haven’t been approved for over a year now. The company’s performance is getting worse and worse, and people with ambition have all left. Xiao Qian, have you thought about changing jobs?”
Qian Fei was taken aback. Hadn’t she just changed jobs to come here? Change again? Was she supposed to have spring-loaded legs?
She shook her head, “Not for now!”
The deputy general manager smiled and said, “Is that so? Well, carry on with your work. I’m just taking a stroll after lunch!” He then walked back to his private office with his hands behind his back.
Qian Fei felt that this conversation had some other meaning. As it was almost time to leave work, Li Yifei returned to the company with Zhao De.
Li Yifei first went to report to the leadership, while Zhao De flew over to Qian Fei, indignantly saying, “It’s all your fault! You are a troublemaker! We used to be able to go straight home after finishing meetings at companies, but today that little brat Li Yifei insisted on dragging me back to the company, saying something about finishing today’s work today and reporting the meeting spirit to the leaders on the same day. Bah! He just wants to pick you up after work, does he think I can’t see through that?”
Qian Fei silently handed a bottle of mineral water to Zhao De.
“Drink some water. You’re spitting everywhere. Don’t faint from dehydration later!”
Zhao De took the water, snorted, and tossed his head, “You’re so annoying! Annoying! If it weren’t for you two, I’d be off work by now!”
After drinking the water, his expression changed from righteous indignation to gossipy mode, “By the way, Little Feifei, when did you two hook up? I was quite puzzled before why you suddenly treated me to dinner twice and kept asking roundabout questions about Yifei! Tell me the truth, did you two secretly get together right after that? I’m telling you, we’re good brothers who came out of the battlefields of Fight the Landlord together. It’s not right for you to keep this from me!”
Qian Fei silently raised her study guide to cover her face. She thought to herself how much he must love the phrase “in cahoots”…
Zhao De persisted, “Hey, Little Feifei, why are you hiding? Are you that thin-skinned? I’ve already suffered the loss of six twos from you. If you were going to be embarrassed, you should have been embarrassed then, not waiting until now!”
Qian Fei silently put down her book, looked at Zhao De with a forced smile, and said, “Brother De! Don’t worry, next time I’ll let you play the two first!” Just as she finished speaking, she heard someone chime in teasingly from the side, “Why are you calling him brother? He should be calling you sister-in-law! How can you call him that? Don’t you care about the moral values you hold dear?”
Qian Fei almost choked, struggling to turn her head to see Li Yifei with a righteous expression.
Zhao De grinned slyly, “I knew you two had something going on! You little liar, Feifei!”
Li Yifei walked over, helped Qian Fei pack up her books, pulled her up, and said, “Come on, let’s go home.” Then he turned to Zhao De, whose expression seemed a bit slow to catch up, and said, “I just said, this is your sister-in-law. Don’t call her Little Feifei anymore. Your lack of manners makes your brother very unhappy!”
Zhao De, a bit slow on the uptake, asked, “My brother’s unhappy? Who?”
Li Yifei raised an eyebrow and said, “Me!”
Zhao De’s mouth and eye corners started twitching.
Qian Fei burst out laughing.
As they were walking out of the office area, Li Yifei suddenly turned back and said, “By the way, Zhao De, when you have time, go to the hospital for a check-up. I saw you looking pale and sweating coldly during the meeting at the company today!”
Zhao De smiled and said, “It’s nothing! Maybe I haven’t been eating well lately, feeling a bit weak!”
Qian Fei looked at him smiling with a pale face, feeling a bit sour inside. He was alone in Beijing, with no one to take care of him, and he didn’t know how to take care of himself. She heard that he just bought whatever was convenient to eat every day.
She nudged Li Yifei’s arm and said, “Tomorrow’s the weekend, let’s invite Zhao De over for dinner!”
Li Yifei looked down at her, raising an eyebrow, and said, “You’re trying to bring another man home right in front of me. Is that appropriate?”
Qian Fei rolled her eyes at him and turned to ask Zhao De, “I’m planning to invite you over for dinner tomorrow, cook something good to nourish you. Will you come?”
Zhao De nodded vigorously like a pecking chicken, “Sure, sure! Can I request dishes? I want to eat the legendary stir-fried eggplant strips!”
Qian Fei couldn’t help but laugh, “Can’t you be a bit more ambitious? All that effort is just for stir-fried eggplant strips! Why don’t you ask for a meat dish or something? Don’t be afraid of fancy names. As long as you dare to ask, I can make it!”
Zhao De grinned and said, “Then I’ll bring a whole squirrel tomorrow, and you can make me a ‘squirrel climbing a tree’!”
Qian Fei snorted, “With your understanding of dish names if you want to eat ‘husband and wife lung slices’ tomorrow, you’d have to bring me a live couple, right?”
On the way home, Qian Fei recounted her conversation with the deputy general manager to Li Yifei.
Li Yifei pondered for a while and told Qian Fei, “I’ll drop you off home first, then I need to take care of something.”
Qian Fei got home, prepared dinner, and waited for quite a while before Li Yifei returned.
Qian Fei asked him where he had been, and Li Yifei said, “I went to visit the deputy general manager’s home.”
Qian Fei hesitated for a moment before finally asking, “You didn’t go to slap him, did you?”
Li Yifei smirked, “If you weren’t taking the exam, I would have slapped him! What right does he have to try to get rid of you? But since you need to take the exam and can’t lose this job, I had to hold back for now. I went to his house to tell him I won’t take my project bonus, and I’ll have the finance department directly transfer that money to his account as a project development fee.”
Qian Fei looked at him with watery eyes, not knowing what to say.
Li Yifei reached out and pinched her face, shaking it back and forth, “Don’t look at me like that. I might get impulsive and can’t hold back from forcing myself on you, which would give the landlord an excuse to demand rent payment in flesh from the tenant. That wouldn’t be good! I’m doing this just to let you know how good I am to you. After you finish the exam, hurry up and marry me. Don’t hold back anymore!”
Listening to him say such lewd things with a frank face, the grateful little bubbles in Qian Fei’s eyes instantly burst.
After dinner, Qian Fei asked Li Yifei to text Zhao De and ask what time he would come over tomorrow and what else he wanted to eat besides stir-fried eggplant strips. Zhao De replied that he’d be happy with any four dishes Qian Fei could make, as long as they weren’t the most expensive ones.
Li Yifei cursed with a smile, “This shameless guy dares to order my woman around like this. I’ll beat him to death later,” but then replied with two words: “Okay.”
Zhao De also asked if he should bring a deck of cards to play Fight the Landlord. Qian Fei said sure, but Li Yifei said, “What do you mean ‘sure’? He can eat and then get lost. You need to study. After you pass the exam, forget to Fight the Landlord, you can fight the U.S. President for all I care.”
Qian Fei giggled and went back to her room to study.
Early the next morning, Qian Fei and Li Yifei went downstairs to the market to buy groceries.
Around 9 AM, Qian Fei asked Li Yifei to check if Zhao De was up. Li Yifei called, but no one answered.
At about 10 AM, Qian Fei asked Li Yifei to try calling again. Still no answer.
By noon, they were both getting a bit impatient, but Zhao De still wasn’t answering his phone.
Qian Fei asked Li Yifei, “What’s this guy up to?”
Li Yifei said, “Probably sleeping. His sleep schedule is notoriously chaotic.” He thought for a moment and told Qian Fei, “You start cooking. I’ll keep calling him. By the time the food is ready, I don’t believe he still won’t be up!”
So Qian Fei tied on an apron and got busy in the kitchen.
By 1 PM, all the dishes were ready, but Li Yifei still couldn’t get through to Zhao De’s phone.
The two had become a bit impatient and angry during the wait.
Li Yifei said angrily, “When this guy wakes up, just wait and see how I’ll deal with him!”
Qian Fei added, “Whether you’re going to slap him or kick him, count me in!”
By 2 PM, the dishes had gone cold, and Zhao De still wasn’t answering his phone.
Li Yifei and Qian Fei had lost all patience.
“Let’s not wait anymore. Reheat the dishes, and we’ll eat first. If we wait any longer, you’ll get a stomachache from hunger,” Li Yifei said.
Qian Fei got up to reheat the food in the kitchen.
As she was bringing the reheated dishes back, she heard Li Yifei’s phone ring. She thought it was Zhao De, but then heard Li Yifei call out another colleague’s name.
She watched as Li Yifei answered the phone, his face suddenly turning pale.
Her heart sank.
After Li Yifei hung up the phone, she nervously asked, “What’s wrong?”
Li Yifei looked at her, his eyes red-rimmed, his voice hoarse, and said, “Zhao De is gone. It probably happened around midnight last night. Sudden heart attack!”
The dish in Qian Fei’s hands crashed to the floor.
On Monday morning, Li Yifei and Qian Fei attended Zhao De’s funeral together. Many colleagues came as well. At the funeral, Qian Fei cried heartbrokenly.
This was the second time, after her mother, that someone had left her side.
Thinking about the times they used to banter and play Fight the Landlord at lunchtime, how he had come to gossip with her just two days ago with that silly grin, how he had insisted on having stir-fried eggplant strips the night before last, how she had prepared a table full of dishes waiting for him yesterday, but in the end, he couldn’t eat a single bite – Qian Fei was overwhelmed with grief.
Life was so fragile. It could end in an instant, without giving the living any time to prepare.
As the company leader stood in front of the body reading the eulogy, Qian Fei’s heart ached with sadness. Such a good person, such a warm-hearted friend, gone just like that. He didn’t even ask if those still living were ready to let him go.
Coming out of the funeral home, Qian Fei’s eyes were swollen. Li Yifei suggested she take a day off to rest at home, but Qian Fei shook her head, “I don’t want to be alone at home.”
So Li Yifei took her back to the company with him.
At noon, Qian Fei had no appetite and didn’t go downstairs for lunch. She walked to the break room, resting her forehead against the glass, staring blankly outside. In the bustling Financial Street, there was no longer anyone named Zhao De.
Someone approached from behind.
“What are you thinking about?” It was Li Yifei’s voice.
Qian Fei felt a lump in her throat. “I was thinking that we should treat ourselves and the people around us better while we’re still alive. If there’s something we want to do, we should seize the moment and act on it immediately—no hesitations, no worries about gains or losses. Otherwise, one day, it might be too late!”
She straightened up, turned to face him, and looked up with tears welling in her eyes. “Right now, I just want to do one thing!” She opened her arms and hugged Li Yifei, resting her head against his chest. She murmured, “I just want to hold you like this!” As she closed her eyes, tears slipped down her lashes. “Li Yifei, please hold me too!”
Li Yifei wrapped his arms around her tightly, pulling her close.