The sudden passing of Zhao De deeply affected Qian Fei.
She understood a principle: one shouldn’t suppress their emotions. If you want to do something, do it bravely without hesitation or numerous concerns. Otherwise, if one day you can’t do it due to an unexpected departure, it would leave an irreparable regret for both the living and the deceased.
She calmed herself and thought carefully about many things. She felt her previous positioning and attitude towards Li Yifei were indeed a bit affected. In the past, she thought she was being thoughtful, polishing Li Yifei, discerning whether he was truly a lifelong partner. But now, she felt she was just wasting her life.
Why have so many concerns? Life is so short, and accidents are waiting who knows where. How can one not seize the moment for joy?
In the morning, on their way to work together, at a red light, Li Yifei reached over to hold her hand. At that moment, a surge of emotion welled up in her heart. She didn’t say, half-jokingly as usual, “Men and women shouldn’t touch casually, don’t be frivolous.” Instead, she gripped his hand tightly in return.
Li Yifei turned to look at her in surprise, letting out a “Huh?” and said, “You’re very obedient today!”
Qian Fei turned her head, looked at him seriously, and said, “Li Yifei, let’s officially start dating today!”
Li Yifei was stunned, not even noticing when the light turned green.
The cars behind honked furiously. Li Yifei glanced at Qian Fei, then shifted his gaze back to shift gears and move forward.
After the car was driving smoothly, Li Yifei looked ahead and asked, “What’s going on with you?”
Qian Fei said, “I originally thought I’d carefully consider what kind of relationship to develop with you after I finished my sponsor representative exam. But now, I feel nothing is more important than seizing the moment for joy! I don’t care anymore. Even if there comes a day when you grow tired of me, I’m ready to take the risk. We can’t let one bad possibility stop us from enjoying a good process!”
Li Yifei remained silent, his fingers tapping on the steering wheel in a wave-like pattern.
Qian Fei nudged him and asked, “What are you thinking? I’ve had an epiphany about life, and you’re just sitting there not saying a word. Is that appropriate?”
Li Yifei glanced at her and said, “All along, it’s been me chasing you. Now that you’re finally chasing me for once, can’t I prolong the time of being pursued a bit to experience the torment of being wooed and torment the wooer in return?”
Qian Fei looked at his smug and tsundere demeanor and couldn’t help but laugh helplessly.
On November 30th, Qian Fei calmly headed to the exam venue.
A week later, she checked her results on the Securities Association website.
She passed!
Among the several Beijing branches of the company, only four people passed this time, and the other three had already taken the exam many times and were older. Thus, the young Qian Fei became famous overnight, becoming the only female prospective sponsor representative in their department and the youngest female prospective sponsor in the entire company.
On the day the results were known, the vice president’s attitude towards Qian Fei changed dramatically. He patted Li Yifei’s shoulder and said, “Young Li, you were indeed right! Little Qian passed on her first try!”
Qian Fei proposed to treat the department to dinner after work that evening.
She told Li Yifei, “I want to thank everyone for tolerating me when I was only focused on studying and not working!”
Li Yifei raised an eyebrow and smiled at her, “Then you should thank me, I did your share of work!” After laughing, he patted her shoulder, “Go ahead and treat them to a meal. After all, you’ll be their leader in the future. It’s good to build relationships now, it’ll make work easier later.”
Qian Fei was startled by his words and asked, “How would I become their leader? Aren’t you the leader of our department?”
Li Yifei smiled, “I’ve probably reached the top in this field, right? So I might not continue in this line of work for much longer.” He patted her head, “I need to train you up quickly!”
Qian Fei thought for a moment and asked, “And then?”
Li Yifei said, “Then this world will be yours, and I’ll go do what I should do.”
Qian Fei wanted to ask him what he meant by “what he should do,” but then remembered the import-export company he had opened outside, so she didn’t pursue the question further.
She thought that the “things he should do” probably meant expanding that company.
For the entire month of December, Li Yifei took Qian Fei to Zhejiang to work on a private placement bond project. This project wasn’t very challenging and went smoothly, so Li Yifei felt it didn’t test Qian Fei. What he wanted to do was an additional issuance project, which would allow Qian Fei to sign as the project co-sponsor, and after the issuance was completed, Qian Fei could officially register as a sponsor representative.
In late December, the on-site work for the private placement bond project was completed. Li Yifei brought Qian Fei and the project team back to Beijing.
Before the end of the month, they submitted the materials for issuing the private placement bond to the Shanghai Stock Exchange for filing. This was the first time Qian Fei had completed a project as a core team member. Although the project wasn’t large, it was extremely significant for her.
On December 31st, Qian Fei woke up early and saw Li Yifei sitting in the living room.
She asked him why he was up so early.
Li Yifei answered indirectly, “Do you know about the ‘1314’ saying?”
Qian Fei paused for a moment, then nodded.
In the past couple of days, countless netizens had been frantically posting on Weibo: “On December 31, 2013, the person who spends New Year’s Eve with you will be with you from ’13 to ’14, and you’ll be together for a lifetime!”
Qian Fei smiled and asked, “Are you indirectly expressing your love for me?”
Li Yifei squinted at her with a smile, his expression slightly frivolous, but his voice and words sincere and emotional: “Today, we’re not going anywhere. We’ll stay at home, just the two of us, and quietly welcome the New Year. During the day, we’ll enjoy each other’s company at home. In the evening, you can stir-fry some eggplant strips for me, and I’ll cook rice for you. Let’s make a good start for the ‘1314’ that comes after tonight, for the lifetime that follows!”
Qian Fei looked at him and smiled happily.
On January 1st, Li Yifei received a phone call. After this call, he looked gloomy and unhappy.
From the snippets of conversation she overheard, Qian Fei judged that the call was probably from Li Yifei’s father.
She couldn’t hear clearly what they were arguing about, and when she asked Li Yifei, he wouldn’t tell her.
After the New Year’s Day holiday, the company headquarters received a new project and decided to pass it to the Beijing branch. It was an additional issuance for a listed company. Several departments in the Beijing branch were eager to take on this project. Li Yifei, to help Qian Fei register as a sponsor representative quickly, exerted effort both openly and behind the scenes, and finally won the project amid fierce competition.
He led Qian Fei and others from the department to form a project team and went on a business trip to another city.
In Qian Fei’s view, Li Yifei was at his most charismatic when working. His abilities and talents were fully displayed. He seemed to have an innate leadership quality. Although young, every analysis and decision he made was decisive, accurate, and convincing. Sometimes, being commanded by him even felt like a kind of enjoyment to her.
This time was different from before. At work, Li Yifei’s requirements for her were unusually strict, almost to the point of being harsh.
At first, due to carelessness, she mixed up the receivables and payables accounts when organizing the financial data of corporate clients and suppliers. Li Yifei gave her a severe scolding, reprimanding her for making such a basic mistake. When he scolded her, he didn’t hold back, doing it in front of everyone, his tone severe and his words harsh.
She was scolded to the point of tears welling up in her eyes.
Later, back at the hotel, Li Yifei came to knock on her door.
She was upset and didn’t want to open it. Li Yifei just kept waiting outside.
A few minutes later, her frustration dissipated. She opened the door.
His first words upon entering were, “Are you angry with me?”
She nodded, “You criticized me as if I were a child, your words and tone were too harsh. What’s worse, it was in the name of work, so I had to take it and couldn’t fight back like usual. It was too uncomfortable!”
He raised his hand and stroked her head as if petting a cat or dog, “Jinjin, isn’t there a saying ‘the deeper the love, the stricter the discipline’? I’m doing this because I want you to grow up quickly. I understand you; you’re very smart, but your nature is too casual. Without someone whipping you, you won’t put in your full effort to move forward. I can’t protect you for too long; you need to be able to stand on your own feet as soon as possible!” He patted her cheek and asked, “Are you still angry now?”
Qian Fei thought for a moment and shook her head, “I don’t seem to be angry anymore, but for some reason, after hearing your long speech, I feel a bit inexplicably sad. What do you mean you can’t protect me for too long? Is there something I don’t know about to happen?”
Li Yifei raised an eyebrow and smiled at her: “Things that are about to happen are always unknown. Don’t overthink it, just focus on the project!”
After that, Qian Fei rarely made mistakes. Under Li Yifei’s iron-fisted special training, she grew rapidly.
Sometimes Qian Fei was puzzled. Li Yifei was only a year older than her, but his ability at work was so much stronger than hers. She asked him how such a gap between people is formed. After all, they both grew up eating rice and receiving the same nine years of compulsory education. Even though he had studied abroad, she hadn’t been idle either, studying at one of the best universities in China. How could a difference of about 300 days in age create such a big gap in life?
Li Yifei didn’t explain too much, just told her one sentence: “In business matters, young master I have been immersed since childhood, so it’s inevitable that my abilities are a bit superior.”
Qian Fei thought this might have something to do with his father who ran a private business.
Once, while chatting, she asked Li Yifei again what his father did, asking Li Yifei if he was a rich second generation.
Li Yifei thought for a moment and then told her: “My dad does run a private business, just a bit better than the average private business owner. As for me, to be honest, I’m quite averse to the term ‘rich second generation’. If possible, I’d like to be a rich first-generation myself! I think I can do that!” It’s just that the rich first-generation old man above him wouldn’t give him the chance. That old man had created the family business, and he couldn’t just let it go to pursue his path. No matter how much they fought, he was still his biological father.
Listening to Li Yifei’s confident words, Qian Fei felt that she had the courage, to choose such an arrogant person among thousands of people.
Qian Fei’s ability at work gradually improved. However, the trouble brought by her personality was still significant.
Corporate leaders often made some requests, and Qian Fei’s inability to refuse caused many problems for the work. Li Yifei severely reprimanded her for this, telling her: “You must change this nature of yours! Always being soft-hearted and compromising, unable to stick to your own opinions, satisfying whatever the company says, constantly modifying plans for them, causing the plans to almost deviate from policy requirements, this is not allowed! You should be tougher, learn to stick to your views, you should propose the most suitable plan based on the company’s situation, and then have the company try to cooperate with you! After all, in issuance, you are the expert, the leader, you need to have a say! You must stand straight, and have your own opinions, otherwise, even if you register as a sponsor representative, you’ll never be able to handle a project on your own!”
His words hit Qian Fei’s heart hard. She listened to him, trying hard to change her style of dealing with people and work interactions, making herself no longer a pushover, no longer a fool, and no longer accommodating others without principles.
She gradually developed her temper and edges. When she needed to argue with people, she no longer easily compromised. She also gradually formed her style of handling matters. When refusing people, she did so tactfully and reasonably, making people feel like a spring breeze.
And she didn’t know that in Li Yifei’s eyes, she had unknowingly grown into a capable, charming, and attractive woman.
At the end of January, Qian Fei went home for the New Year.
They had originally agreed that Li Yifei would go with her, but just before departure, Li Yifei told her that something had come up in his family. His old man had another checkup and found his heart wasn’t very good, so he had to go home.
With Zhao De’s incident, now everyone almost changed color at the mention of heart problems. Qian Fei urged Li Yifei not to play the father-son estrangement game anymore. While everyone was still healthy and alive, enjoying family happiness was better than anything else.
During the New Year period, they kept in touch by phone.
After she returned from home after the New Year, she found that Li Yifei had become subtly anxious.
He told her that they must complete the project as soon as possible, and must let her register as a sponsor representative as soon as possible.
Soon after, the project was completed. Not long after, the company’s additional shares were successfully issued.
Qian Fei finally registered as an official sponsor representative.
On the night Qian Fei registered as a sponsor representative, Li Yifei told her: “Jinjin, I have to resign.”