By the next weekend, Li Yifei was so busy he didn’t even have time to rest. This time, Qian Fei was genuinely curious about what Li Yifei was up to. She couldn’t help but send him a WeChat message: “You’re not so in love with work because you hired a gorgeous 36D secretary or something, are you?”
Li Yifei sent back a photo showing a room full of men organizing documents in a huge conference room.
Qian Fei looked at it with great interest. Liao Shiyu, who was nearby, asked what she was looking at that elicited such an emphatic response.
Qian Fei handed her the phone and said, “I didn’t expect Li Yifei’s own company to be so impressive. Look at that conference room, it’s quite grand, almost like a cinema!” She paused, then suddenly changed her tone, “You don’t think the whole company is just one luxurious conference room, do you?” She couldn’t help but laugh, “Though that style would suit his flashy, vain, and quirky personality!”
Liao Shiyu took the phone and looked at the photo, the corners of her mouth twitching.
This was the first conference room at the Qiansheng Group headquarters, capable of accommodating hundreds of people. Generally, mid-level and above staff held large meetings here, so of course it was luxurious and impressive.
She couldn’t help but find it amusing that someone as single-minded as Qian Fei, almost to the point of stupidity, didn’t irritate her at all.
Before returning the phone, her eyes caught something in the photo. She paused.
In one corner of the photo, there was a shadowy figure with their head bowed. She zoomed in on the image.
Although it was blurry, she could be certain whose head it was.
Qian Fei leaned over and asked, “What are you looking at?”
She casually exited the image and returned the phone, saying, “Nothing, just checking if I recognized anyone working overtime with your boyfriend.”
Qian Fei took back the phone, “Did you recognize anyone? Oh right, you must know Da Jun, but he doesn’t seem to be working overtime. He seems to only manage investments, not operations. Come to think of it, I’ve heard Li Yifei mention this company. He started it with Da Jun, and the initial capital all came from Da Jun. Later, when it became profitable, Li Yifei paid Da Jun back for his share of the investment.”
Liao Shiyu raised an eyebrow, “You know Jun Cheng? Back then, he tricked me out of my New Year’s money to play online games. I told his mother, and she beat him so badly he almost got hemorrhoids. He had to sleep on his stomach for a month. After that, he officially cut ties with me.”
The content of her words sounded tragic and final, but her tone didn’t show any regret or nostalgia, making Qian Fei think that Jun Cheng’s life was incomparably miserable.
Liao Shiyu suddenly said, “Speaking of which, it’s been a long time since I’ve visited Jun Cheng’s mother’s jade store. Why don’t we go take a look?”
Qian Fei thought that since Li Yifei was working overtime, she’d be bored alone anyway, so she agreed. But before going back to her room to change clothes, she suddenly paused and asked Liao Shiyu, “How much money should I bring so I don’t feel uneasy the moment I step into Jun Cheng’s mother’s store?”
Liao Shiyu smiled slightly, with a hint of mischief: “As long as you have concrete evidence of Jun Cheng playing online games, his mother won’t charge you a penny. No matter what you like in her store, even if it’s the most expensive item, she’ll give it to you for free as a thank-you for helping her discipline her son back onto the right path.”
Qian Fei was stunned.
She thought Jun Cheng’s mother was quite an interesting character.
Qian Fei excitedly asked Li Yifei if he had any photos of Da Jun playing online games.
Li Yifei asked what she needed them for, and Qian Fei explained that Liao Shiyu was taking her to Da Jun’s mother’s store.
Li Yifei immediately and generously sent several photos of Da Jun squatting on a chair, picking at his feet while playing games, despite being busy. He added a message: “That’s all for now. If you like a lot of things but Jun Cheng’s mother doesn’t give them all to you, remember to ask me for more. I have plenty more photos on my office computer upstairs, guaranteed to make Auntie Jun willingly give away things until she’s bankrupt!”
Qian Fei happily sent back a red lips emoji.
In the end, with these photos, Qian Fei righteously (and gleefully) received a pair of bright green jade pendants.
As Qian Fei was leaving the store, the beautiful and charming Mrs. Jun was furiously calling Jun Cheng, scolding him: “You little bastard, come to the store right now, or I’ll send you to your father to beat you to death!”
Qian Fei was startled and couldn’t help but ask, “Little bastard? Is Auntie Jun from Northeast China?”
Liao Shiyu said, “Yes, usually she’s as gentle as a painting, only revealing her true nature when Jun Cheng’s online gaming drives her hysterical.”
Qian Fei laughed so hard she shook: “What does Da Jun’s father do? He sounds even more intimidating than his mother!”
Liao Shiyu said, “He’s in real estate, with a military background. He rarely speaks and usually reasons with his son using a leather whip.”
Qian Fei felt that Da Jun’s family was truly unique, with each member being an eccentric character.
The jade pendants were a matching pair, a sister set. Qian Fei generously gave one to Liao Shiyu.
After Liao Shiyu put it around her neck, she said to Qian Fei, “Let’s take a photo together!” She waved her phone.
Qian Fei put on her pendant too, and they took a selfie with their heads together.
Then Liao Shiyu looked at the photo and asked Qian Fei, “Can I post this photo on my Moments and show it off?”
Qian Fei nodded, “Sure!”
Liao Shiyu asked, “What do you think I should write as a caption?”
Qian Fei giggled mischievously: “Write: ‘Accidentally got a pair of sister pendants with a friend. Special thanks to Jun Cheng, please don’t ever stop playing games!'”
Liao Shiyu couldn’t help but smile too.
After posting the photo and caption to her Moments, she suddenly asked Qian Fei, “I just remembered something. Do you think it’s okay to add an ex-boyfriend on WeChat after breaking up?”
Qian Fei said, “I don’t think so. There’s no need. At least I didn’t.”
Liao Shiyu was silent for a moment, then said, “By the way, Qian Fei, we haven’t added each other on WeChat yet!”
Qian Fei slapped her forehead and took out her phone to scan Liao Shiyu’s QR code.
They wandered around for a while longer, during which Liao Shiyu kept checking her phone and occasionally typing something. After a while, her phone suddenly rang.
Liao Shiyu looked at her phone and said to Qian Fei, “Sorry Qian Fei, can you wait for me at the coffee shop ahead? I need to take this call.”
Qian Fei agreed and walked to the nearby Starbucks, ordered a coffee, and sat down to wait.
Feeling bored while waiting, she opened WeChat and started scrolling through Moments.
She saw Liao Shiyu’s comment under the photo and caption she had posted.
She didn’t know who Liao Shiyu was replying to, but the content was: “What’s the rush? I don’t bite, haha.”
She glanced at it briefly, didn’t pay much attention, and continued scrolling. Then she saw that the shameless person who insisted on renaming himself “Interstellar Handsome” had also posted a Moments message: “Jin Jin, I’m hungry!”
Qian Fei almost spat out her coffee.
She replied: “Try practicing the Sunflower Manual, you won’t be hungry after that.”
Just as she finished replying, Liao Shiyu returned.
She looked as if she had just argued with someone, seeming a bit tired, “Qian Fei, let’s go home.”
So they got up and headed home.
On the way back, Qian Fei bought some groceries. After they got home, she went to the kitchen to wash and prepare the food. She left her phone on the living room table.
While Qian Fei was frying scallions in the kitchen, her phone rang. She ran out to check.
It was Wang Ruohai.
She answered the phone and told Wang Ruohai, “Wang Ruohai, wait a moment, I’ve got oil heating in the kitchen, it might catch fire soon!” She put the phone on the table and ran back to the kitchen.
Liao Shiyu, who had been sitting on the sofa watching TV, silently stood up, walked to the table, picked up the phone, and said softly, “Wang Ruohai, we just agreed, if you tell Qian Fei about our previous relationship, I’ll show her all our old text messages, photos, and videos. Didn’t you say that you had betrayed her once, hurt her, and didn’t want her to be hurt a second time?”
Wang Ruohai’s voice on the other end was pleading and helpless, “Liao Shiyu, what’s the point of doing this?”
Liao Shiyu chuckled lightly: “It’s very satisfying. You’ve forgotten too many things, I need to help you remember.”
Wang Ruohai said, “If you have any issues, come at me. Can we leave her out of this?”
Liao Shiyu’s voice was barely audible: “You’re so stupid, don’t you understand? The more you protect her, the more unwilling I am to let go.” After saying this, she hung up the phone and sat back on the sofa, continuing to watch TV as if nothing had happened.
When Qian Fei came out of the kitchen again, she found that the call had ended.
She called Wang Ruohai back and asked what he wanted.
Wang Ruohai hesitated for a moment and said, “It’s nothing, just wanted to ask how you’ve been doing lately.”
Li Yifei had been observing Wang Ruohai from the shadows.
He found that although this unfaithful man had questionable character, his workability was still good.
Looking at this person, he felt increasingly annoyed.
He could have found an excuse to fire him, but thinking about it, doing so would make himself look petty. His character wouldn’t allow him to abuse his power in such a low-class way.
Sometimes he wondered how he could make this man realize that the ex-girlfriend he had once abandoned had found a second spring and that the quality and appearance of this second spring was incomparable to a mere mid-level manager like him. Whenever he imagined Wang Ruohai’s expression of regret and unwillingness upon learning that the heir to the company he worked for was this second spring, he would feel almost giddy with satisfaction.
But later he gave up on this idea.
He felt that the greatest punishment for this man was not to see his ex-girlfriend climbing to a higher branch far beyond his reach but to see how the person he had once given up had, through her efforts, become so brilliant, dazzling, and powerful.
Shining through someone else’s light is not as good as emitting one’s light.
He knew that such an opportunity would come soon. He had been constantly negotiating and confronting the old man to make this opportunity happen.
He not only wanted to prove to the old man that the woman he had chosen was one in a million, but also to make Wang Ruohai, who had once misjudged her, weep and repent before his woman: he had been blind, and he deserved to lose happiness for his mistake.
Thinking of Wang Ruohai led him to think of the woman he had cheated with. So during a break from overtime work, he couldn’t help but gossip with Deputy General Manager Uncle Liao.
He was just killing time, casually asking someone out of boredom, not expecting that the esteemed Deputy General Manager would know about the private life and secrets of a mid-level employee.
But Uncle Liao, to his surprise, looked ashamed and sighed, wringing his hands and pinching his forehead, saying, “I told old Li not to try to match you with Shiyu. You’d find out about her and Wang Ruohai sooner or later, but your dad wouldn’t listen to me!”
Li Yifei was shocked.
It turned out that the woman Wang Ruohai had cheated with was Liao Shiyu.
And at this very moment, Liao Shiyu was living in his and Qian Fei’s home.
He could no longer sit still. He grabbed his jacket and left immediately.
An uncontrollable anger rose in his heart.
In the future, he would have to tell Qian Fei why he would never like this beautiful childhood friend.
Because he disliked women who were skilled at playing mind games without caring about hurting others.