Love Has Fireworks - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Boyfriend Borrows Money

When Yao Jingjing was speaking with her over the phone, she asked her, "Who triggered you like this? Didn't we burn our books on graduation day and swear never to study again, and whoever works themselves to death studying is a coward?"

Qian Fei replied, "The problem is, when you see a living, breathing, nitpicking guy who does nothing but pamper himself, pose, and shirk work every day, who wishes he could go his whole life without lifting a finger, who acts incredibly cocky but is highly skilled at bickering with his girlfriend—someone you've never taken seriously and whom you wish you could look down upon and despise from an angle approaching a right triangle, thinking he's just the absolute ultimate ornamental vase... But then suddenly, one day, you discover that this isn't an ornamental vase at all; this is a freaking magic jar! And it's the kind where a deity can pop out from inside to give you a massive fright while casually showing off his god-tier skills!"

Yao Jingjing smattered her lips twice and said, "I get it now. You've been triggered by that tsundere tenant of yours! Truly rare. Back then, Wang Ruohai exhausted the cruelest words in the world trying to prod you to go to the self-study room, and he couldn't even manage to move your backside half an inch out of the blankets. How come an arrogant little tenant gives you such massive motivation now?"

Qian Fei said with absolute righteousness, "That's because back then, Wang Ruohai was one of our own. In front of your own people, you don't need to save face. He could say whatever he wanted—if he said I was lazy, I'd agree; if he said I was shameless, I'd accept it. But Li Yifei is an outsider. In front of outsiders, we fine daughters of China must fight to hold our heads high!" She paused, then angrily rebuked Yao Jingjing, "Wait a minute, didn't we agree earlier that we wouldn't bring up Wang Ruohai anymore?!"

Yao Jingjing begged for mercy: "Fine, fine, fine! I won't bring him up anymore, alright? But seriously, why are you acting like a psycho? We were chatting perfectly fine and you suddenly flared up. If we're not talking about Wang Ruohai, let's talk about Hu Zining. How have things been going between you two lately? Has he followed up on his efforts and tried to sleep with you again?"

Qian Fei let out two chuckles and squeaked in a pinched voice, "How can one just sleep together at the drop of a hat? This lady plans to reserve the most beautiful version of herself for her husband to thoroughly enjoy on their wedding night!"

Yao Jingjing made a retching sound: "Can you be any more shameless? You talk as if you're still a fresh, delicious, innocent maiden!"

Qian Fei bantered with her for a few more words, hung up the phone, and amid the chirping and squabbling sounds from next door, entered a state of meditative focus to study her Certified Public Accountant materials.

The next evening after work, Hu Zining asked her out for dinner and a movie. The movie was a blockbuster with an artistic focus that bordered on being adult-rated. The leading actor and actress on the big screen felt each other up and kissed like there was no tomorrow, and from time to time, the sharp sound of the male lead ripping the female lead's clothes apart could be heard. Watching this movie seemed to make Hu Zining highly emotional. The moment they stepped out of the cinema, he dragged Qian Fei into a corner, wanting to kiss her passionately like there was no tomorrow as well. Qian Fei recalled that she hadn't let him past her teeth the previous few times. Realizing it wouldn't be good to keep defending like a strictly chaste maiden, she quietly relaxed her jaw.

Consequently, Hu Zining made a straight drive inward, his tongue thrusting forward to kiss her passionately.

She was kissed by him to the point of being a bit breathless, so she turned her head away to dodge him.

Hu Zining was panting a little, asking her in a low murmur, "What's wrong, Feifei, hmm?"

Qian Fei was also panting a bit. She shook her head and said, "Let me catch my breath!"

Hu Zining grabbed her hand and guided it toward his lower body. "Feifei, look at how you're about to drive me crazy from holding back!"

Guided by his grip, Qian Fei touched a solid, rod-like object. As if she had been scalded, she hurriedly yanked her hand back.

"Don't be like this, someone will see us!" Her face flamed scarlet.

Hu Zining gave a wicked smile: "Don't go home tonight. Come over to my place, okay?" He blew hot breaths against the base of her ear.

Qian Fei was practically ready to drop to her knees before him. Only a few days had passed, and he was already fixated on sleeping with her again. She had never known that her appearance could be so sexually stimulating.

She deployed the single most common excuse used by women all over the planet when refusing intimacy, murmuring to Hu Zining: "My Aunt Flo is visiting!"

Hu Zining looked at her, his handsome face turning white and red by turns, looking as if he was thoroughly suffocated by frustration. Finally, he took a deep breath, letting his face gradually recover its normal flesh tone between the red and white. "Alright then, let me send you home!"

Qian Fei checked her watch. It was nine o'clock, which was still early, so she said to Hu Zining, "You can just walk me to the subway station!"

Hu Zining then held her hand as they walked toward the subway station.

As they neared the station, he suddenly said, "Feifei, there's something I want to talk to you about."

Qian Fei stopped and asked, "What is it?"

Hu Zining said, "It's like this. There's an opportunity right now. A close buddy of mine is planning to open a trading company and has agreed to let me buy shares. The registered capital needs to be 500,000 yuan. He's putting in 350,000 yuan and I'm to put in 150,000 yuan. But right now, I only have 50,000 yuan on hand. Feifei, could you see if you can lend me 10x,000 yuan first? Trust me, this is a guaranteed profitable business. My buddy said it will only take three months to earn back the principal!"

Qian Fei felt a bit conflicted. "Zining, I'm not lying to you, I only have two thousand yuan on hand right now!"

Hu Zining looked at her, a hint of doubt appearing in his gaze. "You're working on projects in investment banking, shouldn't your bonuses be quite substantial? Feifei, you have to trust me. It's not like I'm an outsider. When we get married in the future, won't all the money I earn be placed in your hands to manage anyway? A couple living together shouldn't keep secrets from each other!"

Stared down by his sincere and expectant gaze, Qian Fei's scalp went numb. "Zining, I'm really not lying to you! All my money went into buying the apartment! I'm so sorry, Zining, I can't help you!"

Hu Zining looked at her for a moment longer, the corners of his lips twitching into a smile: "It's fine!" He then escorted her into the subway station.

That night, Qian Fei was too restless to fall asleep, so she simply called Yao Jingjing to pester her.

While cursing her for acting up in the middle of the night, Yao Jingjing asked her, "What on earth is the matter?"

Qian Fei recounted the evening's events like a ledger of accounts, which left Yao Jingjing feeling absolutely miserable.

"I was originally so sleepy, yet you're speaking like you're chanting scriptures! Can't you describe it with a bit more ups and downs? You're doing this on purpose, aren't you!"

Qian Fei let out a "hey" and said, "Wasn't I afraid of making you too alert so you wouldn't be able to sleep later? You need to appreciate my well-meaning intentions!"

Yao Jingjing fired back very emotionally: "Bullshit!"

Qian Fei said, "The matter of the bullshit can be discussed later. Vixen, let me ask you: he finally gathered the courage to open his mouth and borrow money, only to run into a pauper like me. Why do I always feel like I've let someone down?"

Yawning with a heavy tongue, Yao Jingjing said, "You really are a little glutton for punishment! Let me tell you, borrowing money while dating is never a good sign. Keep your wits about you!"

After speaking, she clamored about being sleepy and hung up the phone.

Qian Fei stared wide-eyed at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep for the longest time.

Over the next several days, Hu Zining didn't come to find her at all.

Qian Fei thought that he might be angry because he felt she had money but simply didn't want to lend it to him. She sent a WeChat message to Hu Zining, asking him: "Zining, shall we go mountain climbing this weekend?"

It took about ten minutes before Hu Zining replied: "I don't have time this weekend, I need to raise funds."

Qian Fei suddenly felt as if she had been slapped across the face by someone, leaving her with a sheepish discomfort that made her feel quite bad.

※※※※※※

The on-site work at the hotel gradually fell into a groove. The two brokerage firms cooperated seamlessly, and the staff members quickly mingled and bonded.

Aside from Li Yifei, his company also had a man named Zhao De, who was also in his twenties, while the others were slightly older. Consequently, Qian Fei, Li Yifei, and Zhao De naturally grew closer to one another.

After spending time together, Qian Fei discovered that all three of them belonged to the category of people with highly wicked and sarcastic tongues. On this front, they were remarkably unified in purpose and shared identical tastes.

Every day after lunch, those older male colleagues would clamor that their bodies couldn't handle the strain at their age and that they needed a midday nap. The person-in-charge at the hotel who handled their work coordination—the hotel's stock affairs representative—specially prepared nap rooms for them.

Qian Fei felt that lying down right after eating with a stuffed stomach carried the risk of vomiting, which would mean wasting her free meal, so she chose not to take a nap. Li Yifei and Zhao De belonged to the high-energy crowd who disliked sleeping, so the three of them opted out of the older colleagues' health-preservation nap routine.

The three of them bought a deck of cards to play Fight the Landlord. Qian Fei noted that they could just as easily enter a room on the computer to play, so there was no absolute need to buy physical paper cards. Zhao De argued that three people opening a room during broad daylight would look bad for their reputation. Li Yifei chimed in that playing that way lacked the proper tactile rhythm. Qian Fei had no choice but to compromise.

Initially, wins and losses were tracked via a points system. Since no actual money was involved, Qian Fei played with a total lack of enterprise. Li Yifei and Zhao De won constantly and found it quite boring. To stimulate Qian Fei's drive to win, they proposed changing the points system to playing for cash.

Qian Fei piously raised both hands to protest. Zhao De piously informed her: "Qian Fei, put your hands down. Surrendering is useless. In the struggle between peasants and landlords, surrender and captivity cannot win a shred of sympathy. The only thing we need to do is firmly maintain our unwavering faith in Chairman Mao!" As he spoke, he drew out a pink hundred-yuan bill with absolute righteousness and slapped it onto the table surface. "See, just like me!"

Qian Fei refused to back down: "I only want to keep my faith in Chairman Mao inside my wallet!"

Zhao De said, "How about this, so you don't say I'm bullying you, we'll go by best two out of three votes. Ask Yifei—if he also says we shouldn't play for money, then we'll continue using points!"

Qian Fei turned her head to look at Li Yifei, pure and innocent little stars of anticipation flashing in the depths of her eyes.

Li Yifei glanced at her without a word, directly pulled out his wallet, drew out a single bill featuring Chairman Mao, and pressed it onto the table.

Qian Fei bolted upright. While patting her mouth with her hand, she squeezed out a yawn and said, "In order to better contribute my strength to the construction of our motherland this afternoon, I have decided to practice taking midday naps starting today!"

Zhao De grabbed her in one swift motion and hauled her back down into her seat. "Don't give me that! The two of us masters have already slapped our cash onto the table. If you want to go practice sleeping at a time like this, I'd be damned if I let you off!"

Qian Fei glared at him: "So you're saying you intend to use brute force?"

Zhao De stared back at her, his two eyebrows lifting up and down repeatedly as he hummed a chuckle at her: "Correct! Brute force it is! Even if you scream until your throat breaks, no one is coming to save you!"

Qian Fei shouted: "Broken throat! Broken throat!"

Zhao De: "...Qian Fei, can you be serious for a second! You're still dragging out an ancient meme like that to play with me—I feel like even despising you is a waste of my life! Besides, I'm currently exerting my tyrannical dominance here, can you cooperate a little please?!"

Qian Fei let out a hum, cooperating with him: "Alright, brave warrior, are you robbing me of my wealth or robbing me of my virtue?"

Beside them, Li Yifei suddenly spoke up: "Qian Fei," Qian Fei turned her head to look at him, while Li Yifei sized up her face from top to bottom, saying, "You are remarkably safe. We have nothing worth robbing!"

Qian Fei wore a face of absolute outrage.

She took a deep breath, yanked a handful of cash out of her pocket, and slapped it onto the table with a loud thud, saying with immense bravado: "Don't look down on people! This grandaunt might not have any virtue for you to rob, but do you think I don't have money?!"

Zhao De failed to catch his breath properly and began to choke.