Love Has Fireworks - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Midday Nap Time

Li Yifei could not help but curl his lips in amusement beside her as well.

"Grandaunt, you really are wealthy," Zhao De said while coughing, sorting through the handful of change Qian Fei had yanked out. "You've got a lot of notes here, but the grand total isn't even twenty yuan!"

Qian Fei slapped his hand away. "Keep your hands off my pure and flawless little bills! In a moment, I'll show you exactly how this grandaunt is going to use them to turn a tiny stake into a massive fortune and slaughter everyone at the table!"

Originally, the track record of the three players was Li Yifei followed by Zhao De followed by Qian Fei. However, with money acting as a strong motivator, Qian Fei—who had always been too lazy to use her brain—finally found her competitive drive and began to meticulously calculate the remaining cards, which immediately shifted the rankings among the three.

Li Yifei and Qian Fei actually matched each other win for win, while Zhao De ended up at the bottom. It wasn't long before he bid farewell to a single hundred-yuan bill featuring Chairman Mao.

As he pulled a second hundred-yuan bill from his wallet, Zhao De felt a twinge of regret. "Damn it, Qian Fei, you've been playing the foolish pig to eat the tiger! You were losing so badly before, so how come you won't stop winning now?!"

Qian Fei wore a face full of gloating satisfaction. "I didn't win that much! Didn't I just lose twenty yuan to Young Master Li in this very last round?! But seriously, Zhao De, if you hadn't used money to spark my fighting spirit, I really wouldn't have discovered that my skills at Fight the Landlord have advanced to such an incredible level! Thanks a lot!"

Zhao De rolled his eyes at her.

Li Yifei asked suddenly, "Are you two thirsty?"

Zhao De's eyes darted around quickly, and he hurried to say, "Not thirsty!"

Qian Fei said, "A little."

Li Yifei followed up, asking her, "Are you going to get water then?"

Qian Fei replied, "I guess I will."

Li Yifei pushed his own cup right in front of her face. "Get a cup for me while you're at it."

Qian Fei froze for a moment, seeing Zhao De watching her with a mischievous, "I knew it" expression, gloating with laughter.

She calculated how much money she had just lost to Li Yifei in the previous round, lowering her head to support her forehead with her hand as she sighed, "Suddenly I feel a bit dizzy."

Li Yifei drew a ten-yuan note from the pile of cash in front of him and slid it over to Qian Fei.

Qian Fei continued to hold her forehead. "It's a little better, but I'm still dizzy."

Li Yifei drew another ten-yuan note and slid it to Qian Fei's side.

Qian Fei kept holding her forehead. "The dizziness is gone, but I still feel a bit lacking in energy."

Li Yifei reached out his hand, intending to take the twenty yuan back.

Qian Fei hurriedly swiped the money over, stuffed it into her pocket, and stood up with thunderous efficiency. Snatching up the cups, she marched toward the water dispenser with immense bravado. "My, isn't it strange? This dizziness comes fast and goes just as fast! Haha!"

Zhao De watched from the side, feeling deeply pained by the injustice. "Holy crap, you get paid for running errands?! If there's money involved, let me go next time!"

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This incident of trading gambling funds for water errands somehow began to evolve over time.

Whenever Li Yifei was thirsty, he would ask Qian Fei, "Are you thirsty?"

Qian Fei would extend a hand. "Twenty yuan!"

Li Yifei would say, "Put it on my tab."

Then Qian Fei would trot off happily to fetch water.

Later on, the scope of Li Yifei's questions gradually became more varied.

"Qian Fei, are you cold?"

Then Qian Fei would trot off happily to turn on the air conditioner.

"Qian Fei, do you want to eat an apple?"

Then Qian Fei would trot off happily to wash an apple.

Finally, one day, Li Yifei pointed to an oil stain that had splashed onto his shirt during lunch and asked, "Qian Fei, what do you use to wash this out?"

Qian Fei couldn't help but shudder. "I say, Young Master Li, you wouldn't expect me to wash your clothes too, would you?!" Can you get any more incredibly lazy?!

Li Yifei looked at her, thought about it seriously, and said, "Forget it, I don't have a change of clothes with me. I can't exactly work in the office wearing an undershirt this afternoon."

Qian Fei lowered her head to support her forehead.

Her head really was feeling a bit freaking dizzy now!

She asked Li Yifei in a muffled voice, "When are you going to pay me the errand fees you owe?"

Li Yifei replied, "Anxious? Alright, I'll play more seriously when we play Fight the Landlord later and let you lose it all back together. It saves the trouble of passing cash back and forth."

Qian Fei gritted her teeth in fury. So it turned out that all those times he won before, he wasn't even playing seriously? For a person to be arrogant to this degree, how could God stand it! Isn't he afraid of being crushed by a crucifix while sleeping in the middle of the night!

Yet it seemed as if Li Yifei was possessed by something, because he truly didn't let Qian Fei win a single round. After doing the math, it actually completely squared away the previous errand fees.

Qian Fei ground her back teeth down to the roots.

That evening when she was speaking with Yao Jingjing over the phone, she asked, "Vixen, tell me, this guy is lazy, arrogant, conceited, loves to boss people around, and has no idea how to save money. He's renting a place outside yet spends money like water every day like some wealthy young master of the capital. I really don't know what that girl Gui Lili sees in him!"

Yao Jingjing pondered for a moment and said, "Based on my analysis, there are two possibilities. First, he's exceptionally good-looking; second, he might be highly skilled in bed. With a handsome face and a superb set of skills capable of making a young girl cry out in absolute ecstasy, it's not surprising that a little girl would follow him with absolute devotion despite all those flaws you mentioned! For a man, conquering the vagina equals conquering the world!"

Qian Fei really wanted to spit in Yao Jingjing's face, accompanied by a loud and resounding "bah."

Just as they finished speaking on this side, she heard the two people next door breaking into an argument again. Gui Lili was weeping and shouting loudly.

Qian Fei couldn't help but chuckle.

Yao Jingjing asked on the other end of the line, "What is it, Baboon? What are you laughing at?"

Qian Fei said with a smile, "Nothing, I just hear the young lady next door crying out in absolute ecstasy!"

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Two days later, before going to bed at night, Qian Fei thought things over. She hadn't contacted Hu Zining for many days, and she hadn't seen him at the hotel during the day either, so she sent him a WeChat message before sleeping.

"Zining, how come I haven't seen you around these past few days?"

There was no reply.

Qian Fei turned off the light and went to sleep. When she got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, she noticed the indicator light on her phone flashing. Turning on the screen, she saw Hu Zining's reply, sent at half past twelve.

"The plan to start the company fell through because of insufficient funds. I ran around for days until I was completely exhausted. I've been on a business trip these past two days, and I'll look for you as soon as I get back."

Qian Fei let out a sigh, turned off the screen, and went to use the restroom.

Every time the matter of starting that company was brought up, somehow she would experience a vague sense of guilt. She always felt that if she could have produced eighty or a hundred thousand yuan, the company would have been successfully established.

While her emotions were fluctuating, she suddenly heard the front door click outside. Judging by the sound, it should be Li Yifei returning, because the door to that other room instantly clicked open, followed immediately by Gui Lili's weeping. She recalled that when she checked her phone just now, the time displayed was two o'clock.

She heard Gui Lili demand, "Li Yifei, you actually still remember how to come back! What time do you think it is?!"

She heard Li Yifei reply, "Stop making a scene, it's the middle of the night. Whatever it is, we'll talk tomorrow!"

She heard Gui Lili ask through her tears, "So you still know it's the middle of the night! Why didn't you just stay away completely?!"

She heard the front door outside click once more.

Li Yifei had left.

Then came another loud thud as Gui Lili slammed her door shut as well.

Following that, she heard Gui Lili screaming hysterically inside her room, "Li Yifei! If you have the ability, then don't you ever come back! Li Yifei, I hate you, I hate you!"

Immediately afterward, she heard something smash onto the floor with a sharp crack.

By the look of things, Gui Lili must have smashed another phone.

She couldn't help but marvel silently.

According to her private statistics, the phones Gui Lili had smashed already amounted to at least nearly twenty thousand yuan. Adding the one from tonight, it was bound to hit twenty-four or twenty-five thousand. How great would it be to save that money to build a fortune, yet she insisted on smashing them just to hear the sound after an argument. She felt that Gui Lili really was a wasteful child.

Gui Lili was dramatic and loved to argue, while Li Yifei was tsundere and refused to coax her. These two really were... a match made in heaven as a pair of dramatic partners.

When she went to work the next day, Qian Fei saw that Li Yifei didn't look sluggish at all. Finding it incredibly peculiar, she couldn't resist asking during lunch, "Did you take stimulants or hormones? You didn't sleep at two o'clock in the morning, so why don't you feel tired at all during the day?"

Hearing her voice, Li Yifei turned his head, narrowed his eyes, and looked askance at her, asking, "You heard it again?"

Qian Fei nodded while biting her chopsticks. "It's not that I intentionally wanted to listen, nor is it that my ears are exceptionally sharp. It's truly... your voices are just too resonant, haha!"

Beside them, Zhao De asked anxiously, "What are you two talking about? Why do I feel like there's something fishy going on here?"

No one paid him any attention.

He was so suffocated by curiosity that he scratched his head and cheeks.

Li Yifei said suddenly, "How come I haven't seen your boyfriend coming to find you lately?"

Qian Fei assumed he felt embarrassed and was changing the subject, so she cooperated by giving him a ladder to step down. "He was busy with his independent business venture a while back, which unfortunately failed, and he's been on a business trip these past two days!"

Li Yifei looked at her, his gaze gradually growing deep. After a moment, he let out a slow "oh."

Qian Fei found it strange and couldn't resist asking, "What's wrong?"

Li Yifei furrowed his brow and said, "Nothing."

When they finished work that evening, Zhao De asked Li Yifei if he was going out to have fun or taking the subway home. Li Yifei said he was going home.

Zhao De said, "Then let's walk to the subway station together!"

Li Yifei stood up, patted his trousers pocket, and called out to Qian Fei: "Qian Fei, let's walk together today. I left my keys on the shoe cabinet by the entrance last night and forgot to bring them out."

Hearing this from the side, a brilliant gleam of gossip flashed in Zhao De's eyes. "Hold on! I felt like something was off when I listened to you two at lunch! What's the deal with you two? There's a secret connection, isn't there? You two are living together, aren't you?!"

Qian Fei quickly put a stop to his boundless imagination. "Gather up your wild brain cells! I am his landlord!"

Zhao De wore a face of absolute disbelief. "For real? Such a coincidence exists? Your vibe is clearly more than one level poorer than his, so how could you be his landlord?" He turned his head to ask Li Yifei, "Since you two share a flat, how come you never walk home together after work?"

Li Yifei curled his lip. "I'm afraid people might think she's my girlfriend, which would lower my aesthetic standards."

Qian Fei let out a "tch." "I'm afraid people might mistake me for keeping a toy boy without even picking one whose mouth is sweet and knows how to please people!"

Zhao De clicked his tongue in admiration from the side. "No kidding, based on nothing but your matching wicked tongues, the two of you really are a perfect match!"

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On the way back, Qian Fei couldn't resist advising Li Yifei, saying, "Actually, you know, girls need to be coaxed!"

Li Yifei glanced at her and didn't speak.

Qian Fei couldn't resist adding, "Furthermore, when it comes to arguments, the guy should yield to the girl a bit!"

Li Yifei glanced at her again.

Qian Fei continued her earnest exhortation: "And as for household chores and the like, it's best for both people to share and do them together!"

The gaze Li Yifei used to look at her was almost approaching absolute vacuity.

Qian Fei went on to say, "And you, don't go pampering yourself like some young master just because you're a native Beijinger. We're all out here reading people's expressions just to earn a living, and nobody is that much more bourgeois than anyone else!"

Li Yifei looked askance at her and let out a cold snort.

Qian Fei couldn't resist asking, "What is the meaning of that snort of yours? Is it objection, disdain, or sarcasm? How come I feel like there's so much hidden meaning packed inside it?"

Li Yifei snorted once more and said, "If you have the spare time to manage me, you'd be better off worrying about yourself and your boyfriend!"

Qian Fei mulled it over for a long time before finally reacting. He was telling her to mind her own business.

She was instantly filled with anger. If the subway hadn't been too crowded for her to extend her arms, she really wanted to point right at Li Yifei's nose and ask him: Are your family members aware that you are so completely ungrateful out in the world?!