Love Has Fireworks - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Behind Closed Doors Listening to the Drama

Qian Fei's mood completely brightened up, and she followed his lead by putting down her chopsticks. "What is it, Zining? Tell me!"

Hu Zining extended his arm across the table and gripped Qian Fei's hand.

Qian Fei let out a silent sigh. This guy's arms really were long. If they were even a single centimeter shorter, this deeply affectionate gesture of his would have looked thoroughly ridiculous and comical because of how hard he'd have to stretch to reach her.

"Baby, it's like this. I have a friend whom I met back when he came to stay at our hotel. He's in real estate and is incredibly capable. Right now, he has a batch of properties in his hands, and one of them is a two-hundred-square-meter duplex. The place is absolutely spectacular. He said that because he and I have such a good relationship, he can sell it to me at a ten percent discount. Baby, this is what I'm thinking: aren't we going to get married in a little while? Why don't we upgrade to a slightly larger place? But right now, I can't produce that much money for a down payment. So I was thinking, do you think you could sell this apartment of yours? Then I'll throw in all the money I have on hand as well, and we'll pool it together to buy that place! I'll cover the decoration costs later, and we'll write both our names on the property certificate!"

Qian Fei listened, completely dumbfounded. It took her a long time to digest it before she finally understood that Hu Zining was asking her if she could sell her apartment so that the two of them could pool their money to buy a new one.

She remembered Hu Zining mentioning before that he only had fifty thousand yuan on hand.

For a moment, her mind was in the clouds and she couldn't quite do the math. She had no idea how much of a loss she would be taking or how much of a bargain she would be getting by doing this. Furthermore, she couldn't bring herself to swallow her pride and reject Hu Zining directly, so she told him, "Zining, this is a pretty massive matter. Allow me to go back and think it over!"

Hu Zining looked at her, smiling with deep affection. "No worries, go back and give it a good think! Actually, baby, it really is a great deal! Once the apartment is ready and we have a place to live, we'll go register our marriage!"

Qian Fei returned the sentiment with a weak chuckle. After finishing the remainder of her meal, she headed back home with a mind full of worries.

Upon arriving home, she saw Li Yifei sitting in the living room watching television.

She greeted him and then casually asked, "Where's Gui Lili?"

She didn't see it very clearly, but she felt that Li Yifei had curled his lip. "Said she's working overtime."

Qian Fei felt that his tone and voice carried an absolute displeasure. She found this young master's domineering nature to be practically abnormal. He could go out himself to drink and be merry with his colleagues, yet he was unhappy even when Gui Lili worked overtime.

Just as she was about to enter her room, she suddenly remembered Hu Zining's proposal, so she casually asked another question: "Do you know about the properties over at Beijing Garden? How are they?"

Hearing the name of the housing development, Li Yifei furrowed his brow. "Seems like I've heard of it. What's wrong?"

Qian Fei said, "Someone recommended the properties there to me and suggested I sell this apartment to buy one over there. I was just casually asking you how the properties there are."

Li Yifei pulled out his phone. "I'll ask around for you."

Qian Fei just stood to the side and waited.

She heard Li Yifei call a guy named Da Jun, asking him if he knew the situation regarding that housing development. She didn't know what was being said on the other end of the line, but she watched as Li Yifei's expression grew heavier and heavier.

After a couple more exchanges, Li Yifei hung up the phone, turned to Qian Fei, and said, "That development sold out a very long time ago, but the construction quality is terrible. A lot of people have listed their properties with a real estate firm to sell them off. The firm relies on flipping those properties at high prices to unsuspecting buyers to earn the price difference. If a middleman helps them reel in a client, they also pay the middleman a commission." He paused for a moment and looked at Qian Fei. "If the person who recommended this property to you is your friend, don't hesitate—pack up your things tomorrow and break off your friendship with her."

Once he finished speaking, he turned his head back and continued watching television.

Qian Fei felt as though her heart had been struck by a block of ice, causing a cold, numbing ache.

The next day, while they were having dinner together, Qian Fei recounted exactly what Li Yifei had told her to Hu Zining.

Hu Zining's expression looked extremely unsightly after listening. Qian Fei watched him silently.

Suddenly, Hu Zining slammed the table in fury, giving Qian Fei quite a fright.

"How can this guy be like this! He even claimed to be my buddy! Isn't this fucking screwing me over?!"

Looking at his enraged state, Qian Fei temporarily didn't know whether she herself should pack things up and sever ties with him.

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Over the next few days, while Qian Fei was weighing things back and forth on whether she should sever ties with Hu Zining, Hu Zining sent her a WeChat message saying that he had to go on a business trip again for a period of time.

Qian Fei let out a sigh of relief. It was just as well; spending some time apart would allow her to think carefully about whether this person was truly suitable for marriage.

Recently, she had been hearing Li Yifei and Gui Lili arguing very fiercely. It seemed Li Yifei was complaining that Gui Lili frequently worked overtime and was never home.

In the evening, she bought groceries and was preparing dinner in the kitchen when Li Yifei and Gui Lili entered the front door one after the other.

The moment they entered their room and shut the door, they began to argue. The voices were loud and rapid, and Qian Fei didn't even have time to poke her own ears deaf.

She heard Li Yifei ask Gui Lili icily, "During this recent period, you always say you're working overtime. Work overtime my ass! Do you take me for a fool? You've just been hitting the bars with that boss of yours!"

She heard Gui Lili shriek at the top of her lungs, "Li Yifei, you're sick!"

She heard Li Yifei sneer, "Gui Lili, are you degrading yourself, or are you degrading me? If you want to degrade yourself, please give me a heads-up so I can stay far away. Don't leave me in the dark until everyone else sees a glowing green light shining on top of my head!"

She heard Gui Lili follow up with a sneer of her own: "You only know how to talk about me! Don't you also constantly go to bars to fool around with those fair-weather friends of yours? The gatherings are packed full of heavily made-up women, do you think I don't know?!"

Looking at the food stir-frying in the wok which she absolutely could not interrupt, Qian Fei could only continue listening to their mutual mud-slinging contest with nowhere to hide.

"I'll say it one more time: I am a man, and you are a woman. For you to compete with a man in leading a fast and luxurious life, is there something wrong with you?" She heard Li Yifei asking Gui Lili in a tone of pure disbelief.

A weeping tone began to enter Gui Lili's voice. "Li Yifei, you never bring me into your circle of friends. Have you ever thought about how I felt inside when my colleague told me that when you were drinking with your buddies, there was a young girl from the film academy sitting right beside you?!"

Stir-frying the food in the wok with her spatula, Qian Fei couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

That really was going too far; how could any boyfriend act like that?

She heard Li Yifei laugh as if he was angry to the absolute extreme. "Of course I don't dare to bring you into my circle of friends. I'm afraid that if you see people with money, you'll throw yourself at them just like you do with your boss! Your colleague told you? What colleague, isn't it just your boss?! He only saw that one single time, so did he see me taking her to a hotel to open a room, or did he see me bringing her home? Doesn't he just want to sleep with you, so he has to orchestrate it to make it sound like he caught me in bed with someone else?! Furthermore, how did your boss know at a single glance that she was from the film academy? He's so familiar with the ropes, he's clearly no good element either!"

Qian Fei's heart thudded rapidly as she listened. She felt that Li Yifei's wicked tongue was both vicious and poisonous, and he really pulled no punches when arguing with his own girlfriend.

She heard Gui Lili let out a sharp howl, her voice turning piercingly bitter, "Li Yifei, you are going too far! On what grounds do you speak about him and me like that?! He clearly saw you putting your arm around that girl from the film academy!"

Flipping her spatula, Qian Fei let out a whimper toward the food in the wok, "Oh mama, that really is incredibly scummy!"

Before the words could even fully land, she heard Li Yifei's counterattack.

"What's wrong with me putting my arm around her? Didn't I have a girlfriend back when we were abroad? Didn't you press yourself forward just the same to let me hold you?!"

The hand Qian Fei used to wield the spatula gave a violent shudder. What kind of play was being enacted here? Had they actually started digging up each other's dark histories?!

She heard Gui Lili crying incredibly loudly, practically on the verge of gasping for breath. "Li Yifei, how can you be like this! How can you bully me so terribly! Back then, you were already in the middle of breaking up with her!"

Qian Fei was dumbstruck. She felt that her little heart had received an immense amount of stimulation.

Were these two competing to see whose moral integrity would drop faster?

Yet this noisy, dramatic show had still not finished playing out.

Gui Lili wept mournfully, "Li Yifei, why do we have to be like this? How did we turn into what we are now? Why is this? When we returned from abroad, didn't we have it all beautifully worked out? You said a house was already available and we would have plenty of places to live after returning to the country, but what was the result? The moment we returned, you had a total falling out with your family, and now we've actually degenerated to the point where we have to rent a flat and live together with a nitpicking landlord! Do you know, I don't even dare to let my father and mother back home know what kind of life I'm leading right now! If they knew I was suffering this kind of hardship with you, their hearts would break completely!"

For some unknown reason, hearing Gui Lili's tearful complaints like a distressed little princess made Qian Fei unable to resist shuddering.

A nitpicking landlord? Was she talking about her? She had totally been struck by a stray bullet while lying down, hadn't she?!

Qian Fei held up her spatula, staring intently at the blurry mass of a human face reflected on the stainless steel surface between the oil stains and chopped green onions.

Such an amiable face that could practically rival a global peace ambassador, yet it could actually be described as nitpicking? It seemed there was no hope left for this world.

Qian Fei put down the spatula, indignantly tossing the food in the wok.

On the other side, Gui Lili's tearful complaints were still continuing, "You don't do any household chores at all. Back when we were abroad, you at least had the capability to hire a maid, but what about now? Not only do we have to share a flat with someone else, but I even have to do the household chores personally! Before, you could buy me new clothes every single month, but now, I wear a single piece of clothing for several months at a time. Do you know that my colleagues are all laughing at me?! You can't even take good care of your own girlfriend, you are incredibly useless like this, do you know that?! Although my family's conditions are ordinary, I was also raised in pampered luxury! My father and mother would rather produce all their savings just to support me to study abroad; you know exactly how much they dote on me! Living through this recent period, my mind is truly so exhausted and my heart aches so much! Have you actually ever considered things for me at all?!"

Qian Fei couldn't help but shudder time and time again. She heard Li Yifei asking her back with a tone packed with heavy sarcasm: "Oh! I haven't considered things for you? If I hadn't considered things for you, would I fucking move to Shuangjing with you and get nearly squeezed to death in the subway every single day on the way to work?! Ha! I haven't considered things for you? So that's why you went outside to look for tender care, right? You actually dare to call me useless? Back when I was spending money on you abroad, how come you didn't call me useless? Blaming me for having a falling out with my family—why did I have a falling out with my family, do you mean to say you don't know?!"

The dish was finally finished cooking. Qian Fei hurriedly turned off the fire and looked for a plate, wanting to quickly dish out the food and carry it into her room. If she continued listening to the arguments of these two eccentric anomalies, she feared she would suffer a brain hemorrhage.

In the time it took to find a plate, she heard Gui Lili weeping and screaming at the top of her lungs: "You say your dad didn't agree to us being together and said he looked down on me, but on what grounds?! Is your family enormously wealthy and noble? Aside from being able to hire a maid abroad, your family couldn't even manage to buy an apartment for you! Do my appearance and educational background fail to match up to you? Your family looks down on me, well I look down on your family too!"

Qian Fei found a plate. While scooping out the food, she couldn't resist sighing with emotion.

This child Gui Lili, had nobody in her family ever told her that there was a massive problem with the way she spoke? Perfectly fine words could actually be manipulated by her to sound completely repulsive even when she was in the right.

She finished scooping out the food and intended to carry it into her own room.

In the next room, Li Yifei was speaking to Gui Lili in a harsh, stern voice: "Fine! Gui Lili, I won't stop you. Go find whoever you think is good! My dad really wasn't wrong, it's just that I was fucking blind!"

In the very next second, the door to the neighboring room was flung open with a loud "whoosh." A figure ran out completely heedless of anything, crashing right into Qian Fei who happened to be passing by while carrying her plate of food.

The plate in Qian Fei's hands shattered onto the floor with a loud "crash."

Gui Lili covered her face and ran out, weeping bitterly.

Looking at the stir-fried food shattered all over the floor, Qian Fei felt such heartache that she beat her chest and stamped her feet, nearly unable to restrain herself from dropping to the floor to lick the soup.

If a couple wanted to argue, they should just stick to their own business. Why did they absolutely have to involve a random passerby like her?! Just how much negative energy had she absorbed to cook this single plate of food!

She turned her head to look toward the neighboring room, just in time to see Li Yifei lift his foot and viciously kick the coffee table.

Qian Fei's heart gave a violent shudder at the sight.

Li Yifei raised his head to look toward her, asking icily, "Have you seen enough?"

That violent, tyrannical look in his eyes and those piercingly cold words made Qian Fei feel that even her liver was shuddering.

She hurriedly tried to smooth things over: "I just accidentally happened to be passing by!" After saying this, she quickly ducked back into her own room, not even taking care to clean up the complete mess on the floor.