Love Has Fireworks - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Providing Food and Drink

Qian Fei did not know whether it was her slap and those words that had provoked Li Yifei, or if Gui Lili's unfaithfulness had dealt a devastating blow and injury to his self-esteem, but ever since Sunday, he had not stepped out of the front door for three consecutive days.

Regarding work, he had asked Zhao De to help him request time off. Zhao De came to her place day after day asking here and there about exactly why Li Yifei hadn't come to work.

Qian Fei grew annoyed from his constant questioning, so she casually fabricated a lie: "He's sick!"

Zhao De asked, "What kind of illness is it? Is it serious or what? Do I need to buy some things to go visit him?"

Qian Fei wanted to tell him that at a time like this, Li Yifei did not want to see anyone, so she said, "The illness he has is unpresentable to others, so you'd better not go."

Zhao De then wore a face that said "I understand," letting out a long "Oh."

Qian Fei was also too lazy to correct his colorful, twisted thoughts.

With Li Yifei not coming, their numbers weren't complete at noon, so they couldn't play Fight the Landlord for the time being. She actually felt a bit at a loss for what to do.

She secretly worried that Li Yifei would spend all his time at home grieving, suffering, and crying over his broken heart, or growing depressed, furious, and suffocated with anger over getting slapped across the face, and end up starving himself to death. So, her hands acted up again, and she searched online to order a delivery from a place close to home. She wrote Li Yifei's name for the contact number, and after thinking about the payment method, she selected cash on delivery.

The fact that she could care about whether he lived or died out of guilt over that slap was already quite decent of her; she could no longer talk about feelings with him. Talking too much about feelings would hurt her wallet.

When she returned home after work, she saw a few fast-food boxes piled outside Li Yifei's room. The boxes were empty.

Qian Fei felt a bit relieved. It seemed a homicide caused by famine would not occur on her territory.

In the evening, she steamed a pot of rice and stir-fried two dishes. After the food was ready, out of a desire to extend some humanitarian care to someone who was heartbroken and had also received a slap from her, she went to knock on Li Yifei's door, wanting to call him out to eat together. Unfortunately, after knocking for a long time, the person inside refused to give her a response.

She called out across the door, "Li Yifei, come out and eat together?"

There was no movement inside the door.

Qian Fei gave a sudden jolt, thinking that he couldn't have grown completely hopeless about life and ended his own existence inside, right?

She quickly continued knocking on the door: "Li Yifei, are you still alive? If you're alive, make a sound, alright?"

After knocking for quite a long time, a low, deep, and spiritless sentence finally came from inside the door: "Look at your phone!"

Qian Fei was startled and hurriedly returned to her room to pick up her phone and check.

With one look, she caught a fright.

Her WeChat had been frantically spammed by Li Yifei!

"Stop knocking!" sent six times.

"I'm not eating, stop knocking!!" sent nine times.

"I said I'm not eating, can you stop knocking, please!!!" sent eleven times.

"Big sister, I beg of you, I stayed up all night and all day, can you let me sleep for a bit!" sent ten times.

"I yield to you! Just bring it in, I'll eat it, alright!" sent fifteen times.

After Qian Fei finished reading these messages, her hand nearly trembled and dropped the phone to the floor.

She felt that her previous worries were truly too redundant; Li Yifei would absolutely never do anything foolish. A person seeking death would not have the strength to spam a screen for dear life. His vitality was still very abundant, very abundant, very abundant...

Qian Fei dished out a large bowl of rice, scooped out half of each of the two plates of food, and placed them at Li Yifei's door.

She returned to her own room.

She picked up her phone to send a WeChat message to Li Yifei.

First, she sent one message: "The food is at your door, the food is at your door, the food is at your door."

Only after sending it did she realize her formatting was incorrect. Thus, she resent it.

"The food is at your door." Sent five times.

"The dishes are also at your door." Also sent five times.

"Get up and eat before sleeping." Again, sent five times.

"Bring the plates out to me after eating, don't leave them sitting in your room, I'm afraid they'll breed maggots and grow mold!" Still sent five times.

After finishing sending them, she felt her entire body radiate a single word: Refreshing!

Wasn't it just spamming the screen? As if no one else knew how to do it!

She happily picked up her bowl and chopsticks, preparing to eat. Her phone gave a ding-dong.

She picked it up to look and nearly cried.

Li Yifei had sent her an entire page of poop emojis...

Clutching her chopsticks with trembling hands, Qian Fei thought: Why is it clearly him who is heartbroken, yet it feels like I'm the one suffering...

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Three days passed in this manner.

Qian Fei felt that these three days should have been enough for Li Yifei to be decadent. Consequently, only after going to work did she find out that he had asked Zhao De to help him request another two days off.

In other words, he had in a roundabout way given himself a week-long vacation.

Qian Fei felt quite displeased. When she was heartbroken, she had never enjoyed such good fortune; she hadn't requested a single day off. At night, she would choke with sobs while gripping the corner of her blanket at home, yet during the day, she still had to force a smile before others and say her swollen eyes were from drinking too much water.

Compared to Li Yifei, she felt she had lost out too much!

Seeing her indignant appearance, Zhao De leaned over to ask her, "Fei Fei, what kind of illness does Yifei actually have? It's both unpresentable to others and makes you grit your teeth in fury. It couldn't be some... terrible contagious disease, right? No, you don't need to tell me exactly what illness it is, just tell me what usually causes this illness, and that'll do!"

Qian Fei glanced at him. "You're asking about the cause? Isn't it just that little matter between men and women!"

Zhao De again wore a face of "I understand," letting out a long, long, long "Oh."

Another two days passed, and the weekend arrived. In the evening, after preparing the meal, she arranged the food at the door as usual. When she returned to her room to send a WeChat message to Li Yifei, she couldn't resist asking: "When on earth do you intend to step out of the door?" She was truly impressed by him; he could actually stay cooped up in his room for so many days! She admired herself even more for actually being able to act like his mother, untiringly providing him with food to eat.

Just as Qian Fei picked up her chopsticks and was about to eat, Li Yifei's reply came over: "Today's dishes are a bit salty."

With a thud, Qian Fei set down her chopsticks, picked up her phone, and replied: "Go out and find your own food tomorrow!" She felt this young master was truly quite fastidious, getting free food and drink yet still making such grand complaints.

She picked up her chopsticks and clamped a large mouthful of food, stuffing it into her mouth as if venting a grudge.

Then, with a swift awoo, she spat the food right back out...

It was fucking quite salty...

She thought about it; while cooking the meal in the evening, her mind had wandered while calling home, so it seemed she had put the salt in twice...

She looked at her phone, and the radiance of her inner saint began to overflow uncontrollably again.

She had just spoken such a harsh sentence; she didn't know if Young Master Li, who was currently in a period of heartbreak and sorrow, could handle it? Would he be so fragile as to feel that even his landlord disliked him, and decide he might as well pack up and die...

As she thought about it, Qian Fei swiftly picked up her phone to send a WeChat message to Li Yifei: "About that, it is a bit salty, huh. Just treat it like pickles—a huge mouthful of rice for just a tiny bit of food!"

After thinking about it, she couldn't resist sending another message: "Big brother, you've been listless for several days now. Shouldn't you come out to see society? Stop bottling it up, can't you find your buddies to drink some alcohol and drown your sorrows? Once you're done drowning them, you might just be fine!"

After a moment, Li Yifei replied to her: "Not going! This master has never been dumped by a woman, I can't hold my head up in front of my buddies."

Qian Fei supported her forehead.

"You've had enough! How big of a deal is it! What's all this about holding your head up or not! If you can't hold your head up, that's because your cervical spine is bad! Look, isn't it just being cuckolded? As if no one else has ever had this experience before!"

She began to scarf down her rice. While eating, the phone rang again.

Li Yifei: "You know about it?"

Qian Fei didn't quite understand. While eating her meal, she replied to him: "Know about what?"

Li Yifei: "You being cuckolded."

Qian Fei: "I knew about it long ago! My first boyfriend and I broke up precisely because he cheated on me!"

This time, it took a good long while before the phone rang again.

Li Yifei: "You possess a face that looks like it would trip and fall in the exact same place twice."

Qian Fei: "Li Yifei, screw your granddad! Can't you wish some good upon me!"

A meal was finished amidst the back-and-forth between the two of them.

Rising to prepare to clear the bowls and chopsticks, Qian Fei sent a message to Li Yifei: "Have you finished eating? If you're done, hand the bowls out to me."

She carried her bowl and delivered it into the kitchen sink, then detoured to the front of Li Yifei's room to wait.

The door was slowly pulled open.

Looking at the speed at which the door opened, Qian Fei felt so vexed she straight up wanted to step forward and plant a kick on it.

Did he think he was filming a horror movie or what!

Finally, the door opened to a sufficient gap. A hand extended from inside the door, placing the bowl and chopsticks on the floor. The door then began to slowly close again.

Unable to tolerate it any longer, Qian Fei lunged forward in a single stride, pressing her palm against the door to keep it apart, and righteously denounced the person inside the room: "I say, just how long do you intend to hide? You ought to come out and see people!"

She fiercely blocked the doorframe, raising her head to look at Li Yifei.

In the instant she raised her head, she couldn't resist freezing for a moment.

Li Yifei's hair was sticking up in a complete mess, it was unknown how many days it had been since he last shaved his beard, and his eyes were completely bloodshot, likely due to insomnia and a lack of sleep. His entire person looked just like a small sapling that had recently endured the battering of wind and rain. However, his decadent look actually resembled Won Bin in The Man from Nowhere a bit; it was quite tasteful.

Qian Fei couldn't resist letting out a tsk-tsk sound: "This decadent style has truly been enacted to perfection by you! How about it, buddy? You've eaten my free meals for five days, when do you intend to rouse yourself and turn over a new leaf?"

Li Yifei looked down at her, suddenly asking, "Can you drink alcohol?"

※※※※※※

Huffing and puffing, Qian Fei hauled a crate of canned beer up the stairs.

Only after arriving home did she figure out the flavor of the situation.

It was he, Li Yifei, who wanted to drink alcohol!

It was he, Li Yifei, who earnestly entreated her to accompany him to drink a bit!!

It was he, Li Yifei, who was a big grown man!!!

Then on what grounds was she the one who went downstairs to buy the alcohol???

She felt a bit of hatred toward herself for failing to meet expectations; in her lifetime, could she still regard herself as a woman in front of a man!

When Qian Fei carried the alcohol into the room, Li Yifei was currently sitting on the floor of the living room, his back resting against the sofa.

Seeing her return, he patted the floor beside him. "Come, you sit here."

She couldn't resist insulting him: "Perfectly fine sofas available yet you don't sit on them, why sit on the floor? Does it make you uncomfortable if you don't torment yourself?"

Li Yifei raised his head to look at her. "You don't understand, doing it this way connects you to the earth's energy, so it's not easy to get drunk when drinking. Haven't you seen those Korean dramas also act it out this way? Whenever they encounter a little trouble, they sit on the floor to drink alcohol."

Dragging the alcohol, Qian Fei sat over.

Li Yifei opened a can of alcohol and handed it to Qian Fei, subsequently taking a can for himself as well.

The two of them clinked their alcohol cans, silently drinking their first mouthful.

After drinking, Li Yifei wrinkled his face, holding the can up before his eyes to look. "What brand is this? How can it taste so awful!" Having clearly seen the price tag attached to the outer packaging, he wore a face full of disdain, snorting contemptuously at Qian Fei, "It's only a bit over five yuan a can! Why didn't you buy some expensive alcohol? How can one drink such a cheap item!"

Qian Fei's anger flared up immediately. Sweeping her arm forward, she wanted to snatch away the beer in Li Yifei's hand. "If you find it awful, stop drinking it! Waiting around for something handed to you on a silver platter yet still making such grand complaints! You take yourself too much for a young master! This old aunt isn't serving you anymore!"

Li Yifei turned his body to dodge Qian Fei. "Aren't you accompanying me to relieve my boredom? Why do you have such a massive temper yourself!"

Looking at his stubble-covered face, Qian Fei's heart suddenly softened a bit. Ordinarily, on which day did this kid not tidy himself up until he was sleek, smooth, and full of spirit, looking as if he was preparing to compete for Mr. Beijing every single day—when had he ever been this unkempt.

Thinking along these lines, she slowly sat back down.