Love Has Fireworks - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: The Miserable Landlord

After that night of heavy drinking, as far as Qian Fei could see, Li Yifei finally returned to the state of a normal person. When she went to work on Monday morning, Qian Fei was about to leave first as usual, but at the entrance, she encountered Li Yifei, who had already tidied himself up into a presentable, proper human appearance.

"Let's walk together," he said.

Qian Fei was baffled. "Why? Did staying at home for a week turn you stupid, to the point that you don't even recognize the way to work anymore?"

Li Yifei shot her a sidelong glance. "Big sister, I say, can you please accumulate a bit of mouth virtue?"

Qian Fei let out a hehe laugh. "Don't, don't call me so affectionately, I really can't bear it! My family certainly can't feed a pampered, spoiled young master like you!" She paused, then asked with a bit of curiosity, "Tell me, did you get this temperament of yours because you had no mother since childhood and were spoiled rotten by your dad?"

Li Yifei nodded, saying with matchless arrogance and shamelessness, "If your family had a perfectly carved, extremely intelligent little boy, you wouldn't be able to resist spoiling him to death from the time he was small either."

Qian Fei couldn't hold back. "I spit! Can your vocabulary system get any more shamelessly brazen! I truly cry out against the injustice on your dad's behalf. To think he spoiled you like this, yet you grew up into an ungrateful wolf who goes west whenever he tells you to go east!"

Li Yifei rolled his eyes at her. "The old man's personality is rather complex; many things are not something that can be fully understood with your IQ. I say, are you actually leaving or not? If you don't leave now, you'll be late!"

Qian Fei hurriedly stowed away her glib tongue, and the two of them stepped out of the front door together.

On the way to the subway, Qian Fei bought a savory Chinese crepe from a street stall, while Li Yifei waited on the side with a face full of utter loathing.

Turning her head and spotting his expression, Qian Fei couldn't resist snorting. "I just knew my family couldn't afford a young master like you! Always looking down on the most honest sustenance of the working class!"

Seeing her take over the savory Chinese crepe and prepare to leave, Li Yifei stopped her and said, "You only bought one? Where's mine?"

Qian Fei was completely muddled by him. "No, wasn't that look on your face when you were staring at the savory Chinese crepe just now called loathing?"

Li Yifei let out a scoff and said, "My loathing just now wasn't targeted at the savory Chinese crepe, it was directed at your ugly display of nearly kneeling down to the vendor just because you wanted to pick out a slightly larger egg!"

Qian Fei launched the savory Chinese crepe right toward Li Yifei's face. "May it choke you to death!"

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On the subway, it was still the usual rhythm where people could be squeezed into a pregnancy without even knowing who the child's father was.

Qian Fei felt as though she was about to be squeezed out of shape.

Upon arriving at the China World Trade Center Station, the two went to transfer to Line 1. While squeezing onto Line 1, Qian Fei said to Li Yifei, "Every day when I take the subway to and from work, I have an urge to stop living!"

Li Yifei looked at her and said, "Every day when I squeeze onto the subway to the point of not wanting to live anymore, the moment I think about how someone like you is still alive, I don't want to die anymore."

Qian Fei squeezed her way onto Line 1, turning her hand to push Li Yifei. "Beat it! You wait for the next train, I get suffocated with annoyance the moment I see you!"

Taking advantage of the momentum, Li Yifei grabbed her arm and forcefully squeezed his way up as well. "Rest assured! For the sake of keeping you continuously suffocated with annoyance, I will live on perfectly well!"

Qian Fei threw up her hands in defeat. Did this fucking look like someone who had just suffered a heartbreak? Or was it that a heartbreak had thoroughly excavated the dark side deep within his heart, and he was starting to ruin humanity to his heart's content?

The train doors slowly closed. While the doors were open, Qian Fei and Li Yifei could still maintain a bit of distance, but the moment the doors shut, the space instantly became narrow, as if intense pressure had been applied to the point that it would explode at any second. She and Li Yifei were pinned tightly against each other.

Behind Qian Fei, there was still someone continuously nudging and shoving, asking while shoving, "Are you getting off at the next station?"

Every single time the person behind her shoved, Qian Fei had no choice but to forcefully pin herself against Li Yifei's body.

Qian Fei couldn't resist raising her head to say to Li Yifei, "Why do I feel like I'm throwing myself into your arms? Why is this so awkward!"

Li Yifei drooped his eyelids and looked down at her. "Don't carry a psychological burden, in my eyes you are a true man!"

Qian Fei wished she could spit a mouthful of savory Chinese crepe all over his face.

The train arrived at another station, and many people squeezed toward the doors wanting to get off, causing Qian Fei to be buffeted from side to side. Just when she was nearly unable to stand firm, she was caught by Li Yifei's arm in a gentle sweep, bringing her into the corner of the carriage.

He blocked her in front of his body, enclosing her within the tiny space between himself and the carriage, cutting off the crowded world of shoulder-to-shoulder people behind him.

Qian Fei raised her head to look at Li Yifei, the depths of her eyes somewhat hazy.

Li Yifei raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't you dare tell me that I'm too handsome and you want to pledge yourself to me in marriage!"

The haziness in the depths of Qian Fei's eyes instantly vanished completely.

She spat heavily at him with a pui, lowering her head.

"You remind me of my ex-boyfriend."

Li Yifei let out a low-voiced "crap."

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Standing face-to-face, Qian Fei felt it was a bit awkward not to talk, so she began to look for topics to break the silence.

As they talked on and on, the topic somehow veered onto Hu Zining.

Li Yifei asked her, "Lately it seems I haven't seen you go out with your current boyfriend?"

Qian Fei said, "We've contacted each other a few times. He has been on business trips the entire time, saying he'll come find me once he finishes his business trip."

Li Yifei looked at her, suddenly saying, "It feels like even the chairman of the entire hotel isn't as busy as him."

Qian Fei said, "Is it not acceptable for someone to harbor grand ambitions!"

Li Yifei shot her a glance. "Perhaps he is harboring a grand young lady instead!"

Qian Fei spat at him. "You think everyone is just like you!"

Li Yifei said, "Find an opportunity to ask the securities representative which department your boyfriend is in, why is he always on business trips!"

Qian Fei was a bit perplexed. "Young Master Li, why are you so gossipy!"

She somewhat suspected that because he had broken up himself, he was starting to suspect that there were problems with the emotional relationships of all men and women under heaven.

Thinking about it, she added, "I feel that, given Hu Zining's rank, perhaps even the securities representative doesn't know who he is. Hey, but you really did remind me—should I help him expand his visibility within the leadership level to pave the way for his future career?"

Li Yifei immediately answered her with absolute certainty: "No need."

Qian Fei asked in bewilderment, "Why?"

Li Yifei drooped his eyelids and looked down at her. "The securities representative needs to interface with our work, and they are so busy, so stop bothering them with these boring, trivial matters, alright!"

Qian Fei was left somewhat dispirited by his blunt rebuff.

It was clearly him who had brought up Hu Zining to talk about in the first place, yet in the end, he wore such a cold, detached face. It truly was him playing the god and him playing the ghost.

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Qian Fei's days gradually restored to how they were before—waking up early for work, playing Fight the Landlord at noon, and returning home after work in the evening.

However, there were also places that differed from before. Every morning, Li Yifei began to go to work together with her, and in the evening, if he didn't have a dinner engagement or wasn't going out to play, he would also return from work together with her.

Qian Fei felt that this was a form of morbid behavior on Li Yifei's part. Lacking maternal love, he must have regarded her—who was bursting with maternal radiance after encountering setbacks—as his mother.

Ever since those five days of closed doors, Li Yifei began to sponge off her meals. Regarding this point, she didn't particularly mind either. Compared to one person eating, two people eating was merely adding an extra pair of chopsticks.

It was just that Li Yifei's eating habits were exceptionally unique and annoying. Whenever a dish was served up, he would always spoon half of it into his own plate first. Qian Fei felt that his way of eating was a bit close to "eating a solitary meal," yet Li Yifei said shamelessly that this was called "paying attention to hygiene."

Qian Fei was also too lazy to argue with him, letting him go pay attention to his godforsaken hygiene.

It was just that Qian Fei originally felt that continuing to live together with Li Yifei was quite inappropriate, and wanted to find an opportunity to tell him to look for an apartment and move out. However, taking into account that he hadn't broken up for very long and his fragile, glass young master's heart hadn't recovered too well yet, speaking these words might make him harbor resentment and retaliate against society. She had no choice but to suppress the thought, intending to drive him out once his state grew a bit better.

When talking over the phone with Yao Jingjing, she asked, "Demon, would you say my approach is still correct? It's bursting with the spirit of humanitarianism, right?"

Yao Jingjing said, "Baboon, I say you truly are the number one holy mother of the motherland! You even have to look after other people's psychology! If you ask me, you shouldn't worry about when to drive him away either; perhaps after a period of time when he has recovered more or less, he'll bring back a new girlfriend!"

Qian Fei expressed shock: "He wouldn't be that casual, right!"

Yao Jingjing sneered at her: "Given all the little habits of that kid you've related to me, it would be a wonder if he wasn't!"

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Ever since the last time Qian Fei used trash bags to pack up Gui Lili's items and unintentionally tidied up Li Yifei's room along the way, Li Yifei had developed a taste for it and become addicted. Every single time his room got messy, he would look for Qian Fei to help straighten it out.

Qian Fei asked him with great fury on what grounds should she do so, and he said, "In any case, it doesn't matter to me. When the time comes, if cockroaches breed in the room, they are going to run all over the place, and this is your apartment after all!" Watching her face twist, he raised his eyebrows and added, "I won't let you work for nothing, I'll raise your rent!"

Thoroughly defeated by his absolute roguishness, Qian Fei could only help him tidy up reluctantly.

Sometimes Qian Fei highly doubted how Li Yifei's dad had raised him. This kid was so lazy he wished he could even send his underwear out for dry cleaning. Qian Fei asked him, "Did you not grow hands or did you not grow a brain? Is washing clothes really that hard? Like this, toss the clothes into the washing machine, pour in some laundry liquid or laundry powder, then connect the tap water, and press a button. Afterward, nothing requires your attention anymore. Big brother, can you not even manage something this simple?"

Yet Li Yifei sneered at the washing machine: "How can this kind of work be done by this young master!"

Qian Fei really wanted to paste a handful of laundry powder all over his face. To call himself a young master, he really wasn't afraid of losing face to be able to utter it.

Later on, she really didn't dare to teach Li Yifei to use the washing machine anymore because on two occasions, Li Yifei had somehow been possessed by some strange spirit and actually diligently set to work to wash his clothes himself. As a result, both times he failed to insert the drain pipe properly. By the time Qian Fei discovered it, the water filling the bathroom was nearly overflowing into the living room.

While she was clearing up the disastrous mess in a frenzy, that young master stood on the side with a face full of smiles, using facts to forcefully prove to her: "See, I told you, this young master simply can't do these rough chores! In the future when you wash clothes, just help me wash mine along with them, I'll raise your rent!"

Qian Fei threw down the mop in rage, finally unable to hold back the sentence that had been stifled at the back of her throat all this time: "Young master, can I beg you to change places to live! Have some mercy and raise your hand high, stop tormenting just me alone, alright!"

Li Yifei looked at her and froze for a moment, then the smile on his face gradually withdrew. In a hoarse voice, he said, "My mom passed away very early on, and my dad raised me. Originally, the two of us depended on each other for survival, but because of a woman, he severed our father-son relationship. The hilarious part is that that woman eventually ran off with someone else too, while I can't even wash clothes properly. Would you say I am a massive failure as a human being?"

Qian Fei was left terrified by his muttering, truly fearing that if she accidentally said the wrong word next, she would drive this unfortunate child to a dead end.

From then on, Qian Fei's holy mother level advanced by another tier. Not only did she have to help Li Yifei clean up, but she also had to help him wash his clothes.

When she washed clothes for Li Yifei, she discovered that the labels on the clothes were all major international brands. If it were one piece that was a famous brand, she would just feel that it indeed was a famous brand, but for every single piece to be so, Qian Fei felt it was a bit impossible.

She asked Li Yifei, "For these clothes of yours, three-quarters of them must be high-quality replicas, right?"

Li Yifei raised his eyebrows and asked her, "How did you judge that?"

Qian Fei said, "For them all to be real is unscientific; this severely mismatches your status as someone who rents an apartment! If they were real, these clothes would be enough to pay the down payment on a small loft! Why would you still be living here with me!" Having finished speaking, she shook her head and sighed with emotion while holding the clothes to look, "Impressive! They are all replicated to look exactly like the real thing! But that's not the most important part. The most important part is that your state of mind is truly good enough! To be able to wear high-quality replicas to pose as genuine articles, wandering around amidst a group of wealthy people with an unruffled mind—you truly possess deep cultivation!"

When helping him wash his clothes, she always couldn't resist lecturing him while tossing the clothes into the washing machine: "You dead spendthrift! A piece of poor cabbage stalks that absolutely insists on forcefully pretending to be a pampered, spoiled young master! Renting an apartment every single day yet still loving vanity to this extent. Exactly what are you trying to do by grooming yourself to be this bright and beautiful every day!" After venting her complaints, she couldn't resist complaining about herself again, "I am just cheap! To think I'm actually helping you wash them! I should have just let you take them out for dry cleaning, leaving you so poor you have no food to eat to see if you still dare to spend money recklessly and display poor vanity in the future!"

While she muttered along these lines, Li Yifei was leaning against the sofa like a grand master, watching the financial channel.

"Landlord, stop making a fuss. Let me finish watching this idiot's analysis of the stock market; tomorrow I have to go to the online forum to trash him to death!" Li Yifei gripped the remote control to turn up the volume. "Wash them well, I'll raise your rent!"

Watching him throw himself onto the television with a face full of concentration, a sense of self-loathing surged over Qian Fei like an overwhelming flood. If she had even a shred of temper, at a time like this she ought to rush forward, snatch away the remote control, point at that spendthrift's nose, and tell him to hurry up and move out for her. However, she discovered that she only possessed such thoughts, lacking any executive power to implement them entirely. Thus, she summarized a sentence: this hard-working life of hers was purely brought out by her own cheapness, and she couldn't blame anyone.

Later on, there was an occasion when Li Yifei held up a piece of clothing and told her that her method of washing clothes was incorrect; it shouldn't be placed in the washing machine to be churned together, it should be taken out to be hand-washed individually.

She immediately slammed the table and rose up against his opinion, slamming it with contempt along the way: "Is a high-quality replica worth taking this seriously? Can we stop being this fastidious! Enjoying the fruits of labor yet still making so many complaints—aren't you afraid of getting struck by lightning when stepping out on a rainy day!"

Li Yifei looked at her, his facial expression twisting slightly.

She thought he felt embarrassed because the truth of the high-quality replicas had been pierced through by her once again, so she let out a sigh and patted his shoulder. "Fine, fine, stop wearing a long face. I see that things haven't been easy for you lately either. In the future, I'll allow you to dream your second-generation wealthy dream in front of me, how about that? But seriously, you really should save up some money; these high-quality replicas aren't cheap either, right?"

Her chatterbox hadn't quite opened yet, and the educational work basically hadn't unfolded, before Li Yifei pulled a long face, turned around, and walked away, leaving her alone to roll her eyes at the washing machine.

One day, Li Yifei bought a very high-grade electric iron back from outside. When looking at that gadget, Qian Fei felt her heart beat in a very flustered and chaotic rhythm.

Sure enough, Li Yifei stripped off the shirt he was wearing on his body, tossed it to her, and said, "Funds are a bit tight lately. Although this clothing is more delicate than other clothes, I won't take it out for dry cleaning either. Just help me iron it after you finish washing it! Stop glaring, I'll raise your rent!"

Qian Fei really wanted to use the electric iron to iron his thick skin a bit thinner.

From then on, another item was added to Qian Fei's labor projects: ironing clothes. And the motivation supporting her to do all this was that sentence from Li Yifei: I'll raise your rent.

However, later on, the contents of her labor projects were enriched by another item.

Speaking of it, this item was even more outrageous.

One day, Li Yifei came to knock on her door, the rhythm of the knocking being as urgent as if his butt was on fire. She opened the door, and before she could even ask what the matter was, Li Yifei dropped the sentence "borrowing your toilet to use" and rushed into her bathroom.

She froze for a good several seconds before reacting to what had happened, following him to the bathroom entrance to knock on the door and ask him, "Big brother, isn't there your own dedicated toilet outside!"

Li Yifei said to her from inside, "That one is too dirty, I can't bring myself to step inside."

Qian Fei then ran over to his toilet to take a look. After finishing looking, she was so angry she nearly sprayed out her food from the night before.

It was more than just a tiny bit dirtier, messier, and worse than the day he drank too much! No wonder Li Yifei never pooped at home, always resolving it at the hotel after going to work.

She truly, honestly felt an urge to die!

It just so happened that Li Yifei finished resolving his issue and came out of her room. Looking at her, he straight up said, "Help me clean it up, I'll raise your rent!"

Qian Fei really wanted to pick up the toilet plunger on the floor and plunge it right onto his face.

"Why don't you just let your laziness and fastidiousness kill you? You really think of yourself as a young master, don't you!"

From then on, Qian Fei was a rookie white-collar worker upon going to work, and degenerated into a miserable old maid upon getting off work. She felt that life had become dim and shadowless amidst cooking, cleaning the room, washing clothes, and cleaning the toilet for Li Yifei. Only at the split second when Li Yifei actively handed over an extra three hundred yuan when paying the rent did it let her feel a sliver of hope in life once again.

However—

"This means giving me an extra three hundred every month, right?" she asked with wild joy in her heart.

"No, this is for a quarter!" the other party answered sincerely and harmlessly.

Qian Fei made a firm resolution right then and there: in a few more days, she must absolutely sweep this shamelessly brazen parasite out of the house.