Love Has Fireworks - Chapter 22

Chapter 22: Fast Becoming a Wretch

The on-site work portion of the hotel project was pretty much completed. Qian Fei and Li Yifei each returned to their own companies, and the two companies would complete the subsequent work individually based on their division of labor.

The content of Qian Fei's work was merely to be responsible for organizing the working papers; she had no share in the matter of writing materials.

Returning to the company, she watched the other colleagues in the project team discuss how to write the prospectus together, while she merely guarded a pile of folders on the side to give a helping hand. She inexplicably felt a kind of illusion, feeling that she was still exactly the same as before, a special service personnel drifting outside the project team.

The more she watched Liu Yifeng and the others discuss in full swing, the stronger this sense of drifting on the fringes became.

Particularly when looking at Little Zhang in the project team, she felt that she had lived these past few years in vain.

She and Little Zhang had entered the company at roughly the same year. She entered the back-office service department, while Little Zhang went directly into the project department, and the monthly salary for both of them was four thousand yuan. A few years passed, and when she finally fought her way from the back-office service department to the project department with a monthly salary of over eight thousand yuan, Little Zhang was already a quasi-sponsor with a monthly salary of tens of thousands of yuan. Both were twenty-six years old, yet such a disparity already existed between person and person.

Qian Fei thought that the saying was truly not wrong: some people simply lose at the starting line. Back then, if she had also entered the project department from the very beginning, perhaps she could also have fought her way to becoming a quasi-sponsor by now. How could she end up like her current situation? Others wrote prospectuses while she organized working papers; others ate food and played ball with enterprise leaders while she organized working papers; others prepared to report guidance materials to the Securities Regulatory Bureau while she was still organizing working papers. She was forever organizing working papers, unable to practice and temper anything.

Thinking of back then, thinking of back then—back then it was entirely for the sake of Wang Ruohai that she chose to enter the back-office service department, because Wang Ruohai did not want her to go on business trips every single day after entering a project team. He said what he wanted was the feeling of a "home," the feeling where upon getting off work and returning home, there could be steaming hot food and dishes on the table.

She then desperately created the feeling of a "home" for him, completely obliterating her own demands toward life, and transforming him into the sole demand in her life. As a result, thinking about it now, her treatment was nowhere near that of a girlfriend; to put it bluntly, she was just an old maid.

With burning eyes she watched the others discuss problems; she very much wanted to interject a foot inside. When she heard them discuss certain problems, many details seemed unable to be struck accurately, so she very much wanted to go over and tell them that she was clear on all of these details—for instance, exactly which day the environmental impact assessment expired, for instance, exactly how much the amount on every single letter of guarantee was, for instance, who the top ten clients of procurement and sales were and what percentage of the total volume they occupied. While organizing the working papers, at the same time these things were entered into the computer by her, they were also entered into her human brain by her.

Returning home in the evening, she was depressed. While eating, she related her situation to Li Yifei, asking him, "I don't want to organize working papers for a lifetime, I want to do more things, but how should I go about striving for it?"

Li Yifei pondered for a moment, telling her, "Qian Fei, your biggest problem is that you don't know how to display yourself. Since you say you know all of those things that your colleagues can't hit accurately, why don't you let them know of this ability of yours? Therefore, sometimes I truly detest traditional Chinese education, blindly teaching people that in conducting oneself one must be modest and not boast to show off, until it teaches a person to the point where they don't even possess the ability to normally display themselves. Originally a phoenix, yet in the end turning into a weak chicken!"

Listening to the words in the front, Qian Fei felt it made quite a bit of sense. When hearing the very last sentence, she first felt pleased for a moment over the two words "phoenix," but subsequently upon hearing the two words "weak chicken," she slapped the table and rose to her feet. "Who are you saying is a chicken? You are the chicken!"

Li Yifei shot her a displeased white eye. "Big sister, please grasp the weight and central theme of a passage of words, alright!" He shot her another white eye. "Besides, did I say you were a chicken? What are you blindly shouting about! What I clearly called you was a weak chicken!" He forcefully emphasized the word "weak."

Qian Fei was made so angry by him that she nearly spat out her food. Just as she was about to flare up, she hadn't expected that Li Yifei would take preemptive action again. "Can you not make a fuss, and properly listen to me finish speaking! Do you still want me to offer plans and devise strategies or not?"

Qian Fei's facial expression was a bit twisted. "You keep speaking!"

She stared at Li Yifei's face, fantasizing that she had already slapped his mouth thousands and hundreds of times.

She felt a lot more comfortable.

Li Yifei adjusted his countenance, saying to her very seriously, "I feel you can directly look for Liu Yifeng, the person in charge of your company's project team, to have a talk. Speak straight to him that you want to write the prospectus together, and tell him all of those things that you know, letting him know you possess this ability. Qian Fei, you have to know, if you harbor capability but don't speak of it, then in the eyes of others you are exactly the same as having no capability. Therefore, do not be afraid of being said to be showing off, because it is always better than being said to have no capability."

Qian Fei felt that this outburst of words from Li Yifei made a lot of sense. Having finished listening, she felt that to a certain extent she experienced a kind of feeling like a sudden enlightenment.

Looking at Li Yifei, she expressed her heartfelt gratitude: "Thank you, ah! To think that you, who are narcissistic, flashy, and toxic-tongued, are not completely without merit either!"

Li Yifei looked at her, flamboyantly raising the tips of his brows. "To think that your village thanks people in exactly this way!"

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The next day, Qian Fei plucked up a full amount of courage to go look for Liu Yifeng to talk.

Following what Li Yifei said, she properly displayed herself for a turn.

Having finished speaking, she felt that the look in Liu Yifeng's eyes as he looked at her seemed to change a bit. "Qian Fei, I hadn't expected it—you understand the materials as clear as a door! I truly underestimated you in the past, thinking you came over from the back-office department, so I only dared to let you do some work leaning toward the secretarial type. Let's do this: starting from today, you also follow us to write the prospectus together. Wait until you get the hang of writing it, and you'll follow along to manage the future declaration materials together as well!"

Qian Fei was overjoyed, being endlessly grateful toward Liu Yifeng.

She hadn't expected that the matter she had been continuously knotted over would be settled this easily, walking through practically zero detours.

In the evening, she specifically made a few substantial meat dishes, intending to properly thank Li Yifei for a turn.

As a result, the food and dishes had already been on the table for a good while, yet Li Yifei still hadn't returned.

She picked up her phone and sent a WeChat message to Li Yifei: When are you coming back?

After a moment, she received a reply: Is something the matter?

She sent: You're playing outside, right? Then play on, I don't have much of a matter, just asking.

One minute later, she received Li Yifei's reply: Forgot to tell you, don't include my food tonight. Sorry.

Qian Fei stared at the screen and was stunned for a moment. This kid actually could say sorry as well? Has this young master changed his nature?

She set out her own bowls and chopsticks, preparing to eat food. Gazing at a full table of dishes, she let out a sigh. If she had known earlier, it would have been better to ask him a word in advance. Having made this much, how could she finish eating it all? It was truly a waste.

Just as she raised her chopsticks intending to pick up some food, the phone placed on the side made a ding sound, and another message entered: Set aside the food and dishes and keep them for me, I'll take them as a midnight snack when I get back.

Qian Fei broke out into heh-heh-heh laughter. She felt that this young master was still a young master; previously feeling that he had changed his nature was merely an illusion of her temporary mental derangement.

He comes back for a midnight snack, and wouldn't it still require her to come heat up the food and heat up the dishes? Does she owe him or something...

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Inside a certain club, Da Jun saw that Li Yifei was continuously fiddling with his phone, so he leaned over and said in a displeased tone, "What are you doing, what are you doing! Your buddy is suffering a massive financial bleeding to assemble this gathering today to call you out so that you can look for pleasure, not so that you can play with your phone! Let me tell you, this little girl I invited for you today is absolutely an ice-pure and jade-clean long-haired soft chick, a future star of the film and television specialty, so proper that I nearly violated the great faith of 'a friend's wife must not be deceived' to strike first to gain the upper hand! That body of hers is so soft, she can indent into any modeling. If this is married home and placed on the bed, there will truly be blessings to enjoy; there's no telling how wonderful days will be in the future! The person will arrive in a moment, ha! Sigh, it is also time for you to completely turn the page on that little true love of yours! It's not that I want to lecture you, but who are you sending messages to, making it go ding, ding, ding without end?"

While Da Jun spoke, he leaned his head over to look. Li Yifei slapped a hand over his face and gave a forceful push. "Beat it, looking at everything!"

As if he had eaten a dead rat, Da Jun displayed an alarmed expression to the absolute maximum limit. "Li Yifei! You actually said sorry to a manly woman? Have you been soul-transmigrated into by someone? Are you still you? Back when we were in primary school, you straight up broke my nose, yet you never said a single word of sorry to me either! No way, I want to sever relations with you! I want to take the soft chick as my own possession!"

Li Yifei closed the interface of "manly woman" on WeChat, delivering a kick to Da Jun. "Get lost!" His countenance straightened, wearing a bit of a displeased appearance. "Exactly when is that woman coming? Who is she putting on airs for? Do you take this young master for a man who waits for women?"

Having finished speaking, he rose to his feet to leave.

Da Jun grew anxious, while pulling onto him, vulgar words straight up bounced out. "Holy crap! You can't be! This gathering was assembled for you, where the heck are you going!"

Li Yifei's face was full of impatience. "Going home to eat food!"

Da Jun's face displayed idiocy.

"Li Yifei, don't tell me you've taken a fancy to that manly woman landlord of yours!"

Li Yifei shot him a white eye. "I purely look down on women who use being late to manifest arrogance and coddling! Don't you say, that manly woman landlord of mine never performs such a thing as being late!"

Just as the two were speaking, a continuous string of "I'm sorry" was delivered over, the voice being both soft and sweet, greasy and clinging as if there were a fair and tender little hand paw stroking a person's face.

Li Yifei and Da Jun stopped pulling at each other, turning their heads back together to look. A sweet-looking, long-haired girl was currently continuously bending her waist to apologize: "I'm sorry I came late! At this time Chang'an Avenue is truly too congested!"

Li Yifei peered at that girl, then turned his head back to peer at Da Jun.

Da Jun winked his eyes toward him, smiling just like Hu Han San, asking in a low voice, "How about it, she's still worth waiting for, right?"

Li Yifei was pulled by him with semi-compliance, sitting back down onto the sofa.

"Can you stop making the matter of introducing an object of affection look as filthy as acting as a pimp!" he spat in a displeased tone toward Da Jun.

Da Jun let out a tche toward him, waving his hand at the girl. "Jin Tian, come over, come over, let me introduce my buddy to you!"

Li Yifei looked at the pretty girl who was smiling very sweetly toward himself, thought about it, and quickly returned a message to Qian Fei: Keep the food and dishes for me, I'll take them as a midnight snack when I get back.

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When Li Yifei returned home, he saw a full table of dishes set out on the round table in the living room.

This entire evening, he had originally gotten along very pleasantly with the newly met girl—that girl was both sweet and sensible, deeply capturing his heart. However, when he saw the full table of already cooled dishes, somehow, this kind of pleasantness actually became shrouded in a few strands of guilt.

He went to knock on Qian Fei's door.

At this moment Qian Fei had already finished reading a chapter of Certified Public Accountant materials, and was intending to wash up and sleep. Hearing the sound of knocking on the door, she ran out from the bathroom, and the moment she opened the door she smelled a faint scent of alcohol on Li Yifei's body.

"What is it?" she asked in a bit of a displeased tone.

Li Yifei looked down upon her from his height, pointed at the food and dishes on the table, and said arrogantly, "Help me heat up the midnight snack."

Qian Fei's anger rose from a single place. "Do you truly take me for your old maid? Go heat it up yourself!"

As she spoke she wanted to close the door, but it was jammed by a foot that Li Yifei extended over.

"If you don't retract it further, believe it or not I will jam you into a cripple?" She raised her head to intimidate Li Yifei.

Taking advantage of the situation, he rushed forward, slanting his head and peering at her. "Jam it then, anyway after jamming it you'll have to sell your apartment to treat my sickness."

Unsure whether it was due to the fact that he had drunk alcohol, Qian Fei felt that his eyes were piercingly bright to a frightening degree. Being stared at and checked out by him like this, she felt that she inexplicably began to feel a lack of confidence.

In the past she truly hadn't discovered that his height was quite tall, even a tiny bit taller than Wang Ruohai who claimed a standard figure of one hundred and eighty centimeters. Her own height of one meter sixty-five point five centimeters was admittedly not short among girls, but confronting him face-to-face like this, she still had no choice but to tilt her head up. Once this kind of high-and-low positional difference opened up, it instantly made her grand and soaring aura grow weak.

She pushed Li Yifei with a bit of impatience. "Get out of the way, get out of the way. Blocking a female landlord's door in the dead of night—aren't you afraid I'll let out a screeching throat and tomorrow you'll be on the residential district's headlines!"

Li Yifei stayed absolutely still, rooted there with unswerving determination, asking, "Why did you make this many dishes tonight?"

Qian Fei answered in a displeased tone, "It's just that Liu Yifeng let me follow along to write the prospectus, so I wanted to thank you! Is there no problem anymore? If there's no problem then quickly let the evil spirit disperse, this maternal aunt wants to sleep!"

Li Yifei lowered his head to look at her. As he looked and looked, he slowly retracted his foot.

He walked to the round table in the living room and sat down, waving his hand toward Qian Fei. "I bestow upon you the opportunity to thank me. Hurry up and come heat the dishes!"

Watching him sit there with thick-faced shamelessly waving his hand toward herself, Qian Fei truly wished endlessly to take off her slipper and fly it onto his face.

Grinding her back teeth, she went to heat the dishes.

Once they were heated well, Li Yifei pulled her to sit down together.

Sitting on the opposite side, she asked in a displeased tone, "When can I go back to sleep?"

Li Yifei looked at her, not speaking, until he looked at her to the point where fire practically burst from her eyes, before he said in a slow and unhurried tone, "Alright, Qian Fei, now I have felt your gratitude!"

Qian Fei let out a pht sound toward him. "This eyesight is blind, it requires money to cure!" There was clearly only fury and no gratitude in her eyes, okay!

Li Yifei ignored her, picking up dishes in a slow and methodical manner, turning his words around: "However, Qian Fei, ah, what did you promise me previously? Didn't you say you wouldn't act as a holy mother in the future? Didn't you say you must possess a bit of temper and a bit of individuality in the future? How come when someone else tells you to heat up dishes in the middle of the night, you still heat them accordingly? Tell me, when can you show a bit of progress?"

Qian Fei truly could no longer hold it back. She yanked off a slipper from her foot and exerted her full strength to pia it toward Li Yifei's face. "Li Yifei, would it kill you not to behave like a spoiled brat after getting an advantage!!!"

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Before going to sleep, Qian Fei sent a WeChat message to Yao Jingjing: Demon, tell me how should one deal with a thick-skinned wretch?

Yao Jingjing answered her: Others might perhaps still be dealt with, but forget it for you. Don't you know? Thick-skinned wretches specifically conquer heartless holy mothers!

Qian Fei felt herself slowly cracking apart...

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Before going to sleep, Li Yifei sent a message to Da Jun: This master was fucking hit in the face with a slipper by a yellow-faced manly woman today!

Da Jun replied at extreme speed: Holy crap, you didn't kill her, did you? Stay calm, ah, stay calm. Tell me the address, I am putting on clothes to go over right now!

Li Yifei lost his smile, returning to him: Come for what crap! I didn't do anything to her! I just want to ask you, you tell me, tonight after being hit with a slipper by a manly woman, instead of getting angry, I couldn't help but be amused. Tell me, what is this situation with me? Is this still the fucking kind of thing this young master does!

Separated by roughly one minute, Da Jun then sent a reply: Buddy, I see that you should look for a place to move out as quickly as possible! If you keep living on with that manly woman, you are fast becoming a wretch yourself!

Li Yifei let out a "crap," throwing his phone to one side.