Love Has Fireworks - Chapter 24

Chapter 24: He Thinks You Are Beneath Him

The first day of entering the site for due diligence was, as usual, a kick-off meeting between the enterprise's senior executives and the two underwriting sponsor brokerages.

The people from Li Yifei and Qian Fei's respective brokerages arrived relatively early and were led into the conference room ahead of time.

Qian Fei had been constantly worried that the emergence of her boss later on would bring Li Yifei a vibrant green sort of provocation. However, what she never expected was that the person who brought him this provocation first was not the boss, but Gui Lili.

Just as they settled into their seats, the secretary led a line of people inside, introducing them to everyone in turn. First was the person walking at the very front: "Hello everyone, this is our company's Assistant to the Chairman!"

Behind her were the general manager, deputy general manager, and so on, whom Qian Fei no longer had the capacity to listen to. She simply stared intently with all her might at the person at the very front.

That was Gui Lili, her entire body gleaming with the luster of designer brands.

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Quite clearly, Gui Lili also saw her and Li Yifei.

She merely swept a glance over them before turning her head away as if nothing had happened. Pulling out a smile that revealed eight teeth, she greeted the members of the project team: "Hello everyone, my name is Gui Lili. I'm very sorry, but Chairman Niu recently went on an urgent business trip due to some unexpected incidents, so during this period, the work will mainly be handled by the general manager and myself to interface with everyone!"

Qian Fei could hear that Gui Lili's voice seemed to tremble slightly.

The members of the project team were all exchanging business cards with Gui Lili.

When it was Qian Fei's turn, she smiled apologetically toward Gui Lili: "I'm sorry, Assistant Gui, I forgot to bring my business cards!"

Gui Lili also smiled: "It doesn't matter! Then may I ask how I should address you?"

Qian Fei was startled. After returning to her senses, she immediately followed her pace to perform the fine drama of not knowing each other. "My name is Qian Fei. The Qian that means lacking money, and the Fei from Liu Yifei."

She saw that after Gui Lili finished listening to her introduction, her face turned a bit pale.

She suddenly felt a bit unable to bear it. Presumably, those two words "Yifei" just poked her heart and soul a little bit.

It was Zhao De's turn to exchange business cards with Gui Lili, and the next one was Li Yifei. She peeked covertly at Li Yifei. She was very afraid that the proud and pampered Li Yifei wouldn't be able to stand this artificial provocation of Gui Lili pretending not to know him, and would say something in a moment that would leave everyone unable to back down gracefully.

She kept using her eyes to aim at Li Yifei with great alertness, planning that once the situation went wrong and the moment he opened his mouth, she would accidentally sprain her ankle and fall toward him, then hit him squarely by happenstance to make him shut up.

But what she didn't expect was that when it was Li Yifei's turn, he stood up in a perfectly natural and generous manner. She didn't know since when she had started to notice it, but anyway, she discovered that if Li Yifei was wearing a suit, he would definitely unbutton his jacket when sitting down. At this moment, he stood up openheartedly, pressing his hand against his necktie as he rose, then gracefully fastened his button before shaking hands with Gui Lili. This entire set of movements flowed like floating clouds and flowing water when he performed it, completely filled with aesthetic appeal. Qian Fei felt that his aura underwent a violent transformation at this instant; he looked exactly like an elegant and handsome aristocratic pretty boy from a melodramatic internet romance drama.

"I'm sorry, I didn't bring business cards either. My name is Li Yifei. The Li from beneath a plum tree, the Yi from Liu Yifei, and the Fei from Liu Yifei without the grass radical." He introduced himself with a smile.

After Qian Fei finished listening to his introduction, she nearly burst out laughing.

This kid simply shared the exact same lineage as her.

She saw that Gui Lili's complexion had already approached a deathly pale.

Sensing that the atmosphere seemed a bit awkward, Liu Yifeng hastily smoothed things over from the side, "Xiao Qian, Xiao Li, look at you two, why did you introduce yourselves in such a nonsensical way that it even startled Assistant Gui!" He turned his head to explain to Gui Lili, "The two of them are usually very serious and conscientious in their work. Perhaps they saw that Assistant Gui is beautiful and wanted to deepen your impression of them!"

Gui Lili squeezed out a trace of a smile, saying softly: "It doesn't matter!" When saying these words, Qian Fei saw her eyes dart toward Li Yifei. That lingering affection in her eyes made Qian Fei completely lose her sympathy for her.

Qian Fei sighed secretly in her heart.

The thing she looked down upon the most was this kind of lingering affection after a breakup; what difference was there between this and begging for humiliation?

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After a morning's meeting time, Qian Fei completely dispelled her worries about Li Yifei. She even looked at him with a whole new level of respect.

Li Yifei performed exceptionally professionally during the meeting. Qian Fei didn't know if some deviation had occurred in her senses, but she always felt that today's Li Yifei was not quite the same as usual. Every single action in his behavior and gestures seemed as if it had been calculated down to the angle, always stopping precisely at the most pleasing point to the eye. Qian Fei felt he must have studied quite a lot of idol star movements for acting cool.

However, it had to be admitted that Li Yifei, when acting cool like this, looked truly handsome, possessing an almost unique charm. When she saw Gui Lili looking at him, that expression full of tender affection—where regret was mixed with reminiscence—she suddenly realized something amidst her sighing.

Perhaps she had consistently underestimated Li Yifei's emotional intelligence before, thinking only that he was high-maintenance, willful, and had a big temper, but he was actually more underhandedly manipulative than anyone. He knew exactly what kind of posture would make a person yearn, feel sad, or even regret more. She saw it; when Gui Lili looked at him now, she indeed possessed a bit of sadness and regret, a kind of sadness and regret drowned within his elegant demeanor.

Qian Fei suddenly felt that a man like Li Yifei was quite terrifying. Even if they broke up, he wouldn't let people forget his merits; even if the other party really was about to forget, he would find opportunities to make her remember them bit by bit.

She shivered involuntarily.

If Wang Ruohai also possessed this kind of deep scheming like him, she probably would have committed suicide out of sadness and grief for him who knows how many times by now.

She suddenly felt a bit grateful to Wang Ruohai for letting her see nothing but ugly behaviors she had never seen before after their breakup, making her heart grow more and more dead toward him.

After the morning meeting concluded, Gui Lili said: "I'm sorry, my body is feeling a bit uncomfortable, so I won't accompany everyone for lunch!" She instructed the general manager, "You must accompany everyone well!" Then she left.

Before leaving, she cast a few glances at Qian Fei and Li Yifei respectively.

Once she walked far away, Qian Fei heard Liu Yifeng beside her pulling the general manager with a beaming face and asking in a low voice: "Old classmate, what is the background of this Assistant to the Chairman? Isn't she a bit too young! But it looks to me like even you have to listen to her?"

The general manager gave him a wink, lowering his voice to say softly: "Aya! She originally was my subordinate, I was the one who recruited her into the company! But later, somehow or other, she and the Chairman caught each other's eyes! I don't know if the Chairman originally planned to get a divorce or if he divorced for her, but anyway, her current status is actually the Chairman's fiancée! I see it won't be long before they hold the wedding!" The speaking voice paused for a moment here, and Qian Fei strained her ears tightly to continue listening, "Hey Old Liu, I say, is your colleague eavesdropping on the two of us talking?"

Qian Fei shivered, turning her head to look at Liu Yifeng and the general manager, letting out a silly he-he chuckle: "No, no! How could that be!"

Amused, Liu Yifeng poked her forehead lightly, "Are you stupid or what? You don't even know how to fake it properly! If you didn't eavesdrop, how did you know the two of us were talking about you?" Having finished speaking, he turned his head to instruct the general manager, "Rest assured, this is an apprentice I'm bringing up, she won't talk recklessly!"

Qian Fei nodded like crazy from the side.

After finishing nodding, she turned around and saw Li Yifei standing right beside her. She was startled.

Thinking about it, she leaned over and asked in a low voice: "Did you hear it too?"

Li Yifei drooped his eyelids to look at her from a downward angle, nodding with indifference, "Mm."

Looking at him, Qian Fei didn't know what to say, so she found words to fill the silence: "Your performance this morning was way too awesome! It was simply like you turned on a cheat code! Every little gesture and style was exactly like Xu Wenqiang traveling through time to a securities firm to hold a meeting—deadly handsome! Giving you a thumbs up!"

Li Yifei shot her a white eye, curling his lips into a smile of endless mockery: "Truly someone who hasn't seen the world! This alone makes you look like a starstruck fool over my handsomeness? Wait until this young master truly turns on a cheat code one day—won't you be crying and screaming, kneeling down at my feet to beg me not to be too handsome, otherwise you won't even be able to live!"

It was just that Qian Fei hadn't eaten yet at this moment; she felt that provided there was anything left in her stomach, she would definitely vomit it all over Li Yifei's face right now.

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After finishing lunch, Zhao De asked Qian Fei and Li Yifei excitedly if they should follow the old rules, finding a place to set up a stand to play Fight the Landlord.

Both of them said fine.

Thus, the three people's beautiful lunch break Fight the Landlord time received a second lease on life.

While playing cards, Zhao De couldn't help but ask: "I feel that your introductions today were exceptionally abnormal. How should I put it—there was a bit of a meaning of colluding together to face the outside world as one!"

Qian Fei said: "Do you know how to write the two words for 'colluding'?"

Zhao De played a card, shaking his head, "I don't know, ah. As long as I can pronounce it, it's fine, right? Everyone uses computers now, so as long as you know pinyin, it comes out as soon as you type it!"

Li Yifei took up the conversation from the side: "In the future, do not use words you don't know how to write. In case someone asks you what it means to collude together, and asks you which characters they are, tell me—if you can't say it, how embarrassing would that be."

Qian Fei chimed in from the side, "Exactly, people will say that being uncultured is truly terrifying. How do you work in investment banking? What if you write the prospectus wrong for people!"

The two of them arranged Zhao De in perfect harmony. Zhao De was beaten until his head swam, completely forgetting that he had asked a very gossipy question before.

By the time he remembered it again, he had already lost several hands of cards.

He suddenly felt that it didn't taste quite right, and said to Qian Fei and Li Yifei very sorrowfully: "I seem to have chewed over the flavor a bit; the two of you are ganging up together to deal with me!"

Qian Fei shot him a white eye, "You lost until you've gone stupid, right? Li Yifei is the Landlord, and you and I are the Peasants. He is the one dealing with the two of us together!"

Zhao De gave a aggrieved "oh," striving to argue back, "But I feel that, Qian Fei, you are a spy mixed into the Peasants who is in cahoots with the Landlord!"

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While the three people were playing Fight the Landlord, Qian Fei's phone made a ding sound.

Before she could reach out to pick it up and look, Li Yifei said from the side: "Assistant Gui is looking for you."

Qian Fei was startled for a moment, "No way?"

Li Yifei slanted his mouth and let out a "heh" of a cold laugh.

Qian Fei picked up her phone to look, and it really was Gui Lili. She lifted her head to look at Li Yifei, shaking her head and sighing with exclamation: "You actually understand the fair lady to such a degree!" She had half a sentence hidden behind that she didn't say: Big brother, are you still unable to let her go?

Li Yifei shot her a white eye, "I don't just understand her, I understand women!"

Qian Fei flipped her hair, "Forget it, you just don't understand me!"

Li Yifei copied her movement, also flipping his hair once, "Forget it, you don't count as a woman either!"

Qian Fei turned her head toward the side in anger to look at her phone.

Zhao De cried out anxiously like a howling wolf: "I seem to smell the scent of gossip!" But nobody paid attention to him.

Qian Fei looked at the phone. Gui Lili sent her a message, asking: Qian Fei, is Yifei doing well lately?

Qian Fei felt a faint aversion in her heart.

Enduring her impatience, she replied with two words, too lazy to even attach punctuation: Doing well

The phone followed with another ring immediately: But it looks to me like he has thinned down and wasted away a lot!

Qian Fei shivered. What kind of eyesight did she have? Lately, Li Yifei didn't know how happily he had been freeloading on her meals; she had nourished him until he was fair, tender, delicate, and dripping with freshness. Which eye of hers saw that he had thinned down?

She wasn't polite either, tapping the screen with her finger to reply: Not at all, perhaps because compared to the people you see during the day and night now who are fatter than him, when you look at him again, you feel that he is thin.

Pausing for a bit, the phone rang yet again. Gui Lili asked: Qian Fei, has Yifei ever mentioned me to you...

Qian Fei replied: No

Gui Lili: Impossible!

Qian Fei ignored her.

Gui Lili followed by sending another one immediately. After reading this message, Qian Fei became amused out of anger.

Gui Lili: Qian Fei, have you fallen in love with Yifei? Is that why you aren't telling me the truth?

Qian Fei directly tossed the phone to Li Yifei, saying in all seriousness: "I feel we should appropriately buy her some medicine to take."

Zhao De craned his neck with all his might to peer over, wanting to know what Qian Fei was talking about. Li Yifei clapped the phone screen against his own chest and pushed him away with one hand, "If you sit back, I'll let you win a big hand in a moment!"

Zhao De sat back with great reluctance.

Li Yifei lowered his head to look at the phone.

He let out a cold laugh of "heh," and then tapped the phone screen rapidly with his fingers pitter-patter.

By the time Qian Fei discovered that he seemed to be replying to Gui Lili's message, it was already too late.

"What are you replying, Li Yifei?" Qian Fei hurriedly snatched back the phone, but unfortunately it was already too late.

She saw a row of words on the screen that Li Yifei had just replied with: Falling in love with him isn't strange either; he's quite handsome, after all, and he can even buy groceries, wash dishes, and do housework. Whatever clothes are bought for him, he wears them, and cheap goods bought from Taobao look gigantically handsome when worn on him. With such a living, breathing, and alluring person swaying in front of one's eyes every day, who could not like him~

Unexpectedly, the ending was even a flamboyant tilde wave...

After Qian Fei finished reading this message, her entire body shivered straight through.

She slowly turned her head to look at Li Yifei, compressing her throat to say through gritted teeth: "Big brother, can you please want a bit of face? Can you not drag me into the business between the two of you? Also, if you don't praise yourself like a split personality, is it impossible for you to survive?"

Li Yifei shot her a white eye, "I am rescuing you! Let her know that the things she didn't manage to make me do back then, you have managed to make me do them all now—see if she still has the courage to harass you again!"

Qian Fei wished she could scratch that boastful face of his to pieces, "I spit! Clearly it is you who wants her to feel resentful, unsatisfied, and filled with endless regret for having cheated on and dumped you back then!"

Li Yifei lifted his head, suddenly asking: "How do you write the character for 'endless' in endless regret?"

Qian Fei was instantly caught blank by the question, "It's, it's just the character that means to layer or duplicate, right? Ah, wrong, wrong, how is it written again?"

From the side, Zhao De suddenly shouted: "I know! The walking radical plus the character for loss! Qian Fei, you really are—being uncultured is truly terrifying! Also, I seem to have guessed some things, oh!"

Being interrupted by him in such a chaotic manner, Qian Fei suddenly didn't know at whom she should direct her anger, or what anger to throw.

The phone made a ding sound yet again. Gui Lili said to her: Qian Fei, I truthfully advise you a sentence, so as to spare you from sinking deep and receiving deep injuries in the future. A person must recognize themselves clearly. Don't be too foolish; Yifei won't like a woman like you!

Looking at the phone, Qian Fei suddenly felt a bit unreconciled.

What did she mean by a woman like her? What was wrong with her?

Before clocking out in the afternoon, she couldn't hold back from calling Yao Jingjing, narrating the whole story from beginning to end, and smoothly asking the doubt that had kept her heart agitated for the entire afternoon: "Demoness, tell me, what am I like? Back when we first entered university, weren't there quite a lot of boys chasing me!"

Yao Jingjing let out a long sigh on the other end of the phone, "Baboon, speaking of which, I truly miss the you of that time too much! You were so fresh and watery, it felt like water would squirt out with just a poke! At that time your mother was still around, and the way she dressed you up every day was truly called beautiful! Otherwise, how could Wang Ruohai have spent so much painstaking effort to pursue you! But ever since your mother passed away during our senior year, you began walking onto the path of no return of being sloppy and mixing clothes haphazardly. Your beauty has been completely buried within your unsalvageable rustic style! Therefore, that line from the song is sung truly correctly: A child with a mother is like a treasure!" Toward the end of her speech, she even began to sing.

Qian Fei's heart felt a pang of bitterness, "Scram! If you don't poke the core of my heart, you won't feel comfortable, right!"

Yao Jingjing hastily begged for mercy, "No, no! Baboon, wait until I return; I'll be responsible for dressing you up! I will definitely love you and cherish you like a mother, letting you radiate the light of beauty once more!"

Qian Fei felt both angry and amused: "If you don't take advantage of me for one day, you'll die!"