11. The flavor of green tangerine
Seeing Qiu Fang again, there is nothing new anymore.
He still talked as loudly as if Vivian were one of his subordinates, and she was still as preoccupied with thoughts as ever, constantly questioning what she was doing.
This time, Qiu Fang didn't send flowers beforehand, nor did he put any thought into choosing a gift. Not long after he left, Vivian's phone dinged. He had transferred a five-digit sum. Qiu Fang, self-proclaimed considerate and respectful, explained, "I'm sorry I can't spend the weekend with you. Please buy you a gift you like."
This sentence somewhat diluted the uncomfortable atmosphere of the matter.
Vivian felt a little better.
SKP was right next to her office, so she strolled over after work. Since it was free money, it seemed like she could just spend it. But she hesitated for a long time, only buying one expensive perfume, a slightly bitter green mandarin orange scent. It was still one of those things she could afford, but didn't need on a daily basis.
It seems that only at this time will I not feel bad about buying this kind of thing.
Vivian hated the constant mental math she'd do. For example, fifty thousand yuan could buy her a bag and keep her happy for a few days, but it could also pay off her mortgage for a few months.
She decisively chose the latter.
If it were Feng Simiao, she wouldn't even blink at a 500,000 yuan bag, let alone 50,000 yuan. A 50,000 yuan bag would be too ordinary for Feng Simiao, but for Vivian, paying off the mortgage was more economical.
She hated constantly comparing herself to others. If she hadn't, she might have been considered a privileged child. She'd always been a good student, getting into a prestigious university for undergraduate studies and, after working for a few years, saving up enough to study abroad. After returning to China, she'd had some luck, landing a good job at a good company and taking advantage of a small upturn to buy a house. Although it was an older neighborhood, at night, when she looked out the window at the myriad lights, she felt a sense of fulfillment—I had found my place in this metropolis, and I had done it all on my own.
There is both pride and sadness in that feeling. If one has something to rely on, who would want to rely solely on their own hands?
So at this moment, all she could give herself was a small bottle of fragrance with her favorite citrus scent.
*
When he was with Qiu Fang, his phone was constantly ticking, and he had no shame in it. This old-fashioned man never considered frequent phone use at the dinner table a rude act that required an apology to his tablemates.
Qiu Fang was indeed busy with work, which she could understand and even feel grateful for. This way, they wouldn't have to chat all the time. But she couldn't help but compare herself to Eric. When he was with her, he wouldn't even put his phone on the table.
In reality, Qiu Fang and she were far from running out of things to talk about. In the early days of their acquaintance, they had plenty to talk about, and any piece of financial news would leave him poring over it for ages. After all, the best part of being a boss was being able to spout tons of nonsense to your subordinates. And they could only listen attentively, nodding and humming in agreement.
Therefore, Qiu Fang is used to talking nonstop once he opens his mouth.
But now it was strange for the two of them to talk so much. Qiu Fang was too lazy to think about it anymore, in order to please her.
He doesn't care about a woman's soul.
He was frightened by women who claimed to have souls. A year ago, Qiu Fang had met someone like her. She was a salesperson at another fund company, beautiful, dashing, and ambitious. He'd gone to great lengths, even staying in the most expensive water villa in the Maldives, to finally win her favor. But after two months, she wasn't content with just a short-term fling and asked to marry him.
Of course, Qiu Fang refused. He brushed her off, saying he needed time, while gradually cooling down. The girl appeared to be fine, treating him as usual. Then one night, someone from the company's PR department called in a panic, accusing the president of a well-known fund of sexual harassment on Weibo, naming and accusing a colleague.
There are hundreds of PPTs, which are eloquent, rich in pictures and texts, rich in details, and the timeline is clear at a glance, and there are even some censored pictures.
Everyone loved this kind of scandal, and word spread quickly. The public relations department didn't know how to handle it. If the company's business was subject to public opinion, there were established procedures, and external PR firms were available, such as trolls, to muddy the waters. But since this involved the boss's personal affairs and was a scandal, no one was willing to volunteer.
Qiu Fang was furious, but there was nothing he could do. Fortunately, he wasn't a celebrity. While people might be interested in the story, they lacked the motivation to pay close attention. He was lucky, as he'd just happened to catch a small internet celebrity claiming to have fathered a child from a wealthy family, which immediately went viral.
The aftermath of his romantic scandal gradually subsided.
Qiu Fang also learned a profound lesson, and from then on he deliberately avoided people who were particularly strong and smart.
*
Qiu Fang's constant messaging wasn't simply due to work, as Vivian assumed. He had recently been pursuing a woman named Yoyo.
Internet celebrities are popping up all the time, and the cost of pursuing them is no less than that of smaller celebrities. Someone like Yoyo, who has been around wealthy men since she was 18 and has never worked a day in her life, could never imagine what it's like to earn money with her own hands.
This kind of beauty, like a limited-edition Maserati sports car, is a status symbol. A good sports car naturally requires top-notch maintenance. For Qiu Fang, spending a little more money is no problem.
But he'd recently hit a snag with Yoyo. This girl, seemingly big-breasted and clueless, was surprisingly clear-headed and rational. Qiu Fang worked in finance, and calculating the rate of return on everything was ingrained in him. But Yoyo had seen the world, and Qiu Fang's simple tactics for dealing with ordinary people were completely useless against her. A few luxury bags wouldn't be enough to open her door.
When you hit a snag with a woman, you need to find another woman to relieve the frustration.
Vivian is just such a lovely and eloquent person.
So this time when we met, he asked very tenderly for the first time: I want to visit your home.
Huh? Vivian's heart was shocked, and eight hundred thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant.
The first reaction is rejection.
She didn't want outsiders to see the old house's crumbling walls and tangled electrical wires. The little utopian atmosphere she'd tried so hard to create inside didn't make the house any less respectable from the outside. Since buying the house, only T's parents and a few close friends had visited.
Those were people in front of whom she didn't need to pretend at all.
Be it Qiu Fang, Feng Simiao, or Eric, none of them were enough to make her let down her guard. In front of them, she was vague, beautiful, one of the thousands of respectable urban beauties.
But facing Qiu Fang's request, there seemed to be no reason to refuse. She lowered her head and thought silently for a moment, then said to Qiu Fang: Okay, but the house is a mess, don't mind.
A pair of eyes, distinctly black and white, stared straight at Qiu Fang, leaving him somewhat bewildered: "What a child."
These five words made Vivian's heart move.
No one had ever called her "childish." She was always mature, impeccable, and rarely capricious. At home, she was her parents' sensible and promising daughter. At work, she was an obedient, capable, and hardworking employee. Outside, she was Feng Simiao's gentle and clever friend.
Few people regard her as an innocent little girl.
Later, Vivian recalled that this was probably the moment when her and Qiu Fang's fake relationship came closest to revealing their true feelings.
But she can't just keep being "true".
"How about next time? Give me some time to clean. I've been on business trips so much lately, and my house is a mess."
Qiu Fang naturally had no objection.
In fact, he was just saying it casually.
*
Meanwhile, Yoyo noticed his enthusiasm was waning, and worried about losing this big fish. She needed to manage the pond more frequently, so she took the initiative and messaged him: "Mr. Qiu, I'm going to Hong Kong this weekend. I wonder if you're there? Want to go out for a drink?"
Qiu Fang was instantly excited and immediately asked his secretary to book a plane ticket.
Vivian spent an entire weekend cleaning the house, hiring a part-time worker for a deep clean and even going to IKEA to stock up on knickknacks, including a new floral-themed four-piece set. She wasn't exactly a slob, but there were always some untidy corners in her house that hadn't been cleaned for a long time, and getting them thoroughly cleaned wasn't easy.
But she finally did it. The floor and corners were spotless, and half of the new perfume she had sprayed was filled with the scent of freshly squeezed green oranges, filling the entire room.
The house is old and there is no way to change it, but at least we can make it a bright and beautiful place.
///
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