I saw my long-estranged enemy again, and my wound suddenly bled anew—Jean Racine's "Fidel".
Xu Man slightly tilted her head back, gazing up at Li Peifeng's somewhat thinner yet still handsome face, and suddenly thought of this line.
When she first saw this line, she mistook "enemy" for "old friend", then realized it was "enemy", and was reminded of the saying "an extra stroke turns old friends into enemies".
Damn jerk! You didn't even say the word "breakup" before disappearing for good, really treating me like those other bitches you've been through?!
...
Hitting is intimacy, cursing is love, but really loves using feet to kick—MR. Li.
When Li Peifeng saw Xu Manning's reaction, he knew she still had some feelings for him. Just look at that love-hate mixed expression, her small, single eyelid eyes seemed eager to chew him alive.
Ai ya, I only asked a girl for a bowl of porridge, and you're this jealous… could it be you really want to get back together with me?!
One phone call, directly pushing you into the third stage of post-breakup grief, starting to fantasize about reconciliation?
A huge misunderstanding!
But it also had its benefits, adding some confidence for completing the next 30k spending task.
"If you don't want to eat today, it's fine, we can talk when there's time, but I need to give you this thing right now, before I forget."
Li Peifeng handed her the cylindrical tube he was holding.
"What is it?"
Xu Manning hesitated for a moment, but still took it and examined it.
"Your portrait, I promised to draw one for you before, but drawing is easy, drawing you… is difficult."
Li Peifeng spoke softly: "This painting took me almost a month, recently pulling two all-nighters, working day and night to finally finish it, and I wanted to give it to you right away."
Li Peifeng wasn't lying, these past two days aside from figuring out ways to exploit the system, he'd been working on this painting. From the moment he got the system and discovered Xu Manning was a target for assessment tasks, he pulled out the still-half-finished painting and rushed to complete it overnight.
The goal was to use this painting, this past promise, to mend their relationship a bit, making it easier to complete the assessment task.
Li Peifeng had been enrolled in numerous training classes by his parents since childhood. As university professors, they taught him a lot themselves, things like calligraphy, music, art, dance, etc.
But learning too much resulted in wide yet shallow knowledge for Li Peifeng, only painting and music were abilities he could barely present.
"..."
Xu Manning silently unrolled the 8K-sized paper, revealing a colored-pencil portrait of herself under the early autumn sun.
Li Peifeng hadn't excessively beautified Xu Manning's facial features—small head size, standard oval face, smooth facial lines on both sides, no odd pointed chin or abrupt tapering, but naturally tucked jawline, her entire face appeared natural and gentle.
A pair of appropriately thick crescent-shaped eyebrows gave neither sadness nor happiness, the natural lower lashes under single eyelid eyes carried a mysterious allure, the high-bridged, slightly humped nose blended a touch of cuteness with the sharpness of a humped high nose.
The Xu Manning in the painting wasn't smiling, her lips slightly drooping naturally, but such corners added uniqueness amidst universally smiling lips.
Under Li Peifeng's efficient and concise strokes, Xu Manning appeared coldly beautiful and proud, riding alone in the dust.
...
Ten minutes later, still the Cantonese fast-food restaurant.
Still the same table.
Still the same two people.
However, a big crock of freshly prepared beef porridge and four side dishes were now placed on the table.
"This meal is paid for with the painting."
Xu Manning sipped her porridge, sizing up the man in front of her, her expression having softened noticeably: "If there's anything else you want to say, say it quickly, I have work after the meal."
"Hmm~ um~ slurp~"
Where would Li Peifeng find time to speak? His hands swiftly attacking the meal left and right, making a racket devouring the food.
Recollecting the past two days of being constantly plagued by hunger, it felt like a relentless nightmare, now finally over…
"You've really gone three days without food?"
Evidently, Xu Manning was a bit startled by his appearance.
"Hmm~ um, slurp~ slurp~ ah!"
...
Five minutes later.
"Another pot of mushroom fish porridge, a plate of crab siu mai, a plate of spicy bamboo shoots."
Half of the dishes on the table were gone, yet Li Peifeng continued wolfing down, and Xu Manning called the waiter to order more. Then she asked: "Will this be enough?"
"Hmm~ um~ hmm."
Li Peifeng kept stuffing food into his mouth, nodding vigorously: "Good."
...
Twenty minutes later, Li Peifeng finally slowed his eating pace, and Xu Manning couldn't help but comment: "Come on, tell me, where are you escaping from? I don't buy the excuse of not eating for three days because of painting!"
Li Peifeng lightly massaged his stomach with his left hand, while his right hand continued scooping up porridge, feeling the liquid slowly traveling down his esophagus and into his stomach, the grains mixed with broth and oysters gradually moving through his intestines, a sense of security and happiness filling his cells, his mood unusually happy, he joked: "It's not an escape, it's just upon seeing you, my appetite suddenly improved."
Xu Manning tilted her head, giving a puzzled look: "Have you really gone insane?"
Li Peifeng instinctively wanted to refute, but thinking about it, being bound by the system and unable to eat normally, needing to live off handouts, wouldn't that qualify as insanity? Although this might be the kind of insanity that only he in the whole world might have…
"Just consider me insane."
Li Peifeng sighed, continuing to eat in small bites, he usually exercised a lot, had a big appetite, now only half-full.
Watching him continue eating vigorously, Xu Manning grew a bit impatient: "Did you call me all the way here just to have a meal? Didn't you say you had something to tell me? Why are you silent now?"
"What needed saying has been said, the painting has been given, there's nothing else."
While eating, Li Peifeng seemed concerned asking: "You still haven't answered, it's not winter yet, why wear a down coat, caught a cold?"
What's meant by saying one thing while implying another? This is it.
Mr. Li clearly understood Xu Manning's subtext and could see through her thoughts, but he dared not pursue it, for he had no intention of reconciling, nor did he want to play some love-hate game…
Yes, if they reconciled, given her character and family situation, having Xu Manning spend 30k would be effortless, but what about the other task target?
Break up, then continue deceiving the next person? Eating two meals in two months? Or… operating with multiple targets at once?
The risk was too high, potential disaster looming, social death wasn't far.
Plus, Li Peifeng couldn't accept truly becoming a money-oriented emotional fraud.
Luckily, since getting the system, aside from exploiting loopholes, Li Peifeng also devised a rough plan for safely completing the assessment task.
But the plan's premise was maintaining singleness, avoiding any romantic relationship.
Meanwhile, Li Peifeng had neither the mood nor the ability to pursue any ridiculous romantic nonsense, right now he just wanted a full meal!
Evidently, Xu Manning misunderstood, with plenty of reason for doing so…
"Wearing down coat obviously due to cold, the temperature is alright, but the autumn wind is too noisy, making me dizzy, also clearing one thing up."
"What is it?"
Li Peifeng was puzzled, Xu Manning seeming reflective: "Wind is unpredictable, even in spring and summer, when you admire its gentle moistness, its cool clarity. But in autumn and winter, you loathe its biting chill, piercing cold."
"Moreover…"
Xu Manning's tone paused, glancing at the man opposite, then continued: "Wind is heartless, fickle on direction, chooses where and who to blow on whims, recklessly uninhibited."
"Describing it as capricious and changeful isn't wrong… Hence, this lesson is, I need to earn money, buy more coats, regardless of weather or seasons, always wear them, avoiding being caught cold by that crazy wind."
Li Peifeng pondered seriously for 0.1 seconds, ultimately concluding, the wind she spoke of and the 'wind' in his name bore not a shred of relation…
Can truly say, absolutely unrelated!!!