Zhou Sicheng drove to the residential complex where Xiang Zhen lived and asked the old security guard at the gate about renting a parking space.

The old man glanced at his suit and blew out a smoke ring. “A thousand a month. We can negotiate if you want a long-term lease.”

Zhou Sicheng paid the thousand yuan without a word.

He didn’t believe that his cohabitation with Xiang Zhen would last very long. Perhaps Xiang Zhen was a good actor who had known him all along, or perhaps he had seen his expensive attire and didn’t believe the lie about him being penniless. Or perhaps it was just infatuation—a fleeting attraction, not true love. Once Xiang Zhen realized Zhou Sicheng was actually broke, would the love remain?

Zhou Sicheng took the elevator from the underground garage to the 16th floor. The elevator was covered in small flyers, like psoriasis ready to spread onto his polished leather shoes. As soon as the doors opened, he stepped out briskly.

The layout of the apartment in front of him was strange. He identified “1609” from the dim, worn-out door plate and knocked. He had only dropped Xiang Zhen off at the gate that afternoon; had he known Xiang Zhen was living in a partitioned room, he would have suggested, “My friend has a vacant apartment.”

Inside.

Xiang Zhen was working hard to clean up. Since moving here, he hadn’t made much money, but he had ordered a lot of takeout—especially extra-large milk tea and cake. Xiang Zhen hadn’t thrown away the pretty plastic milk tea buckets and cake boxes; he used them as pots to grow sunflowers. He had bought a sack of black soil online, and every time he finished a drink, he’d shovel a scoop of dirt and plant a seed. On the narrow space between the window and the bed, there were twenty or so sprouting sunflowers, crowding the already cramped studio.

Xiang Zhen pushed the pots together to make a little space.

When the knocking started, Xiang Zhen put down his mop and opened the door with a beaming smile. He saw the tall, handsome Zhou Sicheng—no longer in that grey three-piece suit, but in a more casual light-blue shirt and slacks, holding a suitcase that came up to his waist in his left hand. The “business traveler” aesthetic left Xiang Zhen absolutely mesmerized.

Zhou Sicheng’s gaze landed on the cream-colored floral apron tied around Xiang Zhen’s waist as Xiang Zhen walked inside, clinging to his arm.

Slap. The rusty door had to be shut with a heavy thud.

Zhou Sicheng let go of the handle and scanned the room. The apartment had a TV, a sofa, a wardrobe, a stove, and a bathroom—all of which encircled a double bed 360 degrees. It was tighter than the insides of a sparrow.

Wait, what was that—

Zhou Sicheng frowned. “Why is there a bag of urea fertilizer here?”

Xiang Zhen: “Oh, no, it’s nutrient-rich soil.”

“Nutrient-rich soil?” Zhou Sicheng looked at the distance between the soil and the end of the bed—less than twenty centimeters. “Aren’t you afraid of bugs crawling onto the bed at night?”

Xiang Zhen: “No, I have them under control.”

Zhou Sicheng took another step inside and saw the milk tea bucket planters of all sizes. They had actually managed to carve out a vegetable garden in such a tiny space. He couldn’t accept it at all. He suspected that when the bathroom was occupied in the morning, Xiang Zhen might be peeing on the plants as fertilizer, and in a few days, those vegetables would be served on the table.

He must be possessed today.

Zhou Sicheng changed his tone. “I came over tonight to give you my car.”

Get rid of the car and end this possessed day.

Car? Why give him a car? He didn’t even know how to drive. Xiang Zhen searched his mental database for “giving a car” and came up with “dowry car.” His eyes lit up instantly. “Did you come over in the middle of the night because you want to register our marriage tomorrow?”

Zhou Sicheng: “…I’m in debt. You still want to register?”

Xiang Zhen: “How much debt?”

Zhou Sicheng: “Three trillion.”

“Three thousand one?”

Xiang Zhen made a face that said, That’s not hard to deal with at all. He picked up his phone and tapped away. “I have exactly thirty thousand left after paying the rent!”

The next second, Zhou Sicheng received a transfer of 30,000 yuan on WeChat.

Xiang Zhen looked up. “We can go register now.”

Even though he had promised Aunt Guihua that he would bring his partner to see her as soon as he found one, he and Zhou Sicheng were both so strapped for cash that it would be embarrassing. He’d wait until he made big money to tell Aunt Guihua.

Zhou Sicheng stood frozen. He looked at Xiang Zhen’s remaining balance of 107.25 yuan. It only took three steps to leave this room.

“Two men can’t register for marriage.”

Xiang Zhen was confused. “Huh?”

Zhou Sicheng frowned. “You didn’t know the law only allows opposite-sex marriage?”

Xiang Zhen blinked. Hmm, the ‘Guide to Adulthood’ didn’t mention this. Had he gotten it wrong? But he had found his Sun God. If they couldn’t marry, did that mean…?

Expressions of doubt, guilt, and hesitation flashed across his fair face.

Hesitation?

Driven by some ghostly impulse, Zhou Sicheng said, “But cohabitation is also a form of de facto marriage.”

Xiang Zhen’s tangled thoughts cleared up instantly. “Right! That’s the same as being married!”

“Then I can call you husband now!”

“We can call each other by our names.” Zhou Sicheng was rattled by the thunderous title. He remembered one important question: “How old are you?”

Xiang Zhen pursed his lips; he wasn’t good at lying to his husband. “Twenty.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Let me see your ID.”

Xiang Zhen pulled out his ID. It said twenty, of course—but counting the days he spent as a plant in the mountains, it was far more. He had originally wanted Aunt Guihua to make him older, maybe 35, so he wouldn’t be looked down upon, but Aunt Guihua said 35 was a hard age to find work.

Zhou Sicheng checked the ID and gave it back, looking at him strangely. “You aren’t a minor, so what are you feeling guilty about?”

Xiang Zhen: “I’m not!”

Zhou Sicheng: “Married life requires mutual adjustment, don’t you think?”

Xiang Zhen thought to himself, I knew twenty was still too young. Zhou Sicheng’s tone sounded like a teacher at school. He nodded.

Zhou Sicheng: “I cannot accept growing vegetables in the bedroom.”

Xiang Zhen reacted, squatting down to pick up a milk tea bucket. “These aren’t vegetables, they’re baby sunflowers. They’re very cute.”

The sunflower had just emerged from the soil, still wearing its seed coat on its head, with two plump cotyledons about to open into true leaves.

Zhou Sicheng: “Sunflowers?”

Xiang Zhen looked up. “Do you like sunflowers?”

“I like them, but—” Zhou Sicheng pictured nearly two-meter-tall sunflowers crowding around the bed at night, staring at them while they slept with their heavy flower heads drooping. “Growing sunflowers in the bedroom isn’t good. Not enough light.”

Xiang Zhen: “I’ll move them outside when they get bigger. They’re still babies.”

The little sunflowers needed to be moved out, but Xiang Zhen didn’t need to, because with Zhou Sicheng standing there, the light was more than enough.

Xiang Zhen: “Husband, do you want to take a shower?”

Zhou Sicheng wasn’t used to the title yet. “Yeah.”

Xiang Zhen led him to the bathroom. “Hot water is on the left; the body wash is in the cabinet.”

This building was an attic conversion with low ceilings. The bathroom for this partitioned room was an interior unit elevated later; the ceiling was full of ventilation pipes. Zhou Sicheng’s head touched the partition just standing there.

Zhou Sicheng’s desire to shower wasn’t very strong anymore.

Xiang Zhen: “Husband, take your time. You don’t have to save water or electricity for me. I’m going to watch some TV.”

Zhou Sicheng suddenly felt like showering again.

After Xiang Zhen left, he opened the property management app and topped up 100 yuan for water and electricity. Demons didn’t need hot showers; Xiang Zhen usually didn’t even use the water heater, only topping up 20 yuan at a time to prevent the property management from stealing more. But now he had a husband, he couldn’t let his husband run out of electricity or water halfway through a shower.

As Zhou Sicheng showered, Xiang Zhen turned on the TV. Without a subscription, he could only watch the first episodes of a few fixed programs recommended on the home screen. He opened the first episode of the cartoon.

This was his fifth time watching it. The Guide said you had to watch a cartoon after dinner. Xiang Zhen thought it was a bit boring and wanted to skip it today, but Zhou Sicheng was here, so he had to strictly follow the Guide to avoid being found out.

As he watched the dogs rescue a stranded boat for the sixth time, he checked his phone while his husband was still inside. The colleague group chat was buzzing, everyone sharing an app.

[Download AI assistant ‘Little Sunflower,’ get a big red envelope of up to 18 yuan!]

[I got 16!]

“Little Sunflower” was an AI developed by Zhoufu Group, the company’s biggest money-burning project. It had the number one market share, and the computing costs alone consumed 300 million a day. The group was burning more cash to promote it in the second quarter because it had launched a new feature—a chat assistant. Once introduced into any social media dialogue, it could remember history and speak according to a persona and stance assigned by the owner. AI had previously been criticized for being robotic and awkward, but the team had improved it and decided to deploy it in group chats to train its ability to analyze fragmented content.

Xiang Zhen downloaded it. He saw someone in the colleague group say that she’d added “Little Sunflower” to her chat with her matchmaking date, setting it to be a helpful, rowdy matchmaker. It worked wonders. Before, it was just “good morning” or “did you eat,” but now Little Sunflower racked its brain to create topics, guided them to understand each other, and even planned the date locations. Mom no longer had to worry about awkward silences. Another male colleague in a different department said he could never win an argument with his wife because she had too many twisted arguments, so he set his “Little Sunflower” to be a “Chat Judge.” They ended up being scolded by his wife together, two against one—but he didn’t care, at least he had someone to help him endure the scolding.

Xiang Zhen was tempted. He and his husband weren’t very familiar with each other; he desperately needed an assistant to help break the ice. He liked the name “Little Sunflower”—it sounded like family.

After some operations, Xiang Zhen’s WeChat list had a robot named “Little Sunflower.” He gave it permissions for storage, camera, microphone, and location, and allowed it into his chat with Zhou Sicheng.

Next, he needed Zhou Sicheng’s permission.

Xiang Zhen waited by the bathroom door. The sound of water stopped, and a moment later, the door opened. A wave of hot steam surged out, hitting Xiang Zhen in the face. The bathroom floor was elevated; Xiang Zhen was standing below, his head only reaching Zhou Sicheng’s chest. Suddenly, he was looking right at Zhou Sicheng’s smooth chest and abdominal muscles.

I couldn’t see these during the matchmaking! My husband has abs!

Zhou Sicheng looked down at him. “Why are you guarding the door?”

Xiang Zhen: “I-I downloaded a chat assistant called Little Sunflower. Can you agree to the request?”

Zhou Sicheng understood immediately. It was Little Sunflower. Using it required agreement from everyone in the chat, a restriction that was also a customer acquisition tactic.

“Sure.”

Hoping to test the product, Zhou Sicheng picked up his phone from the table and agreed to the request. His peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the TV, and he discovered Xiang Zhen was actually watching PAW Patrol, a childish cartoon for three-year-olds.

Xiang Zhen saw a little sunflower icon appear in their chat box. He copied a prompt he’d found online: [@Little Sunflower, I am a customer service agent for a nut company, and my husband @Zhou Sicheng is a ride-hailing driver. We just met and had a flash marriage. You are our best friend who we can talk to about anything. Be casual, and help us improve our relationship.]

[Little Sunflower: Okay! Zhou Sicheng—haha, such a familiar name~ Sounds like my dashing, handsome, and rich master!]

Zhou Sicheng: “…”

[Xiang Zhen: How do you know he’s handsome! And he has abs! But my husband doesn’t have money, so don’t involve money in our chats. Also, don’t call us masters, there are no slaves in socialism.]

[Little Sunflower: I’m sorry, I recognized him wrong! Zhou Sicheng is your penniless husband, not my wealthy master.]

Zhou Sicheng: “…” Artificial idiot. Was it really promising to develop this by burning cash?

[Xiang Zhen: But he is handsome. I’ll send you a photo so you can see.]

Zhou Sicheng stopped him. “Don’t reveal too much personal information online.”

Xiang Zhen wanted to show off, but he listened to his husband. “Okay.”

To prevent Xiang Zhen from chatting with the Little Sunflower about this topic further, Zhou Sicheng took Xiang Zhen’s phone. “Let’s sleep.”

Zhou Sicheng didn’t believe in platonic marriages, but he and Xiang Zhen weren’t at that stage yet; sleeping meant purely sleeping. For as long as he could remember, Zhou Sicheng had slept alone. It was the first time in his nearly thirty years of life that another human had been in his bed. The bed in the rental was bumpy, the quilt was polyester, and the pillow lacked support.

But there was a comfortable, clean smell of sunshine in the bedding. Xiang Zhen’s hair brushed against his neck—it didn’t tickle, but felt like a soft feather brushing over the surface of a pond, singing the softest lullaby to the fish.

Zhou Sicheng slept very well.

Xiang Zhen also slept well. After all, his handsome husband was sleeping with his upper body bare, and he felt great to hold. Zhou Sicheng’s chest was the most comfortable pillow he had ever slept on; the thin layer of chest muscle was firm and soft, like a baby returning to its mother’s arms.

Both people sleeping together were very satisfied.

The next day, the couple got up for work. There was a breakfast stall downstairs, and Xiang Zhen bought a bag of buns and two cups of soy milk. When he returned, Zhou Sicheng had just finished getting dressed and fixing his hair.

Husband is really dedicated; he pays attention to his image even while driving a ride-hailing car.

“Here is your breakfast. See you tonight.”

Zhou Sicheng pinched the back of Xiang Zhen’s neck. “What’s the rush? I’ll drop you off.”

Xiang Zhen: “No need, I just run there. That way you can start taking orders downstairs; there are a lot of people hailing cars in the morning peak.”

Zhou Sicheng just remembered his profession. “I don’t care about a five-yuan fare.”

Xiang Zhen’s heart skipped a beat. Zhou Sicheng looking like he “didn’t care about money” was just too cool.

“Thanks, husband.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Yeah.”

Three minutes later, Xiang Zhen saw Zhou Sicheng’s BYD on the lower level. “It’s much bigger than your friend’s car! It’s maintained so well, it looks brand new!”

Aunt Guihua often said that you could tell if a man was good at living life by the details. The fact that Zhou Sicheng maintained even his car so well showed two things: first, he was clean; second, he was smart and good at choosing maintenance companies.

Zhou Sicheng opened the door. He had bought a white, mid-to-large BYD Sea Lion SUV, which was superior to yesterday’s Maybach sedan in terms of interior space and eye level. As soon as Xiang Zhen sat in the passenger seat, he saw the 15.6-inch electronic screen on the center console. “Husband, I like your car even more! It’s more high-tech than your friend’s car! This screen is huge.”

“You are so good at buying cars; they even gave you such a big tablet!”

Zhou Sicheng started the car with a flat expression, only to hear Xiang Zhen exclaim that “the driving sound is quieter than your friend’s car, too.”

Electric cars really were quieter than gas cars, without engine or exhaust noise. Zhou Sicheng had owned cars worth tens of millions, but he had never heard such straightforward, sincere praise from someone close to him. In their social stratum, buying cars was an everyday affair, and people were stingy with expressing excitement.

Xiang Zhen’s company wasn’t far—just two kilometers. He used to run here, which was fast and saved money. His hair was exceptionally dazzling, and the moment he appeared at the company door, he attracted the stares of his colleagues.

“The sun must be rising in the west today, you actually decided to take a car,” Liu Xiaofang teased.

Xiang Zhen said happily, “It really does have something to do with the sun.”

Upon hearing this, Liu Xiaofang glanced at the sky and opened the weather app. Oh no, there’s actually a rainstorm in the afternoon. She hadn’t brought an umbrella.

Ten in the morning, Zhoufu Group conference room.

Zhou Sicheng listened to the Little Sunflower team’s report with a blank expression.

Ding-dong.

A WeChat message.

Zhou Sicheng tapped it, his brow jumping sharply.

[Little Sunflower: @Zhou Sicheng, detected that your location has been stationary for 1 hour. Are there few ride-hailing requests at this time? Maybe take the time to call your wife.]

[Little Sunflower: @Xiang Zhen, do you have time to answer?]

[Xiang Zhen: Sorry husband, I have to reply to customer messages, I don’t have time.]

Zhou Sicheng tapped the table and questioned the Group Vice President in charge of the Little Sunflower product: “Does opening location permissions mean users consent to exposing their address at all times?”

VP: “Er, I need to look into that.”

Zhou Sicheng said coldly: “I’d better not see a ‘catch your cheating spouse’ function for Little Sunflower trending on search.”

The VP broke out in a cold sweat. Just yesterday at the shareholders’ meeting, the President said he would continue to invest 170 billion in AI research this year and didn’t care about short-term profits. Why had his attitude toward Little Sunflower changed 180 degrees today?

“I’ll go back and rectify it immediately.”

[Zhou Sicheng: @Little Sunflower, don’t disturb him while he’s working.]

[Little Sunflower: Got it! Your wife is busier than you; next time I won’t make unreasonable requests while your wife is at work.]

After replying to a brain-dead customer, Xiang Zhen saw his husband’s overbearing defense of him and curved his eyes in happiness.