WRA CH22

Chapter 22: Taking a Carpool Ride and Picking Up a Company Executive

Xiang Zhen seemed genuinely worried about being made to cry. Zhou Sicheng had no choice but to promise in the elevator, “I swear I’ll be gentle.”

Xiang Zhen had read novels, though; before getting into bed, a Sadist always coaxed their partner by saying it wouldn’t hurt, only to become more and more outrageous in the end. Besides, the sheer strength in Zhou Sicheng’s grip didn’t make him seem like a man taking a sincere vow. He looked at Zhou Sicheng: “What if you can’t manage it?”

Zhou Sicheng: “Then we’ll set Xiao Kui Bao’s stance to be 100% biased toward you, letting it curse at me every single day.”

Xiang Zhen believed Zhou Sicheng was sincere now. Previously, every time Xiao Kui Bao spoke up for him, Zhou Sicheng acted like an isolated general backstabbed by his trusted aide—flying into a thunderous rage, utterly incompatible with Xiao Kui Bao.

Xiao Kui Bao’s seven-day mute penalty was almost up, and it would soon return to their chat window. A sunflower Yao integrating into human society needed the assistance of an AI. What was the difference between a Xiao Kui Bao that favored him 100% and his own flesh-and-blood siblings?

Xiang Zhen handed the paper bag back to Zhou Sicheng: “They look very expensive. Can they be returned?”

Zhou Sicheng never kept track of his spending; he even dared to buy a 398-yuan cake. Xiang Zhen absolutely refused to let him waste money on things like this—it would be better spent buying another 398-yuan cake instead.

Zhou Sicheng: “No.” They’ll be used sooner or later.

Xiang Zhen nudged him: “Are you too embarrassed to ask for a refund? I’ll do it.”

Zhou Sicheng pinched his slightly chubby cheek: “You’ve got quite the nerve. Sanitary and hygiene products are strictly non-refundable and non-exchangeable.”

Xiang Zhen: “Then can I list them on magical Xianyu?”

Zhou Sicheng: “…” If they weren’t going to sleep together, so be it, but he wasn’t so destitute that he needed to pawn off condoms. If word got out, he’d become a laughingstock.

Xiang Zhen pulled out his phone and tapped open Xiao Kui Bao right in front of Zhou Sicheng: “Xiao Kui, Xiao Kui, can unopened condoms and lubricant be listed on Xianyu?”

[Xiao Kui: That won’t do! Condoms are classified as medical devices and are explicitly prohibited by official platform regulations. Some individual sellers only bypass this through homophones or loophole tactics.]

Zhou Sicheng raised an eyebrow. For once, Xiao Kui Bao was actually useful.

[Xiao Kui: Don’t worry! You can look for prospective buyers on your WeChat Moments or group chats!]

Zhou Sicheng’s face darkened instantly. What kind of terrible advice was this artificial idiot giving now?

Xiang Zhen’s dark eyes darted back and forth, as if racking his brain to figure out who among his WeChat Moments could be an interested buyer.

The elevator arrived at the 16th floor. Zhou Sicheng wrapped an arm around Xiang Zhen’s waist to guide him out. Once inside the rental apartment, he shut the door and pinned Xiang Zhen back against the door panel. But he forgot that umbrellas, toilet paper, and other daily necessities that couldn’t fit into the cabinets were hanging on the door, making it impossible to lean back.

Zhou Sicheng went quiet for a moment, then carried Xiang Zhen over to an empty stretch of wall. He raised a knee to nudge Xiang Zhen’s legs apart until their bodies were pressed seamlessly against one another.

Pinned against the wall, Xiang Zhen couldn’t budge. In his mind’s eye, the tall, imposing black iron rack from unit 1620 flashed across his thoughts.

Zhou Sicheng lowered his head, nuzzling against Xiang Zhen’s neck: “Wifey, do you feel it?”

Xiang Zhen turned his blushing face away, but with his lower body trapped, he couldn’t escape Zhou Sicheng’s deliberate friction no matter how he squirmed. He could only nod: “You’re hard.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Is it big?”

Xiang Zhen was intensely shy, but considering that Zhou Sicheng often praised sunflowers for having big flower disks, reciprocity meant he couldn’t be stingy either. He whispered softly, “Big.”

Zhou Sicheng’s tone softened: “Selling condoms on your WeChat Moments would make me lose face. I’m a vigorous man in my prime; people will think your husband is impotent and that’s why you’re selling them.”

Xiang Zhen froze: “I’m sorry, hubby, I didn’t think that far.”

His husband’s face was of utmost importance; he definitely wouldn’t sell them anymore.

Doesn’t matter, Zhou Sicheng thought. I just made that up on the spot anyway.

Zhou Sicheng said solemnly: “Besides, with my size, it won’t fit most people. They’d end up coming back to ask you for a refund.”

At the thought of troublesome customer service disputes, Xiang Zhen shook his head with even greater resolve: “Even if they rot into the soil, I won’t sell them.”

Zhou Sicheng stared fixedly at Xiang Zhen and sighed. Why would they rot into the soil? I can use them.

With soft jade and warm fragrance in his arms, he truly couldn’t hold back anymore. Reaching around Xiang Zhen’s lower back, he gave him a firm squeeze: “There’s food in the pot. I’m going over to 1620 for a bit.”

Xiang Zhen’s skin was exceptionally delicate and tender, smooth as congealed jade. Zhou Sicheng had to immediately go grip a pair of steel dumbbells to wear off this bone-deep softness.

“Okay.”

Xiang Zhen watched his husband leave to blow off steam. Opening the rice cooker, he saw fragrant white rice, and in the pot, a bowl of fish with pickled greens kept warm in hot water.

On the wall, the brand-new range hood had already been mounted—an angled, wall-mounted model. Zhou Sicheng would never bump his forehead again.

The feeling of improving their living conditions together with his husband was simply wonderful.

Xiang Zhen envisioned buying a home next year: buying one piece of furniture every time they received their monthly paychecks, gradually building a cozy little home of their own.

He lifted the lid off the pickled cabbage fish and discovered that the fish fillets were entirely intact, untouched.

Zhou Sicheng had been in such a rush that he hadn’t even eaten.

Carrying on like this wasn’t sustainable either.

Xiang Zhen still loved kissing Zhou Sicheng, but kissing made Zhou Sicheng react. He couldn’t keep testing Zhou Sicheng’s limits every time without satisfying him.

Otherwise, he’d be locked up sooner or later!

Plants had no pain receptors; being struck didn’t hurt them. During that massive fire long ago, flames had licked the edges of Xiang Zhen’s leaves, and he had stepped barefoot across scorching scorched earth, yet he hadn’t felt any pain back then.

For some reason, after transforming into a human, he had lost this ability.

Xiang Zhen flipped open the Guide to Adulthood, attempting to find a method to block pain from the records of other Yao.

Running his fingers along the pages, Xiang Zhen parted two leaves that were stuck together. Glancing over them, he realized that past Yao also wrote personal memoirs.

“Excuse me, excuse me, I didn’t mean to peek at your diary.”

As luck would have it, Xiang Zhen discovered even more folded pages sealed together.

This book was practically the Chronicles of Yao.

In the illustrations, Xiang Zhen saw the paws of a leopard, a coiled serpent’s tail, blooming honeysuckle… In the future, a brilliant sunflower would be added here as well.

Xiang Zhen closed the Guide to Adulthood, lifted the mattress, and hid it underneath the bed.

The Guide to Adulthood was no ordinary book; it possessed spiritual essence and could only remain in the hands of any single Yao for five years. Through twists and turns, it would eventually return to the Yao beginner village to be passed on to the next.

In unit 1620, Zhou Sicheng received a call from Secretary Gao while on the treadmill.

Gao Ou: “President Chu from Changsheng Media returned our call. Tomorrow morning at nine, meeting at Mount Roy Manor.”

Changsheng Media was the largest film and television company in the country. Whether it was traditional long dramas, movies, imported series, or current short-form and AI dramas, they rode every trend and set the industry standard, maintaining high performance growth even when their peers suffered losses.

Zhoufu and Changsheng had overlapping business ventures, and Zhou Sicheng had met Chu Ren a few times.

Zhou Sicheng planned to give Feng Chujun something to do. Once Feng Chujun was trapped in the quagmire of AI investments and couldn’t pull himself out, he wouldn’t have time to keep his eyes on his wife at the company all day. Moreover, Feng Chujun would have to buy computing power and traffic from Zhoufu; even fly legs were meat, so he’d gladly accept whatever came knocking.

Throughout the entire process, Zhoufu Group had to remain invisible to prevent Feng Chujun from recognizing them.

He wouldn’t step forward, but Chu Ren certainly could.

The timer on the treadmill climbed to 37 minutes. Having cooled down, Zhou Sicheng hit the stop button.

Time to head back and kiss his wife.

There was still cake in the fridge; today’s after-dinner dessert was mango pomelo sago flavor.

The next morning, Zhou Sicheng drove his wife to work as usual. He had told Secretary Gao not to schedule anything over the weekend, but to deal with Feng Chujun—that fly buzzing around his wife—he had to make a trip to Mount Roy Manor after all.

Driving there would take time, and there didn’t seem to be any parking spots left outside the office building. Zhou Sicheng unbuckled Xiang Zhen’s seatbelt: “Head on up. I’ll watch you walk inside from here.”

Xiang Zhen lifted his face and planted a kiss on Zhou Sicheng: “Goodbye, hubby.”

Zhou Sicheng curled his lips. After kissing for just two nights, he was already this proactive. Xiang Zhen was truly the type who was very easy to teach and cooperative…

Xiang Zhen closed the car door. Zhou Sicheng had even packed him a loving bento today, which he could heat up in the microwave during his lunch break.

Having a husband with weekends off was fantastic; in the future, he could cook for him at home every weekend.

“Xiang Zhen.”

A gentle voice called out. Xiang Zhen turned his head and saw a male colleague wearing glasses. He was a salesman in the company; Xiang Zhen hadn’t spoken much with him, but they were WeChat friends.

“Good morning!” Xiang Zhen greeted him full of energy.

The male colleague, who had been somewhat shy around Xiang Zhen, gathered his courage upon hearing this greeting and handed over a paper bag with both hands: “These are daifuku my mother made. Since you like sweets, you should like them too.”

Xiang Zhen did like sweets, and Yu Yueyue often shared snacks with him, but he remembered a key point from the Guide to Adulthood: when receiving gifts, one must decline at least three times. He said, “Thank you, but I’m already full.”

The male colleague said: “You can eat them at lunch. They’ll keep fine for the day.”

Xiang Zhen: “I have a bento for lunch.”

Male colleague: “Afternoon tea works too.”

Xiang Zhen: “Then how could I impose on you like that?”

Male colleague: “It’s just sharing between colleagues.”

That made three refusals.

“Thank you!”

Xiang Zhen swiftly accepted them. He had never tasted homemade sweets before; rumor had it they were different from store-bought ones, and Zhou Sicheng only knew how to buy them, not make them.

Inside the car, Zhou Sicheng: “…”

Did he really need to guess what kind of look that male colleague was giving Xiang Zhen?

His wife had clearly said no, so why did the guy keep pushing them into his hands!

Zhou Sicheng slapped the steering wheel. There were so many love rivals in one single company—as soon as one was chased away, another popped up.

A greasy guy like Feng Chujun was nothing to fear; what he feared was encountering someone who liked his wife with genuine, simple sincerity. After all, in Xiang Zhen’s eyes, Zhou Sicheng was just a broke pauper too.

Zhou Sicheng let out a breath. There are still daifuku in our fridge at home.

The very next second, he heard another enthusiastic greeting, also calling out to his wife.

“Zhenzhen!”

Xiang Zhen looked over. It was the female livestream host hired by the company, sporting wavy hair and bright red lips—an urban beauty. However, Xiang Zhen’s deepest impression of her was her livestream performance cracking sunflower seeds: the moment a seed entered her mouth, the shell and kernel separated automatically, a hundred seeds a minute.

Even though sunflower seeds were packed with calories, the host still maintained a slender figure. Holding a cup of Starbucks, she elegantly handed it to Xiang Zhen: “Here, handsome, my treat.”

Xiang Zhen felt an inexplicable sense of reverence whenever he saw her teeth. He accepted without declining: “Thank you, Yao-jie.”

Host Yao couldn’t resist touching Xiang Zhen’s hair: “Your hair quality is amazing! Mine is so frizzy.”

Zhou Sicheng: “…”

How could Zhou Sicheng fail to notice Host Yao’s deliberate approach!

He had spotted a long-haired woman pacing near the entrance from far away, and it turned out she had been waiting for his wife all along.

What was going on?!

Why were love rivals swarming everywhere!

This wasn’t the first time Zhou Sicheng had driven Xiang Zhen to work, but before today, he hadn’t noticed any traces of love rivals lurking around.

Why did they all sprout up overnight!

Zhou Sicheng was utterly baffled.

Originally scheduled to pick up his wife at three in the afternoon to stroll around the park, Zhou Sicheng showed up outside the company building at two.

Near Xiang Zhen, the BYD was home.

Zhou Sicheng reclined the driver’s seat all the way, turned on the air conditioning, and lay flat to close his eyes and rest.

How could he casually appear at Xiang Zhen’s company without showing his face or wealth, while still intimidating potential rivals?

Zhou Sicheng shifted his long legs irritably. Living incognito, was he supposed to rely solely on his height?

While using the restroom, Xiang Zhen looked out the window and noticed his husband’s BYD quietly parked below. After mulling it over, taking advantage of Feng Chujun’s absence, he sneaked out early.

“Hubby!” Opening the car door, he saw his husband sleeping uncomfortably inside and felt terribly heartbroken.

“Why are you here so early?”

Zhou Sicheng sat up straight: “Off work already? I didn’t have anything else to do anyway.”

Xiang Zhen reflected on himself. He worked on weekends while Zhou Sicheng had them off; staying alone in the rental apartment was far too pitiful. Zhou Sicheng probably wasn’t used to being alone either—it would have been better for him to go run a couple of rides instead.

Wait?

“I almost forgot!”

Xiang Zhen naturally reached into Zhou Sicheng’s trouser pocket, pulled out the phone, unlocked it with the passcode, and opened the carpooling app. “It takes an hour to get to Tianxing Bay. We can pick up a carpool ride on the way.”

“…” Did I give permission to touch my phone?

Zhou Sicheng hesitated to speak. Seeing his wife’s determined gaze, he could only strictly pray there wouldn’t be any orders with an overlap higher than 95%. If a detour was even three kilometers, he would reject it flat out!

Xiang Zhen: “There’s one that’s totally on the way!”

Zhou Sicheng kept his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart: “No detours. I won’t take it.”

Xiang Zhen tapped his index finger to accept the order: “No detour at all! He’s getting on right along our route, and the destination is Tianxing Bay too.”

Who calls a carpool to go to a park instead of driving themselves!

Zhou Sicheng fiercely cursed this passenger to have no car to take on the way back.

Xiang Zhen fastened his seatbelt: “Let’s go, hubby.”

Zhou Sicheng started the engine: “Where’s the pick-up?”

Xiang Zhen: “Zhoufu Bank Tower.”

A bad premonition welled up in Zhou Sicheng’s chest. After racking his brain, he couldn’t find a reason to cancel the ride. His expression turned increasingly grim. Whoever gets in this car is fired.

Calling a carpool… if it was an entry-level employee, with him wearing a mask, they probably wouldn’t recognize him, right?

Fate had other plans.

When Zhou Sicheng saw a familiar bank executive standing by the roadside outside the tower, he wished he could demote him by two ranks on the spot.

Was his annual salary not enough to hire a personal chauffeur, or not enough to buy a car? What was he doing calling a carpool? Fan Hao, are you out of your mind?

The closer they drove, the clearer Fan Hao’s brilliant grin became.

Clearly, Fan Hao had already spotted Driver Zhou’s license plate on the carpooling app, recognized it, and had been standing there laughing for twenty minutes.

Fan Hao waved extravagantly at the BYD, practically jumping up and down, terrified that Zhou Sicheng would ignore him.

God knew, he had only vaguely heard from Feichi Carpooling’s tech department that Zhou Sicheng had registered for ride-hailing and carpooling, even completing two rides. Last week, the ride-hailing account was deleted, but the carpooling account remained active, leaving people wondering if he still intended to drive.

So today, when he wanted to head to the Tianxing Hotel, he opened the carpooling interface on a whim.

Just as he was about to close it, a familiar BYD accepted the order.

The license plate was an exact match!

Seeing a white car from afar with red ribbons tied to the rearview mirrors, he hadn’t been entirely sure. But once it pulled up, revealing Zhou Sicheng inside alongside an unfamiliar yet breathtakingly gorgeous president’s spouse, Fan Hao thought he was dreaming.

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!

Zhou Sicheng was doing carpool runs with his gorgeous wife!

Every word was familiar, but combined together, it was utterly bizarre.

Maintaining a bizarre grin, Fan Hao opened the rear door: “Hello, I am—”

Zhou Sicheng’s face was as black as thunder: “Say one word, and bear the consequences yourself.”

Fan Hao: “…”

Xiang Zhen was completely baffled and apologized to the passenger: “I’m sorry, he doesn’t mean any harm.”

Fan Hao: “No worr—”

Heavens! Good heavens! This is the stunning beauty Zhou Sicheng hid away in a golden house!

Zhou Sicheng: “Shut up.”

Xiang Zhen whispered to Zhou Sicheng: “Hubby, why do you have such an attitude?”

Zhou Sicheng: “We know each other. His voice is unpleasant; hearing it makes me nauseous and unable to drive.”

Fan Hao: “…”

Xiang Zhen: “Ah.”

Zhou Sicheng took a deep breath: “Last four digits of your phone.”

Fan Hao suppressed the vibrating laughter in his chest: “Don’t you know the last four digits of my phone? 8900.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Why would I know.”

Braving the low pressure inside the vehicle, Fan Hao held back his laughter the entire way, alternating between looking at his boss and looking at his boss’s spouse.

As he watched, he suddenly felt sour with envy.

Where on earth did Zhou Sicheng find such a wonderful wife who even fed him water?

Sitting in the back, he felt like a perverse third-wheel single dog.

He understood why Zhou Sicheng wouldn’t let him speak—he was definitely hiding something from Xiang Zhen and was terrified of blowing his cover.

Zhou Sicheng looked so head-over-heels in love that he was even immersed in doing carpool runs. If Fan Hao accidentally blew his cover, he could just wait to die.

After half an hour of silence, Fan Hao finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. Braving Zhou Sicheng’s murderous glare in the rearview mirror, he chose his words carefully: “Saozi, can we add each other on WeChat?”

Xiang Zhen was worried this passenger would leave a bad review after getting off. Adding each other on WeChat meant he could provide after-sales care and politely ask him to revise the rating. His eyes curved into crescents: “Sure, sure!”

What would Zhou Sicheng do without a customer service wife like me riding along?

Xiang Zhen showed his WeChat QR code.

Fan Hao added him with the lightning hand-speed of an ultra-short-term trading broker.

He was far too curious about Zhou Sicheng’s partner.

After all, Zhou Sicheng was practically devoid of human warmth.

Once Xiang Zhen accepted the request, Fan Hao hungrily opened Xiang Zhen’s WeChat Moments—

Ummm…

Fan Hao hesitated to speak, then spoke and stopped himself again.

Was this the Zhou Sicheng he knew? Could he have gotten into the wrong car—a car from a parallel universe? Was Zhou Sicheng a broke pauper in this world?

“Uh—”

Zhou Sicheng: “Hold it in.”

Fan Hao felt uncomfortable all over. After a long while, braving the risk of being fired, he asked, “Are you really Zhou Sicheng?”

Xiang Zhen: “Yes, aren’t you friends?”

Fan Hao: “None of my friends would send their wife a 52-yuan red packet on May 20th.”

From primary school, middle school, high school, to university, he didn’t have a single friend who turned into a stingy miser upon falling in love!

Zhou Sicheng’s entire body jolted.

“Wasn’t it… 5,200?” It was the least confident President Zhou had ever sounded in his life.

Fan Hao: “I’m not blind. There’s a decimal point in the middle.”

Zhou Sicheng thought of a possibility and verified softly: “Where did you see that?”

Fan Hao mocked: “Your wife posted it on WeChat Moments.”

Xiang Zhen beamed proudly: “Hubby, I posted it on Moments!”

Zhou Sicheng’s vision went black; his world collapsed.

He finally understood why love rivals had suddenly swarmed around like locusts.

Because he had dropped the ball.

He, Zhou Sicheng, had made every single man and woman think: If he can do it, so can I.