WRA CH29

Chapter 29: “Do I Have to Wear This Too?”

In the afternoon, Zhou Sicheng took Xiang Zhen to Zhoufu Bank for an interview. He drove the car into the executive parking garage and took the private elevator directly up to Fan Hao’s office.

He knew the route perfectly.

Xiang Zhen let his husband hold his hand, marveling, “Hubby, your sense of direction is amazing.”

If they lived in ancient times, a husband like this would never let his wife go hungry when hunting.

Zhou Sicheng replied modestly, “I just pay attention to the landmarks.”

Inside the office, Fan Hao had prepared a sheet of scratch paper listing questions that sounded professional but could actually be answered with basic common sense.

Interviewer Fan personally poured tea for Xiang Zhen and his husband before the interview began. He would ask Xiang Zhen a question, while Zhou Sicheng sat beside them listening like a stern prosecutor.

If Xiang Zhen so much as furrowed his brow, Fan Hao would instantly receive a questioning glare from Zhou Sicheng: Who told you to ask that question?

It was hard to tell who was actually interviewing whom.

Fifteen minutes later, Fan Hao swiftly issued the offer: “Mr. Xiang, congratulations on passing the interview. Tomorrow—”

Zhou Sicheng let out a dry cough.

Fan Hao smoothly course-corrected: “You can report for duty anytime within the next week. You can go purchase some professional attire; the company will reimburse the cost.”

Xiang Zhen: “Thank you, Manager Fan. I will work hard.”

Zhou Sicheng set down his teacup. “Let’s go. Time to go home.”

To celebrate Xiang Zhen landing a new job, the two ate out.

After returning home, Zhou Sicheng ate again in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.

The space freed up by the little sunflowers had now been occupied by the big sunflower.

Xiang Zhen finally realized the true reason Zhou Sicheng had wanted the milk tea buckets moved.

Zhou Sicheng was incredibly possessive. When they did it, he kept the lights off, ensuring that no matter what, they wouldn’t be exposed.

Pressed against the glass, gazing out at the brilliant city lights across the lake, Xiang Zhen felt like a moth trapped inside a glass jar, while Zhou Sicheng was a spreading fire behind him, burning ever fiercer.

The wool rug got wet.

When Zhou Sicheng went to wring out a warm towel, Xiang Zhen lay limply on the rug, fumbled for his phone, and interrogated Xiao Kui Bao.

[Xiang Zhen: Didn’t you say my husband couldn’t possibly have sex three days in a row?!]

[Xiao Kui: I never said that! I am just a three-year-old baby!]

[Xiang Zhen: You did say it!]

[Xiao Kui: Fine, maybe one of my other personalities told you that. Let me analyze this: has your husband stopped driving for the rideshare app recently?]

[Xiang Zhen: He got a new job.]

[Xiao Kui: Correct. My previous conclusion can now be overturned.]

Xiang Zhen choked on his words. After a moment, he quietly asked Xiao Kui Bao again, “Then when will my hubby rest?”

[Xiao Kui: Tomorrow! Third time’s the charm. This time I can pat my chest and guarantee you: 99.99% of men cannot sustain high-quality sex for four consecutive days.]

Mhm.

Reading this answer, Xiang Zhen finally felt a bit of relief.

The next day, Xiang Zhen received a 3,000-yuan salary transfer from his former company.

This was his first-ever paycheck in life, holding extraordinary significance. Even though the customer service job had involved dealing with awful things, he had also gained wonderful colleagues. If the customer service department hadn’t handed out blind date forms, he would never have met his husband!

How should he spend this money?

Xiang Zhen thought it over. First, he sent Auntie Guihua a 520-yuan red packet, telling her he had gotten paid.

Auntie Guihua was thrilled for him and asked if he had time to come back and eat zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival.

Feeling a bit guilty, Xiang Zhen replied, “Auntie, I don’t get any time off.”

The Dragon Boat Festival would be the first traditional holiday since he and his husband had gotten together; they had to spend it together.

Auntie Guihua: “Busy, you’re all so busy. Then I’ll mail them to you via SF Express cold chain. I guarantee they’ll still be fresh when they arrive.”

Xiang Zhen: “Thank you, Auntie.”

Back during the Qingming Festival, he had still been in the village, picking cudweed on the mountain with Auntie Guihua. After making the Qingming dumplings, Auntie Guihua had called SF Express to ship them off. They were sent to a Yao in the city, though Xiang Zhen didn’t know exactly who.

Next, Xiang Zhen ran to a bank ATM and withdrew a crisp hundred-yuan bill. He was very shrewd—when the first bill that popped out looked old and worn, he withdrew another hundred. This time it was brand new, so he deposited the first one back.

Xiang Zhen pulled the Guide to Adulthood from under the bed and tucked the hundred-yuan bill inside.

This first paycheck would definitely be written into his autobiography someday.

Having finished those two tasks, his very first salary obviously also had to go toward buying a gift for his husband!

Sitting on the bed, Xiang Zhen pondered what kind of gift Zhou Sicheng might need.

He was afraid of the sun? Buy sunglasses? Zhou Sicheng already had a pair, and they made him look incredibly stylish and charismatic when he wore them.

A good frying pan? Zhou Sicheng did cook a lot. No, no, the internet said you shouldn’t give gifts related to household chores; that wasn’t a real gift.

A cooling rattan seat cushion for the BYD? No, that was for the family car, not specifically for his husband.

Right, speaking of driving… Xiang Zhen stared at his bare instep. He had previously taught himself foot reflexology intending to help his husband relax, but since Zhou Sicheng had stopped driving for the rideshare app, he had forgotten to practice it.

But driving to and from work every day was tiring too.

That was it! He would give his husband a foot soaking basin, accompanied by a complimentary foot massage.

He was a wage-earning Yao now. He could completely afford to hire a professional master to teach him proper massage techniques. Only when you spent money could it be considered putting in real effort.

But where to learn?

Xiang Zhen pondered for a moment, then immediately opened a group-buying app to check out nearby foot massage parlors—those places were full of professional masters.

Should he learn this 129-yuan package? Or this 198-yuan one? Or the 598-yuan one?

The skills of these masters varied wildly, it seemed.

Xiang Zhen clicked in to read the reviews, only to discover that the photo reviews for the 598-yuan package were all taken in extremely dim environments, always capturing bizarre, unhelpful corners without any useful information.

He couldn’t go to that place; the lighting was too dark, he wouldn’t be able to learn clearly.

But this 129-yuan place actually included a free buffet!

Xiang Zhen clicked to purchase, then wondered if it might be too cheap to learn any good techniques.

Whatever, he’d go check it out first.

Xiang Zhen set off immediately. The shop was very close, barely a kilometer away, so he just walked.

Above the entrance hung a massive sign reading [Foot Massage & SPA], and right inside the door stood a privacy screen blocking the view of the interior.

Xiang Zhen hovered outside for a moment, hesitating as he tried to peek inside. What was it like in there?

Trailing behind him, Ye Yun thought: “…” Ah… um… should I report this up the chain? President Zhou looks pretty fierce; is he the type to beat his wife?

Before Ye Yun could overthink it, a receptionist in professional attire wearing a walkie-talkie walked out of the parlor and said to Xiang Zhen, “Sir, please come inside. Do you have a group-buy voucher?”

Xiang Zhen: “Yes.”

Ye Yun hastily pulled up his sun-protection mask and followed.

The receptionist: “Are you two gentlemen together—”

Xiang Zhen turned around, and Ye Yun couldn’t dodge in time.

Xiang Zhen: “Brother Ye, what a coincidence! You’re here too.”

Ye Yun: “Quite a coincidence.”

Xiang Zhen leaned in conspiratorially: “Brother Ye, please don’t tell my husband I’m here.”

He had to keep it a secret until he mastered the skill, so he could give his husband a surprise.

Pain flickered in Ye Yun’s eyes. Sure enough, you could never get too familiar with the protection target. On one side was the boss who paid his salary; on the other was the completely oblivious Xiang Zhen.

After struggling internally for a moment, Ye Yun decided he had some discretionary power here. If this was just a legitimate foot massage parlor, he would supervise Xiang Zhen’s consumption and pretend nothing happened once it was over.

Xiang Zhen was led to the front desk. The decor was luxurious, but the lighting was quite dim. Blinking his eyes, he asked the receptionist before redeeming his voucher, “Can I come here to learn?”

Receptionist: “Learn what?”

Xiang Zhen: “Learn foot massage.”

The receptionist glanced up from the computer, her eyes instantly lighting up. Under the dim lights, Xiang Zhen’s face seemed to generate its own fill light. He was radiant and beautiful, and his smile was perfectly suited for the service industry.

In this line of work, for various reasons, they usually only hired young men and women. Techniques could be crash-coursed, but a pretty face could not.

An ace! If we hire him, he’ll definitely be our ace technician! And he has an exotic flair! Totally worth shooting a special promotional transition video for him! We’ll call it: “The handsome guy you can’t reach, starting here at just 129!”

The receptionist, who doubled as HR, said, “Of course you can. Let’s head inside to discuss the details. Our technicians here earn very high hourly wages. We are a legitimate massage parlor and sign formal labor contracts.”

Xiang Zhen: “I understand, I understand. I won’t learn for free.”

He would pay the master for the lessons.

Receptionist: “You definitely won’t learn for free. With a skill like this under your belt, you’ll be in high demand everywhere.”

Xiang Zhen smiled modestly. He didn’t need to be in high demand; gaining his husband’s approval was enough.

“You’re a friend who came with him, right?” The receptionist poured Ye Yun a glass of water. Many people brought a friend along for courage their first time at a foot massage parlor.

“Please, have a seat.” The receptionist rapidly pitched their business. She couldn’t believe someone with top-tier beauty who was completely unaware of it actually existed; missing out on him would mean waiting another ten years.

Just then, a technician carrying a toolkit finished a session. Hearing that a stunningly beautiful trainee had arrived, she poked her head in curiously.

Hiss—

With his hands resting on his knees, Xiang Zhen listened to the receptionist brag. He understood—the receptionist was dragging out this prelude just to drive up the tuition fee. He could accept anything under five hundred yuan.

Suddenly hearing a sharp intake of breath, Xiang Zhen turned his head and saw a master standing there, graceful and slender in a blue-and-white porcelain patterned qipao.

The receptionist happily introduced her: “This is our Technician No. 3. Beautiful and highly skilled. She can earn over thirty thousand this month.”

Xiang Zhen looked at the master’s toolkit, then at the blue-and-white qipao. It looked so professional. Scratching his forehead, he asked: “Do I have to wear this too?”

Did he have to learn the full package?

Receptionist: “This outfit was voted number one by our customers. Our uniforms aren’t borderline inappropriate at all; they cover everything up tightly, so we don’t fear any surprise inspections.”

Feeling a bit shy from the hard sell, and recalling how Zhou Sicheng was always talking about “inspections,” Xiang Zhen said, “Then I’ll buy a set too. Is it cheap?”

Receptionist: “We provide the work uniforms for free.”

Ye Yun: ???

You’re not here to spend money, you’re here to make money?!

No way! I absolutely cannot hide this from President Zhou!

He swiftly fired off a tattletale text to his boss.

[President Zhou, Madam went to a foot massage parlor to apply for a job as a technician!]

Early in the morning, while smoothly running a meeting, Zhou Sicheng casually glanced at the message, and his expression changed drastically.

The sheer scale of his face-changing was comparable to all five of Xiao Kui Bao’s computing centers being blown up at once.

Everyone around the table watched President Zhou’s expression in terror, having no idea what had just happened.

Zhou Sicheng picked up his phone, muttered a brief “Family matter,” followed by “You all continue,” and stood up to walk out, his leather shoes practically striking sparks against the floorboards.

Only Secretary Gao remained unfazed, seamlessly taking over to moderate the meeting. He had seen this kind of face-changing far too many times on airplanes.

Zhou Sicheng pushed open the empty conference room across the hall and called Xiang Zhen.

A foot massage parlor? A technician? Absolutely preposterous.

Did Xiang Zhen think the bank job he had arranged wasn’t good enough? If he didn’t like it, he just had to say so. If he didn’t want to do customer service, the CEO could even let him be the president instead.

For a split second, Zhou Sicheng thought of those useless men from the old society who, unable to put food on the table, sent their women out to sell themselves.

Zhou Sicheng admitted that the moment he learned his wife was applying, he had mentally nuked the entire foot massage industry.

His heart gave a sudden lurch. Was Xiang Zhen trying to become a technician because he thought their family was too poor?

Suddenly, Zhou Sicheng felt as if he had been kicked into the Arctic. Ice shards formed in his veins, stabbing at every inch of his flesh and blood with each breath.

If that was the reason—

Then he had failed catastrophically as a husband.

He had left Xiang Zhen stranded on an ice floe, watching him try to save himself.

Waiting the three seconds for Xiang Zhen to pick up the phone, Zhou Sicheng had never felt his patience drain so rapidly.

The moment it connected, the phrase “I have money, I have more money than I could ever spend” was right on the tip of his tongue.

But Xiang Zhen’s sweet voice came through the receiver, entirely unbothered: “Hubby!”

Zhou Sicheng’s tone softened: “Where are you?”

Xiang Zhen tried to dodge the question: “Hubby, what time do you get off work?”

Zhou Sicheng: “I saw your location.”

Xiang Zhen jolted, staring down at his smartwatch. He had been exposed. Acting cute, he said, “Hubby, I wanted to give you a surprise.”

Zhou Sicheng: “It’s a fright. Go home immediately. If your location doesn’t move in three seconds, I will personally come and carry you back.”

Carry him back and then what…?

Xiang Zhen heard the unspoken threat, gritted his teeth, and cast one last glance at the qipao-clad model. He couldn’t learn the skills anymore, but should he still buy the outfit? The receptionist lady had even called a model over for him to see.

Zhou Sicheng: “Three, two—”

“I’m leaving right now!” Xiang Zhen stomped his foot and sprinted out like a whirlwind.

Receptionist: ???

Ye Yun hurried after him.

Running down the street, Xiang Zhen realized Ye Yun had followed him out and stopped: “Brother Ye, why did you come out too?”

Ye Yun: “I don’t think that place was very legitimate.”

The receptionist had been bluffing Xiang Zhen about the uniforms being conservative. In reality, the slits on that qipao were cut incredibly high; Xiang Zhen just hadn’t been able to see it from his angle.

Xiang Zhen: “What a pity. I was already there, but my hubby caught me.”

Ye Yun rubbed the back of his neck: “Foot massage parlors are full of shady characters. The customers are a hundred times harder to deal with than online shoppers.”

Xiang Zhen: “Oh, true… but why are you telling me this?”

Ye Yun: “…”

Ye Yun asked cautiously, “What were you going there to do?”

Xiang Zhen: “I wanted to find a master to teach me foot reflexology, so I could massage my hubby.”

Ye Yun: “…”

It’s over. The captain is away, and I’ve caused a disaster.

“Actually, you should go to a blind person’s—” Ye Yun cut himself off. President Zhou probably wouldn’t want Xiang Zhen going anywhere to learn massages.

He stood frozen in place, sweating bullets under the 33°C blazing sun as he desperately typed out a text to President Zhou explaining everything.

…

Zhou Sicheng had been furious enough to want to report the foot massage parlor. Anyone could tell Xiang Zhen was completely innocent and clueless; how did they dare try to hire him?

And then, he read Ye Yun’s follow-up message.

“…”

[Zhou Sicheng: I’m sorry, wifey, my tone was too fierce just now. Places like that are too messy, their sanitation standards don’t pass the mark.]

[Xiang Zhen: You’re right, hubby. Good thing I didn’t buy their qipao.]

Zhou Sicheng: “…”

Buy what?