WRA CH32

Chapter 32: Selling Coffee on Zhou Sicheng’s Moments

Xiang Zhen formally introduced his Yao friend to Zhou Sicheng: “Hubby, his name is—”

Xiang Zhen whispered to the coffee Yao, “What’s the name on your ID card?”

The young man replied, “Dou Manning.”

Xiang Zhen understood—it was an abbreviation for Mandheling coffee beans. He said, “He sells coffee. Please make a cup of coffee for my husband to refresh him; it’s safer for him to drive in the afternoon.”

Dou Manning went to prepare the coffee while Xiang Zhen helped him load his luggage into the trunk. The coffee Yao had only recently descended the mountain and hadn’t even notified Auntie Guihua yet. He was making a living in the city entirely on his own, so he had very few belongings.

Soon, Zhou Sicheng was handed an extra-large cup of coffee as compensation.

With bright, round eyes, Xiang Zhen served it to his husband: “It’s very authentic, hurry and taste it.”

This was the perk of marrying a sunflower—you got to drink authentic coffee.

Zhou Sicheng briefly lost himself in his wife’s adoring gaze and took a massive gulp.

Pfft.

It was so bitter that it briefly triggered Zhou Sicheng’s memories of the fish soup Xiang Zhen had made.

His evaluation remained two simple words: terrible.

Aside from dumping in coffee beans as if they were free, things like sugar, milk, and chocolate were treated like gold per gram—not a single gram had been added.

Xiang Zhen: “Once you drink it, you won’t be sleepy while driving.”

Well, that part was certainly true.

Spitting it out lacked grace after all, so Zhou Sicheng forced himself to swallow it down. He said, “You two really are… like high mountains and flowing water, soulmates rarely found.”

Zhou Sicheng glanced around, finding nowhere convenient to set the cup down and pretend he had forgotten it, so he had no choice but to rest it on the car roof: “It’s a bit cold, I’ll drink it in a moment.”

With quick eyes and hands, Xiang Zhen took it down. “I’ll feed it to you while you drive.”

Zhou Sicheng didn’t want the bitterness to blur his vision while driving, so he dragged someone down with him first: “Did Fan Hao finish his?”

Xiang Zhen: “He drank it all.”

Zhou Sicheng: “He definitely secretly dumped it out, wasting your money.”

Xiang Zhen: “Hmm?”

Zhou Sicheng didn’t want to show any disrespect toward his wife’s real friend. Several times before, when Xiang Zhen had wanted to introduce him to his friends, he had politely declined. If he did that too often, when his identity was eventually exposed, he might be suspected of looking down on Xiang Zhen’s social circle.

He had to resolutely prevent those friends from fanning the flames when that time came.

Therefore, Zhou Sicheng took another sip, pulled his wife behind the car, and had him taste it too.

Xiang Zhen’s eyebrows scrunched together from the sheer bitterness. He had always loved sweet things and drank coffee with full sugar. He hurried to stand on tiptoe and kiss his husband, attempting to dilute the bitter taste.

“I’ve got it.” Xiang Zhen suddenly remembered there were leftover bottles of sweetened milk in the BYD’s trunk from their park camping trip.

He took out two bottles, gulped down half of each, and then poured the coffee in to fill them up, turning them into two cups of lattes.

“Hubby, do you remember? Our blind date was in a coffee shop. That day you didn’t drink any, but I drank two cups.”

Zhou Sicheng’s gaze drifted into the distance, looking toward the horizon as he reminisced about that day. It felt so close, yet seemed like a long time ago.

“That day ought to be defined as a lucky day.”

The coffee in his hand had been imbued with commemorative significance. Zhou Sicheng took a sip. The milk neutralized the coffee’s bitterness, making the texture smooth, mellow, and rich.

All of Dou Manning’s things were loaded into the car, and he asked Xiang Zhen if he had a pen and paper.

Xiang Zhen rummaged through Zhou Sicheng’s car and found them.

Dou Manning earnestly wrote the words “This shop is relocating” and wedged the paper into the door seam.

There wasn’t much business here anyway; it was time to change locations.

Money earned at a construction site was pure blood and sweat; that man wouldn’t be able to save any money if he kept insisting on drinking 40-yuan coffee.

Once all three were in the car, Xiang Zhen grabbed a handful of melon seeds for Dou Manning—all brought from his previous company. He didn’t eat them, and neither did Zhou Sicheng.

Xiang Zhen: “Where will the new shop open? Do you want to go to an office building and sell to white-collar workers?”

Dou Manning: “Rent for office buildings is too expensive.”

Xiang Zhen suddenly said happily, “Hubby, I have a great idea.”

Zhou Sicheng’s instinct told him it was a terrible idea.

Xiang Zhen: “Hubby, we can do group buying and reselling. Look, we both work in office buildings, and our colleagues order coffee every day. Why shouldn’t they order from Manning? We can tally up the orders the day before, Manning can make them in the rental apartment and put them in the trunk, and we can bring them to our offices to distribute.”

Over the past few days, Fan Hao had continuously added Xiang Zhen to many work chat groups, each with hundreds of people—all potential clients.

Zhou Sicheng somewhat regretted “changing jobs”; it really would have been better to drive for the rideshare app.

Driving a car was much better than serving food.

Xiang Zhen: “Hubby, didn’t you say earlier that you wanted to support me opening a milk tea shop or something? We can test the waters this way, but we definitely can’t rent a storefront.”

Zhou Sicheng’s objections were thoroughly blocked.

Zhou Sicheng said with difficulty, “The price is on the high side, nobody will buy it.”

Actually, based on the taste after diluting it with milk, it wasn’t expensive at all.

“We’ll offer a discount and sell it for 9.9. The cheapest around us is 9.9.” Xiang Zhen turned his head toward Dou Manning and said, “I respect the value of your coffee beans very much, so all you need to do is dilute one 40-yuan cup into five cups.”

That solved the problem of the coffee being too strong.

Zhou Sicheng admitted that a capitalist’s wife did possess a bit of business acumen, but he would absolutely never invest in this venture.

Dou Manning was also quite captivated by this business plan: “We can run a little promotion, that’s fine.”

Xiang Zhen: “Then it’s settled.”

While Zhou Sicheng was driving with both hands, the phone in his pocket was swiped by Xiang Zhen, and WeChat was smoothly unlocked.

Xiang Zhen seemed to have undergone a second intellectual awakening: “Hubby, this WeChat is your personal account, right? There aren’t any work groups.”

Zhou Sicheng: “…”

Xiang Zhen wanted to check how many work groups his husband had: “I’ll switch to the work account.”

Zhou Sicheng felt like he was driving straight into a public streak.

He kept his breathing steady and made no rash moves to snatch the phone—pretending to be poor on a blind date was one thing, but deliberately covering it up after marriage was another.

If Xiang Zhen discovered it, Zhou Sicheng could only surrender; he wouldn’t pile on another lie.

Click.

Xiang Zhen entered a brand-new WeChat account.

The screen alone was filled with endless messages, a whole column showing numerous “Received.”

He didn’t click in to look closely, because different trades were separated like different mountains—he wouldn’t understand anyway.

Everyone said that the more “Received” replies one had to send, the more of a top-tier pack mule wage slave they were.

His husband really didn’t have it easy.

He clicked on the group chats and noticed that the group names were all designated as “XX Business Group.” For an ordinary programmer like Zhou Sicheng to be included in so many project departments—his husband worked far too hard to make money.

Capitalists were truly wicked.

Xiang Zhen resolved that he must invest in Dou Manning’s coffee shop to achieve financial freedom, so his husband wouldn’t have to be a miserable programmer anymore.

He wanted his husband to become the boss.

Zhou Sicheng kept his eyes on the road, but his breath was entirely hitched to the person beside him, ready at any moment to pull over and deliver the line, “Listen to me explain.”

However, Xiang Zhen didn’t show any suspicion.

Because whether it was company executives or presidents from other industries on that chat list, he didn’t recognize a single one.

Xiang Zhen murmured, “Would selling coffee in work groups be inappropriate?”

Zhou Sicheng breathed a sigh of relief. Being able to consider this angle meant he wasn’t a fool. He said, “Right, inappropriate.”

Xiang Zhen noticed that Fan Hao was also on Zhou Sicheng’s work WeChat, and tapped right in.

“I’ll ask Fan Hao.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Didn’t you just ask me?”

Xiang Zhen: “My bank employee grade is 12. Since you just started at your company, yours should be similar. But Fan Hao’s grade is 2. 2 is higher than 12, so what he says carries more reference value.”

Xiang Zhen had thoroughly researched it: Fan Hao said that since he had no degree, he was placed there, but if he had a bachelor’s degree, he could be directly graded as a 9.

Zhou Sicheng: “…” Who on earth invented corporate ranking systems? How boring. Did he ever mention that he was a 1?

“Don’t ask him,” Zhou Sicheng offered as a last-ditch effort to save the situation.

Xiang Zhen was already typing away, his fingers moving faster than his husband could speak.

Xiang Zhen saw the last screen of chat history between Fan Hao and Zhou Sicheng, where Fan Hao had asked Zhou Sicheng at 11:30 AM why he wasn’t in his office or the cafeteria, complaining that he couldn’t find him anywhere to sign a document.

Xiang Zhen hurriedly helped Zhou Sicheng reply.

[Zhou Sicheng: I went to get coffee with my wife.]

[Fan Hao: No need to emphasize it a second time.]

[Zhou Sicheng: Manager Fan, what do you think about selling coffee in the company work groups?]

[Fan Hao: ???]

[Fan Hao: Are you possessed by a ghost?]

[Zhou Sicheng: Oh, I’m his wife.]

[Zhou Sicheng: I found the best coffee beans in the world and now need a channel to sell them. I can’t afford the rent for an office building, so I want to run a sign-up list to sell coffee in the work groups. My husband can bring them along when he goes to work.]

[Fan Hao: Sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, nothing is impossible, President Zhou.]

Xiang Zhen’s eyes curved into crescents: “Fan Hao said it’s fine, and he said it multiple times.”

Moreover, Fan Hao was very quick on the uptake—he had already started calling him President Zhou, proving he was completely on board with this business and that it would definitely make money.

Zhou Sicheng remained expressionless, having predicted this entirely. One couldn’t place even a shred of hope in someone who just loved watching drama unfold.

He could practically hear Fan Hao’s booming laughter already.

[Zhou Sicheng: Is it really okay? Can both my husband and I sell coffee? Will we get fired?]

From the WeChat records between the two, Xiang Zhen had discovered that Fan Hao had business dealings with his husband, so Fan Hao definitely understood Zhou Sicheng’s company as well.

[Fan Hao: Absolutely not! Our company is very open-minded. I guarantee you that no one will demote your husband’s grade, and I won’t demote your grade either.]

[Fan Hao: Feel free to go all out. Selling bottled drinks can turn someone into the richest man in the country.]

Xiang Zhen felt tremendously encouraged.

He even read Fan Hao’s reply aloud to the other two in the car with vivid expression to boost morale.

Every top billionaire’s entrepreneurial team assembled from humble beginnings—such as inside a moving BYD.

The veins on Zhou Sicheng’s forehead throbbed violently. He was going to demote Fan Hao by thirteen grades in a row!

Xiang Zhen said, “Manning, you provide the skills and coffee beans, and my husband and I will provide the funds and sales channels. Can we split the shares fifty-fifty?”

Dou Manning felt that focusing solely on making coffee sounded great, so he nodded: “Sure.”

No sooner said than done. Using Zhou Sicheng’s WeChat, Xiang Zhen posted a update on Moments:

[Manning Coffee Shop is officially open! Lattes and Americanos are all 9.9! Pre-order now, and tomorrow morning they will be delivered directly to your workstation at Zhoufu Bank Headquarters!]

Halfway through drafting, Xiang Zhen paused and asked, “Hubby, which company are you at?”

Zhou Sicheng: “Zhoufu Headquarters.”

Xiang Zhen added the remaining half: [Delivered directly to your workstation at Zhoufu Bank Headquarters and Zhoufu Headquarters!]

Soon, someone Xiang Zhen didn’t recognize replied to Zhou Sicheng’s Moments post:

[Boss, how much did they pay you to run this ad?]

Just as Xiang Zhen was about to reply that it was their own family’s coffee, Zhou Sicheng reached out in the nick of time and took back his phone.

Let them misunderstand like that.

Half an hour later, he parked the car downstairs at the residential complex. After doing some mental preparation, he opened WeChat.

Fan Hao had already replied underneath that Moments post:

[Fan Hao: Yes, yes, yes, just send your pre-orders directly to President Zhou.]