WRA CH4

Chapter 4: Hubby, You’re So Handsome

Customer service performance was evaluated on a 30-second response rate, meaning that whenever a new post-sale message arrived, it had to be answered within thirty seconds.

Having just entered society, the skill Xiang Zhen had been trained in most rigorously was his messaging speed. The moment Xiao Kui Bao @-mentioned him, he responded right away.

In comparison, Zhou Sicheng’s responses were far slower.

His husband’s hand speed was so sluggish; no wonder he couldn’t snag any ride-hailing orders. Xiao Kui Bao had mentioned that Zhou Sicheng’s location hadn’t changed for an entire hour—competition in the ride-hailing industry was brutally fierce right now.

Xiang Zhen made a grave resolution: once he got a day off, he would make time to train his husband on how to grab orders faster.

[You have a new message.]

[LoveToEat: Damn it! Your melon seeds are so rock-hard they chipped the front tooth I just capped! I spent 1,600 capping that tooth!]

[Customer Service Sunflower is at your service.]

[Xiang Zhen: Dearest, our shop deeply sympathizes with what happened. Would a 2-yuan compensation be acceptable?]

[LoveToEat: Deal.]

Xiang Zhen smoothly refunded the customer two yuan, humming happily to himself. There was truly nothing in this world that two yuan couldn’t solve.

“Xiang Zhen, what takeout are you ordering for lunch?” Yu Yueyue at the next desk asked casually.

Xiang Zhen couldn’t afford takeout today. All of his savings had gone toward paying off Zhou Sicheng’s debts, and his breakfast this morning had only been funded by an 18-yuan red packet he won when downloading Xiao Kui Bao yesterday.

Originally, Yao didn’t need to eat, but after transforming into humans, they developed food cravings and wanted to eat everything.

Moreover, Xiang Zhen was a plant Yao; he could easily fill his stomach through photosynthesis.

Still, a human skipping lunch would look bizarre. Xiang Zhen wracked his brain, wondering what excuse he should use to brush off his coworker.

Tell the truth and say he had no money? No, he couldn’t mention helping his husband pay debts—his husband’s face and dignity were bigger than the heavens.

A light bulb went off in Xiang Zhen’s head: he could ask Xiao Kui Bao.

He clicked open his private chat with Xiao Kui Bao on WeChat.

[Xiang Zhen: Will you tell my husband the secrets I share with you?]

[Xiao Kui: Absolutely not! Feel free to talk! The me in private chat and the me in group chat are completely different individuals. You can imagine me as a sunflower, with tens of thousands of baby seeds in my flower disc—we are all independent sunflower seeds~]

[Xiang Zhen: A coworker invited me to order takeout together, but I haven’t received my salary yet and have no money to order food. What reason sounds the most normal to decline?]

[Xiao Kui: The most dignified way to handle it is to say you’re on a diet. If your pay is delayed, you can apply for a Zhoufu Bank credit card, which offers up to three installments interest-free. You can also apply for an advance on your salary from your boss~]

This Xiao Kui Bao understood humans even better than he did!

Xiang Zhen immediately turned to Yu Yueyue and said, “I’m not ordering takeout today, I’m on a diet.”

Looking at Xiang Zhen’s wrists, which were even thinner than her own, Yu Yueyue silently removed the fried chicken from her shopping cart.

Going on a diet when he was already this thin—the price of beauty was just too high.

At noon, the office was permeated with the mingling aromas of hot-and-sour noodles, pork trotter rice, and malatang. Xiang Zhen felt a little restless. Struck by an idea, he dashed into the supervisor’s office and proposed with high ambition, “Supervisor, can I get an advance on my salary?”

Holding a box of spicy crab, the supervisor replied, “Xiao Zhen, wanting a salary advance when you’ve only been on the job for ten days? That won’t do.”

Xiang Zhen gazed at him earnestly. “You can just advance ten days’ worth.”

The supervisor averted his eyes under that gaze. While this blond guy often got on people’s nerves, he was undeniably stunning, looking just like an alluring Yao. Getting stared at by him made it all too easy to go soft-hearted. “How about this: the Dragon Boat Festival is around the corner, and tomorrow our company is launching our nut-filled rice dumpling gift boxes at Huayun Supermarket. You can go do ground promotions. It’ll count as field work—a daily allowance of one hundred yuan, plus a tiered sales commission.”

The supervisor ran the calculations in his head: luckily Xiang Zhen was customer service staff from their own company. If they had hired someone with this kind of face from outside for ground promotions, it would cost at least a thousand a day.

Xiang Zhen asked shrewdly, “How does the commission work?”

Supervisor: “Ten yuan per box. Sell more, earn more. If you exceed fifty boxes, it’ll be twenty yuan per box.”

Xiang Zhen quickly did the math: as long as he sold three boxes a day, he could drink three cups of milk tea. If he sold six, he could even treat Zhou Sicheng to milk tea as well.

The supervisor lifted an eyelid. “Are you taking the job or not?”

Xiang Zhen: “I’ll take it!”

Auntie Guihua had instructed him not to do public-facing work during his first year to avoid attracting malicious, shady humans, emphasizing that the simpler the work environment, the better. His customer service colleagues were all girls, which put Auntie Guihua at ease.

But now, he was a sunflower with a family to support; he had to work hard to earn money.

12:30 PM

[Xiao Kui: What are you having for lunch? I smelled river snail rice noodles with a fried egg at my desk. Did you eat that? @Xiang Zhen, @Zhou Sicheng]

[Xiang Zhen: I ate it!]

Xiang Zhen replied instantly, then secretly apologized to Xiao Kui Bao in private chat: “I’m sorry, I lied to your Guazi didi.”

[Xiao Kui: It’s quite alright; I permit you to use white lies with me. Did you eat lunch?]

[Xiang Zhen: I didn’t. Basking in the sun during the day keeps me full, and seeing my hubby at night makes me even less hungry.]

This was the truth. There was a sun in the sky during the day, and a Sun God in bed at night—Xiang Zhen wasn’t hungry in the slightest.

[Xiao Kui: Haha, love keeps one full on water alone! Go forage some wild greens, and life will get better and better.]

Xiang Zhen’s eyes lit up. “Where can I forage wild greens?”

As a sunflower, he didn’t like eating greens, but he could dig them up for Zhou Sicheng to eat.

Xiao Kui Bao immediately listed several foraging spots around Haicheng, but they were all far away, leaving Xiang Zhen to regretfully abandon the idea.

At noon, Zhou Sicheng had lunch with the senior executives of Zhoufu Bank.

Fan Hao, the director of the finance department, had studied abroad with Zhou Sicheng, and the two could be considered friends. Carrying a plate of small cakes, he sat down beside Zhou Sicheng and began eating. “I saw you driving a new car this morning. Do you have some new business plan?”

The Maybach was gone, the chauffeur was gone, and upon spotting a BYD in the underground garage, Fan Hao had backed up to double-check three times—until Zhou Sicheng stepped out and asked if he had seen enough.

Fan Hao naturally hadn’t seen enough. Pressed for time for the morning briefing, he hadn’t asked then, but after holding it in all morning, he finally seized the chance.

Faced with high-end imported delicacies, Zhou Sicheng had little appetite. “Mind your own business.”

Fan Hao took a bite of chocolate brownie. “How is it not my business? If a new project needs loans and financing, wouldn’t it have to pass through my department for approval? Don’t tell me you want to build cars now? That’s a late start.”

Zhou Sicheng: “It has nothing to do with money.”

Fan Hao was completely baffled. Then Zhou Sicheng had just lost his mind. “Personal affairs? You don’t look like you have an appetite, and you have appointments this afternoon. At least eat a few mouthfuls since the food is right in front of you—starving children in Africa would kill for this.”

Eat? Zhou Sicheng’s expression shifted slightly. He pulled out his phone. Last night, Xiang Zhen had transferred thirty thousand yuan to him. Naturally, he hadn’t accepted it, and it would automatically bounce back after 24 hours.

It hadn’t been 24 hours yet. If Xiang Zhen didn’t have savings in other bank accounts, his WeChat balance wouldn’t even be enough for a meal.

Zhou Sicheng pressed on the transfer and clicked ‘Refund.’

Thirty thousand yuan was trivial to him, negligible enough that he barely kept track of it, but it had invisibly weighed on his mind, keeping him preoccupied all morning.

Fan Hao craned his neck, only catching a glimpse of Zhou Sicheng switching WeChat accounts before the screen was shielded from view.

Switching from a work account to a personal account? Something was definitely up.

As far as he knew, Zhou Sicheng only had a handful of friends on his personal account, none of whom were worth knitting his brows over like that.

Zhou Sicheng: “Is the cake good?”

Fan Hao replied instinctively, “It’s good.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Have them pack up two slices to take back.”

Fan Hao thought to himself that President Zhou’s topic-changing technique was terribly stiff. “Alright, alright, rare of you to remember that I like desserts.”

The lunch was prepared by a five-star hotel chef team, featuring a rich variety of desserts made with quality ingredients. As an avid dessert lover, Fan Hao skillfully picked the two most delicious cakes and asked the server to pack them up.

Once the lunch with the executives concluded, Fan Hao carried the small cake box, pushed open the glass door, and politely let his superior walk out first.

Zhou Sicheng brushed past his shoulder.

???

Fan Hao looked up. Fuck, did Zhou Sicheng just swipe his cakes?

[Transfer Refunded]

Xiang Zhen was stunned when he saw the notification. What was going on? His husband had refunded his money—did he not want to be married to him anymore?

The words “returning the bride price” flashed across his mind, and he hurriedly initiated the transfer again to salvage the marriage.

Could it be that thirty thousand yuan wasn’t enough to secure a handsome human husband?

Zhou Sicheng’s voice call popped up: “Xiang Zhen.”

Xiang Zhen called out in a small voice, “Hubby.”

Zhou Sicheng paused for a moment. When he spoke again, his originally planned brief explanation had been upgraded into a far more flawless excuse: “The thirty thousand is an auto loan with two years interest-free. That’s essentially taking advantage of the bank’s perks, so there’s no rush to repay it. Keep it for daily expenses.”

“Also, I’ll give you five thousand yuan every month for household expenses. Spend it however you like. Don’t just eat river snail noodles for lunch.”

Five thousand for household expenses! Spend it however he liked!

Xiang Zhen’s ears buzzed from Zhou Sicheng’s grand gesture, the golden tips of his hair fluttering slightly in a graceful curl. “Hubby, can you earn that much in a month?”

Zhou Sicheng: “I can.”

The corners of Xiang Zhen’s mouth curled upward. He could! His husband was so capable! He just knew Zhou Sicheng wouldn’t spend beyond his means without reason; it was all to buy a car to make a living.

He was going to save this money to buy a small house in the future.

Xiang Zhen remained in high spirits all afternoon. As quitting time approached, dark thunderclouds rolled across the sky, and a torrential downpour was on the verge of breaking loose. Even the most modernized city turned bloated and sluggish amidst a heavy storm.

Liu Xiaofang scratched her head in distress. “I hate rain. Whenever it rains, hailing a cab is impossible.”

Especially in an office building like theirs, packed dozens of stories high with hundreds of small companies. Come clock-out time, corporate drones poured out in droves; hailing a ride on a rainy day could put you behind a queue of over a hundred people.

Xiang Zhen’s bright eyes darted thoughtfully. Did that mean Zhou Sicheng could earn even more on rainy days?

Yu Yueyue grumbled, “Not only is it hard to get a ride, but the back seat is usually soaked by the previous passenger’s wet umbrella. It’s miserable.”

Liu Xiaofang added, “And if it’s a cramped, smelly car, that’s the absolute finishing blow.”

Xiang Zhen puffed out his cheeks. That’s because you haven’t taken my husband’s car. Zhou Sicheng’s car was spacious and clean, and his driving was steady and exceptionally comfortable.

Whoever hailed Zhou Sicheng’s car today was going to be very lucky indeed.

At 6:30 PM, it was shift-change time.

Liu Xiaofang and Yu Yueyue dragged Xiang Zhen along to make a punctual getaway: “We the proletariat must unite; not a single person works an extra minute.”

Xiang Zhen: “Okay~”

When the three stepped outside, there were indeed crowds of people trying to hail rides. The loading circles on their screens spun endlessly, showing insufficient drivers in the vicinity.

Xiang Zhen opened his umbrella. “I’ll walk back.”

Yu Yueyue grabbed him. “No way. The rain is pouring down, and you skipped lunch. What if you faint from low blood sugar halfway home? With such poor visibility, nobody would even spot you.”

Liu Xiaofang chimed in, “Just hail a cab. Save where you should, spend where you must.”

Xiang Zhen wasn’t afraid of the rain. His hair was as breezy and light as sunflower petals; rainwater naturally slid right off without leaving it soaked and glued to his scalp.

However, a sunflower had to disguise himself as a normal human.

Xiang Zhen readily complied, “Then I’ll hail a cab too!”

He feigned opening a ride-hailing app, pretended to place an order, and clutched his phone, intending to walk back once his coworkers got into their cars.

Zhou Sicheng was a ride-hailing driver himself; how could he possibly ride in another driver’s car?

The prospective passengers eagerly watched every car that pulled up with flashing hazard lights.

Liu Xiaofang and Yu Yueyue were roommates who didn’t live in the company’s six-person dorms, instead renting a relatively remote residential apartment. “I added a twenty-yuan tip and still haven’t been picked up. Praying to the heavens to grant me a clean SUV today.”

Xiang Zhen pressed his lips together. Twenty yuan was quite a lot.

Could Zhou Sicheng earn tips like that too?

Ten minutes later, Liu Xiaofang stomped her feet in anxiety. “Why hasn’t anyone accepted it yet? I need to get back to watch the table tennis match.”

Yu Yueyue: “Got one, got one! The driver is finishing his previous trip and will be here in ten minutes. Xiang Zhen, did you get a car?”

Xiang Zhen replied evasively, “Almost, almost.”

Right at that moment, a brand-new white SUV pierced the pitch-black curtain of rain with its headlights. Rolling over splashes of water, it slowly pulled over with its hazard lights blinking.

Liu Xiaofang was filled with envy: “You can tell this driver is very civilized just by looking. I want that ride.”

Numerous eyes darted to the license plate, hoping it matched their booking number.

Bored, Xiang Zhen extended a finger, quietly caught two raindrops, and dabbed them into his palm to dissolve.

Suddenly, that center-of-attention vehicle came to a steady halt right in front of him.

The car window rolled down. Xiang Zhen looked up, his gaze locking with Zhou Sicheng’s across the curtain of rain.

“Get in.”

Xiang Zhen froze. His eyes caught the large screen on Zhou Sicheng’s center console displaying an outgoing call, only then belatedly realizing the phone in his pocket was vibrating.

He took a step forward.

Yu Yueyue didn’t notice the driver’s face at all, purely overwhelmed by envy toward Xiang Zhen: “You actually got a car earlier than me! Hurry and get in! See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Xiang Zhen slipped into the passenger seat, staring straight at Zhou Sicheng, his eyes gleaming with brilliant radiance.

The sun hadn’t come out all day today, but he was looking at it right now.

Zhou Sicheng kept his eyes on the road ahead. “Fasten your seatbelt.”

He was merely passing by on his way home from work, not coming specifically to pick him up.

Under Xiang Zhen’s focused gaze, as if he were the only thing in the entire world, Zhou Sicheng felt the gloomy darkness before him brighten up.

Xiang Zhen: “Hubby, you’re so handsome. You gave me so much face in front of my coworkers.”

The corners of Zhou Sicheng’s lips curved up slightly.

Xiang Zhen’s eyes crinkled into crescents. “They were all so jealous that I managed to hail a ride.”

Zhou Sicheng’s smile instantly vanished.