Xiang Zhen was a sunflower from deep in the mountains. After an unknown number of years, he finally achieved human form.

To integrate into society, a demon must first go to the Demon-to-Village Liaison Office for a year of “socialization” training. On May 1st, Xiang Zhen received his graduation certificate, completing the transition from “natural demon” to “member of society.”

“This is the Guide to Adulthood. Once you are out there, act according to the guide; don’t let humans figure out you are a demon.”

Li Guihua looked at Xiang Zhen with affection. Demons were extraordinary beings, one in a billion, born from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Each possessed exceptional beauty, reminiscent of immortals, and retained some characteristics of their original species.

For instance, Xiang Zhen had a head of golden hair—the roots a deep, intense gold, fading to a soft, satin-like gold trim at the tips. His features followed the lines of a classic Eastern beauty: round, moist ebony eyes, and light, willow-leaf eyebrows. His aura was clean and soft.

The Divine Land hadn’t seen a new demon in a long time. Every new demon would, through some mystical guidance, find their way to Demon Spirit Village, where Li Guihua’s clan was responsible for identity registration, legal training, and job placement.

Xiang Zhen examined the manual. The cover read, Guide to Adulthood (2012 New Edition). “Aunt Guihua, what does 2012 mean?”

Li Guihua replied, “The Guide to Adulthood is a summary of wisdom passed down through generations of demons. 2012 marks the year the previous demon who successfully integrated into human society revised this version according to the times.”

“Standard textbooks don’t quite get the point; for a demon’s mindset, you have to read the ‘Demon-Edited’ version.”

I see, it was left by predecessors.

Xiang Zhen wisely didn’t ask for information about other senior demons. That was basic etiquette among demons; some didn’t like to mention their original species, lest someone discover their weaknesses.

He opened the Guide to Adulthood. The book was as thick as a dictionary, carrying the meticulous observations of humans by generations of demons. It contained seven or eight different handwritings. Humans developed too fast, so later generations had to cross out the old notes and add new chapters.

For example, the 2012 edition had crossed out [Using Pagers] and added [Using Smartphones].

Xiang Zhen opened the first page:

—Observe common human behaviors; high-frequency events imply inevitability.

[Watching an episode of cartoons and the weather forecast after dinner.]

[If you aren’t in school, you must start matchmaking.]

[Refuse gifts at least three times before accepting.]

…

Wow! After just one page, Xiang Zhen felt he had gained profound insight.

Swish. Xiang Zhen flipped from the back to the front. The last page read:

—Observe important human ideologies; maintain high ideological consistency with humans.

[Workers of the world, unite! — 1848]

[Fewer and better births, a happy life — 1974]

…

[Prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, rule of law, patriotism, dedication, integrity, friendliness — 2012]

These lines were in different handwritings, obviously recorded by different demons.

Swish. Flipping to the middle, he saw some small tips:

[Plant-demons should jump over sewage pits, not plant their feet in them to wash.]

[Animal-demons shouldn’t eat until they’re round; humans call that ‘dead fat.’]

It was truly an encyclopedia, providing comprehensive guidance on adulthood from ideology to action to details. Xiang Zhen narrowed his eyes. Living according to this book would surely make him a happy and successful human.

There were many blank pages in the middle of the Guide. Once Xiang Zhen successfully socialized, he would add his own experiences.

Xiang Zhen carefully tucked the manual into his bag. Because he ran into the mountains often, his cloth bag had a hole worn by branches, and a corner of the manual was peeking out. “Auntie, may I borrow your sewing kit?”

Li Guihua said, “Oh, Auntie will mend it for you; I’ll embroider a sunflower on it.”

Xiang Zhen laughed, rubbing his bag with his fingers, slightly embarrassed. “No need to trouble you, Auntie. I secretly learned your sewing skills the past few days; I can do it myself.”

Demons were born by gathering spiritual energy; they learned everything quickly. Li Guihua was surprised that Xiang Zhen would focus on such small things as mending. An honest, virtuous demon like him would likely be easily tricked by humans into becoming their domestic helper.

Xiang Zhen was registered under Li Guihua’s household as her son. Li Guihua couldn’t help but worry, telling him, “Child, when you are out there, if you find someone you like, bring them back for me to see.”

Xiang Zhen promised instantly, “I will find a Sun God!”

Li Guihua: “There is no record of the sun becoming a demon.”

Xiang Zhen was smart: “I know. The sun becoming a demon would be an alien! I like a human with masculine energy!”

He had worked so hard to achieve human form; why would he like a bizarre-looking alien! “Masculine energy” seemed to describe men more. Li Guihua’s heart skipped a beat. Oh no. Demons weren’t bound by rules, and their preference for men or women was very random. She took a thick needle out of her sewing kit and handed it to Xiang Zhen, testing him: “Do you like someone like Apollo, the Sun God?”

Ancient Greek sculpture, what a fit man.

The eye of the thick needle was large; Xiang Zhen threaded it without effort. His fair fingers pinched the needle, pushing it hard into the Oxford fabric of his bag, muttering, “I don’t like him.”

Li Guihua relaxed, but then she heard Xiang Zhen add, “Apollo is a foreigner.”

Li Guihua: “…” He just doesn’t like aliens and foreigners; he didn’t say he didn’t like men.

Xiang Zhen himself was like a little sun; the first to be attracted to him would surely be some dark, scummy man. Li Guihua became even more worried: “Meet people through formal channels, don’t trust people on the internet.”

“Okay—”

Xiang Zhen finished sewing the bag in a moment. The stitches were messy, so he covered them up so his aunt wouldn’t see, and bit the thread off.

Li Guihua put away the sewing kit and set it aside. “Tomorrow, you’ll come to town with me to buy two sets of summer clothes.”

In modern society, smartphones were the best medium to contact the outside world. Xiang Zhen had been playing with his phone for a year and understood a bit of everything. “Online shopping is cheap. I haven’t earned money yet, so I have to save.”

Li Guihua said, “Don’t be too frugal. The foundation has money.”

Li Guihua appeared to be a simple rural woman, but in reality, she was the chairwoman of the “Demon-Becoming Foundation.” Every newly evolved demon received financial support. There were too few new demons, and the anonymous donations from old demons were more than enough to spend.

Xiang Zhen’s goal was to donate money to the foundation, not spend it. He looked at Aunt Guihua with ambition, his round eyes sparkling like two little suns filled with vitality. “I’ve got my adulthood certificate; can I go to the city to work now?”

Li Guihua: “Yes.”

Water flows to the lowlands, demons run to the cities—this is a law of nature. Since ancient times, demons liked to gather where there were many young people and plenty of human “energy” (vitality). The village was full of old people; demons didn’t like that.

“I asked around for you. Sun Youzhi, the second son of the Sun family at the entrance of the village, is a manager at an e-commerce company. Do you want to go work for his company as customer service?”

Customer service was a good job. Xiang Zhen currently had too little contact with humans, so he could transition through a customer service role, making online contact first. Sun Youzhi had said that customer service didn’t require any degrees; what they needed was vitality and a mild temper. Moreover, his company specialized in nuts—they sold sunflower seeds.

No one understood sunflower seeds better than a sunflower.

Xiang Zhen: “Selling sunflower seeds—I can do that!”

Li Guihua: “When Sun Youzhi returns for May 1st, he’ll take you to Haicheng. The monthly salary is 3,000, including room and board. However, we have to rent a house yourself. A room for six is too crowded; it’s easy to be discovered that you aren’t human.”

With Xiang Zhen’s unusual golden hair, living with others for a long time would lead to anomalies being discovered. As she spoke, Li Guihua transferred 40,000 yuan to Xiang Zhen via WeChat. “Rent in Haicheng is expensive. Even if you rent a single room, it’s 3,000, plus a deposit. Keep this 40,000; pay it back to the foundation once you’ve earned enough.”

“Thank you, Aunt Guihua! When I get to the city, I’ll buy you a portion of every delicious thing I see! Remember to accept the deliveries.”

Li Guihua: “Save that money you earn.”

“Hey! I’ll earn big money!” Xiang Zhen opened his bag and packed his clothes. So many demon predecessors had earned money; a sunflower with such a big face plate wouldn’t lose to other flowers and grasses!

With Xiang Zhen looking forward to it, May 1st arrived, and Sun Youzhi returned home. Sun Youzhi had become a manager by the age of thirty; he was brilliant.

Li Guihua invited Sun Youzhi’s family to eat at their home, waiting anxiously at the door. “Youzhi, Xiao Zhen is my nephew. He lacks work experience, so thank you for helping him find a job.”

Sun Youzhi said humbly, “It’s not really helping; the company is hiring anyway. It’s the night shift, and the pay is low, so they can’t retain people. Anyone willing to work can get in.”

Li Guihua: “That’s not the same. You are the manager. If Xiang Zhen makes a mistake, give him more opportunities. If you need to fine him, fine him, but don’t scold him.”

Sun Youzhi spoke the truth: “I am an Operations Manager, not in the same department as Customer Service, but I will tell the Customer Service Manager—”

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of Xiang Zhen walking out. It was no exaggeration to say that Sun Youzhi felt a beam of light hit him for a moment—alluring and radiant. Clearly wearing a head of yellow hair, his temperament was clean and soft. The face that appeared in his vision was a hundred times better-looking than the streamers in the live-streaming room he managed.

“Uh, Xiang Zhen, right? Have you considered being a streamer? Streamers make a base salary of 10,000; that’s much better than customer service.”

“He’s thin-skinned and isn’t very good at talking, so he can’t do that.” Li Guihua immediately rejected it for Xiang Zhen. It was definitely not a good thing for a demon to be overly exposed to online traffic right out of the mountains.

Sun Youzhi felt a bit regretful, intending to let Xiang Zhen switch jobs later if he didn’t want to do customer service. “Okay, we’ll leave a day early, and I’ll accompany Xiang Zhen to find a house.”

Li Guihua hurried to offer a box of tea. “Thank you.”

Sun Youzhi’s father had a loud voice and stopped the tea. “What tea? If you have time, introduce some girls to my son; it’s so hard to get him home.”

Sun Youzhi: “I give up, Dad. I’ve already said work is busy this year, the pressure is high, no time!”

Sun Youzhi’s father was anxious: “Thirty years old and not matchmaking? You aren’t a normal human!”

Xiang Zhen secretly remembered: So, if you don’t do matchmaking, you’re considered abnormal. No wonder the Guide to Adulthood said that if you aren’t in school, you must do matchmaking.

Three days later, Xiang Zhen carried his baggage and rode in Sun Youzhi’s car to Haicheng. Sun Youzhi drove directly to the entrance of a residential complex, where a real estate agent was already waiting. Xiang Zhen didn’t have high requirements for a house, so it was quickly finalized. Then, Sun Youzhi took him for an interview at the company, and he landed the job immediately based on his looks.

After three days of training in customer service scripts, Xiang Zhen became an after-sales customer service representative.

Ding-dong! An after-sales message popped up.

[Family with Two Treasures: What kind of sunflower seeds did you send me! They’re moldy! My son didn’t see clearly and ate them!]

Xiang Zhen grasped the most common, direct, and eager human language, reacting agilely: [Dear, is there anything I can help you with?]

[Family with Two Treasures: Moldy sunflower seeds contain aflatoxin! Highly carcinogenic! My son ate them! You look at what to do! I’m going to sue you!]

Xiang Zhen pursed his lips. This was a fairly serious after-sales situation. He typed quickly—

[Xiang Zhen: Dear, I particularly understand your anxious feelings. Could you please take a photo of the moldy sunflower seeds so we can check if they are actually moldy.]

[Xiang Zhen: Our sunflower seed factory has strict drying and packaging procedures. Theoretically, moldy sunflower seeds should not appear within the shelf life.]

[Family with Two Treasures: You mean I didn’t store them correctly? Look at the logistics yourself; did I just sign for them today!]

[Xiang Zhen: Dear, I didn’t mean that.]

[Family with Two Treasures: Photo, photo, photo.]

Xiang Zhen enlarged the photo. A handful of sunflower seeds were presented. A few had been peeled, and the kernels inside had white fuzz on them.

Xiang Zhen could tell at a glance that these were not their sunflower seeds. Just as humans from different regions had characteristic accents, sunflower seeds from different origins also had unique qualities.

[Xiang Zhen: Dear, these are not our sunflower seeds. Our sunflower seeds are produced in Xinjiang, while the seeds in the picture are from Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia.]

Xiang Zhen had a flash of inspiration, solved the case, and said wittily: “Dear, did you mix up the sunflower seeds you bought for the New Year?”

[Family with Two Treasures: What do you mean! Are you saying I deliberately framed you? It’s just a 7.9 yuan order, is it worth it!]

[Xiang Zhen: No, dear.]

The customer stopped messaging. Xiang Zhen curled the corners of his mouth. Solved another tricky after-sales problem!

One minute later, Xiang Zhen received a complaint claiming he discriminated against Inner Mongolian sunflower seeds, which was discriminating against Inner Mongolian farmers.

Xiang Zhen: ?

Humans are always so unreasonable.

“Nuts.” Liu Xiaofang, a colleague to his left, cursed with a hideous expression. “She ate five pounds of sunflower seeds and then said they sent the wrong flavor—the original flavor was sent as caramel flavor.”

Xiang Zhen said enthusiastically: “Let me handle the after-sales!”

Liu Xiaofang immediately transferred the after-sales case to Xiang Zhen. Since he was new, he had a good temper. Whenever she saw such deadbeat “white-嫖” (getting things for free) monsters, she felt like punching them through the screen. Caramel-flavored and original-flavored sunflower seeds had different colors. When she asked for photos, they claimed they had already finished eating them, so there was no evidence.

[Customer Service Sunflower is at your service]

[Xiang Zhen: Dear, are you saying you finished five pounds of sunflower seeds before realizing they were caramel-flavored?]

[Son of God: So what? I don’t know the difference between the two flavors.]

Xiang Zhen pondered for two seconds, found the crux of the matter, and typed: “Dear, could it be that you caught the flu and lost your sense of taste? A severe case of the flu can lead to white lung! I suggest you see a doctor as soon as possible.”

Xiang Zhen was sincerely worried for the customer. Five pounds of sunflower seeds should take at least five days to eat. The customer had lost their sense of taste for over five days and hadn’t realized it. Their reaction was so slow, indicating they were seriously ill.

Three minutes later, Xiang Zhen was complained about for cursing the customer. He was extremely wronged.

Humans just love to complain.

When the manager saw the yellow hair hanging low, he got angry. “Who said in the interview that they had a good temper? You are terrible at after-sales, number one at being passive-aggressive!”

Xiang Zhen looked up, his soft, white face like a rice cake that could be kneaded into any shape, and asked in confusion: “Is my temper bad? Sister Xiaofang was angry, but I wasn’t angry.”

The manager was exhausted. Who cares if you’re angry or not! The point is the customer gave a negative review!

Xiang Zhen suffered two mild reprimands. When he returned to his workstation, he found Liu Xiaofang distributing a stack of pink cards one by one.

“Matchmaking organized by public welfare units. Sign up and get rice, flour, and oil.”

Xiang Zhen pricked up his ears, his face turned toward Liu Xiaofang.

Liu Xiaofang: “This is not a collective matchmaking event where you just go through the motions. Everyone can fill in their requirements specifically. If the requirements of both parties match, they will arrange a one-on-one meeting, and the coffee money will be reimbursed.”

Apart from Xiang Zhen, everyone in the office was an unmarried girl. Because there were not enough female applicants, the organizers had targeted the customer service department.

Xiang Zhen watched eagerly, but Liu Xiaofang skipped him and casually placed the remaining cards on the printer. “Fill them out and submit them here.”

Why?

Was he suspected of not being a normal human?

Xiang Zhen suspected keenly. While no one was paying attention, he sneaked one from the printer.

He filled it out devoutly, put it back, and seamlessly blended into the collective.