“Hubby, I have tomorrow off.”

Xiang Zhen quickly sent the reply to his husband, stuffed his phone back into his pocket, and bent down to help Yu Yuanyuan pack up her workstation.

After blatantly slacking off and reading web novels for three days, Yu Yuanyuan finally became the first employee to be fired since Feng Chujun took office.

Her desk was packed to the brim with numerous anime and manga collectibles—word on the street was that each of those little plastic acrylic stands was incredibly expensive. While other people usually left a job with just a single cardboard box, she had brought over a dozen storage bins padded with bubble wrap from home. She had even called a freight van to haul away the high-end ergonomic chair she had spent a fortune on.

Yu Yuanyuan lowered her voice, patting the mesh surface of the chair. “Zhenzhen, are you sure you don’t want this chair of mine? It has wheels on the bottom, it’s super comfortable on the butt, and the mesh is breathable and bouncy. It’s especially suited for a guy’s posture when he’s taking a seat to do some ‘guy-on-guy action’.”

Xiang Zhen knew that Yu Yuanyuan reading BL novels was what she called “guy-on-guy action.” However, after Zhou Sicheng finished reading a novel with him once, he forbade Xiang Zhen from reading them anymore, claiming it would rot his brain.

“Thank you, but my hubby says no. I can’t do that kind of action.”

Yu Yuanyuan took a moment to process this. “Seriously, what exactly do you see in him?”

From Xiang Zhen’s completely unchanged, casual tone whenever he brought up his husband, she had already come to the sorrowful realization that Xiang Zhen hadn’t found a new husband. He still had that same husband who, after being mocked for sending a 52-yuan red packet, furiously maxed out his credit card just to show off.

Well, it’s better if he’s impotent anyway, so someone as soft as Xiang Zhen won’t get broken.

Xiang Zhen felt a bit reluctant to part with Yu Yuanyuan. This was what people on the internet called a “first-generation colleague, childhood beasts of burden.”

Whenever Feng Chujun came around to patrol, they completely relied on Yu Yuanyuan to snap back and drive him away.

Yu Yuanyuan didn’t care about being fired. Jobs were hard to find nowadays; Liu Xiaofang had submitted a ton of resumes alongside her, and all of them were left on “read” with no further response. With her gone, Xiang Zhen and Xiaofang would be a bit safer. Besides, her family was well-off, so if she didn’t have a job, she could just be a full-time daughter at home.

Xiang Zhen asked, “Can we still be colleagues in the future?”

Yu Yuanyuan replied, “Life is long. Just wait until I find a new job and establish myself as a veteran there—I’ll recruit you right in.”

Xiang Zhen suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He opened his contacts, found Fan Hao, and asked him how many people the bank’s customer service department was taking, and whether his colleagues could submit their resumes too.

Fan Hao asked, “How many people do you have over there?”

His ultimate goal was to recruit Xiang Zhen. As long as the additional conditions Xiang Zhen brought up weren’t excessive, he would agree to them.

Xiang Zhen: “Two other colleagues.”

Fan Hao: “Then just send their resumes over to me.”

Xiang Zhen: “Thank you so much!”

This friend of Zhou Sicheng’s was simply too good of a friend. How did his husband manage to make such a wonderful friend?

Xiang Zhen immediately sent a message to Zhou Sicheng: “Hubby, let’s treat Fan Hao to a meal.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Then let’s do tomorrow night. Do you have a restaurant you like?”

Xiang Zhen: “I like the food you cook.”

Zhou Sicheng: “…” Are we specifically inviting Fan Hao to our cramped, dilapidated rented apartment to watch me become a laughingstock? Is deducting my entire annual salary going to be enough to cover this?

Xiang Zhen calculated meticulously: “We can’t just treat Fan Hao to a bowl of noodles, right? We have to at least have some seafood. It’s too expensive at restaurants, so buying it to cook at home will be much cheaper.”

For the first time, Zhou Sicheng felt a subtle wave of agreement with what his grandfather always used to say: “Your wealth increases by the second, so do not do things that waste time.”

“Our place is too small; it can’t accommodate a third person for dinner.”

Xiang Zhen: “You forgot! The 1620 gym room you rented is huge! We can cook the food and carry it over there to eat!”

There was even a job for a food runner here.

Zhou Sicheng flatly refused: “Let him treat us. We aren’t spending money.”

Xiang Zhen: “That wouldn’t be very nice, would it?”

Zhou Sicheng: “He owes me. He fell into the water once, and I saved his life.”

So it was a life-and-death friendship!

Xiang Zhen scratched his cheek. Alright, he would listen to his husband. His husband could decide how to interact with his own friends.

In their little three-person colleague group chat, Xiang Zhen sent over the internal bank recruitment information that Fan Hao had given him: “Give me your resumes, I’ll help you submit them.”

[Liu Xiaofang: Zhenzhen, Zhoufu Bank stopped social recruitment ages ago. Be careful this guy isn’t a scammer!]

[Xiang Zhen: He won’t be, he’s a friend of my hubby’s.]

[Yu Yuanyuan: Hearing that makes it sound even more worrying…]

[Xiang Zhen: It’s true, really! I saw him coming out of Zhoufu Bank.]

[Yu Yuanyuan: Maybe he went there to borrow money.]

[Liu Xiaofang: We can’t just turn to anyone out of desperation.]

[Yu Yuanyuan: Submit it! I want to see exactly who is trying to scam you.]

Xiang Zhen quickly received two resumes. Taking a brief look, he found that Liu Xiaofang and Yu Yuanyuan had actually both graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting! They even had prior accounting internship experience, and their resumes were beautifully put together.

Xiang Zhen looked at his own blank resume, which contained only one short line:

【Employed as an intern customer service agent at a certain nut company, with nearly 30 days of experience.】

“…”

[Xiang Zhen: Hubby, how do I change my resume?]

Since Zhou Sicheng had found a great job after being unemployed, he must be excellent at editing resumes.

Staring at his wife’s resume on the computer screen, Zhou Sicheng fell into deep thought. Even the smartest housewife cannot cook a meal without rice. Could he just copy and paste a section of his own over? In any case, they were going to be exchanging DNA tonight anyway.

[Zhou Sicheng: @LittleSunflower, fix it.]

[LittleSunflower: Understood, Boss.]

Xiang Zhen happily downloaded the resume PDF. He beautified it a bit, changing the font color from gold to black.

As for his actual work experience, not a single word was changed.

[Zhou Sicheng: @LittleSunflower, useless.]

[LittleSunflower: I’m sorry! I’ll re-beautify the resume. @Xiang Zhen, did you win any awards during your student days? For example, receiving a ‘Three-Good Student’ certificate on International Children’s Day.]

[Xiang Zhen: No, I only went to school for a single term.]

[LittleSunflower: @Xiang Zhen, then do you have any unique skills? Like playing tennis, swimming, painting…]

[Xiang Zhen: No ╥﹏╥]

Little Sunflower was guaranteed to be useless. Unable to bear seeing his wife disappointed, Zhou Sicheng took matters into his own hands and personally edited Xiang Zhen’s resume.

[Zhou Sicheng: I’ve finished editing it. Just submit it like this.]

Xiang Zhen opened it up and saw that Zhou Sicheng had added two lines.

[Independently managed the sales of 12,000 Dragon Boat Festival gift boxes.]

[Emergency Contact: Zhou Sicheng 13*****8989.]

Xiang Zhen bit his lip. Oh, so you actually had to fill out an emergency contact on a resume!

Regardless, his resume looked a bit more substantial now.

With high expectations, Xiang Zhen sent all three resumes over to Fan Hao.

[Fan Hao: Come in for an interview tomorrow morning! Address: Room 1809, Zhoufu Bank.]

Xiang Zhen forwarded the message to his husband: “Interview tomorrow!”

His husband didn’t reply instantly, but Fan Hao shot back a message a second later.

[Fan Hao: Sorry! I’m not free tomorrow, a meeting was added last minute! Let’s reschedule!]

[Xiang Zhen: No problem, we haven’t completely left our current jobs yet anyway.]

Xiang Zhen clocked off at five o’clock, earlier than usual. Because they were down one customer service agent, he had to act as the on-call customer service support tonight. This meant that whenever the messages piled up so much that the scheduled agent couldn’t handle them, Xiang Zhen would work remotely from home.

He helped Yu Yuanyuan move all her boxes into the freight van. The moment the van drove off, Zhou Sicheng’s BYD seamlessly glided into the vacant parking space.

“Hubby, why didn’t you get out of the car just now to say hello to my colleague?” Xiang Zhen pulled open the car door.

If Yu Yuanyuan could see how handsome his husband was, she would definitely believe that they genuinely loved each other and wanted to live a good life together.

Zhou Sicheng pulled out a tissue to wipe the sweat from Xiang Zhen’s forehead. “I’m sensitive to the heat.”

Xiang Zhen had noticed that Zhou Sicheng absolutely despised being exposed to the sun. It was probably because Zhou Sicheng himself was the incarnation of the Sun God, and one sun god could not stand the presence of another.

The sunflower had found yet another piece of evidence that his husband was the Sun God.

Zhou Sicheng fastened the seatbelt for his wife, who was smiling foolishly for reasons unknown. “I got paid today. Let’s go out to a restaurant for dinner tonight.”

Xiang Zhen: “Getting paid this early? I haven’t even received my salary yet.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Big companies are like that; they care about employee welfare. Once you get into the bank, you’ll also receive the current month’s salary at the beginning of the month.”

Xiang Zhen: “Our company holds back a month’s pay! Damned capitalists!”

Zhou Sicheng made up an excuse on the spot: “How about we go have some eel porridge? Eel has to be eaten freshly slaughtered and cooked; you can’t bring it home.”

He didn’t want to turn on the stove today, as the cooking fumes would disrupt the atmosphere. Moreover, Xiang Zhen wouldn’t let him turn on the air conditioning, and sweat needed to be saved for the crucial moments.

Xiang Zhen: “Okay.”

His hubby could take a break since he was tired from cooking all the time.

Zhou Sicheng took Xiang Zhen to a porridge shop he thought was quite good. The eel was flown in and incredibly fresh, and the menu on the table thoughtfully didn’t display any prices.

Xiang Zhen: “Hubby, how much does one eel cost?”

Zhou Sicheng: “88 for two.”

Xiang Zhen: “We can afford that!”

The eel porridge arrived, filled with small abalones and shreds of nori seaweed, tasting fragrant and smooth.

Zhou Sicheng: “Is it good? If you like it, I’ll bring it home for you often.”

Xiang Zhen answered seriously: “A cheat meal once is enough.”

Zhou Sicheng: “I want to have a cheat meal tonight too.”

Xiang Zhen: “Hubby, working out is very tiring for you. Having a cheat meal two or three times a week is perfectly fine!”

Zhou Sicheng: “Alright.”

As they neared the end of their meal, Zhou Sicheng glanced at the weather forecast on his phone. There would be a thunderstorm in two hours.

The time, the place, and the people were perfectly aligned.

“Let’s go. It’ll be a traffic jam once it starts raining later.”

Xiang Zhen and Zhou Sicheng walked hand-in-hand toward the parking lot. “By the way, hubby, do you have a laptop?”

Zhou Sicheng: “There’s one in the car.”

Xiang Zhen: “Borrow it to me for a bit! Do you have ‘Xiangriqi’ downloaded?”

Xiangriqi (Sunflower) was a remote control software. Once logged in, he could control the company’s computer from home to handle customer service after-sales.

Walking to the side of the car, Zhou Sicheng leaned down and kissed him as he opened the door. “No, download it yourself.”

Xiang Zhen retrieved the laptop from the back seat, spread it across his lap, downloaded the software, and logged into his account.

By the time they reached home, he carried the computer upstairs in his arms.

After Zhou Sicheng finished his shower, he found Xiang Zhen still sitting in front of the computer, checking it from time to time. He narrowed his eyes, unable to believe it. “You’re working?”

A job with a monthly salary of three thousand yuan actually required overtime at night.

Xiang Zhen: “Yeah, Brother Youzhi’s livestream room has a ton of traffic tonight. There are so many people asking questions.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Aren’t you on break?”

Xiang Zhen: “I’m the on-call customer service support.”

Zhou Sicheng closed his eyes. He didn’t care about what “on-call support” meant; he only knew that his own desires were heavily calling.

He moved the laptop over to the nightstand. “It’s not like there isn’t a scheduled agent on duty. You don’t need to be this responsible.”

“This is just the capitalists using extended working hours to maximize the extraction of your surplus labor value.” Zhou Sicheng gently turned Xiang Zhen’s face so they were looking at each other, starting a serious lecture. “Working unpaid overtime means you’ve fallen into the capitalists’ trap.”

“What you’re saying makes a lot of sense, mgh…” A sudden mist rose in Xiang Zhen’s eyes. Who on earth suddenly touches someone’s butt while talking about logic and reason?

This was the first time Zhou Sicheng had ever touched his butt.

It felt completely different from having his face, back, or stomach touched. Zhou Sicheng’s hands had previously been confined to his upper body, and Xiang Zhen had never known that being touched near his thighs would be so ticklish!

“Say no to overtime. We, the proletariat, need to have a nightlife.” Zhou Sicheng pulled a bottle of something resembling peach-flavored soda from the nightstand drawer, twisting the cap open with his right hand and pouring a bit of the fluid onto his palm.

The novels had described in vivid detail how large the Top was, how much pain the Bottom felt, and how that pain was split into three stages, culminating in passing out from the pain at the very end. But Xiang Zhen had never taken those words to heart.

Xiang Zhen hadn’t projected himself into those stories because he was a spirit, completely different from humans. He firmly believed that aside from being afraid of pain, his other reactions wouldn’t be so exaggerated.

Right now, pressed down onto the bed by Zhou Sicheng, Xiang Zhen finally felt a wave of fear because Zhou Sicheng’s physical reality was far more daunting than any text.

He seemed to have turned entirely human!

“Take a smell, it has a peach fragrance. In a few days, Mengyin yellow peaches will be on the market. I’ll buy you ten boxes of the authentic ones, and whatever we can’t finish can be made into fruit cans and fruit cakes.” Zhou Sicheng spoke to distract Xiang Zhen while sliding his long, fluid-slicked fingers past the tailbone.

At this moment, Zhou Sicheng hadn’t even taken off Xiang Zhen’s clothes yet; he merely held him in his arms, making it seem like a casual, post-dinner cuddle.

Xiang Zhen: “Hubby… I don’t want to use this.”

Thinking he was just finding an excuse to escape for the day, Zhou Sicheng kissed his forehead. “Hmm? It’s fine, it’s not shameful. Everyone uses it.”

Xiang Zhen had a sudden stroke of wit: “I’ll have an allergic reaction!”

Seeing that he was serious, Zhou Sicheng withdrew his hand, went to the bathroom to wring out a hot towel, squatted down, and meticulously wiped it clean for him.

It seemed Xiang Zhen really rejected external fluids, which meant his own technique would be put to a severe test.

As the warm towel pressed against his inner skin to wipe him down, Xiang Zhen kept his legs parted, his entire body practically smoking from embarrassment. Had he known, he wouldn’t have asked to have it wiped off. He found this posture incredibly humiliating, as if he were a small child.

Feeling that he wasn’t ready yet, Xiang Zhen suddenly snapped his long legs shut. “Hubby, the soundproofing here is too poor. Let’s wait until we buy a house.”

This time, Zhou Sicheng moved to strip away his clothes. “Don’t worry, a torrential rain is coming down right away. A thunderstorm.”

Xiang Zhen: “…”

Seeing that there was nowhere left to run, Xiang Zhen bit his lip, gripped Zhou Sicheng’s back, and whispered softly into his ear, “Hubby, a bit heavier at first, and then, a bit gentler.”

The sunflower seeds inside a sunflower head were rich with oil; it required a bit of weight at the beginning to press it out.

Zhou Sicheng’s breath hitched. Hearing his beautiful, affectionate wife speak words asking him to be heavier in such an imploring voice… all his weightlifting sessions at the gym had certainly not gone to waste.

Xiang Zhen closed his eyes tightly, his eyelashes fluttering. But as the searching fingers explored deeper, his tension made him feel as though he were floating on a small board out at sea.

Ding-dong, ding-dong!

How wonderful, an after-sales customer service message had come in!

As if hearing the most heavenly sound, Xiang Zhen reflexively snapped open his strikingly bright eyes. “Hubby, let me reply to the message first!”

Zhou Sicheng: “Not allowed.”

Xiang Zhen argued righteously, “This is my career! Getting married cannot affect one’s career!”

Zhou Sicheng stared at him intently, took a deep breath, and let out a laugh. “I’ll reply.”

At a time like this, Xiang Zhen wasn’t allowed to look at anything or feel anything else other than him.

Zhou Sicheng freed up one hand, pulled the laptop over from the nightstand, and skimmed through the interface, mastering the customer service interface without a teacher.

[Customer: Why is one bag of melon seeds leaking air!]

[Sunflower Customer Service: Full refund.]

He hit the enter key with a heavy thud.

The actual sunflower customer service agent was pressed so thoroughly that a silent stream of oil and moisture began to overflow.

It was the sunshine and spring rain that he had worked so hard to collect.