Zhou Sicheng remained motionless, letting the “entrepreneurial fairy” unload the goods herself.

Dou Manning’s belongings were not many; one elevator trip was enough to move them all.

Xiang Zhen said, “Husband, you don’t need to keep busy with this. Go back to the company and get to work.”

Zhou Sicheng had no interest in fussing over a small workshop, but he did offer a suggestion from a consumer’s perspective: “The community currently offers skill training for the unemployed, and coffee-making is one of the courses. You two should go learn together.”

Bad coffee would only make President Zhou lose face.

If it were incredibly delicious coffee, then everyone would think President Zhou had a virtuous and skillful wife.

Xiang Zhen: “Husband, you are so smart. We will sign up right away.”

Zhou Sicheng: “You go ahead and move your things. I’ll wait for you here.”

Xiang Zhen: “I’ve already asked Fan Hao for leave. I’m accompanying Manning to buy materials this afternoon; we’ll open for business tomorrow.”

Zhou Sicheng fell silent for a moment. He had wanted to stall the opening for a few more days—was getting leave really that easy? Who gave her such freedom?

Zhou Sicheng: “How about this: you two go learn to make coffee, and I’ll buy the materials. Consider it my capital investment.”

If he let Xiang Zhen and Dou Manning buy them, he would come home tonight to find a pile of low-quality plastic cups and watered-down milk… He and Fan Hao could handle drinking those “three-no” products, but he had a whole circle of executives waiting for thirty or so cups of coffee. He had to be responsible for those executives—what if Dou Manning was a mole sent by a business rival?

Zhou Sicheng said, “Mr. Dou, please give me your ID card. I’ll handle the business license for you.”

“Oh, okay.” Dou Manning rummaged through her backpack and pulled out a card wrapped in layers of oxford cloth. The ID was issued by the Fairy Village—a “proof of adulthood”—and was very precious. When she was a tree on the mountain, she had carefully hidden it in a crack in the rock.

Zhou Sicheng took the ID card and tossed it into the storage compartment. “I’ve signed you both up. Someone will call to notify you about the coffee training shortly.”

Zhou Sicheng changed the subject, offering a preemptive warning, “Food safety laws are very strict right now. You must have an open kitchen and real-time surveillance. So, after I get the business license, I’ll have someone come over to install cameras.”

Zhou Sicheng couldn’t set his mind at ease; he needed professionals to monitor the entire process.

Xiang Zhen nodded, staring at Zhou Sicheng intently. Her husband, so methodical and composed, was incredibly handsome.

Opening a private cafe was a whim of hers, and Zhou Sicheng had immediately arranged everything for her. Having a husband like this made running a “couple’s shop” ideal. She provided the labor, and he provided the brains.

“Husband, you are a natural-born leader.”

Zhou Sicheng raised the corner of his mouth. Then, he let it drop again.

Damn it, he had ended up getting involved in this little workshop after all.

Dou Manning said, “Zhenzhen, you’re so lucky. You found such a good husband the moment you entered the city.”

Xiang Zhen: “Even if he beat me, I wouldn’t bear to divorce him.”

Dou Manning: “If he beats you, you can hit back. If you divorce, he’ll run away.”

As for how to hit back—let’s not worry about that; if a fairy hits back, humans tremble.

Zhou Sicheng: “…”

Fine. If his wife hangs out with more friends like Dou Manning, he won’t have to worry about getting divorced in this lifetime.

Zhou Sicheng drove to the company and handed Dou Manning’s ID to Secretary Gao, telling him to look into her background, process the license, install cameras, and buy coffee ingredients.

Secretary Gao was highly efficient. Three hours later, he briefly informed Zhou Sicheng: Dou Manning was from such-and-such county in such-and-such city in a certain province, her mother was a farmer, there were no educational or social insurance records in the system, and there were no large deposits in her bank account.

No wonder she and Xiang Zhen hit it off—it turned out neither of them had finished elementary school.

…

Xiang Zhen and Dou Manning followed a very senior “volunteer” teacher to learn how to make freshly ground coffee. They didn’t learn latte art; they focused on the ratios of sugar, milk, and water.

The two “underachievers” whispered to each other.

Dou Manning: “Are humans really this stingy with coffee beans?”

Xiang Zhen whispered: “Because humans can’t handle bitterness. For being able to endure hardship, you have to look at us fairies.”

If fairies don’t make money, it defies heaven. Their predecessors had made money; otherwise, where would the Fairy Foundation’s funds come from?

Fairies are quick-witted. After three hours, they had memorized the recipes perfectly. When the teacher let them go, he praised them thoroughly, seemingly feeling quite accomplished as an instructor.

After returning to apartment 1620, Xiang Zhen was surprised to find that the place had completely changed. The treadmill and dragon-bone rack were gone, replaced by a workstation enclosed by sliding glass doors. There was a brand-new coffee machine, a sealing machine, an ice maker, various ingredients, and exquisite cups and sleeves.

It was as if an entire high-end coffee shop had been moved inside.

Xiang Zhen pulled open the glass door, and the camera overhead turned toward her. A cute mechanical voice sounded:

“I am Xiao Kuibao, in food safety supervision mode. Please wash your hands upon entering. Please wear a hairnet; the hairnets are in the third compartment of the cabinet.”

“Xiao Kuibao, you’re even here!”

After coming down from the mountain, Dou Manning had surveyed city coffee shops, aiming to have one like Ruixing. She had discovered that opening a shop was very troublesome, and she had no money.

“Zhenzhen, thank you. Meeting you is such a good thing.”

Xiang Zhen: “Come, I’ll go get the Adult Guide. Let’s read it for a while.”

Dou Manning: “Okay.”

Though she said “let’s read it,” Xiang Zhen had already read it several times and had mastered everything except for the “preface.” Dou Manning started from the beginning and read out the first sentence: “Workers of the world, unite!”

Xiang Zhen nodded: “Very profound thoughts.”

Dou Manning looked up, listening intently.

Xiang Zhen pursed her lips: “…Marx.”

Well, she admitted she only knew it was profound, but hadn’t carefully studied the source. Because, so far, she hadn’t come across any short videos about it.

“I’ll study some more.” Xiang Zhen, believing she had an obligation to help the fairy, secretly asked Xiao Kuibao to recommend relevant books and courses for her. Xiao Kuibao suggested she buy Marx’s Das Kapital.

Dou Manning proposed a discussion: “Is the thinking from over a hundred years ago still applicable today?”

Xiao Kuibao replied: “Class structure has not been completely eliminated, so this statement still has meaning.”

The two fairies and one AI discussed class issues in human society for a while until Xiang Zhen checked her phone and saw it was time for her husband to get off work.

“Manning, I’m heading back first. I’ll have my husband bring you food later.”

Dou Manning: “No need, I can go without eating.”

Xiang Zhen: “You have to taste my husband’s cooking! Once you eat it, you’ll know how good it is to find a husband.”

Dou Manning: “Alright, then I’ll make two cups of cappuccinos for you two.”

Cooking for two versus cooking for three made no difference to Zhou Sicheng. But one cup of coffee versus two cups of coffee made a huge difference to him—it meant he could stay up late to read two more foreign contracts.

Xiang Zhen was still excited and didn’t feel sleepy when the time came, so she held her phone and scrolled through videos. Zhou Sicheng thought short videos had no nutritional value, but he didn’t stop his wife from playing them out loud. He took out a book to read, his ears automatically filtering out the noise. Once he made enough money, he could send Xiang Zhen to study at a real institution.

Xiang Zhen first scrolled to a video by “Sister Wang”: [The Most Petted Women Know How to Act Like a Baby; 38 Ways to Act Like a Baby, Easy to Learn].

Then she scrolled to another by “Sister Li”: [The Most Petted Men Know How to Act Like a Baby; Three Steps to Make Your Husband Feel Like He’s 18 Again].

Xiang Zhen turned to look at Zhou Sicheng: “Husband, I walked a lot today; my feet hurt.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Want a massage?”

Xiang Zhen: “I want to rest them on your abs for a massage.”

Zhou Sicheng filtered out the information stream from the videos Xiang Zhen had been watching, smiled, unbuttoned his pajamas, and exposed his defined abdominal muscles: “Come.”

Xiang Zhen rotated 150 degrees on the bed, her head resting at the foot of the bed, her fair ankles crossed and resting on Zhou Sicheng’s abs.

She went back to scrolling the next video.

It seemed she hadn’t understood the essence of “seduction” that Sister Wang and Sister Li were talking about.

Zhou Sicheng rubbed her ankles with his palm while continuing to read his book.

It was still early. Every time they did “it” more than once, he couldn’t help but get up to some mischief and bully Xiang Zhen. Better to wait a bit later to control the frequency.

Xiang Zhen scrolled to a video criticizing capitalists for pouring out milk. Perhaps because she and Dou Manning had been discussing it earlier and were being “monitored,” she hadn’t come across such things before.

Xiang Zhen studied it intently: “Husband, the criticism here is very profound.”

“Hmm, not as profound as you,” Zhou Sicheng replied absent-mindedly. No one is as profound as you, stepping on a capitalist with your feet right now.

Xiang Zhen: “The proletariat must unite to trample the capitalists underfoot.”

Zhou Sicheng sat up and took away her phone: “Let’s ‘unite’ a bit first.”

And then they were united.

Stimulated by caffeine, the two slept very late and didn’t wake up until Dou Manning knocked on the door.

Dou Manning had woken up very early and made thirty-five cups of coffee, all iced, packed into two large insulated boxes. 25 cups were for Zhou Sicheng to take to the company, and 10 cups were for Xiang Zhen to take to the company.

Fewer people bought the coffee Xiang Zhen advertised on her social media, as she was always acting as an assistant to Fan Hao and spent less time with her new colleagues. Fan Hao bought eight cups to treat his secretaries and assistants, and the other two were bought by Yu Yueyue and Liu Xiaofang.

“I’m sorry, I was a bit worried that the ice would melt.” Seeing that Xiang Zhen looked sleepy, Dou Manning felt a little embarrassed.

Xiang Zhen scratched her head: “Thanks to you! I almost fell asleep on my way to work!”

In a rush, she and Dou Manning carried the boxes downstairs and put them in Zhou Sicheng’s car first. Zhou Sicheng came down a step later, carrying a bag of breakfast and looking like he had a headache.

He took Xiang Zhen to the bank first, and as luck would have it, they ran into Fan Hao again.

Fan Hao: “Oh my, how could I dare trouble President Zhou to carry these? Let me, let me.”

Zhou Sicheng watched coldly as he took Xiang Zhen’s share of the coffee out of the trunk. Fan Hao carried one box and looked at the remaining one. At the thought of Zhou Sicheng carrying it into the elevator to deliver it to a workstation, he couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Zhou Sicheng: “I bought a gold mine in South Africa; you’re going there to dig tomorrow.”

Fan Hao: “No, no, don’t! If I leave, who will help you deliver meals to your wife? Can you bear to see Xiang Zhen walk to every single cubicle to deliver them?”

Zhou Sicheng indeed could not bear it: “Keep your mouth shut.”

“Fine.”

Fan Hao kept his promise and helped Xiang Zhen deliver the orders, going to the customer service department first to give the coffee to Yu Yueyue and Liu Xiaofang.

“I’ll take the rest.”

Yu Yueyue grabbed Xiang Zhen’s sleeve: “Wait, I have something to say.”

Xiang Zhen: “Hmm?”

Yu Yueyue: “Is Manager Fan really your husband’s friend?”

Xiang Zhen: “Yes.”

Yu Yueyue: “Does your husband know he’s so enthusiastic toward you?”

Xiang Zhen: “He knows.”

Yu Yueyue fell silent for a moment and said: “How did you decide to sell coffee?”

Xiang Zhen: “Because I met a friend who has access to coffee bean resources, and my husband is very supportive of me. He’s been running around and worrying about a lot of things for me.”

Xiang Zhen took every opportunity to put in a good word for her husband.

Yu Yueyue looked suspicious: “Manning’s Coffee Shop? Your friend wouldn’t happen to be named Manning, would she?”

“Yes!” Xiang Zhen pulled out her phone. “Look, we learned how to make coffee together. I’ll introduce you to her another day.”

She really wanted to give Yueyue and Xiaofang a discount, but she and Dou Manning were running the shop as a partnership, and every transaction had to be accounted for. But if Dou Manning became friends with Yueyue, then they could offer a discount.

Yu Yueyue looked at the woman with long, coffee-colored hair and frowned: “Zhenzhen, has your husband ever been this attentive to your friends before?”

Xiang Zhen’s husband usually didn’t even care to pay attention to them. Manning’s Coffee Shop—just hearing the name, you knew the shop belonged to the friend. Why was Xiang Zhen’s husband so enthusiastic, even taking leave to go move house with Xiang Zhen?

Xiang Zhen: “It seems not.” Opening a shop was a big deal, and she had only just witnessed her husband’s capability at work; he was incredibly handsome.

Yu Yueyue took a sip of coffee: “It’s so strange. Then who on earth is your husband actually attentive to?”