Xiang Zhen: “Husband, many couples who go into the city to work leave their children behind for the grandmother to raise.”

Fuck. At the mere thought of Li Guihua, an image of a third-generation illiterate already surfaced in Zhou Sicheng’s mind.

He couldn’t bring himself to agree with his mother-in-law’s educational methods—they were on the complete opposite extreme compared to Zhou Qingyun.

“Absolutely not.” Zhou Sicheng draped the clothes over his wife, then moved like a whirlwind, spreading open the suitcase and dumping inside all the clothes and shoes he had bought for Xiang Zhen: “I’m taking you home right now.”

It was as if if he delayed by a single second, his unborn child would be shipped back to his mother-in-law’s house by his wife.

Xiang Zhen: “Home? Back to my home in the countryside?”

Zhou Sicheng: “My home.”

Zhou Sicheng paused, propping both hands on either side of Xiang Zhen’s thighs, his eyes dark as pitch as he sought double confirmation: “Baby, you said you don’t dislike capitalists anymore—is that true?”

Xiang Zhen hesitated slightly. If his husband had already transformed from the bourgeoisie into the proletariat, shouldn’t he stay on the exact same united front as his husband?

The moment Zhou Sicheng saw his wife hesitating, his heart sank completely, as if he were cast back into the hopeless impasse from a month ago.

“Husband, I like the way you are right now even more.” Xiang Zhen probed Zhou Sicheng’s financial strength: “What kind of state are you in right now?”

Zhou Sicheng was probing back as well: “What kind of state can you accept me being in?”

A moment of genuine heart-to-heart between husband and husband—something that had never happened before.

Xiang Zhen couldn’t help but throw a direct fastball: “Husband, it doesn’t matter if the villa was sold. The baby and I will accompany you to make a comeback. After work, I can sell sunflower seeds on the street corner.”

Zhou Sicheng had moved into such a tiny apartment; thinking about it, the villa must have been bought with high leverage back when he was the active CEO—costing several hundred million. After resigning, he couldn’t afford the mortgage payments, so he sold it off.

Xiang Zhen used to follow real estate agents online, and many sellers listed that exact same reason for selling.

Zhou Sicheng: “Must I sell the house to start completely from scratch?”

Did Xiang Zhen prefer a narrative of striving over one of maintaining success?

Xiang Zhen felt even more guilty toward his husband: “Even if you don’t do business and just keep driving a big heavy truck, that’s completely fine too.”

Zhou Sicheng suddenly picked up on the guilt and accommodation in Xiang Zhen’s tone. It seemed an information gap had been standing between them all along, but at this moment he didn’t dare jump to conclusions recklessly, only able to hypothesize: “Baby, what if the result of my comeback is simply carving out another Zhoufu Group…?”

Xiang Zhen’s eyes sparkled brightly: “That would be super awesome!”

Zhou Sicheng: “Then can I just go straight back to work at Zhoufu?”

Xiang Zhen was surprised: “You can do that too? Will they still hire you after you resigned?”

Zhou Sicheng asked softly: “Did you think that once I resigned, I had nothing to do with Zhoufu Group anymore?”

Xiang Zhen consoled him: “Husband, it’s okay.”

Zhou Sicheng closed his eyes.

Zhou Sicheng didn’t know who to hate. Hate himself, perhaps—hate himself for not listening to his wife. Right from the start when the morning sickness symptoms appeared and Xiang Zhen said he wanted to leave, he refused to let go, forcing Xiang Zhen under a Chinese medicine doctor’s needles, resorting to a hunger strike to force him to suppress the morning sickness…

Resorting to a hunger strike to force him to suppress morning sickness—when these words were strung together, Zhou Sicheng was simply the biggest bastard of a man in the entire world.

When his wife reached the limit of his endurance and left, wandering outside while pregnant for a month, Zhou Sicheng forgot the promise Xiang Zhen had made to “wait for him to come back.” His wife would only return once he was healed. Yet he took it upon himself to live a poor life with his wife, making Xiang Zhen mistakenly believe he had gone broke, prompting him to move around from place to place while pregnant, run big trucks, pick peaches, work hard to unload cargo, and protect his self-esteem…

Xiang Zhen truly loved him, staying by his side through ups and downs—from a ride-hailing driver to a glorious, boundless tyrant CEO, and then sliding back down to a truck driver, he had always shone brightly in Xiang Zhen’s heart.

How many people in this world could endure such turbulence while still retaining the pure heart of a youth?

As it turned out, vows made at weddings were not flamboyant lies.

In poverty or in wealth, in sickness or in health, they would accompany each other.

A wife who loved him so deeply just lacked a little bit of common sense.

Zhou Sicheng hated it so much he wanted to cry.

He leaned down and wrapped his arms tightly around Xiang Zhen, “Wife, I’m sorry. We still have plenty of money. The villa was paid off in full, and Zhoufu Group still belongs to us.”

Xiang Zhen was utterly bewildered: “Our money can come back?”

“It can.”

Zhou Sicheng drew a diagram to explain Zhoufu’s shareholding structure to his wife, keeping the language simple, clear, and easy to grasp, telling Xiang Zhen straight out: even if he resigned, he was still the actual controller behind the scenes of Zhoufu. If he wanted to return to Zhoufu, it only took holding a formal board meeting appointment.

A board meeting? That sounded like a very high-class meeting.

Xiang Zhen: “Husband, can I come watch when the time comes?”

“Of course you can.” Zhou Sicheng secretly planned ahead—he hadn’t managed to look cool last time, so he had to look even cooler next time: “In a little while, I’ll set you up as a minority shareholder. Remember to cast your vote for your husband.”

A minority shareholder holding a 1% stake in Zhoufu still possessed immense wealth. How could Xiang Zhen understand the true value of the equity Zhou Sicheng was handing over on a silver platter? He simply kept nodding repeatedly: “Husband, I’ll definitely vote for you! If I vote wrong, you can come back and beat me.”

Zhou Sicheng let out a laugh: “Why would I beat you?”

Constantly saying things that drove people toward the edge—hearing it was flirting to him, but if outsiders heard it, they’d think he treated his wife terribly and try to steal him away.

“This bed isn’t comfortable to sleep on. Let’s go home.” Zhou Sicheng scooped up his wife.

Xiang Zhen shook his head: “Let’s sleep here for one night. I want to hold you.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Alright. Zhenzhen, can I check your body?”

He still didn’t fully trust the statements given by Xiang Zhen and Dou Manning.

Xiang Zhen’s face flushed red all at once: Was this a proper medical check?

Seeing that he had misinterpreted his words, Zhou Sicheng cleared his throat with a ahem: “Not doing anything else. I’ll just take a look.”

Before taking Xiang Zhen to a hospital for a comprehensive checkup, Zhou Sicheng wouldn’t dare mess around with his pregnant wife even if he were given a hundred times the courage.

Xiang Zhen obediently cooperated and stripped off his clothes: “Husband, look as much as you want.”

Zhou Sicheng turned off the air conditioner, holding Xiang Zhen’s wrist to help him shed his clothes. Off came the casual pants, revealing a pair of legs that were white and long—beautiful without looking frail, because his wife could run like a cheetah, giving him a very perky rear as well.

The area below his collarbone hadn’t been ravaged for a long time, returning to the shy tenderness from when they first met, though it seemed a bit redder.

He inspected him inside and out; there were only a few abrasions on the top of his foot. Zhou Sicheng applied iodine to him once more: “What happened here?”

Xiang Zhen: “When I came out from… the village, I had to walk on mountain roads. Have you ever seen a bolt out of the blue on a clear day? A sudden flash of lightning struck a pile of rocks, and I just happened to pass by, getting hit by flying gravel.”

Zhou Sicheng had only ever experienced psychological bolts out of the blue. Hearing this filled him with extreme lingering fear—walking mountain roads was still fraught with danger for modern people. Though there were no bandits or highwaymen, nature itself was both captivating and treacherous.

“You should have called me earlier. Didn’t the elderly woman have a phone at home? Haven’t you heard of the Village-to-Village Access Project?”

Xiang Zhen pressed his lips together, remaining silent for a good while, his eyes darting around before he buried his foot into Zhou Sicheng’s bath towel: “Getting hit by rocks hurt so much.”

Zhou Sicheng only had the bath towel wrapped around his lower half, which loosened up completely under Xiang Zhen’s stirring. He took a deep breath, pinched Xiang Zhen’s toes to move them away, re-tied the bath towel, and covered his proudly erect asset.

“Don’t interrupt.”

Xiang Zhen: “Husband, your self-control is getting better and better.”

His wife didn’t show a single trace of awkwardness after being separated for two months. Zhou Sicheng said both amused and exasperatedly: “You’re already pregnant. How could I manage without self-control?”

Xiang Zhen: “It’s okay. I’ve already sanctioned the baby.”

“What do you mean ‘sanctioned’?” Zhou Sicheng frowned, genuinely terrified that his illiterate wife had done something high-risk during his pregnancy.

Xiang Zhen slipped up again, deflecting the topic hurriedly: “Husband, Manning can have babies too.”

Zhou Sicheng: “That’s something Shen Ku should worry about. Tell me first: how did you sanction it? Did you eat or drink something?”

“I mean, this is our family’s genetic trait. We have our own way of dealing with morning sickness.” Xiang Zhen grabbed his phone: “Call my mom. If you don’t believe me, ask her.”

Zhou Sicheng took the phone: “Do you think I don’t dare call?”

He immediately dialed his mother-in-law’s number. The moment it connected, his momentum softened up: “Mom.”

Li Guihua was also taken aback at the mahjong table.

Well, well, the CEO of Zhoufu was calling her “Mom.” The spirits had really made something of themselves.

“Found Xiaozhen?”

Xiang Zhen leaned over, saying happily: “I’m pregnant!”

Li Guihua was prepared, yet hearing this news still made her accidentally deal a winning tile to an opponent: “Oh! Now that you’re pregnant, take care of yourself! Don’t go running around all over the place!”

Xiang Zhen: “I said I have a way to keep myself from getting morning sickness, but my husband doesn’t believe me. Tell him about it.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Zhenzhen spoke without head or tail. I want to know what exact method it is.”

If he dared to drink charm water, he was going to get a thorough spanking.

Li Guihua: “Two of Bamboo. Family secret, strictly not disclosed to outsiders. Unregistered folks without a marriage certificate shouldn’t go prying around.”

Xiang Zhen raised his eyebrows triumphantly: See, I didn’t collude with her!

Zhou Sicheng: “…”

He was thoroughly defeated by this family.

Where on earth were he and Xiang Zhen supposed to get a marriage certificate? Was he barred from ever knowing in the future?

Did a son-in-law deserve to be excluded like an outsider? Was there anyone in the world more helpless than him?

Oh, actually, there was one.

Li Guihua: “Put your heart back in your chest. When has Mom ever lied to you? If I said Xiang Zhen is fine, he’s fine.”

This part was actually true.

Zhou Sicheng could visibly see that Xiang Zhen was in good health, and the wound on his foot was healing even faster than an ordinary person’s.

Li Guihua: “Our Zhenzhen isn’t a fool. He knows what he’s doing. Listen to your wife, got it?”

That last sentence struck right at Zhou Sicheng’s heartstrings.

Facts proved that in areas beyond his knowledge, listening to his wife saved him from taking wrong turns.

Zhou Sicheng made a temporary compromise: “Fine, let’s sleep first.”

He dressed Xiang Zhen in pajamas and changed into a set himself, wanting to let Xiang Zhen rest on top of him while sleeping, yet fearing he’d press against his belly, so he could only embrace him sideways.

Xiang Zhen: “Husband, how about I throw you a belated birthday celebration?”

No one had celebrated Zhou Sicheng’s birthday, and he had missed it due to the morning sickness as well. Xiang Zhen kept it close to his heart, unwilling to wait until next year.

Zhou Sicheng: “Alright.”

Xiang Zhen sat up excitedly, immediately calling Dou Manning to invite him: “Manning, tomorrow I’m going to celebrate my husband’s birthday. You come over for dinner too, and bring your husband!”

Zhou Sicheng was stunned, having assumed it would just be the two of them celebrating, forgetting that the birthday routine could include inviting close friends for a lively gathering.

Dou Manning gave an “okay” in response, asking if he could still drink coffee now.

“I can—” Catching his husband’s strict gaze, Xiang Zhen changed his tune: “Then I won’t drink it for now. Don’t prepare a drink for me.”

Xiang Zhen didn’t invite anyone else, because he and Dou Manning had private chatter to share; he’d gather with Yueyue and the others next time.

Hanging up the phone, Xiang Zhen fell asleep filled with anticipation.

Zhou Sicheng didn’t sleep, remaining awake in the dark, touching his wife here one moment and there the next. Even when he occasionally dozed off briefly, he would snap awake immediately.

……

The next day.

Zhou Sicheng could finally officially bring his wife home.

Ninety-nine rare, out-of-print luxury vehicles were parked below the run-down apartment building like an exhibition.

Xiang Zhen was wide-eyed with shock: “Why are there so many cars?”

Zhou Sicheng: “Borrowed them overnight.”

He didn’t have a hobby of collecting luxury cars, relying on his reputation to borrow the most expensive luxury cars available in Haishi.

“Wife, take a look and see which one you like. I’ll buy it.”

Xiang Zhen looked around, walking straight to the BYD leading the motorcade—he only recognized cars from home.

Zhou Sicheng smiled subtly: “Get in.”

With the white SUV leading the way, followed by cars that grew increasingly expensive one after another, they were escorted in grand fashion all the way back to the grand villa.

Brakes applied, doors opened, stepping out.

The housekeeper brought all the staff, lining up together at the entrance while an orchestra played pre-rehearsed music.

“Young Master Zhou, Young Lady, the banquet hall is prepared. Feasting can begin anytime.”

Dou Manning brought his husband Shen Ku to attend as scheduled.

However, it was still a bit too early for lunch, making it the perfect time to crack open some sunflower seeds and enjoy light pastries.

The four of them sat on the sofa while Zhou Sicheng fed bird’s nest soup to his wife.

As Xiang Zhen ate, he said to Dou Manning: “Actually, we understood it wrong earlier. My husband isn’t a capitalist.”

Dou Manning: “Oh?”

Xiang Zhen: “He’s a young entrepreneur and a pioneer in emerging technology industries.”

“Do you know why the streetlights here are so bright? Why the buses here are so cheap and the air conditioning is so blasting?”

Dou Manning: “No idea.”

Xiang Zhen: “Because my husband pays taxes here! He’s the number one taxpayer in Haishi!”

Dou Manning listened attentively, returning the courtesy: “I really envy the husband you found. Your husband has made so many contributions to society.”

Shen Ku beside them: “I…”

Xiang Zhen added: “Your husband is very good too. At least he didn’t lie to you.”

Shen Ku: “I—”

Zhou Sicheng silently felt a wave of satisfaction, wiping his wife’s mouth.