Xiang Zhen and the two demons agreed to hold the first executive meeting of the Demon Committee.

Bai Qi said that the villa hadn’t been renovated into meeting mode yet, so the first meeting might be a bit shabby.

Xiang Zhen said, “We can put up two banners. Everyone remember to wear suits. Manning, do you have a suit? I’ll bring an extra set, and we can take a photo together then.”

Dou Manning: “I have one. Shen Ku has a professional camera, I’ll bring it over then.”

Bai Qi: “I’ll go get the banners custom-made.”

Xiang Zhen: “Then I’ll go buy a photo printer!”

Xiang Zhen immediately placed an order on his phone for a photo printer that could be delivered tomorrow morning, filling in the meeting address directly.

The three of them were all registered demons with ID numbers; the first meeting had to be solemn.

Xiang Zhen put down his phone with peace of mind. Three heads were better than one; they would definitely come up with a great solution.

When Zhou Sicheng asked Shen Ku about his research on vasectomies, he certainly didn’t expect that Dou Manning had already sold him out.

He planned to get the procedure next month—a minor surgery lasting just over ten minutes, settling things once and for all.

Zhou Sicheng got into bed, and Xiang Zhen naturally leaned into his arms, saying mysteriously, “Hubby, do you know where I was born?”

Zhou Sicheng: “Daxinganling?”

Xiang Zhen: “You’re so smart!”

Zhou Sicheng: “In your hometown, I saw the essay you wrote. You have remarkable literary talent.”

On the same level as Little Sunflower.

Xiang Zhen felt a bit shy. When demons gained enlightenment, they automatically loaded the human language package, but writing ability wasn’t included. When he first learned to write, it looked like dog scratches, and now his husband had seen it all.

Xiang Zhen leaned into Zhou Sicheng’s ear and whispered, “Actually, I saw your mom when I was very small.”

Zhou Sicheng’s heart surged, like a powerful wave crashing over him, leaving a noisy ringing in his ears: “You’re that slow-growing winter sunflower?”

Xiang Zhen: “You know about me?”

Zhou Sicheng’s eyes turned red as he recalled Zheng Ai’s description: “She said you were adorable and looked chubby and sturdy. While the surrounding sunflowers had all matured, you only had a few leaves.”

Zheng Ai had also said she didn’t know if it could survive the winter. Hearing it at the time, Zhou Sicheng had only felt a few seconds of melancholy pity for the plant, but remembering it twenty years later brought a dull ache across time that could never be traced back.

The grown-up Xiang Zhen was just a small face in his hands; how did the young Xiang Zhen survive year after year of northern winters with heavy snow covering the mountains?

Perhaps because of this, Xiang Zhen was so easily fooled by a scoundrel who simply “agreed to get married.”

Because he knew too few humans. Heaven gave him intelligence, but it didn’t immediately give him feet to escape the deep mountains.

Zhou Sicheng could imagine how, when a scientific expedition team casually passed by the sunflower patch, their occasional conversations falling into little Xiang Zhen’s ears would be treated as precious material to be pondered over and over again.

Xiang Zhen curled his lips in delight; so he had been noticed by his husband’s mom and even praised! “Then does that count as us having met each other’s parents a long time ago?”

Zhou Sicheng: “It counts. If only my mom had dug you up and brought you back.”

“I grew faster in the mountains,” Xiang Zhen thought aloud. “Mom didn’t take me away, but she took the seeds of my sunflower offspring that shared the same root.”

“Hubby, do you know? That day on the street, I ran into Uncle Zhang. I immediately recognized the scent of sunflower pollen on him, so I followed him all the way here.”

Xiang Zhen could still recall the excitement of that day. “I saw my family, and you! I thought there were no other sunflower kin left in the world!”

“Hubby, thank you for settling them in.”

Destiny’s beauty was like a scroll unfolding. Images of the first packet of sunflower seeds Zheng Ai handed him and every year’s bloom flashed through Zhou Sicheng’s mind. Everything he planted and harvested was related to Xiang Zhen.

Outside the window, it turned out, were his wife’s family nephews.

They had shared a bond long ago.

A surge of unease suddenly flashed through Zhou Sicheng’s heart. Why did Xiang Zhen say he thought there were no family members left in the world? What about the sunflower patch in Daxinganling…

Zhou Sicheng turned pale. When he had gone to Daxinganling searching for Xiang Zhen, there was no hazelnut forest or sunflowers like Zheng Ai had described. They had all disappeared in a massive fire, leaving only new Korean pines.

“Zhenzhen, did you go through that fire?”

Xiang Zhen pursed his lips. Ah, I said too much. He tried hard to sound nonchalant: “I realized I could move, so I ran out.”

Zhou Sicheng’s throat choked up.

He reached out and stroked the slightly shorter patch of hair on the back of Xiang Zhen’s head. A cluster here had been singed by lightning—just a single cluster was enough to make one heart-stricken. How battered must little Zhen have been escaping from that inferno?

The cruel coincidences of fate cut straight to the heart.

What right did he have to play the victim in front of Xiang Zhen? They had lost their most beloved family members at almost the exact same time.

He still relied on Xiang Zhen to heal him, and Zhou Sicheng felt pained only because he didn’t know how to treat his wife even better.

“Wife, wait for me a moment. I’ll fetch something for you.”

Zhou Sicheng kissed Xiang Zhen on the lips, got out of bed, and walked quickly to a storage room. He opened it, revealing the daily items his parents had used during their lifetime.

Zhou Sicheng searched frantically in several large boxes and cabinets. He remembered that Zheng Ai often wore a camera around her neck, taking many photos during her expeditions, printing them out in batches—submitting those with research value to the team and keeping the rest for herself.

Finally, he found a stack of photos labeled by date.

Zhou Sicheng poured them out packet by packet, and amid the silent mountain ranges, he found a sunflower.

He held up that photograph.

A sunflower that hadn’t bloomed yet, looking just like the weeds around it.

No, out of respect, he shouldn’t say Xiang Zhen’s neighbors were weeds.

Zhou Sicheng’s gaze softened as he held the photo against his chest: “Found it.”

He went to the study, scanned and archived the photo in high resolution, and then brought it back to Xiang Zhen.

“Is this me?” Xiang Zhen puffed out his cheeks. Why was he so small? He was now a handsome 1.8-meter-tall sunflower in his true form.

Zhou Sicheng: “Mm, there’s only a knee-high sunflower here.”

Xiang Zhen: “Don’t make it sound like I can’t grow tall. I’m very tall now.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Let me see.”

“Not showing you. I’m blooming now, what if you touch me?” Xiang Zhen remembered that dream—the dream of growing up in the Zhou family hadn’t been nonsense after all. In the dream, Zhou Sicheng had touched his flower with his fingers, asking if that was how pollination worked.

Zhou Sicheng looked at the suspicious blushes on his wife’s cheeks: “Is there anywhere I haven’t touched?”

Xiang Zhen snatched the photo, carefully studying his younger self and his hometown forest.

Unconsciously, a smile broke across his face.

Zhou Sicheng also felt happy from the bottom of his heart.

“Let’s sleep. Tomorrow I’ll enlarge it and frame it to hang at home.”

Xiang Zhen reluctantly put down the photo. Humans were truly amazing to invent cameras.

Demons should take more photos too.

Zhou Sicheng kissed his lips.

He had intended to leave it at a light kiss, but Xiang Zhen wrapped both arms around his neck, his soft, moist tongue licking his Adam’s apple, and everything spun out of control.

He had gone far too long without…

“Wife, is it okay even though you’re pregnant?”

Xiang Zhen whispered, “Hubby, I’ve already protected the little sunflower seed. You can do whatever you want.”

Zhou Sicheng lost all control. While Xiang Zhen’s belly wasn’t too big yet, and while they couldn’t have a second child right now, he decided to indulge himself just this once.

He propped himself up with one hand, staring at Xiang Zhen’s long, trembling eyelashes, reached out to grab a blue-striped tie, and without a word, blindfolded his eyes, tying a knot behind his head.

Xiang Zhen’s world went dark; he couldn’t see the sun anymore. He hugged his husband uneasily: “Hubby, didn’t you say you wouldn’t play DOM and blindfold me?”

Zhou Sicheng traced the edge where the tie met his eye sockets with his fingers: “I’m afraid you’ll throw up on me.”

Xiang Zhen said anxiously: “I won’t, hubby, I’ve already put the seed baby under control.”

Zhou Sicheng slowly unbuttoned his clothes: “Am I your sun?”

Xiang Zhen: “Yes.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Then feel it with your body. Don’t be afraid, I’ll keep talking to you.”

Xiang Zhen bit his bright red lower lip with his fair teeth and hesitated for a moment. It was his own fault for throwing up first, so he couldn’t blame Zhou Sicheng for having such concerns.

He hooked his arms around Zhou Sicheng’s neck to lift himself up, closing his eyes as he searched for Zhou Sicheng’s lips, landing by mistake on his earlobe: “Hubby, I’m not afraid.”

Zhou Sicheng’s eyes darkened instantly.

He was simply too easy to pick on.

…

On one hand, this was his pregnant wife, even softer and more tender.

On the other hand, this might be the limited-edition, non-sterilized husband.

Tangled in affection, warmth filled the room.

In the end, considering the cleanup and the special structure of a sunflower’s flower head, Zhou Sicheng wanted to pull back.

Xiang Zhen suddenly asked softly, “Hubby, if you leave it inside, will you sleep better tonight?”

With just that single sentence, Zhou Sicheng’s self-restraint burst like a breaking dam.

…

Zhou Sicheng didn’t suffer from insomnia last night, even though he went to sleep late.

“Wife, you’re good medicine. I don’t need to go to the psychiatry department for prescriptions anymore.” Zhou Sicheng fed Xiang Zhen breakfast. “I have to go back to the company today. Since you slept late yesterday, rest at home this morning.”

Fortunately, he had stepped down; otherwise, how could he have so much time to spend with his wife?

However, Xiang Zhen liked a high-status, handsome husband, so Zhou Sicheng had no choice but to make a glorious comeback.

Xiang Zhen nodded: “Okay, hubby, work hard. I’ll wait for you to come back.”

Zhou Sicheng’s life was wonderful now. Since he wasn’t driving his wife to work, he didn’t drive himself either, letting the chauffeur drive instead.

His eyes were glued to his wife in the rearview mirror. After all the twists and turns, he finally lived the happy life where the husband went to work while the wife watered flowers and drank afternoon tea at home.

If the afternoon tea wasn’t shared with demons, it would be even better.

Xiang Zhen stood there until he could no longer see his husband’s car before turning around to go check on the sunflowers.

He strolled over, only to be stunned by the sight before him.

A vast, grand patch of sunflowers stood there, and every single one had a red envelope tied to it with red string.

Xiang Zhen opened one and pulled out two hundred yuan.

“Uncle Zhang, what’s going on here?”

Uncle Zhang was equally baffled. Early this morning, the butler had received instructions from CEO Zhou to distribute red envelopes to every single sunflower, and they had spent a whole hour hanging them up.

“CEO Zhou said that since he got married, he has to give red envelopes to the younger generation of the madam’s family.”

Xiang Zhen burst out laughing. Getting married to his husband really gave him so much pride!

He stood energetically with his hands on his hips: Family, isn’t my husband amazing?

Xiang Zhen: “But they can’t spend money.”

Uncle Zhang: “CEO Zhou said you can handle these red envelopes as you see fit.”

Xiang Zhen thought for a moment, stuffed the opened red envelope into his pocket, ran to find the butler, and said, “After the rest hang for a day, please help me donate them to a wildlife protection agency.”

Butler: “Understood, Madam. I will find a reliable agency.”

Xiang Zhen: “I’m going to a meeting and I don’t know how long it will take. You don’t need to cook lunch for me.”

The butler thought he was going to a meeting at the bank and that the bank would provide meals, so he arranged a car for him.

At ten o’clock in the morning, the three little demons met right on time. Coincidentally, all of them were wearing white shirts and black trousers, their looks and aura surpassing the most popular boy bands by a wide margin.

Xiang Zhen looked up at the banners.

Top: Warmly Celebrating the Successful Convening of the First Demon Committee

Bottom: Seminar on How to Prevent Husbands from Getting Vasectomies

Dou Manning set up the tripod, and under the banners, the three demons took a serious commemorative photo together.

Xiang Zhen printed it out, gave a copy to everyone as a keepsake, and framed one to leave on the meeting room wall.

Bai Qi reminded them, “Do not upload our meeting photos to the internet.”

Xiang Zhen: “Mm, I never post anything online.”

When he first came into contact with the internet, Xiang Zhen had enthusiastically posted to communicate with humans.

However, people kept commenting that he gave off a “faintly uncanny, non-human vibe.”

So Xiang Zhen stopped posting; humans were just too clever. After getting a husband, he didn’t brag about him online either.

The meeting officially began.

Bai Qi truly lived up to being the one who watched the most TV dramas—his expression was cold, and the plan he proposed went straight to the point.

“It’s best if something happens that is more urgent than a vasectomy, leaving them with no time to worry about it.”

Xiang Zhen perked up his ears.

Bai Qi said, “We can use magic to make them temporarily impotent. Once they’re impotent, they won’t need a vasectomy.”

“Based on my observations of humans, once a man becomes impotent, he won’t dare to mess with himself anymore.”

Xiang Zhen: “Do you know how to control that?”

Bai Qi: “Still needs research.”

Dou Manning: “Then have you researched a way to reverse it?”

Bai Qi: “That needs research too.”

Isn’t that why they were holding a meeting to figure it out?

Xiang Zhen still felt it wasn’t a good idea. If only they could have marriage certificates.

If they had a marriage certificate, the doctor would wait for his signature before daring to perform surgery on his husband.

Xiang Zhen said distressingly, “Manning, why don’t we go kneel together at the entrance of the Civil Affairs Bureau and beg them to issue marriage certificates for us and our husbands?”

Dou Manning was taken aback: “Ah, do I have to kneel too?”

Xiang Zhen: “Of course. You probably don’t want Shen Ku to get a vasectomy either, right?”

Dou Manning: “True, I don’t want him to.”