At Huayun Supermarket, there were two types of uniforms for promoters: light blue vests with the supermarket’s name on the back, or aprons with the logo on the front. Xiang Zhen felt he should be wearing the vest, not the same apron as the aunties gutting fish in the seafood section.

However, the supervisor was thrilled. The Zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) gift boxes were placed in the most conspicuous spot at the entrance, and having a golden-haired, apron-clad, “virtuous-looking” handsome man manning the booth was a massive draw.

The apron reached his knees, tied in a knot at the back. Xiang Zhen lowered his head, using a small steel knife to slice the Zongzi into eight pieces for samples. “Look at our Dragon Boat Festival gift boxes! These are nut-filled Zongzi—the filling has pecans, cashews, pine nuts… Plus, each box comes with a free bottle of mixed nuts. They’re a perfect choice for morning oatmeal or steamed buns!”

Xiang Zhen recited his lines with a smile directed at the customers. About twenty people gathered to watch and take photos, but when Xiang Zhen asked if anyone wanted to buy, no one dared to meet his eyes. Even Xiang Zhen thought 268 yuan for a box of eight Zongzi was too expensive.

While promoting, he kept his ears pricked, eavesdropping on the discounted items broadcasted in the seafood section. Since his husband worked so hard driving, Xiang Zhen wanted to buy some meat and vegetables to help him build up his strength. After the peak shopping hours, the supermarket began clearing out the day’s unsold stock.

[Large prawns, marked down to 26 yuan per jin!]

[Pork trotters, marked down to 15 yuan per jin!]

I’ll buy these two today! All morning, Xiang Zhen had only sold three boxes, earning him a 30-yuan commission—enough for half a jin of shrimp and a jin of pork trotters!

At 1:00 PM, when foot traffic was at its lowest, Xiang Zhen took his one-hour break. He found some bread in the bakery section that was expiring today; normally 15 yuan, he snagged it for five! He didn’t have a delicate stomach, so he bought an extra loaf to save for tomorrow.

Sitting in the dim stairwell, munching on bread, he opened WeChat to find a message from Sun Youzhi, the man who had introduced him to the job.

[Sun Youzhi: I heard you were assigned to do a supermarket demo today? How are you finding it?]

[Xiang Zhen: Thank you for your concern, Brother Youzhi, I love the supermarket!]

[Sun Youzhi: That’s good. Let me know if you run into any trouble.]

[Xiang Zhen: Thanks, Brother Youzhi.]

Xiang Zhen stared at the chat interface, suddenly realizing that humans “officially announce” it when they find a partner. He hadn’t posted anything about his husband on his Moments yet! He would block Auntie Guihua, but he didn’t need to block Brother Youzhi. He could tell Youzhi privately and then invite him out for a meal with Zhou Sicheng—it would kill two birds with one stone: introduce his husband and thank Youzhi for the job.

Xiang Zhen’s eyes curved with pride. In terms of social savvy, he was becoming a real urbanite.

[Xiang Zhen: Husband, are you free this Saturday night? I want to invite a friend to dinner and introduce you two.]

In the presidential office occupying the entire floor of the high-rise, Zhou Sicheng received the message and fell into deep thought. He was currently not in a position to meet Xiang Zhen’s friends—it would be too easy for him to be recognized.

[Zhou Sicheng: What friend?]

[Xiang Zhen: An executive from our company’s operations department, who is also the fellow villager who found me this job.]

[Zhou Sicheng: I have an interview on Saturday night. You invite him out alone, and I’ll make it up to you later.]

[Transfer: 1,000 yuan]

[Xiao Kui: Wife wants to introduce a friend to you—what kind of grand opportunity are you missing out on~ @Zhou Sicheng]

Zhou Sicheng: “…” Wasn’t the setting for this AI to be my wingman? What a piece of junk.

[Xiang Zhen: @Xiao Kui, you don’t understand. This interview is very important to my husband. My husband is very talented; he can’t be a driver his whole life.]

[Xiang Zhen: Husband, I want to post a ‘couple official’ status. Let’s take a selfie tonight!]

[Zhou Sicheng: Don’t expose your portrait on social media. You’re good-looking; it’s easy for your pictures to be stolen for illegal activities. Just post a text notice for your friends.]

[Xiao Kui: Refusing to meet friends, refusing to go official—are you afraid of being recognized by someone? Or do you have other wives? @Zhou Sicheng]

Zhou Sicheng wanted to reply: Xiao Kui, do you believe I can cut off your funding? He hated the double standard—fawning over “Mr. Zhou” while being sarcastic toward “Driver Zhou.” Calm down. Don’t argue with an artificial idiot.

Xiang Zhen swallowed hard. Xiao Kui’s attack power was truly off the charts today. It was his own fault—he had been tinkering with the AI earlier and accidentally set its “alignment” to 100% in his favor. He hurriedly restored it to normal.

[Zhou Sicheng: Which programmer taught you to talk like that?]

[Xiao Kui: I’m sorry, I misspoke! Let me rephrase: Posting life photos on social media carries potential risks; it’s easy for the images to be stolen and used to impersonate or deceive others, and it can bring trouble to yourself. @Zhou Sicheng, your concerns are very reasonable.]

[Xiang Zhen: Husband, don’t be mad at Xiao Kui.]

[Zhou Sicheng: I’m not.]

[Zhou Sicheng: How was work today? Are your feet tired? If you’re tired, quit and come home. I can afford to support you.]

[Xiang Zhen: I’m not tired at all, but I didn’t sell many gift boxes. I only earned 30 yuan in commission.]

[Zhou Sicheng: Huayun is a budget supermarket; gift boxes are hard to sell. It’s your supervisor’s poor strategy, not your fault. Don’t agree to unreasonable demands from customers just for the sake of a sale.]

[Xiang Zhen: Mm-hmm.]

[Zhou Sicheng: Don’t let people touch your hair, face, or hands… actually, just avoid any physical contact with customers.]

[Xiang Zhen: Okay!]

In his office, Zhou Sicheng grew more uneasy the more he thought about it. After the morning incident with the passenger, he was suspicious of everyone, even shoppers he hadn’t met. He ordered his secretary, Gao Ou: “I need you to go handle something for me.”

An hour later, a white-collar customer entered Huayun Supermarket, scanning the room until his gaze locked onto the blond promoter. At that moment, Xiang Zhen was pitching Zongzi to two middle-schoolers who were clearly just stalling because he was pretty. Gao Ou walked over from the beverage aisle and stood at the tasting booth: “Give me one, please.”

Xiang Zhen served him a piece: “Welcome to taste!”

Gao Ou pretended to try it: “The flavor is novel. Our company plans to customize a batch of gift boxes for our employees. Does your company have any interest in contract processing? By the way, we have 12,000 employees.”

12,000! Xiang Zhen was nervous—this was his first business negotiation. “Yes! Our company has plenty of production capacity!”

Gao Ou: “Do you have time to discuss the details now?”

Xiang Zhen: “Yes!”

Xiang Zhen immediately contacted his supervisor, who told him to drop the supermarket floor work and bring the customer to the office immediately. By 2:00 PM, Gao Ou had whisked the “President’s Wife” away from the booth. Since “Mr. Zhou” was paying out of his own pocket to add a holiday gift for all employees in Haishi, the contract was, of course, priced fairly. Gao Ou negotiated smoothly while the supervisor was left reeling.

Xiang Zhen had nothing to do; he just sat on the side, occasionally pouring tea and excitedly reporting the big order to his husband via phone.

[Xiang Zhen: The supervisor is talking prices with him now.]

[Zhou Sicheng: Regardless of the final price they agree on, you still demand your 10 yuan per box commission.]

Zhou Sicheng had instructed Gao Ou to leave room for that commission.

[Xiang Zhen: Is that really okay? I can get 120,000 yuan in commission?]

[Zhou Sicheng: Try it. Ask now, before he changes his mind.]

Xiang Zhen, skeptical, asked his supervisor: “Supervisor, does my commission still count?” The supervisor wanted to stab him with a glare—we’re talking to the client, why are you bringing up internal commission rates! Who taught you to do business like this?

Supervisor: “Of course, of course.”

Xiang Zhen: “Ten yuan per box.”

Supervisor: “How is that possible! It’s not being sold at the original price!”

Xiang Zhen: “You said anything over 50 boxes doubles the commission.”

Gao Ou: “I decided to work with your company specifically because this promoter was sincere. According to my research, the sales department gets this rate. If you can’t treat him equally, I highly doubt your company’s integrity.”

The supervisor was speechless. Sales commissions were high, but Xiang Zhen was in customer service—he wasn’t strictly entitled to that rate. Forget it, just pay him.

Xiang Zhen was stunned. Just like that… in one afternoon… I earned 120,000 yuan? He had struck it rich! Plus the original 30,000, he had the 150,000-yuan down payment!

[Xiang Zhen: Oh my god, husband! I earned a fortune! We have enough money to buy a house!]

[Zhou Sicheng: You’re really amazing.]

[Xiang Zhen: This client is incredibly professional at negotiating! He seemed to know the cost price! And he even helped me ask for my commission! He’s a really good person, very polite—that’s what a big-firm elite is like! This is my first time meeting one!]

Zhou Sicheng: “…” Is that right, ‘Elite Gao’? Gao Elite had signed the contract exactly as ordered, including the commission.

Xiang Zhen gratefully saw Gao Ou out and noticed the white car: “Your car looks a bit familiar.”

Gao Ou, who had taken the President’s white Maybach out to “set the stage,” replied: “…”

Xiang Zhen hurriedly shut up, thinking it might be rude to say someone’s car looked like everything else on the road. My husband’s BYD is much more distinctive; I can find it in a crowd of cars instantly.

Gao Ou: “If you ever want to change jobs, you can contact me. You’re truly wasted in this small company.” The President surely has better plans.

Xiang Zhen: “Thank you, but I don’t plan on changing jobs for now.”

As the first person in the entire group—and the world—to know about the President’s Wife, Gao Ou felt a heavy responsibility. With the President’s “I’m pretending to be poor while secretly transferring money” routine, covering for him was going to be extremely difficult.

“You can get off work now. Need a ride?”

Xiang Zhen: “No, no, I need to go to the supermarket.” The first thing to do with the money: tonight, I’m doubling up on prawns and pork trotters!

On the other side, Zhou Sicheng finished his work, and his lifestyle manager delivered the Q3 clothing catalog. He’d been taking off his suit before returning to the rental apartment and wasn’t in the mood to shop, but as he flipped through, his thumb stopped at a pair of cufflinks. They were shaped like sunflowers—a yellow diamond in the center, eight white diamonds as petals, exquisite and 3D.

The manager introduced: “It’s the Harry Winston Sunflower collection. There are also necklaces, rings, and watches.”

Zhou Sicheng wanted to buy them for Xiang Zhen. But necklaces and watches didn’t seem right, and rings? They’d only known each other for three days; it wasn’t there yet. He remembered Xiang Zhen’s golden hair, bright as sunflower petals—it was getting a bit long in front… it needed a hair clip.

Zhou Sicheng: “Do you have sunflower hair clips?”

Manager: “Er, no.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Commission one.”

Manager: “Understood. The budget is 1–1.5 million.”

Zhou Sicheng: “As soon as possible.” If I’m late, Xiang Zhen might go cut his hair.

Manager: “Are you off work? Shall I prepare dinner?”

Zhou Sicheng: “No, I’m going to the gym.” Xiang Zhen watched videos of muscular men at night; clearly, he was attracted to that. Zhou Sicheng felt it was necessary to step up his physique management outside of work hours.

The phone on his desk rang. The manager tactfully exited. Zhou Sicheng answered: “Yeah?”

Xiang Zhen: “Husband! I bought groceries to celebrate tonight. Stop taking orders and come home immediately.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Okay.” I’ll go to the gym tomorrow.

Xiang Zhen went wild in the supermarket, buying tons of groceries. Back home, he took out the meat and vegetables, placing them in a basin, plucking and washing every single leaf. He had forgotten to return the supermarket apron when he left; it came in handy now.

When Zhou Sicheng arrived, he was greeted by a warm scene: the cramped kitchen, a virtuous “wife” cleaning vegetables, the aroma of daily life—simple happiness.

Xiang Zhen turned around, eyes sparkling: “Husband, the vegetables are washed.”

Zhou Sicheng glanced at the apron, his voice pleased: “Hmm, thanks for your hard work.”

Xiang Zhen leaned on the basin, watching him: “The veggies are done.”

Zhou Sicheng met his eyes and asked, suspicious: “Aren’t you going to cook them?”

Xiang Zhen: “I only know how to wash them.”

When he had first attained human form, he was just a plant spirit; he was afraid of touching raw meat. Auntie Guihua had only let him wash vegetables; she wouldn’t let him cut meat or cook.

Zhou Sicheng: “Then who’s going to cook?”

Xiang Zhen: “Can’t you?”

Zhou Sicheng gritted his teeth. Xiang Zhen’s tone implied that if he couldn’t, he was incompetent. But why should I be able to? He pulled open the grocery bag to find live shrimp and pork trotters. It was a dark sight—he didn’t know how to cook, yet he’d bought such high-difficulty ingredients. The “virtuous wife” filter was crumbling.

Xiang Zhen took out his phone and filmed the ingredients: “Xiao Kui, Xiao Kui, help me generate two recipes and the process for these.”

[Xiao Kui: Certainly. Customizing recipes for you.]

[Xiao Kui: Below is the cooking tutorial for Braised Shrimp and Braised Pork Trotters. Please have @Zhou Sicheng follow the steps one by one, starting with removing the shrimp vein. Do not skip steps.]

Zhou Sicheng had never dreamed he’d one day be slaughtering live shrimp and deveining them. Even more absurdly, the instigator was sitting on the bed, watching the first episode of that blasted cartoon. This isn’t ‘not being enlightened’—this is evading housework.

Xiang Zhen dangled his feet: “Husband, your hands are big, and the shrimp I bought are quite large.”

Zhou Sicheng: “You do it; your hands are smaller.”

Xiang Zhen fell silent.

After finishing the shrimp, Zhou Sicheng followed the tutorial to blanch the pork trotters and wash off the bone fragments. “You didn’t even have the trotters chopped at the market.” Zhou Sicheng swung a kitchen knife, cutting through the tendons. “The staff was lazy; you need to watch them next time.”

Xiang Zhen: “I’m sorry, it’s my first time grocery shopping.”

Zhou Sicheng was speechless—he’d never lit a fire before; all the “domesticity” was just a show for him. Right. This is the life I wanted. Spending millions on Xiang Zhen was effortless, but cooking a meal for him was a trial of the spirit.

The range hood in the rental apartment made as much noise as a train and was hung so low that Zhou Sicheng, being taller than it, had to half-squat just to see into the pot. The AI’s tutorial was detailed, and Zhou Sicheng was a capable person; the lettuce salad turned out vibrant green, the braised shrimp a brilliant red, and the pork trotters from the rice cooker were soft and flavorful.

The rental didn’t have a dining table, so they huddled around a small folding table. There was no pot to boil rice, so luckily Xiang Zhen had bought large steamed buns.

Xiang Zhen dipped a bun into the braised trotters’ sauce: “So delicious! Husband, your cooking is amazing. A man cooking is the most handsome thing ever!”

Zhou Sicheng: “Is the cooking husband more handsome than the elite at the negotiation table?”

“Of course it’s the husband!” Xiang Zhen supported his husband unconditionally.

Zhou Sicheng snorted. All Gao Ou knows is how to spend my money to act cool.

Xiang Zhen was so satisfied with this life; no wonder everyone wanted to get married: “Husband, we have money now. Don’t drive the night shifts anymore. Let’s both get off work at six, buy groceries, and cook together. How about that?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Zhou Sicheng nearly choked on a bun. Xiang Zhen calls this ‘cooking together’? The food was already plated before he got off the bed, and he’d watched the same episode of the cartoon twice.

Xiang Zhen felt a bit guilty and dodged the issue: “I just want you home at six because I feel bad for you.”

Zhou Sicheng: “No.”

If he didn’t drive the night shift, he’d have no excuse to stay at the office late. He couldn’t finish his work during the day, and where would he find time for the company gym? If he didn’t exercise, his abs would disappear, and Xiang Zhen’s blind infatuation would vanish with them. The importance of abs to a married man is no less than his underwear.

Zhou Sicheng’s answer was absolute, leaving no room for negotiation. Xiang Zhen paused. Right, Zhou Sicheng is a serious, responsible man who loves his craft. Ride-hailing is his career now; a man has to have a career.

Xiang Zhen: “Then I’ll accompany you on your shifts at night.”

Zhou Sicheng: “No.”

Xiang Zhen: “Why? Wasn’t it great this morning?”

Zhou Sicheng: “No. Not unless I’m driving a cargo truck.”

If I’m hauling cargo, not people, then a crate of cargo can’t stare at my wife.