By eight o’clock, the café staff were gradually arriving.
Every time Su Pu opened the shop, there was hardly any fuss; all that was needed was for him to show up.
The store was spotless and orderly. The little mute smiled quietly, doing all the tasks without complaint.
Today, the morning shift manager was also present. After changing into a uniform, he tried to relieve Su Pu from duties, offering a panini and urging him to take a rest.
Su Pu waved it away, pushing the panini back, indicating he had already eaten.
“You had breakfast? What time did you get up?”
Su Pu typed: [Woke up at 5:30.]
“My god, so early—you really go all out!”
Su Pu chuckled, holding it in but failing eventually.
[I woke up with my husband.]
The manager read the message, still in disbelief, exclaiming “Holy crap!” several times in exaggeration.
“You quietly handle big things, and you didn’t even tell us you got married!”
Su Pu shook his head, smiling.
[It happened suddenly…]
“So, did you get the certificate? Planning a ceremony, or a wedding trip?”
Recently, marriage policies had become more relaxed. Beyond same-sex marriages becoming commonplace, many newlyweds opted for travel weddings, using the funds for personal enjoyment rather than ceremony expenses.
Ultimately, marriage is still a matter between two people.
Su Pu blushed slightly and typed another line:
[Not sure yet—depends on him.]
The store manager was 32, having long given up illusions about love and marriage.
“How can it just depend on him? This is your marriage too—you have a say!”
“Anyway, bring him over as soon as possible so we can meet him—I can help keep an eye on things…”
The café had high staff turnover, but the regular members had strong bonds; working together felt like family.
Su Pu trusted the manager completely.
He nodded, agreeing:
[When the time is right, I’ll definitely bring him to greet everyone~]
The manager glanced at him. “Wow… how much do you like him that you’re keeping it a secret?”
Su Pu just smiled warmly while cleaning the espresso machine.
By nine o’clock, the café officially opened.
As orders came in, the ticket machine printed a string of reservations.
The manager turned to the two baristas with a wry smile: “Before more people arrive, take care of the reservations first.”
Su Pu and the other barista agreed, dividing the tasks and getting to work.
“Hey… there’s even an order from upstairs…” the manager muttered, shaking the ticket. “Hand-brewed, specialty beans…”
Su Pu caught the keywords and leaned over to see.
“Oh no… it’s that same one again,” the manager groaned.
Su Pu had already realized.
This order wasn’t from the troublesome Frank, but from his husband—Li Jichuan!
His husband wanted the coffee he made!
Su Pu patted his chest and told the manager to handle that order entirely.
The manager found it strange—why was Su Pu suddenly so motivated today?
Hadn’t he always disliked the upstairs delivery orders?
Just as he wondered, an events consultant sent from headquarters arrived, and the manager busied himself with them, no longer paying attention to Su Pu.
This time, the little mute carefully prepared the coffee, packed it meticulously, and carried it upstairs.
Li Jichuan had given him a keycard, allowing him to take the private elevator directly to the top floor.
The building was especially quiet on the weekend; even the top-floor reception wasn’t present.
Su Pu knocked on Li Jichuan’s office door, holding the package.
Inside, Li Jichuan was on the phone, his face tense.
Clearly, not a good time for conversation.
Su Pu set the coffee on his desk. Li Jichuan didn’t even glance at him.
Li Jichuan was so busy…
It seemed like every time he saw him, it was during work…
“I can’t believe your explanation. Whether you hired an outside agency or collected data yourself on campus, the target audience for our product is these college students. If you can’t get their data, what are we even using for R&D?”
As he spoke, Li Jichuan slammed the table for emphasis.
“We went through all the trouble to bring you back to the country, not to hear excuses. Figure out a solution!”
After giving more instructions, Su Pu quietly left his office.
Li Jichuan looked furious—so scary!
Su Pu shrank his neck and silently vowed never to make Li Jichuan angry again…
Today, Su Pu was covering a shift. During the lunch break, Ouyang hurried back.
Just after changing into his uniform, he rushed into the prep area and joined Su Pu.
“Bodhisattva, I’m here. You’ve been running yourself ragged all morning, right?”
Ouyang handled orders and maintenance, while Su Pu also made coffee, spinning around like a top all morning.
Su Pu sighed mournfully.
He was exhausted…
Ouyang was shocked. “Wow, that tired?”
“Was it all the orders today, or the cleaning work in the café area…? Oh, did someone upstairs give you trouble again?”
Su Pu smirked slyly.
[Not busy, no one bothered me—I was just teasing you!]
“Ah, bro!”
Ouyang ruffled his hair helplessly.
“When did you learn to joke around like this?”
Su Pu shrugged and stepped back, mission accomplished.
Maybe it’s just… go with the flow, wherever life takes me…
Ouyang came over to take the shift, leaving Su Pu with just a few finishing cleaning tasks.
While cleaning the coffee machine, he suddenly heard Ouyang muttering:
“Bro, I have a soccer match tomorrow night—want to come?”
Su Pu slowed his movements, clearly interested.
“I’ll be playing, and there will even be a cheerleading performance.”
Ouyang, unusually shy, revealed a bit of his teenage earnestness.
“This soccer match is a long-standing college tradition. After it ends, there’s a summer performance, and at the very end, there’s a one-minute confession—”
He explained, “The lights across the whole field and the classroom building go out for a minute. You can confess to someone you like during that time. If they agree, you can share a kiss. If they don’t, when the lights come back on, it’s like nothing happened…”
Ouyang’s cheeks were already flushed.
“I… I want to confess to someone I like, but she probably won’t agree…”
He looked at Su Pu, pleading, “Bro, could you come with me? Just in case she says no, don’t let me be too embarrassed.”
Ouyang’s sincerity left Su Pu unable to refuse.
Besides, he had no other plans tomorrow, so going along to be a bodyguard didn’t matter.
Su Pu nodded in agreement, then had a sudden spark of inspiration, eyes gleaming as he typed to Ouyang:
[Um… will there be a lot of college students there tomorrow?]
Ouyang stared at the message for a long moment, then looked up, confused.
“Bro, isn’t that obvious? The place will definitely be packed with students tomorrow…”
Su Pu grinned happily.
[I’ll definitely be there tomorrow!]
By evening, Li Jichuan had finally finished all his work and could take a moment to check his phone.
After swiping through a few work progress updates, he noticed several messages from Su Pu still sitting in his inbox.
They asked if he had time tomorrow night and if he’d be willing to go somewhere with him.
Li Jichuan sneered. So, that’s your intention, huh?
Tomorrow just happened to be Su Fengxian’s company anniversary party. Of course, Su Pu had the card and would lead him there…
Quite diligent, really!
Li Jichuan felt an inexplicable irritation and typed into the chat.
Using him again?
Delusional!
Time to show you what it means to scheme in vain and fail in the end.
Li Jichuan replied: [Sorry, no time.]
About two minutes later, Su Pu sent a response.
[Alright then, hope your work goes smoothly.]
Li Jichuan chuckled to himself, feeling triumphant. See? He wouldn’t let anyone use him so easily…
But did Su Pu accept that so readily?
It was almost as if he didn’t expect Li Jichuan to agree at all…
Yet Su Pu had clearly already taken the card. If things didn’t work out, would he get punished?
Li Jichuan recalled all the punishments he had faced growing up.
The little mute was so thin—would he be able to handle it?
Although he had already explicitly refused, Li Jichuan couldn’t help but waver.
What if Su Pu also got mistreated by his family…?
The kid seemed a bit clumsy. Would he even come to complain and ask Li Jichuan to set things right?