The next day, when Yu Zi woke up, that enchanting dream still lingered in his mind. How those hands roamed over his body, how they indulged in passionate entanglement—every detail felt so real, as if the sensation still lingered on his skin.

He actually had a wet dream. And the protagonist was another man under the same roof.

Yu Zi had to admit that Xie Dongcheng had a strong allure in certain aspects. Just replaying the scenes from that dream in his mind quickly made his body heat up. In the early morning, he even had another reaction unconsciously.

Yu Zi scoffed at himself for being lonely for too long.

If judged solely on looks and physique, Xie Dongcheng was indeed a good choice.

But seducing a straight man wasn’t a profitable deal. At least for now, the risk was enormous, and the success rate was low, but the probability of things turning ugly was high.

The most important indicator in investment was the cost-benefit ratio. At the moment, Yu Zi wasn’t ready to put his chips on the table.

Of course, unless the fish took the bait itself.

Half a minute later, there was a knock on the bedroom door.

“The porridge is ready, come out and have some,” Xie Dongcheng’s voice came through.

Yu Zi got up from the bed and walked to the living room. He saw the face he had seen in his dream. The scar on Xie Dongcheng’s nose had faded quite a bit, probably to disappear completely in a couple of days.

Yu Zi walked to the TV and glanced at the fish tank, where a group of fish was tearing apart a piece of fish food. He bent down and lightly tapped the glass of the fish tank.

Swoosh—

The entire group of fish immediately turned around and looked at him.

“You’re scaring them like that,” Xie Dongcheng frowned.

Yu Zi shook his head, thinking the fish were really stupid.

“Sister Lin has a big order today,” Yu Zi opened his phone and showed Xie Dongcheng. Since the last party, Yu Zi had successfully entered Sister Lin’s circle of friends. His previous identity as a young master unexpectedly made his business even more prosperous. It was the first time he realized that people’s sympathy could also be valuable.

“Are we going to her company?”

“Yeah,” Yu Zi nodded.

Sister Lin’s company, an international enterprise, was about five or six kilometers away from here, gathering a large number of high-tech companies in the northern part of the city, making it the economic and financial center of this area.

Xie Dongcheng filled the scooter with electricity in advance, and half an hour later, they set off.

They rarely came to this area. The scenery here was very different from the residential area, with skyscrapers towering into the sky everywhere. It was the peak hours, and the streets were filled with white-collar workers in high heels and suits.

The car speed here was much faster than in the old city area. As soon as the green light at the intersection lit up, countless cars rushed out from behind the line.

Xie Dongcheng maneuvered the scooter in the non-motorized lane, barely avoiding the turning vehicles.

“It’s terrifying,” Xie Dongcheng said with lingering fear.

Yu Zi hadn’t had a chance to reply. With only three seconds left on the green light, all the cars started to slow down, but a speeding SUV suddenly emerged from the other end of the road.

The SUV didn’t slow down at all when it saw their electric bike, rushing straight towards the intersection.

Xie Dongcheng quickly swerved the scooter, but their scooter brushed against the SUV, and both of them inevitably fell down due to the huge impact.

The two fell to the ground with a heavy thud, attracting the attention of the surrounding pedestrians.

Yu Zi struggled to stand up from the ground, his knees scraping against the rough asphalt, unsure if he was bleeding.

Xie Dongcheng was in better shape, propping himself up against the scooter, only being tripped, lying on the ground.

He quickly put down the scooter and came over to check Yu Zi’s injuries.

Yu Zi rolled up his trouser leg to take a look. Fortunately, there were no cuts, nothing serious.

The driver of the SUV seemed unaware of what had happened, without stopping, just driving away.

“Damn, heartless bastard! What’s the rush?” Yu Zi shouted angrily at the tail of the car.

After that, he took out his phone to prepare to call the police.

Xie Dongcheng stopped his hand. “Forget it. We’re not injured. Let’s go and deliver the goods first.”

Yu Zi glanced at the time, realizing it was tight, so he had to swallow his anger and sit back on the scooter. With his legs bent, he still felt pain in his knees. He estimated that he would have bruises again tomorrow.

When the two arrived at Sister Lin’s company, Sister Lin was already waiting for them at the door.

“You’ve worked hard. It’s a bit far here,” Sister Lin waved at them, as polite as ever. However, as she took a closer look, she noticed that Yu Zi’s pants were scraped at the knee.

“What happened? Did something happen on the way?”

“We were hit by a car,” Yu Zi didn’t want to say, but he had no choice.

“It’s really dangerous for you guys to do this every day. Any accident could be a big deal. Drivers here are quite reckless and don’t care about pedestrians.”

Of course, Yu Zi knew this job was very dangerous. He had thought about the problem Sister Lin mentioned many times. They couldn’t rely on this electric bike to make money forever. If they really encountered a careless driver one day, it wouldn’t just be a matter of more or less money earned, it would be a matter of life or death.

On the way back, Yu Zi rubbed his worn-out pants with his hands. The weather was getting colder, and even though it was almost noon, the wind on the road was still biting.

It was only November, and it was already this cold. As winter approached, it would be even harder to earn money.

Xie Dongcheng crossed an intersection, and the wheels of the scooter rolled over a stone, causing the rear seat to bump.

Yu Zi looked up, and the scooter happened to stop at a T-junction.

Xie Dongcheng was about to start again and move forward when Yu Zi called out to him.

“Wait, go there,” Yu Zi pointed to the other side of the road.

Xie Dongcheng didn’t understand what he was doing, so he had to drive there as Yu Zi instructed. Before the scooter even stopped, Yu Zi jumped out of the back seat.

“Hey, be careful with your leg,” Xie Dongcheng quickly stopped the scooter and followed him.

After walking a few steps forward, he finally saw their destination clearly. At the corner of this intersection, there was a storefront with a large iron gate, hanging a red signboard with golden characters: Shop for Rent.

Yu Zi circled around the shop several times, lost in thought. He took out his phone, took a few pictures, muttered something, and then silently got back onto the scooter.

“Let’s go,” he said.

Xie Dongcheng followed behind, puzzled.

Half an hour later, when they returned, Yu Zi showed no intention of going out. He lay on the small coffee table, writing and drawing something with paper and pen.

Xie Dongcheng sat on the sofa behind him, watching for a while but unable to figure out what was going on.

“What’s your plan?” he finally asked.

Yu Zi put down the pen and looked up at him seriously. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“Huh?” Xie Dongcheng’s heart sank at his words. “Why?”

“I mean, I don’t want to earn money this way anymore,” Yu Zi explained. “Winter is coming, and this job is too risky.”

“What should we do then?”

Yu Zi looked him in the eye and said seriously, “I want to take over that storefront.”

“Taking over a shop must cost a lot of money,” Xie Dongcheng said, not worried about anything else. With their current funds, which were less than fifty thousand yuan altogether, it would definitely not be enough to set up a storefront in such a prime location.

Yu Zi didn’t answer this question. Instead, he continued, “The location at that intersection is excellent, with three large office buildings nearby. There are seven shops on that street, four of which are real estate agencies, one bookstore, and the remaining two are bubble tea shops specializing in takeout, but they don’t open in the morning.”

His speech was rapid, and he suddenly turned to Xie Dongcheng. “That morning order included a lot of European-style bread, bacon, salads, and thick milk. This means that the white-collar workers over there have a brunch demand, but there are no decent restaurants near the company.”

“Brunch?”

“It’s a late breakfast and early lunch.” Yu Zi opened a shop on a review website and pushed it in front of Xie Dongcheng.

“But I saw a convenience store across the street. If they want breakfast, won’t they just go there?”

Yu Zi shook his head. “Convenience stores sell industrial prefab food. There’s not much markup. A bottle of milk costs four yuan wholesale and retails for a maximum of six yuan. That’s no different from what we’re doing now. Moreover, they only serve breakfast. If the nearby white-collar workers want to do business, they might want something of higher quality.”

While Xie Dongcheng listened to his explanation, his mind was still not catching up.

“If we do it, we’ll serve high-quality brunch to attract these white-collar workers for photos and check-ins. In the afternoon, we can offer afternoon tea for them to chat and discuss business.”

“What about our current customers?” Xie Dongcheng wasn’t worried about anything else. He also believed in Yu Zi’s ability to make money. However, they had accumulated many customers during this period. Giving up like this was obviously problematic.

“Transfer them to someone else. We’ll only focus on selling alcohol.”

“What do you mean?”

“Transfer our business cards and old customers to someone else, and we’ll get some money in exchange. Alcohol is our biggest profit margin, and it’s easy to store. We don’t have to worry about being stuck with inventory. We can continue to supply the new owner. As long as we negotiate well with the person taking over, we can keep getting supplies.”

The most important thing was that they had been running around like this every month. If they didn’t go out for a day, they wouldn’t have any income for that day. But if they had a storefront that could bring in stable revenue, not only would their cash flow be guaranteed, but they could also apply for loans from the bank to leverage even more.

Yu Zi felt that this plan was perfect. He looked up at Xie Dongcheng with some pride. “What do you think?”

The living room window wasn’t closed tightly, and a bit of cold wind blew in, lifting Yu Zi’s hair. After he finished speaking, he shrank his neck.

Xie Dongcheng walked over to close the window, then turned back and said, “You seem a bit cold.”

He picked up a blanket from the sofa and draped it over Yu Zi’s shoulders. The blanket was soft and warm, like a pair of large hands embracing his shoulders.

Yu Zi froze for a moment. He had prepared to analyze the pros and cons of this business carefully, but his thoughts were suddenly disrupted by this action, leaving his mind blank.

The peacock fish in the fish tank shook its beautiful tail and swam into the green water grass.

Yu Zi shook his head, feeling a bit unsure of who was the one on the hook.