Li Feng woke to the soft orange glow of dawn spilling through the window.
The apartment was quiet. He lay still,watching the light on the ceiling for a moment, then pushed himself up slowly, slipping the blanket aside.
His bare feet touched the cool floor.
He moved quietly through the living room first, gathering the scattered toys from the floor and stacking them neatly in the corner. Each small task done without sound, without waking anyone. When the space looked right he moved to the kitchen, filled the kettle, and set it to boil. The faint hum of the water heating was the only sound. He cracked eggs into the pan — the sizzle cutting through the quiet — and reached for the bread. Slowly the smell of breakfast began drifting through the apartment, warm and unhurried.
He looked around the kitchen when he was done.
*Time to take my bath.*
Which meant the bedroom.
Li Feng walked to the bedroom door and raised his hand. He knocked once. Twice. He had his knuckles raised for a third time when the door creaked open.
Zhao Lihua stood in the doorway, her silver hair loose and falling across her face, eyes still heavy with sleep. She looked soft in the early morning light, almost childlike in her drowsiness.
*Cute*, he thought. He would never say it aloud.
"Good morning," they said at the same time.
Both of them paused. A brief silence settled over the moment, fragile and slightly awkward.
Li Feng cleared his throat. "Breakfast is ready."
A small sound came from behind Zhao Lihua. Li Xian appeared at the edge of the doorway, peering out. This time she actually looked at him — not away, not down. Just looked, cautious and quiet.
Li Feng managed a small smile. "Li Xian. Breakfast is ready."
Li Xian glanced up at her mother. Then gave a small nod.
"I need to take my bath," Li Feng continued. "You both go and eat."
Zhao Lihua looked down briefly. "Okay," she said, and stepped past him, Li Xian held against her side. Her hair brushed the air as she passed. He stood aside and let them through, then stepped into the bedroom and closed the door behind him.
---
He came out a while later with a towel wrapped at his waist, dressed quickly — white shirt, black trousers — and stood in front of the small mirror checking himself once.
Then he remembered.
*The video.*
He looked around the room and found a clean angle near the wall, moved a few things aside, and propped the phone in front of him. He sat down, straightened his collar, and looked at the lens for a moment.
One thing he couldn't deny — Li Feng had good looks. The face in the mirror had always been that. Whatever else the man had wasted, he hadn't wasted that.
He pressed record.
---
Half an hour later he leaned back and watched the final cut through. Simple. Clean. A beginner's tutorial on reading sales data — no performance, no filler, just the logic laid out step by step the way it actually worked. He watched it once more, made his decision, and uploaded it.
*Why Small Businesses Lose Money Without Realizing It.*
The title sat cleanly on the screen. He had used the milk situation from the café as his reference — walked through the exact logic, the numbers, the gap between what the data showed and what it meant. A real case. No theory. Just the thing itself.
*Now I wait*, he thought. He had no illusions about it. Channels took time. Consistency. The first video rarely meant anything on its own. But the first video still had to exist before anything else could.
He finished getting ready, picked up his old laptop and a small bag, and checked the time.
7:45.
*Can't be late for the first day.*
He stepped out of the bedroom. Zhao Lihua and Li Xian were already at the table, eating quietly. He didn't stop. "I'm heading out," he said, and walked straight to the door.
The cold morning air met him as he stepped outside. He paused on the step, stretched both arms out wide, and breathed in.
Then he moved.
---
By the time he reached Little Nest Café, Madam Chen and her staff were already setting up for the day — chairs coming down from tables, machines warming up behind the counter, the smell of the first brew of the morning in the air. The door opened and Li Feng walked in.
"Oh, Mr. Li — welcome, welcome." Madam Chen came forward with a broad smile, waving him inside.
Li Feng nodded.
"Allow me to introduce you to the staff," she said. Then she turned toward the back and raised her voice. "Everyone — out here, please."
One by one, five staff members filed out from the kitchen and the back room, lining up in front of him with the slightly uncertain posture of people who had been assembled on short notice.
"Everyone, this is Mr. Li," Madam Chen announced. "He'll be with us for a month, helping us find ways to improve how we run the business."
Greetings were exchanged. A few nods, a few murmured hellos. Then they drifted back to their work, the morning routine resuming around them.
Madam Chen led Li Feng to the office — a small room tucked behind the counter, barely large enough for a desk and two chairs. She set a stack of folders and bound reports on the desk in front of him. Then another. Then another. By the time she was done the pile was considerable.
Li Feng looked at it.
He let out a small quiet laugh.
"You want me to go through all of this?"
Madam Chen smiled, entirely unbothered. "That's what I'm paying you for."
She didn't wait for a reply. She turned and walked back out to the café floor, leaving him alone in the small room with the morning light coming through the single narrow window and an unreasonable amount of paperwork.
Li Feng pulled the first folder toward him, opened it, and began.