CH 30

Ye Lanting looked dazed for a moment. She hesitantly scanned the surroundings before her eyes fell on the watch in the hand of the basketball coach in front of her.

The tall basketball coach was obviously stunned for a moment. Then he held up his watch to observe it carefully, as if curious about the noise it had made. He didn’t seem to have any intention of talking to her.

The originally normal conversation atmosphere was inexplicably destroyed. Ye Lanting’s smile almost froze on her face.

She had already prepared the manuscript. She wanted to use caring about Pei Qingyuan as an entry point to inquire about the child from the coach, who wasn’t very smart at first glance.

She maintained an elegant posture and calmed her breathing. She faced the basketball coach and tried her best to squeeze out a gentle smile. “Hello, is Qingyuan training here?”

The watch was incredibly attentive and answered for Coach Xu before he could speak. “I’m sorry, Xiao Mei didn’t hear your question clearly. Can you repeat it?”

“……” Ye Lanting closed her eyes and opened them again, forcing herself to ignore the irritating watch. “I am Qingyuan’s mother… I used to be but I haven’t seen him for a long time. How is he doing on the basketball team?”

She pretended to be calm as she talked to the basketball coach. Meanwhile, nameless anger rose in her heart.

How could there be such an annoying AI?

In addition, why was an AI with a male voice called Xiao Mei?

Coach Xu was still immersed in his imagination that this cute watch would definitely have a cute childish voice. Now he was shocked to hear this slightly mechanical young male voice. Then he heard it call itself Xiao Mei and laughed. “Why are you called Xiao Mei?”

Then he belatedly realized that the stranger standing in front of him seemed to have said something to him.

Coach Xu was a bit embarrassed. He cleared his throat and asked, “What did you just say?”

Without waiting for Ye Lanting to speak, Xiao Mei quickly replied, “She said that she is on the basketball team that her mother hasn’t seen for a long time.”

“Huh?” Coach Xu looked puzzled. “What?”

“Xiao Mei doesn’t understand either.” The watch sounded regretful. “Xiao Mei wants to help you very much. Can you repeat your question again?”

Ye Lanting’s eyes were dark. She couldn’t help exhaling and inhaling to lower his blood pressure.

Reason told her that she had come to inquire about the illegitimate child. She couldn’t just stop halfway.

But emotionally, she just wanted to slam the door and leave amidst the polite voice of the stupid artificial intelligence that endlessly asked her to repeat the question.

“I said—” She gritted her teeth and emphasized every word. “Qingyuan, how is he doing?”

Coach Xu finally understood that this woman knew Pei Qingyuan.

He couldn’t help turning to look at Pei Qingyuan, who was concentrating on playing on the court. He had previously heard Fu Chengze talk about the other person’s bumpy life experience and probably guessed the origin of the woman in front of him.

Coach Xu was a bit embarrassed and didn’t know whether to answer this woman’s question or not.

Fortunately, the smart watch left behind by Pei Qingyuan helped him out.

“Yes.” Xiao Mei’s voice was cheerful. “Xiao Mei has helped you record the question and will report it to the Master in time. Please wait patiently for the master’s reply.”

Ye Lanting: “……”

Coach Xu: ‘…Hahahahaha.’

He was inexplicably relieved and couldn’t help laughing while ridiculing it. “Why are you so stupid?”

“Xiao Mei isn’t stupid. Please don’t hate Xiao Mei.” There was a hint of grievance in the mechanical voice emitted by the watch. “I hope everyone has more patience when talking to Xiao Mei. Xiao Mei really wants to help everyone.”

Why was it so sensitive when listening to others?

Ye Lanting’s fingers clenched into fists. She felt that if she stayed here for one more second, she would be induced by this stupid artificial intelligence to have a high blood pressure that didn’t exist.

At this time, the second round of confrontation on the court was nearing the end. The basketball team members finally spotted the strange visitor and looked in this direction curiously.

Pei Qingyuan also looked over along with the movements of his friends.

His eyes were calm when he saw Ye Lanting. In particular, he noticed her slightly distorted face and there was a mocking smile in her eyes.

It was as if he had seen through her embarrassing situation at this moment and also saw through her purpose of coming here in private.

Ye Lanting couldn’t stay any longer. She couldn’t even hide her icy expression as she turned around to leave.

As a result, the AI Xiao Mei had a sensing function and said goodbye to her politely. “Goodbye, Madam. I wish you a happy life!”

A happy life, mockery x2.

Seeing Ye Lanting almost trip with embarrassment, Ji Tong’s mood was unprecedentedly happy.

This trick was really easy to use.

He had recorded a 360 degree clear video of Ye Lanting’s distorted complexion just now, which could be used to entertain the host in the future.

Coach Xu watched Ye Lanting leave in a hurry and shook his head emotionally. “Xiao Mei, it is lucky that you were here. I wouldn’t have known how to deal with her.”

He had completely accepted this name that sounded very unsuitable for a male AI. If he thought about it, there was a strange harmony with the little robot that appeared on the dial.

At this moment, Xiao Mei obviously became much smarter. He accurately recognized the sentences he heard and answered happily, “Thank you for your praise, discerning human.”

The watch lit up again to express joy. At the same time, the training on the court came to an end. Pei Qingyuan walked over with a towel on his shoulders. Coach Xu returned the watch to him and said enviously, “Xiao Pei, this watch is really nice. Where did you buy it?”

Pei Qingyuan had heard this question many times and skillfully answered, “It is a gift from a friend. It can’t be bought.”

“Oh, what a pity.” Coach Xu was disappointed. “I also want a smart Xiao Mei. How fun.”

Pei Qingyuan froze when he heard this unfamiliar name. Then he heard Ji Tong whisper in his mind, “Ruan Ruan, that is the name of the Ai built into my watch, Xiao Mei.”

…It wasn’t impossible.

It was a bit more normal than the full name of this watch.

Pei Qingyuan comforted himself in this way.

It was break time. The fierce confrontation just now had made this group of male high school students all sweat. The thin basketball uniform was wet with sweat. Someone used the corner of their clothes to fan the wind and wiped the thin sweat on their foreheads.

Pei Qingyuan was picking up the water cup to drink water when he saw the yellow light flashing on his watch that had never appeared before.

The little robot on the dial sat upright on his chair and stared ahead intently.

“What emotion does the yellow light represent?” Pei Qingyuan asked him with some surprise.

The little robot said in a serious tone, “It represents the praise of human health and fitness.”

“……”

Pei Qingyuan was puzzled. Then he turned his head blankly to follow his gaze and saw a large area of abdominal muscles that were accidentally exposed by his teammates when they lifted their clothes.

He was silent for a moment. Then he reached out and turned the little yellow duck on the seat around, placing the watch on it.

Ji Tong protested as he was forced to lie on the little yellow duck. “Host, you are blocking my view!”

Pei Qingyuan thought for a moment and there was no doubt in his tone. “You are now a children’s watch.”

Ji Tong: “……”

It was a mistake!

He lay on the little yellow duck and looked at the high ceiling of the gymnasium, flashing with a melancholy blue light. Pei Qingyuan looked amused and had to pick him up again, putting the watch in front of his eyes and chatting with him seriously.

“Why are you called Xiao Mei?”

His system seemed to store a lot of strange data.

Ji Tong lost his abs but decided to generously forgive the host. He was about to make up some nonsense casually when the two of them heard a clear ding-dong sound.

The second main task was suddenly triggered.

“Dear host, a close partner is the solid backing for a successful career. So the second task you need to complete is—”

In view of the painful experience of being trampled on last time, the mechanical female voice automatically paused. It found that Ji Tong had no special reaction and quickly completed the sentence. “Have a group of reliable and excellent good friends, parentheses, only human beings, parentheses over.”

From the last parenthesis, Ji Tong felt the sharpness of the main brain.

However, this task sounded quite normal. At the very least, it was better than the last family mission. There was no need to exploit any loopholes to complete it.

Currently, the relationship between the host and the members of the basketball team was very good. Everyone was considered excellent friends. As long as they got along for a while, this task should be completed smoothly.

The more Ji Tong thought about it, the more satisfied he became. He opened his mouth to encourage the host. “Ruan Ruan, this task is very simple. We will get a new task reward immediately.”

Pei Qingyuan looked thoughtful.

The last task was triggered when the relationship between him and the Luo family deteriorated and the difficulty obviously wasn’t low.

In theory, the logic of each task trigger should be similar. It made no sense that it would be so simple this time.

Ji Tong also told him that the mechanism for judging the completion of the task was strict and rigid. According to the requirements of the task, this group of good friends must be reliable, excellent and human. The latter two were easy to achieve and the first was the most difficult.

He had a good relationship with the members of the basketball team, chatting with them after training and received sincere birthday wishes from them. If he could complete the task by continuing to get along with them, the panel should show some progress.

Pei Qingyuan thought of this and asked, “Is there any progress on the task panel?”

Ji Tong inspected it and gave a surprised cry. “There is no green light… how can there be no response?”

Pei Qingyuan heard this and looked around at his teammates resting around him. A bold guess gradually emerged in his heart.

“I’ll test it.”

He stood up with the watch and walked toward the others.

The rest time was around ten minutes. Previously, Ji Tong’s child form was strictly limited by time. Only half an hour could be allocated to the night snacks, so he usually appeared at this time. He ate while watching everyone’s final training with relish. Then he accompanied Pei Qingyuan out of the school gate and went home.

Everyone already knew the news that Ji Tong wouldn’t come today. They all habitually carried snacks and toys in their bags. They felt quite disappointed that they had no one to feed at this time.

“I brought Tong Tong’s favorite jelly. There is the strawberry and mango flavor today.”

“Nonsense. Tong Tong’s favorite is obviously the potato chips I bought!”

“Hey, Brother Pei. Where is Tong Tong’s home? Can we go to him on the weekend? I can provide free tutoring!”

“Come on, you don’t know anything. Do you want to teach Tong Tong how to do shot put?”

Pei Qingyuan calmly spoke in the midst of Tong Tong floating into the sky. “I have a question for you.”

“What question? Ask it.”

He carefully considered the sentence and felt that the child bonus should be excluded first.

“If Tong Tong grows up and I fall into the water with him… no, if I have an irreconcilable conflict with him, who will you choose to help?”

Since they were reliable good friends, they should unconditionally support him. How else could they be called a solid backing?

Once everyone heard this somewhat strange question, they looked at each other in blank dismay. Then they laughed easily, as if this was a trivial matter that didn’t need to be thought about at all.

“Hahaha, why are you suddenly asking this question? Brother Pei, are you joking? We have such a good relationship—”

Fu Chengze waved his hand with a smile. Then he instantly changed his face and said, “Of course, I will cut ties with you and help Tong Tong!”

The others next to him nodded without hesitation.

Very good and reliable.

Pei Qingyuan calmly withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the charming watch in his hand.

On the black dial, the little robot silently raised a lift to block his face.

As an ordinary artificial intelligence, he didn’t want this either.