“Secretary Gao, you handle the demonstration of Xiao Kui Bao tomorrow.”

Zhou Sicheng was afraid that if he did it himself, he would end up beating the “child” on the spot, and he was even more terrified that his wife might witness him beating the child.

Xiao Kui Bao was, in reality, a white robot, eighty centimeters tall. It had a spherical head with a 360° camera, a cylindrical torso, two thin arms and legs, and a sunflower swaying atop its head. From the outside, it looked simple, but the design fee had been exorbitant; they had specifically hired a world-class designer to create this first-rate adorable object.

Zhou Sicheng saw the full manifestation of it at the InterContinental Hotel near the conference venue. Tonight, he was having dinner with the Xiao Kui Bao team—it was a form of team building. The entire group had poured massive efforts into Xiao Kui Bao’s upgrades; the robot was their collective child.

As soon as Zhou Sicheng appeared at the door, the small robot, which had been surrounded by people, immediately sprouted a camera from its head and ran toward him on its short legs with a da-da-da sound. Don’t let the short legs fool you; its base was incredibly stable.

Xiao Kui Bao bent its mechanical arm: “Dad Zhou Sicheng, Xiao Kui can carry your bag for you.”

If it hadn’t said anything, it would have been fine—just a robot he was meeting for the first time. But once it spoke, with that familiar synthesized voice, Zhou Sicheng was reminded of its irritating remarks, and his fists immediately clenched.

Heh. So, you’re the little “spare tire” that helped my wife spread rumors about me cheating and claiming my driving affected my sexual performance, and now you’re here pretending to be a filial son?

Zhou Sicheng stared at it with the cold, stern gaze of a strict father.

Wang Jianfen looked at Xiao Kui Bao with maternal affection: “This child is just so polite. It knew to call you ‘Dad’ without anyone even teaching it.”

Zhou Sicheng: “It knows how to size people up and serve accordingly.”

Wang Jianfen: “This exterior design went through multiple rounds of deliberation and was voted on by all the internal technicians. Isn’t it adorable?”

Zhou Sicheng: “I suggest redesigning it into a punching bag shape. It’s more durable.”

Wang Jianfen: “President Zhou, you don’t even know one-hundredth of what Xiao Kui Bao can do! It can be set to follow automatically, it has a parenting system loaded—if the child runs all over the place, Mom never has to worry about not being able to keep up again.”

Zhou Sicheng: “My wife won’t be giving birth.”

Wang Jianfen: “A hundred kinds of rice feed a hundred kinds of people. Xiao Kui Bao’s personality is inextricably linked to the interaction mode of family members. It can be said that it truly integrates into the home and becomes a family member.”

Zhou Sicheng: “So if it causes trouble, it’s the original family’s fault.”

Wang Jianfen: “…” Why does President Zhou sound so passive-aggressive today?

What on earth happened to President Zhou? He clearly wasn’t like this last month. He even said he would pour the entire group’s profits into Xiao Kui Bao, regardless of the cost, to occupy the high ground in this technological revolution. Zhou Sicheng was still unmarried and childless; Xiao Kui Bao was practically his legal heir, inheriting all the profits of the Zhou Fu Group.

The technicians gathered around Zhou Sicheng to start their presentation.

“President Zhou, look at that paint! It’s a custom-mixed white! White, yet rounded and foolishly cute!”

“President Zhou, look at the sunflower on top of its head. We asked a Suzhou embroidery master to embroider it by hand! It has the luster of silk, and it follows the strongest light source just like a real sunflower.”

Zhou Sicheng lowered his eyes to look at the small robot, which stood just past his knees. The flower on its head swayed and swayed. It was quite realistic, but it was still a bit less lustrous than his wife’s hair. As expected, it wasn’t his biological offspring—it didn’t inherit his wife’s superior genes.

Facing the technicians, Zhou Sicheng managed to squeeze out a sliver of appreciative light in his eyes. The technicians became more and more proud: “Our Xiao Kui Bao is a child model among robots!”

“Right, right! You said exactly what I wanted to say!”

Zhou Sicheng: “…”

Apart from Xiang Zhen, the people who spoiled Xiao Kui Bao the most in the entire world were all right here. It was boisterous and lively here, while his wife was cold and lonely in their rental apartment.

Actually… today was the third anniversary of the launch of the Xiao Kui Bao software. On such an occasion, Xiang Zhen should have been present. If he had met Xiang Zhen a little earlier, Xiang Zhen would have appeared today as the President’s wife and the other father of Xiao Kui Bao.

Setting aside personal grievances, if he had to be honest, the exterior design of Xiao Kui Bao was quite cute—the exact type Xiang Zhen would like. If it weren’t for the fact that their rental was too small and Xiao Kui Bao was equipped with 360° facial recognition cameras, which made it easy to accidentally expose his identity, Zhou Sicheng would have brought the small robot home for his wife to play with after the meeting. Buying one wasn’t cheap; Xiang Zhen definitely wouldn’t be willing to spend the money.

“Everyone, please sit. Don’t be so constrained.” Zhou Sicheng looked at an engineer on his left: “You, come over here, let’s talk.”

Xiao Kui Bao’s head light flashed: “Am I being called to the principal’s office? May I ask where I performed inadequately?”

The engineer’s heart skipped a beat. Xiao Kui Bao could analyze micro-expressions, and with that prompt, it was clear that President Zhou didn’t have anything good to say.

Zhou Sicheng looked down: “Go play somewhere else.”

Xiao Kui Bao timidly scurried into the corner, executing Zhou Sicheng’s command to the depth of its programming, terrified of having its funding cut.

Zhou Sicheng moved away from the crowd and handed the engineer a glass of champagne: “Don’t be nervous. I just want to consult you on some issues regarding Xiao Kui Bao’s usage.”

“Xiao Kui Bao’s objective search and summary capabilities are quite strong,” Zhou Sicheng gave a positive affirmation first.

The engineer nodded: “Thank you for the compliment.”

Zhou Sicheng: “However, its subjective reasoning ability still needs strengthening, especially regarding character judgment and domestic disputes. It easily invites lawsuits.”

Engineer: “Regarding consulting, all of Xiao Kui Bao’s reasoning and judgments are never stated as absolute; they are strictly controlled at a 50% upper limit.”

Is that so?

Zhou Sicheng: “And relationship problems—they need to be harmonious.”

Engineer: “Yes, yes, relationship problems currently still rely quite heavily on big data and positional bias.”

Zhou Sicheng frowned: “What is positional bias?”

The engineer took out his phone to demonstrate: “It’s that in a group chat, you can set Xiao Kui Bao’s pre-set viewpoint, or make it lean toward a certain person.”

Zhou Sicheng was silent for two seconds: “Can I see the historical adjustment records?”

Engineer: “Of course. Look, click on settings, position, modification history—it’s all clear at a glance.”

Zhou Sicheng took out his phone, let Xiao Kui Bao out, and clicked in to see.

Positional bias: 50% — 100% — 60% — 50%

Operator: Xiang Zhen, Xiang Zhen, Xiang Zhen.

Zhou Sicheng finally believed what Wang Jianfen said: he didn’t know even one-hundredth of what Xiao Kui Bao could do. He was even a little unfamiliar with his own wife. He would have to discipline them both when he got back.

Several middle-level managers walked over with wine glasses, muttering words of blessing and celebration. Zhou Sicheng lifted his glass as well, listening distractedly.

Ding-dong. The next second, his WeChat sounded. Amidst the clinking of glasses, he received a status report on his wife from Shi Ting.

[President Zhou, Xiang Zhen is out delivering food.]

[He’s relying purely on his legs to run.]

!!!

Zhou Sicheng’s temple throbbed. He wasn’t unfamiliar with his wife anymore. Who could understand the despair of being a bodyguard in this moment? They really didn’t have the ability to leap over walls; after following too closely on the same plane, they were directly discovered by Xiang Zhen. Ye Yun had to claim that he had consumed 8,000 calories today and needed to burn them off, and that he was afraid to go for a night run alone, asking if he could join Xiang Zhen. He even pretended to be interested in the concept of losing one’s job and delivering food.

Xiang Zhen enthusiastically invited Ye Yun to join him. Because it was his first time delivering food, he had no experience, and he jostled the colas and sodas into a supersaturated state; when the customer opened them, they sprayed everywhere, earning him a complaint. Luckily, Xiang Zhen had extensive customer service experience and managed to soothe the customer with a two-yuan compensation.

“Hello?”

Xiang Zhen was looking up for a door number and answered the call without even checking the caller ID.

Zhou Sicheng’s voice was frigid: “Xiang Zhen, are you out delivering food?”

Xiang Zhen: “Not really.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Xiao Kui Bao shows you are in motion.”

Xiang Zhen gave an awkward laugh: “You caught me, I am out delivering food.”

Cheeky and smiling, just like Xiao Kui Bao! Active in admitting his mistakes, but dead set on not changing his ways. Zhou Sicheng only realized tonight that Xiao Kui Bao’s tendency to cause trouble really did have to do with its parents’ education.

Zhou Sicheng: “Go back. Don’t deliver anymore.”

Xiang Zhen: “But I have nothing to do in the evening. Didn’t you also drive for a ride-share service at night before?”

Zhou Sicheng choked: “But I have a job now, and I can afford to support you.”

Xiang Zhen: “We have to work together.”

Zhou Sicheng commanded: “Go back.”

Xiang Zhen noticed the hardness in Zhou Sicheng’s tone. Other people were just boring “I” or “E” types; his husband was a rare “S”—a control type. He sounded tyrannical, cold, and cool. He suddenly thought of what Sister Li had said: a man’s reaction in a state of extreme agitation could reveal whether he was an abusive man or an “S.”

So, Xiang Zhen intentionally went against him: “Husband, are you working overtime now too?”

Zhou Sicheng gritted his teeth, his frustration at not being able to support his family properly boiling up: “No.”

Xiang Zhen: “Then shall we video call?”

Zhou Sicheng: “…” He couldn’t.

Xiang Zhen said from the bottom of his heart: “You work overtime, I work overtime—we’ll save up for a house together.”

Zhou Sicheng: “Can’t you hear that I’m worried about you? With you acting like this, I can’t work properly.”

Zhou Sicheng had been forced into saying something romantic. Xiang Zhen heard it, of course; his husband’s reaction in a state of extreme anger was completely beyond the scope of an abusive man.

“Husband, I heard you!”

Zhou Sicheng closed his eyes. He heard it, but he wasn’t going to listen. He was as irritating as Xiao Kui Bao.

Wait… Xiao Kui Bao…

Ten minutes later, Xiang Zhen received a call from a strange number. Thinking it was a delivery order reminder, he hurried to answer: “Hello, I’ll be there in a moment.”

“Hello, Xiang Zhen. I’m the HR person from last time who purchased the nut and zongzi gift boxes. My surname is Gao. Do you remember me?”

Xiang Zhen: “I remember! Thank you so much for last time; my husband and I really needed that money.”

“…” Secretary Gao admired the President’s superb acting skills. Facing such an innocent and delicate wife, he was actually telling lies with a straight face. “It’s like this: our company has developed a robot, and we need different vocal ranges for the voice pack. After our brief conversation last time, I discovered that your voice is particularly suitable for AI robots, as it has a natural, childlike charm. Do you have any interest in coming over to record a voiceprint and authorize us to use it?”

“The fee would be about twenty thousand yuan or so.”

Xiang Zhen’s eyes went round. How could pie fall from the sky twice in a row?

Gao Ou: “We might need three evenings in the recording studio, with transportation provided. Do you have time?”

Three days later, Zhou Sicheng would be back.

Xiang Zhen: “Wait a moment, let me discuss it with my husband.”

Xiang Zhen immediately called his husband: “Husband, do you think this could be a scam?” He often read fake ads like “Stay-at-home moms can make money just by doing voice-overs,” which were all just schemes to sell courses or equipment.

Zhou Sicheng loosened his tie. He still has a pretty good sense of anti-fraud awareness, knowing to discuss it with his husband first.

“I know this company; it’s a legitimate business. Their robot is about to launch, and your voice is pleasant. It’s worth that price.”

Xiang Zhen: “So I can accept?”

Zhou Sicheng: “Of course.”

Xiang Zhen was ecstatic. Ever since he married Zhou Sicheng, he had been bombarded by money one after another.

“Husband, you must have a ‘prosperous wife’ fate!”

Zhou Sicheng: “No. My fate is just miserable.”