Chapter 37
Alice could go anywhere in the manor, so Qiu Chi was now in the study, reading. She had been there ever since Jian Yu left and hadn't stepped out since.
When Jian Yu saw where Qiu Chi was and what she was doing on the surveillance monitor, he finally found it strange.
He got up and went to the study. When he opened the door, Qiu Chi was still reading quietly and didn't look up.
Qiu Chi knew everything that had happened since Jian Yu returned; she simply couldn't be bothered to deal with it.
Jian Yu stood at the entrance to the study, his brows furrowed and his eyes filled with a probing look.
He called out, “Alice?”
Qiu Chi calmly turned a page, ignoring him.
After a pause, he spoke again, this time saying, “Qiu Chi?”
Only then did Qiu Chi shift her attention from her book. She looked up at Jian Yu, who was watching her with a probing gaze, and asked, “What is it?”
Jian Yu disliked Qiu Chi's attitude. His brows furrowed even more, and forgetting what he had initially intended to say, he questioned her instead. “Alice, why didn't you make dinner tonight? Don't you know how rude it is to bring a guest home to an empty dining table? You've really disappointed me today.”
Qiu Chi: “...” What an idiot.
She didn't even want to spare him a glance and went back to her book.
Jian Yu, however, felt a knot of frustration tighten in his chest, leaving him feeling suffocated and uncomfortable.
“Alice, did you hear me? If you keep acting like this, I'll have no choice but to send you to the repair center!”
The repair center could perform maintenance on robots or fix any damage.
But the “repair” Jian Yu mentioned was clearly a threat, as the center could also restore a robot to its factory settings.
Qiu Chi continued to turn the pages, saying without looking up, “My name is Qiu Chi.”
Being a robot was very inconvenient. Every robot had an exclusive customizer, and Alice's was Jian Yu.
In other words, Alice had no way of running away. Machines in the outside world could easily detect a robot's customizer.
Qiu Chi could run, but she was unfamiliar with this world and found the prospect troublesome. That's why she decided to stay here and learn a few things.
But if Jian Yu went too far…
Qiu Chi thought, It should be fine to just give him a beating.
A robot couldn't harm its exclusive customizer, but she wasn't a robot.
She hadn't hit Jian Yu before only because she felt that, compared to the men from past worlds, he seemed relatively normal. Besides, Alice was a robot, a different kind of being, so it was understandable that he felt neither love nor hate for her.
From Alice's perspective, the situation might seem oppressive and cruel, but from Jian Yu's perspective, his view of Alice was far less complicated.
Now, however, it seemed Jian Yu was just a bit of a jerk.
Alice had been too obedient to her programming. Even after developing autonomy, she had acted the same as before. Jian Yu hadn't noticed a difference, so he hadn't thought anything of it.
Now that Qiu Chi was here, she naturally wouldn't indulge him. He felt the stark contrast, which ironically made him recall Alice's good points.
“I'm your customizer. If I say your name is Alice, then it's Alice.”
Qiu Chi: “Heh.”
Jian Yu: “…”
Before his anger could flare, the woman's voice drifted up from downstairs. “Darling, where are you? I've made a dish. Come and have a taste!”
Jian Yu hesitated at the door before finally deciding to go downstairs first. After all, he had plenty of time to settle things with Qiu Chi.
As he turned to leave, Qiu Chi's voice cut in. “Could you please close the door? Thanks.”
Jian Yu let out a laugh of pure anger. He ignored her and stormed downstairs.
Downstairs, the woman presented a plate of mediocre-looking food as if it were a treasure. “Darling, where did you go? Quick, have a taste! How is it?”
One look at the dish was enough to kill Jian Yu's appetite.
But when he met the woman's large, expectant eyes, he suppressed his disgust and took a bite, only to spit it out immediately.
The woman's expectant expression turned pale. “Is it bad?”
She picked up her own chopsticks and tried a bite, finding that it wasn't actually that bad.
Jian Yu was in no mood to be affectionate with the woman. His voice turned cold. “You should leave. There's a car outside to take you home.”
Of course, the woman didn't want to leave. She hugged Jian Yu, her voice choked with tears. “Darling, why are you suddenly sending me away? Did I do something wrong? If you really don't like it, you don't have to eat it. Just please don't make me go, okay?”
Jian Yu ignored her tearful pleas and coldly pushed her aside. “Don't make me call someone to drag you out.”
The woman's quiet sobs hitched. She wiped her tears and forced a smile, her eyes red. “Since… since you're in a bad mood today, darling, I'll get going.”
After the woman left, Jian Yu stared at the empty dining room. The plate of unappetizing food was still on the table, and his thoughts inevitably turned to Alice.
Whenever he ate, Alice would be right there, fussing over him. He never had to ask for anything; she would have already served him whatever he wanted.
Alice's cooking was always perfect in color, aroma, and taste, and it always whetted his appetite.
But… but the Alice of today had suddenly changed!
At this thought, a fire of rage ignited within him, and he flipped the dining table over…
The sound of crashing and clattering came from downstairs, but Qiu Chi continued to read, her expression unchanged.
After his outburst, Jian Yu intended to go to the study to confront Qiu Chi, but as he took a step, he found himself hesitating.
In the end, he could only retreat to his room and start drinking.
Tomorrow, he thought, tomorrow Alice will probably be back to normal, right?
If Qiu Chi knew what he was thinking, she would have laughed at his delusion.
The next day, when Jian Yu woke up, the dining room was no longer the mess he had left it in. Everything was clean and tidy again.
The food he usually ate for breakfast was laid out on the table. Though he didn't see anyone, his heart lifted with a flicker of joy.
He walked over and sat down. But after a single bite, his expression darkened once more.
Alice didn't make this!
His face grim, he checked the surveillance footage. He discovered that Qiu Chi hadn't left the study all night. The manor's regular service robots had cleaned the dining room and prepared the breakfast.
Jian Yu was about to explode with rage.
He stormed straight to the study. The door was still open, and Qiu Chi looked exactly the same as she had yesterday. The only difference, perhaps, was that she was holding a new book.
His arrival didn't seem to capture even a sliver of her attention.
With a grim expression, Jian Yu lunged forward to snatch the book from her hands, but Qiu Chi deftly moved it out of his reach.
Qiu Chi looked at Jian Yu's sullen face. “What is it?”
“Alice, do you even see me as your customizer anymore? Are these books so fascinating? Fine, then I'll destroy them today!”
Qiu Chi: Alright, he's lost it. Time for a beating.
Post a Comment