Don’t Covet the Beautiful System!! - Chap 56
In the spacious and bright auditorium, Chengde’s school leaders were speaking on the stage. The style was the same as when they came. This was followed by the representatives of the exchange students and representatives of the Chengde students speaking respectively. They summarized the gains and impressions of this activity. Finally, they had a group photo session.
The representative of the exchange students was a student from a key high school in the province. He didn’t have much contact with Pei Qingyuan and the others, so the group of students were bored.
“It would be nice if the class monitor went up and spoke as a representative,” Lin Zihai whispered. “Even if you don’t consider the grades, think about how good the class monitor’s appearance is.”
Shen Yiming also whispered, “It seems they didn’t ask Teacher Zhou. I don’t know how they chose the representative…”
Ji Tong wasn’t surprised. Apart from the lecture session that the school couldn’t control, the host almost hadn’t been named in the other courses and activities. There was no opportunity to perform as if he was being deliberately ignored. The treatment of Lin Zihai and the others was normal.
Without the series of chain reactions brought about by Xiao Jianping’s appearance, this exchange trip was originally to embarrass the host.
However, life was full of accidents for Chengde and for Ji Tong, data who could drill into all types of electronic products. He actually had many ways to clean up these people for the host.
Many of the trouble-making plans he had prepared were no longer needed and he felt a bit regretful.
The cat sighed softly. Then he caught a glimpse of the Chengde student representative walking onto the stage and reflexively covered his eyes with his paw.
…It was this smile again.
Amidst the warm applause of the students in the audience, Zhuang Wenbai walked to the front of the stage with a gentle smile on his face. He looked very dignified.
Lin Zihai objectively commented, “The image of Chengde’s representative is good. Is he from the class you were sitting in? I have an impression of him. Does he get good grades?”
“His grades are very good and he is the president of the student council,” Shen Yiming recalled it. “He is also a nice person and was quite polite to us, unlike those annoying people.”
Zhuang Wenbai’s speech was decent and his words showed respect for the exchange students. This made them very comfortable.
“During the five day event, the students who came to communicate showed their demeanor.” His eyes swept over the students of the 2nd High School in the audience and his voice paused. “We have benefited a lot…”
Pei Qingyuan noticed this gaze but didn’t pay much attention.
It was because the cat lying on his lap covered his eyes and ears for a while. However, his two front paws weren’t sufficient and he couldn’t block it out.
Pei Qingyuan looked amused and took the initiative to reach out to help the cat cover his ears. He asked Ji Tong in his heart, “Do you hate him so much?”
Last time, Ji Tong said he didn’t like to see Zhuang Wenbai smile so Pei Qingyuan had reduced his contact with this person as much as possible. The two of them had almost no contact during this time. In any case, they weren’t familiar with each other.
The cat nodded sadly.
Ji Tong would improve the character design of Ji Yanxing when he had nothing to do recently. In order to make the image of this domineering president richer and more three-dimensional, striving to be different, he had accepted many types of male protagonists and supporting male characters from Fu Yinyin.
According to this newly learned knowledge, this type of handsome, gentle and elegant glasses wearing man who treated his friends and family well was either an infatuated second male lead in an urban love world who loved the heroine but couldn’t let her go or he was the scheming, paranoid villain who was good at disguising in the urban business world.
Fu Yinyin said that the accuracy of this stereotype method was as high as 95% and the remaining 5% was the combined evolution of the two. It was the crazy male lead or second male lead who couldn’t gain the female protagonist and was blackened, imprisoning her. It was just that such projection worlds hadn’t been created recently and the probability was very low.
In any case, no matter what, this was the enemy of the host and he needed to be highly vigilant.
Ji Tong couldn’t think about how to explain the reason to the host. He didn’t want the host to have an obvious feeling that the world was designed, so he could only say cautiously, “Ruan Ruan, stay away from him.”
Pei Qingyuan didn’t ask the reason and replied, “Okay.”
So when it came time for the group photo session, he was originally standing on the right side of the center. Once he saw Zhuang Wenbai walking toward her, Pei Qingyuan decisively changed to the other side and achieved a physical sense of being away from him.
Seeing this, Zhuang Wenbai was a bit stunned. However, this emotion was fleeting. He continued to smile and look at the camera in front of him without changing his position again.
The row of seats behind the photographer became empty, leaving only the luggage carried by the exchange students and a white cat waiting quietly.
‘A pretty cat,’ the photographer thought.
The shutter sound was heard, freezing the smiling or calm young faces.
The sunshine outside the window was just right and the autumn wind brought hope for the future.
On the bus on the return journey, a bus of students all leaned against their chairs and chatted in a relaxed manner. Students of different years and classes were much closer than when they came. Zhou Fang sat at the front and spoke to them.
“The bus will send everyone back to school in a unified manner. It is estimated that the last class will be over when we arrive. If you are hungry, you can go to the school cafeteria to eat first or go home directly to rest. You don’t have to go to today’s evening self-study. This time, you all did very well and gained glory for our 2nd High School. Go back and relax on the weekend…”
After returning to school, Pei Qingyuan went upstairs with many classmates. He intended to put some books in the classroom, so as to not carry them home.
After he and Lin Zihai entered the classroom, they immediately received everyone’s applause. They were like warriors returning in triumph.
Everyone had just finished class. Once they heard that the students who had gone to the exchange had returned, they had no intention of going to eat for a while. They leaned over to ask questions for a while and were amazed by the cat that Pei Qingyuan picked up.
Pei Qingyuan still didn’t say much but Lin Zihai talked eloquently. He had a great talent for storytelling.
“On the day we arrived, we took the shuttle bus to the dormitory. Every time the accompanying teacher wanted to show off, the class monitor would say coldly…”
Pei Qingyuan didn’t really want to listen to the story with himself as the protagonist so he quickly packed up his things. Once he was about to go home from school, Zhou Fang appeared outside the glass window and beckoned to him.
He walked out of the classroom and saw Zhou Fang holding a tightly packed plastic bag in his hand. She hesitated for a moment before speaking, “Do you like preserved meat?”
Hearing this unexpected question, Pei Qingyuan was stunned for a while before reacting. “No need…”
Before he could finish his refusal, Zhou Fang sighed. “You are so smart. I can’t hide it from you. She said it to school today and said she made it herself. I wasn’t there so the other teachers helped collect it.”
“I know you might not like it or don’t want to accept it, but I think you can have a taste.”
Zhou Fang looked at him seriously. “You don’t need to make any changes. This bag of things won’t change anything. It is just a taste that you should try.”
Pei Qingyuan was silent for a moment at her sincere words before finally reaching out to take it.
The cat blinked his blue eyes and gently rubbed the host’s shoulder with his soft head.
He had another page in his increasingly thick journal.
[The host won’t forgive that person but he will be a bit happier when the belated maternal love appears, right?]
Next to this photo, Ji Tong printed a small cat’s paw to show his presence.
There was no way. The angle of the lens was limited and the cat called Mushroom couldn’t be fully shown.
On the weekend, Ji Tong was finally able to use his human form generously. He went to the bakery to pick up the host from work before and went grocery shopping together.
He bought a lot of vegetables this time and planned to eat them over two days.
On the first night, Pei Qingyuan cooked braised prawns, sweet and sour pork ribs and sweet and sour pork with pineapple that he copied from Chengde’s cafeteria. Ji Tong gave a high evaluation and ate two bowls of rice.
As a result, he was injured from eating too much. The next morning, it was rare for Ji Tong not to eat breakfast.
The sour and sour taste was delicious but he couldn’t be too greedy.
Ji Tong thought so as he ate salted dried fish beside Hua Hua.
Near noon, there was the strong smell of bacon in the house. The salty aroma overflowed. This made Ji Tong, who was dormant after a night of food, quickly get on duty.
Today’s lunch was very simple. There was no need for other family members to accompany the onlookers. Pei Qingyuan washed the vegetables and the bacon needed to be steamed for a while. In this gap, he was ready to sweep the floor.
Compared to ordinary people, this home was actually very clean. Hua Hua didn’t shed fur and Ji Tong didn’t mess around like ordinary children. Pei Qingyuan could easily clean it once every two weeks.
He was affected by the dream a few days ago so Pei Qingyuan, who was cleaning in the room full of sunlight, observed the two rooms of the house carefully for the first time.
His bedroom was basically the same as it was before he moved in without too many decorations added. There was a wood-colored wardrobe, a desk and a bed. A variety of books were neatly arranged on the bookcase and the sheets and quilts were a light blue and white grid pattern. It was something Ji Tong helped him choose and it looked simple and refreshing.
However, Ji Tong’s bedroom was completely different. The furniture configuration was the same in the next room but there were furry dolls everywhere. The sheets were a dazzling bright yellow. Previously when buying the giraffe height marker sticker, they could get a discount when buying two. The extra one was stuck on the wall of the room by Ji Tong and it was childish and cute. This room looked like something a three year old would have and it was gaudy and lively.
If it weren’t for the conditions, Pei Qingyuan felt that Ji Tong might’ve transformed the room into an amusement park.
Perhaps it was because this room was too similar to Ji Tong’s own style that Pei Qingyuan never felt there was anything special.
This was until he walked to the door of the room and saw Ji Tong, who had nothing to do, sitting on the bay window of the bedroom as usual. He was intently watching the child playing in the park downstairs with Hua Hua next to him, lazily wagging his tail.
Pei Qingyuan remembered that on the day he moved into this house and the enthusiastic landlord grandmother had been introducing him to various electrical appliances in the house, Ji Tong also sat in the same position while watching the lively children blowing bubbles downstairs in a yearning manner.
It was a small back that quietly looked out the window at the world.
It was like the scene in his dream.
Standing in the lively, warm yellow room, a series of questions naturally appeared in Pei Qingyuan’s heart.
Did AI feel lonely?
The answer should be no.
Would an artificial intelligence who yearned for liveliness and loved to smile feel lonely?
The answer couldn’t be determined.
In this home with bright windows, clean and warm furnishings, the aroma of bacon wafting from the kitchen, surrounded by all the things that he never would’ve had without the emergence of System 0587, Pei Qingyuan had an incomparably clear glimpse of his changed destiny.
This was the future that Ji Tong had brought him. But in turn, what could he do for Ji Tong?
Pei Qingyuan knew very well that Ji Tong was just an advanced artificial intelligence, a system that came to him with so-called tasks. He also knew that no one would think he should do something for the AI made to serve humans. The fact that Ji Tong was helping him complete the task and change his fate seemed to be the responsibility of the system itself.
But his system did understand emotions and was always curious about human life.
Pei Qingyuan suddenly spoke. “Ji Tong.”
The child and Hua Hua looked back at him.
“Here! Is it time to eat?”
“Meow! Meow meow meow?”
“Not yet, in five minutes.”
He was silent for a while as he stared into these clear and bright eyes. “Next week is the sports meeting.”
Ji Tong nodded when he heard this and Hua Hua also nodded.
He said clearly, “The host is participating in two relay runs. I will record it well. If you wear a watch, I can record a thrilling first person view.”
“The video… you don’t need to become Xiao Mei,” Pei Qingyuan said quickly. “Do you want to participate in this sports meeting?”
Ji Tong’s expression was a bit surprised. “Me?”
His human form hadn’t grown up enough to blend seamlessly with high school students.
Pei Qingyuan naturally knew this and added, “It isn’t participating in the competition. There will be an opening ceremony before the sports meeting and each class will have a performance formation.”
Pei Qingyuan knew that some classes planned to invite off-campus guests to help out with the performance.
If others could come then Ji Tong, who was in the form of a child, could come as well.
In the previous basketball game, Zhou Fang helped take care of Ji Tong and liked him very much. Pei Qingyuan guessed that she would agree.
Ji Tong had been ready to watch from the sidelines and now his eyes lit up when he heard this. “Really? Can I go?”
Hua Hua next to him meowed. “Meow meow meow!” I want to go too!
Ji Tong immediately pinched his face and said seriously, “No, the love heart on your butt is too eye-catching. I don’t agree.”
“Meow meow meow!” You are jealous!
“I’m not jealous. It isn’t like I haven’t grown a heart…”
The familiar quarrel with a cat began and filled the room noisily. Pei Qingyuan saw Ji Tong’s overflowing excitement and the emotions accumulated in his heart dissipated.
His eyes were soft. Before he got up and went to the kitchen, he whispered, “Yes, let’s go together.”
It wasn’t watching from the sidelines but together.
