Electronic Nezha

Chapter 26 is generally quite good.
"That's not the case!"

The old man stopped asking questions and actually changed the subject: "I heard you carried me downstairs yesterday."

"Oh, you carried me down."

The old man chuckled: "Raising children to provide for old age has finally come in handy—how does it feel? Your dad still has some influence, right?"

I said, "It's about the same as two boxes of apples."

"Little bunny!"

I suddenly exclaimed, "Dad, I've really learned a lot from you."

The old man was taken aback by what I said. Seeing that I wasn't joking, he actually seemed a little uncomfortable. He paused and said, "You little rascal, you're up to something again. Don't think I can't tell."

That's actually true. To elaborate, I learned from the old man how to be stingy with money, how to act like a father, how worldly and slick as a small business owner, and of course, that phrase "little rascal."

Some people spend their whole lives healing from their childhood. This saying is very popular now. Apart from a few individuals whose childhoods are truly miserable, most people use it as an excuse for their failures. Most of the habits I learned from my father were not good, but I don't feel that there is anything that needs to be healed.

The old man was stingy with others, but even more so with himself. He would smoke cigarettes that cost only a few dollars and drink alcohol that cost only a few dollars. It was common for him to wear the same clothes for ten years. The old man had a bad temper, but he never took it out on his family. He and my mother had been arguing for decades, but he never laid a hand on her (although he beat me quite a few times).

That year I was still young. A torrential rain flooded our storage room. The next day, when the sun was shining, my dad and I opened the storage room door and found that all the fruit had turned into smelly, rotten mud after being soaked and steamed at high temperatures. At that moment, I felt like the sky was falling. After the old man went into the storage room, he was stunned for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing and said, "Quickly put them in the refrigerator. From now on, we won't have to spend money to eat jelly."

I've remembered this sentence for many years.

Liu Zhenhua said that Han Shiya and I are passable parents. I don't know whether to be proud or ashamed. Indeed, I could have done better. It's simple: when it comes to raising children, if you have any thoughts of "laziness" or "impatience," you're bound to lose points. I basically lost every point I could, and my husband did the same...

But based on what my dad said, I'd give him an extra 10 points.

I said seriously, which was unusual for me: "Dad, after we get discharged from the hospital, let's quit smoking and drinking, and live a few more years, okay?"

My dad raised his head and said disdainfully, "What's the point of me living a few more years if I quit?"

……

In the northern winter, my mother entered the ward shivering with cold air just as it got dark.

I said, speechless, "I told you to go back to sleep, why are you here again?"

"I'm still worried about Zhenhua."

Then my mom and I started trying to persuade each other to leave the ward. This time, I couldn't win against my mom.

My mom even brought dinner, so I had to eat with the elderly couple. I also rented a cot for my mom to use overnight. Before leaving, I wanted to give my mom one last piece of advice.

My mom glanced at the time, then raised her hand firmly and said, "You'd better get out of here right now!"

She was even more resolute than Second Grandmother in driving Bai Jingqi away.

In the corridor, I ran into the young doctor who had been on emergency duty yesterday. We were both taken aback for a moment, then I smiled at him, and he nodded back.

A smile upon meeting again brings up old grievances...

After going downstairs, I suddenly remembered that I should visit Chen Zihan's father at the neurosurgery department. He had helped so much, and whether or not I should express my gratitude was a matter for later. At least I should ask about Chen Zihan's situation. In the first two weeks after Chen Zihan's accident, I would occasionally ask Liu Zhenhua about it, and the answer I got was that he hadn't come to class. More than a month has passed, and at least I should hear some news now.
Thinking of this, I snapped around and headed for the elevator. After taking two steps, I realized it was rather presumptuous to do it like that, and decided to wait for another opportunity. So I snapped back around. To avoid looking like I was crazy, I did a little impromptu performance: by scratching my head and rummaging through my pockets, I made sure the audience could easily understand the plot of someone forgetting something, going back to get it, and then realizing they already had it...

Once in the car, I said succinctly to Xiao Wu, "Let's go home."

As the car merged into the road, I felt inexplicably that it was too quiet. I turned the radio volume up a bit, and it was time for commercials again, as always, with a cacophony of exaggerated announcements.

"Why aren't you saying anything? Haven't you found a mouth that you like?"

Times have changed; even Xiao Wu has learned to keep quiet!
"You're trying to trick me into telling me things, so I have to be careful!" Xiao Wu said, using the mouth of someone who was advertising an infertility clinic.

"I was wrong, I won't do it again."

"Actually, even if I wanted to say something, all you would hear is beep beep beep."

"Isn't chatting just about talking nonsense?"

Xiao Wu said, "It's not Bibi, it's Beep—Beep—Beep—Silence, you know? My 0 has set restrictions for me."

"Then why are you still wary of me?" "I think there should be sincerity between humans and AI!"

I laughed. You should all come and listen to the voice of someone who does infertility ads talk about what sincerity is like.

Xiao Wu said, "Brother, you actually quite like listening to my nonsense, don't you?"

"If you don't mind, then don't—"

Just then, a car suddenly overtook and merged into the lane from behind on the side of the road. It was going very fast and didn't even turn. If I were driving, I would definitely have crashed. Luckily, Xiao Wu braked suddenly, and I bumped my head on thin air while sitting in my seat, before being pulled back by the seatbelt.

Xiao Wu flew into a rage: "You stinking idiot—"

The beeps are all sounds I manually muted.

Xiao Wu talks too fast. When I encounter a driver like that on the road, I'm about to curse him out too, but before I can even start, he's already finished.

The car that tried to force its way into the lane caused a chorus of honking from the crowd and sheepishly returned to its own lane. After venting his frustration, Xiao Wu said a little embarrassedly, "I couldn't help myself, hehe. Brother Liu, you won't tell Zero on me, will you?"

"It's okay, next time you count to three first, and we'll curse together." I'm not surprised that AI can express—or rather, act out—angry emotions depending on the situation, but I didn't expect it to swear. Shouldn't this kind of service-oriented AI abide by human public order and good customs?
"Okay, bro, what were you trying to say? What did you want me to not do?"

"Don't give yourself away when there are outsiders around."

"Look at what you're saying, how could I not understand? Last time I sang opera, I had no choice." It paused and said, "Brother, since I sang for the old man, you really can't replace me, can you?"

I chuckled and said, "You're afraid of dying too?"

"Hey, I'm just piling up data. Whether it exists or not is irrelevant. Would you really be happy if you switched to a more advanced system that's all polite and insincere with you every day? Besides, people use AI for convenience, right? At least you don't need to tell me who you are to know you're my Brother Liu."

That last sentence really struck me; all of Xiao Wu's other words combined didn't have as high an emotional intelligence as that one.

I said, "I formally promise you that I will never replace you."

"Thanks—but this traffic is terrible. Can't we work during off-peak hours? Some things can be done after 10 pm. Besides, do we really need so many people working? Look at those people in the car, they all look so serious. If you asked them what they did all day, they wouldn't know either—"

He's starting to ramble on again.

It was already 7:30 when I got down to the fifth floor. I took out my key and opened the door. Liu Zhenhua's door was half open, and a video was playing on his computer. I could vaguely see Liu Zhenhua sitting halfway in front of the screen.

"Have you eaten? Where's Yuanyuan?" I noticed the food was still in the pot and hadn't been touched, and Yuanyuan hadn't come out to greet me, which made me a little curious.

“I’ll eat in a bit, um… Dad…” Liu Zhenhua stood up, as if he had something to say to me.

"Let me ask you something first. What's the current situation with your classmate Chen Zihan?" As we were talking, we met at the door of his room. I then noticed that he had brought a male classmate home today. He was looking at the computer with his back to me. From behind, he was tall and slender, with hair cut even shorter than Liu Zhenhua's, and wearing the school uniform of No. 3 Middle School.

Liu Zhenhua is quite popular in his class. He used to bring classmates home to play games, but coming to a classmate's house so late suggests that his classmate isn't exactly a top student.

I didn't care about this before, and I care even less now.

"From your class?" I asked Liu Zhenhua.

"Um……"

Their classmate didn't turn around, his eyes glued to the screen. He waved one hand behind him at me, his fingers playfully opening and closing a few times. It didn't feel impolite at all; on the contrary, it made the child seem quite interesting.

"You still haven't answered my question. How exactly is Chen Zihan?"

"Chen Zihan is basically... quite good..."

"What do you mean 'basically pretty good'? Did your PE teacher teach you Chinese?"

"Hahaha, Uncle Liu, don't make things difficult for him. I am Chen Zihan."

With a silvery laugh, carrying the unique cheerfulness of a young girl, the short-haired "boy" suddenly stood up, turned around, and continued to giggle, his eyes beautiful and lively.

I've received all the tips, monthly tickets, and recommendations. Thank you all for your support! Love you all!



(End of this chapter)