I Have Decided to Go Look for My Father

“You are not mad, are you, Dad?” ask Gu Xi tentatively.

Sure enough, Gu Shao nodded and did not seem to be upset at her.

Gu Xi smiled and quickly expressed herself, “Then, can Dad come on the day of the competition?”

Tianchuang Competition’s first round of demonstrations was slated for the week after next. Even though it was not freely open to the public, each team would still be able to have 8 tickets. As such, Gu Xi hoped for Gu Shao to be there.

Meeting Gu Xi’s anticipated look, Gu Shao said to her calmly, “No.”

Because of the special status of NTN, their name was not mentioned in any public announcements. That being said, they were still the biggest backer of the competition.

As such, for the sake of the optics, Gu Shao would not be there in person, nor would he be involved in any way with the late-stage evaluations.

“Alright.” Gu Xi nodded docilely and put on a nonchalant look.

What she didn’t know was that Gu Shao did not miss that obvious pout on her.

He had intended to use this as a “lesson” but, in the end, when he saw the aggrieved look on her, Gu Shao felt bad immediately.

Gu Shao was about to drum on Gu Xi’s head and tell her the truth when, before he could say a word, Gu Xi looked up at him and smiled.

“Well then, Dad, if you are not too busy that day, just swing by. You don’t need to be there for long. Just a little bit of time.” As she spoke, she gestured “a little bit” with her hand.

“Alright. It’s a date then!”

Having said that, Gu Xi did not wait for a response from Gu Shao and quickly ran back to her room after saying “goodnight”, giving Gu Shao no chance to say no.

***

Back in her room, Gu Xi pulled out her notebook and organized her topics for both the Youth Innovation Competition and Tianchuang Competition.

At this time, Lin, who had been gone from [Battle at the Summit of Tianchuang] while buckling up and working on their project finally resurfaced.

[Lin]: I have more or less completed the main body of our project. This is smart companion 1.0.

Having said that, Lin posted a photo.

Of course it would be a cute-looking robot with a milky voice like how one would imagine one to look like. This was just a prototype under development.

As such, all they could see were electronic components and pathways in the photo.

One end of the machine was attached to a computer and the machine’s Status parameters and operating conditions could be seen on the monitor.

[Lin]: There are no big issues with your design, and I fixed some bugs. It’s working smoothly right now. We are at 11.3% design effectiveness and that should be sufficient for the 1st round of demonstrations.

Lin shared another file after that and, inside of it, was string and string of data.

Professionals in this field would be able to tell the capability and effectiveness of the smart machine with just one look.

These, however, were still a bit difficult for Gu Xi’s current level.

[Lin]: Let’s meet and walk them through in person.

Reading Lin’s message, Gu Xi was just about to say “yes” when she saw AAA beat her to it: I’m busy.

[Lin]: What about Bro X then? @X

[She is even busier.] And AAA recalled those four words in less than half a second.

[AAA]: It’s getting late. They have to rest too, you know.

Gu Xi was very baffled when she saw the conversation between the two: Whatever happened to the hyper guy who could ramble on till 1 or 2 in the morning?

Perhaps something was going on between the two of them?

Gu Xi mumbled to herself when she saw Lin’s response.

“Okay”.

Then she closed out of the chat without giving it much thought afterward.

***

What she didn’t know was that AAA went to private messaged Lin after it had quieted down in their chatroom.

[AAA]: I will be busy the next few days.

[Lin]: Busy with what?

Sheng Xiuyan: The Youth Innovation Competition, of course.

Regardless, that was not the response that Sheng Xiuyan gave. [I’m just busy, okay? X will also be very busy the next few days. Why don’t you keep working on the technology side of it? Just reach out to me directly if you need any help.]

With that said, Sheng Xiuyan quickly closed out of his chat with Gu Yanlin and returned to his chat with Gu Xi on Youth Innovation Competition.

[AAA]: I think that will work.