Chapter 50: Suspicious Advice
After a few rounds, the four of them soon got into the swing of things.
This was especially so for Chen Yuheng and Pei Lijun. Their coordination improved so much that their opponents, who originally had the upper hand, gradually found it hard to keep up and successively lost a few points to them.
During their mid-game break, Ace sent an eye signal to the woman opposite the net. “Look, Lijun, Yuheng’s efforts to teach her aren’t wasted. Look at her, she can play a decent game just after a short while…”
She turned her head to the mentioned direction.
Gu Anbao was having a blast on the single-player court. Her long-sleeved tracksuit kept her unique robotic structure hidden, but made her stand out from the surrounding people who were dressed lightly.
Chen Yuheng was among the onlookers as well.
Because of the robot’s excellent speed and responsiveness, she only required a few rounds of practice before she could skillfully serve and hit the ball.
Right then, two young lads, seemingly in their early twenties, from another court went over and struck up a conversation with her.
The man frowned when he spotted this and was about to go over to them when he got tugged back by his buddy.
He regarded him with a dark face. Why are you stopping me?
Ace cocked a brow in return. What’s the hurry? Just stand back and watch the fun!
The conversation seemed to be going well. It was unknown what the two young chaps had said to her, but Gu Anbao had burst out laughing several times. His face grew increasingly dark at that.
After a while, she pointed toward him and then walked over with the two guys in tow.
“They asked me to play tennis with them,” she shyly said to him, “And so, I told them I’m a robot…”
The boy beside her cheerfully spoke up, “She seems to be playing pretty well, and since we’re lacking a player to play doubles, we hope to borrow your robot for a bit. Is that okay with you?”
So, they are here to seek my permission…
The man was obviously opposed to this!
“I’m only a newbie at this, though…” She wanted to go over and play with them but was feeling a little apprehensive. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to coordinate well with you.”
“That’s fine. It’s not a competition, anyway. We’re just playing for fun,” reassured the boy.
Chen Yuheng’s face turned an even more awful shade than before. What’s going on now? I haven’t given them my consent, but they’re already chatting away among themselves?!
Ace fearlessly joined them. “Alright! Why don’t we practice first and have a mixed-doubles match later? Haha!”
“Hey, that’s a great idea!” The young chaps unanimously agreed to it right away. “In that case, we’ll go to practice now!”
The matter was cheerfully decided just like that… with the robot happily leaving with the boys…
Chen Yuheng’s countenance had completely darkened by now.
“Alright, alright. That’s enough looking.” Ace patted his back. “Let’s hurry and get back to practice. Surely, you won’t want to lose to Ruan Ruan!”
“…”
With a gloomy look, he turned around, left the court, and headed to the bench. He picked up a bottle of mineral water and drank a few mouthfuls of it as he gazed at the nearby court. The people there had started playing mixed doubles.
Pei Lijun came over for a little break as well. After drinking a few mouthfuls of water from the bottle she picked up, she commented meaningfully, “This robot seems different from Ace’s previous creations.”
He faintly replied, “Each of his creations is unique.”
That got her laughing, but when her gaze momentarily landed on Gu Anbao, she asked, “When was the robot activated?”
The man shot her a look of suspicion. Since he could not fathom the purpose of her question, he merely gave her an ambiguous answer. “Just recently.”
“Is that so…?” She mumbled something to herself as she looked at the robot, then picked up her racket and returned to the tennis court.
Ace started urging him again, so he too returned to the court.
The former soon regained his lost points because a certain person was not as focused on the game as before…
The tennis ball had a close brush with the racket as it flew across the air. The distance between the two was only so minute.
Lily cried out with joy, “Hah! Director Chen failed to hit the ball I served!” After being under the shadows of the pro players for a long while, she finally got the chance to do herself proud!
“He has a tender heart for the fairer sex, so he’s deliberately giving in to you,” laughed the other woman.
“No, no, no! You got it all wrong!” Ace shook his head and said, “There’s no such thing as ‘tender heart for the fairer sex’ in his world. This is all because of his deep-rooted paternal love and worry for his child.”
Right then, they heard a wave of cheers from Gu Anbao’s end. It seemed as if she had received a point for serving the ball. Her partner was seen running over to her side to give her a high-five amid their laughter.
Filled with jealousy, Chen Yuheng thought, She’s having so much fun…
“Ruan Ruan learns fast.” The secretary’s voice was brimming with envy. “And her reaction speed is fantastic. How capable Mr. Ace is!” At the end of it, she did not forget to pay her boss a compliment.
The latter beamed in delight as he enjoyed the attention given to him.
“That’s nothing…” said his female friend with a faint smile. “What’s truly amazing is how naturally she interacts with people in terms of her conversational skills and body language. Not only that…”
She paused for a bit as her eyes swept over Ace to the faraway robot before continuing her sentence. “But in the process, it also adds uniqueness to her character. This is truly the most remarkable thing of all.”
Ace laughed in embarrassment. “Are you giving me the highest acclamation?”
There was no response from Pei Lijun, however. Her meaningful gaze remained affixed on the robot in what seemed to be joy and pure appreciation. All of a sudden, she turned around and told the two men, “I’ve just remembered I have something urgent to do, so I’ll be leaving now. We’ll play tennis again another day.”
“Eh?! We’re playing just fine. Why are you leaving…?” The former wailed.
She shrugged and smiled. “I’m sorry. I forgot about it and have only just recalled it. We’ll arrange another day then.”
“Alright…” Even though he knew that it may be just an excuse, there was nothing he could do about it but helplessly accept it. “I’ll call you again another day. I’ll walk you out then…”
“It’s fine. You guys go play.”
With that, she left the court and picked up her sports jacket. She took two steps forward before she stopped and turned around to look at Chen Yuheng.
“Yuheng.” She stared fixedly at the tall and slender man before her. “What do you think about the sales of Huaxin’s MR companion robot overtaking that of RK?”
Ace’s expression stiffened slightly at the unexpected question she threw out. Even Lily remain rooted to the spot in shock.
The man in question stared firmly back at her and blandly replied, “The RK Corporation has mobile phones, computers, televisions, and a range of electronic products, in addition to the hotel and medical businesses. Huaxin alone isn’t a fearsome rival to us.”
“The main focus of RK and the biggest battleground, however, is on robotics.” She shot back a piercing gaze at him.
He mulled over it for a moment before saying, “Even so, there are many different types of robots. Soon enough, you’ll see that small victory Huaxin has achieved crumbling down.”
Ace tried to laugh the matter off. “We’ve been friends for many years. Surely, it’s not nice to say such harsh words to each other…”
The woman smiled. “It’s fine, Ace. Yuheng has always been this way, and in fact, I’m rather pleased with his reply. It means that I’m not taken lightly as a rival.”
The former turned away indifferently, and his tone was filled with gloom. “I really don’t understand you two…”
Pei Lijun maintained the faint smile on her face as she regarded Chen Yuheng. “Travel around in a larger group for this period; that’s a piece of advice from a former friend to you.”
After saying that, she paid Ace’s and Lily’s confused looks no attention and simply left the tennis court with her jacket.