ROBEPTQ chapter 38

Mei Yuchen claimed to be writing a book, but for three days, he didn’t even touch his computer.

Bai Sijun pulled Mei’s hand off his waist and said to the person behind him, “Mei, let go, I have to go to work.”

“No.” Mei Yuchen grumbled with sleepy eyes. “Take a day off.”

Mei Yuchen had poor sleep, and he was already in a bad mood when he woke up in the morning. Moreover, Bai Sijun set the alarm for 6:30 to make it to the office by 9:00, making Mei Yuchen even more unhappy.

“Don’t be troublesome.” Bai Sijun sat up. “I have a very important series to work on now, and I’ll be quite busy for some time.”

Hearing this, Mei Yuchen rubbed his eyes, sat up, and asked, “So, when will you come over next time?”

Bai Sijun thought for a moment and said, “If there’s nothing this weekend, i’ll come over on Friday night.”

“That’s too long.” Mei Yuchen frowned discontentedly, pushing Bai Sijun back onto the bed. “Then, stay with me a little longer.”

Mei Yuchen’s hands became restless again, and Bai Sijun, thankful that he wasn’t made of iron, held his hands, coaxing him, “Behave. If I don’t get up now, I’ll be late.”

“I’ll give you the car.” Mei Yuchen pecked his cheek. “Drive to work.”

Bai Sijun chuckled. “I haven’t touched a car much since I got my license. How can I drive?”

“Then I’ll drive you there.”

Unable to argue with Mei Yuchen, Bai Sijun had to stay with him in bed until after seven. Although this made his mornings hectic, the experience of having his boyfriend drive for an hour to send him to work was new for him.

Before leaving, Bai Sijun noticed that Mei Yuchen brought his laptop bag and a small suitcase. He asked in surprise, “Are you going on a trip?”

Among the writers Bai Sijun knew, many would retreat to quiet mountains and forests to focus on writing. He thought Mei Yuchen was finally getting serious about his work. However, Mei Yuchen replied, “Going to your place doesn’t count as a trip.”

Bai Sijun: “…”

Alright, he didn’t have high hopes for a new book anyway. As long as Mei Yuchen was happy. Now, he understood why parents didn’t want their children to start dating early because love did indeed cause trouble. And the most annoying thing was that even if you knew it caused trouble, you couldn’t control it. You’d even want to give everything you had to the other person.

On the first workday after the holiday, the roads were unusually congested. When Mei Yuchen dropped Bai Sijun off at the company, there were only five minutes left until nine.

According to Hongtu’s regulations, as long as you clock in before 9:05, it wouldn’t be considered late. So, as soon as Mei Yuchen parked the car, Bai Sijun quickly unfastened his seatbelt, planning to make a sprint for it. However, Mei Yuchen suddenly grabbed his arm, saying with reluctance, “Bai, what if I miss you later?”

Bai Sijun found it amusing. After all, he would be back home after work. How much could they miss each other in such a short time? This Mei Big Cat of his was getting more and more clingy.

He glanced around, seeing no one paying attention to them, so he quickly leaned over and kissed Mei Yuchen’s lips twice, rubbing his earlobes, compromising, “I’ll come home for lunch.”

Bai Sijun had an hour and a half of lunch break. Usually, he just took a nap at his desk, but that day, he specifically went home to have lunch with Mei Yuchen. After that, he rushed back to work before 1:30.

In the past, he would never have done something so troublesome. But the thought of Mei Yuchen being alone at home made him want to go back as often as possible.

Liang Ru clearly noticed that Bai Sijun was not quite right. She teased, “Bai ge, your workaholic mode seems to be temporary, huh?”

Bai Sijun quickly locked his phone screen and put away his smiling face hanging from his mouth. With a serious expression, he said, “I’m discussing work with the writer.”

Liang Ru chuckled and poked fun at him without giving any face, “Having a writer boyfriend is really nice. You can even call flirting as discussing work.”

Bai Sijun couldn’t help but blush, for he really was just flirting with Mei Yuchen.

That guy went crazy, taking off his shirt and lying on the bed to take a selfie in a photo sent over. Bai Sijun almost got hard the moment he saw it.

Thinking he couldn’t let Mei Yuchen tease him like this, Bai Sijun secretly took a selfie of himself, a close-up of him biting his lower lip, and sent it back. Mei Yuchen immediately responded with a few messages.

[Mei Rain: Come home.]

[Mei Rain: Hurry back.]

[Mei Rain: I want you so bad.]

[Mei Rain: >_<]

Bai Sijun couldn’t help but laugh. At this moment, Liang Ru approached, saying he wasn’t working properly.

He coughed unnaturally, changing the subject, “Have you sorted out the list of authors for the Literary Master series?”

“Only the last two are left.” Liang Ru put away her joking expression, suddenly remembering something, and asked, “By the way, Bai ge, did you vote for Teacher Qi?”

“Vote?” Bai Sijun asked strangely, “Vote for what?”

“The short story competition on XX Novel website.” Liang Ru’s expression was even weirder than Bai Sijun’s. It seemed as if she couldn’t believe Bai didn’t know about it. She added, “Now, Teacher Qi should be at the top. He’s amazing. He joined the competition when it was almost over, and as soon as he did, he knocked the first place down.”

XX Novel website was where Qi Jun made a name for himself, and even after being recognized by Hongtu, he didn’t give up his column there. Occasionally, he would still post some short stories.

Compared to online writers, published authors had a higher status and more fame. So, it wasn’t surprising that Qi Jun had risen to the top in the competition.

A while ago, Bai Sijun was still looking for novels with publishing potential on XX Novel website. He also knew about this competition, but lately, he was busy with the Literary Master series, so he didn’t keep up with it.

Thinking that Qi Jun was an author in his hands, Bai Sijun said to Liang Ru, “Then, I’ll go vote for him.”

And maybe check if there were other valuable authors.

Bai Sijun opened XX Novel website, and as soon as he entered the homepage, he saw the promotion for the short story

Qi Jun was indeed ranked first, with a significant lead over the second place, having over a hundred thousand votes. In such reader-selected fiction competitions, fame is often more critical than actual skill. Many authors have good works, but if their popularity is not enough, they can’t climb high in the rankings.

The short story Qi Jun entered was titled “Little Butler.” Without thinking too much, Bai Sijun clicked on the “Read” button.

The story began with the male protagonist receiving an invitation to try out a smartwatch. This smartwatch had a butler function, helping the male protagonist solve various life problems. It acted like a real butler, taking care of the protagonist’s daily life and gradually becoming good friends with him.

At this point, Bai Sijun began to feel that something was amiss. He recalled the conversation outside the chief editor’s office that day, and a bad premonition arose in his heart. Suppressing his discomfort, he continued reading.

The male protagonist faced problems in interpersonal relationships, and the little butler gave him advice that seemed to help with the issues. However, in reality, it had gradually controlled the male protagonist’s thoughts and invaded every aspect of his life.

In the end, the male protagonist was driven insane by the little butler, losing consciousness. When he woke up, he found himself trapped in the smartwatch, becoming the new little butler, while an unknowing stranger happily wore the smartwatch.

Bai Sijun’s heart sank as he returned to the recommended works page. On it was a grand statement: “This work attempts to explore the dangers of artificial intelligence to humanity, hoping to raise awareness about the potential risks of relying on intelligent products.”

Bai Sijun clenched the mouse tightly, staring at the screen expressionlessly.

Qi Jun was indeed clever; he tightly combined the story with the hottest topic of the moment, making the work both entertaining and addressing a significant theme.

But so what?

The most challenging part of creation is going “from zero to one,” not “from one to two.”

The most fundamental core of this work was evidently the love game in the new book Mei Yuchen was creating.