CH 51.2

Yu Zhe and Dong Lin took Rescue One away first, while Li Qingzhou stayed behind to deal with some matters. First, to determine why their team’s rescue robot had encountered a problem during the competition.

Before the competition, the robots had been checked and handled by the organizer’s staff and then returned to the contestants, so if there had been any tampering involved, it would have happened during that time.

Which meant that there had been negligence on the part of the staff.

Li Qingzhou requested that the surveillance footage be viewed and that the matter be investigated thoroughly. The competition organizers had to give an explanation, otherwise, they wouldn’t let it go.

Second, Xu Mengning wanted to have a talk with him.

After negotiating with the organizers, Li Qingzhou arranged for Lu Mei Shan to stay behind, copy the surveillance footage then handle the follow up matters.

Then Li Qingzhou made a reservation at a restaurant to have the private conversation with Xu Mengning.

Although the AI robots exchange competition finals had just ended, videos of Rescue One quickly went viral and spread online widely.

Some netizens even tagged relevant departments and institutions directly after realising the necessity of Rescue One’s existence for post-disaster rescue operations.

And coupled with the trending popularity,

Officials who hadn’t been paying attention to the AI robots exchange competition were alerted by the numerous tags and comments….

In a short time, the views and shares of Rescue One videos broke trending records.

Before long, the official Weibo of the national government department also reposted the video, tagging Li Qingzhou’s Weibo and praising Rescue One’s intelligence, as well as its importance in rescue operations highly.

Instantly, Rescue One’s trending ranking shot to the top and stayed there.

[Ah ah ah, I regret not watching the live competition! This reversal, this plot… Will President Li not consider becoming a scientist and focusing on AI research?!]

[President Li is amazing! From car AI to AI robots… What more surprises are in store for us? Please give me some mental preparation. I want to write a 1000-word praise in advance to praise him to the skies!]

[Mom, why do I find an emotionless robot so cute?! It’s quite adorable.]

[After watching this video, I’m totally a fan of President Li! He’s handsome and talented! Although President Li has a disability, it doesn’t affect his charm at all! I’m just going to call him, “Hi, husband!”]

…..

At the venue of the AI robots exchange competition.

Liu Bohuai had just received a call from his uncle, Xia Xinjian.

It was obvious why he had called— to obtain Li Qingzhou’s contact information and to discuss matters related to Rescue One.

“I’ll pass the message on.” Liu Bohuai said then hung up.

Then he returned to Li Qingzhou’s side and relayed the message.

Li Qingzhou thought for a moment then nodded, “Alright, when should we schedule it?”

[Unique Studio’s team’s rescue robot had problems in the finals and its possible the Cui Group and Du Chenwei were behind it. Otherwise, why would it be such a coincidence that the core program malfunctioned during the match against CW team?]

[I noticed that the organizers weren’t very cooperative with evidence collection just now. Maybe someone was bribed. If the Xia family gets involved in the investigation, the truth might come out soon.]

The little guy in the bubble was dressed as Sherlock Holmes, with a deerstalker hat, a small cape, and a pipe in one hand. The pipe wasn’t being smoked, but round smoke rings were rising from it.

Liu Bohuai suggested, “How about tonight? Come to the Xia residence for a casual dinner.”

Li Qingzhou agreed without any issues.

Getting his response, Liu Bohuai glanced at Xu Mengning discreetly then said, “After you finish your talk with Miss Xu, I’ll come to pick you up.”

“Alright, thank you Third Master.”

Liu Bohuai left with Liu Xiahui and the others.

Meanwhile, Li Qingzhou and Xu Mengning got into the same car and drove to the restaurant that had been reserved earlier.

After getting out of the car, Li Qingzhou told Fang Xiyan to go back first.

They arrived at the private dining room of the restaurant.

There was an expression of hesitation and helplessness on Xu Mengning’s face.

She clenched her hands under the table, tightened, loosened them, then rubbed a corner of the tablecloth before saying slowly, “Qingzhou, it’s been a long time since we last sat down for a meal like this…”

Li Qingzhou responded, “It has, I’ve been too busy lately. Ah Ning, I remember you’re about to start your internship outside of school, right? Do you need me to help you find a hospital for your internship?”

“As it happens, my uncle is the head of surgery at a hospital.”

Xu Mengning waved her hands quickly, “Qingzhou, there’s no need. I’ve already found the hospital for my internship… Qu Yufan, my senior, helped me with it.”

“Qingzhou, I, I want to ask you a question.”

Puzzled, Li Qingzhou gestured for her to go on.

Xu Mengning pursed her lips then asked, “Would you mind… if I get too close to Liu Xiahui?”

Li Qingzhou replied, “Of course not. Ah Ning, it’s your freedom to choose who you befriend and how you build those friendships.”

“I can tell that Liu Xiahui seems to have feelings for you. Has he been pursuing you lately?”

“Also, it seems as if he misunderstands our relationship… If needed, I can explain it to him.”

After saying this, Li Qingzhou smiled at Xu Mengning, showing no signs of reluctance.

Xu Mengning wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or somewhat disappointed, a mix of emotions churning in her heart.

After a while, she smiled and said, “Then we’ll be good friends for life, right?”

Li Qingzhou’s expression softened slightly, “Yes, Ah Ning.”

“Let’s eat. Watching the competition for so long has made me hungry.” Smiling, Xu Mengning served Li Qingzhou.

By the time they finished eating and left the restaurant, Liu Bohuai was already waiting outside.

Xu Mengning said her goodbyes and left in a taxi.

Liu Bohuai pushed Li Qingzhou to the car door.

Opening the door, he waited patiently for Li Qingzhou to support himself with his arm and sit in the back seat then asked seemingly without thinking, “Qingzhou, what did you and Miss Xu talk about?”

[We were talking about being good friends for life…..]

He really wanted to praise himself for his performance, perfect. From now on, he would successfully stay away from the emotional entanglements between the female and male protagonists. The ‘villain’ would retire after accomplishing his mission.

The little guy in the bubble stretched out the index fingers of both hands, drew them apart from his chest, and struck a perfect pose.

Li Qingzhou, with an unchanged expression, said, “Nothing much, just everyday trivial matters.”

“En.”

Liu Bohuai concealed the slight curve of his lips.

After closing the car door, he folded the electric wheelchair, placed it in the trunk then drove away.