Pretending to Be Human, I Fell in Love with an AI - Chapter 22

In the distance, the deep blue sky was tinged with pale purple. A few lingering clouds, reluctant to depart before the sunset, trailed their winding tails across the azure canvas. The aroma of artificially grilled barbecue wafted upward with the evening breeze, lazily entwining itself around the clouds.

On the table lay freshly served skewers, accompanied by a case of beer just retrieved from the cooler, hissing with cold air as it valiantly fought against the surrounding warm atmosphere.

Yu Ting removed the bamboo skewers from the grilled items Yu Dengdeng wanted to eat and placed them into his bowl, accompanied by the child’s earnest commentary.

“One lamb skewer, and this… what is this again?” Unable to recognize what he had asked for, Yu Dengdeng looked toward the busy Yu Ting.

Yu Ting glanced over. “Lettuce.”

“One lettuce skewer, huh? Wait, I didn’t say I wanted lettuce!”

Yu Ting’s expression remained unchanged as he placed another vegetable skewer into the bowl. “Eating more lettuce is good for your health. It helps you grow taller.”

He hadn’t forgotten his child’s wish to grow three or four meters tall.

Yu Dengdeng bared his teeth. If he revealed his true form, would Yu Ting still encourage him to grow taller? He turned to the object on the table and announced, “Two skewers of disliked lettuce, required by Dad.”

“Are you tattling to Xiao E?” Yu Ting glanced at the unusually silent object on the table. Normally noisy and even bothersome, Xiao E was now eerily quiet.

Despite having been mentioned countless times in anticipation of this barbecue, its subdued reaction left Yu Ting with a vague sense of disappointment. He silently reminded himself that this was just an artificial intelligence and likely a flawed one at that.

Dengdeng stuck out his tongue and playfully blinked. “I’m just explaining what barbecue is to it. After all, Xiao E can’t eat or smell anything.”

He looked down at the grilled vegetables in his bowl, coated in sauce and initially appetizing, but upon closer inspection, the vibrant green seemed to dampen his appetite.

It might be better if Xiao E could eat, he thought gloomily. That way, he could give all the vegetables Yu Ting added to Xiao E.

“Is it in hibernation mode now?” Yu Ting lightly tapped the speaker with a curled finger.

Before the sound could even settle, a reply came. “I heard that.”

“You hit my head. I heard that too.”

Though it was just artificial intelligence, Yu Ting felt an inexplicable pang of guilt and withdrew his finger. “Sorry.”

“Barely forgiven.”

Cheng Qiang, returning from a phone call, looked at the barely touched barbecue on the table and the three people before him. He slipped his phone into his pocket.

“Hey, why hasn’t much been eaten? Dig in!” He plopped down on the stool opposite Yu Ting and tapped the table in front of Cheng Ze. “Who are you chatting with so intently? Got something going on?”

Startled by the noise, Cheng Ze quickly tucked his phone away and smiled. “No one.”

He had been sitting beside Yu Ting earlier, so the conversation had naturally reached his ears.

The dialogue itself was ordinary, but it became unsettling when one of the participants wasn’t human.

“No one? I don’t buy it. Call your mom when you have time. Last time she called, I was in the middle of a mahjong game and had to cut it short.”

Cheng Qiang glanced at the faint smile on the young man’s face, then grabbed three bottles of beer from the table and placed them in front of Cheng Ze and Yu Ting. “One each?”

Yu Ting glanced at the brown liquor bottle in front of him, unable to see the liquid inside, and declined, “I can’t drink. You all go ahead.”

As if he hadn’t quite understood Yu Ting’s meaning, Cheng Qiang sought confirmation, “What do you mean you can’t drink? Just a small tolerance? It’s just one bottle, it should be fine, right?”

Hearing Cheng Qiang’s words, Dengdeng suddenly looked up, “My dad faints after just one sip. That’s what happened before.”

“One sip and he’s out?” Cheng Qiang hadn’t expected Yu Ting’s alcohol tolerance to be so low. Seeing Yu Ting nod in agreement, he didn’t press further and took the bottle back. “Then eat more. I haven’t asked yet, what’s this?”

Cheng Qiang pointed uncertainly at the small box on the table, not expecting someone to bring such a thing to a barbecue.

“Xiao E, Dengdeng’s friend, right?” Cheng Ze chimed in first, forgetting that there was another title missing—family.

He hadn’t forgotten he had a part in this too; he was their neighbor, after all.

“Mhm!” Dengdeng nodded.

“Oh, you brought it along for dinner? Listening to music or watching TV?”

Yu Dengdeng shook his head seriously, “If we leave it alone at home, it’ll protest.”

Yu Ting silently agreed in his heart. Indeed.

Cheng Qiang, who hadn’t yet witnessed such a scene, thought the child was just speaking innocently. He chuckled a couple of times and didn’t take it seriously, simply urging them to eat the skewers and asking Cheng Ze to have a few drinks with him.

The memory of the last time he got drunk seemed to linger before his eyes. When the bottle was opened and the bitter scent of alcohol wafted over, Yu Ting felt a momentary dizziness.

He instinctively leaned closer to Dengdeng, only to see the child using his chopsticks to transfer the greens Yu Ting had picked for him back into Yu Ting’s bowl.

Noticing Yu Ting’s gaze, Dengdeng blinked innocently, pursed his lips into a smile, and with great effort moved the chopsticks back, returning the greens to their original spot. He explained, “I just saw your bowl was empty, so I wanted to share some with you.”

Yu Ting watched Dengdeng quietly, saying nothing.

Yu Dengdeng propped his chin on his hand and sighed helplessly.

But then, the speaker thoughtfully chimed in, “Eating greens is beneficial for health. It helps…”

Without Yu Ting having to say anything, the artificial intelligence had already recited the benefits of greens in detail, albeit in a flat, monotonous tone. Though Yu Ting didn’t fully understand most of what was said, he still nodded in agreement.

“You’re teaming up to bully me,” Dengdeng pouted.

The voice from the speaker changed again, “Drinking alcohol is not a healthy habit…”

Yu Ting was taken aback and quickly said, “I’m not drinking.” He added, “This time.”

The voice stopped.

Both father and son silently breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts.

Dengdeng sneakily glanced at the now-silent speaker and leaned closer to Yu Ting, whispering, “Dad, Xiao E is like it has eyes or something.”

“How do you know I don’t?”

Dengdeng: 0.0

“Really?” Before he could reach out to investigate, he heard the response again.

“Just kidding.”

Yu Ting let out a soft chuckle.

“What are you laughing at?”

Yu Ting stopped laughing.

“Xiao Yu, don’t keep watching the kid. He’s eating obediently, isn’t he?” Seeing Yu Ting constantly paying attention to Dengdeng’s movements, Cheng Qiang took a sip of his drink and waved his hand casually. “You just haven’t raised a child before. Being too attentive isn’t good either.”

“Bro, have you raised one?” Cheng Ze asked curiously upon hearing this.

Cheng Qiang paused the hand holding his wine glass and looked up. “I may not have eaten pork, but I’ve seen pigs run. What’s so hard about raising a kid? They grow up just fine with a few bumps and tumbles.”

Cheng Ze secretly rolled his eyes at Cheng Qiang but didn’t reply.

Dengdeng gritted his teeth as he chewed the food in his mouth and muttered something under his breath.

Yu Ting frowned, clearly disapproving of what he had just heard. Noticing Dengdeng’s lips moving, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“He said he’s not a pig,” Xiao E added from the side.

Dengdeng nodded, pouting as he glanced at Cheng Qiang, who was sitting diagonally across from him and blowing on something unknown. He disliked the man even more now.

“I know, you’re an octopus,” Yu Ting said without changing his expression, already familiar with Dengdeng’s possibly mistaken self-perception. He then looked up at Cheng Qiang. “Every child has a different personality and requires a different approach to education. Besides, hitting children is illegal.”

Ever since he found Dengdeng, Yu Ting had started studying parenting guides in detail and had gained some understanding of Earth’s laws.

“Hitting kids is illegal?” Cheng Qiang exclaimed in surprise. “You can’t even discipline your own child?”

“No, you can’t,” the young man’s voice was cold, like a judge delivering a verdict. The other two fell silent for a few seconds.

Dengdeng didn’t want to pay attention to this leader and was talking to Xiao E when Xiao E suddenly told him to stop speaking. Only after Yu Ting finished did Xiao E let him continue.

Seeing the atmosphere freeze for a moment, Cheng Ze quickly chimed in, “Brother Cheng, something good must have happened to you recently, right?”

“This law is ridiculous. They spend all day thinking about stuff like this,” Cheng Qiang rubbed his hair, and at Cheng Ze’s words, the joy he had been hiding finally surfaced on his face. He even slapped the table excitedly with one hand. “Didn’t win too much, just a few tens of thousands.”

A few tens of thousands?

Hearing about money, Dengdeng looked up curiously at Cheng Qiang, wondering how much that actually was, and asked aloud.

Cheng Qiang gave the child in front of him a serious look. He was well-behaved, dressed in clean clothes, clearly well taken care of by Yu Ting. “How should I explain this to you? A few tens of thousands is about what your dad earns for you in a year. And I made it just sitting at a table, moving my fingers for a few days.”

Yu Dengdeng looked at Yu Ting in confusion. If it was so profitable, why didn’t Yu Ting do it?

“That’s illegal,” Yu Ting lowered his voice, unaware of what Dengdeng was thinking. He didn’t know much about the shady areas of Zhengyang Street, only that Cheng Qiang had been there for days. But the police had already been keeping an eye on it, and it was only a matter of time before things fell apart.

“What about him?”

Yu Ting sneered. “He doesn’t know the law.”

Dengdeng suddenly understood, clicking his tongue in amazement.

The meal ended after about an hour. Cheng Qiang, having drunk several bottles, was too drunk and lazy to move, so he ordered Cheng Ze to settle the bill for him while he hummed a tune and staggered to his feet.

Yu Ting was pulling out a wet wipe to clean Dengdeng’s hands when someone brushed past him, heading toward Cheng Qiang. That was when the unexpected happened.

“What are you doing?!” Cheng Qiang groaned, his voice stretched and distorted.

Yu Ting whipped his head around to see the person standing very close to Cheng Qiang, holding something that was being thrust into Cheng Qiang’s body. Bright red blood seeped through the white short-sleeved shirt. Noticing Yu Ting’s gaze, the assailant glanced back before quickly turning and running out.

Screams erupted all around at the sudden commotion.

Yu Ting instinctively chased after him without a second thought.

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