Chapter 978 - Lip Service

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

“Mr. Yuan, what do you think about Mr. Xin citing you as his source of inspiration for the robot pet dog that won him an award at International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva and the Highest Science and Technology Award?” the reporter asked again.

The gold medal of the International Exhibition of Inventions might be the most prestigious invention award in the world, it wasn’t a particularly rare award in truth. The rarer award was the Highest Science and Technology Award.

The evaluation of this award was extremely strict and if there were no suitable candidates, they would rather let the award stay empty for the year. For example, during 2004 and 2015, nobody got the award.

Presently, Xin Kui’s robot pet dog was selling very well overseas. Things were still calm in China, but that was not the reason for him to be the youngest ever recipient of the Highest Science and Technology Award. Instead, it was because his robot pet dog was programmed without utilizing the concept of logical operation.

There was logic to everything. For example, when one felt like beating someone up, it was because that person was angry. And there would even be a reason for someone to randomly beat someone up as well.

There was a reason for everything and one could call this the concept of logic. But the operation system programmed by Xin Kui was without logic.

The core of the robot pet dog’s operation system was being illogical. For example, the dog might be very intimate with a person one second but would suddenly ignore that person the next second.

“Robot pet dog?” Yuan Zhou was somewhat confused. What in the world was that?

“That’s right. An illogical robot pet dog.” The two reporters started introducing the robot pet dog.

At present day, AI technology was still in a very immature state. Thus, most robots were programmed with a set of procedural codes for them to behave in certain manners after certain conditions were triggered.

But that was not the case for Xin Kui’s invention. The robot pet dog he invented could be described with the word “unique” if one was feeling kind since the dog would always mind its own business. But if one was unkind with words, one could say that the dog was akin to a mad dog where nobody had any idea what it would do next.

There would be levels of intimacy with the pet one kept, even robotic pets. But that was not the case for Xin Kui’s robot pet dog. You might be spending time with it every day, yet the intimacy level would still drop. And if one ignored it, even left it uncharged for a few weeks, the intimacy level might rise for no apparent reason.

Yes, that was truly unique. Yet, it was precisely this uniqueness that allowed Xin Kui’s robot pet dog to be extremely popular overseas.

“That is essentially what the non-logical robot pet dog is.” The two reporters focused their gazes on Yuan Zhou after explaining, waiting for his response.

Yuan Zhou nodded seriously, acknowledging that he already understood what they said.

Yuan Zhou was completely calm and he had three opinions about this.

First, foreigners sure were weird, liking something so useless.

Secondly, if they had the money to buy a robot pet dog, they might as well get a real dog.

Thirdly, and most importantly, even dogs would act logically, Huskies would follow a set pattern when they were behaving foolishly. The truly illogical animal were cats.

“Xin Kui should have made a robot pet cat instead. That would make sense. After all, cats never acted according to logic,” Yuan Zhou thought to himself.

“Mr. Yuan, let us change the question. What kind of person do you think Mr. Xin Kui is?” asked the reporter when he saw Yuan Zhou not answering.

Yuan Zhou recalled Xin Kui’s previous useless inventions before thinking about this useless robot pet dog as he formulated a response.

“Xin Kui is a person would stubbornly conduct all types of research and is filled with curiosity toward many things. He is also not afraid of failure. It is normal for a person like him to attain success,” Yuan Zhou replied to both questions in a single breath.

He told them what he thought of Xin Kui and the type of person Xin Kui was.

This was the basic act of paying lip service, one which Yuan Zhou learned from Jiang Changxi. The reporters earnestly recorded Yuan Zhou’s reply.

Next, they continued asking several questions.

The reason why the reporters were interviewing Yuan Zhou was due to Xin Kui mentioning Yuan Zhou’s restaurant when asked about his inspiration for the illogical operation of the robot pet dog.

“Do you know Master Chef Restaurant? There are many talented individuals in that restaurant. This illogical operation that completely strays from a traditional operating method originated from the boss of the restaurant, Yuan Zhou,” Xin Kui replied.

When Yuan Zhou heard that, he found himself agreeing with Xin Kui. Indeed, he was one who would break new grounds and not adhere to common conduct. That was also why he had praised Xin Kui earlier.

In truth, Yuan Zhou had little impression about Xin Kui. Of course, the inventions of Xin Kui was still fresh in his mind.

After all, Xin Kui once created a “ruler knife” for him so he could measure the ingredients while cutting. Moreover, he could take extremely precise measurements with that knife.

That was a good invention, but one unneeded. After all, Yuan Zhou’s knife skills had reached a point he could eyeball the measurement and still be precise without actually measuring the ingredients.

After answering two more questions, people from Queuing Committee arrived. Finally, the two reporters left.

Yuan Zhou was in a good mood after being praised. Thus, he personally started the numbering machine to indicate that dinnertime was arriving soon.

“Why is Eaves Wu not here today?” Zhou Xi asked. He had been coming early every day as he wanted to be near his idol.

But when he arrived, he could not find Wu Hai anywhere.

For dinner today, Wu Hai wasn’t here. However, Mr. Wei, Wei Wei, Xie Hao and his wife had arrived early.

Obviously, Mr. Wei was the one leading the way.

The All-Fish Banquet was quite a huge feast. Both Mr. Wei and Xie Hao couldn’t finish it by themselves thus they brought others along.

“I have only seen others eat it before. Therefore, I won’t be able to introduce it to you,” said Mr. Wei with a helpless shrug.

Xie Hao glanced at Mr. Wei suspiciously. That’s right. Even now, he was still sure that Mr. Wei was planning a conspiracy. He was on alert at all times.

“But I can say that from all the other dishes of Boss Yuan, he has never disappointed anyone,” said Mr. Wei.

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” said Xie Hao.

“Is this really fine?” asked Xie Hao’s wife in whispers hesitatingly.

Xie Hao was unsure as well. He patted his wife’s hand, hinting that he would be fine.

All conspiracies would be exposed one day. Xie Hao was sure there was a conspiracy, but he was not worried.

Their group was at the end of the first batch. Thus, they managed to enter the moment the restaurant was opened.

Shortly after, the All-Fish Banquet was served. The table was filled with dishes. Mr. Wei had truly paid for the meal as well.

“Come, Old Xie, we might not be able to see each other anymore in the future. Try the fish, it is nice.”

“Eat more, eat more.”

“I know you love to eat fish. It’s fine if we eat a bit less,” said Mr. Wei, his voice filled with warmth.

Mr. Wei truly did not pick up any dishes for Wei Wei. Rather, he kept putting food into Xie Hao’s plate. Moreover, he was acting so friendly even Xie Hao was feeling uncomfortable.

Xie Hao kept observing Mr. Wei but could not discover anything. Furthermore, since Yuan Zhou’s cooking skills were too good, it did not take him long to be completely engrossed in eating.

After all, fish was truly his favorite food.

…