The actress merely sneered at the remark. “The production team promised to train the snakes, didn’t they? The snakes should not poisonous.”

The assistant thought to herself. The snakes aren’t poisonous… but they will still bite…

The woman retorted sternly, “I don’t care who’s going to act in that scene. In any case, I won’t do it! They can find another stand-in if the first one is injured.”

Holding a desperate look, the assistant retorted, “All the girls are afraid of snakes, no one wants to do the scene…” The team had asked every extra on the set…

Yu Qinglan did not look too happy after hearing the assistant’s report. “This is too dangerous. There was no mention of such danger in the contract signed in the first place… Can’t they use special effects? Nowadays, all the blockbusters use special effects, don’t they?”

The assistant could only give a resigned smile. “The scene in the snakes’ den is done using special effects but the interaction between the snakes and actress has to be real. Auntie, as you know, this director loves to add scenes… This scene with the snakes was added by him at the last minute.”

The older woman reached out to caress her daughter’s forehead. “Child, did you agree to him adding this scene?”

She replied, pouting, “… He’s the director, you know… Besides, I really did think that the scenes that he wanted to add would improve the show… Also, I agreed because there would be a stand-in…”

The assistant chipped in, “Auntie, all those who work in this line can be weird. Actually, this director isn’t too bad; the only issue with him is that he likes to add impromptu scenes. Some directors can be especially demanding on actresses; such as wanting them to do a fight scene in the rain or making them crawl through a fire… Sister Xinran had to suffer when we filmed a desert scene the last time.”

Knitting her brows slightly, the woman looked at the girl with pain in her eyes. “… I shouldn’t have agreed when you said you wanted to join this profession. It’s such hard work… Wouldn’t it be easier if you just joined your father in his company?”

Shen Xinran rolled her eyes at the assistant. “Mom, don’t listen to her. She’s just exaggerating… Don’t worry, I won’t do those dangerous scenes personally.”

“Don’t try to bluff me. Didn’t the assistant say earlier that the team could not find a stand-in? That’ll mean you have to do the scene yourself, right? There is no way this is gonna happen. I’ll speak to the director myself. He has to follow the contract…”

She was about to get up when her daughter reached out and pressed her down on her seat. “Mommy, don’t fret! We can always find another stand-in as long as we’re willing to splurge, right?”

Her mother was still not pacified. “Do you think it’s so easy to find another stand-in? Besides, there isn’t enough time to find another…”

“There’s plenty of time.” The lady suddenly thought of something. Tugging at her mother’s wrist, she continued, “Mommy, we can use a robot as a stand-in.”

“… Robot?” The older woman had a weird look on her face. “How can we use a robot? The audience can tell the difference.”

“No, no, they won’t.” The girl shook her head and said. “Brother’s personal robot looks as real as a human being! I couldn’t tell that she was a robot when I was standing so close to her. With the camera lens at a distance, the audience would not be able to tell the difference!”

Her mother was stunned at first and, pretty soon, came to realize that her daughter was only trying to find an excuse to visit Chen Yuheng…

This child, why is she so obsessed with him…

Still, looking at the daughter whom she had helped to bring up, she did not want to dampen her enthusiasm. Hence, she agreed in the end. “Alright, I’ll accompany you to his office tomorrow…”

The young lady tugged heartily at her mother’s elbow and said smilingly, “Mommy is the best!”

The older lady gave a slight smile, touched by her step-daughter’s affection for her. Finally, all the effort she had put in all those years had not gone to waste…

…

During the long, dreary meeting was the first time the man had lost his attention at work.

Although the high temperature had subsided, Chen Yuheng was still running a low-grade fever, and his throat continued to feel dry and scratchy. He did not want to speak much, just listen to the managers from various departments reciting their last month’s performance report… Everyone was simply following the scripted role; no one yearned to be the hero. All they asked was not to make mistakes. To him, they were conservative, rigid and boring…

He could not help reminiscing those formative years when the three of them—Pei Lijun, Ace and him, first created this startup. They would be arguing in the meeting room over their ideas without a care; but yet after the meeting, the trio would leave for a cuppa with smiling faces each time.

When did the company turn into this…? As their business slowly expanded, their innovations had extended into different industries. From the initial digital medical equipment market, their presence could also be felt in telecommunications, computers, and AI robotics now. The AI robot invented by Ace had won an international award and ever since robots had been RK’s trump card.

Although they had reached the industry’s pinnacle, the people around him had changed.

Ace found management stuff too bothersome and threw the chunk of work to Pei Lijun and him. Instead, he was happy with the useless title of a Vice President and focused on his research in robotics.

As for Pei Lijun… Pei Lijun, this lady… He always knew that she was superb.

Her talent was no less than Ace’s, but she had willingly put away her first love in research to wholeheartedly manage the company’s growth.

And now, she had made up her mind to leave this company… That’s alright, she can leave. Everyone has to part, someday. Perhaps she can find a better future after leaving RK.

He swept his gaze across the room, silently eyeing everyone sitting inside the meeting. There were those pioneers who started out with RK, as well as those managers the company had engaged through a neat fee. Despite everyone looking so different from one another, oddly enough, their attitude was one of the same—cautious, conservative, and looking only for small wins.

There was nothing wrong with being cautious but right now, he needed an opportunity, a trump card. One that would distinguish RK as the cream of the crop, and make the company the absolute ruler in the technological field.

“Everyone,” the boss, who had been maintaining his silence all this time, finally opened his mouth.

Everyone quietened down and looked at him.

“I believe everyone has heard the news that RK’s former CTO¹, Miss Pei Lijun, has left the company to join Huaxin Software Technology.” His leadership quality had not diminished, despite sounding hoarse from the fever that he had suffered the night before.

“I agree with your cautious attitude. However, we are in a fast-moving era now, and this is especially so in the technology field that we’re in. It is an ever-changing industry.

He leaned his head slightly and Cheryl, his assistant by his side immediately stood up to distribute the information sheets she had in her hands.

“This is a proposal that highlights RK’s next developmental stage. The content is rather heavy so I hope all of you will spend some time to go through it. I’d like to hear your feedback after that.”

The faces of some managers changed, while others held a look of indifference. Some looked excited while others seemed worried…

The man lifted up his cup to swallow a mouthful of warm tea. It relieved his burning throat, somewhat.

Leaning his head to the side, he observed the scene outside the meeting room through the see-through glass wall. His personal robot was waiting obediently in the waiting room outside the office. Unknowingly, a crowd had gathered around…

He frowned and thought to himself… These employees… why aren’t they working during office hours?

Just as he was pondering, he saw two male employees stop in their tracks while passing by the waiting room. They then joined the crowd as well.

What’s so special? Haven’t these people seen enough robots inside RK?

Lu Lu and a few female employees were having a joyous conversation with the robot. He could not hear what they were talking about but from his angle, he could see that Ruan Ruan was looking happy as she nodded her head intermittently.

Her social skills are rather well designed.

At this time, he saw Lu Lu inching closer to the robot to… knead her cat ears!

“…?”

Soon, a line formed behind Lu Lu and, one by one, each one went up to touch her ears!

“!”

Was the robot nodding earlier to agree to have these women to touch her ears?!

What the hell! What kind of social skill is that?!