Su Yang looked at the bags of beverages while his phone kept ringing in his pocket. A quick hesitation later, he said, “Deeny, answer the phone and put it on loudspeaker.”
Right after the call went through, a rather rough voice with an accent came through the phone. “‘Ello, ‘ello, is this Mr. Su?”
Su Yang continued walking as he answered the phone, “Yes, I am. Who is this?”
The rough voice said, “I’m the delivery man. Your parcel is here!”
The first reaction Su Yang had was shock. ‘Sh*t! Have I been exposed?! Did the related department get tired of checking water meters[1] and change to the pretext of delivering a parcel? Should I run away?!’
He would not have any burden even if he ran away because all his belongings were in his phone, even his clothes. He was practically living a nomadic life.
However, what the delivery man said next stopped him from running away. “You ordered two bags of dog food. Have you forgotten about it?”
‘Dog food? Two bags?’
Su Yang immediately related it to Little Hus.
‘Did that son of a b*tch order dog food with my phone?!’
The strangest thing that could happen on the internet was a cat ordering cat food for itself through the internet, but in Su Yang’s case, his bolster had ordered dog food for itself!
No one would ever believe it!
With that in mind, Su Yang sprinted back home with his beverages.
He did not want to put the beverages in his phone because he was walking on the street and it was not convenient for him to show off his special ability.
When he reached his basement, a rugged-looking delivery man stood in front of his door. He was wearing a blue shirt and was as big as the bike that he was riding. He was tapping his foot anxiously.
Right after he saw Su Yang came by, he strode over and passed the parcel to Su Yang. “Thank goodness you finally came. I’m almost late for my next delivery. Thanks!’
Before his voice even subsided, he got onto his bike and drove off like the wind.
Su Yang was holding two bags of dog food in his left hand and a bunch of beverages in his right, so he had a hard time opening the door, but he eventually got in.
After he locked the door, the first thing he did was take out his phone and scan all the things inside. He then followed the items into the virtual space of his phone.
When he reached the villa, Little Hus was already hopping around excitedly. The tiny edges of the bolster hugged the two bags of dog food tightly.
Deeny and Gru had their attention on the milk that Su Yang had bought as if they were hungry lions looking at their prey.
Su Yang cleared his throat and announced his arrival. Deeny and Gru immediately responded by looking at him, but Little Hus was in his own world.
Su Yang kicked the bolster away and said to Gru, “Gru, drag him back!’
“Gru!”
Gru was exceptionally quick when it came to punishing Little Hus. Its sprout extended in an instant and it grabbed Little Hus and constricted his body. Then, it dragged the bolster back to Su Yang.
Su Yang looked at Little Hus with a sharp gaze. “Little Hus, my my, look at you, being all independent and stuff. You got so smart that you ordered something for yourself.”
Little Hus rolled his eyes at Su Yang. “It wasn’t me!”
Su Yang bellowed, “Who else in this house eats dog food other than you!?”
Little Hus switched his gaze to Deeny, but he did not reveal the answer, “I don’t know!” He tried to act fierce but he somehow appeared like a grumpy child.
Su Yang also moved his gaze to Deeny who quickly lowered her head and said with grievance, “I’m sorry, Master. I made the order!”
Little Hus smirked.
Su Yang was shocked. He pulled Deeny closer and asked patiently, “Why did you buy the dog food? Do you want to have a taste?”
She shook her head and said meekly, “Little Hus made me buy it.”
Su Yang turned around to the bolster.
“I DID NOT!” Little Hus said.
Trusting the right person was actually simple in this case.
Su Yang did not argue with Little Hus. Instead, he asked Deeny, “Where did you get the money for the order?”
This was what concerned him the most. He never received any notifications about deducting his money via text or WeChat and the delivery man had not asked for payment either, so where did Deeny get the money for the dog food?
Deeny lowered her head and touched her pointer fingers together. “I earned it behind your back.”
Su Yang was shocked. “How did you do it?” He did not remember giving her any allowance, so how did she make money?
“I earned the money by...doing missions on the internet.”
Su Yang was more confused than ever. ‘Doing missions?’
He then found out about what Deeny meant by ‘doing missions’.
In the past few days, other than learning on the internet, Deeny got addicted to earning money through clicking links. She would just have to download a certain app or click on a link, and when the traffic reached a certain number, she would be paid.
After she found out about the platform, she clicked on links non-stop for 24 hours a day, hence the money she earned.
Su Yang was beyond words when he heard Deeny’s explanation. ‘Holy sh*t! My smart pet can earn money by herself!’
The guilt and grievance still ate Deeny up after telling Su Yang the truth, and she was on the brink of breaking down in tears. “I just want to earn some money to sustain myself so that the phone service won’t be cut off. I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Su Yang hugged her in his arms and caressed her head softly, offering a word of consolation.
‘This girl is really lovable.’
Even after Su Yang consoled her, her guilt remained and she started crying in Su Yang’s arms. “But the platform froze my account because they suspect that I might be scamming them. I didn’t scam anyone. I just click on the links faster than others.”
Su Yang almost choked on his own giggles.
Even though it might sound pitiful, it was also funny. An A.I. was suspected to be a scammer because she clicked on the links too fast or downloaded the suggested app too many times to the point that her account was suspended for illegal activities?
It was funny no matter how he looked at it.
After calming Deeny down, Su Yang decided to get to the bottom of this matter, so he asked, “How much did you make from the platform?”
Deeny meekly raised two of her fingers.
“20 yuan?”
She shook her head.
“200 yuan?”
She continued shaking her head.
“Don’t tell me you made 2,000 from the platform.”
“It’s 1,200.”
“I don’t even know what your fingers mean. How do I know how much you made!”
She did make 1,200 yuan in a few days, so it was quite normal for the platform to have suspended her account.
“But did you transfer the money out? Otherwise, how could you have used it to buy things? I don’t remember you having an Alipay account,” Su Yang asked.
Deeny answered meekly, “You have a second account in WeChat and I thought that since you aren’t using it, I borrowed it.”
‘Great. An A.I. can recycle unwanted things now.’
Su Yang looked at Deeny with a serious expression. “Deeny, you are still young. There’s no point for you to have this much money. Give it to me. I’ll keep it for you, and when you grow older, I’ll use the money to prepare your dowry.”
A layer of tears covered Deeny’s big googly eyes as she pouted and wanted to cry.
Su Yang cleared his throat to clear the awkwardness and he gave up on the inhumane thought. “Okay, okay, I won’t take your money, but why did you buy dog food for Little Hus?”
Deeny looked at Little Hus and then lowered her head. “You said you’d buy two bags of dog food for him, and he said he really wanted to have it now, so he made me pay for it first. He said you’d pay me back when you got back.”
Su Yang was speechless.
‘This bloody dog...I mean, bolster, is really cunning! Too smart, in fact! Did he realize I was just bluffing so he tricked Deeny into buying him the dog food?’
Regardless, since Deeny had paid for the dog food, it was not right for Su Yang to take it for granted, so he transferred the money for the dog food to Deeny via WeChat.
After that, Su Yang grabbed Little Hus in his left hand and held the carrot...or the ginseng in his right hand. He was thinking whether he should beat the bolster up first or add a point to the ginseng first.
[1] Checking the water meter: (Internet slang) (of the police) to ask to be let in on the pretext of checking the water meter to barge into people’s home on false pretences. Mostly used in a joking manner when you spot a lolicon.