The café door was pushed open, and the wind chime jingled.
As soon as Yu Wan walked inside, she spotted Li Yi standing behind the counter.
Today, he was wearing a simple white hoodie with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing his well defined forearms.
An ugly yet adorable little robot sat beside the cash register, bobbing its head from side to side as it played music.
It was literally bobbing its head.
Yu Wan stared at the little robot for a moment, stunned.
“President Li?” she asked in surprise. “What’s this?”
Li Yi looked up and smiled.
“Morning, Wanwan.” He pointed at the little robot. “Take a look. Isn’t it cute?”
Yu Wan walked over and looked down at the little robot, which was spinning around foolishly.
“…It is,” she admitted. “But what’s it for?”
“A companion robot,” Li Yi explained. “Try saying something to it.”
Yu Wan eyed him suspiciously before hesitantly greeting the robot.
“Morning.”
The little robot replied, “Good morning, beautiful miss. Your smile is as fragrant as the flowers of spring.”
Yu Wan: “…”
Why was this robot so greasy?
“And what’s this?” she asked, pointing at the huge machine beside it.
It was a life sized robot holding a serving tray.
“A delivery robot,” Li Yi said proudly. “This is just a prototype. Once I finish setting up the store’s network, after you prepare the drinks, it’ll automatically recognize the route and deliver the coffee straight to the customers. There are other kinds of robots too. I’ve ordered ten altogether.”
Yu Wan looked at him, momentarily speechless.
Her future graduate research would be related to artificial intelligence, so she naturally had some idea of market prices.
Ten robots. How much would that cost?
“President Li,” she said carefully, “does our café… really need something this high end?”
“It does.”
Li Yi nodded matter of factly.
“I’m planning to turn this place into the smartest café in A City. In the future, robots will take orders, robots will deliver food, and robots will handle cleaning. If customers get bored, they can chat with the companion robots on the tables. Perfect.”
Yu Wan fell silent for two seconds.
“Then what about me?”
“You’re still here.”
Li Yi looked at her, his eyes sparkling.
“You’ll be responsible for managing all these robots and making coffee. But don’t worry. Once the intelligent barista is finished, you won’t even have to make coffee yourself. You’ll only need to plug it in. The robot can even do latte art on its own.”
Yu Wan: “…”
So she’d gone from being a barista to becoming a robot administrator?
“President Li.” She took a deep breath. “We’re just a small café. Do we really need this much technology?”
“We do.”
As soon as business came up, Li Yi’s expression turned serious.
“I looked into a lot of cases from the past two years. Beverage shops only have a lifespan of about two years, and most rely on trendy internet marketing. But there are over twelve thousand cafés in A City. If you don’t have a strong enough gimmick to attract customers, there’s no way you’ll stand out.”
“So, I’m planning to build the country’s first robot themed café.”
Li Yi sounded completely confident.
A robot themed café?
Yu Wan stared at him in disbelief.
“You’re actually trying to make money?”
“Of course!”
Li Yi looked at her in confusion.
“My money didn’t fall from the sky.”
Yu Wan: “…”
Sorry. I’d honestly thought you were just throwing money around to chase girls…
“Take a look at this.”
Li Yi handed her a thick stack of documents.
“This is the proposal I put together over the weekend. See if you notice any problems.”
Yu Wan weighed it in her hands.
It felt even thicker than her university graduation thesis.
“You don’t need to worry about the money,” Li Yi continued. “These robots were developed by a team I invested in, so I’m only paying production cost.”
Yu Wan opened the proposal.
The contents were packed with meticulous detail.
Future development plans, promotional events, menu upgrades, daytime coffee and nighttime cocktails…
It all looked even more professional than anything she had learned as a Business Administration student.
The more she read, the more she understood why Li Yi had succeeded in the original novel.
He looked like a carefree rich kid, but in reality, every step he took was carefully calculated.
Yu Wan suddenly recalled his original character setting.
Li Yi appeared frivolous on the surface, but beneath that facade, he was someone who got things done. Whatever he decided to pursue, he succeeded.
That was good.
Silently, Yu Wan prayed that this fifty thousand yuan monthly salary would last until she left the capital.
Still, she remembered that the male lead was supposed to work in finance. He was even supposed to have graduated from an Ivy League university overseas.
After returning to the country, he met Su Nanzhi through a business collaboration while she was working at an investment bank, and that was how they gradually fell in love.
The original novel had never mentioned him working in artificial intelligence.
“What made you suddenly decide to do this?” Yu Wan asked.
Li Yi froze for a moment.
Then he smiled, as though remembering something from long ago.
“When I took the college entrance exam, I scored very well. The professors at S University told me I could choose any major I wanted…”
“Wait, wait, wait. The college entrance exam?”
Yu Wan quickly interrupted him.
“You went to university in China?”
“Of course, I even earned scholarships every single year.”
Li Yi raised an eyebrow.
“What? Do I not look like it?”
It wasn’t a matter of whether he looked like it. The original novel literally said you studied abroad, big brother!
Yu Wan suddenly realized that the plot had already deviated dramatically.
“…Never mind. Go on.”
Li Yi gave her a long look.
“When I was filling out my university applications, my family wanted me to major in finance, but I refused. I insisted on studying artificial intelligence,” he said. “In my eyes, that was the field with the greatest potential to change the world.”
Yu Wan remained silent, listening as he continued.
“When I was little, I watched an animated series about the future. Back then, I thought that by the time I grew up, robots would already be everywhere. They’d do everything for humans, and people would only need to lie back and enjoy life.”
Li Yi smiled mockingly.
“But now I’ve grown up. Robots do exist, yet they’re still far from the future I imagined.”
“Artificial intelligence was supposed to become an extension of human physical labor. But now it seems to have been led down the wrong path and turned into an extension of human intelligence instead.”
Li Yi looked at the little robot that was still spinning on the counter.
“I can’t change that overall trend, so all I can do is focus on developing robots that free people from physical labor. Only when productivity reaches a certain level can society truly support a comprehensive welfare system.”
“This café is only the beginning.”
His voice was unusually earnest.
“I want to see whether I can make this world just a tiny bit better.”
He smiled. “Sounds pretty stupid, doesn’t it?”
Yu Wan shook her head.
For the first time, she felt that this person was different from the image she had of him.
He wasn’t some heaven favored genius blessed by fate.
He wasn’t the fool who bought a café just to pursue a girl.
He didn’t even feel like the male lead of a novel.
He was simply someone with dreams and convictions of his own.
Not everyone had the courage to abandon a proven path to success in order to pursue what they truly loved.
【System.】
The familiar inner voice rang out, and Yu Wan’s nerves instantly tensed.
【Host, I’m here. What can I do for you?】The system answered eagerly.
【What’s the heroine’s affection level now?】
【Replying to Host, it’s still 0.】
【No way!!】
Li Yi’s inner voice nearly made Yu Wan’s ears ring.
【I opened up so sincerely about myself, and she still wasn’t moved?!】
【Host, please calm down…】
【How am I supposed to calm down?!】
His inner voice was full of despair.
【I even confessed the embarrassing story about the cartoon I watched as a kid! I even said something as cringe as “make the world a little better!” She wasn’t affected at all?!】
Yu Wan: “…”
So all of that was just another strategy?
She lowered her head, pretending to continue reading the proposal.
【System, do you think she wasn’t even listening?】
【Host, the heroine listened the entire time. According to my monitoring, her gaze remained on you for three minutes and twenty seven seconds.】
【Then why is her affection level still 0?!】
【Well…】
The System sounded slightly embarrassed.
【Maybe what you said sounded too much like a pyramid scheme?】
【…A pyramid scheme?】
【According to data analysis, young people nowadays are highly sensitive to scam tactics. Your speech contained far too many slogan style declarations, such as “change the world” and “make the world a better place.” It really sounded way too much like a scam!】
【…】