518 Lunch at the Jin Family’s Old House Part I (1/2)
Iris' heart softened upon seeing the white cat's pitiful appearance and miserable sobbing. It sounded similar to how Little Jun cried. In fact, Ketchup based her crying on a mixture of her human cousin Little Jun and her kitty siblings Ice Cream and Popcorn. She was able to maximize the intended effect on her mommy. Iris turned to Jin Liwei.
”Darling, don't you think that grounding Ketchup for one month is too much? She already said sorry.”
Jin Liwei wavered at his baby girl's expression. However, his sternness returned when he thought about the potential consequences of exposing Drakon's real identity to the wrong people, not to mention the fact that Ketchup, a.k.a. KittyBaby, was not a real person but a highly advanced AI. He knew that there were people in the world who would kill to acquire the cat AI once they discovered about its existence. And as the creator, his baby girl would also be in grave danger. He couldn't risk it. His wife and kids were his life. He would protect them with everything he had.
”No, love. This is for her own good. Ketchup needs to learn the consequences of doing things that she shouldn't do the hard way. She'll learn discipline this way,” he told his baby girl.
Iris glanced at the pitiful Ketchup who was now mewling softly while curled in a puddle of her own tears. Then she looked at Jin Liwei again.
”I still think that one month is too long. It's torture for a hacker like us not to play around online for one month. How about let's ground her for one week instead?”
Ketchup immediately stopped crying and peeked at her parents behind her paws. Her expression was hopeful after hearing her mommy pleading her case to her daddy.
A furrow formed between Jin Liwei's brows. Now he felt like a bad guy. He almost gave in…almost. Good thing that he kept in mind what could've happened if the information Ketchup revealed to Hou Liang went into the wrong hands.
”Love, you're too soft on her. If we don't discipline her now, she'll start thinking that she could get away with almost anything because she could count on you, her mom, to defend her. She'll grow a hard head. Not good. What if she makes more mistakes in the future because of carelessness that we could've prevented by properly disciplining her? It would be too dangerous, especially with both of your hacker identities.”
Iris sighed with a sad expression. ”I understand…but I think that one month is still too long. How about ten days? Or maybe twelve?”
”No. Three weeks.”
”Two weeks?”
”Fine. Two weeks. No less than that.”
Iris smiled after he agreed. Two weeks sounded more reasonable than one month. She glanced at Ketchup who was now swishing her tail a little bit, grateful that her punishment was shortened from one month to two weeks instead.
”She needs to learn her lesson. She can't just reveal anything about both of your identities to anyone without our permission. Like I said, it's too dangerous. If any of these information gets into the wrong hands, all of us will suffer,” Jin Liwei said, reminding the two about the consequences.
Iris nodded. ”Ketchup, you heard your dad. You're grounded for two weeks. You're only allowed to go online for tasks we've assigned you. No Black Stars or playing around for these two weeks. If you don't obey, I won't stop your dad if he makes your punishment longer. Do you have something to say?”
Ketchup stood up and wiggled her fluffy white butt. ”Meow~ Thank you, Mommy and Daddy for reducing my punishment to two weeks only! Ketchup is very sorry and won't do it again! I promise! Meow~”
Jin Liwei nodded, satisfied. Iris sighed in relief.
”Mommy, Daddy, can Ketchup still talk to Uncle Dom and the others? Or does that count as playing around too? Meow?”
”Of course, you can still talk to them and to us,” Iris replied.
”But no more learning any weird words from your Uncle Dominic or your Aunt Clover,” Jin Liwei added.
”Meow? Weird words? Oh, like 'boobies' and 'boom-boom'?”