697 Ketchup’s Tes (1/2)
Jin Liwei gave Iris a ”let me handle this” look before talking to Ketchup again.
”I'll give you some funds to start a small business and see how well you'll do. If you can make good, sustainable profit within a year, I'll allow you to continue running your business and even provide you with resources, staff, or whatever assistance you may need to grow it if that's what you want.”
Ketchup's green eyes widened and glowed even brighter in excitement. ”Wow! Really, Daddy? You'll do that for Ketchup? Oooooh~ Thank you so much! You're the best daddy in the whole wide world! I love you! Meow~”
He nodded, feeling good at the adorable white cat's words of thanks and affection to him, but he still maintained a stern expression. However, when he turned his head to the side, he saw that his baby girl was glowering at him and throwing him a silent yet unmistakable ”what do you think you're doing” look. Disbelief and disapproval were clear in her eyes. For a fraction of a second, he froze, realizing that he was in trouble with her. Then he calmed down and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze, silently reassuring her that everything would be fine and that she didn't need to worry too much.
How could she not worry? Ketchup's existence must be kept a secret to outsiders at all costs. Didn't they already agree before that exposing the cat AI's existence to others even if it was only by accident was too dangerous? And Jin Liwei was still going to let Ketchup run her own business? Was he out of his mind?!
Did he forget that in order to run a legitimate business, legal registration was required? How could Ketchup do that? The virtual white cat had no legal identity. They could, of course, create a fake one for Ketchup but that would mean that her business would already be disreputable right from the start. As someone who lived in an infamous criminal family in her past life as Evelina, Iris would never allow her children to engage in blatant crimes, especially when it came to conducting business. She wanted to be a good role model, not a bad influence, to her children.
Iris really wanted to scold Jin Liwei but held her tongue instead because she didn't want to dampen Ketchup's happiness. She also didn't want to have an argument regarding Ketchup in front of others. Dom was alright, but the driver's presence made Iris hesitant. So all she could right now was glare at Jin Liwei, silently telling him with her fierce eyes that they needed to have an important talk later with just the two of them.
[This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you're not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It's very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria]
Seeing his baby girl looking pissed off at him, Jin Liwei felt a little nervous. He raised her hand that he was holding and kissed it before attempting to coax her with a smile.
It didn't work.
She turned her head away and started to ignore him. His nervousness increased but felt a bit better after noticing that she didn't yank her hand away, allowing him to continue holding it.
Despite his baby girl's disapproval, he still intended to carry on with his idea of letting Ketchup run her own business, thinking that it would be a great way to divert the cat AI's boundless curiosity and impulsiveness into something more controlled and productive rather than deal with the aftermath of her innocent but troublemaking antics due to boredom. He would do his best to persuade his baby girl later but for now, he needed to set the ground rules for Ketchup's test first.
”Ketchup, listen to me.”
”Aye aye, Daddy! Ketchup is listening because I'm a good kitty. Meow~”
”I'll give you 8,000 RMB—”