There really was something wrong with this guy!

"Hello, I'd like to discuss a potential collaboration with you." The moment Li Yi sent that WeChat message, he was greeted by a red exclamation mark.

He took back what he'd said.

There really was something wrong with this guy!

Who added someone as a friend only to delete them a second later?

But there was no one more suitable at the moment. He recalled what the novel had said: this man had even collected his body in the end.

Li Yi decided to give him another chance!

He packed his things and headed downstairs with a small backpack. Sure enough, Zhou Xuanze was gone, leaving only Lu Junjia sitting on the living room sofa, playing on his phone.

Those two still knew to restrain themselves for now. Once he went off to college, they would probably be wrapped around each other, making out on the sofa.

"You're going out?" Seeing his backpack, Lu Junjia looked up and asked, "What for?"

"None of your damn business. If your balls itch from having nothing to do, scratch them yourself." Li Yi tugged at his backpack straps and left without looking back.

Lu Junjia's chest tightened at the retort. He punched a throw pillow several times in anger. That damned Li Yi was getting more and more arrogant!

Once he tricked him out of his shares, he would teach him a harsh lesson!

Li Yi walked to the bus stop nearest the villa, rode five stops, then transferred to the subway. After twelve stops, he transferred again and rode another eight, arriving near Shi Yan's company.

Ringstar Group was located in the heart of Beicheng's CBD. High-rises towered all around it, but Ringstar's building was the most eye-catching of them all.

Its glass curtain wall created a pixelated effect, with staggered, asymmetrical geometric blocks spiraling upward, striking and futuristic.

It would look even better at night, with lights scrolling across it at different heights, giving it a distinctly cyberpunk feel.

Apparently, they had specially commissioned a famous foreign designer for it. As soon as Li Yi walked inside, he sensed a futuristic feel unlike that of other buildings.

He walked briskly to the reception desk and asked politely, "Hello, miss. Could you tell me how I can meet President Shi?"

Unlike the white-collar workers coming and going in suits, the boy before her wore a simple white T-shirt and casual shorts. But his face was exceptionally good-looking, and his voice was clear and fresh, brimming with youth.

The receptionist, who had been waiting for lunch, brightened at the sight of him. She said gently, "You need an appointment to see President Shi. Do you have one, young man?"

"I don't. If I make one now, roughly how long will it take to see him?"

"President Shi's schedule has been quite busy lately. If you make an appointment now, you'll have to wait a month."

"Thank you, miss. I won't make an appointment for now." Li Yi felt a little deflated. A month was too long. He would have to find another way to meet him.

"Flowers for sale! Summer discounts! Twelve percent off for students who took the college entrance exam!" Li Yi had barely left the building when a flower shop flyer was thrust into his hand.

The flyer featured a large bouquet of pink roses, exquisitely wrapped, with gorgeous blooms that made people want to buy them.

He suddenly remembered a minor incident from his previous life. Shi Yan had once offered a hefty sum to recruit a gardener to tend the garden of his villa in Wisteria Garden.

Strangely, he had rarely stayed at the villa since buying it.

Yet its upkeep had never stopped, and he had even had the entire back garden planted with flowers.

Apparently, great swathes of Chinese lantern lilies grew there, a sea of golden yellow that was quite beautiful.

Some said Shi Yan intended to keep a lover in that villa, while others said he was waiting for his first love. In short, everyone speculated that Shi Yan had prepared the villa especially for someone else.

Li Yi searched his memory carefully but could recall no information about the villa.

It had only appeared in a conversation where the novel's two male leads teased Shi Yan, and was glossed over in a few sentences.

He did remember the timing, though. Shi Yan would be recruiting a gardener around now.

Planting trees in my last life, planting flowers in this one. Great, my tuition fees haven't gone to waste at all.

Li Yi took out his phone, opened the navigation app, and searched for Wisteria Garden's address.

It was nearby, only five subway stops away.

Strange. If it's so close, why doesn't Shi Yan live in Wisteria Garden instead of the Shi family old residence farther away?

I don't understand how rich people think.

When he arrived at Wisteria Garden, he explained why he was there to the security guard and was let through after a minute's wait.

"President Shi's villa is number 18 in section A. Go straight along this path, turn right at the fork and walk a few hundred meters, then turn left, and you'll be there."

"Thank you."

The guard's directions made it sound close, but it actually took Li Yi over twenty minutes to reach number 18.

Standing outside the courtyard gate, he rang the doorbell. A few seconds later, the gate clicked open automatically.

Immediately afterward, the villa's front door opened automatically too.

Li Yi paused, craned his head to peer inside uncertainly, then gently pushed the door open and slowly entered the villa.

"Welcome." An elderly, peculiar voice rang out, sounding as though it came from inside a jar.

Li Yi shuddered. He stared blankly at the deserted entryway, a little afraid to go any farther.

No wonder Shi Yan doesn't stay here. Is this place haunted?

He turned and grabbed the door handle. Just as he was about to run, the voice spoke again. "Hello, can't you see me?"

"Sorry, I'm blind. I didn't see anything!" Li Yi squeezed his eyes shut and pressed hard on the door handle, but the door did not budge.

"I'm here." Something hard poked his waist. Li Yi turned and saw a black-and-white spherical robot roll up beside his leg.

It was made of two balls, one large and one small, like a snowman.

It only came up to his waist, and its colors blended into the black-and-white room. No wonder he hadn't noticed it earlier.

"Uh... hello." Li Yi looked down. "I'm here to interview for the gardener position. May I ask where my interviewer is?"

"That's me." A pair of smiling eyes appeared on the robot's screen. "My name is Yingjun. I'm an interactive intelligent robot painstakingly developed by Huanxing Group's top research team, combining security, housekeeping, playing games with you, lulling you to sleep, manicures, and various other functions.

"My factory name was Junjun, but I didn't think it suited my image, so I changed it to Yingjun myself. You may call me Yingjun or Mr. Yingjun."

An elderly, slightly mechanical voice, calling itself Yingjun-it sounded strange no matter how he listened to it.

"How about changing your voice? Hearing this one makes people want to call you Grandpa Yingjun," Li Yi said.

"Oh, sorry. It's my first day as an interviewer, so I'm inexperienced. I thought using an old butler's voice would seem more formal.

"I'm very accommodating. You can choose whatever voice you want."

An entire row of voice options immediately appeared on Yingjun's screen.

"Just a normal male voice will do," Li Yi said.

"Will this work?" Yingjun switched to a normal teenage boy's voice.

"That's fine."

"Would you like a manicure during your interview? I recently bought a set of manicure tools online," Yingjun suddenly asked.

"Thanks, but no." The corner of Li Yi's mouth twitched as he politely declined. "Let's just get straight to the interview."

"All right." Yingjun's electronic eyes showed a hint of regret. Then several options appeared on his screen. "Please select the answer you believe is correct."

The interview was like an exam, testing botanical knowledge. Fortunately, Li Yi had paid attention in class in his previous life and was quite confident in this knowledge. He finished answering in no time.

His score appeared a second after he finished: a vivid 90 on the screen, complete with celebratory streamers and victory sound effects that Yingjun had added for flair.

"Congratulations, you've passed the first round of interviews."

"Uh... thanks. What's the second round?"