51: Chapter 51 My Taste Is Bad? A Slap in the Face to Uncle Su's Second Uncle

When the footage played showing Lu Li standing on stage, announcing the "Guardian Mode" and promising to purchase million-dollar accident insurance for the low-level delivery riders, a sharp glint flashed in Founder Su Zhenguo's cloudy old eyes.

He remained silent for a long time, his fingers gently stroking the screen.

"This kid..."

Founder Su Zhenguo muttered in a low voice, his tone complex: "Setting aside the technology, his character and vision... are actually a bit like me when I was young."

"However, it's just a bit like me! If he wants to enter the door of my Su family, he still has to see how he performs tomorrow."

Outside the door.

The old lady listened to the commotion in the room and chuckled to the old butler beside her: "Listen to that, stubborn old goat. Back when the second branch wanted to seize Qingxue's shares in Guanghui Technology, who was it that stayed up all night holding a board meeting, slamming the table and cursing, to protect Qingxue's position? He, more than anyone, dotes on that granddaughter."

"There's likely to be a good show at the birthday banquet this afternoon."

Five o'clock in the afternoon.

The Su family manor was brightly lit and crowded with guests.

Today was the seventy-third birthday of Su Group founder, Founder Su Zhenguo, and more than half of the prominent figures in Mingzhu City had arrived.

At the entrance of the banquet hall, when Lu Li, Su Qingxue, and Android 18 appeared together, they instantly attracted quite a few gazes.

Su Qingxue wore a moon-white haute couture gown, looking cold and noble, like an ice queen. Lu Li was in a well-fitting casual suit, looking lazy and carefree.

Behind them, Android 18 was dressed in a form-fitting denim vest with a black and white striped shirt underneath. She was blonde with blue eyes, tall, and her straight, slender legs were wrapped in black leggings, highlighting her beautiful and moving curves.

Her face was as exquisite as a CG model, though her expression was slightly dull, and her gait was elegant yet carried a hint of imperceptible stiffness.

"Is that her husband next to Qingxue? He looks just average."

"Who is that woman following them? A bodyguard? She's really pretty, but that face... has she had too much plastic surgery? She looks like a mannequin, no expression at all."

Not far away, several elegantly dressed noblewomen whispered. Their voices were not loud, but they drifted right into the ears of Su Qingxue's mother, Wang Xiulan.

Wang Xiulan's expression darkened, and she hurried over to greet them.

"Qingxue, Xiaoli." She first pulled her daughter over with a look of concern, then lowered her voice to say to Lu Li: "When you see your grandfather and the uncles later, speak less and smile more, understand? Don't make your grandfather unhappy."

The intention was good, but the cautiousness and lack of trust in her tone made Su Qingxue frown slightly.

"Mom, Lu Li knows his limits."

"What do you know!" Wang Xiulan glared at her daughter. "Your second uncle and the others are all watching!"

As she spoke, Wang Xiulan had already led the two of them toward the core circle where the relatives were gathered.

"Oh, our great hero of Guanghui Technology has arrived!" A slightly sarcastic voice rang out.

It was Su Qingxue's second uncle, Su Tao, who spoke. He looked at Lu Li with a fake smile: "Xiaoli, I watched your press conference. It was done well, and it finally reversed last year's decline. But Qingxue was foolish; how could she push you to the forefront? Isn't that just nonsense?"

Beside Su Tao, his gaudily dressed daughter, Su Qingxue's cousin Su Xiaoman, chimed in: "That's right, cousin. Isn't it better to let him stay at home? Why must he come out and show his face? People outside will think our Su family has no one left."

Su Xiaoman's husband was Fan Yuanxun, and the Fan family was the actual behind-the-scenes holding group for Xiaoyu Auto.

It was because of this marriage that their Su Group's Kaiya Auto Company saw its technology advance by leaps and bounds. The two families exchanged new energy vehicle technology and carved up the market in the automotive sector, which made the old man beam with joy when he found out.

For the first half of her life, Su Xiaoman had lived in her cousin's shadow. Whether in studies, looks, or even business, she was inferior to Su Qingxue.

But when it came to choosing a husband, Su Xiaoman felt she had surpassed Su Qingxue at least a hundred or a thousand times over.

What achievements did that Lu Li have? The pocket money he spent was given to him by Su Qingxue!

Su Qingxue's pretty face turned cold, and she was about to speak.

Lu Li, however, gently squeezed her hand, stepped forward, and smiled lazily: "Second Uncle is right. It's mainly because I'm too outstanding. Qingxue hides me at home because she's afraid some people will be jealous. If I come out, wouldn't it just make those people look even more useless?"

Su Tao and Su Xiaoman's expressions immediately stiffened.

The meaning of these words was that Lu Li was too outstanding to stay at home, and he only came out for a bit, yet his achievements already surpassed those of these people.

They hadn't expected this good-for-nothing, who was rumored to only know how to live off his wife, to have such a sharp tongue.

Just then, several of Su Xiaoman's close friends walked over, winking and nudging her.

"Xiaoman, is that your brother-in-law? He looks okay, but his temperament... I feel like he's not a match for your sister."

"Who is that model behind him? Her figure is really good, but her face is so stiff, like she's had work done. Did your brother-in-law bring her? He's so funny."

Hearing her friends' teasing, Su Xiaoman's face turned red and then white; she felt she had lost all face.

She took a deep breath, picked up two glasses of red wine, and walked over with a hypocritical smile on her face.

"Brother-in-law, I spoke a bit harshly just now. I apologize to you and my sister."

Su Xiaoman handed one glass to Lu Li and the other to Su Qingxue, her eyes provocatively glancing at Android 18, who was standing motionless behind Lu Li.

"Brother-in-law, which company is your female companion a model for? She's very professional; she's been standing there for so long without moving. It's just that your taste is a bit... too common. This kind of zombie face isn't popular anymore. Don't go wasting my sister's money."

She deliberately used a "for your own good" tone to mock Lu Li, implying he was not only living off his wife but also had vulgar taste.

Before Lu Li could speak, as Su Xiaoman brushed past Android 18, her fingers, painted with bright red nail polish, seemingly unintentionally, scratched hard across the back of Android 18's hand!

She wanted to see if this "bodyguard" with the stiff expression would cry out in pain.

However, the sharp nails scratched across Android 18's fair-skinned hand.

Android 18 didn't even blink.

"You..." Su Xiaoman was stunned and blurted out: "How do you have no reaction at all?"

Before she could finish her sentence, a flash of cruelty crossed her eyes.

In a fit of embarrassment and anger, Su Xiaoman seemed to trip, and she fell backward, screaming. The two glasses of red wine she held in her hands were aimed precisely at Su Qingxue's moon-white gown, which was worth hundreds of thousands!

All of this happened in a flash!

People around let out a gasp.

Wang Xiulan was so scared that her face turned pale.

Su Qingxue instinctively wanted to dodge, but it was already too late!

Just at this critical moment, a calm and clear voice rang out in the noisy banquet hall.

"Android 18, catch."

Lu Li's voice was not loud, even carrying a hint of laziness.

"Don't dirty the floor."

The moment the command was given, "Hum—" Android 18, who had been in "standby" mode, moved.

Her movements lacked any of the human processes of starting, accelerating, or exerting force.

One millisecond, she was standing still. The next millisecond, her figure seemed to have been cut by an editor, skipping dozens of frames in the middle, and she instantly blurred into an afterimage, appearing on the trajectory where the two wine glasses were about to spill onto Su Qingxue!

Fast! Extremely fast!

In the horrified gaze of everyone, Android 18's hands reached out at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye, precisely and accurately catching the two tilting glass cups.

Her body, in the midst of high-speed movement, stopped instantly in a posture that completely defied the laws of physics.

The powerful inertia caused the red wine in the cups to surge upward, about to spill over the rim!

However, an incredible scene occurred. Android 18's hands began to vibrate subtly at an ultra-high, micro-second frequency.

The kinetic energy that was about to spill the wine was completely neutralized and disintegrated by this strange vibration!

The surging wine seemed to be pushed back by an invisible hand, miraculously falling back into the cups, as if defying the laws of physics.

In the end, the two glasses of wine rested steadily in her palms. Not a single drop was spilled.

The entire banquet hall was dead silent.

The music stopped, the conversations vanished, and everyone's movements froze. Hundreds of eyes stared fixedly at the blonde woman, the expressions on their faces shifting from shock to confusion, and finally into absolute horror and disbelief.

Under the dead silence of the entire room, the Android 18 slowly turned around.

In those emotionless blue pupils, a faint data scanning beam flashed, sweeping over Su Xiaoman, over the floor, and finally landing on Lu Li.

A cold, rigid, and emotionless mechanical synthesized voice rang out clearly: "Command completed."

"Environmental cleanliness, maintained at 100%."