Chapter 7: The brilliant game designer and her foster father 7
1084 Words
Seeing Valeria’s confident demeanor, Fiona generously offered her an encouraging smile. Deep down, however, she was eagerly anticipating the moment when her sister would stumble and embarrass herself.
“All right then,” she said. “Here’s my question. Suppose you have a variable x = 10 and a variable y = ‘10’. What are the data types of x and y, and why? Explain the difference between these two variables.”
Valeria answered without the slightest hesitation,
“The data type of x is int (integer), because it stores the integer value 10. The data type of y is str (string), because it stores the character string ‘10’. The main difference is that…”
She spoke smoothly, as if this knowledge had long been engraved into her mind.
Unwilling to concede, Fiona posed several more difficult questions. Yet Valeria continued to handle them all with effortless speed.
Fiona had wanted to see Valeria flustered and foolish, but her sister’s expressions had nothing to do with either of those words. And so, aside from embarrassment, all Fiona felt was anger.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sudden sound of leather shoes striking the tiled floor rang out, instantly drawing the attention of both girls.
“Dad!” Fiona exclaimed in delight when she saw Ralph had returned early.
Ralph walked over to Fiona and gently reached out to ruffle her hair. Unlike usual, he did not immediately ask after Fiona’s health. Instead, he looked at Valeria and said,
“So you study programming languages as well?”
Valeria lifted her head and examined the adoptive father standing before her. As the male lead of this world, Ralph’s appearance was indeed beyond reproach. He had silky golden hair, neatly trimmed to frame his perfectly sculpted, angular features. His blue eyes were deep and ocean-like, glinting with intelligence and sharpness, tinged with a hint of mystery. His physique was lean and well-built, tall and straight, and every step he took radiated the confidence and mature charm of a grown man.
Valeria did not continue to look at him. Instead, she lowered her head, appearing uneasy, after all, the original owner of this body had always been timid and fearful in Ralph’s presence.
“No,” she said softly. “I only started reading a book seven days ago.”
Unlike his usual indifference, a flicker of interest passed through Ralph’s eyes after hearing her answer. He pressed on,
“What book was it?”
Valeria gave the title,
“Python for Beginners.”
“Only seven days, and you understand all of it?”
“Yes.”
The corners of Ralph’s lips lifted slightly. He proceeded to ask several questions related to the content of the book, questions that were even more cunning and difficult than those Fiona had posed. Yet Valeria answered every one of them smoothly.
At last, he offered his assessment,
“It seems your talent in this field is no less than your sister’s. I’ll have a computer installed in your room later. From now on, you may use it freely for study. As for reference materials on various programming languages, if you need anything, just tell me.”
Throughout the entire exchange, Fiona was all but ignored by Ralph. She clenched her fists tightly, jealousy surging in her chest until her fragile heart began to constrict painfully.
“Dad… my chest hurts so much,” Fiona cried weakly. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead, making it clear that the pain was not an act.
Only then did Ralph snap back to his senses. He asked anxiously,
“Are you all right?”
He bent down and lifted Fiona into his arms, carrying her toward her room, while still issuing an order to Valeria without turning back:
“Hurry downstairs and call Cami up.”
Cami was the nurse who had been hired to live in the house and take charge of Fiona’s health.
After a bout of chaos, Fiona took her medication and lay down to rest. At last, her heart gradually returned to a normal rhythm.
Valeria stayed by Fiona’s side the entire time, perfectly playing the role of a concerned older sister. Only after Fiona’s condition had stabilized did she finally feel at ease enough to return to her bedroom.
When Valeria was alone, 001 finally spoke up,
“Ms. Meredith, you shouldn’t have done that. Fiona is the female lead. Provoking the main characters never leads to a good ending.”
Valeria raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
“When did I provoke her?”
001 replied,
“Just now, you were clearly trying to use your professional knowledge to seduce Ralph! And it even looks like you succeeded. Exactly like what’s written in the novel.”
“001,” Valeria said calmly, “which eye of yours saw me seducing Ralph?”
001 fell silent for a few seconds, then cautiously asked,
“Ms. Meredith, that’s how it’s written in the novel. If you weren’t deliberately trying to seduce him, then why did the male lead change his attitude toward you, talking to you more, and even wanting to give you a computer?”
Valeria covered her forehead and chuckled softly.
“001, you’re really adorable.”
Believing whatever it was told without the slightest doubt, truly both foolish and adorable.
“Thank you for the compliment, Ms. Meredith,” 001 replied mechanically, even though it had no idea why it was being praised.
Valeria didn’t continue teasing it and went straight to the point,
“Don’t you see Ralph’s true nature yet?”
“What nature?”
She felt 001 was far too stupid, this wouldn’t do. It would affect the progress of her mission, so she had to educate it properly.
“At first, didn’t you say the male lead is cold to the whole world and only gentle toward the female lead? Let me revise that a bit. More accurately, he’s cold to useless people, and warm toward those who can bring him benefits.”
001 disagreed and immediately refuted her,
“Ms. Meredith, saying that is no different from slandering Ralph as a pragmatist. But Ralph is the male lead, and protagonists can’t be bad people. That’s the rule of novel worlds.”
“Then explain this,” Valeria said calmly.
“Why has he always been cold to me before, yet today he talked to me so much? And was even enthusiastic about giving me a computer and learning materials for programming languages?”
- Writer
