Gan Ling walked through every room that needed cleaning to confirm the range of her magic, then returned to the living room. Pointing at a trash bag, she shouted, “Trash and dust, come here! Don’t touch anything on the way!”
At her command, the trash and dust gathered into several rivers. They floated through the air, slowly flowing into the bag. Gan Ling stood by as a supervisor, reaching out to pick out anything that did not look like trash. By the time the “rivers” had run dry, the trash bag was stuffed so full it was half as tall as her. Not a single speck of debris could be seen within her line of sight.
This way, she could proceed to the next step using water and detergent. From her previous lesson, Gan Ling had learned that the more complex the content of a Command, the harder it was to execute accurately. So this time, she gave different instructions to different cloths, breaking down complex orders into several simple ones to be completed separately.
“You, go wipe the corners of the refrigerator.”
“You, wipe the sides of the refrigerator.”
“And you, be responsible for the top where I can’t reach.”
Gan Ling was like a true Queen of Hearts, ordering her servants around. The cloths she commanded seemed to come to life, working rapidly. The only things that required her personal attention were stubborn stains, a few missed spots, and the timing and amount of detergent used. Even so, it was quite an easy job. She cleaned the entire house at this pace before finally heading downstairs to report to Old Xu.
“Cleaning completed. Please inspect the results.”
Gan Ling’s words caused everyone present to look puzzled.
“What? It hasn’t even been one hour yet.”
“What is this robot bragging about?” the employees whispered among themselves.
Old Xu also realized that it would be difficult to achieve this with manual labor. “Let’s go. We’re going up to check.”
What appeared before everyone’s eyes was a neat, spotless living room.
“How… how is that possible!”
“It’s almost as if magic was used…”
That was what the employees said this time. Old Xu’s jaw dropped in shock as he followed them into the room to look around. Gan Ling stood at the door, silently watching their movements, unable to help but feel secretly pleased.
‘It actually was magic.’ Behind their backs, she quietly made a Scissors Hand Gesture.
Old Xu might have sensed her movement, as he suddenly turned his head the next moment. Fortunately, she was quick-witted and pulled her hand back instantly, pretending as if nothing had happened.
“What exactly are you… never mind. Anyway, you did a good job. You can keep coming in the future.” Old Xu leaned over and patted Gan Ling’s shoulder, his tightly furrowed brows finally relaxing.
Just then, an employee leaned in and asked, “President Xu, will this robot be staying with our company from now on?”
“No, it has to be sent back to where it originally was.” As he spoke, he thought of another possibility. “By the way, it appeared suddenly on its own this morning. Could it go back by itself?” He then told Gan Ling, “The work is done. You can go back now.”
“Command received. **[Auto-pathfinding Program]** initiated.” Gan Ling spoke in an exceptionally monotone voice, turning away with stiff movements while swinging her arms.
Seeing her swaggering gait, Old Xu felt a little uneasy and decided to follow her to check the situation. However, just as they turned a corner after leaving the residential area, the Housekeeping Robot vanished without a trace. Old Xu was left alone at the corner, scratching his head in a daze. “Huh?? …Where did it go?”
After returning home, Lin Qingwen helped Gan Ling add Old Xu on social media. However, in the settings, the person Old Xu added was not “Gan Ling” or “Housekeeping Robot,” but rather the Robot Administrator. According to the agreement between Gan Ling and Old Xu, all future requests would be posted through this account. It would be up to her whether she went or not, and her wages would be settled based on the number of visits. When she asked for an advance on part of her salary, Old Xu readily agreed, though she had to go at least three more times to finish her trial period.
Hooray!
Gan Ling was currently sitting on the sofa, her mood so joyful she wanted to jump up and celebrate. She hadn’t expected the job situation to go so smoothly. Yang Mo seemed to have noticed her unusual behavior, leaning over the back of the sofa from behind and looking into her face. “Did something good happen?”
“I can get my wages in advance,” Gan Ling told her with a smile.
“I see. Is there something special you really want to buy, Gan Ling?”
Gan Ling replied, “Not telling you.”
“Why so mysterious?” Yang Mo said with a pout.
‘Of course. After all, this is a little surprise I’m preparing for you.’ Gan Ling had previously considered buying baking tools online to make desserts for Yang Mo, and now she finally had the start-up funds to realize this wish.
Over the next second and third days, Gan Ling went to work at the cleaning company. The work on these two days was a bit more difficult than the first. Gan Ling suddenly discovered that, in addition to cleaning, the job involved fighting cockroaches inside the houses. It was just her good luck that she hadn’t encountered any on the first day. Her proud Absolute Command could not be used directly on living creatures, so she could only use other objects to assist her.
“Plastic bottle, block its path,” Gan Ling shouted, pointing at a high-speed black dot and building a Sighing Wall around it. “Just die.”
As she spoke, Gan Ling grabbed a Broom and smashed it down with a loud *thwack!* When she lifted the broom again, only a small, indescribable smear of debris remained underneath. ‘I thought I wouldn’t need this broom anymore…’ Gan Ling sighed. She usually used her Command to clean up trash on the ground; this was the first time she had even held the broom.
Despite such episodes, her work was quickly finished. Afterward, she went to the banks of the Gui River nearby. This time, the work location was in Gui River Town, which was adjacent to Xinghu Town. Although Old Xu was concerned about the distance between the two places, Gan Ling, acting as the Robot Administrator, told him not to worry, so he let her go. Now, Gan Ling was leaning against the railing, feeling the riverside breeze.
Just as she was resting comfortably, a familiar voice broke the surrounding silence.
“Isn’t this our family’s Housekeeping Robot? Why am I seeing you here?”
Gan Ling looked back and found the newcomer to be a red-haired girl in a School Uniform—it was Yang Xia. She slowly walked down the steps while waving a hand to greet Gan Ling.