When Leyu got home, he found that his little sister, Qian Yuya, was already back and seemed to be washing vegetables in the backyard.
The Qian family did have a backyard, and the most important tool there was the water pump. All the household water came out of the pump—although piped water technology had already been implemented, it had nothing to do with ordinary folks like them.
"Leyu thought about it, he actually didn't mind shamelessly waiting for dinner, but there was nothing to do while waiting. He didn't have a phone or computer, and the only books at home were either Combat Technique manuals or Qian Yuya's textbooks—honestly, reading those seemed worse than helping out with dinner."
Qian Yuliu usually would never come home before dinner was ready. In fact, ever since he graduated and began working, he had never returned before dark—he was either openly working late at the Statistical Department while secretly eavesdropping, or training Combat Technique at the department's training grounds.
"Leyu had thought about whether or not he should train Combat Technique, too, but Qian Yuliu's experience told him this wasn't a type of training that would show clear results after just 'a few weeks of hard work.'"
"If he compared it to ping-pong in his previous life, the vast majority of people's Combat Technique levels in this world were about the same as the best ping-pong player in a local neighborhood; a military academy graduate would be the equivalent of a city-level athlete; and someone like Qian Yuliu had just barely set foot on the threshold of a provincial athlete."
"So, if Leyu wanted to surpass Qian Yuliu's Combat Technique level, it would be like improving on top of the provincial athlete's foundation—that's not something you can accomplish by simply 'working hard.'"
"It was easy to go from a score of 0 to 60, but getting from 80 to 90 required both effort and talent—several times more than before."
"Even someone like Qian Yuliu with outstanding physical gifts, at his age, could only reach the level of 'Beginner Eight Rice Flow Biting Battle Technique.' If Leyu thought he could surpass Qian Yuliu with a bit of effort, then he was really underestimating the geniuses in this world."
"Besides, Combat Technique was ridiculously hard. Even if Leyu fully digested Qian Yuliu's memories, using Combat Technique at a higher level still felt like his brain got it but his body had no clue."
"Study, my ass—it'd be better to just head home, eat with his sister, and relax."
When Leyu walked into the backyard, he saw Qian Yuya sitting on a little stool next to the water pump. Her long hair was pulled into a ponytail to make housework easier, her sleeves and pants were rolled up, showing off her fair, almost transparent ankles and wrists. Over her uniform, she wore a white apron while washing the veggies after drawing a basin of water.
Qian Yuya heard boots on the ground, turned to glance at Leyu with a hint of surprise in her eyes, but quickly lowered her head and continued picking the leaves.
Leyu glanced curiously at the flowers and plants in the backyard, and even with his ass could guess these were taken care of by Qian Yuya. "Anything you need help with?"
"No."
"Really nothing? Don't be polite, I actually know a thing or two about cooking."
"Leyu didn't really care anymore about acting OOC—not behaving like the original. After all, even Chen Fu had already noticed something was off, so there was no way he could hide it from his own sister, Qian Yuya. Getting them to gradually get used to his changes was actually the best way."
"Plus, the biggest difference between himself and Qian Yuliu was that Leyu just wasn't willing to keep wearing a mask his whole life."
"For Qian Yuliu, spy life was practically instinctive, carved into his DNA. But for Leyu... he was no superman who could carve anything into his DNA, okay!"
"Coming home for dinner after work wasn't just about Crossing the Tribulation for Leyu. Subconsciously, he saw coming home as a kind of relaxation—a break from the suffocating and dangerous life of a spy."
"Even his little sister washing veggies seemed extra cute and easy on the eyes."
"Definitely better than listening to Chen Fu bitch about everything."
"I really don't need your help, go do your thing." Qian Yuya didn't lift her head, as if picking leaves was some kind of major task.
Since there was nothing to help with, Leyu figured he could just freeload guilt-free. But since he had nothing better to do, he leaned against the wall and asked,
"How are your grades? Things going well at school?"
Qian Yuya raised her eyebrows slightly.
"Got enough pocket money lately? Want to buy some new clothes?"
Qian Yuya twitched the corner of her mouth and accidentally picked off a perfectly edible leaf.
"Dating anyone? I'm pretty open-minded, I totally support free love, but you've got to figure out if the guy's any good. Best if you let me check him out—I've been a man more than twenty years, the minute a guy raises his tail I know if he's good news or not..."
Smack!
Qian Yuya slapped the basin of water, splashing it everywhere. Startled, Leyu instinctively stepped back, "Wh-what's wrong?"
"...Tonight we're making minced pork with preserved greens. Can you chop the greens and mushrooms into little cubes, and mince up the pork?" Qian Yuya said, barely holding back her anger.
"Your wish is my command, I definitely heard you loud and clear."
Leyu walked to the stove, picked up the big black kitchen knife, and diced the soaked mushrooms and greens. The steady thwacking of the knife echoed through the room. When he finished, Leyu noticed the knife seemed a bit dull and that mincing the meat felt kind of crappy.
"He suddenly thought, 'If I use Spiritual Power to manipulate light into a claw, could I use it to enhance the kitchen knife and turn it into a Divine Weapon?'"
"Why not, Leyu activated his Spiritual Power, extended it along the edge of the knife, simulated the claw effect according to Combat Technique skills, gritted his teeth, and slashed!"
Bam! Crack!
The first sound was the cutting board getting split open.
The second was the kitchen knife snapping in half.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Qian Yuya shook the water off her hands, wiped them on her apron, and walked over to stare at the now-chipped kitchen knife in confusion, "Did the kitchen knife piss you off?"
Leyu explained that he'd wanted to supercharge the knife. Qian Yuya looked even more confused. "The kitchen knife doesn't have a Luminous Stone chip, your Spiritual Power can't get inside. The Light Crystal you make can't merge with the knife, and it'll just mess it up... Only Luminous Stone tools can extend your Spiritual Power. Isn't that basic common sense?"
So, basically, you couldn't enhance a plain kitchen knife, and forcing it would only break it—Leyu acted like nothing had happened. "Ah, makes sense. Just slipped my mind for a second."
Qian Yuya said coolly, "You're real good at forgetting stuff, huh."
"So now what?"
Qian Yuya took the kitchen knife and examined it. "I'll take it to the knife repair guy on the corner tomorrow, should still be usable. I'll borrow one from Aunt Li later."
Knife repair guy... That kind of old-time-y term—he'd only ever heard his grandparents use it—made Leyu blink. Only now did he realize that the Qian family kitchen knife was probably years old, pitch-black from use, and definitely had been fixed plenty of times.
"The Glorious Imperial Court had only started industrializing solar power not so long ago, production standards weren't high enough for people to just buy knives whenever they wanted. Besides, kitchen knives were regulated weapons—every single one had to be registered with the Imprisonment Department. Most families had one kitchen knife for life."
Leyu glanced at the meat yet to be chopped on the cutting board, "No need to borrow a knife, I can handle the rest of this meat myself."
"The knife's busted, how're you..." Qian Yuya hadn't finished speaking when she saw Leyu's hands shimmering with light and shadow distortion.
Slice!
Grab!
Scoop!
Tear!
The Eight Rice Flow Biting Battle Technique literally mimicked the action of "biting and tearing." If Leyu had to thinly slice strips of meat, maybe he'd have trouble, but turning meat into mince was right up the Biting Battle Technique's alley!
In no time, Leyu had shredded over a pound of pork into mince with his bare hands and piled it in a neat mound on the plate. "Will this do?"
Qian Yuya nodded, "Yeah, looks good, not bad at all."
She paused, then added,
"Almost like a butcher."