10: Chapter 10 [Culinary Skills Beginner Quest Unlocked]

"Tell them they are coming back tomorrow, and have her go back tomorrow."

Mother sighed, "I said that the two of them are usually busy with work anyway, so what's the harm in letting the child stay for two more days? But your aunt said no, the house is a mess and they need to go back and tidy up."

Well, there really is no way around that.

"Your aunt doesn't have it easy either."

Mother's voice lowered, "Both of them are busy and under a lot of pressure. When we met last time, I saw that she already had gray hair, and she's only in her early forties."

"Sigh."

Chen Zhen sighed and continued to snap the vegetable stems.

The water spinach stems were very crisp; they snapped easily with a faint "pop" sound.

He tossed the tender leaves into the basin and threw the old stems into the trash can.

After doing repetitive motions for a long time, one enters a semi-vacant state.

On the system panel, the experience bar for the Skill Dimension was growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

[ Skill Dimension experience + 0.1 ]

[ Skill Dimension experience + 0.1 ]

[ Skill Dimension experience + 0.1 ]...

Not bad, not bad.

It feels like the Skill Dimension experience bar is increasing quite fast.

Just by simply picking vegetables, I can continuously add points.

After lunch, Zhou Shu began to pack her things.

She didn't have many things: a few clothes, a few books, and a pencil case.

Chen Zhen helped her check if she had left anything behind and found a mechanical pencil in the crack of the bed.

"Thank you." Zhou Shu took the pen and stuffed it into the side pocket of her schoolbag.

"What time are you leaving tomorrow?"

"Two in the afternoon." Zhou Shu zipped up her schoolbag, "Uncle said he would take me."

"Alright."

After packing up, the two sat on the living room sofa, watching a drama on TV, speechless for a moment.

After a few minutes, Zhou Shu whispered, "Brother, you've changed."

Here we go again.

Chen Zhen didn't say anything.

"It's not that you've changed for the worse," Zhou Shu quickly added, "it's that you've become... more reliable. You never used to care about these things before."

I've become enlightened.

Chen Zhen smiled, "People always have to grow up."

He got up and returned to his room, soon walking out with a tablet in his hand.

"Here, take this." He handed the tablet to Zhou Shu.

"Brother... this is too expensive, I can't take it." Zhou Shu shook her head.

"It's not expensive. This is the tablet I used in middle school. When I bought it, I chose one with good value for money."

"Although it definitely can't play performance-heavy games now, it's definitely no problem for watching online classes."

"I've already downloaded the software for you, and my account is logged in."

It's just a secondary card.

"I've already found and categorized the classes for you. Of course, if you want to watch classes taught by other teachers, you can search for them directly."

As he spoke, Chen Zhen opened it and tapped it for Zhou Shu to see.

Because her aunt and Uncle were busy all year round, they gave Zhou Shu a senior phone to make it convenient for her to make calls and avoid being unreachable.

But a senior phone obviously couldn't be used to go online and watch classes.

But with the tablet, Zhou Shu could figure out the rest on her own.

"Thank you, Brother!" Zhou Shu smiled, revealing her two small canine teeth.

This was the first time she had smiled so happily since she arrived a few days ago.

The system panel popped up a notification: [ Helping Others (Excellent) Social Dimension experience + 15 ]

[ Current Social Dimension progress: 73 / 100 ]

Wow, it's at 73.

It will be full soon.

The afternoon's study tasks were completed very early.

Before three o'clock, Chen Zhen had finished today's fifteen pages of homework.

When the system panel settled, it gave an extra reward for [ Early Completion ].

Cultivation increased by 0.05.

He glanced at the time; there were still three hours until dinner.

The new challenge is [ Learn to cook a dish ].

Now I can go and complete this challenge.

Chen Zhen walked to the kitchen.

Mother was preparing the Materials for dinner. Seeing him walk in, she was stunned for a moment:

"Hungry? There are apples in the fridge."

"No," Chen Zhen said, "I want to learn how to cook a dish."

Mother: "?"

"Did you suddenly decide you wanted to blow up the kitchen? Go, go, go, don't make a mess for me here."

"Mom, think about it. If you go back to running the shop in the future, then when I'm home alone, I can cook for you guys in advance."

"Then I'd rather not eat."

Chen Zhen: ... Harsh words hurt the heart.

Chen Zhen clutched his heart, making an expression as if he had been wounded.

"Alright, alright, if you want to learn, then learn. What do you want to learn?"

Learn what?

Of course, the simpler, the better.

After all, the System didn't specify that one had to learn high-difficulty dishes.

"Stir-fried tomato with tomato."

Mother turned her head, smiling but not quite, "You've been messing with me for ages, so you'd better be prepared to eat stir-fried tomato with tomato for a month."

"My mistake, my mistake, let's do stir-fried tomato with eggs."

"That works, we happen to have the Materials to make this dish right now."

Mother stepped aside, and Chen Zhen stood in front of the stove.

Looking at the Materials on the cutting board: two tomatoes, three eggs, a small bunch of green onions.

The system panel popped up a guide:

[ Cooking Introductory Task Started ]

[ Step 1: Handling Materials ]

[ Please wash the tomatoes, remove the stems, and cut them into pieces ]

Chen Zhen picked up the tomatoes and rinsed them under the faucet.

The cold water flowed over his fingers, the tomato skin smooth and moist.

Following the System's prompts, he pressed down hard to cut a cross on the top of the tomatoes.

Then he put them in a bowl and poured boiling water over them.

"Yo, looking at your technique, you actually have a bit of a master's style."

"That's right, Mom, you go rest. I'll be fine in the kitchen by myself."

"I'll be waiting for you at the dining table. Call me immediately if you have any problems; I'm worried you'll blow up the kitchen."

"Alright, alright, alright."

The skin of the scalded tomatoes was very easy to peel off.

Peel, remove stems, cut into pieces.

His knife skills were very clumsy; the pieces he cut were uneven in size, but at least he didn't cut his hand.

[ Handling Materials complete, Skill Dimension experience + 3 ]

[ Evaluation: Passing ]

Step 2: Beating eggs

A bowl, three eggs, a pinch of salt.

Chen Zhen picked up an egg and lightly tapped it against the edge of the bowl—

He didn't control the force well; the eggshell cracked, and the egg white leaked out.

Hiss, how come it looks so easy when others beat eggs?

But when it comes to him...

He quickly cracked the egg into the bowl, but the eggshell fragments fell in with it.

Wow, this is tricky.

In the end, he had to use chopsticks to pick them out for a long time before he got them clean.

The second egg went smoother.

The third egg was tapped too hard again.

[ Egg handling complete, Skill Dimension experience + 2 ]

[ Evaluation: Needs practice ]

Step 3: Stir-frying.

Turn on the stove, pour in oil.

After the oil was hot, Chen Zhen poured in the egg liquid.

With a "sizzle" sound, the oil splashed, and he jumped back half a step.

Oh, damn!

To be honest, he was really a bit afraid of this oil, terrified that it would burn him.

Chen Zhen picked up the spatula and clumsily stir-fried.

The eggs quickly solidified and turned a tender yellow.

He scooped them out and set them aside.

Pour in a little more oil and add the tomato pieces.

Stir-fry, add salt, add a little bit of sugar—

Mother said it could enhance the flavor.

When the tomatoes were stir-fried until they released their juice, he poured the eggs back in and mixed them evenly.

Finally, sprinkle with green onions.

Turn off the stove, plate the dish.

Perfect—my foot.

A plate of stir-fried tomato with eggs was finished.

The presentation was average; the eggs were a bit broken, and the tomato pieces were uneven in size, but at least... it was cooked.

[ Dish preparation complete, Skill Dimension experience + 10 ]

[ Evaluation: Good ]

[ Unlocked: Skill Dimension (Cooking Branch) ]

[ Current Skill Dimension progress: 15 / 100 ]