14: Chapter 14 [Diaphragmatic Breathing]

Mother's chopsticks paused in mid-air.

"The list hasn't been finalized yet," Father continued, "but the rumors are already spreading—they're cutting twenty percent."

"Then..." Mother's voice was a bit tight, "are you... are you confident?"

"It's hard to say," Father shook his head. "I'm on the older side, and my skills aren't the latest. It's a bit uncertain."

The dining table went quiet.

Chen Zhen looked at his parents. Mother pressed her lips together, and Father kept his head down, shoveling rice into his mouth.

Under the light, the wrinkles on their faces seemed deeper than usual.

He felt an indescribable sensation in his heart.

His heart felt a bit tight.

He suddenly felt that this family was like a small wooden boat—it looked steady, but in reality, it was constantly drifting in the wind and waves.

"It's fine," Father suddenly spoke up again. "If I really get laid off, I'll just find other work. I have hands and feet; I won't starve to death."

"Mm, things haven't been set in stone yet, so don't get anxious in advance," Mother replied, her voice very soft.

This remark seemed to be addressed to the two of them, father and son, but in reality, it was also meant for herself.

For the rest of the meal, no one spoke again.

After the meal, Chen Zhen went to wash the dishes.

The faucet splashed loudly, and the dish soap foam piled up like a small mountain.

He washed them very carefully, wiping each bowl three times inside and out.

On the system panel, the experience points for the Skill Dimension were jumping up little by little.

[ Tableware Cleaning Skill Dimension experience + 0.1 ]

[ Tableware Cleaning Skill Dimension experience + 0.1 ] ...

After washing the dishes, he returned to his room. Today's reading assignment was the final chapter of "1587, A Year of No Significance."

He opened the book and read about how the Ming Dynasty gradually reached its end.

It wasn't that any particular emperor was especially incompetent, nor was any minister particularly evil; it was that the entire structure had rusted shut and could no longer be pushed forward.

Halfway through reading, the system panel suddenly popped up:

[ Deep Reading triggered reflection ]

[ Detected deep understanding of concepts like "System", "Laws", and "Accumulation" ]

[ Unlocked hidden knowledge: [ Dao Follows Nature ] fragment × 1 ]

Great, another fragment.

Now he had three.

Chen Zhen closed the book and looked out the window.

The sky was completely dark, and the lights in the city were turning on one by one, like an inverted galaxy.

He suddenly remembered the old man's words: "Some things, if you practice for a day, you get the benefits of a day. If you don't practice, you lose it all back; there's no end to it."

He remembered Father's words: "The body is the most important thing."

He remembered Mother's gaze.

He remembered the sight of Zhou Shu turning and leaving.

And he remembered what he did every day.

Suddenly, like one of those reclusive masters hidden in the mountains, he exhaled a breath, feeling a bit sentimental.

It was as if he were planting trees in a desert.

He didn't know which day a forest would form, but if he planted one today, there would be one more tomorrow.

If he accumulated a bit of Cultivation today, he would have a bit more Cultivation tomorrow.

At 9:30 PM, Chen Zhen had finished all his tasks.

Daily Summary:

[ Day 9 Completion Status ]

[ Morning run 3 km: Completed (9 consecutive days) ]

[ Learning task: Exceeded (Efficiency assessment: Excellent) ]

[ Household assistance: Completed ]

[ Reading task: Completed (Obtained hidden fragment) ]

[ Total gained: Cultivation + 1.34 ]

[ Current total Cultivation: 10.56 / 100 ]

[ Health Dimension: 24.5 / 100 ]

[ Learning Dimension: 51.4 / 100 ]

[ Social Dimension: 76 / 100 ]

[ Skill Dimension (Cooking): 37 / 100 ]

[ Special Note: Health Dimension is approaching the Lv.2 threshold (25 / 100) ]

[ Expected to unlock new ability tomorrow ]

Hm? So it doesn't only level up when it hits one hundred?

Oh my god.

It was like going to school every day, thinking you had to go for several months before vacation, only for someone to suddenly tell you that vacation starts tomorrow—such a surprise, such excitement.

Chen Zhen lay down, filled with excitement, and closed his eyes.

Tomorrow is another new day, time to sleep.

In the darkness, he felt very subtle changes happening in his body.

It wasn't a sudden transformation, but that kind of slow, solid change accumulated day by day.

Gradually falling into a dream.

The system panel flashed one last time:

[ Suggestion: Maintain the current pace ]

[ Hundred-Day Foundation Building progress: 10.56% Evaluation: Good ]

Day ten.

Chen Zhen woke up just before his alarm went off. 5:37 AM.

He opened his eyes, and the first thing he did was check the system panel.

Today's tasks weren't much different from yesterday's.

However, the reward for running had become 0.19, and learning was 0.02 more.

After having this System for so many days, he no longer thought 0.0-something was small.

He climbed out of bed, put on his sportswear, and went out.

Today, there was fog on the Riverside in the morning.

It wasn't that thick, white fog, but a thin layer.

It was like breathing onto a pane of glass—very hazy.

Chen Zhen walked to the bench, and the old man was already waiting there.

Today he had changed into a dark blue cloth jacket; the material looked very thin. It fluttered gently whenever the wind blew.

Seeing Chen Zhen, he lifted his chin slightly, "Stand."

Chen Zhen stood properly, adjusted his shoulders, and tucked in his chin.

The old man walked around him once and pressed his hand on his lower back.

"Still tight."

"Don't act like you're carrying a heavy sack. You need to relax."

Chen Zhen obeyed and slowly relaxed.

"Hey, hey, too much. Relaxing doesn't mean letting yourself fall apart; it means using force where it's needed and not wasting energy elsewhere."

He poked Chen Zhen's side, "Here, and here. They're taut like a bowstring. Do you feel it?"

Chen Zhen took a breath and carefully felt those spots.

It was true; the muscles were contracted and hard.

But making himself control it all at once was a bit difficult.

When it came time to control it, it suddenly didn't feel like his own body.

"Why are you tensing up?" the old man asked.

"... I don't know."

"Because you don't trust your own frame."

The old man sat back on the bench, "You keep thinking it's going to collapse, so you try desperately to prop it up. The more you prop it up, the stiffer you get; the stiffer you get, the easier it is to lean off-balance. No matter how long you hold it, it's just a waste of effort."

That was the logic.

But he could understand the logic; putting it into practice was a different matter.

"Close your eyes."

Chen Zhen did as he was told.

"Feel the soles of your feet."

?

After closing his eyes, why did the old man's voice suddenly feel so distant?

It was all hazy and clouded.

The old man's voice came again, "Feel the sensation of them touching the ground. Don't overthink it, just feel it."

Don't think, just feel.

Chen Zhen exhaled and let his focus sink to the bottom.

The insoles of his sneakers were a bit soft, his socks were cotton, and the ground transmitted a subtle, fragmented, solid hardness through the soles of his shoes.

"Ankles, calves, the back of your knees, the base of your thighs..."

The old man spoke slowly, his voice as flat as still water.

"Feel every joint, every muscle. They are right there, supporting you just fine; you don't need to waste any extra effort."

Chen Zhen followed his voice, feeling upwards bit by bit.

The small of his back, his spine, his shoulders, his neck.

Finally, the top of his head.

"Now, feel your breathing."

"When you inhale, where does the air come in from? Where does it pass through? Where does it go? When you exhale, how does it go out?"

Pay attention to breathing...

When he didn't pay attention usually, breathing was just in and out for him.

But when he actually tried to feel it carefully, he discovered details he hadn't noticed before.

When inhaling, his shoulders would unconsciously shrug up a little.

When exhaling, his chest would collapse a fraction."

"Don't move your shoulders."

The old man seemed to know what he had figured out, "Breathe with your stomach."

"Inhale, stomach bulges; exhale, stomach deflates."

Chen Zhen did as he was told.

The first time, he didn't succeed; his shoulders still moved.

Sss... Damn shoulders, don't move.

The second time, it was a bit better.

The third time, he slowly found the feeling.

The air drilled in through his nostrils, traveled down his throat; his chest didn't move much, but his stomach slowly bulged out like an inflating pig bladder.

[ Learned Abdominal Breathing Health Dimension experience + 10 ]

[ Breathing efficiency increased by 15% ]