6: Chapter 6 My Cousin's Keen Insight

The hints provided by the System were very detailed, but it wouldn't give the answer directly.

It could be called a "guided" System.

Chen Zhen followed the System's suggestions and deduced step by step.

Finally, he completed the fifth equation—

So it was a kinematic relationship; he had missed this from the start.

No wonder he had been stuck for so long.

After writing diligently for a while—

Done, the answer was solved!

The moment he solved the answer.

The experience points that popped up on the system panel were more substantial than before:

[ Completed medium-high difficulty comprehensive problem ]

[ Learning Dimension experience + 1.2 ]

[ Cultivation + 0.08 ]

[ Bonus reward: Breakthrough thinking ]

[ Cultivation + 0.05 ]

A huge gain, a huge gain.

It was time to take a break.

Chen Zhen put down his pen.

His hand was feeling a bit sore.

He rotated his wrist.

He looked up at the time.

It was already 9:17.

Unknowingly, over an hour had passed in a flash.

He had now completed twelve physics problems.

[ Continuously focused study for 77 minutes ]

[ Efficiency evaluation: Good ]

[ Suggest taking a 5-minute break ]

[ Can perform eye relaxation or light stretching ]

Chen Zhen leaned back and stretched fiercely.

His neck cracked twice.

It was rare to be this focused during summer vacation.

In the past, he could only focus when playing games; as for doing homework, that was out of the question.

Chen Zhen stood up and walked to the window.

Looking down, a few children were chasing each other around.

Parents were sitting on benches chatting; it was an ordinary summer morning.

He closed his eyes and did the eye exercises according to the method taught by the System two days ago—

It was said to "relieve visual fatigue and improve subsequent study efficiency."

Some Acupoints overlapped with the eye exercises from school, and there were a few new ones.

Especially when pressing the spot in the middle of his brow bone, it hurt so much that he frowned.

After finishing, the system panel popped up a prompt:

[ Eye relaxation completed, study focus + 10% for the next hour ]

Chen Zhen thought to himself, pressing the Acupoints was truly effective.

It was just that some Acupoints hurt enough to make him hiss and gasp.

After finishing the eye exercises, Chen Zhen didn't rush back to his chair.

Instead, he looked at the distant sky, gazing into the distance.

After gazing into the distance for a while, he walked to the desk and sat down.

After sitting for a moment, he suddenly didn't want to pick up his pen.

He just stared silently at the problems, thinking of nothing.

He stared blankly until he yawned, so Chen Zhen simply opened the drawer.

He rummaged around to see if there were any snacks to pad his stomach.

There wasn't a single bag of snacks; had he finished them all???

Chen Zhen got up and walked to the living room.

He would go to the living room to look.

Walking out of the room, he saw Zhou Shu sitting silently at the dining table reading a book.

"Why aren't you reading in your room?"

Zhou Shu shook her head, "The dining table is larger, so I've been doing homework here for a while."

"Oh... I see." Chen Zhen nodded.

He walked straight to the coffee table in the living room, squatted down, and continued searching for snacks.

While Chen Zhen was rummaging for snacks, Zhou Shu suddenly closed her book.

She hesitated for a moment and then called out softly, "Brother."

"Yeah, what's up?" Chen Zhen responded without stopping his searching.

"You've... seemed to change a lot recently."

"Huh? Have I?"

"Mm." Zhou Shu nodded.

"In previous summer vacations, you always slept until noon, played games in the afternoon, and stayed up all night."

"Now... you get up early to run, study on time, and even buy me breakfast."

After speaking, she paused, her voice becoming softer:

"And, I feel like your speed at solving problems has become much faster too."

"You don't scratch your head and ears when solving problems anymore."

Chen Zhen's action of searching for snacks paused.

Good grief, this girl was too observant.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to explain, saying it was because he was going into his third year of high school after summer vacation and naturally needed to study hard—

Zhou Shu spoke first: "Did you... sign up for some online courses? Or hire a tutor?"

Huh?

He hadn't expected the latter part.

Chen Zhen nodded along, "Mm, I took some online courses."

"Is it expensive?"

"It's alright." Chen Zhen glossed over it vaguely.

Zhou Shu said "Oh," didn't ask further, and reopened her book.

Chen Zhen breathed a sigh of relief.

Actually, she was easy to fool.

He thought that, in all likelihood, no one would guess that something as absurd as unlocking a System had happened to him.

But what if?

He still didn't dare to be careless.

Just like that sharp The Old Man.

What if someone had a very "peculiar" thought process?

And sensed it.

He didn't dare to gamble; who knew if this System would pop out some punishment if he was guessed.

Before lunch, his mother asked Chen Zhen to go downstairs to take out the trash.

He carried two bags of trash downstairs.

After sorting and throwing them into the trash bin, the system panel popped up a prompt as he turned around:

[ Completed daily chores ]

[ Health Dimension experience + 0.1 ]

[ Completed at least one chore for 7 consecutive days, unlocked hidden achievement: Family Contributor ]

[ Reward: Cultivation 0.3, Social Dimension experience + 5 ]

Social Dimension experience jumped to 52/100.

Chen Zhen looked at the Social Dimension experience points.

He felt the Social Dimension experience was increasing quite quickly.

Perhaps it would reach 100 before the summer vacation ended.

What would be unlocked upon reaching 100? What rewards would there be?

While thinking, Chen Zhen suddenly remembered that he hadn't found any snacks in the morning.

He simply strolled to the convenience store at the entrance of the residential complex.

He picked out three ice cream bars—

Chocolate flavor for his mother, mango flavor for Zhou Shu, and he kept a mung bean one for himself.

Returning home, his mother was stunned when she saw the ice cream bars.

"Yo, generous, little Zhen, what do you want to buy again?"

"It's not that, Mom, it's just hot, so I brought some ice cream for you guys to eat."

"Hehe, even if you have something to ask of me, I'm happy, though I definitely won't give it to you anyway."

Chen Zhen: ...Good grief, definitely his own mother.

His mother took the ice cream, tore open the wrapper, and took a bite.

She didn't speak, but Chen Zhen had sharp eyes and caught the corner of her mouth curl up.

A very slight curve.

system panel:

[ Detected target (Mother) emotion: Pleasant ]

[ Social Dimension + 2 ]

[ Current progress: 54 / 100 ]

Zhou Shu also took the ice cream, thanked him in a low voice, and ate it in small bites.

Like a somewhat timid and cautious cat.

Lunch was a simple meal of three dishes and one soup:

Stir-fried pork with green peppers, tomato and egg, stir-fried cabbage, and seaweed egg drop soup.

Although his mother's culinary skills were ordinary, the portions were generous.

Chen Zhen ate two bowls of rice.

The system panel popped up another prompt:

[ Healthy diet / Balanced nutrition / Health Dimension experience + 0.5 ]

After everyone finished eating.

Chen Zhen stood up.

"I'll wash all the dishes."

The faucet was running loudly.

Detergent foam piled up in the sink.

His mother stood at the kitchen doorway for a while, then suddenly said:

"Your dad is working overtime tonight and won't be back for dinner."

"Working overtime again?"

He had already worked overtime several times this month.

It was really hard work.

"I'll make fewer dishes tonight." His mother paused, "What do you want to eat tonight?"

"Anything is fine."

Chen Zhen rinsed off the last bowl, "Whatever you make, I love eating it, Mom."

"Hehe, you only know how to say things to please me."

"Just make what you and Zhou Shu like; I'm not picky."

"Alright." After saying this, his mother turned and left.

Chen Zhen dried his hands, and the system panel popped up:

[ Completed lunch cleanup, Health Dimension experience + 0.3 ]

Besides that, there was another line:

[ Frequency of interaction with mother increased, Social Dimension + 1 ]

Increased frequency of interaction with mother? Did he not usually talk this much to his mother?

Chen Zhen pondered for a moment.

It seemed so; school usually ended late after the evening self-study session.

He would come back, wiggle around, take a shower, and dive into his room to do that pile of homework.

Or he would play games.

When summer vacation just started, he would play games all night.

In the morning, his mother would be awake while he was sleeping.

When he woke up, his mother had already gone to work.

Indeed, there hadn't been much communication.

He suddenly felt that this System was like it was conducting behavioral correction.

A normal routine was to make the body healthy, running exercised the body to improve cardiopulmonary capacity.

Doing chores and communicating more with family promoted a happy family.

However, perhaps it was because he hadn't reached a certain value yet, so more Cultivation-related content hadn't been unlocked.

Or perhaps some event needed to be triggered.

Just like the "Calming Talisman" from a few days ago.