Chapter 41: The Heart of a Mortal

August 15th, the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Chen Shu arrived at Shi Qian's home.

This was a teacher's apartment allocated by the school, with three-bedroom and two-bedroom units. Teacher Shi Qian had never married and lived alone in a two-bedroom, two-living-room apartment, keeping a dog of a breed found only in this world; it had extremely high intelligence, the kind that could do multiplication and division math problems.

As soon as Chen Shu entered the door, he lifted the bag he was carrying to show him:

"I brought you some Mooncake."

"You brought things again? How annoying."

"Didn't you notice this Mooncake has no packaging?"

"Hm? Who made it?"

"Hehe, can't tell, right!" Chen Shu grinned, "I made it myself, yesterday. I brought you four pieces, it's not much; this stuff is cloying if you eat too much. I knew you'd definitely receive a lot of Mooncake gift boxes for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and I figured you'd be tired of receiving them, so I just wanted you to taste my handiwork."

"You have this skill too?"

"I just love tinkering with these things."

"Put it there."

"Alright."

Chen Shu put down the Mooncake, not intending to stay long, and went straight to the point: "Besides the Mooncake, I've prepared a whole bunch of questions for you again."

"I like this. What area?"

"Protective Divine Light."

"You want to improve the old version of the Protective Divine Light, right?"

"No, it's the new version." Chen Shu was very direct, "I got my hands on a new version of the Protective Divine Light, but there are a few flaws. I want to improve it, but I'm a bit stumped."

"New version? Where did you get it?"

"By chance."

"Let me see."

"Sure thing."

Chen Shu took out his Mobile Phone, opened an app, pulled up the Spell Principles structure diagram inside, and asked: "Is it a bit bad for us to be studying a Controlled Spell so openly, and it seems to be a spell used by a foreign military, too?"

"Bad? What's bad about it?"

Shi Qian's expression suddenly turned serious: "And what Controlled Spell? You are a student, I am a teacher. We are holding the philosophy and purpose of research and progress to analyze and learn the knowledge within an unknown Spell—what is bad about that? Aren't we doing this to push forward the country's technological progress!"

After hearing this, Chen Shu was filled with respect: "Well said!"

"Where is the problem?"

"The automatic activation component, and the part connecting to the Thousand Machine Art." Chen Shu swiped the screen and zoomed in, "I just feel the style is different from the other parts; it's a bit old."

"..." Shi Qian stared at it for a long time, "There are some contradictions. It's like the other parts of this Spell are new, and only this part is an old version."

"Teacher is amazing!"

"The style of this Spell looks like it's used by the Lanya military; it has good performance but high Spirit Power consumption."

"I didn't know that."

"You're in such a rush to change this part..." Shi Qian paused, "How much longer until your Thousand Machine Art finishes solidifying?"

"Almost there."

"Almost?"

"A few more days, I guess."

"??"

Shi Qian turned his head and stared at him in astonishment; he was practically stunned.

"How long has it been?"

"Almost a month."

"This..."

Shi Qian was a teacher. He had originally planned to give the students in his class half a semester to solidify a simplified version of the Thousand Machine Art. If it were the complete version, he estimated it would take half a year. Even if they spent the maximum amount of time on it every day like clocking in for work, it would take at least two or three months.

What the hell is a month?

Shi Qian was speechless for a long time.

Chen Shu left.

Originally, as an elder, Shi Qian had intended to treat Chen Shu to a meal, or at least go out to a restaurant. But Chen Shu said he was going on a date—heh, that saved him quite a bit of trouble.

Sitting alone in a rocking chair, Shi Qian opened the box containing the Mooncake, took out a small piece, and took a bite. The red date and bean paste filling tasted like an ordinary dessert. He had been tortured by all sorts of Mooncake flavors over the years, and this kind of snack made him feel exceptionally comfortable.

Shi Qian frowned slightly, pondering as he ate.

After eating two Mooncakes in a row, he suddenly stood up, walked to the bedroom, turned on the computer, logged into the school system, and found Chen Shu's grades.

The first thing that popped up was the Great Exam results:

Full marks in all three professional subjects.

This wasn't important.

He clicked on the entrance test—

Spirit Power Talent: 1000/1000

Spirit Power Quality: 3f

Spirit Power Total: 3f

"3f..."

He vaguely remembered this young man telling him that he was only at the Second Tier.

"Heh!"

This young man did not hide it from him.

Shi Qian chewed on the Mooncake, the sweetness of the filling slowly permeating his taste buds; a slight smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, but he soon fell into deeper contemplation.

"Woof..."

The dog kept at home came over, also wanting to eat the Mooncake; Shi Qian pointed casually at the Mooncake gift box on the coffee table in front, letting it wreak havoc on that one.

Alone in a foreign land as a stranger, I miss my family all the more on every festive day.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a day for reunion; fortunately, Chen Shu also has a hometown and relatives in this world, and they are all very good to him. This gave him great solace while missing his family and friends from his past life.

After leaving Shi Qian's home, Chen Shu went to find Ning Qing, then rode her small scooter to carry her to the largest shopping mall near University City.

Lemon Shopping Center.

There is a large supermarket downstairs.

It was still Chen Shu walking in front, with Ning Qing quietly following behind pushing the small shopping cart.

Chen Shu would subconsciously talk to her: "What do you want to eat?

"Pickled pepper chicken gizzards?

"Golden soup beef?

"Sour and spicy cabbage?

"Oh, you don't want to eat any of them, you are a fool."

This person, really...

He exhausts every means of provocation.

Ning Qing turned her head and silently observed the myriad of people in the mall.

The middle-aged man behind the pork counter was always pushing Sword pork to people, probably because he had a sales commission. Most customers wouldn't buy it; some thought Sword pork was too expensive, some didn't know what was good about Sword pork but were too embarrassed to ask, some were purely afraid of being ripped off, and others had no other reason, it just seemed like the more you pushed, the less I wanted to buy.

A young couple was picking out fruit, wanting to buy durian; the girl naturally complained it was expensive, and the boy looked embarrassed, which was very interesting.

Chen Shu and her would never be like that.

A young man was selecting vegetables with a subtle expression; he didn't seem to cook often and didn't really know how to choose, but because someone was standing nearby, he didn't want to let them see it, so he tried his best to pretend he was very experienced. Why would he have such thoughts?

The small shopping cart stopped because it had bumped into someone.

This face is so close to me...

Oh, it's Chen Shu's face.

Chen Shu looked at her without blinking: "What are you looking at?"

Ning Qing silently met his gaze.

This person's face was full of curiosity, yet he pretended to be somewhat angry and said to her: "You followed me out to the supermarket, yet you're looking at other people everywhere!"

Ning Qing continued to observe.

His face turned back, and he continued walking forward.

She followed him as well.

Looking down, the small shopping cart already had some things in it, including pickled cabbage, pickled red peppers, pickled ginger, frozen chicken gizzards and beef, as well as some chili powder and a little bit of spices.

"Eh?"

He seemed to have discovered something interesting again; Ning Qing walked over and saw him standing in front of a glass tank: "These abalones are only 8.9 each, and the size is pretty good. How about we pick a dozen or so to take back to prepare, and buy some shiitake mushrooms to dice up? It goes very well with rice, how about it?"

Ning Qing naturally did not speak.

"You pick!"

This person was very used to ordering her around.

Ning Qing walked up, picked up the tongs, leaned in front of the glass tank and watched for a long time, picked up the largest one, held it up to her eyes to examine it carefully, and only then put it into the bag.

When she had picked the fifth one like this, Chen Shu, who had finished buying the meat, had already returned and looked at her speechlessly:

"You're observing even this?"

"..."

"You are too slow!"

"..."

"Then you continue, I'll go pick a fish to make sour cabbage fish tonight," Chen Shu said. "The razor clams over there are also good; after you finish picking the abalones, go buy a pound or two of those too. I bet you've never eaten razor clams in a pickled pepper sour and spicy style outside; they are very delicious."

"..."

About an hour later.

Chen Shu stood next to the small scooter putting on his helmet, while Ning Qing carefully placed the groceries she had bought into the side boxes of the scooter, fearing that she would contaminate her own side boxes.

This kind of mini scooter actually had a pair of side boxes installed, making the whole vehicle look a bit more robust, appearing a little chubby.

Ning Qing also put on her helmet and got on the bike.

The motorcycle was too small, making it very inconvenient to carry a passenger; she had to stay close to Chen Shu.

"Let's go."

Chen Shu twisted the handle.

As the small scooter lurched forward, Ning Qing immediately hugged his waist tightly. Afterwards, when they had to go from the parking strip down to the road surface, even though there was a small slope on the side, this person just wouldn't take it, insisting on driving straight down from the road curb that was over ten centimeters high.

"Clang!"

The helmets bumped together.

Ning Qing was very afraid that the vegetables in the side boxes would be shaken and broken, and that the juices from the meat and fish would flow into the side boxes, which would take a long time to clean up.

If she weren't practicing the Jingxin Dao, she would definitely hit him.

Quickly calm her heart and mind.

Five o'clock in the afternoon.

Ning Qing helped Chen Shu finish the prep work like washing and Cutting Technique, and now there was nothing left for her to help with; meanwhile, Chen Banxia had said "Do as you please, call me when it's time to eat" an hour ago, then flopped onto the sofa and fell asleep, staying asleep until now.

Ning Qing walked over and stared at her for a while.

A boring woman, no fun at all.

So she came back to the kitchen doorway and stood there, gazing intently at Chen Shu's back.

He wasn't the least bit rushed while cooking, as if everything were planned out and everything were under his control, orderly and methodical. From time to time, she would see him standing there with a spatula in one hand and his other hand on his hip, staring blankly at the food in the pot; perhaps he wasn't thinking about anything at all in those moments.

Ning Qing had already seen such scenes many times.

"Sizzle..."

Pickled ginger and pickled chili peppers were dropped into the pot, their pungent, stimulating aroma ignited by the hot oil; white smoke rose suddenly, most of it drawn away by the range hood, with a small portion drifting out.

Chen Shu stood before the stove and stretched his neck.

The smoke and fire of the human world are what move mortal hearts the most.

Ning Qing walked to the kitchen entrance, leaned against the doorframe, looked at him askance, and said softly, "I've always had a question I wanted to ask you."

"Huh?" Chen Shu turned his head in surprise, "What?"

"Where did you learn to cook?"

"Why did you start talking again?"

"I failed."

"Failed again? You're really bad at this."

"I'm asking you."

Ning Qing left the doorframe and stepped into the kitchen; she stood beside Chen Shu, placed one hand on his waist, looked over his shoulder into the pot, and then turned her head to look at Chen Shu.

It was as if she were urging Chen Shu to hurry up and answer her question.

"You're cuter when you're not talking."

"Forget it if you won't answer."

"I'm a genius, born with knowledge."

"Perhaps..."

"Have you noticed that this posture of ours is very intimate?"

"So?"

"I can't let you hold me for free; I have to charge." Chen Shu poured the split razor clams into the pot and said at the same time, "Let's call it even for the time I held your hand earlier."

"Fine."

At the same time, Chen Banxia on the sofa smelled the fragrance and sniffed, then raised one hand to grab the back of the sofa, her upper body suddenly sitting up; only then did she open her eyes—seeing this scene, she couldn't help but rub her eyes, but after a moment she lay back down and continued to sleep.