January 8, 2024, Monday.
Shenzhen Bay No. 1, Building T5.
Morning sunlight streamed through the broad floor-to-ceiling windows, spreading a golden glow across the floor.
Liu Qingning wore a loose, comfortable cotton nightgown, her long hair casually pinned up behind her head as she lazily nibbled at her breakfast.
The freshly baked butter croissant was crisp outside and soft within. The perfectly fried soft-centered egg was sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper, accompanied by a glass of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice and several plump cherries.
Simple, yet exquisite.
"Miss Qingning is really clever. So many professional chefs might not get the timing for a soft-centered egg this perfect in one try, yet you've only been learning for a few days. You make them even better than I do!"
Aunt Mei, the housekeeper beside her, was organizing the kitchenware. Unable to resist, she gave Liu Qingning a thumbs-up, her eyes full of affectionate warmth.
"Aunt Mei, stop flattering me. I just got lucky."
Liu Qingning smiled, speared a croissant drenched in egg yolk, and put it into her mouth. She narrowed her eyes in satisfaction.
Compared to headache-inducing code architectures, obscure mathematical models, and AI algorithms that required hundreds of millions of iterations—
Cooking was simply too easy, and too healing.
As long as she mastered the temperature-control logic and time parameters, the results would be controllable and wonderful.
She had only been too busy before, pushing herself too hard, and too lazy to move.
Now that she genuinely wanted to learn, someone with her brain naturally picked it up quickly.
She was now in a state of relaxation unlike anything she had ever experienced before.
The old Liu Qingning had actually been someone with an extremely strong need for control, even a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
She had wanted to