Knife Skills Level 3

With the matter settled, Zhou An felt somewhat relieved. Even the tea, bitter at first, now seemed much more fragrant.

He idled away the time in his room until the afternoon. After stepping out to grab something to eat, he saw Chef Liu walk in.

"Done." Chef Liu did not bother hiding it and spoke those two words in front of the other constables.

Zhou An cupped his hands. "Thanks, Old Liu. I'll treat you to a meal another day."

Chef Liu shook his head and turned to leave the room. Before he left, he grumbled, "Don't treat me to a meal. Just work properly and stop slacking off every other day."

After Chef Liu left, the constables present all looked puzzled, unable to figure out what the two of them were up to.

Yu Hang had the best relationship with Zhou An and curiously sidled over. "Old Zhou, what are you up to this time?"

He really was curious.

Ever since learning that Zhou An was a mysterious expert, curiosity had been clawing at his heart like a cat.

Now that Zhou An had made another strange move, he was even more curious.

Zhou An set down his teacup with an unconcerned expression. "Nothing much. I just want to help out in the kitchen."

The constables all wore strange expressions when they heard that.

They all knew about helping in the kitchen.

But there was not much money to be made from it, so no one was willing to do it.

Seeing what they were thinking, Zhou An brought out the excuse he had prepared. "These days, a little extra is still extra. We might look impressive in the commoners' eyes, but we all know what things are really like. We can't keep squeezing the commoners for money every day, can we? Take too much, and sooner or later we'll pay for it."

Only then did the others understand.

Among the constables of An Ding County, only Zhou An and Yu Hang had never taken money from the commoners.

The constables assumed Zhou An wanted to earn some extra money but did not have the nerve to do anything improper, so he could only take the legitimate route.

With that thought, they stopped paying attention. Yu Hang, however, was different.

"Old Zhou, what are you really up to?"

Yu Hang spoke especially quietly.

Zhou An shook his head. "Really, it's nothing."

He could not tell anyone about proficiency.

He had to keep it secret.

After all, it was his greatest reliance.

Yu Hang wore an expression like he was constipated.

He knew Zhou An well, so he knew Zhou An was not telling the truth.

But he did not press further. Even between close brothers, there had to be some privacy.

"I'll be staying at the yamen tonight." Yu Hang lowered his voice. "You need to be careful."

Zhou An nodded slightly.

This did not surprise him.

After all, Yu Hang was still a constable of the yamen.

When something happened, the yamen still had to step in and maintain order.

That was also why Zhou An had not resigned from his position as a constable.

Who knew when he might cause a major mess? When that time came, this identity as a constable might prove useful.

"Don't leave the yamen tonight, no matter what," Zhou An reminded him.

Yu Hang agreed.

The yamen only provided lunch, so there was no need to help in the kitchen at this time.

Zhou An continued idling, all the way until the end of his shift.

Getting off work always made people happy.

Amid laughter and cheerful chatter, Zhou An returned home with his long saber at his waist.

After returning home, he ate as usual, then continued grinding his Knife Skills progress.

The further he went, the slower the progress became, but Zhou An was not anxious.

These things had to be ground out over time anyway. Being impatient would only make things go wrong.

Nothing happened the entire night. With his whole right arm tingling, Zhou An silently kept grinding.

Over the next ten or so days, Zhou An's life became extremely regular.

Every day, he reported for duty, then went to the kitchen to help chop vegetables. At night, he returned home and continued grinding Knife Skills.

For some reason, the entire An Ding County seemed to become safe in an instant. There were no more incidents involving the Gray Rat Worshipers.

The people from the Demon Suppression Division also seemed very busy.

Sometimes, when Zhou An happened to pass by, he could see hurried figures moving about inside.

"Looks like they've found a lead. The other side knows they're being investigated, so they've gone into hiding."

Zhou An plated the vegetables he had chopped and looked at the words before him.

Knife Skills lv.2 (Speed +1): 19856/20000

These past few days, he had truly been grinding day and night, sleeping only two hours each night.

And he had to put on an act as well.

At first, he pretended to be terrible. Over the past few days, he had gradually started pretending to be proficient at chopping vegetables.

In short, he first pretended to be bad, then pretended to be skilled, and finally became more and more skilled.

Only by following that process would it seem reasonable.

At lunchtime.

Zhou An sat in the dining hall, eating as he spoke to Chef Liu.

"I'll be patrolling the streets tomorrow, so I won't be coming over to help."

Over the past ten or so days, he had also patrolled the streets. Whenever he was on patrol, he did not come help out.

Chef Liu nodded. "Handle your own work. Those are the rules. If you have something to do, take care of it first."

Zhou An gave a grunt and took another large mouthful of rice.

"Oh, right. Be more careful when you're patrolling the streets. Stay sharp," Chef Liu reminded him.

Zhou An sensed there was more to his words and asked, "What is it?"

Chef Liu looked left and right. After making sure there were no outsiders nearby, he finally said in a low voice, "A few days ago, when I was out buying supplies, I happened to pass the Demon Suppression Division. Guess what? I saw quite a few members of the Demon Suppression Division wrapped in bandages."

Zhou An's gaze narrowed slightly.

They would only be wrapped in bandages if they were injured.

"It was the Gray Rat Worshipers, wasn't it?"

This was not a secret in the county yamen, so Zhou An could say it openly.

Chef Liu raised his eyebrows. "Probably. That's why I told you to be careful. Don't patrol your way into a dead end. If something happens, I'll be short one kitchen helper."

Zhou An was speechless. "Old Liu, if you said that to anyone else, you'd definitely get slapped twice. Doesn't matter how old you are, those slaps would be coming."

After spending the past ten or so days together, the two had developed a certain rapport.

Zhou An had discovered that Chef Liu was the kind of person who spoke without restraint.

At over sixty years old, Chef Liu did not have any bad intentions. He was simply too blunt and easily offended people.

"Who would dare slap me? Maybe one day I'll put some laxatives in your food." Chef Liu cracked a joke.

The two did not continue discussing the matter. Instead, they chatted idly as they ate.

After lunch, Zhou An idled away the entire afternoon.

Once his shift ended, he bought some vegetables and returned home.

He was only a little over a hundred points away from reaching level three proficiency.

Zhou An figured that if he ground through it tonight, he would probably make it.

He simply made himself dinner. After eating, he even drank a cup of tea before finally heading to the chopping board and taking out the extra vegetables.

"Time to grind!"

Zhou An flexed his wrist, picked up the kitchen knife beside him, and began grinding.

In the dead of night, the sound of the kitchen knife chopping continued all the way until the next morning.

The next day.

To fill up his proficiency, Zhou An stayed up all night.

When he set down the kitchen knife the next morning, he even chopped once more out of habit.

"Heaven rewards the diligent. You reap what you sow."

Looking at the words before him, Zhou An smiled.