The Proper Way to Cook

That night, Zhou An slept for only two hours.

He found that the current within his body could ward off fatigue, but two hours of sleep a day was still necessary.

Perhaps once the current became powerful enough, he could go without sleep all night, but not yet.

He had grinded for a while last night, and the results had been quite fruitful.

Knife Skills lv.2 (Speed +1): 1582/20000

The higher his proficiency climbed, the harder it became to grind.

At this pace, if he grinded for two hours every night, it would take him more than ten days to reach lv.3.

But he could not simply quit being a constable and grind day and night.

He had to eat, after all...

He was not some great hero from a storybook who upheld justice every day without even needing to eat.

People had to eat, and eating required money.

He could hardly grab a blade and go rob people, could he?

As usual, Zhou An got up early that day. He made breakfast at home, happily finished it, then headed to the yamen to check in.

On the way, he heard quite a few commoners talking, mostly about what had happened in Hu Yang Alley last night.

There were no walls in the world that did not let the wind through, especially not walls hiding secrets.

After fermenting for an entire night, the news had already spread through a small circle.

When the commoners saw the clothes Zhou An wore, they hurriedly kept their distance, afraid he might overhear them.

A constable's Zi Clothes were nothing remarkable within official circles, but in the eyes of ordinary folk, they carried tremendous intimidation.

After checking in at the yamen, Zhou An followed the familiar route to the room, preparing to slack off as he had before.

A group of colleagues was already slacking off inside. Zhou An sat in his old spot, followed the old routine, drank a pot of tea, then leaned back in his chair with narrowed eyes, half asleep and half awake.

Yu Hang had been reading the whole time. After reading for quite a while, he seemed to have reached a stopping point and finally shifted his stool closer to Zhou An.

"Old Zhou, have you heard?"

Zhou An had been dozing. Upon hearing that voice, he opened his eyes and saw Yu Hang's gossip-hungry expression. "What is it?"

Yu Hang lowered his voice. "Wasn't there a murder yesterday? The County Magistrate reported it to the Demon Suppression Division, and someone from the Demon Suppression Division is coming today."

"What does that have to do with me? Or with you? Lao Yu, focus on your studies and quit digging into so much gossip. Watch out, or disaster may come from your mouth," Zhou An warned.

In these times, it was best to keep out of the Demon Suppression Division's affairs. They dealt with the strange and sinister all year round; every last one of them was a seasoned old hand.

"Heh, I'm just getting a little background. If I pass the Imperial Examination and end up managing a stretch of land, I'll inevitably have to deal with them," Yu Hang said with a chuckle.

Zhou An rolled his eyes. "Talk about it after you pass. Even if you do, you'll only manage your own territory. You won't be managing the Demon Suppression Division."

He truly did not want to deal with that bunch. Now that he had the Golden Finger, he needed to lie low and grow steadily.

Only after grinding his skills to high levels would it be time for him to cut loose.

Yu Hang curled his lip. "I knew you thought I couldn't pass. Want to have dinner together tonight?"

The two had grown up together and were neighbors. Whenever they had nothing to do, Yu Hang often went to Zhou An's place to freeload a meal, or Zhou An would go to Yu Hang's place to do the same.

The two of them had always had such give-and-take.

But recently, Yu Hang had been busy preparing for the Imperial Examination, so they had eaten together less often.

"Sure. Come to my place tonight." Zhou An yawned. "I'm going to doze off for a bit first."

With that, he picked up a book from the table, covered his face with it, and pretended to sleep.

With the current inside him and the two hours of sleep he had gotten last night, Zhou An was actually full of energy. But he had a habit of thinking things through with his eyes closed.

There were two problems in total now.

First, he had too much idle time during the day, and he needed to find an opportunity to use it to grind Knife Skills.

Second, aside from Knife Skills, he had not triggered any other skills.

Zhou An felt that he first needed to solve the first problem. While solving it, he could also resolve the second.

He already had a preliminary idea for the second problem as well.

When he had designed this game back then, for a skill to begin gaining proficiency, the first requirement was to get started.

He had gotten started with Knife Skills. Chopping vegetables was simple enough; as long as the cuts were neat, that counted as getting started.

But the other skills seemed much more troublesome.

So after solving the first problem, he also needed to start getting the other skills past the beginner stage. He had to grind on multiple fronts; only by mixing them together could he become more well-rounded.

For the time being, Zhou An had no plans to give up his job as a constable.

In a world like this, having an official identity made things easier.

I've got it!

After leaning back in his chair and thinking for a long time, a flash of light crossed Zhou An's mind, and he had made his decision.

But that decision would have to wait until this disturbance had passed.

The end of the workday soon arrived. Zhou An estimated that tomorrow would be his turn to patrol the streets.

After work today, he was no longer alone. Yu Hang followed beside him.

The two went to the street together to buy groceries.

While they were buying vegetables, Yu Hang also bought a great deal of seasonings.

"So your Private Tutor went back to his hometown to visit relatives?" Zhou An asked.

He had been wondering why Yu Hang was eating with him today. It turned out the Private Tutor was away.

Yu Hang carried a pile of vegetables in his hands and said helplessly, "He said he won't be back for around ten days. The Imperial Examination is only a few months away. Him pulling this has me panicking too. The key is, I already paid him."

"Did he refund your money?" Zhou An asked.

Yu Hang nodded, indicating that he had indeed received part of it back.

The two chatted as they returned home.

Yu Hang, familiar with the place, carried the vegetables off to pick and wash them. Once he was done, it was Zhou An's turn to cut them.

Once all the preparations were complete, Zhou An poured oil into the wok. After the oil heated up, he was about to add the vegetables.

The two had not gathered for a long time, so they were eating somewhat lavishly, making five dishes and a soup.

But before Zhou An could add the vegetables to the wok, Yu Hang pressed down on his hand and shook his head.

"Since I haven't been eating dinner these past few days, I've just been eating over at the Private Tutor's place. His cooking is delicious, and I picked up quite a bit. Do it the way I tell you."

Zhou An was speechless. "When I cooked before, you were never this particular. Why don't you do it?"

Whenever the two ate together, Zhou An was basically always the one cooking, while Yu Hang was responsible for washing the vegetables.

Of course, Yu Hang never paid a cent less than his share.

Yu Hang chuckled. "It's not like I know how."

Zhou An sighed. "Then tell me how to do it."

"Same as before, except after you put in the vegetables, you need to keep flipping the wok." Yu Hang grabbed one end of the wok and kept making an especially lewd motion.

Zhou An: "..."

When he cooked before, he had basically only cared whether the food was edible.

After all, he was a grown man; he was not particularly fussy about such things.

Today was their first meal together in a long time, so Zhou An did not think much of it and tried it Yu Hang's way.

The vegetables went into the wok. The hot oil crackled and popped as it splashed.

Zhou An tried gripping the wok handle and gave it a flip.

A line of text appeared before his eyes, and Zhou An froze.