Dual-Mindedness of Legend

Foxtail Grass it was, then. At least it probably wouldn't burn through his data. Qin Fen had thought it through clearly: he was still in the early stages of developing his career, so there was no need to overthink things.

Though he was young, Qin Fen possessed a steadiness his peers lacked. He did not tap it immediately. Over a thousand data points looked like a lot, but there was no guarantee the download would succeed. So he put away his phone, left the restroom, and hurried back to the restaurant.

Second by second, time passed, and the crowd gradually grew. Young people occasionally streamed past the entrance. It was summer vacation, so there were plenty of people around. Of course, Qin Fen knew that more than half of them had come to the mall to enjoy the air conditioning.

"Qin Fen, you're back. What were you busy with just now?" Zhang Ye appeared nearby.

Seeing the smile on his face, Qin Fen returned it with one of his own. "Went out to buy a pack of cigarettes. Couldn't resist."

"Oh. There'll gradually be more customers later. Noon is fine, we can handle it. The main rush is in the afternoon and evening. What are you good at?" Zhang Ye did not press further.

"My knife skills are decent," Qin Fen said calmly. If his parents had heard that, his father would definitely have slapped him across the face. Since when were his knife skills any good? How had they not known?

"Fine, then cut up the potatoes and lean pork." After saying that, Zhang Ye turned and walked over to the stove to start cooking, preparing the dishes halfway in advance.

When Qin Fen walked to the chopping board, quite a few apprentices around him were cutting and preparing ingredients. They all gave him curious looks. This newcomer who had suddenly been inserted into the kitchen seemed to have some unclear relationship with the proprietress, naturally drawing their attention.

Holding the knife, Qin Fen was somewhat speechless. He really had become a New Oriental chef.

The moment he hesitated, everyone around him wore strange expressions. Several apprentices even cautiously moved aside and pointed at him.

"Wasn't he supposed to be a chef hired by the proprietress?"

"I saw him holding a knife and spacing out."

"Maybe the proprietress wasn't interested in his knife skills, but something else."

They whispered among themselves, then exchanged knowing looks.

"What a shame this is a kitchen. If he has no real skill, he'll be exposed right away."

"Just do your work. This has nothing to do with us."

Zhang Ye looked at the daydreaming Qin Fen, the corner of his mouth curving slightly upward. Then he turned away, and a flash of disdain appeared on his face.

Before long, many apprentices had secretly shifted their attention to Qin Fen.

"Helping the Earth God this time should be a long-term investment, but it's better to spread Merit around. I just looked at Matchmaker Yue's message, and he seems a little troubled." Qin Fen held a knife in one hand and pressed down a potato with the other, his eyes fixed on the distance. He did not lower his head to look at the chopping board at all.

Clack, clack, clack. The sound of the knife suddenly rang out. It started slow, then grew faster, soon becoming a dense patter like raindrops.

"It seems the Buddhist School is recruiting believers on a large scale. In other words, the Buddhist School and the Heavenly Court don't seem to be getting along now. Then what about the Demon Tribe?" Qin Fen muttered softly, yet his hands did not slow in the slightest.

Ordinary people found it difficult to do two things at once, but as the Food God, the supreme god of the culinary world, such a trick was far too easy for him.

"Holy shit, is he cutting potatoes?" One apprentice's eyes nearly popped out.

Those movements were as precise as a machine's, frightening him senseless.

"I hope my eyes are playing tricks on me too. He doesn't look very old, about the same age as me. I've trained in white-case cooking for three years, and my speed is about the same as his." The other apprentice could not finish the rest. But that guy was cutting without even looking, seemingly spacing out and muttering to himself at the same damn time.

"I saw it too. Isn't he afraid of cutting his hand?"

"Heh, maybe he's just showing off. Let's see what he does when he switches potatoes. He's only cutting on momentum right now."

Qin Fen did not notice the stares and whispers around him. His attention was not on cutting vegetables at all. He had thought of Journey to the West. "Journey to the West marked the Buddhist School's entry into the Central Plains. It represented them coming to seize resources, so they were bound to stand opposed to the Heavenly Court, the local power. No wonder the Buddhist School was getting anxious. The Heavenly Court's population was expanding."

Qin Fen spoke softly. There was one thing he could not figure out. Based on Journey to the West, immortals and mortals had not yet been separated during the Tang Dynasty. So when had they been separated? And after the separation, why had no goblins remained behind? Could it have been the Heavenly Dao? Damn, what does something so lofty have to do with me?

Since he could not figure it out, Qin Fen stopped thinking about it. If he wanted to get to the bottom of everything and demand logic, then he should not be playing around on the Heavenly Court's Moments in the first place. The whole thing was absurd to begin with.

He was deep in thought, but his hands did not pause in the slightest. The blade turned and stopped instantly. The abrupt transition from extreme motion to absolute stillness made it seem as though time and space had frozen.

His other hand reached out, and a fresh potato landed in it. Then came another burst of fierce clacking.

The brief pause lasted no more than the blink of an eye, and Qin Fen resumed that mechanical shredding motion.

"This has to be fake. It has to be."

"Mom, how heartless do you have to be to do that?"

"My eyes must be playing tricks on me. I fucking refuse to believe it."

"Those knife skills have left me speechless. It's like his mind isn't even on it."

"Could this be the legendary Dual-Mindedness?" The apprentices were in agony. Qin Fen was like a robot, his hands never stopping. The potatoes beside him dwindled one after another, and soon a huge plate was piled full of thin shreds.

The two apprentices were too rattled to endure it any longer. They quietly walked over and leaned close to Qin Fen. Taking a look at the expert hired by the proprietress, they discovered that this guy was still spacing out.

With strange expressions, they looked toward the plate. Blind cutting was already a technical skill, requiring long-term practice and a feel for the knife. Of course, that was not the true divine skill. Knife work was not just about speed; the results mattered too. If what you cut came out a complete mess, then that was all you were worth.

Taking advantage of a pause in preparing ingredients, they secretly glanced at the plate beside Qin Fen.

Hiss! The two sharply inhaled. Every shred of potato inside was neither too wide nor too narrow, each strip even, of suitable length, and just the right thickness.

Still unwilling to believe it, they grabbed a handful and placed it in the basket in their hands, then looked underneath.

Damn, the ones below were nearly identical. That meant that even while spacing out, he had maintained the same feel for the knife from beginning to end, cutting everything perfectly evenly.

Looking at Qin Fen, whose face still showed that he was thinking about something, then at his hands, the two apprentices looked as though they had seen a ghost. Even like this, he was still thinking about something and could cut them that well? After studying for three years, they might as well have lived like dogs. Were you even human?