Waking from a good sleep, Mo Fei stretched lazily. It felt as though he had not rested this well in a long time.
Ever since transmigrating, he seemed to have been constantly worrying about making a living. Now, at last, he was on the right track.
The business supporting the orphanage had made good progress, and he could finally begin focusing on the present.
Perhaps because of his combat skill, Mo Fei felt that his body was full of strength.
Yet he seemed unable to put that strength to use.
He had experienced this mismatch between strength and technique before. It had been the same when his cooking improved: his mind told him he knew how, and his body said it could do it, but when he actually tried, his brain and body were not yet in sync.
The best solution was to improve his skill proficiency further.
There were many ways to train his combat skill.
However, after combining it with some of the medical knowledge in his mind, he came up with a better plan.
After dressing and washing up, he went downstairs. Once he had kneaded the dough in the kitchen, he headed outside.
In winter, even the wind blowing through London was bitterly cold.
Without yesterday's enhancement, Mo Fei would never have come outside to freeze.
On the other hand, this cold wind was actually quite helpful in getting him accustomed to the change in his body's strength.
And so, before daylight had fully broken, Mo Fei began practicing Tai Chi in the courtyard.
It was not some secret lineage of Tai Chi, just the kind everyone learned in university physical education classes.
Claiming that this sort of Chen-style Tai Chi could really turn someone into a martial arts master would be an exaggeration. Its greatest benefit was probably helping practitioners learn to control their breathing and rhythm, allowing them to control themselves.
As for the philosophy of Tai Chi, he could forget about that. This was Britain, the hub of Europe, after all, with no soil for yin and yang to take root and sprout.
He practiced Tai Chi only to take better care of his body and gain control of his newly acquired strength.
To the children in the orphanage, however, his behavior was rather conspicuous.
Their director, who normally hardly exercised, had gone outside alone before everyone got up and was practicing some kind of martial art in the courtyard. It was far too eye-catching.
Then there were some of the fairy tales Mo Fei had mentioned before.
All this made it hard for them not to associate Mo Fei with the reclusive wizards of legend.
Fortunately, Aiwen and Lina, the two leaders among the children, did not let them carry on discussing meaningless things. One took the children to wash up and then sit at the dining table to wait for breakfast, while the other went into the kitchen to make breakfast using the dough Mo Fei had kneaded.
Just as Lina was baking the bread, Mo Fei's voice rang out.
"The heat for the bread needs to be lower. Remember, there's no fixed heat for baking bread. You need to learn to feel the temperature..."
Mo Fei took Lina's hand and held it very close to the oven.
"As cooks, controlling the flame is at the heart of what we do. We mustn't fear it, but we mustn't take it lightly either. It's both our friend and the culprit behind our injuries..."
Although Mo Fei's voice was very close, it sounded strangely dreamlike.
To Lina, it seemed as though she could see through the oven to the steadily burning firewood inside, and the flames dancing above it.
She could feel the oven's heat against her palm. It was scorching enough to make her palm ache slightly.
She seemed to understand a little of what Mo Fei meant.
Then she decisively adjusted the fire to make it smaller and put her little hand in the same position again. This time, she felt only a gentle warmth, without that stinging sensation, and the temperature was not too low either.
"Yes, just like that, Lina. Learn to feel the flame. This is our stairway to improvement..."
After giving her some pointers, Mo Fei went over to another stove and began preparing to make a thick soup.
All the ingredients were already prepared, just waiting for Lina to cook them.
Mia had chopped them all. Although their shapes were not very pretty, their sizes were quite suitable.
Mo Fei praised her. "Our Mia is a big girl now, too. You can help Lina with her work. You're really capable!"
The praise made her cheeks flush slightly, but the light in her eyes grew brighter.
Lucy, who stood nearby, said nothing, but she too looked expectantly at Mo Fei.
At that moment, Lina came back to her senses and volunteered a reminder. "Lucy washed all the vegetables here. She's a big girl now, too..."
Mo Fei went so far as to pick the child up and loudly praise how wonderful she was. "That's our little princess! You're every bit as well-behaved as Jimmy now... Thank you all so much!"
Once Lucy was set down, she shyly ran outside.
Mo Fei was not worried, though. The boys were right outside, and Aiwen would keep an eye on them. Besides, Lucy had probably gone to show off to Jimmy.
Previously, Mo Fei had publicly praised Jimmy several times for helping look after Tom.
He later heard that Jimmy had shown off to Lucy several times. Now it was Lucy's turn.
Lina was not worried either. She simply looked at Mo Fei with shining eyes. "Director, why don't you make the soup? I'd still like to learn how to control the heat for it!"
Faced with Lina's eagerness to learn, Mo Fei had no intention of holding anything back.
Coming over to the stove, Mo Fei poured a little oil into the pot, then added the vegetables and sautéed them. There were mushrooms among them, filling the kitchen with a strong mushroom aroma.
"Making soup is a little different from baking bread. Soup needs a lower heat. We need to draw the essence out of the vegetables little by little, and that's where our delicious flavor comes from..."
As the moisture gradually came out of the vegetables, Mo Fei added some salt to enhance the flavor, then sprinkled in some flour to thicken the soup.
Once the moisture in the vegetables had reduced, he took out a jug of milk and carefully poured some in.
Next, he added some water.
After putting in all the ingredients, he once again had Lina feel the flame.
"You saw earlier that the flame had to be low at the start. Otherwise, the delicate vegetables would instantly burn and turn bitter, losing their delicious flavor. But once we've added milk and water, we need to raise the heat a little so all the flavors can blend together..."
Lina watched the dancing flames very attentively.
When the soup was nearly ready to serve, Mo Fei added some more seasonings, including pepper and a few others.
He used very little of these seasonings. After all, none of them were cheap, and they were not yet in a position to use them lavishly.
As soon as it was ladled out of the pot, Lina could smell the soup's aroma, a delicious blend of milky fragrance and the fresh sweetness of vegetables.
At the same time, a tempting aroma drifted from the bread oven as well, although Lina had done both the initial shaping of the bread and putting it into the oven herself.
As a result, the bread actually had quite a few flaws in its shape and details. But because the heat had been right, it had not burned; instead, its crust had a vivid reddish-brown color.
The moment breakfast was brought to the table, all the children looked expectantly at the food before them.