Fu Chen looked at Fu Lian who had finished her dinner, “Today, I’ll teach you how to make my spicy beef curry. First, I’ll demonstrate how to prepare each ingredient and you’ll try afterwards.” 

He grabbed a dark orange carrot, a knife, and a vegetable peeler. “The carrots I use for my kitchen have no dirt on them so you don’t have to peel them, but carrots that you obtain naturally will usually have some dirt. I recommend always peeling the carrots that you don’t create instead of scrubbing the dirt off. First, you use your knife to cut off the top of the carrot.” 

After cutting off the top of the carrot, Fu Chen looked around and tapped the kitchen counter. A trash bin appeared out of a cabinet. 

“Place your unwanted carrot tops into this trash bin. Don’t worry about it ever getting full since it will be absorbed back into the restaurant. Now that you cut off the carrot top, you hold the wider part of the carrot at a 45 degree angle to the cutting board. Hold the peeler in your other hand and place it at the middle of the carrot. Press downwards with the peeler towards the cutting board.”

He pressed the peeler downwards and a crisp cutting sound rang out in the kitchen.

“SHCK”

A strip of carrot peel fell onto the cutting board to reveal the inside of the carrot.

“Once you reach the bottom of the carrot, peel back upwards to the center of the carrot. Repeat this until the bottom half of the carrot is peeled. Now hold the peeled part of the carrot at a 45 degree angle to the cutting board and repeat what you did earlier. And just like that, you end up with a perfectly peeled carrot.”

He had done each step slowly for Fu Lian to see and fully understand the process. However, seeing and knowing are not the same as doing. Fu Chen took out another carrot and gestured to Fu Lian to come closer. Once she reached the counter, Fu Chen took out a black apron and put it on Fu Lian. She wagged her tail slightly as he tied the strings of her apron. 

“First, go wash your hands in the sink.”

Fu Lian headed towards the sink and turned on the faucet. She wetted her hands with some water and then added some soap onto the palms of her hands. Fu Lian thoroughly scrubbed her hands, dried them, and then headed back towards the kitchen counter. 

Fu Chen nodded in approval with how well she cleaned her hands. She was already way better than a certain student that used kitchen knives to kill people. “Okay, I already cut the top off of the carrot. Now try to peel one strip of the carrot.”

Fu Lian held the carrot at a 45 degree angle to the cutting board and almost perfectly replicated Fu Chen’s peeling action. 

“Good, now peel the whole bottom of the carrot.” 

With some slight mistakes, she managed to peel the whole bottom part of the carrot. Fu Chen showed a slight smile that looked a bit normal and had Fu Lian repeat her actions for the top part of the carrot which she easily did. 

“Well done, but you will need to continuously practice to improve your peeling skills.”

Fu Chen rewarded Fu Lian with some head pats. Her tail wagged while Fu Chen was……

‘Eheheheheh. Her ears are so fucking fluffy.’

He washed his hands to maintain cleanliness in the kitchen despite the fact that Fu Chen knew that Fu Lian was very clean. 

“Now I’ll teach you some basic knife skills to cut carrots and other vegetables.”

Fu Chen held a kitchen knife that had a black handle and a rectangular blade that was slightly curved. 

“First, you want to hold the handle with your middle, ring, and pinky fingers. Your index finger will be curled and rested flat against the blade near the handle and place your thumb on the opposite side of the blade.”

He then grabbed a peeled carrot and placed the long side horizontally parallel to the cutting board. Fu Chen then showed his other hand that wasn’t holding the knife to Fu Lian.

“Now, you want to curl the fingers of your other hand enough to have the fingernails touching the food.”

With his other hand curled on the carrot, Fu Chen moved onto the next step.

“Next, you want to always keep the tip of the blade on the cutting board as you cut.”

Fu Chen started to move his knife in a smooth “rocking” motion starting at the tip and rolling to the heel of the blade. 

“CHK”

He cut down and through the carrot which made a satisfying sound. After the first cut, he lifted the heel of the knife with the tip still on the cutting board and repeated the cutting motions. Fu Lian was mesmerized at the sight. Fu Chen managed to make each motion look perfect with equal thickness carrot pieces being sliced each time.

“CHK”

The last piece of the carrot was cut and Fu Chen placed the blade down. He looked at Fu Lian and placed her peeled carrot on the cutting board.

“Now you try.”

Fu Lian held the knife a bit awkwardly, but Fu Chen corrected her grip by moving her fingers to the right parts of the knife. Her face turned slightly red as Fu Chen made physical contact with her and she tried to stop her tail from wagging so he wouldn’t notice. Then, she curled her nondominant hand with her knuckles near the flat of the blade. Fu Lian made her first chop and Fu Chen gave her some tips to fix her mistakes. As she continued, her slicing motions became more fluid and smooth. 

“SCHK”

She placed the blade onto the cutting board and Fu Chen nodded.

“You did a good job with learning the basic cutting skill. I’ll have you practice more on other vegetables.”

Fu Chen gave her more head pats and words of encouragement which made Fu Lian’s heart race slightly. 

“Alright, this is an onion.”

-----------

In a slightly dark room filled with hooded figures, quiet conversations could barely be heard. The atmosphere felt slightly gloomy and grim. Suddenly, a cloaked figure sitting on a chair knocked on the table. All of the people stopped talking while the person cleared their throat.

“We will start the next part of our operation tomorrow.”