In today’s society, there is a push for equal rights for all, but at some point, many people have started eating out or ordering takeout, and both men and women have stopped cooking.
William stood with a stern face, instructing Alice to stand still, and Alice was scared into immobility.
At that moment, she had the illusion that the young man in front of her, who was younger than her, was like an elder in the family. He hadn’t scolded her, but he carried an inexplicable authority.
William didn’t expect that, in taking on a female apprentice, he would have to teach her to cook. So, he began to prepare the meal while explaining to Alice how to cut meat, how to cook vegetables, and how to season them.
It was still early, so William was just doing some prep work.
Including making Italian bread, he would knead the dough and let it rise. Cooking, to him, seemed like artistic processing.
Alice stood quietly, listening to William’s “lessons,” and felt more and more that William was amazing.
Young as he was, he knew medicine, wrote well, and even knew how to cook!
Alice had also learned medicine and calligraphy, and even though she wasn’t as good as William, she considered herself not bad. But in terms of culinary skills, she had no words. .
If William were merely skilled in cooking, that would be one thing. But he was already so proficient in other areas – how did he have time to learn all these things?
“Master, did you start learning these things from your mother’s womb?” Alice was truly impressed.
Setting aside William’s handwriting, it would take eight to ten years of practice to achieve that level of skill.
Not to mention the advanced medical technology he had to learn!
Alice was studying medicine herself, so she knew how difficult it was. Otherwise, why are there so few excellent doctors now?
After hearing her question, William quickly understood. Not everyone had lived as long as he had. A young girl who had been trained to learn medicine from a young age – if her family hadn’t taught her culinary skills, it was normal for her not to know.
“I’ve been learning for quite a while,” William said. “If you don’t want to learn these things, you don’t have to. I’ll teach you something for self-defense later, and that should be enough for your lifetime.”
“Hmm?” Alice asked, “You’re going to teach me martial arts?”
William pondered for a moment and said, “I’ll teach you some basic magic.”
“Magic…magic?” Alice couldn’t help but smirk, there’s real magic?
William, while working on the vegetables in front of him, said, “You could also call it sorcery, arcane arts, or mystic arts. Which would you like to learn?”
Sorcery, arcane arts, mystic arts!
Alice had some knowledge of these from novels or games, and she exclaimed, “Master, you’re not going to tell me that these things actually exist and you know them all, are you?”
“Is it that strange?” William said. “The Runes I showed you earlier, which contain medical techniques, are also a kind of magic. How else could you have grasped it so quickly? These are just the tip of the iceberg, and your life journey is still long. Since you’ve chosen me as your master, you should learn at least some of it, so you don’t embarrass me when you go out.”
“Oh my God–” Alice couldn’t just express her feelings with mere astonishment anymore. Just the Runes from earlier were so magical, and they were just the tip of the iceberg.
“Choose one from magic, curses, summoning, divination, healing magic, or herbalism.”
Ordinary people could spend their whole lives learning one of these and still be considered good. But Alice was William’s apprentice, and of course, he planned to teach her some real skills.
“Magic! I choose magic!”
If anyone else asked her, Alice would definitely think they were a scammer. But after this brief interaction, she thought William might actually know magic.
“Focus on mastering medicine first,” William didn’t immediately teach her magic. Alice was still studying medicine, and for ordinary people, learning magic was not so simple. He needed to think about where to start teaching her.
Alice nodded, then asked, “Master, who’s coming over for dinner today?”
“Nathaniel from next door and his granddaughter,” William answered.
Immediately, Alice detected something unusual in his tone, her eyes twinkled as she said, teasingly, “It’s mainly Mr. Smith’s granddaughter, isn’t it?”
William turned to look at her, and Alice’s smile became somewhat awkward.
“She could very well be my future wife!” William said.
“That direct, huh?” Alice’s gossip-loving heart was immediately ignited. “Did you confess your feelings to her?”
“Confess?” William looked at Alice as if she were a fool. “I’ve only known her for a few days. I’m not the kind of person who falls for someone just based on their looks!”
“Yeah, right! As if you wouldn’t be swayed by looks!” Alice almost gave him the finger, but instead asked curiously, “She must be pretty, right?”
“She’s alright,” William said. “Better looking than you.”
That direct, huh?
With that statement, Alice lost all desire to continue chatting with William. She thought, ‘This Master of mine really takes me for granted! Even if that lady is more attractive than me, you don’t have to say it so bluntly!’
Can’t you speak more tactfully?
For the rest of the time, Alice stood by, nearly self-absorbed, watching William cook.
In her mind, cooking should be a messy affair, yet William went about it methodically, each movement akin to artistic craftsmanship.
Little did she know that people like William, no matter what they did, were full of harmony, embodying cosmic truths. Thousands of years ago, Zeus’s daughter Athena lived with William for a hundred years. By observing his everyday tasks, she gained wisdom in art, science, military strategy, and crafts, becoming the goddess of wisdom. She then bestowed these skills and wisdom upon humans, enabling them to achieve success in various fields.
As time passed, William had prepared a dish of Poulet aux Herbes de Provence, a vegetable salad, and the bread was already baked. Alice felt a bit bored standing by and asked, “Master, do you think the man who sold the pearls yesterday will really die?”
Without turning his head, William replied, “He will definitely die.”
Alice whispered, “Can he be saved?”
“Why save him? What he did was contrary to human nature. I gave him a chance, and he chose his own fate,” William said calmly. In his view, life and death were quite ordinary matters. Except for those he deeply cared for, the lives of others were irrelevant to him, especially when it came to a tomb raider who had received his just punishment.
Alice asked again, “What about the owner of the Eternal Life Emporium? Will he die?”
As a doctor who knew when others were in mortal danger, Alice always wanted to help. In her eyes, even a tomb raider could be saved in the face of death. At most, she would turn him over to the police for legal punishment after saving him.
“I don’t know,” William responded, uninterested in the matter. Originally, he had wanted to buy the Radiant Empress Pearl for his collection. But the shop owner insisted on competing with him for it. If he died, it was his own choice.