System Only Gives Me Useless Gifts

Li Yun scanned through the list of appointments Chief Lim and Gao had sent to him via their work email.

LiYun: What the heck!? This doesn’t look like a schedule, it looks more like a calendar book.

ChiefLim: You should thank me for setting this up.

ChiefGao: The result of being a bigshot doctor. 

After the brief message, Chief Gao called Li Yun.

“Yo, mister bigshot, are you complaining about the appointments or how long it is booked out?” asked Chief Gao. “This is just a proposal, so you can take a look and shift things to match your schedule.”

“Yeah, about that, it’s not like I plan my day two months in advance,” Li Yun saw the appointments stretching over 6 months. It was typical for specialty surgery to be booked months in advance, but Li Yun didn't know what he would be doing two months later. His schedule was always shifting.

“Well, I told them we are only certain of appointments within the first sixty days, so you can just change things around if you want.”

“I’m going to take two weeks off in November.”

“Ooh, I want to ask if it’s a vacation, but you’re more likely working on something else. Any place interesting?”

“Top secret,” it wasn’t really a secret, but Li Yun didn’t want to explain why he was going on a cooking show.

Li Yun got off the phone and looked at the documents on his desk. After making a decent profit from treasure hunting, he was planning to buy land around Yide and in different parts of the Country.

Rouxi wasn’t exactly sure why he needed to buy the land. In China, real estate was quite difficult. It was because ownership belonged to the country. Buyers exchanged land use rights, but since the term of the lease was 50-60 years and up to 70 years for residential properties, many people consider it their personal property.

“For studying fengshui?” asked Rouxi.

“I wish,” Li Yun lamented. He had been reading quite a bit, but it was difficult to find a good fengshui book.

Feng Shui was passed down through lineages like some TCM tradition. Feng shui was big business in some parts of Asia. Many elites hire feng shui masters to help build office buildings, homes and even tombs. However, to differentiate the legitimate lineage from the fake ones was like finding a real diamond in a room filled with cubic zirconia. 

The practice was also frowned upon and banned in China, and feng shui practitioners faced large fines if they were found publicity advertising their practice. It was good in the sense that the majority of feng shui masters were fraudulent, so it didn’t matter much. But in terms of completing the mission, it was making things difficult.

“Do you want me to invite Song family’s feng shui master?” asked Rouxi.

Li Yun thought about it, it was likely Song family likely had a very good one. “Have you seen him?”

“I have only seen him once.”

“What do you think of him?”

“Interesting?” asked Rouxi. “Probably on par with Master Yi Bao. I believe his lineage traces back to the Han Dynasty. He is based in Incense City.”

Despite the practice being banned, the elites could still find ways around it. Li Yun wasn’t sure if he was willing to ask someone associated with Song Taiji. He would rather search on his own and learn the practice at his own pace, although it may be a very slow pace.

Even after reading some cursory information, Li Yun wasn’t sure if it was possible for him to grasp the concept or even accept it. For the fate of the entire clan and household to be based on the arraignment of the house and doors seemed a bit odd. If he was living in a home that was misaligned with his future goal, did he need to move out and find a house that would procure a better future? The concept was ridiculous. 

It wasn’t like he couldn’t accept the spiritual or mystical aspect of feng shui, it was the idea of a predetermined fate taught in some of the lineages. It clashed with Li Yun’s Dao.

"Maybe I'll ask Ersan to send me his old architectural and urban planning books," Li Yun had heard Ersan talking the complexity of building planning, maybe reading up on it will give him a better idea. "There's still a lot of things I need to do."

Missions: 

Comprehend Feng Shui to Small Perfection.    

Comprehend Meridians to Large Perfection.

Gather the following items.

Tool: Cauldron with 1000 qi, jade trigrams with 1000 qi, and wood with 1000 qi.

Items: 9 different items with 1000 qi. 5/9

Medicinal: 9 different medicinal with 1000 qi.

He had acquired a few more items after his visit to Imperial City, but finding medicinal that had 1000 qi was big obstacle. Aside from the missions, he had a company to run, an underground gang to investigate, and a meal to cook. 

Looking at the kitchen with a bunch of ingredients in front of him. Everything looked a bit daunting. He wanted to try cooking something other than a salad, so Rouxi was going to help him cook spaghetti.

"Why is it taking the water so long to boil?" he asked looking at a pot of water.

Rouxi smiled, wondered if he was being serious, and then turned on the stove. She noticed that, unlike his usual self, Li Yun tended to forget a lot of things when cooking. Simple tasks like turning on the stove or even gauging the correct temperature seemed difficult.

An hour later, they managed to make the meal.

“Yun, do you have a fear of cooking food?” Rouxi sat across from him and ate her meal. If she wasn't watching him, she wondered how bad it would have turned out.

“Mageirocophobia? Hm… Maybe,” Li Yun thought about the mental trauma from his childhood.

It was odd, considering he had superhuman-like strength and healing. But when he began the process of cooking, a part of his brain connected to his meridian was blocked. It was like he lost the ability to think rationally.

If he was running, he could use Qivi to sense the adrenaline and endorphin releasing into his bloodstream. However, he couldn’t even think to that point when he was cooking. Other than putting things in the microwave. Multi-step recipes and timing recipes were difficult for Li Yun. 

“How about we cook like this on weekends?” asked Rouxi. “I think once you start getting a hang of it, it will be more automatic. A lot of your fear comes from inexperience.”

Li Yun added cooking to the list of things to do. Other than getting over his fear,  he wanted to spend more time with Rouxi.

“Yun, why don’t I go with you?” Rouxi was hoping to skip class and travel to Panda City with him.

“Focus on your study?” Li Yun said as he packed up. “I’ll be back again next week.”

“And then you’re going off again. Can I go with you then?”

Li Yun stopped packing and pulled Rouxi close to him. “If you go, it’s going to be very distracting.”