Shang Xinlei specifically placed fish-flavored shredded pork, minced meat eggplant, and fried tofu in front of Yan Qing. They looked unremarkable, but the aroma was appetizing, and Yan Qing, having just finished training, couldn’t help but have his appetite stimulated.

In recent days, Yan Qing had been practicing secret techniques continuously. Even though he could max out his secret techniques via the Secret Technique Research Manual, without the long-term practice needed to make them instinctual, all techniques would remain theoretical.

Given Yan Qing’s solitary Brahma-like background, he should have been lazily idle. However, by a stroke of inspiration, he achieved the milestone of becoming a martial arts genius, and thus, young Yan Qing’s life was ruined. He became a pitiful creature who felt ants crawling on him if he didn’t train three times a day. The endorphins and dopamine produced during exercise even rivaled the happiness from gaming.

While Shang Xinlei set the dishes, Yan Qing served two bowls of rice, and then the two sat down to eat. The Thief Hall was so quiet that only the sound of wooden chopsticks clinking against white porcelain bowls and plates was heard.

After Shang Xinlei’s previous incident, they had been eating together for several days, but for some reason, the atmosphere had become completely different. Shang Xinlei no longer chatted away, and Yan Qing naturally wouldn’t initiate conversation.

The two became very cautious about their distance from each other. Physical contact almost never happened, and when their eyes met, they immediately looked away, as if looking a moment longer would cause an explosion.

Was he perhaps disliked?

Yan Qing was actually quite self-aware. Not to mention that he, even now, resembles the bandaged Shishio Makoto, he was inherently the type who would invite friends out only to sit in a café and play on his phone. To him, friends were an energy source that ’just being close restores his mood.’ In contrast, endless chatting and sharing life stories drained his energy.

His previous lack of responses to Shang Xinlei wasn’t due to a bad attitude; he simply didn’t know what to say. After all, reality isn’t a GALGAME, where you can refer to conversation options.

In life and work, many tried to socialize with him, but soon only a couple of similarly solitary people remained. The Thief’s House further reinforced this tendency, as there was no one to converse with all day, making him even less inclined to talk.

All initial interactions stemmed from curiosity, and all distancing ultimately led to boredom. Shang Xinlei was clearly a sunny and cheerful person who liked to interact with friends through communication, which clashed with someone like Yan Qing, who preferred to immerse himself in his inner world. It was quite tolerant of her to get along for so many days.

Thinking about it carefully, if you had been the one always initiating topics to share life snippets and the other person only replied with perfunctory sounds like "uh-huh", "yeah", "oh", anyone would likely feel disheartened. Everyone is born of parents; who would want to keep sticking their warm face to a cold butt?

Yan Qing took a large bite of fish-flavored shredded pork with his rice. After contemplating several times, he slowly said, "Today, I put the Advanced Sword Mastery Secret Manual on the trading board."

Shang Xinlei glanced at him and then turned back to continue picking at her food, "I saw it. It seems that the bid has already reached two hundred and ten thousand. Are you selling only this one, or will you sell one every day?"

"Every day."

"Wow~ It seems like your organization is quite diligent in clearing the Secret Realm. You clear the Second-Turn Secret Realm daily. I was actually wondering if this was the Mouse Monk exchanging battle merits to offer to you, but thinking carefully, the Mouse Monk just went for a few days, which is not enough time to accumulate battle merits to exchange for the Advanced Sword Technique Secret Manual, or could this be Jiang Shi—"

Shang Xinlei suddenly stopped halfway, and Yan Qing followed up, "It’s not Jiang Shi. Jiang Shi is responsible for the First-Turn Secret Realm. The Basic Saber Technique and Flame Pattern Long Saber were her gains."

"Selling several Basic Saber Techniques a day, does that mean Jiang Shi goes to the Secret Realm several times a day?"

"Yes."

"But she’s indeed that kind of person," Shang Xinlei nodded repeatedly, then looked at Yan Qing suspiciously, "Since Jiang Shi has helped you make so much money, have you rewarded her?"

Yan Qing blinked, feeling as if he had lifted a stone only to drop it on his own foot.

"I’m planning to reward her with a Secret Technique Book to help her advance directly to the third turn."

"Really?" Shang Xinlei squinted her eyes, "It seems... you haven’t reached the third turn yet, right? Aren’t you afraid your subordinates will surpass you?"

"I’m not afraid," Yan Qing said righteously, "I wish they could all be stronger than me."

Shang Xinlei looked at him, her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she only gave a flat response, "Oh."

Really? There’s nothing else you want to say?

This conversation seemed ordinary, but it was actually the result of Yan Qing’s contemplation all day. How could it be that after he spoke such a revealing statement, Shang Xinlei had no reaction?

He finally understood Shang Xinlei’s feelings from a few days ago — obviously throwing out an interesting topic proactively, yet receiving such a lukewarm reaction, even the most enthusiastic person would feel like their heart had been drinking ice.

But Yan Qing didn’t have any other topics left. After all, nothing interesting happened these days. He turned his head to glance at Shang Xinlei and noticed that she was also wearing pantyhose and shorts today. A section of her plump thigh, tightly wrapped in the white pantyhose, was exposed.

This should be a ready-made topic, but it felt a bit inappropriate to bring up, Yan Qing thought.

But he couldn’t remain silent forever, especially since he was determined to break the awkward atmosphere. He had no choice but to muster up the courage and say, "You..."

"Today, my father gave me the Secret Technique Book Yulun," Shang Xinlei suddenly said, "Shang Family’s direct descendants can apply for one Secret Technique Book or two Advanced Manuals. I applied a month ago, and I didn’t expect to receive it so soon."

"A month ago... when you first joined the Thief’s House?"

Shang Xinlei nodded, "I initially wanted to quickly learn a secret technique to cope temporarily, but only found out that it takes a long time to process a Secret Technique Book application, as the family rarely keeps Secret Technique Books. They’re either used for exchanging resources or already utilized, usually taking half a year to acquire. Receiving one in a month is likely because I’ve already mastered the Secret Blood Wheel, and the family believes my third turn is imminent. Thus, they expedited the process for the Secret Technique Book Yulun."

"Or maybe your father has become more anthropomorphic," Yan Qing commented sharply.

Shang Xinlei gave him a somewhat helpless look, "Saying such things in front of someone’s daughter is indeed ungracious... However, I agree this might be one of the key reasons."

"Now that I have mastered two secret techniques and have rested for several days, I really can’t be lax anymore. So I plan to leave Jiangnan City this afternoon for the family’s Secret Realm, Jingxin Small Residence, to hone my skills."

Yan Qing was taken aback and immediately realized what she meant, so he proactively said, "What about lunch..."

"I won’t be able to buy gourmet food from the city’s top restaurants anymore," Shang Xinlei confirmed his suspicion. "At least it won’t be possible during the days I’m at Jingxin Small Residence in the Secret Realm."

Yan Qing blinked and dryly replied, "Oh."