After Qin Tian finished his disagreeable task of being a poop scooper, he turned around and grabbed the dog, who was being reprimanded by Xia Nuannuan. He cupped the dog’s head in his hands and began to rub it vigorously.
“Hey, you’re being too rough, don’t rub its head like that.”
Xia Nuannuan spoke with a hint of concern, trying to stop him.
“You’re just too soft-hearted. Naughty kids need proper discipline.”
Qin Tian said with mock seriousness, though he did release the dog as requested.
The dog, as if granted a great pardon, turned and ran off, standing a short distance away and gazing at the two of them with a look of being wronged.
“Come here, come to Mommy.”
Xia Nuannuan beckoned with a gentle smile.
“Woof!”
The dog let out a soft bark. After a moment of hesitation, it obediently walked over.
Xia Nuannuan took it to the dog toilet area and, following the method taught by the female shop owner, began to train it to relieve itself in the designated toilet.
Qin Tian found the remote control, turned on the TV, and watched with interest as Xia Nuannuan trained the dog on the balcony.
Suddenly, he thought of something.
With a thought, the system’s treasure pavilion interface appeared before his eyes.
Qin Tian quickly scanned through the various goods and, as expected, soon found what he had imagined.
[Beast Taming Mastery Skill: 5999 points]
This was the system’s usual trick, finding ways to tempt him to spend points.
Exiting the treasure pavilion interface, he checked his system points. They were still the full eight thousand points he had left before.
Qin Tian was in a dilemma, wondering whether he should exchange for this skill.
It would certainly be useful, but was it worth spending so many points just to stop the dog from soiling the house?
“Alright, from now on, do it here, understand?”
On the balcony, Xia Nuannuan said earnestly to the dog.
“Woof!”
The dog barked, looking up. Its intelligent eyes made one suspect it might have some Husky blood in it.
Qin Tian gritted his teeth and decided to exchange for the beast taming skill.
To avoid being a poop scooper in the future, he decided the points were worth spending.
He wasn’t lacking points right now anyway. If he truly needed to extend his lifespan, he could just spend money.
As a flood of information about beast taming poured into his mind, Qin Tian felt as though he were playing a beast tamer character in a game, suddenly consuming a large amount of experience pills, his experience bar soaring rapidly.
As the slight throbbing sensation in his head receded like a tide, he had effectively become a master beast tamer.
This was a worthwhile investment!
A slight smile appeared on Qin Tian’s handsome face, believing his decision was correct.
Beast taming wasn’t just about training dogs; it applied to all sorts of animals.
Having more skills never hurt, and it would likely be useful in the future.
He directly used the remaining 2001 system points to exchange for the life countdown.
The countdown, originally set for the end of April, was extended by two thousand and one hours, which was about 83 days. Roughly estimating, this would sustain him until around July 15th.
With this, his eight thousand system points were wiped out again. He could only hope the next system mission would be triggered soon.
He glanced towards the dog on the balcony, then put his right thumb and index finger into his mouth and let out a loud whistle.
Both Xia Nuannuan and the dog turned their heads towards him upon hearing the sound.
“Come here!”
Qin Tian made a gesture, then pointed to the spot in front of him.
To Xia Nuannuan’s astonishment, the dog wagged its tail and obediently walked over.
“Sit!”
Qin Tian made another gesture.
This time, the dog didn’t react, only letting out a bark at him.
Qin Tian wasn’t surprised and continued to use various techniques from beast taming to communicate with it and give it simple commands.
Soon, simple commands like “sit” and “spin” were understood and followed by the dog.
Xia Nuannuan, who had come to sit beside Qin Tian, watched everything unfold. Her lips parted slightly, and her almond-shaped eyes widened in surprise, looking very cute.
“Right paw, shake!”
Qin Tian offered his right palm to the dog and gave the command.
The dog lifted its small right paw and placed it in his palm.
“Amazing! Brother, how did you do that?”
Xia Nuannuan’s eyes sparkled, and she looked at Qin Tian with great wonder.
“What’s so difficult about that? It’s not hard.”
Qin Tian chuckled smugly.
Just making Xia Nuannuan so surprised made the six thousand points feel worth it.
“No, that’s not right. You weren’t this good just now.”
Xia Nuannuan shook her head.
“I had a sudden epiphany. I remembered a dog training master I saw once and imitated him. I didn’t expect it to be so effective.”
Qin Tian spun a casual lie without a hint of blush.
“A dog training master? Is that so?”
Xia Nuannuan looked as if she was half-believing him.
“That’s not important. I’m going to teach it to use the toilet.”
Qin Tian grinned and picked up the dog, heading towards the balcony.
…
…
By the time he had taught the dog to relieve itself in the designated bathroom, the sky had gradually darkened.
After feeding the dog its dinner kibble, Qin Tian prepared to make a candlelight dinner for himself and Xia Nuannuan.
Xia Nuannuan also followed him into the kitchen, ready to learn how to pan-fry steak.
Now that the house was ready, they would surely be cooking for themselves from time to time, and she couldn’t let Qin Tian be solely responsible forever.
Xia Nuannuan had once aspired to be a virtuous woman like her mother, and she felt it was necessary to improve her cooking skills.
At the very least, she needed to quickly learn simple dishes like pan-fried steak.
“I’ll prepare the ingredients first. Can you wash the cutlery and then set the dining table?”
Qin Tian said to Xia Nuannuan with a smile.
“Okay!”
Xia Nuannuan nodded obediently.
Then, the two began to divide the tasks and attend to their respective duties.
After preparing the side dishes needed for pan-frying steak, Qin Tian first made a vegetable and fruit salad, then prepared to start pan-frying the steak.
After returning from the supermarket, he had placed the two fillets they would eat that night on a plate to thaw naturally at room temperature.
Now, more than two hours later, the meat looked perfectly thawed.
Xia Nuannuan had also finished setting the table. She brought the vegetable salad over first, then came to observe and learn how he pan-fried the steak.
“The first step in pan-frying steak is to heat the pan. Pay attention to using high heat. Low heat will cause the meat juices to escape.”
Qin Tian explained to Xia Nuannuan as he heated the pan.
Xia Nuannuan nodded slightly, listening attentively to Chef Qin’s teachings.
“Is well-done okay for you?”
Qin Tian asked with a smile.
They had eaten Western food together before, and he recalled that Xia Nuannuan, like him, preferred her steak well-done.
Some people might think that ordering well-done steak would lead to mockery, but in reality, such a thing doesn’t exist in the West. It’s just that some people in China like to pretend to be sophisticated and act like they know a lot.
In Western restaurants, many chefs will indeed recommend against ordering well-done steak, but that's only because it’s difficult to cook well-done steak. If the chef's skills are not good, it’s easy to make the meat tough.
However, for Chef Qin, cooking a perfect well-done steak was naturally effortless.
“Mhm, well-done is good.”
Xia Nuannuan nodded with a beaming smile.