New Old Hobbies

Su Ting added the stroganoff sauce and long beans to the pan-seared steak. After a moment of delicate arranging, she placed the plate directly into the waiting black box and told He Ku to send it off. A few moments later a drone slid through the wall as if it weren't there. It moved to hover over the box. The drone's center was reshaped to fit the box as if it were the box's lid. Strands passed down and curled under the bottom to hold the box in place. The drone rose back up into the air. This time the wall opened itself for the drone to pass through.

The sight was now familiar to Su Ting. She ignored it and left the kitchen with a sigh.

Behind her, the kitchen items were put away and cleaned as if a dozen invisible hands all worked at once. Once the kitchen was once again spotless, the furniture receded into the walls and floor or shifted itself. In place of the large and spacious kitchen was an art studio with floor-to-ceiling windows and an unfinished canvas on an easel.

Su Ting collapsed facefirst onto the couch. She screamed into the cushion. "Why can't I sleep?" Her yell was muffled, but He Ku didn't even need her to speak to understand her. Though the question was more rhetorical than anything.

'Masters' current sleep schedule is healthy.'

"Shut up, I'm not doing this again with you." Talking out loud expended some of her energy so she'd been making a habit of it this past month.

Ever since her return to the past, she'd been so full of energy she had to take up hobbies to find a way to spend it. The majority of the world can now be handled automatically, but she'd taken up ancient hobbies just so she wouldn't go crazy. Manual cooking is a popular commodity she'd taken to since she fed Chen Lijun out of his anxiety.

She didn't know what he was worried about in the first place. It wasn't like anyone was monogamous nowadays. Monogamy today was probably how people felt about gays before the population burst. Either way, it wasn't as if Chen Lijun hadn't already told her he couldn't love her. She knew that before their engagement was finalized. It was a little cute he thought he'd cheated on her.

'Master's copious amounts of sleeping beforehand could not be altered. This one had attempted to do so many times. As Master's sleeping schedule has become regular and limited to 8 hours, Master no longer requires medicine to stave off the ramifications of oversleeping.'

She didn't care if it was healthier or not. It made her anxious. There was too much change at once and she wanted to sleep the time away.

It changed the subject before Su Ting could argue again, 'Why not Master try VVRMMO?'

Su Ting sat up. Her slender legs slid over the couch until they hung off the side. Her heels sunk into the carpet as her toes curled. She bit her lip. For a brief moment, she was unusually still.

'Master has already adapted to the new smart home installments. Was that not the next step?'

Su Ting remembered the unsettling in her stomach as she watched the workers change the house. Compared to her father's home it was only minor adjustments, but to Su Ting, it had been a huge change.

She'd changed the house on He Ku's suggestion to help her with a change of psychology. He Ku knew she wanted to see her mom in the VR world, but her feelings were all jumbled inside of her. The thought of facing her made her feel faint.

Thus far the only change had been that she'd hesitantly read a few of the messages her mother had sent. They were still saved in He Ku's storage. They'd been left unopened all this time. She had asked He Ku to separate some of the simplest ones. But even those had been filled with care.

Some are inspirational.

'You are beautiful. If you forget, remember that I know.'

'Taking the lead in your life is how to get ahead.'

'Language allows you to broaden your world.'

Others felt like random and chaotic tidbits.

'There was a storm last month. I watched them scamper to and fro on the streets. I did not stop the storm. Sometimes you must accept something that may seem difficult in order to break through. The crops shot up these weeks. Prices on reinforced wooden shutters and food storage foods have shot up as well.'

Some are just regular daily greetings.

Su Ting did not understand why she was like this. All she knew was that it was impossible to step into a pod right now.

'Kong Ru is at the door.'

Su Ting's head snapped to the door. Was this going to be about her sister drugging Chen Lijun? Had they figured something out? Or maybe Mu Fang didn't hide it at all? No, they would not have waited almost a month if that were so. If Mu Fang covered it up as she suspected, they shouldn't need to bother her about anything.

But that was worrying as well. If they didn't know, they wouldn't break the engagement. She was counting on her new fiance's help in the game. It was one reason she hadn't pushed herself into it yet. She'd never even stepped foot in a pod. What if she messed something up or made a mistake? Her new fiance in her past life has been a pro gamer. She wanted him to help guide her into it. Surely he would take up the request of his super-rich fiance from a super-powerful family, right? Even if it was a family from overseas.

"Allow entry."

A friendly-looking man in a suit stepped in. He bowed, "Young Miss, Master Su requests your presence."

Su Ting took a deep breath and stood up. She walked past him out the door.

She could feel his bewilderment through the gaze at her back. Or maybe it was her imagination. He should be bewildered. After all, this was her first time going without starting an argument.

She allowed the Su family butler to escort her to the main house.