Since Raiden Ei loved sweets, Lu Chen decided to start her first cooking lesson with something simple—baking cookies.
Luckily, there was still a set of baking tools left behind by his late parents. He took them out, gave everything a good cleaning, and wiped the dust off the oven.
With him supervising, Lu Chen figured baking would be a breeze. The process was standardized—unlike Chinese cuisine, which involved countless variables and heavily relied on the chef's intuition and experience.
By the time he fetched the flour, Raiden Ei had already donned an apron with serious determination.
Spring sunlight poured through the window. She wore a loose white sweater, its soft fibers visible against her porcelain-like skin. Worried about stains, she'd rolled up her sleeves. With the apron tied on, she looked like a dutiful wife cooking for her returning husband.
Of course, in this scenario, their roles were reversed.
Ei truly didn't know how to cook, whereas Lu Chen's skills could rival those of the castle tower's royal chef.
"To bake cookies, you have to prep your ingredients—like melting the butter first, then mixing in powdered sugar and egg..."
Lu Chen demonstrated while handing her ingredients to work with.
It seemed easy enough—until reality hit.
Her elegant, delicate hands clashed with the egg beater like natural enemies. Egg flew. Sugar flew. Flour exploded everywhere...
With a fierce, battle-ready expression, Raiden Ei wielded the egg beater like she was brandishing Engulfing Lightning in the middle of combat.
"Ei, don't make that 'about to kill someone' face. You're just mixing dough..."
Her eyes widened slightly as she suddenly realized she wasn't on a battlefield.
"My hands... don't seem to be listening to me," she muttered, looking troubled.
The mess on the table was chaotic. Lu Chen sighed and moved on to the next step—piping the dough into cookie shapes.
This had to be easier, right?
Wrong.
Thirty minutes later, the baking tray was filled with mysterious blobs—big, small, all completely misshapen.
They were called "mysterious" because the spirals coming out of the piping bag looked suspiciously like...
A pile of you-know-what.
Seeing Ei look at him with an innocent face, Lu Chen frowned and tried to reassure himself.
It's fine... It's her first try. Not bad...
...
Not bad, my ass! What the hell were these shapes? Were they even edible?
He did his best to salvage a few of them, then offered a silent prayer as he slid the tray into the oven.
"Step three: after preheating, bake at 180 degrees, top and bottom heat..."
Ei watched the oven with curiosity and anticipation. Lu Chen, on the other hand, had already let go of hope.
Maybe they wouldn't be edible, but at least it counted as a bonding activity...
Warm air gently seeped from the oven, and Ei found the machine fascinating.
"It heats without any Pyro element. The technology in this world is really advanced."
Lu Chen nodded. The oven's mechanics were pretty simple, actually. In Teyvat, elemental power was central to everything, so even tech would evolve around it.
"There's electricity everywhere in this room, yet it doesn't hurt anyone. No Pyro, but metal blocks can be ignited at will. No Hydro Vision, but endless clean water flows freely... I'm getting more and more curious about this world."
Lu Chen thought for a moment—what she described sounded like: alternating current, a lighter, and a faucet.
In truth, Raiden Ei wasn't the anti-tech, ultra-conservative ruler many thought her to be.
Quite the opposite—someone who could stay indoors for years researching puppet-crafting technology (arguably bordering on black-tech), creating both "Raiden Shogun" and "Scaramouche," clearly had the mind of a scientist.
In Lu Chen's world, all these conveniences were incredibly alluring to her.
Feeling the warmth radiating from the oven, she was full of anticipation.
"So now I've learned how to make sweets too."
"Let's hope so..." Lu Chen smiled quietly.
Ei's love of sweets actually had something to do with him.
Beyond the battlefield, she'd spent time relaxing under cherry blossoms, playing karuta with friends. But she never won a single game, and never once got to taste the prize desserts he and Kitsune Saiguu made together.
But Ei was stubborn. Once she set her mind to something, she followed through—no matter how tough it was.
She poured the same dedication she had for martial arts into the card game. Lu Chen once saw her alone under the moon, reciting verses in practice. When she noticed him watching, she fumbled to hide what she was doing.
Eventually, under those same cherry trees, she bested every opponent and claimed final victory.
The youthful Ei cheered with joy, and everyone laughed. Realizing she'd slipped out of her usual cool demeanor, she quickly put her cold mask back on.
But really, who would laugh at someone who tried so hard? Lu Chen had smiled and brought her the dessert.
"This is the winner's reward! I worked really hard on it!"
Later, Ei said the dessert was as sweet as the taste of victory.
As the cookies baked, Lu Chen retold the story. Ei smiled faintly.
They both often thought of that cherry tree, though now it stood alone.
"They're all gone now..."
Ei said softly.
The sun dipped toward the horizon. A flock of crows flew past the apartment window. A trace of sorrow clouded her otherwise clear eyes.
Lu Chen nodded slightly. He felt it too—but more than anything, he wanted to pull Ei out of that sadness.
He shouldn't have brought it up.
Best not to dwell on the past too much...
"They're almost done! Excited?" Lu Chen asked, slipping on his oven mitts.
Ei nodded—precisely, a centimeter at a time.
Lu Chen was curious too. Would her first attempt at real-world cooking bring a surprise?
The ingredients were fine. The shape was... sort of fine. Baking time was set...
But he was, once again, overly optimistic.
Ding.
Lu Chen opened the oven and pulled out the tray with his gloves on.
Together, they stared down at the results.
Dozens of blackened, charcoal-like lumps.
"It's all my fault..." Ei said guiltily.
Lu Chen gave her a suspicious glance, then looked at the oven. The ones he fixed should've been fine, right?
What the hell happened?
Was Ei cursed when it came to kitchenware?
Seeing her still staring stubbornly at the coal-like blobs, Lu Chen sighed and sank back onto the sofa.
"Operation Cookie Disaster has officially failed. I now declare the launch of Phase Two."
Ei untied her apron and sat down beside him.
"Are you hungry?" Lu Chen asked.
"Yes," she nodded.
"Then let's go out to eat..."
As a consolation prize, they'd grab dessert afterward.