My Disciple Is Crazy! Chapter 8: Eat first. Worry later

Xu Kai hadn’t expected to be cornered like this.

Yet, as Chen Xi’s steady gaze held his, he couldn’t honestly say he was surprised.

A quiet tension lingered in the room, pressing against his chest. He exhaled slowly, lowering his eyes for a brief mont as his thoughts unraveled one by one.

He knew exactly where he had gone wrong.

The first mistake… was the al.

He should have stayed in bed, weak, confused, dependent. That was the role. That was what soone in his position was supposed to be. Chen Xi would have handled everything; she clearly knew how to survive in this world far better than he did.

But instead, he had moved without thinking.

His body had acted before his mind could stop it, swinging his legs off the bed, walking straight to the kitchen, and cooking.

Like it was the most natural thing in the world.

The second mistake… was his reaction.

Xu Kai’s lips pressed into a thin line.

When Chen Xi asked him how he knew what to do, he had hesitated, just for a second. But that single mont of surprise, that flicker of instinct, had betrayed him. He wasn’t a machine. He couldn’t just erase reflexes ingrained from a lifeti.

And the third mistake…

A faint, bitter smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

The cooking book.

At the ti, it had seed like the safest lie. The most reasonable explanation he could grasp in a mont of pressure.

But thinking about it now, it sounded ridiculous.

Soone who couldn’t even recognize basic cooking tools… casually picking up a book and preparing a al far beyond a beginner’s level?

It wasn’t just suspicious. It was absurd.

His shoulders sagged slightly.

Every step he had taken to cover his tracks had only made things worse.

And now… here he was.

Caught.

Xu Kai drew in a slow breath, his fingers curling faintly at his sides. There was only one path left, honesty.

Or at least… sothing close to it.

He could admit that her suspicions were valid. That sothing about him was… off.

His chest tightened.

He could even tell her the truth.

That he wasn’t her master.

That he was just an ordinary person, from a completely different world, who had sohow woken up in this body. That the real Xu Kai was likely gone… or hanging on by a thread when he arrived.

The words hovered at the tip of his tongue.

But they refused to co out.

His brows furrowed slightly as hesitation crept in.

'Wouldn’t that sound insane?'

Anyone would recoil from such a claim. At best, she’d think he was delirious. At worst…

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His gaze flickered toward her.

Chen Xi wasn’t just anyone.

She was the one person the original Xu Kai had trusted.

Which made this even more complicated.

If there was anyone who deserved the truth, it was her.

And yet… that was exactly why he couldn’t say it so easily.

A quiet sigh slipped past his lips as he finally parted them to speak—

“But—”

Chen Xi’s voice cut in gently, yet firmly.

“But… there might also be a reason why you could get everything right on the first try.”

Xu Kai blinked, the words catching him off guard.

“Huh?”

His head lifted slightly, confusion plain in his expression.

Chen Xi didn’t look away. She watched him closely, her eyes calm, thoughtful. Then she gave a small, deliberate nod.

“It’s possible,” she said, her tone soft but certain, “that you acted on muscle mory.”

“Muscle mory?”

The term was familiar, too familiar. Xu Kai understood what it ant perfectly.

But that only made this more confusing.

His brows drew together as he searched her face.

Why bring that up now? Why… change the direction of the conversation?

Chen Xi clasped her hands lightly in front of her, her posture composed, though there was a subtle tension in her shoulders.

“It ans…” she began, choosing her words carefully, “that parts of you still rember.”

She paused briefly, her gaze sharpening just a fraction.

“Even if you don’t.”

Silence followed.

Xu Kai sat there, unmoving, her words echoing faintly in his mind.

For a mont, he didn’t know whether to feel relieved… or more uneasy than before.

Chen Xi suddenly snapped her fingers, the sharp sound cutting through the air.

Xu Kai flinched.

The movent was small, and imperceptible.

Her eyes lit up as if a missing piece had just fallen into place.

“And the reason you froze when I asked how you could cook…” she said, leaning forward slightly, her tone bright with realization, “must be because you surprised yourself, right? You didn’t know how you did it either, you were trying to figure it out in that mont.”

Xu Kai blinked.

For a split second, his mind went blank.

Then, almost instinctively, he nodded.

The response ca before he could stop it.

Chen Xi clapped her hands together lightly, a delighted laugh escaping her lips.

"Amazing. I’ve only ever heard of things like this, but seeing it happen in front of …” She shook her head, still smiling. “It’s actually kind of incredible.”

Xu Kai just stared at her.

Dumbfounded.

His lips parted slightly, but no words ca out.

What… was he supposed to say to that?

His gaze lingered on her face, studying her in silence.

Chen Xi was smart. That much had beco painfully obvious. She didn’t overlook things, not the big, glaring inconsistencies, nor the subtle cracks in a story. She noticed everything.

And yet…

He had underestimated her. Badly.

He had thought of her as a little reckless. A bit childish. The kind of person who acted first and thought later.

But this?

This level of sharpness… it wasn’t sothing he had expected from her at all.

Then again—

She was the disciple of a man who excelled at everything.

A man like that wouldn’t raise soone dull.

Xu Kai felt a faint chill run down his spine.

She had been close. Too close.

If she had pressed him just a little further, if she had waited for him to answer instead of filling in the gaps herself—

His secret might have slipped out.

But it hadn’t.

And the reasons were painfully clear.

First, Chen Xi hadn’t given him the chance to speak.

Second… she had relied on logic.

Xu Kai lowered his gaze, a quiet breath leaving him.

That… was where she had gone wrong.

Because his existence here—

Was anything but logical.

It couldn’t be explained. Not with reason. Not with common sense.

And because of that…

He had escaped.

A faint, almost invisible smile flickered across his lips before disappearing just as quickly.

He had nearly been cooked.

“Let’s eat,” he said after a mont, his voice steady again. “The food’s getting cold.”

Chen Xi nodded without hesitation, as if the matter had already been settled in her mind. She picked up her chopsticks and imdiately resud eating, her earlier excitent lting into simple contentnt.

Xu Kai watched her for a mont.

She ate without restraint, quick, efficient movents, cheeks puffing slightly as she stuffed food into her mouth. There was sothing oddly unguarded about it. Sothing… normal.

His gaze drifted to the table.

And then lingered.

There was still a lot of food left. Too much.

His brows knit together slightly.

'I should’ve held back…'

He hadn’t been thinking when he cooked, just moving on instinct, following a rhythm his body seed to rember better than his mind.

Now, the result sat in front of him.

Dish after dish.

More than enough for two people.

'There’s no way we’re finishing all this.'

He exhaled softly and shook his head.

No point dwelling on it now.

'Eat first. Worry later.'

He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat.

For a while, the only sounds in the room were the soft clinking of utensils and the faint rustle of movent. The tension from earlier slowly faded, replaced by sothing quieter, almost peaceful.

Xu Kai took another bite.

Then another.

But just as he swallowed—

He paused.

Sothing felt… off.

His hand stilled mid-air, chopsticks hovering just above the plate. His brows drew together as a strange sensation crept in, subtle but unmistakable.

Not outside. Inside.

Xu Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly.

'…What is this?'