Am I a Kamen Rider or the real young master who was switched at birth?

The table was laden with dishes.

The braised pork belly was glistening with oil, and a dark brown ring of sauce had formed around the rim of the bowl.

The stir-fried vegetables were still steaming hot, and the minced garlic was fried until golden brown.

A large bowl of tomato and egg drop soup sits in the center of the table, with a few cilantro leaves floating on top, gently swirling in the steam.

There were also a few side dishes whose exact contents were unclear, but the smell alone made one's stomach rumble.

Two casserole dishes were placed in the center of the table. One was braised chicken brought by Ye Yang, and the other was braised chicken bought by Long Aotian.

Two pots of braised chicken steamed, their aromas mingling and intertwining in the air above the dining table, like a silent contest.

Qin Buwen sat in the main seat, with a bowl of white rice piled high in front of him.

He held a bowl in his left hand and chopsticks in his right, the chopsticks moving back and forth between the braised pork and the braised chicken.

After taking a few bites, he looked up at the motionless people at the table, his gray eyebrows twitching upwards:

"Why aren't you eating? Aotian's cooking skills are quite good today. This braised pork is stewed until it's tender and melts in your mouth. Ye Yang's braised chicken is also good, just a bit too spicy."

After he finished speaking, he picked up another piece of chicken leg meat and stuffed it into his mouth, his cheeks puffing out as he chewed it with a loud smacking sound.

Long Aotian sat to Qin Buwen's left, his eyes fixed on Ye Yang.

Ye Yang sat to Qin Buwen's right and began to eat voraciously after hearing his master say that it was time to eat.

He held a bowl of rice in his left hand and swept the dishes back and forth with his chopsticks in his right hand.

Long Aotian took a deep breath, turned to look at Qin Buwen, and asked with a hint of probing, "Master—why didn't you tell me who this person is? Where did this disciple of yours come from?"

Qin Buwen picked up a chicken leg with his chopsticks and shoved it directly into Long Aotian's mouth with lightning speed.

Long Aotian's eyes widened slightly as the chicken leg was stuffed into his mouth, completely blocking the rest of his accusation from his throat.

Qin Buwen looked at him with a smile, tapped the end of his chopsticks twice in the air, and said in a gentle tone, "Eat first, eat first. Don't talk while eating or sleeping, I taught you that."

Long Aotian bit into a chicken leg and let out a muffled groan.

He lowered his eyes, silently took the chicken leg out of his mouth, then picked up his chopsticks and began to eat the chicken leg with impeccable table manners.

Ye Yang, his cheeks puffed out like a hamster's, chewed and mumbled, "Brother Aotian—your food is pretty good. This braised pork—mmm—the cooking time—is amazing—I didn't expect you to be such a good cook in addition to being a great fighter."

Long Aotian quickly put down the chicken leg, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and said in a muffled voice with food still in his mouth:

"You flatter me, you are too kind. My benefactor's skill in the square just now truly broadened my horizons. The switching between the red and blue armor was a transformation technique that I have never seen in all my years of traveling the world."

He paused, swallowed hard what was in his mouth, then clasped his hands in a fist salute again, his tone becoming more solemn.

"May I ask your name, sir? I only knew you were a Kamen Rider when we were in the plaza, but I didn't have a chance to ask you your name."

Ye Yang, his cheeks puffed out, clasped his hands in a fist salute and said haltingly, "My name is Ye Yang. Ye as in leaf, Yang as in sunlight."

Long Aotian nodded, swallowed the chicken leg meat in his mouth, picked up his teacup, took a sip to moisten his throat, then sat up straight and said earnestly:

"Although my benefactor already knows, it is still necessary for me to formally introduce myself. My surname is Long, and my given name is Aotian. Long means soaring dragon, Ao means proud, and Tian means the sky."

Ye Yang nodded, then said in the same solemn tone, "Good name, you can tell you're the protagonist just by hearing it."

Long Aotian blinked, his chopsticks freezing in mid-air.

He tilted his head, his long, black hair slipping down his shoulders and landing on the edge of the table: "What protagonist? Does my benefactor mean the protagonist in a storybook?"

Ye Yang didn't answer him. He was staring at Qin Buwen, who was sitting in the main seat, intently gnawing on a chicken leg.

Qin Buwen held a chicken leg in his left hand and a teacup in his right, looking quite content.

Ye Yang put down his chopsticks, then tilted his head to look at his master, asking with a tone full of curiosity:

"But Master, there's something I'm curious about: between me and Brother Aotian, who joined your sect first?"

Qin Buwen paused for a moment while gnawing on the chicken leg, then continued chewing as if nothing had happened, only chewing at a slower pace than before.

Long Aotian also turned to look at Qin Buwen. After waiting for a while and seeing that his master was only chewing on a chicken leg and not saying anything, he also asked, "Yes, Master, I want to know that too. In terms of seniority, who should call whom 'Senior Brother'?"

Qin Buwen gnawed the last bit of meat off the chicken leg bone, then picked up another chicken leg.

As he ate, he pointed at Ye Yang with his chopsticks and said casually, "It looks like—it's you."

A bright smile appeared on Ye Yang's face, then he turned to Long Aotian and clasped his hands in a fist salute again: "It's good that you're back—we have a new junior brother. Junior brother!"

Long Aotian opened his mouth, preparing to stand up and formally perform a sect salute, but Qin Buwen waved his hand again.

He pointed at Long Aotian with the hand holding the chicken leg, his white beard swaying from side to side as he shook his head: "No, no—it looks like you again."

Ye Yang's smile froze on his face. Long Aotian's movement to stand up and perform the sect salute also stopped halfway.

The two of them turned to look at Qin Buwen at the same time, then turned their clasped hands towards each other, and then lowered their hands.

"Master—" "Master—it's one thing for you to be confused all the time—" Long Aotian took over the conversation, his tone filled with the grievance of finally being unable to bear being repeatedly deceived.

"You can forget who started you? When you took me in, you said, 'You are the last disciple I will teach among the younger generation'—I wrote that down in my notebook! I even take it out and recite it to myself during holidays to boost my morale! And now you're telling me you've forgotten?"

Qin Buwen tossed the chicken leg bone into the bone dish, then slowly and deliberately wiped the oil off his fingers with a tissue.

After wiping, he placed the tissue on the table, then crossed his hands over his stomach and said calmly, "It's nothing, nothing. Just make sure you two don't mention my name when you leave."

He pointed at Long Aotian and said with a hint of disappointment, "You're such a dullard. You can trip over a threshold. Last time you went to buy soy sauce, you tripped over your shoelace and fell. The soy sauce bottle broke, and you had to pay for three bowls."

He pointed at Ye Yang again, "Someone who's always running around causing trouble. He can even take down a car door from a repair shop just by learning a skill. Last time, he was helping someone catch a cat on the next street and ended up trampling down their clothes rack."

He sighed, then concluded with a hint of disdain, "Anyway, you're all using my name; I can't afford to lose face like that."

Long Aotian and Ye Yang lowered their heads simultaneously and replied in unison, "Yes, Master."

Sitting on the other side of the table, Lin Xingran poked at the rice in her bowl with her chopsticks. After seeing this, she whispered to Lin Ying next to her, "They look like two elementary school students being scolded by their homeroom teacher."

Lin Ying's lips curled slightly, but she didn't reply.

Qin Buwen picked up the teacup, took a sip, and then put the cup down.

He turned to look at Ye Yang, and his old eyes, surrounded by wrinkles, suddenly became clearer: "Ye Yang—you didn't come here today just to see me, did you?"

After swallowing the mouthful of rice, Ye Yang put down his chopsticks and turned to look at Lin Yumin, who was sitting on the other side of the table.

Lin Yumin was sitting upright in her chair, with her bowl and chopsticks neatly arranged in front of her, but the rice in her bowl was barely touched.

Her face was a little paler than when she arrived. Ye Yang put away his playful expression, then turned to look at Qin Buwen, his tone becoming serious: "As expected, nothing can be hidden from you, Master."

Qin Buwen nodded, clearly pleased. He subconsciously straightened his back and stroked his white beard. "That's right. My eyes have seen more people than you've eaten rice. I knew you had something on your mind the moment you walked in."

Just as Ye Yang was about to introduce Lin Yumin's situation, Qin Buwen suddenly raised his hand to interrupt him.

He turned his head and looked past Ye Yang's shoulder at Lin Yumin, who was sitting on the other side of the dining table.

Lin Yumin was slightly taken aback, then quickly stood up from her chair and introduced herself respectfully.

"Hello—my name is Lin Yumin. I heard from Ye Yang that you are the number one doctor in the martial arts world. I apologize for disturbing you by visiting you today."

Qin Buwen nodded, his gentle gaze lingering on her face for two seconds.

Then he picked up his teacup, took a sip, and pointed with his chopsticks at the bowl in front of Lin Yumin: "Sit down and eat. We're very particular about food here. Every dish on this table is highly nutritious and good for your health. Look, you haven't touched the rice in your bowl. Is it not to your liking?"

Ye Yang looked at Qin Buwen, his tone filled with anticipation, and said, "Master—you can tell?"

Qin Buwen swallowed the food in his mouth, then picked up a peanut with his chopsticks and asked, "What did you figure out?"

Ye Yang leaned forward, pointed at Lin Yumin, and said in a low voice, "Well—that—can you tell if there's anything wrong with her?"

Qin Buwen shook his head, then put the peanut in his mouth and chewed it twice.

"Then why did you call her?"

Qin Buwen put down his chopsticks, spread his hands confidently, and said frankly, "Can't I ask a question just because a young lady is pretty? Really, everyone has a love for beauty. Although I'm getting old, my aesthetic sense is still up to par."

Ye Yang opened his mouth, but the expectation on his face shattered.

Just then, Lin Yumin suddenly started coughing violently.

She covered her mouth with her hand, her shoulders heaving, coughing so hard that her whole body trembled slightly.

Lin Ying quickly reached out to pat her back, and Lin Xingran jumped up from the chair and went around to her older sister's back.

Qin Buwen continued picking at his food without looking up, then pointed to the corridor on the right with his chopsticks and said in a calm tone:

"The toilet is on the right. The second door. The first door is the storeroom, don't go to the wrong one—it contains the medicinal herbs I've been raising, some of which can bite."

Lin Yumin covered her mouth and stood up, then quickly walked to the right corridor.

Lin Xingran and Lin Ying chased after them at the same time, and Lin Ying even grabbed a pack of tissues from the table.

The sound of three people's footsteps gradually faded away in the corridor.

Qin Buwen yawned slowly, then stretched and moved his neck, saying, "Oh dear—it seems your friend hasn't been feeling well lately."

Ye Yang immediately put down his chopsticks and sat up straight.

"Master, do you have a solution? I tried using silver needles to suppress it, but it only temporarily seals the Gu worms to prevent them from running rampant; it can't eradicate them completely. Shen Yunzhou is dead, but the Gu he planted is still there."

Long Aotian put down his bowl beside him and then straightened his posture.

Qin Buwen did not answer directly. He picked up his teacup, took a slow sip, then leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

"It can be saved—but I don't have enough medicine right now, so I can only suppress it, not completely eliminate it."

Ye Yang leaned forward and asked urgently, "What do you need? Just tell me—I'll get it for you no matter what it is."

Qin Buwen looked at Ye Yang and remained silent for several seconds.

Finally, he held up one finger and said slowly with an unusually solemn expression, "I need a 4090 graphics card—the current graphics cards are too laggy for gaming, the screen is choppy. That little brat just now broke my combo while I was lagging. That's a hardware difference, not that my skills are bad. You have to get this first."

He held up his second finger. "And that game controller I used today is way too old. The buttons are all loose; sometimes the A button doesn't spring back up. I need a new game controller, a top-of-the-line one with vibration feedback."

He held up his third finger, his tone becoming unusually serious: "And another thing—the snacks at home are almost gone too. That kid Long Aotian always forgets to buy anything when he goes out. Last time he said he'd buy potato chips, but he brought me back a bag of goji berries, saying they're good for your health if you soak them in water. Do I, your teacher, need him to teach me about health after all these years? I want potato chips! Plain ones! And cola—ice cold—"

Long Aotian lowered his head, unconsciously rubbing his fingers on his knees, a hint of guilt appearing on his face.

"Master—goji berries are indeed good for your health, and you mentioned having a toothache last time, so I thought the potato chips were too hard—so—I changed them for you—"

Ye Yang's lips twitched, then he took a deep breath, stared into Qin Buwen's eyes, and asked again:

"Wait a minute—Master, what else? Besides the graphics card, game console, and snacks—what else do you need? The most important thing."

Qin Buwen looked at Ye Yang, then at Long Aotian.

He put down his teacup, dipped his chopsticks in the tea, and then drew a curved line on the table.

"And then there's the Red-Scaled Serpent of the Black Forest. Its venom can be used to make antidote needles, which, when combined with acupuncture, can completely expel the Gu worms from the body. However, it usually only lives in the swampy areas deep within the Black Forest, making it difficult to find and even more difficult to catch."

He put down his chopsticks and looked at Ye Yang and Long Aotian. "You two go together. While you're at it, help me catch some wild game. The two of you working together should be fine."

Ye Yang and Long Aotian exchanged a glance.

Then he turned to Qin Buwen, clasped his hands in a fist and replied, "Yes, Master."