While Wen Shufen was busy cursing Han Yixin in her heart, Lu Xinyi turned to her opponent with a devilish smile.
“Miss Han, this is the first time I met you personally; but I wonder why do you want me to be kicked out of the academy and be blacklisted forever?”
Han Yixin crossed her arms over her chest and raised a brow towards Lu Xinyi.
“Wasn’t you who’ve been tarnishing my name since you stepped in the academy? You were the one who dragged my name and created rumors about me. Don’t tell me you’re going to deny all of it?”
Lu Xinyi shrugged her shoulders. Why would she admit she wasn’t the one who did it? Only a fool would dare to make enemies with someone she knew nothing about.
“Like I said, Miss Han, this is the first time I’ve seen and met you. How am I supposed to know where you go and what you do in your free time? Now that you mentioned it, I’m pretty sure Wen Shufen was the one who yelled once on my face that I cannot walk the same path as you do. Ah, it must have really nice to have a friend like Wen Shufen on your side.”
Han Yixin narrowed her eyes. She got a feeling that Lu Xinyi was low-key insulting her.
“What kind of bullshit is that? How could Han Yixin asked the academy to kick out Lu Xinyi if she hasn’t done anything wrong to her?”
“I think it was Wen Shufen who’d been feeding her with lies. Lu Xinyi stood up for her friend when Wen Shufen bullied her. Now, she wanted to get back on Lu Xinyi using Han Yixin!”
“What do you want?” Han Yixin asked Lu Xinyi. She was startled when the students watching their battle expressed their opinions of her and Wen Shufen. So it was really that woman who’d been lying to her since the beginning!
“Not that much, Miss Han,” Lu Xinyi grinned, glad that Han Yixin willfully fell on her trap. “Just thinking that it’s unfair that only you will gain something aside from keeping the place on Cream of the Crop.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Han Yixin easily understood what Lu Xinyi wanted. Since she wanted Lu Xinyi out of the academy if she won, Lu Xinyi also wanted to gain something if she came victorious on this cooking battle.
“I heard Miss Han has several pastry shops you acquired for the past four years. On your fifteenth birthday, you acquired your third pastry shop which is called ‘Tiers of Delight’. If I won this challenge, I hope Miss Han can also handover this shop to me.”
Lu Xinyi looked at Wen Shufen at the corner of her eye and smirked. Wen Shufen’s reaction to her request was one she’d expected. Wen Shufen must be cursing her with all the names she could think of in her heart.
“Wen Shufen, let’s see if you can keep your composure once that one thing you wanted the most fall into my hands.”
Like what Lu Xinyi predicted, Wen Shufen’s hatred on her intensified when she heard Lu Xinyi’s request for Tiers of Delight. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
Just how much did this witch know about her? Did she dig all her secrets to blackmail her in return?
Huo Meili and the judges heard the conversation between the two. When the judges heard Lu Xinyi’s intention to have a pastry shop of her own, they couldn’t help but feel thrilled at the opportunity to have her as their student.
Any pastry shop or restaurant that Lu Xinyi will open in the future would surely become a hit. How could they let their chance slip to recruit her to become their apprentice?
“Why don’t the two of you give up and let me take Lu Xinyi as my apprentice?” Chef Feng told the other two judges.
“No, no, no. How can we just let the chance slip through my hands? It’s rare to find someone with a delicate and divine tongue like Lu Xinyi. She needs a mentor who can help her polish these skills while improving the plating of her dishes!” The second judge objected.
“Chef Feng, didn’t you agree earlier that we’re going to ask Lu Xinyi instead? Whoever she picked as a mentor, we have to accept it with no hard feelings,” the third judge added, “or you may recruit Han Yixin and give Lu Xinyi to us juniors to train. Miss Han’s accurate and intricate desserts will surely make you proud.”
“No! It has to be Lu Xinyi. Even if she already had a mentor, I’m confident that my skills will surpass him!”
Lu Xinyi was someone with so much potential in cooking and baking. Some chefs would either envy her or would want her to become their apprentice. Too bad though that the three judges weren’t aware that Lu Xinyi already had a mentor. A two-star Michelin chef on top of that!
Somewhere outside the capital city, He Haotian sneezed and rubbed his nose.
“Chef? Are you alright? You can take a break if you’re not feeling good.” Chef Gao Hong stopped stirring his batter to talk to He Haotian. Lu Xinyi had just promoted him as the executive chef of Blue Haven Restaurant, but he still needed to train under He Haotian.
“It’s alright. I must have caught a cold,” said the older man.
Someone might be talking behind his back again. He Haotian thought.
Back in the cooking arena…
“Fine. If you win, the deed of the Tiers of Delight will be yours.” Han Yixin didn’t find anything suspicious on Lu Xinyi’s request, but when her eyes caught Wen Shufen burning in rage at the audience area, her heart was troubled that it had something to do with Tiers of Delight.
Lu Xinyi’s smile widened. Although she and Shen Yi had three restaurants already, a pastry shop of her own would be nice. Just imagining all the pastries and cakes she could freely taste and eat brought so much happiness to her.
“Great!” She clapped her hands before turning to Huo Meili. “Miss Huo, this is allowed in our academy’s rules, right?” she asked.
The MC blinked twice before she rubbed her chin. Personally, she couldn’t find fault at Lu Xinyi’s request; but she had to ask the headmistress first to be sure. She summoned one of the staff to pass her message to Headmistress Han.
A few minutes had passed, the staff came back informing Huo Meili that Headmistress Han and the board of directors approved Lu Xinyi’s request.
“Headmistress Han and the board of directors didn’t find any problem with Lu Xinyi’s request.” Huo Meili announced, “Ladies, we are now on the last leg of our cooking battle. You may now start working on your mandarin orange desserts!”
