Lu Xinyi stretched out her legs beneath her desk while enjoying her lollipop. Today was the day their team battle mentor would reveal what their third team challenge for this week would be. The first and second team battles were horrendous and a mess.
On the teams she was in, no one was willing to work together and fought each other to get some spotlight for themselves. This was why she wasn’t looking forward to another team battle. Although there would be a high chance for her to earn more points participating in it, some of her classmates were a pain in the ass to deal with.
Yu Lijie was the proctor assigned for this team battle. Since the first two proctors failed to control the special class, she decided to make a raffle to decide who would the team captains be… their sous chef as well as to what team the students would be assigned to.
She took two rolled papers from one of the two bowls in front of her. Each paper roll had students’ names written on it. She announced the team captains for three teams. Each team would consist of ten members.
“Alright for the Green Team, the team captain would be Tang Liang. His sous chef will be Guo Siqi.”
Taking another two rolls, she turned to look to her right and stared at Yan Chen’s direction.
“For the Blue Team, Yan Chen as the team captain and Tang Lilou as the sous chef. And last but not least the Red Team…”
She unrolled the last paper rolls in her hand.
“Lu Xinyi as the team captain and Meng Jiao as the sous chef.”
Lu Xinyi let out a mirthless laugh when she heard it. Of all people, why did Meng Jiao have to be her sous chef?
“Now, those names that I haven’t called step forward and take one from this bowl to see on what team you’ll belong to this time. I expect that all of you will learn to become a team player. Your two team battles were already disappointing enough. Unless you want to leave this place early, then back off and don’t do this activity.”
Yu Lijie crossed her arms and swept a gaze to her thirty students.
“A chef is part of a team and must be able to work well with others. Not only must he or she work with the cooks in the kitchen, but he or she must also be able to work effectively with staff and management. If you all failed this team challenge this time, then I’ll recommend to the headmistress to abolish this special class at once.”
Everyone could sense her seriousness this time. She was different from the two proctors before her, and yet—with a few words—she was able to put her arrogant students in place. Now, each of them should work hard and collaborate with their classmates to pass.
“This will be your test for the mid-autumn festival. The theme for this team challenge is ‘Better than your Takeouts’, meaning you must recreate the popular takeout food in our local cuisine. Meanwhile, the senior year was assigned for the mooncake demands. Silver Leaf has partnered with one of the most popular online food delivery apps in the country. You are to offer four different takeout dishes for four days.
“This will start tomorrow. Your menu will be up before midnight so you better plan it today and give me your menu so we can add it on the food delivery app.”
Once all the students had their respective colors at hand, the three teams gathered their members and started with the planning. The teams were only assigned with the cooking and supervising the kitchen. All the packaging and deliveries would be provided by the food delivery app.
“Sister Lu, so how do you plan to make us pass this team battle?” One of her classmates smugly questioned her.
Lu Xinyi eyed her for a moment before raising a hand to get their proctor’s attention.
“Yes, Miss Lu?”
“As a team captain, am I allowed to remove one of the members of my team if I deem them incapable of the task?”
“Do as you wish, Miss Lu. You may ask one of your team members to step outside your kitchen if he or she’s being a burden to your team. Again, as I said earlier, a chef is a team player. You should set aside your differences and work as one if you want to work effectively.”
Lu Xinyi then turned her attention back to her mean classmate.
“You heard that? If you so wish to fail, then fail on your own. Don’t drag the team with you.”
The woman lowered her head in shame, mumbling a low ‘sorry’ towards Lu Xinyi. The team grew silent until Lu Xinyi asked their concerns about their team challenge. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“What should we put on the menu then? Do we only need to offer one dish at a time?”
“How many servings do we need to prepare again?”
“Who should look out for the inventory of the ingredients?”
“Ahhh!!! We aren’t in the real kitchen, but my head is already hurting!”
Lu Xinyi kept her silence and rubbed her chin as she thought about how to properly run her kitchen, avoiding problems and accidents ahead. She was deep in her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed Meng Jiao moved to stand beside her.
“Xinxin…”
When she heard her name being called, Lu Xinyi looked on her right and saw Meng Jiao standing beside her with eyes watching their teammates.
“I don’t think you still have the right to call me that, Miss Meng. After all the things you’ve done to me.”
“You think I want to stand next to you,” Meng Jiao hissed back, “I’m only doing this because I have no other choice.”
“You have a choice back then. Why did you betray me over a man? Did you really care about our friendship, or was it just me all along thinking you were my friend?” Lu Xinyi questioned back.
She had long wanted to ask these questions to her former best friend. She thought she knew Meng Jiao, but reality slapped her back when she found her with Gong Yijun on that fateful day.
Meng Jiao didn’t know how to answer her. She kept her lips in a thin line as if she was really giving a thought on Lu Xinyi’s questions. She shook her head. In everyone’s eyes, she would always be the shadow of the sun.
“Sister Lu, we better focus on what we have right now than talking about the past that cannot be undone.” Meng Jiao said slyly, ignoring the pointed look Lu Xinyi threw on her way.
“You are right. Nothing can be changed. So Miss Sous Chef, do you mind giving them each role so we wouldn’t waste our time arguing here. For the meantime, I’ll ask Miss Yu the details for this activity.”
Being partnered with Meng Jiao? Lu Xinyi should have expected it to happen, but why did she feel like her ex-best friend had been keeping tabs on her actions recently? Was this what Sun Feiyan wanted her to do?
Her evil cousin in tandem with her bitch ex-best friend. What a perfect combination.
After she had a long talk with their proctor, she went back to her team and gave the details to Meng Jiao. Meng Jiao might not be as good as Lu Xinyi in talking, but she had the ability to run the kitchen and had a good business sense. They may be partly the reason why Gong Yijun kept her as his side chick.
“Let’s use the old approach on this activity,” Lu Xinyi recommended which Meng Jiao easily understood.
“Are you sure?” Meng Jiao stared at her with suspicion.
“Yes,” Lu Xinyi nodded. She felt like keeping her enemy on her sight than keeping them at bay. She didn’t think Meng Jiao would pull some underhanded trick on her. Not when her points were also in the line.
When they were both working for Gong Yijun’s patisserie, they had come into terms that Meng Jiao would organize everything from ingredients’ inventory and collaborating with menu design and presentation.
With Meng Jiao’s skills, Lu Xinyi wouldn’t have to worry about trivial things. She only had to focus on cooking and making sure that the kitchen runs properly.
“How many orders we’re expecting?” Meng Jiao asked, already jotting down the list of ingredients they probably needed for this activity.
“Miss Ye said approximately 500 orders. No more, no less. The team with the highest sales will win this activity.” Lu Xinyi said and took the other list on the table where their teammates list down some of their suggestions for their menu.
Lu Xinyi rubbed the side of her face. Another hectic week waiting for her.
