“Did I hear Lu Xinyi right? Did she say boyfriend?” a student from Silver Leaf Academy asked from the crowd.
“She said a lot of words and explained her dessert, but you chose to gossip her love life?” Her friend laughed.
The woman blushed, embarrassed that she was suddenly thrown into the spotlight.
“Hey, don’t tell me I was the only one curious about her and President Shen!” she defended.
When people around them heard what she said, they started gossiping again about Lu Xinyi and Shen Yi. Neither of them commented or denied the rumors between them and kept being seen in public together. Was this safe to say that the two were confirming their relationship? After all, actions spoke louder than words.
“I haven’t thought that President Shen has a sweet tooth and fond of desserts.”
“Haha, now that you mention it. He might have spent more time in the gym to burn all those extra calories.”
As the people around him talked about him and his wife, Shen Yi ignored their comments; but he couldn’t ignore his younger brother who was sulking in the corner when he heard that his favorite Big Sis had made baked alaska for his brother.
“Big Sis made you baked alaska before? Why didn’t you tell me?” Shen Xue cried. His face was one pained by betrayal of his elder brother.
“Why would I tell you whenever my wife made me something for me? Didn’t you hear what she said? I asked her to make me one so why would I call you to share what’s mine?” Shen Yi replied nonchalantly.
As to how he burned those extra calories, other people didn’t have to know he burned it with his wife on their marital bed.
“Hehe, I didn’t know Sister Lu’s cooking is a hit to the Shen family.” Huang Shenghao, who was sitting on Tian Lingyu’s left, commented. Tian Lingyu himself sat on Shen Yi’s right.
“Haha, Xue, if you really want someone to cook and bake something for you, get your own wife.” Kang Wei laughed beside Shen Xue.
“What? No way. I love being single. Thank you very much for the concern, Kang Wei,” Shen Xue harrumphed and looked away.
Back in the cooking arena, the judges were satisfied with Lu Xinyi’s answer. After finishing her baked alaska, it was time to decide who would come victorious in this round.
Once again, the three judges conversed on low voice, pointing out the differences between baked alaska. This time, it was apparent that while Han Yixin’s strength against Lu Xinyi was her experience, the latter hadn’t fallen behind because of her incredible taste buds.
The perfect balance of sweetness and texture of her baked alaska was superior to what Han Yixin presented. The three layers of ice cream didn’t overpower each flavor. The lightness of the vanilla ice cream and the tartness of the raspberry sorbet complemented the sweet flavor of the chocolate ice cream and sponge cake which was covered in toasted, billowy meringue.
The judges loved the combination of dark chocolate cake, cold ice cream, and toasted meringue. All different kinds of flavors and texture into one which was so memorable and amazing to eat.
A few minutes later, the three judges came to the same conclusion and gave the result on the second round to Huo Meili. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
Huo Meili thanked the judges and received the envelope. Unlike the previous round, the audience already got the hint of who won the baked alaska challenge.
The MC looked between Han Yixin and Lu Xinyi with a smile before reading the results.
“Two beautiful women competing for the 10th place of Silver Leaf Academy’s Cream of the Crop. Miss Han had superbly shown her expertise in making a stunning croquembouche that our judges deemed as perfection. For this second challenge, let’s see if she would remain victorious…”
Opening the envelope, she read the winner of the second challenge and announced it with a cheery, loud voice.
“The winner of the second challenge is… Lu Xinyi from the junior division! Congratulations, Miss Lu!”
A round of applause could be heard inside the arena.
“Ahh! Finally, Miss Lu won! I can relax for now. Whew.”
“Just by the expression of the judges, no wonder Miss Lu won; but I’m curious what the reason for her victory is.”
“Yeah, I mean I’m sure Han Yixin’s baked alaska couldn’t be that bad, right?”
“What do you think, old man?”
Since the old man seemed knowledgeable in baking, the other spectators around him wanted to hear his opinion.
“Haha, if both desserts were served to common people, they wouldn’t notice any difference between the two except for the flavors of the ice cream used or the sponge cake. In terms of plating and presentation, Han Yixin’s baked alaska didn’t fall behind Lu Xinyi’s.” The old man started to explain,
“But the differences between the two were the taste and texture. Han Yixin used taro-flavored ice cream on top of a dark chocolate sponge cake while Lu Xinyi chose light-flavored ice cream. Not only that but also the jam Lu Xinyi spread on her sponge cake before adding the ice cream dome had added some sweetness and texture to her baked alaska.
“In baking and cooking, plating is important. Cooking is an art, but one shouldn’t forget why she was cooking and baking. The food must be enjoyable to eat and could make the person who will eat it happy. So in the end, the balance of flavors and textures made Lu Xinyi won this round.”
There wasn’t a difference in Han Yixin’s expression as if she couldn’t be bothered if she won or not unlike, Wen Shufen who’d been cursing her name in her heart.
‘Han Yixin, you useless piece of trash! Why did you give Lu Xinyi a chance to win?!’
In all honesty, she hated Han Yixin with passion that surpassed the hatred she felt for Lu Xinyi. Initially, she wanted Han Yixin to kick out Lu Xinyi from the academy because she couldn’t tolerate seeing Lu Xinyi with confidence. It was probably stemmed from her jealousy that Lu Xinyi, even if she was an amateur, had greater talent than she could have.
Once Lu Xinyi was out of the scene, Wen Shufen planned to destroy Han Yixin’s chances to join this year’s World Patisserie Challenge abroad.
