Lan Xiaoli was dumbfounded that she was lost for words. President Shen was staring at her menacingly, making her stood frozen on the spot. She wanted to cry again; why didn’t Lu Xinyi told her she was meeting President Shen today?
She wondered if her presence displeased the demon king. She was having mixed feelings about this. Should she go and leave President Shen and Lu Xinyi alone or stay so she could pa.s.s her test tomorrow?
Lan Xiaoli didn’t have time to decide when Lu Xinyi’s room opened. The little devil stepped out wearing a large t-s.h.i.+rt and pajamas, her hair slightly wet indicating she took a quick shower.
“Darling? What brings you here?” Lu Xinyi greeted her husband and kissed his cheek.
Shen Yi kept his eyes at Lan Xiaoli. “You forgot your notes in my car yesterday.” He lifted his right hand and showed it to his wife.
“Oh, I know I left it somewhere! I’ve been looking for it since morning!” Lu Xinyi squealed excitedly. She took it from her husband’s grasp and held it against her chest.
“Who is she?” Shen Yi asked and pointed at Lan Xiaoli who was s.h.i.+vering under his gaze. She felt like she was intruding something with the way President Shen glared at her.
Lan Xiaoli wanted to cry and explain herself. She sought Lu Xinyi’s help with her teary eyes.
“Oh, she’s Lan Xiaoli. A schoolmate. I’m helping her for her incoming exam.”
“And why would you do that? She’s not even your cla.s.smate.” Shen Yi noticed the different uniform Lan Xiaoli was wearing.
Lu Xinyi led them to her kitchen and let her husband sat at one of the stools beside the counter. She told her husband what happened between Ye Xieren and Lan Xiaoli and how Wen Shufen insulted them.
“He was rude alright,” Shen Yi said, pertaining to Ye Xieren’s actions, “but I do get what he meant when he said he wouldn’t eat garbage. Aren’t you supposed to give him the best macaron you have if you’re going to confess to him?”
Lan Xiaoli chewed her lower lip and blushed. President Shen was right. She should have tried harder and given Ye Xieren a better-looking macaron. The batch she presented was crumbling without touching.
Lu Xinyi huffed. “That’s still not a good reason to throw those macarons. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t eat anything I made just because it doesn’t look good?”
“Of course not, dear. I’ll still eat whatever you serve me. Didn’t I eat those grilled sandwiches with jalapenos you made last time? Even if my stomach hurts, I’ll eat what you made for me with love,” Shen Yi said with an amused tone.
Hearing that, Lu Xinyi laughed awkwardly. If Lan Xiaoli wasn’t with them, she would have smacked Shen Yi’s face right then.
‘Shen Yi, do you really want to bully me in front of my schoolmate?’ she thought.
The corner of Shen Yi’s lips curled without him knowing, catching Lan Xiaoli off-guard. Whenever the devil smiles, did it mean one’s lucky or something was about to happen to this person? Lan Xiaoli sweated profusely. She couldn’t understand the relations.h.i.+p between President Shen and Lu Xinyi.
Maybe she shouldn’t have accepted Lu Xinyi’s help. Had she known that she would meet the demon king today, she would just let Wen Shufen bully her as usual.
Looking at President Shen and Lu Xinyi, Lan Xiaoli now knew why other students held such contempt against Lu Xinyi. They were jealous of what Lu Xinyi could have. By the way President Shen teased and flirted with Lu Xinyi, Lan Xiaoli felt like she was the third wheel.
“Let’s not waste time, shall we? Miss Lan should let me see first how she makes her macarons.” Lu Xinyi insisted as she pa.s.sed a clean ap.r.o.n to Lan Xiaoli.
—
At the time Lan Xiaoli piped her batter in a pan to make the sh.e.l.ls of her macaron, she took a peek and saw Lu Xinyi talking to President Shen with a grin on her face. His eyes then slid towards her as if he sensed her sight on them.
Lan Xiaoli quickly looked away. President Shen was so scary when he’s jealous.
Three hours later, she was able to present one batch of macarons to the couple.
Lu Xinyi tried to bite down her harsh remarks. She took a piece and bite on it. Taking a closer look at the cookie sh.e.l.ls, she could tell that Lan Xiaoli’s macaron had the usual mistakes that could be found on it.
Her macarons differ in sizes, and there was no uniformity. It also had an excessive sweetness on it.
She couldn’t help but feel scammed when she bit into a macaron that has a huge air bubble inside the cookie. It was like half the macaron was gone, ruining her experience. Small bubbles were common indeed because the pan hadn’t been tapped on the counter before letting the freshly piped sh.e.l.ls rest.
However, those big air bubbles that separate the moist interior from Lan Xiaoli’s cookie sh.e.l.ls came from not deflating the beaten egg whites enough when folding the almond flour and sugar into them. This was a much trickier problem to master even for Lu Xinyi.
“Do you want some?” Lu Xinyi offered one to her husband, but Shen Yi declined. She had a feeling that he was waiting for her to make her own version before he would eat.
The macaron was considered a luxury snack within the country. It was also popularly known as ‘the soft bosom of the young ladies’. However, this soft bosom snack was way less popular than the real bosom of young ladies. This snack was still very popular nonetheless, especially during the Spring Festival.
Making macaron was described as an extremely complex and technically demanding work. As a result, it would leave the consumers a feeling that getting a macaron was not so easy and the high price was commonly acceptable.
Because of this snack’s reputation of being beautiful and delectable, most local bakers would attempt to try to make it but fail every time. It wasn’t surprising that making macarons was also taught here at Silver Leaf.
Macaron sh.e.l.ls are made by folding almond flour and confectioners’ sugar into a meringue. Sounds easy enough, but it has to be done just right. The ratio of sugar-to-almond flour-to-egg had to be very precise—one had to weigh the ingredients to the gram; it can’t be done by volume.
Of course, Lu Xinyi had tried to make this snack several times before because it was a recipe included on his father’s notebooks. They had always turned out fine. Suddenly, they didn’t.
Sometimes, the macarons she made worked out; but sometimes, not so much. She had tried various techniques to troubleshoot these issues with varying success, but overall, she was frustrated.
Lu Xinyi then knew she was ready to try something new.
“So you’re using the French method?” she asked. Lan Xiaoli nodded. “Have you tried the Italian method then?”
There were two popular ways to make a macaron: the French method and the Italian method. The difference between the two was the way the meringue was made.
In the French method, egg whites were whisked until stiff-peaks meringue forms. From there, sifted, ground almonds and powdered sugar were folded in slowly until the desired consistency was reached.
On the other hand, the Italian method involved whisking the egg whites with hot sugar syrup to form a meringue. Sifted almonds and icing sugar were also mixed with raw egg whites to form a paste. The meringue and almond paste were mixed together to form the macaron mixture. This method was often deemed more structurally sound yet also sweeter.
“No, I don’t know how to…” Lan Xiaoli admitted, “Our proctor had given as a demo, but I wasn’t able to follow her teaching.”
Checking the other macarons on Lan Xiaoli’s box, Lu Xinyi had noticed that some have more filling, and the others had a bit chunky with the almond meal.
It seemed that this would be a long night for Lu Xinyi and Lan Xiaoli. The younger woman would need a lot of help to fix her macaron frustrations. It was almost impossible to make macarons with repulsive taste, but it was really tricky to do. Also, their ingredients could be expensive and hard to find some times.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s really bad…” Lan Xiaoli apologized. Even President Shen had only taken a look on her macaron and didn’t dare to taste it.