It was the last day of the team battle, but Lu Xinyi was starting to feel the ache in her body from the past cooking activities they had done—from the last three days of continuously cooking 500 servings of their dishes. Making 500 servings in one day without machinery would undoubtedly take a toll even for a veteran of the service industry; imagine doing it for three!
However, what three days they were! Each day, there came a heavenly dish that came from the kitchen counters of the Red Team. Some people glued themselves to their phones, waiting for the orders to be opened like maniacs. It didn’t matter who it was, the score would always be a five-star! Even the team itself would give it five-star!
Surely, all of these would translate to well-earned scores.
As they waited for the final scores to show at the big screen within the kitchen, Lu Xinyi was deeply satisfied with her team’s performance for this week. There was no chaos as everyone listened to her; even Meng Jiao didn’t act up out of nowhere. The three-day challenge was a pot of golden points, and no one dared to pa.s.s the announcement after calculating their keep. Her team was also ready to retire for the night, but their excitement with the results had kept them moving.
With the team battle about to reach the end, the special cla.s.s knew that Lu Xinyi would be able to take the top spot for the weekly ranking. Their four dishes perfectly gathering a perfect score, and so the difference between her and Ye Xieren’s score was easily lessened.
At last, the final score was released, and the weekly ranking showed what the students had antic.i.p.ated. Ye Xieren fell from the top rank at number two while Lu Xinyi’s score was able to dominate this week’s ranking with her 730 points.
With only 270 points needed to reach her 1,000 points, they knew it would only a matter of time before Han Yixin’s challenge would be taken into effect. The teenager herself was able to s.n.a.t.c.h the second place from Huang Shenghao for this week but wasn’t enough to beat Tian Lingyu’s score.
“Have you seen the forum? My G.o.d, I can’t believe that my Prince Lingyu already has 1,300 points as early as this.”
“Han Yixin wasn’t bad either,” one of Lu Xinyi’s cla.s.smates commented, “She was able to defeat Huang Shenghao’s score with her mooncake. Just how much sales were they able to get from the last three days?”
“Seems someone is eager to challenge our little Miss Lu here.”
Through Tang Lilou, Lu Xinyi was able to get a chance to have a taste of her brother and Han Yixin’s cooking. She was impressed and had a hard time choosing between the two. The taste, the quality, and the packaging were high up to standards and wouldn’t disappoint anyone who bought it.
In the end, Lu Xinyi chose her brother’s mooncake. If it was being biased, Tang Lilou wasn’t sure.
“Sister Lu! Congrats for taking the lead this week! Did you save something for me today?” Surya Rath.o.r.e said excitedly. He was blessed to have a taste of their Crispy Sweet and Sour Pork, and now, he was bugging Lu Xinyi to save up some meals for him in the future.
“Do you really have to be such a glutton?” Ye Xieren snorted behind him.
“Don’t mind him, Sister Lu. Brother Ye is just grumpy that you beat his a.s.s for this week.” Surya Rath.o.r.e grinned at Ye Xieren.
“Why you—”
“Enough.” Lu Xinyi rubbed her throbbing temples. She wasn’t looking forward to another banter at this moment. All she wanted right now was to go back to Lunar Residence, take her luggage, and wait for her husband to pick her up to spend the weekend with him.
Surya Rath.o.r.e offered an apology and left her alone for now. The dark circles under her eyes were apparent, and it seemed like she wasn’t getting enough sleep lately.
After today’s activities, Lu Xinyi dragged herself back at the Lunar Residence with Tang Lilou and Tang Liang accompanying her. The young woman stared worriedly to her Xin Jiejie. Lu Xinyi had been working hard trying to lessen the mistakes of her teammates along the way.
Tang Lilou had seen how Lu Xinyi patiently taught her teammates the correct way of cooking and chopping while Meng Jiao left her on her accord and didn’t bother to help. Tang Lilou couldn’t understand why there was an animosity in Meng Jiao’s eyes whenever she looked at Lu Xinyi’s way. She could only guess that these two had a history before attending Silver Leaf.
“Xin Jiejie, are you alright? Do you want me to bring you to the infirmary?”
“Yes, Xin Jiejie. You look like you are ready to pa.s.s out at any moment.” Tang Liang added.
Lu Xinyi shook her head and gave her a small smile.
“I’ll be fine. I just need some sleep.”
Just as they reached the pathway towards Lunar Residence, a black car stopped abruptly near their group, almost giving them a heart attack and big fright. Lu Xinyi, at once, forgot about her sleepiness, her red flags alerting her about something to happen.
The door of the backseat suddenly threw open, and Lu Xinyi was forcibly dragged inside with her mouth covered in a white handkerchief. She struggled to what she thought arms of a man, but her consciousness started to fade. She could hear Tang Liang’s voice screaming her name while Tang Lilou sobbed in shock.
Before she lost her consciousness, Lu Xinyi could swear she knew who this man was! No one would call her that nickname except him!
“h.e.l.lo, Shorty. Did you miss me?”
—
The Tang twins were shocked when their Xin Jiejie was taken away from them. They watched how the man made Lu Xinyi lose her consciousness at the back of the car. The man removed his face mask and revealed his handsome face to both of them.
The two were speechless as he extended his hand to give a thin envelope to Tang Liang. Tang Liang took it but hesitated. Why was this man taking Lu Xinyi with him? Wasn’t he afraid that President Shen would come running at once when he found out what happened today?
“Fourth Master Tang, can you give this to President Shen? Tell him I’ll be waiting.” The man said with a deep voice.
The Tang Twins recognized him at once. Of course, they knew who he was, but why was he taking Lu Xinyi like he’s kidnapping his own sister?
The man closed the door, and at once the car drove away from the Silver Leaf campus, taking Lu Xinyi with him.
—
Shen Yi had planned to leave work early to pick up his wife from Lunar Residence. He couldn’t wait to spend more time with her as their week get busier than the previous and their phone calls getting lesser as the days pa.s.sed by.
He was on a phone call when he was driving towards Lunar Residence, reminding his a.s.sistant to clear his schedule for this weekend. Shen Yi slowed down his car when he saw the Tang twins, staring stupidly somewhere.
It was Tang Liang who first broke from his trance and saw President Shen arrived. He signaled him to stop which Shen Yi did. He lowered down the window on his side.
“What happened? Why are standing dangerously on the road?” Shen Yi asked.
“President Shen, you are late! Someone took our Xin Jiejie! He took her and used some drugs to make her fall asleep. I think whoever they are, they are targeting you.” Tang Liang acted.
He just wanted to see how President Shen would react. Could anyone blame him? He was curious if the man was just playing with their Xin Jiejie’s feelings or if he was serious about her.
“They left this note for you. The man who took her said he’ll be waiting for you.” He pa.s.sed the envelope to Shen Yi.
Shen Yi raised a brow, seeing through the young man’s act.
“For some who has a cousin taken in front of him, you sure do know how to be calm.”
Tang Liang broke his act and laughed.
“Okay, you caught me. Xin Jiejie should be fine since he was only after you, President Shen. Please make sure to bring her back because we’ll have to leave for our training camp soon!” Tang Liang said before walking away with his sister.
Shen Yi shook his head and opened the envelope. His eyes flashed with anger and crumpled the paper in his hand. The words repeated themselves in his mind.
‘Come and get her if you can.’— TL