Lu Xinyi shrugged nonchalantly and went back to her station.
The first dish on her list was to recreate Meng Jiao’s Khao Pad Goong. Though one could make the dish with one’s choice of meat, shrimp was the most popular option. What really makes fried rice unique was that it’s served with a squeeze of lime on top to give it a nice sour tinge. Moreover, it was always accompanied by prik nam pla, a condiment made of chilies and fish sauce.
Lu Xinyi wasn’t planning to change the recipe but to balance out the flavors on it.
If there was one thing Meng Jiao could never copy from her, it was her ability to distinguish and adjust the flavors of a dish.
Pulling her sleeves up, Lu Xinyi picked up her knife and started cutting and preparing her ingredients. The spectators in the audience area were given a chance to see the special cla.s.s’ knife skills. Most of them were awestruck by Lu Xinyi and Ye Xieren’s knife skills. Their swift chopping and accurate cutting were almost impossible to do in a short time.
After all, knife skills are important for every person who cooks, not just professional chefs. There’s more to it than cutting.
It could mean the difference between unevenly cooked dishes, along with poor flavor development, and excellence. There’s a good reason why the very first cla.s.s any culinary student takes and the very first job any starting cook had in the kitchen was knife work. Cooking without mastering these basic strokes was like trying to run without knowing how to tie one’s shoes.
The first step to great food was great knife skills.
Just as they started cooking, there was a sudden commotion in the audience area. Madam Li and Shen Yi arrived together. Behind them, Sun Feiyan had an amused smile on her lips as she talked with President Liu and Director Tang.
“Oh, my G.o.d, why are they doing here?” Someone exclaimed from the crowd.
Everyone turned to the audience without a word. All the students from the special cla.s.s couldn’t help but lift their heads to see what it was about.
“Why are you surprised? Of course, these sponsors would like to see if their chosen students have improved at all.”
“They’ll have no other choice anyway. Our Midterm exam will be written. Seeing one’s performance is better than seeing one’s score in a sheet of paper.”
“Heh, Meng Jiao has just dug her own grave. I wonder how Sun Feiyan will treat her.”
“From the looks of it, I think this is the end for Meng Jiao,” another commented.
Lu Xinyi didn’t expect to see her husband here.
‘Why is he here? He never mentioned anything going here at Silver Leaf from our last call,’ she thought but decided to move on and continued cooking.
Meanwhile, when Meng Jiao heard that Sun Feiyan was there, she broke into a cold sweat. She was very nervous, even her palms were subconsciously shaking and perspiring.
The judges welcomed and greeted the sponsors, leading them to their seats. Shen Yi sat on Madam Li’s right, with Tang Shui sitting beside him. As his gaze swept to the partic.i.p.ants, it landed on Lu Xinyi.
“How’s our Xin’er doing? We hoped she hasn’t suffered any trauma. My aunt almost had a heart attack when she heard what happened to her precious granddaughter,” Tang Shui said casually. His voice was low and enough for Shen Yi to hear it. He was also civil to Sun Feiyan, but that didn’t mean he approved the Sun family’s way of dealing with Lu Xinyi.
“Aside from suffering from a high fever, she has a cut on her leg; but it isn’t too serious. Xinxin needed to stay at home for a week to recuperate,” Shen Yi replied.
Tang Shui nodded, pleased that his niece was safe. He was the father of the Tang twins and Sun Meixiu’s first cousin, making him Lu Xinyi’s uncle. As to why the Tang family hadn’t made a move for years to take Lu Xinyi back to their family…
“My aunt wanted to meet her, but because of the promise she made with the Lu family, she isn’t sure how Xin’er will take it once she shows herself.”
Shen Yi couldn’t find them at fault. According to reports he received, Grandma Lu—Lu Sibai’s mother—had blame both the Sun and Tang family for her son’s untimely death. If it wasn’t for the fight for the inheritance of the Sun family, Lu Sibai wouldn’t have lost his chance to graduate from Silver Leaf, depriving him of a better future.
Grandma Lu fought tooth-for-tooth to get Lu Xinyi’s custody, refusing both Sun and Tang families to add the girl in their family records. Her reason was that it’s enough that Lu Xinyi lost both of her parents at a young age. She would rather choose for the girl to be a commoner than an heiress that had to look out for snakes ready to strike her down.
This made sense to Shen Yi. Those who truly love Lu Xinyi would understand why Grandma Lu chose this path for her. Fighting for inheritance and looking out for enemies could be tiring. One’s greed would never acknowledge blood ties.
Too bad though that as soon as Grandma Lu died, the Sun family made a move towards Lu Xinyi. They dragged her once again for the fight for inheritance. Tang Lingfei could only protect her from afar, not daring to break her promise to the Lu family.
“I cannot guarantee that she wouldn’t get mad, but one thing I can a.s.sure you is that Xinxin isn’t an unreasonable person.” Shen Yi removed his infuriating necktie and threw it on the table.
“I hope so…” Tang Shui sighed. It was pointless to ask Shen Yi for a favor when they both know that Lu Xinyi’s reaction would be unknown.
If only she’d agree to join the Tang family… but with Shen Yi being her husband and Sun family lurking and waiting for her, how could Lu Xinyi enjoy her life as the Tang’s first miss?