The judges were unusually silent while Han Zhiling explained what Chairman Han told her earlier. The speculations of the audience about Lu Xinyi being disqualified had intensified.
“Director Han is joining the judging panel?”
“See? I told you they wouldn’t let Lu Xinyi leave this place unscathed after her disrespect to the academy!”
“It doesn’t surprise me at all! She should be ashamed of herself by now!”
“Disqualify her! The Shen family shouldn’t have sent someone like her! She doesn’t belong here!”
There was still enough time for the examinees to finish their cakes. Seeing that time was running out, the judges stood up from their seats after their brief meeting with Han Zhiling and started to inspect the counters of the examinees.
Silver Leaf Academy had provided almost every possible item the examinees used on their devil’s food cake. Each of them should have the same quant.i.ty and quality of the listed items. Qu Shaowei and Jun Simin couldn’t believe that someone had the courage to make an underhanded move against their potential students, especially the sponsored ones.
“We need to find out who did this. The Big 5 families wouldn’t be pleased if we couldn’t solve this problem.” Jun Simin seethed beside Qu Shaowei. She looked more delicate and ethereal than ever, but the smile that slipped on her lips appeared to be forced.
“I want to see how the affected examinees will deal with it. Will they crumble in despair, or they will try to survive this round and not let it get the best of them?” Qu Shaowei made a fast-paced strut that Jun Simin followed.
The two of them strode towards the counters of the sponsored examinees. True to what Chairman said, Ye Xieren’s ingredients were replaced with lower grade items while two of Lu Xinyi’s were switched with a different one. This didn’t look good at all. The texture and flavors would be far inferior from the rest if the examinees used it.
“Look at Ye Xieren and Lu Xinyi’s flour,” Qu Shaowei whispered to the woman beside her.
“I know. That doesn’t look like cake flour at all. Are they the only ones?”
The man nodded his head. The other sponsored students weren’t affected by the tampering. What surprised him was that the Shen and the Li families who were contending for this year had been sabotaged.
Their suspicion had been correct. Today’s exam had been tampered by someone. When they came back to their seat, each of the judges was convinced that the tampered ingredients should be dealt as a matter that wouldn’t put the academy on the bad light.
“Ye Xieren and Lu Xinyi’s boxes have been altered.” Qu Shaowei told Han Zhiling and the other judges.
“Same as the other three examinees. There were missing and replaced items on their boxes.” The other judge confirmed.
“What should we do?” Jun Simin pursed her lips. While trying to conceal what happened from the public and the Big 5 families, they also had to find out who tampered the boxes.
Han Zhiling leaned her back on her chair and put her hands on the table. The coldness of the table reminded her how true the problem was at the moment.
“Do not worry about the perpetrators. Chairman Han has requested an internal investigation. The only thing we should do now is to keep the damage at the minimum level. Have any of the affected examinees filed a complaint?” she asked.
“Lu Xinyi has reported and claimed that her box was tempered, and different items were given to her.” Jun Simin replied.
Han Zhiling kept silent, but her fingertips tapped the smooth table in front of her. Her eyes were watching Lu Xinyi like a hawk. She pondered how much did Lu Xinyi learn from her father. Lu Xinyi might have inherited Sun Meixiu’s looks, but the fierceness and defiance in her eyes were very much alike to Han Zhiling’s first love.
“Fifteen minutes to finish your cakes, examinees! Now’s the right time to put the frosting on your cakes!” Huo Meili reminded everyone. She had overheard the meeting of the judges earlier and couldn’t believe that the exam was compromised.
Huo Meili let out a slow controlled breath and attempted to loosen her movements. It was a decent effort, enough to fool the casual observer; but to someone with a keen eye, she was the very definition of tension. Her eyes moved with the alertness that came from heavy stress, and her hands remained clenched unconsciously on her microphone.
The thirty-five remaining examinees took their cooled cakes from the pans and started slathering their frostings on it. Most of them chose the cla.s.sic smooth and glossy chocolate ganache, but Lu Xinyi took a different approach and used white b.u.t.tercream frosting instead.
The ticking sound from the timer irritated Lu Xinyi’s ears. She never liked it. It sounded like she was waiting in a dentist’s room for an appointment. When the buzzing sound of the timer blared, the rambunctious sound of it jarred her out of her focus.
After her initial irritation had pa.s.sed—her frustration blamed on the inanimate timer who would never offer an apology for irritating her senses, Lu Xinyi breathed long and slow. It was time to present her cake.
“Time’s up! Hands in the air and stop baking!”