“Aunty, do you think that Miss Meng would be successful in her attempt?” Sun Qiyan closed the door behind her and looked at her aunt in confusion.
Sun Mingai left the Sun Estate to stay with her and her mother. The older woman wasn’t planning to stay too long with his adopted son, and yet when she’d seen how Sun Ruying became deranged after Shen Yi crushed her businesses, a sudden flash of malintent filled her eyes. The younger sister whom she relied on was easily broken by the demon king.
“You do not need to be worried about Miss Meng. If she can set up Lu Xinyi to an accident, then that’s fine. However, it would be better if she can push that woman to her death. Just like her mother, Lu Xinyi is the greatest thorn in my side.”
She colluded with Sun Qiyan to convince Meng Jiao to set a trap against Lu Xinyi. Sun Qiyan wasn’t one bit concerned that Meng Jiao would sell them, but her blind rage against Lu Xinyi was what made her agreed to this plan.
If Meng Jiao was able to harm Lu Xinyi in any way, Sun Qiyan would somehow let President Shen experience the pain of seeing his loved one debilitated. She knew she couldn’t hurt or take revenge on Shen Yi directly, but who said she could not hurt Lu Xinyi? That woman was the root of their misfortune. If she didn’t exist, all the fortune of the Sun family would fall on their hands.
“What about Feiyan? If she found out that we used Miss Meng, she wouldn’t be pleased.”
Sun Mingai chuckled as she poured her gla.s.s some brandy and added some ice. She then glanced at Sun Qiyan with a bored expression.
“You worry too much, dear Qiyan. Little Feifei might be the head of the family, but she still doesn’t have enough power to control everything. Her capabilities are still subpar compared to your auntie. She’s wasting her time spreading her influence when she should be crus.h.i.+ng Lu Xinyi with all her might.”
Because Chairman Sun’s health was starting to deteriorate, he’d pa.s.sed the responsibility of being the head of the family to the younger Sun Feiyan much to her aunt’s chagrin. The old man had skipped a generation and pa.s.sed the baton to a younger one? It was as if a lightning bolt had struck her head out of the blue.
She’d tried to hold back her rage and could only clench her fist until her palm bleed. Once she was back to her own quarters, she collapsed dejectedly into her chair behind her desk with her face twisted into a pained and ruthless expression.
‘A bunch of fools! They think they can outwit me? Let’s see how long they can play with me.’ A sinister smile crossed her lips as if she was a demoness ready to devour one’s soul.
How could Sun Mingai tolerate such blatant rudeness coming from her own father? If this wasn’t a slap on her face that she’s definitely not worthy of the t.i.tle, then the old man must be pulling her leg.
She must find a good opportunity to get rid of Sun Feiyan, but first, she needed Lu Xinyi out of the way. Sun Meixiu’s daughter was like a grain of sand in her eyes that she couldn’t turn a blind eye.
—
Five days had pa.s.sed, and the activity was almost at its end. Lu Xinyi’s team got the lowest score so far much to her teammates’ displeasure. They all blamed Meng Jiao for not having enough skills and having poor menu decisions. If they’d allowed Lu Xinyi or Tang Lilou to step up, most of them believed that they would fare better than what they had now.
When Meng Jiao wasn’t paying attention, some of them curled their lips and inwardly sneered. It was clear to them that Meng Jiao was purposely trying to stop Lu Xinyi to outs.h.i.+ne her. The dishes they served were somehow subpar compared to other teams. The team that was led by Ye Xieren had taken the top spot.
The teams had just finished collecting their ingredients for their dinner. Seeing that the sky was turning dark, the students decided to head back to their cabins and start up a fire to cook their evening meals.
“What do we have here?” Lu Xinyi asked. Because of her teammates’ insistence, she was now a.s.signed to cook the meal for tonight. Two groups were sent out to gather the ingredients.
“Sister Lu! We were able to catch six rabbits!” A woman on her team said with glee. Her eyes wide in excitement as she boasted how her team was able to find decent meat they could use aside from the fish they got from the river.
Tang Lilou took a sneak peek on their bags and saw that there were indeed six big rabbits in it.
“We are going to eat them? Why do we have to eat these cute bunnies?” she whined.
The rabbits were chubby and with snow-white fur. Tang Lilou loved to collect cute things and trinkets and wanted all the bunnies for herself.
“Xin Jiejie, can I just adopt them instead? They are so cute!”
Lu Xinyi scratched her head and stared down on Tang Lilou who was pleading with her big wide eyes like a puppy.
“Uh… we can’t. I’m sorry, Lou Lou. I would love to give them to you, but I’m sure our team will suffer another loss if we can’t serve anything tonight.” Lu Xinyi sighed.
“But…” Tang Lilou wanted to convince her cousin, but seeing that Lu Xinyi had made up her mind, she gave up. “Alright…”
After all, she was also hungry. Had she known that she would eat less during this training camp, she would’ve eaten more before leaving the academy’s premises.
Lu Xinyi took the rabbits, and with the help of her other teammates, she skinned and cleaned the rabbits before chopping three rabbits into her desired sizes. She marinated the rabbit in the olive oil, garlic, and rice wine for an hour before cooking it.
While waiting for the dish to cook fully, Lu Xinyi helped her teammates to roast the other three rabbits. Because there was no oven available to be used, they decided to wrap the rabbits stuffed with herbs and rub the skin with olive oil, wrapping them with a foil before placing them over a medium hotbed of live coals.
In just two hours, their team was able to cook two pots of rabbit stew. Three rabbits were used for the stew while the remaining three were used for roasting which they could eat later.
As the rabbit continued to cook, the fragrant aroma of the stew filled the area. The stew was a perfect pair from the rice they’d received from their proctor. As the team gathered at the cooking area, their appet.i.tes started to surge with the intent to eat as much as they could tonight.
All of them were looking forward to tasting this dish as they knew that Lu Xinyi hadn’t failed with her dishes so far. They had the same expressions of excitement as their eyes feast on the dish. They almost had a hard time to stop their drool.
When their dish was presented to Long Feng and Li Yuren, Long Feng almost wolfed down the meal in front of him in seconds upon opening his box. He cried in happiness as his chopsticks continued to move in swift movements. Lu Xinyi’s dish was certainly above the field rations he’d been eating for the past few weeks.
Meanwhile, Li Yuren stared at his meal for a moment before picking up his own chopsticks to eat. When Lu Xinyi’s team was cooking earlier, he and Long Feng arrived just in time to see his ex-fiancee cleaning the rabbits. He was somewhat surprised to see that she could deal with butchering a wild animal. She was proficient in cutting the rabbit like she’d been doing this for a long time.
Was she really the true heiress of the Sun family?
When she started cooking, he couldn’t help when his Adam’s apple rolled on his throat in reaction to the fragrant aroma that wafted into the air. He stared at the woman cooking several meters away from him and wondered what was she thinking when she chose to decline the marriage arrangement between them.
Few slices of thin meat pa.s.sed through his lips, and he couldn’t stop himself to eat more. Wave after wave of the delicious scent from the rabbit stew a.s.saulted his senses.
“Yuren, if you couldn’t finish your food, you can give it to me,” Long Feng said with puffy cheeks. His mouth was full, and there were remnants of rice on his chin.
Li Yuren shot him a glare and continued to eat and finish his meal. His meal was truly satisfying and was above among the meals that were served to him. It was no wonder Lu Xinyi was one of the top contenders at Silver Leaf’s junior special cla.s.s.