Li Yuren shot his assistant a glare but couldn’t say no to the proctor’s request. He guessed that it wouldn’t hurt to eat something else aside from field rations. When they went to the student’s campsite, a long table had already set up with five different dishes presented to them. As he expected, all of them used fish in different varieties.

One turned up with a soup base, the other was grilled. The last one was pan-seared.

“This is your first meal for this activity. The highest point you can get is 20 points. General Li and Lieutenant Long will help me judge your dishes. As you know…”

Lu Xinyi tuned out the proctor’s voice. Their first dish that Meng Jiao and her team presented wasn’t to her liking. It would deem passable to an inexperienced palate, but she wouldn’t put her hope to get the highest point for this round. The fish wasn’t cleaned and cut properly and was over-seasoned.

She turned to Tang Lilou who was sitting beside her.

“How’s your foot? Are you alright?”

Tang Lilou hummed then took a glance at her swollen foot.

“It’s still a little painful. I should be able to walk in three days.” It was then when her stomach grumbled loudly, reminding her of her another problem. The breakfast she had eaten that morning was easily burned out when they climbed on the mountain’s terrain. “They will have to taste and grade the dishes before we can eat, but I’m already hungry.”

“I know, that’s why I brought you something,” Lu Xinyi grinned and handed a ripe persimmon on Tang Lilou’s hand.

“Thanks, Xin Jiejie. You are the best!” The younger woman beamed a smile and started eating her fruit.

“Say, Xin Jiejie. Are you nervous about your cooking battle against Han Yixin?”

All of them know that the patisserie queen was just waiting for Lu Xinyi to earn enough points. Once they’re back at Silver Leaf Academy, the cooking battle would commence.

“I haven’t really given a thought about it. I’ll deal with her once the issue is in front of me,” Lu Xinyi said truthfully. The issue was thrown at the back of her mind. Although she was aware of what was waiting for her back at Silver Leaf Academy, it wasn’t her utmost priority.

“If you need help, I’m here for you,” Tang Lilou chimed in.

While Long Feng enjoyed his meal, Li Yuren tasted the five dishes that were served to him. Each of them was obviously different from each other. There wasn’t anything special to it. As Li family’s Young Master, he had enough share of delicacies whenever he was back at the capital. That was why he encountered Lu Xinyi at one of the local bakeries when he decided to buy cheesecake for himself.

“General Li, here’s the assessment slip you can use to rate each dish. You can answer it anytime you are free. We will have twenty-one meals to assess. ” The proctor handed to him two sheets of paper.

He nodded and gave it to Long Feng for safekeeping. His eyes then caught Lu Xinyi talking to the young miss of the Tang family. He hadn’t expected that Lu Xinyi had already associated himself with them, but that was better than joining the Sun family in his opinion. Not when there were traces of blood thirst from her aunts.

As if sensing that someone was staring at her, Lu Xinyi lifted her head only to meet Li Yuren’s eyes. She was startled to find that the man who saved her was staring at her. It would be improper if she blatantly ignored him so she gave him a small smile and turned back her attention to Tang Lilou’s story.

Once they finished rating the dishes, the students took their dishes and distributed meals to one another. The campsite was filled with laughter and voices as the students ate their meals. An hour later, they tidied up the table and cleaned the improvised stove they set up earlier. Meanwhile, Li Yuren and Long Feng went back to their camp to check the progress of their mission.

“Ah, that meal was really satisfying,” Long Feng commented and tapped his stomach, “Finally, a decent meal after a long time.”

Li Yuren kept silent and resumed his work. Long Feng stared at his superior. Would there be any chance that he could see other expressions on Li Yuren’s face aside from indifference?

“You didn’t like it?” he asked. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

“Like you said, it was a decent meal.” Li Yuren said without breaking his gaze at the papers on his hand.

Long Feng was half-tempted to say that Li Yuren didn’t enjoy his meal because it wasn’t Lu Xinyi who made it, but he chose to bite the inside of his cheeks. Who knew what kind of punishment he would receive if he continued to tease Li Yuren? He wasn’t blind. Maybe he wasn’t as smart as Li Yuren, but the latter’s excessive attention to Lu Xinyi was making Long Feng think that his boss was interested in the ex-fiancee who never showed herself to him.

—

At Jiang City…

Shen Yi had been working on his laptop nonstop, making his younger brother wonder what happened between his brother and Big Sis. Did they have a big fight before she left for her training camp?

That morning—before the sun rose, Lu Xinyi left with her brother. Tian Lingyu dropped his sister at the meeting place near the training camp and bid goodbye as he would also need to go back and follow Huang Shenghao back at the Capital City. The student council had received intent to challenge him, and the board of directors accepted it.

When the Lu siblings left, Shen Yi engrossed himself on work that he barely paid attention to Shen Xue and Kang Wei.

“Bro, did you forget your lunch again? Big Sis would be mad if she found out you skipped a meal again.” Shen Xue tested the waters to see how his brother would react.

There was a slight falter on Shen Yi’s fingers as it hovered over the keyboard of his laptop. Ah, there was indeed trouble between him and his wife. The silent treatment Lu Xinyi was giving him and Tian Lingyu was quite unexpected. He really thought that after the fight, now that Tian Lingyu finally accepted him as brother-in-law, his wife would be throwing a fit.

His brother-in-law could only shake his head and sigh. Tian Lingyu told him to understand her mood, and she would come to understand their mutual decision to settle the matter.

Now that Lu Xinyi would be in her training camp for a week without any means of communication, Shen Yi regretted that he hadn’t talked to her properly before sending her off.

“Did you need something? Now that the issue about Top Tier is resolved, you should head back at Capital City and prepare for your departure.” Shen Yi reminded his brother.

“Why’s Grammie sending me away?” Shen Xue groaned, “I will also miss your birthday if I go,” he muttered.

Shen Yi stopped working and leaned his back on his seat. “I didn’t know that you care about me that much, or is it because of food?”

Shen Xue choked on his saliva as Kang Wei, who listened quietly among the Shen brothers, burst into laughter. Surely, his boss Yi knew his brother well. If it wasn’t for a chance to eat the dishes of Lu Xinyi, Shen Xue would never meet his brother on a voluntary basis.

“What? I am on a seafood diet. Every time I see food, I eat it.” Shen Xue defended.

Both Shen Yi and Kang Wei stared at him flabbergasted. There was an awkward silence within the room.

“Okay. That’s the last time you’ll tell a joke. We will pretend you said nothing.” Shen Yi broke the silence.

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Shen Xue exclaimed.

Kang Wei chuckled and continued working.

“I agree with Boss Yi. Honestly, Xue, stop tailing your brother and your sister-in-law. Don’t be a light bulb. You will just hurt yourself if you continue to follow them.”

Shen Xue huffed, but a tinge of blush could be seen on his cheeks. If it wasn’t for his favorite Big Sis, would he spend time with his brother? Slowly, the older brother that he lost several years ago was starting to resurface again; but with him leaving the country soon, Shen Xue knew that the progress would stop. Shen Yi would drown himself with work again if he couldn’t make up to Lu Xinyi anytime soon.

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