On the next three days after her cooking battle with Han Yixin, Lu Xinyi finished her midterm exams too late. While others were already finished with theirs, she spent extra time to answer each question.

When she stepped outside their classroom, she saw her other classmates waiting for her. Urgh, why was she suddenly surrounded by more people? She thought.

“Xin Jiejie, you took a long time to finish your exams. Are you alright?” Tang Lilou asked worriedly.

“Xin Jie, I watched your cooking battle last time. Congrats on your win,” Lan Xiaoli now spent more time visiting Lu Xinyi and Tang Lilou after her class. She didn’t mind being a tag-along when the two went to eat their lunch and snacks at the school’s cafeteria.

“Sister Lu, you’ve got eye bags…” Surya Rathore pointed out with a snack on his hand.

“What can I say? Eyebag game on fleek ‘coz I’m freaking tired and sleepless lately.” Lu Xinyi grunted as they made their way to the cafeteria.

“You’re eating again? Aren’t you afraid to gain weight with the amount of food you eat daily?” Ye Xieren eyed the snack on Surya Rathore’s possession.

“Hey! Just let me be, Brother Ye! I haven’t eaten a decent meal since the midterm started,” the foreign student complained.

“Where have you’ve been going lately, huh? You are always out of the dorm and come back home late at night.”

Not only Ye Xieren noticed this weird behavior of Surya Rathore, even Yan Chen and Tang Liang knew about it.

“Actually, I just opened an herb and spices shop downtown. It’s kinda new so I need to oversee the product and check their quality one by one.” Surya Rathore confessed.

“My parents are against my decision to learn culinary arts and take up cooking as a profession so they cut off my monthly allowance and threaten me to cut relations if I don’t go back home. I have to rely on myself so I can continue attending Silver Leaf.”

Lu Xinyi understood how hard it was for Surya Rathore to run a business to support himself while attending the academy. She suddenly remembered when her Grandma Lu had just died, and she had no one to rely on. It was hard for one to study and work at the same time, especially if he wasn’t receiving any support from the family that was supposed to help him.

A loud crunch from Surya Rathore’s snack broke Lu Xinyi from her reverie.

“What’s that?” she asked curiously. She hadn’t seen a snack like that before.

The snack Surya Rathore was munching on looked like long strips of fried dough.

“Oh, this one? Wanna try? This is called Namak para in our country. It’s really delicious,” Surya Rathore replied excitedly. He’d been trying to convince Ye Xieren to try the snack he brought sometimes, but the latter always refused his offers.

Seeing Lu Xinyi interested in his hometown snack, he couldn’t help but be excited.

Lu Xinyi took one piece of his snack from the bag he was holding and took a bite from it.

“It’s a pastry snack from my hometown.”

“It’s fried though. It’s delicious.” Lu Xinyi stated the obvious. “The taste is so buttery, it’s crunchy, and it melts in my mouth.”

“Yes!” Surya Rathore’s smile widened. “It’s delicately seasoned with ajwain and cumin seeds in pure ghee.”

“Pure ghee?” Lu Xinyi blinked.

“I mean clarified butter!” The foreign student corrected himself.

“Oh, that’s nice. Brother Rathore should bring me more snacks once the classes resume.”

Surya Rathore nudged Ye Xieren who was yawning from too much boredom. Now that the exams were done, he would take this chance to rest before preparing for the second half of the term.

“See, Brother Ye! I told you it doesn’t taste bad at all! Sister Lu likes it!”

Ye Xieren threw a glare Surya Rathore’s way. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

“Idiot! That was because the one you’ve given to her wasn’t as spicy as the snack you forced me to eat!” he grumbled. He could still remember the first time Surya Rathore gave him a pack of snacks not knowing that it was incredibly spicy. His tongue couldn’t tolerate too much heat, and he got a stomach ache later.

Lu Xinyi spent another hour with them, listening to incessant arguments between Ye Xieren and Surya Rathore, having Tang Liang to mediate them, while Yan Chen spent his time reading a book on one side. Meanwhile, Lan Xiaoli and Tang Lilou spent more time talking about the latest gossip in the entertainment world.

The other students of Silver Leaf Academy watched them in awe. They all know how amazing these people in the kitchen, but seeing all of them in the same place was unexpected.

Lu Xinyi was about to take a nap when she heard Lan Xiaoli asked Tang Lilou about a model turned singer named Zheng Yue.

“Zheng Yue is really popular these days, but her former manager is a bitch! Why did she leak to the media that she’s an orphan and desperately looking for her mother? Now, so many women claiming to be her birth mother just because she’s famous!” Lan Xiaoli explained.

“Xiaoli, why are you so bothered about this Zheng Yue?” Lu Xinyi yawned, blinking away her sleepiness as she remembered something.

“Of course, I’m affected by this news about Zheng Yue, Xin Jie! I’m her diehard fan. I’ve followed her since the beginning of her career in show business. From being an A-rated model to singer after getting discovered by a talent scout.”

Lu Xinyi nodded and kept silent, thinking about what Yuan Jin told her before.

“Who’s managing her now? I assume she ditched that manager and found a new one?” she asked Lan Xiaoli.

“Miss Zheng has recently signed with Griffin Entertainment.” Tang Lilou lifted her teacup and took a sip from her warm drink. “The public still isn’t aware of it, but it will be out soon. Why do you ask, Xin Jiejie?”

“Hmm… just thinking if I could ask a favor from your family. My friend is in need of dire help. We need a new model to represent the next collection from Flair Apparel.”

Lu Xinyi’s clothing brand was starting to make a comeback although the public didn’t know that she now owned it. With Xia Yuhan still being the head designer of Flair Apparel, a rumor about a certain handsome guy named Lu Feiran was the new owner of the brand.

Seeing an opportunity to invite her Xin Jiejie at the Tang mansion, Tang Lilou took the chance and gave her cousin an uncertain answer.

“I don’t know if I can help you, Xin Jiejie. Why don’t you visit us tomorrow? My dad will be off from work. I’m sure he has a great candidate on his mind.”

“Hmm… sure. I don’t have plans tomorrow. Just send me the address, and I’ll go there tomorrow morning.”

After asking the favor she’d been stalling to ask these past days, Lu Xinyi thanked the Tang twins and left the academy. Outside the campus, a black car was waiting for her. Qiao He opened the door of the backseat and let her in.

“How’s the exam?” Shen Yi asked, his attention on the laptop on his lap while he tried to finish more work.

Lu Xinyi grunted and leaned her head on his arm. “So tiring.”

Once Lu Xinyi was out of her sight, Tang Lilou pulled out her phone and called her father.

“Dad! I have good news!”

“Lou’er? What is it? I’m in the middle of a meeting,” Tang Shui said at the other line.

“Xin Jiejie is paying us a visit tomorrow! I told her that you are free from work. I’ll tell you the details later,” she said before disconnecting the call.

Tang Shui, who was really in the middle of an important meeting, was frozen on his seat when he heard what his daughter said.

“Director Tang? Should we end our meeting here?” his assistant asked.

“Yes! I have an important thing to do!” Tang Shui stormed out of the room and called his wife.

“Darling, tell Aunt Lingfei that Xin’er is paying a visit tomorrow! Oh, don’t forget to prepare the dishes she may like, okay?” He sobbed happily as he gave more instructions over the phone.

Finally, their first miss was coming home.

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