Since they were young, Meng Jiao had always been the one to pass their academic exams with flying colors, and it was always Lu Xinyi who struggled with it. Even how much she tried to pull an all-nighter, she spent painful hours just to answer her papers.
She got herself into a real state of worrying about her exams. Lu Xinyi thought that dealing with exams might be a no-brainer for her husband and probably Meng Jiao, but for her, it was like life being a bitch to her.
The glow of the sun shone brightly from the window, illuminating the examination room. The examinees were quiet and focused on their papers. The only sounds that could be heard were the shuffling of papers as they turned the pages and the scribbling of their pens.
Lu Xinyi could hear the other examinees from the hallway, engrossed in their talks. One particular topic took her attention away from her test.
"This school year should be interesting. The Shen family hadn't participated for years and then decided to join this year," one male examinee said as he slurped his drink.
"Ah, but still … the Tang and the Liu family representatives should be able to pass today's exams easily," the other one commented.
"The official bets wouldn't start until the exams end. We should see which students look promising so we can cut our losses."
Lu Xinyi lifted a brow. What were these rich people saying? Couldn't they think of anything better to do than waste their wealth and resources? She shook her head and went back to her papers, only to find herself on the verge of crying.
She didn't care about what they were talking about anymore. These questions were giving her a headache. Wait, weren't this the one that Shen Yi forced her to memorize the other day?
She lifted her head, only to meet the gaze of the proctor who was staring at her weirdly. Lu Xinyi frowned. What was with this woman? She got a feeling that the proctor had been checking up on her frequently, and it wasn't because of exams. She hoped that the proctor wasn't suspecting her to cheat or anything else.
"Eyes on your paper!" The proctor hissed at her.
Lu Xinyi scoffed inwardly but obeyed their proctor. She tried to remember everything that Shen Yi had taught her. Well, not really taught since he only compiled the list and pointers he was able to get from Silver Leaf.
Sniff.
Such a good husband that she had. Shen Yi was patient enough to teach her math when she struggled to comprehend the formulas. For the past week, her husband had become her private tutor.
The next questions were tricky! She was so damn sure this was one way for SIlver Leaf to eliminate students that didn't pay attention to the questions.
'How do you keep from crying when cutting onions?'
Lu Xinyi was tempted to answer 'make someone else do it', but she was sure that the staff wouldn't let her pass. There were so many ways to lessen the crying, but she answered using the popular saying within the kitchen world: 'the sharper your knife, the less you cry.'
'How do you know if the wine had gone bad? How do you keep herbs fresh? Can you substitute baking soda for baking powder and vice versa?'
So many questions to answer, but at least, there weren't too much math problems given on their papers.
An hour later, Lu Xinyi left the room, feeling like life was sucked out from her body. She was confident that she will pass the written exams. If she did, it would make her advance to the next one: the practical exams. But they had to wait for another two hours to know if they passed the written exams or not.
Her eyes met with Meng Jiao's once again, but unlike their earlier argument, her ex-best friend chose to ignore her and walked past her as if she couldn't be bothered with Lu Xinyi's presence.
Taking a glance on her phone to check the time, Lu Xinyi smiled. The remaining time to wait for the results was enough for her to get something to eat for lunch. After a long walk around the school grounds, she was able to find the school cafeteria. Her eyes widened as she took in the menu for the day.
Oh, wow. So much better than the ones offered by her high school. Silver Leaf's cafeteria also got a high standard when it came to the food they offered to their students. Lu Xinyi could see some of the workers beyond the counter were Silver Leaf's students themselves.
She waited in line and ordered a bowl of a tonkotsu ramen. Its broth was thick and cloudy white in color. The coloring and consistency came from the boiling and simmering of pork bone marrows and fat on high heat for many hours. Lu Xinyi assumed that it was boiled up to 20 hours to produce the tasty broth. She could also say that the broth of her ramen was creamy as milk.
Her first attempts to cook the same dish were pale watery excuses of ramen. Actually, they were more like noodles in pork soup. Over the time, her attempts yielded broths that were too porky or too brown for her liking.
Eventually, she got the soup to a state where one could pass it off as ramen to the less experienced palate, but since then, she never dared to cook tonkotsu ramen. Perhaps, she was indeed more of a baker than a cook.
Clearing her bowl and patting her tummy, Lu Xinyi finished her ramen easily. She was contemplating if she should head back to the examination room to see the results when a group of students passed behind her.
"Check the forum, quick! The Liu family has been dethroned by the Li and the Shen!"
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