“Hmm… rank number 2 isn’t so bad. Like brother, like little sister.” Huang Shenghao cracked a joke. Really, he was the only one that could make fun of Tian Lingyu and survive.

Tian Lingyu crossed his arms and glared at his friend. “Huang Shenghao, are you forgetting why you’re rank number 1, or do you want to me to strip off that rank from you?”

Huang Shenghao snorted. “Of course, I know! Because you have a lazy ass—you rather have the second rank than taking all the responsibilities of being the top student of Silver Leaf!”

Tian Lingyu always gives him a handicap at every quarterly ranking examination. He’d never paid attention to rank 1 from the start and thought that being number one was boring. As long as his terms with the Li family were met, rankings didn’t matter much to him.

While everyone wanted to be number 1, he was contented with what he had. Being number 1 or in the higher rank would only feed one’s pride; and when their expectations weren’t met, they would break down faster than the stack of cards. -.

Those who only value themselves based on ranks were fools. Did they really think that ranking was all that mattered? He’d seen and encountered several students sabotaging and cheating just to improve their ranks. Pathetic. Truly pathetic.

Cooking was an art not designed for everyone. Passion wasn’t enough to make one successful. It would take several mistakes and time to have the necessary skill. A skill that his little sister should have right now for making noodles from scratch wasn’t a walk in a park.

If he’d known that Lu Xinyi was planning to attend Silver Leaf, he could’ve found a way to train her himself. The thing that irritated him the most was Chairman Han purposely hiding this information to him.

Damn old man, always trying to find amusement from his subjects. He could only hope that his little sister had at least tried to practice making noodles, or else she was doomed to be a failure for this round. There were two common ways to make a noodle by hand, and he was sure that the hand-pulled noodles would be too hard for his sister. This meant the knife-cut option would be ideal for her.

“But really, Lingyu, you should try to become number one next quarter. I’m tired of running around making inspirational speeches to everyone.” Huang Shenghao complained; he also wanted Tian Lingyu to take him seriously and fight him head-on.

—

Ten minutes passed, and with Huo Meili’s call, the remaining examinees fought their way to get whatever they need for this round—that even the sponsored students joined the crowd.

Lu Xinyi endured the slam against her tiny frame as she fought with another examinee for the kind of flour she needed for her noodles. She would worry about her bruises later for time was against her. She would fail big time if she couldn’t start her noodle dish soon.

She took a chunk of beef with a huge bone, half a chicken, garlic chives, white radish, and cilantro. She also took several kinds of herbs and spices from the other stall and went back to her own station to start preparing the broth for the noodles.

Lu Xinyi marinated her beef in a brine solution for a few minutes before mixing all the spices in one bowl and securely putting it within a small bag of cloth which she would use later. She knew that one hour wasn’t really enough to produce the perfect broth; nevertheless, she tried whatever she could do.

Tuning out the sounds and voices around her, Lu Xinyi was trapped in her own world again as she cooked. Putting the marinated beef and half a chicken on a huge pot, she added several cups of water, ginger, and salt and waited for it to boil before removing the scum and adding the spice bag she made earlier.

While the broth was on the stove, she took her flour and poured it on her clean countertop. The first step in making a good noodle was to perfectly balance the flour and the water. If the temperature was cold, one should use more water than the usual. If it’s warm, less water would be needed.

According to her father, making the perfect noodles didn’t need an exact measurement. It was all based on one’s experience through touch. Lu Xinyi knew that she was lack of experience, but she trusted her senses—especially her hands—so she added salt and water on her flour, started kneading for around five to six minutes until she was satisfied with the dough she had, and let it rest for fifteen minutes.

Lu Xinyi was frustrated with the time limit the judges had given them. It was impossible to cook a perfect handmade noodle within one hour. It would take an experienced cook to make noodles within two to three hours, not one. What were they thinking? Were they expecting them to give up and try to come up with their own noodles?

While her dough was resting, Lu Xinyi chopped the vegetables and quickly blanched the sliced radish in boiling water to remove its bitterness. She then added the sauteed white sesame and sesame oil onto a bowl with chili oil she gathered from the food stall earlier.

Once done, she filtered the broth through a strainer to remove the excess particles and scum from it. She added more water and spices on the strained broth and strained it again for the last time.

Finally done with the broth, she went back to her dough and rolled it on the dusted countertop and pulled the dough before smashing it on the counter, slowly stretching it with the other hand.

Seeing what his sister did to the dough, Tian Lingyu let out a curse.

‘What in all the seven hells is this woman doing?’