"Are you telling me that your master, with only three years and two months of schooling, can get into college while you high school students fail? How would that look?"

The apprentices were left speechless. The straightforward Gu Shaodong asked in a low voice, "Master, are you really that confident you’ll get in?"

"Of course. I’m smart, and I have an outstanding, all-around genius of a teacher in your Master’s husband. Plus, now that I’m pregnant and at home, my mother-in-law won’t let me do a thing, so I have tons of time to study."

"It’s what they call the perfect storm of favorable conditions. It would be ridiculous if I *didn’t* get in!"

The apprentices were already used to their master’s blind confidence in everything, and they were numb to her constant public displays of affection.

As far as they knew, their master had just finished cramming her way through middle school material. She had yet to witness the abstract, mind-bending symbols and formulas of high school science, nor had she experienced the mountain of tongue-twisting memorization required for the humanities. Her bravery was admirable, and perhaps, excusable.

’But why did Master have to step on them to make her point?’

"So, you can’t have even a shred of a ’let’s-get-lucky’ attitude. All of you need to buckle down and personally embody the diligent, outstanding quality of our Xiahua scholars who forget to eat or sleep for their studies."

"Heh, I care a lot about my reputation. If you can’t get into college, or if your scores are worse than mine... well, I won’t have to say a thing. You can just kick yourselves out of my tutelage."

’That harsh?’

Tears welled up in the apprentices’ eyes. She had shown them her superb skills, only to set up an impossible hurdle. If they couldn’t pass it, all their dreams of becoming great chefs would go up in smoke!

There was nothing more cruel than this.

"Um, what if our brains just don’t work as well as yours, Master?" another young apprentice, Lou Ziyang, asked, raising his hand timidly. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Zhu Yun shot him a sideways glance and sneered, "Even if you can’t beat my score, you can still get into *a* college."

"Am I the kind of unreasonable master who doesn’t care about her apprentices? So many people get into college every year. Since you were all good enough to become my apprentices, you must have your own merits. The college entrance exam is a piece of cake, practically a walk in the park. Are you going to lose heart before you’ve even tried?"

The apprentices’ eyes went wide. ’What does she mean the exam is a "walk in the park"?’

’Does Master have some kind of misunderstanding about the college entrance exam?’

Yes, a lot of people got into college every year, but there were even more high school students. And that wasn’t even counting the older high school graduates who had been trying for years.

But the number of college spots was fixed, which showed just how fierce the competition was. You might not even find one successful candidate in a group of ten.

Besides, the college entrance exam was a selective test. It was difficult, had a huge volume of questions, and covered a wide range of subjects. How could it possibly be easy?

They all turned their gazes to their Master’s husband, who was fiddling with a transistor.

’Your wife has no self-awareness. She’s made a wild boast she can’t back up. Does that make *you* look good?’

Chu Shenyu sensed their gazes and looked up with a smile. "Your master is right. The college entrance exam isn’t that hard. They’re all questions made by people. It’s not like they can go beyond the curriculum, can they?"

’All questions made by people...’

"As long as you build a solid foundation, have a broad knowledge base, and can apply formulas flexibly, getting into a college isn’t difficult."

’Getting into a college isn’t difficult...’

Okay, they were wrong.

This was the man everyone called an academic god, the one top universities had fought over to recruit.

They figured he could probably answer a question that would have them scratching their heads bald with his eyes closed.

"From now on, after you finish making dinner, come over to our place. I’ll tutor you all," Chu Shenyu said, remembering the group’s "factory kid" academic struggles. "We can’t have your college entrance exam scores be a total train wreck. It would make your master lose face."

Zhu Yun nodded. "Exactly. None of you are stupid or slow. If you can’t get into college, you must be spies sent by my enemies to infiltrate my life and drag me down."

The apprentices wanted to cry but had no tears left. Alright, then. No matter what, they had to study with all their might and prepare for the college entrance exam.

They had to get into *some* school, any school. Otherwise, their ruthless master would really kick them to the curb!

Zhu Yun took out a carrot and demonstrated the simplest carving technique for them. After explaining the key points, she shooed them away to go practice, keeping only Wang Simi behind.

Wang Simi stood ramrod straight, her expression solemn. "Master, what are your instructions?"

Zhu Yun laughed, pulling her down to sit. She gently poked her on the forehead. "You silly girl. Your dad isn’t that much of a stickler. How did you end up so prim and proper? This isn’t the army; we don’t have so many strict rules here."

"I did keep you behind for a reason, though."

"I need you to pass a message to your father for me. Make absolutely sure no one else is around," Zhu Yun said in a low, serious voice.

It wasn’t that she wanted to hide it from her family, but the soundproofing in the house wasn’t very good. She was afraid of being overheard by others, especially the neighbors across the hall.

"We Xiahua people have always preferred to report good news and hide the bad. We tend to keep any problems bottled up within the family, the village, or the commune. If it’s something we can handle ourselves, we’d never speak of it to the outside, for fear of burdening the organization."