Chapter 7: Doctor — If you have any psychological problems that need to be dealt with, you’re welcome to find me.
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Ever since that day Tang Mi had met Yu Xin, she had not encountered him in the following days; in fact, not even Yu Yi had visited the restaurant.
On this day at noon, 『Sweet Dream』 had just opened for business. The store only had a few customers, who were seated in twos and threes. A gentleman wearing a suit entered the store. Supervisor Yu's eyes lit up when she saw the man's handsomeness and personally went up to greet him. "Good morning sir, did you have a reservation?"
Doctor Zhang tilted his head towards her. With a professional smile, he said, "No."
Supervisor Yu blinked with stars in her eyes. "May I inquire how many guests are with you?"
"Just myself."
"Please come this way, sir." Supervisor Yu graciously led him to an empty table and handed him the menu.
Doctor Zhang flipped through the desserts, slowly scanning through every pastry. "Your restaurant's cakes are very beautiful; do they look the same in reality?"
Supervisor Yu replied, "These photos are all of the original cake. Please rest assured."
Doctor Zhang closed the menu and returned it to Supervisor Yu. "I would like the wine-infused fruit cake and the swan puff, thank you."
Supervisor Yu was all smiles as she said, "Would you like to order anything else? Our foie gras here is quite good."
"No thanks."
Supervisor Yu reluctantly left the scene.
In the end, it was Supervisor Yu who delivered the dessert. Once it was placed down in front of Doctor Zhang, his brows raised, surprised by the exquisiteness of the cake. He picked up a spoon and scooped a small piece of the cake into his mouth. He then called out for Supervisor Yu. "I don't mean to disturb you, but may I meet your pastry chef?"
Supervisor Yu paused for a moment before smiling and asking, "Is there something wrong with the flavour?"
"Oh, not that. It's very delicious." Doctor Zhang showed an expression of appreciation. "That's why I would like to personally thank her."
Tang Mi was cutting dough when Supervisor Yu walked in with a serving plate. She knocked a few times on the table. "The customer on table 9 says he would like to meet you."
Tang Mi froze for a moment before looking at her, slightly nervous as she asked, "Was there something wrong with the cake?"
Supervisor Yu slanted down her lips. "He said it was very good and wanted to personally thank you."
"Really? For real?" Tang Mi cupped her face in excitement. This was the first time a customer had looked for her. "Then could you help me look after the oven? You just need to take the pan out when the timer is done!"
Supervisor Yu: "…"
Tang Mi had already happily skipped away.
She neatened up her shirt and hat before approaching table 9. Very politely, she greeted, "Hello."
Doctor Zhang tilted his head towards her, his eyes filled with deep interest as he asked, "Are you the pastry chef here?"
"Yes, I am."
Doctor Zhang swept his eyes over her name tag. He smiled before saying, "Tang Mi, you are just as sweet as your name and, of course, the cakes you make."
Tang Mi turned red from embarrassment and unconsciously replied, "Not as sweet as your words."
Doctor Zhang paused for a moment then laughed out loud. Tang Mi was so embarrassed she quickly added, "Sorry."
"Oh don't be; you're quite interesting," he chuckled at her. "Come sit down and have a chat."
Tang Mi waved her hands. "Oh no, it's okay. I can stand."
Doctor Zhang didn't press any further. He picked up the spoon and cut into the wine-infused fruit cake, placing it on his lips. "I'm pleasantly surprised at this combination of cream and fruit. Furthermore, with the wine fragrance subtly exuding from the cake and these flavours, it's hard to get tired of it no matter how much you eat." He finished the cake and reached towards the puff on the other plate. "This swan puff is even more beautiful. It's such work of art that I just can't bring myself to eat it."
Tang Mi smiled. "If the guests leave their cakes intact on the table, the chefs will scold me."
With a smile on his lips, Doctor Zhang took out a business card from his shirt pocket and gave it to Tang Mi. "It was a pleasure meeting you."
Tang Mi took the card, blankly staring at him for a bit. "A psychiatric doctor?"
Doctor Zhang nodded his head at her. "If you have any psychological problems that need to be dealt with, you’re very welcome to find me."
She accepted the business card, grinning to herself. This person looked expensive; if she really needed psychological counselling, she'd just go to the supermarket and consult the instant noodles.
Doctor Zhang seemed to have heard her thoughts as he softly laughed and said, "Seeing as you have made such a wonderful cake for me, you can come in for half price."
Tang Mi became a little embarrassed again. I wonder if all psychiatrists know how to read minds.
Once she returned to the pastry kitchen, Supervisor Yu excitedly rushed over to her. "I saw him give you a business card; let me see!"
Tang Mi casually handed the card to her. Supervisor Yu held it as though she was holding a treasure in her hand. "Oh, a psychiatric doctor. High income and high IQ type." She took out a pen and paper from her skirt and swiftly copied his number down.
Tang Mi glanced over and asked, "What, do you have some psychological problems?"
Supervisor Yu responded, "Does lovesickness count?" Speaking of this, with some hopefulness, she asked, "Do you think that psychiatrists would sacrifice their sex appeal to cure their patients?"
Tang Mi pursed her mouth. "Depends on their face."
Supervisor Yu: "…"
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Inside Yu Zhi's building, Yu Yi was reading over some documents in his office when his phone vibrated on his table. It was a message from 「Doctor Zhang」.
Yu Yi picked up his phone and clicked into it.
"I just met Miss Tang Mi; her cakes were very delicious. They have a kind of magic that brings happiness to people. I believe I know why you've chosen her, but I do not want to tell you that I intend to hire her as my personal pastry chef and have left her my business card."
There were two pictures of cakes attached with the message.
Yu Yi stared at the message for a while. He then saved the two photos onto his phone and deleted the text.
Tang Mi was busy the whole day. As soon as she got home, she lay flat on her bed with no intention of moving.
Fu Xin was holding a cup of instant noodles while standing next to the door. "Tang Tang1, aren't you going to eat dinner?"
Tang Mi lazily rolled onto her stomach. "I ate at the restaurant."
"Oh. Don't forget to tell me if you eat something later tonight."
Tang Mi: "…"
Can't you just make it yourself!
Tang Mi silently decided that if she did get hungry later, she would just secretly eat the biscuits inside her room instead of spoiling Fu Xin and feeding her bad habits.
She lay down for a while before she searched for Yu Yi's number again, silent as she looked at the numbers. She then took out Doctor Zhang's business card from her bag, hesitant on whether she should ask about the split personality issue. No, no, no, he would definitely charge a fee; she should just ask something that was free.
She turned on her computer and typed the words 「split personality」 into the search engine.
The search engine immediately listed multitudes of results. She skimmed over a few. Many of the articles said that split personalities usually stemed from childhood trauma. Tang Mi's eyebrows lifted a little. What kind of childhood trauma would CEO Yu have? He seemed like the type to be someone else's childhood trauma.
Hm. Then again, we can't be certain. Somebody of his status would have some sort of unspeakable secrets, like XXplay or bdsm…
Stop it, Tang Mi! What kind of stuff have you been watching!
Tang Mi shook the mosaic of thoughts out of her head and rushed into the living room to find Fu Xin. "Xiao Xing Xing, I want to eat some food; do you want any?"2. adding Xiao is a symbol of closeness or friendship, xing = star, which sounds more cute than her actual xin character.]
"Want, want, want!" The Fu Xin lying on the sofa and watching TV shows suddenly sprung up, almost knocking over the instant noodles on the glass coffee table.
She grabbed some spare change and Tang Mi's hand, walking out to buy some food. Although the suburb they lived in was rather old, the area had many street stalls. The lineup was almost like the backdoor of a university.
Once they had both chosen their dish and ordered some barbeque, they simply sat down in front of the store and ate there. Tang Mi watched Fu Xin sitting opposite her, who was indulging herself in the food, and casually asked, "Did you have any childhood traumas?"
"Huh?" Fu Xin looked at her for a few seconds. "Don't you already know my childhood traumas? When I confessed to the class president in my first year and got rejected, when I confessed to the cultural head of committee in second year and got rejected, and who was that person I confessed to in third year? Doesn't matter, I still got rejected. During first year of middle school, I was getting along with Ban Cao pretty well, but once I told him I liked him, he stopped talking to me the very next day… Then in my third year of high school… and in my second year of uni…."
Tang Mi: "…"
She already knew about all these events, but once it was listed together in a row, it sounded really tragic.
She brushed over her jean pockets and handed Doctor Zhang's business card to her. "If you can't figure it out, go find this man and talk to him about it."
Fu Xin: "…"
She took the card and placed it in her bag. Rubbing her nose, she faced Tang Mi and said, "If you really cared about me, please set up an 'interview' with CEO Yu for me. If I could get an opportunity to meet him, then the next 'promotion' would just be minutes away!"
Tang Mi pursed her lips. "Did you think I see him everyday?"
Fu Xin blinked a few times and placed her barbeque stick down. "Aiyo, Tang Tang, why do I feel that your attitude towards this is all wrong? Just like a wife who complains about their husband not coming home?"
Her words made Tang Mi's face go bright red. She immediately kicked Fu Xin under the table. "Fu Xin, have you no shame?!"
Fu Xin laughed out, "What is there to be shameful about? It's okay as long as you're not shameless."
Tang Mi frowned at her, picked up the skewers, and then licked them all.
Fu Xin: "…"
What a savage way to take revenge.
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The next day whenTang Mi went to work, she was called into the restaurant manager's office. Her heart was a little nervous, and she was asked to sit in the chair opposite. The restaurant manager gave her some documents. "The exhibition centre will be holding a pastry exhibition next weekend. Our head office has considered that since our restaurant has just opened, we could use this as an opportunity to promote our business. Therefore, we have decided to send you as our representative."
Tang Mi stared at her in a daze. "Sending me?"
"Yes. Of course, Yu Zhi will have their other restaurants contributing their own pastries, but the pastry chefs themselves will not appear on the day. The documents I just gave you was the pastry catalogue. Our restaurant has accounted for the majority of them. Since you need to prepare for the exhibition, your day off may be postponed until after it has ended. Are there any problems?"
"No, no problems." Tang Mi was still a bit stunned. She had previously attended A City's pastry exhibition, but only as a taste tester. The dazzling array of cakes had left a deep impression on her, and she had even been fortunate enough to meet some famous pastry chefs. She had never expected that after a few years, she would be given the opportunity to participate in this exhibition.
"Well then, thank you for your hard work for the next few days," the restaurant manager said as she smiled at her.
A fire brewed within Tang Mi's heart, so hot that was burning up. "Rest assured restaurant manager, I will prepare well!"
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The Author has something to say:
Next! Day! Will be! Double!
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Thanks to all my angels who threw land minds, mwah! （づ￣3￣）づ╭?～
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Tang Tang (糖糖) is not the same Tang in Tang Mi's name (唐蜜) fyi. 唐 is a surname whereas 糖 means sugar/sweet/candy ↩