Chapter 2: Illness-stricken — She would also be a woman who had entered the CEO’s office.
By the time Tang Mi returned home, it wasn’t 12 o’clock yet.
She tossed her bag onto the sofa and flopped alongside it.
She was done for. She had screwed up the interview. When Fu Xin came home later, she might even strangle her to death.
Thinking of the landlord’s harsh appearance, she despaired over her life.
“Ai, my impulse really is a devil.” She turned her body around on the sofa, her posture just like a dead fish. Five seconds later, she swiftly sprung up from the sofa and crazily flung her CV at her computer. She mentally calculated the possibility of finding another job before Fu Xin returned from work.
Finished with the first bombardment of her CV, Tang Mi headed towards the kitchen to make herself a bowl of noodles. If she had known earlier, she wouldn’t have smashed the cake in the director’s face; it was such a waste of good food.
She sat cross-legged on the living room floor. As she inhaled the noodles, she continued to skim over recruitment sites. Back when she was a university student, she hadn’t expected that she and Fu Xin would fare so miserably.
She had spent practically all of her savings studying in France. When Fu Xin graduated, she had started her own business only to suffer losses. In the end, she had accumulated a large amount of debt. The majority of her monthly wages had been forked over to the creditor.
Tang Mi finished her noodles and checked her cell phone. There hadn’t been a SMS notification about the interview.
She sighed and got up to wash her bowl. Afterwards, she anxiously floated back to her room to take a nap. Probably because she was extremely worried, she dreamed that she and Fu Xin had to miserably sleep under a bridge, homeless.
Fu Xin’s voice woke her up in the end.
Tang Mi sat up in a daze. She groped around for her phone and glanced at it——still no SMS. Fu Xin stood beside her bed, looking expectantly at her. “Tang Tang, quick! Tell me that you have already risen among the elites of Yu Zhi!”
Tang Mi remained silent for a moment before she made a sorrowful expression. “Xiao Xing Xing, I think Yu Zhi might not suit me.”1
Fu Xin’s smile disappeared in a split second. “Why?”
“Because I don’t like their Human Resources director.”
Fu Xing looked suspiciously at her. “What happened with the Human Resources director?”
Tang Mi spoke with a voice of grievance. “He arbitrarily asserted that I had plagiarized He Si Qi’s cake.”
He Si Qi was a senior in A City Technical College’s baking club. Fu Xin very clearly knew about the gratitude and grudges between her and Tang Mi. When she heard that name just now, Fu Xin’s expression smoothed over. “He Si Qi? She popped back up? How did the Human Resources director know about that incident?”
Although that plagiarism scandal had set the college abuzz with noise, it was merely a small competition in the end. It would be of no interest to anyone outside of the college. Could it be that Yu Zhi’s Human Resources director had thoroughly investigated each and every interview candidate’s entire life before the interview?
Tang Mi shook her head and said, “I also don’t know, but he flatly said I plagiarized her, as if he had seen it with his own eyes. He wouldn’t even listen to my explanations and even questioned my character.”
Fu Xin angrily furrowed her brows. Tang Mi had trusted He Si Qi completely back in college. Otherwise, He Si Qi wouldn’t have been able to trick her. This incident always made Fu Xin think that Tang Mi was also in the wrong. The loss had taught her a very good lesson. But to think that that Human Resources director had heard this gossip and casually ridiculed Tang Mi… Who gave him this self-confidence!
She patted Tang Mi’s shoulder and comfortingly said, “Don’t worry. That person, that director, he should be at the head office? You won’t be meeting him at work, so when I find the opportunity to, I’ll help you beat him up.”
Tang Mi excitedly gripped Fu Xin’s hand in hers. “It really is like that saying, ‘heroes usually agree.’2 I had already done so!”
Fu Xin: “…”
She was silent for a good while before she angrily glared at Tang Mi. Her two slender eyebrows trembled. “So you’re saying that during your interview, you beat up your interviewer?”
With a as-harmless-as-domesticated-livestock smile, Tang Mi said, “Yes! Look, we thought of the same thing.”
……
Five seconds of silence passed. Fu Xin finally exploded. “Tang Mi! Tonight you are packing a quilt and sleeping under the bridge! This old woman isn’t supporting you!”
She said this while smoothly grabbing a long pillow and smacking it into Tang Mi’s face. Tang Mi tried her best to dodge, but Fu Xin furiously entered the bathroom and brought out a broom.
Tang Mi raised her hands and rapidly retreated. “Xing Xing, you must remain calm. I’m not worth committing a crime for!”
Fu Xing grinned evilly and stalked closer. “Don’t worry; I will do it in absolute secrecy.”
Tang Mi: “…”
The fight between them was like chickens jumping up and bouncing to avoid a chasing dog. At that moment, the cell phone on the table began buzzing, vibrating twice with a notification.
Tang Mi grabbed the phone like it was her life-saver.
「1 new unread SMS」
Tang Mi dodged to the side and opened the SMS to read. Pleased beyond her expectations, she yelled, “STOP!”
Fu Xin set aside the broom in her hands and, gasped for breath. She asked, “If you have any last words, say them now!”
“Yu Zhi invited me to participate in the second round of interviews!” Tang Mi had a difficult time concealing her excitement as she waved her phone in Fu Xin’s face——-
「Hello, Miss Tang Mi,
Congratulations on passing 『 Sweet Dream 』 Restaurant’s preliminary round. The second round of interviews will be held this Friday. In preparation for the interview, please bring along a personally baked cake, a plate of biscuits, and a bar of chocolate. Your second round interview is at 10 o’clock in the morning in Yu Zhi Tower. Please be on time.
Please note: The interviewer for the second round of interviews will be CEO Yu himself. Please make sure you are fully prepared. 」
Fu Xin read the SMS word-by-word and phrase-by-phrase out loud. She then blinked blankly.
“Fuck, Tang Tang, you’re going to be interviewed by the King of the Culinary World?!” This world really was extremely mysterious and fantastical. Fu Xin threw the broom away from her and grabbed Tang Mi’s shoulders, shaking her fiercely.
Tang Mi completely understood why Fu Xin was so excited. After all, Fu Xin had wanted to interview this king for a year, but to this day, she was still stuck in the ‘in-your-dreams’ stage.
She grasped Fu Xin’s hand in hers and, somewhat giddily, said, “If you keep shaking me like this, I can only go meet your king as a pile of ash.”
Fu Xin stopped, embarrassed. She immediately looked at Tang Mi in concern. “CEO Yu is personally interviewing you. You’ll most likely not pass.”
“…Why?”
“Don’t tell me that you don’t know? Yu Yi’s tongue is very famous in the industry for being picky! All the restaurants under the banner of Yu Zhi, before a new dish can hit the market, they all must be served to him to taste-test first. If he doesn’t say it’s delicious, this dish can only be sent to the cold palace!3 His tongue is the only true standard of measurement!”
Tang Mi’s brows rose. She actually seemed to have had heard of this before.
Fu Xin watched Tang Mi’s face as Tang Mi sank into contemplation. She began consoling her. “Just relax. If you get eliminated, I wouldn’t blame you. After all, that is Yu Yi!”
Tang Mi: “…”
She completely didn’t feel comforted.
Fu Xin looked up through her eyelashes and adopted a wretched expression. “Tang Mi, after you see Yu Yi, help me take a picture or two of him. If a photo isn’t possible, at least try your best to memorize his entire appearance, so when you come back, you can help me draw him.”
Tang Mi: “…”
How could she try her best to memorize his appearance? Did she need to glue her eyes open?
Fu Xin didn’t sense her misgivings. With a completely regretful tone, she said to Tang Mi, “I also really want to meet CEO Yu… If I had known earlier, I also would’ve learned how to bake cakes and pastries.”
Tang Mi’s lips curled down. “You better practice how to properly separate egg whites and egg yolks first.”
Fu Xin whispered, “CEO Yu is the flower atop the highest mountain peak in the Culinary World. Reportedly, no one has ever seen him smile. And it’s not just smiling; I’ve heard that he never expresses basic emotions like anger and joy.”
Tang Mi’s brows rose——an emotionless man?
“Does he have an illness?”
Fu Xing: “…”
“You have an illness! This is called being able to perfectly control one’s emotions and not be influenced by them. This talent allows him to make the best decisions!” Fu Xin defended her king as if her life depended on it.
Tang Mi tilted her head, staring at her. She said, “What you’ve said is right, but an emotionless man…can he still be considered human?”
Fu Xin: “…”
She raised her sleeve and stood up from the sofa. “Tang Mi, come. We’re going to duel on the rooftop.”
Tang Mi: “…”
A friendship between women would always be unable to persevere through ordeals.
Her lips slanted down slightly. She raised her head to look at Fu Xin. “Although, why do you think he still passed me when I had beaten up the director?”
Fu Xin had also pondered this. “If it’s not because he is broad-minded, could it be that… he is an M?”
Both of their gazes met in mid-air, and a tacit understanding flowed between them.
They would guard the director’s secret.
Following this, Tang Mi actively prepared for Friday’s interview.
Because CEO Yu was personally interviewing her, she valued this opportunity highly. She had made even more effort than usual to choose the best ingredients and tools.
The night before the interview, Fu Xin rested her shoulder against the kitchen doorway as she watched Tang Mi make a white chocolate mousse. She couldn’t help but sigh, commenting, “Why do you, a pastry chef, not have even an ounce of fat?”
It simply defied scientific logic.
Tang Mi glanced at her slim belly and said, “You can train the sit-ups you do every night to fifty reps.”
Fu Xin frowned. “A small belly is sexy and a symbol of gracefulness.”
“It will always be a beautiful gem of virtue on my body, but on your body, it will always be simply fat.”
Fu Xin: “…”
She seriously suspected that all the fat that should be on Tang Mi’s body was actually on her own.
She watched as Tang Mi made the mousse and placed it in the refrigerator to set. Fu Xin walked up to her and clapped Tang Mi’s shoulder. “Tomorrow, don’t think about passing the interview; just think about helping me see what CEO Yu looks like.”
Tang Mi: “…”
Betting her tuition for France, she must pass tomorrow’s interview!
But when she stood in front of the door to Yu Zhi Tower, she didn’t feel that confident. Yu Zhi’s national reputation was tremendous. This time, although she had been fortunate to find out that Yu Zhi needed a pastry chef for the new restaurant, she had just returned from studying abroad and was a newcomer without any work experience. Her competitive strength wasn’t prominent at all.
She had researched information online about Yu Zhi and other Western-style family restaurants. Among the information she gathered, she had found out that two pastry chefs were hired from France while the rest were all nationally famous Western-style pastry chefs.
For her, her only reputation was probably the cream cake she had thrown into the Human Resources director’s face.
She carried her cake boxes and paced back and forth in front of the doors for a while. Still, she summoned her courage and entered. The security guards at the door asked her a few questions before allowing her to pass. Taking the elevator until she reached the top floor, Tang Mi’s heart hung in suspense the entire time.
The entire top floor of Yu Zhi was the CEO’s office. Tang Mi’s sense of direction wasn’t very good, but luckily, waiting for her at the elevator was a beautiful female secretary. The secretary heard her purpose for coming and beamed, asking her to wait in the waiting area.
“The appointment still isn’t for another ten minutes. CEO Yu is still in a meeting, so you can just rest here until then.”
“Alright.”
These ten minutes stretched on endlessly for her. She had changed her sitting posture eighteen times, but she still couldn’t relax.
Two bell-like sounds rang out from the crystal-clear glass door. The beautiful secretary appeared once more. “Miss Tang, CEO Yu will see you now.”
“Yes, okay.” Tang Mi anxiously picked up the small cake boxes from the table and followed the secretary to the CEO office.
Sunlight streamed through the imposing entrance. Tang Mi thought to herself, I won’t be the same after I come out. She would also be a woman who had entered the CEO’s office.
Chapter 2: Illness-stricken — She would also be a woman who had entered the CEO’s office.
By the time Tang Mi returned home, it wasn’t 12 o’clock yet.
She tossed her bag onto the sofa and flopped alongside it.
She was done for. She had screwed up the interview. When Fu Xin came home later, she might even strangle her to death.
Thinking of the landlord’s harsh appearance, she despaired over her life.
“Ai, my impulse really is a devil.” She turned her body around on the sofa, her posture just like a dead fish. Five seconds later, she swiftly sprung up from the sofa and crazily flung her CV at her computer. She mentally calculated the possibility of finding another job before Fu Xin returned from work.
Finished with the first bombardment of her CV, Tang Mi headed towards the kitchen to make herself a bowl of noodles. If she had known earlier, she wouldn’t have smashed the cake in the director’s face; it was such a waste of good food.
She sat cross-legged on the living room floor. As she inhaled the noodles, she continued to skim over recruitment sites. Back when she was a university student, she hadn’t expected that she and Fu Xin would fare so miserably.
She had spent practically all of her savings studying in France. When Fu Xin graduated, she had started her own business only to suffer losses. In the end, she had accumulated a large amount of debt. The majority of her monthly wages had been forked over to the creditor.
Tang Mi finished her noodles and checked her cell phone. There hadn’t been a SMS notification about the interview.
She sighed and got up to wash her bowl. Afterwards, she anxiously floated back to her room to take a nap. Probably because she was extremely worried, she dreamed that she and Fu Xin had to miserably sleep under a bridge, homeless.
Fu Xin’s voice woke her up in the end.
Tang Mi sat up in a daze. She groped around for her phone and glanced at it——still no SMS. Fu Xin stood beside her bed, looking expectantly at her. “Tang Tang, quick! Tell me that you have already risen among the elites of Yu Zhi!”
Tang Mi remained silent for a moment before she made a sorrowful expression. “Xiao Xing Xing, I think Yu Zhi might not suit me.”1
Fu Xin’s smile disappeared in a split second. “Why?”
“Because I don’t like their Human Resources director.”
Fu Xing looked suspiciously at her. “What happened with the Human Resources director?”
Tang Mi spoke with a voice of grievance. “He arbitrarily asserted that I had plagiarized He Si Qi’s cake.”
He Si Qi was a senior in A City Technical College’s baking club. Fu Xin very clearly knew about the gratitude and grudges between her and Tang Mi. When she heard that name just now, Fu Xin’s expression smoothed over. “He Si Qi? She popped back up? How did the Human Resources director know about that incident?”
Although that plagiarism scandal had set the college abuzz with noise, it was merely a small competition in the end. It would be of no interest to anyone outside of the college. Could it be that Yu Zhi’s Human Resources director had thoroughly investigated each and every interview candidate’s entire life before the interview?
Tang Mi shook her head and said, “I also don’t know, but he flatly said I plagiarized her, as if he had seen it with his own eyes. He wouldn’t even listen to my explanations and even questioned my character.”
Fu Xin angrily furrowed her brows. Tang Mi had trusted He Si Qi completely back in college. Otherwise, He Si Qi wouldn’t have been able to trick her. This incident always made Fu Xin think that Tang Mi was also in the wrong. The loss had taught her a very good lesson. But to think that that Human Resources director had heard this gossip and casually ridiculed Tang Mi… Who gave him this self-confidence!
She patted Tang Mi’s shoulder and comfortingly said, “Don’t worry. That person, that director, he should be at the head office? You won’t be meeting him at work, so when I find the opportunity to, I’ll help you beat him up.”
Tang Mi excitedly gripped Fu Xin’s hand in hers. “It really is like that saying, ‘heroes usually agree.’2 I had already done so!”
Fu Xin: “…”
She was silent for a good while before she angrily glared at Tang Mi. Her two slender eyebrows trembled. “So you’re saying that during your interview, you beat up your interviewer?”
With a as-harmless-as-domesticated-livestock smile, Tang Mi said, “Yes! Look, we thought of the same thing.”
……
Five seconds of silence passed. Fu Xin finally exploded. “Tang Mi! Tonight you are packing a quilt and sleeping under the bridge! This old woman isn’t supporting you!”
She said this while smoothly grabbing a long pillow and smacking it into Tang Mi’s face. Tang Mi tried her best to dodge, but Fu Xin furiously entered the bathroom and brought out a broom.
Tang Mi raised her hands and rapidly retreated. “Xing Xing, you must remain calm. I’m not worth committing a crime for!”
Fu Xing grinned evilly and stalked closer. “Don’t worry; I will do it in absolute secrecy.”
Tang Mi: “…”
The fight between them was like chickens jumping up and bouncing to avoid a chasing dog. At that moment, the cell phone on the table began buzzing, vibrating twice with a notification.
Tang Mi grabbed the phone like it was her life-saver.
「1 new unread SMS」
Tang Mi dodged to the side and opened the SMS to read. Pleased beyond her expectations, she yelled, “STOP!”
Fu Xin set aside the broom in her hands and, gasped for breath. She asked, “If you have any last words, say them now!”
“Yu Zhi invited me to participate in the second round of interviews!” Tang Mi had a difficult time concealing her excitement as she waved her phone in Fu Xin’s face——-
「Hello, Miss Tang Mi,
Congratulations on passing 『 Sweet Dream 』 Restaurant’s preliminary round. The second round of interviews will be held this Friday. In preparation for the interview, please bring along a personally baked cake, a plate of biscuits, and a bar of chocolate. Your second round interview is at 10 o’clock in the morning in Yu Zhi Tower. Please be on time.
Please note: The interviewer for the second round of interviews will be CEO Yu himself. Please make sure you are fully prepared. 」
Fu Xin read the SMS word-by-word and phrase-by-phrase out loud. She then blinked blankly.
“Fuck, Tang Tang, you’re going to be interviewed by the King of the Culinary World?!” This world really was extremely mysterious and fantastical. Fu Xin threw the broom away from her and grabbed Tang Mi’s shoulders, shaking her fiercely.
Tang Mi completely understood why Fu Xin was so excited. After all, Fu Xin had wanted to interview this king for a year, but to this day, she was still stuck in the ‘in-your-dreams’ stage.
She grasped Fu Xin’s hand in hers and, somewhat giddily, said, “If you keep shaking me like this, I can only go meet your king as a pile of ash.”
Fu Xin stopped, embarrassed. She immediately looked at Tang Mi in concern. “CEO Yu is personally interviewing you. You’ll most likely not pass.”
“…Why?”
“Don’t tell me that you don’t know? Yu Yi’s tongue is very famous in the industry for being picky! All the restaurants under the banner of Yu Zhi, before a new dish can hit the market, they all must be served to him to taste-test first. If he doesn’t say it’s delicious, this dish can only be sent to the cold palace!3 His tongue is the only true standard of measurement!”
Tang Mi’s brows rose. She actually seemed to have had heard of this before.
Fu Xin watched Tang Mi’s face as Tang Mi sank into contemplation. She began consoling her. “Just relax. If you get eliminated, I wouldn’t blame you. After all, that is Yu Yi!”
Tang Mi: “…”
She completely didn’t feel comforted.
Fu Xin looked up through her eyelashes and adopted a wretched expression. “Tang Mi, after you see Yu Yi, help me take a picture or two of him. If a photo isn’t possible, at least try your best to memorize his entire appearance, so when you come back, you can help me draw him.”
Tang Mi: “…”
How could she try her best to memorize his appearance? Did she need to glue her eyes open?
Fu Xin didn’t sense her misgivings. With a completely regretful tone, she said to Tang Mi, “I also really want to meet CEO Yu… If I had known earlier, I also would’ve learned how to bake cakes and pastries.”
Tang Mi’s lips curled down. “You better practice how to properly separate egg whites and egg yolks first.”
Fu Xin whispered, “CEO Yu is the flower atop the highest mountain peak in the Culinary World. Reportedly, no one has ever seen him smile. And it’s not just smiling; I’ve heard that he never expresses basic emotions like anger and joy.”
Tang Mi’s brows rose——an emotionless man?
“Does he have an illness?”
Fu Xing: “…”
“You have an illness! This is called being able to perfectly control one’s emotions and not be influenced by them. This talent allows him to make the best decisions!” Fu Xin defended her king as if her life depended on it.
Tang Mi tilted her head, staring at her. She said, “What you’ve said is right, but an emotionless man…can he still be considered human?”
Fu Xin: “…”
She raised her sleeve and stood up from the sofa. “Tang Mi, come. We’re going to duel on the rooftop.”
Tang Mi: “…”
A friendship between women would always be unable to persevere through ordeals.
Her lips slanted down slightly. She raised her head to look at Fu Xin. “Although, why do you think he still passed me when I had beaten up the director?”
Fu Xin had also pondered this. “If it’s not because he is broad-minded, could it be that… he is an M?”
Both of their gazes met in mid-air, and a tacit understanding flowed between them.
They would guard the director’s secret.
Following this, Tang Mi actively prepared for Friday’s interview.
Because CEO Yu was personally interviewing her, she valued this opportunity highly. She had made even more effort than usual to choose the best ingredients and tools.
The night before the interview, Fu Xin rested her shoulder against the kitchen doorway as she watched Tang Mi make a white chocolate mousse. She couldn’t help but sigh, commenting, “Why do you, a pastry chef, not have even an ounce of fat?”
It simply defied scientific logic.
Tang Mi glanced at her slim belly and said, “You can train the sit-ups you do every night to fifty reps.”
Fu Xin frowned. “A small belly is sexy and a symbol of gracefulness.”
“It will always be a beautiful gem of virtue on my body, but on your body, it will always be simply fat.”
Fu Xin: “…”
She seriously suspected that all the fat that should be on Tang Mi’s body was actually on her own.
She watched as Tang Mi made the mousse and placed it in the refrigerator to set. Fu Xin walked up to her and clapped Tang Mi’s shoulder. “Tomorrow, don’t think about passing the interview; just think about helping me see what CEO Yu looks like.”
Tang Mi: “…”
Betting her tuition for France, she must pass tomorrow’s interview!
But when she stood in front of the door to Yu Zhi Tower, she didn’t feel that confident. Yu Zhi’s national reputation was tremendous. This time, although she had been fortunate to find out that Yu Zhi needed a pastry chef for the new restaurant, she had just returned from studying abroad and was a newcomer without any work experience. Her competitive strength wasn’t prominent at all.
She had researched information online about Yu Zhi and other Western-style family restaurants. Among the information she gathered, she had found out that two pastry chefs were hired from France while the rest were all nationally famous Western-style pastry chefs.
For her, her only reputation was probably the cream cake she had thrown into the Human Resources director’s face.
She carried her cake boxes and paced back and forth in front of the doors for a while. Still, she summoned her courage and entered. The security guards at the door asked her a few questions before allowing her to pass. Taking the elevator until she reached the top floor, Tang Mi’s heart hung in suspense the entire time.
The entire top floor of Yu Zhi was the CEO’s office. Tang Mi’s sense of direction wasn’t very good, but luckily, waiting for her at the elevator was a beautiful female secretary. The secretary heard her purpose for coming and beamed, asking her to wait in the waiting area.
“The appointment still isn’t for another ten minutes. CEO Yu is still in a meeting, so you can just rest here until then.”
“Alright.”
These ten minutes stretched on endlessly for her. She had changed her sitting posture eighteen times, but she still couldn’t relax.
Two bell-like sounds rang out from the crystal-clear glass door. The beautiful secretary appeared once more. “Miss Tang, CEO Yu will see you now.”
“Yes, okay.” Tang Mi anxiously picked up the small cake boxes from the table and followed the secretary to the CEO office.
Sunlight streamed through the imposing entrance. Tang Mi thought to herself, I won’t be the same after I come out. She would also be a woman who had entered the CEO’s office.
