Dream Garden Episode 2 Recap
> Dream Garden Recap
In her diary, Yan Luo chronicles her whirlwind romance with a man named Wang Su. Their meeting was serendipitous; after her drawing tablet of five years broke, he appeared and managed to fix it. Charmed by his attentiveness and gentleness, she quickly fell for him. However, his affection soon morphed into an overwhelming need for control.
He demanded she delete all male contacts from her phone except for relatives and flew into a rage upon discovering her psychologist, Lin Shen, in her contacts, refusing to listen to any explanation. The romance soured completely when Yan Luo discovered Wang Su had been secretly using her email to send flirtatious messages to Lin Shen and had planted a recording pen on her bookshelf.
When she finally broke up with him, he became hysterical, threatening that they would perish together if she left him. Searching for clues at Yan Luo's apartment, Xiao Xiao is startled by a figure she mistakes for a stalker. She strikes him, only to realize it is Lin Shen. He explains he was following her because he saw someone else stalking her—a young man who turns out to be Yan Luo's brother, Xiao Feng.
Confused, Xiao Feng accuses Xiao Xiao of hiding his sister to teach their overbearing parents a lesson and misinterprets her relationship with Lin Shen. After Lin Shen clarifies that he is Yan Luo's psychologist and Xiao Xiao is her best friend, he questions Xiao Feng about his sister's recent behavior. Xiao Feng recalls a time she gave him new sneakers, mentioning it was a "friend's" suggestion, before she took a mysterious phone call.
Meanwhile, with Yan Luo missing, her parents have hired a ghostwriter to continue her popular webcomic. However, Xiao Xiao has her own plan. Using Yan Luo's unfinished drafts, she completes and posts the next installment, hoping the update will lure Wang Su out of hiding. The plan works, but not before creating more tension. At Yan Luo's apartment, while waiting, Xiao Xiao confides in Lin Shen, expressing deep guilt for not knowing about Yan Luo's struggles.
Lin Shen reassures her that it is common for people in therapy to hide it from their loved ones, adding that having a friend as positive and energetic as her is a blessing for Yan Luo. They find common ground in their professions, both serving as an "emotional trashcan" for others. This leads Lin Shen to ask why she became an emotional blogger.
Xiao Xiao recounts her time in college, hosting a radio show called "Girls' Secrets" where she found fulfillment in helping other girls navigate their relationships, which then led her to create a public account. Suddenly, the power in the apartment cuts out; Xiao Xiao forgot to pay the bill. In the darkness, the door opens and a man enters, mistaking Xiao Xiao for Yan Luo. Lin Shen gives chase, but the intruder escapes.
Thanks to Lin Shen's sharp memory of the man's appearance—a specific denim blue baseball cap and a shirt with a software company's logo (KC with a horizontal line)—the police quickly identify him as Wang Su. They also discover he has just purchased a bus ticket to Huangshagang Town. Xiao Xiao immediately knows where to look; a guest house Yan Luo frequently visited to draw from nature is located there. Xiao Xiao finds a trembling Yan Luo at the guest house.
The police, who have already taken her statement, inform them that Wang Su was apprehended at the bus station. Yan Luo reveals that Wang Su had installed tracking software on her phone, which is why she had been unreachable; he located her within five seconds of her turning the phone on. To her immense relief, Lin Shen arrives and tells her that he spoke with Wang Su, who has agreed to undergo psychological counseling.
During his sessions with Lin Shen, Wang Su's extreme control issues are traced back to a past trauma, prompted by his sensitivity to a particular phone ringtone. Through hypnosis, Lin Shen uncovers the painful memory of Wang Su's first girlfriend, Wei Wei, who cheated on him before abruptly ending their relationship. The betrayal left him with a deep-seated fear of abandonment, which he projected onto his subsequent relationships.
After the session, Wang Su asks to see Yan Luo, but she refuses. He instead asks Xiao Xiao to convey his apology, explaining that the hypnosis helped him finally make peace with his past. Lin Shen's colleague, Shao Ning, expresses concern about Lin Shen's own psychological state, noting that he also suffers from severe psychological issues, highlighting the saying "a doctor cannot cure himself" and worries about his condition. With Yan Luo's forgiveness, the police close the case.
Following the incident, Xiao Xiao writes a popular article on her blog about the courage to love again after being hurt. Thankful for his help, Xiao Xiao gives Lin Shen a necklace featuring the Eye of Horus, joking that it can be used for hypnosis. She playfully dangles it in front of him, and to her surprise, he appears to fall into a trance.
She tests him with a series of questions, which he answers obediently, including whether she is the most beautiful, cute, smart, and sexy woman he has ever seen. He reveals it was a trick when she tries to ask him a more personal question, instead reminding her of her promise to resign. Annoyed and reminded of her promise to resign if he helped find Wang Su, Xiao Xiao slaps her resignation letter on his desk and bids him farewell.
After she leaves, a conflicted Lin Shen instructs his assistant, Zuo Yan, to get rid of the succulent plants Xiao Xiao had kept in the office. In the days that follow, Lin Shen finds himself missing Xiao Xiao's presence.
Despite his earlier disdain, calling her love for succulents a "shortcut" and criticizing her for using her "limited knowledge of micro-expressions on variety shows as an emotional guest, asserting that the human mind is a mysterious garden that cannot be judged by mere micro-expressions," he ends up taking care of her plants, even moving one into his office.
His annoyance peaks when a couple on the reality show "Heartbeat of Love" gets back together, just as Xiao Xiao had predicted and he had dismissed. In a moment of frustration, he deletes her from his contacts, only to immediately regret it. Meanwhile, Xiao Xiao is furious to discover she has been deleted. She goes to the counseling center to pick up Yan Luo after her final session and to retrieve her plants.
Learning from Zuo Yan that Lin Shen kept one, she dresses up to make an impression and enjoys seeing him flustered when she confronts him about it. A new case captures the city's attention: a young fan named Shanshan has been publicly harassing the popular star Zhou Ran, claiming they were in a relationship. Her distraught parents, fearing she has a delusional disorder, book a session with Lin Shen.
At the same time, Zhou Ran's agent, Fang Ling, contacts Xiao Xiao, hiring her to write an article clarifying the situation. During her session, Shanshan initially claims to accept that she is sick, but Lin Shen senses she is only trying to please her parents.
He connects with her through their shared appreciation for classical music, specifically mentioning Goldberg Variations and Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, and learns her passion for it was suppressed by her mother, which was also the reason she was first drawn to Zhou Ran. In their separate interviews, both Shanshan and Zhou Ran recount the same story. A year ago, Shanshan was an intern at Zhou Ran's agency when he was a struggling musician.
She became his first major fan and built his fan club from the ground up, as he insisted on pursuing music despite the agency's wishes for him to become an actor. The turning point in her perception of their relationship occurred at a movie screening for fans. When she nearly tripped and fell, Zhou Ran caught her. Both insist he let go immediately, but as Shanshan recalls the moment during her session, she becomes highly agitated. Sensing a breakthrough, Lin Shen gently hypnotizes her, guiding her back to that fateful day.
