Walk Into Your Memory Episode 2 Recap
> Walk Into Your Memory Recap
An Ning quickly prepared a new soup to remedy her earlier mistake. Her colleagues tasted it, remarking that it smelled good and tasted as good as the original stock, sufficient for the night's banquet, though not a permanent replacement. An Ning acknowledged it was her fault and was ready to leave, but Chef Gong Chen stopped her.
He revealed that An Ning's grandfather was his master and had entrusted An Ning to his care, knowing her great affinity for culinary art. Chef Gong Chen expressed his belief that An Ning would find a solution to the problem and vouched for her character, assuring Long Haoqian that she was not a mole despite previous misunderstandings. He asked Long Haoqian to give her another chance.
Long Haoqian, trusting Chef Gong Chen, agreed to set aside the issue of the mole but remained unconvinced by An Ning's skills. Chef Gong Chen insisted on An Ning's capabilities, leading Long Haoqian to finally grant her another opportunity: if her cooking could impress him, she could stay. Chef Gong Chen then encouraged An Ning not to forget her dream of becoming a chef. An Ning presented Long Haoqian with a bowl of Yangchun Noodles as her most convincing work.
As he ate, Long Haoqian was transported back to his childhood, remembering his grandmother’s declaration that her Yangchun Noodles were the most delicious in the world, and his promise that she needed to get well to keep making them. Snapping back to reality, Long Haoqian questioned An Ning's identity and how she knew about his personal memory of Yangchun Noodles, as well as confidential business information. He struggled to reconcile her claims with the accusation of being a mole.
An Ning argued that a mole wouldn't know about his noodles and pointed out that he must have done a background check to know so much about her if she were truly an enemy. Finally, An Ning confessed her ability to look into people's memories. Long Haoqian scoffed, finding it too magical to believe. An Ning defended her ability, comparing it to New Zealand existing even if one hadn't seen it.
To further illustrate her power, An Ning then recalled a memory of Long Haoqian's involving his good friend Yi Mingjun, revealing a detail Yi Mingjun had told Long Haoqian in that memory: his aversion to being touched by women. Long Haoqian was astonished by this accurate revelation but still demanded proof. He challenged her to prove her ability in a more convincing way, reiterating that she could keep her job if she succeeded.
As they left the hotel, some colleagues speculated that Long Haoqian was personally seeing An Ning off, humorously suggesting it was a new company benefit for fired employees. Out on the street, Long Haoqian and An Ning encountered a police officer trying to assist a lost elderly woman. The woman, disoriented and without a phone, couldn't recall her address or family contacts. An Ning approached the woman, and using her ability, quickly learned her address.
She offered to take the elderly woman home, and with a police officer and Long Haoqian accompanying them, they drove the woman back. Along the way, An Ning compassionately bought the woman candied hawthorn and helped button her coat. Upon arrival, the elderly woman was reunited with her relieved son, who explained she suffered from Alzheimer's and had wandered off. He profusely thanked the police, who in turn credited An Ning.
The son offered An Ning a monetary reward, which she initially refused, but then accepted. Long Haoqian remained skeptical, commenting dismissively on her "proof" of merely sending a neighbor home for a reward. An Ning didn't care about his disbelief.
Approaching the begging father and daughter, An Ning bought an ice cream for the little girl and used her ability to explain their tragic story to Long Haoqian: the father was a farmhand whose wife died two years prior, and his mother recently passed, leaving him and his daughter both suffering from tumors. Despite his lingering doubts, Long Haoqian, attributing his decision to Chef Gong Chen's insistence, granted An Ning another chance to stay employed.
Meanwhile, Long Haoqian's father inquired with his assistant and learned that Long Haoqian had not attended his psychological therapy sessions for the past two months. He instructed the assistant to continue monitoring the situation and to inform him immediately if Long Haoqian resumed therapy. Elsewhere, Long Haoqian's mother was at a dinner with a family, where discussions subtly hinted at a prospective marriage alliance.
The family's daughter, a striking red-haired young woman dressed in Lolita fashion, showed clear disdain for the adults' business-driven conversations and dismissed Long Haoqian's mother's attempts at friendliness, leaving the meal early. Long Haoqian's mother smoothed things over, mentioning Long Haoqian was busy with the bay project but would celebrate the girl's birthday later, calling her his "future daughter-in-law." An Ning and Long Haoqian later sat in a coffee shop, observing other patrons.
An Ning asked Long Haoqian to guess the relationship of a couple sitting opposite them. Long Haoqian confidently declared they were a madly in love couple in their honeymoon phase. An Ning, however, revealed that the man was about to break up with his girlfriend because his ex-girlfriend had returned, making the current one merely a rebound. True to An Ning's prediction, the couple soon parted ways unhappily.
They continued this exercise with several other customers, and An Ning consistently proved accurate in her assessments of their emotions and situations. Witnessing these repeated demonstrations, Long Haoqian finally agreed to let An Ning continue working and also promised to keep her unique ability a secret, though he lightly chided her for her often rash words and actions, suggesting that was the real reason she lost previous jobs.
As they exited the coffee shop, Long Haoqian received a phone call from his mother. She expressed her displeasure that he missed an "important meal" with "Uncle Liu," which she stressed was crucial for the bay project. Long Haoqian retorted that its importance was solely to her and that he never agreed to attend.
He flatly rejected her attempts to arrange similar events in the future, declaring he would acquire the bay project on his own terms and that she could compete with Long Teng Group if she wished. He ended the call abruptly, instructing her to contact his assistant Zhao for business matters.
An Ning, who overheard some of the conversation, commented on the fierce dynamic between Long Haoqian and his mother, causing Long Haoqian to quip back about her not being his mother and to stop asking if he was an illegitimate child. An Ning then returned to work, where her colleagues enthusiastically welcomed her back, happy she was staying. During lunch, An Ning had an encounter with Manager Ma.
When asked how she convinced Long Haoqian, An Ning humorously replied it was her charisma. The conversation soon turned to their unmarried status, with Manager Ma adopting a condescending tone, implying her superiority as she was "eliminating candidates" while An Ning was just "single." An Ning quickly retorted, highlighting their shared status despite their supposed "different levels." Their sparring, a common occurrence between Manager Ma and Chef Gong Chen, surprised the other staff when An Ning challenged her.
Meanwhile, Long Haoqian met with his old friend Yi Mingjun, who had abandoned his family's Yi Group and a Canadian education arranged by his father to work as a chef at Long Haoqian's hotel. Yi Mingjun confided that he found true freedom and happiness in being a chef, making delicious food, enjoying fine wine, and the company of pretty ladies, and asked Long Haoqian to cover for him with his father.
Long Haoqian expressed frustration at Yi Mingjun's casual approach to his family responsibilities, reminding him of the investment made to secure Chef Gong Chen. Playfully, Yi Mingjun asked Long Haoqian if he kept An Ning because she was pretty, not just skilled. Long Haoqian scoffed at the idea, sarcastically suggesting Yi Mingjun had spent too much time with women if he thought An Ning was beautiful, which Yi Mingjun took as an insult.
Yi Mingjun departed, reminding Long Haoqian to clean his bedroom as he would be staying with him. Separately, An Ning's friend Xia Tian, an aspiring actress, was attending an audition. The director, after dismissing other actresses, invited Xia Tian into his private room. After making suggestive comments about her lack of success and too much pride in the industry, he attempted to physically coerce her. Xia Tian vehemently refused and was forced onto a sofa.
In self-defense, she kicked him to the ground, asserting her dignity, a scene witnessed by Yi Mingjun who had passed by and overheard the commotion. Later that evening, An Ning and Xia Tian met for dinner, sharing their unusual days. Xia Tian recounted how she had to fend off a director, while An Ning described Long Haoqian as a "freak" for his aversion to women.
Long Haoqian was plagued by recurring nightmares stemming from an accident years ago, which caused partial amnesia. He often heard a female voice declaring, "I hate you, Long Haoqian," and desperately sought to uncover the woman's identity and the truth behind his lost memories. A flashback showed Long Haoqian reacting violently to being touched after the accident, asking, "Who is she? And that man, who is he?"
Suddenly, he called An Ning, instructing her to report to his office within an hour or face a pay cut. An Ning, who was having dinner with Xia Tian, reluctantly cut their meal short. Back at An Ning's home, her mother lamented An Ning's single status, disparaging her looks and temperament while worrying about her dwindling chances of marriage. An Ning’s colleagues later observed her walking into Long Haoqian's office.
In his office, Long Haoqian offered An Ning a full-time position, a 20% salary increase, fully paid overseas college tuition, and a substantial sum of money of her choosing. An Ning, surprised by the lavish offer, jokingly asked if he wanted her to be his mistress. Long Haoqian clarified his intention: he wanted to make a deal. He believed it was a waste of An Ning's "power" to only help lost elderly people or understand couples' quarrels.
He explicitly asked her to help him find his missing memories and the truth from that lost year, wondering if the man in his fragmented memory was actually him. An Ning responded with a culinary metaphor, explaining that life, like a dish, needs all its flavors, even the bitter ones, to be complete, implying the importance of retrieving his missing past.
