Chapter Seven: Snacks

At 5:30 p.m., An Songyu and another receptionist immediately went to the staff canteen as part of the first group.

Taking advantage of her location, Yu Yingying arrived a little earlier and kept her eyes on the restaurant entrance.

As soon as she saw An Songyu appear, she quickly stood up and waved.

An Songyu had already been looking around since entering the restaurant.

Upon seeing his friend, he immediately waved and gave a brief response.

The colleague next to him said with obvious envy:

"That's great, your friend brought over some snacks again, right?"

An Songyu smiled, pursing her lips, but did not answer directly.

Xianquan Hotel emphasizes service, and the chefs in the catering department were initially only assigned to cooking red and white dishes.

As things stand today, Western-style pastries in the White Paper industry are quite popular.

However, amidst the rich morning tea culture of the entire southern province, no matter how powerful this emerging force of Western-style pastries is, it can still only be considered one of countless types of pastry.

Yu Yingying and An Songyu were college classmates and even shared the same dormitory.

She was from another province but came to the southern province to take the college entrance exam.

During her internship season before graduation this year, her family had already booked a hotel in her hometown.

However, compared to the pastry chef assistant at Xianquan Hotel and the receptionist at my hometown hotel...

She chose to come with her friend without hesitation.

After all, she only got this internship opportunity because An Songyu saw the job posting after she joined the hotel and specifically went to fight for it for her.

As a university student majoring in hotel management.

Yu Yingying knew even better that if she missed this opportunity...

She estimated that she would probably never have the opportunity to get so close to pastries again.

This is something she's loved from the bottom of her heart...

After queuing up for her food, An Songyu told her colleagues and then quickly sat down opposite her friend.

Yu Yingying was holding her chopsticks tightly, staring longingly at the lunchbox containing the snacks, her eyes glued to it.

Before An Songyu could even sit down completely, she eagerly opened the lunchbox.

Inside the lunchbox was a whole box of salted cream box cakes.

The cake, with its three layers of snow-white cream, exudes a unique aroma characteristic of Western pastries.

It was sprinkled with a generous amount of fruit and moisture-resistant powdered sugar.

An Songyu's eyes lit up with a taste of deliciousness from her memory.

Yes, even after more than 20 years, when she saw this pastry again, she could instantly recall the delicious taste from her memory.

Without needing any prompting from her friend, An Songyu picked up her fork and shoved a large piece into her mouth.

The wonderful combination of fruit and cake cream instantly captivated An Songyu.

The two of them didn't stop smiling at each other until they had eaten the entire box of salted cream cake.

"The cake seems especially soft today?" An Songyu reminisced as she slowly ate her lunch.

"Yeah, Yu, your mouth has gotten really sharp!" Yu Yingying stared at her friend with wide eyes, still somewhat incredulous.

An Songyu smiled hesitantly and awkwardly.

She had forgotten everything. Even after returning to her own body, An Songyu herself couldn't remember what she was like twenty years ago.

Fortunately, Yu Yingying was just making a casual remark.

She was more interested in her friends' comments:

"Ayu, today's cake is chiffon cake, the previous ones were sponge cake."

"Chiffon cakes are softer, while sponge cakes are more elastic."

"However, I like both of them very much!"

"But, Ah Yu, do you know who made the snacks we ate today?"

An Songyu was slightly taken aback, and she subconsciously looked at her friend who was beaming with pride.

A slight tremor ran through him, "Could it be... that you did this?"

Could it be that my friend's journey to becoming a cake decorator begins right now?

Thinking about it, An Songyu squinted and looked at her friend who was nodding to her.

Once, after completing a three-month internship, An Songyu and Yu Yingying returned to school to finish their graduation preparations.

But they only discovered this after they received their graduation certificates.

They don't have a hotel to manage at home.

Choosing hotel management as a major means that after graduation, you can get a job at the bottom of the hotel management level and gradually put your knowledge and skills to good use.

But many more are like them now.

After working my way up from the bottom of the hotel industry for over twenty years, I've only ever managed to become a low-level manager.

It's not entirely unrelated to my studies in hotel management.

But at the very least, it makes it difficult for them to put their knowledge to good use.

So later, many of An Songyu's classmates changed careers.

Or they used the hotel as a platform to seek other opportunities.

Yu Yingying's life is even more exciting now.

After completing her internship at Xianquan Hotel, Yu Yingying, who loves Western-style pastries, did indeed temporarily say goodbye to them.

But when she returned to her hometown, she could only start from the bottom in hotel management.

And for a full five years, after getting married and having children, there were no changes in her career.

She started her business without hesitation after handmade Western-style pastries began to flourish at the time.

Twenty years later, her career did not develop as well as she had hoped.

Even the traditional Western-style pastry making skills that are quite difficult to learn.

It has also become less outstanding due to the pressure from large chain cake shops.

But whether it's her own opinion or An Songyu's opinion of her, she can't be considered a loser.

An Songyu's thoughts drifted.

Yu Yingying was still enthusiastically talking about the skills she had learned that morning.

And the situation of the other two people in the dormitory, the situation of other people in the school, etc.

In short, it was just a short lunch.

This gave An Songyu a slightly clearer understanding of her interpersonal relationships at school and in the workplace twenty years ago.

After the two finished their lunch, seeing that they still had some time, they didn't rush to leave.

"Xiaoyu, is the hotel busy today?" Yu Yingying couldn't help but ask, recalling their conversation earlier.

"You've been eating the whole time, and you don't seem to want to say anything."

An Songyu subconsciously wanted to shake her head.

But thinking about what she had been busy with this afternoon, she couldn't help but nod.

The hotel was not exactly busy today; in fact, it was rather quiet.

Although February 2nd in Southern Province is not a major festival, it is still celebrated in many places.

But even though An Songyu has over twenty years of work experience.

I need to familiarize myself with the specific details of my current work, the operating systems of older computers, and so on, as soon as possible.

Sometimes, even the work experience gained in the future is too advanced, or the convenient office methods that are used to cause An Songyu great trouble in getting familiar with them.

So today, An Songyu has had almost no free time.

Yu Yingying nodded in understanding.

She has always worked in the pastry shop.

Festivals like this feature Chinese restaurants, Western restaurants, dim sum restaurants, even bakeries and various entertainment areas.

And it will definitely only get busier!

Before they knew it, their lunch break was over.

The two quickly cleared away their plates and headed back to their work stations.