Episode Summary
A'Lai reads a story to Lu Na about Li Li, a fan of pastry chef Bai Lang, who travels back in time. She helps him create his famous cake, but discovers he's ill. He fakes a betrayal to make her leave. Back in the present, Li Li finds a message revealing his true love and illness. Bai Lang committed suicide, and A'Lai cleared Li Li's name.
Spoiler Alert
The episode opens with A'Lai at the hospital, continuing his routine of reading to the comatose Lu Na. This time, the story transports us into the world of Li Li and Bai Lang. Li Li is a huge fan of Bai Lang, a renowned pastry chef, and especially adores his cakes. Inspired, she enrolls in a pastry class, but her baking skills are, to put it mildly, disastrous. Her teacher, exasperated, tells her to quit.
Undeterred, Li Li decides to bake a cake for her own birthday. Before she can even open it, she receives a mysterious phone call summoning her to a lawyer's office regarding a property transfer. It turns out that Bai Lang, her idol, has bequeathed a house to her.
Confused but intrigued, Li Li enters the long-abandoned house. She opens the cake box, revealing not her failed creation, but a perfect, famous cream strawberry molten cake. After a few bites, she passes out. She wakes up in a strange bed, with a man claiming it's his house. He leads her outside, and she's stunned to find herself in front of "Xiao Bai Pastry Shop," and face-to-face with Bai Lang himself. Although she's never met him, she recognizes him from photos.
Suddenly, Bai Lang is chased by thugs. He grabs Li Li, and they flee. During the escape, they knock over a newspaper boy, and Li Li sees the date – she's somehow traveled back in time.
In this era, Bai Lang's pastry shop has a terrible reputation; his cakes are notoriously awful. Li Li, knowing his future fame, decides to help. They collaborate, perfecting the recipe for the cream strawberry molten cake. It's a masterpiece, but customers, wary of Bai Lang's reputation, are hesitant to try it.
Li Li, ever resourceful, decides to use a food critic to boost their image. She brings Mr. Li to the shop, but he remembers the shop's previous failures and has even written a scathing review. In a clumsy moment, Li Li accidentally smashes the cake in Mr. Li's face. Furious, he licks the cream off his face – and is instantly won over. The cake is a sensation. Bai Lang's cream strawberry molten cake becomes a city-wide craze, with lines stretching around the block.
But the success is short-lived. Bai Lang's sense of taste starts to fail. He mistakes salt for sugar, ruining his cakes. Customers complain, and Li Li realizes he might be overworked. However, she soon discovers a darker truth. She follows Bai Lang and sees him with another woman. Heartbroken, she believes he's been using her for her cake-making ideas.
Devastated, Li Li runs into the street and is hit by a car. She wakes up back in the present, heartbroken by Bai Lang's apparent betrayal.
While tidying up, she notices something hidden on the wall – a message from Bai Lang. It reveals the truth: Bai Lang wasn't unfaithful. He was seriously ill. To make Li Li leave and not witness his decline, he staged the affair with his doctor's help. He expresses his deep love and longing for her in the message.
The episode reveals that the elderly Li Li shared this story with Lu Na. It was A'Lai's investigation that cleared Li Li's name after Bai Lang's suicide (Li Li was the prime suspect). Sadly, a cure for Bai Lang's illness was discovered shortly after his death.
