Call Me Lan Na

The chubby guy in the lab coat had a big smile form on his face as he got closer to me. Standing in front he extended his hand, "Welcome! You must be the new recruit, I'm Long Wei the chief developer here at Ming Sweets."

Shaking his hand, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Long, My name is Lan Na." Ming Na said with a smile.

Motioning for her to follow, Long Wei and Ming Na walked over to his office, passing many rooms dedicated to research and development. Once inside his office, the two sat at the sofas, and Long Wei handed Ming Na some documents.

"These are some confidential forms that need to be signed. As you know, our department is the key when it comes to products and we have to be extra careful when it comes to information." Long Wei said in a serious tone.

Nodding her head, Ming Na looked over the documents in hand, finding that everything was straightforward and legal. Signing it, she handed him the documents back, "Mr. Long, no need to worry I would never want anything to happen when it comes to creations."

"Good! Now here is your work badge, these are only given to those who report to the warehouse. Since the three departments are close we make sure that our information is tight, and no one can enter without these badges."

"I won't let it out my sight."

Seeing the agreement of Ming Na, he led her toward her new work area, "The R&D has two subgroups, the research team who thinks of new and inventive ideas, and the development team who makes it come alive. You're new so I'll first have you placed in the development team, I look forward to seeing you make great desserts.

Finally arriving at a door with cakes and cookies design, Long Wei opened the door letting a sweet smell wafting out in the hall. Going inside, Ming Na saw a group of people at different stove counter tables working on different projects. Clearing his throat, Long Wei got the attention of the room with great difficulty seeing as everyone was into their work.

A lady with light brown hair in a white top and a sky blue skirt wearing an apron walked over carrying a platter of cookies. "Mr. Long, I'm so glad you're here! Taste this and tell me if I used enough cinnamon." She said forcing a cookie in his mouth.

Long Wei slightly choked but still ate the cookie and thought about the result, "It could use a little more vanilla or the cinnamon would be overpowered." The lady nodded her head and was about to go back to her station before being stopped by Long Wei.

"Mrs. Jang, this is our new employee, Lan Na. She has a knack for creation so I'll think she would be a great fit in the development."

Jang Wu stopped in her tracks and kept her face neutral, turning around she gave them both a smile. The last thing she wanted to do was deal with a new recruit but she had an image to maintain in the development team. "Miss Lan it's so nice to meet you! I can't wait to work with you, I bet you will be great to help with our new project."

Ming Na could feel like Mrs. Jang didn't like her but she shrugged off the feeling and gave her a nice smile. "I would love to help with the project your working on, I always been a fan of Ming Sweets and would like to do my part."

Jang Wu just kept a forced smile, "That's great! Mr. Long if you could get her keyed in I'll get her set up with her first assignment. Don't worry Miss Lan, we'll take care of you in the development team."

After Long Wei left, Ming Na was directed to work on the new cream for the cake pop, which they wanted to pop out in flavor a little more than the cake. Ming Na could only smile when she heard the group tell her what their aim was, it just likes how her grandmother made food. She always wanted food to be more than you ate, it should have a little surprise.

Ming Na tasted the cream which had a berry undertone but felt it didn't compare to the cake sample that they were trying to overpower. "Everyone, this taste good but if you add some spice it will bring out the berry flavor."

When she said that everyone gave her weird looks, a lady around her age with crystal blue eyes gave her a smirk. "Spice? You realize this is a dessert, not some weird food. We want this to be sweet and savory, not spicy." She said with a lot of smirks.

Ming Na just smiled, she knew that it would be hard to get her opinion across but she knew for a fact that her idea would make this new dessert a hit. Taking some of the creams into a small bowl, she found ground red flake pepper and added a pinch. Once done mixing, she tasted it and found that it brought out the underlying strawberry that was covered by the blueberry. Feeling it was right she asked the other member what they thought about this taste.

The members in charge of cream were shocked by the new flavor and some felt ashamed for looking down on Ming Na's idea. She was right, while it was a ting of spice it helped with making the cream more strong, and stilled paired great with the cake. Smiling, everyone told Ming Na she did a great job even though it was her first day. The leader then took the sample to their leader for results, while the others showed Ming Na the work area, all expect the lady who first dismissed Ming Na's idea.

Her name was Su Yiyi, and she gave Ming Na a hard look while she walked away, she right away didn't care for this new employee.