I don’t know how they do it, but in my honest opinion, each episode just gets better in this show! And that ending, wow great editing that foreshadows what’s going to come in the next episode (finale) and yet manages to end this episode on a cliffhanger of sorts. And I thought I signed myself up for some Ferris Wheel, pleasant rom-com ride from Episode 1 to 20. This episode just proved me wrong with its thriller bits hahahaha (disclaimer: author’s heart is *really* weak so what thrills her may not thrill you hoho).

Lots of screenshots and possibly long recap coming ahead!

We continue from last week’s episode where You Qian’s phone rings and he has no choice but to let go of the contract to answer his phone. Upon hearing from An Xi that Grandpa has fainted, he immediately rushes out with no hesitation.

 

I love it that Grandpa > everything else. This is a man who has his priorities right hahaha.

Yan Ze puts his cunning smile to good use this episode, as he casts smile after Russian dude signs the contracts. The deal is done. To Russian dude’s displeasure, Yan Ze pockets his contract so that he can keep it for custody until he becomes the head of the Asia branch. On a side note, Jet Chao’s English is pretty on-point – did he memorise for the show or does he really know how to speak it?

An Xi assures You Qian that Grandpa is alright; his blood just got stuck for that moment. You Qian thanks her for sending Grandpa in time to the hospital and the couple lapses into this awkward, sad silence as they both twirl their couple rings. Grandpa cannot take this awkward silence any longer and decides to wake up wakes up and the couple accidentally apologises at the same time. Grandpa tells You Qian to go first, and then listens to An Xi’s apology. He puts on his glasses and laments that the couple is now at the point where they won’t speak unless spoken to.

“This is the first time I’m a matchmaker after living to such an old age. I put in so much effort and finally got the two of you together…but look at you two! You have no words when you look at each other, and you treat the other so formally.”

Best Matchmaker puts their hands together and tells them not to let go of each other’s hands. Life is short, why create suffering for yourself?

 

Under Grandpa’s instructions, You Qian sends An Xi home but the two hardly speak to each other. An Xi struggles to speak to You Qian but thankfully Mei Wen arrives to save the day and invites You Qian in for dinner.

Over dinner however, is a scene of Awkwardness. Zhi Lin tries to help by pushing a dish towards the couple, but another awkward moment ensues.

Mei Wen cannot take it any longer and instructs Zhi Wen to take ‘that’. An Xi is forced to drink it at a shot and is told afterwards that’s the new wine Mei Wen has been brewing. The alcohol level isn’t high, “Just 30%.” HAHA. I love You Qian’s look of concern!

An Xi immediately dies on the table and Zhi Lin reveals the plan – a drunk An Xi always speaks the truth. An Xi wakes up and happily brings You Qian to meet another You Qian.

Mei Wen finds that something is wrong, doesn’t An Xi always say “I’m not drunk, my alcohol tolerance is great!” when she’s drunk? But she didn’t say that just now….Mei Wen realises that Zhi Lin fed An Xi water, not her wine. So essentially An Xi is just drunk-acting hahaha.

Under the pretext of being drunk, An Xi digs out a winter melon from under the canoe…. HAHAHA.

This is the ‘other’ You Qian that she is talking about. Remember that time the couple had a good talk about winter melons and whether You Qian is a good melon? “In my heart, you are always a good melon no matter what.”

The two women watch in glee and compliment An Xi’s acting. You Qian starts to be suspicious even as An Xi tells him Grandpa’s advice that real love is the only thing that stays through time. In the period of time where he isn’t there, “I really…*cough cough* really miss you…”

By then You Qian knows for sure that she’s acting hahaha and he smiles. The two women quickly come and save An Xi, who mutters under her breath, “Save me.”

 

You Qian steps into the picture and literally sweeps An Xi off her feet awwww.

Zhi Lin almost tags along but thank goodness Mei Wen reminds her not to be a light bulb again. Mei Wen laughs and points out that Zhi Lin looks like she’s carrying gasoline HAHA. Oh dear this duo makes me laugh all the time.

An Xi keeps apologising (in a drunk style) while being in You Qian’s arms.

Jiang and sidekicks watch You Qian carry An Xi up the stairs and Jiang returns to temple to emo over what he sees. Almost every plot of land in the village belongs to him, but why doesn’t An Xi belong to him? Suddenly a great gust of wind blows through the temple and topples a ceramic container onto Jiang. Jiang faints hahaha and sidekicks pick up the container’s contents.

It’s a lot and a necklace, but honestly I have no idea what the lot means. I can only hazard a guess that it means Jiang will never get An Xi?

 

Mei Wen is all fierce and demanding towards Zhi Lin but her tone suddenly switches when Da Fei calls her and informs her that he’s waiting outside. She rushes out like a delighted girlfriend she is and Zhi Lin once again ‘steps’ on the friendship they have.

She whines about her “tall rich handsome” man and Da Yu appears to find You Qian. Hahaha, Zhi Lin demands to know if he’s tall, rich and handsome, to which he shakes his head. She sighs, “Seems like I should make myself a fair, rich and pretty lady first.” Da Yu admires her behind her back (literally too).

 Da Yu reports to You Qian that the Russian dude looks pissed when he leaves and You Qian suspects that Yan Ze must have done something to protect himself. An Xi wonders sadly if You Qian has left, “I should have followed out…but I am drunk, how do I follow him?” You Qian suddenly returns to the room and An Xi knocks her knee in her haste to lie on the sofa.

You Qian smiles and pats her knee, “Is it painful?”

She knows her cover has been blown so she sits up in embarrassment. You Qian takes her hand and looks into her eyes soulfully, “I’m the one who should apologise.” Smooth-Talker is back in business WOOHOO!!

To him, he will always get rid of danger and insecurities, “Especially to intelligent creatures, this habit cannot be changed.” Because of that, he neglected the fact that perhaps it’s better to know who An Xi’s mother is and gets hurt, rather than not knowing at all. An Xi nods. But if given another chance, he will do that again.

 

Recently, he has been hoping that he will get to see An Xi the moment he opens his eyes. The two of them who didn’t know each other very well long ago were separated for 10 years because of a simple misunderstanding. “But now, I know you care for me, and you know that I care for you…so I hope that this time, you won’t let me wait too long.”

There’s something that he wants to discuss with An Xi, “Yan Ze’s arrival in the village, his meeting with you, his empathy…he does all of that with a motive.”

We are shown flashbacks of all the conversations An Xi has with Yan Ze about her mother, and it ends with Yan Ze’s favourite hobby of snatching other people’s things.

An Xi cannot believe that Yan Ze will be such a person (basically the flashbacks are a substitute for the real life scenes where You Qian tells An Xi the truth), “How can someone build treatment plants in the village for his own profit?” If she’s still in disbelief, then she can try to test him. You Qian’s positive that the real contract is still with Yan Ze. If An Xi can get the real contract and show the Director, she might be able to prevent the treatment plants from being constructed.

An Xi visits Ya En in the hospital and laments over how sinister people can be hahaha. Yong Qing comes along to return Ya Lu’s canvas and to request for him to be her art teacher. I’m not sure if it’s obvious to everyone in the room, but it’s so sweet that Yong Qing is taking a step to know Ya Lu better. There’s somebody that she wants to look at closely, so she wants to learn how to draw.

The moment she gets self-conscious, she returns to the old Yong Qing, “So are you going to teach me or not?” I love it – it shows us how Yong Qing has changed for the better, but her demanding side shows when she’s feeling insecure. This turns her rudeness from an irritation to an act of cuteness – it’s her cover when she’s shy. Ya Lu claims to be a strict teacher and An Xi encourages them to buy art materials that very day. She can bring Ya En out for dinner.

Yan Ze looks at the completed contract and murmurs over his new title, “Russian Fund…Asian branch…director.”

An Xi brings Ya En to the cafe in Ocean’s building and calls Yan Ze out. He’s a little suspicious of her but meets her anyway. Ya En and Yan Ze are surprised to see each other, but both pretend that they are just acquaintances.

Through An Xi’s flashbacks, we see You Qian teaching her the plan — when she eats with Yan Ze, she should cast a few looks at his office bag. If the contract is inside the bag, he will subconsciously shield it. If he doesn’t care, then the contract is back in the office. Yan Ze catches An Xi’s furtive glances but she quickly averts her eyes.

During the dinner, Ya En chokes and Yan Ze instinctively pushes water towards her. She reaches out for cheese and Yan Ze stops her. I think I like this scene of this couple the most hehe. It shows how Yan Ze cares for Ya En even in a situation where he’s not supposed to know her well at all.

 

But anyway, Yan Ze calls An Xi out on her ‘dinner’ – did You Qian send her here? She looks up in shock and excuses herself to the ladies. She concludes that the contract is in the office because Yan Ze has made no move to cover his bag at all. Guys, I really love Yan Ze’s expression here. It screams Gotcha all over it.

Thriller movie starts here, as An Xi tries to navigate in the dark to Yan Ze’s office.Yan Ze does suspect that she’s up to no good, but he hopes that’s not the case, “It better not be like how I predict…my lonely friend…”

Ya En distracts him with her food placed in a heart shape and he laughs over it, but suddenly remembers that An Xi brought her phone along with her to the ladies. While An Xi hastily checks his desk, Yan Ze is quickly making his way up to his office.

An Xi only realises at the very last moment that Yan Ze has appeared in front of his office and quickly hides under his desk.

I must admit that Jet Chao acted really great here. He flips the light switch on, and with agonisingly slow steps, he makes his way to the back of the desk. If this was another show, I would have thought that An Xi turned into a ghost and was ready to pounce on Yan Ze instead. Just look at that screenshot.

As tension-filled music plays (you know the kind before a ghost jumps out), Yan Ze pulls the chair back, “What are you doing?”

An Xi has no choice but to crawl out from under the table. She comes up with the worst excuse possible by saying that she’s here to borrow his books on law (hahahahaha you don’t crawl under tables to find books in the dark right) and Yan Ze gives her face by semi-playing along and forcefully pulling her out of the office. You Qian appears, “Didn’t I say before? Please maintain safety distance with other people’s girlfriends.”

You Qian asks Yan Ze out of his office so that he can talk to him in private. Yan Ze, under You Qian’s sarcasm and manipulation, has no choice but to leave An Xi alone in the office even though he knows that An Xi is only going to go through his documents. Ya En appears later in the office and An Xi accidentally topples a stack of files in her shock.

Ya En rushes to help her and even reminds her that there are more files behind her. She cleans up for An Xi and waits for her outside. An Xi finally finds the contract but realises to her dismay that there’s only one copy of it (although I’m not very sure what’s the significance of the fact there’s only one copy left?)

Yan Ze smirks that it seems like Grandpa’s faint helped You Qian. He has nothing to lose – even if An Xi knows the truth, even if Director knows what is being built, the Director will never pay the compensation fees required to breach a contract. This is why he comes up with a double contract, “The thing you want…you will never get it.” You Qian smiles, “Really?”

Ya En paces anxiously and we realise that Yan Ze had instructed her to go to his office immediately. If she sees An Xi going through his files, take the brown file and remove the document with a mark on it. You promised me that I will be the first to you. Don’t let me down.

This is why she told An Xi that there were documents behind her, so that she would look away! Brilliant, I love this twist. And I realise what is going on – it isn’t about whether they have one or two copies. The document which Ya En hid is the true contract that states Waste Plant treatment cooperation agreement. The one which An Xi is looking at says Separation Plant Cooperation Agreement – basically, the one that An Xi is holding is a fake.

Yan Ze fusses over Ya En’s cold hands. Previously he always wanted to win at everything, but now he feels that winning once is enough. He just wants to let the rest know that he has the ability to win, “A child who has been abandoned can be as good as the rest.” Now that he finds someone who will genuinely place him as the first, “Ya En, you are really the first in my heart, and the only one.”

Ya En worries that what she has done might harm An Xi but Yan Ze assures her, “No, she will be fine.” Go, take my large screenshot. It’s the only one I’m giving you for now.

 

Later, Ya En walks home and An Xi meets her, “How long have the two of you been dating?” To be honest, the thing she wanted the most wasn’t to find the contract, but she wanted You Qian’s words to not come true. If you push Yan Ze far enough, you might even see an unexpected helper. Ya En. 

Love this twist too!! First we learn that Ya En’s appearance is orchestrated, then we learn that her appearance has already been predicted. Awesome! All within 15 minutes ish!

An Xi doesn’t understand why Ya En likes Yan Ze…and I think she likes him because he’s someone who has scars, “He’s not okay, he needs help.” An Xi wishes quietly that the guy she fell in love with wasn’t Yan Ze.

An Xi gives her mum porridge, in preparation for her surgery the next day. Director murmurs, “It’s not bad,” and An Xi smiles, but loiters around the bed. Director adds on, “That’s the best kind of compliment I can give.” Hurhur. An Xi asks the Director what she’s gonna do if waste treatment plants are to be built instead.

The Director guesses immediately that she was backstabbed by Yan Ze and tells An Xi that businesses look at practicality. Unless you pay damages, you can’t breach the contract. An Xi is upset, “The village is a special place to me.” Her mum sets the bowl down, “Seems like you brought the porridge to talk conditions with me.”

An Xi is disappointed; she cooked the porridge for her, not as a bribe or anything, “Even the warmest porridge will turn cold with you.”

She walks out disappointed but returns with nail polish remover hahaha, much to her mother’s relief. Disappointment, quarrels, patch-ups, “Those are common among family members.”

She helps her mother removes her nail polish for the surgery and her mum starts tearing up, “Tomorrow….tomorrow, my surgery…” “I will be there.”

Awwww, Director’s heart has been completely melted by her daughter that she has to turn to a side to contain her tears.

That night, Director calls Yan Ze over for a confrontation but he’s unfazed.

The thing he wanted the most through all these years is respect. He quits, “From now, I am my owner.” He makes a cool exit, but this quickly turns sour because of You Qian’s appearance.

You Qian smirks and worries that Yan Ze has counted his chicks before they hatch. Yan Ze realises that You Qian’s true aim isn’t to find the contract, but to find evidence of a collaboration between Yan Ze and the Russian dude – the phone.

Yan Ze takes out his phone and dials a number. You Qian smiles, “Whose phone is ringing?” He takes out Yan Ze’s phone which Da Yu has found the night before. Even if the Director has to built those treatment plants, it doesn’t mean that she cannot sue him.

And that phone with all its recordings of phone calls between Yan Ze and the Russian dude is enough.

Yan Ze snaps, “Why can’t you just let me be? Can’t you close one eye?!” You Qian pushes Yan Ze off and tells him why he’s wrong – he’s gambling using his friends and colleagues. But to Yan Ze, friends and colleagues are superficial, “To treat them as chips is already good enough for them.”

 

“This phone will be turned over tomorrow morning, be prepared that tonight is your last night.” You Qian turns to leave and Yan Ze shouts, “Xia You Qian!!!”

An Xi overhears this entire conversation, and so does Russian dude who has sent an undercover to tail Yan Ze. If the phone really gets turned over, the contract will be void and he will have to pay damages. Moreover, the Director will not go easy on him. Yan Ze realises what a tight corner he is in.

The next morning, An Xi pops by for breakfast, much to You Qian’s delight. Look at his face! But An Xi actually just wants to steal the phone and runs off with it. Which she did. I’m not very sure how I feel about her snooping behind You Qian’s back but I guess it’s for a good cause. You Qian quickly realises his mistake and chases after her, but loses her.

She calls him in a cab, and apologises, “Give me three days. I want to prove to you that humans are naturally kind.” You Qian is so worried for her because he knows the phone is important to Yan Ze and he’s scared Yan Ze will harm her.

Yan Ze tails You Qian’s car and comes dangerously close to bumping it, which shows his state of mind. However, An Xi calls him and informs him that his phone is with her and she’s at the hospital.

Director waits eagerly for her daughter who hasn’t appeared. You Qian has already asked Mei Wen to comb the village but there is no trace of An Xi.

He then calls the Director who initially doesn’t want to pick up his call, but relents. You Qian asks where An Xi is but quickly stops any further questions, knowing that her surgery is that day.

The Director knows something is wrong, and gets startled by a broken vase.

You Qian then calls Ya Lu who reveals to him that the night before, An Xi came to visit Ya En and even asked him how he would feel if Ya En fell in love. Ya En overhears this conversation and worries that her actions have harmed An Xi. You Qian realises that An Xi must have gone to somewhere related to Ya En – the hospital.

An Xi tries to convince Yan Ze that she’s different from You Qian. She believes in his love for Ya En and hopes that he will give it a good thought over three days.

He demands for the phone and An Xi protests, “I really treat you as a friend.” “Give me the phone!” “Why have you become like this?”

He retorts, “I was forced into this because of you guys.”

Dude, this is your own fault, don’t try to blame it on anyone else, you sore loser!

He starts walking close to An Xi, “You better give me the thing while I’m talking nicely! If not it will be bad for you.” “Yan Ze!” “GIVE ME!”

 

An Xi shrugs off her bag which he pulls and she runs off. He realises her bag doesn’t contain the phone, and chases after her. The scene turns black and white and we are shown quick snippets of the finale, before it snaps black.

-the end-

AWESOME. I really love this kind of ending – it’s like a preview at its best. It creates a cliffhanger for this episode, but at the same time, it shows you little snippets of what’s going to come. And I think such techniques cannot be overused, so Episode 19 i.e episode before finale is the best time to use it. Great choice!

I like many things in this episode. Other than the plot being tight, which it has sort of been in the recent episodes, I like the take on how the couple patched up. My heart goes out to You Qian when the couple is all polite and formal with each other (isn’t it the worse when lovers turn strangers like?) and when they are all awkward with each other. But with a little help (like fake alcohol cough), the couple is back to their old selves in no time. Maybe not entirely their old selves but close enough. And You Qian understands how An Xi still needs time to fully trust him. I also like it that he would have done the same thing even if he was given second chance. Call me biased, but I see this as a sign that he still holds protecting An Xi as his top priority, which is sweet. And he sees his error too, which is double sweetness.

I think the Director (as in of the show, not the one IN the show) must have been itching to get out of the rom-com scene for a while and go a little pseduo-detective. I am not kidding when I say that I was honestly worried for An Xi when Yan Ze went up to his office. To throw in that many twists is also fabulous and satisfies that mystery-lover side in me very well.

The Director’s scenes are short and sharp this episode. Her scene with An Xi reveals her innate guardedness and psychotic trust issues, but An Xi breaks them down in no time. As for Jet Chao, his acting is great – he really portrays that wounded guy well, although that is not to say that I must like him as a character. Jet Chao, I approve. Yan Ze, nope.

Ultimately, if there’s one thing I’ve learnt from this episode, it is this – when your boyfriend is angry with you, pretend that you are drunk and hug a winter melon.

<3thoughtsramble

P.S I’m sorry for promoting my TeeChip designs on this already very long recap, but if you don’t already know, I’ve recently released designs for phone covers on TeeChip. All the designs are listed in this post: https://thoughtsramble.com/2015/09/26/tramalove-phone-cases-on-teechip/ so it will mean a great deal to me if you can check the post out and support me by buying a case! Thank you!<3