Let’s leave all my thoughts to the end and dive right into the recap!

The episode opens with Hao Meng asking Huan Zhen if she has ever thought how the two of them would be like if they hadn’t met each other.

Huan Zhen narrates her answer, that she will most probably have found someone who loves her more than she loves him. While she narrates, we see the hypothetical situation where Hao Meng misses the lift and thus doesn’t see Huan Zhen. Hao Meng narrates his answer, that maybe he will settle down with a simple girl.

Even if my heart doesn’t beat faster, I must tell myself that having no worries is a kind of happiness. Even if it feels like something is missing, I will need to convince myself that having no regrets is a kind of blessing. 

She walks down the aisle, ready to marry Hao Meng’s uncle, while he sits by the aisle with Xiao Min by his side. She stops and the two of them look at each other. Because we are not together. 

—

Huan Zhen finds Hao Meng’s mum at the cafe and the mum insists that there is nothing between her and her father. Huan Zhen requests for proof, so Hao Meng’s mum ends up back at the Cai household. Huan Zhen’s dad is back on the floor hahaha.

Hao Meng’s mum reassures Huan Zhen’s mum that Huan Zhen’s dad really loves her and his daughter. She mentions how she has seen the both of them at the supermarket before and is really envious of how loving they are. Huan Zhen’s mum softens and orders the dad to buy…wine? HAHA much to everyone’s shock. “Tonight…shall be Ladies’ Night!”

Sooo this is how the two mums become drinking buddies. Huan Zhen notifies Sheng Nan, whom after expressing surprise that her mum is drinking, points out astutely that Huan Zhen is doing so much for Hao Meng. Meanwhile, the three adults have degenerated into drunkards rolling around, so Huan Zhen quickly rushes back to the living room.

She calls Sheng Nan again to ask her where she is (this is where we left off the last episode). Sheng Nan lies that she’s near the house, when in reality, she’s doing a lazy version of flutter kicks while doing her nails back at home. It’s her ploy to send Hao Meng to fetch the mum instead hahaha. “I’m not only your good friend, I’m also my brother’s good sister.”

Hao Meng is similarly taken aback to learn that most of the alcohol has been downed by his mum. He feels guilty for not having considered his mum’s feelings. Huan Zhen offers to house his mum for a night, as she thinks that his mum is not ready to face the people she loves the most.

His mum collapses into Huan Zhen’s bed but after he leaves, she starts on a drunk rant. Hao Meng listens from outside of the room and starts to tear as his mum cries that the thing she cares the most is whether Hao Meng is doing well. For him, she begged on her knees for his dad to pay his debts after he failed at being an environmental lawyer. This is why she wants him to marry someone she chooses – his girlfriend must be someone who will not snatch her son from her.

Huan Zhen herself tears as well, because she understands how his mum feels. They are the ones who pretend to be strong and smart, but truthfully, they are stupid.

“We love so much, but we don’t know how to express it. Things that we care about…we think that we have to clutch them tightly. Even when it breaks, we continue to hold and protect them.”

Later, Huan Zhen tells Hao Meng that his mum probably loves his dad more than he knows. Hao Meng is incredulous; his parents are best described as roommates who don’t like each other. Huan Zhen gently tells him that even if couples quarrel, they still love each other. “If you observe their lives closely, you will realise that there are many clues pointing to their love.” Hao Meng smiles and looks at her. He thinks that the feeling of chatting with her feels really great. She smiles and replies, “Me too.” Come on guys, just get back together.

He turns to leave but can’t resist telling her the dream he had after meeting her – the one where they woke up on the same bed and did coupl-y things. She starts to cry – because she had the same dream – and dashes after him. Even though she calls his name, she can’t bring herself to say anything else other than “Take care on the way home”. He nods and then you see his heart breaking again as he walks away.

Next day, Hao Meng’s dad angrily clears out Hao Meng’s mum’s things. Hao Meng notices a jewellry box  and its contents seem to touch the two of them.

Hao Meng’s mum wakes up and recalls all the embarrassing things she has said the night before. She quietly finishes the honey Huan Zhen has brought for her and hesitantly  apologises for troubling her (after she criticises the messy state of her room HAHA).

Huan Zhen’s mum cute-ly invites Hao Meng’s mum to stay for dinner, but her children turn up to send her to a meeting with the dad at Hao Meng’s firm. The parents think that the children are there to stop them from divorcing, but Hao Meng has other plans – he hands them the divorce papers with witnesses’ signature (Sheng Nan and him). You can tell that the parents are super taken aback to see their threat being carried out. Nevertheless, Hao Meng’s mum still stubbornly takes up the pen and pretends that she’s okay with it. After seeing her reaction, the dad mutters, “Who’s scared of who?”

Sheng Nan brings out the box and Hao Meng opens it on the pretext that he wants the dad and the mum to agree on how to best split that asset. Hao Meng’s mum desperately closes the box and lies that it contains her dowry. She starts to cry as Hao Meng asks, “The things inside don’t belong only to you.”

Hao Meng’s dad grumbles if she has stashed something scandalous inside and grabs the box. To his shock, she has kept every single photo of the both of them, kept every single post-it with loving messages, and even the medicine that he bought for her years ago.

Hao Meng reveals that it was Huan Zhen who wanted him to look closely at the details of their lives, and he’s convinced now that she loves his dad. He chastises his dad for being so cold towards his mum.

He hopes his parents can give each other a chance again.

The two children leave their parents to talk and Hao Meng’s dad picks up a ticket stub. Hao Meng’s mum murmurs that that was the last movie they have watched. The dad picks up her hand and invites her to a movie. Aww.

Hao Meng and Sheng Nan gleefully watch their parents leave the building and Sheng Nan turns on Hao Meng suddenly, asking him to man up and get Huan Zhen back. Hao Meng panics and says that the timing isn’t right.

While Sheng Nan tries to probe Huan Zhen’s feelings about patching up, her mum arrives at the office in an attempt to apparently matchmake Huan Zhen with some one else. Sheng Nan is very appalled at her mum’s actions, but Huan Zhen relents and takes the information sheets out of the envelopes. The mum triumphantly concludes, “How is it? This should be your type right?”

101% sure that the guy’s photo on the paper is Hao Meng’s. Hahaha.

True enough, Hao Meng turns up later at the cafe and his mum reminds him not to disappoint her again. Hahaha this mm is quite a funny matchmaker.

I don’t really like the following scene because it was too rollar-coaster ish to my liking.

Hao Meng starts off aggressively (too aggressive in my opinion), asking if she doesn’t love him anymore. She scoffs and protests, “It’s not that I don’t love you. I just think that we may not be suitable for each other.”

He points out that she fears losing what she treasures, so he knows that he has to clear all the obstacles between them before she will accept him. He started listing the reasons which she wrote on the paper as reasons to reject him – his mum and his sister are no longer obstacles so she can’t use these reasons anymore. Huan Zhen is taken aback because he knows that her deepest fear is him losing everything should they be together.  He brings out the note and she takes it angrily initially, but Hao Meng emphasises that what he fears most is losing her.

You think that it’s going well from here, but Huan Zhen reveals that she also had the same dream as him. She’s really scared that both of them will put in so much effort for something which turns out to be just a dream. “I’m really not sure if I can just receive this happiness.” She can’t say for sure that they will be happy till the end and she thinks that’s unfair to him. She wishes for more time to gather her thoughts, but Hao Meng cuts in, “What if you still can’t find your answer?” She stands up, “Do you still not know what I want?”

Cues sad music and crying and Huan Zhen dropping her stuff all over the street and the two of them crying and I don’t know. I don’t know what’s the point of this scene haha; the sudden sadness and being heartbroken is out of place. I mean I understand if this was in reality, but somehow in a finale of a drama, I don’t like it at all.

Especially since the next day, Huan Zhen’s mum kidnaps Huan Zhen’s phone so you know something’s up. Something’s up indeed, for when Huan Zhen is en route to work, she’s greeted by a spectacular dance performance put up initially by people whom she didn’t know. She is taken aback when she sees her subordinates (I think) dancing next.

One of the Charlie Chaplins brings her to a mall and a flash mob dances around her. The freezes are really cool! But otherwise the scene is just her spinning around smiling happily at everyone.

She gets led by a dancing ballerina and later on, the same Chaplin brings her to a hall. It’s her parents, Hao Meng’s parents and her colleagues – they are holding tablets with photos of Hao Meng and her. If she doesn’t know where this is going, she knows now.

At the very end, it’s Sheng Nan who leads her to the stage, where there is another dance performance. FINALLY, Hao Meng appears behind the curtains and present her with a bouquet of roses.

Sorry for being slightly irrelevant, but the main thought I have throughout this is – it’s illogical for this to happen within a day unless Hao Meng already has plans to propose! How can everyone learn to dance within such a short time:O

Anyway, he tells her that he can’t answer her question whether they will be happy till the end, “Because this answer…we will have to find it together.” “What if we can’t find in the end? What if I’m not the one who’s supposed to find the answer with you?” He answers and smiles, “That’s not possible. We will find our answer, because our meeting is pre-destined.”

Aha, so it’s Fate. No matter whether it’s the first, second or the third time where his heart is moved at the sight of her, it has only been one person who moves him. He reaches for the ring and kneels down, “Will you marry me, so that we can find the answer together?”

The music stops as everyone roots for him silently. She puts out her hand, “Yes, I will.” Woohoooo.

He beams and puts the ring on her finger before kissing her.

The scene switches to the graffiti wall in Korea, then to them outside a church. They kiss again, and she raises her palm to the camera. Yes I do.

As sort of a tribute I suppose to the style of the directing, the drama ends off with a final throwback to him cycling after Huan Zhen. The two of them smile each other as the scene fades out into white.

Maybe the both of us aren’t perfect, but this doesn’t mean that we can’t have a perfect love. Because you have to fight for your own happiness. Dedicated to all the must-marry ladies. 

-the end-

I think the show had a lot of potential and I really like the directing. But as with all finale recaps, let me first elaborate on what I didn’t like after the drama has concluded.

In respect of this finale itself, I didn’t like it that we didn’t see Qian Yao again. Although his last scene was indicative that well, that was his last scene (the crying in the cab and the letting go of feelings was great), I was hoping that we could see some hint of that couple getting together again – not on feelings in the past, but based on mutual understanding of each other in the present.

I also didn’t like the rollar-coaster meet up session. I guess the point was to have one final ‘down’ moment before the proposal, but it just felt so out of the place, especially with Roy Qiu’s and Alice’s great acting of being heart broken. I also have to point out that I’m slightly bored by the scenes where they are heart broken because they just occur too many times. The first time, I was floored by the acting and the crying and the script. The second time, it was still good. Keep it going for the third, fourth and fifth time, and I end up being emotionally detached from the show.

However, I do like the scene where Hao Meng’s parents patch up. I thought the public proposal was slightly too long with too many dance performances, but I guess the idea is to go out with a bang. What I love though is Hao Meng’s proposal speech. It’s so full of sincerity and I love the collage of memories. I also like the visuals of the stage and the lights and the orchestra.

As a whole, I think the show’s strongest point is its cast. They really brought life to the characters. The directing is also rather unique, somewhat unlike the usual idol dramas. It has a very pensive overtone which allows you to ponder over the theme of each week’s episode. This directing may, however, be the reason why I felt that the pace of the drama has slowed down through the weeks. I can understand if any one loses interest because of the slow pace – there’s too little action and too many monologues. Each actor speaks a huge number of lines.

I think the weakest point is the drama’s creation of love stories. Not the love stories themselves, but the start of them. I don’t feel invested in any of the couples’ love relationships because I didn’t get to see how they got to the stage where they love each other so much. The getting there is important. That aside, I do like the conflicts and problems, although I must say the main couple’s love life is pretty fraught with difficulties. Like 7 out of 10 days are thunderstorms.

Yet another journey is over! I’m glad I could recap this till the end and I hope my recaps have been of use in some way or another. Take care and see you guys in the next post!

<3thoughtsramble