We get some more cute moments in this episode as Tao Zi gets closer to both Xiao Lu and Tian Xing. Meanwhile, more people who know Tian Xing meet Xiao Lu, and Lance is on the hunt — after what, I don’t think he knows yet, but he has OZ in his sights.
Recap
All the phones in OZ start ringing, except for Tian Xing’s, and everyone looks stunned after hanging up. They have clients! So many interested clients! Samsung, Panasonic, the list goes on. Everyone starts cheering and Leo and Tian Xing exchange a thumbs up. Tao Zi silently asks her brother if he’s watching, and sees how so many people know OZ now.
The next morning, Tao Zi and Tian Xing meet up to go visit Auntie Jing. She tosses him a drink and has also bought strawberries for them. Tian Xing tries to tell her that he’s not poor, but she says it’s okay. She attributes OZ’s recent successes, and Auntie Jing’s reunion with her family, all to Tian Xing, which is why she says she has to look after him. As they get in the van, Tao Zi mentions that she wants to take a family picture with Auntie Jing. Tian Xing says he’ll be the photographer, but Tao Zi insists he be in the picture with them. They share a cute moment in which they feed each other strawberries.
That night, Tao Zi puts Auntie Jing’s family picture–Tao Zi and Tian Xing included–up on the wall. She sees her brother beside her, and he congratulates her on finally being able to show the world what OZ was capable of and encourages her to keep going. She starts tearing up a little, which makes Tian Xing ask her why she’s crying when she should be happy. She says that she finally feels like she’s done something she wanted to show her brother. Tian Xing encourages her, saying he believes there will be many more projects she can show her brother in the future. Tao Zi says that Xiao Lu is a good one, not like that Lu Tian Xing.
At home, Tian Xing watches the Jia He Realty commercial again with Butler Fu, who sniffles. Tian Xing isn’t paying much attention–instead, he’s smiling at his phone, reading a text from Tao Zi: “Have you seen the commercial? This is OZ! P.S. You better be taking good care of my watch.”
The next morning, Tao Zi is walking along when her shoelace comes untied (which seems to be a common thing for her!) She sits down to tie it, when Tian Xing appears out of nowhere and bends down over her. She hastily stands up, knocking into his head and sending him reeling. She quickly grabs him to steady him, and they end up falling over backward onto the bench, their faces inches apart.
She shoves him off, asking him him what he’s doing here. He’s here because of the text she sent last night, and set an alarm just so he could come congratulate her. She thanks him and starts walking away, but he stops her, saying he’s not finished. He starts off by saying she did pretty well with this commercial, but then goes on to say that she doesn’t have much ability: she just got lucky. She starts to argue back, but he stops her by saying, “I’m really starting to see you differently. I’m actually looking forward to seeing what you do.” She thinks he’s trying to make fun of her, and he doesn’t deny it, but still wishes her luck, then walks away.
Things are tense at Tian Ji after Lance sees the Jia He Realty commercial. He storms out of his office and demands to know how OZ got the Jia He project in just a few days, then tells his assistant to investigate and get to the bottom of it.
Things are much brighter at OZ, where Tao Zi has brought in a ton of food that her mother made for Tian Xing. Drawn by the food, Gai Xian asks why only Xiao Lu got food and not him. Tao Zi says they can all share, and then they can start planning the Samsung commercial. “But hasn’t Samsung always worked with Tian Ji?” Miao Miao asks. “Even better!” Tao Zi replies, “This can be our first step in defeating Lu Tian Xing!” She says it with such ferocity that Tian Xing chokes on his food.
Back at Tian Ji, Lance finds out that Jia He used to be a Tian Ji client. His assistant explains that they had a verbal agreement with Jia He, but never signed anything, so Jia He wasn’t guilty of violating any contracts. Helen adds that they had been putting off working with Jia He because their budget was small.
“A small budget?” Lance asks. “Look at what they were able to produce with a small budget.” He doesn’t care if Jia He violated any contracts: what he wants to know is why OZ was the one to produce the commercial. He decides that he has to go straight to the source: he’s going to pay a visit to the OZ Advertising office.
Miao Miao is the one who gets the call and tells everyone else that the OZ COO is coming over to pay Tao Zi and Leo a visit. Tian Xing hears this and quickly slips out, making a call to Butler Fu to come get him.
Before he leaves for OZ, Lance makes a call to Tian Xing and asks him how Jia He became an OZ client when just a few days ago they were still part of Tian Ji. Tian Xing pretends he just woke up and fakes grogginess, telling Lance that he’ll call him back later. After hanging up, he and Butler Fu immediately start brainstorming. Together, they deduce that Lance probably suspects Tian Xing gave the Jia He project to OZ, and that’s why he’s paying a visit to the office. But if he visits, Tao Zi will probably bring up Xiao Lu’s name as the one who came up with the commercial idea, and then Lance will want to meet Xiao Lu. It looks like they’re stuck in a difficult position.
Lance’s car rolls up to OZ Advertising, and he strolls into the office, looking around and commenting on how small the office and company is. Clearly, he’s salty about more than OZ taking the Jia He Realty project, because he proceeds to bring up the fact that he’s tried to recruit Leo to Tian Ji several times over the past few years, and Leo’s turned him down every time for this “small company” that doesn’t even pay as well as Tian Ji. He then asks who is in charge, and Tao Zi steps forward. He compliments the commercial they filmed and asks to meet the person who came up with the idea.
“Our new part-timer, Xiao Lu,” Tao Zi responds, and right on cue, Tian Xing pops in as Xiao Lu with a nervous smile on his face. Helen immediately greets him as the CEO and Lance looks puzzled. The Tian Ji people don’t seem to believe that Tian Xing is Xiao Lu, despite the OZ crew’s insistence, and study him carefully. Leo watches the interaction, and it looks like wheels are turning in his head. Lance is especially skeptical, telling Tian Xing, “I grew up with you. You might be able to trick them, but you can’t trick me.”
But at that moment, his phone rings with a call from Lu Tian Xing. Tian Xing tersely tells him to meet at the office in half an hour and he’ll answer any questions he has, then hangs up. (It’s actually Butler Fu playing a recording of Tian Xing’s voice from the car.) This seems to be enough to temporarily convince Lance. “I would have never believed it if I hadn’t seen you with my own eyes,” he says, then compliments Tian Xing’s work on the commercial and tells him he’s “welcome at our company any time.” He turns to leave, but Tao Zi says, “Hey, not so fast.”
The first thing Lance did on entering was try to recruit Leo, and now the last thing he does before he leaves is try to recruit Tian Xing? Lance responds by saying that neither of them expressed any interest in leaving, so it’s all a-okay, isn’t it? He turns to leave again, but this time Gai Xian speaks up and says “Wait!” He gets close to Helen and asks, “I didn’t get a chance to ask the last time we met, but want to tell oppa what your name is?” Helen gives him a dirty look and asks him if there’s something wrong with him. Lance’s assistant makes a snide remark about how not only does OZ steal other people’s clients, but they’re also a bunch of lunatics. He and Tao Zi start to argue, but Lance stops them. “I hope you don’t mind me saying this,” he says to Tao Zi, then proceeds to tell both Leo and Tian Xing once again that Tian Ji would welcome them both. And then he finally leaves.
Once he’s gone, Leo and Tian Xing reassure Tao Zi that they would never leave OZ for Tian Ji. Satisfied, Tao Zi announces that they should get to work on the Samsung project. Tian Xing breathes a sigh of relief once everyone’s backs are turned.
Tian Xing and Lance meet at Tian Ji, where Tian Xing admits that he gave the Jia He project to OZ. Lance asks if this means he knows Xiao Lu, but Tian Xing avoids the question by saying that he had Butler Fu handle the details and didn’t bother with them. Lance asks why he would even care about business like this when he’s on vacation, and Tian Xing explains that he was looking out for Tian Ji’s reputation after the stunt Lance pulled with Galaxy Realty. What if OZ spreads rumors about them? Lance doesn’t seem to care much, but Tian Xing makes it sound like he has to clean up after Lance. Lance comments that Tian Xing used to never bother with things like Tian Ji’s reputation, but Tian Xing responds that he can’t let Lance think he always acts irrationally.
Lance receives more bad news from his assistants: Samsung wants to put a hold on their contract renewal. Lance immediately suspects that OZ has something to do with this, and angrily demands that his assistant figure out exactly what OZ has to do with it. Once in his office, he starts throwing things around.
The OZ crew get to work on their next project. Tian Xing is in charge of the script again, while Leo gives Gai Xian the task of getting some props from Uncle Zhou’s prop warehouse. Gai Xian immediately looks alarmed. Uncle Zhou’s warehouse has been around for over fifty years, and there are stories about strange things happening in there, such as a hand that appeared in a photograph. Leo waves off the photo as photoshop magic, but Gai Xian still looks spooked at the prospect of having to go.
At night, Tian Xing stares at the film he took of Tao Zi crying at the last commercial shoot. He’s so focused on her face that he doesn’t notice Butler Fu standing next to him and is startled with Butler Fu says his name. “I was thinking about…” he starts. “How to help Miss Tao?” Butler Fu finishes for him. And right on cue, Tian Xing gets a phone call from Tao Zi. She announces that she’s ready to pay him back and that they should meet the next morning — she’ll text him the address. She reminds him to bring the watch so she can make sure it’s okay.
After they hang up, Tian Xing looks at her watch again and notices an OZ symbol on the back. Butler Fu watches and asks, “Could this watch belong to…?” but Tian Xing stops him before he can speak further and thinks back on all the moments in which Tao Zi seemed so concerned about the watch.
The next morning at the office, Gai Xian seems especially anxious, eating snacks and trying to find excuses to get a moment alone with Tao Zi–or at least, get Miao Miao out of the office. He’s unsuccessful in his efforts, and only succeeds in making Miao Miao comment on how strange he’s being.
Tao Zi waits outside to meet up with Tian Xing. He sees her from afar and then startles her as a greeting. She angrily throws the money at him, then demands to see her watch. She tries to grab his wrist to take a closer look, but he fends her off, and she ends up in his arms. “Until you pay me back, this watch is mine,” he reminds her with a smile. She huffs, saying that she will definitely pay him back, then runs off, forgetting her phone on the bench.
She doesn’t notice that she’s lost it until she gets back to the office and Miao Miao asks her why she didn’t answer her phone. Miao Miao leaves first to go take their actors’ measurements. Gai Xian waits for her to leave before pulling Tao Zi aside. He’s been antsy all day because one of his girlfriends missed her period. He wants to go keep her company, but that means he can’t go pick up the props from the warehouse. Tao Zi agrees to go to the warehouse for him and tells him to go be with his girlfriend.
She goes back to her meeting spot with Tian Xing to try to find her phone, but it’s gone. She then calls it from a payphone, but Tian Xing, who has her phone, ignores the call. Tao Zi’s phone then gets a call from Gai Xian, which he ignores, but then Gai Xian calls the Xiao Lu phone, asking Tian Xing if he’s with Tao Zi at the prop warehouse. The prop warehouse? Tian Xing immediately reroutes.
At the prop warehouse, Tao Zi struggles to communicate with Uncle Zhou, who is nearly deaf and has a defective hearing aid. It’s almost closing time, but she promises that she’ll find her prop–a magic lamp–quickly and be out of his hair. There’s also a phone repairman there, fiddling with the warehouse’s defunct phone. He checks Tao Zi out, which Uncle Zhou berates him for, then asks if he can take the phone with him to repair and come back tomorrow.
The warehouse is huge and Tao Zi struggles to find the prop she needs in the lamp section. Instead, she runs into a scary mask and some strange mannequins. She goes back downstairs to ask Uncle Zhou for help, but again struggles to communicate with him and goes off to find her magic lamp on her own. Thinking she’s leaving, Uncle Zhou says “bye” to her.
Tian Xing arrives at the warehouse, still dressed as Lu Tian Xing. He sees her name on the sign-in sheet and just misses Uncle Zhou as he goes off in search of Tao Zi. Uncle Zhou closes up shop and chains the door shut. Tao Zi finally finds the magic lamp, but turns around and screams as she sees a collection of scary masks. Tian Xing follows the sounds of her scream. Tao Zi starts hearing sounds of someone else in the warehouse and gets freaked out.
The two back into each other and Tao Zi starts screaming and flailing, then sighs in relief when she recognizes Tian Xing. “What are you doing here?” She asks. He ignores her question, instead asking, “You scare so easily. What are you doing here by yourself?” She blames him, saying that he was walking around without saying a word, then asks again what he’s doing.
He pulls out her phone and gives it back to her. She smiles happily and thanks him, then asks how he knew where she was. He avoids the question and tells her that she should leave now that she’s found her prop. If she gets locked in here at night with who knows what, he’s not going to save her. “Who needs saving?” she asks. “Okay,” he shrugs, “then you can find your way out on your own,” and he walks away. “Wait!” she says as she hurries to follow him.
Unfortunately for them, the door is locked shut, there’s no office phone, and no cell signal. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you,” Tian Xing says as he tries to put his arm around Tao Zi. She quickly shrugs him off then runs off to find cell signal. The lights start flickering, which makes her nervous, and then she shrieks when seeing a mouse, flinching and bumping into a shelf. Its contents start rattling and falling, and Tian Xing dives toward her to protect her. They fall to the ground surrounded by feathers and styrofoam.
Meanwhile, the Tao family, Miao Miao, and Leo are worried sick over Tao Zi’s disappearance. They keep trying to reach her by phone, but are unable to, and try calling Xiao Lu as well with no response. They finally reach Gai Xian, but Miao Miao doesn’t quite understand what he’s saying and can only conclude that he’s not with Tao Zi, either. Mama and Papa Tao start arguing over what to do, and Miao Miao and Leo have to mediate. They decide to split up and look around for Tao Zi.
Tian Xing finds a blanket and some drinks for Tao Zi and they settle in for the night. They start fighting over the blanket–Tian Xing wants to share but Tao Zi doesn’t–but the fight is cut short when some mice scurry by. Tao Zi freaks out and jumps onto the couch, telling Tian Xing to chase them away. They finally leave and Tao Zi settles back down, but Tian Xing pretends he sees another one. Tao Zi freaks out again and jumps into Tian Xing’s arms. He finally chases off the last one: “See, didn’t I say I would protect you?” And then they realize how close they are. They share a long moment, then Tao Zi crawls off of him, avoiding his eyes.
Tian Xing asks Tao Zi why she cares so much about the watch. She responds, “Do you know what it feels like to have the person you’re closest to leave? At first, you won’t believe it, but then the world will start to shake, making you face the truth. Then you start to feel something shattering slowly, something that will never be whole again. This feeling will follow you for a long, long time.”
Tian Xing knows, and he flashes back to a memory from his childhood as she speaks. In the memory, he runs home and bursts in through the front door as Butler Fu gets off the phone with a somber look on his face. Child Tian Xing collapses to the ground and starts crying, “why?”
Tao Zi falls asleep on Tian Xing’s shoulder, and he smiles softly. He adjusts so that his arm is around her, then gently strokes her face.
Tian Xing smiles to see Tao Zi when he wakes up the next morning and takes a few selfies with her sleeping form, then quickly pretends to be asleep when he feels her shifting. Tao Zi slowly extricates herself from under his arm, then looks closely at his face. “Xiao Lu’s bangs look better,” she says after testing out the look with her hand.
“Really?” Tian Xing responds, making Tao Zi jump away. They’re quickly back to their usual banter, with Tao Zi saying she definitely didn’t fall asleep on him, and Tian Xing complaining about how big her head is and how much his shoulder hurts. He convinces her to give him a massage, and she makes sure to squeeze him extra hard.
Leo searches for Tao Zi long into the night and then through the next morning without sleeping. He meets back up with Miao Miao at the office in the morning without success. Gai Xian comes in bearing breakfast and in bright spirits, clueless to the drama of the night before. Leo and Miao Miao tell him about Tao Zi’s disappearance, and he says that she went to the warehouse alone the day before. Leo rushes out to go to the warehouse.
Uncle Zhou finally arrives and apologizes profusely for accidentally locking Tao Zi and Tian Xing in the warehouse. Tian Xing asks Tao Zi to get breakfast with him, and she reluctantly agrees. She makes a move to kick his car, but he stops her, asking, “Do you want to owe me another NT$200,000 (USD$6,600)?”
Leo makes it to the warehouse, just missing Tao Zi and Tian Xing. He asks Uncle Zhou about Tao Zi, and Uncle Zhou tells him that she was accidentally locked in all night with a young man who looks like… that guy on the magazine! Leo asks Uncle Zhou if he’s sure it was that guy (and not Xiao Lu, I’m guessing), and Uncle Zhou says he’s sure.
Both Tao Zi and Tian Xing’s phone batteries are dead, but Tao Zi makes a call home once they get to the restaurant. Mama Tao wants her to return home immediately, but Tao Zi says she has some business to take care of first, hiding the fact that she’s getting a meal with Tian Xing. She then makes a call to Leo to reassure him that she’s alive and well. After they hang up, Leo wonders to himself, “What is this Lu Tian Xing up to?”
After breakfast, Tian Xing offers to drive Tao Zi home, but she says that she can just take the bus. He turns to leave, but she stops him and thanks him for coming to return her phone the previous day. He smiles and she ducks her head awkwardly and starts to leave, but he stops her with a “hey,” and walks over to tie her loose shoelace for her.
Thoughts
I didn’t really feel how long this episode was until attempting to recap it. And it was long! I think I will skip the full recap next time and just go for a summary.
But progress! Previously, I had some issues with the Lu Tian Xing-Tao Le Si relationship, but I feel like in this episode, their relationship dynamic is actually heading in a direction I like. They banter rather than Tian Xing hurting Tao Zi, but there’s still an imbalance there that I don’t like (but hey, this is drama-land?) I love that in this episode we get some hints of Tian Xing and Tao Zi finding a sort of respect for each other, because before this it was always Xiao Lu and Tao Zi. In fact, all our cute moments are moments that involve Tian Xing being himself with Tao Zi.
Xiao Lu and Tao Zi continue to get closer, which worries me. I don’t see a way in which this whole hidden identity thing will end well. The closer Tao Zi gets to Xiao Lu, the more it’s going to hurt when the deception is revealed, and the more Tao Zi is going to see everything as just Tian Xing trying to mess with her. I think there is a way that Tian Xing and Xiao Lu could slowly transition into each other, but I doubt this drama will follow such a logical route.
Every time there’s an intersection of the Tian Xing and Xiao Lu world (either just names being mentioned, or people recognizing Tian Xing when he’s Xiao Lu), Leo always has a thinking face on and I feel like the wheels are turning in his head. I don’t know if that’s what’s actually happening, but it sure looks like Leo will probably be one of the first ones to discover Tian Xing’s identity. My money’s on either him or Lance, since Lance is out for blood! He let Tian Xing go this time, but I don’t doubt that he is still very suspicious of Tian Xing/Xiao Lu, and he’s bound to figure something out, especially if he continues to keep such a close eye on OZ.
I still don’t love this drama, but the influx of relationship cuteness is keeping me interested. The main couple is slowly (very slowly) starting to convince me, so that’ll keep me watching for the moment.
The Drama Llama 