Qing realizes that she is a shareholder in Yanisi, if she accepts the stock that Grandma Huo granted her, and tells Ah Wei that now she can keep her promise and protect the night market family. Silently, she adds that she can protect Ting En as well. Ah Wei watches her and silently says that he will protect her.
Qing meets with Grandma Huo and asks if the Yanisi stock is still available. She wants to hold an emergency board meeting. But Grandma Huo explains that as just a shareholder, she has little power to influence corporate decisions and save the night market. The person with the most power is the chairman. Right now, that’s Grandma Huo, and she’s willing to help Qing become the new chairman. She has just one question: does Qing love Ting En? Qing says yes, and Grandma says that’s all she needs to hear.
Grandma Huo meets with Hai Wei, Ting En, and Tian Zhi and tells them about her plan to give Qing the stock and get her onto the board of directors. Hai Wei and Tian Zhi are strongly opposed, saying that adding an extra voice will complicate matters for Yanisi. Ting En doesn’t know what the right choice is, but isn’t against it and tells Grandma to make her own decision.
Grandma Huo decides that she will give Fen Qing the ten percent share and no one can stop her. After all, without Qing’s father, there would be no Yanisi. If they don’t pay back the debt they owe to the Wei family, then the Huo family might not even exist anymore. She leaves, and everyone else is confused by what she means.
Ting En follows Grandma and asks her what she meant about Qing’s family. Grandma is clearly reluctant to say more, but admits that his stepfather had something to do with Qing’s father’s death. She refuses to elaborate more, but instead reminds him of his promise to her that he will support Qing no matter what decisions she makes in the future. She tells him not to try and take responsibility for the mistakes of the adults in his life, and re-emphasizes that he must protect and support Qing no matter what, before walking away, clearly upset.
Qing tries to make sense of the value that her ten percent stock gives her in Yanisi corporate decisions. Ah Wei helps explain that now that she has a ten percent share in the company, the combined holdings of the Huo family are now only 45 percent, which is no longer a majority stake. If Qing and Grandma Huo can convince the other shareholders to back her, then they have a real chance at saving the night market.
Qing is surprised that Ah Wei knows so much about how shareholder meetings go. He starts to say that of course he would know because he’s been a part of one before, but then quickly catches himself and makes up another excuse. No one thinks about his words too much, because Uncle Rib brings up the fact that even if Qing is able to become chairman, that won’t necessarily save the night market if selling the land is the only way to save Yanisi. The only way the night market can be saved is if the land is sold to someone who is willing to preserve the night market. The wheels start turning in Ah Wei’s head. He knows someone with money.
Yu-jie runs up and reports some more bad news from the night market front. The latest news is that Tian Zhi has already decided to sell the land and is ready to sign a contract with the developers. Qing looks up at the Yanisi building and wonders if Ting En really means to force her hand this way.
Grandma Huo tells Tian Zhi that maybe it’s not such a bad thing if Yanisi fails. It’s fate’s way of telling them that they should take a different path. Her only worry right now is Tian Zhi. She tells him not to blame his mom or himself. She knows that he must have been in a lot of pain and fear the past few years after learning that he’s not a blood member of the Huo family.
“You know?” he asks. She says that his father told him while on his deathbed. “You don’t mind?” he asks. And she says, of course not. Why would she care when his own father doesn’t even care? No one in the Huo family has had an easy life. His own mother’s marriage into the Huo family was a business arrangement, and she had a lover before getting married, but was too afraid of opposing her family. Grandma Huo also understands why Hai Wei and Mei Li fight with each other to protect their own children.
Qing attends her first board meeting where she gets introduced as a board member as well as a candidate to be the next chairman. She’s running against Tian Zhi. Qing gives a pretty speech about how meaningful the night market is to her and countless others, but it’s not enough. Tian Zhi gets six votes, while Qing only gets five. But before Tian Zhi is officially named as the new chairman, Ting En interrupts the meeting, a document from Tang Da Chuan in hand. But he gets interrupted by Ah Wei, who introduces himself as Meng Shao Wei, Chairman Meng’s son, and is here to represent both his father and his father’s company, Pin Le. That gives him two votes, and he uses both to support Qing.
With seven votes, Qing is now the new chairman (or chairwoman, I suppose.) But Ah Wei has one more card up his sleeve: he says that he will buy the plot of land Yanisi wants to sell. Ting En hasn’t had a chance to speak this whole time. He hides the document in his hand behind his back: it’s an agreement from Tang Da Chuan to invest some capital into Yanisi.
At night, the night market crew celebrate their victory at Qing’s place. They all talk about how Ah Wei is superior to Ting En in every way. Meanwhile, Qing checks her phone and wonders why she hasn’t heard from Ting En yet. She heads out, claiming she’ll go buy some ice. Ah Wei follows her.
On the streets, Ah Wei explains how he went back to his family not just for her, but for the whole night market. He used to be ashamed of his family background, but has learned to embrace himself fully, and he has her to thank for it.
Qing’s mom, Shu Feng, goes looking for Qing in her room, but she’s not there. Instead, Shu Feng spots the Huo family secret recipe book on Qing’s desk, and sees her husband’s handwriting. Qing shows up and her mom asks her where she got the notes from. She seems troubled by the book’s origin.
Shu Feng goes to confront Grandma Huo about the recipe book. She remembers the day that her husband died: he left the house ecstatic that he had finally finished his recipe book and excited about what it meant for his family’s future. The notebook had been whole, yet when she received it from the police after his accident. it was missing pages.
Grandma Huo explains that her son, Huo Zheng Nian, had argued with Wei Shi Li that day. Shi Li wanted Yanisi to focus on curry. Without that promise, he was going to withdraw his investment and start his own restaurant. But Zheng Nian said there was no proof Shi Li had given him any money, and he knew that without Shi Li’s recipes and ability, Yanisi would be nothing. Shi Li left angrily, and got into a hit-and-run accident. Zheng Nian saw only the aftermath and called 911, distraught. But once he realized Shi Li was unresponsive, he dug through his bag for the journal. Shi Li regained consciousness in time to struggle with him over it. Zheng Nian tore out the pages he needed and ran off without checking to see whether Shi Li was okay. Later, he confessed what happened to Grandma Huo, who was furious, but he begged her not to tell anyone because otherwise Yanisi would be nothing. He told Grandma Huo that if he could make Yanisi successful, it would make up for the way he wronged Shi Li.
Grandma Huo tells Shu Feng that she searched for her for years after her son’s death, hoping to make things up to the family, but was unsuccessful. She knows that the Huo family owes the Weis a debt, but begs Shu Feng to not let this tragedy and ill-will be passed onto their children. She’s willing to do anything Shu Feng asks, but she doesn’t want Ting En and Qing to hate each other. But Shu Feng is furious and says she can’t trust anyone in the Huo family anymore. She’s convinced that the car accident wasn’t an accident. Chances are, Zheng Nian intentionally caused the accident so that he could get her husband’s notes. She tells Grandma Huo that she doesn’t want to see a single member of the Huo family again, then storms off.
When she returns home, she tells Qing that she doesn’t want her to see Ting En anymore, then tells her about her father’s death and how she suspects it wasn’t an accident. Qing says that even if her mom is right, Ting En is innocent. But Shu Feng refuses to let a Huo be her son-in-law. She tells Qing that she will never allow her to marry Ting En.
Meanwhile, Ting En is thinking some things through himself. He and Xiao Bin drink together at a bar. They both agree that Qing lacks experience and could use someone by her side who can help her with that. Even Xiao Bin acknowledges that Ah Wei, as heir to the Meng family, would be a great person to have by her side. “I’ve decided,” Ting En says, and leaves.
He calls Qing and asks her to dress pretty for him, just this once. She meets him at the La Mure kitchen where she watches him cook for them both. He tells her that what she lacked most when he first met her was confidence. She has a natural talent, and if on the day that she challenged him, she had tried to make her own dish to compete with his, she might not have lost. She only lost because she tried to recreate his recipe. He tells her that in the future, she should remember to believe in herself. While they eat, she asks him why he keeps talking about the future, as if he won’t be there for it. He responds that in the future, he won’t be in her life anymore. He doesn’t think they’re well-suited for each other.
UGH. PLEASE. I was afraid something like this would happen. Let’s not do this faux chivalry thing where the man decides, “Let ME decide what’s best for you and GIVE you to this other man who likes you even though we clearly love each other.” But we are doing it. I suppose no drama is complete without a moment like this. But we were doing so well without it!
And also, can we talk about the mothers in this show? This show is full of mothers who believe they know best but refuse to listen to their children. Actually, all parents in general, because we should throw Meng into that category as well. Though I suppose Grandma Huo is the only mother who listened to her child, and look where that got her…
But Grandma Huo is the parental figure I respect the most in this show. She is the exact opposite of a traditional rich family matriarch in a drama. She could care less about money, wealth, blood relations, and status as long as her children and grandchildren are happy. Everyone else ties happiness to money, but not her. She understands that family sometimes means letting kids make their own decisions and being supportive instead of trying to project and impose what a parent thinks is best onto them. We could use a little more of that.
The Drama Llama 