This episode we learn a lot more about the complicated family dynamics between Fei Yang and his brother, Qi Zhen Kai. Fei Yang also learns why Ai Sha was so attached to her shark necklace. He tries to make up to her for it, but when all his advances fail, he has to turn to plan B. Meanwhile, Xiao An continues to reconsider her position at the company as Ai Sha’s underappreciated assistant.
Recap
Fei Yang plays his video games, then throws his head back in frustration, still wondering why Ai Sha hates him. He gets a call from his mother, and goes home to visit his father. (Ha! The house is the same as the SG headquarters in Amensalism.)
Fei Yang and Zhen Kai act formal with each other while the staff are around — Fei Yang is referred to as “Mr. Yi” by the butler — but break into smiles once they leave. Fei Yang’s mother appears and greets her son, but acts stiff with Zhen Kai. Fei Yang invites Zhen Kai to join them for dinner, but Zhen Kai makes an excuse and leaves.
Fei Yang’s mother urges him to go upstairs and see his father. He cheerfully takes the stairs two at a time with a broad smile. Zhen Kai watches him go upstairs with a frown.
Fei Yang’s father is bedridden and can’t speak, but the affection between father and son is clear. They joke around with each other, Fei Yang’s father using facial expressions and slight hand movements to communicate.
At dinner, Fei Yang complains about his struggles dealing with Chic and Ai Sha. His mother has sympathy for Ai Sha, saying it’s already difficult to be a woman in the business world. She tells him to be more sincere if he wants to pursue her. Fei Yang quickly denies wanting to pursue her, instead saying he just wants to recruit her to his company.
His parents both laugh at him, and his mom says that it serves him right to finally meet a woman who doesn’t fawn over him like all the other women in his life. She urges him to bring her the next time he comes home. Fei Yang says that’s impossible — she won’t even be friends with him.
His mother gives him some relationship advice, saying if he wants a woman’s heart, he should give her his own heart. He should be by her side, supporting her and showing her that he cares. Once she gets used to him, she won’t be able to leave him. She smiles at his father as she speaks.
Afterward, Fei Yang helps his mother give his father a bed bath, then says his goodbyes. He and his father share a tender moment when they sign “I love you” to each other.
Before he leaves, Fei Yang tells his mother that once he merges Chic and Golden Man, then he’ll be able to prove his worth to his brother. He wants to be able to proudly walk through the front doors of the house as a member of the Qi family. He doesn’t want his mother or him to have to live life in the shadows anymore.
But his mother doesn’t care that everyone else only views her as the elder Qi’s caretaker. All she cares about is being by his father’s side for the remainder of his life. She tells Fei Yang to not worry so much and to not bother his brother. All he has to do is be happy and not think about anything else. She pushes him out the door despite his protests.
At home, Fei Yang decides to text Ai Sha on Ocean’s Heart, telling her about seeing his father for the first time in a while. She responds that she’s envious he can see his father whenever he wants. Fei Yang remembers an earlier conversation with Ai Sha when she snapped at him after he asked about her father. He texts her, asking, “Is your father not here anymore?”
Ai Sha responds, “I suppose you could say that,” then tells him that the only thing she had left of her father was a necklace that is now broken. It feels like her remaining connection to her father broke with it.
Fei Yang struggles to respond, realizing the significance of the necklace he broke, but then Ai Sha texts “good night” and the moment is lost. Fei Yang realizes that he deserves Ai Sha’s spite.
The next morning, Ai Sha goes into her office building to find Fei Yang waiting at the top of the escalator for her with a huge bouquet of balloons and a basket of breakfast. She pointedly ignores him, but he’s persistent, and blocks her way with a bow and a formal apology.
She asks what he’s apologizing for. In his head, he’s thinking of the message she sent him on Ocean’s Heart, but there’s no way he can say that. Instead, he says he’s apologizing for kissing her without her permission. She immediately grabs his neck and warns him to never speak of the kiss again. She looks around nervously to make sure no one else has heard, then tells him that she’ll treat the incident like getting bitten by a dog.
After she leaves, he sends a voice memo on his phone: “The target is in position. Over.”
When Ai Sha walks into the Chic office, all of her employees smile and cheerily say good morning to her in an uncharacteristic way, then crowd to watch as she walks into her office, which is covered with flowers and a set of balloons spelling out “SORRY.”
Later, she’s cleared out the flowers and balloons from her office. She takes a breather from her work to lean back and close her eyes, but is alarmed when a pair of hands start massaging her shoulders. She whirls around: it’s Ni Mo, ordered there by Fei Yang.
At lunchtime, Ai Sha is ready to rant to Zhen Zhen, but goes into the stairwell to find that it has also been claimed by Fei Yang. There are flowers and candles everywhere, and even a painting hung on the wall. Fei Yang tells Ai Sha that he really wants her to accept his apology so that he can start over in her heart. She says it’s not possible and tells him to stop.
Xiao An knocks on the stairwell door and tells Ai Sha that May is looking for her for an urgent matter. Fei Yang asks if there’s anyone in the world just actually speaks politely to. Ai Sha responds May, because she’s her boss. He looks thoughtful.
May meets with Ai Sha to talk about working with Golden Man. She suggests Xiao An as someone who could be responsible for overseeing some of the collaborative material, but Ai Sha says that Xiao An isn’t ready yet. Her skills still need to be sharpened. Xiao An listens in the doorway and her face falls.
May suggests that maybe Ai Sha should do it then. She has a background in writing; she could write some articles about why women hate men, or why they become enemies. Ai Sha reluctantly agrees.
Xiao An is bothered by Ai Sha’s rejection of her for the rest of the day. She drops a folder while waiting for the elevator and doesn’t even notice that she’s dropped it until Steven picks it up for her.
Zhen Kai returns home after a long day and looks uncomfortable and exhausted. Fei Yang’s mother brings him some water and ibuprofen. He takes it without a word, then asks her why Fei Yang came home the other day. She responds that she asked him to come and see his father. Zhen Kai looks unhappy about it and starts going upstairs. She asks if he’d like her to bring him some warm milk, but he coldly rejects her, saying that she should focus on taking care of his father. She doesn’t need to worry about him.
Ai Sha starts writing an article on the reasons why a woman might hate a man. But she thinks about Fei Yang and realizes that the topic she wants to write about isn’t women hating men. She starts fresh, with a new question: does the modern woman still need a man?
Modern men and women seem to be embroiled in a fierce competition. But are there really that many differences between men and women? Men and women want the same things. They both want to succeed professionally; they both want to one-up each other, but also each secretly want to find someone who understands them. Why do we want to understand each other while also refusing to get along? Men and women are the same. We each long for the day when we can see our own brilliance. Men and women haven’t evolved to not need each other, nor are they filled with animosity for each other. Maybe they’ve both been heartbroken before, so they’re scared of taking that extra step toward understanding each other. Maybe the key to creating understanding between men and women is just having a little bit of courage.
As Ai Sha narrates, we see a montage of matching scenes from our Chic women and Golden Men: Xiao An looking forlorn as she walks down a street; Steven and Jing Jing running into each other at the same bar, Steven surrounded by a gaggle of women while Jing Jing entertains a group of men — but they each steal glances at the other; Ni Mo and Vicky stealing glances at each other, then mocking each other in a competition of who gets the first elevator; Sui Lin and Ah Ben are the last ones to close up their offices and smile at each other in the hallway; Xiao An watches Ye Xuan through the window of his restaurant while he meal preps for Ai Sha; Fei Yang broods while slingshotting rubber bands at the balloons that Ai Sha rejected.
He talks to himself, asking Ai Sha what she wants. She rejected his apology and his surprises. What does she want? Does she want a chance encounter? He’s suddenly inspired, and uses his location tracker to stalk Ai Sha to a shopping mall. But he’s frustrated to find that Ai Sha isn’t alone — Ye Xuan is also there. He jealously watches as Ai Sha laughs and puts a hand on his arm.
Fei Yang trails the two into the store and spies on them. The more he sees Ai Sha acting carefree and “cutesy” (his words, not mine) with Ye Xuan, the more jealous he gets, and the more random items he throws into his shopping cart.
He gets plenty of weird looks from other customers, but no one says anything to him, until he finds himself in the women’s underwear section, grabbing onto the same pair of underwear as an auntie. The auntie immediately calls him a pervert and yells loudly to get attention as she shoves him into a display, knocking it over.
The commotion draws Ai Sha and Ye Xuan’s attention, as well as a circle of other customers and security guards. Fei Yang tries to say that this is all just a misunderstanding and beseechingly asks Ai Sha to vouch for his identity. Ai Sha says she does know him… and he is a pervert.
She and Ye Xuan check out of the store while Fei Yang watches them jealously from a separate checkout aisle. He’s forced to buy all the random items he put in his cart while under the watchful eye of the security guards.
Fei Yang continues to follow Ye Xuan and Ai Sha after they leave the store, but this time he doesn’t bother with trying to hide. Ye Xuan and Ai Sha eventually turn to confront him. He wants to know why she called him a pervert in the store. Was it her form of revenge? He didn’t think she would be so petty.
Ai Sha bristles at being called petty. If she’d known he was such a perv, she would have done more than slap him when he kissed her. The kiss is news to Ye Xuan, obviously, and he angrily grabs Fei Yang by the collar, demanding to know what he did to Ai Sha.
Fei Yang just grabs Ye Xuan’s collar as well, asking why it’s any of his business. Is he Ai Sha’s boyfriend? Ye Xuan has nothing to say to that, and instead tries to punch Fei Yang. But he’s clearly a lover, not a fighter, because Fei Yang just grabs his fist. Ye Xuan pushes angrily, but gets nowhere, while Ai Sha tries to pull him off, saying this is between her and Fei Yang.
Ai Sha manages to get Ye Xuan to leave, then asks Fei Yang why he’s always trying to provoke Ye Xuan. Fei Yang responds with his own question, asking why Ye Xuan is always sticking his nose in Ai Sha’s business when he’s not even her boyfriend.
But that just makes Ai Sha more mad. Ye Xuan is her best friend. It’s normal for him to be concerned about her. She starts to walk away. Fei Yang follows, saying that it’s impossible for men and women to be just friends. Ye Xuan clearly has an ulterior motive for being friends with her. But Ai Sha says that Ye Xuan is nothing like him.
Fei Yang doesn’t understand how Ai Sha could hate him so much while liking Ye Xuan so much. He admits that earlier, he was pretty detestable. Sometimes he went a bit overboard with his jokes, but for the most part he’s been sincere.
But Ai Sha tells him that he doesn’t understand what being sincere is. How could he, when he’s the kind of person who always gets what he wants? Or does he think all his bullshit and posturing is sincere? That’s not sincerity; it’s egotism. She hates egomaniacs like him. From now on, she wants him to treat her like she’s invisible. Don’t come near her and don’t talk to her. Only that way will she find some peace in this world.
Fei Yang somberly says that he never realized she saw him as that kind of person, then walks away.
Xiao An continues to be distracted by thoughts of Ai Sha’s rejection as she helps her father at the family fishmongers stall. She makes change for a customer, who insists that she handed over a $1000 NTD bill and only received change for a $500 NTD bill. Xiao An thinks the customer is trying to cheat them, insisting that she knows what she saw, but the customer claims that Xiao An was distracted. Xiao An wants to argue more, but her father tries to smooth things over by giving the customer the change she asked for and a free fish, saying that it’s true that Xiao An has been distracted lately.
Frustrated that her father constantly has to act subservient, Xiao An tells him that she makes enough money that he doesn’t need to work anymore. She can support him. But he says that she barely makes anything at her job and besides, he needs to work or else he’ll get dementia.
Her father pulls his back trying to lift a delivery of fish, so Xiao An delivers it instead. She happens to spot May in a business meeting with Qi Zhen Kai at the restaurant receiving the delivery, and eavesdrops on them. Zhen Kai asks about Du Ai Sha. May praises her, saying that she brought Ai Sha up herself, and that if he acquired Chic, he would be acquiring the talent as well as the company itself.
Xiao An quickly hurries away after hearing about the acquisition, but bumps into a cart. The commotion catches May’s eye, and she spots Xiao An.
Zhen Kai doesn’t really care about Chic and tells his assistant to find some excuse to turn down May. But Ai Sha, on the other hand, has piqued his interest after she’s been mentioned multiple times: by Fei Yang, Steven, and now May.
He goes to check on his father after hearing an alert coming from one of his health monitors. Fei Yang’s mother is already there and has stabilized his situation — low blood sugar — but Zhen Kai insists on taking over, curly saying that he’s his father.
His father’s attitude toward him is vastly different from his attitude toward Fei Yang. Zhen Kai notices, saying that even now, even paralyzed, his father still refuses to smile at him. But that’s okay, because Zhen Kai says he will take good care of him. He wants to make sure his father lives a long time, so he can watch as Zhen Kai succeeds, using everything his father taught him.
Fei Yang plays a video game with Ni Mo and Xi Jun, but is merciless in defeating them. He’s in a bad mood from his earlier interaction with Ai Sha and her harsh words toward him. He suddenly makes a decision and tells the Golden Men that they should expedite the Chic acquisition plan. If Ai Sha refuses to collaborate, then his only option is to acquire Chic.
Meanwhile, Ai Sha is feeling a bit sentimental after she finds Fei Yang’s shark charm in the clutter on her table. She asks herself if she actually hates Fei Yang. What is she afraid of? She thinks of the kiss. Her heart rate suddenly jumps and her watch chimes.
She logs into Ocean’s Heart and wonders where Killer Whale has been the past few days. She starts to draft a message asking were he’s been, then thinks better of it and deletes the whole thing.
May is angry after getting rejected by Qi Zhen Kai’s assistant. Xiao An shows up with Ai Sha’s article, asking her to approve it. She barely glances at it before handing it back, then asks her if she got hurt at the restaurant. May tells Xiao An that she has been here long enough — maybe it’s time for her to get an “upgrade.” She tells Xiao An that everything she does is for the company. Even if things were to change, she’ll make sure that her people are taken care of. She’ll need people she can trust, who know how to keep secrets. Is Xiao An up to the task?
Xian An seems shook as she walks back to Ai Sha’s office and hands her back the article draft. Ai Sha asks if May said anything else. Xiao An doesn’t say anything, but lingers at her desk. Ai Sha repeats her question. Xiao An quickly shakes her head and says no, but seems so nervous that she looks like she’s about to vomit. And she does, rushing to the restroom the moment she leaves Ai Sha’s office.
Thoughts rush through her head: the first time she interrupted Ai Sha at a meeting, Jing Jing telling her that Ai Sha is trying to suppress her, Ai Sha telling her that she needs to go for what she wants or else she’ll never get it. Earlier, in May’s office, May had sat her down and patted her while telling her to trust her — she’s worth it.
Ai Sha goes to deliver her article to Golden Man, but hesitates before ringing the bell, wondering if Fei Yang was actually hurt by what she said. The Golden Men, minus Fei Yang, find her in the hallway and tells her that Fei Yang isn’t in. Steven says he can pass on whatever Ai Sha has for Fei Yang, but she’s willing to wait to see him in person. Steven reminds both Ai Sha and Jing Jing, who also shows up, that they’re only directors while Fei Yang is a CEO. It seems improper that they would meet with Fei Yang directly; it’s more appropriate for them to go through him if they have anything they want to communicate to Fei Yang. Jing Jing points out that she meets with Fei Yang because they’re friends — what’s Ai Sha’s excuse? Ai Sha doesn’t make one, and hands her document to Steven to pass on.
Fei Yang is busy playing squash with his brother. He’s winning the match, but lets Zhen Kai win at the last moment. Afterward, he comments that Zhen Kai seems tired. Zhen Kai tells him about caring for their father all night long. Fei Yang apologizes for not being home to help, but Zhen Kai tells him that he should focus on himself. He asks how Fei Yang’s plans are going, but then admits that he doesn’t really care. He just feels bad because Fei Yang’s had a hard upbringing; he wasn’t allowed to live at home and the two brothers can’t acknowledge their relationship in public. But he also tells Fei Yang that he’s lucky: he can do whatever he wants, while Zhen Kai has to fulfill expectations. He reminds Fei Yang to do what makes him happy and not worry about the rest of it.
He tells Fei Yang to play another round with him. But this time, Fei Yang shouldn’t throw the match.
Maybe I’m hoping for too much when it comes to Fei Yang’s reasons for pursuing Ai Sha. This episode makes it seem pretty clear-cut that he wants Ai Sha on his team for her abilities, and he accidentally started liking her (denying it even to himself) when he started trying to woo her over. It doesn’t seem like there are any other hidden nuances to his pursuit of her. Sad!
I wonder if there’s more to the conversation between Xiao An and May that we’re not seeing. There must be, for her to be so nervous afterward. Or were the hints of being offered a high position of power enough to shake her that much?
We learned a lot more about the relationship between Zhen Kai and Fei Yang this episode. They act brotherly and friendly when they’re together, but it’s clear that there’s no shortage of family politics at play. Fei Yang is clearly the favored son, something that Zhen Kai seems insecure about. The smiles and handshakes seem genuine, but Zhen Kai also seems very skilled at putting on appearances. Does he want to keep Fei Yang away because he’s worried that Fei Yang will get their father’s inheritance? All his reminders to Fei Yang to not worry about their family and to focus on having fun and happiness seem well-meaning, but how far can Fei Yang go with his ambitions before they become threats?
The Drama Llama 