This episode is full of cuteness as Fei Yang and Ai Sha continue to make progress in their relationship. She doesn’t even try to deny it anymore. Meanwhile, Xiao An starts to lose it…
Recap
Ai Sha finds it suspicious that Fei Yang always appears wherever she goes. It happens too often to be a coincidence. Fei Yang laughs off her theories that he’s planted a tracker on her car or has hacked into CCTV cameras. He says that he’s also curious about why they always run into each other. Maybe it’s fate. Maybe they’re destined to meet.
She continues to look at him suspiciously and warns that if he’s lying about tracking her, he’s dead.
Afterward, he offers to give her a ride to her next destination, but she turns him down. She gets a call from yet another client cancelling. Fei Yang can tell that something is weighing on her and asks her how he can help. She won’t tell him, but he’s persistent, and she finally admits that all of the clients she was scheduled to meet have cancelled in the past day.
He perks up when she mentions that she’s been trying to work with clients on one-off projects as a consultant. If he sent her some cases from Chic and Golden Man, would she accept them?
Ai Sha doesn’t want to have anything to do with Chic and Golden Man, but Fei Yang says he needs her help. He admits that after she left, Chic’s user growth has continued to decline. He’s realized that he doesn’t really understand the women’s fashion sector.
Ai Sha says he should’ve realized that before he acquired the company. She’s left and it’s none of her business anymore. But Fei Yang says he needs her help. He apologizes again for the grief the acquisition caused her, but for him, it was essential. He promises that if she takes her on as a client, nothing will change with Chic. She’ll be in charge of marketing. He’ll give her the freedom to do what she wants. He will be her partner instead of her boss. He says he’ll send her the marketing plan for Chic’s next project. If she’s willing to take him on, she should call him. She doesn’t say no.
Ai Sha has another client meeting the next day. Her client’s secretary shows up, but doesn’t stay — she’s only there to apologize in person on behalf of her boss. She doesn’t know the exact reason why her boss cancelled with Ai Sha, but suggests that Ai Sha may have offended someone powerful.
It’s the fifth of the month again, the day when Nan Cheng eats dinner at their mother’s house. Ai Sha goes to her mother’s house to find her brother loading boxes into his car outside. He explains that instead of just being a sales representative, he decided to buy the products first and he’ll figure out how to sell them later. She asks where he got the money to buy the products upfront — he didn’t take the money she gave their mother for living expenses, did he? It turns out he did. He’s upset that she doesn’t believe in him, but she doesn’t believe in him because he’s never succeeded. He says that he can’t be unlucky his whole life. This time he’ll succeed. He’ll show her.
Qi Zhen Kai finds out from his secretary that most of Ai Sha’s clients have refused to meet with her. All except for Yi Fei Yang. He studies a surveillance photo of Fei Yang and Ai Sha talking on the street, musing that she really is a formidable woman.
The elder Qi’s condition worsens and becomes more unstable. The doctor recommends he be hospitalized, but he wants to stay at home. After the doctor leaves, the elder Qi’s condition suddenly becomes very unstable. Mama Yi anxiously tells him to relax. Agitated, he motions for her to grab a family photo from his desk. It’s a photo of the two of them and Fei Yang. He runs his finger over Fei Yang’s face. Mama Yi says she knows what he’s trying to say, but that he doesn’t have to worry about her or Fei Yang. What he’s given them already is enough. The best gift he could give them would be for him to continue to live.
Zhen Kai returns home and goes to check on his father. He overhears Mama Yi and frowns, then leaves without going into the room.
Ai Sha plays with the shark charm Fei Yang gave her and thinks about his offer to her. She opens up the document he emailed her, then gives him a call.
The next morning, Fei Yang calls Ai Sha, saying he has good news and bad news: which does she want to hear first? She’s used to hearing bad news first. The bad news is that he can’t find anything wrong with the proposal she sent him. The good news is that a coffee company is interest in working with them. Is she available to meet later today? He arranges to pick her up in an hour.
He’s heading out when Xiao An comes in with a proposal for how to unite the two platforms that she seems excited about. Fei Yang tells her that he’s decided to contract out the important marketing projects to Ai Sha.
Xiao An is upset — didn’t he say she would be the acting marketing director? She tries to protest, but Fei Yang is busy and heads out.
When Xiao An gets back to her desk, Vicky makes a snide remark, saying it looks like Xiao An has a long way to go before she becomes a real director. Xiao An angrily assigns her some busy work: collecting survey responses on the street. Vicky is upset and tries to argue, while Yuki tries to calm her down. Xiao An tells Vicky that she better hope Xiao An doesn’t become the real director, because when she does, Vicky will be the first person she fires.
Ye Xuan shows up at Ai Sha’s house with some pasta for her. She doesn’t seem happy to see him, but lets him in. He asks her why she didn’t go into his restaurant and left without saying anything the other day. She claims that he looked busy and she didn’t want to disturb him. He comments that it seems like they aren’t as open with each other as they used to be. She doesn’t say anything.
Ye Xuan suddenly pulls her into a hug, telling her that initially he thought being by her side would be enough, but now he realizes that love is something that needs to be expressed and said in words. Love needs the right timing, and he recognizes that the timing might not be right, but he’s willing to wait. Whatever Fei Yang does, he can do too. He’ll find some way to make her love him.
Ai Sha pushes him away and says that she can’t continue being friends like this after knowing how he feels about her. He says that she can pretend he never said anything. They can go back to the way they were. He quickly changes the topic and starts talking about the pasta he made her. But she stops him. If he really considers her a friend, he won’t make her be a villain. “I’m sorry,” she says.
Ye Xuan hangs his head and leaves.
Fei Yang shows up early to his meeting with Ai Sha at the park, only to find her already there and day drinking. He asks her what’s wrong. She doesn’t want to talk, but he’s persistent, and she finally says, “I feel like I lost my only friend.”
He turns away from her and offers her his shoulder. As her partner, this is what he can give her. She can take her anger out on it or lean on it and cry. Ai Sha says she doesn’t need it. She’s incapable of crying in front of other people.
Fei Yang says that maybe she just hasn’t met the right person yet. He knows that Ye Xuan is Ai Sha’s best friend. There must be a reason she chose to lose him rather than hurt him. How could she not be sad?
After a long moment, Ai Sha takes Fei Yang up on his offer and leans her head against his shoulder.
Vicky struggles to get people to participate in the survey on the street. Every passerby ignores her. She’s surprised when Ni Mo shows up with a sign, a cart full of boxes, and a water bottle. The boxes are full of cookies from vendors and he suggests using them as an incentive to get people to fill out the survey. He hands her the water bottle, then gets to work chatting up people on the street. He’s there to help, because he’s her coworker and that’s what coworkers do for each other.
Ai Sha and Fei Yang meet with the coffee company representative, a VP Lin, where she talks about the concept of “social distance” and the internet. (Which is ironic because we are all social distancing right now because of COVID-19.)
The internet can be both a way of creating social distance as well as a way of bridging social distance gaps. Ai Sha has an idea of allowing Chic and Golden Man customers to get to know each other from a safe social distance on their internet platforms, while also providing events where the customers can physically meet and get to know each other. The coffee company would be the perfect caterer for these events.
While she talks about social distance and bridging that distance, we see Xiao An and Ye Xuan each breaking down from their carefully cultivated professional images. Xiao An angrily shreds her proposal documents at her desk, while Ye Xuan angrily throws a customer’s rejected dish into the trash in front of a room full of stunned customers.
Xiao An goes to Ye Xuan’s restaurant and finds him brooding in a corner. She has to call his name twice before he responds. When he notices her, he hides his face and tries to wipe his tears away. She wants to talk to him, but he dodges her questions and tries to avoid her by getting up to cook some food for her. But she follows him persistently.
She asks if “she” (Ai Sha) is the one who upset him like this. But Ye Xuan just says that Ai Sha did nothing wrong. He was the one who was wrong. He shouldn’t have waited so long to tell her he liked her, and confessed to her when all she needed was a friend. Xiao An says there’s nothing wrong with liking someone. She’s liked Ye Xuan for a long time. Is she in the wrong?
Instead of responding, Ye Xuan asks if she’ll help him cancel his contract with Chic. He has no interest in filming videos or social media. The only reason he signed with Chic was because of Ai Sha. Without Ai Sha, there’s no reason he should continue his contract with Chic.
Xiao An suddenly starts ranting that everyone seems to only care about Ai Sha. She’s worked so hard, yet no one seems to see her. They only see Ai Sha. “What about me?!” she demands.
“Look at me,” she says as she forces Ye Xuan to turn toward her. “I want to hear you say I can’t compare with her,” she says.
He doesn’t say anything. She grabs his face and forces him to kiss her.
He pushes her away and she falls to the ground, crying. He tries to apologize and help her to her feet, but she just grabs his face and kisses him again. He resists at first, but then kisses her back.
Ai Sha and Fei Yang have dinner with VP Lin, who is happy to work with them. He toasts to a successful partnership, and tries to get Fei Yang to drink with him and Ai Sha. But Ai Sha makes an excuse for Fei Yang, saying that he has to drive later. VP Lin insists they try the restaurant’s trademark soup. Fei Yang takes a sip before VP Lin explains that the soup has a bit of alcohol in it, and because he knows the chef, the chef usually puts in a little bit of extra rice wine. But Fei Yang appears to be extremely allergic to alcohol, because even the slightest sip of the soup has him flushing red and sends the room spinning around him.
He excuses himself, saying he’s busy, and takes off running. Worried, Ai Sha politely arranges to reschedule dinner with VP Lin, and hurries after him. She finally catches him at a park, and tries to take him to the hospital, but he insists on going home, where he has medicine. After a lot of struggle, she manages to get him home. But before she can get him to take his medicine, he vomits all over her.
Ai Sha showers and changes into Fei Yang’s clothes while he passes out on his bed. She’s furious, but he’s asleep. She tries to roll him so she can at least help him take his jacket off, but he ends up rolling over and trapping her in his arms. Eventually, he falls asleep enough for her to escape. She gets up and thinks about leaving, but then decides to lie back down next to him. He rolls again, almost spooning her. She frowns, but then relaxes and falls asleep.
Xiao An quietly gets up and gets dressed in the middle of the night while Ye Xuan continues to sleep, shirtless, on his couch. She gently touches his face, then takes his shirt and puts it on with a smile before leaving.
When Fei Yang wakes up the next morning, he turns over and, seeing Ai Sha’s sleeping face, thinks he’s still dreaming. Until he pokes her forehead and her eyes snap open to stare at him.
He’s startled up and asks why she’s there and wearing his clothes. Is it possible that they…? She smiles at him and then says, “No.”
He asks her if nothing really happened last night. She responds that plenty happened last night, then goes on to explain how she had to chase him down after he ran away, then had to drag him to his house. He finally remembers what happened after they got home and winces, apologizing. But she could’ve gone home after she put him to bed. Why did she stay?
He smirks. She doesn’t have an answer, and finally says that she’s hungry.
Fei Yang makes breakfast for her, which consists of a “chicken smoothie” (UGH) and two fried eggs. She rejects it in favor of her own powdered drink mix (product placement.)
Fei Yang gives her a ride home, but lingers at the door after she goes in. He says he wants to go into the office with her. She says okay and he continues to linger at the door until she explicitly invites him in. He immediately bounds in like a happy puppy, jumping over the furniture and swimming on the counter. It’s the first time she’s invited him into her house of her own volition.
He suddenly spots the shark charm that he gave her when they first met and grins. He calls Ai Sha out for keeping it as a stand-in for him. She glares at him and says that she didn’t intend to keep it. It just keeps coming back even when she tries to throw it away. It is a stand-in for something, but not him. It’s a stand-in for a certain necklace that a certain someone broke, and it’s a cheap replacement.
Fei Yang is shamed into hanging his head, but that doesn’t stop him from hurriedly building a shrine to himself on Ai Sha’s table while she starts heading out the door.
On their way into Chic, Fei Yang asks Ai Sha to keep his alcohol intolerance a secret. He doesn’t want other people finding out and exploiting his weakness. She asks why he isn’t worried about her knowing so much about him. He responds, “Because it’s you, so it’s okay.”
Ai Sha hesitates before they make through Chic’s glass doors, staring at the company logo. Fei Yang sees her hesitation and tells her to look at him. When she does, he says that he just wanted to see her look at him. She rolls her eyes at his shamelessness, but it has the intended effect of putting her at ease.
When Ai Sha and Fei Yang walk into the office, the Chic employees immediately rush to greet Ai Sha. They applaud happily when Fei Yang announces that she will be working with Chic in a consultant capacity and in charge of the plan to unite the two platforms. The only person who seems unhappy to see her, and who keeps her distance, is Xiao An.
Oooooh I really enjoyed this episode. There’s something so satisfying about seeing Xiao An’s downward spiral in parallel with Ai Sha’s upward progress in both her career ambitions and relationship with Fei Yang!
I don’t want to find joy in the second leads’ sorrow. Both Xiao An and Ye Xuan are pitiable. But watching Xiao An dig herself into a deeper hole is kind of like watching a car wreck in slow motion. You just can’t look away. Is it bad that I started laughing when she forced Ye Xuan to kiss her and he started kissing her back? The whole situation was so sad that it was ridiculous and almost funny.
She really took Ai Sha’s words to heart, but in all the wrong ways. She went for what she wanted with Ye Xuan, but in reality he was just using her and didn’t actually care for her. Is that what she wanted? I guess she was also using him, too.
While Xiao An may have learned from Ai Sha how to strike fear in her colleagues’ hearts, she did not learn how to take responsibility for her own actions. Ai Sha may have been feared, but she was also respected. Xiao An has only learned how to command fear, not respect.
I don’t even have that much to say about Fei Yang and Ai Sha because… well, they just cute.
Fei Yang may be boyish and immature at times, but he can also be surprisingly perceptive and thoughtful, such as when he offered her his shoulder at the park after she rejected Ye Xuan. He didn’t try to force her to explain herself or do anything other than show her that he cared and give her support and (literally) something to lean on.
The Drama Llama 