Relationships are everywhere this episode, but out of the numerous possibilities, there is only one relationship that can be successful!
Recap
Fei Yang reintroduces Ai Sha to the Chic and Golden Man teams. She and Xiao An make eye contact and smile and nod at each other.
Ai Sha immediately gets to work distributing tasks to employees for an upcoming event. Jing Jing is in charge of talking to clients, but she can’t do it alone. Xiao An starts to raise her hand, but Steven speaks up first. Xiao An looks disappointed and is left without a real task.
Ai Sha starts to talk about Ye Xuan’s role, but Xiao An quickly interrupts and says that Ye Xuan is ending his collaboration with Chic. Ai Sha looks disappointed. Fei Yang convenes the meeting so as not to put her in an awkward situation.
Jing Jing asks Steven why he’s helping her. He guesses that she doesn’t like Xiao An, and says that what she doesn’t like, he won’t like either. She warns him that she’s greedy and men who get close to her always get scared of her and leave her. He shouldn’t treat her too well.
But Steven says that he’s not the one who’s scared: she is. She once said that they were the same person. He knows what she wants and what she’s scared of, because he wants and is scared of the same things. He’s found that when he’s with her, he doesn’t have to pretend.
Ai Sha congratulates Xiao An on her role as an acting director and says she’s heard from Fei Yang that she’s doing well. She asks Xiao An why Ye Xuan left. Xiao An tells her that Ye Xuan joined with Chic because of her, and also left because of her. Ai Sha frowns.
Zhen Kai finds out from one of his corporate lawyers that the board of directors is calling an emergency meeting to replace the chairman and trying to use that as an opportunity to oust Zhen Kai as the acting chairman. He tries to figure out if there’s a way he can become the official chairman without going through the board of directors, but there isn’t. He doesn’t have his father’s vocal support, and even if there was a will, there’s no guarantee its contents will help Zhen Kai.
Xiao An goes to Ye Xuan’s restaurant, but it’s closed and locked. Ye Xuan is at Ai Sha’s mother’s house, helping her with some groceries.
She says that he’ll make a great husband one day and asks why he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Then she tries to get him to do some snooping on Ai Sha and Fei Yang’s relationship. She knows Ai Sha — Ai Sha wouldn’t work with Fei Yang unless she liked him. Ye Xuan tries to tell her that he likes Ai Sha, but she’s not listening, because she’s suddenly breathing hard. She tries to wave off his concern, but then faints.
Ai Sha rushes back when she hears about her mother. Ye Xuan tells her that her mother was experiencing complications from high blood pressure, but is resting now in her room. Ai Sha sits with her sleeping mother for a bit and seems to want to touch her face, but ends up holding back, while also holding back her tears.
In the kitchen, she and Ye Xuan are awkward around each other. She thanks him for his help, then later apologizes to him before he leaves, unable to find any other words to say. He tells her to stop apologizing and to stop thanking him. He’s realized that he’s not so selfless that he’s willing to do so much for her without wanting anything in return. He thought he would be happy secretly liking her, but he wants more. He lied to her, but he also lied to himself about it. Men and women can be friends, but he can’t do that. They were never just friends to him.
Ye Xuan narrates that a man and woman’s relationship will always have to take a “next step”. Will they become family or lovers? The key factor is expectation. Expectations can be happy, but they can also be dangerous. If a man and woman’s expectations are the same, then they will be happy. Even if they’re both afraid, they can face their uncertainty together.
But if they have different expectations, then their relationship becomes a competition. A competition to see who will fall and break first.
As he narrates, we see a montage of two relationships in parallel. Steven and Jing Jing each prepare for a dinner date with the other. But on her way to meet Steven, Jing Jing gets a call from President Xiao, one of her clients. She tries to reschedule, but he insists she meet him at a restaurant in her office building. While Steven waits outside with a single rose in his hand, Jing Jing meets with her client — only to find him getting down on one knee and proposing. Steven is still waiting outside when Jing Jing helps support a drunk President Xiao to a waiting cab at the curb. He spots the ring on her finger. They make eye contact, and she looks sad, like she wants to say something, but she gets into the cab without a word, and can’t help but look back at him with tearful regret.
Xiao An waits outside Ye Xuan’s restaurant until it’s dark out. He spots her, sitting outside his door, when he gets back. She’s looking off into the distance, lost in thought. By the time she notices Ye Xuan and stands up, he’s already turned and left.
Fei Yang apparently has a standing date with Xuan Xuan, the girl who snatched the shark necklace away from him. But Xuan Xuan doesn’t show. Instead, a crying boy sits next to Fei Yang, holding the shark necklace in his hand. He’s sad because Xuan Xuan transferred schools. He has the shark necklace because he won it in a bet against Xuan Xuan, but she started ignoring him after he took it from her.
Fei Yang offers to give the boy some relationship advice in exchange for the necklace. The advice he gives ends up being the same advice that Xuan Xuan once gave him. He also warns the boy that women are very good at holding grudges.
Ai Sha returns home to find Fei Yang’s shrine to himself. It makes her smile, and she takes a picture. She gets a notification to update her Ocean’s Heart app, so she does. (And nothing happens? I guess it’ll be significant later…)
Chic and Golden Man hold the first in a series of events meant to bring together users of the two platforms. It’s essentially an organized group date at a capybara farm.
Vicky has been trying to “diet” aka starve herself and is constantly distracted. Xiao An enviously watches Ai Sha take charge. Jing Jing shows up late, having had a late night, and makes awkward eye contact with Steven. Fei Yang also shows up late, with Dong Xue in tow.
Ai Sha asks why Dong Xue is there. He mutters something. She tells him to speak up, and he yells, “Brother-in-law brought me!” Ai Sha is immediately appalled that Fei Yang would make Dong Xue call him “brother-in-law.” Meanwhile, the Chic and Golden Man employees titter and exchange knowing looks.
Ai Sha doesn’t have time to yell at Fei Yang further because a bus arrives with the event participants.
Marguerite is in charge of hosting a series of games and other couple’s events meant to help the participants get to know one another and hopefully leave with a significant other. They get to feed llamas, deer, and capybaras, go paddle boating on a pond, and other things that make the whole escapade feel like one giant commercial for this capybara farm/petting zoo that I’m sure is a real place near Taipei.
Ai Sha is discussing something with Steven when Fei Yang suddenly bikes up with Dong Xue, silently hands her a small bundle of flowers — which she accepts with a confused smile — then bikes away.
One of the activities at the event is a love shrine where couples can pray to a capybara god for a long and happy relationship. Fei Yang looks at it thoughtfully.
Vicky continues to skip meals and starts feeling faint. She’s in charge of holding onto the money that they earned from selling products to participants. Yuki reminds her to keep it safe. She puts the cash in a pouch alongside a hard drive.
The next event is a set of couple’s games. One of the female participants faints. Marguerite convinces Ai Sha to take her place. The first game requires the couple to compete against other couples to see who can “lady and the tramp” a piece of taffy the fastest. Vicky and Ni Mo demonstrate, and end up falling onto the ground, lips pressed together.
Fei Yang gets jealous and pauses the game in order to bribe Ai Sha’s partner to drop out of the game and switch places with him. They win the taffy-eating contest and, because they’re both very competitive, get very into working together to win the games. Ai Sha finds herself laughing and enjoying herself with Fei Yang.
Fei Yang and Ai Sha win the grand prize, which is a romantic one-night stay in a two-person tent. Ai Sha doesn’t want to stay the night with him. He jokingly says that she has two choices: left side or right side? Each has its benefits when it comes to sleeping with him. Ai Sha says she’ll just sleep with Jing Jing, but he chivalrously says he’ll let her have the tent to herself and that he’ll see her in the morning.
Xiao An is in the same tent that Vicky and Yuki are using to film a product promo video with Marguerite. Xiao An and Vicky bicker over Vicky’s things scattered all over the bed. While Vicky and Yuki go into the bathroom to film the video, Xiao An spots the money pouch with the cash Vicky was supposed to hold onto. She looks around to make sure no one’s watching, then picks it up.
Ai Sha can’t sleep at night. After browsing some photos of her and Fei Yang during the couple’s game, she decides to go outside. Fei Yang also can’t sleep, having to share a bed with Ni Mo, who snores, and also goes outside. They see each other.
“Can’t sleep?” Fei Yang asks. Ai Sha says she doesn’t sleep well when she’s not at home. Fei Yang comments that she slept pretty well at his place the other night. “Is it because I’m not there with you?” he asks.
He makes her some hot chocolate over a camp stove as they sit under the stars. He stares at her and tells her that every day he spends with her makes him like her even more. Like right now, he feels like he already likes her a lot, but he knows that tomorrow he will like her even more.
He pulls out the shark necklace that he has finally managed to obtain, saying that it wasn’t easy for him to find this necklace, just like how it hasn’t been easy for him to prove to her that he really likes her. He helps her put the necklace on. Her watch chimes. She sighs and starts to make an excuse, but he interrupts her with a kiss.
“It’s because I’m already in your heart, right?” he asks, then kisses her again. This time she kisses him back.
Ai Sha has just exited her tent the next morning when Fei Yang runs in and drags her off to the lovers’ shrine. He tells her that if they pray there together, they’ll be together forever. She tries to leave, but he makes her stay. When he prays to capybara god, he introduces her as his girlfriend. She denies it at first, but he wins her over with his sincere prayer to the capybara god that even though she may be hard to deal with, he really likes her. He super likes her. No matter what hardships the future brings, he will always stay by Ai Sha’s side. He will continue liking her more and more each day, forever.
Fei Yang makes Ai Sha go next with her own prayer to the capybara god. At first, she refuses to refer to him as her boyfriend, but he reminds her that this is the capybara god, she should be respectful, so she reluctantly calls him her boyfriend and wishes that everything go smoothly for them. Her prayer is short and to the point, and she eagerly tries to run away to get breakfast, but he pulls her into a hug.
The company has just returned to the office when Fei Yang suddenly gets a call from his brother. He tells Ai Sha, “Don’t miss me too much,” then heads out.
Vicky can’t find the money pouch and is in a panic. To make matters worse, not only has she lost the cash, but she’s also lost a hard drive that contains a ton of corporate data on Chic and Golden Man customers as well as upcoming project plans. If those files leak, it’ll be a disaster.
While everyone else helps Vicky search, Xiao An just smirks and then gives Vicky extra work to do. She also reminds Vicky that if she doesn’t find the money and hard drive, she will have to take full responsibility. She shouldn’t drag the rest of the marketing team down with her. Jing Jing watches her with a suspicious frown.
Zhen Kai invites Fei Yang out to rant to him about the upcoming emergency board meeting. He wishes he had a will of their father’s or something to help establish his legitimacy at the company. He knows that the board members view him as someone who only got to where he is because of connections, not ability. He tells Fei Yang that he’s lucky: he can do whatever he wants and he does it well. He wishes their father had let Fei Yang return to Taiwan earlier and join EC. Then at least Zhen Kai would have an ally on the inside.
Fei Yang has an idea: he wants to give Chic and Golden Man to Zhen Kai. Zhen Kai doesn’t want to accept his brother’s help, but Fei Yang is insistent, and they reach a deal.
Afterward, Ni Mo calls Fei Yang to report about the missing money and hard drive. He also tells him that Ai Sha went off on her own to the capybara farm to take a look.
Fei Yang calls Ai Sha, asking why she left without him. She didn’t know when he would be back, and she feels personally responsible for the missing items because the marketing department is under her jurisdiction, even if she’s technically not their director anymore. She mentions that she appears to have gotten lost, then hangs up. Fei Yang pulls up her location on his phone and frowns.
Ai Sha ends up getting lost on an unpaved road where her car gets stuck in mud. She can’t get service on her phone, either.
While searching for service, she accidentally slips over the edge of a cliff. She catches herself on a tree root, but it’s a precarious situation.
Ahhh! This episode was so well-balanced. There were so many fun, adorable, happy moments between Fei Yang and Ai Sha and they finally had a consensual kiss and finally got together! But there was also plenty of drama to balance out the fun.
Other than Fei Yang and Ai Sha, there were also SO many other relationships — most of them unsuccessful — this episode.
Steven and Jing Jing’s failed date is probably the one that hurt the most. They were both scared but willing to take the risk and like each other… only for Jing Jing to fall victim to her own ambition, the “safer” option of getting engaged to a man she doesn’t really care about, so she doesn’t have to risk falling in love with a man she might actually care about and break her heart.
Xiao An… I don’t even have the words. She has really continued to spiral downward, which I suppose anyone could have seen coming because she was always so insecure, and it’s usually the most insecure people who become the most self-destructive.
I was totally ready for Zhen Kai to be a clear-cut elder brother villain, but now I’m not so sure. He seemed pretty determined to not accept Fei Yang’s offer at first — or is it reverse psychology? Is he so talented at manipulation that he could get Fei Yang to offer his help? But he never really took Golden Man seriously… maybe he truly wants Fei Yang to be happy? Is that too much to hope for?
The Drama Llama 