Cuteness overload this episode as Ai Sha and Fei Yang get to experience some happiness together, despite the chaos around them. Meanwhile, there are major power shifts happening at Chic and Golden Man, and Xiao An shows more of her true colors.
Recap
Without Mama Fang to keep the peace at home, Nan Cheng and Dong Xue butt heads. Each claims the other is more spoiled. Each claims that their mother worrying over the other is what caused her to fall ill.
Nan Cheng starts getting physical with Dong Xue, who shoves him back. Dong Xue looks down on Nan Cheng and his constant money-grubbing ways. “Do you need money? Then take it!” he exclaims as he pulls out a wad of cash from his pocket.
Nan Cheng asks how he has so much cash when he’s supposed to be studying for college entrance exams. Dong Xue tells him to just take the money, shut up, and leave him alone. He stomps upstairs. Nan Cheng throws the cash after him, saying he doesn’t need it.
Xiao An tells Jing Jing that she’s in contact with some clients who want to work with Chic and meet with her. Their advertising budget is enough to keep Chic afloat for a year. Jing Jing finds it odd that the clients went through Xiao An instead of directly contacting her, but is too tempted by the big business to think much more of it. Xiao An smirks after she’s gone.
Nan Cheng and Ai Sha run into each other on the sidewalk outside the hospital. Nan Cheng tries to walk away without saying much more than “it’s your turn,” but Ai Sha insists on having a conversation. She asks Nan Cheng if he really plans on borrowing more money. She offers to help. But he waves off her offer and keeps walking.
Jing Jing rushes to the client meeting Xiao An set up for her. But when she enters the private dining room, it’s full of women. They’re all wives of directors that Jing Jing does business with. But the real clincher is a woman sitting in the back, who introduces herself as Director Xiao’s wife. He asked her for a divorce, and she knows Jing Jing is to blame. Jing Jing claims she had no idea he was married, but the women don’t believe her and beat her.
The next morning, Xiao An struts around the office handing out a new marketing plan, telling everyone to read it and be prepared to meet in an hour. Vicky comments that it looks exactly like Ai Sha’s plan, and says that she can’t call it her own plan just because the wording has been switched around a bit. Xiao An lashes out at Vicky and Yuki comes to her defense.
But they’re interrupted when Jing Jing strides into the office, furious at Xiao An, and slaps her. She angrily yells that she tried to give her another chance, yet she just turned around and did the same thing to her. It’s clear what kind of person she is.
Xiao An slaps Jing Jing, saying she’s returning the slap because Jing Jing had no right to hit her. Jing Jing throws off Ni Mo and Xi Jun, who were trying to hold her back, and attacks Xiao An, trying to pull her hair while the two men resume their efforts to separate them.
Jing Jing manages to shove Xiao An away onto a desk, then laughs as she asks Xiao An if she knows why Fei Yang never promoted her to be the real director. It’s because he knows that Xiao An will never be able to take Ai Sha’s place. She can change the way she looks, but she can’t change the fact that she’s a fake imitation (specifically referring to fake versions of brand name items). No matter how hard she tries, she will never be Ai Sha’s match.
Xiao An grabs a metal cup, about to hit Jing Jing with it, but Steven stops her. Behind him is Qi Zhen Kai. Zhen Kai looks around and says that Chic and Golden Man employees certain have a lot of… energy. Everyone looks down awkwardly. Zhen Kai shakes his head in disappointment.
Zhen Kai looks over the personnel files and asks Steven why there is no official marketing director. Steven starts to explain that the acting director has had some missteps. Zhen Kai tells him to dismiss her if she’s not up to the job. Time is money, and they can’t afford to waste time on people who can’t do their jobs right. As for everyone else, the high performers should get a 20% salary increase and be encouraged to re-sign contracts. Poor performers can be let go.
Zhen Kai encourages Steven to aggressively expand the business. He wants Chic and Golden Man to break into the international market. If they can do that by next year, he’ll give Steven 5% in company stock. Steven is surprised. He starts to say something, but Zhen Kai stops him, saying that as long he performs, he will be rewarded.
After Zhen Kai leaves, Steven informs the company that he is now in charge of day-to-day operations and relays what Zhen Kai said about raises for everyone. He also informs Xiao An that she’s dismissed. He doesn’t take any questions, and leaves. Jing Jing hurries after him.
She bombards Steven with questions he doesn’t answer. Finally, when Jing Jing asks if he was the one who secretly helped Zhen Kai buy Golden Man, he responds that Fei Yang suddenly decided to — and he stops. Jing Jing presses him to continue, but instead he tries to change the subject, asking if her face hurts.
He tries to touch her face, but she pushes his arm away, refusing to let him avoid her question. He swallows hard, then says, “Looks like you made the wrong decision.”
They both have tears in their eyes. Jing Jing looks away and says that at least she didn’t betray anyone. She reminds Steven that he’s Fei Yang’s best friend. She hopes he doesn’t end up like her, having to pay for the choices he’s made.
Ai Sha meets with a college classmate, Ya Ting, who thinks she has a great plan for Ocean’s Heart, but is reluctant to take the risk and have her company join Ai Sha’s fledgling platform. Ai Sha knows why: if she joins with Ai Sha, then EC Group will drop all of her company’s products from their platforms. She can’t afford to do that.
She asks Ai Sha why she insists on trying to directly compete with EC Group. There are plenty of other directions she could go. Ai Sha reminds her of something one of the professors once said: underestimating an opponent is dangerous, but underestimating yourself is self-destructive. Ai Sha is confident she can find EC’s weakness.
Ya Ting tells Ai Sha she’s still the same as she was in college. The more someone antagonizes her, the more she fights back. Even if she knows it’s a losing battle, she won’t go down without a fight. Ya Ting says she really wants to help Ai Sha, but she also has to think about the livelihoods of her employees. She can’t afford to take a risk and lose.
Ai Sha says she understands, but also reminds Ya Ting of something that May said when Ya Ting’s company was just starting out. May had said that Ya Ting’s company had a great product, but if they didn’t present it with the right packaging, they would quickly be overtaken by other products. The women’s consumer market is the fastest changing and hardest to predict. EC Group may have the highest traffic right now, but they don’t have a single person who understands women.
Ai Sha takes her leave and tries calling Fei Yang when she goes outside. To her surprise, he’s already there, walking up to her, having found her location on the Ocean’s Heart app. Ai Sha is frustrated on his behalf that Zhen Kai’s cronies are still tailing him, but Fei Yang tells her to not engage. They’ll leave once they realize that he has nothing of interest for them.
They stroll along, hand-in-hand, and turn around just to mess with their tails. Then, Fei Yang urges Ai Sha to run, and they suddenly start running, forcing their shadowers to keep up.
They break for lunch in a park. Fei Yang smiles as he looks behind them to see their followers also eating lunch. Ai Sha comments that he seems to be in a good mood. He tells her that there’s some food on the corner of her mouth. She moves to wipe it, but he stops her, and leans in to kiss it off instead. She looks around, embarrassed at the public display of affection.
Fei Yang tells her that he’s decided to not be afraid anymore, for her, for his mother, for his father. Growing up, the person he idolized the most was his brother. He thought he could do no wrong. He never thought that his brother had hated him all these years. It’s hard, to make an opponent out of someone he once loved, but he knows that he has to if he doesn’t want to lose the person who loves him.
He promises her that he won’t let his brother hurt her anymore. From now on, she should let him protect her. She says that she believes he can do it. They smile at each other for a long moment.
Ai Sha puts down her lunch and pulls him in for a kiss. The two men tailing them gape and look at each other.
When Ai Sha pulls away, she acts like nothing happened. Fei Yang smiles stupidly. (Awwww they are so cute!)
Everyone watches as Xiao An packs her things and gets ready to leave. Yuki tries to convince her to apologize to Jing Jing so that she can have her job back, but Xiao An says she has nothing to apologize for.
Outside the office building, she runs into Ye Xuan. He’s back at the office to deliver snacks to the Chic-Golden Man employees, but has a bag made just for her. She brushes past him without saying anything. He walks with her, asking what happened. She tells him she was dismissed. He asks what she’ll do next, but instead of answering, she asks if he actually cares or if he’s just trying to be sympathetic.
She says that if she were Ai Sha, she wouldn’t be getting dismissed. Instead, she would be getting a raise in an attempt to keep her on for longer. Ye Xuan tells her she shouldn’t compare herself to Ai Sha for everything. They’re not the same.
“How are we not the same?” Xian An demands. But then she acknowledges that they aren’t the same. In his heart, she can never replace Ai Sha. But she’s realized that she doesn’t want to be Ai Sha’s replacement. If she can’t replace Ai Sha, then she’s determined to defeat her.
She walks away. Ye Xuan watches her for a moment, then turns and heads in the opposite direction. After a few steps, Xiao An turns, as if hoping he would be following, or still watching, but all she sees is his retreating back.
Fei Yang and Ai Sha go to her mother’s house to find it a mess. Half-eaten, half-open food is everywhere and the kitchen sink is overflowing with dirty dishes. Fei Yang helps Ai Sha tidy up the house. It’s adorably domestic of them.
Ai Sha knocks on Dong Xue’s door, telling him to bring his dirty laundry downstairs. He refuses to respond to her. Fei Yang overhears and steps in, warning Dong Xue that if he doesn’t listen to Ai Sha, Fei Yang will make his WiFi disappear. To Ai Sha’s surprise, it works. Fei Yang smirks and says, “Brother-in-law.” She raises an eyebrow in response, but smiles.
By the time Dong Xue goes downstairs, Ai Sha and Fei Yang have made dinner and are trying one of her dishes in the kitchen. They feed each other, acting cute, while Dong Xue watches them, slightly disgusted. He finally clears his throat to make his presence known, and they jump apart.
At dinner, Dong Xue only picks at his food. When asked, he says that their mom always puts sugar in her fried eggs, but Ai Sha didn’t. Ai Sha updates him on their mother’s condition, saying she should be out of the hospital in two weeks. For now, he should eat.
Fei Yang offers to bring Dong Xue with them to the hospital to visit Mama Fang, but Dong Xue shakes his head, voice breaking as he says that he’ll just make her disappointed. She’s been so worried about him getting into college, how can he tell her that he hasn’t even been preparing?
Ai Sha tries to make him feel better, saying that she and Fei Yang are starting their own company, and Dong Xue can be in charge of IT. Then Dong Xue can show their mother that he can still accomplish things without needing to go to college. This seems like news to Fei Yang, but Ai Sha gives him a look, and Fei Yang nods and smiles when Dong Xue looks at him.
Ai Sha and Fei Yang walk home at night, holding hands. They habitually look behind for their tails, but they’re nowhere in sight and seem to have given up. Fei Yang says that he doesn’t remember agreeing to start a company with Ai Sha. Ai Sha primly responds that other than her, who else would be a suitable business partner?
He agrees that there is no one else, but before starting their company, they should negotiate the terms. Things like ownership rights, stock, roles… he doesn’t want to get the short end of the stick. She seems to take it a little too seriously, and he has to say that he’s joking. Why is she being so serious?
She responds that she has to be serious. After all, she promised that she would help him take back everything that belongs to him. They haven’t even been able to take the first step yet with their company, but Ai Sha is ready to cling onto any opportunity they get, no matter how small.
Ai Sha says that they should hurry up and get back home. They still have work to do on Ocean’s Heart. If everything goes according to plan, they’ll be done by morning. Fei Yang seems taken aback at the thought of working this hard, but they’re interrupted by a phone call from Ya Ting.
Instead of going home, Xiao An is outside EC Group’s corporate headquarters, waiting for a chance to talk to Qi Zhen Kai. She manages to catch him on his way out, yelling around his bodyguard/assistant that she refuses to leave Chic like this. Zhen Kai gives her a minute to pitch her worth to him. She says that she knows how Ai Sha made Chic the top women’s e-commerce platform. Whatever Ai Sha can do, she can do. This piques Zhen Kai’s interest.
“So you understand Ai Sha?” he asks. Xiao An nods. He looks at her thoughtfully, then smiles.
Ai Sha and Fei Yang meet with Ya Ting, who says that she revisited Ai Sha’s proposal and really liked it, but she still has concerns about declaring war against EC Group. Ya Ting suddenly brings up some memories from college. Ai Sha helped Ya Ting move in the middle of the night after her ex-boyfriend harassed her. Later, she lent Ya Ting some money in an emergency, no questions asked. Ya Ting says that if she doesn’t help Ai Sha now, how would she be any different than May?
She shows Ai Sha her company’s latest product. They expect it to perform very well on the market. If Ai Sha can provide her with a marketing plan in three days’ time that is superior to the one she currently has, she’ll partner with Ocean’s Heart exclusively for the product’s launch. There’s also an upcoming international e-commerce platform summit next week. Ya Ting can get them an invitation. They’ll have to make sure they have a good showing: not only will they be promoting their own platform, but they’ll also be representing her company.
Ai Sha and Fei Yang work hard all night, Fei Yang with updates to the app while Ai Sha brainstorms marketing plans for Ya Ting’s product. They’re adorably collaborative and supportive. At one point, Ai Sha gets up and steps on something: it’s the shark charm Fei Yang gave her, stubbornly refusing to be thrown away.
She smiles at it, and at Fei Yang, who has fallen asleep on the couch. She gently lays a blanket over him, then squeezes in next to him.
The morning of the summit, Ai Sha helps Fei Yang get dressed, while killing it in her own beautiful white gown. She acknowledges that this is the first time Fei Yang is making a public appearance since EC Group’s acquisition of Golden Man and Chic, and likely the first time he’ll have to face one of his brother’s people, if not his brother himself. If he’s not ready, she can go by herself. But he says that he won’t let her fight this battle herself. They will do it together.
Ai Sha and Fei Yang walk into the Grand Hotel Taipei together, looking stunning as they head up the sweeping, red-carpeted staircase. A swarm of reporters descend on them at the top, asking why they are appearing together. Ai Sha gives Fei Yang’s arm a reassuring squeeze, and he confidently tells the reporters that he and Ai Sha are now business partner. They’ve decided to revamp Ocean’s Heart as… and he freezes.
Across the hall, Qi Zhen Kai arrives with his own entourage of henchmen. Tang Xiao An, wearing a red gown, is on his arm, head held high.
The reporters immediately abandon Fei Yang in favor of his brother, who is making a rare public appearance. Zhen Kai says that he’s only here to introduce Chic and Golden Man’s new marketing director, Tang Xiao An. He and Fei Yang stare each other down. He smiles smugly while Fei Yang looks serious.
Xiao An answers the reporters questions while looking at Ai Sha with a smug smile of her own. But Ai Sha doesn’t look concerned. Her smile at Xiao An seems genuine.
Fei Yang goes to find his brother, who comments that it looks like he’s changed his mind about disappearing. Isn’t he afraid of never being able to see his mother again? Fei Yang smiles wryly and says he is afraid. He’s very afraid. But.
He tells Zhen Kai about what it was like to grow up alone in America without family around. He would always ask himself why he was there, why his last name wasn’t Qi. Then he realized that it was because his very existence could harm EC Group, could trigger Zhen Kai’s mother, would make his mother feel guilty. So he listened to his mother and tried not to cause trouble and flew under the radar for thirty years.
Fei Yang admits to Zhen Kai that their summers together in America were the happiest moments of his life. Zhen Kai taught him how to play ball, how to drive, how to face life’s challenges. He bought him the suit he wore to his graduation. Fei Yang always felt like he had the best older brother in the world. So he can’t even fathom how his brother, his hero, could hate him, or possibly even fear him.
Zhen Kai had refused to look at Fei Yang while he spoke, and even looked a little uncomfortable, but at the mention of “fear,” he scoffs. Him, fearing Fei Yang? He stands up, done with the conversation. He tells Fei Yang that if he wants to see his mother safe, he’ll disappear immediately.
Zhen Kai starts to leave, but Fei Yang stops him by saying, “Do you remember telling me that when a person sees what they fear, they will often try to avoid it? They think it will make the fear seem farther away, and that the fear will disappear. But that’s just hiding the fear. The best way to overcome your fear is to face it and defeat it.”
Zhen Kai turns to face Fei Yang. “You want me to disappear? Why?” Fei Yang asks. “Because you’re afraid I’ll take everything away from you. That’s why you’re threatening me with my mother’s safety. You’ve succeeded. You’ve made me feel fear. And you’ve also made me realize how much you fear me.”
Zhen Kai stares at him for a long moment, then smirks and says that he’s wrong. He’s not afraid of Fei Yang. He just doesn’t want Fei Yang’s dirty blood polluting the Qi family’s lineage. “You and your mother are just two dirty rats who should stay in your dirty gutter and never see the light of day. That’s my goal,” he says.
Fei Yang takes a deep breath, then says that if Zhen Kai really doesn’t fear him, he should accept his challenge and face him on fair and even ground.
Zhen Kai condescendingly straightens Fei Yang’s tie and pats his shoulders, saying he was trying to give him some leeway. But if he really wants to play with fire, then Zhen Kai is more than happy to accommodate him until the end.
Fei Yang tells Zhen Kai this is the last time he’ll see him. From now on, he won’t bother him again. With that, he leaves, having had the last word. Zhen Kai glares after him with a dark look.
Meanwhile, Ai Sha and Xiao An are in a joint interview. Ai Sha smiles real smiles at Xiao An, who gives her only flinty smiles back. Ai Sha lets Xiao An go first in sitting down and also in answering questions. Xiao An makes some pointed jabs at Ai Sha in her answer, saying that Chic had previously alienated male customers and made enemies out of smaller e-commerce platforms.
Ai Sha notices but takes it all in stride, acknowledging that she may have been a bit… intense as Chic’s marketing director. But if Chic represents who she was before she turned thirty, then Ocean’s Heart represents who she is now that she has turned thirty. Ocean’s Heart represents reconciliation, compromise, how to love someone.
Xiao An is asked whether she views a startup like Ocean’s Heart as competition. She responds that Chic and Golden Man are established top platforms. She’s certain that Qi Zhen Kai wouldn’t view a startup like Ocean’s Heart as competition, and neither does she.
Ai Sha compliments Xiao An on her well-said answer, smiling. Xiao An doesn’t look at her, and instead continues to look smugly unimpressed. But Ai Sha says that she disagrees with Xiao An’s analysis. The world of 5G is a world of endless possibilities. No one can permanently stay at the top. She and Fei Yang are confident that they will again represent the top e-commerce platform. She turns to look at Xiao An, who finally makes eye contact. Ai Sha smiles, and then leaves with the last word.
She draws all the reporters with her as she walks. Once she finishes answering their last few questions, she meets up with Fei Yang. They smile at each other, then turn to look at Xiao An, who has regained the attention of the cameras.
Fei Yang remarks that it’s hard to believe the person who wants to displace her the most is also the person who was closest to her. But Ai Sha doesn’t seem surprised. She says that she was the one who taught Xiao An to go for what she wanted. It’s just that their methods are different.
Xiao An watches as Fei Yang and Ai Sha walk away, holding hands. She frowns and looks jealous.
Zhen Kai praises Xiao An on her performance at the summit, then drops her off at home. But it’s not actually where she lives. Once his car leaves, she walks home through the closed market, limping in her heels and holding onto the skirt of her gown so it doesn’t drag in the dirty pools of water and uneven ground beneath her.
She gets a text from Leaves, Ye Xuan’s restaurant, announcing its closure. The message reminds its recipients to not be sad when facing change. Change simply marks a new beginning. Xiao An repeats that phrase as she stares at herself in a dirty mirror.
Ai Sha is also thinking about change and writing about change as part of her marketing pitch for Ya Ting’s new product. Fei Yang brings her a refilled mug and looks over her shoulder. He laments that there’s so much thought put into women’s products — where are their products for men? Ai Sha is ready with an answer and pulls out some products to show him. (Just an opportunity for more product placement?)
She explains that the same product can be marketed toward multiple audiences. It all just depends on the pitch. The product she has is a shampoo that has all these benefits, one of which is preventing hair loss, so they banter about that for a bit. Fei Yang says that Ai Sha is older than him, so she’ll probably lose hair first. She takes offense to that, since she’s only two years older than him. Is he trying to fight her? She warns him that as a shark, not only are her teeth sharp, but her bite is also strong.
He dares her to bite him. She stares at him, then she does. He tries to reciprocate and starts chasing her around. They playfight with each other and it’s so cute!
This was a juicy episode and full of good feels as Fei Yang finally decides to step up and partner with Ai Sha. I love how balanced their partnership and relationship is. They both want to help and protect each other, and they make such a strong and supportive team! Also they are just so cute together!
I love that Ai Sha really takes the lead in terms of managing the business and the clients. She’s the one who gets that first connection to Ya Ting, and during their meeting, it’s Ai Sha and Ya Ting doing all the talking and negotiating. Fei Yang just kind of sits there, like a pretty side prop.
While I hoped Steven’s newfound power at Chic-Golden Man would have help get Tang Xiao An out of the way for good, it looks like it’s not meant to be. I have to credit Xiao An for being resourceful, even though her methods are ugly. On the bright side, the fact that Xiao An has aligned herself with Qi Zhen Kai has made me feel less bad about disliking her! They both love resorting to unscrupulous methods. Like attracts like, I suppose?
I was pretty proud that Fei Yang managed to keep his calm when Zhen Kai so viciously insulted him and his mother by talking about their “dirty blood” and how they are “dirty rats.” I think that shows how much he has matured. The old Fei Yang would have fought with his fists instead of his words.
The Drama Llama 