The stakes get higher as Qi Zhen Kai declares war on Ocean’s Heart and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Meanwhile, the employees of Chic and Golden Man are forced to pick sides.
Recap
Fei Yang and Ai Sha have to get used to living with someone else. Fei Yang doesn’t lock the door while showering and Ai Sha walks in on him naked. She immediately averts her eyes and starts throwing things at him, demanding to know why he didn’t lock the door. Fei Yang asks why she didn’t knock. It’s her house, why should she knock?
He takes a step forward but slips. Ai Sha dodges out of the way and Fei Yang hits the ground, hard.
Tang Xiao An is busy wielding her newfound power at Chic and Golden Man and tries to imitate Ai Sha as she orders everyone around while wearing a power suit. She’s more than happy to impose tough deadlines on the people she doesn’t like, such as Vicky and Jing Jing. Jing Jing mockingly congratulates Xiao An on her promotion to director. She’s interested in seeing how long she lasts. Steven notices Jing Jing’s bare ring finger. Vicky mutters that even at her worst, Ai Sha was never as pretentious as Xiao An is now.
Xiao An ignores the haters and strolls into Ai Sha’s former office, relishing the feel of finally sitting in Ai Sha’s chair.
Steven comes in, trying to establish that he’s in the one in charge. But Xiao An just smirks and says that she knows Qi Zhen Kai’s real goal: he wants to destroy Yi Fei Yang and Du Ai Sha. She tells Steven that even if he doesn’t like her, he has no choice but to work with her. She dismisses him, like she’s the one in charge.
The Chic and Golden Man employees receive a personal email from Fei Yang, who apologizes for his abrupt departure. He promises that he’ll explain it to them one day, and that he’s certain they will one day meet again. It’s signed, Fei Yang and Ai Sha.
Xi Jun looks conflicted after reading the email. Steven deletes it.
Fei Yang and Ai Sha wait at a restaurant for a business meeting. Fei Yang’s back and butt are in pain from his earlier fall. He tries to get Ai Sha to massage his butt, but then they get caught by Director Wu, whom they were waiting for.
Director Wu introduces Fei Yang and Ai Sha to President Hu, who heads up a bank that is one of the biggest investors in EC Group. He’s looked over their business plan and is willing to give them a loan. But the figure is high, so he needs to get a more complete picture of what they plan on doing with the money.
Ai Sha tells him that they plan on acquiring all the apps and platforms that Chic and Golden Man work with, then merge them with Ocean’s Heart.
President Hu relays their plan to Qi Zhen Kai, who smirks and praises Xiao An on her correct prediction that Ai Sha would do what she’s always done and go the acquisition route. He tells President Hu to go ahead and lend them the money. Steven is concerned that Ocean’s Heart could take away some of Chic and Golden Man’s traffic. But Qi Zhen Kai has his own plan. He tells President Hu to lend them as much money as they want. He plans on destroying them with one fell swoop, and take out Wu while he’s at it.
He tells Xiao An to reach out to reporters and leak Ocean’s Heart’s acquisition plans. Also, they need to find out what apps Ocean’s Heart plans on acquiring. EC should acquire the technology and hire their engineers, so that even if Ocean’s Heart tries to use the apps, EC can sue them for copyright infringement. (Which is exactly what Ai Sha did to My Way at the beginning of the show.) Once their acquisitions collapse, then President Hu and the bank can demand their money bank. Qi Zhen Kai is confident that they won’t be able to get out of this one.
Xiao An smirks, then gets to work contacting reporters. Steven delegates the work to compile a list of all apps that Chic and Golden Man collaborate with. Jing Jing notices.
Xi Jun hands Steven the reports he requested, and his letter of resignation, all with a smile. Steven demands to know why he’s suddenly quitting. Xi Jun maintains his smile all while saying that he must be dumb to resign now, right when they all got a raise and he still has loan payments and a wife to take care of. He might be dumb, but he would never betray a brother.
Xi Jun may not have known Fei Yang as long as Steven has, but he recognizes how much Fei Yang has helped him and he would never betray him. He grabs Steven by the collar and reminds him how much Fei Yang helped him back when he was a poor college kid in America. He gave him a place to stay, bought new shoes for him when his soles wore out, helped him with his student loans, bought him a plane ticket to Taiwan, helped him find a job. And Steven pays him back by deposing him and taking his place? “Are you even human?” Xi Jun asks.
He reminds Steven that God is fair. A bastard like Steven will get what he’s due one day. Xi Jun will be waiting to see what price he’ll have to pay. He leaves. Steven looks as shaken.
Jing Jing watches it all through the window of Steven’s office.
At night, she meets with Ai Sha in a bar and hands over some documents that Ai Sha requested. It’s the least she could do to help. Ai Sha asks her what she plans on doing now. Jing Jing tells her that Xi Jun quit, so the sales department is fully her responsibility now. She doesn’t have a fiance anymore, so she’ll just have to work and take it one step at a time now.
What about Xiao An? Ai Sha asks. Jing Jing smiles and says she’s not afraid of Xiao An. If she tries to cause trouble, Jing Jing will just leave and take all her clients with her. Maybe she’ll join Ocean’s Heart, and then Ai Sha will be her boss.
Jing Jing reminds Ai Sha that now is not the time to be soft-hearted. She may have started Chic, but now it’s been stolen away from her. She should stick to her plan. “We’re all supporting you,” Jing Jing says.
They cheers and drink one together.
Jing Jing lets Ai Sha out the back door. Ai Sha’s only gone a few steps when Jing Jing calls out, asking, “Ai Sha, are we still friends?”
“Of course. We always were,” Ai Sha responds.
Jing Jing closes the door, revealing Steven standing behind it. He’d heard everything.
Later, Fei Yang and Ai Sha are at home when he gets a call from Director Wu, saying that things are in motion and they should move forward according to plan. They call it a night.
Fei Yang tosses and turns on the couch, unable to get comfortable and unable to stop thinking about why he’s still on the couch if they’re officially in a relationship now. He finally decides to pick up his blanket and pillow and go to Ai Sha’s bedroom, but then he struggles for several moments trying to decide whether he should knock or just go in.
Ai Sha opens her bedroom door to find him standing there with his arm awkwardly raised. He makes an excuse about how his back has been bothering him from sleeping on the sofa and falling in the bathroom, all without actually asking anything. Ai Sha stares at him for a moment, as if waiting for him to ask a question. He continues to look pitiful and stretch awkwardly. She finally chuckles and tells him to come in, while she goes out to get some water.
Fei Yang launches himself giddily onto her bed and starts squirming around like a little puppy. He smells her pillow and blankets and wonders out loud, “Is this what heaven smells like?” Then he starts cackling. Ai Sha catches him acting like a child and he quickly tries to pretend that it’s just his usual bedtime routine.
She sits down to do her own nighttime routine while Fei Yang crawls under the covers. Ai Sha says that they should be prepared in case something goes wrong, and starts saying something about her mom getting out of the hospital, but then turns and sees that Fei Yang has already fallen asleep. She crawls into bed next to him and looks at his sleeping face while asking, “We’ll succeed, right?”
Fei Yang makes a slight affirmative sound in his sleep. Ai Sha puts his arm around her and then snuggles in close. He wraps his arms fully around her and they fall asleep.
Xiao An and Qi Zhen Kai meet for lunch with executives of an app that Ocean’s Heart is planning on acquiring as a thank you for helping out with Ocean’s Heart. One of the executives is slimy and puts his hand on Xiao An’s leg, which she quickly tries to brush off, looking uncomfortable. (Ha, he also played a slimy executive in Back to 1989.)
Another executive mentions he’s heard Ling Dun Technologies (Linden Tech?) has been looking for buyers for their Asia operations. EC Group and many other companies use their cloud software. He suggests that EC should acquire them. It would save them millions in software fees.
As Qi Zhen Kai, his assistant, and Xiao An leave, she spots her father with a seafood delivery. She quickly ducks her head and avoids eye contact. He notices and looks at her with resignation. While she waits for the elevators, she sneaks a glance at him, only to see him looking back, and she quickly turns away again. The restaurant manager admonishes her father for not using the back entrance, and Xiao An looks troubled, but quickly shakes her head when Qi Zhen Kai asks if anything’s the matter.
Afterward, Xiao An goes to the market to find her father. She watches as he closes up shop, but quickly ducks out of sight when Ye Xuan shows up at a neighboring stall.
The market landlord shows up, demanding that Xiao An’s father move to a different location in the back of the market. He refuses to move, so they forcefully start grabbing his things and throw him to the ground when he protests. Xiao An tries to intervene, but is largely ineffective. Ye Xuan spots the commotion and steps in.
Xiao An is concerned about her father, but he shakes her off with a raised voice. She tries to apologize for earlier in the restaurant. He says that he understands. She’s a businesswoman now and doesn’t want to be associated with a fishmonger like him. He sighs and starts cleaning up, hobbling as he favors his back. Xiao An watches him with guilt and sadness.
Xiao An treats Ye Xuan’s wrist, which was injured when he intervened. He comments that she seems different from before. She tries to laugh it off, saying that as a director, she has to look and dress in a way that fits her new status. But that’s not what Ye Xuan means. He thinks her heart has changed. She’s becoming more and more like Ai Sha, but she isn’t Ai Sha. Ye Xuan doesn’t understand why she’s trying to force herself to be like Ai Sha.
But Xiao An says that this is what she’s always wanted. Everyone has to notice and pay attention to her. No one can overlook her anymore.
“But are you happy?” Ye Xuan asks. Xiao An doesn’t respond.
Ye Xuan tells Xiao An that she used to be the most considerate and brave girl he knew. He was even envious of how brave she was when it came to showing her love. She was the kindest and best version of herself then. He never understood why she couldn’t see herself. Now, he often finds himself thinking about her and worrying if she’s doing well or if she’s happy, or if she’s working so hard she forgets to eat.
Xiao An looks sad, but then steels herself and tells him that if she’s no longer the Tang Xiao An he knew, he should either get to know who she is now, or just forget about her. She leaves without another word. Ye Xuan looks sad.
The next day, Qi Zhen Kai tells Steven to keep an ear out for news on Ling Dun Technology. Qi Zhen Kai is intent on acquiring them no matter what the cost. They’re waiting for the elevator when they overhear someone talking loudly on their cell phone in the lobby. It’s Du Nan Cheng. Qi Zhen Kai shakes his head, but Steven recognizes him as Ai Sha’s brother. That gets Qi Zhen Kai’s attention.
Qi Zhen Kai invites Nan Cheng into his office. Nan Cheng tries to pitch him a product, but Qi Zhen Kai sees right through him, recognizing him for the fraud he is. Nan Cheng drops to his knees in apology, but begs for a chance to sell his product, starting to tell a pity story about how his mother is in the hospital and he needs to pay her medical bills. Qi Zhen Kai says he’ll buy all of Nan Cheng’s products under one condition: he has to make a handle of scotch whiskey disappear. Nan Cheng stares at the bottle, then slowly picks it up and smashes it down with a yell.
Nan Cheng returns home with a bandaged forehead, bloodstained clothes, and a check from Qi Zhen Kai. He shows off the number of zeroes on the check to Dong Xue and brags that they will never have to worry about money again. Dong Xue frowns upon seeing that it was Qi Zhen Kai who wrote the check. Nan Cheng seems mildly concussed, but waves off Dong Xue’s concern. Dong Xue fetches the family’s first-aid kit. They open it to find a note from their mother full of words of encouragement. Nan Cheng half-laughs, half-cries as he reads it.
Ai Sha and Fei Yang bring her mother home from the hospital. Her mother is alarmed to hear that Nan Cheng was the one who paid her hospital bills. Where did he get that much money from? Ai Sha says that he seemed to have found a rich client. Her mother is concerned about where this mysterious rich client came from and why he would pay Nan Cheng so much money upfront.
While Ai Sha unpacks her mother’s things, her mother suddenly gets sentimental and says, “You’re the best daughter. Thank you.”
Ai Sha hugs her and says, “Thank you for giving me your time.”
Fei Yang watches tenderly as mother and daughter embrace and cry.
He goes upstairs to look for Dong Xue and tell him that his mother is home. But Dong Xue isn’t in his room. Fei Yang and Ai Sha glance around Dong Xue’s room, then Fei Yang gets a call from Director Wu. The money has been transferred. They’re ready for the next step.
On his way out of the room, Fei Yang accidentally bumps into Dong Xue’s desk, turning on his monitor. They don’t notice that Dong Xue has a profile of Qi Zhen Kai pulled up.
Ai Sha and Fei Yang split up, each fully aware that they have a tail. Ai Sha manages to lose her guy and gets into a cab. She meets with someone from Ling Dun Technology.
Meanwhile, Qi Zhen Kai gets a call from the tech executives he bought out earlier. Ocean’s Heart didn’t show up to their scheduled meeting, nor did they transfer them any money. Then where did the money go? The news only gets worse: Ling Dun Technology has been acquired. He drops the squash ball he’s holding. Fei Yang picks it up.
He’s there to show off. Ling Dun Tech’s web services are used by many local companies, including EC Group. Now that Ocean’s Heart owns their Asia operations, they can renegotiate the contracts.
Ai Sha strides into Chic and Golden Man’s office, asking for Steven. The employees’ jaws all drop and they wordlessly point toward the CEO office. She goes in and drops a new set of contracts on his desk, telling him that the annual costs of using Ling Dun Tech’s services will be increasing, to match the increased traffic of Chic and Golden Man. The company is free to cancel the contract, but he should note that the penalty fee for breaking the contract is high. She tells him to relay the message to Qi Zhen Kai and let him know that every bit of revenue coming in from Chic and Golden Man will be directly invested into Ocean’s Heart.
Ai Sha turns and leaves, right as Xiao An rushes into the office, looking alarmed. Steven asks why she bought Ling Dun Technology. Ai Sha smiles. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to directly knock down a larger opponent like Chic-Golden Man. Instead, she knew she had to find their weak spot, grab them by the throat, and force them to surrender. It’s quite simple — didn’t they know?
They tried to anticipate what she and Fei Yang would do, but failed to realize that they purposely sought out President Hu because they knew he would leak their plans to Qi Zhen Kai. All they needed to do was convince Qi Zhen Kai that they were trying to merge and acquire all the apps, and they knew they would get the funding. They didn’t even have to act out of the ordinary; all they had to do was act like themselves. After all, aren’t all business activities a kind of performance show? She looks right at Xiao An as she says this.
She knows that Xiao An and Steven believe they are the ones who most understand her and Fei Yang. They probably thought they could anticipate every one of their moves. But they forgot one important thing: she and Fei Yang know better than anyone else what kind of people Xiao An and Steven are. She smirks at both of them and leaves.
After she’s gone, Xiao An is quick to point fingers at Steven, demanding to know how he could have missed their discussions with Ling Dun Tech. Steven points out that she was the one who convinced them all that Ai Sha would try to merge and acquire all the apps. Xiao An just shakes her head and gives Steven the responsibility of telling Qi Zhen Kai.
Qi Zhen Kai and his assistant rush out of the squash gym to hold an emergency company meeting. On their way out, Dong Xue walks by and purposely bumps into Qi’s assistant. He quickly hurries around the corner and checks his phone, smiling when he sees that he successfully synced with the assistant’s phone.
Qi Zhen Kai pauses on his way out, frowning. He tells his assistant to put his backup plan in action.
Jing Jing catches Steven on his way out of the office. She reveals that she knew he was following her the day she met with Ai Sha. She apologizes; she didn’t leak the list of apps like he wanted. Instead, she gave Ai Sha list of her old clients, manufacturers who would be interested in investing in Ocean’s Heart.
Steven warns her that if Qi Zhen Kai finds out, he won’t let her get away with it. But Jing Jing doesn’t care. Instead, she asks what he plans on doing. Because of his and Xiao An’s mistake, Chic-Golden Man now has to pay several millions of dollars in additional annual expenses. EC Group will probably have even higher costs. He must know that Qi Zhen Kai won’t give him another chance.
“That’s my choice,” Steven responds, before turning to leave. Jing Jing grabs his arm, stopping him. She tells him that Fei Yang wants to meet with him.
Steven and Fei Yang meet on an overpass. Fei Yang asks Steven when he started working with his brother. Steven reveals that it was the summer he stayed with Fei Yang when they were both students in America. Qi Zhen Kai paid his living expenses and promised him a position of power in EC as long as he kept an eye on Fei Yang.
Fei Yang laughs cynically and says he never would’ve thought that his best friend would work with his brother to bring him down. Steven says that Fei Yang doesn’t understand what it’s like to come from nothing. He admits that he doesn’t care how dirty he has to get as long as he can get to a higher place.
Fei Yang asks Steven where he plans on going now. Qi Zhen Kai won’t give him any options and Fei Yang will no longer view him as a friend. But, if Steven’s willing, he can come help Fei Yang.
But Steven says there’s nothing he can do to help Fei Yang. If his hands are stained with mud, Qi Zhen Kai’s are stained with blood.
Fei Yang gets a call from Dong Xue, who wants to show him something on his laptop. He has surveillance photos of Ai Sha and Fei Yang, pulled from Qi Zhen Kai’s assistant’s phone. He tells Fei Yang how he designed an app that syncs with the assistant’s phone every thirty minutes.
Fei Yang is impressed, but also teases Dong Xue, saying that Ai Sha would be upset because what he’s doing is illegal. But then they spot a text message on the assistant’s phone saying, “She is home.”
Fei Yang takes off running.
Ai Sha returns home and calls out Fei Yang’s name, but he’s not there. She soaks in a bubble bath, then suddenly smells something off: gas. She stumbles out of the bathroom and rushes to turn off the stove, which had been silently leaking gas, but the carbon monoxide has already started taking effect. She stumbles toward the kitchen table to grab her phone, accidentally knocking over the framed photo of Fei Yang and his parents. She slips on the floor and hits her head, falling unconscious. We see that the gas line in her kitchen has actually been cut.
Fei Yang arrives at Ai Sha’s house and carries her out.
Qi Zhen Kai has his assistant beat up Steven while Xiao An watches, terrified and probably wondering if she’s next. Qi Zhen Kai seems to think that Steven purposely sabotaged him and demands to know what Fei Yang said to him earlier. “The truth,” Steven responds.
Qi Zhen Kai smirks and then sighs, waving for his cronies to take Steven away. He asks his assistant what Ai Sha’s status his. When his assistant reports that she’s in the hospital, Qi Zhen Kai immediately slaps him across the face. In the hospital? He wants her to disappear! Ai Sha is the only reason Fei Yang would have known to acquire Ling Dun Tech.
Xiao An flinches and starts crying as she watches him fearfully, but Qi Zhen Kai seems to have forgotten she was there. He starts ranting out loud to himself, saying that he knows Chic-Golden Man is their goal. The company is now worthless anyway. He might as well destroy it all. But how? “Think, Qi Zhen Kai, think,” he tells himself.
Xiao An continues to cry silently, trying not to make a sound.
Fei Yang calls Ye Xuan to the hospital to ask for his help in bringing Ai Sha back to her mother’s house to stay there for a few days. Her own apartment is no longer safe.
Ye Xuan asks Fei Yang if he thinks someone did this to her. Fei Yang can’t explain now, but promises that he will find whoever did this to her.
“What are you going to do now?” Ye Xuan asks.
Fei Yang says he’ll go back and gather some of Ai Sha’s things, then he’ll do what needs to be done.
Fei Yang returns to Ai Sha’s apartment, where he spots his family photo frame broken on the ground. He starts to pick it up, then finds what was hidden inside the frame. It’s his father’s will.
Of course it is!
At first I thought this episode was going to be a classic case of late stage “let’s mess around with the plot and ruin our characters lives because why not it’s almost over.” And it was, just not for our protagonists.
This episode gave all of the characters a chance to show their true colors. I’m glad that people like Xi Jun and Jing Jing really showed their loyalty to their friends. Jing Jing has really never disappointed me this whole show! I’ve loved seeing her arc over the course of the drama.
Qi Zhen Kai is just irredeemable. His inexplicable need to humiliate Nan Cheng just shows how petty and low he is. But we already knew that. Let’s move on.
Both Steven and Xiao An are such sad, sad characters. Both seem so tragically resigned to their fates and have taken to heart way too much that they can only move forward and stick to the path they’ve chosen and can never look back. At least Steven seemed to feel some guilt early on, but he’s also crippled by his own inaction. He seems to believe that he’s gone too far and that’s why he refused the hand that Fei Yang reached out to him with. (Though I’m sure there’s more to that conversation that we’ll see next episode.)
Xiao An, on the other hand, has managed to lie to herself more than anyone else. I find her sad, but I also can’t feel bad for her because she’s been given plenty of second and third chances by the people around her, sometimes when she probably hasn’t deserved it, but has refused them all. Maybe it’s because she’s so desperately self-destructive? I thought it was really telling that even after Ai Sha had so clearly won, the first thing Xiao An did was try to put the blame on Steven.
Now she seems to realize that she’s signed a deal with the devil. But it’s a little too late.
The Drama Llama 