Footprints of Change Episode 14

Changes

Yi goes to the memorial that has Zhou Yuan’s name on it. Her grief is palpable. Wen knows she is there and stays with her. She thanks him for finding out the truth about her husband. I am thinking that he ran into people like Mr Gu and that had him join. He and Cheng were far less concerned with politics and steadfast in wanting best for China. All parties have good and bad. I am sure Zhou Yuan would have been less happy with Yang and his influence over wife and sister. She is young and her husband’s sister so Yi treats her with far more courtesy than she receives. Fu is happy for her. They have ‘allowed’ her to go back to her home and given her a job she is well suited for. They completely sweep under the rug that this is what they should have done from the beginning. They started their relationship with the stick and then thought she’d be grateful for the carrot. 😝 They would have been far more successful had they respected her from the beginning as a valuable asset to their organization. For Yi, that ship has sailed. The sis in law, how her tone changes from Yi to Fu. She is a decade younger and thinks she can school Yi about men.😝 she could have shared time waiting for brother with Yi. She had five years. Now that she thinks she has brother’s approval she wants to be sisterly. She doesn’t get that maybe all these things are too painful for Yi knowing he is dead. Why would she want to have a youthful dead husband picture in her face right now. She is so obtuse to how she’s been treating Yi. She honestly thinks her presence is appreciated. Yi doesn’t hate her, but she has no reason to have deep affection for her either. Yi tried subtly and spoke often of her brother and always with love, but the sis never accepted it because of her youthful mindset. She could not claim her brother and fall in line with the party. She couldn’t reconcile that and took it out on Yi. I don’t hate the young woman for her conflict, but her distasteful bossing of Yi should register how discourteous it is. The fact that she doesn’t grasp that leaves little ground for establishing a better relationship. She may grow up enough to be more like her brother, but with Yang’s constant presence and the manipulative director, the chances are slim for her. The director is still keeping eye via sis in law. She is the one assigning her Yi I am sure. 😝 Yi has requested to go abroad, and now the organization doesn’t want her to go. Wen tries to urge her to see the rejuvenated Shanghai as a result of liberation efforts. This angle should have started years ago.😝Minister Wen is at hospital to visit chief Yan. The nurse kicks him out of the room and director shows up. The director is trying to get Wen to consider the nurse. She is as good as his friend in matchmaking.😂😝 She is pretty and much like how sis is with Yang once she finds out who he is. The last thing he wants is a sycophant partner.😝 The director sees him eyeing Yi and wants an approved party wife for him. Good luck with that director.😂🤣😝 The chief never showed, the director tried hard to make that an impromptu date. Dinner between shifts 😂😝 now Qing wants her to give stories of her brother’s heroism to the class. Yi didn’t even know he was communist, what was she supposed to fabricate for them?😝 I found it touching what she tried to share with them. The last dress her husband had made for her. It was too subtle and the two loudmouths kept any chance from learning away from the group. Fu invited her to the club for a last gathering. The organization would have better plans. He is considered a reprobate because he has three concubines. Yuan was his friend anyways. And any man that deliberately chooses to have more than one woman, has already cloaked himself in estrogen storm. 😂he merits whatever hassle they give him. Yi, on the other hand did not. She was actually rescued by her comrade sisters. What struck Yi the hardest is when the local supervisor joined Qing in demanding tales of the great martyr. She was stunned that her husband’s affiliations is why they view her now as trustworthy. She doesn’t know what to do with that thinking. She is not deliberately other from them. She is just as unfamiliar with their experiences as they are from hers. Wen strongly urges her to change her thinking. He is not rude and expresses it calmly, but he is quite direct. Qing shows up with tea eggs and wants forgiveness. Yi obliges. The demanding of communal clap and the female Yang shouting makes what should have been a sweet scene off putting. She could have had a quiet meeting of apology but wants the party included admiring her actions. Wen visits Yi after the scene at the club. He finds she doesn’t need comfort and he learns of some of her experiences with the army. She asks him directly as an intellectual how he adapted. It all came down to taking the time to know and understand the other side. To not decide arbitrarily that someone is too stupid to understand. The head seamstress never understood that her skills were always appreciated and worth notice. The bosses didn’t understand that needed to be heard and understood by the crafters. Respect, courtesy and appreciation should go both ways. Here Yi understands where she was obtuse taking it as a given they knew their skills were appreciated. Her silence gave them the impression she was cold and arrogant. She now knows to take the time to ask them directly for their opinions and to acknowledge the product is better when there is understanding of what makes the work easier and still has the desired end result. Wen’s gift of the pen is like his watch gift to his buddy. It is flawed but works well if know how to use. 😂😁 They have mutual respect which is a good foundation for friendship. The episode ends with the buyers for club coming to look over the property and make bids. Jian is there and director Cheng. Is he the Cheng we know or just same name? And is this the Jian Zhou Yuan knew? This marks the end of an era when times were more carefree for the upper class. This episode makes you look at how biases effects how we see people. It filters our perception. We are shown that often the thing most required to understand people we don’t agree with ideologically, is to force ourselves to remove those personal biases and simply see the person as a fellow human being. Changes in perception can enlighten understanding from the shared commonalities rather than focus on the differences.

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