Footprints of Change Episode 26

Shady dealings

This episode we find out some of Jiuling’s history. She is the main breadwinner of the family and the husband sees her as an adulteress with her boss. Because he is so jealous, he breaks things, verbally abuses her, and teaches their son to disrespect her. XiNing tries to show sympathy, but other than letting Jiuling hang on her crying, she is not overly empathetic. The next morning they are at least acting more like friendly roommates now. I thought it rather accurate, tho teasing, that XiNing was called a shrew and BeiChuan nice, so not to bully him. BeiChan is a bit concerned to know what she said since she interrupted their kiss. XiNing goes on to say how her roomie thinks he isn’t that great and he was lucky to have her.😝 She then says she can put up with his flaws and he will grow out of them. After insulting him she then backhand compliments him with his true qualities. I think this was supposed to be seen as cute and funny but for me it was annoying. He seems too old for her and she is too selfish and irresponsible to be taken seriously. They run into Yan Jun and a girl at a restaurant and are invited over. The girl tuns out to the the one that wrote the gossip piece on XiNing. Right after hearing her name she throws a glass of water at her. When Yan heard what she did he asked her to leave. Her hairpin was in his room and he gave her cash to call it even. BeiChuan then lectures her like a dad or big brother about handling it better. Yan teases them about sounding like a couple and they confirm they are. He gets some wine for them and makes excuse to leave. He is sad because he had hopes of being the beau. Both are obtuse to what’s really wrong with him. She goes on about all the ways he is to spoil her and then feeds him an unpeeled shrimp. The more these two go on the less I like them. The next scene is Yan Jun and BeiChuan chatting. They are heading for a meeting and Yan is asked what work he really does. He traffics in labor. He ships off young men whose families can’t support them to foreign countries to have a chance at better jobs. The one that keeps popping up is pretending he can be a translator when they arrive. They are given a ‘relative’s’ name as contact and the whole thing is sketchy. There is no indication of real support or sponsorship when they arrive. BeiChuan doesn’t quite jibe with it, but he pats the man’s arm and wishes him luck. BeiChuan gets out of the dinner with the business people and promises XiNing he will pick her up. Yan clears a path with official Shan to break XiNing into the rules of the trade. Here she says honesty is not the best for business and suggests she works with Yan instead of Lu.😝 BeiChuan arrives with a bike to pick her up and sr Shan and Yan tease him about it. She is more snide than his friend is. They take it in stride and go home happy. XiNing promises to buy a better car than either one of them for him. This is the first time they seem almost cute to me. The company that sent the sweaters sent two boxes of moldy ones to blend with the good ones and sell them. Lu is learning from Yan and saying it is the standard of doing business while XiNing strongly disagrees. She and roomie are now gossipy sisters and they gossip about the boss’s woes and the moldy sweaters. BeiChuan is back to teaching and TongTong tries to leave him a gift. This time he tells students they must visit his office in pairs and he says nothing about the gift but leaves it in the podium. At the market there are copies of BeiChuan’s works published and she buys ten copies to share. He doesn’t want to make a fuss but she wants him to be famous. It ends with them bickering. He is a stodgy professor and she is an impulsive entrepreneur. I’m trying to see them with a future together and still struggling with that. Yan is seeming more and more like Dalun and mingling has gone from gossip columnist to PR rep for one of the local businesses. I think Xi Ning will wish she had chosen a different option with her. Mingming sees right away that Yan has a crush on her. Trouble is brewing.

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