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KJ2025 Taiga and Rin are realizing her time is short and are sad. He takes her home to see where he grew up and meet his parents. Taiga and Rin puzzle his parents with their decision to date with her having only a month left in country, but they are pleased that their son has matured and has become his own man. Father and son reconciled and that’s been a long time coming. This time they heard each other and understood. They go to Rin’s graduation and while the story was cute, it was obvious that is not where her talent was. Noa has gone overseas and is doing well. She may have even given up on boys. Senior and Noa’s ex are still friends. The ex is actually working with freelance writing and slowly paying off his debt. Taiga has a menu planned for athletes and it has been accepted for the team. There was a lot of time spent on replaying their relationship. Rin made effort to visit and they tried video chats. But, at the end of the day, they amicably broke up. Her friend mentioned he was an ex and he referred to her as someone special. I have no clue why they filled the episode with playback scenes rather than investing more effort than last five minutes in their progress after Rin left. This gave false hope they stayed as a couple. I am glad they will remember each other fondly but have mixed feelings on how last episode was presented.
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WanZhi has had a lesson from the school of hard knocks. She is seeing the consequences of both not finishing her schooling and lying on her resume. The young man at the job fair is trying to help her but you can only lead a horse to water, not force it to drink. WanZhi lucks into a job at a local cafeteria. For her, it is hard labor and I give her much credit for trying to pull her own weight. Even the manager notes her grit. There is one spoiled older girl who uses her looks to get her way. She does not take it well having a new roommate. The other girl is much kinder and mentors WanZhi along with tips on how to protect her hands. She is the true workhorse of the three girls. The son initially resented her hiring, but he likes that she’s pretty and smart. He has developed a crush on her and WanZhi is trying to keep distant. Here is where I find WanZhi unfilial. It is commendable that she wants to earn her own way, but she wants to use her biological family’s poverty as her backstory when it’s quite obvious she came from more privileged circumstances. Her adopted mom didn’t want her putting on airs, but now she is going the opposite direction and claiming a father and mountain life she knows little about for her circumstances. I am annoyed with her for not thinking she should contact her adoptive dad just to let him know she’s ok. She has also not checked on XingKe who foolishly put himself on the line with the law to protect her. She is so determined to get her own way yet again that she is shunning the people who care about her and not really considering how her disappearance has effected them. She and her adoptive dad both have this righteous stubbornness where they stick to their perceived stance on principles and cause unnecessary division and misunderstanding. So while WanZhi is making slow steady progress, I find myself far more annoyed than happy with her change in circumstances.
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This drama is a mixed bag. The actors are decent but they are old to be high school students and the fake instrument playing is a pet peeve of mine. It’s very distracting. However, what I find a plus is the cast interaction. They genuinely enjoy acting the scenes and this comes across nicely. Yi Lan and Tong Xiao Le have a symbiotic relationship. They really get each other and know exactly how to support each other when parents and family fail them. It is both heartwarming and sad that Yi Lan’s family provide him meals on a regular basis and she knows exactly when to show up with food and optimism. She wants him to show off his photography in a competition and he always refuses. She has no clue how much he likes her and he knows his photography will make that clear. The lense doesn’t lie and she’s a lot of his camera work. Tong Xiao Le is incredibly smart, but he is bored and rudderless. He really has no ambition other than not wanting to be like his parents and driven to have no life to make money. He chooses to help his friends via tutoring and there is marked improvement for all of them. While they all are headed in different directions he has made no effort to focus himself for reasons only he understands. Yi Lan wants to be like her mother, and her father is determined to not let that happen. He has suppressed her musical talent and she is somewhat lazy so she is now finding it difficult to realize her dream to be a cellist because she has wasted a lot of the training time with minimal effort. The supporting cast are likable and add to the story nicely. They all give a broad spectrum of life choices that are made when the most immature to decide them. It captures that essence quite well.
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This episode showed the progress of Tengda in re establishing all projects and putting it back in the black. Elder Sima shows up and makes a different offer. This time when Pei visits him, he notes the maintenance needed and how the sprinklers inconvenienced the people below. He has taken the path not offered. He wants Tengda to be independent and not part of the Sima group. This devastates his mentor, but his true successor needed to be his own person and as already noted with Sima Wan, he was not cut of the same cloth. For all his benevolence with Tengda funding, Elder Sima was not above inconveniencing others for something as little as watering his lawn. Pei saw this as the crux of what he despised about business management and wanted no part of it. He left the Tengda building and moved to a different location that had nothing to do with Sima. He kept 51% of stock and 49% to employees. They are self owned and operated. He reminded Elder Sima that it was the people not the money that mattered in the great scheme of things. He refused to jeopardize that by having to deal with an outside investor. I grinned at seeing the prior headhunter giving guided tours at the new building. His team is adjusting to their new environment and Pei returned from a long vacation to places unknown. He did not move his parents out of their apartment but did get elevators installed. His company continues to grow as it has added the ponytail fruit market and a new ice cream shop. Ms Xin has stayed with Tengda rather than returning to her old boss. He left Sima the picture of his grand venture with the unlucky ribbon and closed the door on it. While unsuccessful for Sima at the end, it will be Pei’s and work family’s greatest achievement. At the end of episode Pei is writing the story. 😂🤣 This ended well and is a very good watch. It is highly recommended and I will enjoy rewatching. I will definitely watch a season 2 if they make one, but this story is complete as is and doesn’t require a sequel. Excellent job from cast and production team.👏🏻❤️
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Most of Tengda employees found themselves sheltered by Ma in his interesting take of a fruit market. Nobody is happy and all are struggling to figure out what to do next. Sima Wan finds out that he and Pei are not cut of the same cloth. Pei makes the rounds getting 2.0 version of game back online and apologizing to all his staff. Bao would have appreciated Pei’s efforts to locate coder. 🤣😂 LiShi shows up in Pei’s forsaken apartment with humble home calligraphy his only addition to decorations. All employees are disappointed in Pei’s actions, but in spite of everything, they are work family. They want their family to succeed and next episode will show us how they do it. 😁
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Number one son managed to cancel Tengda. Pei confesses to his company leaders his real intentions. First son is happy to flip board on dad. Pei assists because he sees no way out from Sima. I am glad he finally confessed. It does not put him in a good light, but they now know the truth. Pei no longer will have that load to carry. He is distributing the funds to all company employees and accepting the bad press. Now to see where he goes from here. I feel bad for elder Sima that all his sons are so selfish. Pei may now see how elder Sima forced innovation growth by thinking outside the box. Only the oldest son recognized and resented this factor of Tengda. Now that Pei has his payout, where does he go from here?
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The one laugh for me was LiShi buying the land and preventing further workout training.😂🤣 Pei is outvoted by these obnoxious brothers and even tho they made tremendous losses there is no payout because nobody knows where Elder Sima is. 2 months later there is still no clue til Pei is hurt in an accident chasing hydra Simas out. In the hospital they find out elder Sima has had surgery and in a coma. While Pei is recuperating from his injuries, the Tengda team leaders work hard to change things around for the company. There is nothing to like with these brothers and we are going to meet another next episode. It is a stark contrast of zen like father to these overgrown brats with nothing of value to contribute.😝I will be glad when this arc is over. 🙄
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Law has wreaked havoc with the staff over advertising and Pei pulls out his survival plan. This crashes the products but saves the staff. Law has caused a lot of debt and makes Pei look like an amateur with his early efforts. They are Zhou upgrades and are like Matrix Mr Smiths patrolling everything against their company line. Pei was just getting rid of brother one when two more arrive. They cause even more grief and malcontent than Law did. Pei’s fancy apartment was sold but at least he no longer has that debt. Father Sima is MIA and cannot even be contacted by Xin. Pei is stepping up to take care of his employees through the waves of chaos. It was interesting for him to tell Law how everything wasn’t about money. He has learned the lesson elder Sima wanted him to learn, but good luck getting the sons to recognize the truth of that. Are they trying to tank the company in deals with dad like Pei had? Or are they just spoiled rich men blinded by power and avarice? Pei is doing his best to hold the line but he really could use some help.
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Rin is frustrating the hell outa me. She needs constant affirmation about where Taiga stands and his actions tell her quite plainly if she’d simply pay attention. He puts her feelings first and is waiting for her to make up her mind about what she wants to do. She claims to want away from her mom’s plans, but she has nothing to seriously counter them with. Even after her mini tantrum Taiga runs after her to be rejected. Her mind bubble conversation used ‘our’ in her musings when truth be told it was ‘her’ will that lacked. He can’t force someone to stay when they’re ambivalent about it and for now, he doesn’t make enough to just accommodate her on his dime. His friend is making impact with her translated menus and I wish she would get together with Rin’s senior. They seem much better suited. Taiga’s ex might be testing the waters since she knows Rin might go home. It’s ironic that Taiga was kicked to the curb by ex for not having his mind made up for future and Rin kicked him to the curb because he did. For now, she is the one too undecided and unsure of herself to handle a relationship. Her senior will be more than happy to step in, and probably will, but I don’t see it going better for them. He will at least have her Mom’s blessing and better finances, but this is again why he would be best suited for Taiga’s friend. I want Taiga’s catering job to go well but I am not convinced he should reconsider his ex. She left him for not meeting her standard and never looked back. Rin is making the same mistake. In this episode, none of the established couples seem like they should be together. I kinda want Rin to go home and get her act together because she’s not doing that in Japan.
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Episode starts with a Tengda banquet where once again Pei watches everybody but him get cash or trip awards. He is back to being low spirited and everybody’s favorite designated driver. Two years elapse and he is still driving people. He meets Law who is a narcissistic megalomaniac and Sima’s son. He is sent with the specific mission of co running Tengda. He immediately takes over and is one of those speakers that think they are charismatic and appreciated by the world at large. Pei has no clue what to do with him but has advised his staff they do not have to comply to his direction if they don’t want to. Xin gets to smirk at them and say Sima is not available for consultation. He likes to repeat English words and wanted everybody to give him English names. Pei of course chose loss.😂🤣 chaos has already started and it’s just with his introduction. His staff do not realize the backer of all their projects is Sima so they are all ready to tell him and son to get lost. Law wants influencers rather than ad campaigns and considers Tengda too old school to be top in marketplace. It’s easy to see why Sima wanted other options for a successor. It will be interesting to see which CEO learns the most from this venture, Loss or Law.
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For the first time ever, Tengda is underperforming and truly losing money. In this circumstance, Pei doesn’t want his people losing by doing their best and producing a good product. With Xin getting approval, Divine mountains and seas gets an unlimited budget to fix the problem. At first the staff was hellbent on revenge and they were getting more and more stressed trying to outwit Zhou’s sneaky tactics. Pei reminded them what their job really was—to make the game fun to play. So instead of trying to out maneuver negative ad campaigns and online blocks, they fixed what annoyed players and used their talents to make the game be fun with max reward systems worked in. I liked that Pei focused on them getting meals and taking care of themselves. He is not stressed by his salary and wants what is best for the company. He has embraced being their benefactor for the project rather than saboteur to gain income. They have become his work family and he wants them to do well. When Zhou wanted to know the difference between him and Pei, he saw it with a bunch of employees circled around Pei having fun and enjoying each other’s company. While Zhou had made definite improvements in employee workspace, etc he really wasn’t concerned if the game was of good quality just that it looked like it was. He spent to beat Pei, not to improve the quality of the game. He lost again to his temper and even the guy that has stuck with him for years isn’t friends with him. I am not sure if the grin he had was seeing the difference in work family attitude or plotting the next way to take Tengda down. He is at least accepting responsibility for his behavior so baby steps in right direction.
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This episode let Zhou MuYan feel the wrath of his former employees. He received all the treatment he had dished out. If he could maintain his temper, he was promised a large payout. Zhou’s ego finally had enough and his loud accusations against Pei cost him his severance. Pei learned that acquiring Sky Fire actually earned him money. He also learned that his revenge on Zhou didn’t feel as rewarding as he expected. Ms Xin is frustrated that Pei has plateaued and refuses to try any more ventures. She is asking Sima if he really thinks he will be successful turning Pei into his successor. At the launch of both games there is definitely a negative ad campaign against Tengda. This time however, there is no rebuttal as the game loses ground. The bottom line this time is that players found their game inferior to Zhou’s. One influencer wanted to know what happened to all the money for development. The episode ends with a close up of Pei.
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Pei finds himself at the police station where Zhou MuYan is convinced that he tried to commit corporate espionage and murder.😂🤣 LiShi has become mediator of the situation followed by Xin. Pei has been strongly encouraged by Xin to get back on target for work instead of all the side jobs. Sky Fire employees have revolted and videos of their work conditions and management have gone viral. LiShi goes to his father and suggests Tengda buys Sky Fire and absorb all the fallout from their plagiarized game. Pei assures Zhou that his salary will not suffer, but increase with this change of management. Tengda takes all former employees and gives them best work environment whether they want to relocate or work remotely. However Wan finds a trio that are determined to cause trouble and find fault with work conditions. After talking with Pei, it is decided they need help to recover from their trauma of Sky Fire’s work environment so they can stop feeling defensive. It seems Pei may have found his next venture for company.
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It was so moving watching them all work to save the courtesans. The one on the throne has lost his mind. There is no way to know if his vile acts were not encouraged by drugs, but if he knew enough in a drugged haze to choose his life over theirs, then he had enough of his faculties to be doing this evil by choice. I was annoyed second son saved his dad. That man truly needs to go and now he has been given even more power and gave his first son his secretary office. Scum does rise to the top. The one thing they have ensured is that both the Prince and HongSi are ready to take on the older brother and find a better candidate for the throne. I am very tired of that weasel of a secretary getting his way.😝 I am also glad the women are finally sticking up for themselves against that wretch of a ruler. The episode ends with the first son’s man hurting the prince and tossing him in the water. We get a glimpse that he is rescued so it won’t be quite so bad having to wait til next weekend to find out what happens. I have mixed feelings about the soul swapping back and forth. What I can say is that this drama has done it better than most of them, The story is well paced and decently told. I found myself drawn into the plight of the people and rooting for all of them to succeed against the current powers that be.
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SiBo is feeling Pei’s pain😂🤣 He is definitely regretting going into the film industry. Ma’s actor and the web influencer are having a meeting of the minds about the script.🤣😂Pei has given up trying to lose money with the game group. He is encouraging Wan to take over and do whatever she thinks fit for updates and new game ideas. He has asked Wan to unhire him because she is using the time to discuss work and not because she needs a driver. He also didn’t want her to know any of his financial info. Sky Fire execs and LiShi were toasting their new game success when Li Ahi and top exec start arguing about Pei. Sky Fire wants to stick it to Pei personally and Li Shi wants them to have competition but not mean spirited bullying. Pei finds himself hearing SkyFire’s opinion of him and things get heated when he almost got in an accident because of their conversation. They all exit the car and the execs are chasing Pei wanting to know what his game is.😂🤣
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