Ep 30 With no one at the steering wheel of their love, the relationship, like a runaway car, now careens downhill, picking up speed with every turn….at some point, it will fly off the road and crash into the abyss below.
That point happens in this episode. And again, it’s not easy to watch.
The episode opens with ShuYi learning from the buzzard that it was ShiYan who took her home from the charity dinner. Thankfully, she cuts the time with him short and goes back to the office, realizing it makes no difference as too much time has elapsed and she criticizes herself for being so foolish as to care. And in the meantime he has to deal with “Fiona”, the daughter of one of the elders on his board who is a childhood friend and upon her return to China, wants to “help” at his company.
But for ShuYi, there is no escaping the miserable solitude that has descended on her. That night, while dining alone at her favorite seafood-noodle place, she sees a romantic drama on the TV there, with an actress in anguish over her failed relationship. Our heroine can’t get a break it seems, but it steels her to finally face him, and apologize in person as YuYou suggested she do back in Ep 28. So she goes to his office, somehow knowing he’d still be there (this is well after dinner time). With just her luck, she sees him leaving with “Fiona” in tow and misunderstands. Honestly, this was all she needed to get cold feet again and her bravado vanishes in an instant. Unfortunately, she is unable to remember she already partially opened her heart to him when she was drunk. So, she tells the cabbie to take her home. Has she lost him already to another woman, she wonders?
The next day at FW, KongNan tells her about Fiona, trying to get her motivated to do SOMETHING. It’s a day of relaxation for everyone else, as GuanJi and ShanShan are at his dad’s horse farm (along with his dad and Ms. Tang (his GF)). After Uncle Guan and Ms. Tang depart, ShiYan shows up and ShanShan lets him have it – both barrels worth. A panicked GuanJi tries to tell her to lighten up and help ShiYan reconcile with ShuYi – they all know that they still love each other. This is confirmed by ShiYan, who tells ShanShan “ShuYi has always been the only one I love” which catches ShanShan off guard. But ShiYan tells them that this issue is something that he and ShuYi need to fix themselves – no one should help them.
Sometime later (at least the next day) FW is abuzz because the problems at Yuanchang have reached the crisis point as 2 investors are ready to bail out and the board is in danger of losing 2 directors. Ms. Tang is furious at Yuling because FW is supposed to have a “special relationship” with Yuanchang (which was actually based on our lead’s personal relationship) and they were caught by surprise as well. Ms. Tang removes Yuling from the Yuanchang assignment and asks ShuYi to take it back over, as they are desperate to get in on this story. Ms Tang brings out all the tools she has to coerce ShuYi to take the job including how her beloved e-magazine project’s future hinges on this. A reluctant ShuYi agrees to resume work on the project and will go to Yuanchang and talk to ShiYan.
And sit down, because now things go completely to Hell.
We know this will not go well, as she enters his office to the melancholy tune “Passerby”. His back is to her, and she addresses him formally because this is a work assignment and not the opportunity to personally apologize to him. He turns around and they stare at each other…ShuYi is transfixed and seems to be frozen in place. (Beautiful camera work in this scene). They stare at each other for almost 40 seconds in silence and her tension grows to the point where she clutches at her purse and finally makes it known that she is here to ask about the company. Well, I can’t call it another Faux Pas on her part. She was sent here on this mission to do exactly this and she had no choice. Of course, he doesn’t know that and was expecting this to be her opportunity to come clean so they could start the reconciliation process they both long for. When she starts talking about the company, his face just crumbles and he breaks eye contact with her. He cuts her off and asks her “are you here just because of that?” When she seems surprised (and still terrified) as his response, he responds with the same message that the company has issued to all media: That they have nothing to say at this time. He then dismisses her. She dutifully leaves the office, robot-like now, her emotions totally destroyed. This was what she feared most and it happened. As she shuffles out of the lobby of the building, she winds up getting bumped aside by the media gaggle gathered downstairs who are racing towards ShiYan who suddenly appears. They are demanding to know what the story at Yuanchang is (the same questions she tried to ask). They are blocking the exit and want answers before he can leave. Off to ShiYan’s left stands a shell-shocked ShuYi watching this unfold.…. To her disbelief, he looks over at her for a few seconds (they make eye contact) and then he tells the media (and her) that neither the company or HE can’t accept someone nor something that is impure (depending on translation it could mean “can’t stand firm”). He furthers the point and says that there will always be differences of opinion but that BOTH SIDES need to COME TOGETHER to solve their problems INSTEAD OF RUNNING AWAY (he’s referring to his board/investors AND her). She is gutted to hear this last part and he leaves with the media in trail and she’s left standing there, a shell of the woman who walked into the building only a few minutes ago. She returns to the familiarity of her office at FW and finally whatever was holding her together shatters and she breaks down sobbing in the hallway to the shock of the staff. She eventually tells KongNan to leave her be and she wipes her tears and goes back to her desk to seek solace in her work.
And there she stays, late into the night. I’m not sure of what she could be writing, as she has no more information than any other media member. Finally, with tears in her eyes, she picks up her iPhone and accepts what she sees as inevitable…..and she deletes his contact info from her WeChat. To ShuYi, it has ended. ShiYan, who likewise is still at his office late into the night, is stressed out and fed up with everything. He stops at her favorite noodle place (of all places!) for dinner and thinks of their happier times and moments together. After one bite of noodles he scrolls thru all their texts and WeChat messages and hears her voice in his head telling him all her silly things, ending with her poem when she went out of town. He can’t take it anymore and finally texts her and asks “Do you want to eat some noodles?” to force the reconciliation process. But he is shocked to see his message go undelivered with the red-meatball-of-doom showing that she’s deleted him from her contacts. ShiYan sits in stony silence for a long time as everyone else in the restaurant goes about their lively business.
And that’s it folks. The runaway car of their relationship has gone off the edge and hurtled to its destruction.
Now, there is a LOT more to this episode, including how the niece and Prof Yu actually manage to overcome their hesitance and become a couple. It’s a nice counterpoint to the difficulties her boss and uncle are going thru. The niece is much more emotionally mature than her boss at work…or her uncle for that matter.
The episode ends on a funny note (it’s important to remember that this show does do comedic scenes really well). For some reason ShuYi is with the buzzard at a dept store helping him shop, though she remains distant. The niece and Prof Yu (on a date) see them together leaving the store and walking thru the mall and she’s determined to see what the heck is going on! They tail her boss and buzzard to a restaurant in the mall and “accidentally” run into them so they can all have dinner together. The niece watches ShuYi and Buzzard like a hawk, reporting everything to her uncle via WeChat, demanding he do SOMETHING. ShuYi is watching her in disbelief, trying to figure out what the niece is up to. This scene is much funnier than it sounds, as the niece’s anguish is matched by ShuYi’s confusion. The close is when the niece sees how considerate buzzard is towards ShuYi (how very unlike her Uncle is) and she face-palms while demanding to know why her uncle hasn’t responded to her messages. As the credits roll, we see him sitting in dejected silence at home as if he is reliving the events of the day. Finally he picks up his iPhone and begins reading his nieces’ messages….
I really don't understand the point of this series? She goes thru the whole amnesia thing, yet winds up with the same manipulative family and will get screwed over again....rinse and repeat. So what is the message here? You can't outrun your relatives? Family ties are unbreakable (for better or worse)?
This is such a shame, as there is a kernel of a good series here. The leads are fun to watch and the brother/aunt couple are OK too. Just keep her mom as the only villain and fire the rest of the cast.
Buzzard 🤣🤣🤣 you really wanted to say something else eh!!
Oh, there are a LOT of names I could give him, LOL. But, he is just like a vulture, swooping down on the remains of their relationship before they get cold. To her credit, she knows what is going on and isn't having any of it, until he dangles the interview opportunities for her. You noticed that although he didn't participate in the group interview, he was there watching her. Ewwww
If you're a fan of DNA tests, be sure to check out "3 Bold Siblings"...I lost track after like 6 DNA tests.
Kat, that show actually has really good potential, it just needed some tweaks to perfect it. I submitted a review of it on that drama's page here. If they could have addressed the issues with it, it would have been a great series.
I think they're kind of going to be in a rut for a few eps, so I might just combine the next few into one summary/review…
Oh I agree, I have no complaints. But it interested me, that this show would act as a warning that dishonesty in a relationship will corrode and eventually destroy it. What I wanted to convey was that in the 15 years since, her mind won the battle and she had the professional success she desired, but her heart was right all along - she has nothing to show for her life since her breakup with ShiYan (I was even thinking that she would have lost her child in some kind of accident, which would have preceded her divorce - a heavy handed way of showing how empty her personal life truly was). Now, as she's turning 40, she sees a slight chance at reclaiming her personal life with him...and same for him....How would they do that? I keep wondering how that could go. It's really easy to ask, as the leads are so understandable and human, it's almost irresistible for me to speculate on.
Is this drama worth watching ? I have put on hold. But I am considering taking it back.
It depends on what you're looking for, I guess. This is a very different drama that is very slow-paced. The leads are really imperfect people that struggle with their emotions. It's not the cliche business-oriented romcom that many were expecting, and for that it got a lot of negative reviews.
What this is, is a very realistic story of two very intelligent professionals who accidentally fall in love, for the wrong reasons initially, and how they try to cope with the ensuing events. The characters can be very frustrating because, like real people, they are unpredictable and do stupid things (especially true for the FL). The series is long enough at 36 episodes to allow for a realistic depiction of an accidental love affair that grew faster than either party was ready for.
To me, it's addicting, because this is so true to life and the actors are magnificent in their portrayals of the characters in the novel. If you're patient and willing to invest the time, I HIGHLY recommend it. It will frustrate you at times, and you will end up yelling at the screen, but it's worth it.
If in doubt, read the novel (it's on-line) as the basics of the story are very close to it.
Just when I thought they would give us a brief break in the heart-wrenching scenes, and I could write a few paragraphs to wrap this up....they drop this gem on us. There is some significant deviation from the book beginning with her attempts to meet with him at his office back in Ep 28, so I can’t refer the novel for much clarification.
This whole episode revolves around one 11-minute scene at a Charity Dinner. And within that, the core is a 3 minute cut that is staged in front of a tree, of all things. So, let’s get started:
The episode has us wondering if ShiYan actually blocked her on WeChat or not. He acts thru the episode as being surprised that she has not reached out to him (that is what he tells his friends at least) but we know that her last message to him was not delivered. (In the book he DID block her). The episode picks up with his conversation with his niece who wants to know why he’s still in such a bad mood and she knows by now it has something to do with ShuYi. She tries to get him to take the initiative and explains things from a woman’s POV… and while he’s hearing her, he’s not listening. When she asks him what he thinks the most important thing in a relationship is, his answer is simply “honesty”, giving us insight to the hurt that ShuYi has inflicted on him, but he then rambles on about what makes successful couples, as if he’s distracted. When he stops, she finally asks him the fateful question: “Is ShuYi the one for you?” After fumbling for an answer for 10 seconds, he finally just tells her to go to bed.
The next morning, back at her office, Yuling is still trying to stick thorns in ShuYi by bragging about her non-existent interviews with Mr. Shi. And then depressingly, the buzzard Jackson Yi tosses ShuYi the catnip she craves: he’s set up an interview session with his expatriate friends for her this afternoon. Suddenly her dull eyes lift and we see the smiling, proficient journalist at the interview session in Jackson’s office that afternoon. Her article appears in the online magazine to rave reviews, and she credits the niece in the by-line too. This gives the niece the kick in the butt to realize that being a journalist like her idol is exactly the future she wants. By now, the timeline is a bit fuzzy, as we don’t know how many days have elapsed since this interview nor do we know how long it’s been since the breakup at the Aquarium on Lunar New Year +5.
Sensing he’s on a roll, the buzzard then invites her to a big charity dinner and she accepts since it’s a networking opportunity for her. However, it seems there has been something edited out, as the scene then abruptly cuts to the dinner being held at some kind of mansion. She arrives looking better than most of the actresses attending the Oscars, in an evening gown that must have cost a fortune (how did she pay for it? Only the niece would have been able to afford it) and her hair beautifully styled as well. When did all this happen???? I think these must have been the scenes left on the cutting-room floor.
Putting all that aside, buzzard offers his arm to escort her in, but she’s not having it and they walk in separately (yayy). Once inside she and ShiYan instantly spot each other, and the director does a magnificent job of soft focus on everyone else around them, so that all they see is each other (tunnel-vision, if you will). As the attendees gossip, his ex-gf (the real actress) approaches him to ask if they can reconcile and he turns her down. While this happens, buzzard yanks ShuYi and pulls her out of the ballroom to the outside patio (ShiYan seethes when he see this) and she begins drinking wine hard and fast. She gets buzzed pretty quickly and tells JY that she still has ShiYan in her heart and there is no place for him (double-yayyy). As they continue talking, she gets increasingly tipsy. And once again he pulls her away, this time from the mansion towards the grounds. ShiYan finally frees himself from the ex-gf and goes looking for her, only to find her….climbing a tree! For unknown reasons, buzzard is a few branches above her and she’s about 6 feet up in a saddle of the branches, tottering back and forth. ShiYan demands she come down, while buzzard tells her to avoid him and climb up to him (how stupid). At this point her liquid courage has kicked in and she tells ShiYan off and he coaxes her down by calling her “Little Fairy”, her favorite pet name. She falls into his arms (almost literally) and hugs him whispering in his ear that he’s a weirdo and that he has a cruel heart…and then she BITES his neck (followed with a quick kiss). Hickie ensured, he takes her away in a fireman carry (she’s too loaded for him to carry her on his back, but I’m shocked he didn’t do the princess carry again – it would have been a great F-U to the buzzard.). As he walks off, buzzard fires his last salvo at ShiYan, telling him if he “can’t give her what she wants he should stay away”, but Shi responds that he, no matter what, will make sure she always has what she wants.
Under the watchful eyes of the chauffeur, he gently places her in the back seat of the Rolls..but just before she passes out, she again tells him of how much she misses him and how sad she is that everyone is allowed to talk to him but her. At this point she embraces him and begins sobbing (this is really a tough scene to watch). He simply asks her “Did you ever have feelings for me?” but, as drama allows, she passes out in his arms before she can answer. He holds her and the Rolls pulls away from the Dinner. They drop her off at her house and he goes home, staring in the mirror at the hickie on his neck. Before he goes to bed it appears he re-adds her to his WeChat (so he DID block her?)
The next morning, she has no idea how she got home. Who put her in bed? ShiYan, for his part, makes sure to wear his turtle-neck sweater to cover the hickie when he dresses for work. Unfortunately, the buzzard is relentless, and sends her fruit gift baskets to the office which she decides to have distributed to the staff. Then, he follows up by sending her a skateboard to the office. (Go away, you punk!) She’s not having it but wants him to tell her who took her home, which he refuses, unless he sees her for a date (what a dirtbag!). In the meantime this infuriating news gets back to ShiYan via an ad-hoc intelligence network (KongNan to her boyfriend Mr. Chen), which is kind of funny, because for all he tries, ShiYan can’t avoid finding out what is going on at Finance Weekly. It’s also odd that he doesn’t ask Mr. Chen exactly HOW he knows what is going on there. While at Finance Weekly, Yuling is getting chewed out by the boss because her draft report on taking over the Yuanchang series is basically crap because ShiYan won’t meet with her…thus she’s not fooling anyone with a bunch of filler and speculation.
The episode finally ends with ShuYi and ShanShan dining at her place while ShiYan & GuanJi are at a bar…and Shi is drinking way too much – he’s upset about the whole situation especially considering that the skateboarding buzzard won’t let up. During this, Guan and Shan (the only couple with anything going on) call each other on the phone and Shi can’t help but hear Shan giving Guan a piece of her mind telling her how messed up ShuYi is but confirming that ShuYi isn’t interested in the buzzard. Since Shi is in listening distance on the phone, she unloads oh him too. (I still like ShanShan, despite her imperfect advice). The episode closes with ShiYan stalking off and Guan stopping him and asking his oldest friend “What are you thinking? I’ve never seen you like this!” A question Shi cannot answer and he simply holds his hand open and says “I don’t know”.
I think they're kind of going to be in a rut for a few eps, so I might just combine the next few into one summary/review…
I haven't done 'fan fiction' in decades but here's how I'd change the direction of the series:
Ep 29 would open with a time-skip, 15 years in the future. It's the day before ShuYi's 40th birthday. In the intervening years, she married Jackson Yi, had a child (5~10 y/o at this point) and recently divorced him after his company went bankrupt and she discovered that he too had been cheating on her. She is the editor (Ms. Tang's job) at FW; the niece (married to YuYou, childless) has Shu Yi's old job and manages the e-magazine which is the top priority for the firm. The printed version is only done quarterly at this point. Upon his BIL's retirement a couple of years prior, ShiYan moved back to take over the Mingyu Group and folds Youngchang into that firm. He never married and still carries a hidden torch for her, keeping tabs on her career. He's aware of her birthday tomorrow. And the only person who suspects his continued feelings for her is the niece because he's hidden away those feelings for years and busied himself back in his job. That day (a Sunday), the Shi 's all gather at the Shi Family home for lunch and the niece mentions to her uncle that ShuYi's 40th birthday is tomorrow and FW is having a big party for her...wouldn't it be nice if he sent his regards????
There's the obvious problem of how to stage something 15 years from now, given technology changes, etc (flying cars are common? no more computers on desks, robots everywhere, etc) so you'd just have to give that a pass and pretend tech didn't advance. But the point of the series from then on, is how (and even CAN) they rekindle their feelings for each other, given what she's learned about life since...and can he be patient enough to give her the time to be the kind of person he needs her to be. While she's had a lot of professional success, her private life has suffered and inside, she's hurting. There's at least 5 episodes of stuff you can work with here, also following up on the lives of the other couples. Just a thought...I also would have changed things up a bit with her life before, but that's another topic.
Another goosebumps-inducing review. I so love reading reviews of other lovers of this drama. How would you like…
I find it interesting that BaiLu really humanized ShuYi's character as compared to the book, where I felt she was somewhat cold and more manipulative than we see here. Dylan also takes some of the edge off ShiYan, because in the book we don't really see the relatable side of him. I know he was criticized for his 'wooden' performance in this, but he's doing it by the numbers as dictated in the book. I was going to skip a summary of 29, but they walloped us again,especially with the tree-climbing scene. So I guess I'll write a quick one on that this weekend. Have a good weekend!
Ep 28This episode deals with the continuing fallout from the break-up in 27. It’s now official: With his niece’s…
I think they're kind of going to be in a rut for a few eps, so I might just combine the next few into one summary/review unless something extraordinary happens.
I find it interesting that I've read reviews that THIS is when the series takes off and becomes the romantic story that readers feel was promised. I couldn't disagree more. In fact, I kind of wish they ended the series here, because one thing we can all agree on (and has been hammered home in every C- or K- drama I've ever seen) is that trust and communication are key in a healthy relationship. Our two leads have NEITHER. He can't communicate and doesn't trust anyone for both professional and personal reasons, while she simply struggles to be honest with anyone in her life. How can they have trust with this kind of weight tied around their necks? By splitting them up, the series teaches this lesson to us - real relationships can't survive what they've been thru.
Look, I want a happy ending whenever possible in a series. But in this one, is it really realistic or satisfying? I would propose something different happen after this episode, but I'll hold off on that until we see how this all works out.
Ep 28 This episode deals with the continuing fallout from the break-up in 27.
It’s now official: With his niece’s mission as a plant to keep an eye on ShuYi no longer needed, ShiYun tells her to quit her job. Yet, ShuYi hasn’t figured this out yet and thinks that he’s pulling his niece away because he wants to isolate her from his family. She has yet to make the connection to his niece being an agent of her uncle.
The following morning, when he goes to the garage to drive to work, he can't face getting in the Rolls...it's HER car, now. And he just stares at it until he has the driver get the company car (minivan) and commutes to work in it.
And just when you think that things could have not gotten any worse, she once again lets us down. She goes to his office for a chance to see him and apologize personally, which he rebuffs by sending out his assistant to tell her that he won’t see her anymore and that the agreement between the companies is over. She’s crushed (again) and slowly leaves while “Passerby” plays softy in the background. Before getting on the elevator, she finally reaches out to him via WeChat and apologizes there – and he’s reading her texts as soon as she sends them. (Mind you, she’s essentially standing right outside his office door and he knows it). All goes well at first, and she even deletes her first text apologizing about their companies relationship (thank goodness she’s learned something?) she then sends two heartfelt messages apologizing for her behavior and we can see he’s touched and he glances at the door she’s standing outside of. But then, on the third text message comes Faux Pas #3 as she stupidly says she hopes this won’t affect the relationship between their two companies. At which point he slams down the phone. She sends one last message, simply expressing her sincerity in her sadness, that gets the dreaded red meatball with the exclamation point inside. Was the message not delivered because he blocked her? That is her belief and her grief again swells and her eyes tear up. In slow motion, she walks out of his waiting room and gets in the elevator to leave his company, probably for the last time it seems. She turns around and sees the closed doors of his office as the elevator doors slide closed. This was a really heavy scene and difficult to watch with any enjoyment.
The balance of this episode has them both lost in their emotions, as they continue to struggle with what has happened. She reaches out again, via email this time to try to convince him to continue the series of articles and that she will step aside and let her peers take over. This is because we learn the first installment of the series on his company was a hit at the magazine and her bosses have ordered it to continue full-speed-ahead. Her boss and co-workers are stunned at her lack of interest (she’s still in a daze from being blocked by him) and she eventually tells her boss she must back out and will hand off the project to the rest of the team. Her rival leaps at the chance to capitalize on ShuYi’s distress and she goes for the opportunity to take over ShuYi’s pet project with ShiYan. Satisfyingly for us, it’s a futile attempt as he has no interest in renewing the series with anyone from Financial Weekly.
And the skateboarding vulture Jackson Yi continues to try to snatch ShuYi away with more cheesy attempts to date her. Whatever, dude. Just go away.
Meanwhile, ShiYan, completely frustrated and struggling with the debris of his feelings for her, first reaches out of his assistant Mr. Chen to ask hypothetical questions on how to deal with an angry lover, but his questioning is confusing as to who the offending party is. His visit with Uncle Guan (who has figured out what's going on) brings him more unsolicited advice on how to handle a spat with ShuYi. Later on, at the end of the episode he listens to his niece again on what one should do with an angry woman. In the meantime, he seems lost and distracted at the worst possible time, as the 2 elders on his board have now gone around him and appealed to his father to have him replaced due to the fiasco with Le’an Tech and Shi’s desire to invest in Juhe Battery Tech.
The show ends with a heart-to-heart talk between ShuYi and YuYou. She confides that her relationship with Shi has collapsed and that he’s blocked her attempts to apologize. YuYou is incredulous at his reaction and has her explain exactly how she apologized. Finally, and thankfully, he chides her (diplomatically) by telling her she prioritized the business aspect of their relationship while ignoring his feelings, which she acknowledged: “I’m a terrible person”.
We finally see them on a riverwalk walking towards each other, lost in thought, virtually passing each other without even noticing, so deep is their grief at the death of their love.
With no one at the steering wheel of their love, the relationship, like a runaway car, now careens downhill, picking up speed with every turn….at some point, it will fly off the road and crash into the abyss below.
That point happens in this episode. And again, it’s not easy to watch.
The episode opens with ShuYi learning from the buzzard that it was ShiYan who took her home from the charity dinner. Thankfully, she cuts the time with him short and goes back to the office, realizing it makes no difference as too much time has elapsed and she criticizes herself for being so foolish as to care. And in the meantime he has to deal with “Fiona”, the daughter of one of the elders on his board who is a childhood friend and upon her return to China, wants to “help” at his company.
But for ShuYi, there is no escaping the miserable solitude that has descended on her. That night, while dining alone at her favorite seafood-noodle place, she sees a romantic drama on the TV there, with an actress in anguish over her failed relationship. Our heroine can’t get a break it seems, but it steels her to finally face him, and apologize in person as YuYou suggested she do back in Ep 28. So she goes to his office, somehow knowing he’d still be there (this is well after dinner time). With just her luck, she sees him leaving with “Fiona” in tow and misunderstands. Honestly, this was all she needed to get cold feet again and her bravado vanishes in an instant. Unfortunately, she is unable to remember she already partially opened her heart to him when she was drunk. So, she tells the cabbie to take her home. Has she lost him already to another woman, she wonders?
The next day at FW, KongNan tells her about Fiona, trying to get her motivated to do SOMETHING. It’s a day of relaxation for everyone else, as GuanJi and ShanShan are at his dad’s horse farm (along with his dad and Ms. Tang (his GF)). After Uncle Guan and Ms. Tang depart, ShiYan shows up and ShanShan lets him have it – both barrels worth. A panicked GuanJi tries to tell her to lighten up and help ShiYan reconcile with ShuYi – they all know that they still love each other. This is confirmed by ShiYan, who tells ShanShan “ShuYi has always been the only one I love” which catches ShanShan off guard. But ShiYan tells them that this issue is something that he and ShuYi need to fix themselves – no one should help them.
Sometime later (at least the next day) FW is abuzz because the problems at Yuanchang have reached the crisis point as 2 investors are ready to bail out and the board is in danger of losing 2 directors. Ms. Tang is furious at Yuling because FW is supposed to have a “special relationship” with Yuanchang (which was actually based on our lead’s personal relationship) and they were caught by surprise as well. Ms. Tang removes Yuling from the Yuanchang assignment and asks ShuYi to take it back over, as they are desperate to get in on this story. Ms Tang brings out all the tools she has to coerce ShuYi to take the job including how her beloved e-magazine project’s future hinges on this. A reluctant ShuYi agrees to resume work on the project and will go to Yuanchang and talk to ShiYan.
And sit down, because now things go completely to Hell.
We know this will not go well, as she enters his office to the melancholy tune “Passerby”. His back is to her, and she addresses him formally because this is a work assignment and not the opportunity to personally apologize to him. He turns around and they stare at each other…ShuYi is transfixed and seems to be frozen in place. (Beautiful camera work in this scene). They stare at each other for almost 40 seconds in silence and her tension grows to the point where she clutches at her purse and finally makes it known that she is here to ask about the company. Well, I can’t call it another Faux Pas on her part. She was sent here on this mission to do exactly this and she had no choice. Of course, he doesn’t know that and was expecting this to be her opportunity to come clean so they could start the reconciliation process they both long for. When she starts talking about the company, his face just crumbles and he breaks eye contact with her. He cuts her off and asks her “are you here just because of that?” When she seems surprised (and still terrified) as his response, he responds with the same message that the company has issued to all media: That they have nothing to say at this time. He then dismisses her. She dutifully leaves the office, robot-like now, her emotions totally destroyed. This was what she feared most and it happened. As she shuffles out of the lobby of the building, she winds up getting bumped aside by the media gaggle gathered downstairs who are racing towards ShiYan who suddenly appears. They are demanding to know what the story at Yuanchang is (the same questions she tried to ask). They are blocking the exit and want answers before he can leave. Off to ShiYan’s left stands a shell-shocked ShuYi watching this unfold.…. To her disbelief, he looks over at her for a few seconds (they make eye contact) and then he tells the media (and her) that neither the company or HE can’t accept someone nor something that is impure (depending on translation it could mean “can’t stand firm”). He furthers the point and says that there will always be differences of opinion but that BOTH SIDES need to COME TOGETHER to solve their problems INSTEAD OF RUNNING AWAY (he’s referring to his board/investors AND her). She is gutted to hear this last part and he leaves with the media in trail and she’s left standing there, a shell of the woman who walked into the building only a few minutes ago. She returns to the familiarity of her office at FW and finally whatever was holding her together shatters and she breaks down sobbing in the hallway to the shock of the staff. She eventually tells KongNan to leave her be and she wipes her tears and goes back to her desk to seek solace in her work.
And there she stays, late into the night. I’m not sure of what she could be writing, as she has no more information than any other media member. Finally, with tears in her eyes, she picks up her iPhone and accepts what she sees as inevitable…..and she deletes his contact info from her WeChat. To ShuYi, it has ended. ShiYan, who likewise is still at his office late into the night, is stressed out and fed up with everything. He stops at her favorite noodle place (of all places!) for dinner and thinks of their happier times and moments together. After one bite of noodles he scrolls thru all their texts and WeChat messages and hears her voice in his head telling him all her silly things, ending with her poem when she went out of town. He can’t take it anymore and finally texts her and asks “Do you want to eat some noodles?” to force the reconciliation process. But he is shocked to see his message go undelivered with the red-meatball-of-doom showing that she’s deleted him from her contacts. ShiYan sits in stony silence for a long time as everyone else in the restaurant goes about their lively business.
And that’s it folks. The runaway car of their relationship has gone off the edge and hurtled to its destruction.
Now, there is a LOT more to this episode, including how the niece and Prof Yu actually manage to overcome their hesitance and become a couple. It’s a nice counterpoint to the difficulties her boss and uncle are going thru. The niece is much more emotionally mature than her boss at work…or her uncle for that matter.
The episode ends on a funny note (it’s important to remember that this show does do comedic scenes really well). For some reason ShuYi is with the buzzard at a dept store helping him shop, though she remains distant. The niece and Prof Yu (on a date) see them together leaving the store and walking thru the mall and she’s determined to see what the heck is going on! They tail her boss and buzzard to a restaurant in the mall and “accidentally” run into them so they can all have dinner together. The niece watches ShuYi and Buzzard like a hawk, reporting everything to her uncle via WeChat, demanding he do SOMETHING. ShuYi is watching her in disbelief, trying to figure out what the niece is up to. This scene is much funnier than it sounds, as the niece’s anguish is matched by ShuYi’s confusion. The close is when the niece sees how considerate buzzard is towards ShuYi (how very unlike her Uncle is) and she face-palms while demanding to know why her uncle hasn’t responded to her messages. As the credits roll, we see him sitting in dejected silence at home as if he is reliving the events of the day. Finally he picks up his iPhone and begins reading his nieces’ messages….
This is such a shame, as there is a kernel of a good series here. The leads are fun to watch and the brother/aunt couple are OK too. Just keep her mom as the only villain and fire the rest of the cast.
What this is, is a very realistic story of two very intelligent professionals who accidentally fall in love, for the wrong reasons initially, and how they try to cope with the ensuing events. The characters can be very frustrating because, like real people, they are unpredictable and do stupid things (especially true for the FL). The series is long enough at 36 episodes to allow for a realistic depiction of an accidental love affair that grew faster than either party was ready for.
To me, it's addicting, because this is so true to life and the actors are magnificent in their portrayals of the characters in the novel. If you're patient and willing to invest the time, I HIGHLY recommend it. It will frustrate you at times, and you will end up yelling at the screen, but it's worth it.
If in doubt, read the novel (it's on-line) as the basics of the story are very close to it.
Hope this helps.
Just when I thought they would give us a brief break in the heart-wrenching scenes, and I could write a few paragraphs to wrap this up....they drop this gem on us. There is some significant deviation from the book beginning with her attempts to meet with him at his office back in Ep 28, so I can’t refer the novel for much clarification.
This whole episode revolves around one 11-minute scene at a Charity Dinner. And within that, the core is a 3 minute cut that is staged in front of a tree, of all things. So, let’s get started:
The episode has us wondering if ShiYan actually blocked her on WeChat or not. He acts thru the episode as being surprised that she has not reached out to him (that is what he tells his friends at least) but we know that her last message to him was not delivered. (In the book he DID block her). The episode picks up with his conversation with his niece who wants to know why he’s still in such a bad mood and she knows by now it has something to do with ShuYi. She tries to get him to take the initiative and explains things from a woman’s POV… and while he’s hearing her, he’s not listening. When she asks him what he thinks the most important thing in a relationship is, his answer is simply “honesty”, giving us insight to the hurt that ShuYi has inflicted on him, but he then rambles on about what makes successful couples, as if he’s distracted. When he stops, she finally asks him the fateful question: “Is ShuYi the one for you?” After fumbling for an answer for 10 seconds, he finally just tells her to go to bed.
The next morning, back at her office, Yuling is still trying to stick thorns in ShuYi by bragging about her non-existent interviews with Mr. Shi. And then depressingly, the buzzard Jackson Yi tosses ShuYi the catnip she craves: he’s set up an interview session with his expatriate friends for her this afternoon. Suddenly her dull eyes lift and we see the smiling, proficient journalist at the interview session in Jackson’s office that afternoon. Her article appears in the online magazine to rave reviews, and she credits the niece in the by-line too. This gives the niece the kick in the butt to realize that being a journalist like her idol is exactly the future she wants. By now, the timeline is a bit fuzzy, as we don’t know how many days have elapsed since this interview nor do we know how long it’s been since the breakup at the Aquarium on Lunar New Year +5.
Sensing he’s on a roll, the buzzard then invites her to a big charity dinner and she accepts since it’s a networking opportunity for her. However, it seems there has been something edited out, as the scene then abruptly cuts to the dinner being held at some kind of mansion. She arrives looking better than most of the actresses attending the Oscars, in an evening gown that must have cost a fortune (how did she pay for it? Only the niece would have been able to afford it) and her hair beautifully styled as well. When did all this happen???? I think these must have been the scenes left on the cutting-room floor.
Putting all that aside, buzzard offers his arm to escort her in, but she’s not having it and they walk in separately (yayy). Once inside she and ShiYan instantly spot each other, and the director does a magnificent job of soft focus on everyone else around them, so that all they see is each other (tunnel-vision, if you will). As the attendees gossip, his ex-gf (the real actress) approaches him to ask if they can reconcile and he turns her down. While this happens, buzzard yanks ShuYi and pulls her out of the ballroom to the outside patio (ShiYan seethes when he see this) and she begins drinking wine hard and fast. She gets buzzed pretty quickly and tells JY that she still has ShiYan in her heart and there is no place for him (double-yayyy). As they continue talking, she gets increasingly tipsy. And once again he pulls her away, this time from the mansion towards the grounds. ShiYan finally frees himself from the ex-gf and goes looking for her, only to find her….climbing a tree! For unknown reasons, buzzard is a few branches above her and she’s about 6 feet up in a saddle of the branches, tottering back and forth. ShiYan demands she come down, while buzzard tells her to avoid him and climb up to him (how stupid). At this point her liquid courage has kicked in and she tells ShiYan off and he coaxes her down by calling her “Little Fairy”, her favorite pet name. She falls into his arms (almost literally) and hugs him whispering in his ear that he’s a weirdo and that he has a cruel heart…and then she BITES his neck (followed with a quick kiss). Hickie ensured, he takes her away in a fireman carry (she’s too loaded for him to carry her on his back, but I’m shocked he didn’t do the princess carry again – it would have been a great F-U to the buzzard.). As he walks off, buzzard fires his last salvo at ShiYan, telling him if he “can’t give her what she wants he should stay away”, but Shi responds that he, no matter what, will make sure she always has what she wants.
Under the watchful eyes of the chauffeur, he gently places her in the back seat of the Rolls..but just before she passes out, she again tells him of how much she misses him and how sad she is that everyone is allowed to talk to him but her. At this point she embraces him and begins sobbing (this is really a tough scene to watch). He simply asks her “Did you ever have feelings for me?” but, as drama allows, she passes out in his arms before she can answer. He holds her and the Rolls pulls away from the Dinner. They drop her off at her house and he goes home, staring in the mirror at the hickie on his neck. Before he goes to bed it appears he re-adds her to his WeChat (so he DID block her?)
The next morning, she has no idea how she got home. Who put her in bed? ShiYan, for his part, makes sure to wear his turtle-neck sweater to cover the hickie when he dresses for work. Unfortunately, the buzzard is relentless, and sends her fruit gift baskets to the office which she decides to have distributed to the staff. Then, he follows up by sending her a skateboard to the office. (Go away, you punk!) She’s not having it but wants him to tell her who took her home, which he refuses, unless he sees her for a date (what a dirtbag!). In the meantime this infuriating news gets back to ShiYan via an ad-hoc intelligence network (KongNan to her boyfriend Mr. Chen), which is kind of funny, because for all he tries, ShiYan can’t avoid finding out what is going on at Finance Weekly. It’s also odd that he doesn’t ask Mr. Chen exactly HOW he knows what is going on there. While at Finance Weekly, Yuling is getting chewed out by the boss because her draft report on taking over the Yuanchang series is basically crap because ShiYan won’t meet with her…thus she’s not fooling anyone with a bunch of filler and speculation.
The episode finally ends with ShuYi and ShanShan dining at her place while ShiYan & GuanJi are at a bar…and Shi is drinking way too much – he’s upset about the whole situation especially considering that the skateboarding buzzard won’t let up. During this, Guan and Shan (the only couple with anything going on) call each other on the phone and Shi can’t help but hear Shan giving Guan a piece of her mind telling her how messed up ShuYi is but confirming that ShuYi isn’t interested in the buzzard. Since Shi is in listening distance on the phone, she unloads oh him too. (I still like ShanShan, despite her imperfect advice). The episode closes with ShiYan stalking off and Guan stopping him and asking his oldest friend “What are you thinking? I’ve never seen you like this!” A question Shi cannot answer and he simply holds his hand open and says “I don’t know”.
Ep 29 would open with a time-skip, 15 years in the future. It's the day before ShuYi's 40th birthday. In the intervening years, she married Jackson Yi, had a child (5~10 y/o at this point) and recently divorced him after his company went bankrupt and she discovered that he too had been cheating on her. She is the editor (Ms. Tang's job) at FW; the niece (married to YuYou, childless) has Shu Yi's old job and manages the e-magazine which is the top priority for the firm. The printed version is only done quarterly at this point.
Upon his BIL's retirement a couple of years prior, ShiYan moved back to take over the Mingyu Group and folds Youngchang into that firm. He never married and still carries a hidden torch for her, keeping tabs on her career. He's aware of her birthday tomorrow.
And the only person who suspects his continued feelings for her is the niece because he's hidden away those feelings for years and busied himself back in his job.
That day (a Sunday), the Shi 's all gather at the Shi Family home for lunch and the niece mentions to her uncle that ShuYi's 40th birthday is tomorrow and FW is having a big party for her...wouldn't it be nice if he sent his regards????
There's the obvious problem of how to stage something 15 years from now, given technology changes, etc (flying cars are common? no more computers on desks, robots everywhere, etc) so you'd just have to give that a pass and pretend tech didn't advance. But the point of the series from then on, is how (and even CAN) they rekindle their feelings for each other, given what she's learned about life since...and can he be patient enough to give her the time to be the kind of person he needs her to be. While she's had a lot of professional success, her private life has suffered and inside, she's hurting. There's at least 5 episodes of stuff you can work with here, also following up on the lives of the other couples.
Just a thought...I also would have changed things up a bit with her life before, but that's another topic.
I was going to skip a summary of 29, but they walloped us again,especially with the tree-climbing scene. So I guess I'll write a quick one on that this weekend. Have a good weekend!
I find it interesting that I've read reviews that THIS is when the series takes off and becomes the romantic story that readers feel was promised. I couldn't disagree more. In fact, I kind of wish they ended the series here, because one thing we can all agree on (and has been hammered home in every C- or K- drama I've ever seen) is that trust and communication are key in a healthy relationship. Our two leads have NEITHER. He can't communicate and doesn't trust anyone for both professional and personal reasons, while she simply struggles to be honest with anyone in her life. How can they have trust with this kind of weight tied around their necks? By splitting them up, the series teaches this lesson to us - real relationships can't survive what they've been thru.
Look, I want a happy ending whenever possible in a series. But in this one, is it really realistic or satisfying? I would propose something different happen after this episode, but I'll hold off on that until we see how this all works out.
This episode deals with the continuing fallout from the break-up in 27.
It’s now official: With his niece’s mission as a plant to keep an eye on ShuYi no longer needed, ShiYun tells her to quit her job. Yet, ShuYi hasn’t figured this out yet and thinks that he’s pulling his niece away because he wants to isolate her from his family. She has yet to make the connection to his niece being an agent of her uncle.
The following morning, when he goes to the garage to drive to work, he can't face getting in the Rolls...it's HER car, now. And he just stares at it until he has the driver get the company car (minivan) and commutes to work in it.
And just when you think that things could have not gotten any worse, she once again lets us down. She goes to his office for a chance to see him and apologize personally, which he rebuffs by sending out his assistant to tell her that he won’t see her anymore and that the agreement between the companies is over. She’s crushed (again) and slowly leaves while “Passerby” plays softy in the background. Before getting on the elevator, she finally reaches out to him via WeChat and apologizes there – and he’s reading her texts as soon as she sends them. (Mind you, she’s essentially standing right outside his office door and he knows it). All goes well at first, and she even deletes her first text apologizing about their companies relationship (thank goodness she’s learned something?) she then sends two heartfelt messages apologizing for her behavior and we can see he’s touched and he glances at the door she’s standing outside of. But then, on the third text message comes Faux Pas #3 as she stupidly says she hopes this won’t affect the relationship between their two companies. At which point he slams down the phone. She sends one last message, simply expressing her sincerity in her sadness, that gets the dreaded red meatball with the exclamation point inside. Was the message not delivered because he blocked her? That is her belief and her grief again swells and her eyes tear up. In slow motion, she walks out of his waiting room and gets in the elevator to leave his company, probably for the last time it seems. She turns around and sees the closed doors of his office as the elevator doors slide closed. This was a really heavy scene and difficult to watch with any enjoyment.
The balance of this episode has them both lost in their emotions, as they continue to struggle with what has happened. She reaches out again, via email this time to try to convince him to continue the series of articles and that she will step aside and let her peers take over. This is because we learn the first installment of the series on his company was a hit at the magazine and her bosses have ordered it to continue full-speed-ahead. Her boss and co-workers are stunned at her lack of interest (she’s still in a daze from being blocked by him) and she eventually tells her boss she must back out and will hand off the project to the rest of the team. Her rival leaps at the chance to capitalize on ShuYi’s distress and she goes for the opportunity to take over ShuYi’s pet project with ShiYan. Satisfyingly for us, it’s a futile attempt as he has no interest in renewing the series with anyone from Financial Weekly.
And the skateboarding vulture Jackson Yi continues to try to snatch ShuYi away with more cheesy attempts to date her. Whatever, dude. Just go away.
Meanwhile, ShiYan, completely frustrated and struggling with the debris of his feelings for her, first reaches out of his assistant Mr. Chen to ask hypothetical questions on how to deal with an angry lover, but his questioning is confusing as to who the offending party is. His visit with Uncle Guan (who has figured out what's going on) brings him more unsolicited advice on how to handle a spat with ShuYi. Later on, at the end of the episode he listens to his niece again on what one should do with an angry woman. In the meantime, he seems lost and distracted at the worst possible time, as the 2 elders on his board have now gone around him and appealed to his father to have him replaced due to the fiasco with Le’an Tech and Shi’s desire to invest in Juhe Battery Tech.
The show ends with a heart-to-heart talk between ShuYi and YuYou. She confides that her relationship with Shi has collapsed and that he’s blocked her attempts to apologize. YuYou is incredulous at his reaction and has her explain exactly how she apologized. Finally, and thankfully, he chides her (diplomatically) by telling her she prioritized the business aspect of their relationship while ignoring his feelings, which she acknowledged: “I’m a terrible person”.
We finally see them on a riverwalk walking towards each other, lost in thought, virtually passing each other without even noticing, so deep is their grief at the death of their love.