Episode 9 Recap
We backtrack in time from the night at the hilltop to earlier in the day, just after He Hao Yi makes the decision to end the Best Friend Era between him and AI Li Si. He makes his way to the store Ai Li Si’s returned to carry out the next part of her plan to get a better shelf position for Jsut International’s facial mask—handing out flyers. He Hao Yi, who intends to take Ai Li Si out for the day in an unofficial date, convinces the store manager to not use such strategies as handing out flyers to bring in more customers. He tells the store manager that most people won’t even look at flyers. They just throw it away. It us more effective to hold an event as it will bring in new customers and produce longer lasting relationships. The manager is reluctant at first, as she doesn’t have a great budget to run an event. He Hao Yi assures her Jsut International will plan the event and pay for it, too. The store manager agrees quite happily. After the celebrity store manager for a day fell through, she too would like to see another event stand in its place.
With Ai Li Si no longer needed to hand out flyers, He Hao Yi moves to have her accompany him the rest of the day. Ai Li Si declines at first, giving the reason that now she’s needing to plan an event instead of handing out flyer, she’s needs to go back to the office to think over the details. He Hao Yi tells her, for inspiration to come, she needs to be elsewhere, not stuck in the office.
Ai Li Si lets He Hao Yi take her by the hand towards his car. He doesn’t say where he intends to take her, only telling her to get in for the time being. As he requested, Ai Li Si does exactly that. She moves to open the passenger-side door like any person would, but since this seemingly was supposed to be an unofficial, unspoken date, He Hao Yi steps in quickly to make sure he opens the door for her. He pushes the door shut so that he performed the action like a gentleman would for his date. It has Ai Li Si wonder what he was up to. He Hao Yi simply brushes it aside and re-opens it for her.
He Hao Yi takes her to the seaside to enjoy a day out on a yacht and capturing the outing on video. It has Ai Li Si the think about her former best friends and how they used to go take photo stickers. Back then, they didn’t have a great device like the phone to take them. Now there is, she doesn’t have them to take any photos with. He Hao Yi being her best friend, she asks him to take a photo with her. He Hao Yi gladly heads next to her and takes many shots.
After taking the photos, He Hao Yi’s best friend status unexpectedly drops to being brother and sister. As Ai Li Si looks through the album of photos, she notices one where He Hao Yi’s taken an in flattering photo where her mouth open. Ai Li Si turns to He Hao Yi and tries to mess up his hair and bring down the spikes. “This looks more like the 17-year-old, Ah Di,” Ai Li Si tells him. Ai Li Si’s use of “Ah Di” has He Hao Yi ask whether her memory’s come back (as this name was used after where her memory stopped). Her memory hasn’t returned. She tells him that she knows the name because she hears Liu Xiao Fen use it and finding it fitting. Then, teasingly, she decides to use it to address him from now on.
“Ah Di” being a term used call one’s younger brother, He Hao Yi unhappily takes his leave to retreat to the inside of the yacht to get a drink. Annoyance hits him. Being a best friend is depressing enough, now he’s become her brother. When he steps back out, he is met with a seasick Ai Li Si who goes to him complaining of being dizzy. She falls against him for support. Ai Li Si doesn’t feel well, but she doesn’t want to head back to land because it’s not often that she gets to hang out with her best friend. She says this as she is holding his hand. This has He Hao Yi tell her not to casually hold a man’s hand, which has Ai Li Si calls him petty.
Ai Li Si slowly drifts off to sleep, leaving He Hao Yi to think about how much this was like a dream. They are only able to be this close because she went back to being 17. When she returns to being 30, would he be able to ask her not to leave him?
Later that night, He Hao Yi takes her to the hilltop (which lands us back at the point where He Hao Yi is trying to get Ai Li Si to realise how he sees her). The view of Taipei 101 has Ai Li Si excited, finding the experience “so cool”. She yet again goes about grabbing He Hao Yi’s wrist without a second thought about how the contact affects him or what the action means to him. He Hao Yi draws her attention to it, “you’re pulling my hand again” as if hinting to her to not do so unless she sees him the way he sees her. Ai Li Si cluelessly asks him whether it’s something she can’t do. He Hao Yi doesn’t answer and moves to pose the question about what it means for two people to view it together the way they’re doing. After thinking on it for a short moment, Ai Li Si answers that viewing the night view together means that they are best friends.
He Hao Yi tells her that it’s not entirely incorrect, it just needs a bit of revising. He takes her hands and tells her that he doesn’t want to be her good friend. He wants to be the special person in her heart because that is how he sees her in his heart. The confession has Ai Li Si stare at him, trying to process the meaning behind his words. She never quite gets there as the two are interrupted by a phone call from Bai Shu Lei about Song Han Ming having run into some trouble outside the fitness centre they’re at currently.
The trouble comes after Song Han Ming is seen outside the fitness centre with Chen-ji, a worker at the fitness centre and wife of Chairman Wang. Out of Song Han Ming’s desire to gain favour from the distributors through their wives, Song Han Ming has gone and targeted Chen-ji. In doing so, he lands himself in a misunderstanding whereby he’s mistaken as the man Chen-ji has been frequenting hotels 40 times. Thinking Song Han Ming is the man his wife is cheating with, Chairman Wang confronts Song Han Ming outside the fitness centre after he comes back from buying an ice pack for Bai Shu Lei. (As Song Han Ming was at the fitness centre flirting with Chen-ji, Bai Shu Lei had watched on in jealousy. The frustration in seeing Song Han Ming flirt has her not pay attention to her form and cause her to hurt her shoulder and seemingly her back whilst on the shoulder press machine.)
Standing behind a pillar, Bai Shu Lei watches Song Han Ming act as a barrier between Chen-ji and Chairman Wang’s abusive hands before Chairman Wang’s half a dozen men are put onto Song Han Ming. In an attempt to help out Song Han Ming, Bai Shu Lei throws her bag at one of the men. This has that man approach her. He never gets there as Song Han Ming’s attention is drawn to Bai Shu Lei’s scream after having tripped and fallen to the ground out of fear from the man’s approach. He helps her up before they run for it.
(Presumably, sometime during the time Bai Shu Lei makes the call to He Hao Yi and after she and Song Han Ming make a run for it, the call is cut which has He Hao Yi and Ai Li Si end their unofficial date at the hilltop and head towards the fitness centre.)
Song Han Ming pulls Bai Shu Lei along by her hand. They are given a short reprieve under a shelter seating. Bai Shu Lei’s comment about there never being a good thing happening whenever she’s with him. This has Song Han Ming retort she was the one who stayed and added trouble to the situation (referring to the throwing of the bag and then tripping). Bai Shu Lei comes back with the reason being her attempt in trying to save him. She lost her bag because of him. She then calls him an ungrateful guy. Acknowledging the gesture, Song Han Ming promises to compensate her for the bag as well as treat her a meal.
Next, Bai Shu Lei calls him dirty for going to a hotel 40 times. This has Song Han Ming clear the misunderstanding: he doesn’t even have time to check stores, let alone have time to go to hotels. He’s not superman he says. As Bai Shu Lei wonders who Chen-ji went to the hotels with, Chaiman Wang and his men catch up to them. Song Han Ming takes Bai Shu Lei and tries to make a run for it again, but Chairman Wang’s men stand in their way.
Another fight follows, but this time, Song Han Ming has back up. He Hao Yi’s arrived. Kicking down one of the men, He Hao Yi enters the ring of men to stand back to back with Song Han Ming. He Hao Yi pays Song Han Ming a compliment about his fighting skills. Not willing to show his acceptance of his help so easily, Song Han Ming comments that He Hao Yi having saved him from one stab (in other words, He Hao Yi doesn’t add much help to him). With the responsibility of protecting Ai Li Si and Bai Shu Lei, He Hao Yi ends the bravado talk. They each hold off one side.
The fight continues until the identity of the man cheating with Chen-ji is revealed. Tony, a man serving under Chairman Wang, turns out to be that man. The identity is revealed after Song Han Ming sends Tony to the ground and Chen-ji runs to him in concern. Chairman Wang doesn’t realise this, though. It takes Bai Shu Lei to bring the fact that all this time Song Han Ming’s been fighting, she didn’t show kind of reaction, but as soon as Tony went down. Chen-ji tries to deny it, but he’s caught on. Chairman Wang sends a fist across Tony’s face before calling over his men to take care of Tony.
He Hao Yi, Song Han Ming and Bai Shu Lei move to another location to wait for Ai Li Si, who’s gone to buy medicine. As they wait, Bai Shu Lei’s comment about He Hao Yi and Song Han Ming’s performance showed their age has the two men talk tough, each claiming to be too strong for those men back there to win over them. Their tough talk continue just a little longer when Ai Li Si return with the medicine. Not wanting to show any weakness by admitting any need for medicine, He Hao Yi tells Ai Li Si he’s perfectly fine and doesn’t need medicine when she asks both her and Song Han Ming whether they need any. Song Han Ming’s gaze involuntarily flicks to the knife wound on his arm, but not wanting to lose to He Hao Yi, he also claims of not needing medicine.
Bai Shu Lei notices Song Han Ming’s wound and draws attention to it. This has Ai Li Si take Song Han Ming by the hand, pull him over to a seat and start treating his arm wound with a cotton bud and iodine. The whole time Ai Li Si and Song Han Ming’s hands are joined, He Hao Yi is left to stare angrily at them. (Electricity was played as the joined hands crossed his view. Poor He Hao Yi. Acting strong and manly caused him to lose against Song Han Ming in the end!) Bai Shu Lei doesn’t escape feeling a bit of jealousy either it looks like as she too looked at the joined hands and the whole bandaging of Song Han Ming’s arm with an unhappy expression.
When Ai Li Si finishes up and Song Han Ming thanks her for coming (even though it was with He Hao Yi), they hold each other’s gaze and smile at each other for a time longer than probably is necessary. It doesn’t look like they were going to stop any time soon, either, so Bai Shu Lei steps in to break the moment between them, clearing her throat.
The four end their night with Bai Shu Lei and Song Han Ming leaving together (Bai Shu Lei manages to get Song Han Ming to go with him by holding him against his promise to get her an ice pack for her back before the encounter with Chairman Wang). He Hao Yi and Ai Li Si head in the opposite direction back towards their home.
Down at the carpark, Bai Shu Lei waits for Song Han Ming to return with an ice pack. She stares into his messy car filled with items showing he’s spent most of his time on the road working to sign clients. He has a bento box in there, drinks, instant noodles, contracts, unopened bills, and his dry-cleaned suit hanging in his car. When he returns, she learns the reason he took on her proposal despite knowing how difficult it’d be to get the distributors on board. It’s not because he felt guilty for hiding his identity from her as she jokingly suggests. He would go that far for her, he tells her. It’s because he saw the goal behind her proposal and the long-term benefits of having clients seek them out rather than they having to seek them if it all goes according to plan and succeeds. What’s more, he would turn down a challenge because it was difficult.
Hearing Song Han Ming perfectly understand the intention of her proposal has her look at gaze at him, suddenly realising how on the same page they really were.
Song Han Ming moves tell Bai Shu Lei that Chairman Wang just sent him a text and agreed to sign the contract the next day. Now his job is done, he informs her he was heading home and indicates that he wasn’t taking her by closing the passenger side door he had opened to clean his car. Bai Shu Lei stops him and uses her injured shoulder to try and get him to take her home. Resignedly, Song Han Ming gives in and tells her to get in the car.
As she gets in, Bai Shu Lei is heard thinking about how much she’s affected by Song again Ming: “My heart is beating so fast. I’m done for.”
The walk home for He Hao Yi and Ai Li Si was apparently filled with silence. When they walk through the door, Ai Li Si is seen questioning He Hao Yi’s silence during their walk home. He Hao Yi just shakes his head as if to answer it’s nothing, but clearly it’s not nothing. He’s fuming inside over Ai Li Si’s lack of care over who she holds hands with. Ai Li Si approaches him as he takes a drink of water he’s poured himself. “Is it because you’re not feeling well?” she asks. Again, He Hao Yi shakes his head. Ai Li Si continues and asks if it was that they didn’t have a good time at the many places they went to. He turns to her and forces a small smile as if to say, “yes, but then you held Song Han Ming’s hand”, before he turns back then leaves without saying a word.
Ai Li Si, not getting the situation, calls him back, gripping onto his wrist to stop him. This has He Hao Yi stare down at her grip. (There Ai Li Si goes again, holding a man’s hand without a second thought.) Ai Li Si moves to ask what was up with him. Angry (and maybe to show her what can happen when she holds a man’s hand without giving a second thought), He Hao Yi takes hold of her right wrist with his left hand, releasing her grip on him before leaning into her, sending her back against the bench behind her. He fences her off with his right arm, completely blocking Ai Li Si from escaping anywhere, and repeats his warning about holding a man’s hand so casually: “You held my hand and Song Han Ming’s today. I already mentioned it before. You shouldn’t casually hold a man’s hand. Did you forget that?”
Although Ai Li Si was shocked by He Hao Yi’s sudden approach at first, she is not the slightest bit affected by his proximity. He Hao Yi’s mention of her holding both his and Song Han Ming’s hand has her gaze unfazed into his. She calls him strange for giving her the silent treatment because of such a matter. She hasn’t one clue.
He Hao Yi moves to ask her how she sees him. This has her show little to no separation between him and someone else yet again. Both He Hao Yi and Song Han Ming are her friends, she tells him; however, He Hao Yi is a special kind of friend. Still not getting the situation, Ai Li Si adds that he is Ah Di after all.
He Hao Yi shuts his eyes briefly out of frustration before releasing his hold of Ai Li Si’s wrist to slam his now free hand down onto the bench. Both his hands and arms on either side of her now, he leans into her more and tells her that he doesn’t want to be her friend. Shock across her expression, Ai Li Si asks him what he hopes for them to be. He Hao Yi stares at her and starts to tell her, but as if unsure whether to tell her or show her, he stops mid-sentence.
He moves in—a decision which maybe isn’t so much a conscious one, but one he finds himself unable to control. He Hao Yi’s heart beat thump hard against his chest as Ai Li Si remains still in her place and wide-eyed. Millimetres from her lips, he recalls the last moment before the 30-year-old Ai Li Si lost her memory: “So it turns out you got close to me because you wanted to get the experiment logs. Thanks for making me remember that trusting friends is a foolish thing to do.” At that time, He Hao Yi tried to tell her that it was nothing like that; he only cares about her, but he had lost her trust.
The memory seem to inject some control into him as his eyes are seen to shut upon recalling such a poignant memory before opening them again. As he continues to hover over her lips, he voices he is someone deserving of her trust. It’s more a reminder to himself than an answer to Ai Li Si’s previous question about the kind of relationship he wanted with her. In order to be deserving, he can’t take advantage of the trust and friendship he has with her now just so he can get close to her the way he would like them to be. He Hao Yi backs off.
Despite how close He Hao Yi was to her, Ai Li Si still has no idea of He Hao Yi’s thoughts, feelings and actions. She takes his answer as is, which has her confused. “I don’t get it. Mutual trust is something that has always existed between friends,” she tells him.
Unable to challenge Ai Li Si’s statement, He Hao Yi decides to head out to shake it off. He directs her attention to the proposal she has to write and encourages her to read the books sitting on his desk to help her out as he takes off to the basketball court.
There, as he fails to make a goal at the courts, he struggles with what the best way is to handle his relationship with her. Should he take hold of her love now or remain by her side, protect her and be her friend until she recovers her memory?
Back at the apartment, Ai Li Si takes up He Hao Yi’s suggestion of working on the proposal, oblivious to the troubled thoughts He Hao Yi has about their relationship. She doesn’t appear to spend any time thinking about the events that occurred earlier in the evening as her mind focuses on coming up with a concept. It’s late, though. Not wanting to get in Liu Xiao Fen’s way, she decides to head off to take a shower before Liu Xiao Fen uses the bathroom herself.
With Ai Li Si not the type to do much in terms of using beauty products on her face, her attempt to remove it has her rub cleanser all over her eyes, making them sting. She screams, causing Liu Xiao Fen to come see why she was making so much noise. Seeing Ai Li Si’s face all covered in cleanser, Liu Xiao Fen criticises the odd way she cleans it before she drags her off to teach her the right way.
Both sitting on Ai Li Si’s bed, Liu Xiao Fen helps Ai Li Si clean her eyes as she tells her the right way to take make-up off. Ai Li Si’s lack of knowledge in caring for her skin has Liu Xiao Fen recall Ai Li Si’s typical attitude towards it, using her neglect to presumably put sunscreen on and letting her skin burn and peel as an example. When that happened, Ai Li Si would then come straight to her begging for help. Ai Li Si grins and goes about begging Liu Xiao Fen the same way right at that moment. Ai Li Si follows it with offering all her most valuable items.
Liu Xiao Fen flicks Ai Li Si’s forehead and tells her that she sounds exactly like when she was 17. Liu Xiao Fen then humours Ai Li Si, telling her that her most valuable item is already with her. When Ai Li Si asks her what that item is, Liu Xiao Fen goes off and brings out a box of items from the past and shows her that item: Ai Li Si her gold running medal. This has the conversation lead to Bai Shu Lei’s gold swimming medal which Bai Shu Lei gave to Liu Xiao Fen after seeing Ai Li Si had giving Liu Xiao Fen her running medal.
They go on to talk about Bai Shu Lei’s goal of winning senior in order to make it three years in a row. Ai Li Si’s curiosity in whether Bai Shu Lei’s goal was realised has Liu Xiao Fen tell Ai Li Si she wasn’t allowed to mention the past to her as she had promised Bai Shu Lei she wouldn’t. But it wasn’t only that stopping Liu Xiao Fen. Liu Xiao Fen tells Ai Li Si that on she starts talking about the past, she won’t be able to stop. She hints at holding a grudge against their past, but a long time has past and pretty much forgives her for it all. She can’t keep blaming her. Bai Shu Lei, though, can’t let it go so easily as she has her face to uphold. Liu Xiao Fen tells Ai Li Si that they’ll be fine talking with each other as long as Bai Shu Lei doesn’t know about it.
Liu Xiao Fen says her goodnight then. Before Liu Xiao Fen leaves, Ai Li Si asks whether she can keep the box containing past items as it will help her recall things. Liu Xiao Fen agrees and leaves it with her. Ai Li Si goes through the box, picking up a notebook containing photos of her best friends. She smiles as she looks at it. She picks up the next item—a handkerchief with bear designs. It catches her as something about it has her expression straighten.
It turns out, the expression she gave upon seeing the handkerchief is the light-bulb that went off as it had given her inspiration for her proposal. The next morning, the design is seen on the cover of her proposal. She has He Hao Yi briefly look over.
He Hao Yi seems to be back to normal and talking to her again. When she hands him her proposal, he is seen to let out a smile upon seeing the cover. He is impressed by her ability to come up with so much in one night and approves of what she’s come up with. The only thing he finds wrong with it is that she hasn’t targeted the right age group. Because of this, he tells her that Bai Shu Lei won’t accept it. He tells her she doesn’t have to rewrite it all over again, though. She should be fine with some help from Song Han Ming. (He Hao Yi actually directed her to Song Han Ming without trying help her himself first! Something’s not quite right.)
Hearing this, Ai Li Si expresses relief before she thanks him and wraps her arms around him. This has He Hao Yi’s gaze dart and hands wanting to pry her off him. As naturally as he can, he gets up and has her release the hug around him. Despite it being still early (as Ai Li Si notes), he tells her it’s getting late and needs to get into the office to settle an urgent matter. This isn’t untrue (as he is meeting with the CEO to ask for his cooperation in flushing out the traitor;); but, he is clearly showing signs he’s created a line between them which seemingly involves her not touching him and being too comfortable around him.
He Hao Yi takes his leave and heads to the company to inject more pressure into CEO and force him to act and reveal himself. Standing outside, he notes how the CEO has not done a lot to help out with the investigation. He comes off as being quite worried over the identity of this traitor, yet he hasn’t made any effort to investigate the employees in the company. He Hao Yi tells him that the traitor is often close by, amongst them. He goes on to very subtly suggest through a request that the CEO is suspicious to him. Employees aren’t able to investigate the corporate leader, but the corporate leader can investigate employees as he has access and control over employee information. He then requests his cooperation, which has the CEO suspect He Hao Yi knows something. The fact that He Hao Yi won’t allow Ai Li Si to return the lab shows this. As He Hao Yi take his leave, the CEO is heard telling his assistant he can’t wait until Ai Li Si regains her memory.
Inside Jsut International, Song Han Ming and Bai Shu Lei meet to look over Ai Li Si proposal. Song Han Ming doesn’t tell her it’s written by Ai Li Si though. When asked about when he had time to write up a proposal, Song Han Ming simply tells her to look it over and offer her opinion. Once she’s done, that, he’d be happy to answer the questions she may have.
Bai Shu Lei likes the idea. A mutual agreement on mixing the high school theme with a retro one has Bai Shu Lei immediately duck out to pass on the changes to a member of her team. Bai Shu Lei has her tell the photographer she wants to add more photos and to have the models in high school uniforms. She’s told that the models they hired don’t suit high school uniforms and it’s too late to look for her new ones. Bai Shu Lei has a solution for that.
Before Bai Shu Lei heads to the photoshoot, she thanks Song Han Ming for the proposal, which at that point, he reveals is Ai Li Si’s. She’s not surprised, considering the idea that was presented. What has her surprised is the bear design of the proposal. It looks a lot like The design of Liu Xiao Fen’s handkerchief. This has her realise Liu Xiao Fen is hiding something from her and it’s related to Ai Li Si. Nothing comes from the discovery though, except a possible new pairing between Liu Xiao Fen and the assistant who serves He Hao Yi.
At the photoshoot, when Bai Shu Lei tells the photographer that the model went to the hospital sick, the photographer threatens to pack up his things. Without a model, he can’t shoot. He prepares to leave, but Song Han Ming convinces him to give Bai Shu Lei a chance to find a solution—that solution being her. She comes out dressed in a school uniform, but her look and aura is all wrong. He makes a remark about whether she was thinking about going to Japan to develop and act?
This has Ai Li Si voice her confusion to what the photographer is referring and seemingly gets her noticed by the photographer. The next thing we see is Ai Li Si in front of the camera as the model. She exerts the very essence of a high schooler and the photographer loves it, a sight that captures He Hao Yi, who enters the studio after Ai Li Si’s R&D colleagues asked him to send through Mrs. Yang’s flask of soup. (Mrs Yang is the woman who had been rooting for her research to succeed.)
After the shoot by herself, the photographers feels it would be more enriching to have someone accompany her in the shot and discusses with Bai Shu Lei how it would be great to pair her up with someone. At that moment, Song Han Ming decides to congratulate her on a job well done. (Actually, Song Han Ming was competing for Ai Li Si’s attention after he saw Ai Li Si specifically greet He Hao Yi after spotting him in the studio.) He gives her a thumbs up which has Ai Li Si do the same as a response. The photographer turns to look at the exchange and the scene between them catches him. The next thing Ai Li Si and Song Han Ming knows, they’re posing together and being asked to act shy, like they’re hang on their first date.
He Hao Yi is forced to watch on. He’s not angry—at least that’s what he tells Bai Shu Lei when she asks him about seeing them up there. He throws the question back at her instead, saying that she should be the one angry. Then suddenly, the photographer asks Ai Li Si to hold Song Han Ming’s hands. He could barely watch her shoulder to shoulder with Song Han Ming, now he hears she has to hold hands with Song Han Ming for the shots.
Remembering He Hao Yi’s words about not being so casual about holding a man’s hand, she turns her gaze over to He Hao Yi, unsure whether it’s okay. He looks off to the side, like it didn’t matter because it was her choice. Gathering no cue from him, she turns back to Song Han Ming and asks whether it was okay. Song Han Ming affirms, telling her that it was for work. This has Ai Li Si assured and He Hao Yi coming off almost disappointed she had against thought very little about the act.
He walks out of the studio then, which has Ai Li Si’s expression immediately drop in concern as she notices his departure. With the shoot still not finished, she has no choice, but carry on. She catches up to him at the end of the work day, asking about the flask and why he didn’t wait for her after the shoot. He Hao Yi is not in a talking mood after the seeing her at the photoshoot.
He is distant. His side-on stance to her showing how much he’s not interested in staying around talking to her for long. He explains to her about the flask and how there was a mother she knew who was wishing her well, wishing for her to get her memory back and continue her research. This has Ai Li Si smile, happy to hear there were people who worried about her when she was her 30-year-old self. He Hao Yi stays to offer his last word of encouragement. He tells her that he believes that even when she gets to the age of 30, the strong points about her won’t change. He places an assuring hand on her shoulder and tells her to have confidence in herself before he announces his leave.
As natural as the conversation had gone between them, Ai Li Si does pick up that something isn’t right. She moves to take hold of him by his wrist, but he pulls it away from her. The hard expression which he seem unable to control from displaying at that moment gives away how angry he has been inside over how much he doesn’t want her to touch, especially when she places so little importance to what it means to take hold of a man’s hand. The hidden frustration within him is quickly reeled back in as his expression returns to a neutral, more pleasant one. “What is it?” he asks, his tone showing none of the anger that was clearly present, not only in his expression, but in the strength and speed at which he pulled his hand away from her.
She tries to get him to tell her what was wrong. Otherwise he wouldn’t be in such a hurry to leave like back in the photoshoot and just now. She tells him to tell her because she’ll listen to him no matter what he says. This has He Hao Yi tell her that it is exactly for this reason, he can’t say it. e says, she will listen to him. He Hao Yi stay silent, telling her that he’d be taking advantage of her innocence and trust. He continues to tell her that some things she should trust him, but when trust is mixed with other things, it becomes impure.
The fact that Ai Li Si still doesn’t pick up on anything after everything has been said proves his point. He Hao Yi tells her that his assistant is waiting for him at the hospital and leaves her.
Bai Shu Lei, who has been watching the whole scene take place in the background, takes her outside to talk. Ai Li Si thinks that perhaps that it’s because she wanted to scold her about Song Han Ming forcing Bai Shu Lei to accept her proposal. Bai Shu Lei tells her that if it want good, forcing her won’t work. She had to make some changes, but she liked it.
Ai Li Si is happy to hear she was of some help. This has Bai Shu Lei move onto talking about how simple life must be for her now that she’s gone back to being 17. She talks about work being like a game where she passes different levels and she gets to live with Liu Xiao Fen and He Hao Yi, too. Bai Shu Lei comes off as trying to call her out for taking Liu Xiao Fen away from her. “It’s like going back in time, isn’t it?” It’s unclear where Bai Shu Lei is going, but it looks to have something to do with He Hao Yi. When Ai Li Si assure her that Liu Xiao Fen did keep a distance from her for Bai Shu Lei, Bai Shu Lei asks whether she was going to keep a distance from He Hao Yi.
Thoughts
Episode 9 went by fast! We wonder what Bai Shu Lei is trying to say. Is she trying to protect He Hao Yi or help him by approaching Ai Li Si and talking about keeping a distance from him. Is she trying to get Ai Li Si to catch a clue about his feelings? That last shot of Ai Li Si and her being surprised before the episode ends feels like there was something else In the conversation that left out. Did Bai Shu Lei say something more??
Anyway, great episode for Song Han Ming! It’s not often we see the second lead get some much screen time with the female lead. For anyone who’s hanging out to see Song Han Ming get a bit of love from the writers by pairing Ai Li Si up with him, this would be one great episode! Ai Li Si took care of Song Han Ming’s wound and he was chosen to do a photo shoot with her! It’s not every day we see a Taiwanese drama use the second lead so much.
Some cool developments between Song Han Ming and Bai Shu Lei. They were actually working together and was in sync with each other in this episode. Bai Shu Lei’s proposal which Song Han Ming accepted really is to show that Song Han Ming has always been someone who understood Bai Shu Lei, even when she doesn’t come out and say anything. It was the same in high school when he gave her things she needed, like the medicated patches for her back injury rather than the usual gifts of chocolates, stuffed animals and flowers, which other guys at the high school gave her.
It’s really cool to see Bai Shu Lei acknowledge and attribute the care she received from Peter back in high school to Song Han Ming. Even if it is 13 years later and Song Han Ming is no longer that buck-toothed, blemished, glasses guy he once was. We would love to see in a flash back what she thought of Song Han Ming 13-years-ago after he revealed he was Peter. Did she try to deny liking him or did she really not like him after finding out? Clearly she likes the person Song Han Ming is on the inside, but appearance-wise, she didn’t seem to take to it well back in high school.
Ai Li Si and Liu Xiao Fen are finally friends in Episode 9. It’s great to see at least one of Ai Li Si’s best friends forgive her. Liu Xiao Fen never seemed the type to hold onto grudges or stay mad for very long. These two probably wouldn’t have stopped being friends if it weren’t for Bai Shu Lei and Liu Xiao Fen’s loyalty to her.
That real almost kiss between He Hao Yi and Ai Li Si in the middle of the episode, we really like! A lot of the times, scenes like that make us cringe: not only is it because the camera is right up close and makes us feel kinda voyeuristic, but the lead up to such scenes usually feel forced and unnatural. Not the one in this episode, though. The way they shot this almost kiss scene is quite nice, and the time this scene came in is just right. The drama built it up very well. There was justification to why He Hao Yi suddenly fenced Ai Li Si off with his arms and almost kisses her. With the way she’s been clueless to his words and approaches, it’s the only way she’ll get He Hao Yi’s meaning behind his actions and his feelings… actually, in the end, she didn’t get it. She probably needed him to actually go through with it for her to get it.
But clearly that’s not even the problem. He probably can’t act on anything or feel too comfortable acting on anything when he hasn’t gained the trust of the 30-year-old Ai Li Si. But, we’re guessing all these actions, words and the photos will hopefully help the 30-year-old Ai Li Si see He Hao Yi’s good intentions and maybe figure out that this whole time, from when they were in high school to now, he’s liked her and has never been in anyone’s side but hers.
This drama really knows how to utilise the characters and scenes. Each episode has a clear focus and direction. There’s subtle comedy in the drama, too. We’re hoping this drama will continue to be great in the way it develops and progress. There’s so much of the story to look forward, we can’t see how it could become otherwise. Song Han Ming and Bai Shu Lei’s relationship, we’re totally looking forward to seeing how it will develop. Hopefully we get to see a bit of the past and what happened after the camp incident. We’re also looking forward to seeing Ai Li Si returning to her 30-year-old self. It’s going to be interesting to see how Ai Li Si’s experiences with He Hao Yi after losing her memory melds with her memories before losing them. Will she still think He Hao Yi is next to her because he’s after her experimental logs?
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