Episode 15 Recap
Hearing Ji Wen Kai change the meeting time, Manager Jia finds Ji Wen Kai unintelligent when he speaks of not being able to sell the maintenance care product if Shinway’s egg shell essence patent doesn’t proceed with a renewal of contract with Tianxi.
Manager Jia then expresses his disbelief of Ji Wen Kai being daring enough to change the meeting time and place with Wang Zi Yu however he likes. Wendy chimes in and agrees the disrespect to be too much. She suggests for Wang Zi Yu to use this time to give Ji Wen Kai an embarrassing and cruel stomping on. However, Wang Zi Yu feels the time isn’t now. Always maintain poised, he reminds them. He will demonstrate this tomorrow in the meeting with Ji Wen Kai as well. This way, Wang Zi Yu says, Ji Wen Kai is only able to blame him for not warning him after he keeps stumbling and falling.
A message to Zhong Yu Tang’s phone outside the office on their way into work the next day has Ji Wen Kai hear the news of fake Mei Mei soap circulating around the marketplace. Ji Wen Kai faces board members demanding him for answers to why this problem that’s seeing store owners following the trend of returning stock and causing shares to fall sharply is continuing. How long will you drag this out? CEO, when are you going to take care of this? Why did fake products surface as soon as the product went out to the market? What’s going on with you? Why don’t you say something about how this will be resolved? Give us an explanation, the board members ask Ji Wen Kai.
The meeting ends with the board members exiting unimpressed with Ji Wen Kai. After the last board member leaves shaking his head, disappointed yet seemingly pitying Ji Wen Kai for being in the undesirable situation he is in, Ji Wen Kai heads over to Miao Ai Sha who stands some metres left of him. She has a somewhat concerned expression on her face. “The board members question your direction and find problems with your management style. Do you have any ideas?” Miao Ai Sha asks Ji Wen Kai. Ji Wen Kai seems to have not one bit of an idea as he shakes his head to the question.
More problems come for Ji Wen Kai. He is confronted by Manager Jia and Sales Team 1 as he makes his way to the emergency meeting with Sales Team 3 that he seems to have asked Miao Ai Sha to inform Sales Team 3 to attend before the meeting he had with the board members.
Manager Jia has evidence of Ji Wen Kai’s relationship with Zhong Yu Tang. He had snapped pictures of Ji Wen Kai extending some loving and caring gestures towards Zhong Yu Tang at the time Ji Wen Kai and Zhong Yu Tang were outside the company concerned about news of fake Mei Mei surfacing in the marketplace.
Manager Jia begins accusing Ji Wen Kai of favouring Sales Team 3 over the benefit of the company. He argues this view of his with the fact Ji Wen Kai helped Sales Team 3 out of their predicament with the factory worker strike by looking for another factory to produce Mei Mei. He then mirrors the attitude of the board members: he demands Ji Wen Kai for an explanation for the current problem with fake Mei Mei in the marketplace. Miao Ai Sha speaks for Ji Wen Kai. She answers Manager Jia’s concerns: none of the factories producing Mei Mei had any problems with quality after investigating them. And the matter of Ji Wen Kai looking for a factory was something he did with not just Mei Mei, but Tianxi’s other products in mind as well.
Manager Jia had not spoken or acted respectfully towards Ji Wen Kai in the time that he stood before Ji Wen Kai criticising his leadership abilities and he doesn’t start when he lets Ji Wen Kai know that his relationship with Zhong Yu Tang is now common knowledge. “Where is there a CEO and an insignificant salesperson being affectionate in a way where they are caressing the face, touching the hair and the head? Will you deny it?” Manager Jia challenges. Manager Jia calling him out and trapping him like this, Ji Wen Kai steps up to the plate and admits to it: “That’s right. Right now, I am dating Zhong Yu Tang.”
Ji Wen Kai continues to stand on the lower ground. He assures Manager Jia that his private matters won’t affect his work performance. This response from Ji Wen Kai has Manager Jia feign compassion and care. “With the CEO being in a relationship, we as employees of course need to give our blessings. It’s just that, if by chance the situation with the fake goods gets out of hand, it will definitely affect the reputation of our products. At that time, we’ll need to ask you to give everyone an explanation.”
Ji Wen Kai’s response to Manager Jia is showing his resoluteness towards taking responsibility. “I will use all my strength to take preventative measures to stop the fake goods from scattering in the market. If there comes that time where it effects the reputation of other goods, then I, Ji Wen Kai, will absolutely not dodge it. I will hand in my resignation.”
Ji Wen Kai’s meeting with Sales Team 3 is a lighter and more positive atmosphere than the one with the board members and the unexpected one with Sales Team 1 outside the meeting room. Sales Team 3 delivers an idea to deal with fake Mei Mei products surfacing in the market that Ji Wen Kai seems to be very impressed with as he gives Sales Team 3 a full 100 marks.
This idea that they have in fact already come up with and have designed is a forgery-proof authentication seal with laser markings of serial numbers that will help differentiate their genuine product from fake ones. Verifying them are said to be able to be done online.
Ji Wen Kai attends another meeting. This time it’s with Wang Zi Yu and tension and opposing wants take place. Ji Wen Kai enters into a meeting room that sees Wang Zi Yu waiting. Ji Wen Kai starts his apology for his late arrival with addressing Wang Zi Yu by his first name, but changes the address to a more polite, distant and respectful one. “General Manager Wang,” Ji Wen Kai says, “I apologise for making you wait so long. These past two days has really been too busy. Please forgive me.” Wang Zi Yu is understanding. “There’s no need for such words. CEO Ji tends to numerous affairs each day. For allowing an extension of more than 20 years collaboration with Tianxi, waiting a little longer should be what is expected.”
Both take a seat and the meeting begins. Ji Wen Kai wishes to discuss about the contract between Shinway and Tianxi for the egg shell essence patent that is due for a renewal. He hopes to have a discussion of the contract a little earlier so to keep it continuing. Wang Zi Yu is not in agreement with the request. He politely asks Ji Wen Kai to allow him a few days to think about it. Ji Wen Kai continues to try. He informs Wang Zi Yu that he and President Wang (Wang Zi Yu’s father) had already agreed on the time for a renewal of contract and the delay only came about from Shinway having personnel changes. “I feel Tianxi and Shinway have been partners for so long already. So, extending the contract shouldn’t be a big problem. Right?” Ji Wen Kai adds.
Wang Zi Yu is still not willing. He is hesitant to provide an answer to Ji Wen Kai’s request because of the problems Tianxi has been having with Mei Mei. It’s concern over the losses that Shinway may be forced to absorb in the event of such things happening in the future. Ji Wen Kai expresses willingness to allow for conditions to be added to the contract to meet the concern. Ji Wen Kai only wishes for Wang Zi Yu to quickly have a think on the conditions he wishes to add into the contract so renewing the contract can take place by the end of the month. Unfortunately, Wang Zi Yu can’t be swayed. Wang Zi Yu uses his new General Manager position as reason for his inability to tend to the contract and asks Ji Wen Kai to be patient and wait a bit longer.
Wang Zi Yu brings Miao Ai Sha to work against Ji Wen Kai. He takes advantage of the display of disappointment he notices coming from her after Ji Wen Kai leaves her to pack up her gear soon after she had come into the meeting wishing for Ji Wen Kai to look over the matter she had come in for; but, she simply was told he’d look over it the next morning and told her to head home. Her disappointment also seems to come from seeing him pull Zhong Yu Tang by the hand and hearing him tell Zhong Yu Tang they will have the omurice that she’d come in to give to him to eat for dinner at home, leaving her alone to herself.
“Your CEO is really something. It wouldn’t have taken much time. Why didn’t he wait for you and take you home on the way?” Wang Zi Yu says to Miao Ai Sha after offering her a ride home. He continues to act on Miao Ai Sha’s weakness of her feelings towards Ji Wen Kai by expressing how much he understands the unfair situation and sees Ji Wen Kai’s poor treatment of her. “I hope you don’t mind me asking you this. With you having done so much for Ji Wen Kai, don’t you feel things to be out of balance with the way things are now? Honestly, if I was your boss, I will definitely not treat you so terribly.”
These words have effect on Miao Ai Sha. It gets her attention when he finishes and it has her choose to work against Ji Wen Kai at a time when the shares of Tianxi recovers due to the public being informed of Mei Mei now having an authentication seal to verify its genuinesness. It is also at the time when Ji Wen Kai has found and financed a larger factory for Hui Yao (Ah Hui’s factory) that has the capacity to produce all of Tianxi’s products if required in the future. Miao Ai Sha is seen making her move after Wendy is seen spying on Miao Ai Sha and Ji Wen Kai in Ji Wen Kai’s office discussing about the folder of confidential information that Ji Wen Kai hands to Miao Ai Sha and tells her to never leak it out. We later see Miao Ai Sha handing the folder to Wang Zi Yu when he comes by Miao Ai Sha’s place to receive it.
This folder containing confidential information details Ji Wen Kai’s request for money from the finance department. Ji Wen Kai is called in for a meeting with the board members during his visit to Ah Hui’s new factory. Wang Zi Yu is also present. His presence in a Tianxi meeting is surprising to Ji Wen Kai. Wang Zi Yu explains in a rather offended tone, but smug as well: “Excuse me, CEO Ji; but, close to a year, the amount of Tianxi shares that Shinway has acquired is not a small amount. We’ve already become one of the major shareholders of Tianxi. I feel I have this right to be here at the meeting with everyone.” Ji Wen Kai is unable to find any reason to object to Wang Zi Yu’s presence in the meeting. He is only able to accept it and speak words of gratitude for the support and trust Wang Zi Yu is giving to the company with this investment he has put into it.
Wang Zi Yu doesn’t give much of a response to Ji Wen Kai’s words, seemingly impatient to get the meeting started and have the information on the large sum of funds requested of the financial department brought to the attention of the board members. It is some $450,000,000—an amount that Wang Zi Yu sees as being requested without cause and have brought about bad debts to the company. He wishes Ji Wen Kai to explain the amount. The board directors all agree the amount is alarmingly large and asks him for an explanation. Ji Wen Kai does have an explanation—one that throws Wang Zi Yu off his attempt to get the board members to find Ji Wen Kai unfit to lead the company. Ji Wen Kai explains he used the funds to establish Tianxi’s own production factory. It was a move made from hearing rumours of quarreling taking place amongst family members of the factory producing their products. He invites the directors to look at the evidence of the purchase that was detailed in the documents he asks Miao Ai Sha to hand out to each of them.
One of the directors speak for all: he finds the funds justified and even feels Ji Wen Kai to be outstanding, expressing how he now understands why Chairman Shen of their company had asked Ji Wen Kai to lead Tianxi. This director feels Wang Zi Yu should be at ease after the explanation. However, Wang Zi Yu isn’t. He brings Ji Wen Kai back into scrutiny when he states the amount requested is much too large. The cost to purchase the factory is a fraction of the amount of funds requested. This time, Ji Wen Kai is unwilling to provide an explanation satisfactory enough to let him fully off the hook: Ji Wen Kai telling everyone to wait until Chairman Shen returns before he will give an explanation, everyone agrees with Wang Zi Yu when Wang Zi Yu makes a motion for Ji Wen Kai to be denied approval for request for funds from the finance department.
Ji Wen Kai’s problems continue when one of the company’s secretaries enter his office with alarming news. She informs Ji Wen Kai that every member of Sales Team 1 and Sales Team 2 has resigned and has left the company. And there’s one more who’s left. Miao Ai Sha has left as well. She joins her former Tianxi employees, Manager Jia and Wendy. She becomes Wang Zi Yu’s head secretary.
Zhong Yu Tang takes a visit to Ji Wen Kai’s office after she gets a slight idea of the current predicament facing Ji Wen Kai down at the public foyer area. She enters at a time where Ji Wen Kai looks somewhat worse for wear and as he sits looking at the two wooden block castles he’s built—one of them we’ve seen representing Zhong Yu Tang and Sales Team 3 with the addition of a blue figure representing Ji Wen Kai that was placed next to the pink figure representing Zhong Yu Tang; and the other is one representing Wang Zi Yu’s camp. A black female wooden block figure representing Miao Ai Sha situates next to the black and white block figure of Wang Zi Yu at the top of Wang Zi Yu’s castle.
Ji Wen Kai catches Zhong Yu Tang up on the events that led up to the current predicament, starting from the trip that Wang Zi Yu took to Russia during the time Wang Zi Yu tried to persuade Chairman Wang to agree to the collaboration. He explains a clue from reading a log of leave requests had led him to do some investigating which saw him find out that Manager Jia and Wendy were both in Russia. This information he acquired seemingly had Ji Wen Kai realise Wang Zi Yu’s trip was seemingly a business one as well when it seems Wang Zi Yu had gone to Russia to convince Mr. Tapko (Tianxi’s export partner and Ji Wen Kai’s best friend) to work with Shinway which we now know had not worked to his plans and did not work on his recent attempt.
Ji Wen Kai expresses uncertainty in his ability to get out of the predicament. “In the current situation, I am indeed at a disadvantage,” he says to Zhong Yu Tang. Though Ji Wen Kai lacks confidence in his ability to get out of the predicament, he tells Zhong Yu Tang he will handle things carefully. Zhong Yu Tang waves off the thought that seems to suggest she is thinking Ji Wen Kai is believing she, herself, is lacking confidence in him. “I’ve always believed in you,” Zhong Yu Tang tells Ji Wen Kai. She adds, “Also, I will definitely be at your side, supporting you.”
Both Sales Team 1 and Wang Zi Yu take a visit to Tianxi. Sales Team 1 visit Sales Team 3 and express their better circumstances over theirs. “We’re here to see our former colleagues and remind you to look for jobs on some job search website,” Manager Jia says. Sales Team 3 returns a retort of them being traitors who will end up like mice scampering on the street. The retort has little effect on Manager Jia when he goes to let Sales Team 3 know they are here because Wang Zi Yu is here. Wang Zi Yu is currently at Tianxi, preparing for a take over of Tianxi.
A takeover does seem to have the possibility of happening when in the visit Wang Zi Yu makes to Ji Wen Kai’s office, Wang Zi Yu reveals that a merger is going to take place; it only needs to be made official. And Shinway seemingly will become the owner of Tianxi with over a third of the shares of Tianxi belonging to Shinway. In this visit, Wang Zi Yu wishes for Ji Wen Kai to take responsibility for the large sum of funds he embezzled then leave so the contract he’s prepared for Chairman Shen to sign can take place.
Before Wang Zi Yu leaves Ji Wen Kai’s office, he tells Ji Wen Kai to stop trying to win him: “Ji Wen Kai, no matter how smart you are this time around, you won’t be able to change the course of things any more. That’s why you can stop being busy. Make use of your time well by saying goodbye to this office,” Wang Zi Yu says and tells why he should heed to his advice. “I’ve got a powerful army, Ji Wen Kai. With this round, I’ve won.” Wang Zi Yu then finds the wooden block castles displayed in the room as he makes his way out. He is amused when he finds and points to the one representing Zhong Yu Tang and Sales Team 3. “You’ve gathered your troops so fast!” Wang Zi Yu says, seeing Ji Wen Kai’s castle much fuller than the castle representing him which lacks ornaments at the lower levels of the wooden block castle. “But Ji Wen Kai, I think you know very well that the outcome is set. Very soon, these people will be at my camp.”
Wang Zi Yu’s belief of Ji Wen Kai’s troops switching sides seems unlikely. After Zhong Yu Tang finds Ji Wen Kai standing alone at the rooftop of the company, appearing to have many worrying thoughts in his mind as he looks out at the scenery of other tall buildings in the distance, Zhong Yu Tang goes to his side. She expresses her support and she will do so by means of becoming his secretary. Sales Team 3 also come to express their support to Ji Wen Kai: “All of us from Sales Team 3 will also be close and follow you.”
Thoughts
Awww, wasn’t the end so heartwarming?! When the other teams leave Ji Wen Kai, Sales Team 3 sticks by him! It was so aww-worthy!
Poor Ji Wen Kai. He must have been so tired for the past few days with Wang Zi Yu’s smugness and two-faced ways. Wang Zi Yu has really become such a hate-able character. He’s very devious. It’s hard to think back to those times when he was the mild-mannered second male lead who we can feel pity for. Not anymore! Not after knowing that, someplace in the background, he was doing all these devious things to get things the way he wants.
Miao Ai Sha switching sides, it wasn’t surprising, but then we also didn’t expect it to happen. There wasn’t any development on her side of things after Ji Wen Kai told her he confessed and it went well. So, we never saw it coming. It’s a usual thing for Refresh Man to just come up with developments, we guess. So, again, with how the situation came about, we weren’t impressed with that because we do like things to be developed and not just be told that it’s happening and have to settle with being told not shown. The explanation for Miao Ai Sha’s change of sides was: “A woman can do anything for love. So, she can obviously do anything for hate as well.” That’s what Wang Zi Yu said about Miao Ai Sha coming to his side and helping him betray Ji Wen Kai. This came across sounding like an explanation from the writers of how Miao Ai Sha could switch sides after looking so loyal, kind, understanding and sweet. We can’t really say it doesn’t explain Miao Ai Sha suddenly going against Ji Wen Kai. But, we just would have liked to see a bit more obvious scenes showing Miao Ai Sha was struggling with Ji Wen Kai being in a relationship with Zhong Yu Tang and show that she did try to be logical and level-headed, but ended up losing to her disappointment than be told it or shown with odd and out-of-place sad expressions like we saw on Miao Ai Sha’s face in this episode as well as in last week’s episode. These are too, too subtle to be called evidence. They are definitely not enough to say she’s a ticking time bomb, ready to jump ship.
Actually, the sad face in this episode—the one during the meeting discussing about the authenticity seal—we couldn’t really figure out if the sad expression from Miao Ai Sha in that scene had anything to do with being sad over Ji Wen Kai’s relationship with Zhong Yu Tang when it came in after Zhong Yu Tang said she understood and trusts Ji Wen Kai with how he wanted to proceed with things. Maybe this scene had the purpose of saying how Miao Ai Sha was an outsider in this group that looked like a family. So, if this was the case, there was even less development on Miao Ai Sha’s heart turning empty and hateful enough to betray.
But despite the lack of development with Miao Ai Sha’s change of heart and side, this is all very interesting. We’re liking the fact that Tianxi and Ji Wen Kai has only Sales Team 3 to depend on. That may mean we can finally see Sales Team 3 truly showing their talents that we’ve so far not seen. Well, we hope this going to be the case. We don’t want to see a repeat of the silly antics that they had for the situation where they tried to get the public interested and talking about Mei Mei with the skit in the supermarket and the online video. We want to see Sales Team 3 actually doing something to show they are talented like the opening credits say they are!
We like that Zhong Yu Tang is going to be Ji Wen Kai’s secretary. Zhong Yu Tang going back to her original position and being in the secretarial department is really cool. We’d like to see how she’d fear against Miao Ai Sha! We’re thinking this won’t have a chance of taking place, though. The atmosphere doesn’t feel right. Refresh Man is rather light with dramas. Problems get glazed over and it’s fast resolutions. Oh well. Still a cool development!
The way the drama has gone so far, it’s never ever predictable. So far, most of the time, the unpredictable developments have not led to great drama. But we’re hoping things will develop in the way we hope it does or in a way that’s better than what we wish to happen. There’s a lot of potential with this new development. So, here’s hoping it’s a good end for the series. (It seems Refresh Man isn’t going to make it to the usual 20-episodes judging by what we see on the Chinese wikipedia stub for the series. 17 episodes seems to be the full set. We think it’s correct. Head out with a bang rather than drag it out to 20 episodes and make it feel draggy. Right now, if the end episode is written well, it should have a decent ending.)
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