Episodes 10 – 12 have some nice Bai Hao Yu and Li Hui Zhen developments. Bai Hao Yu hasn’t been very impressed with Li Hui Zhen’s efforts at work or the way she carries herself. Despite that, he’s starting to feel this desire to get close to her. Xia Qiao, the one he thinks is the Li Hui Zhen from his childhood doesn’t make him feel this way. This feeling of his seem to have been brought on by a drunk call in Episode 8 which add onto the slip-ups made in Episode 10. By Episode 12, a tiny hint of a triangle between Lin Yi Mu, Li Hui Zhen and Bai Hao Yu makes an appearance! : oD : oD
That’s the overview. On to the recap. Here’s what’s happened so far…
Pretty Li Hui Zhen Episodes 10 – 12 Recap
Li Hui Zhen slips up in front of Bai Hao Yu. A work function held to celebrate the work Immortal’s achieved so far ends with Bai Hao Yu passing out. Bai Hao Yu’s not a great drinker. It takes only one glass of wine to take him down. Li Hui Zhen happens to receive a call from Xia Qiao right after he exits the function room, following him out. Outside the room, she sees Bai Hao Yu using a wall for support, not doing very well at all. She calls out to him by name, which has him turn around in response before falling straight to the ground, shocking Li Hui Zhen. She runs over and repeatedly shouts his childhood nickname, “Pan Yu, Pan Yu! (Fatty Yu, Fatty Yu!)”, without giving thought to how she could be risking exposing herself to Bai Hao Yu.
With help from Lin Yi Mu, Bai Hao Yu is brought back to his apartment. Entry is gained through an access card Li Hui Zhen found in his back pocket. Bai Hao Yu is left there to sober up.
Bai Hao Yu sobers up pretty quickly. By late evening, he’s up and on the phone with people at HQ, in time to catch Li Hui Zhen hiding in his apartment after returning to retrieve her cellphone. In her haste to leave, she had absentmindedly left the cellphone at Bai Hao Yu’s apartment. Inside it contains photos of her and Xia Qiao, so she couldn’t risk leaving it behind for Bai Hao Yu to find.
The reason behind Bai Hao Yu’s hard-to-please ways in Immortal meetings is slotted in here with Bai Hao Yu revealing that Immortal’s continual operation is under threat if the magazine doesn’t manage to reach top position in sales. This information, which Li Hui Zhen hears but wasn’t supposed to, has the scene go from Bai Hao Yu making sure Li Hui Zhen keeps quiet about possible closure of Immortal to having her in his arms and answering the suspected use of his childhood nickname back at the work function.
Backing her up till she’s almost against the antique desk behind her, Bai Hao Yu seeks Li Hui Zhen’s assurance in not leaking anything she heard him talk about on the phone. However, when a pinky-swear is offered from Li Hui Zhen, Bai Hao Yu’s thoughts shifts to thinking about Li Hui Zhen and the slip up at the work function. He doesn’t have her in his arms yet, though. Bai Hao Yu’s treasured framed puzzle is knocked over and shattered first. With all the scolding he does whenever Li Hui Zhen makes a mistake, we expected him to scold her yet again, but he doesn’t. He just stares at it seemingly unsure how he feels about seeing it on the ground, broken, whilst Li Hui Zhen makes an attempt to clean it up. Li Hui Zhen receives a small cut to the finger before she announces she’d go get a broom and sweep to finish the job. This is when he makes his move, stopping her from leaving the scene and pulls her into him to begin the questions.
As if using the proximity to freeze her in her place and make her nervous enough to spit out the truth (that or he’s using this as an excuse to be this close to her : oD : oD), he wraps an arm around her waist whilst a hand is wrapped around one of hers. In this position the whole time, he questions Li Hui Zhen about the way she entered his apartment as well as the use of his childhood nickname. The way she entered is important because if it was through PIN access, she’d have to know the date they first met, making her the real Li Hui Zhen or at least give him a clue that she’s somehow related to the real one.
Li Hui Zhen manages with the first question. She tells him she used the access card she found in his pocket. This is not entirely true or false, since the first time she entered with Lin Yi Mu, it was through the access card. The second time, though, she used the PIN—which she guessed on her second try. Clearly, she wasn’t going to let him know that.
The next question—the one about the use of his nickname—she takes a long moment to think up a response. In the end, she comes up with not much of an explanation. She simply denies having said it and attributes what Bai Hao Yu’s heard as being because of his drunken state and that he was dreaming it.
Bai Hao Yu releases Li Hui Zhen from his hold here, allowing Li Hui Zhen to go. But then Li Hui Zhen’s nervousness has her slip up yet again. As she backs towards the door to leave, she rambles about how he must have been quite chubby in the past. She can’t tell, though, she tells him, because he’s so lean now. She finishes off by saying how she’d love it if he could let her in on how he lost that weight, not realising how she managed to dig herself another hole.
Bai Hao Yu pulls her back once again and holds her against him by her bag, not saying a word. Eventually, he lets her go.
Her comment bordered on knowing he was once chubby and a simple deduction based on the nickname. Can’t blame Bai Hao Yu for not being able to make head or tail of the situation.
Bai Hao Yu’s back on the phone with his friend following his encounter, revealing a small development in his feelings for the intern Li Hui Zhen. He reveals to his friend that despite her constant mistakes, despite her appearance, he finds himself wanting to get close to her. It’s not like that with the Li Hui Zhen he believes is from his childhood. He comes off being a bit dissatisfied talking about the hug he gave Xia Qiao. He mentions the warm milk aroma he was once able to smell from the Li Hui Zhen he knew. Now, all he could smell is perfume.
How we’d love to know what he thought about having the real Li Hui Zhen so close to him. He seemed so happy to keep her that way when he was questioning her. There was even a point where he was right up against Li Hui Zhen’s hair. He didn’t make a move to lean back at all! He’s definitely not lying when he says he wants to get close to Li Hui Zhen : oD : oD.
His meet-ups with “Li Hui Zhen” in Episode 11 continue to build on inconsistencies in the one he believes is Li Hui Zhen. The music that Li Hui Zhen used to use to calm and soothe him has been forgotten. The wish that she would make whenever an eyelash is found goes unsaid. When he prompts her to make one, she makes one that isn’t the same as the one made in their childhood. The announcement she always makes after seeing the traffic light turn green is different: instead of “Safe!”, she says “Green light. Safe.”
People forget with time, his friend had told him on the phone. It’s only with this in mind, he resigns to accepting that must be the case with how the one he believes is Li Hui Zhen has forgotten so much.
Xia Qiao’s feelings for Bai Hao Yu is growing. She likes him so much that she’s hoping that if she hangs in there, continue to see him, that maybe Bai Hao Yu will eventually warm up to her. Her thoughts are likened to a pair of silver heels that caught her eye in Episode 10. They’re not her fit (being a size too small), but despite that, she can’t give them up. They’re unlike any pair of heels she’s ever worn. So, despite being the wrong size, she must buy them. She thinks that if she wears them, they’ll eventually soften, stretch and fit her, just like how if she continues on with Bai Hao Yu, he might make him disregard the fact she’s not Li Hui Zhen and like her after some time spent together.
But her bleeding heels which comes with forcing herself into shoes that are clearly not her fit makes her think twice about continuing on in this act in Episode 12. They’re like a symbolic warning to Xia Qiao that if she keeps at this, she’s going to suffer. She’s not only deceiving Bai Hao Yu, but she’s deceiving her best friend now. In Li Hui Zhen’s mind, Bai Hao Yu thinks the Li Hui Zhen he knew from childhood is studying abroad.
If the bleeding heels weren’t a clear enough message to stop, the fact that the shoes fit Li Hui Zhen perfectly stops her. After Xia Qiao comes home with scrapes on her heel, Li Hui Zhen moves to put ointment on her feet. Seeing how much Xia Qiao insists on wearing such heels, Li Hui Zhen moves to try soften them up by first putting shoe softener at the back before wearing the heels herself to stretch them. It’s here, Xia Qiao sees that she and Bai Hao Yu aren’t a match, Li Hui Zhen and Bai Hao Yu are.
There’s a good chance Xia Qiao is connecting Li Hui Zhen’s help to make the shoes fit as Li Hui Zhen helping her make Bai Hao Yu and her be a fit despite Li Hui Zhen’s feelings for Bai Hao Yu. An earlier scene which took place after visiting Li Hui Zhen’s parents’ place, Xia Qiao had mentioned being jealous of Li Hui Zhen and wanted what Li Hui Zhen had. Not realising Xia Qiao was referring to Bai Hao Yu, Li Hui Zhen casually tells Xia Qiao she’d give her whatever she wanted provided it was in her ability to give. When Xia Qiao questions the validity of such a promise, Li Hui Zhen assures her that once she makes a promise, she’d not go back on it. Li Hui Zhen might just give up her own happiness for Xia Qiao.
Xia Qiao seems to come to a decision after this, and calls on Lin Yi Mu for a favour.
Over these episodes, Lin Yi Mu and Xia Qiao’s relationship have developed from a hotel guest and hotel manager to strangers who run into each other, sit down on a bench together to share thoughts and advice over convenience store snacks. No names are mentioned when Xia Qiao talks about her relationship troubles. Lin Yi Mu never mentions anything about himself, either; so, neither one is any wiser about how interconnected they all are. Because of the two not knowing their connection to each other, when Xia Qiao speaks about her thoughts on how different she’s been acting with this guy she’s met, Lin Yi Mu encourages Xia Qiao to live in the moment and not resist fate. This advice is what has spurred Xia Qiao to go after Bai Hao Yu, but reality looks to have hit her and she’s getting Lin Yu Mu in to deal with this situation of hers.
We know what should happen next since we’ve seen She Was Pretty. Can’t wait to see things start getting interesting.
Lin Yi Mu discovers Li Hui Zhen likes Bai Hao Yu which see his expression drop a couple of times after seeing how much of Li Hui Zhen’s attention is spent on worrying about Bai Hao Yu. He discovers this in Episode 10 whilst out eating instant noodles with Li Hui Zhen after carrying Bai Hao Yu back to the apartment.
Episode 11 has Lin Yi Mu save Li Hui Zhen’s identity from being exposed after she loses the puzzle piece (which belongs to Bai Hao Yu’s puzzle, which he gave to her when they were children). Had Bai Hao Yu found the puzzle piece which ended up from being stuck under one of his shoes, Li Hui Zhen would surely land herself in another round of questioning from Bai Hao Yu. Fortunately for her, Lin Yi Mu noticed her looking for the puzzle piece and was there to pick it up from the floor when it got unstuck from Bai Hao Yu’s shoe.
Lin Yi Mu’s secret-saving deed earns him a meal on Li Hui Zhen, which leads on to revealing Lin Yi Mu’s feelings towards Li Hui Zhen and the appearance of a hint of a developing triangle between Li Hui Zhen and the two male lead characters.
At a restaurant, Li Hui Zhen’s first slip up continues here. In Episode 8, Li Hui Zhen made a drunk call to Bai Hao Yu telling him that she’s Li Hui Zhen, THE Li Hui Zhen herself. The scene was then cut off. Here, the rest of what happened that night is revealed through Lin Yi Mu’s reference to the puzzle and how it would expose her identity. It’s how he found out the history between her and Bai Hao Yu. Through a flashback, she vents all her bottled-up anger towards Bai Hao Yu. She was his neighbour for over 10 years and his best friend. How could he treat her the way he has been?
This scene at the restaurant comes in at Episode 12, so it’s after the scene at the apartment where Bai Hao Yu pulled her in to question her about the use of the nickname in Episode 10. The drunk call in Episode 8 pretty much had Li Hui Zhen let out everything. The way her secret stayed safe is that her outburst didn’t get all the way to Bai Hao Yu’s ears. The only part of the outburst Li Hui Zhen managed to get through was that she was Li Hui Zhen, THE Li Hui Zhen and she was from Bai Hao Yu’s workplace. Before the main parts were leaked, Lin Yi Mu had hung up for. The rest of the drunk call was expressed to an empty drink carton Li Hui Zhen found in the bushes which she thought was her phone.
Bai Hao Yu might not have heard the rest, but it was enough to get him wondering. Li Hui Zhen slipped up in front of Bai Hao Yu quite a while before she slipped up with the use of his nickname back at the work function. He seems to know something’s odd, especially how Xia Qiao seems to not recall any of their past together, but it doesn’t look like he is seriously entertaining the thought that Li Hui Zhen is his childhood friend.
Lin Yi Mu might know about Li Hui Zhen’s history with Bai Hao Yu, but what he doesn’t know is why she hides who she is to Bai Hao Yu or how Bai Hao Yu could think someone else is Li Hui Zhen. Li Hui Zhen reveals to Lin Yi Mu that she’s not the same person as she once was. Back then, she was pretty, she turned heads on the street, she was academically outstanding and her family was financially well-off. Despite this being the case, Lin Yi Mu questions her about the possibility Bai Hao Yu will recognise her, which has Li Hui Zhen assure him that it’s not possible because she’s no longer that pretty, successful girl in his mind. He’d passed her by once already because of the way she’s become.
Hearing Li Hui Zhen regard herself so lowly and calling herself not pretty has Lin Yi Mu state with conviction that she is pretty. Li Hui Zhen chuckles at this. She seems to like hearing it, but doesn’t believe it. She compares his words to those parents would say. Parents would never say anything else even if it’s not what others think. Lin Yi Mu isn’t just saying it, though. He means it and he tells her he means it. His view of Li Hui Zhen goes beyond her appearance. A flashback shows he was caught by the kindness she showed an elderly lady on a bus by giving up her seat.
As Lin Yi Mu and Li Hui Zhen are in the restaurant, Bai Hao Yu happens to pass by and see the two. He takes not only a look, but two looks before he carries on in his path. His expression is as hard to read as ever, but he might just be feeling a tinge of jealousy watching the two get on so well together.
Though Bai Hao Yu might have admitted wanting to get close to Li Hui Zhen and he showed he might be feeling a bit jealousy, he doesn’t hold back his scoldings when Li Hui Zhen messes up at work yet again near the end of Episode 12. Li Hui Zhen fails to bring back meals for her colleagues at work after the meals splatter across the road. She had a good reason for failing her errand. Her kind, helping nature wouldn’t let her ignore helping an elderly lady across the road and hail a taxi for her. After getting the elderly lady into the taxi, she forgot she had left the meals on top of the taxi roof and it all fell off as the taxi drove away. She doesn’t mention all this when she gets back to Immortal, causing her to get another scolding from Bai Hao Yu.
The situation turns out well in the end, though, as the elderly lady later shows up at her workplace in search of Li Hui Zhen, wanting to thank her with boxes of fruit. Bai Hao Yu is there to witness Li Hui Zhen’s reason for her mistake. Bai Hao Yu emotes little so, again, it’s hard to make of his reaction. But he should probably be seeing this as a good quality and maybe also connect it to Li Hui Zhen from his childhood. She was always helping him fend off bullies, defending him and accompanying him when he was feeling down. This should be another trait he might just think over and add to his thoughts.
That’s pretty much the main developments for Pretty Li Hui Zhen, Episodes 10 – 12. We know how the story goes, we know what happens, but we’re still excited to see it all play out again in Pretty Li Hui Zhen. So, we’re enjoying this Chinese version of She Was Pretty. The drama isn’t as good as the original. Little things bring us out of the drama—things like the male lead emoting not enough; plot points not being brought in more naturally; and then there’s the use of this ominous music for scenes that aren’t all that ominous. It’s a very strange choice for such a light kind of story. If anyone’s wondering where this music appears, a scene is at the work function when Li Hui Zhen sees Bai Hao Yu pass out from drinking a glass of wine.
Still, the story is great, Dilraba Dilmurat as Li Hui Zhen is great, and despite not connecting with Peter Sheng Yi Lun’s Bai Hao Yu, his version of the male lead character is good enough to have us excited to see more developments between Li Hui Zhen and Bai Hao Yu. Totally hanging out for that part of the story where Bai Hao Yu starts liking Li Hui Zhen!
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