Immortal’s efforts has them trailing behind competitors, New Look magazine only slightly, but it is still second place. They have only one more chance to make it to the top or they will be forced to shut down. This has Ya Ling in particular worrying about losing her job. She ends up leaving Immortal following being told to leave by Bai Hao Yu for being so selfish as to think about herself in a critical situation like this.
He’s not as heartless as he sounds. His intention was to let them go without feeling regret for leaving. However, this seemingly heartless outburst sends Anna leaving and Lin Yi Mu to consider staying. He can let Ya Ling and Anna go, but not Lin Yi Mu. Without him, Bai Hao Yu can’t guarantee he can save Immortal, and that’s putting immense pressure on him. He just wants a hug from Li Hui Zhen, but with Li Hui Zhen’s resolve to wait for Xia Qiao to get past Bai Hao Yu, she can’t go to him and offer that support he wants.
Pretty Li Hui Zhen Episode 32
Li Hui Zhen’s back talking to Bai Hao Yu and worrying about him again now that things have been cleared up between them. The morning sees Li Hui Zhen telling her mother off for sending Bai Hao Yu off in the morning without breakfast. At work, she’s back to walking alongside him at the building entrance and happily walking in circles as they occupied the same third of the revolving glass door. She’s back to greeting him and asking whether he slept well or not—something she stopped doing last episode when she was keeping a distance from him because of Xia Qiao.
Han Xue mistaken Lin Hao for Lin Hu Sheng in the office. Seeing (who Han Xue thinks is) Lin Hu Sheng asleep at his desk underneath a grey blanket, she thinks to give him a kiss. They’re officially dating now, so she figured she should be a bit more romantic. (There was no one else in the office except them.) She lifts the blanket, close to kissing him when Lin Hao’s voice greets her.
Lin Hao’s been pretty convinced that Han Xue’s been after him, so it makes him grin to see that it took her so long to make a move on him. Han Xue denies it all, pushing it off to it being a dream and suspects the dream to be the result of his unwholesome viewing habits (e.g. R-rated stuff). To stop him from pursuing this illusion of his, she warns him in a friendly manner that this could be regarded as workplace harassment and such views would do a bit of damage to his reputation: colleagues, Meiji and Lu Lu, would not let him live it down. That gets Lin Hao back to his desk, where he falls back to sleep.
Han Xue really thinks so lowly of Lin Hao. He’s the unsuspecting guy who could actually be the heir. He’s not given off many more clues after he came back from visiting Elleshop HQ in France, but Lin Hu Sheng did last episode with how comfortable he was clearing up Han Xue’s used tissues at the hot pot. An heir who’s used to living in luxury probably wouldn’t do that.
Side note, a big clue we missed in Episode 30 is the one which sees Lin Yi Mu meeting up with Old Jiang. He appears to be from Immortal’s competitor, New Look. If Lin Yi Mu was the heir, it’s unlikely he’d meet to discuss working at another magazine.
Lin Yi Mu has changed his mind about going off to work for a new magazine, but it doesn’t mean he will stay at Immortal. Li Hui Zhen’s words about leaving his team with no regrets had him see he couldn’t leave his colleagues and friends like that, but seeing her and Bai Hao Yu together might cause him to quit. The secret meeting Lin Yi Mu had with Old Jiang in Episode 30 gets discovered by the team, causing Lin Yi Mu to joke about having thick skin and could possibly ditch them for New Look. The team breaths a sigh of relief hearing him say he was joking. Li Hui Zhen, though, knowing how serious he was, she isn’t so relieved by his words.
Catching up with him in the hallway, she attempts to find out how serious he is about leaving Immortal still. In turn, he asks whether she thinks he’d go—which we suppose is like asking what she thinks of him: does she think he’s thick-skinned, will he think only of himself, be irresponsible/unprofessional and let personal matters affect his decision? These were the things Li Hui Zhen seemed to suggest when she found out in Episode 30.
Now though, Li Hui Zhen seems to believe—or wants to believe:
Li Hui Zhen:
“The Lin Yi Mu I know isn’t that kind of person. He wouldn’t abandon friends when they’re in trouble. He wouldn’t think only of himself at the most critical moment. Although he plays some ridiculous jokes sometimes, but he’s extremely kindhearted, righteous, sincere and professional.”
A cynical view of Li Hui Zhen‘s answer could be that if he chooses to go then he’d be everything opposite of what she thinks of him. She could be saying this hoping flattery will get him to stay, hoping that she’s right about him. That or the writer is trying to slip in some good words from Li Hui Zhen in a bit so smooth way.
Lin Yi Mu:
“Enough. Stop talking. If you keep going, I’ll only love you more and more.”
Lin Yi Mu’s words about liking her more and more as a response is a not so smooth slip in, too. In order to have her stop trying to get him to stay at Immortal, he tells her such. He assures her he won’t be going to New Look because she does have him right: he’s loyal, values his friendships, and he doesn’t want to regret like she wanted to see.
However, though he can’t bear to leave friends who he’s worked so hard together with, what he apparently can’t stand more is seeing her and Bai Hao Yu together everyday. He tells her it’s torture. So, that could very well make him quit Immortal and leave all the same. Li Hui Zhen has no response to that.
Reports are out again for Immortal’s latest sales performance and it’s a disappointing result. They’re still second, behind New Look. Their sales isn’t off by a large amount, but it is still second; and there is no second place if Immortal hopes to remain operational.
News that New Look has gotten an interview with a couple huge celebrities who’s broken into Hollywood has the team worrying about whether the magazine could achieve first place and avoid closure. Ya Ling in particular wonders whether it’s now the time to worry and think about their future in the team meeting. With her wedding coming up, she can’t afford to lose her job.
This gets her told to leave in front of the whole team by Bai Hao Yu. He claims an intolerance to working with people who only think of themselves in times like this and tells the others who are also worried to leave as well. He’ll allow it.
Bai Hao Yu:
“The colder I am to them, the more decisive they can be about leaving. Instead of letting them go to a new job while feeling regretful towards Immortal, why not I help them?”
Bai Hao Yu appears harsh and unsympathetic, but it turns out he was giving Ya Ling as well as Anna (who had chosen to leave when Bai Hao Yu gave the team the option) a helping hand. Speaking with Li Hui Zhen at the end of the work day, he reveals that he wanted to let them leave without regret. If Immortal were to shut down, it would be difficult for them to find employment. So, if they wanted to leave then they should do that before that happens, and he was going to help them by being cold and harsh about it. He didn’t want Immortal to drag them down even if it meant that he’d be left short-handed, making his own job of getting Immortal to number one in sales all that much harder. (We like seeing this side of Bai Hao Yu. It’s closer to the Korean version of the character.)
Lin Yi Mu was one of the ones who chose to leave when Bai Hao Yu gave the team an opportunity to leave. He had stood up after Anna announced she was going to go. He didn’t quite say he was leaving Immortal, only that he had to think about leaving, too.
Bai Hao Yu didn’t stop Ya Ling and Anna from leaving Immortal, but Lin Yi Mu, it seems he’s needed too much to simply let go. Sometime after talking to Li Hui Zhen, he’s seen lingering around Lin Yi Mu’s desk, seemingly in thought about what he was going to do with Lin Yi Mu. Whilst there, he knocks over some consignment notes containing the address to the hotel he was staying.
Bai Hao Yu:
“Immortal has only one more chance. If you leave now, I can’t be sure I can save the magazine.”
He immediately heads over to the hotel looking for Lin Yi Mu, wanting to know from hotel staff whether Lin Yi Mu resides at the hotel. The hotel staff doesn’t deny or confirm. Fortunately, Lin Yi Mu happens to be leaving the hotel then, allowing Bai Hao Yu to catch up with him and earnestly make the request he stay, because he isn’t confident he’d be able to save Immortal without Lin Yi Mu on board. Lin Yi Mu’s answer isn’t revealed. Judging from how Lin Yi Mu is not back the next morning, Bai Hao Yu didn’t get a yes.
While it’s unsure whether Lin Yi Mu will leave Immortal or not, Xia Qiao’s gone and left hers. She’s got plans to have her car, credit cards, cell phone and clothes taken care of as well. It gives off the impression Xia Qiao’s made the decision to go to France with her mother, but Xia Qiao’s just decided to stop relying on her father and become more independent.
Her decision comes after overhearing her colleagues talk behind her back following her being made best employee only because of her father’s connections. They think her the only reason she’s gotten so far up despite her youth, lack of work experience and knowledge is because of her father’s connections.
This apparently had Xia Qiao realise that she needed to grow up. Ever since she was little everything was too easy for her to obtain. Work, money and any difficulties she faced she had her father to take care of for her. Back at home, she had Li Hui Zhen take care of her (Xia Qiao didn’t have to worry about cooking food since Li Hui Zhen did that). When she felt bored, she had men chasing after her. Realising this had her see how in other people’s eyes she had so much.
Though it might seem this way to others, she felt like she had nothing. She felt very lonely because her mother had left her. She lacked the complete family she wanted and the love.
She tells all of this to Li Hui Zhen who had come running to the airport thinking Xia Qiao had left for France with her mother only to find Xia Qiao hadn’t left at all. Xia Qiao was only sending her mother off after a talk with Li Hui Zhen’s mother.
Earlier in the day, Li Hui Zhen’s mother had dropped by with food from Xia Qiao’s mother and advice that she think about forgiving her mother. As well as showing Xia Qiao just how much her mother had been thinking of her all these years (Xia Qiao’s mother had opened a jewellery business and has been making a piece each year and will do so until she got married), she tells Xia Qiao that she only has one mother and that everyone makes mistakes when they’re weak: she tells Xia Qiao that her mother had wanted to look for her all these years only she didn’t have the guts to do it. She hopes Xia Qiao’s able to forgive her mother and not wait till a time when she wants to but can’t and regret it.
As if this had hit home with her, Xia Qiao called her mother following the visit from Li Hui Zhen’s mother and made the decision to send her mother off at the airport.
Xia Qiao’s finally talking about Bai Hao Yu, too. She explains that this feeling of having been abandoned is the reason for the mistakes and the lies she made. Bai Hao Yu had filled that hole in her heart. He appeared every time she needed comforting and she thought his love might be the one to save her.
With Xia Qiao finally thought things through, she apologises to Li Hui Zhen for the hurtful words she said after Bai Hao Yu discovered her act. She explains that she had already prepared herself for the possibility that she’d never be forgiven by Bai Hao Yu, but seeing the way he looked to her following the discovery, she could handle it and she took it out on Li Hui Zhen.
Their talk end with a friendly teasing from Li Hui Zhen. With how Xia Qiao has always talked about being Li Hui Zhen’s financial support all those times she struggled to find a good job, Li Hui Zhen can take this opportunity to feel smug about finally being able to have Xia Qiao rely on her.
The final scene has Li Hui Zhen being called out right after her talk with Xia Qiao. Bai Hao Yu appears weighed down when he meets her at the park. He’s come to see her to recharge his energy from what looks like a tough day. He jokes about wanting a hug from Li Hui Zhen when she pities him after seeing him alone and looking so tired.
He’s being quite serious about wanting a hug. He had asked for a hug following the meeting which had Anna, Ya Ling leave the team and Lin Yi Mu leave the team. However, in keeping with his promise to wait for her, he tells her each time he was just joking and internalises the stress.
Seeing Li Hui Zhen reluctant to grant him the wish, he keeps to the 10 seconds he said he’d need to recharge his batteries and bids her goodnight, leaving a worried Li Hui Zhen to stare at his back.
Comments
Bai Hao Yu was a little tiny bit cute in this episode with how he wants a hug from Li Hui Zhen but forces himself to remain waiting for her to go to him. Other than this and the part where Bai Hao Yu goes asks Lin Yi Mu to stay at Immortal and admitting he can’t save Immortal without him, there’s not much else to note.
Pretty Li Hui Zhen’s need to extend its story to get to 40 episodes has caused the drama to repeat information multiple times. For example, Xia Qiao’s reason for carrying on with Bai Hao Yu behind Li Hui Zhen’s back, how it all started and how Bai Hao Yu was there during times she needed someone the most, etc, has been told a number of times in the span of 10 episodes: the story was told once to Lin Yi Mu, once to Bai Hao Yu in a letter and twice to Li Hui Zhen. The repetition adds to the drama’s slow pacing of the story, making the drama feel like not all that much happens lately.
With things all well between Li Hui Zhen and Xia Qiao, and the whole Bai Hao Yu issue almost sorted, we’re close to the point where we found the story dips a little in She Was Pretty. Pretty Li Hui Zhen hasn’t shown much to suggest it’ll be able to improve the last quarter too much, so we’re leaning towards a slow watch for the last quarter. But we will still hold onto the tiny ounce of hope that the drama will do something to prove us wrong. The drama did end up bringing in the part where Bai Hao Yu go to Lin Yi Mu to ask him back. We thought they ditched that part. Since they didn’t, it gives us something extra to hang out for. We can’t quite remember clearly, but this request for help might be related to the reveal of Lin Yi Mu’s identity. Still looking forward to this!
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