Nope, I didn’t say that line. No one says it directly, but one of our beloved characters does think that title only belongs to him. And his idea of a dinner date is watching the girl with an injured hand fumbles around in the kitchen with a sharp knife. And what does he do? He watches her in amusement. 😛

Correction: All along, I have been writing Xi Yue, but if you notice, Ping An calls her Xi Le. Turns out the two characters are the same in writing but carry different pronunciation. Also, Director Li is Director Ji.

Episode 5:

“Do you not like my mother?” Xi Le asks. Ping An shoots down the idea. She may have disliked Chairlady Bai before but after knowing that she gave birth to such a wonderful daughter, she figures Chairlady can’t be THAT bad. A small smile sweeps Xi Le’s face and she lays her head on Ping An’s shoulder, wondering, “Then why do you reject my offer?”

Our girl explains how her behavior and sentiment at the orphanage remain the same until now. She doesn’t want to feel like a stranger in someone else’s home. Xi Le understands her friend and guarantees not to force her, but in return, she wants Ping An to accept her proposal too. “Honestly, I have been feeling like that lately. So I’ve decided to move back there. My home is where you are!” She jumps up and leaves to call her mother.

The decision clutches Ping An’s heart, sinking it down with guilt. She thinks back to the time when Xi Le had deliberately dismissed an adoption just to stay by her side. The more she thinks about the sacrifices that her friend has made and is about to give up, tears fill her eyes. She’s made up her mind, friend over pride! She dashes down the stairs and hugs Xi Le, chanting, “I’ll move in with you! Forgive my selfishness and idiocy!” Xi Le: “Even if you’re a big idiot, you’re my big idiot!”

These two are making me cry. I luff sisterly love.

At the company, our lover boy Huo Ying presents documents of the Pearl business to Chairlady Bai and she promises to read the files and discuss it at the next meeting. Meanwhile, she has found a suitable position for him: a planning manager, who needs to be creative and flexible when it comes to dealing with the cameramen, models, and advertisement work crew. Director Ji listens to her sugarcoating and flips his lids. He doesn’t want Huo Ying to work his way up the ladder like a regular employee. Before his temper gets to rear its ugly head, smiley Huo Ying tries to placate his father; he agrees with the Chairlady’s arrangement and hopes to learn new things.

Ye Chen arrives at the office and drops his resignation letter on Chairlady Bai’s desk, not hiding his defiant attitude. They relocate to the rooftop to discuss their little secret. He explains: “I don’t want to work for a boss who doesn’t trust me. The truth, Xie Ping An is your daughter. Why did you lie?” When she merely says she has her ‘difficulties’, he smirks and turns around to leave. Desperate to keep him by her side, she begs for him to stay, revealing quite dramatically that he’s the only person she can trust in this whole world. She admits that Ping An is indeed her biological daughter and she regrets it everyday after she abandoned Ping An. She wants to hug her, pamper hug, tell her she’s sorry.

In a matter-of-fact tone, Ye Chen replies that she can just say so. But she can’t, not after seeing her life being threatened repeatedly. Ye Chen blows up at her selfishness and she doesn’t bat an eyelash, “For my own flesh and blood, I will do anything. Of course, this is only a temporary deal. Once the killer is caught, everything will return to its rightful place and I’ll treat Xi Le nice.”

He scoffs at her plan, “Do you ever think about the ending? How these two girls would feel?” She hesitates and answers him with a shocking revelation, “I know but I don’t have time to find a better solution. The doctor has diagnosed me with a brain tumor. At most, I can only live for half a year.” His eyes enlarges and he scans her face solemnly.

After the verbal bomb, Ye Chen walks past the food court and sees Ping An caught in another problem with a customer. Due to her hand injury, she has slipped and caused food to splatter all over the lady. She demands her expensive shoes to be licked clean. Ping An calls out her outrageous attitude and the lady demands to see the manager. Which is when our handsome Ye Chen steps in, claiming the title. Let me tell you, I sorta lost my mind when he pauses and gives Ping An a soulful gaze through my the heart. AIIIIIIII!!!

She’s washing the dishes and he’s just standing there, drilling at her thoughtfully. He sighs, feeling sorrowful for her. She won’t have the chance to receive her mother’s limited love. Ping An shifts uncomfortably under his stare, mulling over his sudden change of demeanor to Mr. Nice Guy. He jokes that there’s nothing wrong with a boyfriend helping out his girl at all. She calls him annoying for carrying on the pretense when no one is present. He doesn’t care and asks for a treat as a thank-you gesture. Ping An says okay, he can come dine with them tonight since Xi Le is going to cook dinner!

Ping An grins at her successful antics while Ye Chen flashes back to the end of his conversation with the Chairlady. The woman has thanked him for staying. In his head, Ye Chen relays his reason, “I stay because the day you (Ping An) find out the truth, I can be by your side.”

And…. his love has been planted folks! But the person who occupies Ping An’s mind is the sick-for-his-scheme Zi Wen.

Xi Le visits the said sick person at the hospital and screams for the doctors when his head burns with a fever. In his semi-conscious state, Zi Wen drifts back to the time with him and Wei Zhen enjoying their day with a motor toy boat on a river. The toy was smashed when the debt collectors came and rummaged the house for any valuable items. Being the witness to his crumbling happy days, Zi Wen had promised to take everything back. So his plan was to wait in a nearby bush and attack Bai Ming Li’s car? He didn’t get to because Wei Zhen ran and stood in front of the car, getting hit instead. The force killed her instantly. He mutters, “No..Don’t leave me alone…”

The fever has helped us folks because Xi Le decides to stay and keeps watch over Zi Wen, leaving the ingredients in the hands of penny-pinching Ping An since she doesn’t want to treat him outside because it’s expensive. Love how he knowingly bumps into her while the wheels spin in her head.

Meanwhile, Xi Le sits at his bedside, holding Zi Wen’s hand. She’s worried about Ping An’s first night with her mom yet she can’t leave Zi Wen in this state. So I guess her equation will likely become Zi Wen > Ping An > Mama? When she tries to get up, Zi Wen tightens his grasp around her hand.

Cooking at home with an injured hand is Ping An. Ye Chen doesn’t lend a helping hand, and instead chuckles at her small talks with the dead squid. The smoke triggers the home fire sprinkler system to start, pouring water down her face. In walks Ye Chen with his dainty umbrella, shaking his head at the watery mess. LOL

Well, when cooking normal dishes doesn’t work out, one can always resort to noodles. Cue 3 bowls of instant noodles because the Chairlady has sent the cook home for the day. Ye Chen casually quips, “I wonder if it’s a fortune or misfortune that Xi Le has you as a friend.” She counters that Xi Le bought materials that are hard to cook and if he keeps talking, he won’t get to eat instant noodles either. “Fine! But you have to treat me to another meal.” That ain’t happening so she places the bowl back down in defeat, which is when she notices the odd-looking pendant hanging around his neck.

Ye Chen divulges it’s an item belonging to his deceased sister, right after he was sent to jail. Ping An swallows down her sudden ball of fear and nervously asks why the Chairlady isn’t having dinner with them.

They hear a thud in the room and rush in to find the Chairlady sprawled unconsciously on the floor. During the ride to the hospital, she comes back briefly and refers to Ping An as her daughter, which sends bulging eyeballs out of Ye Chen, but Ping An thinks she’s talking naturally about Xi Le and quickly calls her friend.

At the same time, Huo Ying conveniently flirts with a nurse when he sees the Chairlady being strolled in on the stretcher. Ping An remembers the warning from Bai Ming Li and offers him no words of confirmation. His face lights up at the arrival of Xi Le and he extends his hand to introduce himself as her cousin, which Ping An waves away impatiently.

Doctor Lu comes out and puts the rest at ease, which are lies from the Chairlady. He merely states that she fainted from exhaustion and irregular meals. They can go home. Huo Ying volunteers to drive them back but Xi Le thinks it’s better she stays at the hospital, in Zi Wen’s room, so she can look after both. She turns to Ye Chen and kindly requests that he takes Ping An home. They leave one by one and Huo Ying scratches his head, dumbfounded. “When did I become an invisible man? Or maybe this face of mind has lost its charms?” haha.

In the car, Ye Chen ponders whether Ping An will ever get the chance to embrace her mother’s love, while Ping An reveals her fear to him how worried she was when the Chairlady fainted. “A thought crossed my mind, what if she’s really gone? What then? Although she’s Xi Le’s mother, and I haven’t known her for long…but…” She trails off, unable to finish that line. A beat later, she chokes out, “I wonder whether my mother is still alive in this world…”

Ye Chen glances sideways at her despondent face, his hand lifts itself and moves towards her shoulder, meaning to pat her in consolation. For some reason, he pauses and slowly drops that intention.

Xi Le returns to Zi Wen’s room and he quickly pulls her into a hug. “Don’t leave me. I don’t want to be alone.” He gently pushes her back, enough to see her face, and kisses her. She returns the affection.

Next morning, everyone returns to work. And I mean the recently fainted, and the recently stabbed as well. When Director Ji half-compliments Zi Wen’s hard-working nature, Huo Ying scoffs, “What’s so great about Li Zi Wen? He’s only a dog.” He then expresses his interest in Xi Le and his father nods in approval of his pursuit.

Now that he’s back at work, Zi Wen thanks Chairlady Bai for allowing Xi Le’s care. She plainly tells him to organize and check the list of attendees to Xi Le’s introduction party, she doesn’t trust the work in other people’s hands. Feeling that something is amiss, Zi Wen wonders why his growing relationship with Xi Le doesn’t upset Chairlady Bai one bit.

Ye Chen drives Chairlady Bai home and reminds her of their agreement. He agrees to stay because she promises to return the girls to their rightful places. So what is she doing with the introduction party? The whole world would know of Xi Le’s identity. She clarifies that sometimes to achieve the best results, one has to use the most poisonous medicine. Uh….okay.

Sitting and reminiscing her time with Zi Wen at a cafe, Xi Le can’t keep the happiness from radiating. Zi Wen enters the cafe, hesitates a few moments, before he sits down opposite her. She has no classes this evening and would like to have dinner with him but Zi Wen formally tells her that they are people from two different worlds. He’s sorry for expressing his innermost feelings at the hospital, citing that when people are sick, they are weak and vulnerable.

Confused about his words, Xi Le asks whether he has someone else in his heart. She doesn’t get where he’s leading so he breaks it down for her: She’s the Chairlady’s daughter, he’s only a worker, their status in society does not match. Xi Le: “It took immense courage for me to confess, so how can you reject me because of my mother?” He leaves her hanging at the table. A new song plays. OMG. I WANT THE SOUNDTRACK NOWWWWWWW!

Dejected, Xi Le trudges down the hall in a daze. She stares at her reflection in the mirror, thinking about the conflicts that arise from her new identity. “Family and Love, I thought I had both at the same time.” Her train of thoughts is distracted when Huo Ying preens at his reflection, “Ah, so we have the same habit, checking ourselves in the mirror!” She gives him the cold shoulder and he chides her behavior, they’re cousins after all. He’s going to meet a few friends later and would like to invite her along. She allows him to guide her away. This scene is caught by Ping An and she worriedly dials Xi Le’s number. Funny how the real daughter is the one following her mother’s orders. heh.

Huo Ying takes Xi Le to a high-class club where the men grovel at her angelic beauty. They take turn trying to defame Huo Ying’s innocent flower boy image and Xi Le cracks a smile.

Ping An hides in a corner and repeatedly calls Xi Le’s number in vain. She’s caught by the big-mouthed manager and she pokes Ping An’s head, calling her lazy. Fortunately, Zi Wen covers for Ping An and asks for her assistance. In his office, he pretends to be grumpy about her recent dodgy behavior, “Are you avoiding me? When I was hospitalized, you did not come once to visit.” Stumped, her valid excuses relate to the ongoing renovation of the food court, all hands are required to help. Somewhat resolved, he asks her to pick out good dishes from the food court to serve during Xi Le’s introduction party. She complies and they take notice at the Chairlady’s change of heart regarding the food court.

Since she can’t find Xi Le at home, Ping An’s last resort is Ye Chen. I like how she doesn’t call Big Pervert this time and addresses his full name. 🙂

Ye Chen visits his sister’s grave and casually mentions about this other noisy girl he has met. Being together with her helps him forget that Wei Zhen is no longer on this earth. A figure appears behind him, it’s a policeman with the surname Xu. He’s interested in Ye Chen’s new employer. Apparently, Bai Ming Li is not infamous in the business for no reason. He wants some scoops on her and hands Ye Chen his card. Just in case. Ye Chen then receives a call from Ping An then. Is it just me but his face brightens when he realizes it’s Ping An?

Xi Le steps weakly out of the toilet stall and snaps out of her stupor. “How could I mindlessly follow Ji Huo Ying here? Mom would be so angry.” She calls Ping An but Ping An hops into Ye Chen, leaving her phone and bag in the house.

BUT THIS PART IS SOOOOOO CUTE!

Ye Chen: “Where’s Xi Le?”
Ping An: “I don’t know! She’s with Ji Huo Ying, that big pervert! She doesn’t pick up my calls and I’m worried!!”
Ye Chen: “I won’t allow it.”

Me: *confused at what he meant* Won’t allow what?

Cre: Tumblr

So…

He’s caught and pretends to roll his eyes, Gurl, whatcha talking about?!

Director Ji goes to see Zi Wen. When he’s not there, Director Ji scans the desk and picks up the contract for the food court vendors. He notices the clause that Bai Ming Li has added to the contract earlier. Zi Wen finally shows up, after knowing that his laid out trap has successfully moves another chess piece in Director Ji. A cunning smile spreads across his face. Ye Chen and Ping An charge in the office, asking for help in locating Huo Ying.

Kappy: Another episode which disclosed more Zi Wen’s back story. When is my boo Ye Chen getting his attention writer? Surely, there is more to him than just a deceased sister? Although there are scant scenes of PingChen this episode, I really like their genuine interactions and how open they are towards each other about their past. It’s a beautiful beginning where friendship takes root first and foremost.

The other character with less character development is Xi Le. She’s too nice for her own good. Right now, she’s one-dimensional and obedient. And I think they picked the right actress. Cherry looks helpless and fragile most of the time. Even her voice is soft and gentle.