Since Mu Zhenfei had offered to help his sister dig out Mo Shaoqian’s dalliances, Yongfei calls him to check on the progress on of his investigation. Mu Zhenfei, who is fully aware of his sister’s erratic and uninhibited behavior, cautions her not to go too far. He fears his sister will do something crazy and hurt another innocent woman like Su Shanshan. He warns, “The more you pressure a man, the more he will resist you. Your tactic won’t work.” Ignoring Zhenfei's advice, Mu Yongfei shoots back saying that after their father suspended his hospital construction project, Mo Shaoqian has been a very “good husband” recently and has even moved back home to spend more time with her.
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In secret, Mo Shaoqian arranges a meeting with Su Shanshan to compensate her for the “troubles” she suffered on his behalf. He hands her a big FAT check, a very generous amount that guarantees her to live in comfort for the rest of her life. However, she’s rather confused by Mo Shaoqian’s actions. He had a rendezvous with her in a hotel room, but left her untouched. She confesses that she was genuinely attracted to him and compliments that he’s very different from the other businessmen that she met/dated.
While Mo Shaoqian is away, Tong Xue focuses on pleasing her difficult client for the new interior design project she’s currently working with Yueying. Mu Zhenfei and his buddy, Zhao Gaoxing, tag along to help them. Coincidentally, Mo Shaoqian’s chauffeur, Lao Ma, recognizes Mu Zhenfei as Mo Shaoqian’s brother-in-law when he drove Tong Xue to her work site and worries about their interaction. He goes back home to consult with the Housekeeper Ding who tells him Mo Shaoqian won’t be coming back for a long period of time. They both agree that none of the involved parties are aware of the other’s true identity.
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During Tong Xue and Mo Shaoqian’s separation, Mo Shaoqian seems to live a very bland and pretentious life at the Mu’s family compound, playing the role of a devoted husband and son-in-law. He only goes to work and occasionally accompanies Mu Yongfei on her shopping trips. Sometimes, his mind even drifts off somewhere (thinking of Tong Xue?) during corporate meetings. Tong Xue, in contrast, continues to enjoy life in normalcy and barely laments on Mo Shaoqian’s sudden disappearance. She only shows some sign of reaction when she came home late one night and took a look at his study.
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To “celebrate” the success their design project, Director Jin orders Tong Xue and Yueying to attend a house warming party at the request of their difficult client. When they arrive at the party, the two ladies realize Mu Zhenfei is the actual homeowner and “difficult client” that kept on requesting changes. In the garden, Tong Xue and Zhenfei share a casual and friendly conversation where we can kind of tell Zhenfei is developing some soft feelings for Tong Xue. He had initially wanted a fish pond, but changed his mind when Tong Xue suggested to construct a water foundation instead. She said fishes should be allowed to swim freely and not contain in a small pool of water.
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And by chance again, Xiao Shan and Lin Zixian are also acquaintances of Zhenfei, and the two rumored lovebirds show up at the housewarming party to Tong Xue’s disconcertment. She excuses herself from the crowd to avoid more awkwardness with Zixian and Xiao Shan. When Zixian seeks her out to openly berate her for constantly showing her face in front of them, Tong Xue finally decides to leave the party early. Zixian has been trying to pursue Xiao Shan for the past several years, but just when she felt he was reciprocating her feelings, Xiao Shan retracted because Tong Xue reappeared to ruin the opportunity. Zhenfei then runs after Tong Xue when she left. Before he offers to send her home, Zhenfei confronts Tong Xue about the awkward and tensed vibe that he felt between Xiao Shan, Zixian, and her. He speculates correctly about Tong Xue’s past romantic relationship with Xiao Shan and asks her the reason for their breakup. Tong Xue confides that even to this moment she fails to pinpoint the actual reason for her breakup with Xiao Shan.
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Despite having a very blissful period of dating, Tong Xue’s insecurity/lack of confidence and Xiao Shan’s pride began to cause some discord in their relationship. She became somewhat bitter about Xiao Shan spending too much time with the beautiful Lin Zixian and their collaboration in the school’s newspaper. Upset by Tong Xue’s mistrust, Xiao Shan thoughtlessly suggested they break up since Tong Xue lacked the very basic understanding of trust in a relationship. Both parties, in their youthful pride, failed to reconciliate in time and their relationship ended in regrets.
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The taxi drops Tong Xue off a short distance from her front door and she bids farewell to Zhenfei, thanking him for the hassle of taking her home. Just around the same time, Mo Shaoqian, after disappearing for over a month, passes by in his car to witness Tong Xue smiling sweetly and waving goodbye to Mu Zhenfei. He doesn’t actually catches Mu Zhenfei’s face since he was so focused on Tong Xue. As Tong Xue approaches her front door, she sees Lao Ma and realizes Mo Shaoqian is back. Lao Ma informs her that Mo Shaoqian saw a man send her home and hints at his employer's moodiness.
At this point, Tong Xue senses that Mo Shaoqian isn’t too happy and she apprehensively knocks on his bedroom door. With no response inside, Tong Xue attempts to open the door, but it’s locked. Housekeeper Ding then comes to drop off Shaoqian’s robe, uses her spare key to open the door after his getting his permission, and purposely leaves the door open for Tong Xue. She enters his bedroom and sees him lying on his bed with his back against her. Hoping to placate his moodiness, she apologizes for coming home late and tries to appease him by sneaking up against him to kiss on his ear. Shaoqian suddenly gets up and demands that she gives him a smile. Tong Xue obliges with a forceful smile, but he mocks that her “smile looks worse than her weep."
He taunts, “When you bid farewell a moment ago, didn’t you smile ever so naturally toward him? Let me see your smile again. [
Tong Xue gives him an odd look] You can’t smile anymore? Perhaps when you go see your uncle one last time, you can probably smile then.” Cranky as ever, Shaoqian then tells her to go back to her bedroom.
Oh dear, Shaoqian sounds really jealous and pissed that Tong Xue can smile sweetly in front of everyone except for him. This realization hurts him immensely since he seems to genuinely want Tong Xue to care for him but at the same time can’t seem to refrain from mocking/ridiculing her. Clueless about what Shaoqian actually thinks and feels, Tong Xue probably thinks he’s just having one of his random tantrums.
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Of course, feeling threatened by Shaoqian’s words, Tong Xue lingers behind in another attempt to pacify his anger. Whenever she tries to get close to him, he rudely pushes her away. She tries countless times, and Shaoqian doesn’t relent. Finally, he pushes her a little too hard and she accidentally knocks into his antique lamp. It shatters into pieces. Tong Xue, out of fear and panicked, retreats and falls off the bed onto the broken shards on the floor. Seeing what he has done, Shaoqian picks Tong Xue up without paying any attention to his bare feet and the broken shards on the floor. The pieces cut deeply through his flesh in his frenzy to rush Tong Xue to the hospital.
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Dr. Gu, who is a close family friend of Shaoqian’s late father, tells Shaoqian that Tong Xue can choose to stay at the hospital for closer examination or go home. Shaoqian, knowing that he went too far and inadvertently became the culprit for Tong Xue’s injury, bends down to ask Tong Xue in a gentle manner if she’s still in pain. In response, Tong Xue angrily demands to stay at the hospital during her recovery. Ridden with guilt and frustration, Shaoqian leaves in a hurried limp.
Unbeknownst to Shaoqian is the presence of his mother, Jiang Yun (a.k.a Professor Jiang) in an adjoining hospital room. She also happens to be staying at the same hospital and receiving treatment from Dr. Gu. He informs her that Shaoqian just brought in badly lacerated young lady for treatment. Curious why her son would be associated with a young lady, especially one whose name is Tong Xue, she asks Dr. Gu to do her favor by moving Tong Xue into the same hospital room with her.
© 2011,
JoleCole. All rights reserved.
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