We went back to the scene when a female junior confessed to Shao Xi. Shao Xi asked her why she confessed to her knowing that Shao Xi liked boys and she would most likely be rejected. The junior’s reply struck a chord on Shao Xi as she said, “Because I didn’t want to regret it. There are some answers that you’ll only know by asking.” Shao Xi was silently reflecting on it during practice and decided to follow the junior’s lead to confess to Li Zheng. Shao Xi went to find Li Zheng and caught him as he was conversing with his classmates. Li Zheng’s classmates inquired of his relationship with Shao Xi. The classmates were confused why he kept hanging around Shao Xi as they viewed her as a big bully. They asked if Li Zheng had feelings for Shao Xi. Shao Xi stopped in her track and continued to eavesdropping. Li Zheng replied that he did not consider Shao Xi as a little sister but more of a little brother. Misreading the situation, Shao Xi turned around, left, and did not listen to Li Zheng’s clarification. Similar to an older brother, he further explained that he would never tolerate anyone who bully or ridicule Shao Xi. His facial expression was so scary that the classmates left nervously. Serves them right! And let’s welcome angst and misunderstanding.
Now we returned to last episode’s ending when Shao Xi caught Da Mao, the bully, reading her diary entries to the entire class. Shao Xi was humiliated and Ru Ping was desperately trying to snatch the diary. I cannot believe Ru Ping is the only one defending Shao Xi while the rest of the students are egging Da Mao on. High School can be downright cruel. Li Zheng rushed down from his class to find Shao Xi. The news of Shao Xi’s humiliation must have already spread. When he arrived, he found Shao Xi grabbing Da Mao by the neck. Li Zheng slowly calmed her down and convinced her to release Da Mao. He then hugged Shao Xi and she proceeded to cry in his embrace. Sigh… Now it was Li Zheng’s turn to look at Da Mao with all sorts of negativity. I suspect Li Zheng hides a crazy psycho underneath his stoic persona because I would be downright terrified should anyone stares at me the way Li Zheng does for Da Mao.
Shao Xi started to become self-conscious as all eyes were on her. So, she pushed Li Zheng away, picked her diary off the floor, and ran outside. Li Zheng and Ru Ping followed her. Li Zheng took a wrong turn and lost Shao Xi. Shao Xi reached to the school pond and started ripping pages throwing them into the pond. Li Zheng wanted to approach her but Ru Ping came first and he stopped. Ru Ping comforted her and Shao Xi bawled. Ru Ping and Shao Xi were drying themselves in the toilet. Shao Xi finally told Ru Ping about Li Zheng’s living in her house and that he was her fiancé. Ru Ping asked if Li Zheng knew Shao Xi liked him. Shao Xi claimed ignorance.
Ru Ping volunteered to take Shao Xi home as it was raining and she did not bring an umbrella. Shao Xi declined the offer and decided to run all the way home with only her bag to cover her. On the way, she encountered Li Zheng who was holding an umbrella and presumably, also on his way home. Li Zheng grabbed her hand and pulled her under the umbrella. Shao Xi looked up at him but decided to continue running home. Oh the noble idiocy!
At home and miserable, Shao Xi decided to cut through her red string. When her scissors failed her, she took out the big guns but still failed. Li Zheng came in to help and easily, cut it off. I should be screaming in glee right about now because is this not a confirmation that Li Zheng is indeed her fated one?! But why is the atmosphere so angsty?! Li Zheng asked if Shao Xi liked him but she strongly denied it. A little too strongly actually! Li Zheng, who should know Shao Xi better by now, should see right through it. Running away yet again, to outside of her house, Shao Xi was reminded of the bad luck coming her way since she intentionally cut the string. So right on cue, Shao Xi stepped on a bottle and fell. Li Zheng wanted to help her up. But again, the idiocy took over. She ignored him and left.
Since that day, Shao Xi avoided Li Zheng like he was the plaque. Li Zheng did the same and Shao Xi saw this, as a confirmation that Li Zheng felt her feelings for him was burdensome. Everyone in the school deduced that Shao Xi’s crush was most probably Li Zheng. There were various reactions of support and disbelief from Shao Xi’s classmates and blatant opposition from Class A students. Ru Ping and Shao Xi were walking during recess and Shao Xi noticed many eyes were on her. She asked Ru Ping what was going on and Ru Ping nervously admitted that not only the whole school knew Li Zheng was her crush, they were also betting whether Shao Xi would force Li Zheng to be her boyfriend. Hahaha…
Shao Xi ran to her class and declared in front of everyone that her crush was not Li Zheng but it was Xiao Yu. No one really believed it but Shao Xi publicly declared her love, stepped on his shoes and threatened him with bodily harm when he did not reply immediately. So with the whole class in full support and after reading Wen Tian Xiang’s (a patriot of the Southern Song Dynasty) poem on loyalty, Xiao Yu agreed to be her boyfriend. Hahaha… apparently the whole school really does know Shao Xi well. She is in fact, capable of forcing a boy to be her boyfriend. Kinda ironic how this thing that she wants to disprove (not liking Li Zheng and will not force Li Zheng to be her boyfriend) becomes the very thing that she does to disprove it (forcing Xiao Yu to be her boyfriend).
News of Shao Xi’s new boyfriend spread throughout the school and Li Zheng overheard it. He calmly packed up his bag and left class but he stopped dead on his tracks when he saw the new couple walking together hand in hand downstairs. Is that jealousy?! Downstairs, Xiao Yu was begging for Shao Xi to let him go and not pester him anymore. Hilarious! Shao Xi explained that she did not like Xiao Yu but just needed him to act as her boyfriend for a week until the rumor mills moved onto another topic. Shao Xi reminded Xiao Yu that Shao Xi saved him when the Jin Pai girls came to bother him. Xiao Yu reluctantly agreed.
Ru Ping saw Li Zheng and stopped him. She explained that Shao Xi’s relationship with Xiao Yu was just a pretense, as she did not want him to be bothered with talks over her feelings for him. Ru Ping also urged Li Zheng not to misunderstand Shao Xi. She explained that Shao Xi got her nickname ‘Zhong Ke’ because Shao Xi defended Ru Ping when Da Mao bullied her in her Sophomore year. Da Mao’s ammo apparently stayed similar since. He too, roughly took Ru Ping’s notebook, ridiculed it, and started ripping pages off the notebook. I really hate bullies! Shao Xi came and pinned Da Mao to a desk. She even made him apologize before telling him to go away. You go girl! Shao Xi ended up with demerits but gained a loyal friend in return. Ru Ping and Shao Xi were inseparable since. Listening to Ru Ping’s story, Li Zheng’s face started to clear up. Ru Ping indirectly confirmed that Shao Xi had a crush on him and therefore, hoped that he would not ridicule her feelings.
We start to delve more deeply into Li Zheng’s character as another flashback scene showed that before he too, was bullied by his classmates for being an orphan. I think this is going to be important later on. Li Zheng arrived home and asked Shao Xi to come for a tutoring session as she skipped yesterday’s session. Shao Xi told him that since she had Xiao Yu by her side, Li Zheng no longer needed to tutor her. Li Zheng asked if she really liked Xiao Yu. She lied and said she did. Li Zheng smiled, but clearly was just faking it as his smile did not reach his eyes, and agreed to release her off their tutoring sessions. Cue: Close To You… Li Zheng had actually scooped up pages from Shao Xi’s diary that were thrown into the pond. He got further confirmation that he indeed, was her crush. Both Shao Xi and Li Zheng reminisced. Shao Xi started to cry. Poor baby!
That evening at dinner, Papa and Mama Zhong noticed the awkward silence between the two youngsters and asked if they fought. Both Li Zheng and Shao Xi denied it. Mama Zhong noticed that Shao Xi was no longer wearing the red thread. She started to be reminded of Teacher Yue’er’s guarantee that Shao Xi’s thread would never fall off and needed to be cut should she wanted to date. Mama Zhong wondered… Mama Zhong reminded Shao Xi that she could not cut the red thread just because she wanted to date. Shao Xi assured her that she cut it because she was allergic to the thread. Little did they know, Papa Zhong heard this whole exchange and was back in his full protective mode.
Xiao Yu stopped by a nearby café to order food. Shao Xi noticed him and started to embrace him. Xiao Yu begged to be released as he started getting evil stares from the other students. Dude! Grow a pair, why don’t you? Papa Zhong followed Shao Xi and noticed the embrace and vowed to put an end to this relationship. Papa Zhong went to school and started yelling at Xiao Yu for dating Shao Xi. Shao Xi stopped him but Xiao Yu had had enough. He did not want to be misunderstood further so he declared that he was not Shao Xi’s real boyfriend and that he liked and had liked Ru Ping for years. He asked Ru Ping if she returned his feelings but was amusingly turned down.
Li Zheng overhead Da Mao’s plan to harm Shao Xi. Li Zheng was back in his determined mode and appeared to be coming up with a plan. In the basketball court, Da Mao were playing and yelled at his sidekicks for losing to him even though there were two of them and only one of him. Li Zheng challenged Da Mao to a match and the two boys were matched equally. Ru Ping came to find Shao Xi to inform her of this game. When she arrived, she caught the end of the game where Li Zheng appeared to be beating Da Mao in basketball and accidently caused him to fall. Da Mao was angry at first but when Li Zheng apologized, he accepted it. The two boys seemed to reach to an understanding and Shao Xi saw all this. She was disappointed and Li Zheng appeared shocked at first that she was there, but he looked away and continued being friendly with Da Mao. Hmmm…
Ru Ping was angry at Li Zheng for befriending Da Mao even though he was fully aware he bullied Shao Xi. Shao Xi pretended not to care, again exaggeratedly, and when the two girls passed by Li Zheng in the corridor, they ignored him. Neither girls looked back but Li Zheng did and when he saw Shao Xi happily chatting away with Ru Ping, he was clearly envious.
Li Zheng and Da Mao were playing a game together after school. It is clear from Li Zheng’s quiet and thoughtful questions, he was planning something. A revenge maybe?! The two boys started talking about the upcoming exam: where the papers were kept before the exam and how Li Zheng knew the pass code to the safe where the papers were located. Da Mao did not believe it Li Zheng would know the code after only seeing it once. But he challenged Da Mao to test it. Da Mao is totally and utterly screwed. Li Zheng has his claws out. Back home at dinner table, Papa Zhong asked Shao Xi for Li Zheng’s whereabouts. Shao Xi replied that she did not know where he was and cue: Li Zheng walked in. But as soon as Li Zheng sat down, Shao Xi quickly cleared her bowl and left the table. Papa and Mama Zhong noticed something was weird but could not make it out. Li Zheng appeared to be in deep thoughts.
Shao Xi went up to her room and started playing a game. Now, the second male read, Wang Jin Li (Riley Wang), finally made an appearance. Shao Xi appeared to be playing the same online game as Jin Li. Oh, this is going to be good. Look at that dimple!
Li Zheng knocked on Shao Xi’s door to deliver some practice books that he made notes on to encourage Shao Xi to study. I love how thoughtful Li Zheng is but I hate that they are not in good terms. Shao Xi was reminded again of their bet and was motivated to study. Ru Ping was confused over Shao Xi’s diligence and asked if there was something wrong with her. Hahaha… She kept pestering Shao Xi as they walked out of class. The two girls passed by Li Zheng on the stairway just as Da Mao asked for a private moment with Li Zheng. Calm down girl. Don’t worry. Li Zheng has a plan to avenge you. Ru Ping asked if Shao Xi was studying because of Li Zheng and after much pestering, Shao Xi came clean over the bet. Ru Ping emphasized that Li Zheng initiated this bet before he knew of her feelings for him and cautiously reminded her not to keep her hopes up.
Da Mao was lurking outside the teachers’ office and encouraged Li Zheng to distract the only teacher inside. He then, went in and cracked open the safe with the combination code that Li Zheng gave him. He succeeded and started to photo all of the answer keys. Once done, he returned everything nicely and even made sure that the exam papers were placed on the right shelf. Li Zheng walked the teacher back to the office after apologizing for taking her on a futile mission. Da Mao was leaving just as the teacher and Li Zheng were returning to office.
Shao Xi wanted to end her studying session but reminded of the bet, continued anyway. In the neighboring room, Li Zheng too was still awake and listening to music while holding onto two movie tickets that he already purchased. Quick thing to note: Li Zheng bought tickets to a chick flick. Hehehe… Admit that you like her!
Exams are underway. Teacher took notice of Shao Xi hard at work solving the questions. Teacher looked satisfied. Good! At least, teacher would not suspect her for her high achievements. Teacher also noticed Da Mao who were not solving questions and were merely writing answers down a little too happily. The exam results came out and Shao Xi found out that she was in 87th place and therefore, just won the bet. The two girls saw Li Zheng and Ru Ping wondered if Li Zheng still remembered the bet. He looked stoic as per usual and so, hard to read. But Shao Xi dismissed all that and just wanted to be happy for her achievements.
The teachers called Da Mao to the office and confronted him. Apparently, the teachers suspected some exam tampering and shuffled the questions. Da Mao was caught because all of his answers matched perfectly to the answer keys of the original exam. Teacher asked him to come clean if he did not want to be reported to the police for stealing and cheating. Da Mao remained quiet. The teacher then explained that she became suspicious because the exam papers moved from the bottom shelf to the top. Da Mao yelled it could not be as he carefully put everything back to its original position. And he was caught.
In her room, Shao Xi readied herself for her movie date with Li Zheng. She left only after she was satisfied with her appearance. Hmmm… Is it only me? How she styles the pink dress is horrible. She took the movie ticket that was attached with a note from Li Zheng congratulating her for her achievement and asking her for a date. Swoon… Shao Xi met her mother on her way out and Mama Zhong asked if she were going on a date. Shao Xi asked where was Li Zheng. Mama Zhong answered that just like her, Li Zheng too went out for a movie with a friend to celebrate the end of exams. Mama Zhong put two and two together and wondered if they were going on a date together. Shao Xi continued to deny it. Mama Zhong just smiled knowingly.
In front of the cinema, a hand tapped Li Zheng on the shoulder. He smiled and turned. His smile faded when he saw it was Da Mao that tapped him. Shao Xi saw the two boys hanging out and widened her eyes in shock.
Comment
I love this episode. A lot of character development happening especially on Li Zheng. As a former victim of bullying, he cannot stand seeing bullied victims. I think that is why he is willing to converse with Ru Ping and even appears, courteous. I am also positive this also why he comes up with an elaborate plan to avenge Shao Xi. I think the writer wants to stress that even though Shao Xi is already very aware of her growing attractions to Li Zheng. Li Zheng may actually only protect her out of care. Yikes! But I find this hard to swallow honestly. Because when she pinned the badge on him in Episode 2, that look he gave is definitely not platonic.
I am going to say it again. Joanne Tseng is such a good actress. The way she portrayed her emotions when Da Mao exposed her deepest thoughts to everyone. Wow! Spot on. I can feel the anger, the depression, and finally, the acceptance now that her secrets are out. Ru Ping is a loyal friend and always by her side but her doubtful and pessimistic nature is getting to me.
We are starting to enter the angst of the drama with the two main leads not talking to each other and also the introduction of the second male lead. This show is certainly taking its time with the second leads. We have yet to meet the other female leads. I really wonder how long the show is going to drag this misunderstanding and noble idiocy plot. Hmmm… Not too long please.
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