T-Drama
ATTENTION, LOVE!Episode 2 Recap
Shao Xi followed Li Zheng’s lead and trespassed onto his childhood home. Not long though, Li Zheng caught and confronted her. But before Shao Xi could explain, two officers came, interrupted them, and brought them outside the house. During interrogation, Shao Xi tried to get explanation from Li Zheng but her efforts proved futile, as Li Zheng remained silent throughout. The officers contacted the house owners who happened to be Papa and Mama Zhong. And after a discussion with Papa Zhong, the matter was settled and put to rest.
The foursome went home and Li Zheng apologized for his behavior. Papa Zhong explained to Shao Xi that the trespassed house actually belonged to Li Zheng’s grandfather and was where Li Zheng spent his early years with his parents. Following their death, Li Zheng moved to Japan to be with his uncle who worked there. His uncle appointed Papa Zhong to be the caretaker of Yan’s old house and to either rent or sale it as he saw fit. Any proceeds from it would be Li Zheng’s allowance. And this is where the mystery from last episode gets answered: Papa Zhong could not bear to rent or sold the house to a third party for fear of damaging any part of the house as it was the last of Yan’s family legacy. Papa Zhong intended to preserve all the memories in it and return the house in its original state to Li Zheng when he was of age. And he did all these even though it was costing him its monthly rental fee of NTD 25,000 (equivalent to roughly IDR 11,000,000). Now, that is what I call a loyal friend! Li Zheng is lucky to have a father-in-law like Papa Zhong. Hearing this, Shao Xi got an idea to help Li Zheng gain some memories of his parents using the toy car that she found at the house.
Li Zheng overheard the majority of Zhong family conversation and was in his own deep thoughts as he flashbacked into his younger days. A day when he punched a child and asked his uncle (cameo Xie Kun Da) to take him away as he did not care for how his friends looked at him. The uncle, maybe due to his inexperience dealing with kids, indulged him and took him abroad to Japan. This effectively faded most of his childhood memories and now, Li Zheng regretted it. Shao Xi interrupted his thoughts to give him the house key attached to the toy car that was now turned into a keychain. This thoughtful act however was not appreciated! Li Zheng took Shao Xi’s care as pity and slammed the door on her face. Rude much?!
What followed is a great scene where Shao Xi gave Li Zheng a lesson in good behavior. She beat him, forced him to apologize, and made him to promise never to slam door again. I love how refreshingly Shao Xi is written! She does not let anyone take her for granted. I am so glad this is not only in her mind. Shao Xi returned to her room and quickly regretted her fierce action. Hahaha… Back in his room, Li Zheng seemed shocked at first but then smiled brightly over the key gift. This is definitely a masochistic moment here.
Shao Xi was trying to come up with the right apology for beating him up. She even came up with one where she offered to ice his wounds. Hahaha… But when he opened the door, she reverted to her thug-like self and threatened him not to report her to Papa Zhong. Hilarious! Of course she regretted it again, but I think our boy had had a change of heart. Li Zheng actually asked her to accompany him the following day. Judging from Shao Xi ’s surprised expression, she did not expect this.
Shao Xi must have agreed because in the following scene, we find both Li Zheng and Shao Xi together in a photo studio to print the film inside the camera from the old house. The salesgirl warned Li Zheng that due to its old age and the fact that it was exposed; it is useless to print it. But Li Zheng insisted. It really is heartbreaking to see Li Zheng held on to scraps of his childhood memories. Li Zheng told Shao Xi that he took her along so that her parents would not worry about him. Li Zheng invited her to a restaurant and at lunch, he admitted that he saw her as a friend. This greatly shocked her. So much so that she was not offended that Li Zheng only befriended because he thought she was incapable of pity.
Our OTP was walking along when Shao Xi saw the Jin Pai girl and her Oppa. She tried to avoid them but was noticed and invited to another fight. But this time, Li Zheng stepped up and beat the thugs before grabbing Shao Xi’s hands and running away. The twosome managed to lose them only to awkwardly realize that they were still holding each other’s hands. The awkwardness did not last long though because Shao Xi literally stepped on dog poo! This led to another comedic moment where Li Zheng laughed happily as he watched her attempting to clean her smelly shoes. In her monolog, Shao Xi realized that this was the first time she saw Li Zheng smiling brightly.
The weekend was over and we were back in Shao Xi’s class where the teacher asked for her homework assignment. Smug, Shao Xi boasted to the teacher that her assignments were completed this time. In her head, she wishfully thought of a world where Li Zheng does all of her assignments and tests! Hahaha… She was then reminded that Li Zheng was currently taking a placement test. Li Zheng looked for her in class after his test to give her the bento box that she forgot to bring. This is another Itazura Na Kiss reminder. Her girlfriends pestered Shao Xi for information on her relationship with Li Zheng but Shao Xi claimed that they were just friends.
Shao Xi chased after Li Zheng to ask how he did on the test. As expected, Li Zheng managed just fine but wondered why everyone called her ‘Zhong Ke’ (this is typically used to address an older male). Did not want to expose her bullying ways, so Shao Xi avoided the question. Sakura petals fell around them and one was stuck in her hair. (Hold on, let’s back up! Where do the sakura petals come from? There are no blooming sakura trees around. Oh, in dramaland, Sakura petals can be conjured anytime and it makes perfect sense. Okay, continue!) Li Zheng reached over and picked it; stunning Shao Xi as he initiated another physical contact. Li Zheng left the school and when the two of them were away from each other, they both stopped and started to notice their growing interests for one another. This is going to be good! Shao Xi recorded how she felt when Li Zheng reached over to pick the petals from her hair in her diary happily.
At home the following day, Shao Xi saw Li Zheng putting on his Class A uniform. She told him how special it was to be admitted to Class A and also mentioned that the uniform for it was more handsome. Shao Xi helped Li Zheng put on the school badge since he did not seem to understand its significance. And now, it was Li Zheng ’s turn to be stunned over Shao Xi’s skinship.
Li Zheng and Shao Xi said their goodbyes to Mama Zhong and she reminded Shao Xi to help Li Zheng acclimate to the school community. Li Zheng noticed that Shao Xi wore a skirt for once and blatantly stared at her naked legs making her self-conscious. The boy likes! As they were arriving to school, the other students took notice that Shao Xi and Li Zheng, from 2 different classes, were walking together. Shao Xi noticed and did not want to embarrass Li Zheng so volunteered to stay behind while he entered school first. Li Zheng disagreed and they walked in together. Swoon…
During school hours, Shao Xi skipped her class to snoop on Li Zheng . She wanted to make sure he was not bullied in his class. When she arrived, she saw Li Zheng correctly answering a difficult math question and was elected to be the class tutor. Back in Shao Xi’s class, she was thinking about Li Zheng instead of listening to the class lesson. Shao Xi requested for a toilet break. The teacher complained that she always went to the toilet at the same time but granted her permission anyway. He probably should not have permitted her as instead of the toilet, Shao Xi went to Class A to stalk.
The Zhong family and Li Zheng were sitting around the dinner table to have dinner and about to start eating when Shao Xi requested the family to adopt a communal chopsticks to pick food off the serving plates. Li Zheng gave her a small appreciative smile for her initiative. Papa Zhong originally disagreed but decided to get along with it anyway. After dinner, Li Zheng informed her that from now on, he would tutor her as he did not want to have a friend whose 3 test scores only add to 100.
The next few scenes, the viewers get to see Shao Xi writing in her diary about her thoughts and feelings. All of which seemed to focus around Li Zheng: his taste in food and music, how supportive he was during her athletic practices, how much she looked forward to their trips going to and from school together, and how well she was performing in school as a result to his tutoring. Li Zheng caught Shao Xi zoning out during one of their tutoring lessons and scolded her. He made a bet with her that should she got into the top one hundred, he would treat her to a movie. His confidence in her motivated her and she became determined to win the bet. She later on wrote on her diary that she wondered if she worked hard because she wanted to watch a movie or she wanted to watch a movie with him. Definitely the latter. Is that even a question Shao Xi?
Another diary entry: on a rainy day, both Li Zheng and Shao Xi rested inside a phone booth for shelter. Shao Xi used tissue to dry Li Zheng, it was an automatic act, but an awkward silence took over upon realization. She then gave the tissue to Li Zheng who proceeded to continue drying himself. Li Zheng incorrectly pronounced ‘hot’ and Shao Xi patiently explained. She wrote in her diary that teaching Li Zheng was unlike her as normally, she would be too impatient to do it. Shao Xi really seemed to have fallen head over heels in love with Li Zheng. I sincerely hope Li Zheng reciprocated soon.
Mama Zhong and her sister-in-law invited Shao Xi to join them for a visit to Teacher Yue’er, a fortune teller, to find out her luck in studies. Teacher Yue’er was an extremely animated character whose attire and choice of venue, appeared unconventional. She tied a red string from God of Marriage on Shao Xi’s aunt’s wrist and claimed that within 3 days, she would meet the love of her life. And lo and behold, a man came with similar red string and cue romantic background music! Hahaha… Maybe, the red string really did have supernatural powers. The cringe though! There is a bit of a dirty joke here when the man asked whether his right hand was his fated one. (Wink! Wink! Get it? Get it?) Anyway, witnessing the red string’s effectiveness, Shao Xi asked one for herself.
Mama Zhong requested that Shao Xi hid the string from her father, which she did using a sweatband. And in her room, she stared happily at the string in her wrist hoping that her dream man would quickly appear at her side. She started to imagine a jealous Li Zheng whisking her away, declaring his undying love to her, and her red string magically fell off to affirm that he was indeed, her soulmate. Hahaha… Shao Xi dreamed of the day that the red string fell off. She dreamed at home and of course, at school. She dreamed so much that her friend, Ru Ping, found her inspiring: as a female character for her next novel. Ru Ping tried to snoop to find out who was her crush but Shao Xi refused to divulge.
Ru Ping and Shao Xi’s conversation was interrupted by a female schoolmate who came to confess to Shao Xi. Eh?! I guess the red string does manage to attract suitors! Just may not be of the preferred suitor. Hahaha… Back to the classroom, Ru Ping was fighting with some school bullies who were reading out loud someone’s personal diary entries. Thinking it was Ru Ping’s diary, Shao Xi wanted to stand up for her. But when she realized it was hers, she stopped and was stunned. The episode ended with Shao Xi’s tears running down her cheek. THAT IS SO NOT OKAY!
Comments
What happened to the printed photos of the camera? The show just completely abandoned that whole plot! I wonder if it will get picked up in later episodes.
I do not find this episode to be as addictive as the first episode. The series used many monologues, which I suspect, will be applied more and more as it progresses. I have not found it to be annoying yet. But production team, let’s take it down a notch. I do not think I am a fan of these monologues.
I am definitely a big fan of Papa Zhong. As his story gets developed, he really comes across as a caring and thoughtful friend. The way he rented the Yan’s family home himself so that its memories are preserved and his intention of returning the whole in its entirety to Li Zheng, is very impressive. And obviously, behind a great man is a greater woman! Kudos to Mama Zhong too, for fully supporting her husband’s generosity.
The romance between Li Zheng and Xiao Si is progressing nicely. I am enjoying their slow and steady progress to friendship. They are in high school! So slow and steady is the way to go. Li Zheng is definitely has opened his guard around Xiao Si and I like how although he appears cold at first, Li Zheng is a friend who reciprocates. He initiates their first date/outing to print the film, he defends Shao Xi from the thugs, and most importantly, he tutors and motivates her to do better. Oh the butterflies! Shao Xi definitely is more aware of her growing feelings but considering Li Zheng started off as a robot, he has made some real progress.
OMG your little side comments make this so hilarious and entertaining to read! I adore your recaps.
BalasHapus