I posted these in the comment section but @ColourMePurple noted they would be pushed down and suggested I share them in the forum section, so doing so by request. Hope it will be helpful to those who need subs.
Episode 33
XQ learns from one of her brother's friends that SY is standing outside waiting for her and that the museum SY had told her he was visiting while waiting for her was closed for reconstruction. As a result, XQ tells her adoptive mom that she wants to leave and asks if she knew this entire time that SY was standing outside. The mom tells her to sit down and eat first, but XQ remains standing and clasps her fingers along the edge of the table. In the end it's her brother who helps by telling her that if something has come up, she should go and unclasps her fingers from the table.
[Side note: In the book, it's Jiang Yu who tells her about SY standing outside but the drama has changed his character so much they had to bring in some random person to carry out this role. :P]
Later, the adoptive mom confronts the brother/her son about helping XQ. She asks if he really plans on going against her and he scoffs by saying he wish he really could. He also says that he wishes XQ had never been adopted into this family and after a pause says, no, I wish I wasn't this family's child. BUUUUUURRRRN! Hope Wicked Witch loved hearing that!
Meanwhile, XQ loses out on a opportunity at work that should've been hers. She's given the excuse that it was because of what she said on the rooftop to that suicidal husband/mother-in-law, but she doesn't accept this as a reason because nothing negative ended up coming out of that episode. She later figures out her adoptive mother must be pulling strings behind the scenes and sends a bunch of texts to her mother asking her to stop interfering and reminding that she got this job on her own efforts.
Da Peng is trying to date that older doctor, but she rejects him. She says it has nothing to do with how much younger he is, but it probably is. And in the end.... *sniffs* Da Peng dies as a result of heavy injuries sustained during a rescue mission. Episode ends with everyone crying around his body in the ER and that older doctor comes running in and cries too. *sniffs*
Episode 34
I forgot to mention that in Episode 33, SY started making arrangements towards shifting the nature of his firefighting work. He even had a heart-to-heart talk over it with Jiang Yu. As one can imagine, it's bittersweet - no one wants to see SY leave the fire station, but they can understand why he wants to. Jiang Yu also notes that with SY's experience, he can move up higher and do bigger, greater things for their fire rescue work.
Once Da Peng passes away, however, everything changes. In Episode 34, SY tells XQ that he may not be able to do as he promised. He's got to avenge Da Peng. The fire started because of fireworks (that were stupidly set off close to a building that was being built), but SY believes that was only the ignition point. The real problem lies in the materials stored in the building being construction which he believes are subpar material; otherwise, it wouldn't have ignited as quickly as it did. There were probably also problems in the inspection process (probably someone in the fire department being bought off). That's when Jiang Yu tells SY that the building is connected to the Meng family.
As best as I can understand it (my Mandarin is good for every day convos, but not as great for business-related matters), the building is a small project under the giant conglomerate that is helmed by the Meng family. Nevertheless, with a name like Meng behind it, there is a lot of online discussion regarding this fire. At one point, the conversation must turn against the firefighters because there is a scene where they're pretty upset about that and speculate that the company must have hired water armies. On the other hand there are also discussions on the Meng family side about how they're going to handle the situation and how much they will personally be affected. Towards the end of the episode, the mom was having lunch with brother and XQ when they received word that the adopted dad had been called in for questioning. Later, there is a scene where one of the company's secretary breaks things down for the mom in terms of who was in charge of what. She also asks about the materials and whether they really have a problem. It sounds like one underling is insisting there was not, but they can't be sure either, and the adoptive mom tells the secretary to make sure those who need to take responsibility do (more out of a sense to preserve her own company/family and not because she believes it's the right thing to do).
In between all that there are scenes where the Meng company lawyers come to the hospital to try and meet with the injured people. They cause a ruckus and only back down when they see XQ, as they recognize her as one of the Meng family. They then ask her for help in meeting with the patients, which she does not give. But at one point they do anyway and it sounds like there were settlement talks/offers of money going on.
Safe to say, the general sense of this entire episode is that the Meng family is determined to sweep things under the rug while SY is determined to bring the truth to light. At one point he and XQ even meet to discuss this and she basically says she knows he has to follow his conscience whereas for her, she has always tried to stay out of her family's business and leaves it at that.
At the very end of the episode, a man in a suit stops SY on his way home in one of the alleyways in his residential area. He says he has info to give to SY about the fire, but SY refuses to take it and says he'll help him report it to the police instead. Just as he's taking out his phone the man stuffs a paper bag into his hand and runs off into a car, leaving SY behind with a bag.
I'm going to guess the bag contains money and SY is being set up... all this stuff is new for the drama and not in the novel, but it's an interesting take on things so I'm here for it. On to next ep to see how things will continue to unfold!
Episode 35
As suspected, the paper bag contained money which SY turned in immediately to his supervisor who then shared that there was something fishy going on because when the fire inspectors went to investigate the fire scene they only found materials that were up to grade. Combined with the money, he suspects something is going on. Indeed, a video is sent to the secretary working for the group connected to the Meng family conglomerate who'd been trying to meet with the injured workers at the hospital in the prior ep. Shortly thereafter the video of SY picking up the paper bag after it was shoved into his hands and fell to the ground is submitted to the fire department with accusations that SY accepted bribes. As a result he is temporarily suspended from his work.
Meanwhile, one of the injured workers remains in the hospital and refuses certain diagnostic tests because he hasn't money to pay for it. His wife complains that the settlement money has already been used up and that if his supervisor hadn't decided to cut corners with the materials, he wouldn't be in this position. The injured worker tells her to stay quiet/stop complaining as they already accepted money. Later, XQ overhears the wife crying on the phone that they don't have any money and the settlement money is already gone. She ends up paying out of pocket as a result, and the injured worker is able to receive the surgery he needs. The wife is grateful towards XQ and relieved to hear her husband will now survive. She then thinks to ask how the firefighter who saved her husband is doing and XQ reveals that he died. (Li Nan is also in the room and struggles to hold it together.) By this point the wife is probably feeling guilty so shortly thereafter she runs after XQ and says she heard XQ knows the firefighters and has something to say. The scene then switches to a bunch of ragtag men running to move what is obviously the subpar building materials. Looks like they were probably going to move the material to destroy it/the evidence, but the police arrive then. Next thing we see is the secretary being taken away by the police - obviously, the fall guy for the Meng-family related group.
As for SY, he is praised for his report and offered a reward, but the only thing he asks for is that the fire department take care of Da Peng's family since he was their only son. The fire station then has a poignant moment in the rain where they send off Da Peng. Li Nan, meanwhile, goes to the movie by herself - it was the last thing Da Peng had wanted to do with her. It's also a firefighting-related movie so she revisits their memories and completely breaks down in the theater much to the befuddlement of those sitting around her.
Meanwhile, during SY's temporary break, he and XQ have a conversation one night where she asks if he ever considered doing a different line of work. He explains that originally he hadn't thought much of it and just thought of it as simple work, but now, his firefighting work has become very important to him.
Next thing we see is a family dinner between adopted parents and the brother. The mother complains that everything that happened has to have been SY's fault. The brother actually defends him and says that in this, he agrees with XQ; SY was only doing his work. The mother, however, says that from this they can tell that "this person" has not mutual affection for their family -- an ironic statement, I thought, all things considered. Has she ever had any affection for him? I really wanted to stuff the mom's mouth during this talk. The dad, meanwhile, says that this time it really was that other director (Old Gu) who failed as he didn't manage his underlings properly, but the people who were responsible have been held responsible, so you can see him wanting to move on. The mom asks if this means Old Gu will have less power at work now and then starts complaining about the brother refusing to take over the company to help out his dad and staying at this little company. Of course she also complains about XQ because, you know, no one is to be spared. XQ later calls home that night to talk to her dad. She asks how he's doing and he reassures that he's okay and that he/the company didn't suffer too much through this incident.
Next scene - SY's supervisors offer him two choices. One he can come and work at their office or he can stay at the fire station and do this other thing that honestly, I have no idea what he'd do there because firefighting business is not part of my every day Mandarin vocabulary, lol. But I assume it has something to do with the new technology that they plan on bringing in to fight fire. Whatever it is that he would be doing, but point is - ultimately, he decides to stay with the fire station. And this is the beginning of his fight with XQ...
She comes home from work one evening and finds him cooking in the kitchen. She asks when he'll be reporting to the detachment (where his supervisors work) and when he hesitates, she asks if the order hasn't already come down. He admits that it has and then also admits that he's decided to stay with the fire station. XQ is upset that he made this important decision without even discussing it with him. She asks if he was afraid she'd drag him down and he says it's because he didn't want to give her pressure. He answers that he was afraid she'd be too understanding and support him at the expense of herself. He also says that he doesn't know why whenever it comes to moments where there's pressure, he always feels the need to bear it himself and doesn't want to give it to her. She agrees and says that whenever he has pressure, his first thought is never to share it with her but to hide it from her because he thinks that's what's best for her. She asks him what he thinks of her and he said he doesn't purposely hide things from her as he doesn't even have anything to hide from her. So, she asks him what's up with the gunshot wound then. She also asks what happened to his repeat year of high school and why he ended up not testing well. She also asks about him joining the military and then becoming a fire fighter. She wants to know why his cousin, aunt, and uncle can know (the answer to all those questions) but only she's not allowed to know. She says she only wants to know the truth or at least an explanation. But he says there are a lot of things that don't have a truth nor can they be explained. She asks whether this is his attitude, and he tells her that he doesn't have an ounce of deceit towards her and asks her to trust him because he would never hurt her. But she says he's already hurt her because they shouldn't have any secrets between them. She then says that right now, she's feeling like there are a lot of things he's purposely excluded her from and it makes her feel like she's not his family. He asks how he hasn't treated her like family and whether she doesn't know that he thinks of her as his most important family member, and XQ responds by saying, "Then tell me what's going on then." She also says that even if doesn't want to tell her now, he should at least give her a reason for why he doesn't want to say anything. He says he doesn't know how to say it and she throws chopped scallions at his face and storms out.
The end.... onto next ep!
Episode 36
After XQ storms out, she ends up at Dr. Yang’s house (much to her surprise given that they were never that close). SY calls her, but XQ hangs up on him and pouts. SY calls a second time and this time she answers. He asks where she is and says he wants to pick her up, but XQ asks whether he’s thought about what to say to her and when he doesn’t have an answer, she hangs up on him again.
XYX asks the brother how XQ’s doing and says he can’t believe the pressure his mom is giving her. The brother asks if XYX thinks XQ will keep on persisting and he says probably. He then asks what’s going on with the brother and warns him away from the girl from his bar (aka Yezi). The brother says he’s overthinking things and that he only doesn’t want to see Yezi go down a crooked path. He says Yezi doesn’t have anything to do with him.
Yezi checks her phone where there are no new messages from the brother. Behind her, ZM (SY’s cousin) does the accounting for their business out loud and complains that Yezi isn’t paying any attention to her. They then discuss how this month’s business wasn’t as good as the last one before ZM’s back starts hurting her. She decides to go to the hospital and Yezi offers to accompany her. Meanwhile, the brother also visits the hospital which results in Yezi seeing the brother and XQ together. After they part, Yezi runs up to the brother to greet him. It’s pretty clear he doesn’t put too much stock in her while she tries to ask him out (says she wants to repay him for the meal last time) but he says there’s no need and uses the opportunity when her phone rings to walk away.
Lol, hilarious scene at the fire station where SY is trying to get dating advice from Ge Zheng. You can all imagine how that ends up going with that gossipy crew.
SY texts XQ asking whether she’s eaten. He’s happy when she actually responds. She’s annoyed though that he’s not saying what she wants him to say, and then he becomes depressed when she doesn’t continue texting.
At the hospital, Dr. Yang encounters a drug-seeking patient. XQ steps into help and ends up getting her hand slashed as a result. (Other stuff happens at the hospital with the most important thing being she finally receives recognition from Dr. Xu.) Later, XYX picks her up from the hospital and she ends up asking him relationship advice/questions. As expected, he doesn’t have anything useful to say but he asks what’s going on and XQ explains how SY won’t tell her anything about his past. He says that it’s either SY has an unglorious past or there’s something in his past that brings him pain. He asks whether she really needs to know and suggests that it’s because she feels insecure that she needs to know. (I disagree! I think she should know.)
SY and his crew return to the fire station. There’s still no word from XQ. Yang Chi asks whether he should ask for leave to see XQ, and SY’s like, “It hasn’t reached that point yet.” But Yang Chi says that were he in her shoes, he’d be upset too given that she was injured. This is the first SY is hearing about XQ’s slashed hand (which Yang Chi learned about through the nurse he’s seeing). After some effort, SY finally makes contact with XQ – she lies at first that her hand is broken but quickly reassures him her hand is fine. He then asks about them and she says they’re fighting, but not broken up. He sighs in relief and says they’re not fighting, and that quickly results in another hung up phone call (LOL). SY then visits XQ at her colleague’s apartment that night. He apologizes for not discussing things with her before making decisions and says that although he makes it sound nice by saying he doesn’t want to give her pressure, etc., if he were honest with himself, he’s just been trying to escape from the truth. He promises to change his bad habits and she asks if there’s anything else. She then asks him again about the gunshot wound and he asks if they cannot pursue this matter. She responds, however, that it’s not that she’s trying to pursue things to their death but that it just feels like he doesn’t trust her like she trusts him. And so ends another one of their conversations (with SY cutely following up to make sure they haven’t broken up).
That night, SY thinks about his past conversations with his cousin as well as with XQ. He also thinks about the past and so we also see a lot of money being delivered to that head doctor at XQ’s hospital who tells the adopted mother to leave things to him. There are flashback scenes to past missions followed by SY visiting his father’s grave to tell him how he’d done a good job and will be promoted, and so his father doesn’t have to worry about him anymore. And then someone else visits his father’s grave and SY asks what he’s doing there. The other guy says he’s thought of his dad as his bro so of course he should visit, but SY’s like – my dad stood up for you, and you betrayed him. The other guy keeps yammering on about how SY shouldn’t blame him for what happened to his dad, and that he should instead blame his dad for not being more capable which resulted in his mom cheating on him, and SY finally reaches his limits and punches the other guy. Looks like the other guy provoked SY intentionally at the request of the Meng family, and that this resulted in SY getting kicked out of the military and turning to the fire department instead.
[Looks like the drama has taken down what happened to SY in the past down several notches as, in the book, the adopted mom had him framed as a traitor and almost beaten to death.]
Next morning, SY’s having breakfast with his fam and his aunt asks after XQ. He says she’s been busy and the aunt offers to make soup for XQ, saying he can deliver it later. ZM, on the other hand, guesses immediately that he must’ve done something to make XQ angry so she goes to find XQ at the hospital. XQ ends up playing ZM by pretending she’s rethinking her relationship with SY and on the verge of breaking up with him, and so ZM finally spills the truth – in his repeat year, SY worked really hard to get into the military academy as he thought that would put him on par with XQ, but during the physical examination something happened and he didn’t pass (that must be where the head doctor of XQ’s hospital comes into play). His uncle suspected something was wrong and took SY to the hospital for another exam and it was completely normal, so his uncle went to beg her adoptive mom as it was she who’d been pulling strings in the background. ZM explains that her brother wouldn’t let her say anything before because he was afraid XQ would be upset. As for the gunshot wound, ZM explains that after he was allowed into the military, he performed well and went into special ops where he got his gunshot wound during a mission. However, even after risking his life and almost dying from it, just based on one phone call where he was reported, everything was ruined and so he left the army and went into the fire department. ZM then says that she trusts she doesn’t need to say for XQ to know who was behind that phone call. ZM also tells XQ that during SY’s hardest times, the only thing that kept him going all these years was her. XQ breaks down into tears.
Episode 37
XQ storms home and confronts her mother to ask whether she was the one who’d done all those things to SY in the past, including the fact that she never received the multiple letters he’d sent to her. The mother’s only response was to ask who told her about it – SY? XQ then confronts her father as well, but the mother says he only learned of it after the fact and that everything was done by her. XQ can’t understand how her mother could mess with a person’s life and future like that, especially to someone she loves. She also doesn’t understand how her mother could do that to her and accuses her parents of only treating her like a tool. Their only response is to ask how she can speak to them like that (ahh… tenets of filial piety, so frustrating at times like these!!!). I love how the mom can turn this into her XQ’s problem, saying this is her problem for being an imperfect daughter. But this time XQ’s not falling for the guilt trip – YAY. She calls her mother a hypocrite – YES! Her mother asks her what she wants to do and suggests XQ should just report her then, but XQ says she won’t pursue the past. But from now on, they’ll have nothing to do with each other and the mother had better not do anything else to SY in the future. She slams the family portrait on the way out of the house. The brother overhears everything from the stairwell (he, too, is only learning of the past today). As he walks past, the mom tries to remind him of his upbringing/breeding and you can imagine how he feels about that. He tries to plead his own case by asking her to actually look at him. You can imagine how that goes. The dad also tries to plead for peace but the mom is not having it. (The dad should just get rid of the mom! But side note: looks like the drama is leaving out the part about SY’s mom and him having had a thing in the past.)
XQ goes to find SY and asks for them to make-up, but he asks what they have to make-up from. She then asks how he’s lived all these years and he realizes that she now knows everything. [In the book, XQ actually never lets on that she knows about his past once she learns of it. She just treats him extra well to try to make up for the past.]
The brother, on the other hand, ends up at XYX’s bar – of course. One of the workers there then calls Yezi to tell her he’s there. When she arrives, he mistakes her for XQ for a hot second and then realizes its Yezi. She tries to be all up in his business as always and this time he sets her straight by likening her to a moth versus a butterfly. He says that sometimes they can look so similar that regular people can’t the difference between the two, but he can. He also says that a difference between the two is that the butterfly likes to fly under the light, but the moth operates in the darkness. Yezi pretends to not know what he’s talking about and asks if it’s so wrong for her to like him, but he scoffs and reminds her that he’s a businessman who’s seen all sorts and kinds so please don’t treat him like someone dumb. The insult angers her and when she later spies him sleeping on a couch, she goes back into the room where we then see her crouched in front of the couch with her shirt pulled down on one side. (Ah, Yezi’s revenge moment has finally arrived!)
The parents are at home discussing MYC when mom gets a phone call from MYC. When she answers the phone, it’s Yezi who only makes crying noises before hanging up. Yezi then calls her class president and asks them to save her because she’s been assaulted and doesn’t know what to do. Meanwhile the parents call over their lawyer and they discuss whether to report the matter to the police. I love that the mom says how whether this is true or false, it’s unreasonable towards their family. (She is seriously twisted in alllll the things in that tiny head of hers. I would love to meet her parents and know how she was raised!) At the same time, Yezi continues to do her things at the bar. She texts with MYC’s mom (looks like she’s trying to extort them for money) and MYC scares her when he suddenly warns from behind that if she sends out her next message, she’ll have to go to prison. She realizes then that he wasn’t drunk to the point that he didn’t know what was going on. She asks him to explain himself and he points out that she’ll never win over his mother. She claims to have evidence, but he says he was drunk, not dead, and gets up to leave. Yezi then threatens to report him to the police, saying he’ll be ruined, and he invites her to do so as he’d like to see how he’ll be ruined. Once he leaves the room, she actually does.
As in the book, MYC doesn’t say anything in defense himself at the police station nor does he deny what he’s being accused of. SY was going to find XQ to take her to the police station just as XYX calls to tell her something happened to her brother. As a result, XYX drives them both to the police station and hands over his phone so XQ can read online what her brother’s been accused of. XQ can hardly believe what she’s reading and XYX explains that currently, the problem is MYC refuses to talk which is allowing the truth to be manipulated online. When he says this, XQ realizes her brother must’ve been home the night before and overheard her conversation with their parents.
While XQ meets with her parents at the police station, SY and XYX try to figure out what to do outside. SY asks if there are any cameras at XYX’s bar. He says there are in the hallway, but not the room themselves, and although the camera caught a guest looking through the door, they don’t know how to locate that person. SY asks to see the photo and then immediately says he has some place to go – he recognized ZM in the photo.
SY finds ZM at home. She was avoiding his phone calls and pretends to not know what he’s talking about when he brings up MYC’s name. After some pushing on his part, she admits what she knows – how the blog post came to be (it was the result of Yezi calling the class president and the other classmates getting upset on her behalf). ZM says she had nothing to do with it, but she didn’t stop them either. SY then forces her to admit that she knows MYC didn’t actually do anything and that she has the proof because she was at the door and took pictures. ZM doesn’t want to help them, though, because it’s the Meng family and SY tells her that does doesn’t need to be this way because he doesn’t care about the past anymore anyway. ZM asks how he can really not care anymore and says he doesn’t need to pretend with her. Episodes ends with ZM saying that if he wants to forgive them because of XQ that’s his own business, but she never will.
Episode 38
Episode starts with SY reminding his cousin that no matter how unsatisfied she feels, they can’t turn back time. She agrees they can’t go back, but points out the wounds can still be present and she doesn’t understand how he can forgive the Meng family so easily. But SY corrects her and says he hasn’t forgiven them and doesn’t even want them to apologize, as he wouldn’t be able to forgive them anyway. But he also says doesn’t have any resentment left nor does he seek revenge, because he doesn’t want to keep living the rest of his life under feelings of resentment. He then tells her that in terms of what she should do next, she shouldn’t think of it as saving or not saving someone, but rather, doing the right thing – so it’s not something she should do to be thanked or for an apology. As for himself, he says he’s living well now and his future will be even better, so they should just let the past be the past. ZM says that’s fine – he can do whatever he wants, but as for her, she’ll do the right thing, but she’s also going to do her own thing and he better not meddle. In short, ZM ends up making the adopted mom kneel for the evidence – I love this because this entire time, the only way the adopted mom has known how to operate has been to solve problems by throwing money at it and finally, she has met the one thing money can’t buy. I also kind of love how in the drama, they make the parents come find ZM at her own house. In the book, this all takes place at the police station.
Wait, I thought you all said the mom actually kneels in the drama! She doesn’t. She only gets close to doing so, but that’s the same in the book – ZM calls it off before her knees actually hit the ground by asking how she’s supposed to get along with XQ in the future if she accepts this kneel. BUT, on the other hand, this is something different from the book: ZM tells the mother that if she did something wrong, then she should bear the responsibility, and if she does, then her child will naturally not have to bear the consequences. As a result, next scene is MOM – TURNING – HERSELF – IN!!!!!! But before we get too excited about that, you should know the next scene involves mom and son crossing paths in the hallways of the police department. She’s heading in while MYC is being released and then mom turns back to start beating him asking him why he didn’t just go die and asking if he’s trying to force her to death. She’s a great mom. MYC apologizes but then says that since she did something wrong, someone’s got to bear the responsibility and if she wasn’t going to do it, he was going to do it for her. XQ and her father then arrive and the mother continues to complain that her children are against her and this family and zomg, woman, do you still not see who’s to blame? Sigh… narcissists. As she walks off, she tells the children that fine, they have their freedom. Yay?
As for Yezi, she is arrested and hauled off in handcuffs. The police then meet with the classmates outside of the police station and reveals the truth to them while also reminding them to be more careful the next time.
Oh wait, MYC doubles back to meet with Yezi. In sum, she felt led on while he wanted was to not see her walk down a crooked path and for her to lead a better life. Eventually MYC tells her that he won’t pursue anything against her. Yezi’s still upset and still yelling at him when he walks out.
The director of the hospital is also arrested and lead away!!!! XQ overhears nurses gossiping about this.
As for the adopted mom, in light of the fact that she turned herself in and has a serious illness, the police decide to release her from custody while pending investigation.
MYC visits his mother in the hospital. (He’s just standing there and his mom has her back turned to him.) XQ goes to the room and looks through the door, but walks away when she sees her father arriving. He notices XQ in the distance and then enters. The father gestures for MYC to leave. After MYC does so, the mother starts muttering about SY’s cousin and how she was really capable (in making her kneel). She also says that she’d better not think that just because she helped them, she’ll accept SY. [It’s good to know the adopted mom has learned her lessons well, isn’t it? I can’t believe she still feels like she’s the one suffering here. I think I like this part better in the book where nothing else is said and it is assumed/implied she learned her lesson and everyone can just keep living on in their separate spheres.] The dad, meanwhile, points out that it seems like XQ really cares for SY and she just responds that it’s impossible with all the baggage between their two families. The dad, in turn, responds by asking whether she thinks that he really didn’t know all the things she’d done through the years. He then answers his own question by saying that’s not the case and the only reason he didn’t say anything, meddle, and even pretended at times to not know anything is because sometimes her actions resulted in a benefit for him. He then admits that allowing her to be the bad person while he received all the acclaim was wrong and that she isn’t the only one who’s been at fault. As a result, he asks her to not live under such resentment.
XQ meets with her brother and asks whether he heard what she said that night. He asks whether she really will never return to their home. And she says that even though their parents were at fault, he didn’t need to use these methods to hurt them. She asks him to think about how his life might have been ruined if there hadn’t been someone to come forward with proof. MYC says that at that time, he just didn’t want to do anything anymore. XQ says that maybe their parents have certain behaviors that have left him disappointed, but she reminds him that there’s no such thing as a perfect person and it would be impossible to expect that their parents would never do anything wrong. MYC says that maybe she should be saying these words to herself. He asks if she doesn’t hate his family and she says that she doesn’t have the right to hate; she just feels bad for SY. MYC says he finally understands why after all this time, she would still choose SY – it’s because he’s resolute and has never given her up, despite everything they’ve experienced. XQ asks her brother to live for himself.
ZM returns to her dorm room where Yezi is present and one of the roommates is busy scolding Yezi. Yezi cries and apologizes. She packs her suitcase and apologizes to ZM directly. Yezi asks what she plans on doing next and Yezi says she doesn’t even know if she has a future. ZM tells her not to look down on herself and then asks if Yezi blames her. Yezi says she’s actually glad ZM stepped forward because if not, she’s not sure she’d have a chance to turn her life around. She then tells ZM that she really did consider her a friend and then says good-bye and leaves.
Adopted dad meets with XQ and asks whether it’d be possible for XQ to come visit her mother when she returns home. XQ sits in silence and so the dad asks her to believe that if she’d fallen into the same situation as MYC, her mother would’ve done the same thing for her. He admits they’re not good parents and that more than their children’s feelings, they’ve concerned themselves more with benefits/gains. But he asks her to believe that both he and her mother feel the same about the two children. XQ responds that if MYC were to feel hurt, mom would feel bad about that. But if she were to be hurt, would she also feel bad about that and would she feel bad to the same extent that she would if MYC were to be hurt? XQ says mom once asked how she could hurt her parents for the sake of a man, but did her mother think about the fact that she was hurting her when she hurt the person she cared about? And if she did, did she hurt for her? XQ tells her dad that she can’t get over how her mother hurt SY. Dad thinks they should just talk it out to resolve, but XQ asks how they’re supposed to solve this problem when it’s a whole person’s future what was ruined. She then asks him to think about how SY’s the type of person who would rebel at the smallest slight; yet, in this matter, he never thought about exposing it. It's because he let off the Meng family. She then asks her father what else he would like SY to do – to call them ‘father’ and ‘mother’ because of her, to sit down at one table and have a meal together because of her? XQ says that there are some problems that can’t be solved over eating one meal and she’s tired and doesn’t want to keep crying over it. Her father agrees to let the convo go but still believes that there’s no problem that a family can’t solve over time. (Amazing optimism considering the wife he’s got…)
XQ doesn’t allow her father to send her back to the hospital so he tells her that when she’s settled on a wedding date, she must tell him. She doesn’t respond so he calls her name and she finally makes a noise of assent before watching him walk away and climb into his car.
Back at the hospital, XQ goes to her mother’s hospital room and finds that she’s already checked out.
And then XQ and SY are in his bedroom where they sit watching the rain, with buckets catching rain falling through the ceiling, and the two of them think back on a high school memory. Next scene is the family working together – SY and his uncle are on the roof fixing the tiles while XQ helps the aunt with laundry. At one point, the uncle asks SY how the preparations on his house are coming along and SY tells him to be quiet and answers the question in a softer tone – it’s almost done.
There’s a scene with Jiang Yu randomly giving Li Meng a plant, catching her off guard.
Episode ends with XQ’s adopted father coming to visit SY’s aunt/uncle’s house. SY’s running down the alleyway with XQ on his back when they spot him at the gate. It’s awkward as heck but aunt/uncle are good people (way better people than the Meng parents) and so they invite him to join them for the meal they were about to have.
Episode 39
Episode begins with the dinner where XQ’s father explains that he came today to discuss the children’s matter. Uncle explains that SY doesn’t have any parents so he and his wife have treated him as their own child, so they should’ve come to him first, but the dad says they don’t have to worry about formalities. All parents just want to see their children happy. Aunt reassures that XQ will never suffer in their family and ZM chimes in with agreement. Dad says he heard their neighborhood is going to be demolished and asks about their plans. ZM say she doesn’t have to worry because her brother long ago prepare – and that’s when SY kicks her to shut her up (and omg the look he shoots her, lol). The aunt jumps in to say he doesn’t have to worry because no matter where they move, they’ll be sure to help SY and XQ settle somewhere.
After dinner, XQ offers to walk her father to the entrance of the neighborhood but he instead suggests that SY accompany him. Along the way, dad tells SY that he can tell his daughter is determined to marry SY and SY says he’s equally determined to marry her. The dad says that before he came, he was worried that SY wouldn’t be able to give her happiness, but now that he’s met him and his family he sees how they leave others envious. It wasn’t what he expected, but he tells SY that he genuinely hopes that the family they create for themselves will be able to be equally happy. SY reassures her father that he’ll never let her down. The dad starts to apologize for his family’s involvement in him not being able to get into the military academy, but SY cuts him off and says he’s never regretted the choices he’s made in the past and plus, he’s doing fine now so he doesn’t live with any regret or resentment. He also reassures that he has a long future ahead of him. Dad pats him on the shoulder before walking off. (I guess we’re making up with dad, at least.)
Cute scene between SY and XQ after he returns home. He starts to bring up the fact that they may need to rent a house and she cuts him off. She would rather know about what secret he and ZM are keeping from her, but he insists that he really doesn’t have any secrets. The next day, he takes her to visit a place. He says the owner says that if she likes it, he’ll ask his wife. XQ opens the card that contains the key and after reading it, exclaims that the owner seems to be romantic, and he says it’s no use complimenting him when it's all up to the wife as to whether they can move in. After looking all over the house, XQ says she loves the house and tells him to hurry up and call the wife. So, SY pulls out his phone and…. Of course, calls XQ. She thinks he called the wrong number but he says, no, it’s you, my homeowner’s wife. Aww, cute! [Totally a different from the way he introduced the house to her in the book, but I like this version as well.] And he proposes!!!
Nurses exclaim over XQ’s ring in their changing room. And at the fire station, food is spewed as the underlings are amazed to learn their captain is getting married. They’re amazed he managed to pull it off and this earns them a slap to the back of the head when SY walks in, lol.
XQ comes to find SY at the fire station where everyone greets her in a ceremony – firefighter style and then SY introduces her to them as their sister-in-law. Lots of cuteness to look forward to, so I won’t spoil further.
Love how ZM’s planning this wedding for them. She even tries on wedding dresses for XQ since the actual bride and groom are too busy with their work.
XQ meets with her brother. Sounds like he’s finally sleeping and getting some rest. He notices her engagement ring and says it looks nice. He also gifts her an early wedding present. He then tells her that he’s decided to enter his father’s company (parents are getting old). After they part ways, XQ sends him a text message saying she feels fortunate to be able to his family member for a lifetime, and that this good fortune was something she felt from the first moment they met as children. He turns and she waves back at him, while MYC smiles. (Guess we can finally let go of that block in his heart…. Not loving his new hairstyle, though.)
Back at home, XQ looks at the pictures of the wedding dresses ZM tried on. ZM then asks her how many guests XQ plans on having for her side of the wedding. This leads to awkwardness as XQ says not many, but ZM tells her not to worry as there will be a lot on their side so they can help make up the difference. SY then arrives home just in time to find XQ trying on a tiara – it was the gift from her brother. XQ then tells SY it’s a good thing he arrived when he did because she didn’t know how to answer all the wedding planning questions that ZM had been asking her. Ultimately, SY observes that a traditional wedding in a hotel is not XQ’s style because she doesn’t like being in front of so many people. She suggests they just forego everything, but SY says they should still have some ceremony to the process. He suggests they get married at the fire station with Xiao Meng as their flower girl. She likes the idea but suggests he swap Xiao Meng out for a person since Xiao Meng is a dog.
MYC takes over the family company and greets the board of directors.
ZM frets as SY and XQ are running late to their own engagement photo shoot. She pleads with the photographer to give them more time as it’s hard for her brother and sister-in-law to find time to meet up together, so the photographer agrees and finally XQ and SY show up in their wedding clothes. As they begin, XQ tells SY that she has a regret – he asks what she regrets – and she answers that she regrets she didn’t get to together with him earlier.
Typhoon time! I fast forwarded through most of this as I’ll rewatch with subs but it’s a lot of rescue scenes, including of XQ at the hospital, and then we see MYC even stopping to pick up random strangers when he sees them standing on the side of the road desperate for a ride to the hospital as the wife is not feeling well. On the way, he runs across Yezi who is standing outside in the storm helping to direct traffic. (Oh gosh, are they going to do a redemption arc and bring the two of them together?? MYC, I would not turn back to look for as long as you have – there’s a storm going on and your eyes should be on the road in front of you!)
Episode 40
Last ep! Picks up with the typhoon rescue efforts. I’m fast forwarding through a lot of these scenes as well but there was one guy with a truck full of bikes who’d stopped to talk to Yezi and help her. He said he was working extra to help send his daughter to college and then of course the minute they part ways, the entire pile of bikes fall on the man. Yezi ends up flagging down SY and his firetruck for assistance. Of course XQ meets him in an ambulance and along the way to the hospital they help others and take them to the hospital too. After a lot of fast forwarding, have arrived to the scene where XQ’s adopted mother has been in a car accident and is stuck in her car in a tunnel. There are other cars stuck there as well and one is in flames. In short, it’s not a good situation. SY’s team is closest and they run over to assist. The tunnel is collapsing around them and Jiang Yi runs over to tell SY that they got everyone out and should retreat now, but just then, they hear the sound of a honking horn – it’s XQ’s mother. Of course SY saves her and carries her out on his back. (Will the narcissist finally grow a heart?)
Adopted mom sits in a bus with the other people they’ve saved. The other people are praising the firemen for saving them and one turns to XQ’s mother and asks if she knows the person who carried her out. Adopted mom looks out the window to SY and finally answers, “He’s my daughter’s boyfriend.”
Clean-up montage follows of the typhoon and at the hospital, XQ is happy/relieved when she gets to text SY that the patient they worked together to send to the hospital finally woke up.
Li Meng is eating breakfast and looking out her window when she notices that the tiny plant that Jiang Yu had gifted her has actually sprouted pretty blue flowers. She texts him to tell him the “blind box” bloomed and Jiang Yu texts back, “Blind box?” She sends a picture of the flower and in reply, she gets an article about “lan xing hua” (a flower that appears to be in the morning glory family). She reads that it symbolizes having mutual trust of the heart and holding onto the present. Li Meng ends up visiting Jiang Yu at his house and she’s all glammed up, not wearing her uniform. Looks like they have a mutual interest in a book as she’s surprised to find he has a copy when it’s out of print. Jiang Yu tells her that he searched a long time before finding it at a used bookstore. She asks which one and when he answers, she laughs saying that she used to go there all the time and never ran into him, and Jiang Yu then says, “Aren’t you meeting me now? It’s not too early or too late; it’s perfect (timing).” (Awwwww!)
Continued typhoon clean-up continues – this one involving a tree. A man asks SY if instead of cutting down a tree that’s poking into a balcony and presenting a potential future safety hazard, the fire crew will help him remove the tree. SY notes that the tree is really huge and the man says he’s got a truck and everything to move it. As the fire crew works to remove the tree, he explains how his mom had planted the tree when his business was suffering. Every so often she’d send him messages saying that the tree was doing well and growing, just like his business would too. The man says business finally did get better, but by then his mother had already passed away. He hopes to keep the tree as a memory of his mother. As the mom walks away, Yang Chi says that you have to have pity on a parents’ heart/efforts.
XQ is having a meal with her parents and brother. Dad says he heard from MYC that she would be transferring from ER to the outpatient clinic. Mom comments that the outpatient clinic is just as tiring work, but dad says it’s still better than the ER. Mom agrees and tells XQ to drink up (her soup). She then asks whether her wedding has been settled. She says yes, but not the date, and that she and SY have agreed to have a small wedding. The mother protests that a wedding is a big event and asks how it can it be a small event. MYC reminds the mom that this is XQ and SY’s business so the mom says fine, fine, fine, this is “their” Meng family’s business so they can have the last word. MYC says he didn’t mean it in that way and dad pipes up that if it were up to him, it should be whatever SY and XQ want to do, so if XQ wants to have a small wedding that’s fine. He does ask though whether she’ll still have the usual traditions, including him walking her down the aisle, and she says yes, so dad’s like, “See? Isn’t it complete then?” Mom can only smile and continue eating. She notices XQ smiling and watching her, so she tells her her soup is getting cold.
XQ visits Dr. Yang to pick something up and Dr. Yang asks if XQ hadn’t said she’d be by later. XQ says she happened to be passing by so she stopped in. Dr. Yang offers to get things ready and send it over later that evening and that’s when XQ notices a pair of men’s shoes by the door. Which is then followed by XYX’s voice from inside the house announcing that the dumplings are ready. Surprise! LOL. XYX asks what she’s doing there and offers her some of the dumplings, so XQ just puts down the melon she’d been holding and told them to eat that.
Looks like the fire crew is training a new batch. Yang Chi and Jiang Yi are joking around with each other and the latter mentions that he’s already registered his marriage. (It’s pink hearts everywhere, I guess!)
SY and XQ are packing up his room when she gets a message from XYX inviting her to dinner with him and her brother. He says SY is invited too and XQ asks if he wants to go, and it’s okay if he doesn’t want to, but SY asks why wouldn’t he want to go. XQ asks if she can drink then since he’ll be around.
Dinner that night. SY holds out his hand in greeting and he and MYC finally shake hands. XYX tells XQ they should also shake hands and she slaps his hand aside. SY comments that this place they’re meeting at is nice and MYC says the wine and food are both good there, and the owner is nice too. XYX explains that this is their meeting point. The owner walks out saying she heard people complimenting them and then comments that they have a “new friend” among them today. XYX introduces SY as XQ’s husband and the owner comments that they do have a married couple feel about them. To celebrate, she offers to personally cook a few dishes for them. XYX jokes that if he knew this was the service he’d get by bringing around a new bride, he’d bring a new bride to that place all the time.
XQ wakes up alone in bed in their new home. After looking around, she gets up and walks out to find SY sitting on the rooftop. She joins him and says, “SY, you had a hard time these past 10 years, didn’t you?” He responds, “It was worth it.” She asks, “Really?” And he says, “Really,” because although the physical training was hard, it’s the same for all firefighters. XQ asks what about when he was in the military and he says it was about the same. He also says that when he enlisted, they’d made an oath to work hard through struggles, so they just endured it and suffering a little bit wasn’t any sort of big thing. XQ asks to hear the military oath and he has to think about it for a minute before reciting it. He ends by adding that he will never betray/foresake her.
The End!
Sopheeauck:
A question:
Why is SY so reluctant to talk about that gunshot scar? XQ knows he went to military right? So now that it’s clear her mum didn’t get him almost killed like in the novel, what was the reason for this secrecy? Or have I missed something
XQ knows he was in the military, but she didn't know how he ended up in the military or why he left the military and went into firefighting work instead - these were the questions she wanted answered and the gunshot wound was part of that. SY didn't want to answer any of those questions because ultimately her mother was responsible for everything that went wrong with his past, and he knew she'd be upset if she learned about that. First, she messed with his physical examination and then after he overcame that and was doing well in the military, she arranged for someone to purposely provoke SY into hitting him, and then reported the altercation to the military, resulting in him being dismissed.
As for the gunshot, specifically, had XQ known about the origins of how that came to be, it would've led to more questions (and again, the ultimate answer would lead back to her mother). In that regard, he received the gunshot wound because he went into the military (so she'd have to know how/why that happened). And then, after the gunshot wound incident, SY should've received merit and been promoted and if XQ's follow-up question had been, "Why weren't you rewarded for that mission?" his answer would've had to be, "Because your mother got me dismissed from the military." And that's why SY had wanted to avoid the conversation in its entirety. He was trying to protect her from the truth.
Sheriziya:
Thank you so much for doing this! This is incredibly helpful! I do hope these last episodes will be subbed, but your recap has made my day :)
Don't worry, they will! Release of the subbed episodes will resume today (7/24) according to its original schedule of 2 eps per day until Thursday when the drama concludes. Sharing these recaps was just to help those who were impatient/curious in the meantime as to what happened in these last 8 episodes. :-)
Don't worry, they will! Release of the subbed episodes will resume today (7/24) according to its original schedule of 2 eps per day until Thursday when the drama concludes. Sharing these recaps was just to help those who were impatient/curious in the meantime as to what happened in these last 8 episodes. :-)
I'm looking forward to rewatching the episodes with English subs :D
You have helped greatly in the meantime! Thanks again :)
Enigma05:
Forgot to ask one thing....director was arrested but for what? Did they ever say?
I can't remember how it was explained exactly, and my recollection is that it was done in a voiceover and I didn't pay too much attention to what was being said versus what I was seeing because police/legal words aren't part of my every day vocab (which is a good thing, right? Haha!). But even just from watching it's clear he was being led away for what he and the mom did in the past because first, mom turns herself in and then you see the director being led away by policemen in the hospital, and then we see two nurses gossiping about how it's being said the director committed a serious offense and XQ overhearing that conversation.
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