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.
I had to include scallion bit because it made me laugh, lol. I admit that half the time when I'm watching I sit there asking myself, "How is it possible that YY looks amazing no matter what he's wearing or what situation he's in?" But when he had scallions dotting his face, I finally thought, "Okay, well, now he looks a little ridiculous." Haha.
In any event, I totally agree with you and XQ - he shouldn't try to hide everything from her even if he thinks it's for her own good, and he should definitely tell her what happened to him in the past.
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 left unspared. 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 anythign 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.
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!
When she says things like - things that can be resolved through money aren't a big deal - I just want to claw her eyes out. Can we burn her down in a building?
I forgot to mention re: XQ running out to find SY standing outside waiting for her. It's very telling that she does not reveal that she knows he was not in the museum and instead plays along with his lie. SY never wants her to feel hurt, so he often tells white lies like this and then she finds out and her heart hurts for him anyway, but she goes along with it. Sigh. These two...
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*
Ahh… ep 32 was a delight! Now to get working on the remaining 8 eps. If anyone wants spoilers, feel free to ask me by replying (so I’ll see it) and I’ll get back to you!
In the meantime here’s a fun clip of YY and WCR playing a charade game on Hello Saturday (it’s subbed!): https://youtu.be/O8LTnhk5qCY
The first thing I would do is not compare it to Hidden Love. Two totally separate dramas, not even the same genre.…
It wasn’t the first to use that tech and it won’t be the last either. I watched another drama that had to use it and I recall there being discussion of whether it would be used for Golden Hairpin, but given that the person to be replaced was the ML for that drama, it was probably seen as too much.
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.
In any event, I totally agree with you and XQ - he shouldn't try to hide everything from her even if he thinks it's for her own good, and he should definitely tell her what happened to him in the past.
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 left unspared. 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 anythign 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!
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!
[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*
In the meantime here’s a fun clip of YY and WCR playing a charade game on Hello Saturday (it’s subbed!): https://youtu.be/O8LTnhk5qCY
Caption: use a camera to capture/record me and him
WCR/XQ: the 18 year old me liked someone. The present me also likes someone.
When the 18 year old likes someone, she will get to know their interests
Caption: When you were looking at me; actually , I was looking at you too.
YY/SY: I protect people from fire. But whether at 18 or in the present, I will always protect you.
Caption: In fact, this person has also loved you for a very, very long time…
(I did not translate all the little captions, only the big ones, bc they flipped too fast for me to catch all of them)