In Time With You- Episode 7 Recap

In Time With You

Episode 7

Intro

Why are our favourite couple so uncommunicative lately? Why? I swear since the past two or three episodes Da Ren hasn’t been able to actually get a word in edgewise because of all of You Qing’s Ding Li Wei drama. In this episode I wanted to hug Da Ren and at the same time smack him for being so passive. It’s definitely the Second Lead weakness, but he’s the main! so he should be forward about his feelings, and yet we care about him because he is like that, so mindful of the other’s feelings… What to do?

Recap

You Qing looks at her colleagues gathering round a box of discount snacks and she starts her daily report to Da Ren

Hey Li Da Ren. Lately I’ve been wondering how long I can be on display? Then I realized that everything has an expiration date. Shoe, cloths. food, makeup. As they’re about to become outdated they have a new price and a new “lover” what about women?

Ironically as she’s at home a TV program is reporting how career men in their thirties are considered Golden Bachelors while career women of the same age are considered “Spinsters” and “old.” Her Dad and mother keep looking at her during it and she tells them to look at the TV and not at her.

At work she receives a HUGE bouquet of 11 flowers arranged beautifully. Everyone in the office starts whispering about it but she’s not particularly happy since it’s a present from Ding Li Wei.  He writes her a message”

Saw a group of Ba Yi dancers at the temple for two hours. Then, as before, it started raiing. I was at the place where I met you for the first time. Until the lights were cut out. I laughed I  really liked the unexpected surprise for this date- Wei

You Qing wonders if perhaps this is her chance and she should accept this discounted love.

7th sign of old age: You start caring about a product’s ingredients manufacturing company as well as it’s expiration date.

As she walks out of the elevator people are commenting about the flowers some about how beautiful and romantic it would be to receive one themselves and others commenting about foolishness of romance, since romance won’t feed a person. In the midst of all this she receives a call from Da Ren. Though she’s snappy with him as he asks her for her help on his design plans since she hasn’t eaten, she buckles when she hears that he hasn’t eaten either. They plan to meet at the convenience store.

You Qing looks at the flowers and worries that Da Ren might get the wrong idea about them. She decides on calling her BIL so that he can give her sister the bouquet and have a romantic night with her.

After getting rid of the flowers she walks towards the convenience store and notices Da Ren at the window working on his computer.

This Li Da Ren is very handsome. If we never knew each other or if we hadn’t changed from enemies to friends then maybe our ‘never’ can be changed to ‘fated love’. Sad Really Sad.

Da Ren notices her looking at him from accross the store glass and smiles in welcome. I love how there smiles are so natural when they see each other, it’s like they can’t help but be happy whenever they’re near.

While they’re working on Da Ren’s report, he gets the urge to look over at You Qing and move the hair away from her face. She’s self conscious about it and just looks at him before returning to work and pulling her hair up in a makeshift bun. Da Ren smiles as he looks at her.

This Cheng You QIng is the best looking. So good looking you never get sick of seeing. Sad, why does being familiar make saying “I love you” so difficult?

Da Ren goes to the restroom for a while and while he does, You Qing receives a call from her sister who is freaking out at the uncharacteristic behaviour from her husband. She starts out with his cards from the hotel area Taouyuan, and then with the fact that he received a call earlier and had childishly and familiarly called the woman “Mei Mei’- here You Qing snorts.  She tells her sister not to worry too much since that “Mei Mei” he talked to was her.  Mei Qing looks at his phone calls and confirms You Qing’s number.

Then she starts making comments about the roses he brought home- Something husbands only do when they have something to apologize for. You Qing gets mad at her because now she has to admit that she was the one that gave the roses to him because she didn’t want them. Her sister bugs her about it and asks who would give them to her, You Qing’s temper gets the better and she yells it out, but Da Ren was right behind her as she yelled at her sister that it was Ding Li Wei who had given her those roses.

When You Qing notices Da Ren’s reflection on the window she hangs up on her sister. Da Ren sits down and asks her if she’s making progress with Ding Li Wei, and that he’d remembered her as someone who disliked receiving flower bouquets. You Qing hurriedly tries to explain herself and tells him that it’s the same still.

It still the same now. And holding a huge bouquet of flowers really provokes dislike. So I and Ding Lie Wi who likes giving flowers aren’t compatible. ok?

Ding Li Wei continues sending her flowers to work and she keeps throwing them away. At one point she tells him to stop but he replies that he will stop when she agrees to meet with him.

You Qing and Da Ren go together to her family’s dinner party. Her brother Guan Qing tells his MIL that Da Ren is the one that fixed her ticket. The mother thanks him for his help and then wonders when he and You Qing will get married. Everyone is flustered at that and they quickly told her that they weren’t dating.

Of course what’s a family dinner without a sibling ratting on another. Mei Qing blurts out that they needn’t worry too much about You Qing’s romance since it’s doing quite well lately because Ding Li Wei sent her flowers. Guan Qing is surprised at that as well as her mom and they start questioning You Qing about Ding Li Wei.

Da Ren’s face has turned amazingly sour during this exchange and You Qing herself isn’t happy with the pressure. Instead of answering the question she deflects and says that the dinner is about the MIL not about her and she raises a glass to the MIL’s health.

owever her family hasn’t forgotten about the issue and as soon as they’re at the Cheng home Guan Qing ge and Cheng Mama start hounding her about it. Guan Qing warns her against returning to DLW. However Mama Cheng tells her to consider it since this could be an opportunity for You Qing to get married and perhaps Ding Li Wei has reconsidered and regretted and can love her like he should have before. Guan QIng doesn’t stay quiet and says that she better not accept him because he’s a dog who eats shit and so he can’t change.

You Qing tries to run away from them and she enters the bathroom, where she’s followed by her brother who doesn’t even knock. Again he tells her not to even consider it because a  ‘ A good horse doesn’t eat bad grass. And that guy’s the worst grassland, like a poppy opium flower field’ and if she does get back together with the guy he will raise a war against it.

Her nephew has been listening to all of this and he takes the opportunity in which his little aunt sits on the sofa next to him to ask her what an opium flower is. She’s about to answer him, when finally Papa Cheng adds his two cents worth. ” An Opium flower is like dog poop, you must not touch it.” I love Papa Cheng, he’s so quiet compared to the rest of his family who is way TOO talkative, but he does want the best for his daughter.

Da Ren and his mom are eating breakfast when Tao Tao appears at the door after not showing up to sleep. Da Ren goes to open the door for Tao Tao but Uncle Bai falls in instead. He’d apparently been leaning on the door this whole time.

Da Ren invites him in for breakfast but his mom says that their breakfast time is over. Uncle Bai tells her that he’s sorry for showing up like that he’d gone walking and had suddenly found himself in front of her door before anybody was awake and he’d fallen asleep as he waited. Mama Li thaws a little and asks Da Ren to set out an extra bowl.

Everyone eats their breakfast silently. Da Ren receives a look from Uncle Bai and he suddenly needs to hurry and leave for work. Same goes for Tao Tao who needs to leave for school very soon. As soon as the kids leave Uncle Bai, tells Mama Li that he’s missed her.

He tells her that he hadn’t fallen in love with anybody. She asks him if he the big star from Beijing even existed. He tells her that the Beijing star exists except that the star is not a woman but a man. Mama Li gasps and gets angry. She hurriedly leaves the table as she starts to cry. Uncle Bai is sad that he caused her to cry and get so angry he tells her that she shouldn’t have to be so upset for a childish silly and insane guy like him.

He tells her that he only did it because the theater kids and even Da Ren told him he should so that there could be a change in their relationship. He tells her that the whole time he was lying to her he’d been so sad and lonely he’d stayed in his house the whole time. He makes to leave, but Mama Li gathers herself and tells him that she’s made tea so maybe he should stay to drink it. Uncle Bai gladly accepts that invitation.

Da Ren and Tao Tao hadn’t actually left and instead they were hiding outside of the kitchen window listening on the adults. They’re both relieved when Uncle Bai is invited to stay on for tea.

At work Da Ren runs into Maggie and for the first time I’m actually not completely annoyed with her. Perhaps because she isn’t clinging to him like plastic wrap. Anyways Da Ren asks her how she’s doing and she tells him she’s been scouted for another job but she hasn’t decided because she still hasn’t analyzed the marriageable men in that company. Da Ren sighs and asks if she’ll listen to some advice. She nods

Love needs resistance. All you need to do is let nature run its course

She accepts the message and then she asks him if he ever felt his heart thump for her. She’s obviously getting better at reading Da Ren cues because after a look from him she deduces that she might be better off not knowing, that she really doesn’t want to know after all. But she does and can’t stop herself from wondering, what it is about You Qing that makes Da Ren’s heart thump.

There’s  a lot It’s often. Too many reasons to mention one.

She nods in acceptance ans she asks her if there’s been any progress in his relationship with You Qing and he admits that there hasn’t. Suddenly Maggie goes sage mode and offers her own bit of advice to him

Love sometimes need to be shameless or else heart thuming would be in vain

He smiles at her advice, since it’s actually good. He asks her if she’s forgiven him after all since she’s given him such a valuable piece of advice. She jokes that he’ll have to wait for her to get married so that he can be forgiven. I think that if Maggie had been this cool before, and so less clingy and acting all cutesy so that she could be liked, then I might actually have liked her. wow.

Meanwhile at work she gets a call that an actress needs a certain pari of shoes for a shoot  asap since the shoes she had been given were a size too small. You Qing hurries to the hotel after finding the appropriate pair. As she’s entering the elevator who should be there watching like a lurking creeper stalker no other than Ding Li Wei. while she’s in the elevator she receives a text where he ‘guesses’ that she’s wearing pink shoes. Though it’s true she denies it after looking around in the elevator for him.

As she arrives at the actresses suite she is met with a full blown diva ‘tude. She’s told to perform a joke, which is something that You QIng is actually weak at. Then she’s mocked for not even knowing a thing about the actress’s drama and because she wasn’t aware at what time the drama aired normally. You Qing decides to placate dthe Diva by telling her that the shoe looked gorgeous on her an that her feet were very beautiful. Her vanity stroked the diva is ready to dispense her ‘kindness’ by giving You Qing foot cream to make her feet also as beautiful

A little while later You Qing’s celll phone rings as they’re shooting the show. She get’s kicked out for being such a nuisance. It’s Ding Li Wei asking her about the diva ‘tude she had to put up with.

As she reads this she glimpses DLW’s back and she starts to give chaes, she turns several corners until she’s exited the store.Suddenly rain appears and her stupor seems to be shocked out of her as she realizes that she’s almost fallen into his trap again.

However  he suddenly appears out of nowhere and puts his coat over her head and covers her from the rain. She akss him what he’s doing and he wonders what they have so much fate with rain.

We go back to when they first met. It was at the temple. This time one of the dancers dancing Bo Yi was You Qing. Looking at her from the side was Ding Li Wei. Despite the rain pouring down You Qing still continued dancing. Ding Li Wei ran out with something to block the rain, however she hadn’t been thankful and instead she’d gotten mad that he’d blocked her rain. Ding Li Wei is actually hot and has cute moments, I’m jealous.

Present time You Qing is also mad and she said that her clothes are too expensive to be  out in the rain with him. As she’s about to leave Ding Li Wei stops her by saying,

My clothes are expensive too, but to save you from the rain, it’ll proudly sacrifice itself. You Qing, you’ve worked hard.

After that You Qing finds herself sitting in Ding Li Wei’s bathroom. She asks her self what she’s doing here in this place. Her mirror self says that she knows that this is the most dangerous place for her but she wants to show how ‘superior’ her martial arts has become. While she’s wondering that there’s a knock on the door. It’s Li Wei he he has clothes for her to wear.

After she goes out she sits on his sofa and he makes her warm milk to warm her. She tells him she won’t drink it, and he tells her that he’ll let her go after she drinks it. He proceeds to try to blow dry her hair, but she emphatically rejects that. As he’s talking to her he completely invades her personal space and asks her if she minds him changing. She’s flustered (seriously who wouldn’t with that hunk staring at you intently) and tells him to do what he likes since it’s his home.

He goes to his kitchen counter and starts undressing. He takes off his longsleeve shirt and we’re given such a yummy view of a well toned body and a massive tattoo that covers both arms and his back.

You Qing is alarmed and completely unsettled at his sudden half-nakedness that she makes a run for the door, but before she gets there Li Wei is already there blocking the exit.

He leans in and starts kissing her neck and she has this very hard to read expression, like she doesn’t want it yet, she doesn’t not want it. When Li Wei actually kisses her in the mouth, she starts to respond but then the memory of Da Ren telling her that she’s soo not over Li Wei flashes through her mind and she pushes and slaps Li Wei and hurries out the door.

She wanders around for a long time, at one point sitting down in a bus stop. At this point she’s crying very hard.

What right do you have? What right do you have that I should follow your beck and call? What right do you have that you don’t even apologize? And to think that I would forgive you? What right do you have to mess up my life when I had restored it with difficulty? What right do you have? What right do you have?!!!!!

Da Ren goes back home and is surprised by the feast that is spread out on the table. Tao Tao is placing the serving platters on the table and she says Surprise! and Happy Birthday Da Ren ge! Da Ren is completely taken aback because he hadn’t remembered and no one had sent him a congratulatory message the entire day. Tao Tao is surprised that not even You Qing had sent him one and tells him that he’s pitiful. Uncle Bai comes over and to help celebrate he brings with him quality liquor.

Watching Da Ren watching everybody else have fun on his birthday just about broke my heart. I thought about how different it had been with him celebrating You Qing’s birthday with her.

The next day You Qing wakes up and finally remembers that the day before had been Da Ren’s birthday. As Da Ren is coming down the steps to the street, leaving for work, he hears You Qing singing a birthday song for him as she’s carrying a cake. He tells her his birthday was yesterday, she quickly reacts by telling him that she’d been nice yesterday and let Maggie have the whole day with him.

Before they start eating cake she takes out the gift she’d gotten for him. Again he tells her that he’d thought she’d forgotten because she was too busy. she dismisses that as not possible.  She opens the gift for him and then tells him as she places the pen on his shirt pocket “A good man deserves a good pen.” If you know You Qing why are you so undecisive about Ding Li Wei, just let that one go and grab unto Da Ren, please?

As Da Ren is about to tell her that he’s broken up with Maggie already, You Qing receives a call that’s obviously from Li Wei but she ignores it two times and tries to listen to Da Ren. Da Ren shakes his head and tells her to sort herself out and to confront what needs to be confronted.

You Qing answers the phone the third time around and it’s Li Wei. He tells her “I want to start over’ and he hangs up on her. She starts screaming at her phone that she won’t return to eating bad grassland. Da Ren hears her screams as he’s walking down the stone stairs.

Ding Li Wei is actually waiting for her at her office. All the assistants are fluttering around him, because of course such a well dressed handsome guy can’t be ignored.  He’s there to ask what time she’s going to get off of work so that he can pick her up. She tells him to mind his own business because she doesn’t need him.

Da Ren is praised at work for his proposal, and he’s also told that they’ve been thinking of sending him to become Airport Manager at the Singapore airport.

Meanwhile You Qing is being ‘helped’ by Li Wei. He has intercepted the tablet her boss got her and has made her an easy to understand diagram of it’s basic features. She tells him to stop doing these things. He answers that he wants her to get used to having him and feeling that it’s good to have him next to her.

She’s unhappy with this because they’ve been there and done that and that she’d been dependant on him for her life and he started to need his freedom. He hugs her accross the shoulder not letting go even though she’s struggling. He tells her that he’ll give her his freedom. He hands over his passport to her.

As she’s looking through the passport later that night she gets the sudden urge to call Da Ren to talk about it. Da Ren is sleeping but when she asks that he meet her to talk, he tells her to wait just a half hour and he’ll be right there. God, why do they do this to each other? Da Ren sees her as so precious that he’ll even lose sleep for her and she needs to see him for just a bit to make sense of her thoughts.

When Da Ren gets there, she tells him what’s happened so far. Da Ren asks if they’re back together then. She asks him that if she does go back, will he ‘despise’ her for doing so. And why do you need to find out how he feels, You Qing? Ask yourself why his opinion is so important. Da Ren is upset at her so he’s actually quite cutting in his remarks.

he called you and you just surrendered? Don’t you have decision making power or the ability to judge? Can’t you say you reject?

You Qing is upset at his comments, but she should have known that Da Ren is not a Ding Li Wei fan, so what else could she expect? She tells Da Ren that she rejected but that at the same time Li Wei makes it impossible for her to resist.

Da Ren’s face is so unhappy at that moment and he tells her that her taste in me men really is very foolish. She takes offense at that and tells him that if he’d experiences everything she’d experience he wouldn’t be able to judge her like that.  He scoffs at her ‘experience.’

What experience are you talking about? Heart thumping? Being cherished? or is it ‘Flowers’? is your love really that simple?

She fumes at him and throws the Maggie issue in his face. She tells him that he doesn’t understand how she feels. She’s how bad she felt that for two years noone has told her they loved her or held her. And that if needing to be loved makes her conceited then yes, she is because being loved giver her some self-importance.

Da Ren gets up from where he’s sitting and tells her that it pretty much seems like his opinions aren’t really necessary since she seems to already have made up her mind. She tells him that it’s his responsibility since he was the one that gave Li Wei her number and pushed her into the fire pit.

He stops at that and in his mind he thinks:

If I were willing to take responsibility for you for the rest of your life? Then would you be willing to love me?

But instead he says:

Do you want me to tkae responsibility or do you want me to congratulate you. You should be clear about it. Since you’re about to make the same old mistakes you should take your own responsibility. If you want me to congratulate you, then I can’t do it.

Da Ren leaves her like that and both of them are upset with each other and themselves at this point.

The next day there’s a work emergency and You Qing resists using Li Wei’s help and instead calls Da Ren. However Da Ren is away from his cell phone. He’s actually in the process of turning down the promotion and transfer to Singapore, since he has someone that he has to take responsibility for. Because she couldn’t contact Da Ren You Qing decides to use the Tablet and calls Li Wei for help on it.

Later in her office she thinks about that first meeting and how he’d been after her for her number and how eventually she’d been worn down by his charm. Pretty much what’s happening in the present time again. She calls Li Wei to meet up at the temple that night.

Even if I”m 40 and unmarried I can’t accept an after discount “season of love” Your control and your freedom no longer belong to me Because I’m the strongest worker in the work force Cheng You Qing.

They meet up at the temple and as soon as she sees him she asks him why he went to Greece, Tibet, and he stops her from asking more. He points out that she’s been asking him why he ran, but she hasn’t asked him why he came back.

Because Cheng You Qing is here, because distance made me understand and regret. Because I love you.

Li Wei takes her home and on the way she receives a call from Da Ren. Da Ren asks where she is  and You Qing first lies that she’s at work and then that she’s already on her way home.

s he going to ask her out? was he? I guess we’ll never know because he arrives just after Li Wei and You Qing do at her house and he sees her being hugged by Li Wei.

Li Wei followed You Qing down and he asked her if the phone call was from Da Ren. She tells him that she won’t allow anyone to change her friendship with Da Ren (though it is changing already just from her being with DLW and lying to DR) Li Wei tells her that it’s alright because he’ll accept that friendship even if he doesn’t really like it. She tells him he can choose not to accept and that’s the hug that Da Ren witnesses.

Da Ren looks at them two and slides down a bit. He asks that the taxi driver make a U-turn since his friend isn’t home after all. His eyes show how heart broken he is, and thought I want to take his side, I also thinks he’s being too vague with You Qing. She’s way to dense to actually just realize that he likes her now if she hasn’t for the past fourteen years, so she needs him to actually grow a pair and tell her.

Later that night You WIng calls Da Ren but he’s too drunk and too sad to actually answer. It’s actually interesting that they’re both holding and looking at the gifts they received from each other. He ends up sleeping on the floor and catching a cold.

You Qing runs into Maggie at the shoe store and they start talking. You Qing asks Maggie how she’s doing and Maggie tells her she’s thinking of resigning from her job. You Qing is surprised that she hadn’t heard anything form Da Ren about it. Maggie tells her that Da Ren doesn’t know because they haven’t talked much since they broke up.

Maggie notices that You Qing really didn’t know that she and Da Ren had broken up and she smiles sardonically.

“Da Ren ge is really slow. No wonder you two always have mishaps. […] We broke up because… To punish Da Ren Ge this secret I’ll let you slowly find out by yourself.”

You Qing is left to wonder what Maggie meant- see she’s so dense! I think anyone would have understood it, it’s so obvious the only reason why Maggie would tease about Da Ren being slow and the two of them always having mishaps is because Da Ren loves You Qing! duh! ok maybe I wouldn’t jump to conclusions like that if I were YQ…no I think I would… which is why it frustrates me!

You Qing calls Da Ren after her run in with Maggie and asks him why he never told her of the break up. Maybe because you had so much drama going on and didn’t let him talk? Even now she barely has asked him that that she asks him what he’s doing lying down. He tells her that he’s home because he doesn’t feel well.

You Qing hurries to see him and gives him medicine. After applying the medication she calls her mom and asks her how to make chicken soup. As she’s talking with her mom and making the soup Tao Tao sneaks up on her and hugs her. Tao Tao jokes about what good little housewife You Qing would make.

Right behind Tao Tao, Uncle Bai and Mama Li enter the house and ask who made that delicious smelling chicken soup. You Qing tells them she’d made it for Da Ren because he’s sick, but that they’re welcome to eat it too since she made a big pot.  All four of them have a good time eating and talking while Da Ren sleeps fitfully in his bedroom

Before You Qing leaves for her home, Mama Li gives her one of her paintings. She tells You Qing that she’d gotten the inspiration for the orchid drawings after seeing Da Ren dispirited because he’d had a falling out with You Qing. (Da Ren do your own work tell You Qing your feelings, even Mama Li is rooting for you)

Whe You Qing arrives home Mama and Papa Cheng are looking at the potted orchid that Ding Li Wei has sent her.

7th charm: With your basics. No matter what you can bloom again.

Notes

It’s kind of amazing how these two keep dancing around each other. Da Ren has faced his feelings for You Qing and even You Qing realizes that Da Ren really might be the best one for her. But they’re under the misguided impression that the other person can’t love them back. And so they’re stuck in some kind of limbo. Which is why Li Wei is able to jump ahead of Da Ren and get the girl. grr… but he’s so hot… I can’t decide whether to be angry or just stare at his body face

It’s interesting that Ding Li Wei is being described as bad grassland filled with Opium flowers, and Da Ren in an earlier episode was described by You Qing as the grassland that lets her relax and be herself after a hectic day. So if I were You Qing  who would I pick? The grassland that drugs me into complacency and changes my personality or the grassland that allows me to be myself? I think we all know which one’s the best one, but I admit the bad grassland is mighty fine too.

I feel so divided between the two men, because though I love Da Ren to itty bitty pieces, he’s annoying me by being so wishy washy. When he saw You Qing and Li Wei from his cab, I wanted him to jump out of the cab and confront her for lying. And then Li Wei, he’s so hot. Ok, I still feel he’s way too smarmy, he knows he’s hot and he knows You Qing is not completely immune to his charms so he uses to his advantage, which is actually working quite well for him, since it seems that he’s gotten what he wanted after all.

Anyone else pissed that You Qing actually outright lied to Da Ren in this episode? I am. I don’t like the fact that she has to hide. And if she feels she has to hide what she’s doing from Da Ren then why is she doing it? gaah.

Also when I was watching episode the background music from when You Qing was reading the note on the flowers from Li Wei, it was so gorgeous. I kept repeating that part just to listen to the music.

ooh and on another note I have to congratulate Sunny Wang on a hot debut kiss^^ Even if I can’t allow myself to love his character here I’m definitely keeping my eyes peeled for his next project 😛