Chapter 6
Following last episode’s chat with her Mother about paving the way for Tianjian, episode 6 of Lost Romance begins with Mingli confronting him and the Tianliang Group strikers. She fires them and accuses Tianjian of going behind her back with the intent to undermine. Tianjian tries to convince her to mimic Tianxing’s methods for success at the company. Uncle He joins the party, handing Tianjian a crap sandwich – complementing his working with the strikers but condemning his tactics that signal disagreement with the new CEO. He continues noting that the CEO now looks incompetent and without empathy, which cements Mingli’s resolve to fire the strikers. Uncle He continues his solitary game of strategy via the chessboard. Aoran and Chuchu have their meeting with the spa owner and present an offer from Royal Group. Aoran emphasizes that he’s keen for an agreement because of the elements that set the spa apart from the rest – he’s not after cookie-cutters. Hmm. Xiao’En shows up at the spa so she can keep eyes on the couple. She takes the last available room, an extortionate spa suite. Unfortunately, she’s not able to negotiate the price. Once registered, she hangs out in the hallway trying to catch their conversations, completely disconcerting the hotel staff. Chuchu manages to injure herself the tiniest bit, breaking the bathroom mirror. Xiao’En cancels her room so Chuchu won’t need to club in with Aoran. Outside, Xiao’En thinks through additional storylines that the author could employ to force the two leads to share a room. She realizes she may have sacrificed her suite for nothing. Just as she’s considering giving up, her saviour appears. She dodges the staff and barges into the men’s sauna to find her Supreme Master. She questions Qingfeng about showing up at the spa when he’d originally said he wouldn’t. He indicates that he didn’t mean to come, as he’s Aoran’s friend, but that something made him turn the steering wheel toward the spa. Xiao’En says that’s love but notes he’s not destructive enough to do anything but painfully watch. Conversely, Xiao’En claims she’s there to change her destiny. Chuchu and Aoran have dinner under the stars. But disconcertingly, Aoran keeps thinking of annoying things Xiao’En has done, comparing her to the gentle Chuchu. Xiao’En weasels her way into staying in Qingfeng’s room as it’s the last one. She tells him to think of it as comrades in military bunks. He’s about to object when they spot Chuchu and Aoran walking off together and race out after them. Chuchu leads Aoran on a late-night walk to see fireflies. He goes along with trepidation, carrying a lantern. Qingfeng and Xiao’En follow and she mocks Aoran’s fear of the dark. Qingfeng reminds her that something serious in his past has created that fear. When Chuchu asks him to extinguish the light, Aoran does, but he doesn’t look well. Xiao’En and Qingfeng continue to watch from a distance. Aoran remembers the evening of the blackout and holding Xiao’En’s hand, which gives him strength. Xiao’En is discouraged, thinking he’s braving the dark to please his love. Chuchu is just pleased to see the fireflies. Aoran starts to freak out and turns the light on by mistake. When Chuchu questions him he says it’s late so they should head back. Oblivious to his discomfort, Chuchu babbles on about fireflies. Xiao’En notices how sweetly Aoran treats Chuchu compared to how he speaks to her and her resolve wavers again. Chuchu spots more fireflies and runs off to catch some for Aoran. She slides over the edge of a cliff and he runs to help her, pulling her up. But as he gets her back to the top he blacks out. Qingfeng and Xiao’En race to help and call an ambulance. In the real world, Qiaozhi reports an emergency at the hospital and Mingli runs out. At the office, Shanna asks Jason to get her to the hospital on his motorcycle. Xiao’En panics as Aoran is still unconscious. She recalls Tianxing grabbing her arm from his hospital bed in the real world. She tries to carry Aoran herself but Qingfeng says they should wait for the ambulance. Mingli arrives at the hospital, where her Father is being resuscitated. Her Mother wants to stop her husband’s suffering but Mingli doesn’t have his will yet, so she insists they put him on life support. Shanna is in Tianxing’s room where he too has just been revived. Xiao’En sits at Aoran’s bedside while Qingfeng helps Chuchu. Xiao’En decides that Aoran would rather see Chuchu when he wakes. She makes Chuchu promise not to tell Aoran that she was there, so she and Qingfeng wait outside. Aoran tells the story of his childhood trauma to Chuchu and Xiao’En is crushed thinking of how he wouldn’t confide in her. She exits the hospital, heart-sick over his childhood abuse. She curses the writer for not letting Aoran grow up happily. Qingfeng listens to Xiao’En rant and he starts to burn. Literally. He’s on fire, thinking of Xiao’En’s words about fighting for the woman he wants. Xiao’En has her back to him and no one seems to notice the flames but me. Driving home, Xiao’En ponders real life versus life in the novel. She admits she can’t fight the destined lovers and talks of giving up. Qingfeng encourages her to stay her course. Chief Editor Yao scolds Chuntian for not catching the deviation in the book they’re editing, CEO, You’re So Naughty. He asks how Zheng Xiao’En has appeared as a character in the story, presuming Xiao’En added herself in when she worked on the project. Chuntian claims she didn’t spot that addition. She returns to her desk and changes the character to Yijun throughout the manuscript. But as soon as she turns her back to call the author, her computer re-edits the name back to Xiao’En. Aoran takes Chuchu home and notices she’s hurt her foot. He asks how she managed to take him to the emergency room and she says she called an ambulance. He thanks her and heads home. Xiao’En is relaxing at home but as soon as she hears Aoran she pretends to be cleaning. He reminds her to plug-in the vacuum in future. Snagged. Now that he’s home she may as well clean. He asks her about a hair clip he found and she denies having been in his room. He confirms it’s her clip. And that she went to the spa. She makes an excuse and he accuses her of scheming to hurt Chuchu. The argument gets heated and Xiao’En shouts that she went to the spa because she likes him. She freezes. He asks why she likes him and she then blurts out… money. Good heavens. In a restaurant with Qingfeng, she tells him the whole embarrassing story. She’d had much more romantic ideas for her love confession, picturing scenes from K-dramas like Descendants of the Sun. She admits that she also confessed to find out if she could change anything, but believes she has failed. Aoran is in his study deciding whether to go downstairs for dinner or to go out. He finally decides to carry on as normal but when he reaches the kitchen realises, she’s gone. He thinks she’s run rampant because of her confession. ‘She likes me yet she wants to starve me to death.’ He considers all the outlandish things she’s done over the last few weeks, concluding she’s crazy. The doorbell rings – she must be back so he puts on his stern face. But it’s Chuchu at the door. She whips up a lovely little dinner for him which he compares to competitive dining with Xiao’En. On the way back, Xiao’En is still squirming but says she’d better go home to make dinner for Aoran. Qingfeng tells her she’s special and she jumps on it, begging him to confess to her and thereby rebuilding her shattered confidence. He keeps himself from smiling at her silliness. Chuchu washes the dishes and tidies up. Aoran stops himself at every turn as she – heavens – doesn’t know his cleaning rules. As they’re finishing, they hear the front door. Chuchu asks if someone else lives there and finds Xiao’En in the doorway. Oops!
The Episode Review
An emotional episode as Xiao’En continues to plant herself in the midst of Aoran and Chuchu’s romantic scenes, but frustratingly comes to believe that she can’t break their connection. Aoran talks about his childhood trauma and Xiao’En and Qingfeng both wobble in their determination. So much uncertainty. Now, who is this gremlin that can edit character names within the manuscript? It’s neither Chuntian nor Editor Yao. Could it be the author – the one Xiao’En is perpetually cursing and blaming? And how does she have access to Chuntian’s computer? Perhaps it’s a live Google doc, but somehow, I can’t see that being the author/publisher relationship. There’s more to this. Meanwhile, with all the catastrophes, the timing in Lost Romance is again, spot on. This is when I wish I could speak fluent Taiwanese as I want to watch their faces during some of these sharp scenes. I’m addicted to the 10-second rewind button. In fact, there is one scene I re-clicked several times. What a fantastic visual of Qingfeng on fire. I love this symbolism – is he enraged? Impassioned? Unidentifiably emotional? Are his pages within the book burning? Is his character and/or his role shifting? I have no idea but can’t wait to find out. If you’ve caught the Chinese drama Prince of Tennis (Netflix) one of the characters erupt in flames, shouting ‘burning’ whenever he’s calling on all his energy and determination to win a match. Maybe this fire is Qingfeng’s force of will. Maybe, within the novel, he’s altering his own destiny…
