Cupid's Kitchen Episode 29 Recap
> Cupid's Kitchen Recap
Song Yiran called about a professional manager training course, confirming it was three months long and cost ¥600,000, taught by MBA lecturers from famous universities. Unable to afford it and with his brother unwilling to help, he decided to sell his car. At a used car market, a dealer praised the car's condition, noting it had 40,000 km, no accidents, and original parts.
Song Yiran, with a strong attachment to the car, meticulously detailed its history and specific needs, requesting the next owner follow his maintenance advice. However, he learned he needed the vehicle registration to complete the sale, which he didn't have with him. Without the document, the dealer couldn't proceed, and Song Yiran had to drive his car back home. Meanwhile, Jiang Qianfan visited Xie Junbin, urgently requesting more medicine for his condition.
Xie Junbin hesitated, reminding him the medicine wasn't effective and had severe side effects. Jiang Qianfan confessed his desperation, explaining that Lin Kesong’s parents wanted him to cook for her. He couldn't, due to his complete loss of taste, making him feel unworthy of Lin Kesong. He felt Lin Kesong was pitying him by concealing his secret from her parents, a feeling he found unbearable.
Xie Junbin suggested that Lin Kesong might still see him as an amazing chef, regardless of his taste, but Jiang Qianfan insisted he was nothing without her. He earnestly pleaded for the medication again. Xie Junbin eventually went to retrieve the "medicine," but instead gave Jiang Qianfan a bottle of vitamins, advising him to take only one a day, pretending it was a powerful drug.
During this time, Lin Kesong was at home, calling Jiang Qianfan multiple times, but he didn't answer. She felt a profound sense of anxiety and worry, a level she hadn't experienced even with her ex-boyfriend. She couldn't focus on anything else, disturbed by his unresponsiveness. Later, Xie Junbin received confirmation that his loan was approved and the funds were in his account. He immediately went to Elise's home, handing her a bank card and revealing the password was her birthday.
He noted they still had two hours before meeting Li Yan. Elise, feeling the weight of her decision, wondered if she was hesitating too much, lamenting that if she had hesitated earlier, none of this would have happened. At the restaurant, Dami arrived and, when no one was watching, poured a large packet of sugar into Jiang Qianfan's thermos.
He observed through the glass window as Jiang Qianfan entered his office, picked up the thermos, and took a big sip of the sweetened water. Elise was absent from work that evening. Xie Junbin and Elise met Li Yan, who surprisingly declared he no longer wanted the money. Hearing police sirens approaching, Li Yan panicked, believing they had called the authorities. Xie Junbin quickly ushered him into the car until the police car drove away.
Li Yan then tearfully revealed that his mother had been severely burned by asphalt and was in the hospital, unconscious. He expressed deep remorse, admitting he was blacklisted online and couldn't buy tickets to visit her. He regretted forcing Elise and promised he would never accuse her or bother them again. Xie Junbin chased after Li Yan, offering him his car keys so he could drive to see his mother.
Elise urged Li Yan to accept the bank card for his mother's medical bills, saying it would bring her peace of mind. Li Yan, with tears in his eyes, accepted the card and vowed that even if he were caught by the police, he would never implicate them. Back at home, Elise confided in Xie Junbin, feeling that fate was too kind to her, a "bad person."
She reflected on causing Jiang Qianfan's taste loss, Xie Junbin mortgaging his house to help her, and Li Yan, her supposed karma, also showing leniency. Overwhelmed by guilt, she expressed her desire to confess everything to Jiang Qianfan. She believed that if Li Yan could regret his actions, so could she, preferring prison over the torment of her conscience. Xie Junbin listened intently and promised to support her unconditionally, no matter her decision.
Separately, Song Yiran met his older brother at a small restaurant for noodles. He asked about the car's registration, which his brother revealed was with his sister-in-law. Song Yiran then explained his plan to sell the car to fund his professional manager training course, stating he would commute by public transportation. His brother, impressed by his ambition, offered to pay the tuition himself, urging him not to sell the car.
Song Yiran respectfully declined, insisting he wanted to push himself and asked his brother to support his decision by helping him get the car registration. Seeing his determination, his brother relented. Jiang Qianfan's refusal to answer Lin Kesong’s calls for eight hours deeply unsettled her. Unable to focus, she eventually went to Yuxuan to wait for him.
Jiang Qianfan, monitoring his home camera, noticed she wasn't there and was about to go look for her when he saw her sleeping on the steps outside Yuxuan. Incensed, he confronted her, harshly criticizing her for being "bored" and ordering her to take a taxi home. Lin Kesong, with tears streaming down her face from his cruel words, turned and left. Jiang Qianfan quickly caught up to her, declaring he didn't need her sympathy or pity.
Lin Kesong retorted, calling him "pitiful" and revealing she had suspected his taste loss ever since Boris's press conference. Jiang Qianfan roared that a man his age didn't need pity from a "little girl." Lin Kesong tearfully countered, expressing how carefully she had behaved around him daily, terrified of saying anything that might wound his pride. She asked him directly if it was truly so difficult for him to admit that he needed her.
Jiang Qianfan, his anger melting into remorse, embraced her tightly and apologized sincerely, admitting he needed her and begged her not to leave. Lin Kesong, embracing him back, realized that this man, often cold and temperamental, needed someone to warm him. He was like a towering giant, yet vulnerable as a child, eliciting a deep sense of compassion from her.
Back at home, Jiang Qianfan finally confided in Lin Kesong, recounting the full story of how he lost his sense of taste. He described how he began losing the sweetness of vegetables before Yuxuan’s official opening in Shanghai, leading him to visit Xie Junbin, who confirmed his taste bud nerves were diminishing. This news had caused him immense anxiety, making him desperately search for a disciple to replace his lost sense.
He recalled meeting her at Liang She Hotel in Hangzhou, the very day he completely lost his sense of sweetness, explaining why he had been so frantic to find her after seeing her questionnaire entry. He admitted he felt increasingly bound by an "invisible rope" he couldn't escape. Lin Kesong, however, offered a different perspective, suggesting that this invisible rope had brought them together from different worlds, perhaps signifying fate.
Meanwhile, Dami told Boris about putting sugar in Jiang Qianfan’s thermos. He recounted Jiang Qianfan’s furious reaction, concluding that his sense of taste was perfectly fine and that Boris should stop bothering him. Before leaving, Dami advised Boris's disciple, Xiao Yu, that her mentor, Boris, was not a reliable person. Xiao Yu, in turn, reminded Boris that Dami, despite his resentment towards Jiang Qianfan, was not an ally. Boris, pleased by Xiao Yu's renewed loyalty, commented that she seemed ready to "sell her soul to the devil."
