Resumen, trama, sinopsis de Loving Strangers

Sinopsis de Loving Strangers

Zhou Yu'an, born into poverty and burdened with repaying her father's debts, crosses paths with Jiang Jiaqi, who is grappling with both family troubles and career setbacks. The two, who otherwise would have had no connection, are brought together by corporate intrigue within their company.

The CEO, Gu Chen, loses a crucial new drug application opportunity due to Jiaqi's outspoken integrity. In retaliation, Gu Chen hires Yu'an with the aim of forcing Jiaqi out of the company. Starting from a place of misunderstanding, Jiaqi and Yu'an gradually begin to comprehend each other's circumstances. Yu'an comes to see the genuine warmth and kindness at Jiaqi's core.

Ultimately, the two heal each other's wounds and emerge together from the shadows of their past struggles.

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Jiang Jiaqi, the head of the Pharmacovigilance Department at Sen'an Pharma, leads the exhausting life of a corporate drudge, shouldering the heavy burden of supporting his family. Meanwhile, Zhou Yu'an balances multiple precarious roles, working as a food delivery driver and a contractor at Sen'an Pharma. Her day starts early, haggling over the price of bullfrogs and loach for a local business before hauling the catch onto a crowded subway at Qingxi Road Station.

The heavy, fishy smell clinging to her clothes draws judgmental stares from other passengers, but she has no choice but to endure it. At the Sen'an office, she is treated with similar disdain; a staff member berates her for a lack of printer paper, mockingly asking if her hands are broken and questioning why such an "arrogant" contractor was hired.

While Jiang Jiaqi is away attending his cousin’s wedding, his younger brother, Jiang Jialu, is busy fumbling with a wrinkled suit, having failed to iron it properly. Jiaqi, ever the responsible elder brother, offers to cover Jialu's share of the wedding gift money as a loan to save him from embarrassment. Their maternal uncle, Yao Dongshan, is also at the venue, causing a scene in the kitchen.

Dongshan accuses the caterer of fraud, claiming the promised 8-count abalone has been replaced with smaller 12-count ones. To prevent a public meltdown and protect the family's image, Jiaqi steps in and offers to pay the difference out of his own pocket. However, the peace is short-lived. During the reception, Jiaqi catches Jialu and Uncle Dongshan secretly pocketing gift money from the red envelopes.

When the cash is accidentally scattered across the floor, the truth comes out, and a furious aunt creates a scene. Embarrassed and heartbroken, Jiaqi’s mother attempts to leave the wedding early, unable to face the guests after such a disgrace. Back at Sen'an Pharma, corporate infighting is reaching a boiling point.

CEO Gu Chen and Vice GM Gao Jiming are plotting to push through the marketing approval application for their new drug, SA-0988, to secure Gu Chen’s reappointment before his term ends. Taking advantage of Jiaqi's absence, Gu Chen moves the decisive meeting forward to that very afternoon. Since the Pharmacovigilance Department’s vote is critical, Gao Jiming forces a senior staff member, Song Hong, to attend as a proxy, telling him he only needs to know how to raise his hand.

Despite the pressure, word of the ambush reaches Jiaqi. He abandons the wedding chaos and rushes back to the company, storming into the meeting room just as the vote is being finalized. To the shock of the leadership, Jiaqi officially records the department’s stance as a firm "No." Jiaqi explains that out of 1,500 patients in the Phase III clinical trials, there has been one report of a SUSAR—a suspected unexpected serious adverse reaction.

He argues that the safety of SA-0988 requires further monitoring and that regulations demand all adverse reactions be submitted to the authorities, which would likely lead to a rejection of their application. Gao Jiming is livid, accusing Jiaqi of prioritizing a single case over the company's entire economic interest and asking if he can take the fall for the delay. However, Vice GM Pang Jian sides with caution, suggesting they pause the application to reassess.

Though Jiaqi wins the battle, he pays a price in dignity. Later, when a bee flies into the office, Gao Jiming uses a folder to "kill" it, deliberately striking Jiaqi across the face in front of his subordinates. Jiaqi silently absorbs the humiliation, telling his supportive team to simply get back to work. Yu'an’s life is equally fraught. She teams up with her friend Zhe to gather evidence against an illegal "dark kitchen" where she works.

Despite being scolded by the boss for being ten minutes late and told to use extra ginger and garlic to mask the smell of stinking, expired clams, Yu'an manages to record the health violations on her phone. She is nearly caught by the owner but escapes after a tense chase, handing the evidence to Zhe. She reports the restaurant to the Food and Drug hotline, desperate for the 2,000-yuan reward to pay for her grandmother’s care.

Her grandmother, Han Yunxia, is currently at a nursing home, and Yu'an has been avoiding their calls because she is two months behind on fees. Finance is pressing the facility to settle the debt, and Yu'an’s grandmother, who is hard of hearing, is caught in the middle. Personal betrayals continue to unfold.

Jiaqi’s wife, Yijun, returns from a business trip but lies to him over the phone, claiming she is at a team dinner when she is actually at the home of Gu Chen, who was once Jiaqi’s junior fellow student. Gu Chen mocks Jiaqi's seniority while seducing Yijun with a rare bottle of Malbec. Meanwhile, Yu'an realizes she cannot afford to keep her grandmother in the home any longer.

In the middle of the night, she secretly takes her grandmother back to their own house, promising that she will eventually find a way to settle the arrears. At the same time, Uncle Dongshan is kicked out of his home by his wife and arrives at the Jiang residence with his luggage. He laments the fear of dying alone as he ages, and Jiaqi’s mother forces him to squeeze into Jialu’s room. As Jiaqi returns home to this new domestic crisis, Gu Chen and Gao Jiming are already moving ahead with a plan to "remove the rock" blocking their path—Jiang Jiaqi himself.

After bringing her grandmother back from the nursing home due to her inability to pay the rising fees, Zhou Yu'an arranges for her friend Xiao Zhe to check on the elderly woman twice a day. She gives him specific instructions, reminding him to mix boiled water with cold water for her grandmother to drink and to keep the heater at a safe distance to avoid the blisters she suffered the previous winter.

Despite the exhaustion, Zhou Yu'an immediately heads out for her food delivery job. While rushing to fulfill an order that has been reassigned to a location 1. 5 kilometers away, she slips and falls on the slick road. From across the street, Jiang Jiaqi witnesses the accident. Though he feels a surge of pity for her, he remains a distant observer, feeling powerless to offer any real assistance. Jiang Jiaqi’s own life is a series of mounting pressures.

As the eldest son, he is the pillar everyone leans on. While commuting home on the subway, he receives a call from his mother, who asks him to come over for dinner. The meal is a pretext for a difficult request: she wants his uncle, Dongshan, and his younger brother, Jialu, to start a small business together instead of idling at home. She estimates they need 200,000 yuan and suggests mortgaging the apartment Jiaqi and his wife bought for her.

Realizing his mother shouldn't be left without a home at her age and knowing the old property wouldn't fetch a high loan, Jiaqi takes the burden upon himself, promising to find another way to secure the money. The tension follows him home, where he and his wife, Yijun, have grown increasingly distant, now sleeping in separate rooms. When he returns, Yijun mentions she ordered takeout, but Jiaqi coldly informs her he already ate at his mother's.

He brings back wedding candy from his uncle, but the atmosphere remains frigid. When Yijun tries to initiate a conversation about their relationship, Jiaqi shuts her down, insisting they talk another day. His mind is occupied by the "middle-aged bankruptcy trilogy" he heard from a friend—the crushing weight of a mortgage, a stay-at-home spouse, and international school tuition—a reality that feels uncomfortably close. Meanwhile, Zhou Yu'an returns home to find her creditor, Chen Ren, waiting inside.

She is furious at his intrusion, but Chen Ren reveals he has already paid the overdue fees at the nursing home. He mocks her, claiming he is a "kind" creditor, but his true intention is to keep her trapped in a cycle of debt. Despite the intimidation, Zhou Yu'an remains defiant, telling him she will do anything to rid her life of someone as toxic as him.

Later, while nursing a scraped foot at a supermarket, Zhou Yu'an surreptitiously uses a band-aid and some medicinal spray from the shelf. Jiang Jiaqi happens to be in the same aisle and watches her. He says nothing, but after she leaves, he quietly pays for the items she used. His professional life soon takes a dangerous turn when Mr. Gao and Mr. Gu, seeking to remove Jiaqi as an obstacle at Sen’an Pharma, orchestrate a trap.

Mr. Gao arranges for a flash delivery to bring Jiaqi a package containing 200,000 yuan worth of e-commerce gift cards. Jiaqi is unsettled by the "gift," and Zhou Yu'an, who is at the front desk, happens to see the cards in his possession. Seizing an opportunity to solve her financial crisis, Zhou Yu'an approaches Jiaqi and insists he buy her dinner.

Over a meal and subsequent drinks, Jiaqi notices her injured foot and tells her she should worry about her own situation. Their outing is spotted by Jiang Jialu, who takes a photo and sends it to Yijun, causing further domestic strife. After dinner, Jiaqi heads back to the office to deal with the cards, but Zhou Yu'an beats him there. She has already convinced the night security guard to cut the power to the building for five minutes.

Using the stairs to avoid cameras, she slips into the Pharmacovigilance Department during the blackout and steals the gift cards from Jiaqi’s drawer. As the power returns, Jiaqi encounters Mr. Gao in the hallway. Gao, acting suspicious, insists on waiting for Jiaqi, effectively preventing him from checking his desk. Once they part ways, Gao immediately calls for an anonymous tip-off to be sent, reporting Jiaqi for bribery.

By the time the inspection team arrives at the company the next morning, the gift cards are gone. A panicked Jiaqi realizes Zhou Yu'an must have taken them. He tries to call her, but her phone is unavailable. He even checks the security logs for non-company personnel, confirming the delivery and her presence. Zhou Yu'an takes the cards to a pawnshop, learning they can be sold at a ten percent discount.

She attempts to hand them over to Chen Ren to settle her debt. However, Chen Ren recognizes the cards aren't hers and refuses to accept what he calls "dirty cash." He threatens to call the police, calling her trash for resorting to such schemes. To make her escape, Zhou Yu'an deliberately knocks over his motorcycle outside, using the distraction to reclaim the cards and flee. When she finally returns to Sen’an Pharma to work, she watches from the shadows as Jiang Jiaqi is led away by officials for questioning.

Jiang Jiaqi is taken away by the Inspection Office for questioning, a development that quickly reaches CEO Gu Chen. Gu Chen summons Mr. Gao, criticizing him for the clumsy and short-sighted attempt to frame Jiang. While Gu Chen acknowledges that Jiang is an obstacle, he points out that the real force blocking the SA-0988 drug approval is actually Pang Jian.

However, since the investigation has already started, Gu Chen decides to use the situation to his advantage to eventually force Jiang out of Sen’an Pharma. Meanwhile, office rumors claim Jiang accepted a bribe of 200,000 yuan in e-commerce gift cards, leaving his colleagues in disbelief. Zhou Yu’an, who secretly took the cards from Jiang’s desk, realizes the situation is escalating. Fearing that Jiang will check surveillance footage and report her, she decides to "return" the items to clear the air.

She enlists the help of a janitor she knows, instructing him to turn the cards in and claim he found them in a trash bin on the night of the incident. She specifically tells him to hand the bag over to Pang Jian’s faction, ensuring it serves as evidence of Jiang’s innocence rather than his guilt.

Determined to clear his name, Jiang Jiaqi intercepts Zhou Yu’an after work and follows her onto the metro, pleading with her to return the cards and tell the truth. However, their confrontation is misinterpreted by a "helpful" bystander who thinks Jiang is harassing the young woman. The stranger shoves Jiang out of the train car just as the doors close, leaving him stranded on the platform.

Jiang quickly calls his brother, Jialu, and their uncle to intercept Zhou Yu’an at the next station. Despite their efforts, the two men focus entirely on the escalator while Zhou Yu’an slips past them unnoticed using the stairs. Later that evening, the uncle buys fresh seafood for Jiang’s wife, Yijun, advising Jiang to keep his family together during this professional crisis. Unbeknownst to Jiang, Yijun is secretly involved with Gu Chen.

She contacts the CEO, suspecting he is behind the bribery trap, and asks him to stop targeting her husband. She promises Gu Chen that she will proceed with her divorce from Jiang once she has enough time to manage it. At home, Yijun tries to gauge if Jiang actually took the cards and suggests he leave the cutthroat environment of Sen’an Pharma. Jiang refuses, insisting he cannot leave while his reputation is tarnished by a false accusation.

A high-level meeting is held to decide Jiang’s fate. Pang Jian, who recruited Jiang and has known him for over a decade, steps up as his primary defender. During the debate, the bag of cards is produced, having been turned in by the janitor who claimed Jiang had discarded them in the trash. Pang Jian argues that Jiang’s act of throwing away the bribe proves his integrity, making the anonymous tip look like a malicious trap.

The deadlock is broken when the Chairman arrives and calls Gu Chen and Mr. Wang downstairs for coffee. The Chairman makes it clear that since the cards were recovered and Jiang is a veteran employee, the matter should be dropped to avoid a public scandal. Consequently, Jiang is officially reinstated. Later, Gu Chen, Pang Jian, and Zhou Yu’an find themselves sharing an elevator. Gu Chen’s second, secret phone begins to vibrate in his pocket.

To prevent Pang Jian from becoming suspicious of the persistent noise, Zhou Yu’an quickly reaches into Gu Chen's pocket and pulls the phone out for him. Shortly after, she overhears Jiang Jiaqi reciting his wife's phone number to a property manager regarding a parking space renewal. She recognizes the digits immediately—they match the contact information she saw on Gu Chen’s hidden phone. The shocking truth dawns on her: the CEO and Jiang Jiaqi’s wife are having a private affair.

Following the elevator incident where Zhou Yu’an intercepted a call from a secret phone to shield Gu Chen from Pang Jian’s suspicion, Gu Chen’s frustration boiled over. After work, he spotted Zhou Yu’an leaving the office and immediately messaged the secret device, demanding she return it to him in the underground garage. Zhou Yu’an, however, was in no rush. She replied with the words "Married Woman"—the contact name she found on the device—and sent him a location for a meeting.

Gu Chen tracked her to Huangyan Bay, only to find her working a grueling shift as a part-time dishwasher. She told him he could either wait until her shift ended or leave without the phone. Despite his fury, Gu Chen was forced to wait at a street corner. When they finally met to negotiate, Zhou Yu’an set her terms: she wanted her temporary contract extended to six months with full-time benefits, including overtime pay and meal allowances.

Gu Chen offered to pay her double that amount in cash to settle the matter quickly, but Zhou Yu’an flatly refused. She noted that a man involved with his subordinate’s wife had no credibility, and she feared he would report her for extortion once the cash changed hands. Realizing her financial desperation, Gu Chen proposed a different transaction: he would pay her 50,000 yuan for each person if she helped him force out his rivals, Pang Jian or Jiang Jiaqi.

Needing the money to care for her grandmother and escape her debtor Chen Ren, Zhou Yu’an accepted the deal. To start her mission, Zhou Yu’an targeted Jiang Jiaqi. She framed her previous handling of the missing gift cards as an intentional favor to protect his innocence, successfully gaining his trust. Meanwhile, Jiang Jiaqi returned home and informed his wife, Wu Yijun, that the gift cards had been found in a company trash can.

During the talk, Wu Yijun accidentally revealed details about the internal investigation she shouldn't have known. When a surprised Jiang Jiaqi questioned her, she claimed she had contacted Gu Chen out of extreme worry. She then turned the argument around, acting hurt that her husband would choose to drink with his brother and uncle rather than confiding in her first. Softened by her apparent devotion to their home, Jiang Jiaqi eventually apologized.

Zhou Yu’an coordinated her efforts with her close friend, Xiao Zhe. Having once been rescued from a scam hub by Zhou Yu’an, Xiao Zhe was determined to help her navigate this dangerous situation. To ensure her safety and grandmother’s protection from Chen Ren, Zhou Yu’an temporarily moved her grandmother into Xiao Zhe’s home. To gain an advantage over their targets, Xiao Zhe managed to discreetly take Jiang Jiaqi’s phone on the subway and install a monitoring app called "Love Share."

This app, hidden in the phone’s background, allowed them to track his location and listen to his conversations. Although Zhou Yu’an worried about the high risks, Xiao Zhe reminded her that such measures were necessary to secure the payout from Gu Chen. Back at the office, Gu Chen continued to pressure Zhou Yu’an, closely watching her every move. Playing her part, she convinced Jiang Jiaqi to treat her to dinner as "interest" for the help she had provided.

During the meal, she subtly probed into his background. When Jiang Jiaqi’s questions about her own life became too personal, she immediately put him on the defensive by labeling his curiosity as harassment. This psychological tactic reinforced his view of her as a principled person. Through the monitoring app, Zhou Yu’an and Xiao Zhe began eavesdropping on Jiang Jiaqi’s personal life, including a video call with his wife and son, Xiao Kun. For Zhou Yu’an, the operation to dismantle Gu Chen’s opposition had officially begun.

Jiang Jiaqi happens to overhear a female colleague arguing on the phone with an e-commerce customer service representative. She is frustrated because the store refuses to provide an invoice for her purchase, explaining that since she used a company-issued gift card, an invoice had already been issued to the original purchaser. This gives Jiang Jiaqi the idea that they can trace the origin of the bribe cards by pressuring stores to reveal the initial buyer's documentation.

He immediately arranges a meeting with Pang Jian on the roof to discuss this strategy. Observing Jiang Jiaqi leaving his phone behind in the office, Zhou Yu'an sees her opening. She instructs Xiao Zhe to call Jiang’s phone repeatedly, giving her a perfect excuse to chase after him to the roof under the guise of returning the ringing device. This allows her to stay close enough to monitor his conversation through the listening app previously installed on his phone.

On the roof, Jiang Jiaqi proposes using gift cards from the Inspection Office to make purchases and then demanding invoices to force the retailer to provide proof of the original transaction. Pang Jian is impressed but warns Jiang that the corporate climate at Sen'an Pharma is shifting. He reveals that the Phase III trial data for SA-0988 is a "black hole" of unreliable information, and the Chairman is under immense pressure.

Pang Jian believes the Chairman is starting to doubt Gu Chen, which is why Pang was chosen to lead the upcoming report to the drug regulator. He urges Jiang to pick a side to ensure his survival. Following the eavesdropped lead, Gu Chen contacts Su Gengsheng, the director of the Inspection Office, whom he once helped promote.

When Pang Jian later attempts to pressure Su into releasing the gift cards for his investigation, Su refuses to cooperate, strictly maintaining that the cards are criminal evidence. Realizing he has been blocked, Pang Jian suspects that Gu Chen has already interfered. Meanwhile, a few employees discuss their futures outside the high-pressure environment of Sen'an.

An associate named Chi reveals he has secured a stable job as a driver for a government unit, boasting about the steady salary and full benefits. Inspired by the prospect of a low-stress job, Yao Dongshan attends an interview for a similar position. He presents himself as an energetic candidate with nineteen years of driving experience and a completely clean record, hoping to secure a more stable future.

Back at the office, a manager named Gao tries to dump the task of digitizing parking spot records onto Zhou Yu'an. Although Zhou Yu'an is annoyed by the attempt to shirk duties, she realizes this is the perfect chance to obtain Pang Jian's vehicle details. After securing his license plate number, BA6879, she overhears a new development: Pang Jian has a contact who can trace the buyer using just a single card number.

Jiang Jiaqi recalls one card ending in 8906, and Pang Jian plans to meet his contact at Lijing KTV that night to settle the matter before his important morning briefing. Zhou Yu'an and Xiao Zhe coordinate a trap at the KTV. Xiao Zhe disguises himself as a waiter and successfully spikes Pang Jian's beer.

As the night ends and a heavily intoxicated Pang Jian prepares to leave, Xiao Zhe intercepts the real designated driver and cancels the order by pretending to be the owner. Xiao Zhe then takes the wheel himself, driving the unconscious Pang Jian all the way to a hotel in Jiangbei, far from the company. The following morning, a critical R&D progress briefing with Commissioner Du begins at Sen'an Pharma, but Pang Jian is missing and his phone is powered off.

Disappointed by the lack of professionalism, the Commissioner leaves. Pang Jian finally wakes up late in his hotel room, disoriented and panicked. In his desperate rush to return to the office, he collisions with another car in the parking lot and flees the scene. The hit-and-run is immediately reported to the police, leading to Pang Jian's arrest. Gu Chen is thrilled by Pang Jian's disgrace and decides to "clean up" the mess himself to gain the Chairman's favor.

Zhou Yu'an later contacts Gu Chen, demanding that he fulfill his promise of a contract extension and equal benefits. However, their meeting is tense. Gu Chen mocks her, claiming he holds the lives of both her and her elderly ward in his hands. When Zhou Yu'an expresses her desire to end their arrangement, Gu Chen taunts her, asking if she is afraid of the gossip or simply scared of falling for him.

Following the fallout of the incident at the karaoke parlor, Jiang Jiaqi reaches out to Pang Jian, only to find their relationship fractured by deep-seated suspicion. Pang Jian, now sidelined and bitter, admits that he can no longer offer any protection. He questions how the police knew their exact location, noting that Jiaqi was the only person he had informed about the visit to Lijing KTV.

Feeling betrayed and cornered, Pang Jian warns Jiaqi that his only option now is to follow Gu Chen, as he no longer dares to trust anyone. Meanwhile, at Sen’an Pharma, Gu Chen successfully presents the R&D progress of the SA-0988 drug to Commissioner Du, emphasizing its safety and efficacy. Zhou Yu'an watches the presentation and later confronts Gu Chen, asking if she is next on his list of targets.

In another part of the city, Yao Dongshan attempts to secure a job as a government driver through a relative's connection. However, his plan backfires spectacularly during a square dancing gathering. While Jiang Jialu is helping his mother set up a new Bluetooth speaker, he inadvertently connects it to Dongshan’s phone. When a call comes in from a relative, the entire neighborhood hears the conversation over the speaker.

The caller reveals that Dongshan’s application was rejected due to a failed credit report, publicly exposing him as a court defaulter. The humiliation is too much for his wife, who arrives at the scene in a rage, demanding a divorce and lamenting how his financial failures have jeopardized their daughter's future. Dongshan is forced to flee to avoid his wife’s wrath. Later, the three men—Jiaqi, Jialu, and Dongshan—gather for a somber dinner.

Unbeknownst to Jiaqi, Zhou Yu’an is using a tracking app to listen to their conversation. During the meal, Jialu mocks Jiaqi’s success and mentions the "little girl" at his office who clearly likes him. Jiaqi dismisses the teasing and reveals that he was the one who decided to hire Yu’an. He explains that while other resumes were filled with empty accolades, Yu’an’s simply listed "Running" as her specialty, which signaled to him a unique resilience and tenacity.

Hearing this, Yu’an is visibly moved. She begins to run through the streets, reflecting on his words, only to be intercepted by the debt collector Chen Ren. He slaps her, demanding payment for her parents' debts and threatening both her and her grandmother. Despite the assault, Yu’an remains defiant and later contacts Jiaqi to request a dinner meeting.

Jiang Jialu’s own hopes are crushed when he attends what he believes is a pitch meeting for his film script at the Spring in Paris restaurant. Instead of a serious producer, he meets a former contact who admits he never even showed Jialu’s script to investors. The man mocks Jialu’s decade-old short film award and suggests he direct "trashy" comeback-themed short videos instead.

Insulted and called "garbage," Jialu decides to give up his directorial dreams and joins Dongshan in a new venture—working as couriers for Huo Kuaida. Touched by their struggle, Jiaqi quietly withdraws 20,000 yuan from his dwindling savings to give to his uncle to help them get started. To cover the mounting costs of his secret dealings with Yu’an, Jiaqi is forced to take 5,000 yuan from the account he shares with his wife, Yi Jun.

When Yi Jun receives a bank alert and calls out of concern, Jiaqi lies, claiming the money was for property fees. At dinner, he hands the cash to Yu’an, explaining it is all he can provide for the month. He expresses his desire to end their meetings, feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the deception. Yu’an, however, challenges him, asking if he is afraid of falling in love with her.

As they prepare to leave, Jiaqi insists they walk separately to avoid suspicion, but Yu’an suddenly steps forward and kisses him on the cheek. Startled and conflicted, Jiaqi pushes her away, further entangling himself in a relationship that threatens to unravel his life.

Following the unexpected kiss from Zhou Yu’an, Jiang Jiaqi is consumed by guilt, unable to look his wife, Yijun, in the eye when he returns home. His distracted and distant behavior doesn't go unnoticed, but he brushes off her concerns. The next morning, Jiaqi attempts to regain control by firing Yu’an in front of the entire office. However, Yu’an remains unfazed, coolly pointing out that as an outsourced employee, he lacks the legal standing to dismiss her.

Undeterred, Jiaqi appeals to the head of administration, Mr. Gao. Gao, who already harbors a low opinion of Jiaqi due to his close ties with the disgraced Pang Jian, flatly rejects the request. He reminds Jiaqi that he has no valid grounds for dismissal and suggests he stop meddling in administrative affairs. Meanwhile, Gao encourages Director Deng to prepare for a promotion, eyeing the vacancy left by Pang Jian.

Tensions escalate when Jiaqi corners Yu’an in a conference room, purposefully leaving the blinds open so their colleagues can witness the interaction. He accuses her of using the "e-commerce card" secret as leverage to manipulate him. Yu’an counters with a scathing psychological critique, claiming she only kissed him as a "bored experiment." She describes them both as "dead inside," living "rotten" lives devoid of joy.

She mocks Jiaqi’s lack of dignity, comparing him to a prisoner who has resigned himself to a life sentence, forced to act normal while being overshadowed by his own junior. Despite his threats to eventually have her removed, Yu’an’s words leave him visibly shaken. In the wake of Pang Jian’s ousting, Gu Chen acknowledges Yu’an’s efficiency and rewards her with 50,000 RMB. However, her clinical ruthlessness makes him uneasy.

He sends her resume to Yijun, who works as a headhunter, asking for a deep background check. When Yu’an returns home with the money, she finds the predatory Chen Ren waiting for her. She hands over the full amount and demands a written receipt and a promise that he will never trespass again. Chen Ren responds with violence, beating her and mocking her, suggesting she must have "sold herself" to earn such a sum.

Their dark history is revealed: Yu'an killed Chen Ren’s father years ago in an act of self-defense, a trauma that Chen Ren has exploited for years. After the assault, he eventually signs the receipt, agreeing that any future trespass will void her remaining debt. Later, Yijun informs Gu Chen of her discovery: Yu’an committed a homicide at the age of fourteen. Though ruled self-defense, Yijun warns Gu Chen to be extremely cautious around her.

The scandalous kiss was a calculated move by Yu’an. She had her accomplice, Xiao Zhe, photograph the encounter from the shadows to ensure she had proof that could destroy Jiaqi’s family and career. To leak the photo, Yu’an has Xiao Zhe distribute "50 off 100" restaurant coupons near the office, knowing their colleague Luo Lingling cannot resist a bargain. When Lingling scans the QR code on the flyer and adds the contact, she discovers the scandalous photo on WeChat.

Lingling quickly spreads the gossip at work, marveling at how a woman would shamelessly "pounce" on a superior. As the office buzzes with rumors, Pang Jian returns to pack his things following his termination for the hit-and-run incident. While the rest of the staff ignores him, Jiaqi helps him with his belongings after a box spills over. In a moment of rare sincerity, Jiaqi praises Pang Jian as a fair leader who was just in his rewards.

Though Pang Jian still suspects Jiaqi’s involvement in his downfall, he offers a final piece of advice before leaving: trust no one in the company. Meanwhile, Yao Dongshan and Jiang Jialu begin their new venture as delivery drivers. Their first day is a disaster characterized by technical glitches, freezing navigation apps, and the frustration of navigating a crowded marketplace.

By lunch, they have only earned fifty yuan, barely enough to cover fuel, forcing them to rely on the thermal meal boxes Jiaqi’s sister prepared for them as they struggle to adapt to their grueling new reality.

Following the physical altercation with Chen Ren, Zhou Yu'an’s hand injury became severely infected. The pain and fever caused her to grow dizzy and collapse at the office, an incident that drew significant attention from her colleagues. When she retreated to the pantry to find medicine, she found nothing suitable for her condition. Jiang Jiaqi kindly advised her to go to the hospital, noting that her wound was clearly inflamed, but Zhou Yu'an met his concern with sharp hostility.

She mockingly asked if playing the Good Samaritan made him feel virtuous or if he was simply a masochist, insisting she would endure the pain on her own. Meanwhile, Luo Lingling attempted to dump her workload onto Zhou Yu'an again, even producing a photo of Zhou Yu'an kissing Jiang Jiaqi to use as blackmail. Unfazed, Zhou Yu'an revealed she knew about Luo Lingling’s secret affair with the R&D Director, Deng Ning.

She confronted Luo Lingling in the restroom, demanding her phone. Having already decided to abandon her plan to frame Jiang Jiaqi, Zhou Yu'an wanted the incriminating photo destroyed. She exposed Luo Lingling’s illicit meetings with Deng Ning at the Jiashang Hotel, noting they had even used R&D project funds for their stays. Zhou Yu'an claimed to have invoices and photos of them together, threatening to send everything to the company’s internal email.

Terrified, Luo Lingling handed over her phone, and Zhou Yu'an deleted the evidence. After returning the work to Luo Lingling, Zhou Yu'an coldly suggested she stay late at the office instead of meeting Deng Ning at the Shangri-La, as she wouldn't be in the mood for pleasure after a long night of overtime. Later, Jiang Jiaqi went to a pharmacy to buy anti-inflammatory drugs, ibuprofen, and bandages, which he left in the office pantry for Zhou Yu'an.

She only realized he was the one who had helped her when she later listened to a recording of his trip to the pharmacy and found the supplies in the storage locker. Life was proving difficult for Yao Dongshan and Jiang Jialu in their new hauling venture. Jiang Jialu grew frustrated with Yao Dongshan’s tendency to slack off and make excuses about his physical health whenever heavy lifting was required.

After one delivery went uncollected, they split up to handle new orders. Yao Dongshan arrived at a skincare shop called Peterfu, where he saw a young staff member struggling to move a statue of the deity Guan Yu. Hoping to secure future business, Yao Dongshan stepped in to help "invite" the statue inside. However, the young man tripped on the stairs, and Yao Dongshan failed to catch the falling statue, which shattered on the pavement.

The shop owner immediately accused Yao Dongshan of causing the accident and demanded 50,000 yuan in compensation, claiming the broken statue represented the destruction of his fortune for the entire year. Despite Yao Dongshan’s pleas that it was the assistant who tripped, the owner pointed out the lack of surveillance cameras and threatened to have Yao Dongshan's account banned on the delivery platform.

Desperate to protect his livelihood and the money invested by his partners, Yao Dongshan offered all the cash he had, only to be mocked and forced to kneel and apologize in front of a crowd. Shamed, Yao Dongshan complied. As he walked back to his truck, he discovered a lunch box his sister—Jiang Jiaqi’s mother—had left for him.

He prayed she hadn't witnessed his humiliation, but when he later saw her on the road, her unusually kind words and sad smile confirmed his worst fears: she had seen him kneeling. Yao Dongshan eventually confessed the incident to Jiang Jiaqi and Jiang Jialu. While a furious Jiang Jialu wanted to settle the score with violence, Jiang Jiaqi restrained him to prevent the family from being ruined by a criminal act.

The next day, Jiang Jiaqi left work early, purchased a fruit basket, and visited the Peterfu shop. He calmly told the owner that while everyone faces humiliation in life, his family was his absolute bottom line. When the owner remained unrepentant, Jiang Jiaqi began systematically smashing the products in the store. He pointed out that the shop was selling "three-no" products—substandard goods with no production licenses or batch numbers.

He mocked the owner’s fraudulent claims about ingredients like telomerase and fullerene, noting that if such products were legitimate, the owner would be a Nobel laureate. Faced with the threat of being reported to the market regulators and the drug authority, the terrified owner agreed to go to Jiang Jiaqi's home to apologize and shut down the store. Jiang Jiaqi left him with a final warning never to sell such illegal products again.

Following the recent confrontation at the skincare shop, the owner arrives with a fruit basket to offer a formal apology to Yao Dongshan. While Yao Dongshan is with Jiang Jialu and their elder sister, Jialu is tempted to resort to violence, but his family manages to restrain him. The owner, appearing stressed and claiming he acted impulsively due to poor business, leaves the gift and departs quickly.

Despite the resolution, the family remains unaware of the pressure Jiang Jiaqi exerted behind the scenes to force this apology. Later, the sister visits the graves of their late parents, Yao Youde and Chen Shulan, tearfully confessing that neither she nor Yao Dongshan are doing well, feeling that life has become an arduous struggle. When Jialu and her son find her, she insists on her independence despite her age, not wanting to hinder their work schedules.

Meanwhile, Gu Chen is becoming increasingly impatient with the lack of progress regarding Jiang Jiaqi. He pressures Zhou Yu'an to take action, but she has had a change of heart and no longer wishes to frame Jiaqi. Instead, she is attempting to find evidence that could be used against Gu Chen himself. Her investigation into Jiaqi’s life reveals it to be remarkably disciplined, offering no professional leverage to exploit.

The only potential "dirt" she has found is the affair between Jiaqi’s wife, Yijun, and Gu Chen, which is useless for her purposes. In the corporate sphere, Gu Chen celebrates securing additional investment from shareholders. However, a conflict arises when Jiang Jiaqi’s department issues a technical judgment on a drug, SA-0988, which Gu Chen is eager to bring to market. Citing safety concerns, Jiaqi’s team submits an application to extend the Phase III trials.

Although the Chairman has mandated that the approval process must be flawless, Gu Chen is frustrated by the delay and delegates the matter to a subordinate, Mr. Gao. A sycophant at heart, Gao berates Jiaqi in front of the office, accusing him of lacking a "big-picture" perspective and ignoring the eight percent cost increase his plan would incur. Jiaqi remains unfazed, coolly stating that his department only makes technical calls.

This public humiliation sparks gossip among the staff, who view Jiaqi as a cautionary tale of a veteran employee being squeezed out by a former junior. Outside of work, Jiang Jialu and Yao Dongshan take a side job picking up a passenger from a KTV. The passenger, a heavily intoxicated actress, recognizes Jialu from a past professional collaboration and repeatedly calls him "Director."

Embarrassed and wanting to keep his current manual labor job a secret, Jialu denies his identity and hides his face. Later that evening, the group reflects on the fact that it has been exactly fifteen years since their friend Tao Zhiyuan went missing on a dangerous hiking route just before he was supposed to marry Chu Dan. Jiaqi still carries a walkie-talkie, frequently calling out to Zhiyuan and sharing his internal burdens with the silent device.

The group eventually learns that Chu Dan has returned from Spain after another unsuccessful search for Zhiyuan. Before her flight from Granada Airport, she calls Jiaqi, asking him to stay on the line and listen to a song with her. Once she is back, the friends gather at her tavern. Despite her jet lag, they are eager to reunite, creating a warm, familial atmosphere.

During the gathering, Jialu speaks privately with Jiaqi, wondering if the latter's wife would look down on them if she knew they were working as deliverymen. He encourages Jiaqi to stop bottling up his emotions and find someone who truly understands him. Jiaqi admits that he believes he has finally found someone with whom he shares a mutual understanding. Throughout her day, Zhou Yu'an continues to use a monitoring app to listen to Jiaqi’s life.

His voice has become a strange form of solace for her, allowing her to learn about his integrity and hidden sorrows. When she overhears Jiaqi’s conversation about finding someone who understands him, she realizes he is referring to her. Before leaving the tavern, the group maintains their "clear accounts" policy by splitting the bill via a group chat, with Jiaqi helping Chu Dan collect the payments. Zhou Yu'an is left overcome with a mixture of sadness and a burgeoning connection to the man she was once tasked to destroy.

Zhou Yu'an's financial situation reached a breaking point when her landlady arrived to demand a month and a half of overdue rent. The landlady complained that she had only offered a low rate because Zhou Yu'an promised to live alone, expressing her anxiety over the liability of an elderly woman who couldn't care for herself being left unattended. Despite the harsh lecture, Zhou Yu'an managed to negotiate a three-day extension.

Although her grandmother couldn't hear the argument, she sensed the tension, prompting Zhou Yu'an to lie and claim the landlady was being supportive and that their home was secure. In her ongoing surveillance, Zhou Yu'an intercepted a meeting between Jiang Jiaqi and Pang Jian. Pang Jian handed over secret materials, including photos of Gu Chen’s home taken by a cleaning lady, hoping they would reveal a scandal.

While Pang Jian couldn't find a smoking gun in the images, he hoped Jiang Jiaqi’s perspective would uncover a hidden vulnerability. Meanwhile, Zhou Yu'an called Gu Chen on his private line to arrange a meeting. This unexpected call sparked jealousy in Gu Chen's partner, Yijun, who was startled to realize someone else had access to his most private number. When Zhou Yu'an met Gu Chen, she played a recording of the conspiracy against him as a threat.

Gu Chen remained dismissive, insisting his life was spotless and warning her that such a recording wouldn't damage him professionally. After their tense encounter, Zhou Yu'an instructed her associate, Xiao Zhe, to send the recording to the company's Inspection Office as an anonymous tip. Later that evening, Zhou Yu'an discovered her grandmother wanted to see the moon. To make it happen, she went to a local mart and took a shopping trolley to transport her.

While rushing to avoid being seen, she tripped and spilled her groceries. Jiang Jiaqi, who happened to be nearby, witnessed the accident, helped her gather the items, and followed her from a distance. He eventually realized she was simply trying to fulfill her grandmother's wish. He stepped in to help at the apartment stairs, personally carrying the elderly woman up.

Stepping into their home for the first time, he was moved by the reality of Zhou Yu'an's difficult life and sincerely told her she was a kind person, a moment of warmth that deeply touched her. The fallout from the anonymous report began at the Inspection Office, but because the director there was loyal to Gu Chen, the CEO was tipped off immediately.

Gu Chen planned to use the upcoming company dinner as a cover, ordering a clandestine search of Jiang Jiaqi’s workspace to find the photos provided by Pang Jian. Unaware of the danger, Jiang Jiaqi was busy looking out for Zhou Yu'an at work. While signing for new company notebooks, he insisted that one be issued to her as well, despite her status as a contractor.

He shared a quiet moment with her, noting that the "An" in her name was also in his son's name, representing a parent's simple hope for a safe and peaceful life. A shadow from Jiang Jiaqi’s past resurfaced when he and his uncle, Jialu, were out buying fruit. He recalled his directorial debut, which failed because investors refused to let him replace an incompetent lead actress. By chance, he encountered that same woman at the market.

She revealed she had been blacklisted and unable to find work since their project. Despite his coldness, she insisted on giving him a bag of lemons as thanks for once helping her. While Uncle Jialu joked about the lemons being a "trap," Jiang Jiaqi saw it as a strange twist of fate. The tension peaked at the company dinner, where Director Gao, eager to please Gu Chen, publicly humiliated Jiang Jiaqi.

Gao criticized him for not participating in the toxic drinking culture and forced him to drink strong liquor instead of beer. When Jiang Jiaqi’s subordinates tried to intervene, Gao mocked them, questioning Jiang’s leadership. Later, as Gu Chen prepared to leave, a drunken associate named Lao Song blocked his path to demand why he was targeting their department. In the ensuing scuffle, Director Gao pushed Jiang Jiaqi to the floor.

To keep the peace, Jiang Jiaqi apologized for the disturbance, which only caused his own team to feel more frustrated and resentful toward his perceived cowardice. Walking home alone as the snow began to fall, Jiang Jiaqi collapsed on the ground. In the freezing silence, he struggled back to his feet, whispering to himself that he had to keep going because life must move forward.

After struggling to pick himself up from the snow, Jiang Jiaqi turns his focus to the materials Pang Jian provided. While reviewing the documents in a quiet café, he notices an item belonging to his wife, Yijun, in the background of one of the photographs. He captures a photo of an access card seen in the picture and tries to identify it at the office the next day, though his initial search yields no results.

In the office, Zhou Yu’an is harshly reprimanded by a colleague for a typo in a performance report—specifically, mistyping the English name for Sodium valproate. Noticing her distress, Jiaqi provides her with a Chinese-English drug translation list to assist her. During their interaction, Zhou Yu’an catches a glimpse of the access card photo on his phone. Drawing from her past experience as a delivery driver, she identifies it as a door card for the Yunxi Residence.

The tension at Sen’an continues to escalate as Jiaqi’s department is hit with impossible new performance metrics. Jiaqi recognizes that these KPIs are a targeted attempt to force him out. One of his team members, Song, who is under immense pressure with a new baby and a mortgage, offers to resign to protect the rest of the team. Jiaqi stops him, promising to handle the management himself.

Meanwhile, the Inspection Office attempts to intimidate Jiaqi by claiming they are investigating him for "secretly monitoring the CEO." Jiaqi remains composed, pointing out that any investigation into a director-level employee requires Board approval. He turns the tables on Director Su, demanding that the unexplained hike in KPIs also be reported to the Board for a formal explanation.

While Gu Chen is eager to see Jiaqi leave, he is unaware of the sudden KPI adjustment until he discovers President Gao is behind it; he warns Gao to stop the petty schemes, fearing they will backfire. Gu Chen remains confident his affair with Yijun is safe, believing a married woman has too much at stake to ever expose their secret.

Yijun later tries to persuade Jiaqi to leave Sen’an to start his own clinical R&D business, even suggesting they mortgage their house for capital. Jiaqi, however, senses that her sudden ambition for him is merely a tactic to get him away from the company. His suspicions are confirmed that evening when he goes to the Yunxi Residence and sees Yijun’s car enter the complex, followed shortly by Gu Chen’s.

To be certain, Jiaqi calls Yijun from a bar; she lies, claiming she is working late. While still on the line with her, Jiaqi uses a waiter’s phone to call Gu Chen. Hearing Gu Chen’s ringtone echoing through Yijun’s phone, the betrayal is confirmed. He recalls Gu Chen’s smug behavior from the previous spring, realizing the affair has been going on for over a year.

Meanwhile, Jiang Jialu and his uncle are out on a delivery when they are tailgated by a flashy sports car driven by Xiao Chen, a former editor who now runs his own company. He is accompanied by Ai Youyou, an actress who once starred in Jialu’s work. They end up at Chu Dan’s tavern, where local teammates like Captain Chi recognize Youyou from her television roles. However, the reunion is bittersweet.

Youyou reveals that Jialu’s demanding directing style—specifically his insistence that she "scream silently" using only her eyes—left her with psychological trauma that ended her acting career. Seeing Jialu now working as a delivery driver brings her a sense of vindication, as it proves to her that he was the one with the problem. Unable to listen further, a frustrated Jialu leaves. To vent his mounting anger, Jiaqi joins his brother and friends for a soccer match.

The game is rough, and Jiaqi is targeted and mocked by the opposing team. After being deliberately hit by a ball, a dejected Jiaqi leaves the field. Seeing his brother bullied, Jialu and his teammates—including Chi and Ding Zhe—ignite a massive brawl on the pitch to defend him, finding a strange sense of youthful vigor in the fight. Amidst the chaos, Zhou Yu’an is plagued by guilt. After seeking comfort from her grandmother, she heads to the Chongjiang Bridge.

There, she encounters Dong Yalin, who warns her about the dangers of the secrets she has uncovered and suggests she pretend to know nothing. Zhou Yu'an remains defiant, but the weight of the situation clearly haunts her.

Jiang Jiaqi returns home and encounters Yijun in the elevator. The atmosphere between them is icy and distant, as if they were total strangers. He notices the distinct scent of charcoal smoke on her. Although Yijun claims she was merely having barbecue with coworkers, she had actually spent the afternoon camping and grilling with Gu Chen.

Jiaqi remains cold, instructing her to review the biotech company’s research materials once she is sober, questioning why she felt the need to drink so much. Meanwhile, on the anniversary of his father’s death, Chen Ren forces his way into Zhou Yu'an’s home, terrifying her and her paralyzed grandmother. He brings peach crisps and barbecue buns, explaining that he searched numerous shops to find cookies that tasted like the ones Zhou Yu'an’s grandmother used to make before she became ill.

He cruelly forces the food into their mouths, claiming these offerings will bring long life. When Zhou Yu'an tries to drive him away, Chen Ren becomes violent and strikes her, leaving her face badly bruised. At the company, the Inspection Office continues its relentless pursuit of Jiang Jiaqi, pressuring him to turn over the materials given to him by Pang Jian. Jiaqi remains defiant, pointing out that the office reports to the CEO, Gu Chen.

He challenges their impartiality, asking if they would truly investigate if evidence pointed toward Gu Chen himself. Gu Chen’s subordinates suggest reporting Jiaqi to the Board of Directors to have him fired, but Gu Chen insists on letting the Inspection Office handle it to avoid appearing as though he is fabricating evidence. Later, the Chairman visits the company after being informed by Deng Ning that the Inspection Office had bypassed him.

To show his favor, the Chairman invites Jiaqi for a round of golf, but Jiaqi admits he only plays soccer. Since the Chairman is too old for soccer, Gu Chen steps in to invite them to a camping trip on Baihua Mountain to sit by a fire pit—a habit the Chairman has kept from his rural upbringing. Jiaqi soon discovers that the trial data for the new drug SA-0988 has been suspiciously altered.

A subject statement arrived claiming that a participant had concealed a drug allergy, which would conveniently invalidate a report of a serious adverse reaction and help the drug gain approval. Jiaqi suspects foul play and conducts a visit to the subject’s home with his team. There, he finds a man struggling to care for his father, who has Alzheimer's, while battling uremia himself. The son admits his father joined the trial to earn money for their medical expenses.

However, the story falters when the son claims his father is allergic to Alteplase. Jiaqi realizes this is a lie; Alteplase is an emergency drug for strokes, yet the father has no prior medical history of such a condition. It becomes clear that someone coached the family with false information to protect the drug's marketability. Back at the office, Dong Yalin loses his temper with Zhou Yu'an over missing printer paper, nearly getting physical until Jiaqi intervenes.

Jiaqi learns from colleagues that Zhou Yu'an had slapped Dong Yalin at a previous dinner, though the others claim they were too drunk to remember why. Jiaqi eventually gets the truth from Zhou Yu'an: she slapped him because he was insulting Jiaqi behind his back, calling him a weak coward whose junior was walking all over him.

Touched by her defense and realizing he might have already left the company if not for her help, Jiaqi calls Dong Yalin and demands a sincere apology, forcing him to repeat "I'm sorry" ten times over the phone. Afterward, Jiaqi treats Zhou Yu'an to dinner. They discuss the "rules of being an adult," where people often pretend to be ignorant of harsh truths to maintain social harmony.

Zhou Yu'an confesses that the weight of keeping secrets is suffocating, fearing that people won't accept her if they knew the truth. Jiaqi promises that regardless of what he hears about her, he will feign ignorance to protect their bond, and he asks her to do the same for him. Elsewhere, Jiang Jialu continues his life as a delivery driver. While eating at a cheap cafeteria with his uncle and colleagues, he is found by Youyou.

She is delighted by the simple meal and the fact that the food is better than what she gets on set. Jialu, however, is bitter and embarrassed to be seen in his current state. He reminds Youyou that he used to terrify her when he was a director and bluntly tells her that her lack of success over the last ten years is due to her own lack of talent rather than bad luck.

He begs her to stay away, unable to face someone who knew him during his more successful years. Finally, Jiaqi's internal investigation deepens as he questions the core ethics of their industry, wondering if the medicine they produce is truly meant to protect the health and safety of the public.

During a high-stakes meeting at Sen'an Pharma, Jiang Jiaqi delivers a scathing rebuttal to the official narrative regarding a clinical trial subject’s adverse reaction. While the company claims the guardian admitted to concealing a drug allergy history to expedite the trial, Jiaqi dismisses this as a fabrication intended to disqualify the subject and bury the data. He argues that since the patient had never used Alteplase before, the concept of a "history of allergy" is logically impossible.

Jiaqi reveals the truth: a Sen'an representative manipulated the guardian, Mr. Wang, into signing the statement by falsely promising his father could continue the trial. Jiaqi insists that the subject’s sudden cerebral infarction—occurring four hours after taking SA-0988 despite no prior history of the condition—must be reported to the authorities as a Suspected Unexpected Serious Adverse Reaction (SUSAR). He demands that Phase III trials be extended to ensure safety, even as Vice GM Gao and others sit in stunned silence.

Gu Chen, visibly unnerved by Jiaqi’s defiance, warns him not to let personal emotions cloud his professional judgment. Jiaqi counters that as the head of the Pharmacovigilance Department, his "emotion" is his professional conscience. He reminds everyone that with over ten million Alzheimer's patients in China, even a one percent adverse reaction rate would mean ten thousand victims. Following the meeting, Jiaqi’s mother calls to invite him and his wife, Yijun, over for her signature crispy ribbonfish.

When Jiaqi calls Yijun, she claims she is too swamped with work to attend. However, Jiaqi later overhears Gu Chen turning down a dinner invitation from Vice GM Gao because he "already has an appointment," confirming Jiaqi's suspicions that Yijun is with Gu Chen. During their secret meeting, an anxious Gu Chen pressures Yijun to convince Jiaqi to leave the company, fearing the Chairman’s growing fondness for him.

Later that evening, Jiaqi’s mother stops by with a portion of the ribbonfish specifically for Yijun. Yijun then presents Jiaqi with information about a startup in the Jiangbei High-tech Park, enticing him with promises of tax exemptions and rent-free office space if he quits Sen'an. Jiaqi remains cold and disinterested, walking out to take the trash downstairs to avoid further conversation. The Chairman and Gu Chen later go camping at Baihua Mountain.

Jiaqi, having learned the location, arrives uninvited, much to Gu Chen's dismay. While the Chairman enjoys stories of rural life, Jiaqi enters the tent to look for salt and discovers one of Yijun’s gloves tucked near the bed—confirming her presence at a previous camping trip. Outside, Jiaqi catches Gu Chen attempting to text Yijun and forcibly deletes the message, warning Gu Chen that any attempt to contact her now would result in his professional ruin.

As they pack up the camp, Jiaqi finally unloads his deep-seated resentment. He mocks Gu Chen for the naked ambition and insecurity he has shown since their university days in the choir. Jiaqi exposes the hypocrisy of Gu Chen’s affair, stating that a man so obsessed with power and status would never actually marry Yijun, a divorced woman with a child and no social standing.

Gu Chen, unable to deny the truth, falls in the heat of the tension and sustains a head injury. Jiaqi drives him toward the hospital but delivers a final ultimatum: Gu Chen must break up with Yijun immediately without letting her know that Jiaqi has discovered their betrayal. As a silent threat, Jiaqi pointedly stuffs Yijun’s other glove into the crevice of the car seat. Back home, Jiaqi finds Yijun on a video call with their son, An’an.

The boy asks for help with a school project to record a "special skill" of his father's. An’an suggests soccer ball-juggling, but Jiaqi, emotionally drained, gives a hollow response. When his brother, Jialu, calls him out for a drink, Jiaqi immediately leaves the house to escape the suffocating presence of his wife. Meanwhile, Jialu is at a tavern with Youyou, a young actress from his project.

He offers a rare apology for his harsh criticism of her acting, though he suggests her agent was foolish to place her in such a low-paying role. Youyou quietly admits it was her own choice to follow him, even as Jiaqi arrives to seek solace in drink.

Gu Chen has been avoiding Yijun’s calls for days, paralyzed by the realization that he does not know how to end their relationship. At the office, the tension is palpable. When Jiang Jiaqi offers him coffee, Gu Chen refuses, claiming his stomach is bothering him. Behind closed doors, Gu Chen instructs his subordinates to temporarily halt any further actions against Jiang Jiaqi, but his own world is far from stable.

His phone continues to ring with calls from Yijun that he refuses to answer. During a brief break from a medical procedure, the Chairman calls a meeting to discuss the marketing approval application for SA-0988. He gives the team a mere ten minutes, making it clear that while the application will proceed, every adverse reaction report must be submitted truthfully. He warns them against any underhanded moves, insisting that while the drug can have flaws, the process must be clean.

He also demands a contingency plan in case the regulatory authorities reject the application. Turning to the Yiyangtang Nursing Home project, the Chairman agrees to the district government's condition to increase the proportion of public welfare beds to twenty percent, emphasizing that these residents must be treated with the same care as paying ones. After the meeting, the Chairman pulls Gu Chen aside and reprimands him.

He tells Gu Chen that his "efforts" have resulted in nothing but consecutive messes and warns him that when the direction is wrong, doing more only leads to bigger mistakes. In the office, Dong Yalin continues to grumble about Zhou Yu'an’s cold demeanor, despite the fact that Zhou Yu'an had just helped him fix a printer. Jiang Jiaqi steps in to defend her, revealing the heavy burden Zhou Yu'an carries.

He explains to Dong Yalin that Zhou Yu'an has been the sole caregiver for her sick grandmother since she was a child and has to juggle multiple jobs just to survive. Hearing about her tragic circumstances, the other colleagues agree that Dong Yalin has been too harsh, leaving him stunned and regretful. The weight of Zhou Yu'an’s reality grows heavier after work. While on the subway, she receives a call from her landlord.

He informs her that he is selling the apartment and that she and her grandmother must move out by the tenth of next month. Jiang Jiaqi, who happens to be nearby, overhears the conversation. He shows her a website for a nursing home under Sen’an and explains that their partnership with the district government provides free public welfare beds for the elderly in extreme hardship. He encourages her to apply, noting that her grandmother’s condition likely meets the criteria.

After leaving the station, Zhou Yu'an admits she has no money but asks Jiang Jiaqi to buy her dinner. He agrees, and they head to a cafeteria where he also buys her a drink. Over their meal, Zhou Yu'an opens up about her past, revealing that her father was a gambler who fled from debts when she was twelve, and her mother disappeared a month later.

She reflects bitterly on the "novelty" of kindness, noting that many people have helped her once or twice out of pity, but they always disappear once they realize her life is a bottomless pit of need. Jiang Jiaqi tells her he doesn't have the right to pity her, as his own life is not much better.

Zhou Yu'an thanks him for his help with the e-commerce card incident, knowing Gu Chen was the one behind the plot to frame him, an act that nearly cost her her own job. When Jiang Jiaqi mentions he might just resign to find peace, Zhou Yu'an suggests a more aggressive approach, asking if he wants her to help him "take him out" to settle the score. Following Jiang Jiaqi’s advice, Zhou Yu'an takes her grandmother’s records to the nursing home.

She describes her grandmother’s condition—paralyzed in the lower limbs and unable to care for herself—and explains the lack of family support. The receptionist, moved by her story, promises to review the materials within five business days. Meanwhile, the Chairman visits the facility to ensure the staff is not providing differential treatment to the residents staying for free. During the visit, he asks Gu Chen about the friction between him and Jiang Jiaqi.

Gu Chen spins a self-serving narrative, claiming that Jiang Jiaqi’s wife had contacted him privately regarding the bribery scandal, leading to a misunderstanding. He attributes Jiang Jiaqi’s hostility to their history as college peers, suggesting that Jiang Jiaqi is simply bitter about his former classmate becoming his superior. Gu Chen eventually meets with Yijun, but he remains distant.

He tells her that because of the current voting stage for the Vice GM position, they cannot afford any risks and should stop seeing each other for an indefinite period. He limits their contact to "urgent" phone calls only. When Yijun questions if he really needs to be at the Chairman's beck and call at such a late hour, Gu Chen simply replies that he has no choice and leaves. Back at the office, Vice GM Gao Jiming is livid.

He berates Jiang Jiaqi for showing up at the campsite without reporting to him first, calling the move a transgression. He accuses Jiang Jiaqi of being a social climber who is trying to latch onto the Chairman now that his previous backer, Pang Jian, has been fired. Jiang Jiaqi endures the shouting in silence. Later, he encounters Gu Chen in the elevator and drags him to the rooftop for a showdown.

Gu Chen finally drops his facade of politeness, mocking Jiang Jiaqi for being a spineless coward who uses kindness as an excuse for his own stagnation. Gu Chen arrogantly claims that competence is the only thing that matters in the world, not morality. He tells Jiang Jiaqi that even if they "go all in" and everything collapses, he will still be a CEO elsewhere, while Jiang Jiaqi will be left with nothing.

While Gu Chen sends a deceptive text to Yijun claiming he is staying late at the campsite with the Chairman, Zhou Yu'an listens to the recording of the rooftop confrontation. Realizing the depth of the conflict and the nature of Gu Chen’s betrayal, she decides to take action. She heads out to find Yijun, determined to strip away Gu Chen's mask and reveal the truth to her.

Zhou Yu'an intercepts Yijun’s car and plays a recording that exposes Gu Chen’s true nature. In the audio, Gu Chen coldly explains that he targets married women because they are "safe" and won't risk exposing the affair. He further notes that breaking up while a woman is still infatuated is a tactical mistake. Urging Yijun to wake up before her life is ruined, Zhou Yu'an leaves the shaken woman behind.

Driven by a need for the truth, Yijun drives to the campsite where Gu Chen claimed to be with the Chairman, only to find it deserted, confirming his lies. Meanwhile, Jiaqi’s mother stops by their home to leave homemade pear soup on the door handle. When she calls Yijun with genuine motherly concern about her health, Yijun struggles to suppress her tears, overwhelmed by the contrast between her mother-in-law’s warmth and Gu Chen’s betrayal.

Elsewhere, Zhou Yu'an meets Chen Ren to settle her debt. He accepts the money but insults her, suspecting she found a wealthy benefactor, and orders his men to tail her. After hearing through her surveillance device that Jiaqi is at their usual cafeteria, Zhou Yu'an rushes to join him. Chen Ren watches them from a distance, consumed by possessive jealousy. Inside, Jiaqi and Zhou Yu'an share a deep conversation. Jiaqi mentions her resume, which lists running as her only specialty.

Zhou Yu'an explains that running allows her to feel like her true self, even as she feels she is disappearing. They reflect on the "cycles" of life and a friend of Jiaqi’s who vanished in the Spanish desert to escape his burdens. Their talk turns to medicine; Jiaqi notes that while people seek "magic cures," healing usually comes from the body's own resilience.

He shares the story of metformin—once a toxic grass for livestock that became a lifesaver for diabetics—suggesting that a "wrong" life path can still lead to hope. Before leaving, Jiaqi packs a meal for Zhou Yu'an’s grandmother, and their walk home strengthens their mutual understanding. At the Jiang household, Jiaqi’s mother cleans the house in preparation for her birthday and treats Chu Dan with the affection of a daughter. When Jiaqi returns home, he finds Yijun in visible distress.

Though she blames work, Jiaqi senses a deeper issue but chooses not to press her. Meanwhile, the power struggle at Sen'an Pharma reaches a breaking point. With the Chairman abstaining from the upcoming CEO vote, Gu Chen must secure a majority to keep his position. An opposing faction, seeking to avenge former executives Gu Chen pushed out, recruits Jiaqi to run for Vice GM.

Gu Chen tries to block the move by citing company "tradition," but Executive Vice GM Wang shuts him down, insisting that the official bylaws allow the recommendation. By the day of the birthday dinner, Yijun has stopped answering Gu Chen’s calls, leaving him frantic. She buys flowers and a cake, putting on a brave face for the family celebration. As Gu Chen bombards her with desperate messages, Yijun finally sends a chilling reply: she knows he wasn't at the campsite.

While Gu Chen begs for a chance to explain, Yijun ignores him to focus on the dinner. The atmosphere at the gathering is festive, with the family securing a parking spot for Yijun and preparing a special meal. Despite the warmth of the celebration, Jiaqi remains observant, noting Yijun’s constant preoccupation with her phone as she prepares to confront the collapse of her secret life.

The family gathers to celebrate Jiang Jiaqi’s mother’s birthday, but Yijun is visibly distracted, her eyes glued to her phone as she waits for messages from Gu Chen. Despite the heavy atmosphere she carries, the rest of the family is in high spirits. Jiang Jialu jokes about his new life as a courier, claiming the physical labor helps him sleep better, even if he playfully complains about his "lazy" partner.

During a video call with Jiaqi’s son, An, the boy asks his father what he likes most about Yijun. Jiaqi gives a stiff, "official" answer—describing her as "outstanding"—which earns him some lighthearted teasing from Jialu. Sensing his mother’s wish for the family to live in harmony and support one another through life’s "bumps and hollows," Yijun tries to maintain her composure, but her mind is elsewhere.

After dinner, Yijun drops Jiaqi off, masking her inner turmoil with a lie about urgent work at the office. When Jiaqi suggests it can wait until morning, she becomes impatient and insists he get out of the car, though she quickly apologizes for her temper. She drives off to meet Gu Chen, seeking the explanation he promised. Gu Chen, however, offers only cold pragmatism.

Claiming that their relationship risks his career now that people have noticed his frequent presence near her, he abruptly calls for a breakup. Yijun finally sees through him, recalling how, even in college, he was driven by a desperate desire to climb the social ladder. She realizes he used a mask of indifference to hide his calculating nature and deep-seated insecurity.

Overwhelmed by regret, she wonders how she could have ever considered divorcing Jiaqi for a man who never truly loved her. While Yijun returns to an empty home to weep in private, Jiang Jiaqi is at Chu Dan’s tavern with Jialu and the rest of the group. They are busy acting as a "hype crew" to help Jiaqi film a talent showcase video for An. Amidst the laughter, a deeper conversation unfolds.

Jialu mentions a woman who claimed to have lived for thirty thousand years, rebirth after rebirth, searching for a place to truly belong. Chu Dan explains that to break such a cycle and find peace, one must love without reservation and give of themselves completely to this world. As the night ends, Jiaqi and Jialu head home, leaving Chu Dan alone at her tavern. The following day, Yijun’s emotional distress manifests as a physical illness.

Jiaqi calls to check on her, and though she claims to only have a mild cold, he promises to bring her porridge after work. Meanwhile, Ai Youyou decides to turn a new page in her life. She calls Jialu to thank him for his harsh words that "woke her up" and informs him she is going to an audition. However, the audition is a disaster.

Feeling past her prime at twenty-two compared to the eighteen-year-old candidates, Youyou struggles during the acting tests. She is dismissed from a role as a pianist despite her years of training. Later, tasked with playing a mentally unstable person smoothing out a crumpled piece of paper, she becomes genuinely distressed. When the main director frowns, she freezes completely; the expression reminds her so much of "Director Jiang" that she loses her ability to speak.

Frustrated and broken, Youyou splashes coffee all over Jiang Jialu’s car. When Jialu discovers the mess, he immediately knows she is responsible and summons her to Chu Dan’s tavern. There, Youyou has a total breakdown. She confronts him, asking if he can "smooth out" her life just as she tried to smooth that crumpled paper. She laments that since meeting him, her carefree self has vanished, replaced by a "crumpled waste" who is terrified of the camera.

That evening, as Jiaqi buys porridge for Yijun, he is bumped by Chen Ren, who skillfully pickpockets his wallet. Jiaqi doesn't notice until the next morning when he finds his ID and documents missing at work. Zhou Yu'an, listening to her recordings, recognizes Chen Ren’s voice and realizes what has happened. Horrified that Chen Ren is now targeting Jiaqi, she skips work to confront him.

She finds Chen Ren looking through Jiaqi’s belongings, and he taunts her about her relationship with the "married older man." Zhou Yu'an warns him to stay out of her life, promising to pay him back if he leaves Jiaqi alone. She coldly reminds him of her dark past and warns that if he touches a hair on Jiaqi’s head, he will regret it.

Despite the personal threats, the corporate world moves on; the shortlist for the company's Vice President is released, and Jiaqi’s name is on it. Knowing Gu Chen will not take this lying down, the stage is set for a professional battle.

After retrieving Jiang Jiaqi’s wallet, Zhou Yu'an chooses not to return it to him directly. Instead, she leaves it with the owner of the congee shop Jiaqi frequents, claiming she found it on a sofa in the store. When the owner contacts Jiaqi to let him know his wallet is safe, Jiaqi is greatly relieved. Later at the office, Jiaqi notices Zhou Yu'an has been absent all morning and grows concerned, eventually catching up with her by the elevators.

When he asks if something happened at home, she dismisses his worries, claiming she simply overslept. Meanwhile, Jiang Jialu continues to embrace a life of manual labor, taking on so many delivery orders that his uncle, Yao Dongshan, jokes that he is working like he is on stimulants. Jialu eventually visits Ai Youyou to apologize for the past. He promises to help her find herself again and tells her she can reach out to him whenever she needs help.

Before he returns to work, Youyou asks for a hug, and he provides the comfort she needs. Later, Youyou tells Jialu that she has landed a new audition for a role that better suits her, thanking him for the encouragement that helped her overcome her psychological barriers. At Sen'an Pharma, the board meets to discuss the Vice GM candidates.

Gu Chen remains silent as CEO, letting Vice GM Gao lead the opposition against Jiang Jiaqi by bringing up a past investigation regarding a gift. However, other board members, including Wang Licheng, defend Jiaqi, citing his twelve-year tenure in R&D and his top-tier performance in the Pharmacovigilance department. They advocate for a democratic vote, praising Jiaqi as a dedicated veteran.

Despite Gu Chen's private hopes to block him, the vote goes in Jiaqi's favor, and he is officially named a candidate. A frustrated Gu Chen later orders Gao to find any possible dirt to ruin Jiaqi's reputation. Gu Chen later meets with Zhou Yu'an to discuss their next move. Zhou Yu'an reveals that she has destroyed the photo of her kissing Jiang Jiaqi because it clearly showed her initiating the act, making it ineffective for blackmail.

Gu Chen suggests a more calculated strategy: instead of a clumsy setup, she should try to actually "understand" him. He explains that Jiaqi is difficult to reach, but since he has already shown kindness toward her, she should become the woman who truly fits into his world. Gu Chen believes that if she becomes close to Jiaqi, any future scandal can be framed as an abuse of power or harassment, depending on how they tell the story.

On her way home, Zhou Yu'an finds herself in a deep internal conflict. While she needs the money Gu Chen promised for her grandmother’s care, she is increasingly reluctant to hurt Jiaqi. Lost in thought, she misses her stop on the subway and runs into Jiaqi. Her mood is further complicated when she receives a message confirming that her grandmother, Zhang Yuzhen, has been approved for admission to the Sen'an Nursing Home.

Knowing Jiaqi recommended the place, she realizes he is a truly good person. To celebrate the nomination, Jiang Jialu treats Jiang Jiaqi and Yao Dongshan to a meal of abalone rice. Jialu reflects on how manual labor has cured his insomnia and anxiety, making him feel truly alive. During the dinner, the family shares the news with Jiaqi's mother, Yao Yumin. Overjoyed, she calls her daughter-in-law, Yijun, to suggest a weekend celebration.

Yijun is blindsided, stung by the realization that her husband shared his biggest professional milestone with his mother and brother before telling her. When she contacts Jiaqi later, he still fails to mention the promotion, deepening her sense of isolation. As the night ends, Jiaqi receives a mysterious phone call from a man asking about a woman named Zhou Yu'an, signaling that the battle for his career is far from over.

Determined to dig up dirt on Jiang Jiaqi, Vice General Manager Gao infiltrates Jiang’s department by hosting a lunch for his team at the staff cafeteria. During the meal, Luo Lingling inadvertently reveals that Jiang has been unusually protective of Zhou Yu’an, an outsourced employee in the department. While Jiang’s other subordinates try to downplay the relationship as mere neighborly concern, Gao realizes he has found a potential vulnerability to exploit.

Meanwhile, Chen Ren, unable to accept Zhou Yu’an’s growing closeness with Jiang, calls the manager directly to sabotage her. He exposes how Zhou had previously attempted to use the two hundred stolen gift cards to settle her personal debts with him a month ago.

This revelation shatters Jiang’s trust in Zhou; he had previously believed she returned the cards out of a genuine desire to help him, but now he sees her as someone who was merely forced to do the right thing. The atmosphere between Jiang and Zhou grows icy. When she waits for him after work and asks him to treat her to dinner, he coldly dismisses her.

Later, Zhou listens to her covert recordings and discovers that her secret regarding the gift cards is out. The situation worsens the next day when Jiang’s subordinates inform him that Gao is investigating their relationship. When they question why he hired someone with such an unimpressive resume, Jiang dismissively remarks that he simply picked her at random and blames the choice on "bad luck." Overhearing this through her listening device, a deeply hurt Zhou leaves the office early.

Seeking the full story, Jiang tracks down the janitor who had officially turned in the gift cards. The janitor, a former creditor of Zhou’s family, reveals her tragic past. Her parents were habitual gamblers who fled, leaving her to face their massive debts while caring for her grandmother. He recounts a haunting memory of witnessing Chen Ren’s father beating the young Zhou and her grandmother on her birthday.

Although Zhou worked tirelessly to pay back most of her creditors, the debt to the Chen family was an endless pit. The janitor explains that Zhou eventually killed Chen Ren’s father in an act of self-defense, and since then, Chen Ren has relentlessly hounded her to vent his own frustrations. In another confrontation, Jiang’s wife, Yijun, meets with Zhou and attempts to pressure her into leaving Sen’an Pharma.

Zhou refuses, explaining that she intends to stay until she takes down the "scumbag" Gu Chen. She then drops a bombshell: Jiang has known about Yijun’s affair with Gu Chen for a long time but remained silent to protect their family. The realization of her husband’s quiet endurance leaves Yijun stunned. Finally, Jiang Jiaqi finds Chen Ren at his shop and offers to pay off the entirety of Zhou Yu’an’s debt to set her free.

Chen Ren, however, refuses the money, driven by a sadistic need to keep Zhou under his thumb. Listening to the conversation via her phone, Zhou hears Jiang defend her honor against Chen Ren’s insults. Fearing the situation will escalate into violence, she rushes to the shop to intervene.

Following the physical confrontation between Jiang Jiaqi and Chen Ren, Jiaqi’s friends from the "Pure Friendship" soccer team, including Yao Dongshan and Jiang Jialu, were alerted to the situation. They rushed to find Jiaqi visibly battered, but he attempted to downplay the incident by claiming he had simply taken a fall.

His friends were skeptical, and when a police patrol approached, the group quickly surrounded Jiaqi to hide his injuries, protecting him from legal trouble during this critical stage of his career. They pretended to be a squad out for late-night training, with one female member even convincing the officers she was the team's coach, successfully faking a series of exercises until the patrol moved on.

To explain the bruises to his family, Jiaqi and his friends concocted a cover story involving a heated soccer match. They decided to claim that a disagreement during the game led to a scuffle between Jiaqi and his own brother, Jialu. When Jiaqi finally returned home, Yijun was devastated by the sight of his face. She immediately suspected Gu Chen was behind the assault and was moved to tears by the perceived cruelty.

The following morning, she confronted Gu Chen outside Sen'an, warning him that she would make him pay if he ever harmed Jiaqi again. Gu Chen maintained his innocence and revealed the shocking truth: Jiaqi had known about their affair for a long time but chose silence to preserve their family. He advised Yijun to continue the charade of ignorance, as that was clearly Jiaqi’s wish for their survival as a couple.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yu’an finally managed to settle her long-standing debt. After checking her savings, she transferred the final amount to Chen Ren, feeling a profound sense of relief that their toxic involvement was at an end. At the office, Jiaqi’s colleagues, led by Lao Song, began intentionally including Yu’an in their social plans, such as going out for hotpot. They explained to a curious Jiaqi that if he were the only one associating with her, the rumors would never stop.

By making her a part of the wider group, they hoped the company gossip would die out naturally. The time came for Zhou Yu’an to move her grandmother into a nursing home. Jiaqi arrived at her home to provide physical help, personally carrying the elderly woman downstairs.

In a touching moment, the grandmother used a written note to express her gratitude, telling Jiaqi that he was a good person and that seeing Yu’an with someone like him allowed her to finally leave with a peaceful heart. Later, as they walked together, Jiaqi encouraged Yu’an to stop being so defensive at work and try to live a more harmonious life.

Yu'an, however, remained haunted by her past, wondering if anyone could truly accept her if they knew she had once killed someone. Jiaqi urged her to look forward and live up to her name—Zhou Yu’an—which suggested finding peace and going with the flow of life. As the Chairman’s health declined, the power struggle within Sen’an intensified.

At the hospital, Gu Chen made a grand show of loyalty, presenting a five-year plan and promising to lead the company into the industry’s top five during his next term. His blatant ambition disgusted Wang Licheng and the other veterans, who refused to let an "ex-son-in-law" rise above them. They invited Jiaqi to dinner to plot a counter-strategy, offering to organize intensive mock training to help him survive the upcoming corporate inquiries and audits.

Unbeknownst to the group, Gu Chen was monitoring the meeting. He pressured Yu’an into letting him listen in via her phone. While the veterans talked trash about Gu Chen's history of "living off a woman," Jiaqi’s response was focused on his own growth. He declared that while he once avoided the struggle for power, he now realized he had to fight for the life he wanted.

He pledged to win the Vice GM position through his own merit, refusing to make Gu Chen his primary target because doing so would give the man too much credit. Despite Jiaqi's resolve to play fair, Gu Chen privately pressured Yu'an, insisting that Jiaqi must be forced out of the race before the election begins.

Yijun visits her mother-in-law’s home to investigate the cause of Jiang Jiaqi’s facial injuries. Sticking to their agreed-upon cover story, Jiang Jialu lies, claiming that he and Jiaqi got into a fight during a soccer match after Jiaqi slide-tackled him. Their mother, overhearing this, becomes furious at Jialu’s recklessness and strikes him, even threatening to ban him from playing soccer for life. At the office, Jiang Jiaqi initially plans a hotpot dinner with his colleagues and invites Zhou Yu'an.

However, a text from Jialu warning him that Yijun has arrived at the family home forces Jiaqi to leave early to manage the situation. He tells his colleagues to enjoy the meal on his tab. During the dinner, Zhou Yu'an leaves shortly after arriving, and a drunken Dong Yalin confides in a colleague about his crush on a woman at the company who is already engaged, naively believing he still has a chance.

Meanwhile, Yao Dongshan continues his secret project of stashing cash inside empty wine bottles, motivated by his plan to move back home once he fills five or six of them. On another front, Jiang Jialu grows anxious about Ai Youyou, who has joined a film crew.

While out on a delivery job with his uncle, Jialu tries to coordinate a visit, but Youyou tells him over the phone that she is exhausted from re-recording lines at the studio and simply wants to sleep, urging him not to come over so late. Gu Chen, seeking leverage, hires a photographer to tail Zhou Yu'an and Jiang Jiaqi. He obtains photos of them at a nursing home and a confrontation between Jiaqi and Yu'an's debt collector, Chen Ren.

When Gu Chen demands an explanation, Yu'an remains unfazed, arguing that she is simply following his strategy by using her tragic backstory to win Jiaqi’s sympathy. She warns Gu Chen that attacking Jiaqi for his well-known kindness will only backfire and alienate their colleagues. However, Yu'an has her own counter-move; she had someone secretly take photos of Gu Chen meeting with Yijun.

She orchestrates a situation where Gu Chen sees these photos, leaving him rattled by the realization that he is also being watched. Later, Jiang Jiaqi and his colleagues spot Deng Ning and Luo Lingling—both married—acting intimately after work. Dong Yalin records a video, hoping it will secure the Vice GM position for Jiaqi by exposing a scandal, as the Chairman despises such misconduct. However, Jiaqi immediately deletes the video, insisting he will only compete for the promotion through honorable means.

The tension between Jiaqi and Zhou Yu'an peaks when Yu'an sees that the gloves she gifted him remain unopened on his desk. Dejected, she throws them away. That evening, she follows Jiaqi into the street and confesses her feelings. In an emotional outburst, she challenges him to strike her to snap her out of her obsession. When Jiaqi tries to push her away, he accidentally knocks her to the ground.

Zhou Yu'an walks away in silence, leaving a conflicted Jiaqi behind. Unbeknownst to them, the entire incident is captured by Gu Chen’s photographer. In the aftermath, Jiaqi takes a leave of absence, and a guilt-ridden Yu'an suggests he should fire her to protect his reputation. Finally, Yijun warns Gu Chen over the phone to stop contacting her, as she is certain they are being followed.

Jiang Jiaqi turns off his phone to escape the mounting pressures of his life and takes a formal leave of absence. He retreats to a quiet spot filled with memories of his friend, Tao Zhiyuan. While Jiaqi has spent his life striving to be upright and hardworking, Zhiyuan represents the free-spirited existence Jiaqi secretly craves.

Reflecting on their past, Jiaqi recalls Zhiyuan’s perspective on "hard work," noting that the Chinese characters for the word imply being a slave to one's own power. Burdened by societal expectations, Jiaqi admits he is profoundly unhappy. He remembers Zhiyuan’s advice: one must find their own happiness first, as only a happy person has the capacity to truly make others happy. Meanwhile, Gu Chen summons Zhou Yu’an for an update on her mission to entrap Jiaqi.

She claims Jiaqi has been preoccupied with intensive training for the upcoming Vice General Manager election, forcing her to take a more aggressive approach to get his attention. To prove her progress, she plays a recording of their confrontation from the previous night. In the audio, she sounds desperate and unhinged, even begging Jiaqi to hit her.

Gu Chen is impressed by the raw emotion in her voice, but Yu’an explains her dark motivation: she feels nothing for men like Gu Chen, but seeing someone as inherently "good" as Jiaqi makes her want to destroy him and drag him down to her level. Focused only on the upcoming promotion results, Gu Chen urges her to use any means necessary—even drugs or alcohol—to ensure Jiaqi’s downfall before time runs out.

The tension reaches a breaking point when Jiaqi returns to the office. He storms into Gu Chen’s office and locks the door, demanding to know why Gu Chen broke their agreement and allowed Yijun to find out about the affair. When Gu Chen mockingly suggests Jiaqi is simply jealous of his boldness, Jiaqi loses control and punches him. The commotion draws the attention of Vice GM Gao and other executives.

Gao, hoping to eliminate a rival for the promotion, immediately calls for Jiaqi to be fired for assaulting a superior. However, Gu Chen surprisingly declines to pursue charges, dismissing the incident as a "private misunderstanding." He knows that a formal investigation would inevitably expose his own scandalous affair with Yijun, which would destroy his career and reputation. In the aftermath, the atmosphere at the office remains strained.

Yu’an intentionally keeps her distance from Jiaqi, using Old Song as an intermediary to deliver paperwork for his signature. After work, Jiaqi follows her to address the tension. He confronts her about the gift he found discarded, asking if he truly lacks the right to even accept her kindness. Feeling the weight of their complicated history, Yu’an suggests that Jiaqi should fire her in front of everyone to save his own reputation. Jiaqi refuses, calling the idea childish.

He explains that he doesn't want them to become strangers who pretend not to know each other. Instead, he insists she finish her contract so she can leave with a strong professional evaluation. He envisions a future where they can greet each other without awkwardness, perhaps even attending family celebrations together. He concludes by telling her she owes him a new pair of gloves to replace the ones she threw away.

Later, Yu’an meets with Xiao Zhe, who questions why she is still staying in such a dangerous environment now that her debts are paid and her grandmother is settled in a nursing home. He fears Gu Chen will eventually see through her act. However, Yu’an insists on staying, wanting to wait for the final result of her plans before she walks away. Across town, Jiang Jialu visits Ai Youyou and finds her home in a state of total neglect.

Youyou is deeply depressed, feeling like a failure in her acting career. She confides that while the main director has stopped criticizing her, it is only because they have given up on her entirely. She is left with the B-team director, who merely rushes her through scenes. She feels humiliated on set, sensing that the smiles from the crew are actually mockery of her performance. Later, Jialu, Yao Dongshan, and Youyou meet at Chu Dan’s tavern.

While Dongshan tries to lighten the mood with jokes about the "taste of first love" while eating oysters, Jialu remains focused on Youyou’s pain. He later contacts an old industry friend to privately review her filming footage, promising confidentiality so he can understand what is truly going wrong with her performance. At home, the silence between Jiaqi and Yijun is deafening. They live together as strangers, barely communicating.

Jiaqi, overwhelmed by guilt and the chaos of his life, repeatedly apologizes to her, but Yijun remains cold and distant. When Jiaqi returns to the office to work overtime, his hand visibly injured from the punch, his colleagues notice the change in him, wondering if he still has any chance at the promotion given the recent scandals.

Jiang Jiaqi and Yijun returned home from the supermarket, their arms full of groceries, but the atmosphere between them was stifling. While organizing the fridge, Yijun repeatedly apologized, admitting that everything was her fault, but her words failed to soothe Jiaqi’s rage. Unable to comprehend why she would betray him with someone like Gu Chen, Jiaqi lashed out and struck a wall in frustration.

To him, her choice was a calculated insult that negated his entire existence and the promises he had kept for over a decade. He questioned if she was intentionally trying to destroy their family to find her own happiness, feeling like a fool for his years of devotion. The following day, Jiang Jiaqi went to the soccer field to clear his head, but his somber mood was evident.

His brother, Jiang Jialu, noticed a deep gash on Jiaqi’s hand—an injury sustained when he hit the wall the night before. Though Jiaqi brushed it off as an accident, Jialu and their friend Lao Fei insisted on bandaging it to avoid infection. While teammates joked that Jiaqi’s nomination as a Vice GM candidate had given him a new air of authority, Jialu sensed his brother's internal pain.

After the game, Jialu pressed for the truth, even refusing to drive until Jiaqi spoke. Seeing his brother's reluctance, Jialu eventually stopped prying but reminded him that if the pursuit of the high-ranking position was making him this miserable, it wasn't worth the cost. Memories of the previous night’s painful conversation lingered, where Yijun had finally unburdened herself. She questioned whether their "small home" had ever been a priority for him over his "extended family."

She recalled years of prioritizing his needs, even attending his mother’s birthday banquet while suffering from a high fever and mastitis shortly after An'an’s birth, just to maintain the image of a perfect family. While she had supported his career and treated his siblings' troubles as her own, she felt invisible in their marriage.

Yijun confessed that while Jiaqi showed compassion to colleagues and even stray animals, she only had room in her heart for him, making the lack of reciprocity unbearable. Having sacrificed her own identity to fit his expectations, she admitted she no longer recognized herself. Though she acknowledged he was a "good man," his tendency to hide from conflicts rather than resolve them had left her emotionally exhausted, and she expressed her readiness to accept a divorce.

At Sen'an Pharma, the atmosphere turned toxic after the regulatory authorities rejected the marketing approval for the new drug, SA-0988, due to a reported adverse reaction. Vice GM Gao publicly berated Jiang Jiaqi, blaming his insistence on reporting the safety issue for the company's setback. Undeterred, Jiaqi maintained he would make the same choice again to prioritize drug safety.

In retaliation, Gao intentionally increased the department’s workload, demanding comprehensive, bound reports of every clinical trial phase by the end of the day. Knowing Jiaqi had an important training session for candidates that evening, his loyal team members, including Lao Song and Tong Rui, insisted on handling the documentation themselves so he could focus on his future. During the training session at a local hotel, Vice GM Gao and Deng Ning continued their schemes.

Unable to find professional faults in Jiaqi, they decided to target his relationship with the outsourced worker, Zhou Yu'an, planning to recruit a senior employee to speak against him. When the rival groups crossed paths at the elevators, the tension was palpable. Outside, Deng Ning approached Jiaqi privately. He revealed he was aware that Jiaqi had caught him with Luo Lingling but had chosen not to expose him, even deleting the incriminating video captured by Dong Yalin.

Touched by this gesture, Deng Ning warned Jiaqi that Gao’s camp intended to use the Zhou Yu'an situation against him, expressing a desire for their competition to be settled on fair terms. After his training, Jiaqi returned to the office to find his team still working. He was surprised to see Zhou Yu'an there; she had stayed to help and had even gone out to buy dinner for the group.

With a final burst of energy, they finished the reports just before the last subway train was due. A frantic race to the station followed, but only Jiaqi and Zhou Yu'an managed to slip through the closing doors. During the ride, Zhou Yu'an admitted she had stayed specifically to see him, confessing that his stern attempts to maintain boundaries only made her more drawn to him.

Jiaqi challenged her feelings, suggesting that her perceived love was actually "mutual pity" rooted in their shared plights. This left Zhou Yu'an questioning if his past kindness toward her had also been rooted in nothing more than sympathy.

Jiang Jiaqi and Zhou Yu’an were spotted together late at night by Jiaqi’s uncle and his friends near a tavern. Concerned about the safety of Yu’an’s remote neighborhood, the group—members of a local soccer team—insisted on escorting her home. The walk was filled with lighthearted banter about aging and stamina, giving Yu’an a rare feeling of being protected.

At her house, they noted the simple yard and padlock, reminding her that as neighbors, they were always available to help if she needed anything. At Sen’an, the Chairman met with Wang Licheng and Gu Chen to discuss the appointment of a new Vice General Manager. He emphasized the need for healthy competition between the two veterans, Jiang Jiaqi and Deng Ning, warning that he would not tolerate internal sabotage that would make the company a laughingstock.

While Wang highlighted Jiaqi’s superior evaluation scores, Gu Chen countered by pointing out that Jiaqi was also a highly controversial figure. The Chairman sternly reminded them that both candidates were pillars of the firm, and any attempt to undermine them would be treated as an attack on Sen’an itself. The tension rose when the Inspection Office received anonymous photos of Jiaqi and Yu’an together. Xiao Zhe discovered the leak and alerted Yu’an, who immediately sought help from Wu Yijun.

Yijun arranged an urgent meeting with Gu Chen, denouncing his despicable attempt to manufacture a scandal. She threatened to expose their own affair to the entire company if he didn't stop, stating that while her own life was already ruined, she would not allow him to destroy Jiaqi. Fearing for his own career, Gu Chen backed down and ordered the Inspection Office to suppress the report and cease any public investigation.

During the colleague interview phase, Vice GM Gao made a calculated move by replacing the intended interviewee, Song Hong, with Zhou Yu’an, hoping to corner her into admitting an improper relationship. Before the board of executives, Yu’an spoke movingly about her life as a contractor and her struggles caring for her paralyzed, deaf-mute grandmother. She credited Jiaqi for recognizing her potential when she felt like an outsider.

Though she admitted to liking him, she clarified that her feelings were rooted in profound respect. She described how Jiaqi treated her with dignity, helped her secure a rare charity bed at a nursing home for her grandmother, and made her feel that even her smallest tasks had value. The Chairman, who walked in during her testimony, was visibly moved by her heartfelt gratitude toward the company, leaving Gu Chen’s scheme in ruins. After work, Jiaqi walked Yu’an home.

When they reached her door, Yu’an asked for a hug as a gesture of encouragement. Jiaqi politely declined, telling her he had received her sentiment and was thankful for it. However, the peace was short-lived as Gu Chen was waiting for Yu’an at her residence. He accused her of taking his money only to stab him in the back, but Yu’an remained unfazed.

She called him disgusting and reminded him that she knew exactly how he had orchestrated the removal of their predecessor, Pang Jian. The next day, Yu’an confronted Gu Chen in the elevator, demanding that he abstain from the Vice GM vote. She warned him that if he refused, she would send a recording of their past conversations to the entire company. Meanwhile, Chen Ren’s men tracked Xiao Zhe to his residence.

Though Xiao Zhe managed to escape the confrontation, the men seized his laptop, which contained all the sensitive recordings. Back at Jiaqi’s house, Jiang Jialu and Yao Dongshan arrived with dumplings, only to find Yijun supervising the replacement of a bedroom door. Jialu noticed a significant hole in the old door and realized it was from a punch. Through a slip of the tongue and Yijun’s pained silence, Jialu finally grasped the truth about her affair.

He was devastated and furious, finally understanding the cause of Jiaqi's recent moroseness and his hand injury. Jialu attempted to hunt down the man responsible, but Yao Dongshan held him back, urging him to consider the pain Jiaqi was already enduring. Yijun later called Jiaqi while he was on the subway to inform him that Jialu and his uncle now knew everything. Jiaqi listened in silence before hanging up, overwhelmed by the weight of the situation.

Jialu, overcome with pity for his brother, questioned why such a cruel world insisted on exposing a victim’s private life to the public, wondering if there was any basic kindness left between people.

Jiang Jialu and Yao Dongshan waited for Jiang Jiaqi at a metro entrance, eventually taking him out for drinks. Still fuming over Feng Yijun’s betrayal, Jialu aggressively insisted that his brother must get a divorce and that the other man deserved a beating. Yao Dongshan, however, took a more traditional and cautious view. He compared a long-term marriage to one’s own vital organs, explaining that separating would be as agonizing as cutting out one’s own heart and liver.

He warned that divorce should be the absolute last resort, as it would cause immense damage to Jiaqi, Yijun, and their son, An. Feeling suffocated by their intense reactions, Jiaqi finally snapped. He admitted he had kept the secret specifically because he knew they would react this way, and their pressure was only making his pain harder to bear.

He lamented that with his father gone, there was no one left to tell him that "nothing is a big deal," forcing him to repeat that mantra to himself in isolation. Seeking to preserve the family, Yao Dongshan called Yijun to let her know Jiaqi was safe. Speaking as an elder, he urged her to reflect on their years together. He acknowledged that Jiaqi had his own shortcomings, but argued that everyone loses their way or makes mistakes.

He emphasized that Jiaqi still truly loved her and that, for the sake of An having a complete home, they needed to consider the consequences before choosing a path of destruction. On the eve of the vice presidential election, Zhou Yu'an sent a message to Gu Chen, stating she would disappear once the vote was over and Jiang Jiaqi was appointed.

She also sent a supportive text to Jiaqi, telling him "nothing is a big deal" and to do his best on Monday. Moved, Jiaqi thanked her for waking him from a life that felt like a prison and for giving him hope by seeing the goodness in him. Meanwhile, Jiang Jialu went to review Ai Youyou’s latest acting takes, which were painfully awkward. To help her break through her mental block, he employed a harsh "collapse therapy."

He confessed that after his early success with a short film, his ego had bloated, leading him to rush into a feature film while unprepared. Realizing the script was mediocre and fearing the public would see he lacked talent, he had intentionally made Youyou his scapegoat, crushing her spirit so he could blame the film's failure on her acting. Youyou was rightfully furious, which was exactly the defiant emotion Jialu wanted her to harness.

He told her to use that feeling against anyone who dared to bully her in the future, even handing her a note of prepared insults to use if she ever felt too weak to speak up. Later, Youyou found Jialu at Chu Dan’s tavern. After slapping him, the two shared a long-awaited embrace, finally starting their relationship.

It was revealed they had both harbored feelings since the 15th College Student Film Festival; Youyou had even pressured her agent to get her a role in his film just to be near him. On the morning of the election, Jialu and Yao Dongshan gave Jiaqi a grand send-off, bringing him homemade buns for good luck and driving him to the office. At Sen'an, Zhou Yu'an was absent, having already packed her belongings to leave.

She sent a final warning to Gu Chen not to interfere, claiming she could hear everything he was doing. During the qualification review, Vice President Gao launched a coordinated attack on Jiaqi. He first tried to credit Director Deng for the company's recent successes, but Jiaqi’s supporters pointed out that the groundwork for those drugs was laid during Jiaqi’s four-year tenure.

Gao then accused Jiaqi of a double standard regarding the drug Barituo, which had a serious adverse reaction during trials. Jiaqi calmly clarified that the reaction was caused by the patient contracting Hepatitis B, not the drug itself. Seeing these attacks fail, Vice President Gao shifted to Jiaqi’s hiring of Zhou Yu'an. He questioned why Jiaqi would choose a high school graduate with no skills other than "running" over qualified candidates.

He then dropped a bombshell, labeling her a "murderer" and exposing a police report regarding a past killing to the entire leadership. He argued that Jiaqi lacked the basic judgment required for a leadership role. Jiaqi, disgusted that they would subject a victim to a "second trial," defended Zhou Yu'an. He clarified that the law had ruled her actions as legitimate self-defense while she was just a child protecting her family.

He argued that if the law allowed her a chance to start over, they had no right to strip away her anonymity and kindness in the name of corporate interest. As news of the scandal leaked into company group chats, Zhou Yu'an realized her past was now public. Meanwhile, Gu Chen continued his efforts to track her down, having located the driver who had assisted her previously.

At Sen'an Pharma, the power struggle reached a turning point during the vote for the new Vice GM. Paralyzed by fear after being blackmailed, Gu Chen chose to abstain. With one member of his own faction defecting to the other side, Jiang Jiaqi secured a five-to-three victory over Deng Ning. Vice GM Gao was left stunned as their long-held plans unraveled. The primary cause of Gu Chen's retreat was Chen Ren, who had obtained recordings of Gu Chen’s internal espionage.

Chen Ren warned Gu Chen that the Chairman despised office politics and threatened to leak the evidence of him spying on opponents, which would effectively end Gu Chen’s career in the industry. Meanwhile, Zhou Yu'an had vanished. Jiang Jiaqi tried desperately to reach her, but her phone remained unanswered. She had secretly relocated to the Yunhe District, taking a job at a supermarket and moving into a staff dormitory.

Before leaving, she returned the gloves she had once gifted Jiang Jiaqi, placing them in his desk drawer. Jiang Jiaqi eventually realized that she fled because she had seen the toxic messages in a private company group chat, where colleagues, influenced by the leaked news of her past, were branding her a "murderer." Chen Ren’s pressure on Gu Chen escalated as he demanded 500,000 RMB for the recordings.

When Gu Chen tried to deflect blame onto Zhou Yu'an, Chen Ren remained indifferent, stating he didn't care what happened to the girl—he only wanted the money. He gave Gu Chen a strict two-day deadline to pay up. Seeking a final moment of contact, Zhou Yu'an used the supermarket's phone to call Jiang Jiaqi. She claimed her phone was broken and explained that she left silently because she didn't expect anyone to hold a farewell party for a "killer."

In a poignant confession, she told him he was the first person to ever be kind to her more than three times and admitted her feelings for him. Jiang Jiaqi, unable to bring her back, could only urge her to take care of herself and to reach out if her grandmother needed any assistance at the nursing home.

When the Chairman learned that the executives had used a young employee’s past to bully her, he arrived at the office in a rage. He berated the senior leadership for their conduct, questioning who would want to work for a company that treats its staff this way. He demanded they find Zhou Yu'an to apologize and provide her with a new job. Furthermore, he was incensed that the Vice GM election results had been withheld.

Under the Chairman's direct pressure, Gu Chen was forced to sign the appointment. When the official email was finally sent, the PV department erupted in celebration for Jiang Jiaqi. To mark the promotion, Jiang Jiaqi’s family and his "Pure Friendship" circle gathered at Chu Dan's tavern. Even Wu Yijun attended and was warmly received by Jiang's mother.

During the meal, Jiang Jiaqi’s little aunt-in-law, who was a schoolmate of both Jiang and their late friend Tao Zhiyuan, brought up their school days. She recalled how the girls used to debate who the "best campus heartthrob" was, noting that while Jiang Jiaqi was handsome, Tao Zhiyuan was always the top choice—talented, professional, and widely admired. Chu Dan realized the group had avoided Tao Zhiyuan’s name for years to protect her feelings.

Seeing how much Jiang Jiaqi missed his best friend on this milestone night, she officially "unbanned" the name in her tavern. In a cathartic moment, the friends began chanting, "Tao Zhiyuan, I miss you," finally allowing their shared memories to surface. However, the consequences of the past were still unfolding. Pang Jian managed to track down surveillance footage of Liu Mingzhe, the driver involved in framing him.

Zhou Yu'an, monitoring a call between Pang Jian and Jiang Jiaqi, realized Liu Mingzhe’s cover was blown and warned him to flee. But the police acted first, summoning Liu Mingzhe for investigation. Before surrendering, Liu Mingzhe warned Zhou Yu'an to remain silent about her past involvement with Wu Yijun, not for her sake, but to protect Jiang Jiaqi from the public humiliation of a scandal. He urged her to change her number but keep the listening app active. Despite her attempts to stay hidden, Jiang Jiaqi eventually tracked Zhou Yu'an down to her new dormitory, telling her that he finally knew the truth.

Jiang Jiaqi’s promotion to Vice General Manager is celebrated by Mr. Wang and his team, but for his rivals, the loss is devastating. Vice GM Gao begins applying to Fuli Pharma in preparation for his exit, while Gu Chen realizes his position as CEO is no longer secure. Meanwhile, the police interrogate Liu Mingzhe regarding the incident with Pang Jian.

Liu claims he was a random substitute driver from an internet cafe who was simply following a voice navigation to a hotel in Jiangbei to earn a fee. He denies knowing Pang Jian or having any malicious intent. However, the police present call records showing dozens of contacts between Liu and a number belonging to Zhou Yu'an. This name rings a bell for Pang Jian.

After consulting with Mr. Zheng at Sen’an, who confirms Yu’an is a former employee, Pang Jian becomes suspicious of Jiang Jiaqi, as Liu had repeated Jiaqi and Pang Jian’s private conversations about beer and intestines in Jiangbei verbatim. To investigate, Pang Jian calls Jiaqi to his office and instructs him to turn off his phone. A technical sweep reveals a hidden data-sharing app that allows a third party to track Jiaqi’s location and listen to his audio.

Pang Jian decides to keep the bug active, planning to feed the listeners false information to catch Gu Chen red-handed and force him out of the company. Using a borrowed phone, Jiaqi confronts Gu Chen. Their argument turns physical as Jiaqi expresses disgust that Gu Chen would use a young woman like Yu'an for such dirty work.

Gu Chen, however, reveals his own frustrations; while he initially paid Yu'an to spy on Jiaqi, she turned the tables and recorded Gu Chen’s own compromising conversations instead. This leverage had forced Gu Chen to abstain from the reappointment vote, ruining his career. Furthermore, Gu Chen reveals he is currently being threatened by Chen Ren. Realizing Yu'an was actually trying to protect him, Jiaqi feels a sense of gratitude rather than anger.

Knowing she is listening, he speaks directly into the bugged phone, pleading with her to contact him so they can resolve the situation together. When she remains silent, Jiaqi tracks a previous landline call she made to the Youjia Supermarket Warehouse in Yunhe District. He rushes to the staff dorms, but Yu'an hears him coming and flees just in time. Back home, Jiaqi tells his wife, Wu Yijun, the whole truth.

Moved by Yu'an's kindness and the sacrifices she made to shield Jiaqi from Gu Chen’s schemes, Yijun joins her husband in speaking into the phone, promising Yu'an they will stand by her if she goes to the police. Exhausted and feverish from the rain, Yu'an seeks refuge with a kind janitor. As she recovers, she opens up to him about her past with Chen Ren.

She recalls how Chen Ren was once a kind boy who protected her from his father’s debt collection, but he changed after his father's death. Yu'an admits she deliberately provoked Chen Ren to hit her because the physical pain was easier to endure than the guilt she felt over his father. Unbeknownst to her, Chen Ren is listening to this entire confession through his computer.

While Pang Jian and Mr. Zheng plan to spread a rumor that Gu Chen is framing Yu'an to lure her out, Jiaqi asks for more time to persuade her to surrender voluntarily. Eventually, the janitor contacts Jiaqi, who finally finds Yu'an. He offers her the warmth and support she has long lacked, promising that even if their current lives have collapsed, they can rebuild them together.

He vows to live a happy life so she no longer has to suffer on his behalf, and she promises to do the same. However, their moment of hope is interrupted by a call from the hospital: Zhang Yuzhen, the elderly woman for whom Yu'an acted as guardian, has passed away.

Following her recent ordeal, Zhou Yu’an is admitted to the hospital to recover. During this time, Yijun contacts Jiang Jiaqi to inform him that she has secured a highly experienced lawyer, Lawyer Fang, to handle the case. Yijun reassures Jiaqi that since Yu'an acted as an accomplice, there is a strong possibility she could be exempted from punishment if they obtain a letter of understanding from the victim.

Feeling responsible for the situation, Jiaqi visits Yu'an in the hospital and gently informs her that Pang Jian has already reported the matter to the police, and their associate, Liu Mingzhe, is currently cooperating with the investigation. Jiaqi promises Yu'an that once she is discharged, they will visit her grandmother together before heading to the police station to tell the full truth.

During their talk, Yu'an admits she had been listening to his conversations via the app; Jiaqi comforts her, explaining that his deep understanding of her allows him to accept everything she has done. Yu'an confesses that his voice and his encouraging words—reminding her that "nothing is a big deal"—were the only things that gave her the strength to keep living. Upon her discharge, Jiang Jiaqi brings Zhou Yu'an to stay at Chu Dan’s shop.

Chu Dan is genuinely happy for the company, admitting that she hasn't had a proper night's sleep in a long time and feels more at ease with someone else there. Alone, Yu'an finally decides to delete the listening app from her phone. As the data is erased, she breaks down in tears, realizing that her digital connection to Jiaqi’s voice—her emotional pillar—is finally gone. Meanwhile, Chu Dan decides it is time to let go of her past with Tao Zhiyuan.

She reflects on a day years ago when she overheard him telling Jiaqi that he was unhappy and wanted to run away. At the time, she was too terrified of the answer to ask him why and interrupted them instead. Now, recognizing she will never truly know the source of his unhappiness, she formally declares that they are "broken up" so his memory will no longer trap her.

Jiang Jiaqi takes a significant step by meeting with the Chairman to submit his resignation, arguing that the Vice General Manager position rightfully belongs to Pang Jian. The Chairman agrees to reinstate Pang Jian and offers to host a dinner to personally ask for leniency on Zhou Yu'an’s behalf. Later, Yu'an goes to the Public Security Bureau with Lawyer Fang to give her statement.

The investigation proves difficult because Gu Chen denies owning the 2G phone used for their secret communications. Furthermore, Yu'an had previously deleted all her call logs and messages to protect Jiaqi from the pain of their shared history. As the legal pressure mounts, Chen Ren refuses to continue his dealings with Gu Chen. In a rage, Gu Chen sends men to Chen Ren’s shop to forcibly retrieve a hard drive, but Chen Ren has already fled with the evidence.

Despite the lack of digital logs, Lawyer Fang remains optimistic, planning to rely on witnesses who can prove the 2G phone existed. Eventually, with the Chairman’s mediation, Pang Jian agrees to sign a letter of understanding and declines to pursue charges. Now part of Jiaqi’s social circle, Yu'an attends a gathering with his friends and former colleagues. She is introduced to Ai Youyou, who immediately takes a liking to Yu'an’s unique personality.

Amidst the laughter and lighthearted banter about their "ages"—with Yu'an jokingly claiming to be 30,000 years old—she feels a sense of warmth and belonging. However, the peace is shattered when Zhou Yu'an receives a phone call at Chu Dan's shop informing her that her grandmother, Zhang Yuzhen, has passed away. Grief-stricken, Yu'an reaches out to Jiang Jiaqi. He immediately comes to her side and informs their close colleagues.

Yao Dongshan, moved by the situation, uses his own savings to ensure the funeral is grand. He buys numerous wreaths and writes the names of every member of their football team on them so that Grandma will not have a lonely send-off. He also handles the burial arrangements. When Jiaqi tries to reimburse him, Yao Dongshan refuses, stating that he is moved by his own ability to help and doesn't want to ruin the sentiment.

At the memorial hall, Chen Ren secretly appears and leaves a sum of money and the IOU Yu'an had signed years ago near the coffin. Yu'an spots him just as he is leaving on his motorcycle; the two share a long, silent look before he rides away. Standing before her grandmother for the final time, Yu'an thanks her for the luck of being her granddaughter and promises to live a happy life. Looking at her grandmother’s peaceful face, she prepares to face the future, carrying the blessings left behind.

With the support of Jiang Jiaqi and their friends, Zhou Yu’an’s grandmother received a grand and dignified farewell. After arranging the burial, Jiang Jiaqi encouraged Zhou Yu’an to stop living in the shadows of the past and start enjoying life like a normal young person. He urged her to look forward, while her uncle Yao Dongshan, despite his reputation for being stingy, found immense pride in personally funding the funeral arrangements with his private savings.

Zhou Yu’an expressed her deep gratitude, telling Jiaqi that his promise to be there for her grandmother had provided her with the only sense of peace she had during her darkest time. Justice arrived when Jiang Jiaqi received an anonymous package containing a hard drive sent by Chen Ren. With this undeniable evidence, Gu Chen’s lies were exposed. Both Gu Chen and Vice GM Gao Jiming were permanently dismissed from Sen'an Pharma and faced legal prosecution.

Meanwhile, the legal situation for Zhou Yu’an and Liu Mingzhe was resolved. Although their use of surveillance software technically violated public security laws, they were let off with a warning because both Pang Jian and Jiang Jiaqi officially forgave them. Following the investigation, Pang Jian was reinstated as Vice GM at Sen'an. Zhou Yu’an and Liu Mingzhe personally apologized to Pang Jian for their actions.

To her surprise, the Chairman also invited Zhou Yu’an to lunch and offered to recommend her for a job in Shenzhen. Zhou Yu’an later shared this news with Jiang Jiaqi, explaining that she needed a fresh start in a place where no one knew her past. She confessed that staying near him would only make it impossible for her to stop loving him. Before her departure, the group held a farewell party at the tavern.

That night, Zhou Yu’an insisted on walking Jiang Jiaqi home, reversing their usual routine. At the end of their walk, she asked for a hug; this time, Jiang Jiaqi didn’t hesitate and pulled her into a warm embrace, reminding her that no matter where she went, this place would always be her home. As others moved on, Yijun visited the football field to watch Jiang Jiaqi play for the first time.

She shared the news that she had been accepted into a school abroad, allowing her to finally reunite with her son, An'an. Jiaqi congratulated her, knowing how much this would mean to their son. After Yijun left the country, Jiaqi adjusted to a solitary life, occasionally finding himself overwhelmed by loneliness. Meanwhile, Ai Youyou’s career took off. After her new project was announced as an S-tier production, she prepared for six months of filming in Xiangshan.

Despite pressure from her agency to engage in a "showmance" with her co-star for publicity, she refused out of loyalty to Jiang Jialu. However, Jialu felt that his status as a truck driver and his previous failures were holding her back. He took her to the giant electronic screen where they had once reunited and told her to focus on her prime years as an actress.

To protect her future, he forced her into a taxi and said goodbye, refusing to let himself hinder her dreams a second time. A year later, life had settled into new patterns. Yao Dongshan and his wife reconciled, with Yao frequently boasting about how much she missed him during their brief moments apart. Jiang Jiaqi successfully launched his own company, Qiyuan Pharma, hiring his former colleagues like Old Song.

His business thrived, eventually securing the Phase IV clinical trials for Shupaiqi (formerly SA-0988) from Sen’an. Ai Youyou became a major star, and Jialu felt a sense of peace seeing her image on the giant advertising screens. Inspired by her success and the resilience of those around him, Jialu returned to writing, focusing on stories about people who find the strength to heal themselves.

Chu Dan also embraced a new chapter, planning a hiking trip to Africa with a friend she met through an outdoor group. Eventually, Zhou Yu’an was transferred back to the Chongjiang headquarters. One day, while ordering coffee, she encountered Jiang Jiaqi. They greeted each other with the ease of old friends, noting how much they had both grown. Zhou Yu’an, now confident and at peace, offered to treat him to an expensive meal.

As they shook hands and promised to see each other the next day, Zhou Yu’an confirmed she had finally found her inner peace. Even Ai Youyou eventually found her way back to the tavern, sitting once again by Jiang Jialu’s side, as they all finally stepped into a future free from the burdens of the past.