I Cannot Hug You Episode 4 Recap
> I Cannot Hug You Recap
Li Shiya's guest, Xin Ba, made a seemingly serious declaration about not liking anyone but her, which Li Shiya initially took to be earnest. However, Xin Ba, after briefly insisting on his seriousness and telling her she wasn't a casual woman, immediately backtracked and claimed he was just kidding. Annoyed, Li Shiya headed to the bathroom. Meanwhile, in the adjacent apartment, Jiang Zhihao struggled to focus on his writing due to the increasingly loud noise from Li Shiya's place.
He sent Li Shiya a WeChat message noting how noisy it was. When Li Shiya was in the bathroom, Xin Ba, pretending his phone battery was dead, asked for her phone password, which was her birthday. He then used her phone to send a rather inappropriate message to "Fried Chicken," which was Jiang Zhihao. Jiang Zhihao later saw the strange message on his phone.
Unable to concentrate further, Jiang Zhihao left his room for a quiet spot in the community park. Just as he settled into a pavilion, a small dog climbed onto his bench. Jiang Zhihao’s intense fear of animals, coupled with his germaphobia, made him extremely uneasy. He thought about Li Shiya's past advice to focus on happy thoughts when upset. Later that night, Li Shiya saw Xin Ba and Shihuan off.
She apologized to Shihuan for the evening and warned Xin Ba not to bring Shihuan with him next time. Before leaving, Xin Ba confessed to Li Shiya that he had seen a message from "Fried Chicken" on her phone and had secretly replied. He jokingly warned her not to "fool around" with "Fried Chicken." As Xin Ba and Shihuan walked downstairs, Xin Ba bumped into Jiang Zhihao.
Jiang Zhihao gave Xin Ba a look of intense disgust, which Xin Ba misinterpreted as an anti-fan's anger, wondering if he would be cyberbullied on Weibo and realizing Jiang Zhihao lived on the same floor as Li Shiya. Meanwhile, Li Lanxi, a security officer for the vampire family, issued a yellow warning due to several recent vampire disappearances, suspecting an organized operation. The couple photos from Li Shiya's recent cover shoot had been developed.
Li Shiya and her manager, Qingran, reviewed them. Qingran praised the photos, remarking that Jiang Zhihao's ascetic aura made Li Shiya look "more sexy," and suggested more collaborations with him. Li Shiya decided to keep some of the photos for herself and then went to Jiang Zhihao’s door to give him some for his memories. Despite Jiang Zhihao’s protests and claims that he didn’t need them, he eventually took the envelope.
Once home, Jiang Zhihao, "fully armed" with his precautions, carefully opened the envelope. As he looked at the elegant and beautiful Li Shiya in the photos, he unexpectedly muttered, "This is too sexy." Feeling flustered and swallowing hard, he quickly put the photos away in a drawer, not daring to look again. Li Shiya later met with her sister, Li Lanxi, who expressed concern for her safety given the recent vampire disappearances and suggested she move back home.
Li Shiya declined, confessing that she had no feelings for anyone else but was intensely interested in Jiang Zhihao. Li Lanxi was shocked, pointing out Jiang Zhihao's severe germaphobia and his aversion to human contact, calling it a foolish decision for a vampire like Li Shiya. However, seeing her sister's distress, Li Lanxi agreed to help, mentioning that she had researched cognitive-behavioral therapy, a method that involves reverse thinking and exposing the individual to what they fear most.
Late one evening, Li Shiya, eating watermelon, waited outside Jiang Zhihao’s door. Using the storybook as leverage, she persuaded him to come out. She took him to the zoo, explaining that it was part of her plan to cure his germaphobia by exposing him to situations he usually avoided, helping him see the "entire forest instead of just one tree." Despite his visible discomfort, Jiang Zhihao reluctantly accompanied her through the zoo and even fed an alpaca with gloved hands.
Seeing that her sister's method seemed to be having an effect, Li Shiya employed a more extreme tactic. She led Jiang Zhihao to a room full of rabbits, praising their cuteness and urging him to touch them. When he refused, she explained that sometimes it's necessary to force someone into their worst nightmare to make them face it head-on. She then closed the door and blocked it with her body.
Jiang Zhihao, panicking, desperately tried to get out, eventually pushing past her and in doing so, touched her hand. Li Shiya realized he had made physical contact. As they left the zoo, Jiang Zhihao angrily confronted Li Shiya, calling her actions "murder" and demanding to know why she subjected him to such an ordeal. Li Shiya, however, was beaming, pointing out that he had touched her hand, which was his first physical contact with her.
As they argued, a little girl suddenly ran up and hugged Jiang Zhihao’s leg. Jiang Zhihao immediately asked Li Shiya if she had brought the child as another one of her schemes. Li Shiya denied it and quickly went to make an announcement to find the girl's mother.
Left alone with the crying child, who repeatedly called for her "Mommy," Jiang Zhihao struggled with the prolonged physical contact but seemed deeply affected by her cries, appearing to recall memories of his own childhood and mother. Li Shiya returned with the girl’s mother, observing with satisfaction Jiang Zhihao's unexpected compassion and gradual step towards overcoming his phobia.
That night, on their way home, Jiang Zhihao, still puzzled, asked Li Shiya why an "excellent girl" like her would focus so much effort on an "ordinary person" like him, an author. Li Shiya gently replied that in her eyes, he was not ordinary at all. She reiterated the sentiment he had expressed earlier, "Some things may seem worthless to others, but for some people, they are priceless," adding, "In my eyes, you are not ordinary.
You are worth being cherished." She then told him that if he didn't like her methods, he could simply come to her next time he wanted to read the storybook. Later, Jiang Zhihao, reflecting on the day, read from the storybook about a flute that cried because people touched it with dirty hands and tossed it around. The butterfly, harmonica, and drum invited the flute to join them on a trip.
Jiang Zhihao repeated Li Shiya's words, "There are some things that are worthless to others, but for some people, they are priceless. To me, you are priceless," as if finally understanding.
