My True Friend Episode 3 Recap
> My True Friend Recap
After a knowledge assessment at Love and Family Real Estate, Cheng Zhenzhen expressed admiration for Shao Pengcheng’s amazing grasp of property taxes and policies, areas she found complicated. Pengcheng, embracing his perceived genius, explained that such tests were simple compared to his university assignments, stating that while "foolish people" could sleep three hours, "geniuses" like him needed six.
Zhenzhen questioned why he hadn’t earned a university degree if he was so brilliant, to which he retorted by asking about her university background. Zhenzhen proudly stated she was an outstanding marketing student from Shanghai Chengji University. Pengcheng, unfamiliar with the institution, wondered if she was a "commissioned student" or why she was dismissed from previous jobs if she was so accomplished. He also challenged her to explain business marketing.
Zhenzhen, frustrated, refused to explain further, telling him he wouldn't understand anyway. Later, while buying milk tea, Zhenzhen encountered a woman named Mrs. Liu, who, seeing a flyer, realized Zhenzhen was a real estate agent. Mrs. Liu expressed interest in seeing both houses for sale and rent, wanting to pick the best option.
Zhenzhen eagerly agreed and called Pengcheng for assistance, but he, engrossed in a game at an internet cafe, falsely claimed his father was hospitalized and he couldn't leave. Believing his lie, Zhenzhen alone accompanied Mrs. Liu to view ten houses. Zhenzhen enthusiastically showcased each property, detailing amenities like nearby hospitals, schools, and markets. Mrs. Liu seemed particularly interested in the last house but stated she needed to discuss it with her family before making a decision.
Back at the office, Zhenzhen reported to Manager Zeng Huimin that Mrs. Liu was highly interested in one of the properties. However, Zeng Huimin revealed that less than half an hour after Zhenzhen and Mrs. Liu left, the homeowner called to withdraw the listing, stating the house had been rented. A colleague quickly clarified that Mrs. Liu had bypassed the agency and directly contacted the owner to save on commission fees.
Zeng Huimin admonished the team, emphasizing that clients are their lifeblood and such a practice was a "deadly mistake." Seeing Zhenzhen blame herself, Pengcheng intervened, taking full responsibility. He claimed he had been attending to private matters and if he had accompanied Zhenzhen, the incident wouldn't have occurred. As they left the office, Zhenzhen thanked Pengcheng for defending her.
Pengcheng, basking in his self-proclaimed heroism, instructed Zhenzhen to learn from the experience and demanded she treat him to a meal for his "performance." Zhenzhen, after some banter, reluctantly agreed. While walking, Pengcheng noticed Zhenzhen’s heel was chafed and bleeding, an injury likely sustained from showing so many houses. He felt a pang of guilt. Zhenzhen treated him to wontons at a street stall.
During their meal, Pengcheng, still maintaining his earlier lie about his father being hospitalized, also fabricated a story about his family's recent financial difficulties, claiming he joined Love and Family to rent out his own apartment for income. He then discreetly handed Zhenzhen a band-aid. Zhenzhen realized he had bought it for her, but Pengcheng, feigning indifference, stated he was merely avoiding the sight of blood due to his squeamishness.
Zhenzhen felt a warmth spread through her heart and ordered another bowl of wontons for him. That night, Zhenzhen emailed her friend Jing Ran, reflecting on her challenging new job and her dream of helping people find their ideal homes, determined to work hard despite encountering a "swindler" (referring to Mrs. Liu). The following day, an enraged Mrs. Liu stormed into the Love and Family office, demanding to speak to the manager.
She complained that the house her future son-in-law had recently acquired through their agency was "inauspicious," emitting the sound of a child crying every night, despite no children living nearby. Zeng Huimin, introducing herself as the manager, assured Mrs. Liu that Love and Family would take full responsibility for any legitimate issues. Just then, Mrs. Liu’s daughter Kang Ni and son-in-law Zhou Lifeng arrived, urging Mrs. Liu to calm down and assuring her they would handle the situation.
Zeng Huimin assigned Cheng Zhenzhen and Shao Pengcheng to investigate the matter. After Mrs. Liu and Kang Ni departed, Zhou Lifeng confessed to Zhenzhen and Pengcheng that he had not purchased the house but merely rented it. He explained that as an outsider in Shanghai, he couldn't afford a home, and Kang Ni's mother wouldn't approve of their marriage without one.
To appease her, he and Kang Ni had falsified a property deed, planning to buy a real house once they saved enough money. He desperately pleaded with Zhenzhen and Pengcheng to keep his secret. Pengcheng suggested that resolving the mysterious crying sound would solve everything. Zhou Lifeng admitted he had heard the crying twice himself but dismissed it as a neighbor's child, unlike his sensitive mother-in-law.
He implored them to investigate the source of the sound, hoping that if it wasn't anything "crazy," his mother-in-law would drop her demand to return the house. Zhenzhen initially hesitated, reminding Pengcheng they were real estate agents, not detectives, but Pengcheng assured Mr. Zhou they would investigate "to the end." He repeatedly questioned Mr. Zhou if the crying was real, who confirmed it, and then teased Zhenzhen, calling her scared.
That evening, Zhenzhen dragged Pengcheng to Zhou Lifeng's house for their investigation. Despite the late hour and the darkness, Pengcheng feigned bravery while clearly frightened. Zhenzhen intentionally played on his fears, revealing that the building was a former "hospital family building" and the previous owner was a surgeon who might have performed "dissection-type of surgery" there. Pengcheng, visibly unnerved, eventually suggested they leave. At 2 AM, having heard nothing, Pengcheng insisted they abandon the investigation.
However, Zhenzhen pointed out that Mrs. Liu had said the crying didn't occur every night and they needed to return "several times" to conclusively prove it was Mrs. Liu's imagination. Pengcheng argued against further visits, claiming they had done enough, but Zhenzhen called him a coward, prompting him to reluctantly agree to return the following night. They sealed their agreement with a playful challenge: whoever failed to show up would have to call the other "Dad."
The next morning, a sleepy Pengcheng was reprimanded by Zeng Huimin for his disheveled appearance. He defensively claimed he had spent the entire night at "Mrs. Liu's house" investigating and only got home at 3 AM, scaring him to death. Zeng Huimin dismissed his claims and sent him to wash his face. Meanwhile, Hao Meili received a phone call from her client, Mrs. Bai, requesting help to install a flower stand.
Hao Meili, claiming a prior appointment, subtly pushed the task onto Zhenzhen, framing it as an opportunity for the newcomer. She described Mrs. Bai's property as a desirable "small oceanside villa" in a "school district." Pengcheng, witnessing this, suspected Hao Meili's ulterior motives, questioning why such a good property hadn't sold if it was truly amazing. Hao Meili defended herself, but Pengcheng persisted in suggesting there was "definitely something wrong with this house."
Zhenzhen, however, agreed to take on the case. Later, Zeng Huimin called Hao Meili into her office. While initially praising Hao Meili for her "selfless" act of assisting new colleagues, Zeng Huimin swiftly changed tone.
She presented an analysis of Hao Meili's sales performance, revealing that despite her impressive individual results, Hao Meili had a history of dropping clients she deemed not serious, only for those clients to later purchase properties from other agencies, resulting in "significant" losses for Love and Family. Zeng Huimin also implicitly criticized Hao Meili for passing Mrs. Bai's "big case" to Zhenzhen, implying it was a way to offload a difficult sale without taking a personal loss.
She emphasized that employees should achieve success "decently and honorably," not "opportunistically and underhandedly," and announced that client loss rates would become a new assessment criterion for the agency's performance. Hao Meili defensively claimed other colleagues were merely jealous of her performance, but Zeng Huimin countered that most internal complaints against her were for "stealing clients."
Zeng Huimin concluded by stating that Mrs. Bai's case would be the start of the client loss count, potentially impacting Hao Meili's commission for the month. Hao Meili, indignant, declared that Mrs. Bai didn't truly want to sell her house, and defiantly stated that if Zhenzhen could sell it, "then to hell with it!" Zeng Huimin calmly replied that she would "wait and see."
Meanwhile, Zhenzhen successfully assembled Mrs. Bai's flower stand, impressing Mrs. Bai with her practical skills, which Zhenzhen attributed to having to fix things in her own rented apartment after college. Zhenzhen also shared gardening tips for Mrs. Bai's hydrangeas, further endearing herself to the client, who then happily exchanged contact information with Zhenzhen. During her visit, Zhenzhen received a phone call from Pengcheng, who asked if his client could view Mrs. Bai's house immediately.
Mrs. Bai, however, seemed unenthusiastic, questioning why her house was being shown "practically every day" given the slow market. Zhenzhen explained they were merely recommending her beautiful house to help sell it quickly. Separately, Shao Pengcheng’s childhood friend, Luo Zu'er, arrived at the Love and Family office. Pengcheng, anxious to keep his true identity a secret, urged her to leave. Luo Zu'er, however, defiantly declared herself a client looking to buy a house and insisted Pengcheng show her properties.
