Rising With The Wind Episode 1 Recap
> Rising With The Wind Recap
The story opens with a flash-forward: Jiang Hu, the daughter of the chairman of the shoe and clothing group Free Unicorn, stands on a high ledge, despondent. She pleads for someone to save the company, lamenting that with her father gone, she has nothing left and has been forced into this desperate situation. She is ultimately pulled back from the edge by a man named Xu Si. The narrative then jumps back three months.
At a press conference in Hong Kong celebrating FCR Group's successful stock market listing, investor Xu Si arrives just in time for the ceremonial bell ringing. After the event, he reveals his plan to move to an investment firm in Shanghai. His first objective is to acquire a piece of land owned by Teng Yue, a subsidiary of Free Unicorn. However, Free Unicorn's chairman, Jiang Qisheng, has consistently refused to meet with him.
Jiang Hu has her first encounter with Xu Si, mistaking him for her father's new assistant and sending him to buy her a chicken hamburger. Xu Si's assistant, Wu Guanglei, informs him that Jiang Qisheng is a doting father who has remained unmarried to protect his daughter.
Annoyed that her hamburger never arrived and that Xu Si wasn't an assistant, Jiang Hu later buys a pair of simple canvas shoes from a stall in an old building after her high heels are accidentally damaged by an elderly woman. She leaves the expensive, damaged heels behind. Meanwhile, artistic designer Xiang Chaoyang, who works for the rival shoe brand Aneda, returns to China after representing the country in the St. Laurent Design Competition.
She is greeted at the airport by Aneda senior executive Tang Ya, who praises her as a rising star for the company. However, Chaoyang is frustrated to learn her mother, Zhou Suqing, has accepted a 100,000 yuan commercial appearance on her behalf without her consent. Facing a penalty for canceling, Chaoyang reluctantly agrees to attend. The event turns out to be Free Unicorn's 30th-anniversary celebration and livestream promotion, held at the Teng Yue factory.
Unwilling to be seen at a competitor's event, Chaoyang wears a mask. She becomes upset upon learning the livestream involves unethical practices like click farming to inflate sales numbers and voices her objection. This leads to a confrontation with the event's headliner, top influencer Momo Sakura, who questions Chaoyang's principles and rips the mask from her face. Jiang Hu steps in to manage the conflict.
When Momo Sakura threatens to walk out, believing her departure will ruin the event, Jiang Hu coolly dismisses her, stating that no one is irreplaceable. She then allows both Momo Sakura and Xiang Chaoyang to leave. Seizing the moment, Jiang Hu rallies the fifty remaining influencers, challenging them to take the opportunity Momo Sakura abandoned and promising the day's top seller a spot on the number one trending search. The manipulated drama works perfectly.
Wu Guanglei reports to Xu Si that the online data is exploding. The walkout becomes a trending topic, with Teng Yue hitting #1 on the trending list, Momo Sakura #2, and Xiang Chaoyang #5. Chaoyang realizes Jiang Hu deliberately engineered the public conflict to generate massive hype for the event. After the event, Jiang Hu confronts Chaoyang and offers her a designer position at Teng Yue with double her Aneda salary.
She praises Chaoyang's "Flowing Scenery" competition entry, noting its traditional style is a better fit for Teng Yue than Aneda, and even offers to support Chaoyang if Aneda fires her for appearing at a rival's event. Chaoyang angrily rejects the offer. She reminds Jiang Hu that they were classmates for six years and that she remains arrogant and inconsiderate.
Chaoyang accuses her of relying on her powerful father, asserting that without him, Jiang Hu would be nothing, whereas she earned everything herself. Observing the chaos, Xu Si sees an opportunity. He approaches Jiang Hu, correctly guessing she orchestrated the entire walkout for publicity. Already aware of his identity and his goal to acquire Teng Yue's land, Jiang Hu proposes a bet: she wagers that her father will not sell the land.
If she wins, Xu Si must never appear before her again. Upset by the night's events, Chaoyang is taken on a boat trip by her friend Yang Jian to watch the sunrise. Her mother, meanwhile, is already trying to book her next job with a "Mr. Yan." The Teng Yue livestream proves to be a massive success, concluding with 86 million in sales.
Jiang Hu celebrates with her friend Ye Xiaowei, who comments on Chaoyang's "acting," but Jiang Hu clarifies that Chaoyang's reactions were genuine. The next morning, Jiang Hu fulfills her part of the bet, meeting Xu Si and returning an item of his before leading him to a meeting with her father.
