Speed and Love Episode 3 Recap
> Speed and Love Recap
Jiang Mu, who had grown up around cars and previously served as her father, Jin Qiang's, navigator, was once again in the passenger seat. A memory flashed of her younger self learning about a car's radiator and oil dipstick, and identifying bubbling sounds, as her father taught her the ropes of being a navigator.
In the present, Jin Chao handed her his phone, asking her to open a digital app with the password "1120" to find the pinned group location information and guide him. As Jin Chao sped along, other cars aggressively sandwiched them. Jiang Mu, navigating through the chaos, reported a crash behind them and a fork ahead with three possible routes, though road conditions were unclear.
She directed him to enter the second curve on the east side at a sharp 90-degree angle and later to turn right at an upcoming fork, which Jin Chao agreed to follow. As they approached a critical turn, Jin Chao instructed Jiang Mu to grip the steering wheel on his count of five. Though initially confused, Jiang Mu followed his instructions, allowing Jin Chao to lean out and snatch a bag from a bamboo pole by the road.
She quickly pulled him back inside as an oncoming car sped past, and Jin Chao flashed her a smile. Upon arriving at the race point, onlookers questioned why Jin Chao, known as Brandy, had shown up when he previously said he wouldn't. Jin Chao clarified that Wan Shengbang's minions had aggressively forced him onto the track. He also introduced Jiang Mu as his girlfriend, stating she wasn't an outsider and that he was only there for the money.
He explained that Jiang Mu had suspected him of seeing other people due to his late-night activities and would have broken up with him had he not brought her along. Despite a bystander commenting on how "wrapped around this little girl's finger" Jin Chao was, he openly admitted that he "can't dote on her enough" and would never break up with her.
After winning, Jin Chao handed the prize money to Jiang Mu, who felt a bit overwhelmed by the attention. When Liang Yanfeng drove their car back and asked about the price of Jin Chao's navigator, Jin Chao declared her priceless. Noticing Jiang Mu was cold, Jin Chao immediately embraced her, telling her his girlfriend gets cold easily and he needed to take her home.
Jin Chao opened an envelope revealing the cash prize, explaining to Jiang Mu that everything he does is "for money." He dismissed her worries about potential repercussions from the car crash, assuring her that the other driver wouldn't die and that identifying them would be impossible since the group chat was deleted, all messages were gone, transactions were cash, and there were likely no surveillance cameras.
Jiang Mu, however, struggled to accept this "life on the edge," questioning if he was willing to risk his life for money and urging him to choose a more stable path. Jin Chao countered, asking what kind of life she thought he should live, then recounted the extreme poverty he and Jin Qiang endured when they first arrived.
They lived in a windowless basement that flooded up to their legs whenever it rained, forcing them to sleep on tables amongst dead rats. After Jin Qiang was scammed out of all their money on a promised earthwork job, they became homeless, sleeping on streets and under bridges and in underground passages. For him, money was paramount. Jin Chao continued, explaining how Jin Qiang eventually found stable work as a chef and met Zhao Meijuan.
Despite Jin Qiang being on his second marriage and having no money while raising Jin Chao, they managed to pool enough resources to open a restaurant. They "worked from dawn till dusk," yet their earnings barely covered the rent. Jin Chao also remembered the humiliation of standing at the school gates, unable to ask Jin Qiang for two or three hundred dollars for tuition.
He further revealed that Jin Xin suffers from congenital heart disease, requiring expensive surgery and ongoing treatment, which places an immense burden on Jin Qiang. Jin Chao stated that Jin Qiang never gave up on him, even during their hardest times, so he felt obligated to earn as much as possible, refusing to "stand by and watch him suffer" or "turn his back on" Jin Qiang.
Jiang Mu wanted Jin Chao to change his ways, to stop living a dangerous life. But Jin Chao vehemently told her she had no right to "keep him in check" because she no longer shared the Jin surname, sharply reminding her that her surname was "Jiang Mu." Jiang Mu then asked if his reluctance to visit them stemmed from resentment towards Jiang Yinghan for making Jin Qiang leave with nothing. Jin Chao remained silent.
After Zhao Meijuan called, Jin Chao told Jiang Mu to go home. Jiang Mu refused unless he promised to find a "real job and stop this crap," warning that otherwise, neither of them would go home that night. Jin Chao, at a loss, decided to sleep in the car. Jiang Mu then pleaded with him to return to China with her, to their old house in Nanjing.
She promised to support him, assuring him he could continue his studies and writing, and that she would protect him from pain and fighting. Despite her heartfelt plea and promise of a stable life, Jin Chao, with a complicated expression, simply stated he couldn't go back. Later that night, Jiang Mu woke to find Jin Chao alone by the sea, playing with a lighter. He told her that Jiang Yinghan had arrived.
When Jiang Yinghan confronted Jiang Mu, she stated her firm decision to stay in China after graduation and not move to Canada with her mother and Uncle Chris, emphasizing her desire to stay in their old Nanjing home. Jiang Yinghan, however, revealed she was selling the Nanjing house as she had married Uncle Chris and planned to settle in Canada with his extensive businesses.
Jiang Mu expressed concern that her mother might be deceived, but Jiang Yinghan abruptly ended the discussion, assuring Jiang Mu that money would not be an issue. Jin Chao watched from a distance, despite having previously said he wouldn't meet Jiang Yinghan. Jiang Mu soon noticed him and questioned why he had returned and how he knew their whereabouts.
Jiang Yinghan was displeased, learning that Jin Chao had driven Jiang Mu there, stating that Jin Qiang had promised they wouldn't meet. She warned Jiang Mu to "keep some distance from the opposite sex" and to "not see each other too often," reminding her that she and Jin Chao were "not related by blood," "not siblings," and "not your brother."
Jiang Yinghan went on to criticize Jin Chao as "not even a good person now," echoing her long-held belief that he was "bold as brass" and "bound to get into trouble someday." She confessed to having "warned him already" after he repeatedly called their home, telling him "to be sensible, follow the rules, and stop pestering" Jiang Mu, especially after she started middle school when "he should keep his distance."
This revelation made Jiang Mu realize that this was the real reason Jin Chao hadn't returned to see them all these years. Feeling distraught and confused, Jiang Mu went to Jin Chao's room at the garage. He Zhang also arrived, attempting to pick a fight that they hadn't finished the day before, but Jin Chao, still visibly upset, refused to engage.
As Jiang Mu restlessly threw darts, a hidden compartment opened, revealing numerous letters she had written to Jin Chao over the years. Reading through them, she saw her own adolescent hopes and questions, from asking about his high school exams to expressing sadness when he stopped calling. Her final letter, written before starting middle school, declared she would stop writing as he never replied and she felt she was "writing to thin air," resolving to "never missing you again."
To her astonishment, each envelope contained a drawing of her, indicating that Jin Chao had received and read every single letter. The discovery brought Jiang Mu to tears, realizing that "all these years, Jin Chao has been just like me. He's been thinking of me too." A vivid memory surfaced of her younger self asking Jin Chao, "Brother, will you always be good to me?" to which he had replied, "As long as you don't change, I won't change either."
