The Trick of Life and Love Episode 28 Recap
> The Trick of Life and Love Recap
After Li Qian took Ning Chengming away from the altercation, she tended to his injuries. She remarked that she never knew he resorted to violence to solve problems. Ning Chengming, wincing in pain, asked her why she had gone to meet that person. Li Qian explained that she was seeking new partners for their company's new product. Ning Chengming was concerned because the man, Liang Yabin, was not reputable in the industry.
He found it suspicious that Li Jun would recommend such a person to Li Qian, suggesting Li Jun might be testing him or her. Li Qian clarified that Liang Yabin was introduced by her elder brother, not for a blind date. Just then, Ning Chengming received a phone call from his uncle and promptly left with Li Qian to his uncle's home. There, they found his aunt, Zheng Zihui, in a wheelchair, requiring constant care from her husband.
His uncle, while caring for his wife, inquired about Li Qian’s background. Li Qian clarified that she and Ning Chengming were merely colleagues. The uncle also mentioned the recent online attacks targeting Ning Chengming, acknowledging Ning Chengming's emotional cognitive impairment but reassuring Li Qian that Ning Chengming was a good person. Li Qian agreed, recalling Ning Chengming as a conscientious and responsible economics teacher at Haoran University, who, despite his strictness and emotional detachment, had worked incredibly hard.
Economic investigation officers then spoke with Ning Chengming, who informed them that his aunt, Zheng Zihui, had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for many years and had no self-care ability. The officers then explained that an overseas account had been registered in Zheng Zihui's name, but the information had been altered, suggesting manipulation. They suspected that the information might have been leaked when Ning Chengming’s uncle took Zheng Zihui to Japan for medical treatment the previous year.
The officers advised Ning Chengming to do nothing for now, as they had already found discrepancies in the case of Ma Hao’s overseas accounts. Later, Ning Chengming reassured his uncle that the economic investigation had simply verified some facts and seemed to have made a mistake. His uncle, seeing Ning Chengming visit, urged him to pay respects to his late parents before leaving. At his parents' memorial, Ning Chengming reminisced about a traumatic car accident from his childhood.
He recalled his parents arguing in the car about another woman, with his mother proclaiming, "Mom tells you there is no love, but lies." He was in the backseat when the crash occurred. As he turned to leave, his aunt, Zheng Zihui, began shouting at him, calling him a "vile spawn" for showing no tears at his mother's death and wishing he had died with his father.
His uncle quickly intervened, attempting to calm his wife, while Li Qian urged Ning Chengming to ignore his aunt's words. Meanwhile, Lu Shao was also called in by the economic investigation department regarding his mother's overseas account. He explained to the officers that his mother had no self-care ability and the account information was maliciously altered to frame his cousin, Ning Chengming. The police questioned his homebody lifestyle, and Lu Shao admitted he disliked social interaction.
Back home, Lu Shao informed Qi Wei that the economic investigation personnel had found Cao Mei's overseas account and she had used his mother's information to change the account user details. Qi Wei worried Ning Chengming would be implicated, but Lu Shao assured him that the authorities were simply gathering evidence to apprehend Cao Mei. He also added that Ning Chengming was with Li Qian, as he had received a message earlier.
On the drive home, Li Qian asked Ning Chengming about the investigation, and he revealed that they suspected Cao Mei. Noticing Ning Chengming’s deteriorating state, and recalling what she learned from his uncle about the car accident and Ning Chengming’s emotional trauma, Li Qian gently placed her hand on his shoulder. Overwhelmed, Ning Chengming suddenly asked her to stop the car, then stumbled out, visibly disoriented. He missed a step and tumbled down some stairs.
Li Qian rushed to him, helping him up and finding his hand badly scraped. As she treated his injury, Ning Chengming clung to her, whispering about his mother’s belief that "in this world there was no real love, but lies." After he calmed down, Ning Chengming asked Li Qian about her conversation with his uncle. She affirmed it, disagreeing with his mother's pessimistic view.
She then shared her own past, describing her mother's family as a large, southern clan riddled with "interest disputes" and driven by "profits rather than kinship," where relatives were "friendly in appearance but estranged at heart." Li Qian recounted her mother's pride in defying an arranged marriage to freely love Li Jingfan and have her, but also her subsequent realization of the challenges of raising a child.
Before Li Qian turned eighteen, her mother never revealed the truth about her father, perhaps hoping Li Qian wouldn't repeat her own life. Li Qian then spoke of her mother's illness, ALS, and her eventual death, revealing that her mother had almost accepted Li Jingfan's marriage proposal.
She characterized her mother as an "unpredictable, beautiful and elegant lady with quaint logic," who, despite her own adherence to dignity, taught Li Qian to be flexible and not overly concerned with appearances, possibly to prevent Li Qian from becoming like her. Ning Chengming then recalled meeting Li Qian’s mother, Ren, when Li Qian fainted in her sophomore year and he brought her to the city hospital.
During that visit, he expressed concerns about Li Qian's academic performance and suggested she quit her part-time job to apply for scholarships or seek financial assistance from her father. Ren admitted Li Qian had refused, stating that "it is very inappropriate if you miss the timing" for such matters. She explained that Li Qian didn't hate her father but felt no affection for him, attributing this to her own fault.
Ning Chengming countered that "everyone is like a lonely island" and that "because of your weakness, Li Qian has to become stronger." Ren then told Ning Chengming that Li Qian often spoke of him, describing him as "like a stone, very shrewd." Ren expressed a sense of destiny meeting him and asked him to convey to Li Qian's father, if they ever met, that she approved of Ning Chengming.
Finally, Ren requested Ning Chengming to pretend they had never met and to be lenient with Li Qian. Li Qian then reflected on her mother's perceived selfishness, arguing that "Each of us can't choose our parents, so do the parents. Everything is the family game driven by human nature. Under the principle of selfishness, there are sufficient reasons for selfish behaviors," noting that her mother still had her "bottom line."
Li Qian then tenderly explained to Ning Chengming that his mother, affected by her own experiences, taught him there was no real love, likely hoping to shield him from similar pain. She advised him not to punish himself. Ning Chengming, deeply touched, confessed that his mother’s words – "This was the last sentence she told me. From then on, I refuse all show my emotions, including unreal emotions caused by lies.
I walk alone in the endless darkness to trust those can be explained by science. I have no curiosity about any kind of feelings, human included" – had shaped him, leading him to realize how "lonely" he had been before meeting Li Qian. The two then shared a kiss, which was secretly photographed.
The next day, Yu Qingqing confronted Li Qian and Ning Chengming in the elevator with the kissing photos, revealing that the pictures had "gone viral on the internet." Yang, a colleague, explained that the ongoing "continuous public opinion attack" began with the exposure of Ning Chengming’s medical history and now included the photos, indicating a coordinated plan. Ning Chengming presented an urgent medical certificate confirming his recovery.
He proposed a strategy to make the public believe they "discovered it by chance" rather than an official announcement. When Yu Qingqing directly asked if they were truly in love, their answers conflicted. Despite denying a romantic relationship, Yu Qingqing suggested, "Since that is false, our strategy is to make the false thing come true." Just then, Yu Qingqing found a news article portraying Ren and Li Qian as "the mother and daughter mistresses," and showed it to Li Qian.
