Episode 1 recap: Bai Xinning returned to her home country and encountered Lin Yi while setting up a stall.
The story takes place abroad, and at the end of the semester, everyone has to take their final exams. However, Gu Xingyan (played by Lan Ying Ying) accidentally arrives late. Although the teacher doesn't blame her, she only has forty minutes left to complete the task. Gu Xingyan meets Professor William, who praises her as the most promising student and compliments her work. However, Gu Xingyan is busy with multiple jobs to support her studies, so she quickly leaves to go to work.
Currently, Gu Xingyan is still working three jobs because she needs the money, especially for rent. Her good friend suggests that she has a business card and can borrow money from a person named Mike, who is known for lending money to many students. Gu Xingyan goes alone to meet this so-called Mike, who asks to see her identification. Gu Xingyan reluctantly shows her ID to him. Deep down, she is somewhat afraid, as she is facing a strong man alone. When the man sees that she is majoring in jewelry, he refuses to lend her money, assuming that someone studying jewelry is not poor. Gu Xingyan hurriedly explains her situation, but he still refuses to lend her money.
With no other choice, Gu Xingyan decides to set up a stall. She meets a Chinese person and introduces herself. The person's name is Lin Zhe, who says that he is also setting up a stall to earn money for a hamburger. His long-term goal is to have a big meal with his classmates. Gu Xingyan tells Lin Zhe that her goal is to earn tuition fees. Suddenly, the urban management officers arrive, so Gu Xingyan quickly packs up her things and runs away with Lin Zhe. They find a safe place to set up their stall again, and Gu Xingyan tells Lin Zhe to follow her if he wants to practice in the future.
When Gu Xingyan returns home, she looks at the news online and suddenly discovers that her mother, Tang Wanrong, had passed away in prison a year ago. Gu Xingyan completely breaks down as she never expected her mother to leave like this. When Gu Xingyan's mother was taken away, she was still very young and had hoped to meet her mother again after completing her studies abroad. However, her mother never had the chance to see her again.
The next day, when Gu Xingyan goes to work at the restaurant, she looks distraught and completely out of focus. A year passes quickly. At this moment, in the general manager's office, Lin Yi (played by Zhang Han Yu) is being asked whether he will send money to the UK on time. Lin Yi actually wants to find a girl named Bai Xining, but despite the arguments, they haven't made any progress. Lin Yi tells his subordinate to find another company until they find Bai Xining.
In reality, Gu Xingyan's real name is Bai Xining. After going abroad, she didn't use her real name. Bai Xining has returned from abroad and comes to her mother's company for an interview, using the name Gu Xingyan. The interviewer originally intended to ask some professional questions, but their meeting with a headhunting company was scheduled, so they hastily prepared to leave. Bai Xining assumes that she has been rejected and feels very disappointed.
Lin Yi encountered a traffic jam while in his car. He was originally resting with his eyes closed when he suddenly heard someone shouting and selling jewelry outside. That person turned out to be Bai Xining, and all the items she was selling were original creations. An elderly lady expressed concern that she might be caught by urban management officers, but Bai Xining reassured her not to worry.
At that moment, a thief attempted to snatch Bai Xining's jewelry box. Lin Yi had just gotten out of the car, preparing to walk to the company, and he intervened to stop the thief. However, the thief managed to steal Lin Yi's wallet in the process.
Lin Yi initially thought that Bai Xining's gestures were indicating that she was selling counterfeit products. Bai Xining explained that everything she sold was her own original work. To express her gratitude, Bai Xining even wanted to give her jewelry to Lin Yi. At first, Lin Yi hesitated to accept, but reluctantly took them and attended the banquet.
During the event, Li Zhuo Ran, the chairman of Dongchen Company, took the stage to give a speech. Lin Yi felt somewhat discontented. Soon, models came forward to showcase the jewelry, and one of the models, Xiao Xiao, proactively approached the directors to have a drink with them. Xiao Xiao whispered something to Li Zhuo Ran, and he followed her, leaving the event. Xiao Xiao was merely leading the way for him.
Li Zhuo Ran met with an IT expert, as he wanted to access Lin Yi's phone. Lin Yi's phone had been intentionally stolen, but after arranging a new SIM card and making a call, he found out that his phone had been hacked. It turned out someone wanted to steal something from his computer.
Lin Yi called his son, Lin Zhe, to ask about counter-hacking techniques. Lin Zhe said he could do it in an hour. It became a battle between the two hackers. The hacker on Li Zhuo Ran's side successfully accessed Lin Yi's computer, but after opening a folder, he fell into a trap. Even the files on his own computer were destroyed. Li Zhuo Ran realized that Lin Yi wasn't easy to deal with.
Bai Xining was selling jewelry on a pedestrian bridge when she received a call from the HR department, informing her that she had been hired by Dongchen Company. Bai Xining was thrilled and sold all her jewelry at clearance prices.
1. The attire and demeanor of adults, portraying a kindergarten version of business warfare. The male leads in the business war are truly, truly immature in terms of character design. The female lead is like an unruly, headache-inducing doll, and there's a "little brother with a golden finger" who claims that no more than three people in the world can crack his program, along with a male best friend with incredible abilities, capable of hacking finances; not even the Earth can stop them.
2. Let's take stock of the laughable business war IQ of the weaklings:
(1) The chairman seeks a workshop that is "frequently used" to outsource the production of rings, bribing transportation personnel to switch and entrap project teams.
The self-introduced diamond supplier repeatedly replaces contractually agreed natural diamonds with synthetic diamonds, pocketing the price difference. It's so obvious, and yet many people are aware of these actions.
(2) The sales director, who comes from a marketing background and knows how to use password-cracking software, surprisingly doesn't recognize the large camera directly facing their office desk and gets caught red-handed.
Is this really what they call a business war?