Episode 3 recap: Mu Di helped Bai Lang complete the sea burial.
Shen Debao was arrogant, and Bai Lang and his team had no choice but to reluctantly take on the sea burial job. That evening, Mu Di's father cooked a stew of squid and bullfrog, claiming it was a secret family recipe to nourish her. Mu Di suspected that her father might have found out about her tinnitus and tested him. Mu Di's father successfully deceived her, but in the end, Mu Di still refused to drink the strange soup.
In order to arrange the sea burial, Bai Lang and Huang Jin tried to establish connections everywhere, but it was not effective at all. There was simply no way to complete the sea burial within five days. Huang Jin felt guilty and cried, but Bai Lang comforted him and looked at the fishing boats in the distance, getting an idea. Mu Di's father cooked strange soups for her every day, but Mu Di firmly refused to drink them. Unexpectedly, Mu Di's grandmother accidentally mentioned the tinnitus, and Mu Di realized that her family already knew about her condition. Angered, she left.
Mu Di went to find Second Uncle to relax. Bai Lang and Huang Jin tried to borrow fishing boats for the funeral arrangements by the seaside, but no one was willing to lend them. Huang Jin came up with a cunning plan to borrow someone else's boat for half a day and then depart from a different dock so that they wouldn't know. Bai Lang agreed when he heard the plan.
Second Uncle prepared a rich meal for Mu Di. Mu Di felt embarrassed and speechless upon hearing that Second Uncle also knew about her issues. As Mu Di went outside to pour water, unexpectedly, she accidentally spilled it on Bai Lang and Huang Jin as they passed by. Recognizing each other, they had a meal together. Mu Di asked them why they were there, and Bai Lang took the opportunity to say that someone wanted to rent a fishing boat for wedding photos. Second Uncle, upon hearing this, readily agreed to rent the boat to them. Mu Di still had doubts about them, but Second Uncle believed in them, so she reluctantly signed the contract and promised Second Uncle that she would keep an eye on them.
Back home, Mu Di began interrogating her family about who had been spreading her personal matters everywhere. Without investigation, she already knew it must have been her mother. The two of them exchanged a few words, and then Mu Di announced to everyone that she would be returning to Beijing in two days and left. Mu Di's mother and father instructed Mu Tong to find out what was going on.
Initially, Mu Tong, like his parents, wanted to persuade Mu Di to stay, but in the end, he chose to support Mu Di's decision. Bai Lang and Huang Jin carefully calculated the expenses and realized that the budget was insufficient. They decided to seek out the deceased's relatives again. Inside a steamed bun shop, Bai Lang asked the relatives why they chose a sea burial. It turned out that the elderly person was a veteran who fought in the Korean War and had been sending money to his comrades' families over the years. Before his death, he told his relatives that his ashes must be scattered in the sea so that he could be closer to his comrades. Bai Lang was deeply moved by this revelation and did not mention the need for money.
Xu Huan found an intermediary to complain about how Bai Lang caused her friend's engagement to turn into a breakup. The intermediary apologized and accidentally mentioned the sea burial. Xu Huan was shocked and immediately called Mu Di to inform her. Mu Di rushed to the scene, and when Bai Lang saw her, he quickly approached and pulled her away. Huang Jin continued to arrange the sea burial.
Mu Di demanded that Bai Lang return the fishing boat immediately. Bai Lang tried to reason with her, appealing to her emotions and logic. Mu Di was moved, and at that moment, another issue arose with the family. Mu Di's second aunt wanted to take over the steamed bun shop left by their grandfather and disagreed with burying the grandfather. She sat on the ground, crying and causing a commotion. The situation escalated to the point where people began fighting over the ashes. Mu Di grabbed a microphone and shouted for everyone to stop or she would call the police. Finally, everyone quieted down. Bai Lang asked the relatives to play a recording of the grandfather's wishes, and after listening to it, everyone obediently boarded the boat to proceed with the sea burial.
In the distance, one of Shen Debao's subordinates reported the situation to him, and Shen Debao ordered him to find out who owned the fishing boat. Bai Lang's sincere words touched everyone's heart, and the sea burial officially began. Mu Di helped with the music while standing by. The sea burial was successfully completed, and the relatives thanked Bai Lang and Mu Di. Mu Di urged Bai Lang to quickly restore the fishing boat to its original state and made it clear that nobody should speak of this matter. Then she left.
Mu Di, her parents, and her family were happily selecting vegetables when Mu Di's mother received a voice message on her phone. She instinctively opened it, and the message said that Mu Di's parents had spent two hundred thousand to buy Second Uncle's fishing boat. Upon hearing this, Mu Di's smile froze on her face.
I couldn't continue watching after the fourth episode. The male lead's character is too disgusting. The female lead took the temporary job thinking it was a legitimate business, but something must have gone wrong in the middle, and the male lead, as the person in charge, didn't care.
He tried to manipulate her emotionally, using a saintly act to keep her around, but he didn't even say a simple apology or show any responsibility. Some viewers may think this reflects the reality of small towns.
There was a scene in the middle of nowhere where the male lead asked if he should give her a ride back, and the female lead responded rudely. But that's because she felt deceived and didn't trust the person in charge.
It was understandable that she didn't want to get in the car. Later, when there was no car available, he immediately demanded five hundred upfront, even though the female lead had taken a taxi there for just over two hundred.
It felt like a blatant rip-off to me. In my opinion, he was just an opportunist taking advantage of the situation.
To complete the sea burial, he didn't want to lose money, so he deceived the female lead's second uncle into renting a boat.
Because they needed money for boat repairs, it was as if they didn't earn anything from taking on that job. And then they went to ask the customers for more money, claiming that the customer, a war veteran who wanted a sea burial, had agreed (but a sea burial in such a short time is impossible, and the customer even said, "Thank you for finding a company that can do it quickly and at a low cost.
Can't you be more honest? The customer can afford it, at least the six thousand plus that was already paid). They didn't consider the feelings of the second uncle, who owned the fishing boat.
Not to mention the feudal superstitions, it's someone else's belief and their freedom. The male lead's behavior was deceptive and morally problematic.
When the female lead found out about it from her friend, she immediately went to confront them and reluctantly agreed on the boat.
The situation escalated on the boat due to the deceased's family quarreling, and they set sail. It must have been a mix of emotions for her, and before leaving, she urged the male lead to resolve the situation and calm things down.
Afterwards, the second uncle somehow found out and went to the female lead's parents (of course, the second uncle didn't know the male lead, and I think the second uncle was a bit foolish.
They barely knew each other, and the female lead even warned him that the male lead couldn't be trusted, but he still signed a contract with the male lead on the spot). The female lead's parents, being relatives and her parents after all, had no choice but to pay a hundred thousand to purchase the fishing boat (the second uncle mentioned that the used fishing boat was worth a hundred and thirty thousand, but they cut him some slack because they were relatives).
I mean, shouldn't the second uncle have gone directly to the male lead with the female lead? They should have had a way to contact each other since they must have communicated when transferring the fishing boat.
The female lead didn't know about the purchase of the fishing boat in advance, but as soon as she found out, she immediately went to the male lead to pay the money because she had been taken advantage of.
They had only met a few times, and yet the male lead acted as if they were close friends and deceived the second uncle. And he didn't even compensate them. It infuriated me. The male lead said that the contract they signed earlier wasn't solid enough, so he couldn't be sued.
He's a low-class person with no morals! He was smug and probably felt like he had fulfilled the customer's wish for nothing. He didn't make much money, didn't gain any major benefits, but he thought he had outsmarted his peers in the industry.
I bet he thinks highly of himself. Haha. He knew perfectly well that the local fishing boat was being used for nothing, and no one would buy the fish caught by that boat. He deceived the second uncle, all for the sake of not losing money and proving himself in front of his peers.
Did he not care about the second uncle's livelihood? In my personal opinion, this is the epitome of shamelessness, and it completely ruined the story for me.