It’s just the second episode but I’m already falling in love (mind you, only in a nonsexual, platonic, idealized sort of way) with this guy, Shao Peng Cheng. He’s not Xiao Nai who will forever be the Golden Standard for drama boyfriends in this blog.

But he has a charm entirely of his own: his impertinence. He’s cheeky, jokey and funny annoying. He constantly teases ZhenZhen. He’s that little boy in kindergarten who pulls the pony tail of the girl in class and pushes her in the sandbox. He’s trying to play with her and get her attention only to come off as a complete pest. Lol. Having lived with boys all my life, it’s obvious as the nose of my face what’s going on with him.

He likes her first.

After Gu WeiYi in “Put Your Head on My Shoulder” and Angel Dan of “Angel’s Last Mission: Love”, watching this brat Shao Peng Cheng slowly turn (48-episode run is undeniably slow) into a true friend and a lover is what I need.

To being with, he doesn’t fight fair. ZhenZhen has only one kind of insult to hurl at him while he has an arsenal. She merely protests, “Why is it you again?” and can’t come up with a witty repartee.

Meanwhile, he invents new names for her at a drop of the hat like “Snow White” and “Number 5”.

And he baits her with his lame joke-cum-insult.

PC: Hey! Number Five! (she ignores him) Do you know why I accepted you?
ZZ: Why? (gullibility here!)
PC: Because you’re dumb.

Snickers. I couldn’t believe she fell for that! It’s like a “Knock knock” joke with her as the punchline. She was expecting a compliment from him when he intended to insult her.

Or was it really an insult?

Remember their last meeting when she got fired by her leasing company? Here’s their dialogue.

PC: Let me ask you a question. Look here. We’ve bumped into each other a few time already but nothing good happened each time. It’s like…I lost a thousand soldiers and five hundred generals. Both of us didn’t get anything good out of it. But I’m also very curious about one thing. In principle, this situation should be your company’s responsibility. So…I’m thinking that YOU have a problem here. (pointing to his head) You’re always taking it on yourself.

He didn’t really ask a question. He was saying that she didn’t know how to defend herself in a war. He wondered why she always bore the burden and assumed responsibility even when she was the innocent victim. He wanted to know whether she was dumb.

ZZ: Who are you insinuating has mental problems?
PC: Then what are you doing? Are you just happy to help people?
ZZ: This is what I call taking responsibility.

ZZ: Forget it. I didn’t say anything. You wouldn’t even understand if I told you anyway.

She left and he looked at her thoughtfully.

That was their dialogue the last time they met. So put that into context here with his lame joke about being partners with her because she’s dumb. To me, his insult is his way of showing affection. He’s flirting. He’s showing his preference and indulgence for her even when he’s telling her that she’s too stupid to live on her own.

However, I don’t think he’s aware yet that he looks after her. He’s unconsciously championing her.

For instance, he got back at Manager Zeng for putting down ZhenZhen during her job interview. He overheard the office manager lecturing, “You were trying to be someone’s hero…For real estate agents, although we can’t commit fraud, we can’t be too upright, either.”

So he fires back with a backhanded compliment. He says that, thanks to Manager Zeng, he’s already learned a lot, “For example, being a real estate agent means not being too upright, not wanting to be a hero, and not having a bottom line.”

When he says it like that, Manager Zeng realizes that her earlier words to ZhenZhen sounded supercilious.

Bravo, Peng Cheng! He put her in place so she’d remember to treat ZhenZhen kindly next time.

To ZhenZhen, he seems cocky but he’s only trying to build up his “value” in her eyes. That’s the reason he pretended NOT to care about the real estate exam. She was worried about doing well on the test, but all day and all night, he acted as if he was too smart to study for it.

Then, when she called up to check whether he studied, he let her believe that he was goofing around. He told her, “What else would I be doing beside playing games?” He told her that he was playing “Sudoku”.

But look at all the books and papers strewn on the table.

The truth was he was cramming like hell. He was too busy to chat with her on the phone that night because he wanted to study. He was matching her diligence when she skipped lunch that day to study. lol.

After he ended their call, he air-talked, “Do you think I’m stupid? That I’d been playing games at this time? Just you wait, Cheng Zhen Zhen. Tomorrow, your brother will give you a surprise.”

In other words, it was game on. He wanted to show her that he was smart WITHOUT studying when he actually did.

To impress ZhenZhen, he was channeling the spirit of the duck.

Of course, Zhen Zhen was very impressed when he answered the questions for their team. She thought he was indeed a genius that he said he was. Look at this smug face.

He must have very pleased with himself when she praised him after the exam, “How could you be so awesome?”

That’s why I said that Peng Cheng is trying to build up his “value” with her. However, although he wants her to see his good side, he knows that she’ll outright reject him if he shows her attention. She already did it once before when she told him to get the hell out of her face. All he was doing back then was offer a ride because it was raining.

Plus…he’s aware that she idolizes a famous guy. It won’t do to show her that he likes her, too, so he keeps the vibe between them LOW KEY.

Like when he bought her the bandage.

He noticed the blister on her heel and he sighed.

It must have dawned on him that the blister was his fault because she had walked all afternoon showing houses by herself. He should have been with her to help.  Instead, he played video-games and left her to do all the work.

And the worst part was she had nothing to show for all her efforts because she got conned in the end. Had he been there with her, he could have averted the trouble. He already claimed responsibility at the office meeting earlier. To ZhenZhen’s and the manager’s surprise, he admitted, “This is all my fault because today I went out to do some private matters. So I didn’t go to see the houses with Cheng ZhenZhen. If I went with her, this kind of thing wouldn’t’ have happened. So I take all the responsibility for this matter. Whatever you have to do, put it on me.”

Note: this is the first time he ever claimed responsibility for his own action. Of course, in his usual sneaky way, he turned this situation to his advantage. Didn’t I tell you in the beginning that he didn’t fight fair? lol. 

This is their dialogue after his gallant offer to be punished in her stead.

ZZ: Thank you for what you just did.
PC: Stop right there. You need to reflect on this and examine your strategies. I carried the burden this time. But can I carry you every time? Isn’t that right? (she’s about to leave.) Hey! I haven’t finished talking.

hahaha. Here he goes again. She’s actually “carrying” him but he knows she’s gullible, and quick to shoulder the blame.

ZZ: If you want to lecture,  you can lecture this wall here.
PC: For your performance today, wasn’t my action worthy of a little praise from you? Doesn’t this count as … personal loyalty to you? I confessed that I arbitrarily left my post.

He’s angling for something here. He doesn’t want to ask her to go on a date but he wants to eat out with her.

ZZ: Wasn’t that because your father is sick and he needed you to take care of him?

Look at his face. That’s because he lied about visiting his sick dad.

ZZ: (continuing) I’ll say it again. The mistake today was my fault. I can take responsibility for what I do. Your offer to take all the punishment alone wasn’t necessary. But I’m warning you. It has to be this one time. After this, do your job.

See? She was moved earlier when he proposed to shoulder all the blame.

PC: Look at you. I just praised you and you return it with this kind of energy. Treat me to a meal!

It’s obvious that this is what he’s been angling for. He wants to eat out with her but he can’t ask her directly. He guilt-trips her instead.

ZZ: Treat you to a meal?

PC: What’s the matter? Don’t you owe me that? Didn’t I just take a hit for you? Shouldn’t you compensate me a little? I’m realizing what kind of person you are. Every time I let you treat me to a meal, you pick at me. Pick! How much would you have to spend to treat me to a meal—

Huh?? He’s such an expert at playing the injured party. I don’t understand the sub very well but I think he’s telling her that every time he asks her to treat him out, she makes a big deal out of it. She quibbles about such a small matter like a meal with him.

ZZ: Enough. Enough. I guess it’s bad luck on me. Come on.

And he smiled smugly because he knew he tricked her again…

until he saw the blister on her heel.

Her blister made him feel guilty and sorry for her. He could hardly admit that he lied about a “personal matter” so he bought her a bandage instead.

Look at the reasons he gave to hide the fact that he felt sorry for her, and that he regretted what he did.

He said, “You treat me to dinner. I’ll treat you to this….It’s nothing special, I didn’t go out of my way. Don’t misunderstand. I saw your injured foot. I get sick at the sight of blood.”

See that? He pretended that he got sick at the sight of blood.

It wouldn’t do to tell ZhenZhen that he lied to get out of the task of presenting home. And it wouldn’t do either to admit that he felt sorry for her because, well, because she got duped AGAIN to treat him out to a meal.

lol. She got conned earlier at work, and she got conned again after work. 

When will she ever learn?

But what I liked best in these two episodes is that he allows ZhenZhen to lead him to places he doesn’t want to go in the first place.

He didn’t want to eat at the sidewalk stall.

PC: Wait a minute. Cheng ZhenZhen. Are you taking me to eat there?
ZZ: Exactly there. What? If you don’t want to eat there, you can leave. No one’s forcing you.
PC: Of course, I’ll eat. Why shouldn’t I? Let’s go.

He ended up loving the wonton.

He also didn’t want to go to the haunted house. He was such a chicken and she even the score by teasing him mercilessly.  Like here, using a fake hand to tap him on the shoulder.

But not once did he get mad at her.

These moments when he yields to her tell me that she’s the one to bring out the best in him. After all is said and done, she’s still the boss of him.