Update: 9/29/2020. @Table122000, that scene with Lu Jin reading in the sunlight reminded me of a Vermeer masterpiece.

Woman in Blue Reading a Letter (1662–65)

source: Wikimedia Commons

As you probably know, Vermeer loved to play with light to capture the “feel” of the moment. We know that it’s a fleeting moment, that is, the stream of sunlight will disappear, and this moment is gone. But there’s also a permanence in the scene because the impression of beauty will remain forever in the viewer’s mind, even though it’s gone from the viewer’s eye.

The other interesting part here is that Lu Jin thought he was the only one making an impression here with this pose.

The truth of the matter is Shengnan also looked like a painting herself.

I liked how the dust motes were floating around her.

 

 

I’m behind so I’ll skip to Episodes 4 and 5 and write down the highlights.

Episode 4

Lu Jin discovered that Gu Shengnan was fired from the hotel because of the mushroom incident. He was starving. He hadn’t eaten in days so he returned to the only diner he knew which served food he could eat, the Yard Fry Dinner. He didn’t know that Shengnan was working there after she was fired. They met again, and this time, they fought over her Tinfoil Seafood Noodles.

He won but before he could take a bite, he was hit by a beer bottle thrown by Shengnan. Accidentally! She wasn’t really aiming for his head, and he forgot to duck (because his back was facing her. lol).

Amazingly, he suffered only a scratch. The doctor explained that he fainted because of hypoglycemia, and not because of the bottle hitting his head. Overhearing this, Shengnan thought she was off the hook. But he ordered her to pay his medical bill as well as the car repair, or he’d sue her. Since she couldn’t pay the hefty sum of 130,000 yuan, she had no choice but to agree to his pay-a-debt-by-cooking arrangement.

What does this tell me about Lu Jin?

He was a devious man.

She signed the agreement. When he asked for more personal information like her address and phone number, she sarcastically offered to write her Western zodiac, Chinese zodiac, Four Pillars of Destiny, and personality and compatibility matches. He just smiled and said, “Sure.”

For his first meal, he asked for a seafood feast.

He was flabbergasted when she charged him 2,600 yuan. The meal was only 600 but she charged him 2,000 yuan for corkage fee. He knew she outwitted him then. She was gleeful because, at this rate, she’d be done with her servitude in less than 2 months, or 50 meals.

The following day, she served him yummy sirloin steak.

But he was ready for her this time — or so he thought…

He brought his own wine again. The wine, he said, was from a private collection so there was no price tag, and he brought his assistant XM to pour it for him.

She cautioned him that his wine could be poisonous and he could foam at his mouth since the wine didn’t go through usual inspections. She was subtly reminding him of their mushroom soup incident. For good measure, she hiccupped to make a point that he’d hiccupped and released bubbles when she saved him from food poisoning.

This episode was transitional. It showed how Shengnan ended up cooking for Jin, and how she schemed to overcharge Jin so she could pay off her debt in no time.

Episode 5

Because he easily caught onto her tactics, she changed her game plan.

For their third meal together, she changed out of her serviceable black-and-white uniform and dressed up as a schoolgirl.

He was shocked at the sight of her.

Now, to the innocent readers among us, I’ve to explain what *I THINK* was going through his head. If you’re below 18 years old, I need you to go away. I don’t want to corrupt minors.

This is what I think: he realized that she was playing a sexual fetish (or kink) with him. She was role-playing a demure schoolgirl seducing an older gentleman. That’s why he was speechless when he saw her, and he couldn’t protest anything that she said about the price of the meal.

pic

Shengnan: Mr. Lu, the price for your meal is 3,880 yuan.

This was more expensive than the seafood feast he’d ordered the first time, and there was no wine!

Shengnan: (continuing) The cantaloupe bacon roll costs 80 yuan. Pan-fried salmon is 200 yuan. Australian lobster is 600 yuan. With the service charge, the total is 1,000 yuan. About the extra 2,000 yuan, it’s charged for the dessert soufflé.

Shengnan: (continuing) I made it myself. I kneaded the dough and whisked the egg myself.

Now, I don’t know Chinese but I suspect that Shengnan said a word with a sexual innuendo because Jin suddenly coughed. I do know, however, that the hand motion was very suggestive. It could interpreted as touching a squishy male anatomy.

Shengnan: The ingredients are in fact not that expensive. What makes it valuable is the kindly feelings of a young, charming girl.
Jin: I’ll eat it. (ignoring her)
Shengnan: (leaning in on him) Is it really unworthy?

Here, the subber used the “unworthy,” but I think there’s a wordplay here.

On one level, Shengnan was talking about the cost of the ingredients, (i.e., flour and egg don’t cost much). But on another level, I think she was referring to the feelings of a young, charming girl. When she asked him if it’s really “unworthy,” she was asking him whether her feelings were really unworthy — or in other words, inappropriate and unsuitable. She was asking him if she should feel ashamed of her actions right there and then.

Do you see it? Her words could be interpreted as risqué.

He looked questioningly at her because he didn’t understand this new game that she was playing.

Jin: What? What is it?

He leaned back. His body language indicated that he was uncomfortable with her coming onto him. She knew this so she tried to make him feel MORE uncomfortable by leaning over him.

Shengnan: What I mean is, is the dessert really unworthy of 2,000 yuan?

Note the movement of his eyes. He glanced down at her mouth, then he swallowed. This was a sign of nervousness. Then he looked at her eyes. He stuttered.

Jin: No. It’s worth it.

lol. She was seducing him. He’d been “hypnotized” and he was willing to pay 2,000 yuan for the soufflé without protest.

Shengnan: Then will you try some more?
Jin: Ok.
Shengnan: (smiling, she handed him the bill to sign) Thank you, sir. 5,000 yuan, please. Enjoy your meal.
Jin: It should be 4,000. Why is it 5,000 now?
Shengnan: The clothes cost money! The bangs cost money! I’ve been in the Quan’an SS Couture for you. Doesn’t it look nice? (flirtatiously)

By the way, “SS” means spring-summer couture fashion.

Jin: (meekly) It’s nice.
Shengnan: Then hurry. Just leave after finishing eating.
Jin: (meekly again) Ok.
Shengnan: (taking away the 2,000 yuan soufflé, lol) It probably won’t be yummy since it’s cold. See you next time.

He drank water. He didn’t know exactly what had just happened to him but he sensed that he’d been scammed. His assistant XM confirmed his suspicions.

XM: It’s a trap. Absolutely a trap. The little girl wants to seduce you with charm in order to cheat you out of your money.
Jin: It’s impossible. I…I will never be seduced. No. She could never be seductive to me. Right. It’s impossible. I won’t….

He could mean two things here:

A. He didn’t believe that she could be that shady and that shrewd as to try to seduce him.
B. He didn’t think he’d fall for her feminine wiles even if she tried seducing him. He was denying that he found her physically seductive

Either way, he was in denial.

XM: Well, I get it. I see, Boss. Wines and beauties are part of human nature. Don’t underestimate the power of love.
Jin: (protesting too much) No, you don’t understand what I mean.
XM: I understand it. Listen, particularly with couple with a big age gap, the man will generally be controlled by the young lady. It’s terrible.
Jin: What do you mean?
XM: I mean you are quite passive right now. You should make a change.

Meaning, a younger lady will dictate the terms of the relationship and the older man will bend over backwards to please the younger lady.

His assistant XM then coached him on how to payback Shengnam with his own brand of “charm” offensive.

The next time he dropped by for his dinner, he showed up with a bouquet of red roses. But his plan failed because she was glad to see the roses. She didn’t see them as a romantic gift. She saw them as necessary ingredients for the sauce she was preparing for him.

When the roses didn’t work, he went to Plan B. He read a book in the kitchen in the soft glow of the setting sun. I guess the “charm” he wanted to exude here was that of an erudite gentleman.

Unfortunately, that trick only worked for Shengnan for a brief moment. She snapped herself out of the trance and told him to get out of her kitchen while she was working.

The food she prepared was silver pout with rose sauce.

At the end of meal, she charged him 600 yuan for the pout, 300 yuan for the roast mushroom and hot spring eggs in olive oil. But he was distracted by the fried balls that she had with her.

lol. Do you see what I’m seeing here? hahaha. That stick of fried balls is a phallic symbol. This image of her chomping on it could be viewed as raunchy.

She tempted him to take a bite too. After he tasted her fried balls, she moved to wiped off the sugary bits left on his mouth with a tissue. She was teasing him of course. I doubt there was sugar on his lips.

He remembered then that his assistant XM warned him not to be passive. So he took charge of the situation, and offered to wipe off sugary bits from her hair, too. I don’t know what the hell he saw on her hair because the lights were dimmed. But it couldn’t have been sugar unless they were neon-colored sugar.

His touch flustered her enough to make a quick getaway to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

For the next meal, they both upped their game. She played the zither after the meal for him and impress him with her musical ability.

She charged him only 600 yuan for the meal but 2,000 for the performance. lol. He was willing to pay.

But he said he couldn’t find his pen, so she searched high and low (literally) for a pen. Her pen was (in)conveniently located in the topmost shelf. When he reached up for it, he intentionally enveloped her in his coat.

I’m sure this was “charm” offensive. He aimed to seduce her with his manly scent. He knew it worked because she burrowed her nose in his coat and she lost her train of thought. He had to tap her on her forehead to remind her about the pen.

In embarrassment, she ran and hid in her room. She told him that he could pay her next time. He was grinning, of course, because he won this round.

He then noticed that she was about half-way done with her debt payment.  See the spoon?

After the coat incident, she began making mistakes. First, she added the bill wrong. As a consequence, she said that his meal would be gratis.

Then, she bumped his elbow making him spill water on his coat. He said it was okay, but she started screaming at him, “How could it be okay? Your coat is expensive. You’re looking down on me. Tell me the price and I’ll pay for it. Tell me!”

He was naturally confused because that meant adding to her debt and prolonging their arrangement.

But it should be understandable to us what she was doing, right? She was losing interest in paying off her debt quickly because she’d come to enjoy cooking for him. What started as an burdensome chore for her had become an exciting part of her day.

We can tell by the spoon on the rack that her feelings changed.

Here it was 3/4th of the way.

Then, she moved it back to the middle.

Then, the spoon was at the end. No more debt!!

But she moved it back to a quarter of the way.

Then, back to the beginning. lol.

At that point, she was willing to let it go and pretend that she was still cooking for him to pay off her debt.

Just three more noteworthy things:

1. Brother Jin

He didn’t want her to call him “Fussy Lu.” He didn’t mind if she called him “Jin Gege.” At first, she found the idea of calling him “Jin Gege” so ridiculously funny. But he asked her so again so nicely and so romantically (while they were taking out trash, lol), that she gave in.

I don’t think “gege” has the same connotation as “oppa.” In kdramas, the girlfriends can call their boyfriends “oppa” but I think “gege” simply means “big brother.” The romantic bonding isn’t automatically given like in the word, “oppa.”

2. Secretly dating

Even though they hadn’t formalized their relationship beyond this “contract cooking/contract dating,” she seemed to be emotionally involved here. When she went to market, and received an offer to cook in a hotel, she turned it down because she was cooking him a meal.

This was a lovely shot!!! (Yes. I almost fell for the propaganda. It was hard to imagine that bats, snakes, dogs, and other nasty stuff could be sold in Chinese markets after seeing this picture. 😂)

As for him, he seemed to be at her beck and call. When she texted him that “Lunch is ready. Come and get it,” and he quickly ended his meeting.

I think there’s something clandestine about their meetings that appealed to both of them. They wanted to BE there with each other.

3. The packages

Jin discovered that Shengnam was ordering things using an alias “Zhao Min” so he started ordering packages delivered to her house, using the alias, “Zhang Wuji.”

I googled these two names, and found out that these are the names of a couple in a Chinese drama, “The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber.” Zhao Min is the girl loved by Zhang Wuji.

Shengnan: You are Zhang Wuji?
Jin: Can’t I, Zhao Min?

Shengnan: (pointing to herself) Zhao Min?
Jin: Uhmmm.
Shengnan: Who’s Zhou Zhiruo?
Jin: There isn’t one in my version.

Shengnam asked him if there was Zhou Zhirou. Zhou Zhirou is the second female lead, and rival of Min for Wuji’s love. Jin said that there was no Zhou Zhirou is his version, but I think he spoke too soon. Li Man is obviously the rival of Shengnam.

Famous last words…

He was making himself at home at her place. He was ordering a lot of things for her place. But I guess, this apartment was their version of a love pad.

Clearly, I like this episode.

I like it because of the artistry — from the shots of the food preparation and finished plates to the view of the our couple interacting in her apartment. I like the color palettes. The director alternated between light and airy scenes like this one to show Shengnen and Jin enjoying a simple afternoon, and dark scenes like this one where the couple are exploring their attraction to each other.

And I like it for its frivolity. I don’t think I’ve come across a seducer before, in a Chinese drama, who looks as cute and wholesome as Shengnan.