Here begins the “poor, little rich girl” tropes.
1. Rich girls aren’t motivated to succeed.
No.
When Nie Xiguang (NX) rehearses for her job interview with her roommate Feng, Feng asks why she’s so serious about this interview when she’s usually “Miss Carefree.”
Feng: (bluntly) Is it because Zhuang Xu lined up this interview for you?
NX admits that it’s partly true. She doesn’t want him to look down on her. But then, she frets that if her friend ascribed her motivation to ZH, then no doubt “others” (meaning, Ye Rong) also assumed that she’s going through all this trouble to gain his approval.
In reality, the real reason for her push to do well is personal. She wants to prove to herself that she can be downright serious when needed. Her carefree ways had been for show only, that is, she chose to appear like she’s just coasting along and taking it easy.
But now, her pride demands that she aces the interview.
See that? I like that, from the start, she doesn’t seek validation from Zhuang Xu. Rather, she’s validating her own conviction that she’s capable and competent. When it matters, she knows she can buckle down, apply herself, and succeed on her own.
However, as it turns out, her preparation is quite unnecessary. The interview is just for formality. Her employment is a foregone conclusion as it’s already been approved by the firm’s General Manager, Mr. Sheng.
Apparently, her father and this Mr. Sheng are long-time business partners, and her father’s company Yuancheng Group have been dealing with the Sheng Yuan Group. Small world, isn’t it?
The viewers then get a view of a board meeting of the Sheng Yuan Group. All the sons of the founder are in attendance. At the far end of the table sits the hero, Lin Yusen (LY) and his cousin.
One by one, the Sheng sons declare their stance on a proposed business venture with Yuancheng Group. They seem to be divided, but the eldest son, the General Manager Mr. Sheng, is pro-Yuancheng Group. To resolve the deadlock, the old patriarch demands LY’s thoughts on the proposal. LY proceeds to unequivocally object to the joint venture. Giving clear and profit-driven reasons, he torpedoes the project and convinces the old man to reconsider the plan.
After the meeting, one board member wonders aloud whether Mr. Nie (aka NX’s father) had somehow crossed path with LY and aggravated him. Another member notes that LY has the precision and ruthlessness of his late mother. Mr. Sheng cuts him off.
2. Rich girls enjoy being viewed as “nepo babies.”
No.
In fact, NX tries to live down the fact that she’s a nepo baby.
NX can’t share the details of her interview with her roommates because she doesn’t want to reveal her father’s business connections with the prestigious Sheng Yuan Group.
All she tells them is that she still needs to think the acceptance over. However, even this casual remark is misconstrued. She unwittingly comes off as insensitive because Ye Rong hasn’t heard from the same company and she wants so badly to work for them.
Clearly, being a “nepo baby” brings a different set of problems to a girl who’s just trying to fit in with her peers. It’s a no-win situation for NX. If she tells them about her family connection, they’ll think that she’s being uppity. When she does hide her family connection, they still end up thinking she’s uppity. It’s damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t.
Thus, when NX got another job interview with Photovoltaic Tech company in Suzhou, she becomes elated.
NX: So even without my parents’ help, I can land a job on my own.
She can share this news to her roommates without being defensive.
3. Rich girls are scheming.
This is a weird moment.
Ye Rong accuses NX of not relaying a phone message from Sheng Yuan Group. NX maintains her innocence. And to prove it, she moves to call the Human Resource (HR) Dept of the firm directly. She takes out the business card from her wallet and begins to dial the phone number.
However, at the last second, she pauses and deliberately types the wrong last digits. In my view, she hesitates because she doesn’t want it revealed that she has a personal – or familial – or connection with Sheng Yuan Group. She’s going to bluff her way out of it.
But her plan backfires because Zhuang Xu grabs the phone from her.
In his defense, I think he merely wants to speak directly to her HR contact. He intends to smooth out the awkward situation himself, and save NX from shame.
However, when he and the others hear the automated message that a wrong number was dialed, they automatically assume the worst of NX. They think that she was bluffing and never really intended to call HR Dept.
Their disbelief and judgment hurt NX, naturally. She can’t really say that she misdialed on purpose (it wouldn’t make sense to her friends), so she issues a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum.
NX: I’ll say it one more time. I never did it. It’s up to you to believe me.
She snatches her phone from ZX’s hand and walks away in tears.
From the Romance Angle, I think this moment is the kill shot. The budding romance between NX and ZX took a decisive and definitive hit. He unwittingly put the spotlight on her and showed her in a bad light. (So much for the title, “Shine on Me”!) Any chance of them getting together in the future is lost.
When ZX looks down at his empty hand, I think it’s a foreshadowing that he’ll lose her and end up empty-handed.
4. Last, rich girls could care less about their reputation.
No.
NX is determined to clear her name (and her friend Feng’s), and I like that she’s very thorough.
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
To me, this episode comes full circle, neatly but quietly.
It started out with NX wanting to prove her capabilities through the job interview. In the end, it did just that when she proved her innocence. Indeed, when it mattered the most, she buckled down, applied herself and succeeded on her own.
Awesome!! I don’t have the vocabulary or the intelligence to say how you have said it.
I did talk about ZX snatching the phone from NX which by itself was pretty rude – you don’t even do that with your own kids / adults for that matter. His actions made it look like he was supporting YR and the conversation he had with YR when they investigated if she had gotten a call became moot. What is the point of supporting NX privately and not publicly. You showing his empty hand is a predicament of him losing such a great gal.
ZX had no right to trash NX either for her nepo status or her carefree studying or working habits. He was not a close friend or a BF to throw such accusations at her.
I think his inferiority complex about their financial status is the cause of his loose tongue with any filters. This could also be the reason for his talking in metaphors instead of being straightforward and clearing up the misunderstanding.
When we talk about how he let NX down, there is a parallel in future episodes 14 or 15 where YS allows NX to have the upper hand during a cafeteria contractor selection.
OK. Back to work now.
Hi @pkm3 and @angelwingssf,
Thanks both for your thoughts and interpretations. It’s always great to get another point of view or to have one’s point of view corroborated. I feel that @angelwingssf makes a good point.
That phone snatch might have been for what ZX thought were ‘good’ reasons, but because he did not explain what he was doing, it really looked like he was taking Ye Rong’s side. Yes, indeed, there was no point at all in supporting Xi Guang in private (was he afraid of provoking Ye Rong even more? Too afraid to commit? Didn’t want people thinking that he was trying to get close to the rich girl for her connections?) and not doing so in public.
Loved the zoom-in on his empty hand.
ZX seemed to think that showing interest meant being naggy and fault-finding, like a parent!! Xi Guang just went along with the ‘image’ of her being rich, well-connected and not needing to work hard. She used to just toss about that she was ‘lazy,’ but it might have been that she pretended not to care and it was to avoid getting more attention.
Her internship and job offers were all ready for her through her family connections, and she knew her friends were envious. If on top of all that she was found to be super-smart and better at work than her friends… it would be ‘unfairness overload’. So she played down her abilities.
At the same time, she wondered what she was capable of, since she had not stretched her wings to the utmost to discover her own full potential. Landing that job in Suzhou, like @pkml3 says, was a test of her ability, to find out how well she’d do without family help.
Minor SPOILERs
Hence she kept her family a secret and willingly did all the grunge work. It was great that she proved herself, increased in confidence and reached the top on her own steam. She was the leader that her company and other businesses could look up to, unlike the useless Sheng Xing Jie who could not succeed even when given everything on a platter.
I’m glad it was his sister, Sheng Xing Xiu who got to be the boss in the end.
Yes, @angelwingssf,
I remember you commenting on ZX’s rude behavior. (And belated happy birthday!!!!)
I don’t know if it has something to do with the acting or directing but his move did come across as brusque, high-handed, and domineering.
That’s why I assumed that he was trying to “rescue” her from an embarrassment when he grabbed the phone. It was like an instant reflex on his part. She already began speaking on the phone to the HR Dept so he had little time to react — and no other choice but to take the phone away so he could talk to the HR personnel himself.
He didn’t expect her to misdial on purpose.
So when the “error” message came on (and remember she was by then pretending to talk on the phone), they all naturally concluded that she was bluffing.
Which she was anyway but for good reason.
The thing is, later on in the episode, he did receive a phone call from somebody from the company (his senior college friend?) updating him on the situation. This tells me that he was following it up on his own.
I think he did care for her back then but, like a typical guy, he couldn’t navigate the dating scene well. Granted he made a series of missteps, which on their own, could be regarded as small and insignificant (like nagging her about finding work in Shanghai), but they snowballed into a humongous obstacle for the two of them.
NX is not blameless, too. While ZX has his insecurities, the NX has her insufferable pride. Insecurities and pride — they’re flip sides of the same coin, aren’t they? 🙂
Thank you for my birthday wishes.
Packmule3 – you are right that NX has her pride. I guess growing up seeing how her father behaved by bringing his first love into his life after / before the divorce must have done a number when she was young. Even though grandparents took care of her and well too, according to NX mother – children are scarred by the incessant talk about her father and the OTHER woman and her child. So, when she got let down by ZX whom she had a crush, she had to cope up in some other way. As you say they are insecure in their own way. Which was what caused all these problem. As they say, when two are in a tug of war – one of them needs to give in. Since both were on the boundary trying to see who would give in first, they put up a wall on themselves and kept peeking through. as you can see from their big grape discussion. NX is hurt emotionally because of her family. even though she is a nepo baby she keeps most of it inside her and don’t want to be ridiculed in college. (she only came to the dorm in her third (Jr) year as I remember). They both had a great opportunity to talk plain and clean and clear up the mis understanding and I think ZX intentionally did not get on the bus because he wanted to talk to NX and he knew that that was the last bus for the day. He was not a planner. He was scared inside. This girl says she likes me – will she like me when I so poor. What if, what if and so on would be going through his mind. But he had a good heart in that he liked her and was trying to help her without others knowing about it.
I am heading off to see my Mom tomorrow.