Episode 3
The drama left out what I thought was a hilarious exchange between our heroine and her classmate who had a crush on her:
The silence instantly caused the mood to turn awkward.
Fu Zheng Chu’s eyes stared into hers then slowly started to look away, his ears turning red. He touched his head and asked with forced calmness, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Sang Zhi let out an “Ah.” A bit unsure of what to do.
It’s not that she has not been confessed to before but most of them have been love confession letters stuffed inside her desk or via a text. This is the first time she has been confessed to in person…and in such a matter-of-fact manner too.
“Hey.” Sang Zhi was suddenly a bit curious, “Do you still remember when you had knocked out one of my teeth?”
“. . . . . .” Fu Zheng Chu regretted that incident bitterly but it was unmistakably a deed he had done so he could only attempt a feeble explanation, “It was something that had happen years ago, plus, didn’t my finger get broken that time too?”
Sang Zhi is not one to harbor a grudge for a long time, “True.”
Releasing a sigh of relief, Fu Zheng Chu perked up his ears, waiting to hear what she will say next.
Having no clue of how to write the word “tactful”, Sang Zhi cut right to the chase, “You should stop liking me. I don’t like those who are younger than me.”
Fu Zheng Chu paused, then said angrily, “That’s prejudice against age!”
“. . . . . . “
“You need to at least say a thing that I can do something about.”
Sang Zhi thought for a bit, “I like good-looking ones.”
“. . . . . .” Fu Zheng Chu took a deep breath, pointed his finger at her, “Except you, no one has ever said that I am ugly. Are you targeting me? Did you add an ugly filter just on me?”
“Well…” Sang Zhi said slowly, “Everyone has different tastes.”
Feeling aggrieved, Fu Zheng Chu said, “Am I supposed to go get plastic surgery?!”
“I didn’t mean it that way.” Feeling aggrieved herself after being yelled at, Sang Zhi muttered, “So didn’t I tell you to not like me?”
“Forget it.” Fu Zheng Chu give up on talking to her, “Just pretend I didn’t say anything.”
Seeing him in a bad mood, Sang Zhi started to regret that perhaps her words were too much, and forced herself to keep talking, “What do you like about me?”
Fu Zheng Chu glanced at her and gave a very shallow reason, “You are pretty.”
Sang Zhi, “Oh.”
Fu Zheng Chu “That your only reaction?”
Sang Zhi, “Well, I can’t argue with that.”
“. . . . . . “
Episode 4
In the novel, Sang Zhi handled the whole bullying incident fairly calmly despite feeling a deep sense of betrayal by her friend’s actions. Since Sang Zhi was pretty calm, Duan Jiaxu was at first angry at her until he noticed a cigarette burn mark on her shirt collar. Like in the drama, Sang Zhi promptly told our hero what had happened and assured him that she will be telling her parents.
The one other thing that was different in the novel was that our hero was quite a bit more intimidating in the novel. Instead of giving the girls that had bullied Sang Zhi a lecture, Duan Jiaxu simply smiled- scaring the girl so badly that she started to cry, and flicked some cigarette ashes on the girl as a payback for what she did to Zhi Zhi.
Episode 8
In episode eight, it seemed our heroine had pretty much cut off all contact with our hero after her supposedly doomed trip to visit her “online boyfriend”. However, in the novel, Sang Zhi was pretty clear on the fact that she felt it would be unfair to cut off all contact with Duan Jiaxu who had done no wrong and had been a very good brotherly figure to her. Sang Zhi had always known that her secret crush was hers alone and despite the pain she was in, she felt she had no right to cut off contact with someone who truly cares for her. From that point on, Sang Zhi would text holiday greetings to Duan Jiaxu and respond to his occasional questions about her grades, but she would not take Duan Jiaxu’s phone calls. Using excuses that she was too busy with schoolwork, Sang Zhi made it a rule for herself to not talk to Duan Jiaxu on the phone.
Episode 9
The accidental forehead kiss (the one that happened while Sang Zhi was trying to hail a taxi) actually happened way back when Duan Jiaxu was tutoring Sang Zhi. Sang Zhi’s awkwardness right after the accidental forehead kiss made Duan Jiaxu suspicious but not enough to connect the dots yet. Realizing right away that her reaction might cause Duan Jiaxu to catch onto her feelings for him, Sang Zhi promptly invented an “online boyfriend”.
Episode 12
Sang Zhi’s drunk confession after Duan Jiaxu picked her up from the bar.
Sang Zhi wanted to cry for some unknown reason, her voice trembled, “You said yourself, once I am an adult, I can do whatever I want, no one could stop me then.”
“. . . . . . “
“You said it yourself.”
Things that she had to wait until she was an adult to do…there was only one thing.
But her courage seemed to have diminished once she became an adult.
Before, she was only afraid of telling him, of her like him.
But now, she doesn’t even dare to like him.
Everyone at this age are all courageously expressing their hearts to the ones they like.
But she can only suppress herself.
She wants to have less contact with him but she is also afraid that he would not live well all on his own.
She sniffled and suddenly blurted out, “Ge Ge, can I tell you a secret?”
“Hmm?”
“I have a person I like a lot.” Sang Zhi lowered her eyes, and sobbed, “But he just doesn’t like me.”
“. . . . . . .”
The smile on Duan Jiaxu’s lips waned, “Who?”
Sang Zhi didn’t answer.
“That online boyfriend of yours?” Duan Jiaxu swallowed hard and his voice hoarse as he asked, “Or that guy from your school?”
Sang Zhi raised her eyes to look at him, was silent for a good while and finally muttered, “I am not going to tell you.”
The fact that she like Duan Jiaxu.
Sang Zhi has never told anyone.
Not a single person.
From liking him, to giving up, to unable to stop herself from continuing to like him.
It was all her own business.
A matter that only she knew.
Duan Jiaxu asked, “You can’t even tell Ge Ge?”
She started to cry again, her voice depressed, “Zhi Zhi is not happy.”
Duan Jiaxu turned his head to look at her, “Why is Zhi Zhi not happy?”
Zhi Zhi doesn’t answer.
Duan Jiaxu pulled his glance away, looking ahead. It was dark and his expression was hidden by the shadows, hard to read, “Because Zhi Zhi likes that person?”
Zhi Zhi rubbed her tear-stained face and said “Hmm.”
“You can’t say who it is?”
“Hmm.”
“Then describe him for me.” Duan Jiaxu’s tone was very calm, “What kind of person he is, is he a good person, does he treat you well.”
Sang Zhi raised her head, glared at the side of his face. After a bit, she tilted her head and haltingly blurted out, “Male…Male…”
“Male what?” Duan Jiaxu said, “Male Deity?” (A title people will often give to men who are really good looking.)
Sang Zhi shook her head and said, “Male…Male Fox Demon.”
Duan Jiaxu, “. . . . . “
What kind of description is that? (In Chinese, the more frequently used word would be Female Fox, referring to beautiful women who are skilled at seducing men. Male Fox Demon would just be handsome men who are good at seducing women with their charm and good looks.)
“He is good, he is also good to me.” Sang Zhi’s voice suddenly choked up, “But he is good to everyone, good to everyone.”
“. . . . . .”
Suddenly angry, Sang Zhi’s voice abruptly became louder as she cried, “Central! Air! Conditioning!” (A Chinese name describing men who are good to everyone, causing lots of girls to fall for them, while making no promises.)
In the novel, Duan Jiaxu’s mesmerizing charm is a key characteristic of his so that’s why Zhi Zhi described him as a fox demon, which is also why our hero’s friend promptly guessed the one Zhi Zhi was describing was none other than Duan Jiaxu.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
Aww so sweet 💖
This comparison is so on point! I read a poor translated version of the novel after watching the drama and one of the things that was strange in the drama is how the roommate links fox demon to Duan Jiaxu. He is more foxy in the novel than in the drama.