My Sunshine (何以笙箫默): Episode 5 Review and Recap

January 14, 2015 by hoju 30 Comments

This post, bongsd has stepped in to help out with the graphics to give Chewywon a little breather! Thanks bongsd and thanks Chewywon for the cover photo of this post!!  And thanks to Peanuts for setting me up with all these awesome partners to help out with the recaps.

Another full episode of the younger Mo Sheng and Yi Chen.  So, how did Mo Sheng finally claim the title of “Yi Chen’s girlfriend”?  And why did they separate?

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My Sunshine Episode 5 Review & Recap (written by hoju & illustrated by bongsd)

… Continuing in the university days.

Mo Sheng looks on concernedly at Yi Chen, who is in obvious discomfort.  But after a deep breath, Yi Chen composes himself and makes his concluding remarks, which bring about a standing ovation.

The whole team admires Mo Sheng’s photos that she took during the competition, but when they want to take a group photo, Xu Ying smugly tells Mo Sheng that a pretty girl has pulled Yi Chen aside for some one-on-one time.

One of the girls from the opposing team is bidding well wishes to Yi Chen… and, as Yi Chen motions to an eavesdropping Mo Sheng to come over to him, the other girl asks if she might have the privilege of being his girlfriend.  The dejected girl leaves after being turned down, and Yi Chen grumpily asks why Mo Sheng didn’t come over.  “She was confessing her love.  I couldn’t disturb her…  And anyways, you need to have a certain status to help out with this type of thing.”  “Status?”  “To chase away love rivals!  You know what I mean, right?”  Yi Chen can’t hide his little smile.

Gossip is flying around the law faculty that He Yi Chen is dating a girl, “Zhao Mo Sheng” from the faculty of chemistry.  Mo Sheng’s roommate runs back to congratulate Mo Sheng.  Panicked by this news, Mo Sheng darts off to clarify with Yi Chen that this was not her doing.  The dialogue is exactly the same as in the novel:

Mo Sheng: I finally found you.  I didn’t start those rumours.  Honest!  You have to believe me.
Yi Chen: I know.
Mo Sheng: How did you know?
Yi Chen: Because I started them.
(pause)
Mo Sheng: You said… you…
Yi Chen: I’ve thought about it.  If, in three years, you are meant to be my girlfriend anyway, why don’t I exercise my right earlier?”

Such a lawyer-thing to say.  But, it’s official!!  They’re a couple!!

Mo Sheng heads to her first study date with Yi Chen.  Her concentration is nil, though, until Yi Chen gently reminds her to focus on her studying.

Our young couple, both dressed in white, walks down a tree-lined path.  Such a beautiful picture of pure, young love, down to the bicycle that Yi Chen is pushing! Mo Sheng poses the question to Yi Chen: why did he choose her to be his girlfriend?  His answer: he is not sure himself and actually has not really thought through it.  Mo Sheng jumps in, “Don’t think about it… Absolutely do not think through it.  I will definitely be the best girlfriend.”

Yi Chen brings Mo Sheng to attend his law classes with him.  Xu Ying spots her and sarcastically observes that this “fellow schoolmate” seems to have walked into the wrong classroom.  Yi Chen counters, “Can I not bring my girlfriend to class with me?”  Oh, the sulky look on her face.  Muahaha!

As Mo Sheng hands out lunch to the debate club members, Xu Ying — surprise, surprise — claims she has done something wrong again.  One takeout box of rice with beef, which was meant for the on-duty teacher, is missing.  Xu Ying accuses her of purposefully not buying it and wanting their teacher to go hungry, and did she know how to respect her elders?  (Excuse me while I take a moment to bang my head against a brick of tofu over the cheesiness of this one-sided cat fight.)  Yi Chen had ordered beef rice as well, so he gives it up for the teacher and shares a box with Mo Sheng.  They head off into the stairwell for a sweet moment of alone time over lunch.  (People say sharing food is like an indirect kiss… Heh heh)

While Mo Sheng is cleaning out the garbage, Xu Ying once again feels the need to comment (*eye roll* doesn’t she get thirsty?), snidely remarking that Mo Sheng seems more like an errand girl Yi Chen hired than his girlfriend.  Mo Sheng’s calm, friendly response infuriates her more and she lashes out, “Zhao Mo Sheng! Are you feeling very smug?!… Don’t pretend.  You are actually secretly feeling very smug.  What’s the big deal? Did you really think you won something special?  Our law faculty’s top student is actually just a poor boy.  He doesn’t even have enough to cover the living expenses of being a foreign exchange student and had to give the opportunity to me.”  Unbeknownst to the two of them, Yi Chen arrives as she is saying that last sentence.  “Don’t think that at school, he is some big name celebrity.  When he goes out into the real world, all he’ll be is a penniless good-for-nothing!”  For the first time, we see Mo Sheng mad.

Mo Sheng: Senior Sister, what you possess now was all given to you by your parents.  Everyone’s background is different.  What right do you have to be so arrogant?  Simply because your parents have more money than him?
Xu Ying: Precisely!  Everyone’s background is different.  What my parents have given me and what I possess, he has no hope of ever having in his life!
Mo Sheng: I’d advise that, Senior Sister, you read some more biographies of famous people.  Many who come from a less fortunate background become very successful.  And there are many who come from a privileged background, yet end up falling from the clouds.  I believe Yi Chen is the former, and I wish for you, Senior Sister, that you do not become the latter.
(See Xu Ying’s furious face at Mo Sheng’s retaliation that she does not even know how to counter! Ha ha!  And you said she wouldn’t be a good debater.  So satisfying that I had to translate this part!)

I suspect this moment is when Mo Sheng wholly and completely captured Yi Chen’s heart.  Yi Chen silently vows, “Only three or four years and then I will be able to give you a good life.”

Mo Sheng has something very important to do.  She cannot tell Yi Chen what it is, nor can she spend time with him.  Yi Chen is irked by this.  Xiang Heng provides love advice, telling him he should be the one doing sweet things to make his girlfriend happy, not vice versa.  Yi Chen stops in in a camera shop, noting the hefty price tag of nice lenses, and hears a conversation where a boy has bought an expensive lens for his girlfriend.  “Will she believe in me, or will she be scared off by this current stage of poverty?”

At night, Mo Sheng waits for Yi Chen outside his dormitory.  When he comes out to see her, she wishes him a happy birthday.  He asks her where she has been and where is the gift?  Remorseful, she tells him she had spent the whole day searching for a gift to give him but found nothing that was good enough.  With a sigh, he tells her to just close her eyes.  After Mo Sheng obediently does as she is told, he helps himself to his birthday gift… their first kiss!

Winter break has arrived.  It turns out Yi Chen and Mo Sheng are from the same city, so when they go home, they should still be able to see each other.  But when Mo Sheng asks Yi Chen for his home phone number, he refuses to give it to her.

In her obviously opulent home, Mo Sheng is depressed that Yi Chen does not want her to contact him over the break, thinking the reason must be that he does not like her.  Her father comforts her, telling her he already gave her the reason.  Yi Chen’s family is not well-off, so out of pride, he does not want her to go to his home.  That is actually proof that he loves her very much.  After hearing her father’s reasoning, Mo Sheng’s mood brightens.

Mo Sheng wanders the streets of the city, hoping to run into Yi Chen.  After several days, her wish finally comes true when she sees Yi Chen strolling the streets with another girl.  Excited, Mo Sheng dashes over and grabs his sleeve as the girl stares in surprise.  Yi Chen introduces her as He Yi Mei, his sister, and Mo Sheng very cheerfully greets her, “Hi, I’m Zhao Mo Sheng, your brother’s girlfriend.”  Yi Mei does not seem to take a liking to this girl in her brother’s life as she watches them silently.

Yi Chen and Mo Sheng step aside to speak privately, and she promises to not ask for his phone number anymore so long as he promises to take the train back to school with her.  Giving in (not unhappily), he agrees.

There’s a short scene where we see Mo Sheng’s relationship with her mother is actually very distant.

Yi Mei’s school is relocating just across the street from Yi Chen and Mo Sheng’s university, so they are all heading back together.  At the train station, Mo Sheng enthusiastically greets Yi Mei, commenting how different she and Yi Chen are in personality and how could they be from the same set of parents?  Yi Mei casually sidesteps the question in a sweet voice, but secretly is delighted that Yi Chen never told her they were not real, blood-related siblings and so he must think of Mo Sheng as an outsider.

Mo Sheng laments over her lack of smart genes compared to the He siblings.  They have spent this semester as a threesome, with Yi Mei hanging around them, so that even Xiang Heng notes that she is a giant, bright lightbulb.  Mo Sheng indignantly denies this and defends Yi Mei as her good, close friend.  They head off to hang out together, and Mo Sheng buys her cupcakes for her birthday.  Yi Mei feels a slight twinge of guilt that Mo Sheng treats her so well and ponders that they could perhaps have been good friends, if only…  She holds onto the belief that Yi Chen does not truly like Mo Sheng, and all she needs to do is wait…

On a rainy day, Yi Chen sends Yi Mei off first.  With a stone face, he pulls Mo Sheng off into a secluded hallway.  Yi Mei realizes she has forgotten something and turns back, only to happen upon the two of them very much off in their own world, sharing a passionate kiss.

Yi Mei resolves that she cannot continue waiting any longer; she does not want to be He Yi Chen’s sister anymore.  She calls Mo Sheng out to meet. At the same time, Yi Chen receives a call at his dormitory from Mo Sheng’s father.

Yi Mei tells Mo Sheng, she and Yi Chen are not true siblings.  Their parents were neighbours and good friends, both with the surname He, so when the children were born, they chose similar names.  After Yi Chen’s parents died, they took him in.  Mo Sheng is shocked and disbelieving of  this, not understanding why Yi Chen would not share any of this with her.  Yi Mei merely retorts, “Why should he bother to share our family’s matters with you?… Today, I am telling you, I love Yi Chen.  I do not want to love him secretly.  I am going to compete with you out in the open.  Zhao Mo Sheng, do you think you can even compete with our bond of many years of growing up together?”

At the same time, Yi Chen meets Mo Sheng’s father, Zhao Qing Yuan.  Yi Chen seems to show an unusual reaction when he sees him…

Mo Sheng tells herself to trust Yi Chen and waits outside his dormitory for him to hear his side of the story.  When he finally returns, though, his words to her cut like a knife.  “Don’t come and find me anymore. I don’t want to see you again.  Zhao Mo Sheng, I wish I had never met you.”

*Flash back to present day*

In the hustle bustle of Shanghai at night, Mo Sheng and Yi Chen are each alone, lost in their own thoughts…

The next morning, Yi Chen leaves instructions with his firm’s receptionist to send “Treasure magazine’s Miss Zhao” in to see him if she came to the office looking for him.  Yi Chen clears his schedule so that he is in the office the whole day.

Mo Sheng leaves her photo shoot early that day because she “has something to do.”

Someone has dropped off something to Yi Chen at his firm and left.  When he opens it and sees the missing photograph from his wallet, he dashes out anxiously…

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Additional Comments:

I’m just going to rant that I’m not a fan of the younger Yi Mei. I am definitely not fond of the passive-agressive types or the type who put up a facade that they are sweet, gentle, and harmless and then quietly do things to hurt you — and the younger Yi Mei has both these traits.  Yi Mei, if you like Yi Chen, go tell him, not his girlfriend and hope that she will get upset and confront him so that he will run to your open arms!  In the novel, present day Yi Mei has moved on for several years and could treat Mo Sheng like a true friend, so I didn’t dislike the grown-up Yi Mei. Up to this point in the drama, Yi Mei is still holding a torch for Yi Chen, though, so I really hope they don’t let those unlikeable traits from her younger days carry all the way through those seven years.