Spring Love Episode 2 Recap

Posted on 21 February 2013 by NeeNee Leave a comment

Episode 2: Reparation

We open with Ryuta losing the thief at the dragon dance battle where the Longs and Zhaos are still fighting with all they are worth. Long got a good blow in at Ren Hu who becomes angry and goes all out usnig underhanded methods. Ryuta notices this and quickly throws something at the black dragon so they can’t win. He then rushes up to check on the yellow dragon. Needless to say Long is shocked to see his son standing there. He says “Tian Hao is back,” but Ah Pan and Lao Tu think it’s Tian He returned from Japan already. Long then falls back hurt from the dragon dance.

Ren Hu asks what Tian He is doing there and poor Ryuta is confused. Why are they calling him Tian He? Could that be his brother’s name? Shuo Cheng almost passes out and Lao Tu tells Ryuta to quickly compete in Long’s place. Granny Zhao protests as she doesn’t believe the Long family had the right to participate from the beginning. Ren Hu says that it is fine as the Long family are all weak and can’t possibly beat the Zhao family. Ryuta wants nothing to do with the battle, but when Ren Hu belittles Ryuta’s mother, he can no longer stand still. He demands Ren Hu apologize, but Ren Hu says he won’t unless Tian He battles him out and wins. Meanwhile, Ren Mei has completed all of her tasks and is getting ready to head to the celebration. She feels like she’s forgotten something, but can’t recall what (it’s the ramen she left cooking when she got bowled over by Ryuta).

The dragon dance prepares to restart with Ryuta as the yellow dragon’s head. He isn’t synched well with his partner and Ren Hu notices this. The dance continues and the annoyed Ryuta tells his partner to just follow him and they move more slowly. Ren Mei finally arrives and wonders how Tian He got there so quickly from chasing the thief. She then spies her grandmother and tries to hide behind a spectators fan. Meanwhile, the intense dragon battle continues with neither Ren Hu or Ryuta given quarter. Ryuta manages to trip the Zhao’s black dragon and pull down the flag. Ren Mei is shocked at how strong Tian He got in such a short amount of time.

With the victory, Ah Pan reveals the bet and Zhao and Ren Hu immediately try to go back on their words. When Lao Tu calls Ren Hu ungentlemanly, Ren Hu vows to keep his word and goes to leave; however, Ryuta wants the promised apology. Granny Zhao says that is taking things too far, but Ryuta won’t budge and Ren Hu and he have a stare down. At this time, someone in the crowd spots a fire in the distance. It turns out it is at the Zhao hot spring. Granny Zhao is immediately worried about her granddaughter, but the same person who pointed out the fire points out that Ren Mei is fine and right there. Ren Mei then recalls she forgot to turn off the fire and the Zhao family disperse looking annoyed. Poor Ren Mei.

Back at the Long house, Shou Cheng makes sure no one is around as he talks to Ryuta. He tells his second son that he is the spitting image of Tian He. Shou Cheng is happy to finally have Ryuta back so that their family can be reunited. Ryuta immediately rejects this and when his father calls him Tian Hao, Ryuta tells him that Zhi Zi called him Long Tai since infancy. Long then asks after Zhi Zi. This angers Tai. How long has it been? What right does Shou Cheng have to ask after her? Shou Cheng says that he did earnestly search for both mother and son and wrote them countless letters. Tai, never having seen any letters, doesn’t believe this. Shou Cheng asks to see Zhi Zi so he can explain himself. Tai takes out his mother’s ashes and yells at his father to explain it to her then. Shou Cheng is shocked—how could this be? Tai explains that his mother died from overwork while waiting for Shou Cheng to come and take her back to Taiwan. Tai then calls his father a horrible playboy and packs his mother back in his knapsack before leaving. Shou Cheng collapses to his knees.

Ren Hu is recalling Tai’s words to kneel and apologizes to Tai’s mother. His face twists into an angry snarl and he swipes all of the stuff off his desk onto the floor. He then notices a picture of him and a basketball team. We then flashback to Ren Hu playing basketball while the sickly Tian He sat on the sidelines reading a book. Afterward, He went over to Tian He and asked if he was jealous because the ill boy will never know how it feels to be revered like that. Tian He said that he was number one in school (academically) and thus didn’t understand the appeal of a sturdy person. This annoys Ren Hu. Tian He tells Ren Hu to stop relying on his strength to appeal to others. He gets angry again and swipes more things onto the floor, hurting his hand. Granny Zhao takes care of his injured hand and he apologizes for embarrassing her earlier. Granny says that isn’t the case, he just underestimated his opponent.

Ren Hu is livid that Tian He competed against him and won. How could such a change be possible? Zhao then asks why her grandson made such a ridiculous bet to begin with. Ren Hu recalls the past again where Tian He exposed Ren Hu’s fear of fire. He then angrily tells his grandmother that he will bring down the Long family and defeat Tian He. Ren Hu then asks his grandmother to tell him again about the year that the Longs bullied the Zhaos. Ren Hu then says he can’t possibly stomach serving the Longs for a year. Grandma Zhao says that she can’t possibly let the greatest asset of the Zhao family go and she will send the weakest member. At this time, Ren Mei is bringing a tray of food for her older brother and when she overhears this, she recalls Granny Zhao scolding her uselessness and nearly burning down their resort. Ren Mei already knows that she will be the one sent.

The tray crashes to the ground and out comes Zhao and Ren Hu, both unhappy to see the clumsy Ren Mei. This poor girl. What did she do to deserve such unfair treatment from both her grandmother and brother? Granny Zhao complains that Ren Mei is fate and stupid and can only cause others problems. Ren Mei yells and says that may be true, but even though she’s like that, her grandmother can’t find ways to kick her out. She then runs off leaving a shocked grandmother and a more annoyed Ren Hu. Bad big brother. I really, really don’t like him.

Ren Mei cries alone in her room talking about how much she misses her parents. If they were still around, then she would have someone to love and dote on her and wouldn’t be treated like she is now. Ren Mei’s mother was a ballerina and Ren Mei has pictures of her all over her wall. Ren Mei was a thin child, but after her parents died when she was 6, her grandmother refused to let her continue ballet (since Zhao didn’t like her mother). To comfort herself, little Ren Mei began to eat like a horse and became fatter and fatter. This of course only made her grandmother and brother dislike her more and more. Thus Ren Mei worked hard to do everything her grandmother asked, but still Zhao only seems to dislike her more and more. She then asks her mother what she should do. Ren Mei then fantasizes about a little girl in a tutu coming to give her advice. The girl tells her to nicely tell her grandmother she doesn’t want to go to the Long house. Ren Mei knows it will be no use and envisions being drugged or thrown in sack and taken to the Long house where she will be whipped. The little girl says that won’t happen as grandmother and big brother are not that mean. Right. Sure they aren’t.

Tai is waiting at a bus stop when he pulls out his mother’s ashes. He apologizes to his mother saying that the cherry tree didn’t bloom after all. He refuses to reunite with the Taiwan family and will take her back to Japan. A stick hits him in the head. When he says she is his only family, another stick hits him in the head. Divine intervention or someone’s prank? Tai looks around and asks who’s there, but receives no answer. He then looks at his mother’s ashes and tells her not to scare him. He then notices a truck driving towards him and he wonders if he’s seeing ghosts in broad daylight. There was no one driving the truck, but it was being pushed from behind.

Ji Shan asks Tian He what he’s doing there and Tian He says waiting for a bus. Everyone in the town knows there’s no buses in the afternoon. He then says if Tian He finds a car, to come give him a ride since the truck broke down again. Tai then goes and starts working on the truck. Ji Shan doesn’t think he’ll be able to fix it if even the mechanic can’t, but Tai just does a few things and tells Ji Shan to give it a try and the truck starts right away. Tai is amazed that everyone thinks he is his brother. Ji Shan says that not only is Tian He really smart, he can also fix cars. So his big brother is smart, huh? Ji Shan then tells him to get in as there really is no buses and no cars to be found. Tai reluctantly climbs in.

Ji Shan says he is happy that Tian He managed to defeat the Zhaos—it made him feel good for some reason. When Ji Shan praises Shou Cheng, Tai asks if his father is really a nice person. Of course, whenever Shou Cheng learns someone is in need, he secretly, without any hesitation, helps them. The Long hot spring is also the only one (out of the 10 in the town) to close on Sunday and provide free meals and use of the hot springs for the elderly. Tai thinks to himself that doesn’t want to know about the grudge between the Zhaos and Longs because it is none of his business.

Ji Shan arrives at his shop and Tai immediately goes to help him. Ji Shan invites him for a drink later, but Tai refuses saying he has something to do later. His wife comes and asks if that was Tian He. That’s right. Not only did he fix Ji Shan’s car, but he also helped him unload. His wife says it feels like Tian He, but not at the same time. Who’d’ve thought that Tian He would be come healthier, nicer, and gentler? Tai walks along and calls his father a hypocrite for caring so much about the town, but not about his own wife and youngest son. Tai refuses to acknowledge any relationship exits between him. He then spots the young thief from the other day and immediately starts chasing after him again.

At the Zhao house, everyone is abuzz about the bet and watching to see what will happen. Ren Hu overhears employees talking about him being gutless if he doesn’t go. Ren Hu clears his throat and then tells the two employees that he just learned of a trend where you take unpaid leave—the two can join that trend tomorrow. Seriously? Talk about unethical business practices right there. And he’s supposed to be the smart, good one in the family? Riiiight.

Granny Zhao is holding a picture of her son and talks about the chaos of the past day. Ren Hu lost a competition while Ren Mei almost burnt the entire house down. What will she do about Ren Mei? Enter a servant desperately calling for her. Zhao asks her to calm down and speak—what happened? Ren Mei ran away from home! Zhao then recalls her granddaughter coming up and demanding to know why Zhao hates her. Is it because she didn’t like Ren Mei’s mother for being a ballerina and thus she hated Ren Mei who loved to dance as well? Is it because she is concerned with outer appearances and dislikes the fact that Ren Mei is fat? Ren Mei then wonders why her grandmother is so biased against her and favors her brother so much so that she would send Ren Mei to the Long family. So that’s why Ren Mei meant earlier when she said that Zhao was looking for a way to drive her out. Granny Zhao then says that since Ren Mei only listened to half the conversation, then she can go in her brother’s stead and walks off.

Ren Mei is walking alone and depressed. She scolds herself for leaving home on an impulse—where will she go now? She pulls out her wallet to see how much money is there, but it’s only enough for a few days at a hotel. Along comes our young thief and he brazenly steals the wallet and runs away. Ren Mei immediately gives chase and we cut to this weird comic-looking sequence that just had me laughing out loud at it’s unexpectedness and silliness. While Ren Mei is chasing after the thief she notices Tia and demands to know why he’s following her. Tai says he thought she was only a servant, not a part of the Zhao family. This confuses Ren Mei—as if Tian He doesn’t know Ren Hu is her brother and always insults her. This surprises Tai as he didn’t know Ren Hu was her brother and he has no idea what she’s talking about as he’s never insulted her. Ren Mei again demands to know why Tai is following her. Tai says he isn’t following her and is chasing after the thief that stole his jacket. The two chase harder after the thief. Tai then takes her ballet slippers and tosses them at the thief who slips but quickly regains his balance. Tai then sends Ren Mei sailing after the thief. She rolls to a stop right by him, but ignores him to pick up the slippers. Thus the thief gets away again.

Tai angrily demands to know what she’s doing—she could have easily caught him. He then notices her tears and the scrapes on her hands. He then asks why she keeps sitting on the ground instead of getting up. Ren Mei gets to her feet and Tai demands to know why she’s not answering. Ren Mei then says that he’s been very rude, throwing away her shoes without permission. They are very precious to her. Tai casts a disparaging look at her figure and says those shoes can’t possibly belong to her and then he trails off. He says he will repay her for the shoes as they are only worn out junk. You’d think he’d understand sentimental value of something, but no. Ren Mei goes to walk away and Tai asks if she’s running away from home. Ren Mei says its because he won the competition. He then asks where she will go if she’s running away from home and talks about wild dogs, bad people, and ghosts. He then gives her money for a hotel and tells her to go back to her family after spending the night out. He walks away and Ren Mei wonders just what is going on. First he insults, scares her, and then he caringly gives her money. What gives? She then looks down and is shocked to see Japanese yen. Since when did the Long hot springs start taking yen? Is Tian He playing a trick on her?

It is now night and Tian He is still wandering around. He wonders why he gave Ren Mei his money so impulsively. He then looks around and decides to find a place to stay and leave in the morning. At the same time, Ren Mei finds an abandoned house with police tape across it. The frightened girl enters and vows to stay there for the night. WHY isn’t she going to a hotel? Right…they probably wouldn’t accept yet. Ren Mei rips down a sheet and wonders why her back hurts. She looks at her sweater and notices a footprint. So she didn’t fall on her own, Tian He kicked her! She cannot believe she has been treated like a spare tire or a water bucket. Poor girl. She has a small fit of anger that quickly turns to tears. She kicks empty glass bottles and hears someone complain that she is noisy. She goes to a hole in the wall where there is a large bottle wedged. The bottle goes flying and Tai and she are surprised to see each other once more.

Tai asks why she’s there and didn’t go home. Ren Mei is wondering the same thing herself. Tai scolds her for parroting him and she scolds him for parroting her. Tai then finally asks why she was so noisy. Ren Mei says its because she was thinking about him kicking her. Tai then says he’s going to sleep and Ren Mei wants him to fix the hole; however, she can’t spill out the reasons about wanting privacy because she is a girl. The annoyed Tai who can’t stand her indecisive ramblings again declares he’s going to bed. He lies on a skid and then looks towards the hole wondering what she’s doing. Ren Mei then wonders if he might peep at her when she’s changing. she then takes magazines and newspapers to try cover the hole. This annoys Tai who would never peep at her. He then decides to do his best to scare her. What a mischievous boy.

He goes over to the hole and stick his wetted finger through the newspaper pulling it over onto his side. He apologizes for “accidentally” doing so and the angry Ren Mei says it was on purpose. Yep, it was, but he childishly says it wasn’t. Ren Mei sticks up more only to have him obviously rip it down again. When Ren Mei angrily yells “Long Tian He” Tai smiles broadly and says that Tian He can’t hear her. How can that be when he’s right there? Tai smiles wider and says maybe when he’s asleep, he’ll want to take a peek at her. Ren Mei then punches him through the wall and he goes flying across the room, knocked out cold. Ren Mei says it served him right, but gets worried when she hears no reply. She tries to remove her arm, but it’s stuck. When she finally manages to pull it out, she goes flying backwards and knocks herself out. Now that’s talent.

The next day our two runaways finally wake up with bumps on their heads. They leave the building and bump into each other again and immediately start arguing. The young thief comes out from a nearby building and scolds them for being so loud so early. The two start chasing after him again. It makes me laugh, it really does. Its absurdly funny for some reason. Tai tells Ren Mei to stop following him and Ren Mei says she needs to get her money back. She then tells him to run slower and he tells her to run faster. He takes off and she chases after him. Tai manages to shake her and slows down into a walk. Thieves steal for money right? Cash is no problem, but he’d have to exchange the gold he stole. Of course, there’s a pawnshop right in front of Tai. How convenient. Tai stakes out the shop allowing Ren Mei to catch up to him. She asks him why he isn’t going after the thief and he hushes her.

At this time the thief shows up and Tai makes his presence known and our thief takes off running again. Ren Mei and Tai both give chase in yet another ridiculous comic scene. Ren Mei plots revenge by kicking Tai into the thief like he did her yesterday, but when she goes to implement her plan, she trips herself and goes rolling, knocking into the thief and landing on top of him. Tai says it’s the equivalent of killing with a meat bun. He goes over to the fallen pair and compliments Ren Mei on her victory. The angry thief gets up and pulls her up, too. He puts his arm around her shoulder and takes out a knife and threatens to cut her if Tai gets any closer. Of course, Tai doesn’t take this threat too seriously. Why? It’s obvious the thief is scared and really has no intention of hurting Ren Mei.

Tai starts bickering with the meat bun girl who yells at him to call her by her name—Zhao Ren Mei. The Thief cannot believe they are arguing. He and Ren Mei also can’t believe that Tai doesn’t care what happens to Ren Mei and only wants his jacket back. Doesn’t Tai know he’s holding a knife? Tai looks at him and smirks. His hand is shaking—it’s the first time he’s held that knife, right? That means the thief can’t hurt anyone. Tai then dares the thief to cut her and the thief says he will. Tai tells him to quit spouting empty words. Of course, the thief can’t do it and Ren Mei bites his arm, allowing Tia to overpower him. Tai tosses Ren Mei’s wallet back to her and then searches the pockets of his coat. He then asks the thief for what was in the pocket. When the thief says he threw it out in a truck nearby, Tai punches him. At this time a bicycle cop stops by and asks why Tai hit the young man. Ren Mei says the boy stole their things and the policeman notices Ah Lun—a perpetual offender. At this time, the truck starts leaving and Tai rushes after it. Ren Mei asks him where he’s going, but he doesn’t answer and keeps chasing after the truck. Ren Mei says to forget him and then wonders what was lost that made him so angry.

Tao is desperately digging through a garbage heap when Ren Mei comes up and asks him what he’s looking for. She offers her help, but he rejects her offer. Ren Mei then complains over his fierceness and again asks what he lost so she can help him look for it so the search can go faster. The angry Tai pushes her away and she goes sprawling backwards, hurting her palm. Tai sees this and complains about how easy she gets hurt. He then helps her to her feet. We then get Ren Mei’s imagination where Tai lovingly blows on her hand and kisses her booboo. Tai cuts into her fantasy and asks what she’s doing. Ren Mei quickly lets go of his hand and steps backward. Tai hears the sound is different and quickly pushes her away and finds the dictionary his mother gave him. The pitiful Ren Mei thinks that he is strange for caring so much about a dictionary and silently goes off. When Tai goes to tell her about the importance of the dictionary, she’s already gone.

Ren Mei is pouting and walking along when the assistant tracks her down and asks her to come back to the Zhao house. Ren Mei refuses and the assistant reports that granny Zhao fainted. We then cut to the Zhao house where Ren Hu is lovingly tucking his grandmother into bed and scolding her for overworking. Zhao asks if things are ready for the guest from Hong Kong. Ren Hu replies everything is well in hand and Zhao asks if there’s anything else. Ren Hu says that his little sister is still not home. Gruff granny says she doesn’t care if Ren Mei isn’t back—let’s see how long she can last on her own. Of course, Ren Mei comes back in time to hear these words, which you can tell Zhao doesn’t really mean. Ren Hu turns and sees his sister standing there. He then starts talking about her health and the fact he has to go to the Long house. Did she really plan on going on his behalf? It can’t be helped. Ren Hu says the juniors of the Zhao family should be the ones to go, but Zhao says she’s of no use in the house. Well… it looks like Ren Hu is not has bad as he first appeared. He’s helping clear up the misunderstanding. Ren Mei then enters and says she will go in her grandmother’s and brother’s place.

Tai holds up the golden dragon and the dictionary. When looking for the dictionary, he found the dragon statuette. Should he return the dragon before he goes? Forget it, he has nothing to do with the Long family anyways. He puts it on the edge of a bridge and walks off only to be found by Ji Shan. Tai tells him he isn’t Tian He, but Ji Shan ignores him and takes out the dragon statue. Look what he found on a bridge! Isn’t this the famous Long family treasure? Did it get stolen? What idiot thief would do that when everyone knows this one is fake and just gilded—not real gold? Tai tells him to throw it out, but Ji Shan refuses since it was passed down from generation to generation. He then gives it back to Tai and tells him to take it home. Ji Shan drives off and Tai drops his dictionary when calling out to him. When he picks it up, it’s on the idiom meaning to accept one’s ancestry.

Tai heads back to the Long family home and goes to put the statue on the ground only to hear Lao Tu and Ah Pan arguing about buying medicine for the sick Long. When they are gone, Tai puts the statue back in the house and overhears his father talking to his mother. Shou Cheng regrets that he let the cherry tree die and that he failed to protect Zhi Zi and Long Tai and bring them back. Tai turns to leave, but stops when he hears his father apologizes to his mother. Enter Ah Pan and Lao Tu who scream out Tian He and rush to Tai. This catches Long’s attention and he turns around. Father and son stare at each other in silence before Ah Pan and Lao Tu drag Tai off to rest.

At the Zhao house, Ren Mei is packing her back when Ren Hu pays her visit. Ren Hu tells her that he isn’t grateful because she volunteered for this herself. Ren Mei then recalls the past when her brother used to have nightmares about fire. He would yell out in his sleep that the fire is there and that his mom and dad should hurry and run (I’m guessing the car caught on fire). His screams would wake the young Ren Mei. The flashback ends and Ren Mei tells her brother she just wishes to do something that will make him happy. Ren Hu snaps at her to stop spouting nonsense and just leave if that’s what she wants. Sigh. Was Ren Hu just playing Ren Mei or can he not express how much he really does love his little sister? Ren Hu leaves and runs into his grandmother who asks if Ren Mei really wishes to go to the Long resident. Ren Hu lies and says that he tried to persuade her not to go, but she wouldn’t listen. Ren Mei cries and asks the picture of her parents if they know why she’s going in her brother’s place.

That night Tai gets ready to head out once more when he recalls his father’s apology and how he had overheard the servants talk about how much Long cherished the cherry tree. This makes him stop. He goes back into the house and looks around. He sees all of Tian He’s certificates and trophies (all for academics). He then opens his brother’s drawer and picks up a picture and asks it if they are really brothers. They may look identical, they are not identical at all.