When a Snail Falls in Love 如果蜗牛有爱情 - Episode 12 (Recap)

kakashi: Our team switches from Zishan to the human trafficking ring ... and finds out that they are closely connected. Yao Meng is put into danger and everyone is really tense. I hope nobody is hurt! It all seems so dangerous.
Trotwood: Not Yao Meng! I'll be tossing tables if they do something to her.
JoAnne: If you cover those tables with glitter first, you can kill two birds with one stone.
Eleanor: Kakashi, I think I'm dead with that screencap (or maybe it's all the glitter I'm inhaling here ;))

Episode 12

Intro: Chairman Ye inspects his warehouses and we see how he gets to the last of them. Is that it? No, he remembers another storeroom. There is one, but the door is sealed, even bricked up! They break it open and find ... drugs. Papa Ye tells an underling to bring it to the police station. He can't save Ye Corporation anymore. It's too late. ~End of Intro.
So, he knew about the secret room that is bricked up, but he didn't know about the drugs? Or did he know that a room should've been there, so he gets people to tear down the wall? Is this really what Uncle Hu was hiding?
I'm guessing he doesn't visit the warehouses a lot, and that the construction happened without his direct knowledge. He's there, he thinks hey, shouldn't there be another...that kind of thing.
I'm starting to think he really wasn't involved in any of it. It seems weird for him to be totally clueless though. And I really love that shot! So nicely framed! 

Someone is at Ji Bai's door - I'll be damned, it's Xu Xu! Making house calls now?! She brought dinner for him, because he got injured (I think he had to take some time off). She actually made it herself: a nutritious congee and some herbal tea, neatly packed in thermos cans. He seems ... puzzled. Even more so when she sits down with him at his little table - and starts eating herself. She claims it's so that she can clean up for him. And she tells him to go to bed early. Gurl ... haha. You are so weird.
I don't think it is weird at all. He is her friend (and we all know more than that, but let's go with friend for now) and colleague. He got hurt saving her. The first thing I'd think of was to bring over food even if he weren't delectably delicious. The first thing I ask when I find out that someone is sick is if they need me to bring over something because when I'm sick I don't feel like cooking or going out. I admire her for being so matter of fact about it.
The bringing food bit is not weird at all, but the staying there with him and eating at that small table is in my opinion! 
She likes him so she wanted to do it, but she's not thinking of this as one action in a string of actions designed to get a specific result, i.e., pursue him with an eye toward a romantic relationship.  It's just food for someone she cares about.
(Note to self: if I bring Kakashi food, do not stay to eat any of it)
I just think she is a little socially clueless. Though maybe she is just trying to be a friend and hasn't quite figured it all out. I wonder how much Wang Kai had to eat on set. He does like eating so I'm sure he was pretty happy with scenes like this. 

She does clean up afterwards, while he sits on the sofa - doing research. His arm seems to hurt. She brings him some tea and then declares, smiling, that she will be leaving now. At the door, she turns around and says that Hu Zhishan and Brother Lu are both connected to that Jia He Market. Does he think there's a connection between the two? That question makes him do one of those short "huh" snort-laughs people sometimes do and he says that she wouldn't have to go through so much trouble just to discuss theories with him. No need to suck up. I understand why you're puzzled by her appearance, but you got her completely wrong, boy.

It actually insults her a little that he would think that. (Me, too, He is still trying to put her into the same category of other women he knows.) She neither came because of sucking up nor because she wanted to discuss theories. She just wanted to bring him tea and congee. It's the only reason she needs. Xu Xu: out.
I literally applauded when she did this. Seriously, I paused the video and clapped.
I like that she has NO subterfuge or calculation.
*hugs XuXu* She is just so great. 

Ji Bai: cute.
*Hugs Wang Kai and his adorable face*

In the dorm, Xu Xu draws puzzled Snail and puzzled Lion comics. Yao Meng calls it: the snail has fallen in love with the lion, but the lion doesn't get it. (I remember thinking that the snail doesn't get it either yet) This scene is so cute. Yao Meng says it with a slight smile, but not a trace of envy (because she admires Ji Bai like a police god but doesn't like him that way and she's a great friend)... and levelheaded Xu Xu seems to go into analysis-mode of her own feelings right away. But it's actually Yao Meng who reads all the images correctly.
I remember thinking yes, she got that right, but also thinking that with Xu Xu it would have been just as easy for it to be wrong: I can see her doing these things without feeling anything romantic for Ji Bai at all. Except, maybe...would she then not feel compelled to draw it out?
Maybe she's drawing to figure it out? And as she draws, perhaps she is making some connections and realising that she does rather like this Ji Bai fellow. 

It's night and the police raid the Ye warehouses. Papa Ye is there, watching from inside one of the police cars. Arrests are made. The next day, Ji Bai is at the Commissioner's office, when Papa Ye makes a statement about Zishan (who is still missing). He calls him "as quiet as a shadow and as honest as a piece of wood". For the Ye family, things won't ever be the same again.
I'd never really thought of wood as particularly honest OR dishonest, but I guess it is what it is and can't be anything else, and that's a form of honesty?
Now I'm really curious about this idiom. Idioms are so interesting to me! (And can be quite hard to learn in different languages) Wait, this is an idiom, right? 

After this, our team starts investigating the human trafficking connection (they seize a whole truck full of women!) and being turning their attention to the Jia He Market. Zhao Han and Yao Meng get to play couple! awwww. They take a lot of pictures, of themselves and their surroundings.
People have been making comments about the amount of glitter I have been using and the size of my Husband fan signs. There was a report of me falling over a barrel of glitter somewhere, but that has not been confirmed. (I saw it.) From now on, I will calmly be admiring the skill and loyalty and charm and potential pancake making capabilities of Husband like the mature person I am. See below how he is showing us all what a good boyfriend he would be. You all know that he's going to save those pictures of her, right? (murmuring over and over: I will not squeel. I will not shout. I will not squeel. I will not shout--in recovery from the near-choking on glitter incident)
We'll see.
Yeah, I bet there'll be more glitter again before this recap is out. These two really are quite adorabubble. 

On the way back, Husband gives Yao Meng a present: it's a piggy. This particular one is from a story he really likes. The story goes: "Once upon a time, there was a hippo and a pig. The hippo asked the pig to build a house for him. So the pig built a big house for the hippo. The hippo was really happy. But the problem was the hippo couldn't get into the house. So he asked the pig if something went wrong. The pig said: "I am sorry, Mr. Hippo. I built the house based on my size"." After that, the hippo was really mad but forgave the pig. Ooooookay. She laughs, but only because she thinks it's the worst story ever.
Because it is.
I never realized that one of my must-haves would be the ability to tell a non-story, and badly at that.
Aaaaah this was so adorable! hahahaha he's so awkward around her sometimes. 

You gave me a Husband gif after that horribly adorable story?!?!?!?!

. . . . . 

(Ripping off my face mask. Clawing at the screen. HUSBAND!! HUSBAND!! HUSBAND!!) They really need to get married now. Just stop by a court house on the way back to the precinct. Do you not see this man? Do you not see the years of horrible stories he will be telling to your children? I just ordered a confetti cannon, people (see below). These work with glitter, too and can shoot glitter or confetti up to 80 ft high at a pound per second continuously.
Just try not to point it at people's faces, Trot.
Haha, glitter again, so soon? ;)

Forget restraint. Go big or go home. Stand back.

They seem to have a wiretap on certain people in that Market - or is it a bug in their house? Guan Nan, the guy they captured when they went after the murderer of the deaf-mute, is mentioned often by them. They go talk to him and he tells them a bit more about what happens when "Brother Lu" comes around. Big Boss would want to select pretty girls. Ji Bai: "In your opinion, would he pick a girl like her?" Her = Yao Meng.
I can't tell if she's surprised by what he's thinking of doing, or if she's surprised by the indirect compliment.
Aw. She is so lovely. 

I don't know, Ji Bai ... is this a good idea?! Guan Nan leads Yao Meng straight into the snake pit (as watched over by a Sister Zhao - Yao Meng plays her part really well!), while the others linger outside, to protect her if necessary. This time, Xu Xu and Ji Bai get to play couple! Double awwwww. Xu Xu is visibly uncomfortable.
(trying to hear you over the roar of the cannon) Who wouldn't be? I'm admiring how focused she remains.
He's f*cking with her head here and loving every minute of it. Sexy bastard.
Ahahahaha Ji Bai. Seriously. Wang Ziwen, the envy of many millions of women. 

They overhear that there is an additional office at Shi Tou Street ... and then, Guan Nan boldly suggest he will show his prey to Big Bro tomorrow. Sister Zhao confirms the time and place ... Bingo! Ah, the tension is high, but Yao Meng walks out of there unscathed, for the time being. ouf. (Whew) And evil Ji Bai notices how red Xu Xu's face is. When she says he got too close to her, he says "monsters have no genders". Mean!
Seriously. What a brat. 

Commissioner Zhan gets briefed on drug and human trafficking crack downs ... and hears that Brother Lu will be transporting a large group of women in a few days. Sadly, they have not much of an idea what Brother Lu might look like - but at least they know he will be at Shi Tou street. Ji Bai cautions them all to use their brains and not be overwhelmed by feelings. 

Xu Xu makes a connection to Zishan here... and Ji Bai finishes her sentence. The reason Hu Zishan killed Zixi was because he wanted the 1.9 billion yuan she embezzled for himself. The Ye family or Papa Ye? they probably did not know about this link to human trafficking.
What has he been doing with all the money over the years? He's not living like he has it, he couldn't be - the Ye family would have noticed.
Stockpiling it for his escape one day? Retirement somewhere cushy? Where's Trot? Has she suffocated from all the glitter? 

Comments

I'm glad they do not get all too graphic about the human trafficking stuff. It's hard to take. When Husband (Cheering, but you can't see me. That cannon blows out a LOT of glitter) got very emotional during the briefing, I wanted to cheer him on. How can you keep a straight head if you go up against human scum, so low they make money from selling other human beings?! Team, I wish you STRENGTH.
Me too! Team, ganbei!
I really hope that their team has some good psych counselors where they can debrief. (I'm glad Trot didn't asphyxiate from breathing in glitter)

Ji Bai must be totally aware of Xu Xu's crush on him by now - so he was probably teasing her in that market. Not only did she bring him food and was pretty open about "just wanting to", she was also fully open about why she turned so red. "I'm a woman and you are a man" is about as frank as she can get. That's how she is: absolutely honest, to the point of being blunt. I really like her for it.  
I do to. She can because though she might feel awkward she just goes about her business about everything. I love how she repeatedly surprises him; I get the feeling he isn't surprised by much.
They will have a happy life together.
They will indeed.