Episode Summary
Zuo Qian Dai confesses to Ye Qi and Chai Zi Yu that she is the online critic Gong Shi Hei. Instead of anger, Ye Qi calmly invites her to discuss his comic. Later, when Ye Qi falls ill and sends out an "SOS" for ink, Zuo Qian Dai rushes to help, leading to comical cooking failures. Meanwhile, Lu Dao misunderstands Gu Zheng Xing's intentions regarding an acting role, resulting in a bizarre incident where Lu Dao, wearing a horse mask, carries an unconscious Gu Zheng Xing across campus. Eventually, Zuo Qian Dai, Chai Zi Yu, and Gu Zheng Xing all gather to help the sick Ye Qi finish his comic. The episode ends with Zuo Qian Dai misinterpreting Ye Qi sleep-talking her name, only to realize he's thinking of a new character.
Spoiler Alert
The Comic Bang Episode 9: Confessions, Chaos, and... Comic Deadlines!
The episode kicks off with a bus ride tensión you could cut with a knife. Zuo Qian Dai finally drops the bomb on Ye Qi and Chai Zi Yu: she's the infamous online comic critic, Gong Shi Hei. Talk about an awkward reveal! Chai Zi Yu, clearly not wanting to be in the blast radius, wisely hops off the bus, leaving Ye Qi and Zuo Qian Dai in a simmering silence. Zuo Qian Dai is bracing for Ye Qi to unleash the fury, totally expecting him to be done with her. But surprise! Ye Qi is remarkably calm. Turns out, he'd already pieced together her secret online identity and actually wants to have a real, in-depth chat about it.
He takes her back to his place, and they dive into discussing his comic. When Ye Qi casually quotes some of Zuo Qian Dai's (as Gong Shi Hei) not-so-flattering critiques from that party, she's mortified, thinking he's about to publicly drag her or settle old scores. She’s so flustered she just ends up awkwardly agreeing with everything he says.
Later, trying to make amends and genuinely encourage him, Zuo Qian Dai forwards Ye Qi some positive comments about his comic. She even offers to use her Gong Shi Hei account to leave some glowing praise, but Ye Qi, perhaps wisely, turns that down.
Then, things take a turn. Zuo Qian Dai is strolling on campus when she gets a frantic "SOS" message from Ye Qi. Her first thought? He's out of ink! Like a true friend (or maybe something more?), she dashes off, buys ink, and rushes to his apartment. Plot twist: he's not out of ink; he's sick in bed with a cooling patch on his forehead. Chai Zi Yu also gets a similar distress call and hightails it over to Ye Qi's.
Meanwhile, in a completely different storyline, Lu Dao is convinced Gu Zheng Xing is trying to steal his acting role. He decides to "test" Gu Zheng Xing during a line reading. But instead of exposing a rival, Lu Dao is completely blown away by Gu Zheng Xing's powerful performance. So much so, he forgets his lines and impulsively offers the role to Gu Zheng Xing, dramatically declaring he'd rather be Gu Zheng Xing's "horse" in the play and even puts on a horse head mask to prove his point! Gu Zheng Xing is understandably baffled. Just as he's about to ask Lu Dao what on earth is going on, he gets an urgent message. In his haste to leave, he trips, falls, and knocks himself out cold. Lu Dao, still sporting the horse mask, hilariously piggybacks the unconscious Gu Zheng Xing across campus, leading to some wild misunderstandings among the other students who witness the bizarre spectacle.
Back at Ye Qi's sickbed, Zuo Qian Dai attempts to whip up some nourishing food. She meticulously follows an online recipe, only to hear the video's narrator casually mention at the very end that the dish is terrible for people with colds and will make them worse. Defeated, she tries a bite herself, and it's so bad she nearly throws up. Later, she sees another cooking video claiming "anyone with hands can make this!" She eyes her own culinary disaster, then her hands, with a healthy dose of skepticism. Her next attempt, ginger soup, ends with burnt ginger. Ultimately, poor Ye Qi just gets a bowl of hot water. Bless her heart for trying!
In a brief campus interlude, Jiang Ruo Song bumps into Zhou Jie Yue in the hallway. Seeing her rubbing her eyes, he assumes she's still upset (presumably about Gu Zheng Xing). His immediate, and rather telling, concern? He quickly checks if Gu Zheng Xing has blocked him.
Eventually, Chai Zi Yu and Gu Zheng Xing (who must have recovered from his fainting spell) arrive at Ye Qi's, also armed with ink, having received the same "emergency" text. It turns out the real emergency is that Ye Qi is sick but still needs to finish his comic. So, he enlists all three of them – Zuo Qian Dai, Chai Zi Yu, and Gu Zheng Xing – to help him meet his deadline.
After their collaborative comic-making session, Zuo Qian Dai peeks into Ye Qi's room and finds him asleep. She hears him murmuring her name, and her heart does a little flutter. Could this be it? Is he dreaming about her? Nope! Turns out, he was actually brainstorming a name for a new character in his comic. Oh, the classic rom-com fake-out!
