Episode Summary
Li Fendou pressures his daughter, Li Yuke, to join the family business and settle down, even offering a family trust contingent on marriage and kids. Yuke resists, wanting independence, but faces a sudden, massive rent hike for her shop, causing financial stress and revealing deep-seated resentment towards her distant father. Insurance agents Hu Manli and Xue Xiaozhou get involved, initially trying to help Li Fendou persuade Yuke, but Hu Manli sympathizes with Yuke's struggles and childhood pain. Hu Manli also deals with another client, Sun A'tao, preventing her from making a risky investment and advising her on insurance options concerning her distrusted son-in-law. Amidst job insecurity, Hu Manli confronts Yuke's landlord, resolving the rent dispute skillfully, which impresses Li Fendou. The episode ends with Hu Manli facilitating a potential reconciliation between father and daughter, as Yuke reflects on lost family happiness.
Spoiler Alert
Episode 31 Recap: Daddy Issues, Rent Hikes, and Insurance Drama
So, we kick things off with Li Fendou still trying super hard to get his daughter, Li Yuke, to take over the family business. But Yuke? Yeah, she's not interested. She's all about making her own way and proving her worth on her own terms. When she hears her dad is thinking about buying insurance, she actually recommends her friend, Hu Manli, to his secretary, Secretary Yan. Small world, right?
Li Fendou has another plan up his sleeve: setting up a family trust for Yuke. Sounds great, but there's a catch – a big one. The condition is that Yuke has to get married and have kids first. Oof. Realizing Hu Manli knows his daughter, Li Fendou basically asks her to help persuade Yuke to settle down. Talk about pressure!
Hu Manli and her colleague, Xue Xiaozhou, head over to Li Yuke's cute little accessory shop. Their mission? Gently nudge Yuke towards the marriage-and-kids path. Xue Xiaozhou chimes in, backing up the idea. But Yuke is standing firm – settling down is the last thing on her mind.
Just when things couldn't get more stressful, Yuke gets a call from her landlord. Plot twist! The landlord is jacking up the rent to a whopping 100,000 yuan a year. Yuke is furious. Apparently, the initial deal was 80,000. Then, because she renovated and enclosed the restroom space for her shop, the landlord added 500 yuan per month. She was already stretched thin and had even taken out some online loans (uh oh). Now, this sudden extra 20,000 a year? It's a massive blow.
Hu Manli immediately warns Yuke against online loans (good advice!) and tells her to just ask her dad for the money. But Yuke refuses – she doesn't want to be under Li Fendou's thumb or feel indebted to him. She insists on handling it herself.
This whole situation pushes Yuke over the edge, and she finally unloads all her pent-up feelings. She talks about how after her mother passed away, her dad was so busy with work that he sent her off to a boarding school far away. They barely saw each other. Even during college breaks, catching face-time with Li Fendou was rare. She feels like he never really cared about her, and this little shop? It's her way of holding onto a childhood dream from simpler times.
Hu Manli tries to get Yuke to see things from her dad's perspective and encourages her to have an honest conversation with him.
Meanwhile, Xue Xiaozhou is laser-focused on landing Li Fendou's insurance deal – their jobs are literally on the line. He wants to talk to Yuke again, try to smooth things over for the sake of the sale. But Hu Manli feels torn. She doesn't want to crush Yuke's dream just to keep her job. She'd rather get fired. This leads to a pretty intense argument between Hu Manli and Xue Xiaozhou, and they part ways angrily.
Later, Hu Manli gets a message from Sun A'tao, who wants help buying insurance. Hu Manli pulls an all-nighter preparing a proposal and sets up a meeting for the next day.
Morning comes, and Xue Xiaozhou tries to patch things up by inviting Hu Manli to an industry forum. Hu Manli is hesitant – she has the meeting with Sun A'tao and feels out of place at fancy forums. Xue Xiaozhou insists he's not mad anymore and begs her to come, promising they can see Sun A'tao right after. Hu Manli reluctantly agrees.
At the forum, they bump into President Jin, who learns Hu Manli is Xue Xiaozhou's assistant. Awkward.
While this is happening, Sun A'tao is at the bank withdrawing matured funds. A bank employee tries to sell her on a wealth management product, promising returns way higher than standard interest rates. Sun A'tao is tempted and tries calling Hu Manli for advice.
Bad timing! Hu Manli is in the middle of Professor Zeng's lecture at the forum and can't talk, so she hangs up. Sun A'tao, who isn't great with texting, gets pressured even more by the bank staff ("Only 3 million quota left!"). She calls Hu Manli again. Hu Manli tries to whisper into the phone, but Sun A'tao can't hear well. Desperate not to miss the "opportunity," Sun A'tao is about to sign up, despite Hu Manli frantically trying to yell "NO!" over the phone. Hu Manli even tries to leave the lecture, ignoring Xue Xiaozhou's attempts to stop her.
Her sudden movement catches Professor Zeng's attention, who assumes she disagrees with his lecture. Put on the spot, Hu Manli has to explain herself. She clarifies that she thinks the professor's points are good but maybe not practical for typical Chinese families, using her client (Sun A'tao) as an example. She explains her phone call wasn't about disagreeing but about stopping a client from making a risky investment. After her impromptu speech, she quickly leaves, with Xue Xiaozhou following right behind.
They rush to the recycling station to find Sun A'tao. Turns out, Sun A'tao wanted to use 3 million yuan to buy life insurance for her daughter but is worried her gambling son-in-law might somehow get his hands on the money. Hu Manli picks up on Sun A'tao's dislike for the son-in-law and suggests a trust instead. However, Sun A'tao reveals she already bought the one-year wealth management product at the bank. Plan B: Hu Manli agrees to prepare the trust proposal anyway, ready for when the product matures in a year.
After all this, Hu Manli makes a big decision: she's going to talk to Li Fendou directly, likely to advocate for Li Yuke. Xue Xiaozhou warns her about the risk – losing this client means losing their jobs. Right then and there, Hu Manli decides to quit. In a surprising move, Xue Xiaozhou declares he'll quit with her. Solidarity!
Armed with this new resolve, Hu Manli and Xue Xiaozhou bring Li Fendou to see Li Yuke, hoping they can finally talk things out. They arrive just in time to see the landlord harassing Yuke for the rent money. Yuke clearly doesn't want to see her father, and Li Fendou seems almost pleased at the thought of her shop failing.
But Hu Manli steps in! She confronts the landlord, pointing out that the restroom structure he's charging extra for is actually an illegal build. She firmly states Yuke will only pay the original 500 yuan monthly increase and threatens to report him otherwise. The landlord, knowing he's in the wrong, backs down and leaves defeated. Nicely played, Hu Manli!
Xue Xiaozhou comforts Li Yuke, who starts to calm down. Hu Manli advises Li Fendou to leave for now and wait for a better time to talk to his daughter. Thanks to Hu Manli's efforts, the landlord signs a proper lease agreement with Li Yuke. Li Fendou witnesses Hu Manli handle the whole messy situation effectively and seems genuinely impressed.
The episode wraps up with Hu Manli encouraging Li Fendou and Li Yuke to have that long-overdue talk. Li Yuke reminisces about her childhood when her parents ran a small grocery store. It was a happy time for their family, but as the business grew bigger, that simple joy disappeared. This final scene really underscores the root of their strained relationship – the loss of connection as success grew.
And that's the gist of Episode 31! A lot of family tension, financial stress, and Hu Manli caught in the middle, trying to do the right thing. Stay tuned to see how this all unfolds!
