Episode Summary
The office politics at Moma heat up when Mo Yuanzhi promotes An Lan after she secretly arranges a meeting with a potential business partner. A planned car accident is narrowly avoided, but the group gets caught in a chaotic fan stampede at a coffee shop, orchestrated by Ye Kun. Ding Qi captures Ye Kun but realizes he's not a looper. The episode ends with Ding Qi discovering that Maggie, the business partner, was the first person to alter the day's events, making her a new key figure.
Spoiler Alert
Office Politics and a Surprise Promotion
The episode kicks off with some classic corporate drama. Ding Qi has Yu Peishan looking into calls between An Lan and Mo Yuanzhi.You can just feel something is up.
Meanwhile, Mo Yuanzhi strolls into the office like nothing's wrong. He doesn't say a word about An Lan. But then Fu Jun gets stopped by security. At the same time, Mo Yuanzhi finds a letter in his files, supposedly from Fu Jun. The HR head, Cai, tells Fu Jun his severance pay is on hold because of some violation. But just a few minutes later, Mo Yuanzhi calls Cai. He tells her to handle the "personnel optimization" properly. Suddenly, Cai tells Fu Jun his money is coming through. He's thrilled but swears he never wrote any letter to Mo Yuanzhi. It’s a classic setup.
The shareholder meeting starts, but An Lan is a no-show. She's at the airport picking up Maggie from a company called Wally. Ding Qi then sees messages showing An Lan told Mo Yuanzhi all about Maggie's schedule early that morning.
Back at the meeting, Mo Yuanzhi tells the shareholders that An Lan set up this potential deal with Wally. He says if the partnership goes through, she'll be a hero. Then he drops the big one. An Lan is now the Assistant to the Chief Scientist of the R&D department. Han Yufei gets so mad he literally breaks a glass.
A Close Call and a Traffic Jam
Things get intense on the road. Ding Qi calls An Lan and tells her to take a different highway exit. The driver doesn't want to. Ding Qi has to yell at him over the phone to get him to listen. Good thing he did. A little while later, they see black smoke rising from the road they were supposed to be on. An Lan and Maggie both look shaken.
While all this is happening, Da Kai is still searching for Ye Kun. Someone tells him Ye Kun works as a movie extra, so he should check out the local film studio.
An Lan and Maggie's car gets stuck in a massive traffic jam. They're going to miss their flight. They decide to get out and wait at a nearby coffee shop. An Lan lets Mo Yuanzhi know their new plan.
Chaos at the Coffee Shop
This is where everything goes completely sideways. Yu Shiya tries to get Tang Xin on her side. She explains that Moma is split between the tech people and the money people. Tang Xin plays it cool and says she already voted, giving nothing away.
Ding Qi hears about the coffee shop plan and has Yu Peishan prep the location ahead of time. His people, Fang Lu and Haoxin, are already inside when An Lan and Maggie arrive. Soon after, two guys in masks walk in, which makes Fang Lu and Haoxin nervous. Then, Mo Yuanzhi and Ding Qi show up.
Fang Lu figures out that one of the masked guys is a celebrity named Fang Zhou. Ding Qi remembers hearing a news story about this guy causing a fan stampede at a coffee shop before. And right on cue, a mob of fans storms the place.
The fans are everywhere. It's total chaos. Ye Kun uses the confusion to sneak in and throw a smoke bomb. Ding Qi shoves An Lan out a window to safety and then goes back for Maggie. While Mo Yuanzhi tries to get everyone else out, Ye Kun makes his move. Ding Qi spots him and yells, causing Ye Kun to bolt. Ding Qi gives chase.
The Aftermath and a New Lead
Ding Qi catches up to Ye Kun and takes him down. He quickly realizes that Ye Kun is not a time-loop perceiver. He’s just a regular guy.
Da Kai arrives on the scene. Ding Qi tells him to walk the captured Ye Kun right past Mo Yuanzhi's group in five minutes. He wants to see their reactions. Ding Qi watches everyone's faces as they see Ye Kun, but he can't tell if they're genuinely surprised or just good actors.
Later, Ding Qi questions An Lan. She tells him everything. Mo Yuanzhi asked her to contact Maggie. But she also says that Maggie was the one who texted her first, just after midnight. Ding Qi presses for the exact time. This leads him to a shocking conclusion. Maggie is the first person who has actually changed the events of the loop.
