Yes, the title isn’t wrong. I’m seriously feeling bad for Lin Dong Jiang though he’s supposedly the villain for the upcoming parts (through reading some spoilers). At first, I really didn’t care for him because of the anniversary event’s absent and he sounded so irresponsible. Not to mention how he kept pulling all those despicable tricks to achieve his goals, like getting his sworn brother to help him threaten the two shareholders of the company. Yet when the beginning of episode 10 came around, I couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. Call me a sucker for it and the song playing in the background was aiding his cause majorly.
Again, at first, I had guessed that he wanted to marry Zhong Hui because of her wealthy background thus advancing his career further. Even if he had claimed many times before he didn’t want to have any connections with the Li family any more than he already did with the funds that were needed to jump-start his company. I just thought he was being flaky by declaring those things but would eventually work up to bigger things. AND believe me, he wasn’t that innocent, considering how I already listed his capabilities with resorting to all sort of methods to get what he wanted.
However, I didn’t think it was fair to blame the whole Zhong Hui’s happiness on him. Okay, so he had promised to take care of her and give her happiness, which he had inevitably broken over the years. Yet he wasn’t totally blamed for it either. Not to mention how in the flashbacks, from his point of view, he had been in love with her and had pursued her, trying to cheer her up and eventually proposing to her. I’m only at episode 10 at this point so I don’t know the rest of the story yet (and maybe it was after all the wealth that lured him in), but right now, seeing it from his point of view, it seemed like he had always wanted to prove his worthiness and trying hard to impress Zhong Hui (though failed many times because of his poor methods and execution).
Just like what he was thinking when he was sitting by their bed and stroking her hair while she was sleeping, it seemed like whatever he did he had never entered her heart before. It wasn’t a good excuse for his current behaviors with excessive partying and going to nightclubs. However, I felt it was also his own way of escaping from the current situation, with so much pressure from all sides. And how he was trying to put his fingers around the reason why Zhong Hui wasn’t as focused even after all these years of marriage. It would drive one banana all right.
The sad thing was, his character was already set up for failure when the audience was led into seeing his bad side and sympathizing with Zhong Hui. (NOT me, though I do think Daisy Fang Xin has better chemistry with Ke Shu Yuan. However, that’s another story so I won’t elaborate here.) But I just hope that wasn’t the cause for blaming everything on him. Zhong Hui should be responsible for her own decisions as well. If she hadn’t agreed to marry him years ago, then he wouldn’t have hope. Sure, it might have been her weak moment and she might have believed that she would eventually fall for him, but it seemed like she didn’t try enough. Despite all the scenes I’ve seen thus far with her trying to cover up his mishaps from her father, I felt like she was just doing what she thought was necessary as a wife, NOT putting in emotions. And he was able to detect that bit.
They say a picture says a thousand words, right? Imagine looking into a picture album and seeing yourself smiling like an idiot in every picture but your wife looked like she was going to a funeral. I totally felt the blow. So I don’t blame the jealousy on his part when he discovered (accidentally) the pictures of her and Li Xin ages ago.
Sure, it was his own doing by pursuing her and proposing to her years ago. Yet I felt it was up to her to agree or not. Back in a circle with stating that she shouldn’t have agreed, but that was what I felt so frustrated all along. If she couldn’t do it, then don’t give him hope. Blaming it on him and storming out didn’t help either when they had that conversation in the living room. AGAIN, like he was any better in his actions, but I felt pinning all those things on him was so wrong. Like he said, don’t divert that on him when it was her own past baggage.
Here’s the song that was playing in the background the whole while he was reminiscing about his past with Zhong Hui:
(Credit: Rock Records Taipei)
And for how many episodes later that his evil deeds unleash before everyone’s eyes–in more obvious ways, I seriously hope it’s not that lame thing with making him the monster just because some people not being able to confront their past so they need to make him a scapegoat for their sufferings.
*All images were captured by DTLCT