When a Snail Falls in Love 如果蜗牛有爱情 - Episode 7 (Recap)

kakashi: Ye Zixi is dead and Ji Bai refuses to properly grieve for her. Instead, he wants to find her killer with such intensity, you can almost feel it through the screen.
JoAnne: This works for me.
Trotwood: Works for me, too (Getting heat protection for my computer by studying up on heat sink technology)
Eleanor: Works for me too, and well I'll be more than happy to be a shoulder to cry on Ji Bai.
Shuk: I'm onboard as well. 

Episode 7

A mountainous, lonely area. A tune. The camera zooms in and down... it's a mobile phone, Zixi's of course, lying in the dirt, among some shrubs. "Third bro" is calling. It's 7:21 am. Cut to Ji Bai at the provincial police station, Zhao Han and Yao Meng are as worried as he is, but trying to make sense of this. Maybe she went to bed after sending him that message as a joke? I don't think so. Ji Bai doesn't either. He wants to immediately head to Lin An Mountain, even though he hasn't slept a wink. In the car, he keeps calling Zixi's phone .... of course, there is no answer.
I know Trot doesn't like her, but I always felt a bit sorry for her. She's like a puppy that bit someone and is forever ostracized as the bad dog because of it.
I don't see her as a puppy at all. Maybe I'm biased because she reminds me of all the girls i knew growing up who had sad lives and got away with things because they were also pretty and sighed a lot while the rest of the people who also had sad (often sadder) lives had to suck it up because we weren't pretty and didn't have the luxury to sit around and be sad a lot. There are also ways to get revenge without a lot of collateral damage or losing your soul. (don't ask for details. I will not share)
Is it weird that I can both agree with Jo and Trot? Whatever her crimes and however much she isn't a perfect person, she did not deserve to die because of whatever she's involved in.
You are right, no one should die for past mistakes, but I still don't feel any sadness that it all ultimately caught up with her.
Xu Xu is running on the tracks this morning when one of her colleagues informs her that a woman's body has been found at 3 You Ma Road in Lin An Mountain. Captain Ji wants her to go. Urgently. The officer thinks Ji Bai knew the victim. Xu Xu goes there immediately, of course ... lots of ambulance and police cars.
I'm confused about the phone being out in the woods.
I didn't understand that either, but I find myself going with the flow because I don't understand a lot.
I'm guessing it's important? Trust the team and carry on? Also I LOVE that Ji Bai called Xu Xu to get there quickly. Yes! 
She walks towards the house slowly, apprehensively. Of course, she knows at this point whose body it is that was found. And we see the body ... the blood, the Ye Corporation blades with which she seems to have been killed. Xu Xu walks through the house, until she comes to the actual scene of crime. And Ji Bai.
That is a lot of blood. A whole lot of blood. That is all the blood, I think.
That means she bled out and was probably still alive when all that blood was bleeding out. Not a very pleasant way to die. I must say though, the presentation and staging of her death and the drone scenes above are gorgeous. It's a bit like art. Now I sound really macabre.
Given the spatter, it looks like she took a dive off a building and went splat. I hope the coroner doesn't determine that she might still have been alive when he was calling her last night. Ji Bai doesn't deserve that kind of guilt. As for visuals, I really didn't like that shapeless coat of XuXu. Pockets are too small to carry anything other than gloves, you can't run in it after the bad guys, no room for a weapon, and the edges will drag into the bloodpools if she kneels down. And I would have put the gloves over the sleeves for added protection. Now I sound really macabre, too.
He looks numb. But his numbness lasts a few seconds only, because when cued, he reports on how and why he came to this house, handing over his phone (and Zixi's text message that he received as 12:20am) as evidence. He called the local police, who found her dead body at 7:30am. She was covered with a white jacket.
Hmm. Was she killed by a member of the family? By her lover? The covering thing, that's usually someone who cared for the person despite killing them.
I remember thinking that I wasn't sure if the same person who killed her covered her. The violence with the knives didn't seem to fit caring more rage. And nope. I didn't like her, but not only does no one deserve to die but no one deserves to maimed with knives like this. I remember thinking that I hoped she dies before the knife stuff happened.
Yeah, there is definitely something weird about the scene. It doesn't all quite add up. Why spend so much time staging the murder to then cover her messily with a white jacket. 
I agree, the scene didn't really make sense. I still feel bad for our boy.
He tells his team to do various tasks: Xu Xu is the one to take notes of what he is saying and seeing. The weapons: five special knives from the Ye Corporation, with which she was stabbed. These blades look scary. There are no prints. No signs of the body being moved after she was killed.
You know, with all that blood on the carpet, she should be bloodier. Her hair, her clothes. They should be soaked in it.
Like do you mean on top of her? Well only if she struggled. If she was lying down like that, the blood would have flowed out and down. And with her dark hair, we also probably can't see how matted her hair must be. Beautiful colour palette though. 
Upstairs, Ji Bai checks the railing. Her soft tissue contusion tells him she must have fallen down from this spot. Xu Xu checks with a magnifying glass. Of course, his intuition is correct. Downstairs, they remove her body.
But he just rubbed his butt in potential evidence! Then she touched it! The railing not the butt.
That fall would not generate all that blood. So she fell, then was stabbed or cut many times? That's pretty brutal. You've got a helpless person on the ground after a fall like that, and you use the opportunity to go to town on them with every sharp object in the house? And then you go 'oh dear, let's cover you up' ? Or did someone else come along after and cover up?
Perhaps the latter? Yeah, the crime speaks of intense cruelty and cold-heartedness. What happened at this crime scene???
They're in the bedroom next. It is where we saw her be sad and lonely when she texted Ji Bai to meet her at the college restaurant. Ji Bai enters her walk-in closet. The sight of the blue dress she wore at his grandpa's place triggers memories of what she said to him and makes him freeze.
Xu Xu - who is closely behind him - pauses for a few seconds, carefully checks his face ... and then walks around him to hug him. She's so tiny... And it is such a tender, honest gesture, it almost made me cry.
This was sweet and sweeter because it seems like she has went through a check box and come to this result logically that he needs a hug right now rather than just doing it emotionally.
I liked what she did, but am I the only one thinking that their treatment of each other is very intimate, considering how little they actually know each other at this point? It's like they skipped the getting to know you phase and went immediately from introductions to a sort of low-key acceptance that when all the crap settles, they're going to be together. Almost as if upon meeting, the acknowledgement was not 'oh, new person' but 'oh, my mate has arrived.'
I've had this kind of rapport with people though. It happens
I have, too. And even if we don't see each other for years when we get together it's like no time has occurred in between.
I think that Xu Xu is also just like that. She acts logically to meet people's needs but doesn't always think the social aspects of her actions through. Ji Bai looks a bit surprised at the intimacy. He really does need a hug though. A bear hug. 
It's a poignant moment. But he shouldn't even be at the scene, since he is the potential the last one she contacted when she was alive, and it way too close with the victim to be objective. At least, for anyone but Ji Bai.
She offers to take over from here (and does) because of his close relationship to the victim, but guess what: he won't have it. This woman was one of his closest friends. His little sister. He has to do this himself, even though he is very sad. Finding the killer and bringing him to justice is the only thing he can do for her now. Oh Ji Bai TT________________TT
Thanks for this gif. I remember thinking this was so natural, completely fitting for their characters--sad and funny at the same time.
Oh Ji Bai. My heart just aches for him. So much. And then I laughed at the cuteness and funniness of the giffed scene. 
Next, they look at the contents of Zixi's fridge. There is medication in there and syringes. Ji Bai knows she had stomach cramps (and needed injections?! Ouch). There also is food on the table - food for one, left there for about "eight hours", Ji Bai declares after sniffing the salmon.
Since she was found at 7:30am, that means she prepped the plates around the time she texted Ji Bai.
They had to sneak in the geeeeeeeenius.
Hehehehe. Speaking of geniuses, Kaikai is pretty intelligent. He would frustrate the Fighting Man producers because he would figure out clues too early. hahahahaha 
In the living room, he sees the pipe he gave Zixi ... more memories. He freezes up again, until Xu Xu addresses him - simply to unfreeze him. They are so cute together.
The show is doing a really good job showing us why they belong together more than on a team but as a couple. Despite the huge and obvious differences, she really "gets" him and isn't put off or intimidated into not going with her instincts concerning what he needs. He (and I'm not sure he realizes this yet) finds comfort in her--partly because their thinking process is so similar. I get the feeling he's had to explain a LOT to other people, and he doesn't really with her.
Yes! What a perfect way to put it! It's so nice when you are with someone, friend or otherwise, who just GETS you. It's the best! Snail and Lion forever!
[grumbles] He still shouldn't be lead investigator on a case this close to him personally.

He continues to dictate after this. Zixi bought this villa half a year ago. There are no signs of violent entry. No signs that anything was stolen. But it seems all the surveillance videos have been thoroughly deleted. And there are no witnesses to be found, seeing how remote this location is. Xu Xu says it must have been someone who Zixi knew well. She wasn't expecting any visitors (dinner for one), but she let in the person when they were at the door. Also, the body was cruelly stabbed with the Ye knives but then covered with a jacket - this is someone with mixed feelings for Zixi.
Argh! Statistically women are more likely to be killed by a domestic partner someone they know, so this does fit the statistics. 
There's empty wallhooks too, so something was removed. Just like at the jilted wife's house.
And then, there's this "lover"-business. It seems likely the villa was the place where Zixi would meet that person (it's remote enough for that). There are no apparent signs that a man was living here, but Xu Xu points out some of the deco and the more male oriented magazines on the coffee table. Xu Xu has noticed empty shelves in the shoe cabinet - and the slight mess in her wardrobe, which doesn't seem like Zixi at all, who was super neat and tidy. She thinks another person took away his clothes in a rush and tried to cover it up by moving some of hers over into the empty compartment. As we already know, she has long suspected Zhang Shiyong to be that lover. Ji Bai gives her a death-stare and walks away after that. But yeah ...sounds about right.
That guy, though, he does not seem like a murderer to me.
I think he would if it between his death and the other person's. For me, I don't think he would care enough about anyone to have the kind of hatred needed to do the knife thing in addition to the death. he doesn't strike me as a person who'd have that kind of passion or focus. I also think he'd be freaked out by the blood.
What you all said. I could see him accidentally killing someone maybe in a crime of passion, but yeah, not the sort of cold-blooded staging and bleeding out death Zixi had.
He just seems like a little weasel.
In the meantime, Yao Meng is interrogating the other suspect who hurt her with a knife (Guan Nan). She is still very emotional ... I am sure there is something in her life that makes her detest human traffickers even more than we all detest them. This man was one of the victims previously, though ... an orphan that they abducted. He doesn't know much about this organization though, but he is willing to share what he does know. Better than nothing! 
Husband has the biggest crush on Yao Meng by now, awww.
She had better fall for him return, or we will smother her with pancakes.
(I want a pat on the back for not running in with my HUSBAND fan sign yet. I want acknowledgement of my restraint)

*applauds Trot* I myself have been trying hard not to spend every few seconds being "Oh my goodness Ji Bai is hotte". And he's so smart! Intelligence is soooo attractive! 
Ye Corporation. A guy we will get to know as Ye Ziqiang (Huo Ya Ming), who is one of Papa Ye's sons, has a rage fit. So their stocks have crashed, huh.
I remember thinking, "Why a rage fit now?" They've been having trouble for awhile. This isn't the time to have a fit but figure out what to do to calm down shareholders or maybe even buy  back any of their own stock that people are selling at a lower price. They should be discussing a game plan for the police 

The police are announced and they start interrogating the family. Hmmmm... at this point, they all seem shady. Papa Ye the least, I'd say.
He seems sad.
Who wouldn't be watching both his family and his business starting to crash and burn. However, I always wonder about these characters who seem surprised to learn how many people in their families actually hate each other.
Yeah. They also scream "dysfunctional family" to me so loudly. 
In the police canteen, the officers speculate that the victim's lover is the most likely suspect - but they have no evidence of who it might have been. We also get some info that Zixi would have been the sole heir to the whole corporation had her father not been killed. Oh, wow. That was bound to make Sunday dinner awkward, huh? Ji Bai comes to their table... his mood is clearly extremely dark (he remarks that Xu Xu even eats like a snail). First chance the others get, they clear the table. Haha. I think it's also because they feel very awkward around him.
I love this gif, but the situation emphasizes what I said before. He is scary. They all know not to get in his way when he's in a mood--and the situation warrants a "mood." However, she just continues to eat. She knows the mood, might even be nervous about it, but her logical mind is like "I still need to eat even though he's angry. Leaving the food would be a waste. I have to maintain energy for training. AND he really shouldn't be alone now."
Oh I love her. She's perfect for Ji Bai. Oh my poor sad Lion. 
Zhao Han (the only other person who dares to sit with him in this mood apparently- giving a slight finger wave at Husband) briefs him about the interrogation and "Brother Lu" afterward. Apparently, there is another deal to happen in their area. Jia He Labor Market is their key point of contact. Ji Bai tells Zhao Han to report this to Commissioner Zhan - he wants permission (and an immaculate plan) to raid the market.
Ladies, your Husband is awesome. 
Not much later, Ji Bai informs Yang Yu about Zixi's murder. Oh dear, poor boy. He thinks Zhang Shiyong did it, the one who "took her body but couldn't win her heart". It seems Yang Yu has seen the two together - it's the first proof we get about that relationship. He also blames Ji Bai for Zixi's fate  - for not protecting her enough. Stop :(
Shut up, Yang Yu.
It makes me wonder if he would've been "fine" if Ji Bai and Zixi had become lovers.
He seems a bit unstable this one. I wonder if Zixi knew how obsessed he was with her. 
We see Ji Bai on the basket ball court next ... blowing off steam? Yum. Double yum 😍
Xu Xu is watching him from the sidelines. Ji Bai remembers Zixi cheering for him in some college game... :( Xu Xu is quietly counting Ji Bai's hits and misses (he has a 88.2% success rate, she informs us later). I don't even think he has noticed her. But then, Zhao Han and Yao Meng come in and he does - and tells them to play with him. That makes Xu Xu happy. And she even joins them. 
I liked this, that she's willing to play.
Even though she knows and they know and we all know that she has zero athletic ability.
So cute! Oh I love this little team and how well they all fit together. 
At the Ye's, the family is gathered for a dinner. It's held monthly, to commemorate the dead uncle (Zixi's dad). Now, they have someone else to mourn too. Ye Qiao has no appetite though - she leaves the table, clearly angry. Zhang Shiyong follows her, against Daddy Ye's explicit wish ... which makes him smash a wine glass on the floor. Qiao cries: "You probably wish Zixi were your daughter" (er, why do you say that?!) and runs out, Shiyong closely behind her. Angry man Ziqiang gets up and laughs: so fitting. Zixi may be dead, but she always wanted to ruin this family, nothing has changed. And he throws Zixi's picture, that his dad put up on the mantelpiece, across the room. What a lovely family. 
Sounds to me like Zixi had every right.
I am glad I'm not part of this family, that's for sure. 

Comments

Interesting insights into Ji Bai's character again in this episode. I fully understand why he wants to be the one on this case (though I'm not entirely sure about the regulations in such circumstances?). He knows he is one of the best. It makes perfect sense that HE should be the one in charge of investigating this murder. Emotionally, I also understand him, though his refusal to grieve properly seems very unhealthy. His little sister is dead - revenge is not what he is after, but justice.
I don't think he'd be allowed to participate in real life, not in any of these investigations. Nor Husband, actually.
But is this an international expectation? Would the Chinese police have this same protocol? Where is moonlil? Moonlil might know.
Yeah I was wondering about that too. Hopefully moonlil will comment and let us know. We depend on you so much, moonlil! 

Xu Xu was like a helping shadow for him. She stuck to him whenever she could, carefully monitoring his emotional and mental state. Without intruding, without being nosy. Just there for support if needed - mainly professional support, but it's already far more than that. Having her as a friend is probably the best thing that can happen to anyone.
I thought her handling of the situation was remarkably sensitive for someone who blurted out her room-mate's crush.
I'm not sure if it was her really being sensitive (though that was the result) but being logical. She is a specialist in psychology after all. She is trying to learn from her mistake. And to be fair about the earlier incident. She was being logical then, too; but I doubt she would have said all f those things if she knew that Yao Meng was going to over hear.
I love how her emotional support comes from such a logical place. The harmony of emotion and logic is a powerful combination. 

There were a lot of little interactions between all the side-characters too, that I usually don't point out when recapping. But I want to mention that they make this drama so enjoyable. It's people who work together and people who mean a lot to each other. Their friendly jests make me smile - this is the kind of work environment I wish to everyone.
They're great, those little moments.  You get a feel for everyone, and they're all such good people who care about each other and like each other.  It's a stark contrast to most of what goes on outside this group.
I luff them! I just want to hug them all! 

Finally, the Ye family... we always knew something was amiss, but there is more amiss here than we previously knew. These people all hate each other, it seems. And in the middle is the dead uncle, that other branch of the Ye-family, which is doomed ... but continues to cast a dark shadow over the living part of the Ye family.
I wonder if Trot has developed any sympathy for ZiXi now.
Sympathy, empathy, and liking are all different things. I feel some sympathy for her situation and sad that anyone should lose a father mysteriously and to have to grow up in a family situation where everyone hates and/or resents you. I can empathize with being ostracised in school because of vicious rumors that people made up about you (I still have those scars). I can see why she made some of the choices she has apparently made. But as I say to my students reasons and excuses are two different things. Everything has a reason. I was late because I overslept for example. But does the reason mean we should be excused? Excuse implies some sort of absolution of fault. No. I still don't like her. I empathize with her and don't thinks she deserved to die or should be blamed for being murdered. However, nobody in this family seems to be without some sort role in his/her own doom.
*sigh* her situation is so sad. Her murder is terrible and unfortunate and in some ways sort of inevitable if one is in this terribly messed up and seemingly "has shady goings on" family. It makes me a lot more grateful for my family, that's for sure.