Introduction
In the previous recap Filter: Drama Recap Episodes 9 to 16, we read about Cheng Cheng’s antics transforming herself into the gorgeous Su Miao and the genius Fang Jin. Yay, now we’ll meet the handsome manhua character comes to life: Quan Shen Tang! Well, we met him earlier but now it’s his story and how Cheng Cheng can act as a man.
Drama Recaps Episodes 17 to 24
Episode 17
Lin Yuan has a gathering with fellow manhua artists and a woman ridicules her for having imaginary boyfriends all the time. Apparently, Lin Yuan invited Cheng Cheng to save her day as Quan Sheng Tang, the Shadow Detective her manhua character. Sheng Tang shows up looking super handsome holding a bouquet. He says that Lin Yuan and he are childhood sweethearts. No wonder the Shadow Detective character is so impressive, she has a real boyfriend as a prototype! Tang Qi, who follows the guy on the street with a bouquet, sees that Sheng Tang is colorful, like Cheng Cheng. The next funny thing, Gu Yu shows up and pulls Lin Yuan to him! He then says he’s jealous of Sheng Tang and he’s pursuing Lin Yuan. He introduces his grand identity as the co-founder of the cosmetic company Qian Dou Ji. He heard from Lin Yuan before about her gathering with fellow artists and her enemy who always bullies her. Tang Qi shows up, too, and directly tells Sheng Tang he wants to talk to him. Sheng Tang clarifies that he only helps Lin Yuan and his gf Fang Jin knows about it. Tang Qi invites Sheng Tang and Cheng Cheng together for coffee. Cheng Cheng thinks Tang Qi still loves Fang Jin.
After the artist gathering is over, Lin Yuan and Gu Yu have a talk. Gu Yu says he’s serious and wants to pursue Lin Yuan. Lin Yuan apologizes if her closeness to Gu Yu is misunderstood, then let’s not meet anymore. She doesn’t have any plans to fall in love and marry. Gu Yu then says he’s joking, he too doesn’t have any plan to marry and had many girlfriends before. The broken-hearted Gu Yu goes to the bar to meet Tang Qi who is even more depressed because of his psychological problem. Gu Yu advises him to get close to Cheng Cheng and/or Sheng Tang.
At first, Tang Qi wants to disclose his color problem to Cheng Cheng, but Zhou Jin Li strongly rejects the idea because if his mental problem leaks out, it’s not good for Qian Dou Ji’s reputation. After Cheng Cheng gets off work, Tang Qi and Gu Yu stop her and want to send her home. She freaks out and Gu Yu says Tang Qi is like the Big Bad Wolf who wants to kidnap Little Red Riding Hood. Tang Qi leaves him and follows Cheng Cheng to the subway. When he’s accidentally pushed by a passenger, he grabs Cheng Cheng’s arm and suddenly sees colors on his own, even surrounding him. He doesn’t let her go so Cheng Cheng performs yong chun kungfu movement for self-defense. Later, she takes care of Tang Qi’s neck and hands which hurt from her movement. Since it was Tang Qi she believes he’s not a pervert and wonders why he needs to experiment with holding hands.
Episode 18
Tang Qi comes back to meet Gu Yu. Tang Qi finds out that he has to be physically close to Cheng Cheng, but she almost kills him! Gu Yu says he can also be close to Sheng Tang. How? Indeed Sheng Tang is Lin Yuan’s prototype for her Shadow Detective manhua. So Gu Yu gives a hint to Wang Yi, Cheng Cheng’s senior and team member at work, to present the new idea of an ancient-style garden party to show the makeup of different dynasties. The idea is accepted by the office, and Gu Yu makes a contract with Lin Yuan to use Shadow Detective’s Quan Shen Tang character, including the prototype! Lin Yuan doesn’t like reading legal contracts, although Gu Yu advises her to read the contract carefully. She can’t do anything else than invite Shen Tang because she signed the contract!
On the day of the project, they all arrive at the shooting location. Each room has two beds, so Cheng Cheng will be with Lin Yuan, Gu Yu with Zhou Jin Li, and Tang Qi with Quan Sheng Tang. Lin Yuan feels very bad that Cheng Cheng has to stay with Tang Qi, she offers to breach the contract. But Cheng Cheng doesn’t worry. She transforms into Sheng Tang and goes to his room. It’s dark and Tang Qi doesn’t bother to turn on the light which makes Cheng Cheng suspicious something is wrong with Tang Qi’s eyes. Shen Tang checks online and learns that color-blind people see better at night. Tang Qi has a tetrachromat, how can he not see red colors and turn off the light? Shen Tang tests Tang Qi by eating yellow watermelon while saying they’re red. Tang Qi sees the yellow watermelon in Shen Tang’s hand and says it’s yellow. Tang Qi wants to test the color but Shen Tang pretends he will wash up and text Lin Yuan he won’t be back to investigate Tang Qi.
Lin Yuan can’t sleep, so she checks the props and meets Gu Yu. She accidentally lets Gu Yu know that she knows Tang Qi has an eye problem. Gu Yu asks Lin Yuan to keep it secret. Unfortunately, someone overhears their convo. It’s Xu Yue, a Qian Dou Ji employee who hates working at the company because her ideas are being bypassed by Wang Yi and Cheng Cheng. She was also the one who stole Cheng Cheng’s ideas in the early episode. Xu Yue calls Vandai, the company competitor, saying that she accepts Vandai’s offer to work with them and will spill Qian Dou Ji’s secret.
Shen Tang is nervous about having to sleep in the same room as Tang Qi, so he offers a beer. Tang Qi sees the beer as the same as what Cheng Cheng offered when they both sat at the park. When Shen Tang says “cheers” his voice is similar to Su Miao’s when she said “cheers”. Shen Tang laughs nervously, and Tang Qi sees the resemblance between his laugh and Fang Jin’s. Tang Qi says he looks like Fang Jin and Shen Tang says people say matched couples look alike then jumps to bed.
Early in the morning, Cheng Cheng goes to the costume room and writes down all the colors of Tang Qi’s and the other staff’s costumes, since she doesn’t want people to know she helped Tang Qi. The reps from Vandai, as per Xu Yue’s tips, to test Tang Qi. Gu Yu calls Cheng Cheng to help Tang Qi, but she is now Shen Tang and is doing rehearsal with Lin Yuan for the show!
Episode 19
Sheng Tang transforms back into Cheng Cheng. Good timing, since Vandai rep approaches Tang Qi asking to pick the right makeup color for their costume. When Tang Qi doesn’t respond, they tell the audience they heard the R&D Head Researcher is color blind. The public is restless and there are some with live broadcasting, can they trust Qian Dou Ji now? Cheng Cheng comes wearing Tang dynasty clothes and asks Tang Qi to pick a makeup color matching her costume. Since the makeup kit is in her hand, Tang Qi can see the colors. He skillfully applies the makeup on Cheng Cheng while explaining to the audience about Tang’s makeup style.
After the demo is done, Tang Qi thanks Cheng Cheng for saving him and wonders how she knows about his eye problem. Cheng Cheng says she found out when she was at his house. She asks if his doctor has a solution. He shyly says it’s intimate contact. Cheng Cheng understands now why he grabbed her arm in the subway last time. She holds his arm but the color doesn’t stay. Then she hugs him, still not. She kisses his cheek swiftly and the color lasts a bit longer. Finally, Cheng Cheng braves herself to kiss his cheek for a long time and Tang Qi is stunned and finds the colors don’t disappear. Cheng Cheng leaves him quickly to save Lin Yuan.
Tang Qi finds that when Sheng Tang appears, Cheng Cheng disappears, and vice versa. He becomes suspicious and asks Gu Yu and Wang Yi if they have ever seen Cheng Cheng and Sheng Tang at the same time. Nobody has. Lin Yuan calls Cheng Cheng that she is in trouble. She already tries to help the situation with the silhouette trick during the performance. Tang Qi stops Cheng Cheng and says she and Sheng Tang share one body. He wants to see both of them at the same time. Cheng Cheng says fine, I’ll call him. Sheng Tang suddenly opens the drape across the room and says he got back earlier because he was very hungry. Cheng Cheng then feels very dizzy and Tang Qi carries her to the room.
Episode 20
Cheng Cheng pretended to be hypoglycemic but still wanted to talk to Sheng Tang. Lin Yuan is angry at Tang Qi since he makes her run around working overtime. Tang Qi says he’ll talk to Sheng Tang himself. Cheng Cheng transforms back to Sheng Tang and says goodbye to Tang Qi. However, the system is updating again, now Cheng Cheng is stuck being Sheng Tang. Lin Yuan tells Sheng Tang to leave quickly using her car. When Sheng Tang is about to leave, Tang Qi stops him for a ride. Wang Yi calls Cheng Cheng but it goes to the car. She is confused that Tang Qi answers and orders her to stop harassing Sheng Tang. Then when she calls again Sheng Tang calls and tells her to ask Lin Yuan.
Remember, during thunder the bracelet system is unstable so Cheng Cheng is afraid there is a glitch that Sheng Tang changes herself. Sure enough, the next time thunder breaks out Tang Qi screams in fear when he sees Sheng Tang’s face turn into Cheng Cheng. Sheng Tang screams too and says he sees Tang Qi’s face turn into Gu Yu’s. Lmao! Tang Qi is fooled and feels they both have eye problems.
The next day Tang Qi goes to have his eyes checked, but he’s normal. He’s suspicious at Cheng Cheng since she’s on sick leave. She asks Wang Yi who she called yesterday, Wang Yi said Cheng Cheng, but she said she lent her phone to Sheng Tang. Tang Qi feels that Sheng Tang and Cheng Cheng are the same person. He goes to Cheng Cheng’s house. Luckily Qing Li is there so she takes Tang Qi out for dinner to stall time for the bracelet update time. After dinner, Cheng Cheng shows up. Tang Qi wants to see her and Sheng Tang. Sheng Tang shows up and he’s very sick. He explains he’s waiting for the news of a new research project fund. Tang Qi is shocked seeing both of them are real. Sheng Tang suddenly gets a text about the fund being granted. He’s so excited that he has a heart attack! Cheng Cheng calls an ambulance that takes Sheng Tang and Cheng Cheng right away. Later at home, Tang Qi gets a call from Cheng Cheng that they can’t save Sheng Tang and he dies from a heart attack! OMG! Tang Qi feels so guilty. Because of his crazy fantasy, Sheng Tang dies.
Episode 21
After the ambulance drove away from Tang Qi’s sight, cheers inside the ambulance. Everyone and everything is fake. Sheng Tang is Lin Yuan’s transformation using the new bracelet feature after updating. Since she can’t use Sheng Tang’s voice, Sheng Tang pretends to be sick. The EMT techs are Lin Yuan’s friends. The ambulance driver is Qing Li! The blood and medical equipment are drama props. At first, Cheng Cheng didn’t want to kill Sheng Tang, because it would be cruel to Tang Qi who lost Su Miao. Sheng Tang would just go overseas for research. However, upon hearing that Tang Qi came to her house and talked to her parents, Cheng Cheng thinks Tang Qi is too obsessed. Qing Li reminds Cheng Cheng to use the bracelet less, who knows what the side effect is?
When Sheng Tang fell with a heart attack, he vomited blood and it splattered everywhere, including Tang Qi’s coat. When Tang Qi sees the blood stain on her shirt, he feels the blood color is fake. He goes to the lab to test the blood and finds it’s red pigment used in film props. Tang Qi contacts Fang Jin, but nobody answers. Fang Jin has gone abroad for a research exchange and won’t be back for a while. This is not right, Sheng Tang is Fang Jin’s bf. If he dies, Fang Jin should be back hurriedly.
Tang Qi and Gu Yu look for Quan Shen Tang at the Public Security Bureau but no one is under that name. He calls Cheng Cheng the next day, wanting to attend his funeral. Cheng Cheng says Shen Tang is cremated as per his wish. Tang Qi keeps probing about Shen Tang’s background and finally, Cheng Cheng says he has a grandma. Tang Qi goes to Sheng Tang’s grandma’s address the next day. There is a sweet grandma who answers the door. Tang Qi secretly looks around the living room and asks her questions to make her slip the truth he’s looking for. When he says he’s responsible for her grandson’s death and will come to visit Grandma once a week, Grandma panics, lol!
While Tang Qi is inside Grandma’s house, Gu Yu asks around the neighbors. An elderly neighbor tells him the address belongs to Grandma Su who has two single granddaughters. Nobody names Quan in the building. Hahaha, it’s Cheng Cheng and Qing Li’s grandma’s house! Tang Qi checks the family photos and there are some photos taken down. She says those photos are of Shen Tang and she couldn’t bear to look at them. Tang Qi tries his last trick and suddenly has a vision issue. Grandma takes him to his doctor for a check-up. When he’s walking down the stairs he almost slips and Grandma pulls him back so strongly, lmao!
The doctor says again no problem, another psychological issue like before. Tang Qi says because his friend died, he feels responsible. Cheng Cheng feels guilty she causes Tang Qi to go blind. Grandma takes Tang Qi back to his home and he tests Grandma several times. Gu Yu comes by to pick up Grandma. Tang Qi is suspicious that Grandma Quan is Cheng Cheng. When Gu Yu arrives with Grandma, Lin Yuan is already there with Cheng Cheng’s grandma. Lin Yuan gives all the stuffed animals she bought to Gu Yu, and takes off again for lunch with Grandma Su.
At home, Cheng Cheng transforms back to her original self. Tang Qi calls her and wants to meet her to get help because he is blind. His face is hardened. After the phone call, Tang Qi pulls out Shadow Detective’s Shen Tang picture and throws darts on it, right to the neck! Argh… he’s gonna kill Cheng Cheng!
Episode 22
Gu Yu, I don’t know if he just wants to be with Lin Yuan today or wants to fish out facts coming out of Grandma Su, accompanies Lin Yuan and Grandma Su eating at the amusement park. Cheng Cheng finds out that Gu Yu is with them so she doesn’t want to go. Lin Yuan and Gu Yu are both embarrassed when Grandma Su advises them about love and marriage. Gu Yu follows Lin Yuan to her house and confesses his feelings. Lin Yuan says she doesn’t believe in love or marriage, doesn’t think a relationship will last, and loves her career more. Gu Yu says those are not important and asks her if she likes him, too. Lin Yuan can’t ignore her feelings. Gu Yu says that’s enough and hugs her. So they’re officially dating.
At work, Cheng Cheng hears that Tang Qi is taking a long vacation because of his visual problem. She calls Tang Qi and he says it’s psychological. She comes by with Granny Quan (Lin Yuan transformation). Tang Qi wears black glasses and wants to catch Cheng Cheng in the act. He says the doctor suggested a method to reproduce the traumatic event to desensitize him and hopefully his blindness will be cured. Cheng Cheng and Grandma Quan reenact the event when Shen Tang had a heart attack. He sees Grandma Quan is transformed into Lin Yuan! Tang Qi is so angry that he kicks both out. He then calls Gu Yu over after thinking things through. He believes Cheng Cheng gets a leaked product from a lab on a future tech gadget that can transform people. He feels like the stupidest person in the world, being fooled again and again by Cheng Cheng. Gu Yu is a more positive thinker, he says at least nobody dies and advises Tang Qi to sort things out with Cheng Cheng since he’ll pick up his gf… haha!
Gu Yu clears Lin Yuan off Tang Qi’s way to deal with Cheng Cheng. Tang Qi walks out with a blind person’s stick and dark glasses. There are people sent by Vandai to follow Tang Qi. Cheng Cheng follows him quietly and clears up Tang Qi’s path from obstruction by those men, but eventually, Tang Qi catches her following, so they walk together to the park. To get rid of the men, Cheng Cheng transforms herself into Granny Quan and Tang Qi into a boy. The thugs lose them. Granny Quan tells the boy to stay on the bench as she needs to go to the restroom. Tang Qi is shocked when Granny Quan changes to Su Miao and leaves, and he is shaken with anger!
Episode 23
Su Miao doesn’t go to the restroom but deals with the men. The police come over and Tang Qi stands up and gives the evidence to the police. Su Miao is shocked that Tang Qi is not blind. Tang says he pretended to be blind and saw everything. Su Miao doesn’t know what to say so she runs away. Tang Qi sends a text to Cheng Cheng asking for an explanation. She comes over and confesses that she has no choice but to transform into Su Miao, Fang Jin, and Sheng Tang. She transforms into each character and says sorry. When Tang Qi asks her if there are others, she says not human and turns into the cute alpaca who also says sorry. Tang Qi says it ends here. Cheng Cheng asks if he forgives her and won’t fire her. Tang Qi is about to cry and leaves her.
Well, it seems Cheng Cheng won’t be fired but not sure about him forgiving her because he turns cold and doesn’t say much when she sees him inside the elevator. Xu Yue, the spy and traitor is arrested and fired, and Vandai’s marketing manager resigns. Tang Qi comes up with a new scent and the Marketing Dept staff crank up their brains to come up with a promo. Since everyone says that the fragrant is similar to what they smelled during their childhood, Cheng Cheng comes up with an idea.
A new guy entering the stage? Who knows. When Tang Qi gets off work, he happens to see Cheng Cheng and a guy inside a pastry shop across the street. They seem to have fun together. Tang Qi calls Cheng Cheng and she says she works outdoors. Is Tang Qi jealous? Cheng Cheng and the guy go to a nursing home and give the pastries they bought to the elderly ladies, but the ladies reject the perfume samples. It seems Cheng Cheng wants to know if the elderly ladies like the fragrance. Wang Yi comes to help and uses an age alteration program to show the ladies their young ages and make them reminiscence their youth. Tang Qi comes to the nursing home, to help with the sample promo. Cheng Cheng talks to the ladies to win them over and let her spray the perfume sample. Tang Qi keeps staring at Cheng Cheng while she’s talking and realizes that what Su Miao and Fang Jin said are all Cheng Cheng’s ideas and words. He realizes that he fell for Cheng Cheng’s character through Su Miao and Fang Jin.
Episode 24
After the event is done they’re packing up. The guy, Su Wen Xin, is moving things and hurts his arm. Cheng Cheng comes over and massages his arm. Tang Qi is upset seeing them and he pulls Cheng Cheng away. He asks if the guy likes Cheng Cheng, and if Cheng Cheng likes him. Of course, they like each other. Cheng Cheng quickly clarifies that Su Wen Xin is her cousin! Yay, Tang Qi is happy again. A bird nest falls from above and Cheng Cheng pulls Tang Qi to her. They’re super close and Tang Qi asks if she can hear the sound. What sound? His heart racing for her. He wants to kiss her but she flips him over! She’s upset, she already apologized. Even if he doesn’t want to forgive her, he can fire her, beat her, or any other punishment, but don’t fool her like that. Tang Qi says he really likes her. Cheng Cheng retorts that he likes Su Miao’s beauty and Fang Jin’s brain, but she has nothing of those. Why does he like her? He says she’s both Su Miao and Fang Jin, so no matter who she is he’ll always like her. Cheng Cheng promises she won’t use the bracelet again, so stop dreaming. Cheng Cheng leaves Tang Qi.
Tang Qi calls Gu Yu asking for Cheng Cheng’s picture. He understands why he could only see Cheng Cheng’s color in the past, his heart knew before his eyes did. Gu Yu advises Tang Qi to go to Cheng Cheng’s world if she doesn’t want to come to his world. The next day, Tang Qi brings a bouquet of pink roses to Cheng Cheng and apologizes about yesterday but he truly likes her. She says she doesn’t like him. She doesn’t want to spend time with him outside work.
The next day, Cheng Cheng presents the theme for the new perfume and suggests they use an elderly lady for the new perfume ambassador. It’s a risky move, and Cheng Cheng has a candidate named Bai Ming Zhu, a veteran actress who has won domestic and international awards, even still showed as a model in Milan Fashion Week. Gu Yu appoints Cheng Cheng to take charge of the new promo. However, the actress has a private life and is difficult to reach. Tang Qi secretly helps the Marketing Dept and finds out about Bai Ming Zhu’s granddaughter. Tang Qi takes Cheng Cheng to meet Jiang Xi Zhen, an archer athlete. Jiang Xi Zhen is perfect. She has the beauty of Su Miao, the agility of Quan Sheng Tang, and the intelligence of Fang Jin. Apparently, Jiang Xi Zhen is from the same junior high as Cheng Cheng and Tang Qi. Back then, she secretly kept Tang Qi’s photo and love letter. Cheng Cheng confiscated them and advised Jiang Xi Zhen that Beijing University was better than Tang Qi. Tang Qi thought back then Cheng Cheng bullied the female students but Jiang Xi Zhen says Cheng Cheng never bullied anyone.
After seeing all the proposals, Jiang Xi Zhen thinks her grandma still won’t agree. However, a precious old photo is ruined and can’t be restored. If they find an old copy for her grandma, she will be moved by their efforts. Before leaving, Jiang Xi Zhen asks Tang Qi if he has a girlfriend. He grabs Cheng Cheng who’s about to leave and replies that he doesn’t have a gf but he has someone he likes. After Cheng Cheng runs away, Jiang Xi Zhen wishes him good luck.
The next time, Cheng Cheng and Tang Qi come to their old school in school uniforms. Tang Qi argues that they only have two days left as per Zhou Jin Li’s ultimatum, asking to see the school principal may take some time. So they sneak into the archive room. While searching old books, Cheng Cheng crushes walnuts and shares them with Tang Qi, as walnuts nourish brains. Tang Qi remembers she did it back then but he thought she threatened him so he left. Cheng Cheng thought he left because he found her ugly. Aww, a decade of misunderstanding is cleared. I love the younger version of them smiling at each other now that they’re at peace with their past. They finally found the old photo and sent it to Jiang Xi Zhen.
Conclusion
Now that Gu Yu and Lin Yuan are officially a couple, will Tang Qi and Cheng Cheng become a couple soon? We still have 8 more episodes to go. What more obstacles will Cheng Cheng experience for her to use the bracelet? Let’s continue to the final recap article of Filter ( 滤镜 )!
