The Wife's Lies (妻子的谎言) Episodes 1-5 Recap
April 05, 2015Summary:
Adapted from Korean drama My Daughter Seo Young, The Wife's Lies tells the story of a girl named Li Xiaxi who lives a tough life due to her father's constant gambling habit. After her mother dies from a heart condition, she blames her father for her mother's death and holds a grudge towards him. She takes on a position as tutor for the Jiang's family youngest son Jiang Yiming to support her and her brother's education but eventually falls in love with their eldest son Jiang Yibin. They finally get married after his parents' approval but she lies that she is an orphan, that both her parents have died because she didn't have the courage to tell them about her father. On the other hand, her brother Li Dongxu becomes entangled in a love triangle with the Jiang family's only daughter Jiang Yishan and Sun Jianuan. Xiaxi's lies spin out of control when her father becomes her husband's savior and when Dongxu finds out about Yishan's identity.
Cast:
Jia Qing as Li Xiaxi
Zhang Xiaolong as Jiang Yibin
Qiu Shengyi (Prince) as Li Dongxu
Xu Lu as Sun Jianuan
Shen Meng Chen as Jiang Yishan
Li Tianzhu as Li Guoliang
Li Mao as Jiang Yiming
Guan Shaoceng as Jiang Tianhao
Rong rong as Xu Jinxiu
Guo Jiahao as Sun Jiahao
Episodes 1-5:
The Wife's Lies starts off setting the backdrop for the story:
Xiaxi filming for variety show to earn more money
Xiaxi's mother working several jobs to support the family
Through Li Xiaxi and her mother's phone conversation, we learn that her father is a gambler and has constantly burden the family with his debts. But her mother tells Xiaxi that her father has changed and she has saved enough money for her and her brother Li Dongxu's college tuition so she wouldn't have to work.
Yibin arrives home from the US
Yiming drives another tutor away
The Jiang's family youngest son Jiang Yiming, Jiang Yibin's younger brother, dislikes learning and has driven away countless tutors. His mother Xu Jinxiu is troubled by her son's immaturity as she doesn't want to be viewed as incompetent in front of her husband.
Xiaxi's mother suffers a heart attack after realizing her savings are gone
Xiaxi, dressed like a hooker, asking for money
After informed that her mother is hospitalized, she hops onto Yibin's motorcycle while Yibin tries to catch up to her
Xiaxi continuously calls her father but he ignores the calls. He stole her mother's savings after being persuaded by his friends to gamble with them.
When he finally arrives, it was too late. Their mother passed away. She blames his father for her mother's death.
Xiaxi is shown filming for a variety show; for the last scene of the show, Li Xia Xi acts as a hooker conning a man and is witnessed by Jiang Yibin. She receives a call from her brother Li Dongxu that their mother is brought to the hospital. Unable to hail a cab, she sees Jiang Yibin's motorcycle and hops on to rush to the hospital. He sees her riding away with his motorcycle and trails behind her but couldn't stop her.
Once she arrives at the hospital, she calls her father numerous times but since he is busy gambling, he ignores the calls and shuts off his phone. When her father finally arrived, the doctor notifies them that their mother has been suffering a heart condition. Because she was brought in too late, he has done everything he could to save her. Out of misery, she blames her father for her mother's death. She decides to move out after her father moves in with her and her brother since they wasn't enough space for the three of them.
The Sun family is introduced by their comical conversation
Another comical scene with the Sun father in the elevator when his boss didn't even know he was in the elevator with him
Sun Jianuan hilarious sleep-talks with her mother about her lending money to a guy which her mother disapproves since she is overprotective
No matter what her father does, Xiaxi can't stand listening to him. To support her brother's education, she decides to quit school. But when she seeks to tell her teacher, she is given the opportunity to become the tutor of the son of a wealthy family to support her own education.
Yibin dirties Xiaxi's dress without realizing until Xiaxi throws her backpack onto his car
Yiming tries to annoy Xiaxi by ignoring her and listening to music. On the contrary, she continues to speak over his music, annoying him instead. She tells his mother that she'll return again tomorrow.
Xiaxi tells her father and Dongxu that she is moving out and that she has found a new job as a tutor. His father is worried about her but she doesn't care.
Jianuan's mother asked Jinxiu to introduce some wealthy suitors for her daughter but she explains that it's not because she doesn't want to but because the second-generation sons are not dependable (which is an excuse).
Dongxu and Jiang Yishan meets - Dongxu suggests to Yishan, who is also becoming a doctor, to follow his instructions.
Dongxu and his father encounters the drunken Jianuan on the streets and gives her shelter for the night. When she wakes up, she naively thought she was held for ransom. Her conversation with Dongxu is funny!
Yiming cuts Xiaxi's white dress to drive her away. But she doesn't get mad but instead changes into the dress to tutor him.
Yishan realizes that Dongxu was right when they saved that man. She looks for him and discloses to him that the patient wanted to thank him because he would've had his leg amputated if it wasn't for him. They finally become friends.
Jianuan expresses her gratitude by gifting Dongxu and his father various presents. She stays for dinner but chokes after realizing she has embarrassed herself the night they found her drunk. Her feelings for Dongxu intensify as he embraces her to stop her from choking.
Yiming attends a fashion show to showcase his own designs but is critiqued by the director. Xiaxi steps in with her legal expertise and successfully defends Yiming.
Jiang Tianhao and his son Yibin has a discussion. He tells Yibin to return to the US since he is unwilling to help him manage the company. Yibin explains that once he finds his motorcycle (which his grandfather left for him), he will leave immediately.
Yiming starts to admire Xiaxi. He actually listens to her and studies on the bus. Jiang Tianhao proposes that Xiaxi moves into the residence so that Yiming can receive a high-quality education. Xiaxi replies that she will consider his proposal.
Yibin drives her home and persuades her to accept her father's suggestion as it will be helpful for his brother. He threatens her that if she doesn't move in, he will inform his father that she allowed Yiming to go to a fashion show.
Xiaxi goes home to pack more things. She doesn't even greet her father but coldly tells him that she will be moving in to the house of the student she is tutoring since someone has to repay his debts. Seeing her room in the Jiang residence, she is mesmerized.
Her father is terminated after offending a loyal customer. He wants to work hard and earn enough money to provide his children a comfortable life but nothing seems to work out for him.
Dongxu visits his sister and tells her that he plans to quit school and work instead. But she reassures him that there's no need since her tutoring job brings in enough money to support his education and to repay their father's debts.
The Jiang's family becomes curious as to why Xiaxi seems to avoid eating with them. Yibin tricks Xiaxi into eating with him since he knows she is actually really hungry.
Jianuan continuously stalks Dongxu
Yibin finds out that Xiaxi was the female thief/hooker that stole his motorcycle. He confronts her and she tries to explain. He angrily informs her that even if she tells him that her mother passed away that day, he wouldn't believe it. Hearing that, Xiaxi chose not to explain anything and claims that she will turn herself in to the police. But once she's there, she doesn't have the courage to walk in.
Again, Jianuan "visits" Dongxu but this time telling him that she can't stop thinking about him.
\Yibin gives her a deadline to recover the lost bike to him or else she'll have to turn herself in. Yibin realizes at his friend's restaurant that Xiaxi was filming a variety show that day and now believes that Xiaxi must have had something urgent.
Xiaxi's father working at his new job
Under the guise of seeking compensation, he takes her to a fancy restaurant to make her eat as he knows that she often misses meals to save money. He apologizes and also questions her why she didn't explained her situation to him. After spending a whole day together, Yibin understands that he wants to protect her and see her smile more often by easing her worries.
She finally smiles
Thoughts:
The main reason I would watch this long (52 episodes) drama is because the supporting characters are interesting to watch, some due to the way their characters is written, some because of the actors/actresses. However, I dislike how some actors' (particularly Prince) voice was unprofessionally done (it didn't match).
Xu Lu done really well as the stalker girl - I would find her character annoying but I love watching her scenes. Her parents especially her mother is hilarious; I love her interactions with her parents. I also like the actor who plays the father - I can't help but sympathize him, trying so hard to earn his daughter's approval. Yibin and Xiaxi's relationship is developing really quickly which I don't mind because it's better than having half the story spent on the non-major storyline (like Empress of China). Yiming's character is also likable, not sure it's because of the actor, the character, or both.
Though the whole 20-minutes trailer pretty much summarized the drama, I still want to watch it since I wanted to know what happened after Dongxu and Jianuan gets married.
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