On the surface, Shi Ye appears calm, and inside he is even calmer. The brief conflict with Zheng Hao did make his heart rate spike, but the moment he enters “Bang He” (the comedy club), his heart rate gradually returns to normal. As for the wound on his face, he brushes it off lightly, saying he got into a fight with his ex-girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend. Xiu Ya has no idea that the person who fought Shi Ye was actually Zheng Hao.
After the internal publicity department’s morning meeting ends, Manager Hu announces that Xiu Ya will officially transfer to Ma Chao’s Team Two, under Ma Chao’s management. He Xiao Li and Pang Jing think Xiu Ya is basically throwing herself into the fire, but Xiu Ya’s goal is simple: Team Two is likely to be involved in the hands-on promotion of the new tea beverage, and she doesn’t want Ma Chao to snatch away the fruits of her victory.
Even though Xiu Ya has already experienced Ma Chao’s endless idiocy, after Ma Chao becomes a leader, his behavior is even worse than before. He nitpicks Xiu Ya’s PowerPoint presentation endlessly, making her revise it over twenty times, only to say in the end that the first version was best. Xiu Ya is left speechless. Ma Chao believes that the reason Xiu Ya joined Team Two is to get revenge on him. So, to prevent her from shining, Ma Chao comes up with a plan: don’t let Xiu Ya do what she’s good at. As a result, Ma Chao deliberately assigns Xiao Zou to do interviews—something he’s not good at—and lets Pang Jing, whose writing isn’t as good as Xiu Ya’s, handle the copy. In the end, Xiu Ya is stuck proofreading and managing the WeChat account’s backend. This arrangement leaves everyone’s work in utter chaos.
Still from Episode 7 of “Later, I Laughed”
Manager Hu arranges for Ma Chao to take Xiu Ya to meet the market department heads of North and East China. Instead, Ma Chao takes the two executives out to eat on his own, leaving Xiu Ya behind and ordering her to deliver something to their hotel and then return to the office to wait for him before she can clock out. Xiu Ya wants to explode, but she knows that if she causes trouble again this time, Manager Hu might really let her go. So she endures it, venting her frustrations on the stand-up comedy stage. However, the awkward silence continues. Unable to hold it in, she rushes out of “Bang He” and shouts loudly. Unfortunately, because of this shout, Shi Ye—who is completely innocent on the outside—gets mistaken for a pervert who harassed Xiu Ya. Three hot-blooded young men call the police and have him taken to the station. Fortunately, the misunderstanding is cleared up in the end.
Shi Ye finds this incident hilarious and thinks it can be turned into a stand-up comedy bit. Xiu Ya also likes this material, and the two of them argue over who gets to use it. Over breakfast, Shi Ye reminds Xiu Ya that while it’s not wrong to joke about workplace issues, going overboard won’t be funny. Xiu Ya takes his advice to heart and starts paying attention to everything around her, realizing that everyone carries their own story.
Xiu Ya believes that this time the report can be completed. However, Pang Jing and Xiao Zou are feeling dejected because they don’t know what idiotic remarks Ma Chao will make during the alignment meeting. Xiu Ya suggests a trick: if they can find a way to prevent Ma Chao from attending the alignment meeting, then everything will go smoothly. Thus, the three of them put on a show to divert Ma Chao’s attention elsewhere, leaving him no time to interfere with the meeting.
Still from Episode 7 of “Later, I Laughed”
Sure enough, without the “Sha Bi” leader, the alignment meeting goes very smoothly. Everyone greatly appreciates Xiu Ya’s abilities. Meanwhile, Ma Chao has made a huge blunder. He mixed up the interviewee and remains unaware of his mistake. Xiu Ya quickly comes up with a solution. She conducts an urgent phone interview with the correct interviewee, Zhao Ming, compensating for Ma Chao’s error and making him feel ashamed. She then objectively points out that everyone on the team shares in the group’s success or failure. Ma Chao is so embarrassed he can’t utter a single word.
After this incident, Xiu Ya gains a new perspective on things. She makes a bet with Shi Ye that tonight she won’t face any awkward silence. Indeed, that night, Xiu Ya commands the stage without any dead air. She shines brightly, and at that moment, Shi Ye’s heart rate soars. He realizes that he’s attracted to this version of Xiu Ya.
