Love Me If You Dare - Episode 1 Recap

The drama starts with a scene of a man waking up from a nightmare. In the nightmare, it shows a man whose hands are chained and has a lot of wounds all over his body showing that he was beaten up. He shouts angrily to someone.

The scene then skips to a girl, Jian Yao, waiting for her sister, Jian Xuan, and her police officer friend, Zhang Xun Ran. Before heading home, Jian Yao suggested to visit a place. She said she got a job interview for a translation project and wants to check the environment of her potential employer first.

 

They arrived in a huge villa. Jian Xuan said that the house is scary because it seems no one is inside. She then saw someone standing by the window upstairs and suggested that they should go home. On their way home, Jian Xuan  asked her sister and Xun Ran if they are not afraid. Her sister just smiled while Xun Ran said they are both not afraid of ghosts since they were younger. 

At the police station, Xun Ran and his co-worker are discussing a case of missing people. While at home, Jian Yao received a confirmation of the time of her interview. Jian Xuan asked her sister if the latter really wants to go back to that place. She mentioned that her classmate saw a male skeleton ghost on the same villa half a year ago. It was standing on the balcony in broad daylight. While they are still talking, Xun Ran called Jian Yao to ask about the schedule of her interview. He said that he is quite busy on some cases in the police station and can’t pick her up. He told her to be careful and notify him before and after her interview. Jian Yao agreed.

On the day of the interview, Jian Yao texted Xun Ran as soon as she arrived in the villa. She knocked on the door but no one answered. She discovered that the door is unlocked and she went inside. As soon as she was inside the house, the door closed. She tried opening it but it was already locked. 

 

Inside the house, Jian Yao discovered a note inside the library. As she was looking through the books in the library, she was startled with the abrupt sound of the alarm clock and dropped the book she was holding. As she picked the book up, she noticed a man in white long sleeves standing on the stairs of the house. 

 

The man introduced himself as Bo Jinyan. They discussed about the translation job and she translated a research result as a part of the interview. Jinyan was amazed of how fast Jian Yao translated the paper and complimented her that she’s as fast as the translator in an investigation bureau. While they are still talking, someone walks down the stairs barefooted and listens to their conversation downstairs.

Jinyan told Jian Yao that the research is just his part-time interest and asked her to take a guess of his real job. Jian Yao told Jinyan that he might have hoped that she would answer that he’s a surgeon. She said that he has a very strong alcohol smell and he had washed his hands several times indicating that he is sensitive of being clean. 

 In addition to that, the research papers indicate that he might be a surgeon. However, when he was making a tea, he spilled some tea leaves. It only means his hands are not steady. He also made two kinds of tea and accidentally switched the tea pot caps. This indicates that he is not detailed. Since he is open-minded, she thinks that he probably have a job that needs more creativity. 

She also noticed that he has fast typing hands and concluded that he might have a job something like a computer software developer. Jinyan told her that he’s surprised that she guessed his job correctly and had decided to hire her as his translator. 

However, Jian Yao asked him that shouldn’t he be asking Bo Jinyan’s decision first. She told him that she knew he’s not the real Bo Jinyan because of the magazine that was left opened inside the library with an article and a picture of the real Bo Jinyan. He smiled in disbelief and introduced his self again. This time, he told Jian Yao his real name, Fu Ziyu. He said that he is a fraud and also Bo Jinyan’s friend.  Outside, Xun Ran is waiting for Jian Yao. She told him that she got the job.

 

Meanwhile, Ziyu confronted the real Bo Jinyan about putting the magazine on purpose in the library. Jinyan told him that he needs a translator with observant eyes. Ziyu told him that he just needs a translator and not a long-term assistant. But Jinyan answered that he doesn’t want a stupid person to translate for him. He wants an intelligent person who is very detailed since the translations will reflect what the original papers say. He wants someone who can understand the soul of the meaning behind the words. Ziyu asked him if Jian Yao can also understand Jinyan’s soul. After a short pause, he answered that no one will be able to understand him.

 

 

In Jian’s residence, Xun Ran arrived and handed a mail to Jian Yao. It was a contract for the translation job. Jian Xuan commented that Jinyan’s signature is monster-like. Upon reading Jinyan’s contract, Xun Ran commented that the name seems familiar to him.  Jian Yao joked that it’s not a good thing for a police officer to think that a name is familiar. It might be that the person has some criminal records. Xun Ran took Jian Yao’s joke seriously and told her he will try to investigate. She told him it was just a joke. She added that if Bo Jinyan really has a criminal record, a municipal police like him won’t be able to find out because the former had just returned from America not too long ago.

In the next scene, it was revealed that the man that was chained is Bo Jin Yan. His body is full of wounds and blood. Then a man showed up walking towards him. Jin Yan woke up. It was just a nightmare. Ziyu arrived and asked Jinyan if he’s having the dream again. He handed Jinyan the contract that was signed by Jian Yao and told him he is going back to Jiangzhou.

Back in the police station, Xun Ran is discussing with his team about the case of the missing child. Someone suggested that the child might have been kidnapped by a trafficking gang but they have insufficient evidence to prove it. The missing child is Fu Mingyi, 15 years old. His parents made him take a winter vacation with his aunt. However, on the day that he left, he was never seen again. The child is already the sixth missing person in their district. Xun Ran instructed his team to print the child’s picture and visit the terminal stations to find out if someone remembers the child.

Jian Yao is at the house of Bo Jinyan. She’s doing the translations when she got thirsty. She went to the kitchen to make some tea. As she was boiling some water, she discovered Jinyan’s fishing equipment and took a picture of it. 

On her way back to the library, she hears some noise in a room in the first floor. She recalled Ziyu telling her that the whole first floor of the house is hers except for a certain room, and that’s where the noise comes from. She slowly walks towards the forbidden room when suddenly a man in a coverall suit with an air mask comes out of the room. It was Bo Jinyan.

Xun Ran and his teammate went out to investigate the place where the child might have been abducted. In the highway, Xun Ran’s teammate told him that the path near the highway leads to the mountain. It is usually isolated except for one villa. Xun Ran remembers the villa where Jian Yao’s employer, Jinyan, lives.

In the villa, Jian Yao looks by the window and saw a lake nearby. She decided to go to the lake to take a break from working. At the lake, she saw Jinyan’s fishing rod that she saw back in the house. She decided to use it and catch some fish. When she came back to the house, she also brought back the fishing gear that Jinyan left by the lake. She sent a text message to Jinyan to inform him about the gear and the fishes she caught.

Xun Ran came for dinner in Jian Yao’s house. He ate with Jian Xuan and their mother. While they are eating, Jian Yao received a text message from Jinyan thanking her for the fish. After they’ve eaten dinner, Xun Ran began questioning Jian Yao about the villa. She told him that she hasn’t been to the second floor and there’s a locked room in the first floor. Meanwhile, in the villa, Jinyan is cooking the fish that Jian Yao brought from the lake. 

The next day, Xun Ran started investigating about the villa as soon as he arrived at the police station. Later that night, Jian Yao is in the villa talking to her mom at the phone, informing her that she will go home once the rain stops. Suddenly, the electricity goes off. The whole villa is so dark so she decided to call Jinyan who is staying upstairs to ask where the candles are. 

 Jinyan, with his eccentric and cold attitude, told Jian Yao that he doesn’t know where the candles are. She asked him if it will be fixed. He answered that he can fix it but he is very busy and told her not to bother him. She tried asking him if he can lend her a shirt because it is very cold, but he just answered that he doesn’t want others wearing his clothes.

 

Jian Yao managed to find some candles in the kitchen cabinet. After she lit a few in the kitchen, she opened the refrigerator to cook a fish for dinner. She put the dish she cooked in the countertable and reached for the faucet to wash her hands.

 

Just then, Jinyan arrived in the kitchen and tried Jian Yao’s dish. He commented that it tastes bad. The meat is overcooked and there’s too much salt on it. He is about to reach for a second bite when Jian Yao grabbed the chopsticks and took a new one for her. She told him that she didn’t invite him to eat. Jinyan smirked and reached for a new fish in the refrigerator. He cooked exactly the same dish that she had made. He left the dish for her to eat and headed upstairs.

As soon as Jinyan left the kitchen, Jian Yao reached for the dish he cooked to take a bite. Somewhat satisfied with it, she was about to take another bite when she heard a noise coming from the library. The window was left opened in the library and it is banging because of the strong wind due to the heavy rain. She was able to close it just then the glass of the window from the upper portion of the library broke and fell upon her. She was able to dodge it on time. 

 However, broken glasses are scattered on the floor and it is very dark. Jinyan suddenly appeared with his night goggles and carried her towards the sofa. Jinyan went to the kitchen to get the cloth he brought and noticed that Jian Yao took a bite on his dish. When he came back to the library, he put the cloth on her lap and asked her about her assessment on his dish. She admits that the fish he made is better than hers, but told him that his words before were too harsh. He wished her goodnight and walked towards the staircase. 

Meanwhile, at the middle of the night, an unknown man was seen digging on the ground at the middle of the forest.



Plot
'Love Me, If You Dare' is a romance story with thrilling plots in the criminal investigation. The intriguing criminal cases in the drama series would bring thrills to the audiences and take them along step by step in cracking the criminal minds . At the same time, it unfolds the love story between Simon (Bo Jinyan) and Jenny (Jian Yao) while they work side by side in resolving these cases.