Later, I Laughed Episode 6 Recap
> Later, I Laughed Recap
Wu Xiuya experienced her first cold reception on the stand-up stage. The shift from a hit to a flop didn’t take long, and it all began three days earlier. Three days ago, during lunch, Xiuya made an excuse and packed her food to eat in the office. Zheng Hao also left the table shortly afterward. Throughout the meal, the two didn’t exchange a single word. It was obvious to everyone that something was wrong between them.
He Xiaoli questioned Zhang Yan, and he accidentally spilled the beans. News of Zheng Hao and Xiuya’s breakup spread through the company at lightning speed. As one of the company’s most admired young talents, Zheng Hao’s personal life was always under scrutiny. Most of the staff, eager for drama, began spreading all kinds of rumors. The gossip escalated wildly—from claims that Zheng Hao had cheated to even alleging he had a three-year-old child outside the relationship. Xiuya was under immense pressure.
As one of the central figures in these rumors, she wanted to explain, but Zheng Hao stopped her from doing so. Bearing this stress and frustration, she went on stage to perform stand-up comedy. In the audience was Wang Jin, a fellow stand-up comedian with skills comparable to Shi Ye but better crowd reactions. However, both Liang Dong and Cao Zhiyong disliked Wang Jin, as his jokes relied heavily on crude humor to provoke laughs.
The moment Xiuya got on stage, she started to speak but suddenly realized she couldn’t joke about Zheng Hao in the tone of teasing a boyfriend—after all, she had already caused him harm. This thought stuck in her throat, and she couldn’t say a word. The performance fell flat. Wang Jin took the microphone and dismissed Xiuya from the stage.
Hurt and disheartened, Xiuya overheard Shi Ye and Cao Zhiyong betting on whether she would bomb her performance, which only made her feel worse. But she consoled herself, telling herself it was just a fluke. Unfortunately, every performance afterward also bombed. Initially confident in her abilities, even Cao Zhiyong and Liang Dong became disheartened, losing many bottles of wine to Shi Ye in their bets. Seeing how defeated Xiuya felt, Liang Dong shared his own experiences with failed performances.
Cao Zhiyong and Shi Ye also recounted their flops, explaining that the reasons for bombing varied. Cao Zhiyong analyzed Xiuya’s situation and suggested she jot down all her inspirations and jokes into a full script. Xiuya followed their advice, but it didn’t help—she continued to fail on stage. Desperate, Xiuya asked Shi Ye for advice. Shi Ye told her she needed to identify the real source of her troubles.
For Xiuya, there were two main issues: the unresolved breakup with Zheng Hao, which could only be finalized after his promotion to director, and her frustration over her carefully crafted project plan being mishandled by Ma Chao. Things escalated when Wang Tong, a member of Ma Chao’s team, finally quit, refusing to work under him any longer. With a lack of team members, Ma Chao asked Manager Hu for help. Xiuya volunteered to join Ma Chao’s team.
Although Ma Chao strongly opposed this at first, Manager Hu ultimately decided to assign Xiuya to the team, warning them both to resolve their conflicts or risk being fired together. Gradually, Xiuya’s stage performances improved slightly. However, Shi Ye bluntly pointed out that unless she made a firm decision to change, she wouldn’t truly move forward with her life. The company later went on a team-building retreat.
During an escape room game, Ma Chao screamed like crazy, while Zheng Hao and Xiuya, preoccupied with their thoughts, remained calm. Eventually, Xiuya pulled Zheng Hao aside for a serious talk, but the rest of the team eavesdropped from behind a curtain, hearing everything. The cheating rumors were cleared up, but some staff members began speculating that Zheng Hao might have performance issues, which they imagined was the reason Xiuya broke up with him.
After the retreat, Zheng Hao saw Xiuya riding on Shi Ye’s bicycle and watched her enter a bar. He followed Shi Ye and confronted him, leading to a street fight. Although Shi Ye didn’t know Zheng Hao personally, he could guess who he was. Shi Ye lied, saying that he and Xiuya got together only after she and Zheng Hao had already broken up.
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