A Tale of a Thousand Stars: Episode 8 Part 4

It’s gotten really dark outside as Tian continues to follow the suspicious villagers. The one guy asks Choed who feeds his kid when he does this job? Choed says that he lets Saeng take care of that as he would rather be doing this job.

While Tian is following them he steps on a tree branch which makes a very loud cracking sound. He manages to hide before the villagers can spot him with their flashlight though.

The one guy wonders if it was a human because if it was they could be in trouble. The other guy says that no human would dare to come this way, they also better hurry up as they are already late.

Tian waits a few moments before he starts to follow them again. They reach the little T-junction and the villagers choose to go to Ghost Hill. Tian is not far behind them so when he reaches that point, he’s not sure what to do. That’s when Longtae shows up startling Tian. Longtae is mad because he told Tian to wait for him. Tian quickly tells him to keep his voice down.

Longtae asks why which leads Tian to explain that he saw Toa and Choed coming here very sneakily, so he followed them. Longtae asks if Tian is sure about this. Tian says that he is. Longtae says that doesn’t make sense as no one goes to Ghost Hill especially those two villagers.

Tian says that’s why he finds it’s so suspicious. He tells Longtae that his gut is telling them those two are up to something bad. Longtae says if that’s the case then they should go tell the Chief Phupha. Tian says that there will be no time, if they don’t follow them now, they will miss them.

Tian tells Longtae that he doesn’t want anything bad to happen to the village anymore. Longtae asks Tian if he’s sure about this, Tian says that he is then proceeds down the path to Ghost Hill. Longtae reminds him that’s where he’s going as Longtae is very reluctant to go there. Tian says he knows and tells Longtae to hurry up.

After a few moments Longtae finally decides to catch up to Tian.

Meanwhile Phupha is looking for Tian at the waterfall since he hasn’t seen him since he crushed all of Tian’s feelings and treated him like something disgusting. He seems concerned now of course..

Tian and Longtae follow the villagers to a hut. Tian says that they are shrewd, he’ll give them that. They know no one will come near Ghost Hill so they store all of their illegal goods there. Longtae asks him what he thinks the hut is for.

Tian says that it’s probably a temporary storehouse to store the illegal goods before they move them over the border. That’s when Tian sees Mr. Sakda inspecting the goods. Longtae suggests going to get help but Tian says by the time they go and come back the goods could be gone.

Tian grabs Longtae’s cell phone saying that at least they can take some evidence with them. Unfortunately Tian forgot about the flash, so now they have to run as the bad guys know that they are there.

Phupha goes to Khama’s house to ask if maybe he’s seen Tian. Khama says that he came this morning but left soon after. Khama asks if Phupha has checked the waterfall. Phupha says that he has but there’s no sign of Tian. Khama says that if Longtae was there he would ask him to help Phupha look.

Phupha asks where Longtae is and Khama says that he doesn’t know since he hasn’t seen him since this afternoon.

Tian and Longtae are running from the bad guys and manage to hide behind a tree. The villains call out saying they know that they are around. Tian tells Longtae that they don’t know that there’s two of them. He tells Longtae that he will lure the bad guys the other way so that Longtae can escape with the phone.

Longtae refused to leave Tian though. Tian says that he knows then quickly runs out the other way before Longtae can stop him.

Tian runs fast but the one bad guy cuts him off. He goes to turn around to run the other way but sure enough there’s a bad guy there too. Tian is surrounded.

He tries to talk his way out of it but the first villager hits him with a bat, luckily it just hits his raised arm instead of his head where the bat was aimed. However it does knock him to the ground.

We quickly see Longtae still running through the forest. He even trips but keeps going.

At the storage hut, Mr. Sakda asks his men to drag Tian forward. Mr. Sakda can’t believe that it’s Tian the passionate teacher. He tells Tian that his passion burned down the school once already, does Tian want to burn down the whole village next?

Mr. Sakda demands Tian give up his cellphone, when Tian says that he doesn’t have it.. Mr. Sakda slaps him hard across the face. Mr. Sakda then repeats the question but Tian says he doesn’t know where the cellphone is and that he must have dropped it in the forest.

One of the minions asks Mr. Sakda if he wants them to go looking for it. Mr. Sakda tells them not to bother since the villagers won’t come out here anyway. He tells them to make sure that Tian doesn’t survive to snitch on them.

Tian tries to stall for time by asking Mr. Sakda if he knows who Tian’s father is? His father is the Permanent Secretary of the Natural Resources Ministry. Tian says that if they do anything to him, then they are done for. Tian says that if they let him go, he can make sure that their business goes more smoothly from now on.

Mr. Sakda says that he doesn’t give a damn how powerful Tian’s father is and tells the guy to stop wasting time and kill him. Tian says that if anything happens to him, his father will hunt them down. Mr. Sakda wonders if Tian has any idea who he’s talking to. Mr. Sakda assures Tian that his father won’t even know that his son is dead.

Luckily for Tian someone shoots the guy that is holding the gun on him. Tian ducks down and uses the distraction of the forest rangers shooting the bad guys to get away. Mr. Sakda notices though and shoots after him. He misses so he sends one of his goons to go kill Tian.

Tian falls to the ground after the gunmen shoots at his feet. Before the man can kill Tian though, Phupha shows up in time to shoot him. Both of them check each other for injuries. That’s when the bad guy manages to try and shoot Tian but ends up shooting Phupha in the back instead.

The bad guy goes to shoot again this time at Tian but Rang manages to come up and shoot him first.

We then get a flashback to Tian and Phupha sitting at the table where Tian says that if he hadn’t been there then Phupha wouldn’t have to take care of him and Phupha telling him that he’s happy to take care of him.

We also get some flashbacks where Phupha saying that it’s his duty to protect Tian. Another time where Phupha asked Tian to make the village his home and stay for a very long time. Then some flashbacks of more recent events and heartbreak.

We then get more flashbacks of them having fun together (my heart hurts, stop it!) Then we go back to the conversation about the monogamous birds. Tian asks Phupha what happens when one of the birds dies and Phupha says that the surviving partner will wait in the same spot until it dies too.

Tian’s father gets a phone call late at night telling him something about the situation (we don’t hear the other side) so Tian’s father asks if he’s safe and then tells the other person to keep him that way and that he’s on his way.

SIDE STORY:

We then go back to an earlier happier time where Phupha tells Tian that they caught the arsonists. Tian asks who the men were and Phupha tells them that they belong to Mr. Sakda. He also tells Tian that the police are after Mr. Sakda and his men now.

Phupha tells Tian that he is safe now, but Tian is more happy that the village itself is safe now. Phupha reminds him that he’s safe too. Tian says that he doesn’t have to inconvenience Phupha anymore.

Phupha asks Tian if he’s ever said that Tian was inconvenient? Phupha then says that the base is closer to the school, has electricity and water ready to use. Phupha says that the base would be more convenient for Tian.

Tian teases Phupha by saying “and..?” Then Phupha says that if Tian would prefer to stay in the base. Tian asks if that’s a question or an invitation? Phupha gets all embarrassed and awkward saying that they are already late and he wants to show Tian something.

Tian stops Phupha and tells him to give it to him straight, does he want Tian to stay there? Phupha finally admits that he wants to Tian to stay. Then he says that if Tian stays it will help him to prepare his teaching plans better. (Sure, sure…) Phupha also says that it would be good for the kids.

Phupha finally admits that being able to come home to someone that will give him a massage would be nice too. Phupha then gets all shy and awkward before saying that he has to show Tian something. He puts the blindfold on Tian (so this was just before he shows Tian the rebuilt school).

That’s the end of Episode 8!