Recap
He Luo heads to her high school reunion alone. Everyone else is already there by the time she gets there and they push her toward a seat right next to Zhang Yuan. She and Zhang Yuan make friendly chatter and don’t act at all awkward, though Zhang Yuan is a bit over-eager to talk to her and it’s clear he has eyes only for her.
Meanwhile, Cheng Jie downs cup after cup of liquor by himself because Tian Xin hasn’t shown up.
They take a cab to a karaoke bar with Cheng Jie passed out in the front seat and continue to make small talk. He Luo seems fine but Zhang Yuan looks to be struggling sitting next to her. He finally asks quietly, “Is he treating you well?” He Luo seems a bit surprised but responds that Feng Xiao does treat her well. Zhang Yuan says that it’s funny that she wished him well but now she’s the one doing well. She seems surprised that he doesn’t have a girlfriend yet, but says that there are probably plenty of women chasing after him. He’s the one who should treat women better.
He looks at her and soberly says that he’s only been good to one person in his life. She treats it as a joke and laughs that she was always number two in his life. She smiles and says that she never thought they’d be able to talk so freely about the past without it being awkward. They can even joke about it. Zhang Yuan definitely looks awkward though, and says that it must only be that way for her.
At the karaoke bar, their classmates pressure He Luo into singing “Hou Lai” (the same song that Zhang Yuan sang to her in the apartment he rented back when he visited Beijing for his “business trip” that he lied to her about in college). After she finishes singing, she gets ready to head out, saying she’s tired. Zhang Yuan jokes that it’s probably good she leaves early so she won’t have panda eyes the next day. He tells her to say hi to her parents for him, and she leaves.
His classmates give him disappointed looks after she leaves, urging him to follow after her, so he does, catching her in the hallway and saying that he can send her home. She says there’s no need — someone is picking her up.
But once she exits the building, she takes a deep breath and looks back, perhaps with some regret. Feng Xiao wanders up, asking why she didn’t stay longer. He notices her sad face, but she immediately gives him a hug. He asks what’s wrong, but all she says is, “Let’s go home.”
He Luo brings Feng Xiao back home to meet her mother. Her mother seems delighted to meet Feng Xiao and talks about how she’s prepared the guest room for him, but is disappointed to find out that they’ve already booked a hotel room for Feng Xiao and that he’s heading back to Beijing the next morning to see his grandfather. Dinner is interrupted by a phone call for He Luo.
He Luo picks up: it’s Zhang Yuan on the other side. He asks her how long she’ll be home and when she’ll return to Beijing. He wants to talk to her. She doesn’t respond for a long moment, and Zhang Yuan hears snippets of Feng Xiao’s conversation with her mom in the background.
He Luo finally responds saying she’s not sure of her schedule yet. Zhang Yuan comments that it sounds pretty lively in her home. Zhang Yuan asks for her to make time to see him when she goes back to Beijing, but she says that she probably won’t have time. He asks for just an hour or two, but she says that she needs to help Feng Xiao with family issues and probably won’t be able to step away.
Zhang Yuan nods and hangs up, but immediately calls Wei Rui afterward and tells her to postpone some meetings — he needs to go back to Haicheng for an emergency. Wei Rui immediately guesses that it’s because of He Luo.
After Feng Xiao leaves, He Luo’s mom asks her if she has talked to Feng Xiao about marriage yet, and talks about how she and He Luo’s father went to the same school and then got married a couple of years after graduating. She tells He Luo that she really likes Feng Xiao and can tell that he really loves He Luo.
While looking for her glasses in her desk drawer, He Luo stumbles upon her old box of train tickets from when she and Zhang Yuan would visit each other. She flips through them nostalgically, then puts them away.
He Luo and Yun Wei finally meet up in person and catch up. He Luo asks if she’s heard from Chang Feng. Yun Wei reports that his family hasn’t been doing well and Chang Feng still hasn’t been doing well, but that news is months old. His mother used to call Yun Wei, crying.
He Luo sends Feng Xiao off. Before he leaves, he tells her that his grandfather and parents really want to meet her when she goes back to Beijing. She looks hesitant and says they can talk about it later.
He Luo goes back to her favorite manga cafe “Not a Bookstore” (Brother Wang isn’t even there) to buy a copy of Summer Records. The lady running the store in Brother Wang’s stead says that the last copy was sold. Disappointed, He Luo leaves.
Meanwhile, Zhang Yuan has the copy of Summer Records in hand and is reading it with headphones in. He seems to sense that he just missed He Luo and rushes to catch up, but it’s too late — she’s already gone.
He Luo wanders to the entrance to her high school campus and for a second imagines that she hears Zhang Yuan’s voice, but it’s just a memory, and she moves on. Zhang Yuan also heads back to school and wanders the campus and he remembers previous conversations with He Luo about Teacher Lin and how she and her boyfriend dated long distance for six years before getting engaged. He starts talking to an imaginary He Luo (but he’s really just talking to himself). He goes back up to the rooftop, where their old chalk graffiti has been erased like it was never there.
He Luo goes to visit Yun Wei and her grandmother. It turns out that Yun Wei has been lying to her grandmother about Chang Feng’s whereabouts and claiming that he’s been too busy to visit. On the other hand, her grandmother has nothing but praise for Zhang Yuan, who visits regularly.
Wei Rui calls Zhang Yuan, saying she has news of Chang Feng. Zhang Yuan rushes to Yun Wei’s place with the news, coincidentally running into He Luo. They all chat with Yun Wei’s grandmother a bit. Things get a little awkward when her grandmother asks Zhang Yuan about his stomach issues and mentions his recent hospitalization, then asks He Luo about how her friend that she made congee for is doing (He Luo had asked Yun Wei’s grandmother for the recipe).
Zhang Yuan pulls Yun Wei outside to tell her about Chang Feng. He Luo follows behind. Fu Peng found him in Shenzhen at a real estate company. He seems to have a pretty stable job. Zhang Yuan says he plans on going to Shenzhen to check on him. At first, she says that’s good, but then she changes her mind, saying that with his personality, he’ll probably be spooked into disappearing again if he sees Zhang Yuan. Knowing that he’s well is good enough, she says, but she seems shaken. She starts crying and He Luo hugs her comfortingly while Zhang Yuan can only watch.
He Luo and Zhang Yuan go for a walk together. She checks the time and says she has to leave, but Zhang Yuan convinces her to talk with him longer, saying he has some questions for her about the gaming industry. (What?)
They end up getting dinner together. At the end of the night, Zhang Yuan offers to send He Luo home, but she politely refuses. He asks when she’s heading back to Beijing and if they can return together, but she says that Feng Xiao already bought a ticket for her.
At home, He Luo checks her email and finds a message from her professor in America, saying that he’ll be going to Huaqing in a few weeks and asking her if she’s willing to stay a bit longer in Beijing in order to assist him. She immediately calls Ye Zhi with the news and debates whether she should stay or not. Ye Zhi says that He Luo should definitely take advantage of this opportunity — and the opportunity she’s referring to isn’t the opportunity to assist her professor. He Luo says there is no other opportunity. She intends on only moving forward and not looking back. Ye Zhi laughs and says okay, but tells He Luo to hurry and get to Beijing. She’s excited for her to be back on campus again.
Thoughts
Yaaas, I love seeing He Luo handle her interactions with Zhang Yuan so casually and with such poise while he runs around trying to do everything right. This time around he shouldn’t be able to get He Luo back so easily. I am curious about how the show plans on resolving this Zhang Yuan-He Luo-Feng Xiao love triangle though. However they do it, I hope it’s executed well and doesn’t just sacrifice Feng Xiao because the poor boy has done nothing wrong!
The Drama Llama 