Prologue
Quan Sheng takes Yu Xuan to a park he used to frequent near his hometown. It’s the same park where Zi Wei takes Yu Xuan (as Yun Ru) to chat about their feelings.
Quan Sheng tells Yu Xuan that when he was little, he used to tell all his secrets and worries to the tree so he wouldn’t have to carry them with him. He encourages Yu Xuan to tell the tree her secrets; he promises not to listen. Yu Xuan whispers that after her last fight with Quan Sheng, she used his toothbrush to scrub the toilet. He still doesn’t know.
An older, post-Quan Sheng’s funeral Yu Xuan goes back to the tree and whispers her worries.
Zi Wei and Yu Xuan as Yun Ru nap in the grass under a younger version of that same tree. When Zi Wei wakes up to see Yu Xuan watching him, he sits up quickly and looks around awkwardly. Yu Xuan asks if he still wants to chat. He says it’s getting late. They can chat some other day.
Present
Zi Wei continues to act awkward around Yu Xuan as Yun Ru after their long eye contact. He walks a few steps ahead of her out of the park. When she gets on his motorcycle behind him and holds onto his waist, he flinches at first and gets so flustered that he forgets to start the engine. Yu Xuan doesn’t notice his awkwardness, but she’s been here with Quan Sheng before, and her memory of Quan Sheng here conflicts with her present reality of Zi Wei.
Mo Jun Jie gets called into the police station as a person of interest in Yun Ru’s attack. Yang, the lead detective, knows Jun Jie’s grandmother and is quite fond of her, but that doesn’t mean she takes it easy on Jun Jie. She tells him his rights and asks him about his whereabouts the day of Yun Ru’s attack. He lies and says he went home after celebrating Yun Ru’s birthday with Zi Wei, but Yang tells him they have traffic camera footage showing him riding behind the two. She also presents the hearing aid found at the crime scene and tells him that they traced the hearing aid back to him. They don’t have enough evidence to prosecute, but he’s their only suspect right now.
Zi Wei drops Yu Xuan off but barely says a word to her or makes eye contact. Once she’s gone inside, he lets out a big sigh and asks himself why he’s acting like this.
In her room, Yu Xuan asks herself why she keeps acting like Zi Wei is Wang Quan Sheng. But she quickly reassesses her priorities. Right now, she needs to figure out how to get back to 2019, otherwise she might be stuck in Yun Ru’s life forever.
She remembers the conversation she had with Uncle Wu in 2019. She had asked him how Yun Ru passed away. He paused for a long moment, then said that Yun Ru was murdered on Lunar New Year’s Eve in 1999. He told her that the more he thinks about it, the more likely it is that Yu Xuan and Yun Ru are somehow connected. Their similarities aren’t just coincidence. If the Yun Ru he knew in 1998 was actually Yu Xuan, then maybe there’s a way for Yu Xuan to change the past so that Yun Ru doesn’t die.
Yu Xuan looks at a calendar on Yun Ru’s desk. It’s already November 1998. That means Yun Ru dies in only a few months. If Yu Xuan doesn’t figure out a way to get back to 1998 before then, does that mean she’ll die with Yun Ru?
Yu Xuan tries to get on the internet, but forgets that in 1998, she has to use dial-up. Her brother and uncle hear her complaining about the slow internet speed and 2019. She quickly tries to recover, but her personality is still so out of character for Yun Ru that her uncle asks what’s going on.
Yu Xuan decides to tell him the truth about her identity, since in 2019 he told her that she had once told him she was Yu Xuan. Si Yuan eavesdrops in the stairwell while Yu Xuan tells Uncle Wu about the future, in which he was the one to beg her to come to 1998. But Uncle Wu is skeptical and tries to take Yu Xuan to the doctor to get her head checked. Si Yuan, on the other hand, looks thoughtful, like it might be plausible.
When Zi Wei gets to school the next morning, he notices that Jun Jie’s motorcycle isn’t there yet. Zi Wei continues to struggle with thoughts of Yun Ru. When Jun Jie finally gets to class, he looks glum. Zi Wei tries to talk to him, but is interrupted by Zhang Qi En (the boy they fought with before), who harasses Jun Jie about being taken to the police station last night. This is news to Zi Wei, and Qi En makes fun of him for not knowing, then suggests that he and Jun Jie attacked Yun Ru together.
Before Zi Wei can punch Qi En, a teacher comes in, calling Jun Jie into his office. The school wants Jun Jie to take some time off from school because of the controversy. But Jun Jie maintains his own innocence, saying he’s done nothing wrong. The teachers claim it’s for his own protection while the rumors are flying. If he gets prosecuted, he’ll need to drop out anyway. Zi Wei eavesdrops outside the teachers’ office, then takes off running.
He goes to find Yu Xuan, who is still skipping school. They find Jun Jie, who is being ostracized by his peers. Jun Jie tearfully tells Yu Xuan that he didn’t attack her. She looks at him for a long moment, comparing her memories of the attack, in which there was a boy wearing a school uniform with hair like him, to all the moments in which he treated Yun Ru with nothing but kindness.
Jun Jie takes her silence for rejection and starts to leave, but Yu Xuan stops him. She has a solution.
Yu Xuan goes to the police station and lies to protect Jun Jie, spinning up a story about how the hearing aid was at the crime scene because she had picked it up earlier in the night. This story is news to both boys, but they go along with her when she suggests her version of events. She has answers to all of Detective Yang’s questions.
Now that Yu Xuan is able to explain the hearing aid, there’s not enough evidence to prosecute Jun Jie, though it also can’t clear him of suspicion completely. The friends smile at each other happily. Detective Yang looks at Yu Xuan thoughtfully.
The three friends go out to eat afterward. Jun Jie thanks Yu Xuan for her help, but she says the real person he should be thanking is Zi Wei. If not for Zi Wei telling her about the situation, then she wouldn’t have been able to clear things up. Zi Wei tries to act casual about it, saying he’s sure that Jun Jie would have done the same for him. This seems to clear up whatever awkwardness was between them and they go back to being friends.
Zi Wei comments that he’s curious about who the real attacker is and why he would do that to Yun Ru. This gives Yu Xuan a stroke of inspiration: if she can find the attacker and stop him, maybe that will allow her to return to 2019.
Zi Wei adds black vinegar to his noodles, which is weird, and when Yu Xuan asks him about it, he says that it’s his “style.” Yu Xuan freezes and stares at him, but he doesn’t notice. Quan Sheng used to do the same exact thing, down to calling it his “style.”
Yu Xuan asks the boys if they want to hear a joke. She tells a somewhat long-winded, food-related joke. The gist is that Meat Bun and Noodle are good friends that suddenly have a fight one day. Meat Bun loses and finds back up the next day to confront Noodle again. Along the way, they run into Ramen and beat him up. Ramen is confused. Meat Bun says, “Noodle, don’t think I wouldn’t recognize you just because you permed your hair!”
Both Zi Wei and Jun Jie stare at her, asking if that was the punchline. She says yes. Jun Jie fakes a smile saying it was funny while Zi Wei says it’s not funny at all. Yu Xuan’s mood suddenly sours and she heads out to get a coffee (which Zi Wei finds weird because she normally drinks tea). Jun Jie blame Zi Wei for making her angry, saying he should’ve just laughed at her joke. Zi Wei insists that it wasn’t funny.
It turns out Yu Xuan’s joke was a test of sorts. Quan Sheng was the one who originally told it to her. She didn’t find it funny at the time but he said he thought it was hilarious when he first heard it. But Zi Wei clearly didn’t have the same reaction. She smiles sadly at herself at the coffee shop. It’s just a reminder that Zi Wei isn’t Quan Sheng.
Yun Ru’s mother asks for Uncle Wu’s help in talking to Yun Ru. They both agree that her behavior has been bizarre lately. She’s skipping school, short-tempered, and talking back at her mother, things she had never done before. Uncle Wu agrees to help.
He goes to find Yu Xuan and tells her that he believes her story about being Huang Yu Xuan from 2019. But he has some questions for her. For example, if Yu Xuan is in Yun Ru’s body, then where is Yun Ru? Yu Xuan isn’t quite sure. Uncle Wu tells Yu Xuan that if she only plans on being here temporarily, and if the real Yun Ru is to return, then wouldn’t it be courteous for Yu Xuan to not ruin Yun Ru’s life? For example, Yun Ru is for studious and college admissions are coming up. Yun Ru would be devastated if her grades tanked and she wasn’t able to get into a good college. So Yu Xuan skipping school is not a good look. He stacks some textbooks into Yu Xuan’s hands, telling her that he can play the role of her uncle and she can come to him with any problems. In exchange, she should make sure she’s playing the role of Yun Ru well.
Si Yuan was listening at Yun Ru’s door the whole time. He catches his uncle coming out of Yun Ru’s room and asks if he really believes her story. Uncle Wu says of course not. But Si Yuan thinks it might be real. Uncle Wu warns Si Yuan not to let his mother hear. If she found out that Yun Ru was spouting nonsense about being from the future and that Si Yuan believed her, she’d take them both to the temple for an exorcism.
Zi Wei makes some ramen at home and grumbles at Yun Ru’s short temper. When he looks at the ramen, he’s suddenly reminded of her joke from earlier and suddenly finds the joke hilarious. He thinks of her smile, then quickly shakes his head and wonders why he’s been thinking about her so much.
The next day, Yu Xuan dutifully goes to school as Yun Ru, only to find out there’s a math exam, and she doesn’t know how to solve any of the problems. She ends up rolling a pencil, using it as a die to randomly guess answers.
After class, two of Yun Ru’s classmates struggle to find a girl willing to sign up for their basketball match on Saturday. The only person they haven’t asked is Yun Ru, who they’ve already written off because she doesn’t talk to anyone, much less participate in school activities, but they try asking her anyway. To their surprise, she immediately agrees and warns them that she’s very competitive and only plays to win.
On Saturday, Zi Wei and Jun Jie play in their own class’s boys’ basketball match, crushing the other team. A few girls from Yun Ru’s class cheer him on. Afterward, one of them, Cai Wen Rou, who has a crush on Zi Wei, offers him some water and tries to talk to him. Zi Wei is oblivious and gets distracted when he overhears some other classmates talking about a girl from Yun Ru’s class who keeps shooting three pointers in the girls’ basketball game.
Curious, he convinces Jun Jie to go and watch the game, completely ignoring Wen Rou.
To their surprise, it is Chen Yun Ru who is the star shooter of the girls’ game. Jun Jie and Zi Wei cheer rowdily for her. Yun Ru has also drawn the attention of her other classmates. Wen Rou glares at Yun Ru angrily, having noticed Zi Wei’s cheering for her. Some boys next to Jun Jie and Zi Wei comment on how they never noticed Yun Ru before, but she’s actually quite attractive when she plays ball. Jun Jie doesn’t notice because they were on his right side, where his bad ear is, but Zi Wei pettily goes to stand in front of them and cheer for Yun Ru, trying to block their view.
There’s also another person staring intently at Yun Ru: the student who looks like Dr. Xie.
During lunch, Wen Rou’s friends gossip about how Yun Ru has changed a lot lately. Even they admit that she looks pretty good playing basketball, and they comment on how she even has friends now (the other girls from the basketball team) and how she has the attention of Jun Jie and Zi Wei from the other class. Wen Rou glares jealously as Zi Wei and Jun Jie drop by the classroom and call Yun Ru out to chat.
The two boys drag Yun Ru out to a remote part of campus, where Zi Wei interrogates her on where she learned to shoot so well. She responds that she joined the basketball team her freshman year, of course she knows how to play! Except… Yun Ru definitely did not join the basketball team. She quickly corrects herself to say she wanted to join the basketball team her freshman year, so she practiced in secret.
But the real point of dragging Yun Ru out isn’t so much about basketball as it is an intervention. Zi Wei and Jun Jie think that she’s changed a lot since her head injury. Zi Wei asks if she had a breakthrough in her qi and suddenly discovered some superpowers. Yu Xuan looks uncomfortable. Zi Wei also has another theory: she has a split personality and the real Yun Ru is locked inside her head. He starts knocking on her head, telling the real Yun Ru to come back. I mean, he’s not far off! That’s the closest explanation to the truth.
Yu Xuan throws him off and calls him immature, then claims that she’s trying to draw people’s attention on purpose. She wants her attacker to notice her so that she can draw him out. In fact, she wants him to try and attack her again. Zi Wei is unhappy with this bizarre proclamation, saying it’s dangerous, but Jun Jie is listening and tells Zi Wei to let her talk.
Yu Xuan continues by saying that before, Yun Ru was docile and a pushover. Even if she remembered something, she wouldn’t be bold enough to say anything. But now, she’s outgoing and has friends. What if her classmates spread a rumor that she suddenly remembers something about her attacker? What do they think he would do? She looks much too happy discussing how she can get herself to be attacked again.
Both Zi Wei and Jun Jie simultaneously exclaim that she can’t do that. It’s dangerous! Jun Jie says that she should let the police take care of it. Yu Xuan rolls her eyes and calls them childish. She only got attacked and is now fine. Of course the police won’t do their due diligence to catch the real attacker. If she had actually died, maybe they would take it a bit more seriously, but their eagerness to pin the crime on Jun Jie is just an example of how they’re looking for easy answers instead of the right one.
Yu Xuan admits that she’s pretty sure her attacker is one of their classmates. She doesn’t remember anything new, but she does have a hazy memory of her attacker wearing their school uniform. She’s worried that if they don’t catch him now, before they graduate, it’ll be impossible to figure out his identity later. She silently adds that she’s pretty sure Yun Ru’s attacker is the same person who murders her.
Seeing that Zi Wei and Jun Jie have suddenly fallen silent and look very troubled, she tries to cheer them up by telling them that she trusts them. They once told her that would protect her, and she trusts that they’ll be able to. She tells them to have some confidence in themselves.
Later, Yu Xuan finds out that Jun Jie is one of the top students in her year. She asks him to tutor her. He readily agrees, while Zi Wei watches a little jealously. Yu Xuan teases Zi Wei, asking if he wants to join in their study sessions because his grades are even worse than hers, but he says he doesn’t need to.
She suddenly remembers Zi Wei telling Yun Ru that he would be emigrating with his family after graduation, and starts saying that she remembers him talking about his post-graduation plans… but she doesn’t quite remember that Zi Wei also told her to not tell Jun Jie. Zi Wei tries to interrupt her, and they quickly lie to Jun Jie that Zi Wei can always re-apply to college if he fails the first time. Jun Jie accepts their answer but looks unconvinced.
A student photographer in Zi Wei and Jun Jie’s class takes down names for people who want copies of photos from the basketball game. A male student asks if there are any photos of Yun Ru; he wants copies. Other students also tag on. This draws the attention of Xie, who happens to be class president. He shyly goes over and asks if he can also get a picture of Yun Ru. The other students tease him about liking Yun Ru. He smiles shyly and returns to his seat.
He looks around a little shiftily before flipping to a page in his textbook. He already has a photo of Yun Ru bookmarking one of the pages. It’s dated October 23, 1998. As he looks at it, his mind flashes to a vision of a rainy night with Yun Ru, where she says, “You want me right? If you want me, then kill me. If you kill me, then I’ll be yours. You can do whatever you want to me.”
This corrupted memory or hallucination or whatever you want to call it seems to turn him on. His nostrils flare and he smiles creepily as he looks up.
I’m surprised his eyes aren’t red like a demon’s! I made the mistakes of watching this episode right before bed. Not only did I wish it weren’t so late so I could keep watching, I was also worried I would get nightmares from the ending scene of Xie! He’s so creepy and psychotic! No doubt about who the culprit is now. That ending and music sent chills up my spine.
Despite that, I loved this episode! There was such a great balance of serious, humorous, and downright adorable moments. Uncle Wu and Yun Ru’s mother are generally hilarious. I love seeing all the friendship moments between Yun Ru/Yu Xuan, Zi Wei, and Jun Jie. It’s exactly the kind of envy-inducing friendship that makes other people, like Wen Rou, seethe, but it’s also the kind of easy friendship that you can’t help but smile at and want for yourself.
Seeing Zi Wei struggle to understand why he’s starting to like Yun Ru (or more accurately – Yu Xuan) is adorable. My heart breaks seeing Yu Xuan struggle over all the ways he’s similar to Quan Sheng, from taking her to that park, to his affinity for black vinegar, to his reaction to the ramen joke. She’s trying to tell herself not to read too much into it, but there are too many similarities there for it to be a coincidence. But what is the connection between Quan Sheng and Zi Wei? That’s the million dollar question. Did they also have a personality swap at some point like she and Yun Ru have?
It was sweet to see Yu Xuan defend Jun Jie and lie so smoothly for him. But what is he hiding? Obviously he didn’t want to admit that he followed Zi Wei and Yun Ru because he was jealous and insecure, but where did he go after? And though Yu Xuan’s story about the hearing aid was smooth, and it’s also likely not the truth. So what’s the real explanation?
The Drama Llama 