Tang Xue and Li Yu Bing continue to clash as Yu Bing tries to get payback for his childhood trauma, but Tang Xue refuses to back down. Meanwhile, two romantic rivals enter the scene: Tang Xue’s cousin Zhou Ran, and figure skating phenom Yu Yan.
Recap
Tang Xue confronts Li Yu Bing in the library and warns him not tell anyone about what happened in the shower room. If he doesn’t, she’ll beat him to the punch and publicize it. After all, he has much more to lose with his reputation as the “Ice God” than she does. She starts to loudly announce it to the library, but he quickly covers her mouth and pulls her into the stacks.
When they leave the library, she asks which bike is his. It’s the first one in the line. He offers her a ride back to her dorm, but she’s not falling for that trick again. Instead, she kicks his bike over, which triggers a small waterfall of fallen bikes, then walks off.
When Tang Xue gets back to her dorm room, she finds out that Huan Huan has discovered Yu Bing’s fan club and infiltrated it. Photos of her and Yu Bing from the library have already been shared in the group. Tang Xue, pretending to be Huan Huan, spreads a rumor that Yu Bing has been in love with her (Tang Xue) since grade school, but that she doesn’t reciprocate. She enlists fan club members to help her with some of the errands Yu Bing forces her to do, like bring him breakfast.
The next morning, Zhou Ran practices her tongue-twisters by the running track, drawing the attention of many of the male students who are exercising, but not the one she’s interested in. Yu Bing seems to see right through her as he drinks some water nearby. Da Jiang joins him and they chat about Tang Xue while Zhou Ran eavesdrops curiously.
Yu Bing tells Da Jiang that he’s teaching Tang Xue how to be an adult. Da Jiang teases him about their relationship. Yu Bing calls Tang Xue, asking where his breakfast is. She sleepily responds that it’ll be there soon. Sure enough, one of his fans, Qiu Qiu (Li Ru Ge), shows up with his breakfast. He asks her where Tang Xue is. She claims that something suddenly claim up. Yu Bing bribes her to tell him the truth with the promise of a movie date. She whispers in his ear.
Then she asks him if it’s true that he’s madly in love with Yu Bing. He chokes on his drink. Zhou Ran steps in and offers him a napkin, which he accepts before quickly shuffling off and dragging Da Jiang with him.
Huan Huan reports to Tang Xue that someone has offered to bring Yu Bing breakfast for a whole month. Someone named Zhou Ran. Tang Xue says no, but then tries to hide, because Zhou Ran is walking straight toward her. They’re cousins, but not close, and trade thinly-veiled insults with each other.
Later at night, Tang Xue and Yu Bing’s roommates both tease them about their relationship with each other. Both say it’s impossible that they’ll ever be romantically involved. Yu Bing says that if he ever dates her, he’ll never eat his instant ramen with seasoning again. Tang Xue says that if she ever dates him, she’ll eat her instant ramen with only seasoning. (Product placement.) Sounds like they’re meant to be.
The next morning, Zhou Ran greets Yu Bing outside the sports arena with his breakfast. They introduce themselves to each other. Zhou Ran says that she’s Tang Xue’s cousin, but Yu Bing can tell that she’s not very close with her, after Zhou Ran says that Tang Xue has only said good things about him. He finds out in a text from Manager Ma that Tang Xue has indeed auctioned off the right to buy him breakfast, and Zhou Ran bought a month’s worth. Yu Bing eyes her, seeing that she’s good-natured and is rich. But then his mood is ruined when Tang Xue appears.
Yu Bing calls her over and makes her wait while he finishes eating, then gives her his trash to throw away. Zhou Ran tags on, then leaves. Tang Xue passes the trash over to Zhen Yu, then suspiciously asks Yu Bing what he and Zhou Ran talked about. Yu Bing smirks and says they talked about how Zhou Ran is smarter, prettier, and nicer than Tang Xue. Then he tosses his backpack at Tang Xue and starts walking inside.
Tang Xue passes the bag over to Zhen Yu, then tells Yu Bing to stop. Huan Huan and Zhen Yu back her up so that she doesn’t even have to talk; they speak for her. Huan Huan threatens to castrate Yu Bing if he bullies Tang Xue. That makes everyone else feel a little awkward.
Yu Bing insults her choice of friends/followers, then walks off. Tang Xue starts to follow, then gets distracted by the sound of music. She follows the music to the rink, where Yu Yan spins and jumps around the ice, and she watches in awe.
When the music stops, he skates over to the boards, and Tang Xue immediately grabs his attention, saying she never guessed that he was a figure skater. She thinks the music really suits him, and he looks pleased. He tells his coach, Coach Jin, that he wants to pick this piece for his program this season. Coach Jin looks less enthused, saying that the style of the music probably won’t appeal to judges. Tang Xue stands there awkwardly while Jin “suggests” that Yu Yan listen to some other pieces as well.
Tang Xue is worried that she caused trouble for Yu Yan, but he reassures her that he also likes the song quite a lot.
The hockey team arrives, ready to kick the figure skating team off the ice. But this time the figure skaters are ready to push back when it comes to ice time, and the two teams’ coaches get involved. Coach Xu, the hockey coach, graciously lets Coach Jin and his team have some extra ice time, but it seems condescending. Coach Jin takes the opportunity to show off Yu Yan, who happens to be a national figure skating champion, and tells him to go demonstrate some of his moves.
Yu Yan shows off some basic figure skating moves, while the hockey team looks unimpressed. Thus sets off an ice battle between the two teams. Da Jiang is the first to take the ice, trying to prove that hockey skaters can skate just as well as figure skaters, but he embarrasses himself. Yu Bing takes the ice next and impresses with his ability to spin and match Yu Yan move for move in his hockey skates. But when Yu Yan throws in a double axel, Yu Bing has no way of keeping up and falls.
Yu Bing and Yu Yan exchange respectful nods. The hockey team and figure skating team start bickering, but Yu Bing tells them to stop. A loss is a loss. He glances up at Tang Xue, who smirks and gloats at him, and they have a silent exchange of words conveyed only through their facial expressions.
Yu Bing eavesdrops jealously while Tang Xue heaps compliments on Yu Yan and officially introduces herself. He makes some snide comments and then insists on interrupting Tang Xue by making her open his water bottle for him. She force feeds him the bottle.
There’s no love lost between Coach Xu and Coach Jin, who seem to be true frenemies whose rivalry extends beyond their respective teams and ice time. They’ve known each other for a long time, and were once interested in the same girl. Coach Xu won that battle, but now he’s getting divorced and Jin gloats that he’s now winning in love and business, since he has Yu Yan as well.
Tang Xue invites Yu Yan to lunch with her and Huan Huan. She notices how little he eats and pities him, thinking that he’s poor. She tries to offer him some of her own chicken wings, but he politely refuses, saying he can’t eat high calorie foods. She insists, thinking he’s trying to save face, but finally relents and takes the chicken back.
Yu Bing sees Tang Xue taking the chicken from Yu Yan’s plate and is triggered, remembering how Tang Xue used to steal his food all the time. He goes over to confront her for stealing other people’s food. She stands up to talk back, but her mouth is full so Huan Huan has to interpret for her. She’s angry that he’s accusing her of stealing other people’s food, so then she purposely takes a bite out of every piece of chicken on his tray, just like in his nightmare.
He angrily throws his tray down on the table, drawing attention. He warns Yu Yan to keep his distance from Tang Xue because she’s a bully, but Yu Yan timidly responds that he thinks Tang Xue is quite nice. Yu Bing scoffs that he’s brainwashed already. He turns back on Tang Xue to rant, but Da Jiang physically drags him off so he stops making a scene.
Liu Ying quotes a love poem on an internet forum. Most of the responses make fun of her, but then someone responds, “I woke up and feel like I’m in love with you,” which is another quote from the same book of love letters by Zhu Sheng Hao. Liu Ying sighs happily that someone else also appreciates his poems, and connects with the user on QQ. The user happens to be Deng Jian Guo (Jin Zi He), Yu Bing’s third roommate and hockey team goalie, whom they affectionately call “Fatty.”
Tang Xue bursts back into her room, disturbing Liu Ying, and rants about Yu Bing while Huan Huan tries to calm her down. Yu Bing does the same, ranting about Tang Xue, while Da Jiang tries to calm him down.
At night, Tang Xue thinks about both Yu Yan and Yu Bing gliding so smoothly over the ice while looking at her own skates and wishing she hadn’t given up skating.
Childhood story: Tang Xue cleans the stairwell after school as punishment for having Li Yu Bing do her work for her. She hears the sound of a piano and follows the music to the music room, where a young boy studiously plays the piano.
This show is too cheesy. But there’s something kind of endearing about it too. The characters are just the right kind of quirky. They’re all kind of awkward but lovable, Tang Xue most of all. She’s mostly all just bravado but I love how her response to being pushed is to push back harder. Huan Huan is so strange. Liu Ying is so nerdy but I think I resonate with her the most, the quiet girl who hangs out on the internet.
Television portrayals of figure skating always make me laugh. What amused me this episode is the fact that half of the figure skating team appears to be wearing… rental skate?
The Drama Llama 