Tang Xue suddenly finds that three different boys are vying for her attention, though she seems oblivious to them all. Unlike in high school, she decides to ignore the boys and instead focus her attention back on her dream: speed skating.
Recap
Yue Wei frowns unhappily when Coach Chu assigns her to be in charge of Tang Xue’s training.
Coach Jin catches Coach Chu as she leaves the speed skating team locker room. He insists on giving her some soup he made, waving off her protests, then makes heart hands and blows a kiss at her retreating back as she walks away.
Tang Xue leaves the locker room next and is so delighted at her new opportunity that she starts hugging everyone she sees: Manager Ma, a cleaning lady. Yu Bing sees her and also holds out his arms for a hug, but she just high fives him instead, then ruffles his hair like she did when they were little.
Coach Chu only gave Tang Xue the chance to get onto the team because Yu Bing and Manager Ma both begged her. What’s so special about her? Coach Chu hopes that Tang Xue and Yu Bing aren’t dating. Coach Xu tells her that he’s never seen Yu Bing be so supportive of someone before. If he believes in Tang Xue, then Chu should, too. He also thinks it’s no big deal if they are dating, as long as it doesn’t affect their training. Chu thinks it’s impossible for dating to not affect their training.
Coach Xu and Coach Chu start bickering about their failed marriage. Chu is angry that she had to do all of the traditionally male household tasks, while Xu complains that he had to do all the traditionally female household chores. And then when he wanted kids… she abruptly stands up and leaves. Xu tries out the soup on Chu’s desk and ends up draining the whole thing.
Yue Wei finds Chu and asks her if she really plans on letting Tang Xue onto the team. She thinks there’s no hope for Tang Xue and that she’ll only drag the team down, but Chu says that they can make that decision after the month is up. As team captain, Yue Wei should be trying to help Tang Xue.
Da Jiang eavesdrops from around the corner. Later, he makes Yue Wei a latte to cheer her up. It works.
Jin notices the empty thermos on Chu’s desk and smiles, thinking she was the one who drank it all.
Tang Xue admires her new gloves while continuing to be in a good mood about her chance to join the speed skating team. But she suddenly freezes when she spots Bian Cheng waiting outside her classroom.
Bian Cheng takes responsibility for throwing Tang Xue off with his text the day she got injured. He asks if he can have another chance to respond to her letter. Tang Xue pastes on a smile and acts casual, saying she barely remembers what was in the letter.
She excuses herself to head to class and doesn’t look back as she walks past Bian Cheng. He turns to watch her go with a sad frown.
Huan Huan immediately asks Tang Xue about Bian Cheng when she gets to class. When she finds out that he never reciprocated Tang Xue’s feelings, she supportively says that she doesn’t like him anyway; Yu Yan is a much better match for Tang Xue.
Zhen Yu spots a poster advertising an “Ice and Snow Carnival Planning Competition.” The first place prize is the opportunity to see sloths up close and personal. Remembering how much Huan Huan loves sloths, he decides to steal the whole poster.
Tang Xue broods over her conversation with Bian Cheng at night, but then decides to focus all her mental energy on making the speed skating team and not let anything else distract her.
The first day of training, Tang Xue and Yue Wei are paired up to stretch each other. Tang Xue is woefully out of shape and lacks flexibility, yelling dramatically in pain as Yue Wei stretches her with a smirk. Tang Xue vows that one day she will beat the whole team. Yue Wei continues to smirk, saying that all trainees start out saying that, and they all drop out anyway. Tang Xue decides to make a bet with Yue Wei, who agrees. If Tang Xue makes the team at the end of the month, Yue Wei will personally sharpen her skates for her.
When it’s time for the partners to switch positions, Tang Xue gets a small satisfaction from stretching Yue Wei so hard that she grimaces.
Yu Bing waits for Tang Xue in the athletes’ lounge. The rest of the speed skating team filters in without her, and he finds her cleaning up after the team in the training room. It’s her responsibility, as the rookie on the team, and she does it with surprisingly good cheer, in sharp contrast to how unhappily she cleaned up after the hockey team when Yu Bing made her do it.
Tang Xue asks Yu Bing if he has tickets to the upcoming event with Wu Da Jing. After a little bit of bickering, he agrees to see if he can get some tickets.
Yu Bing finds Yue Wei and awkwardly summons the courage to ask her a question. She thinks he’s going to confess to her, remembering the tarot card about a secret admirer’s confession. Instead, he asks her to look after Tang Xue. It’s not what she expected and she frowns. She tells Yu Bing that as team captain, she can’t show special favor to anyone. Tang Xue will have to prove herself like anyone else.
Yu Bing is surprised by the vehemence of Yue Wei’s refusal. She stands up to leave and he tries to put a hand on her arm. She shakes him off.
Da Jiang shows up with his usual cheer, breaking up the tension by commenting that all three of their matching water bottles are now together. When Yu Bing tries to take a drink from his bottle, he finds that the liquid is still burning hot. Da Jiang realizes that Yu Bing’s bottle has heat retention capabilities while his own does not. What makes Yu Bing special?
Yue Wei looks awkward and tries to make an excuse about Yu Bing being the weakest. But it’s clear that she’s still irritated with Yu Bing. When he tries to joke around with her, she snaps back. He gets the hint and makes an excuse to leave.
Once he’s gone, Yue Wei starts ranting to Da Jiang about the favor Yu Bing ask her. He tries to reason with her, saying that it’s not unreasonable to ask her to mentor Tang Xue. After all, several of the other skaters on the team were mentored by Yue Wei. But Tang Xue is resistant and Da Jiang can tell that she’s angry because she’s jealous.
Yu Bing wonders if Yue Wei likes him, then laughs it off as absurd. He finds Manager Ma, who greets him with a hug. He’s been selected for the national youth team and has been invited to compete at a U-20 invite-only game. He’ll head out this weekend.
Yu Bing asks Manager Ma if he has tickets to the upcoming Wu Da Jing event, but finds out that the last two tickets were reserved by Yu Yan.
Da Jiang broods at the restaurant that is his “usual spot” with Yu Bing and Yue Wei. The chef notices that he has something on his mind and advises him to take action instead of staying stuck with his thoughts. Just like his untouched noodles, sometimes when things sit for too long, it gets harder to mix it up. Da Jiang stubbornly tries to mix his cold, stuck noodles.
Yu Yan has the last two tickets to the Wu Da Jing event and cheerfully returns to his room. When he puts the tickets on his shelf, it suddenly collapses.
Tang Xue goes looking for Yu Yan in his room. She finds the door ajar, but he’s nowhere in sight. She sees the collapsed shelf.
When Yu Yan gets back to his room with a handyman in tow, he’s surprised to find Tang Xue drilling the final screws into place on his newly-fixed shelf. She turns to face him with a smile, looking glorious with her power drill.
Da Jiang meticulously makes a phone case for Yue Wei. Meanwhile, Yu Bing tries to get tickets to the Wu Da Jing event for Tang Xue.
Tang Xue helps Yu Yan put things back on his shelf and finds a pawn receipt for his trophies. She realizes where his 40,000 yuan came from, and insists he get his trophies back. She gives him the debit card that Yu Bing gave her. Yu Yan gives Tang Xue the tickets to the Wu Da Jing event. She’s delighted.
Yu Bing meets with someone to buy the Wu Da Jing tickets. The seller is Qiu Qiu, one of the members of his fan club. She insists that she won’t take money for the tickets. Instead, she asks him to pay another way — by taking photos with him.
Zhen Yu shows Huan Huan the poster for the ice design competition, pointing out the sloth prize. She thinks he stole the whole poster so that no one else could enter and compete for the prize. He claims that it doesn’t matter if other people enter. With his help, Huan Huan is sure to win. The entry deadline is tomorrow and he’s willing to pull an all-nighter in order to help her. Huan Huan suggests they go to her cousin’s vacant apartment to work.
Yu Bing waits outside Tang Xue’s dorm for a half hour, trying to catch her on her way back. But he quickly ducks out of sight when he hears Tang Xue’s voice and sees her walking up with Yu Yan. She happily holds a ticket in her hand, and Yu Bing watches as they schedule to meet up for the event later.
Yu Bing and his roommates all lie in bed thinking about their crushes. Jian Guo browses Zhou Ran’s pictures on social media and makes kiss faces. Da Jiang wonders if Yue Wei will like the phone case he made — he’s put a matching design on his own phone. Yu Bing broods over the now-useless Wu Da Jing tickets.
Huan Huan and Zhen Yu hang out at her cousin’s apartment. He tries to pamper her while she brainstorms ideas for the design competition, but ends up annoying her with his attention.
A moth flies into the apartment through an open window and Zhen Yu freaks out. He leaps onto Huan Huan with a blanket, saying he’ll protect her, but she’s not scared. They suddenly find themselves very, very close together…
But the moment is ruined when the moth flies into a lampshade and dies. But the moth makes Zhen Yu notice the butterfly decor in the room, and he suddenly gets inspiration for a design idea. Together, he and Huan Huan work for hours on the design.
When they’re done, she promptly falls asleep. He gently covers her with a patchwork of blankets and shirts and smiles as he watches her sleep.
So many things to love about this episode, starting with all the different geometric love lines that are starting to take shape. Tang Xue deserves major props for keeping her cool in front of Bian Cheng and acting casual. Make that boy work for her affections if he wants it!
I also loved the gender role reversals throughout this episode. 1) Yu Yan finding Tang Xue attractive while she does a traditionally “masculine” task like fixing his shelf with a power drill. 2) The bickering between Coach Xu and Coach Chu about the reversed gender roles in their marriage. Obviously that wasn’t the reason their marriage failed. It seems like it’s more about their respective dedication to their skating careers, which seems like a loaded topic. It’s easy for Xu to want kids when he’s not the one who has to be pregnant. For Chu, it’s a much more difficult decision, because as a woman, it probably involved having to choose between kids or her career. I’m curious whether the show will dive more into that angle, but probably not, because our focus here is Tang Xue and Yu Bing.
The Drama Llama 