Yu Bing struggles to adjust at the national youth training camp. Yu Yan and Tang Xue get closer, while Huan Huan and Zhen Yu make bets with each other on who Tang Xue will end up with.
Recap
Coach Wang makes the team run fifty laps as punishment. Song An Jie is the first to start moving, with Yu Bing quick to follow. Yu Bing turns the run into a competition, trying to push ahead of Song An Jie. When they finally file back into lines, Wang tells them why he punished them: they are all one team now and represent China. They should not be differentiating by what club or school they come from.
A hockey game is like a battlefield and the center forward is the team’s general. But who will be the team captain? Wang says that it will depend on who performs well at practice. Song An Jie and Yu Bing size each other up.
They face off on opposite teams during a practice scrimmage. Yu Bing’s team wins; he scores twice and ignores an open teammate in order to score. Song An Jie is appointed captain.
Yu Bing asks Coach Wang if he is lacking in something. Wang hands him the stats sheet from the scrimmage and tells him to see for himself. The gist of it is that Yu Bing relied on himself to win, whereas Song An Jie was much more of a team player, even though his team lost.
Coach Xu calls Yu Bing to check on how he’s doing. He hesitates before answering.
Coach Jin has asked Coach Chu out to dinner. He’s all dressed up and eager to go, while she is still dressed casually in her coaching outfit and tries to make excuses. Jin tries to show off to Xu, who is uncharacteristically subdued. Chu watches him with concern.
Chu is saved when Manager Ma comes into the coaches’ room and says that he needs to talk to Jin about an urgent matter involving Yu Yan. Chu takes the opportunity to reschedule with Jin and escape.
Manager Ma is concerned about Yu Yan’s close relationship with Tang Xue. Are they dating? Will it disrupt Yu Yan’s training? Jin isn’t nearly as concerned and is frustrated that Ma sabotaged his date for such a trivial matter.
Coach Xu broods by the track and is surprised when Coach Chu shows up. She can tell that something is on his mind, and he confides in her that Yu Bing wasn’t selected as the national team captain. The feedback he received was that he only knew how to play individual offense and not team offense. Is it Xu’s fault for not coaching Yu Bing better? Chu reassures him that Yu Bing will face these kinds of obstacles sooner or later.
When Xu finds out that Chu is no longer going out to dinner with Jin, he invites her over to his place, where he’s made ribs. “Ribs again?” she asks teasingly, but then agrees because she hasn’t had his ribs in a while.
Yu Yan waits outside the sports center for Tang Xue, who has put in yet another extra training session. He tells her that he plans on going to the movies tomorrow — he hasn’t been to the movies in so long — and asks if she wants to come along.
Coach Jin, having finally escaped from Manager Ma, tries to find Coach Chu. He spots Li Hong Shuang, who tells him that she saw Coach Chu and Coach Xu chatting by the track. They seem to have made up. Jin gets jealous.
Yu Yan and Tang Xue watch a movie the next day. She starts dozing off in the middle of the movie, but when a couple kisses, her eyes snap wide open. She remembers kissing Yu Bing the other day, then awkwardly turns away so Yu Yan can’t see her face.
After the movie is over, Yu Yan becomes enthralled with a claw machine, saying that the stuffed animals inside are as cute as Tang Xue. She tries three times to get him a stuffed bear, but fails and gives up, saying it must be rigged. Yu Yan insists on trying.
The national youth hockey team practices, but Song An Jie is disappointed with their performance. Yu Bing hangs out on the fringes of the huddle, frowning as he remembers how all of his friends told him that all he needed to do was get the puck and score more.
He calls Tang Xue, who is returning from the movies with Yu Yan. Both of their arms are full with stuffed animals that Yu Yan won. She picks up the phone and asks Yu Yan to take the stuffed animals in her arms. When Yu Bing hears Yu Yan’s name, he immediately hangs up. Tang Xue is miffed when the call drops, and says that maybe Yu Bing called her by accident. Yu Yan frowns at the sound of Yu Bing’s name.
Yu Yan keeps only one of the plushies he won: a little girl. Tang Xue takes the rest up to her room. Huan Huan beams when she learns that Yu Yan won all of these plushies and says that she supports Tang Xue dating Yu Yan. Tang Xue says they’re just friends.
Tang Xue is more than happy to let Huan Huan and Liu Ying keep some of the stuffed animals for themselves. Her two roommates both zero in on the same stuffed cat and end up in a tug-of-war over it.
Coach Jin asks Yu Yan if he’s dating Tang Xue. “Not yet,” Yu Yan responds.
Jin reminds Yu Yan that all of his mother’s hopes rest on him. Yu Yan promises that he won’t disappoint any of them.
Huan Huan finds Zhen Yu setting up a small rescue animal village on a patch of land on campus. Zhen Yu found out from his department chair that there are often a lot of stray cats in the abandoned building next to the land. His department chair loved the idea of using the building and land to rescue stray animals.
Zhen Yu spots the stuffed cat hanging from Huan Huan’s backpack (looks like she won), and the two start talking about whether Yu Yan or Yu Bing would be a better match for Tang Xue. Huan Huan is #TeamYuYan, saying that someone like Yu Yan triggers a maternal, protective instinct in Tang Xue. Zhen Yu is #TeamYuBing, saying what Tang Xue needs is someone who challenge her. They make a bet on who Tang Xue will end up with.
Huan Huan texts Yu Yan, telling him that Tang Xue hasn’t eaten dinner yet and asking him to check on her. Zhen Yu texts Yu Bing, saying that he thinks Tang Xue misses him and telling him to call her more.
Yu Yan finds Tang Xue working out and asks if she wants to go to dinner. She says there’s a game she wants to watch, and suggests they go to a restaurant with a TV. The game she wants to watch is a U-20 match between China and Korea. Yu Yan frowns when he realizes that Yu Bing is the reason she’s so determined to watch this game.
Yu Bing texts Tang Xue, reminding her to watch the game. At the exact same time, she texts him, saying she’s waiting for the game to start. He smiles.
Tang Xue can immediately point out Yu Bing on the ice. Her eyes are glued to the TV, while Yu Yan’s eyes are glued on her. He’s surprised she can recognize Yu Bing from so far away, but she says that to her, he always has a dog head on.
Everyone tunes in for the game, including Yue Wei, who watches nervously from her usual restaurant.
The game is in the final stretch and China is still a point behind. Tang Xue yells at the TV, telling Yu Bing to pass the puck, but he goes for the goal instead. He misses and the team loses the game. As the team skates off the ice, one of his teammate’s mutters to another about how Yu Bing wasted a perfectly good opportunity. Song An Jie skates over to Yu Bing and tells him that when the team loses, then it’s the team’s problem, not Yu Bing’s. But if Yu Bing refuses to trust his teammates, then it’s Yu Bing’s problem.
Tang Xue is disappointed with Yu Bing’s choice and glares at the TV. Yu Yan frowns as he watches her, silently saying that she doesn’t even realize how much she cares about Yu Bing.
Yu Bing broods in the locker room, staring at Tang Xue’s contact on his phone. Yue Wei calls him, telling him not to worry about it too much. He tells her not to worry, he won’t let himself be knocked down by something like this, then says good night and hangs up, not waiting for her response.
Da Jiang calls Yu Bing to chide him for not passing the puck. Yu Bing tells Da Jiang that he’s waiting for a call and that they can talk later, then hangs up.
Tang Xue drafts several different versions of texts to Yu Bing, some encouraging, some berating him for not passing the puck, but ends up sending none of them. Instead, she calls her parents, asking them to send over a scrapbook she made when she was younger.
Yue Wei asks Da Jiang is Yu Bing is in a better mood now. He responds that Yu Bing is still brooding over the game, but that’s normal for him. He holds himself to too high of a standard. But Da Jiang also tells Yue Wei not to worry too much. It’s normal for Yu Bing to have some doubts when he’s in a new environment with no friends, but he’ll be fine.
Yue Wei wonders if there’s anything they can do for Yu Bing. Da Jiang says the best they can do is support him quietly from behind.
At the next practice, Coach Wang tells the hockey players to pair up. No one wants to partner with Yu Bing. He’s the last one left, so he ends up with Song An Jie.
Tang Xue joins Huan Huan and Zhen Yu as they celebrate the opening of their animal rescue operation. Huan Huan tells Tang Xue that a package was delivered to her. She rushes off back to their dorm room to flip through her childhood scrapbook. She lands on a photo of her, Yu Bing, their teacher, and the parents, and smiles.
Coach Wang meets with Yu Bing, asking what’s going on with him and the rest of the team. Yu Bing recognizes that there are probably hard feelings because he missed the shot that would have tied the game. But he thinks that his teammates don’t understand him enough. He knows his strength is his individual offense and shooting ability. His execution was off this time, but he’ll do better next time and prove himself to his teammates.
It’s not the answer Wang wants to hear. He reminds Yu Bing that he’s playing hockey, not table tennis. This isn’t an individual sport. But Yu Bing doesn’t see the point in passing the puck to players who are inferior to him.
Wang admits that Yu Bing is very skilled as an individual, but if he doesn’t know how to work with others, that means he’s not mature enough or well-rounded enough to be on the national team. He tells Yu Bing that no one else can make him change. He is the only one who can change himself.
Yu Bing looks down.
This episode is really all about Yu Bing coming to terms with himself, something that he hasn’t seemed able to grasp yet. At Ling Da, he’s always been the star and the people around him encourage him to behave that way. But it’s clear from the end of the episode that he’s a bit too prideful and hasn’t quite grasped what it means to be a teammate. What will it take for him to see the error in his ways?
The Drama Llama 