Tang Xue continues to devote her time to helping Yu Yan in his recovery, but keeping it a secret from Yu Bing starts to take a toll on their relationship as he gets frustrated after Tang Xue constantly stands him up.
Recap
Huan Huan cries in her dorm room over the fact that Zhen Yu is lying to her. Liu Ying tries to give her some arcane advice that boils down to — don’t randomly guess. Huan Huan decides that she needs to find out the truth.
Tang Xue, who has been napping, mutters, “Can’t there be secrets between lovers?” Liu Ying says that transparency is best.
Yu Bing is also struggling and questioning how important he is to Tang Xue. He expected to not be able to see her once she left for training camp, but he didn’t expect it to start so soon. Jian Guo and Da Jiang try to tell him to not overthink it. As long as their feelings are still there, he should try to be the bigger person and not let a few days of not seeing each other bother him.
Yu Bing works on the puzzle by himself while Tang Xue stubbornly tries to recreate a cake she saw on social media with Yu Yan. Her efforts in the kitchen manage to coax a smile out of Yu Yan, and she’s able to create a passable replica. Yu Yan’s face falls when Tang Xue gets a call from Yu Bing.
Tang Xue hurriedly takes the call, saying she’ll meet up with Yu Bing later and hanging up without a goodbye. She nervously glances at Yu Yan after hanging up. Yu Yan tells her that she should head back, but she waves it off as nothing and says they should cut the cake.
The sun sets, but Tang Xue still hasn’t showed. Yu Bing stares at the last piece of the puzzle, saying he’ll let Tang Xue put it in.
The next day, Yu Bing works out, fueled by his unhappiness with Tang Xue ditching him yet again. He had asked her why she hadn’t showed, yet again, and hadn’t even bothered texting him an update, and she claimed that something came up with Liu Ying.
Yu Bing grabs for his towel, but Tang Xue has appeared and holds it out to him. He ignores her and moves to a different piece of equipment. She follows, asking him to forgive her as she dabs his sweat away. He says he feels like she’s always putting him last. She responds that she likes him so much, he should know how much he means to her.
He makes her repeat that, then holds her so they’re standing forehead-to-forehead. He admits that lately he’s had doubts about his importance to her. He’s afraid that if he lets her go, she’ll fly away. She says that she won’t.
They pull apart for a moment and Yu Bing asks if she’s really been spending all her time with Huan Huan and Liu Ying. How could one dorm room have so many emergency issues come up? Tang Xue doesn’t say yes or no and instead asks him if he trusts her. Even if he doesn’t trust her, he should trust himself. He pulls her into a hug and says he trusts her.
Huan Huan spies on Zhen Yu and follows him to a lab in his department building. She spots his shadow approaching a woman’s shadow and barges in, thinking that she’s catching him in the act of cheating. Instead, she catches him with two mannequins. He explains how he’s studying acupuncture points labeled on the male mannequin and practicing pointing them out on the female model.
Huan Huan switches gears and demands to know why he lied to her the other day about being in his classroom. He points out that all of the rooms along this hallway are classrooms of different types. He hadn’t lied.
Yu Bing sprays cologne on himself in preparation to meet up with Tang Xue. His phone rings. He tells Jian Guo to help him pick up. By the time he gets out of the bathroom, Tang Xue has already hung up. Jian Guo reports that she didn’t say much, just that she was busy and would meet up with him later. He’s been ditched again.
Jian Guo tells Yu Bing he should worry about himself a little more. Lately, a few commenters on the campus message boards have been dragging Yu Bing’s name through the dirt. Yu Bing is unconcerned and just wants to ignore them. Jian Guo thinks he should pay more attention and at least report them, but Yu Bing is already in a bad mood and in no mood to listen.
He runs into Huan Huan and Liu Ying on campus and comments that they seem pretty busy lately. They respond that he seems even busier than they are. Because of him, they’ve barely seen Tang Xue at all. Can’t he give her a little break so she can spend time with her roommates? Yu Bing frowns, then brushes by them without another word.
Yu Bing spots Tang Xue leaving the sports center right as he approaches. She doesn’t see him. He follows her all the way to Yu Yan’s house, where he watches as Yu Yan lets her in through the front gate.
Yu Bing calls her, watching through the front window. She picks up, then lies that out she’s out shopping with her roommates to prepare for the upcoming training trip. Yu Bing seems heartbroken to hear her lie, but all he says is “goodbye” before hanging up.
Tang Xue seems to sense that something is wrong, but when Yu Yan asks if anything is wrong, she forces a smile and says that nothing is wrong.
While Tang Xue eats dinner with Yu Yan and his mother, Yu Bing stares again at the final piece of the puzzle. He repeats the line he once said to Tang Xue, about her being the piece needed to complete the puzzle of his life. He reflects on the trajectory of their relationship thus far. And then he starts tearing up the almost-complete puzzle, scattering the pieces across the ground.
Tang Xue finds Yu Yan’s mother organizing all of his old skating awards and costumes. Yu Yan’s mother tells her how in the beginning, right after Yu Yan’s father left them, times were hard, but she forced herself to persevere for Yu Yan’s sake. She also admits to projecting her own regrets and her own dreams onto Yu Yan, taking responsibility for the pressure that gave him anxiety.
Tang Xue tells her that to every child, their mother is irreplaceable. Yu Yan’s mother forces a smile through her tears and puts her hand over Tang Xue’s, thanking her.
Tang Xue asks her if, after Yu Yan gets better, she’s willing to change her attitude toward him and respect his decisions. For example, if he decides to give up skating. Yu Yan’s mother thinks it over for a moment, then says that if that’s his decision, she will support him. It’s his life, after all. Yu Yan overhears it all from just inside the partly-open door to his room.
When Tang Xue goes to the clearing, Yu Bing is still there for once, the pieces of the puzzle still scattered around him. She takes in the scene, then asks, with a smile, whether he’s angry again. He calls her out on her lie, and her smile falters. She tries to salvage the situation, admitting that she did lie, but that she had promised her other friend to keep things a secret.
Yu Bing says that they should break up. It’s clear that there is someone else more important than him. She’s stunned. He starts to walk away. Tang Xue yells his name to make him stop, then says that if he wants to break up, they can break up. She rips off her necklace and throws it at him, then makes sure that she is the first to walk away.
Yu Bing storms back into his dorm room. His roommates guess that he fought with Tang Xue, and try to convince him to make up with her before she leaves, otherwise it’ll be tough in the future. But Yu Bing sullenly responds that there is no future, then climbs into bed — shoes still on — and flops down, ignoring them.
Tang Xue cries in her room and tells her roommates that she and Yu Bing broke up. Huan Huan says that she can’t go to training camp like this. She and Liu Ying suggest that Tang Xue try to clear things up with Yu Bing. It must be a misunderstanding. They can work things out if they talk it out.
Tang Xue goes to see Yu Yan again the next day. He can tell that she seems subdued, but once again, she claims that nothing is wrong. He says that she doesn’t need to come see him anymore — he’s sure she’s busy preparing to leave for training camp. Then he says something he’s wanted to say for a long time: he likes her.
He continues on with a pretty confession about how she made his black-and-white life more colorful. But he also recognizes that he internalized so much of his crush on her and his resentment toward Yu Bing and everyone else that it was unhealthy. He’s only able to tell her all of this now because she helped him get better, and he’s let all of that go.
Yu Yan’s mother thanks Tang Xue for her help in Yu Yan’s recovery. She admits that she regretted forbidding them from dating back then, but also wishes for Tang Xue and Yu Bing to be happy, since they seem like a perfect match. Tang Xue tells her that she and Yu Bing broke up.
Yu Yan’s mother takes responsibility, guessing that her request to keep Yu Yan’s condition a secret had come between Tang Xue and Yu Bing. She tells Tang Xue that she can tell Yu Bing the truth.
Tang Xue runs into Yu Bing in the halls of the sports center. She asks to talk, but he blows her off, saying he has practice. He’s shockingly accurate with his shooting during practice, able to channel his anger productively, but is distracted later during a team meeting.
Coach Xu notices Yu Bing’s distraction and checks in with him to see if everything’s okay. Yu Bing claims to be fine. Coach Xu reminds him to focus — the big game against the Black Scorpions is tomorrow.
Yue Wei heads to Brother Tie’s restaurant by herself, since Da Jiang and Yu Bing are busy preparing for their game. Tie treats her to a meal, since she leaves for training camp tomorrow. Yue Wei writes a new note, promising her grandmother to fulfill her wish. As she pins it up, she knocks down an old note she wrote about what to do if the person she likes doesn’t like her back. She picks it up and sees on the back that someone wrote, “I will secretly protect you.”
Darn, I spoke too soon last episode about how Yu Bing had such an overly rational reaction to being stood up by Tang Xue! But I don’t fault him for his reaction here. Breaking up was a bit rash, but I also understand the defensive mentality of “a little heartbreak now to avoid a larger heartbreak down the road.” I also think Tang Xue was taking his trust and his feelings for her for granted. She did such a poor job of communicating with him, and in the end was asking him to blindly trust her when he had just caught her in the act of lying straight to his face. I don’t blame Yu Bing for being upset.
At the same time, it’s also hard to blame Tang Xue too much. She got put in a tough situation and tried to handle it as best she could. She probably should’ve been more communicative with Yu Bing instead of hastily ditching him at the last minute, and lying probably wasn’t the way to go, but I respect her for trying to be respectful of Yu Yan’s mother’s wishes. Sometimes she does act like the center of her own universe, not realizing the consequences of her actions, but she’s usually willing to admit when she’s wrong. That’s what makes her human and more than just a one-dimensional character, after all.
The Drama Llama 