Episode Summary
Yi Yi learns of Zhou Zhaoyuan's death and is devastated, deciding to leave the city. Wen Pu comforts her and convinces her to stay for a while. At work, Zhou Zhaoyuan's relative, Zhou Yunqing, pressures Yi Yi to publicly share her grief but later surprisingly defends her from the accusations of Fu Zihe's wives. The episode ends with Wen Pu visiting Yi Yi, encouraging her to continue her design work.
Spoiler Alert
Yi Yi Gets the Worst News
This episode kicks off with a gut punch. Yi Yi is standing at a memorial for heroes. She’s staring at Zhou Zhaoyuan’s name carved in stone. It’s pouring rain, but she doesn’t move. She’s been waiting for him for five years. Thinking about him every single day. Now she knows he’s never coming back.
Wen Pu shows up and holds an umbrella over her. She immediately asks him if Zhaoyuan suffered before he died. She’s in agony. She doesn’t understand why he would love her and marry her. Why would he do that just to leave her all alone?
A Glimmer of Hope
Yi Yi is completely lost after hearing about Zhaoyuan. The city once felt full of hope and happiness. Now, the one person she cared about is gone. There’s nothing left for her here. The Party leaders respect her as a hero's widow. They give her back her old room and provide other benefits. But it doesn't matter to her.
She just wants to be with her family. She writes an application to go abroad and gives it to the organization. Wen Pu is there. Another woman starts giving Yi Yi a hard time, acting like she's ungrateful. Wen Pu steps in to smooth things over. He takes Yi Yi for a walk along the river in Shanghai. The breeze is cool and fresh. People are walking and laughing around them. It helps lift her spirits. She decides to stay a little longer.
New Problems Arise
Family and Work Drama
Now that everyone knows Zhou Zhaoyuan was a Party hero, his relative Zhou Yunqing gets a big head. She finds a photo of Zhaoyuan and blows it up. Then she puts it in a frame right on Yi Yi’s desk at work. She’s not just decorating, though. She starts monitoring everything Yi Yi does. She even pressures Yi Yi to tell stories about Zhaoyuan at the night school.
Yi Yi has no interest in sharing her private grief with a classroom. She shows up to teach wearing a green qipao. Zhou Yunqing is in the audience, nagging her to start telling stories. Yi Yi just wants to teach her lesson on clothing design. But Yunqing keeps interrupting the class.
An Unlikely Defender
Zhaoyuan’s friend, Fu Zihe, owns a clothing company. He has been looking out for Yi Yi all these years. He helped her through a crisis before and is happy to see her doing better. They are having a normal conversation when his three wives show up. They corner Yi Yi and accuse her of trying to make a move on their husband.
Yi Yi is speechless. Fu Zihe tells her to just leave. But then, the spicy sister-in-law, Zhou Yunqing, steps forward. This time, she actually defends Yi Yi. She grabs a bottle and looks ready to use it. The wives immediately back down.
A Quiet Moment
Wen Pu comes to visit Yi Yi. He finds her drawing, looking quiet and focused. It's the same way she looked when he first met her. Seeing him makes her happy, and she pours him a coffee. He encourages her to connect more with the people around her. He gives her a new pen. He wants her to keep drawing and working on her designs.
