Episode Summary
Qu Lijun confesses to disposing of Su Muxin's body after finding it in a water tank. A series of flashbacks reveals the truth about Shi Yue's past. She threw a rock at someone she mistook for Qu Tong after being rejected by Su Muxin. This revelation causes her mother, Shi Muxian, to have a mental break. The episode ends with Qu Tong abandoning Su Muxin by the river during a game of hide-and-seek.
Spoiler Alert
The Interrogation
Qu Lijun Breaks
So, the episode kicks off with Qu Lijun in the interrogation room. He’s trying to play the silent game. Zhou Mi isn't having it, though. He lays out all the evidence they have. He even walks Qu Lijun through how he thinks the body was moved. Zhou Mi adds that the police in Yunzhou are dragging the river for the car. He tells him once they find it, it’s over.
That does the trick. After a long, tense silence, Qu Lijun finally talks. He admits he dumped Su Muxin’s body in the river.
The Water Tank Story
We get a flashback to how he found the body. After the cops first visited his house, he heard neighbors complaining about the plumbing. This made him check things out. He went up to the rooftop and looked inside the water tank. That’s where he found the body. He panicked, wrestled it into his trunk, and got rid of it.
The Mothers Unravel
A Messy Confrontation
Shi Muxian is on the warpath. First, she storms into the police station demanding answers from Zhou Mi about her daughter, Shi Yue. He tells her the case is complicated and asks for more time. She doesn't get what she wants there, so she heads to Shen Jing’s house.
She barges in, looking for Qu Tong. She screams that Qu Tong is a murderer. Shen Jing fires back. She tells Shi Muxian that Shi Yue was the one who was scared to death. She says Shi Yue threw a rock at someone years ago, and now that person is back.
This hits a nerve. Shi Muxian suddenly remembers her own daughter crying, confessing she had killed someone. Her immediate reaction back then was to just tell her to shut up. The fight drains out of her, and she leaves without another word.
A Trip Down Memory Lane
At home, Shi Muxian listens to old English-learning tapes Shi Yue made in high school. The memories come flooding back. We see a young Shi Yue confessing her feelings to Su Muxin by the river. He rejected her. She decided it was all Qu Tong’s fault.
Her grades started to slip, and other students made fun of her. She decided to jump off a school building. But when she got up there, she was too afraid to go through with it. Then, she saw someone below holding a yellow umbrella, just like Qu Tong’s. She grabbed a rock and threw it at the person.
Later, she told her mother she killed Qu Tong. Shi Muxian’s only advice was to never, ever tell anyone. Just to be sure, Shi Muxian went to the school and saw Qu Tong was perfectly fine. Since her daughter didn't even know who she hit, Shi Muxian decided the best thing to do was ship her off to another country.
Listening to the tapes, Shi Muxian hears her daughter talk about going to the river every day to wait for Su Muxin. Something in her snaps. She puts on a hat and scarf, looking completely unhinged. She walks out of her house, tells a neighbor she’s going to pick up Hao Meili, and wanders off.
A Final Game
Back to the River
Qu Tong asks Su Muxin to go to their old spot by the river, near the navigation tower. He agrees. They sit and talk about the past. He even teaches her how to skip stones again. It’s been sixteen years. Qu Tong looks at him and says everything in the world has changed except for him.
Then, she suggests they play hide-and-seek, just like they did in high school. Su Muxin doesn't suspect a thing. He closes his eyes and starts counting. Qu Tong has clearly made up her mind about something. She turns around and just walks away, leaving him there alone.
