Episode Summary
Zhao Youzuo grows suspicious of his neighbor, Zhao Liao, who is secretly an older version of the time traveler Xun Weilai. The younger Xun Weilai tries to alter the past by pushing Zhao Youzuo toward liberal arts and a relationship with Wang Yiman. This backfires when Zhao Youzuo meets Xu Tutu, who Xun Weilai realizes is his future wife. We learn the older Zhao Liao is also manipulating events to save Xu Tutu from her future death, creating conflicting timelines and causing Xun Weilai to physically break down. The episode ends with the revelation that a budding romance is based on a misunderstanding.
Spoiler Alert
A Dream and a Weird Neighbor
The episode opens with Zhao Youzuo. He's getting really suspicious of his new neighbor, the old man Zhao Liao. The guy wants to buy his gross, musty blanket. You heard me. A musty blanket. This sets off all kinds of alarm bells for Zhao Youzuo. He starts thinking the old man is a killer casing the joint.
So, he does what any sensible teenager would do. He decides to spy on him. He creeps over to the neighbor's door to peek inside. But Zhao Liao swings the door open and catches him red-handed. Zhao Youzuo jolts awake. It was all a nightmare. A very specific, very weird nightmare. The next day, though, the old man finds him after school. He offers Zhao Youzuo 200 yuan just to use his phone for a bit. The whole situation is just off.
Meddling with the Future
A Friend's Bad Advice
At school, our young time traveler, Xun Weilai, is in full-on manipulation mode. He sees Zhao Youzuo filling out his course selection form. He's thrilled to see his friend chose liberal arts. Xun Weilai is from the future. He believes this single choice is the key to fixing his own messed-up life.
He immediately starts pushing his agenda. He tells Zhao Youzuo to return a pen he was planning to give to his crush, Wang Yiman. Xun Weilai is convinced he needs to play matchmaker between Zhao Youzuo and Wang Yiman. What he doesn't know is that his much older self, Zhao Liao, is watching both of them from the shadows.
The Broadcast Room Incident
Zhao Youzuo tries to make a move on Wang Yiman. He wants to bring her a meal. He finds out she just joined the school's broadcast club. So, he follows her there.
The club is holding elections for a new announcer. Another student, Xu Tutu, is there. With a little encouragement from Zhao Youzuo, she bravely raises her hand to run. Then things get interesting. Xu Tutu thinks the microphone is off. She starts broadcasting her life story to the entire school. She even starts eating spicy hot pot right there on the air. It’s a total train wreck, but also kind of charming.
A Shocking Realization
Xun Weilai is not impressed. He thinks Xu Tutu is a nobody compared to Wang Yiman. But Zhao Youzuo seems genuinely taken by her personality. He likes that she's so real.
Then Xu Tutu casually mentions her mother's last name is Shu. This stops Xun Weilai cold. He suddenly realizes who she is. His future wife's name is Shu Tu. This girl eating hot pot on the radio is the woman he's going to marry. He just found his future wife attending his own high school.
The Butterfly Effect Gets Messy
A Fight and a Change of Heart
The broadcast election ends. Xu Tutu only got one vote. She assumes it came from Zhao Youzuo, and she's clearly developing a little crush.
Later that night, Zhao Youzuo's grades come out. They are bad. His father, Zhao Donglai, lays into him about it. The lecture is so harsh that Zhao Youzuo completely changes his mind. He decides to choose the science track to please his dad.
The next day, he officially changes his course selection. When Xun Weilai finds out, he loses it. He feels like his entire plan is falling apart. He gets so angry that he actually starts a fistfight with Zhao Youzuo. They both get dragged to the teacher's office. The teacher tells Xun Weilai to call his parents. He just says sadly that they wouldn't even recognize him. Zhao Youzuo feels a pang of sympathy for his strange friend.
The Mysterious Collapse
After the fight, Zhao Youzuo has a change of heart again. He finds Xun Weilai and tells him he'll stick with liberal arts. He's doing it for his friend.
The moment he agrees, something goes terribly wrong. Xun Weilai suddenly convulses as if he's been electrocuted. He starts foaming at the mouth and collapses. Zhao Youzuo rushes him to the school nurse, but they can't find anything medically wrong with him. The incident sparks rumors around school that Xun Weilai has some kind of bizarre, contagious disease.
The Puppet Master Reveals Himself
This is where we learn the truth. The old man, Zhao Liao, is the one behind everything. He's not just some random time traveler. He is Xun Weilai, but from 25 years further in the future.
He came back for one reason. His wife, Xu Tutu, died in a car accident when they were middle-aged. It's the biggest regret of his life, and he's here to prevent it.
His plan is incredibly detailed. He was the one who sent Zhao Youzuo the text message telling him to go to the broadcast room. He was the one who encouraged Xu Tutu to just be herself and eat the hot pot on air. He was the one who told Zhao Youzuo to vote for her. He even orchestrated the dinner conversation with the parents. He talked up the science track specifically to convince Zhao Youzuo's dad to force his son's hand. He is playing a completely different game than his younger self.
A Misguided Crush
The episode ends with a final twist. That night, Zhao Youzuo is lying in bed. He mutters to himself that he didn't vote for Xu Tutu. He actually cast his vote for Wang Yiman.
Meanwhile, Xu Tutu is somewhere else, smiling. She's completely convinced that Zhao Youzuo is the one person who supported her.
