Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Li Ruobing initially thinks Wu Chen wants her to repay him through intimate role-play. He teases her for jumping to that conclusion, then clarifies that his request has nothing to do with the bedroom.
• Wu Chen says he needs an assistant because his growing workload and constant calls are interfering with their relationship.
• Li Ruobing assumes he has another woman in mind. Wu Chen confirms that his ideal candidate is a capable, attractive, well-connected woman—and admits he expects her eventually to become one of his partners.
• He argues that making the assistant one of his women would secure her loyalty, since she would learn his secrets and handle sensitive matters. Li Ruobing is impressed by the audacity of his reasoning, even as she recognizes it as a justification for pursuing another woman.
• Wu Chen gives her clues about the candidate: she is respected by prominent families, dismissed as a fraud by some, extraordinarily wealthy, unusually eccentric in private, based in Magic City but originally from elsewhere, and someone Li has heard of and nearly met.
• Li begins trying to identify her, rejects one possibility, and insists Wu Chen let her work it out herself.

Character developments

• Li Ruobing shows curiosity about stepping outside her usual aloof, forceful persona through role-play, though she is embarrassed when she misunderstands Wu Chen’s request. She also displays her familiar mix of jealousy, sharp suspicion, and competitive determination.
• Wu Chen remains playful and confident, but becomes serious when explaining his need for an assistant. His reasoning reveals how he blends practical aims—ability, discretion, and connections—with romantic pursuit.

Significant themes

• Trust and loyalty: Wu Chen argues that intimacy is the surest way to secure the loyalty of someone privy to his secrets.
• Power, privacy, and control: The assistant must be capable of handling sensitive affairs and have connections of her own.
• Jealousy and unconventional relationships: Li recognizes Wu Chen’s pattern of drawing accomplished women into his personal life, but engages with it through teasing and interrogation.
• Public image versus private self: Role-play appeals to Li because it lets her behave differently without threatening the identity she maintains in public.

Character interactions

• Li and Wu trade teasing barbs: she accuses him of deliberately embarrassing her, while he playfully prolongs her misunderstanding.
• Their discussion of the assistant becomes a mock interrogation, with Li testing Wu’s intentions through a string of direct questions.
• Wu draws Li into his embrace as she puzzles over the clues; she stays absorbed in the mystery and tells him not to reveal the answer.

Key plot points and events

• Li Ruobing wants to know who Wu Chen’s prospective assistant is. He offers her a choice: learn the woman’s identity and return to East Sea, or stay in Magic City and accompany him while he tries to recruit her.
• Curious about Wu Chen’s methods and the woman’s abilities, Li Ruobing chooses to stay, playing the role of his “tagalong.” She suspects he is using her as a wingwoman, but knowingly agrees to help.
• Wu Chen then comforts An Menglan, who is distressed by the online attention sparked by her Weibo post. She fears paparazzi and obsessive fans will uncover her relationship with him and put him in danger.
• Wu Chen reassures her that they can resolve the problem and says he will explain how she can help later. An Menglan eagerly agrees and, relieved, becomes affectionate.
• An Menglan orders a generous meal for the group. Wu Chen’s bodyguards bring it to the room and handle the delivery discreetly, keeping hotel staff out of the corridor.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Ruobing shows her sharp curiosity and competitive streak. Though she recognizes Wu Chen is steering her toward helping him recruit the woman, she decides the chance to observe his plan is worth it. Their teasing, negotiation, and affectionate banter underline their rapport.
• An Menglan reveals a vulnerable side beneath her public confidence. Newly committed to Wu Chen, she is unusually anxious about losing him, but his reassurance helps her regain her composure.
• Wu Chen remains perceptive and persuasive: he understands both women’s emotional needs and wins their cooperation through reassurance, humor, and carefully framed choices.

Significant themes

• Trust and vulnerability: An Menglan’s fear eases when she chooses to trust Wu Chen.
• Persuasion and agency: Li Ruobing understands she is being maneuvered, yet freely decides to participate.
• Private selves behind public roles: Both women reveal intimate sides different from their strong public personas.
• New love and insecurity: The early intensity of An Menglan’s relationship makes the prospect of losing it especially frightening.

Key plot points and events

• An Menglan is staying in Li Ruobing’s hotel suite with Wu Chen. Li’s professional bodyguards have already detected paparazzi watching the hotel, and Wu reveals he has quietly made arrangements to protect An.
• Zhuang Xiaodie arrives at Wu’s invitation. He explains a plan involving An and Xiaodie: carefully staged hotel departures and a leak of drone footage will encourage rumors that An spent the night with a female lover.
• Li worries the plan could spiral beyond their control, but Xiaodie trusts Wu, and An enthusiastically agrees. Li then directs her bodyguards to carry it out.
• An and Xiaodie leave separately, disguised and escorted, but are photographed. At 5:15 p.m., paparazzi outlets report that An spent the night at a hotel with a mysterious woman.
• Online opinion is divided until a newly created account posts drone footage showing a candlelit dinner in the suite. The footage is quickly removed, but it spreads widely and strengthens the rumors. Attempts to delete related posts only intensify public suspicion. An’s fans largely respond by defending her privacy and wishing her happiness.

Character developments

• Wu Chen demonstrates that he anticipated the paparazzi problem and is willing to orchestrate a public narrative to protect or advance An’s situation.
• Li Ruobing remains wary of Wu’s methods and the possible fallout, but ultimately supports the plan and manages its execution.
• An Menglan begins the scene tense and upset about being filmed, then becomes reassured by Wu’s preparations and embraces the plan.
• Zhuang Xiaodie is surprised to find An and Li present, but shows unquestioning trust in Wu and agrees to participate.

Significant themes

• Control versus unpredictability: Wu engineers the initial events, but online reactions and the spread of leaked material cannot be fully controlled.
• Privacy and celebrity scrutiny: Paparazzi surveillance turns private moments into public spectacle.
• Censorship fueling curiosity: Deleting posts makes the rumors seem more credible and drives further attention.
• Public image and ambiguity: The staged evidence is suggestive rather than conclusive, leaving fans and online commentators to interpret it.

Character interactions

• Li’s sarcastic greeting to Wu hints at her familiarity with his schemes, while her easy affection toward him contrasts with An’s initial nervousness.
• Li makes an effort to include An at dinner, helping her relax despite the awkward situation.
• Wu’s calm explanation reassures An but leaves Li questioning his intentions and the plan’s risks.
• An and Xiaodie share a blush when they hear their roles, then both consent—each for different reasons, with An convinced by the plan and Xiaodie trusting Wu.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• By evening, online gossip has largely convinced the public that singer An Menglan is attracted to women, specifically Zhuang Xiaodie. Li Ruobing praises Wu Chen for steering the discussion; he explains that the authorities are likely to suppress the story, easing pressure on Menglan and the paparazzi.
• Li Ruobing asks who Wu Chen plans to make her assistant. He reveals that it is Xia Jinyu, prompting a fierce reaction.
• The name takes Li Ruobing back to high school, when Xia Jinyu—then a young psychologist—was asked to assess her but never actually met her. Li had refused the meeting, and Xia apparently judged her based on what her family told her.
• Wu Chen reassures Li that her forceful personality and teenage violence were not flaws to be corrected. He says Xia lacked the information needed to understand her and that Li was right not to meet her.
• When Li remains angry that Xia called her mentally unwell, Wu Chen promises to make Xia apologize to Li and personally admit to Li’s grandfather that she was wrong.
• Li is stunned, then eagerly embraces Wu Chen, checking that he truly intends to follow through. Her main concern is vindication, not Xia’s career.

Character developments

• Wu Chen demonstrates confidence in shaping public opinion and using official pressure to protect An Menglan. With Li, he is perceptive and reassuring, but also makes a bold promise to settle an old grievance.
• Li Ruobing reveals how deeply the past judgment still affects her. Though generally controlled and capable, she becomes visibly distressed at Xia Jinyu’s name, then softens when Wu validates her. Her lingering anger is about being misunderstood and labeled, and she wants acknowledgment that she was wronged.
• Xia Jinyu, though absent, is established as both a capable psychologist and a painful figure from Li’s past. Her judgment of Li—made without meeting her—left a lasting wound.

Significant themes

• Public opinion and power: Wu Chen’s handling of the online scandal shows how gossip, media pressure, and official influence can be manipulated.
• Identity and self-control: Li’s teenage aggression is presented as part of a complicated personality, not proof that something was inherently wrong with her.
• The harm of judging without understanding: Xia’s assessment still troubles Li because it was based on secondhand information rather than a conversation with her.
• Validation and loyalty: Wu’s reassurance—and promise to demand an apology—helps Li feel supported, while also showing how much she values being understood.

Character interactions

• Wu Chen and Li Ruobing begin by discussing the successful containment of An Menglan’s scandal.
• Li presses Wu to reveal his planned assistant; his answer, Xia Jinyu, triggers her anger and a painful recollection.
• Wu counters Li’s suspicion that she was the problem, affirming her personality and explaining Xia’s lack of firsthand knowledge.
• Li challenges Wu over Xia’s past accusation. He responds by promising to secure an apology, and Li shifts from anger to affectionate, hopeful insistence that he keep his word.

Plot points and events

• Li Ruobing explains why she has never confronted psychologist Xia Jinyu: as a teenager, she was assessed by him, and challenging that judgment now could make her seem to confirm it. What truly bothers her is that members of her family believed his assessment.
• Wu Chen lightens the tense mood by reciting an astonishing amount of personal information about Xia Jinyu, then reviews her exceptional education, research career, and success treating influential clients.
• Li Ruobing acknowledges Xia Jinyu’s extraordinary ability despite still resenting her. She asks whether Wu Chen can really persuade such a perceptive, uninterested-in-money person to become his assistant.
• Wu Chen claims Xia Jinyu’s career as a psychologist was no accident: she deliberately created the opportunity, having chosen her target from the moment she returned to China.

Character developments

• Li Ruobing reveals that her anger toward Xia Jinyu is rooted less in the assessment itself than in its effect on her family’s view of her. She remains conflicted, resenting Xia while respecting her accomplishments.
• Wu Chen shows his extensive intelligence-gathering skills and confidence. His final revelation suggests he knows more about Xia’s motives than the public does.
• Xia Jinyu, though absent, is portrayed as an academic prodigy, a highly effective psychologist, and a disciplined, private person whose career may have been deliberately engineered.

Significant themes

• Reputation and judgment: Li fears that confronting Xia would reinforce the very perception she resents.
• Knowledge and influence: Xia’s success rests not only on academic brilliance but on an uncanny ability to understand and help people.
• Preparation and agency: Wu reframes Xia’s rise as something she planned and constructed, rather than a lucky chain of events.
• The limits of appearances: Xia’s public image as a modest, almost detached scholar may conceal purposeful ambition.

Character interactions

• Li initially acts coy, then drops the act and speaks candidly with Wu about her unresolved grievance.
• Wu teases and reassures her, using humor to ease the tension before sharing what he knows.
• Li challenges Wu’s confidence about recruiting Xia; he avoids a direct answer and instead reveals his theory about Xia’s calculated career path.

Plot points

• Wu Chen explains Xia Jingyu’s rise as a therapist and psychology professor: his success was deliberate, driven by exceptional observation and strategic ambition, not luck.
• After rapidly achieving wealth and status, Xia became disillusioned. Seeing people’s hidden ugliness contributed to his distress, but Wu says the deeper cause was boredom and a conflict between his detachment from worldly concerns and his continued attachment to life.
• Xia eventually reconciled those opposing impulses, adopted a quiet, highly structured routine, and became emotionally steady and difficult to sway.
• Li Ruobing questions whether Wu can change Xia’s convictions. Wu claims he can, saying that he himself is Xia’s weakness, though he does not explain further.
• The next morning, August 7, Wu wakes beside Li and uses his knowledge from years spent in the time loop to predict Xia’s Friday routine. He checks movie listings and chooses a likely film Xia will attend: the poorly rated horror sequel Girls’ Dormitory: Evil Archery 2.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Chen appears deeply familiar with Xia, whose personal disclosures during the loop taught Wu more than outside investigation could. He also recognizes similarities between himself and Xia.
• Li Ruobing listens closely and trusts Wu’s account, but grows jealous and skeptical when he praises Xia so highly and boasts that he can influence him.
• Xia Jingyu is portrayed as gifted, lonely, disciplined, and inwardly settled. His predictable habits—especially his Friday morning movie outings—give Wu an opening to approach him.

Significant themes

• Success and emptiness: Achieving ambitions can leave a person bored rather than fulfilled.
• Human complexity: People conceal ugly parts of themselves, but the world cannot be reduced to simply good or bad.
• Routine and self-mastery: Xia’s disciplined life reflects the calm he has found after resolving inner conflict.
• Knowledge and influence: Wu’s long experience in the time loop lets him anticipate Xia’s choices—and may give him leverage over someone otherwise hard to sway.

Episode 307 Summary

Plot points and events

• Wu Chen identifies Xia Jinyu’s unusually isolated seat at a cinema and buys the two seats beside it. He plans to involve Li Ruobing in an act, believing her performance will affect how events unfold.
• Li Ruobing wakes at the hotel and learns she is meant to pose as Wu Chen’s assistant. Wu Chen says Xia Jinyu will recognize that the role is an act, whatever Li wears, because her bearing and unconscious habits reveal her privileged background.
• Competitive and determined to do the role properly, Li Ruobing orders her bodyguards to find her a college-student-style outfit on short notice.
• At the theater, Xia Jinyu waits alone in a secluded seat, surrounded by snacks. Wu Chen sits beside her and opens with teasing, flirtatious remarks. Xia Jinyu gently discourages him, citing their age difference and suggesting he move to a better seat.
• Wu Chen produces a ticket for the seat beside her, playfully invoking her duty as a teacher not to let him take someone else’s place. Amused, Xia Jinyu examines his ticket and asks whether he knows who she is. The episode ends before he answers.

Character developments

• Wu Chen is confident and deliberate: he has anticipated Xia Jinyu’s seating choice and seems to be testing her response. His memories of the repeating day remain vivid, but seeing her again still feels fresh.
• Li Ruobing shows her competitive streak and willingness to commit fully to a plan, even when Wu Chen doubts she can convincingly pass as an ordinary new assistant.
• Xia Jinyu appears poised, considerate, and perceptive. She turns Wu Chen away without humiliating him, while quickly reading his appearance, manner, and apparent social background.

Significant themes

• Observation and concealment: Xia Jinyu’s professional habit of reading people contrasts with Wu Chen’s carefully planned approach.
• Performance and identity: Li Ruobing is asked to play a role, but Wu Chen argues that mannerisms and social presence can reveal more than clothing.
• Time and memory: Wu Chen’s thousand-year repetition makes this encounter familiar in memory yet strikingly new in experience.

Character interactions

• Wu Chen challenges Li Ruobing to treat the role seriously while warning her that Xia Jinyu will see through the disguise; Li responds by escalating her effort.
• Wu Chen and Xia Jinyu engage in a lightly flirtatious exchange. She sets boundaries with tact, while he counters with humor and proof that he belongs in the seat.
• Xia Jinyu’s final question signals that she may already suspect Wu Chen’s approach is more than a chance encounter.

Episode 308 Summary

• Wu Chen approaches Professor Xia Jinyu: Xia suspects the wealthy young man came to meet him deliberately. Rather than ask outright, Wu Chen proposes rock-paper-scissors, knowing Xia’s expertise. Xia wins all three rounds, confirming that Wu Chen chose the game to demonstrate that he knows who Xia is. Wu Chen then introduces himself and says they can talk after the movie.
• Xia assesses Wu Chen: Xia finds him unusually composed and mature for a 22-year-old, and notes that his teasing compliments seem more like an attempt to charm her than genuine romantic pursuit. Xia guesses he may have come seeking help, but Wu Chen says no one is ill and leaves his purpose unclear.
• Li Ruobing arrives in disguise: Once the horror movie begins, Li Ruobing enters in a youthful, casual outfit, carrying cola for Wu Chen. She has deliberately softened her usual commanding presence and practiced a sweet smile, presenting herself as “Bingbing.”
• The introductions reveal tension: Wu Chen introduces Li Ruobing to Xia. They exchange polite compliments, but Xia senses hostility beneath Li Ruobing’s gentle manner. Li Ruobing, meanwhile, appears to recognize Xia and handles the encounter with confidence, neither intimidated nor flustered.

Character developments and interactions

• Xia Jinyu demonstrates sharp observational skills, confidence, and curiosity; he reads people through their expressions and behavior.
• Wu Chen reveals that he knows Xia’s reputation and is comfortable using playful psychological tactics, though his real purpose remains undisclosed.
• Li Ruobing shows a softer, more youthful side than her usual businesslike persona, but her concealed hostility suggests she has a reason to distrust Xia.
• The scene sets up a wary, layered dynamic: Wu Chen acts as the link between Xia and Li Ruobing, while both Xia and Li assess one another beneath their polite conversation.

Significant themes

The episode emphasizes reading people beneath appearances, the difficulty of concealing emotion, and the contrast between outward charm and inner intent. It also explores social performance: Wu Chen uses flirtation and games, while Li Ruobing deliberately reshapes her image to influence how Xia sees her.

Key plot points

• During a dreadful horror film, Xia Jinyu pays more attention to Wu Chen and his assistant, Li Ruobing, than to the screen.
• Xia notices that Ruobing closely anticipates Wu’s needs—offering him tissues and her cola while barely attending to herself—and suspects their relationship is more intimate than that of a typical boss and assistant.
• After the other moviegoers leave, Wu offers Xia a challenge: unlock his phone by entering the first six-digit number that comes to mind. Xia tries a random screen tap first, then enters 329511; the phone unlocks.
• Xia suspects a technical trick and switches on airplane mode. Wu directs him to the notes app, where entries titled “Xia Jinyu” appear to have been created earlier that morning.
• The first note records Xia’s opening question. The second lists precise observations and deductions Xia had made about Wu, including details only Xia himself could have known. Xia realizes Wu anticipated his reactions and may have staged details, such as the strand of hair on his shoulder, to shape his conclusions.

Character developments

• Xia Jinyu begins as a detached observer, confident in his ability to read people. Wu’s demonstration unsettles him, then excites him: he sees Wu as a rare, worthy psychological opponent.
• Wu Chen appears controlled and enigmatic. His carefully arranged challenge suggests he has planned their encounter and knows how Xia thinks.
• Li Ruobing remains sweet and attentive in appearance, but her deliberate role in Wu’s setup hints at a more calculating side. She is also curious about Wu’s methods.

Significant themes

• Perception and manipulation: What seems like spontaneous observation may have been deliberately engineered.
• Intellect and uncertainty: Xia’s confidence gives way to curiosity when he meets someone he cannot easily explain or read.
• The appeal of challenge: For Xia, an unexpectedly formidable opponent brings excitement to an otherwise dull life.

Character interactions

• Wu’s challenge draws Xia into a quiet contest of inference, while Ruobing watches to understand both Wu’s tactics and Xia’s reactions.
• Xia scrutinizes Wu and Ruobing; Wu answers by revealing how thoroughly he has anticipated Xia, shifting the balance between observer and observed.

Plot and key events

• Xia Jingyu opens Wu Chen’s memo “Xia Jingyu 03” and finds the first three throws from their earlier rock-paper-scissors game. He realizes Wu Chen had predicted his habitual opening and deliberately lost, making him question how thoroughly Wu Chen had studied him.
• Xia Jingyu challenges Wu Chen to play again, changing his usual patterns and trying to conceal his reactions. Wu Chen wins nineteen rounds in a row, then loses the twentieth.
• Xia Jingyu celebrates the final win, but Wu Chen urges him to read the next memo. “Xia Jingyu 04” contains all twenty throws exactly—including Xia Jingyu’s final rock and Wu Chen’s scissors. Wu Chen had predicted the whole game and intentionally let Xia Jingyu win at the end.
• Xia Jingyu is stunned by the scale of Wu Chen’s foresight and by how carefully he anticipated Xia Jingyu’s choices. Memo 05 explains that Wu Chen did not literally see the future: he says Xia Jingyu’s habit of reasoning through every move makes his choices predictable to someone who knows him well.
• Wu Chen also claims that his understanding of human nature and psychology currently exceeds Xia Jingyu’s, provoking the proud psychologist.

Character development and interactions

• Xia Jingyu shifts from intrigued and confident to wary, then visibly shaken. His professional self-control gives way because Wu Chen has exposed the limits of his expertise and predicted his behavior in detail. He nevertheless chooses to engage directly, testing Wu Chen rather than simply accepting the revelations.
• Wu Chen remains calm, smiling, and several steps ahead. He manipulates the game and the sequence of memos to control Xia Jingyu’s reactions, while offering an explanation that frames the feat as psychological deduction rather than supernatural prediction.
• Li Ruobing watches the exchange without knowing what is in the memos. Her curiosity grows as she sees Xia Jingyu’s reactions, but Wu Chen’s silence leaves her frustrated and excluded from their private contest.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and control: Wu Chen’s advantage comes from understanding Xia Jingyu’s habits and shaping what he sees and chooses.
• Psychological prediction: Xia Jingyu’s commitment to analyzing every move creates a pattern that can be exploited.
• Pride and vulnerability: The game challenges Xia Jingyu’s confidence in his professional mastery, while Wu Chen’s deliberate final loss gives him a brief, misleading sense of victory.
• Risk and manipulation: Wu Chen’s plan depends on Xia Jingyu choosing to play; had he opened the memo early, the entire setup could have failed.

Key plot points and events

• During a film, Wu Chen communicates with psychology professor Xia Jingyu through a memo, denying Xia the usual verbal cues he could analyze. Li Ruobing privately asks about the tactic, but Wu Chen keeps his reasoning to himself.
• Xia Jingyu takes Wu Chen’s method as a provocation and challenges him to predict what he will do next. He believes that, with no limits on what he might think or do, nobody could genuinely guess.
• Wu Chen studies Xia Jingyu, then announces that Xia is about to kiss a man. He immediately lifts Xia’s chin and kisses him, catching both Xia and Li Ruobing completely off guard.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Chen remains composed and deliberately unconventional. His memo tactic avoids exposing his thoughts through speech, while his sudden kiss turns Xia’s challenge into a startling demonstration of control.
• Xia Jingyu shifts from polite irritation to a forceful challenge, confident that his unpredictable thoughts make him impossible to read. The kiss leaves him stunned: regardless of his detachment from conventional desires, this was an intimate experience imposed without his consent.
• Li Ruobing watches closely and is astonished by Wu Chen’s approach. She had considered many ways he might try to influence Xia, but never imagined he would simply kiss him.
• The exchange escalates from a psychological contest into a physical boundary-crossing, leaving the three characters in sharply different states: Wu Chen in control, Xia shocked, and Li bewildered.

Significant themes

• The limits of psychological reading: Microexpressions may reveal broad emotions, but cannot reliably predict an unrestricted, random thought.
• Control and consent: Wu Chen’s unexpected kiss overturns Xia’s challenge but does so by taking away Xia’s choice.
• Unconventional influence: The scene contrasts Wu Chen’s unpredictable tactics with Xia Jingyu’s apparent detachment from status, wealth, and ordinary ambition.

Key events

• During a movie, Wu Chen suddenly kisses Xia Jinyu while Li Ruobing sits nearby. Xia is angry but does not feel physically threatened; instead, he reads the kiss as a bold attempt to flirt with him.
• Wu interrupts Xia before he can make a hostile remark and asks him to analyze why he kissed him.
• Xia uses his psychological-reading skills to question Wu’s motives. He concludes that Wu is attracted to him, is accustomed to winning people over, and deliberately made his interest unmistakable rather than letting Xia assume he was merely accompanying Li.
• Wu openly admits Xia’s analysis is largely right, even praising his precision. The chapter then explains why Xia is so perceptive: years of witnessing people’s concealed, often selfish desires have made him wary of romance.

Character development

• Xia Jinyu emerges as sharp, controlled, and formidable in psychological confrontations. Though unsettled by Wu’s audacity, he responds by probing and provoking him rather than simply reacting with anger.
• Wu Chen is shown using intimate, calculated boldness as a deliberate tactic. His privileged knowledge of Xia gives him an advantage, though Xia’s insight makes him a difficult opponent.
• Li Ruobing remains present as a silent but significant part of the tension: Xia notices her hostility and understands that Wu’s kiss is especially conspicuous because she is there.

Themes

• Desire and manipulation: The kiss is both physical attraction and a calculated declaration of intent.
• Appearance versus hidden motives: Xia’s distrust of romance stems from seeing the ugly thoughts people conceal beneath appealing appearances.
• Psychological power and unequal knowledge: Xia is talented at reading others, but Wu’s extensive knowledge of him gives Wu an edge that would not exist under equal conditions.
• Emotional guardedness: Xia’s beauty has drawn many admirers, but their concealed intentions have made him reluctant to pursue relationships.

Character interactions

• Wu’s kiss and confident questioning provoke Xia into “battle mode,” where he tests Wu with pointed deductions and deliberate mockery.
• Wu does not deny Xia’s central conclusions; his frank admissions turn the exchange into a tense contest of insight, with Wu affirming Xia’s skill while keeping control of the situation.

Episode 313 Summary

• Xia Jinyu’s history with relationships: Since adolescence, Xia Jinyu has repeatedly ended romantic prospects after brief conversations revealed that the men pursuing him were primarily driven by sexual desire or social bragging rights. He once hoped to find someone who could connect with him emotionally, but eventually abandoned that expectation and began viewing potential partners as subjects for psychological study.
• His broader disillusionment: Xia Jinyu can perceive people’s private thoughts, which has exposed him to the resentment, rivalry, deceit, and cruelty that often lie beneath social politeness. As a result, he has no genuine friends and keeps everyone at a careful distance, remaining friendly on the surface without opening his heart. Even with patients, he limits his curiosity to what is relevant to their treatment.
• Wu Chen’s approach: Wu Chen understands that Xia Jinyu is unlikely ever to take the initiative in a relationship: past disappointments have made him expect nothing from others. Rather than pretending to be pure or hiding his desire, Wu Chen openly admits that he wants Xia Jinyu. Wu Chen believes this bluntness makes him easier to understand and helps Xia lower his guard. He also knows that persistence and initiative are essential to getting close to him.
• The confrontation’s emotional effect: After Xia Jinyu analyzes Wu Chen’s motives, Wu Chen applauds and accepts the analysis without anger. Xia Jinyu is unsettled—not because Wu Chen’s desires surprise or disgust him, but because Wu Chen’s reaction makes it unclear whether Xia has actually gained the upper hand. This follows earlier encounters in which Wu Chen repeatedly demonstrated exceptional psychological insight.

Character Developments and Themes

• Xia Jinyu is shown as deeply guarded and resigned, shaped by his ability to see the ugliness others conceal. Although he can analyze people, that skill has isolated him rather than brought him closer to them. Wu Chen’s openness disrupts his usual pattern of dismissing and distancing himself from people.
• Wu Chen deliberately rejects conventional courtship and uses candor, confidence, and aggressive initiative to reach Xia Jinyu. His strategy is based on knowing that Xia is wary of hidden motives but accustomed to explicit desire.
• Key themes: disillusionment with romance and friendship; the gap between public manners and private thoughts; emotional isolation; and the difficulty of determining who has control when one person’s defenses are challenged by another’s calculated honesty.

Character Interaction

Xia Jinyu dissects Wu Chen’s motives, expecting the analysis to expose him. Wu Chen’s untroubled agreement instead leaves Xia questioning both his own judgment and the meaning of his apparent victory.

Key events

• Wu Chen openly admits that he is attracted to Professor Xia Jingyu and says he wants to become his lover. Though his bluntness would normally be offensive, Xia Jingyu does not dismiss him.
• Xia Jingyu stays after Wu Chen’s earlier kiss, drawn by his unusual behavior and by the possibility that Wu Chen is someone capable of matching him.
• Wu Chen speaks directly about Xia Jingyu’s loneliness and the brevity of life. The remarks strike home, and Xia Jingyu unexpectedly checks a memo on Wu Chen’s phone.
• The memo predicts Xia Jingyu’s choice to open it and addresses his dissatisfaction with a life without change, reinforcing Wu Chen’s uncanny ability to anticipate him.
• As Xia Jingyu reads, he begins treating Wu Chen’s blunt advice as something worth considering rather than empty platitudes. The memo also notes Li Ruobing’s hostility; Xia Jingyu shows no visible reaction.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Chen pursues Xia Jingyu with deliberate frankness, avoiding hints that might let the psychologist steer the conversation toward his own conclusions. He uses the memo to reveal how closely he understands Xia Jingyu.
• Xia Jingyu moves from skepticism and theatrical disdain toward curiosity, trust in Wu Chen’s abilities, and a willingness to keep engaging with him. His loneliness and resistance to losing control are exposed.
• Li Ruobing watches in bewilderment as Wu Chen’s provocative words and apparent “platitudes” affect Xia Jingyu. She remains hostile toward Wu Chen’s interest in the professor, but Xia Jingyu does not acknowledge it.

Significant themes

• Loneliness and connection: Wu Chen identifies Xia Jingyu’s isolation as the key beneath his composed, self-sufficient exterior.
• Control versus openness: Xia Jingyu dislikes feeling that he is being predicted or guided, yet his curiosity leads him to continue the exchange.
• Human nature and moral judgment: Xia Jingyu is portrayed as broadly tolerant of people’s flaws, seeing them as ordinary rather than worth condemning.
• Trust built through demonstrated ability: Xia Jingyu’s growing confidence is not simple personal trust; it comes from recognizing that Wu Chen may be his intellectual equal—or better.

Episode 315 Summary

• Wu Chen secures Xia Jinyu’s lunch meeting. After arranging a series of memos, Wu Chen leaves Xia Jinyu with a choice: accept lunch or return his phone. Curious about the final memo, Xia agrees. It asks him to wear burgundy and gives the meeting location.
• Xia arrives in black—but may have followed the request in secret. Li Ruobing predicts that Xia, who values control, will refuse to wear burgundy. Xia appears in a conservative black dress and says he did not wear red. Wu Chen hints that Xia is wearing burgundy underwear, leaving Li stunned and unconvinced.
• Wu Chen openly flirts and unsettles Xia. He compliments Xia’s beauty and insists that his praise is different because he himself is different. Though Li finds his approach unusually blunt and risky, Xia responds with amusement rather than offense, saying he appreciates Wu’s refusal to hide his intentions.
• The lunch becomes a contest of insight and control. Wu has ordered many of Xia’s favorite dishes, demonstrating that he has researched him. When Wu asks to borrow Xia’s phone, Xia refuses to reveal its new passcode, which he chose randomly after changing the one Wu had previously seen. Wu correctly predicts how Xia chose it, reinforcing his uncanny ability to anticipate Xia’s moves.
• Wu proposes a game: if he wins, Xia must tell him the passcode. Xia is intrigued and believes he can choose a game that guarantees his victory. Meanwhile, Li plots to create an excuse for Xia to visit the restroom so she can check whether he is wearing burgundy underneath.

Character developments and interactions

Xia shifts from cautious curiosity to enjoying the challenge of facing Wu, whom he regards as an unusually interesting opponent. Wu continues to display confidence, careful preparation, and provocative directness, while concealing how he knows so much. Li serves as a skeptical observer, increasingly baffled by Wu’s tactics and curious about Xia’s clothing.

Significant themes

The episode explores control and vulnerability, knowledge as a form of power, and the tension between public defiance and private compliance. Wu’s ability to predict Xia’s choices turns their flirtatious exchange into a psychological game, while Xia’s willingness to play suggests that the contest itself has become appealing to him.

Key plot points and events

• During a private dinner, Xia Jinyu studies Li Ruobing, who is acting as Wu Chen’s sweet, expressionless assistant. He notices a subtle change in her expression as she looks at the teapot and suspects she is considering some mischief.
• Wu Chen and Xia Jinyu agree to play a game. The stakes are their phone passwords: the winner gets the other’s password.
• Xia Jinyu recognizes that exchanging passwords could create intimacy, but believes Wu Chen’s attempt to get closer will not work on him. Wu Chen needles him, accusing him of being a poor liar and implying he understands him.
• Xia Jinyu proposes an unfair challenge: Wu Chen must guess the newest photo on Xia’s phone. Wu Chen declines, and Xia takes his retreat as a small victory.
• Xia then proposes a supposedly fairer game: Li Ruobing writes down a number, and the men take turns asking indirect questions to identify it. Wu Chen points out that the real purpose is to test Li’s loyalties and feelings.
• Wu Chen abruptly excuses himself to use the restroom, leaving Xia and Li in an awkward, tense silence.

Character developments

• Xia Jinyu is perceptive and proud. He enjoys testing Wu Chen but resents Wu’s confidence and tries to regain control with increasingly challenging games.
• Wu Chen remains composed and strategic, using flirtation and provocation to unsettle Xia. His brief retreat from the photo challenge is unusual enough to surprise Li.
• Li Ruobing continues her assistant act, but her thoughts reveal confusion about Wu Chen’s unusually forward behavior. She is also alert to his subtle signals and privately resists Xia’s assumption that she can be easily read.

Significant themes

• Trust and intimacy: Sharing phone passwords is framed as a way to expose private lives and potentially deepen a relationship.
• Psychology versus control: Xia relies on observation and psychological insight, while Wu challenges the idea that people can be easily understood or manipulated.
• Masks and hidden motives: All three characters conceal something—Li’s true demeanor, Xia’s guardedness, and Wu’s intentions.
• Power and loyalty: Xia’s number game is less about guessing than about seeing whether Li will favor him or Wu.

Character interactions

• Wu and Xia trade flirtation, compliments, and insults, turning a friendly contest into a contest of pride.
• Xia treats Li as the key to his proposed game, while Wu recognizes that the game is really a test of her relationship with him.
• Li observes their escalating tension but cannot understand why Wu is provoking Xia rather than simply winning him over.

Key plot points and events

• After Wu Chen leaves the private dining room, Li Ruobing and Professor Xia Jinyu are left alone. Their conversation is tense: Li dislikes Xia and makes clear that Wu Chen is the man who changed her life.
• Wu returns and proposes a number-guessing game. He immediately guesses that Xia wrote three, but her revealed number is five, so he loses.
• Xia mocks Wu’s confidence and dismisses him as an arrogant boy. Li is baffled by Wu’s apparent failures and wonders whether he is deliberately trying to win Xia over.
• Wu claims he let Xia win, then links the number three to her being in her thirties and the brevity of life. His remarks only irritate her further.
• Wu reveals that his phone passcode is Xia’s birthday, fulfilling the wager’s stakes. Xia unlocks the phone but, having lost interest, does not inspect it. Wu changes the passcode.
• Xia ends by telling Wu that, although everyone has psychological issues, he is seriously ill.

Character developments

• Li Ruobing remains guarded and openly hostile toward Xia, but is also anxious about Wu losing. She increasingly suspects his behavior is intentional, though she cannot see what he is trying to accomplish.
• Xia Jinyu shifts from polite conversation to amused dismissal of Wu, then adopts a warm, engaging manner before delivering a sharp psychological judgment. She prizes interesting people and loses curiosity when someone seems ordinary.
• Wu Chen appears unusually willing to lose and makes blunt, provocative remarks about Xia’s age and his phone passcode. His motives remain unclear, leaving both women to interpret his behavior.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus understanding: Xia and Li misread one another, while Wu’s apparent foolishness may conceal a strategy.
• Power, pride, and attraction: Xia’s confidence and social influence make her difficult to impress; Wu’s arrogance repeatedly challenges her.
• Curiosity and intimacy: The games and phone-passcode wager create opportunities for closeness, but Xia’s interest fades when Wu fails to meet her expectations.
• Time and mortality: Wu’s comment about Xia’s age and the shortness of life introduces a theme of time passing, though he presents it in a way that sounds insulting.

Character interactions

• Li and Xia exchange guarded remarks, with Li signaling that her loyalty to Wu makes her hostile toward Xia.
• Wu and Xia use games and teasing to test each other. Xia mocks his confidence; Wu counters with claims that he deliberately let her win and with the revealing birthday passcode.
• Li watches their exchange anxiously, protective of Wu but unable to understand his choices.
• Xia’s final diagnosis turns the conversation into a direct contest of perception: she claims insight into Wu, while the episode leaves the truth of his behavior unresolved.

Key plot points and events

• Psychologist Xia Jingyu bluntly analyzes Wu Chen during their meal, describing him as self-centered, emotionally guarded, and shaped by severe trauma. She suspects his personality changed suddenly and that he hides his true self behind a fixed smile.
• Xia’s reading is partly accurate: Wu Chen really endured immense trauma and changed through it. But she cannot know the truth—that he has lived through a thousand years of daily resets, repeatedly experiencing despair and later seeking novelty and pleasure. His composure comes from accumulated time and experience, not the disorder she suspects.
• Wu Chen admires Xia’s perceptiveness but says her conclusions rest on a mistaken understanding of him. He insults her as self-important and predicts she will be embarrassed when she realizes she is wrong.
• Xia remains composed and becomes more determined to finish the meal and get through to him. She turns to Li Ruobing, asking whether Wu Chen is always difficult to tolerate.
• Li Ruobing stays silent, maintaining her role as a meek follower and avoiding revealing her true relationship with Wu Chen. Xia interprets the silence as evidence that Wu Chen keeps her under control, though this is also mistaken.

Character developments

• Wu Chen: His calm confidence and provocative manner reflect someone shaped by an unimaginable span of experience. He recognizes Xia’s skill but deliberately challenges her rather than explaining the truth.
• Xia Jingyu: She demonstrates formidable insight and emotional discipline. Her mistaken diagnosis does not diminish her confidence; instead, Wu Chen’s resistance intensifies her professional curiosity.
• Li Ruobing: She carefully preserves her disguise, choosing silence despite wanting to respond. Her restraint shows her awareness of the delicate situation.

Significant themes

• Limits of psychological insight: Even a brilliant observer can only reason from evidence available within ordinary reality.
• Trauma and identity: Wu Chen’s past has profoundly shaped him, though not in the way Xia assumes.
• The unknowability of experience: His secret is impossible to infer because it lies beyond the shared, remembered timeline.
• Curiosity as purpose: Wu Chen believes Xia may be drawn to the mystery of him; the pursuit of an answer could matter more to her than solving it.
• Appearance versus truth: Wu Chen’s smile and calm are interpreted as symptoms, while Li Ruobing’s silence is mistaken for fear.

Character interactions

• Xia directly confronts Wu Chen with her assessment; he acknowledges her perceptiveness but rejects her conclusions and needles her with personal insults.
• Xia responds with pity and professional resolve rather than anger, treating his hostility as part of the challenge.
• Xia questions Li Ruobing about Wu Chen, but Liobing’s careful silence leads Xia to a false conclusion about their relationship.

Plot points and events

• During a private meal, psychologist Xia Jinyu continues trying to provoke an emotional reaction from Wu Chen, whose arrogance and stubbornness seem only to confirm Xia’s poor first impression.
• Li Ruobing, disguised as Wu Chen’s assistant, deliberately spills wine on Xia’s skirt to create a reason for him to go to the restroom. She arranges for a replacement dress and follows him, hoping to discover whether he is wearing burgundy underneath—a detail connected to Wu Chen’s plan.
• While Xia is away, Li confronts Wu Chen about how badly he is damaging his chances with the psychologist. Wu remains confident that he can still turn the situation around, but refuses to explain how.
• Li enters the restroom and finds Xia simply rinsing and drying the stained hem of his black dress. She offers a new dress and tries to draw him into a private conversation.
• Xia declines to criticize Li and offers nonjudgmental advice: her relationship choices are her own, and she need not seek others’ approval if she is not being harmed.

Character developments and interactions

• Wu Chen remains unflappable and self-assured, even as Xia’s probing makes him look increasingly conceited. His confidence suggests he has a larger plan, though he keeps it secret from Li.
• Li Ruobing shows unusual concern for Wu Chen’s standing with Xia. Her possessive teasing and attempts to investigate his plan contrast with her usual commanding demeanor; she also struggles to maintain her “assistant” role.
• Xia Jinyu is perceptive enough to recognize Li’s deliberate wine spill, but does not make an issue of it. Despite his negative view of Wu Chen, he remains tolerant and avoids imposing his judgments on Li.

Significant themes

• Appearances and misinterpretation: Wu Chen’s deliberately unappealing behavior shapes Xia’s assessment, while Li’s assistant persona conceals her real authority and feelings.
• Control and uncertainty: Wu Chen insists the situation can be reversed but withholds his method, leaving Li frustrated and suspicious.
• Nonjudgmental acceptance: Xia’s advice reflects his willingness to respect people’s private choices, even when he disapproves of someone close to them.

Episode 320 summary

• Key events: In a restaurant restroom, Li Ruobing challenges Professor Xia Jinyu for judging Wu Chen without truly understanding him. Xia assumes she is defending her fiancé and questions whether Wu genuinely lost their earlier contest. Under his probing, Li slips out of her “Miss Bingbing” persona, revealing a confidence and bearing that make Xia suspect she comes from a powerful family. He guesses she is Wu’s future wife; rather than correct him, Li confirms the misunderstanding.
• Character developments: Li is frustrated by Wu’s plan and by her own mistake in revealing too much. She also hints at a personal grievance: Xia once labeled her violent without meeting her, affecting how her family treated her for a year and a half. Xia remains largely uninterested in the relationship drama, though he is perceptive enough to notice Li’s act and contradictions in her behavior.
• Character interactions: Li and Xia trade pointed remarks about Wu’s arrogance and Xia’s assumptions. Xia suggests he may see Wu again if Wu’s family asks him to continue treatment. Li reacts possessively, warning Xia not to become Wu’s lover. Xia dismisses the idea—then abruptly freezes.
• Ending reveal: Steam from the hot water fogs the restroom mirror, revealing a lifelike drawing of a woman’s face that unmistakably resembles Xia Jinyu. Its presence turns an ordinary conversation into a mysterious cliffhanger.

Significant themes

The episode explores the danger of judging people without knowing them, the masks people wear and how experience shapes their bearing, and the way assumptions can distort relationships. The unexplained portrait also introduces a suspenseful, possibly threatening mystery.