Sun Xiangxiang

Biodata

Appearance

• Bai Congming considers her pretty and compares her to a sunflower, inspiring his nickname “Sunflower Sister” 14 15.
• Ding Ding describes her as sweet-looking even while complaining about her efforts to draw Bai Congming away from the office 139.

Personality

Sun Xiangxiang is warm, lively, and exceptionally talkative. When excited, she speaks so quickly that Bai Congming struggles to follow her, although she sometimes catches herself and deliberately slows down. Her enthusiasm for gossip is especially strong when romance is involved 14 15 18.

An avid reader of romantic novels and comics, she initially interprets Bai Congming and Ding Ding’s relationship through fictional tropes. Her eagerness can outpace her judgment: speculation about Ding Ding’s feelings makes Bai Congming cry, and later comics leave him worried that Ding Ding’s family might separate them. She apologizes for the first incident and remains sincerely invested in his happiness 15 142.

Her generosity is often impulsive. She sells Bai Congming rare flowers at a steep discount, brings more gifts than she can comfortably carry to his home, and threatens to buy a fruit shop after learning its owner misled him 18 54 74. Her protectiveness can also become overbearing; Bai Congming firmly objects when she criticizes Ding Ding 122.

Despite her romantic interests, she ultimately refuses to remain in a relationship that leaves her lonely. Ending things with Chen Xin hurts her deeply, but she distinguishes missing him from wanting him back and repeatedly maintains her decision 125 129 134 144.

Background and History

Family and ambitions

Sun Xiangxiang comes from a family with several experienced practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine. The family does not restrict the profession to male descendants, but her ambitions lie elsewhere, and her relatives accept her choice 134.

Her uncle, Sun Chang’an, is a distant relative ten years older than her. They are close despite their frequent teasing, and she regularly visits his clinic for free pulse readings 36.

She wants to run a flower shop because she associates giving and receiving flowers with happiness. Rather than following her family into medicine, she hopes to remain close to those moments of affection 134.

Becoming Bai Congming’s friend

Sun Xiangxiang meets Bai Congming while he is preparing roses at the nursery. After hearing him call Ding Ding his “wife” and say that he has left, she encourages Bai Congming to express his feelings and gives him flowers to take to Ding Ding 14.

Her suggestion that Ding Ding might not like him enough causes Bai Congming to sob. Once Auntie Zhou has comforted him, Sun Xiangxiang apologizes and gives him a comic intended to help him win his wife back. He begins calling her “Sunflower Sister,” a name that delights her 15.

Their friendship develops through visits and exchanged gifts. Bai Congming brings dried roses to thank her for the comic; she welcomes him with snacks and sells him all twelve of the shop’s naturally pink lily-of-the-valley stems for 200 yuan, despite the staff’s objections to the low price 18.

During a later nursery visit, she brings sour-plum drink ingredients and chocolate, praises his gardening, and explains that exchanging gifts makes them friends. She also offers to teach him phone functions and video calling 36.

Romance adviser and family friend

Sun Xiangxiang becomes one of Bai Congming’s sources of dating advice. When she cannot visit, she records narrated videos of comics page by page. She explains that dates commonly involve meals, shopping, and films, and later gives him directions for his surprise trip with Ding Ding to Jinjiang Amusement Park 46 93.

Her first proper visit to the couple’s home brings her closer to Ding Ding, although he objects to the comics she shares with Bai Congming. When Ding Ding must leave town, he nevertheless asks her to keep Bai Congming company. She helps arrange a barbecue during his absence 54 65 72 73.

For much of their friendship, she assumes Bai Congming is the sexually dominant partner because he calls Ding Ding his wife. Discovering her mistake shocks her into asking Bai Congming to stop reading her comics. This resolution does not last: they are reading comics together again at her later shop 100 139 142.

Breaking up with Chen Xin

Sun Xiangxiang initially pursues Chen Xin because she is captivated by his devotion while watching birds and wishes he would look at her the same way. They date for five years, but his work as a bird photographer frequently takes him away for months 125 144.

She becomes exhausted by a relationship in which his career and interests consistently come first. Seeing Ding Ding and Bai Congming together helps her recognize that wanting an attentive partner is not an unreasonable expectation 124 125.

After announcing their breakup, she packs Chen Xin’s belongings and offers to return the apartment, car, and flower shop connected to him. Although he insists that he does not want to separate, she tells him she is tired rather than treating the dispute as merely a question of trust 125.

News that Chen Xin has fallen at the shore sends her rushing to the hospital. She accompanies him to his hotel afterward, but his proposed wedding gift—a feather from a rare bird he had hoped to photograph—does not change her mind. To her, pursuing a symbol of love cannot replace being present in their relationship 129 130.

Starting over

With Ding Ding and Bai Congming’s help, Sun Xiangxiang moves into her own studio apartment with a garden near their company. She returns the old apartment’s keys and prepares to open a flower shop of her own. Although she remains resolute, she privately grieves the years spent with Chen Xin 131 134.

The new shop becomes a regular destination for Bai Congming, who visits for flowers, snacks, and comics. He also helps during the Qixi Festival rush 138 139 141.

Chen Xin continues seeking reconciliation. On Qixi, he reveals that illness has required the removal of half his stomach. Despite her concern, Sun Xiangxiang later rejects his requests for another chance, explaining that their desires are incompatible: he wants distant horizons, while she wants a home 139 143 144.

Ding Ding’s birthday and the shop’s sale

Sun Xiangxiang appoints herself chief planner of Ding Ding’s surprise birthday party. She coordinates the guests, hiding places, lights, and party poppers, carefully explaining the plan to Bai Congming so that the noise will not frighten him 143 144.

At the party, she agrees to Ding Ding’s purchase of the Flower Shop as a financial fallback for Bai Congming. She is willing to work for him because owning the business matters less to her than being around flowers. Ding Ding offers her a good price 149.

She later helps see Ding Shu off at her wedding to Sun Chang’an and fills Bai Congming’s pockets with wedding candies and pastries, accompanying them with a stream of auspicious wishes 154.

“If” side story: *Just Right*

In the alternate “If” storyline, Sun Xiangxiang leaves her shared flower-shop venture with Chen Xin after their breakup and moves to a mountain village to grow flowers. By Chapter 165, she has sold the Flower Nursery and has been away for a month on a trip to clear her head 165.

Wu Fei reveals that she had reported on Sun Xiangxiang’s activities to Chen Xin. A lie intended to make him return instead fuels his suspicion and an accusation of betrayal. Sun Xiangxiang later tells Wu Fei that she already knew about the reporting and did not end the relationship because of her 165.

Relationships

• Bai Congming — Close friend who calls her “Sunflower Sister.” Auntie Zhou values her willingness to patiently converse with him, something few nursery workers of his age do 15 16.
• Ding Ding — Friend and frequent sparring partner. She criticizes his possessiveness and threatens him if he mistreats Bai Congming, but helps celebrate his birthday and entrusts the Flower Shop to him 122 134 144 149.
• Chen Xin — Former boyfriend of five years. She remains concerned about his health after their separation but ultimately refuses reconciliation 125 129 139 144.
• Sun Chang’an — Uncle and close relative. Their affectionate bickering often revolves around his insistence on payment and her enthusiasm for gossip 36 72 144.
• Ding Shu — Sun Chang’an’s partner and later wife. Their early acquaintance includes a misunderstanding in which Ding Shu offers Sun Xiangxiang 500,000 yuan to leave Bai Congming; the confusion is resolved at the barbecue 73 154.
• Wu Fei — In the “If” side story, a former informant for Chen Xin who becomes grateful to Sun Xiangxiang after receiving help with a family problem and later confesses her actions 165.

Notable Quotes

“You have a mouth so you can talk. Don't be shy. Whatever's on your mind, you have to say it!” 14

“I've always felt that whether someone is giving flowers or receiving them, they must be very happy in that moment.” 134

“We were never right for each other. You have your dreams and distant horizons. All I want is a home.” 143

Trivia

• Her favorite color is green, although she decides it does not suit her nails and has the color changed 124.
• A joke leads Bai Congming to believe she is a rabbit spirit. He secretly brings her carrots every day, and she continues accepting them, much to Ding Ding’s irritation 134.
• She jokingly treats the new comics she bought for Bai Congming as a birthday gift for Ding Ding too, reasoning that husbands count as one 146.