Xue Yiyang

Biodata

Background / History

Childhood

Xue Yiyang grew up with Su Can and Liu Rui in the same residential compound. Their childhood mischief included shooting at a neighbor’s pigeons, smashing windows, and removing bicycle-tire valve cores. Although the three attended different middle schools—Xue Yiyang at First, Liu Rui at Second, and Su Can at Third—they remained close friends 6 12 13.

His family were wage earners, a background Li Ai later used to belittle him among their better-connected schoolmates. Xue Yiyang nevertheless had friends within No. 1 High School’s social circles, including Chen Lingshan and class monitor Wang Xuebing 29.

His mother appeared kind and approachable to outsiders but disciplined him harshly at home. Su Can recalls her slapping Xue Yiyang at a parent-teacher meeting after his grades declined and making him kneel on a washboard for half a day after he broke a window while playing football. This treatment left Xue Yiyang deeply afraid of her, even over minor matters such as forgetting his key 126.

His father belonged to the same Engineering Division Four work unit as Su Can’s family. After the company’s difficulties were resolved, Xue Yiyang proudly told classmates that his father and the other employees had received additional benefits and emphasized the official attention given to their Xinghai Square project 137.

Original Timeline

Before Su Can’s rebirth, the three friends spent too much time gaming immediately before their high school entrance exams and performed poorly. Xue Yiyang continued into No. 1 High School’s senior division by paying a 3,000-yuan premium fee, benefiting from a preferential policy for students already in its junior division 6 12.

His high-school academic performance remained poor. Su Can remembers him generally ranking around sixtieth or seventieth in a class of approximately seventy students and once finishing last in English. At that stage, he had little confidence about his prospects for university admission 117.

Xue Yiyang later became a naval ground-crew noncommissioned officer at Hainan Naval Base, inspecting and servicing fighter aircraft used for maritime patrols. In 2007, toward the end of a month’s family leave, he visited Su Can’s rented home. They drank together, recalled their childhood, and discussed their futures; it was their final meeting 6.

In 2008, while preparing an aircraft for a nighttime South China Sea patrol, he was checking an engine’s pneumatic manifold when an unsafe route took him into the engine’s intake, killing him. Su Can learned of his death in 2009 and spent two days and nights drinking and grieving, leaving an untouched glass of liquor beside him 6.

Changed Educational Path

In the reborn timeline, Su Can’s assistance and academic example help redirect Xue Yiyang’s future. His improved entrance-exam result is followed by more serious high-school revision, and he eventually begins considering second-tier universities as a realistic goal. While maintaining contact with Su Can after the latter moves to Rongcheng, he initially hopes to attend a second-tier university there 28 106 117 314.

He ultimately attends Changsha University of Science and Technology rather than following his original naval career. Su Can regards his energetic university life and competitive gaming as evidence that his fate has changed, despite the collapse of his longstanding ambition to join the military 366.

Appearance

• Build: Tall and thin 6.
• Facial features: Large ears, a high forehead, and a thick lower lip 6.
• Hair and eyewear: Crew cut and framed prescription glasses 6.
• School-registration outfit: Newly bought clothes, jeans, and Anta sneakers 40.
• University-era photograph: His photograph on Changsha’s StarCraft website retains his characteristic bulging-eyed expression, which Su Can jokingly compares to E.T. 366.

Personality

Xue Yiyang is talkative, sociable, and comfortable striking up conversations with classmates, particularly girls. Su Can considers him so suited to public relations that he privately regrets his original career in aircraft maintenance. His chatter also gets him into trouble: he and Su Can are caught whispering during Chinese class, and an English teacher later reprimands them when he asks about Su Can’s confession 43 45 46 50.

He is competitive and sensitive to humiliation. After losing at the gaming parlor, he spends his meal planning counterstrategies and returns determined to defend his circle’s dignity. Against Li Ai’s school clique, however, he sometimes restrains his anger rather than openly confronting their social advantage 12 14 45.

His teasing can be blunt and condescending. He initially dismisses Su Can’s chances of entering No. 1 High School or attracting Chen Lingshan, but later revises his opinion and enthusiastically offers to help Su Can pursue her—even suggesting a staged robbery inspired by Hong Kong films 6 47.

His social caution does not override his loyalty at a decisive moment. Although he initially urges Su Can to avoid Wang Haoran’s gang, he joins the ensuing fight and attacks their opponents with a brick, taking a worse beating than Su Can. Su Can recognizes that their childhood bond proves stronger than Xue Yiyang’s concern for school status and social boundaries 67 69.

The fight gradually makes him tougher and more assertive. After several days of fearing retaliation, he becomes increasingly confident when no ambush follows. He later steps forward beside Su Can and Tang Wu when Yue Zijiang’s group confronts them, while some of the older boys instinctively retreat because they remember his earlier ferocity 158.

His pride also becomes a source of academic motivation. Having long considered himself a better student than Su Can, he initially struggles with jealousy when Su Can reaches the class’s top ten. He secretly works through Su Can’s chemistry problems and later copies his notes instead of organizing gaming outings. Over time, he grows accustomed to Su Can’s exceptional results and becomes less resentful 84 106 134.

Despite his confidence around male friends, he tends to be deferential toward women and is reluctant to argue with girls. Romantic and class differences can also make him feel inferior: he considers Zhang Feifei an unattainable wealthy girl whose world is separate from his own 262 465.

As a university student, he develops a more explicit awareness of economic pressure and unequal opportunities. His personal ambitions remain modest—steady earnings, a home, a car, and a family—but he recognizes how such necessities can force ordinary people to compromise. His awareness of the gulf between himself and Su Can causes sadness, yet he also takes pride in Su Can’s ability to challenge those limitations 692 693.

Abilities & Skills

Pro Evolution Soccer

Xue Yiyang is initially the strongest Pro Evolution Soccer player among the three childhood friends and one of the best players at their regular gaming parlor 12 13.

• Can usually defeat Liu Rui comfortably and, before Su Can reveals his improved play, could potentially beat Su Can five goals to nil 15.
• Studies opponents’ attacks and devises counterstrategies between matches 14.
• Can score against Wang Weiwei and offer more resistance than players who lose five–nil, but remains inferior to him in dribbling, controller speed, and team coordination 14.
• Does not recognize the sliding-tackle exploit Wang Weiwei uses against him; Su Can identifies it as a bug in that version of the game 14.

StarCraft

• Plays StarCraft with Liu Rui and Su Can during high school. He and Liu Rui lose even when teaming up against Su Can, whose mass-production rush tactics attract attention throughout the internet café 196.
• Continues competitive play while attending Changsha University of Science and Technology and earns a place on one of Changsha’s top sixteen teams 366.
• Uses the screen name 5585, which the narration associates with iron’s relative atomic mass 366.

Social Skills

• Maintains friendships across No. 1 High School’s interconnected student circles 29.
• Draws classmates into lively conversations and helps connect Su Can with a wider social group 43 46.
• Frequently discusses school gossip, though his disclosure of Su Can’s childhood crush contributes to misleading romantic rumors 29 46 47.
• Becomes a center of attention among Class Five students, attracting increasing interaction from girls and enthusiastically recounting events involving Su Can 106 137.
• Helps Liu Rui spread news of Su Can’s departure from Xiahai, leading classmates to organize a larger farewell gathering 202.

Football

• Plays football with other No. 1 High School students and maintains acquaintances among older players 69 158.
• Delivers a powerful, accurate airborne pass to Su Can during Class Five’s match against Class Three, despite being brought down by opposing tackles; Su Can goes on to score 138.

Aircraft Maintenance

• In the original timeline, inspects and services naval fighter aircraft and performs final preparations before takeoff 6.
• His duties involve demanding ground-crew work, confidentiality restrictions, and substantial responsibility for aircraft safety 6.

Equipment / Items

• Prescription glasses — Part of his appearance when Su Can first sees him after rebirth 6.
• Borrowed racing bicycle — Lent by his older female cousin for the summer, with repeated warnings not to scratch or damage it 28.
• Bank card from Su Can — Initially empty; Su Can promises to transfer 200,000 yuan into it if Xue Yiyang develops a viable business project during the following academic year 572.

Relationships

• Su Can — Childhood friend and eventual high school deskmate. Su Can’s memories of his death make their reunion especially emotional; Xue Yiyang does not understand the reason for the sudden embrace 6 42. Their friendship deepens through fighting together, while Su Can’s academic improvement motivates him to study. Su Can also encourages him to pursue business rather than aircraft-related work and later offers conditional startup funding 69 84 106 173 572. In university, Xue Yiyang struggles with the widening difference in their circumstances but remains proud of Su Can’s achievements and continues attending gatherings with their old friends 692 693 722.
• Liu Rui — Childhood friend and gaming companion. They recruit Su Can for the rematch against Wang Weiwei’s group 12. They remain in contact with Su Can after his move, help arrange his farewell gathering, and later discuss university business projects with him 202 314 572.
• Chen Lingshan — School friend with whom he jokes easily. He reveals Su Can’s former crush on her and later encourages him to pursue her 29 46 47. He helps her obtain Su Can’s telephone number, and she later scolds him for failing to complete his homework 58 126.
• Tang Wu — Classmate and Su Can’s romantic partner. Xue Yiyang initially regards her academic excellence as placing her beyond the reach of students like himself and Su Can, but later enthusiastically supports their relationship 79 148. Her removal of his name from the missing-homework list spares him a parental summons, and he later stands beside her and Su Can during Yue Zijiang’s approach 126 158.
• Mother — A strict parent whose punishments make him fear school complaints and parental summonses. Her outwardly pleasant manner contrasts with the harsh discipline Su Can witnesses or learns about 126.
• Wang Xuebing — Junior-high class monitor and friendly acquaintance who welcomes him and his friends into the barbecue gathering 29.
• Li Ai — Rival since a clash in their second year of junior high. Their hostility continues into high school, where Li Ai mocks both him and Su Can 28 45.
• Wang Weiwei — Superior gaming opponent whose taunts turn their rematch into a matter of personal dignity 14 15. Their circles later become friendly enough for Xue Yiyang and Liu Rui to attend his farewell party and recount Su Can’s childhood mischief 262.
• Wang Haoran and his circle — Initially intimidating older students whom Xue Yiyang urges Su Can to avoid. Fighting them with Su Can changes his reputation and makes members of the group wary of provoking him 67 69 158.
• Xue Lingzhu — An older student he once admired and had a crush on after seeing her around the football team. At Su Can’s farewell gathering, he openly criticizes her behavior and tells her she is unlike the person he imagined 205.
• Zhang Feifei — A wealthy acquaintance whom Zhuang Zhiyu encourages him to approach during a Rongcheng gathering. Xue Yiyang sees the difference in their backgrounds as a major obstacle, while she states that she wants a wealthy partner and asks whether he has ten million 465.
• Du Shun — A friend in Shanghai who collects him from the airport in an Audi and joins him in meeting Su Can. Both are surprised by the extent of Su Can’s wealth and influential connections 691.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Reunion and Entrance-Exam Bet

• Su Can embraces Xue Yiyang upon seeing him alive after rebirth, remembering the close friend he lost in his previous life 6.
• Xue Yiyang dismisses Su Can’s ambition to enter No. 1 High School, citing its previous 610-point cutoff and Su Can’s earlier 480-point result 6.
• They wager a public kick at the school gate: Xue Yiyang will receive it if Su Can gains admission; otherwise, Su Can will 6.

Gaming-Parlor Rematch

• Xue Yiyang and Liu Rui seek Su Can’s help after newcomers humiliate their regular gaming circle 12.
• Despite preparing counterstrategies, Xue Yiyang loses to Wang Weiwei, who exploits an unpunished sliding tackle and threatens to label him “trash” 14 15.
• Su Can takes over, defeats Xiao Wu three–nil and Wang Weiwei four–one, and turns Wang Weiwei’s insult back on him. Xue Yiyang and Liu Rui celebrate the reversal 15.

Improved Exam Results

• After the rematch, Xue Yiyang accepts Su Can’s offer of targeted revision materials, identifying English, chemistry, and mathematics as weaknesses 16.
• On the exam-day bus ride, he reports that the practice papers have given him more confidence, although he still needs the supplied answers to understand many questions 17.
• Su Can’s later success challenges his assumption that the two are academically comparable. After the midterms, he privately attempts problems from Su Can’s chemistry paper and reduces his interruptions of Su Can’s study time 84.
• Before the end-of-term examinations, he stops inviting Su Can and Liu Rui out to play games and instead borrows and copies Su Can’s notes 106.

Summer Gathering and High School

• During a cycling trip around Xiahai Lake, Xue Yiyang encounters Li Ai’s group at the Royal Residence barbecue plaza. Su Can counters attempts to embarrass the trio and wins 165 yuan at Fight the Landlord 28 29.
• Xue Yiyang introduces Su Can to Chen Lingshan as the friend who once liked her. As the story circulates at school, the word “once” disappears, turning a past crush into an apparently current one 29 46.
• Su Can chooses Class Five after remembering that Xue Yiyang is in it, then sits beside him. Astonished, Xue Yiyang pinches Su Can’s arm to confirm he is real 41 42.
• When reminded of their wager after military training, Xue Yiyang reluctantly presents himself for the promised kick. Su Can instead puts an arm around his shoulders and walks home with him 43.
• Following Su Can’s confession to Chen Lingshan, Xue Yiyang eagerly asks for details during class, provoking the English teacher’s reprimand 50.
• Chen Lingshan obtains Su Can’s phone number through him. He is subsequently astonished to see Su Can walking with Tang Wu and worries that their closeness will provoke Yue Zijiang’s circle 58 59.

Fighting Alongside Su Can

• When Wang Haoran’s gang beats Mao Xiaoshi, Xue Yiyang initially tries to hurry Su Can away, warning that they cannot afford to offend the group 67.
• He nevertheless fights beside Su Can, swinging a brick at their opponents and suffering a heavier beating. Even when both friends are exhausted, he continues challenging the older boys 69.
• Su Can is moved by his willingness to abandon social caution for their friendship. The incident becomes a turning point in Xue Yiyang’s school reputation 69 158.
• He later witnesses Su Can throw a bench at the knife-wielding Chen Chong during another violent incident 99.
• The earlier fight gives him greater confidence and helps establish him and Su Can as a cohesive alternative to Zhang Xi and Li Ai’s dominant class circle. Mao Xiaoshi’s basketball group and several girls gather around them 158.
• When Yue Zijiang approaches Su Can and Tang Wu outside school, Xue Yiyang steps up beside his friends despite the presence of seven or eight older boys. Their memory of his brick-wielding attack makes some of them back away 158.

Class Life and Su Can’s Relationships

• After missing homework, Xue Yiyang asks Su Can to intercede with Tang Wu so that his mother will not be summoned. Tang Wu crosses out his name before Su Can can explain, and Xue Yiyang’s delighted retelling fuels classmates’ interest in the pair’s closeness 126.
• He excitedly encourages Su Can’s pursuit of Tang Wu and repeatedly teases him about their relationship, while also noticing Chen Lingshan’s unhappiness 148 158.
• During Jiang Zezhong’s punishment of the Class Five boys in the summer heat, he accompanies Su Can to buy drinks after the teacher demands refreshments for all the students. Su Can orders ten cases, and the two return with shopkeepers 177 178.
• He persuades Su Can to attend a class gathering at Ding Sheng Karaoke City, where Xia Zhiyu publicly confesses to Chen Lingshan. Su Can’s thoughts about Xue Yiyang during the outing renew his determination to prevent his friend’s original death 189.
• He eagerly prepares to participate in the school Arts Performance, valuing even a background role as a rare opportunity to appear before the whole school 196.

Farewell to Xiahai and Continued Friendship

• Su Can tells Xue Yiyang and Liu Rui that his family is moving to Rongcheng and that he will attend No. 27 Middle School. The three share beer, memories, and jokes on their residential rooftop 202.
• Xue Yiyang and Liu Rui spread the news of the move, prompting classmates to reserve two rooms at True Love Years for a farewell party 202.
• During the gathering’s confrontation with Xue Lingzhu, he admits that he once liked her but criticizes the contrast between her behavior and his former image of her. Su Can breaks a beer bottle to halt the escalating confrontation before the situation develops into a wider brawl 205.
• He and Liu Rui maintain regular contact with Su Can after the move. At Wang Weiwei’s farewell party, they recount Su Can’s childhood escapades as the group discusses his relationship with Tang Wu 262 314.

University Gaming and Business Ambitions

• At Changsha University of Science and Technology, Xue Yiyang joins one of the city’s top sixteen StarCraft teams under the name 5585. Su Can sees his lively university experience as a marked departure from the original timeline 366.
• He joins Liu Rui, Zhang Xi, and other Xiahai friends on a holiday visit to Rongcheng, only to find Su Can unexpectedly away in the United States. Zhuang Zhiyu hosts the group at Soho and encourages him to approach Zhang Feifei 465.
• When Liu Rui tells him that their childhood friend has founded a website, he initially plans only to look it up later, while news of Facebook’s US$400 million valuation spreads elsewhere through Su Can’s social circles 506.
• Su Can’s earlier suggestion that he enter business rather than pursue aircraft work develops into a concrete offer of support. At dinner with Xue Yiyang and Liu Rui, Su Can reviews their ambitions and promises to fund projects they demonstrate are viable 173 572.
• Each receives an empty bank card, with Su Can promising 200,000 yuan per person if they develop suitable projects during the following academic year. The offer is conditional rather than evidence that either venture has already launched 572.

Shanghai Reunion and the Distance of Success

• During the May Day holiday, Xue Yiyang flies from Changsha to Shanghai and meets Du Shun before visiting Su Can. His unsuccessful attempt to chat up a flight attendant does not diminish his cheerful anticipation of the trip 691.
• The visit exposes him and Du Shun to the scale of Su Can’s wealth and connections. Tang Wu arrives in a Benz, and Su Can and Tang Wu are respectfully received by Song Zhen, Chen Chen, and Senchuan Enterprises executives 691.
• Confronted with how far Su Can has moved beyond their shared childhood circumstances, Xue Yiyang becomes tearful while drinking and says he will not visit for the National Day holiday 692.
• He reflects on the difference between ordinary graduates, who must prioritize earning money and supporting a family, and people with the resources to pursue their interests freely. Despite feeling the distance between their lives, he tells Su Can that his rise makes him proud and inspired 693.
• After Su Can graduates, Xue Yiyang travels to Beijing with him, Tang Wu, Liu Rui, Zhang Xian, and other friends for Lin Luoran’s wedding to Wei Yuanhu, demonstrating their continued connection 722.

Notable Quotes

“Fine! If you can get into my school, I’ll let you kick me! Otherwise, just wait for me to kick your ass!” 6

“It hurts... so it really is you... this isn’t a dream...” 42

“Go for it. I believe in you! If you need any help, I’d even be willing to jump out and pretend to rob you!” 47

“If you're not happy, come at me again!” 69

“You have to win Tang Wu over on behalf of everyone in our year!” 148

“Su Can, I won't come over for the National Day holiday.” 692

“Even I can't help feeling proud and fired up when I think about it.” 693

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