Okay, time for me to break down the swoon-worthy moments by episode and write down my take on them before I forget. This will have lots of pictures, too.

From Episode 2:

1.  The proposal on Red Sparrow Bridge

YN: Luwei Weiwei?
WW: Yixiao Naihe? The server’s number one player, Yixiao Naihe?

I thought it funny that her reaction in the game would have mirrored her reaction in real life if the Campus Heartthrob, Nai, appeared in front of her. In the game, she gushes, “A master! An idol! A rich guy!” She goes down to meet him at the foot of the bridge.

I like that how this scene foreshadows their “moment of truth” in real life.

WW: Yes, Mr. Yixiao Naihe?
YN: What do you think of the wedding?

Since she doesn’t know his personality yet, she wonders whether he’s there to gossip like the other people. Nai doesn’t at all engage in gossips, does he? The girls and his roommates all engage in gossips but Nai does “information gathering.” Ha!

WW: It’s grand.
YN: Would you like an even grander wedding?

Of course, she’s pondering over his question about the “grander” wedding. If I were here, I’d wonder whether he was asking for my impartial third-party opinion or he’s curious about me in particular. Why is he chatting me up??!

YN: Couple up with me.

WW: Did your account get hacked?

lol. In the future, their kids will love to hear that their father’s first ever proposal was met with skepticism and suspicion. Essentially, she doubts him, “Is something wrong with you? Are you unwell?”

WW: I’ll do it. Let’s go the Rock of Lives.
YN: Wait. I need to prepare for it. Eight o’clock, three days from now.

He’s already planned this. He wants his wedding on an auspicious day, that is, on the 8th day of the 8th month at 8pm.

WW: Prepare for what?
YN: The wedding banquet.
WW: A registration will do. It’s just a battle championship. Why make a big fuss?
YN: I’m Yuxiao Naihe. My wedding can’t be haphazard.

2. After getting her to agree to the in-game marriage, he logs out immediately, with a satisfied smile on his face.

Then, he declines to help fix another girl’s computer because of his new MARRIAGE. “I just got married in the game. I’ll introduce her to you one day.” His friends are shocked. “Since I’m a married man now, it’ll be inappropriate for me to fix another girl’s computer. If you’re interested, you should go.”

I’m going to quibble over this: he is NOT married yet. He’s only ENGAGED to be married to Weiwei. But we can see that he’s just too eager to put a ring on himself

I find it cute that while he flat-out refuses to fix another girl’s laptop because he’s engaged to be married, Weiwei is still entertaining invitations from guys. lol. On the same night that she’s scheduled to marry him, she receives a invitation from a basketball player to have snack together after the game if his team wins.

Her friends tease her that she’s become savvy and adept at rejecting the suitors. And sure enough, we see her rushing to get back to their dorm room — ahead of her friends — to attend her in-game wedding. This tells me that she left the gym before the game ended. lol.

3. Introducing his friends

His friends want to meet this girl who melted his heart so he logs back on and introduces his gang to Weiwei. It’s funny that his friends can’t make up their minds whether she stole Nai’s heart or she fell for him. They want to know who fell for whom first. It strikes me funny that Nai’s friends can be as gossipy as Weiwei’s girlfriends.

Note: their names are Mozarta (or Mr Girly), Drunk Monkey Hou (the second guy), and Old Man Yu (the one messes up his idioms).

They not only recognize Weiwei’s name but they also recall that she was recently divorced. Nai jumps in to protect her from their teasing with a cringe-y excuse, “Yes, she put her trust in the wrong guy. Don’t give her a hard time.”

Even Weiwei seems embarrassed to hear his defense. This is just one of the many OMG-Did-he-actually-say-that??! moments she’ll have with him.

IMO, she’s ready to disclose that her previous partnership was purely for the quest, and that her future partnership with Nai is similarly an alliance of convenience. But Nai is pushing this narrative that it’s a personal relationship.

The boys and Weiwei proceed to fight in an instance dungeon (hello, Memories of the Alhambra!). She amazes the guys with her fighting skills and she earns their compliment. Nai however thanks them on her behalf, prompting his friends to point that they’re praising Weiwei and not him.

To be honest, in other situations, this kind of behavior would get my hackles up because he appears to be taking credit to boost his ego. But I’ll give Nai a pass here because he’s bragging to the guys that he’s made a good choice and he knows it.

4. Weiwei is willing to reschedule their wedding due to his prior commitment but he refuses.

WW: Are you busy that day? We can reschedule.
XN: No, the day after tomorrow is auspicious. It’s good for weddings.

Offline, his friend Old Man Yu teases him. “Dude, you amaze me. You picked an auspicious day for your VIRTUAL wedding?” He stands up, ignoring him.

lol. He usually has the last word in everything but there’s no comeback for that.

But it is true. He’s planned ahead and picked at 888. Weiwei checks it out and smiles.

5. The wedding

I like that he’s spared no expense for his wedding. He invites guests who expect him to hand out “red envelopes” with money. He wants this wedding witnessed by others. It counteracts the stigma of being a “divorcee” or ex-wife of Zhen Shui

I like how he convinces Weiwei to accept his wedding gift. She refuses it but he dispels her reluctance by pointing out that the sword is for their upcoming battle. It’s an offer she can’t refuse since, to her knowledge, the battle was the reason for their marriage.

I also like that he accepts her dowry although it is a meager gift. Considering that she’s a highly ranked fighter, it’s quite telling that she doesn’t have fancier equipment or gems to offer him. This tells me that when she fights, she gives up her portion to another person. She hasn’t been enriching herself. Therefore her gift to him is more precious than his sword gift to her. It’s similar to that parable of the widow’s mite in the bible. Weiwei gave everything she had to him, while he gave her only a small percentage of his total wealth.

WW: It’s not a lot, but I’ll make it up to you later.
YN: You don’t have to give me anything. Having you here is enough. (or per Netflix subs, “You’re all I need.”)

Having watched the entire show, I can say that he isn’t exaggerating here. He does mean it when he says that she’s all that he needs. It’s admirable that 1) he’s made up his mind that quickly and 2) he can feel like this for her both in the role-playing game setting and in real life.

6. Raising suspicion

To me, the reason that she’ll continue to doubt him when he avows that she’s his first girlfriend is because she’s caught him in a white lie.

WW: Do you know Enchantress Xiaoyu? (the current wife of her Ex Zhen Shui)
YN: No I don’t.

WW: Someone said she saw you two fighting a monster together.
YN: I guess, Old Man Yu invited her to our team once but she was too hopeless. So I kicked her out.

Strictly speaking, he does know the girl.

I like how in future episodes, he would deny having interactions with girls, and she’d be like “Uh-huh. Sure.”

7. The honeymoon

Nai’s friends are being cheeky when they expect to be invited to the bedroom. One of them, Friend #1 Old Man, says that nothing happens but a lot of talking.

The newlywed must have time for themselves. I like that this aspect of the game is one) this is a new feature. It’s Weiwei’s first experience doing this “quest.” She didn’t have a honeymoon with her Ex-husband.

And two, considering that he must have other business to attend to on the phone, I like that he’s taking the time to do the “quest” with her: riding the hot air balloon ride,

spending time doing His-and-Hers own thing together: gardening for her and playing the Guzheng for him,

An aside: This foreshadows the scene when they spend one relaxing afternoon in his apartment. He’s playing his musical instrument while she writes down her ideas on the day-to-day activities on his game. Of course, she bites him….

And picking a flower for her.

And just like when he smiled when he got her to consent to his marriage proposal, he smiles at the scene of their successfully concluded online marriage and honeymoon.

To get back to Friend #1 Old Man, he’s partially correct. No sexual encounter happened during the honeymoon but neither did Nai and Guigui just stand up talking all night doing nothing. Nai seemed to be very happy with the experience. But why does he smile at his screen all the time now? 

7. Dealing with her antis. This scene is satisfying.

Although I know the action only occurred in virtual reality, and no real person got physically hurt, it satisfied me to know that Nai can be ruthless when settling scores with those people who bully Weiwei online. This is the first of many instances when he uses his computer skills to wreck her antis.

His first mission of the day is to hunt down the guy who insulted Weiwei at her wedding procession. He goes to great lengths to capture the guy. If I understood it correctly, Nai stalked the guy in the internet chatroom, waited for hours until the guy leveled up, and captured the guy only when he reached his last level of mission. He waited for the guy at his final destination so the guy’s hard work would all go to waste, then he presented the guy to Weiwei to torture as she pleased. lol.

He isn’t just cruel; he’s downright sadistic. I like it.

But he thinks it’s a bloody compliment. His blood-thirsty streak is coming out. lol.

As for the girls, I was at first shocked with the fierce language he used with them, “If you don’t want to die, leave.”

But the girls think that they can get off the hook because they’re girls. They were posting rude comments about Weiwei too during the wedding procession. For Nai, this is a matter of defending his wife’s honor. Whatever they did to offend his wife, they’ll get payback from him.

He tells Weiwei, “I’m back. I’ll handle this.” The girls are shocked that a highly-ranked MALE player would bully girls so Weiwei offers a duel instead: two of them against all the three girls.

But Nai insists, “You go rest. I’ll handle it.” To him, it doesn’t matter that the girls consider him ungentlemanly for beating them on an online duel. It’s a game after all.

For me, if male characters can’t duel female characters for the simple reason that they’re girls, then the game is reinforcing a sexist view that girls are the the “weaker” sex. The game might as well have segregated the sexes: one game for girls; one game for boys.

The funny thing here is that when the rude man wakes up, he tells the trio not to fight for him because for a) he needs to pay for his slander, and b) “pretty girls are to be pampered.”

It strikes me then that the rude man and Xiao Nai both have this chivalrous attitude toward girls. Girls are, indeed, meant to be pampered.

That’s why Nai insists that Weiwei “take a rest.” He’s pampering her. He’ll handle the trio, i.e., “kill them,” while Weiwei watches from a safe distance. He’s pampering her because he’s her wife, unlike the trio of girls.