I’d be terribly remiss if I didn’t bring to your attention, at least once, the sexist view that a top male athlete must have a beautiful woman in his arms as companion. It reminds me of that campaign promise to have “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” What if the pot wanted a lobster, roast beef or potatoes instead? What if the garage preferred a motorbike, boat or pick-up truck?

Or get this: what if the beautiful woman was the one who desired the top athlete and pursued him?

Like this fashion model. Her net worth is more than his. 😂 It would say a lot about girl power if SHE had been the one who scored him.

See that? I’m not asking you to start a crusade or to make a federal case out of every male-female relationship. But being aware of certain preconceived notions and expectations is a good starting point.

Take British soccer, for instance. There’s an acronym for women who are viewed as appendages and accessories of their high-profile sports player: WAGs for “Wives And Girlfriends.” In appearance and style, the WAGs appear homogenous: tall, skinny, tanned, and bosomy. Their function in their partner’s life seems uninspired. Goal: to boost the image of their partner as master of the universe. Nothing screams success in the dating game like Ms. Gorgeous teaming up with Mr. MVP.

In a way, that’s the visual we’re presented with when Weiwei started to date Nai.

Nai is the campus god and star basketball player. He draws a crowd everywhere he goes and fills the bleachers to the rafters with his attendance.

Then, she’s the department beauty. — lol. I love how everybody fixates on the fact that she could have won CAMPUS beauty if a glamour shot been used as entry in the contest instead of a fuzzy picture. But she’s also a geek and a smart cookie like him, but just not at his level.

Based on skills and looks the two should end up together like peanut butter and jelly. Mac and cheese. Chicken and pot. Car and garage.

Thank goodness that in our romcom, Nai and Weiwei met each other online. Nai’s initial reason for seeking her out as his online partner was her mad gaming skills, not her beauty.

But the sexism is there, too.

To me, the reason the character Weiwei hesitates to go after Nai (or as Netflix worded it, to NAIL Nai) is because good girls *don’t* do that kind of thing. Guys do the chasing and girls don’t make the first move. 😂 🤦‍♀️ Although Weiwei wants to grab Nai herself, she’s got this mental block which inhibits her from pursuing him.

That’s why a) she chose to close her laptop instead of reaching out to him in Ep 9, b) she changed her mind about wearing the red dress with the daring décolletage, (how could she have not seen before she tried it on that half of the top was missing? 😝) and c) she stood paralyzed and didn’t reciprocate the torrid kissing in Ep 17. We know she wanted to kiss him back because her suppressed desire manifested itself in her dreams in Ep 18. 🙂

Let’s keep that in mind as we end the Episode 10 highlights.

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7. The Gym 

Sexism aside, there’s something weirdly Arthurian and knightly about attending games when your sweetheart is the star player. I’ve seen my sons single out their girlfriends sitting in the student cheering section with a glance or a nod (I told them they could raise a fist for me, their mom, but they wouldn’t 😂) when they enter the court.

Deafening music would be played by the band or from the loud speakers. The mascot would hail the players as they charge in and cheerleaders would rally the home crowd. The students would be dressed in one color to show school spirit, like all white shirts on White-Out Days; all black shirts on Black-Out Days, etc.

But despite this busy, noisy carnival-like atmosphere, my sons would know where their girls were at. It was hard to spot an individual in the sea of monochromatic spectators, but my sons would make prior arrangements for the girls to sit close to where the action was. (My husband and I sat a couple of rows behind the team bench, far from the boisterous the student section. lol)

Unlike Nai, my sons would never sit with their girls while the game was ongoing. If injured and couldn’t play the game, they must stay with the rest of the team and cheer from the bench. But after games, on the way to the lockers, they’d pass by the student section to greet friends who came to watch the game and get a brisk hug from their girlfriends. As team captains, they were “the face” of the game so they had to be available for interviews afterwards.

And yes, the team went out for meals after the games, just like Nai and his teammates. But the boys paid for their own meals. — Ah! That’s another concept I found burdensome in this romcom: treating the others out to a free meal (as in the case of ZhenShui and Nai) or making one guy pick up the tab. Why??!!!

I think it’s funny that Weiwei’s girlfriends also bask in the reflected glory of being friends with the Department Beauty, just like Nai’s guys are proud of Nai’s superiority in everything. As soon as Weiwei arrives, her friends start praising her beauty in comparison to the other school beauties in atttendance at the game. Weiwei distracts them with the snacks Nai bought for her. Erxi quibbles that there was none of her favorite pecans and Weiwei threatens to take the bag of nuts from her. Ungrateful child! She defends Nai because Nai managed to stuff the huge bag with assorted snacks in three minutes.

They ask if the snacks are to celebrate her job offer.

Erxi: How was the interview?
WW: The process was kind of a failure but the end result was unexpected.

I think she means that her scheme to take Naihe by storm and enamor him backfired. Instead, she was the one who ended up being captured by his “blitzkrieg,” as Erxi will call it in the next episode.

Erxi: Who cares if it’s surprising as long as you got the job?

Weiwei smiles because yes, she did get the job as his girlfriend. lol.

Moments later, the guy walks in and the whole gym stands up. He’s like Moses; he can part the Red Sea.

He scans the crowd for Weiwei and zooms in on her. (This reminds me of that time he and his friends at at Weiwei’s dining hall.)

Weiwei hides behind a bag of nuts in embarrassment then reconsiders and puts the bag down. They gaze at each across the room.

lol. This trick would work in Asia where apparently faces are as small as popcorn bag.  Here in the US, we would need this size if we wanted to hide our faces. lol.

His friends join him and ask where his date is. He reveals that she ran off because they scared her off.

He tells them it’s time to suit up for the game but his eyes aren’t focused on them but on Weiwei on the stands.

He’s telling HER, not the guys, that he’s leaving to get changed. He’s saying goodbye to her.

The girls speculate on who the girl Nai was searching for in the stands. Since Nai looked at their direction, Erxi deduces that it must be the School Beauty, Yiran, who’s sitting behind them because they both performed folk instruments in a school gala before.

Now, this is interesting piece of information.

In Episode 2, when the guys were talking about a girl asking for help to repair her laptop, Friend #1 mentioned Meng Yiran’s name. And Nai’s smile on his disappeared when he heard the girl’s name. Then in Episode 3, when he visited that Zhen company, Yiran offered him a mug of coffee. Yiran waited for him to recognize her but he ignored her then. When her uncle introduced her as a student at Qing University like him, he lied, “I’m sorry. I don’t think we’ve met.”

Of course, Nai knows her but he has selective sight and he ignores her.

Girlfriend 2 scoffs at the idea that Nai was looking at a girl; he isn’t that shallow. But Erxi points out that Xiao Nai has never looked up at the bleachers before. He always treats people like thin air. (Meaning, he sees THROUGH them!)

Weiwei says them that there’s only possibility: he’s looking at her.

They laugh at her lame joke.

In the locker room, Nai’s posse is also teasing him about his gaze at the stands.

Friend #2: Come on Nai who were you looking at? Which pretty girl? I noticed that line of vision included our campus belle.
Friend #1: And the department belle, whom I keep running into.

Oddly, he addresses Friend #2, “I told you, it’s got nothing to do with you.” lol. He said the same thing to Friend #1 before the accident.

Erxi is also telling Weiwei that it’s got nothing to do with her. “Weiwei, don’t you know that you and Xiao Nai are recognized as the least likely couple?” According to a gossip forum online, she and Nai are the least compatible because of looks and occupations. The gossipers described them as “One is elegant and light like an ink wash painting; the other is colorful and heavy, like an oil painting. One is a celestial being of heaven. The other one is a desert flower on rustic earth.”

Weiwei grimaces at the over-the-top language. She argues that they’re both computer majors and they should be known as the Tech-y couple. They laugh at her lame joke again, not knowing that she’s being serious. At least, she’s satisfied to know that nobody was good enough for Nai. The gossipers couldn’t reach a consensus on who’d make a good match for Nai.

8. The game

The first quarter looks like an exhibition game to showcase Nai’s skills.

Weiwei thinks that Nai is such an all-around talent that she needs to work harder to keep up with him. But she’s so psyched by her new goal that unconsciously stands up, full of zeal. Of course, her friends eye her oddly.

The second quarter looks more like a team play, after Nai’s coaching. BTW, this is the cleanest basketball game I’ve ever seen. No fouls! The refs don’t even call traveling on Nai. lol.

9. Say hi to the “Couple of the Year”

Dude, this is a court, not a fashion runway. And stop distracting your teammates!

She’s feeling trepidation. “Oh gawd no! Don’t come here!” 

But when he knelt down beside her, I was half-expecting him to produce a glass slipper

Or an engagement ring.

Her face! She couldn’t believe he did it. Earlier, she was worrying about “sealing the deal” with him so he did it for her. To me, this is in keeping with his take-charge personality.

Just like in Ep 4, when he issued the challenge to Zhengshui for the insulting video of Weiwei, he “handled” this situation himself. He knew she’d be too shy to publicly announce their relationship so he took care of it in one fell swoop (or kneeling).

Nai scored most of his baskets from close range, with lay-ups and jumpers. His courtship of Weiwei was the longest shot he’s ever tried. Just do it! as that famous Nike slogan said, and he swished it. Nothing but net.

Weiwei didn’t see it coming.