I tried to make this short because your eyes must be tired from reading my long posts. But I failed.

Tell me when you want me to stop with these write-ups. I think I found another drama to write about.

Chapter 6. Distance. When you are in another city
Featured Object: The New Year decoration with “Good fortune” (or “blessings”?)

Remember what I said about the Pythagorean theorem in Episode 1? The age disparity — as symbolized by their height differences — had been the only issue thus far. Now, their physical locations enters the equation because he was returning to his hometown.

1. The timing of the text

If viewers happened to skip the epilogue, they would assume INCORRECTLY that Duan JiaXu texted Sang Zhi the New Year’s greeting AFTER receiving the red envelope from her. The epilogue is important because it gives subtext to his New Year’s greetings.

This is the rough timeline.

In the afternoon, Sang Zhi prepared a red envelope for him. She wrote simply, “JiaXu Ge, Happy New Year!” and folded the paper into a star.

She stuffed the star and, what seemed to be candies, in the red envelope. Downstairs, she furtively slipped the envelope into his coat pocket while he was hanging the window decoration…the window decoration that’s featured on the title page.

He didn’t notice her movement. All he remembered afterwards was Sang Zhi grinning at him then fleeing the room.

That night, while Sang Zhi was celebrating New Year dinner with her family, she received a text from Jiaxu. It was 10:22 pm. His text sounded formal. It said, “I wish you happiness every day and find your dreams soon. Happy Spring Festival.”

Being the girl in love that she was, she couldn’t leave his text unanswered. She texted back, “Thank you, Gege. Gege, Happy Lunar New Year.”

And that was that, until we realized what really happened in the epilogue.

In the epilogue, we saw that:

a. JiaXu texted her of his own volition.

Just like she wanted to send him a personal message in a paper star, he wanted to greet her personally with a text. It’s interesting that he didn’t text his buddy Sang Yan, but he took the time to greet Sang Yan’s little sister.

I could imagine him pondering over the words and editing them so his message wouldn’t sound stiff or insincere. I could also imagine that her pithy reply must have struck him as lacking in warmth.

Just compare the two messages.

His: “I wish you happiness every day and find your dreams soon. Happy Spring Festival.”
Hers: “Thank you, Gege. Happy New Year.”

Lol. Her reply sounded perfunctory, like she answered him out of politeness. His text, on the other hand, sounded personalized. They had in fact been sharing their dreams for the future.

b. JiaXu hadn’t seen Sang Zhi’s star message when he texted her Happy New Year. He only discovered her red envelope at the airport later that night.

Why is this fact important to me?

Because it bolsters my theory that he was hiding his not-so-brotherly feelings for her. His gesture is similar to Sang Zhi hastily preparing a red packet for him, except that we didn’t see him preparing to send the text. Just like Sang Zhi wanted a personalized greeting for him, it was also important to him to send his personal greetings for her. I didn’t see him texting her brother, did you? It was only Sang Zhi he greeted, just like it was only him who received a red packet from Sang Zhi.

To say that he was touched by her present is an understatement.

At first, he couldn’t figure out who gave him the envelope. But when he saw the little paper star and the bag of candies, he knew. He unfolded the paper star and read the message. “Jiaxu Ge. Happy New Year.”

For a second he smiled, remembering how excited she looked in the kitchen before scurrying away. He realized that she must have given him her present at that moment. Her sweet gesture and thoughtfulness moved him. Then, tears welled up in his eyes.

c. The message was the same. 

Both Sang Zhi’s text reply and the greetings on the paper star contained the same message, but his reactions to the same message were different.

This was his reaction to her text message. He stopped playing his game and resumed eating his dinner.

And this was his stream of reactions to her paper star.

Nice performance here.

Why the difference? Why was he more emotional when he read the paper star than the text message?

For sure, it had something to do with the sudden change in his family situation. When he read her text message, he was in the dorm room playing a video game. He thought his future was going to be in Nanwu. By the time he read her star message, his world had already begun to shift because of the news of his father’s condition. He was returning home to YiHe.

But but but why did reading her little star note sadden then cheer him up?

🙂 Feel free to come up with your own answer. This is mine and it’s derived from the OST playing in the background at tis time. “Forever Star.”

2. The OST “Forever Star”

Ha! This is the reason I was working separately on the translation a couple of days ago. I was prepping it for this episode. I’ll copy and paste the lyrics again with more edits. Thanks, @Grace, for your input.

When I passed by moonlight, (I found) the stars in your eyes
They were shining like none of them could be mine

I wiped off the dust just because you were still there
And hid my wishes under a band of stars like a clumsy kid.

When you melt the time difference,
A fairy tale about the Milky Way begins.

Wherever you go
Tripping on my soul
Every inch of (my) wound
Becomes dull and faint in (your) halo.

Wherever you go,
I’ll surround you still.
Every dark night freezes into an eternal day in the fireworks.

You opened the corner (in my life) that was locked up
I could no longer hide my sweet thoughts
I’ll grow with you,
Only fearing that I can’t fulfill the fairy tale you’ve given me

Wherever you go (in) the flowing universe
We meet and secretly fill the gap in the galaxy
Wherever you go on this planet
My heart beats
hotter because of you
more because of you
Forever.

When I pass by moonlight,
(I see) stars in your eyes
I never knew their shine would light up my whole life.

Let’s go over the lyrics, shall we?

It’s easy to see that JiaXu became teary-eyed because he believed Sang Zhi to be out of his reach. (“none of them could be mine”)

But he blinked away the tears because he realized that she was still there for him, writing New Year’s greetings on paper stars, like a little kid that she was. (“I wiped off the dust just because you were still there…”)

He resolved then that, no matter where they both were, no matter the distance between their cities, he would make sure she would feel his presence. Via the gifts. (“wherever you go, tripping on my soul…”)

He bought and mailed the gifts to her for special occasions (e.g., when she scored well on test), and for ordinary days (e.g. when he bought her the stuffed toy dog simply he saw it while being out one day and he was instantly reminded of her and her essay).

Just like in the lyrics of the song, he was “surrounding” her with souvenirs and remembrances of him. (“I’ll surround you still.”)

Why was it so important for him to be remembered?

Because he fully expected her to forget him once he was far away. Remember what he said in the museum? He believed that she would have no problem forgetting him in a short time.

To counteract this, he was going to make sure that she remembered him even when he was in another city.

Moreover, her little star message cheered him up because he knew that his departure wouldn’t signify the end of their connection. He could send her gifts. She could text him a thank-you reply. They could meet again when he returned for his graduation. (“Wherever you go (in) the flowing universe, we meet and secretly fill the gap in the galaxy”)

Just like in the lyrics of the song, they were secretly filling in the gap — or bridging their distance. They unconsciously created a reason to continue their communication when she reported her grades to him, and he mailed her gifts, purportedly as reward for her efforts.

To me, the invitation to meet at his graduation was naturally, casually done.

SZ: So Sang Yan said you will come back for your graduation ceremony. Is that true?
DJ: Yes. Will you be going?
SZ: Yes.
DJ: That’s great. We’ll see each other then.

pic

He didn’t sound creepy.

3. The graduation

This was a sweet moment. They looked like they were playing peek-a-boo.

She knew she looked good in her dress, but she was still shy to meet him again so she hid behind her father. Jiaxu, as expected, knew that she was being shy. I like the scene because it showed that despite being surrounded by people, they were in a bubble of their own. Only the two of them were interacting like this. They were hiding their affections in plain sight.

Then the other guys went off, leaving Jiaxu behind. Mr. Sang also told Sang Zhi that they had better get going so they could have a picture with her brother.

But as she followed her father, Jiaxu quickened his steps to catch up with her. To me, it was obvious that he wanted to have more time alone with her. He was delaying HER departure. (Just like the lyrics of the song, “we meet and secretly fill the gap in the galaxy”)

DJ: It has been a long time, Sang Zhi.
SZ: (offering him the bouquet) This is for you.
DJ: For me? (grinning) I thought it was for your brother.
SZ: He already has one. This one is for my physics tutor. I wish you a happy graduation and happiness every day.
DJ: (nodding) Thank you. I like it very much.
SZ: (moving to present him with her other gift, the necktie)
DJ: Then I wish my student a bright future and smooth academic progress.

Since Sang Zhi was acting prim and proper, he reciprocated with the same formal greetings. She called him her physics tutor, so he called her his student. But the subtext here is that she was afraid to show how happy she was to meet him again, and he felt the same way.

The graduates were then called to proceed to the auditorium.

SZ: Jiaxu Ge, you should go ahead. I’ll go and find my brother by myself.
DJ: It’s okay. I’ll take you there. I’ll text your brother. Come on.

This was an excuse. He obviously wanted to her to hang around with him a little bit longer. He couldn’t just let her go.

She followed him but his classmates asked for a group photo. He introduced them to the guys as his “mei mei.” The guys assumed that they were blood-related, but he didn’t clarify. The guys chatted a bit and Sang Zhi overheard them talking about going separate ways. Once the guys left, she asked him what they meant. He explained that after graduation, everyone make choices that would inevitably take them on different paths. Some of them might never meet again.

DJ: …It could be that it will be really hard to meet again.
SZ: (worriedly) But what about me?
DJ: You? You’re not the same as them. They won’t be like my dear sister who snuck me a red packet during Lunar New Year and even gave me flowers on my graduation day. Don’t worry. After I leave, I’ll come back to see you whenever I’m free.
SZ: When will you be free?
DJ: (grinning at her impatience) I’ll let you know in advance before I come back. Okay?
SZ: (nodding)

And then Jiaxu asked a friend to take a photograph of him and his “mei mei.” He handed her back the bouquet to hold, then posed with her.

My comments:

a. Do you see the difference in his behavior when he was all alone and when he was with her? He could cry and look lost when he was by himself, but when he was with her, it became second nature for him to act like the “older brother” and the mature one. In the long run, this would be tiring to do. It’s better to grow old together with a loved one, and not have to act like the older one all the time.

b. Mei mei?!

c. This wasn’t rent-a-sister day. He just stole someone’s sister.

Who was he calling a thief?

The thing is there was no reason for her to stick around with him on graduation day. For one, she had a real brother graduating on that day; she should have been with Sang Yan and her dad.

For another, they weren’t brother-sister. So, how was he going to explain her presence by his side, instead of her brother’s?

It was less hassle to let everyone assume that they were siblings than to explain their relationship.

d. He had pictures taken with her when she hadn’t yet taken pictures with her real brother, Sang Yan? Lol.

I’m sure their picture would end up getting framed and displayed in his bedroom in YiHe. It would be one of his treasured memories of her.

e. This looked like one of those pre-bridal photos done by wedding studios in Korea.

That’s it for this episode.