I’m half-convinced that the “D” in Jiaxu’s surname stands for devious.

Seated inside the theater, he noticed that Sang Zhi had her sleeves covering her hands like mittens. As he had warned her, it was going to be chilly inside the theater. He recommended a hot drink for her. but she insisted on a cold one.

DJ: I’ll hold it for you. (taking it without waiting for her permission) Do you want to drink it?
SZ: Ah.
DJ: (moves the cup in front of her)

Remember the strawberry flirtation scene? Well, he was returning the “favor” with her iced tea. He wanted her to drink from his hand, like he wanted to eat out of her hand. But Sang Zhi wanted none of that.

SZ: I can hold it myself.
DJ: You…you can drink your drink. You didn’t need to touch my hand on purpose.

Haha. Remember what I said about his style of joking? She was momentarily confused when he told her that she could hold her own drink. And she wasn’t even aware that their hands were touching. She didn’t see his punchline coming: he wanted her to feel self-conscious about touching hands. Just like with the strawberries, he was suggesting that she was taking advantage of him. In a weird way, he thought his joke was going to make her heart flutter. Lol.

Dude, not like that!

She peered down and saw that one little finger of hers was touching one little finger of his. She instantly withdrew her whole hand.

The over-reaction! She should have gone for a knife. How dare their fingers touch!

DJ: (snort)
SZ: I can actually hold it myself.
DJ: (holding onto the drink) Aren’t you afraid of cold hands?
SZ: Won’t you get colds hands too?
DJ: You’re right. You can warm it up for me.

To be honest, I find him cringe-y here. Decades ago, if my college date had said this to me, I would’ve burst out laughing.

Warm your hand for you? No! I’d rather hold hands with a corpse. 

But I get it. I understand Jiaxu.

Jiaxu too was fumbling around. He might be 5 years older than her but when it came to dating, he was a newbie like her. Perhaps he was even more clueless because he didn’t have male friends around him to give him tips like Sang Zhi had her dormmates to give her dating advice. His only experienced buddy Qian Fei was too busy to help him out.

What he wanted to do was to hold hands with her while watching the movie. But he didn’t know how to segue neatly into it. Hence, this line –

And this begging/expectant puppy-dog look on his face.

Okay, I’ll give the guy a break for this cringe-worthy moment.

SZ: Uh. I don’t think it is appropriate for us to do that.

Oh gosh, she rejected him! Although she spoke hesitantly, she made it clear that she didn’t think it was proper to hold hands with a guy who wasn’t her boyfriend.

DJ: (taking away his hand) You’re right. After all, we haven’t put a label on it.
SZ: (almost choking on her drink, thinking to herself) Label?

NOTE: There are two different translations here. Netflix was more understated. And I thought was more in line with Jiaxu’s character.

In the Youku sub, Jiaxu was more presumptuous. He said, “After all you’re not my girlfriend yet.” He said “girlfriend.”

Either way, we know what he meant. He knew he was rushing it. He knew that, before attempting to hold hands with her, he needed to:

a) confess his feelings,
b) confirm that his feelings were reciprocated, and
c) officially begin a committed relationship aka put a label on their relationship.

If this courtship was a sport, like swimming, track, or football, he would have received a warning for a “False Start.” He was cheating the process; he was cheating her.

Like in sports, a false start in courtship indicates a mental lapse, and it’s often due to anxiety.

SZ: (handing a packet of tissues) Here you go. Wipe your hands.
DJ: (taking her drink again and wrapping the tissue around it) Hold it.

She looked at him to see if he was offended. He smiled at her and signaled to keep her eyes on the movie. She smiled because he took her rejection in stride.

Me? This last scene also brought a smile to my face.

I like that Sang Zhi called the shots here, and Jiaxu listened to her when she put an end to his romantic advances. She set the pace and space she was comfortable with, and he respected them. He pulled back from his “pursuit” of her.

Ha! That’s why I said in the previous Ep 13 that I didn’t like the use of the terms “chase” and “pursuit” because they implied that he was in race to go after his prey or target. It implied that, regardless of how she felt about it, he was determined to win her heart.

But that’s NOT how I envisioned Jiaxu to behave and conduct himself around her. I said “courtship” was a better word. He was courting her and wooing her.
Now, the issue about the hand holding didn’t end here, however.

It continued in a low-key manner during the birthday surprise he prepared her on his rooftop. Did you see it? 🙂

SZ: Why are there two cakes?
DJ: I made of them. It doesn’t contain any diary so you can eat it.
SZ: (pointing to his cake) It’s this one, right?

In the Epilogue, it was shown that he exerted a lot of effort and did a lot of trial and error before finally baking this cake.

DJ: Can you tell?
SZ: It’s pretty obvious. So why did you also buy this one?
DJ: I was afraid mine would turn out ugly, so I bought another one to stick your candles in.
SZ: It’s not ugly. It looks great.

I like how supportive she was of him. Her white lie made him feel better.

DJ: Is that so? Then pick one to stick your candles in.
SZ: Then I’ll go with this one… Gege’s.
DJ: (pleased) Okay. How many candles do you want?
SZ: One is enough. This one –
DJ: No way. You need 19 candles. You need to know your own age.

Grrr…why did he ask how many candles she wanted when he was going to insist on 19 anyway? But I think he also wanted to remind her that she was already a grown-up. No more talks about that she was “too young” for him.

SZ: (squinting at him) Jiaxu Ge. If we have to know our own age when we celebrate our birthdays, I don’t think there’ll be enough candles for you.
DJ: You just have to mock my age every day.

Then they stuck the candles in, and he lit them. She gazed at him but when he looked at her, she quickly looked away. Yeaaah. I know this is a corny trope but Zhao Lusi did it well. She was believable. 

He sang the birthday song for her.

SZ: (thinking) This is the first birthday that I’m spending with Jiaxu Ge. I hope there’ll be many more to come.
DJ: Make a wish.
SZ: Can I say it out loud?
DJ: If you wish.

But she already said her wish silently earlier so it didn’t matter if she made another wish and said it aloud.

She blew out her candles with his help.

DJ: Cut the cake. Make the first cut.
SZ: Okay.

He handed her the cake cutter and she did the first cut as he’d asked. She pushed down hard to cut the cake.

Then she looked up at him. He saw that look. Wordlessly, she was asking him to help her slice the cake.

Then he moved closer and leaned in. With her hand on top, they cut the cake together.

And that’s why the birthday cake is the featured object in this episode.

For me, there are two reasons.

One, the cake instructor was right. He said, “A cake that you put your heart into will taste differently.” Sang Zhi loved the cake because Jiaxu had put his heart into baking it. It wasn’t because he was a genius at baking or because he added an expensive ingredient to the recipe. It was simply because:

a) he put in a ton of effort to making it the cake “presentable” and “edible” and
b) the eater, Sang Zhi, saw and appreciated his efforts that he could have served her something ugly and INedible, and she would have still thought that it was ambrosia.

Two, the best time to hold hands is when two people are naturally bonding over something and not pressuring themselves to do the “skinship.”

During the theater date, Sang Zhi felt that HIS request to hold hand was too much, too bold. But at the cake cutting, she didn’t even realize that it was SHE who gave him a subtle request to hold hands with her. She was so touched by his dedication and attention to give her a birthday event that she wanted him to share the moment with her.

There was no fanfare when they held hands while cutting cake. We didn’t even SEE the actual hand holding; the camera didn’t spotlight. It was all implied.

It was the right decision to me. Some things are better left to the imagination.