Shine On Me Discussion - Eps 20 & 21
Links to episode discussions: Masterpost | Ep 5-8 | Ep 9-10 | Ep 11-12 | Ep 13-14 | Ep 15-16 | Ep 17 | Ep 18 | Ep 19
Let's recap Episode 20:
We start where we left off. Zhuang Xu learning that Yusen and Xiguang aren’t dating yet. Xu chases Kevin (I mistakenly called him Justin last disc) to explain more, but he is too busy being a cool skii-er. A Blue Jacket guy snowboards past Kevin causing him to fall in a dramatic way that helps us see Vector’s sponsorship.
Xu is concerned over Kevin, and Yusen stops by to performs first aid. To remind us that he was a doctor. Kevin is seriously injured and is rushed to the hospital. The paramedics , after hearing that Yusen is a neurosurgeon (from Xu) ask him to accompany them. Yusen leaves with the ambulance and Xu hops into the car of Blue Jacket’s friend.
Yusen makes sure that Kevin is stabilised, then he takes the downtime to call Xiguang but her phone is turned off. This better not lead to some stupid misunderstanding situation. Oh no.
love that we can see that he sent her a message to look for sculptor 4 the night before.
Yusen calls his mom instead and lets her know of the situation. He tries calling Xiguang again to no avail. So he opts for the 2nd option which is sending her a message.
The paramedic asks him about his hospital and expresses his bewilderment as to why he left the medicine field. Yusen just looks at him not saying anything then he looks back down at the message he was typing.
We change scenes as the ambulance arrived at the hospital. Please tell me he sent the message, there is no reason for him not to, but we cut the scene without seeing him send it, they better not pull any stupid moves.
Xu arrives, thanks Yusen for his help and then leaves to fill up the patient’s information.
Dr Lei Wei’s Office: The county hospital calls Yusen back in his office (after he had stepped out for some air) Dr Lei introduces himself as a colleague who interned at Songshan (where Yusen used to work). Yusen mentions he had resigned due to a hand injury, and Xu arrives to Dr Lei’s door just in time to overhear Yusen’s backstory. A chance for us to see some character development from Xu please?
Dr Lei and Yusen talk some more, with the dr deciding to transfer Kevin to the municipal hospital as it is better equipped. Unfortunately, they get a call back from the hospital saying that their ORs are at full capacity this afternoon so they cannot accept Kevin. Will Dr Lin Yusen step in??
The CT scans show that surgery is mandatory. DR LIN YUSEN? Xu steps in to give the operating consent as Kevin’s family is unreachable. Dr Lei is anxious about performing surgery alone so he Yusen to stay with him in case anything goes awry. DR LIN YUSEN is happy to help save a life, he gives Dr Lei his doctor certifications to scan and on to the ....
OPERATION ROOM!!
He looks so nervous. He keeps fidgeting with his hand too.
Yusen watches the operation while recalling memories of when he was a doctor. Once again, I feel so sad watching him. His being there is just adding salt to his wounds. Yusen stands there waiting just in case. Another person waiting is …..
In the Hospital Hall, …..Zhuang Xu, anxiously watching the doors leading to the OR as the rest of the Huaya Squad show up.
Snowy Slopes!
Xiguang is too good at praising herself too.
Xiguang is becoming more confident skiing as we see her skillfully come to a stop. She pulls out her phone and finds it dead, and she decides to ski a bit more. deciding to head back when it gets dark.
Done with skiing, Xiguang goes shopping:
We see her picking up souvenirs (likely for the work besties) and the clerk hands her phone back (as she handed it to her to be charged). The phone is on and my worries were once again justified
Xiguang and Jiang Rui meet up and sit down to wait for Yusen, but he doesn’t show up. Xiguang speculates that something must have held him back. She sends him a message then rings him up. We see Yusen’s phone ringing in the doctor’s lockers.
Xiguang overhears some passerbys talking about a big accident on the black runs and goes into panic mode. She rushes to the infirmary to ask around. The nurse replies that there is no patient named Lin. Xigua further asks about the black runs victim. She describes the critically injured patient as being tall and wearing a black ski suit.
https://i.redd.it/8l3hj7ni1sag1.gif
Taxi Ride to the Hospital: Xigua continues calling Yusen with no one answering.Maybe this little panic will help her come to terms with her feelings more. Jiang Rui comforts his panicked cousin, saying that Lin probably wasn’t the one injured and there were a lot of other skis too. Xigua asks her mom to send her Weiai’s phone number. Jiang Yun sends her a message saying she called Weiai but no one answered. Xiguang’s panic increases.
Arrived at the Hospital: Xiguang is rushing all over the place looking for Yusen. We see him come out of the OR as the operation was completed successfully.
I was expecting a hug at the very least but it’s okay
Xiguang asks if he is okay and says ‘I thought something happened to you when we heard of the accident on the black run. Yusen just looks at her and asks “You came all the way here looking for me?” and she replies ‘We saw your board at the infirmary and you weren’t answering your phone. You scared the life out of us. Thank goodness you’re okay.’ Dr Lei speaks up that the surgery was a success thanks to Dr Lin’s assistance. Xiguang notices Xu then asks ‘how come you’re here?’ and he answers that the patient is his colleague. Huaya Squad recognizes her as the student’s cousin. They all thank Yusen for his help.
Yusen goes to change out of his scrubs. Xu keeps stealing glances at Xiguang who just nods and goes to sit on the waiting bench. Rui says ‘I told you he is fine’ and is amazed at how cool Dr Yusen looks. Xiguang replies that of course as he was once a top-tier neurosurgeon.
Yusen checks his phone and worries over how many times Xiguang called him. At the same time, we see Xigua answers a call from her mom, who lets her know that Weiai told her Yusen went to assist a patient. Xiguang asks when did aunt here about this, and Jiang Yun replies that she learned of it early in the afternoon. All this investigative work better not lead to some stupid confrontation.
Just as Yusen is rushing out of the hospital, Dr Lei comes running after him and he hands him the phone to speak to a Dr Liao (his supervisor from Songshan). Dr Liao tells him to reconsider his offer. (We see a flashback of Liao trying to convince Yusen to stay in the hospital to offer his experience and advice, Yusen at the time had mentioned that without performing surgeries he was replaceable.) We don’t hear Yusen’s answer as we cut to….
Outside the Hospital (in the freezing snow)
Rui asks Yusen why he is late, since for some reason Xiguang insisted on waiting for him out in the cold. My god, Xigua, Please I don’t want a conflict because of this… Yusen says that there is a food place close by where they can go eat and warm up. Xiguang throws out a ‘Wait a second’ …..oh my god. We really are doing this. A conflict??? For such a reason? Hope it doesn't drag.
https://reddit.com/link/1q1bdr8/video/38639jge4sag1/player
Xiguang gets mad and leaves in a taxi with a Jiang Rui. Yusen stands there looking even sadder. My heart has been hurting for him all episode.
Resort Villa:
Xiguang is curled up on her bed, ignoring all calls from Yusen. He called her 4 times with no answer. Yusen is on the taxi ride back to the resort, they pass by a fireworks stand and Yusen thinks back to when he and Xigua set them off. He asks the taxi to turns back around.
Xiguang looks at the case for a while then takes it off and throws it on the bedside table. Jiang Rui calls Xiguang to have a ‘deluxe’ dinner with him, and the dinner is cup noodles. Rui tells her that cup noodles are still food and that it is her fault they didn’t eat properly, as she ran back home in such a rage. Rui hits her with
Episode 21
Resort Villa:
The episode starts with Yusen arriving at the villa and getting ready to set off fireworks. Rui watches him and is quick to send Xiguang a message to come to the balcony to watch. ‘He is trying to cheer you up’.
Yusen sits on the doorsteps waiting as he keeps checking his phone. He sends her a ‘sorry’, and a screenshot showing that an unsent message. ‘I didn’t realise the message didn’t go through’.
As soon as she reads that, she rushes down to meet him. He apologizes to her again and she asks him to stop apologizing, that she understands. She asks him why he didn’t say so in the hospital and he replies : “that it is because I had a selfish moment where I didn’t want to message you…….just think of it as me wanting you to be worried” Xigua scolds him saying that of course she’d be worried. Yusen apologizes again and says that he realises how wrong he was now, that he got caught up in his own head. Yusen is such an honest guy, he doesn’t have to tell her all her thoughts but he still does, to explain himself clearly with no room for misunderstandings.
He brings out the souvernir firework and asks her if the reason behind the deer-feeding outing was her learning the story of his family, and she confirms. Yusen apologizes again and Xigua just tells him to stop apologizing.
She asks him if he brought this many fireworks to make up for it He answers yes, that he worried he messed up pretty bad. He asks her to find them a lighter. She smiles as she said the same thing when they set off fireworks last time.
As she runs back to the house, Jiang Rui greets her with a 'how could you forgive Yusen so easily?'. Xiguang is quick to defend Yusen as she explained that it was a misunderstanding.
Gif 40
Rui is out there making me want to slap his head, as he tells her to find reasons to stay mad a bit longer. He doesn’t want her coming off as a pushover. She agrees with him and he says he’ll be watching her as he runs back up to his room.
Xiguang Inner Thoughts: His hand is messed up and he can’t perform surgeries anymore, being there and watching those doctors must have reminded him of who he used to be. He mentioned his head was a mess, is that what’s bothering him?
She brings him the lighter with no sign of being mad. I am glad she took time to think before following Rui’s advice.
The way his eyes always seek her first whenever they're doing something.
They watch the fireworks, with Rui watching from the window, sulking that they didn’t do it wit him around. Xigua is happy but notices that Yusen is looking out of it. Poor baby’s head is messed up. She ‘buys’ a sparks stick from him and lights it up for him as a reward. “Someone just got a second chance at life thanks to what you have learned”
He looked so sad when he zoned out
She tells him that he could’ve handled the situation today better, that she’s adding it to his tab and he promises to do better next time and that he can settle one of the things on the tab today. Yusen calls out Rui and invites them to hot pot. (As he previously promised at the start of the day). Yusen’s smile is back.
Yusen’s Place (Resort):
Yusen tells his mom about how conflicted he was about being unable to let go of his ‘grudge’ towards Xigua. We realise that it was probably that thought that had him hesitating over sending the message. However, after today, “I don’t think I’ll ever have to suffer over that again, I finally feel whole”. He now believes that the whole situation must be due to a misunderstanding and deems himself finally ready to face it and ask about it properly. At last!!! I need that conversation to happen right now.
In his room: Yusen calls his friend, Jiaqi, but he is at sea with bad signal. They agree to meet up when Jiaqi is back as Yusen has something to discuss. DID WE HAVE TO DRAG IT EVEN FURTHER? WE ARE ON EPISODE 21.
We cut to the Huaya Squad. (At a restaurant, eating but make it sad)
The HS discuss Kevin’s situation and Xu concludes that the rest of them should go back to Shanghai, he will stay back to look after Kevin, that is until his family gets here. Chris asks if he is sure and Xu says “it was my idea to come to Changbei Mountain, it is only right” As much as I hate how this jerk treated Xiguang, I can’t help admiring how much of a good kid he is. He tries his best in everything.
I like Chris and I hope to continue liking Chris, I want Xu to also like Chris.
Zhuang Xu’s Room (Resort) Xu is packing to the sounds melancholic music. Let him move on already, he is a good guy, I want to like him. The show is deaf to my words. Xu keeps thinking of Kevin’s words as he heads out of his lodging.
Outside the Resort Villa:
Zhuang stands there, reminiscing the memories he shared with Xigua and Rui. He pulls out his phone and types a message that he never sends. Am I feeling bad for Zhuang Xu right now???? NOO.
In true ZX fashion, his moping leads nowhere.
Next Morning, Bus Ride. (Good bye snowy slopes)
The Jiangs ride with Yusen's family down the mountain. Just as we got used to beautiful landscapes, bad greenscreen makes an appearance again. Why? Genuinely why???
The family makes some stops, and we see Auntie Jiang in support mode as she stops Rui from tagging along with Xiguang all the time. Xiguang and Weiai exchange contact info. The in-laws are in-lawing as everyone joke around and then they bid each other good bye.
County Hospital: Xu coincidentally meets Yusen as the later is listening to a voice note from Xigua. He thanks him again and Yusen says no worries before excusing himself to go catch his flight.
Resort Villa: Xiguang is packing as she looks sadly at her sculptors. (Now 5). She decides to take pictures of them. She sends Yusen a message “what a shame these sculptors have to stay here’ and Yusen smoothly replies that ‘it’s okay, you’re taking the creator back with you’.
Yusen’s Grandfather’s House : Old man asks about his mom and then invites him for dinner. As Yusen leaves, we see grandfather get mad at Bokai (Remember Yusen’s uncle that Chengyuan sided with) for trying to stir trouble between him and Weiai. We learn that the grandfather is planning a grand birthday banquet next month and his choice remains Xingjie (Bokai’s son presumably). He says the ominous words “It’s only when you’re at the top that you can see people’s true colors”
We cut to Bokai: He is scolding his wife for snitching to his father about Weiai coming back. He argues a bit with her then leaves her to go meet up with Nie Chengyuan.
Two Old Men Smoking:
Sitting around like some villains.
They complain to each other about their lot in life and women. Bokai warns him not to bring Qian to the banquet and Chengyuan says he isn’t that foolish.
Overall Thoughts:
- I am glad Jiang Rui exists to talk some sense into her. I hope she snaps out of her anger soon.
- I personally don’t understand why she was so angry, I know feelings are complicated, still, he was in the OR all afternoon, I feel like she could’ve given him some leeway, or at least let him know how worried she was without confrontation. I don’t know man.
- This episode really tugged at my heartstrings. My poor Yusen having to walk the hall of the hospital, being made keenly aware of just how much he lost.
- I liked the moment where Yusen frankly mentioned how he was still hung up about Xiguang ‘forgetting’ him’. It felt real that he still holds some resentment but he also loves her too much. which is conflicting. He wants to let go but sometimes even if you want to thoughts keep getting stuck in your head.
- I love Weiai even though she’s mad at her family, she didn’t deny her son a relationship with his grandfather.
Walk Counter: None, plenty of standing around and talking though.
Food Conversations: One sad meal and One Cup Noodles.
Posted Jan 1, 2026, 6:38 PM UTC