Shine On Me Discussion - Ep 22 & 23
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 | Eps 20 - 21
We have some fun episodes today. I usually type out the recaps as I watch the episodes for the first time myself, so all my reactions (usually in italics ) are typed out as I first experience them. I think it is more fun that way. Moving on!!
Time for the Recap:
Episode 22
We pick up where we left off, with the dads talking. They speculate about the birthday banquet being a successor announcement event. Bokai asks him why are the Phase II funds unpaid, and Chengyuan complains about money being tight. Chengyuan praises the new capable GM and Bokai laughs mentioning it is his nephew.
He was slouching but he straightened up. What is with that reaction dad?
Bokai asks him ‘What exactly is your deal with my nephew?’. Chengyuan says there is nothing between them. Clearly something. Chengyuan excuses it as bad business deals but I wonder if it is because of Xiguang and his other ‘daughter’.
We follow Chengyuan as he gets into his car, calls his secretary and tells him to investigate Yusen’s professional and personal life right away. He picks up a call from Fangping, cancels their dinner plans and tell them to head back to Wuxi.
The car picks up Fangping and Nianyuan, Chengyuan gives their bag a side eye. Here, we see more of Fangping’s character and probably the reason she managed to stay by his side for years. FP talks about the homecooked meal she’ll make, and the clothes she bought him for the banquet. Though she says, we should all look our best, implying her own presence in the banquet. As she talks, Chengyuan’s initial reaction to her shopping spree melts down, when FP tells him Nianyuan got him a gift with her own money. He tells her to be careful with his business and returns the gift to FP saying that ‘small businesses don’t make money easily, don’t throw it away. I have everything I need.’ FP and NY convince him that the gift is to show gratitude for his connections and that he should accept it.
She says:
FP: Chengyuan, if you have the chance, take Nianyuan under your wing more. So she can broaden her horizons and network more.
CY: You want me to take her to Old Shengs’ banquet with me?
The way he said it betrays his suspicion of her words, NY is quick to refuse and FP quickly lets the matter drop.
Phase II Site Meeting: X**igua in work mode, ready to implement her mother’s advice.
She gives her colleagues snacks, she talks work with the colleagues and put words into Yusen’s mouth.
https://i.redd.it/j6s6xq1wmyag1.gif
They cutely banter for a bit, with Yusen accusing Xigua of selling her colleagues a pip dream but she says she was boosting their morale. Then, they smoothly move on to talk about their actual work. Our girl relays her plan and asks him to make some calls. We see Yusen in a meeting and we learn that: Phase II plant progress has been smooth and awaiting inspection, that everything is on schedule and it will be production by May.
I thought this moment was very cute
Yusen’s House:
Yusen brought her back to give her the books he once promised her a few eps back. He tells her that he has lots of books, and that she should ‘check out’ two at a time. Yusen finding reasons to get her back into his house. Love it.
Xiguang sits down on the ground to browse the books as he tells her the criteria by which he picked out the books for her. (He chose from the entrepreneurs who made it on the top of the last big wave of PV.) He offers to move the books for her, but she just grins and says the floor is comfortable, he passes her a pillow, tells her to take her time and that he is going to check on food. Xiguang cutely complained that she isn’t eating as she put on weight. Yusen is quick to say ‘who said anything about food? Aunt Chen isn’t back from holidays anyway’. Xigua just smiles at her own antics and his.
https://i.redd.it/3eqepiednyag1.gif
As she was packing up her chosen books to leave, she teases him about the soybean bowl that is always on his desk. He replies that those are for his rehab, to help with his hand movement and precision. She thinks back to the various massages he keeps giving his hands and asks if those are also rehab. He starts demonstrating the moves for her and I pause typing to grin as I watch the scene.
The moment he tries ot tighten his hand, she quickly takes it away, fidgeting with it behind her back. She falls back on her trusty tricks of changing the subject with food, telling him that she’ll treat him to wontons. “Weren’t you on a diet?” she counters with an “I changed my mind.”
She puts on his jack as she confirms with him dinner plans for Saturday. He had promised before the holidays to treat Yin Jie and Yuhua (the work besties). They banter as they leave the house.
Cue montage of Work being Done.
Xiguang and Yinjie texting about about the dinner plans
As she was reading Yin Jie’s reply, she gets a call from her dad. He asks her about when she’s heading back to Wu Xi for the lantern festival celebrations and she answers that she has plans with colleagues. Dad doesn’t like the sound of that and we see him think back to the report he got from his secretary, about how Yusen and a Nie female employee are likely in an office romance. Chengyuan says that since she isn’t coming, then he will come to pick her up at Suzhou tomorrow afternoon.
Next Morning, at Xiguang’s Dorm:
The dinner plan conversation continues.
Once again, just as she is about to reply to Yin Jie’s message, she gets one from her dad informing her that he is waiting for her downstairs.
Fancy Meal Time :
Chengyuan is unhappy that Xigua didn’t tell him about her boss Lin Yusen, that he too swamped with work to ask and that he heard some ‘unpleasant’ rumours. Xiguang goes on defense mode, “What unpleasant rumours? Be specific”. He is about to message her when her phone notifications keep going off.
Dad picks up the phone. “Are you two really a thing now?” Chengyuan isn’t very happy with the situation. He asks her to break it off immediately. Excuse you, we only just got to this stage, back off old man. She is quick to set boundaries as she says that he should keep his hands off her things, that it is her business. He counters with a ‘You are my only daughter’ . They have the following conversation:
CY: Do you have any idea how many people are eyeing your inheritance?
XG: What’s that supposed to mean? That anyone who likes me is after my money?
CY: That’s not what I meant. But it pays to be cautious
XG: Lin Yusen isn’t like that and he is already loaded.
CY: He’s not loaded, he has no rights to the inheritance.
XG: He was a renown surgeon and he is a top executive, he’s not that kind of ambitious.
CY: He’s not ambitious? All of the Shengs are sharks.
Dad continues to trash talk Yusen, saying that he is basically using Xiguang. Eventually she has enough and stops him. She tells him that if he likes her because of the money then that will mak their bond even more unbreakable than her personality or looks, since ‘in your world. Cash is king’. Chengyuan says that there is something he has been keeping from her to not hurt her and he drops an
I am too angry at what the dad is saying to rewrite it so I will summarize. Chengyuan says that Yusen told everyone he likes Nianyuan and was going to meet her when he had that car accident. I am so angry, I bet these are lies spread by Niansnake for clout, as she is a wanna be socialite. Xiguang better behave maturely or I will be too mad to recap properly. Yusen has been nothing but sincere towards her. I need to calm down and finish the episode.
You better actually believe what you are saying instead of holding some silent grudge.
Xiguang gets her things and leaves, hopefully ending the amount of screentime we’ve seen her dad this episode.
Xiguang goes straight to Yusen’s house.
Ominous sad piano is still playing as she paces in front of Yusen’s house. We see Yusen tearing up from the pain of doing his rehab exercises, when he spots her by the door. Yusen comes out to meet her, and Xiguang wastes no time as she says “I have something to ask you” please please clear up the misunderstanding right away, She hesitates to ask her questions and I anxiously wait for her to just spill it out and not back away at the last second.
https://i.redd.it/lhbrxqa2pyag1.gif
Xiguang Inner Thoughts: Why would Dad tell a lie that is easily exposed? In the same way, why would Yusen rely on such a useless deception? Something’s not adding up.
I am happy that she is thinking about this whole thing and not confirming my biggest fears.
Yusen wonders why Mr Nie would say he knew her. Both of them agree that the situation is strange, and Xiguang finally decides to tell Yusen the story about her dad. She tells him that Ma Nianyuan invited him to view the blossoms together and FINALLLYYYYY!! THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BANQUET IS EXPOSED! I used lots of gifs but that is because I get too into my emotions to recap the full scene.
Yusen is agitated as he holds onto Xiguang and asks her if she has no recollection of meeting him at the banquet at all? She says no and he takes a few steps back to get his emotions under control. My excitement dies down a bit seeing how conflicted he is. I can’t imagine what he is feeling, the accident that caused the greatest loss of his life was basically in vain as it was for someone completely unrelated to him. Xiguang watches as he pulls out his phone and calls his Jiaqi, then drags Xiguang with him to Songjiang.
In front of Jiaqi’s House:
Yusen wastes no time on pleasantries as he straight up asks Jiaqi to recount what he told him that day two years ago. The friend is panicked and we can see that he feels pretty guilty about being the indirect cause of the accident. Jiaqi says he already cut ties with that womanm Yusen cuts him off and then asks him to just confirm whether what Yusen remembers is correct or not. Yusen recites the whole phone call conversation from the first episode, Xiguang realises what happened as she listens and Jiaqi confirms Yusen’s words. Jiaqi says he didn’t know Nianyuan was CY’s illegitimate daughter. Yusen just takes a moment to process things.
Our couple has a silent ride back home. Before he drops her off, he apologizes to her again and she says she understands. The episode ends as she leaves the car after he told her he needs some time alone.
Episode 23
Yusen drives away as we see Xiguang calling her dad. Chengyuan is happy thinking that Xigua called him because she realised the ‘truth’ about Yusen, but Xigua just tells him “The one with the hidden agenda isn’t Lin Yusen,... what was Ma Nianyuan’s version of the story? Did she tell you who she claimed to be when she invited him to watch the plum blossoms?” Xiguang relays the whole story and the father is shocked to learn that. She tells him he is free to believe what he wants, but he should have responsibility enough to get the story from Jiaqi. She says that Ma Nianyuan didn’t even bother showing her face after the incident and then she goes on to say that yes the world out there is cutthroat and shady but “the naive one being played for a fool isn’t me but you.“ It’s sad when fathers don’t know how to be fathers. I can tell he loves his daughter but he makes a shit husband
We cut to a flashback where we see Ma Nianyuan spinning her tales to Chengyuan. The anger I am feeling at this snake lying through this pathetic mask of hers.
Some Further characteristics of Chengyuan: - He thinks everyone is after his money, as he believed Yusen was interested in Nianyuan because of him.
- He places such importance on face. (Constantly talking about how he doesn’t want to lose face by Nianyuan spending less, believing Yusen didn’t say anything because face too.)
- He is weak to women being stereotypical ‘fragile’ women. It’s how Nianyuan and Fangping manipulated him for so long.
- He cares about Xiguang
Chengyuan and Fangping’s Villa
Flash back ends as we see NY showing her mom her new watch. They talk about Qian and Mr Zhao and their investment. I hope this is a bad investment waiting to happen for NY please, i want her to be a victim of her own lies and foolishness.
Chengyuan storms into the house.
Chengyuan raises his hand but never follows through. He confronts her about his lies, she is too flustered to string a sentence together. “I see that you played him on purpose! And even had the gall to say Lin Yusen was into you”. He calls her out for being a snake and blames her for Yusen being hard on him with their joined projects. “You even threw Xiguang under the bus!” His anger gets the best of him and he ends up collapsing on the sofa. FP as always is quick with her words to appease him. FP cries on his shoulders about he is all she has left, how her health is bad but she still prays for him every day and how she has been a lousy mother . I wanna rip her hair out.
*.*Soon as Chengyuan leaves, FP throws the prayer beads away and scolds NY for being stupid. I forget to type as my anger gets the better of me watching this snake FP yap. I hate her. Manipulative opportunistic djhjgh. FP says a lot of dumb shit that is summed up in her scolding NY for missing a golden opportunity at bagging herself a rich heir, that a man is easiest to get when they’re hurt and vulnerable. I HATE HER. YUSEN’S CAREER IS OVER BUT SHE THINKS OF IT AS A MISSED ‘GOLDEN’ OPPORTUNITY. NY talks back to her that ‘had you not chosen my dad over Mr Nie. I wouldn’t have needed to be this calculating.” FP counters by saying that CY and his family back then were dirt poor, that CY himself made it thanks to riding Jiang Yun’s coattails. Self awareness doesn’t always lead to positive development.
NY said I thought you only cared about Mr Nie
FP says she named her thus because her bio dad didn’t know her past and because she wanted to spite CY as she’s seen him strike it rich with Jiang Yun. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have cared. She thinks Jiang Yun stupid for getting a divorce. We leave the hateful manipulators planning how to win back Chengyuan’s favor, and change scenes to…..
Chengyuan in a Car: He gets a call from Jiang Yun. She asks him why he transferred such a huge amount of money to her and he says it’s for Xiguang, she is quick to accuse him of guilt but he just hangs up on her.
Xiguang’s Dorm: Jiang Yun is making the rounds as she calls Xiguang next. “ Did your father wrong you?” To not worry her mom, Xiguang says that it’s nothing, that dad probably just had a stroke of consciousness, that she is fine and that she had dinner with Yusen and her colleagues. She hangs up with the excuse of going to shower.
Yusen arrives at an old House: his family’s old home maybe?
He sits by the desk for a while watching his hands and the scene fades away.
Shuangyuan Photovoltaic
Work bestie Yin Jie is back on scene, but Yusen isn’t. Xiguang is zoned out and a colleague announces that Mr Lin is out on a business trip.
The previous messages are the ones her dad saw when he picked her phone.
Xiguang remembers all the moments they spent together.
Xiguang Inner thoughts : Are you a fool Lin Yusen? Even when you thought I did something so terrible to you you still wanted to be with me. Where have you gone? He is indeed a fool in love, can you now please just move on past your hesitation?
Dunhuang:
Yusen got tired of the snow to he went to the desert.
Yusen is on a tourist trip, yet he keeps thinking of Xiguang. Yusen is heading to Wuwei where we see a laaaarge solar farm. The whole trip is to the sound of Yuning’s beautiful voice.
Through a conversation with a research team they met in the middle of nowhere. We learn that Yusen came out here to clear his head oh to be rich and to take care of some business as he is visiting all the PV plants from Dunhuang to Wuwei. Yusen smiles as he is invited to dinner.
First Meal of the Episode: Yusen sits with the Research Team for food.
They talk about work and then they help Yusen check in at the inn where they’re staying. Yusen gets some postcards and sits at the desk for a while before he decides to write one to Xiguang.
He asks the innkeep for paper and starts writing the story of how he met Xiguang.
Ms Yu’s Banquet (Flashback)
Yusen greets Jiaqi and then talk a bit about his work as a doctor and how he is as far from these businessmen as possible. We see Chengyuan enter with NY by his side, hear people gossiping about who is that girl, and CY’s divorce. Yusen is unintered in it all that is until Xiguang makes an entrance.
The episode ends with Yusen signing his name on the letter.
Next episode! We will probably see more of the banquet and hopefully get to read Yusen’s letter in full!.
Overall Thoughts:
- Clearly there is no love lost between CY and FP. He doesn't love her as much as he likes that she satisfies his inferiority complex.
- Lots is going on with these two episodes, I hope we see them become official soon, this whole situationship while cute, is tiring. Yusen has been doing the most and he deserves the most happiness.
- No Zhuang Xu these episodes but at this point I’d take him over these gold-diggers.
- I hate CY as a man, dislike him as a father but can’t help thinking about how realistic he is of sorts.
Posted Jan 2, 2026, 4:45 PM UTC