Be With You Episode 20 Recap
> Be With You Recap
The night sky was dark as Ji Siqi urged a recalcitrant Lu Qingwu to finish her manuscript. When she refused to leave her bed, he wrapped her in her blanket and carried her to the computer. Staring blankly at the screen, Lu Qingwu was unwilling to draw, prompting Ji Siqi to question her professional integrity, citing the long hiatus of her previous work, "Thither Cloud." The name of the comic caused Lu Qingwu's demeanor to change instantly.
She angrily challenged him, asking by what right he was questioning her—as her editor, an anti-fan, or her boyfriend. Seeing her sudden distress, Ji Siqi’s expression filled with concern and pain. Meanwhile, Shao Zui frantically called Ji Yanxin, warning him to keep Qi Nian off her phone, but it was too late. The internet was flooded with accusations that "Dress for the Beauty" was a fabrication and that its author, Baby Seven, was a liar.
Ji Yanxin offered to issue a formal clarification, but Qi Nian somberly noted that people only believe what they want to, adding that she had been through this before. Sensing a deeper trauma, Ji Yanxin gently probed if something similar had happened in her past, but she refused to speak of the painful memory. Later, as Ji Yanxin rested his head on her lap, he asked for a story.
After she began a fairy tale, he stopped her, calling her by her old pen name, "Qiyue Qingwu," and asked to hear her own story instead. Qi Nian began to recount her past, starting in high school where she met Lu Qingwu, a fellow aspiring artist who became her mentor and partner, inviting her to debut with her.
In another part of the city, a drunken Lu Qingwu confessed her own version of the past to Ji Siqi as she soaked in a bathtub. She revealed that "Qiyue Qingwu" was the pen name for two people, and the genius artist Ji Siqi admired was not her. She explained that their editor at the time, Xiao Li, recognized their complementary talents—Qi Nian's brilliant world-building and Lu Qingwu's skill with character design—and signed them as a collaborative duo.
Their joint work, "Thither Cloud," was a massive success, earning them the Silver Quill Cup, the highest honor in comics. However, at the award ceremony, only Lu Qingwu went on stage to accept the prize. Qi Nian continued her side of the story to Ji Yanxin. Just before her college entrance exams, she met with Xiao Li to turn in the final manuscript. He deliberately spilled a drink on her computer, causing it to crash.
Under the guise of fixing it, he took the computer, erased her signature from all the artwork, and changed the password to their shared "Qiyue Qingwu" account. He then used drafts from Qi Nian’s personal sub-account to publicly frame her for plagiarizing Lu Qingwu. With no internet access for a month while she focused on her exams, Qi Nian was unable to defend herself and was quickly vilified by the fan community, forcing her to delete her accounts.
She was eventually hired by MC Comics, where she adopted a new name and art style, even tackling the unfamiliar genre of romance comics. She told Ji Yanxin she never wanted to revisit that trauma. He held her, respecting her wishes but also gently reminding her that stories often have more than one side, and asked if she could handle the current online backlash herself before he intervened.
Lu Qingwu, meanwhile, confessed to Ji Siqi that without Qi Nian, "Thither Cloud" was impossible to continue, and she was forced to create new, "boring" stories to escape her former partner’s shadow. She felt she could never match Qi Nian's natural talent. Angrily, she asked if Ji Siqi also believed she had stolen the credit, insisting that Qi Nian had betrayed her first.
She revealed that Xiao Li had shown her a contract, seemingly signed by Qi Nian, terminating their partnership and renouncing her authorship. Although she was skeptical, a subsequent text from Qi Nian’s number saying "don't come to me," followed by being blocked, convinced her she had been abandoned. Lu Qingwu tearfully expressed the agony of living in Qi Nian's shadow, only to have Qi Nian reappear acting like the sole victim.
As she cried, Ji Siqi began to suspect that a third party was manipulating them both. After Lu Qingwu fell into a drunken sleep, Ji Siqi, now understanding the depth of her pain, quietly finished her manuscript for her. He resolved to stay by her side until she healed.
When she woke, Lu Qingwu playfully tried to convince him to move in, but a sudden, alarming message on his phone caused him to jump up and leave, telling her not to contact him for a few days. Shortly after, Lu Qingwu was summoned by Xiao Li to a tea house.
He intended to pitch her comic, "Flower & Romance," to Pei Yan, the head of the prestigious Galaxy Productions, in a bid to suppress the rising popularity of "Dress for the Beauty." At the meeting, Xiao Li tried to disparage Qi Nian's work as a flash in the pan with a small fanbase. However, Pei Yan countered, stating she valued the "sincerity" in a work like "Dress for the Beauty" over mass-produced, "cookie-cutter comics."
Offended by the thinly veiled insult, Lu Qingwu stood to leave and accidentally bumped into a server, spilling hot tea on Pei Yan. The next day, Ji Qiu was found asleep at the office conference table after working all night on a proposal. Her boss, Shao Zui, let her sleep through the morning meeting. Afterward, he woke her, invited her to dinner, and reminded her about Baby Seven’s autograph session that day.
As she rushed off, Shao Zui checked his watch, ominously noting he had "14 hours left." Elsewhere, a nervous Qi Nian called Ji Yanxin from the dressing room, worried the online rumors would ruin the event. He calmly reassured her that he was there for her and that she looked beautiful. The autograph session began with Ji Qiu as the host. During the fan Q&A, a fan asked if the character Mr. J was based on a real person.
Qi Nian confirmed that the story was about her pursuit of someone real. When fans clamored to see the real Mr. J, Qi Nian hesitated, wanting to protect his privacy. At that moment, Ji Yanxin stepped onto the stage from the audience. He introduced himself as a fan of Baby Seven and, to the shock and delight of the crowd, as her boyfriend. His appearance instantly dispelled the rumors but also made him a trending topic.
Qi Nian worried about his privacy being compromised, but he was unfazed, telling her that any love that required her to sacrifice her reputation wasn't worth it and that he would always be her support. As they shared a moment, an assistant from Galaxy Productions approached Qi Nian and handed her a business card from Pei Yan, requesting a meeting. Ji Yanxin accepted on her behalf before Qi Nian was pulled away for a group photo with her fans, leaving him smiling proudly as he watched her.
