First Love Again Episode 1 Recap
> First Love Again Recap
Some time prior, Ye Youning delivered a presentation on "Quantum mechanics," explaining how "the future can change the past" and the "Butterfly effect" where small changes can lead to dramatic outcomes. During his talk, a young woman named Xia Wenxi unexpectedly rushed into the wrong venue, interrupting him before quickly leaving. Later, Ye Youning made a video call to Yang Chuang back in Jiangcheng, inquiring about his grandpa.
Yang Chuang informed him that his grandpa's Alzheimer's had worsened and he might no longer recognize Ye Youning. Deeply concerned, Ye Youning immediately returned home from the UK. Upon his arrival, his grandpa indeed failed to recognize him, asking Yang Chuang, "Who is he? I don't know him. Go away." Overwhelmed with sadness and guilt, Ye Youning lamented not returning sooner to care for his closest family member.
Yang Chuang and Gao Xiaoai, who had been looking after his grandpa, tried to comfort him, reminding him he had already done his best by arranging doctors and regular visits. While they were talking, Ye Youning looked at old photos from his high school days on the wall, commenting that he had recently seen Xia Wenxi at a lecture.
Yang Chuang explained that she was now a traveling writer who regularly visited his grandpa whenever she was back in the country. As a storm began to brew outside, Ye Youning quickly helped his grandpa indoors. Once inside, his grandpa, distressed, demanded his radio. Ye Youning quickly found it and turned it on, calming him.
The radio then broadcasted news from the Antarctic Observatory about a powerful gravitational wave, originating from a heavy binary star explosion 120 million light-years away, expected to reach Earth soon. The report noted that this gravitational wave could cause "changes that last for an extended period of time in the space-time through which they travel over." As the news jumped erratically through different years, the household appliances began to malfunction. The radio then announced, "Today is March 1, 2006."
Ye Youning noticed a previously turned-off old Nokia phone ringing. Puzzled, he picked it up, and at that moment, a sudden flash of light enveloped him. When he next opened his eyes, he found himself hit by a car and flying onto a bewildered Xia Wenxi at the high school gate. He had been transported back to March 1, 2006.
In 2006, on her eighteenth birthday, Xia Wenxi confronted her mother about her accumulated lucky money, only to discover the balance was zero. Her mother declared this her "Grown-Up Ceremony," imparting a lesson about managing her own money, and then left for a dance class. When Xia Wenxi asked for her ID card, her mother refused, stating she couldn't go anywhere before the college entrance exam.
Her father, Xia Nanshan, upon learning his wife was dancing, announced he was taking a Taekwondo class next door to keep a watchful eye on her and her "flirtatious" dance teacher, proudly displaying his new white belt. Xia Wenxi then visited Grandpa Zhou (who is Ye Youning's grandpa), who had fixed her mobile phone—the very phone that would later trigger Ye Youning's time travel.
Grandpa Zhou mentioned it took him all night and, as a birthday surprise, also presented her with her bicycle, now equipped with a sidecar. He explained it would make her rides more stable and prevent falls, much to her delight that he remembered her birthday.
As she left for school, she noticed a rare daytime meteor and quickly made several wishes: for world peace, a Doraemon, for fallen ice cream to fly back up, and most importantly, for a time travel machine. Determined not to be late on her birthday, she sped off on her newly modified bicycle. Just as she approached the school gate, Ye Youning was hit by a car and flew onto her, landing in the sidecar.
Ye Youning, dazed, asked if she was alright, but Xia Wenxi, rushing to avoid being late, left him there and hurried into school. Disoriented, Ye Youning heard a newspaper vendor announce the date: March 1, 2006. He realized this was the first day of his senior year transfer. Thinking he was dreaming, he tried to hit himself, but Director Zhu intervened, mistaking his action for self-harm and admonishing him.
Ye Youning, familiar with the way, then went to the classroom himself, where his class teacher, Mr. Wang, introduced Ye Youning as a transfer student from No.1 High School of Huanzhou with excellent grades, destined to study abroad after graduation. Ye Youning, however, was preoccupied with how to return to his original time. Unlike his past self, who had rejected a deskmate to avoid distractions, this time he found himself sitting beside Xia Wenxi.
Other students whispered, calling Xia Wenxi one of the "top ten unlucky students," known for her "powerful and destructive" bad luck that affected those around her. Xia Wenxi, still feeling awkward about their morning collision, apologized to Ye Youning, who in turn introduced himself and declared she would be his "lucky star," promising to treat her well. During morning self-study, Mr. Wang called Lin Jiaqi and Xia Wenxi to his office, directly asking if they were in a relationship.
They emphatically denied it, explaining they had been close childhood friends since birth, even meeting in their mothers' bellies. Xia Wenxi even jokingly swore that any feelings she had for Lin Jiaqi were merely "the accumulation of dislike," especially for his height, which Lin Jiaqi countered was the "cutest height difference." Meanwhile, Ye Youning was consumed with calculations, trying to understand the mechanism behind his time travel and how to return to his critically ill grandpa in 2019.
He was reprimanded by the Chinese teacher for doing English exercises during Chinese class. Later, during a chemistry experiment, Xia Wenxi accidentally caused a small fire, which was quickly put out by the teacher. Ye Youning, still calculating physics equations during chemistry, pondered that while gravitational waves caused minor temporal changes, his leap must have been triggered by something specific, a "barrier between space and time."
When the physics teacher asked him to solve a problem on the blackboard, Ye Youning instead filled two blackboards with complex equations, declaring he was describing "time swap" and planned to "change human history." The unimpressed teacher sent him to the back of the class to squat as punishment. From his new vantage point, Ye Youning noticed Xia Wenxi's mobile phone and realized it was the same device he had interacted with before his journey.
He surmised that pressing its power button might have "broken the barrier between the two time-space" and that her phone could be the key to returning to his original timeline. During PE class, Xia Wenxi discovered her recently repaired phone was malfunctioning again, with no signal and a dead battery, suspecting her earlier fall. As she tried to figure it out, she slipped.
Ye Youning, seeing her about to fall and drop her phone, rushed forward, catching her and secretly pressing buttons on the device, hoping to trigger something. To his disappointment, nothing happened. Xia Wenxi, surprised, asked why he was holding her phone. Soon after, Lin Jiaqi, who had observed Ye Youning's interaction with Xia Wenxi, challenged him to a basketball game. Ye Youning displayed extraordinary skill, effortlessly scoring, which impressed his classmates.
They immediately urged Lin Jiaqi to recruit him for the school team, confident he could lead them to victory against their rivals. Ye Youning agreed, but on one condition: Xia Wenxi must lend him her phone for a few days. Xia Wenxi, finding his request peculiar given he already had a phone, asked for his reasons.
Ye Youning simply stated that the "basketball game is not difficult; it depends on what you provide me with," clearly referring to her phone, before making another impressive shot and walking away without further explanation. Later, he bought coffee, asking for pour-over, and paid with cash, briefly mentioning "Apple Pay"—an anachronistic payment method for 2006. He left the change, seemingly as a treat for the other students who were gossiping about him standing near the girls' restroom.
After school, Xia Wenxi found herself alone as her friends, including Lin Jiaqi, made excuses to avoid walking her home, some even jokingly citing her "bad luck." Unbeknownst to her, she had an internal monologue reflecting on her birth, where her father, Xia Nanshan, had wished for her to be born on February 29th to save money on birthdays, and a doctor had remarked on how many "funny" things would happen in her life.
Now, turning eighteen, she declared this her "second life," determined to seize the opportunity to "turn her luck around." Observing her, Ye Youning, determined to find a way back, noted that "None of them remember it" (her birthday or his request for her phone) and reiterated his need for her phone. He then followed her home. There, he was deeply moved to see his Grandpa Zhou healthy and vibrant, a stark contrast to his ailing self in 2019.
Grandpa Zhou warmly greeted him, mentioning how much he had missed him over the past half-year since Ye Youning decided to study abroad, and offered him his favorite wontons. Overcome with emotion, Ye Youning hugged his grandpa tightly, shedding tears, which he playfully attributed to the strong smell of his grandpa's ointment. Though touched, Ye Youning's resolve to return to his own time strengthened, believing his future grandpa needed him more.
As he went to take out the trash, he heard Yang Chuang calling Xia Wenxi. He then witnessed a surprise birthday gathering as Xia Wenxi's friends arrived, playfully teasing her about her "greedy" nature and her dislike for libraries, before revealing a cake, Mayday merchandise, and a customized gift from Lin Jiaqi (which looked like a breakfast voucher) that a friend jokingly called stingy.
Despite their earlier teasing, Xia Wenxi's father, Xia Nanshan, graciously invited everyone, including Ye Youning, inside for a celebratory feast. Still focused on his mission for his grandpa, Ye Youning noted, "For grandpa, I still have to get her phone and find out the reason." Seeing him, Xia Wenxi then invited Ye Youning to "Join us to have the cake together."
