First Love Again Episode 2 Recap
> First Love Again Recap
Ye Youning arrived at Xia Wenxi's house, where several students were playfully popping balloons. The loud bursts triggered unpleasant memories for Ye Youning, making him feel distressed. He told Xia Wenxi he needed to leave, and she followed him out, finding him crouched by the door, visibly in pain. Xia Wenxi quickly offered him a sweet, saying that no matter what happened, eating sweets would help.
Ye Youning felt a little better and wished her a happy birthday before heading home. Later that night, he watched from his window as Xia Wenxi blew out her birthday candles, wondering what she wished for. Back home, Ye Youning searched online and discovered an upcoming Jiangcheng Physics Lecture. He was disheartened to see his father, Zhou Zhihua, listed as the host.
He remembered how he had wanted to attend that lecture in high school but chose not to because his father was involved, instead participating in a basketball game. He scoffed, thinking that in his current state, his father wouldn't even be fit to host a physics lecture he organized, but then dismissed it as a past matter.
Realizing that simply pressing the old phone hadn't been enough to send him back, Ye Youning concluded that other factors must be at play. He recalled thunder during his initial time travel and speculated that lightning might be a crucial element. He tried running complex calculations on his old computer, but it merely smoked and failed. He knew he needed to get Xia Wenxi's phone for further research into a way back.
The next day at school, Xia Wenxi was late again due to her car breaking down. Ye Youning noticed Yang Chuang, Xie Zhenyu, and others drafting a basketball challenge letter for Class 8. The class monitor confiscated the letter, reprimanding them for their lack of collective honor and deducting points. The monitor then presented the challenge letter to Mr. Wang, the Class Advisor, who stressed the importance of studying for the College entrance exam over sports.
Mr. Wang wrote a difficult problem on the blackboard and promised to personally deliver their challenge if anyone could solve it before tomorrow's class. No one in the class, including the representative Chen Tingting, could do it. Seizing the opportunity, Ye Youning approached Xia Wenxi and offered to solve the problem if she lent him her phone. Xia Wenxi, eager for the basketball game, agreed without hesitation.
Ye Youning confidently solved the complex problem, but Mr. Wang criticized him for using a university-level method, calling it showing off, and emphasized that College entrance exam problems must be solved using high school methods to earn step-by-step points. Despite the criticism, Mr. Wang acknowledged that Ye Youning's answer was correct and, keeping his word, agreed to deliver the challenge, much to the delight of the class. After class, Ye Youning reminded Xia Wenxi to fulfill her promise.
She agreed, but on the condition that he only use her phone in front of her and not snoop through her personal items. To Ye Youning's dismay, Xia Wenxi revealed she had received a new phone for her eighteenth birthday the previous night and had already sold her old one to a waste collector. Ye Youning frantically rushed out and managed to buy back the old phone for 20 yuan. However, he noticed the phone chain was missing.
Since his previous calculations suggested the phone needed to be exactly 121 grams, he decided it was safer to retrieve the chain. He returned to ask Xia Wenxi for it. As he was doing so, students from Class 8, including Zhao Bin, arrived to provoke them, mocking their class and calling Ye Youning a "jinx." Ye Youning, preoccupied with getting the phone chain, initially ignored their taunts.
When they persisted, he sharply told them to "work on your brains" instead of just muscles, effectively shutting them down. After the Class 8 students left, Yang Chuang urged Ye Youning to join their basketball team to defeat their rivals. Xia Wenxi offered to give him the phone chain if he joined and promised not to harm her "Ashin Chen" (a Mayday charm on the chain). Ye Youning agreed, but requested access to a computer.
Xia Wenxi led Ye Youning to a sealed-off screening room, making him perform a "reception ceremony" by tearing off the seal before leading him through a window, explaining that "life needs rituals." Inside the room, filled with her "memories," Ye Youning quickly found a connected computer. He revealed his discovery of the "secret of time travel" to Xia Wenxi, explaining that a "heavy binary star that exploded 120 million light-years away" was causing effects that would create a wormhole.
He specified that this wormhole, with dimensions of "twenty times one hundred and one times forty-three millimeters," corresponded precisely to the size of Xia Wenxi's old phone, capable of enabling time travel. Xia Wenxi was thrilled, confirming that stories of time travel from novels and movies were true. Ye Youning added that the time-traveling device also needed to weigh exactly 100. 2 grams, and asked for her Mayday charm and SIM card to achieve the precise weight.
As Xia Wenxi became excited about witnessing history and taking a selfie, Ye Youning subtly snatched the old phone and the chain, then ran off. Xia Wenxi chased him, explaining to her confused friends that he had taken her phone chain. Ye Youning skipped classes and rushed home, hoping to test his theory during the predicted afternoon and evening thunderstorms.
Before attempting, he went to his grandpa, Grandpa Zhou, and gave him heartfelt advice, urging him to take good care of his health in the future, mentioning stimulating acupoints with walnuts, drinking less, taking fish oil, and socializing more. Grandpa Zhou was puzzled by his "nonsense." Ye Youning even mentioned his future hairstyle, which Grandpa Zhou found "like a punk," but Ye Youning insisted his grandpa remember him. He then bid an emotional farewell to "this dream."
During the thunderstorm, he tried to activate the phone, but it didn't work. He even tried recreating his wet hair from the initial time travel and using Grandpa Zhou's radio tuned to an agricultural weather broadcast, but all his efforts to return to the future failed. Defeated, Ye Youning returned to school. In class, Mr. Wang was upset about low test scores, though he didn't question Ye Youning's absence because of his usually high grades.
Xia Wenxi was surprised to see Ye Youning back. Knowing his secret, she suggested joining his experiments. Ye Youning considered that her frequent appearances before his original time travel might mean she was a necessary condition, so he agreed.
They attempted various time-travel methods from Xia Wenxi's "secret book," including "high-speed rotation with power on" using a teddy bear (which caused a power outage and got them caught by Mr. Wang), "jumping into the sea" (which they decided against because the water was too cold), and a quirky rule of hitting each other three times if they said the same thing simultaneously to avoid "doom." None of these worked.
Finally, they returned to the school gate, the exact spot where Ye Youning had first arrived in 2006. He reminded Xia Wenxi that the lightning presented an "unparalleled chance" and asked her to "hit me as hard as that car" that initially struck him. Xia Wenxi was hesitant and only bumped him lightly. Ye Youning insisted she hit him "harder" like the car, but she refused, saying she didn't dare and it seemed useless.
As Lin Jiaqi walked by, he witnessed their struggle and completely misunderstood, accusing Ye Youning of "losing his head over lust." Ye Youning tried to explain they were reviewing "physics acceleration," but Lin Jiaqi stormed off. Ignoring Lin Jiaqi, Ye Youning urged Xia Wenxi to try again, but she still refused. Determined, Ye Youning walked to the middle of the road, closed his eyes, and told Xia Wenxi, "Some things are not what they seem to be.
I hope you understand it." He again asked her to hit him harder. Suddenly, the very same car from his initial time travel struck him. Ye Youning found himself back in time again, but this time he woke up in a precarious position, being held up by Yang Chuang who was trying to prevent him from jumping, indicating he had traveled to the moment of his own suicide. Xia Wenxi, witnessing the scene, was terrified and called his name.
When Ye Youning opened his eyes, he looked at Xia Wenxi and asked, "Who are you? Are you from Jiangda Affiliated High School as well?" Xia Wenxi, shocked, replied, "I'm Xia Wenxi!" He repeated her name, his eyes betraying no recognition.
