First Love Episode 8 Recap
> First Love Recap
As the National Day holiday began, students departed for home. Believing his cousin Wang Xinyu's claim that her boyfriend Meng Xibai wouldn't be seeing her off, Ren Chu agreed to help her with her luggage at the airport. He was surprised to find Meng Xibai there, lovingly seeing Wang Xinyu off. Wang Xinyu expressed concern that her heavy luggage might injure Meng Xibai’s hands, which were meant for holding scalpels.
As the couple said their goodbyes, Meng Xibai promised to write daily narrative essays for her to check, prompting Ren Chu to quip about their "teacher-student play." Ren Chu then explained that he wouldn't be returning home, as his parents were on a lecture tour in Stanford. Meanwhile, Lu Wanwan persuaded Wang Yuyang to help her carry a heavy load of anatomy models and medical books home, as she needed to review for an upcoming orthopedic exam.
Wang Yuyang, a "genius" who usually passed exams effortlessly, confided that he now needed to study diligently. He revealed that a strong competitor had emerged for an exchange program he was aiming for. He first jokingly asked Lu Wanwan to have Ren Chu "eliminate" the rival, then clarified that he actually wanted Ren Chu to tutor him, a request Lu Wanwan immediately refused due to the awkward dynamic between them.
Later, Lu Wanwan arrived home to find her parents enthusiastically practicing for a community show. Wang Yuyang greeted them and politely declined an invitation for dinner, as his own parents were waiting. Lu Wanwan's mother kindly packed some fruits for him to take. While Lu Wanwan was helping at her family's fruit store and studying, her long-time study partner, An Jiaxian, arrived with food his mother had made.
He offered to help Lu Wanwan with a difficult question about a scaphoid fracture, suggesting she visualize the injury by drawing an image for better analysis, a method they had used since high school. Suddenly, Ren Chu appeared to buy an avocado and immediately pointed out flaws in An Jiaxian's problem-solving approach, accusing him of merely providing answers rather than teaching a method.
Ren Chu dramatically suggested this was why Lu Wanwan's grades hadn't improved over the years and was even the cause of her recent bad temper. He then challenged An Jiaxian to a bet: he would tutor Lu Wanwan and guarantee her orthopedic exam score would be two points higher than An Jiaxian's.
Ren Chu asserted his confidence, stating that if he failed, his entire annual scholarship would go to An Jiaxian, leaving Lu Wanwan exasperated that her academic performance had become the subject of their wager. The next morning, both Ren Chu, who had already called Lu Wanwan to wake her for morning study, and An Jiaxian were at her house for breakfast. Liang Xia also arrived, initially intending to see An Jiaxian.
Lu Wanwan's mother asked Liang Xia about college and her love life, causing some embarrassment until Lu Wanwan revealed that Liang Xia and An Jiaxian were dating. Liang Xia then apologized to Lu Wanwan for any past misunderstandings, and the two reconciled.
When Lu Wanwan learned that a fight with her mother had prevented Liang Xia from going on an overseas trip, she recalled Liang Xia's fear of being alone and warmly invited her to stay the night, reminiscing about their high school sleepovers. During breakfast, the tension between Ren Chu and An Jiaxian was palpable.
An Jiaxian suggested they call off the bet and shake hands, but while Ren Chu agreed the bet could be voided, he bluntly stated that shaking hands to make peace was "unrealistic." To tutor Lu Wanwan, Ren Chu presented hypothetical medical cases, using a constantly "injured" Fan Yi as an example. Lu Wanwan accurately diagnosed Fan Yi's knee pain as hydrarthrosis and a tailbone injury from a fall.
When Ren Chu described a more severe case of lower limb weakness after a fall from height, hinting at a spinal cord injury, Lu Wanwan jokingly suggested a temple visit, which Ren Chu, an atheist, dismissed. She correctly identified a potential triquetral bone injury in the wrist from a fall, noting how convenient it was that Fan Yi's "injuries" covered all common orthopedic cases.
Later, for "labor-leisure combination," Ren Chu took Lu Wanwan to a cinema to improve her English by watching a foreign film with no subtitles. After the first viewing, he frustrated her by posing specific plot questions and making her rewatch it to find the answers. Liang Xia subtly asked An Jiaxian about his interest in studying abroad and discussed the challenges of long-distance relationships through a "friend's" scenario. An Jiaxian confidently stated that true love transcends time and distance.
Lu Wanwan later learned from Wang Yuyang that Liang Xia was his strong competitor for the exchange program. When Lu Wanwan spoke to Liang Xia, she learned that her mother had arranged the study abroad plan to join her father overseas, without consulting Liang Xia's wishes. Lu Wanwan advised her to be honest with An Jiaxian, confident he would understand.
Liang Xia admitted she thought Lu Wanwan's past well wishes for her and An Jiaxian were just polite, while Lu Wanwan confessed she had been "acting tough" but was actually very confused then. They both expressed sadness at the thought of Liang Xia leaving and joked about Ren Chu's competitive nature, with Liang Xia describing him as "aggressive like a rooster." Lu Wanwan, Liang Xia, and An Jiaxian gathered to support Lu Wanwan's mother at her community show.
When Ren Chu also arrived, An Jiaxian displayed clear hostility. Liang Xia quickly intervened, leading An Jiaxian away to prevent a confrontation. Lu Wanwan reflected on the inevitable departures and drifting apart of relationships, finding comfort in the thought that, like the conservation of energy, new people and relationships would always emerge to fill the empty spaces. As the holiday concluded, Wang Yuyang drove Lu Wanwan back to school.
He admitted he'd come to terms with the idea that one "can't have it all" and was content to maintain his title as "prince charming in the game." Soon after, they encountered Ren Chu and Fan Yi. Fan Yi playfully asked Lu Wanwan when she and Ren Chu planned to get together, noting the increasing number of couples on campus. Ren Chu jokingly referred to Fan Yi as his "servant" for the semester, tasked with fetching his hot water.
Lu Wanwan firmly declared that she had no plans to date in college, citing the demanding nature of medical studies. Her priority, she stated, was to focus on her academics, pass all her exams, and graduate successfully, requesting that such jokes not be made again.
