Meteor Garden 2018 Episode 1 Recap
> Meteor Garden 2018 Recaps
My name is Dong Shancai, and I am an ordinary eighteen-year-old girl. My mother, with her round face, loud voice, and optimistic philosophy, is an excellent chef whose signature sweet and sour spare ribs are a source of pride for our family's private kitchen. My father is a simple logistics manager, a loving husband and dad.
Inspired by my mom's cooking, I aspired to study in the Nutrition Department of Mingde College, dreaming of expanding our family business and spreading happiness through food. My high school friend, Xiaoyou, who loves tea, and I worked at a milk tea shop during the summer after our college entrance exams. It was a peaceful summer, just like the previous eighteen years of my life.
However, this tranquility was shattered when we received our admission letters: Xiaoyou was accepted into Chaoyang University's Tea Culture Department, and I was thrilled to be admitted to my dream school, Mingde College, as a nutrition freshman. On my first day at Mingde, I reunited with my high school best friend, Chen Qinghe, who had followed my university choices as he was destined to take over his family's banana business regardless of his major.
I also met Li Zhen, a quiet but intelligent girl from the next class. The three of us eagerly anticipated navigating our college years together. On the same day, during a campus speech by Mr. Babbit from the University of Pennsylvania, a sudden commotion erupted outside the hall as students crowded to greet F4. In the chaos, Shancai's phone was knocked to the ground and then deliberately crushed underfoot by one of the F4 members as they walked past.
Upset, Shancai frantically searched for the culprit, inadvertently confronting Mr. Babbit and being chastised by school staff, much to the amusement of other students. A senior from the Journalism Department, Guo Caijie, explained who F4 were: four prominent fourth-year students – Huaze Lei from the Music Department, Ximen Yan from a tea ceremony family, Feng Meizuo from Industrial Management, and their leader, Daoming Si.
They were described as handsome, tall, intelligent, multi-lingual, and excellent in bridge, having won numerous championships for the school, earning them the title 'light of Mingde'. Caijie also explained the 'Joker Card' challenge, a system F4 used to manage the many students who wanted to challenge them. To issue a challenge, one first needed to obtain a Joker card, which was given if F4 deemed the challenger worthy.
Each challenge required a pre-agreed, often bizarre, wager, such as cleaning the campus for a semester, squatting in the campus pool all day, spending a night in a biology lab with human specimens, or even eating a pair of slippers. Undeterred by the daunting challenge, Shancai, fueled by anger over her broken phone, resolved to confront F4.
Accompanied by Chen Qinghe and Li Zhen, she went to the Bridge Club, loudly demanding an apology and compensation from the 'green crocodile shoes' who stepped on her phone. Just as they were about to leave, F4 appeared. Shancai immediately recognized Daoming Si as the culprit and held up her broken phone. However, Daoming Si and his friends walked away without acknowledging her.
Later, in her 'Introduction to Nutrition' class, Professor Ma emphasized the importance of willpower over limited ability and assigned students to form groups for team reports. Meanwhile, Shancai prepared a low-fat birthday cake for Li Zhen, who was touched by the gesture. While trying to take a photo with the cake, Li Zhen stumbled, and the cake flew out of her hands, landing directly on Daoming Si's head.
Enraged, Daoming Si shoved Li Zhen aside, prompting Shancai to defend her friend by verbally lashing out at him, calling him an arrogant "pineapple head" and a "jerk" for his disrespectful behavior. Daoming Si, furious, departed, but Huaze Lei, with a gentler demeanor, picked up a card from the cake and handed it to Shancai before leaving. Soon after, Shancai discovered a Joker card in her locker, confirming F4's challenge.
Frustrated, she went to the rooftop and began shouting her curses at F4, wishing them various misfortunes, from alien-intercepted phone signals to growing nose hair. Huaze Lei, who was already on the rooftop, emerged and calmly listened, asking her if she was happy after her rant. He assured her he had no intention of 'messing with' her, explaining that while he was part of F4, he wasn't interested in others' affairs.
Later, on the basketball court, a classmate asked Shancai to covertly film Daoming Si, who, upon noticing, angrily snatched her phone. Shancai's mother then tasked her with a delivery of twenty takeout meals. To Shancai's dismay, the customer was none other than Daoming Si, who had deliberately ordered from her family's restaurant. He meticulously inspected the meals, making disparaging remarks about the food, clearly aiming to provoke her.
Shancai, furious at his disrespect for her mother's hard work, called him a 'social parasite.' In response, Daoming Si threw a bento box at her face. Humiliated, Shancai retreated to a nearby water trough to clean herself, where she was accosted by two thugs. Just as she was in distress, Huaze Lei appeared and drove them away. Overwhelmed, Shancai burst into tears.
Huaze Lei, with his gentle nature, comforted her and taught her his secret method for suppressing tears: standing on her head. Inspired by her professor's words on infinite willpower and determined to no longer be bullied, Shancai confronted Daoming Si at school. With a powerful flying kick, she sent him sprawling, throwing the Joker card onto his chest and asserting that she was not to be trifled with.
Daoming Si was knocked unconscious, much to the amusement of Meizuo and Ximen, who filmed the 'mummy' incident. When Daoming Si eventually regained consciousness, Huaze Lei revealed that Shancai had been nearly assaulted after delivering his order. Though initially dismissive, Daoming Si showed a flicker of remorse. Shancai's actions, however, made her an enemy to many girls, including her classmate Xinhui, who was a big fan of Daoming Si.
Xinhui accused Shancai of seeking attention by attacking a VIP and the school's most famous senior. Shancai, uninterested in their opinions, clarified that Daoming Si had deliberately instigated the conflict by issuing the Joker card, which she now disavowed. Shancai later found Huaze Lei in the music room, intending to return his handkerchief. However, he coldly refused to take it back, stating he didn't retrieve things he had given away, and simply wished her 'good luck' with the Joker card.
When Shancai asked if she could meet him on the rooftop again, he replied that he would no longer go there. Soon after, two men accosted Shancai outside the school, claiming Daoming Si wished to apologize and compensate her. Despite her protests, they forcibly dragged her into a car. She was taken to Daoming Si’s opulent mansion, where a team of stylists immediately subjected her to a complete makeover, transforming her appearance.
Daoming Si eventually appeared and bluntly asked Shancai if she liked Huaze Lei, warning her that such feelings were unacceptable. He then offered her a position as 'his woman,' detailing the numerous exclusive privileges she would enjoy, from standing a meter behind him at all times to receiving treats, academic help, and lavish gifts.
Shancai, however, scorned his offer, throwing the expensive high heels back at him and declaring that she was something he could not buy with the 'whole world,' before storming out of his house. Reflecting on the day's events, Shancai realized that her true concern wasn't Daoming Si's challenge but the aloof Huaze Lei, whom she would indeed exchange for the whole world.
Meanwhile, Daoming Si, convinced Shancai was secretly infatuated with him, sought advice from his friends on how to further 'attract' her. Meizuo and Ximen, however, understood that it was Daoming Si who was infatuated with Shancai, and repeatedly shot down his childish suggestions, such as dressing up as ghosts in the women's restroom or putting fake cockroaches or onions in her backpack, as lacking creativity or being too embarrassing.
Later, while working at the milk tea shop with Xiaoyou, Shancai's mood inexplicably brightened when Huaze Lei and Ximen entered to buy drinks. She was visibly flustered by Huaze Lei's presence, prompting Xiaoyou to tease her about her blushing face and whether Huaze Lei had come specifically to see her. After work, Shancai returned to the rooftop, hoping to see Huaze Lei again. She found him there, and they engaged in a brief, abstract conversation about time differences between Shanghai and Paris, during which Huaze Lei commented that she was a 'strange girl.'
