The Heart of Genius Episode 34 (Ending) Recap
> The Heart of Genius Recap
In the Cheese World, Lin Zhaoxi chose not to repeat a year of school. Instead, she paid to attend the art college where Ji Jiang was enrolled, completing a two-year adult art management class. As Ji Jiang, known as Hua Juan, rapidly gained popularity, Lin Zhaoxi became his dedicated agent, making her entry into the entertainment industry. Within two years, she founded her own company, which quickly prospered thanks to Hua Juan’s widespread appeal.
Lin Zhaoxi was exceptionally driven, reportedly sleeping only four and a half hours a day, running for half an hour, dedicating an hour each to lunch and dinner, and spending all other waking hours working. Her and Hua Juan's rise in the Cheese World was meteoric. Meanwhile, in Pei Zhi's second year of postgraduate studies, Lin Zhaoxi had already become the youngest president of a major entertainment company.
Through persistent efforts, Pei Zhi, collaborating with a healthy Lin Zhaosheng, successfully proved the graph isomorphism problem was NP-Complete, a significant world mathematical problem. This achievement earned them international academic acclaim. To celebrate their success, Hua Juan organized a hot pot gathering, inviting all of Lin Zhaosheng’s former students.
Everyone had graduated; Hua Juan was dating his makeup artist, Bao Xiaomeng ran a small pet clinic, Zheng Tianming worked as a high-speed rail attendant, Lu Zhihao pursued postgraduate studies in medicine, and Zhang Liang continued his beloved physics major. On that joyful day, everyone reminisced about the past, but Lin Zhaoxi was notably absent, consumed by her demanding work schedule. Lin Zhaoxi had sent a package containing two letters to Lin Zhaosheng.
One was from Qiu Yue, written before her death, and the other was from Feng Ming. Professor Feng had held onto Qiu Yue's letter for many years, and her students delivered it to Lin Zhaosheng according to her last wishes. In her letter, Feng Ming expressed her deep regret regarding Lin Zhaoxi's situation and apologized, stating that she could never forgive Lin Zhaosheng for taking Qiu Yue from her.
Qiu Yue's letter, meant for her daughter, spoke of her love despite having only seen her once, her wish to stay, and her regret at having to leave, asking her daughter not to imagine her to avoid sadness, as she was just an ordinary mother who had gone far away. This deeply emotional letter, stained with blood, stirred Lin Zhaosheng's memories of Qiu Yue.
One night, as he attempted to carefully wipe away a bloodstain from the letter, a remarkable event occurred: he suddenly traveled to 1995. Lin Zhaosheng found himself disoriented, asking for the date and discovering it was 1995. He then learned that Qiu Yue was experiencing complications during childbirth. He urgently borrowed a bicycle and rushed to the hospital, but by the time he arrived, it was too late.
Qiu Yue had already passed away from severe postpartum hemorrhage after giving birth to Lin Zhaoxi, leaving her last words for her newborn daughter. Lin Zhaosheng initially believed he had traveled to the past of his own Cheese World. However, upon returning to his desk, he realized that nothing in his world had changed.
He then understood that he had traveled to the Strawberry World he had heard about, and his intervention had altered Lin Zhaoxi's fate in that world by preventing her from growing up in an orphanage. For years, Lin Zhaosheng kept this experience a secret from Pei Zhi. While Pei Zhi successfully pursued the P=NP problem, achieving immense career, wealth, and fame, he remained unhappy, consumed by the desire to reach the Strawberry World. His numerous attempts, however, proved unsuccessful.
Driven by his longing, Pei Zhi purchased Lin Zhaoxi’s old house, meticulously preserving it as it was two decades ago. One day, Lin Zhaosheng visited him, acknowledging Pei Zhi’s unwavering persistence. He handed Pei Zhi Qiu Yue’s blood-stained letter, suggesting it might aid his quest. Pei Zhi, eager with anticipation, immediately tried to remove a second bloodstain, but nothing happened. He chastised himself for his impulsiveness, realizing he had wasted a valuable opportunity and needed a more rigorous approach.
Analyzing the previous travels, Pei Zhi deduced that while formulas and bloodstains acted as triggers, the specific timing and recipients of the travel were uncertain. He recognized the need for "anchors"—items connected to the target world. Remembering the photograph and a recorder associated with Lin Zhaoxi in the Strawberry World, he chose them as his only remaining hope.
With only one bloodstain left on the letter, he meticulously prepared for all contingencies in the Strawberry World, particularly how to handle his counterpart there. He diligently learned self-hypnosis techniques to control his own body and, when the time came, erase the final bloodstain. His preparations complete, Pei Zhi successfully traveled to the Strawberry World, arriving on August 12th, 2018.
Upon hearing Pei Zhi's account, Lin Zhaoxi recalled the day she visited the boxing club in 2018, realizing that the Pei Zhi she had encountered then was this newly arrived Cheese Pei Zhi. Filled with excitement after his successful travel, Pei Zhi had rushed to her home. From a distance, he observed Lin Zhaosheng and Lin Zhaoxi in a heated discussion.
Lin Zhaosheng was trying to persuade Lin Zhaoxi to reconnect with Pei Zhi, but she declared she had given up, believing that growth meant learning to compromise. Pei Zhi immediately understood that this Lin Zhaoxi, who hadn't yet experienced her own travels, was not the person he knew. Realizing that a person's experiences define them, he decided to "make up for the past" according to his temporal logic.
He secretly placed the group photo in Lin Zhaoxi's mailbox, knowing it would serve as the catalyst for her first journey to and from the Cheese World. After Lin Zhaoxi discovered the photograph, she and Ji Jiang, with whom she had discussed the mysteries of the ancient pagoda, erased the formula found there, initiating their own travel to the Cheese World. Lin Zhaoxi found herself bewildered, not at home with her father, but in a welfare institution in 2006.
In the Strawberry World, to gather more information and conceal his identity without affecting Lin Zhaoxi's subsequent travels, Cheese Pei Zhi implemented his plan: self-hypnosis to inhabit Strawberry Pei Zhi's body. He set a countdown to Lin Zhaoxi's postgraduate entrance exam, hiding the timing software. Strawberry Pei Zhi eventually awoke to find a Newton's cradle and a recorder on his table, unaware of the control Cheese Pei Zhi had exerted.
Lin Zhaoxi, upon returning to Strawberry World, connected with Strawberry Pei Zhi. Together, they investigated the recorder, which contained a critical conversation during a car accident involving Lin Zhaosheng and Pei Zhi's father. Lin Zhaoxi realized that preventing this car accident in the Cheese World could avert Lin Zhaosheng's Alzheimer's disease. Ultimately, Pei Zhi and Lin Zhaoxi jointly succeeded in preventing that car accident in the Cheese World.
Eight months later, the awakening conditions set by Cheese Pei Zhi were triggered, and he addressed Strawberry Pei Zhi, introducing himself as Cheese Pei Zhi and proposing an exchange of lives so Strawberry Pei Zhi could live with his father in the Cheese World. Lin Zhaoxi confronted Cheese Pei Zhi, realizing he had inhabited Strawberry Pei Zhi's body since the modeling competition.
Cheese Pei Zhi admitted the struggle between his two selves and explained he had kept his true identity a secret to avoid complicating matters until Strawberry Pei Zhi had willingly left for the Cheese World. However, Lin Zhaoxi asserted that he should not have come, as she would never let him stay.
Undeterred, Cheese Pei Zhi proposed a compromise: if Lin Zhaoxi allowed him to remain, he would immediately complete the P=NP proof, which, according to Cheese World history, would lead to an early cure for Alzheimer's. He argued this was the only way to save Lin Zhaosheng, who might not live long enough otherwise. Torn by the impossible choice between her love for Strawberry Pei Zhi and her desire to save Lin Zhaosheng, Lin Zhaoxi was in a profound dilemma.
Just then, the robot Little Lin activated, relaying a poignant message from Lin Zhaosheng about facing life's challenges bravely and cherishing passion. After much agonizing deliberation, Lin Zhaoxi made her decision: she asked Cheese Pei Zhi to return to the Cheese World, declaring her intention to face her own life directly and honor Strawberry Pei Zhi's existence. This entire narrative, Lin Zhaoxi revealed, was a story she was telling to her students, using their names for the characters.
When the students clamored for royalties, she playfully refused, offering to change their names in the story instead, and encouraged them to study mathematics diligently to one day solve the P=NP problem. Pei Zhi and Lin Zhaosheng then arrived. Lin Zhaosheng was both amused and annoyed to discover that Lin Zhaoxi had written him as having senile dementia in her story.
Later, the students, curious about the fate of Strawberry Pei Zhi in the story, asked Lin Zhaoxi, who explained that he ultimately chose his own world. At a riverside, Lin Zhaoxi found Pei Zhi.
Recalling shared childhood memories, Pei Zhi confirmed his identity as Strawberry Pei Zhi, revealing that Cheese Pei Zhi had already departed, leaving a message: he loved Lin Zhaoxi but realized she was a person who never gave up and always moved forward once she set her mind to it—the very qualities he loved about her.
Strawberry Pei Zhi then asked Lin Zhaoxi if she regretted her decision, implying the loss of Cheese Pei Zhi's immediate P=NP proof and the cure for Lin Zhaosheng. Lin Zhaoxi, embracing the Pei Zhi she had yearned for, passionately declared her belief that together, they could also prove P=NP. She affirmed that if Cheese Pei Zhi could achieve it in his world, they too could accomplish it in theirs. With unwavering commitment, the two embraced, ready to face their future together, striving with consistent effort towards a life that would never slacken, knowing their destination was within reach.
