The Hope Episode 19 Recap
> The Hope Recap
Lei Ming meticulously cared for the sapling, shielding it from rain and watering it daily, believing that miracles require time. One day, as he tended to the sapling, the students of Class 11 arrived. They made it clear they hadn't fully forgiven him but would allow him to return to their class if he adhered to three rules. First, he must never disappear or unilaterally solve their problems again.
Second, if their collective score in the next exam fell below 500 points, it would be his responsibility, incurring a fine of 100 for every point they were short. Third, he had to ask Ms. Sang out on a date. Lei Ming, after a moment of surprise, agreed to their terms, and the students urged him to pack up and get back to class. Meanwhile, Sang Xia was persistent in convincing Principal Gao to reinstate Lei Ming.
She highlighted Lei Ming’s bold actions at the Zhixiang press conference, where he burned all bridges, likely incurring financial penalties, all for the chance to return to Class 11. She argued that while he deserved severe punishment, Class 11 could not function without him. Principal Gao initially stated the decision was out of her hands, but then the Class 11 students arrived, collectively petitioning for Lei Ming’s return.
They emphasized their recent progress and insisted that only with Lei Ming could they achieve their goals, vouching for him as a good teacher with their student ID cards. Moved by their sincerity, Principal Gao agreed to let Lei Ming return, albeit with a demerit. Back with the students, Lei Ming presented a sobering analysis: the probability of them getting into Qingbei based solely on their current test scores was "nine out of 100,000," which he clarified as "zero."
He then introduced his "Spiral of Success" strategy, encouraging them to find alternative paths if the main one was blocked. He outlined individualized plans: Bian Xiaoxiao, with her image and diction, was a strong candidate for Qingbei's Arts and Communication College, provided she received professional training, though she still needed to improve her scores significantly.
Jiang Qinglang’s choice of History, Chemistry, and Geography for the three-one-two system was a fortunate coincidence, as Qingbei was offering new Paleography and Sociology majors for the first time, which would likely have more lenient admission lines. Lei Ming had already secured his parents' support for this path.
Yu Yang was the only student with a chance to get into Qingbei on test scores alone; despite scoring 494, he was "only 193 away" from his target, thanks to his solid foundation in history, geography, and politics, with potential for further improvement in Chinese, Math, and English.
For Cheng Yushan and Li Ran, he proposed the "Wings Program," newly announced by Qingbei, which targeted gifted students with strong single-subject performance, offering a 30-point reduction from the unified recruitment's admissions line. Sang Xia pressed Lei Ming about Cheng Yushan and Li Ran’s chances in the Wings Program. Lei Ming explained Cheng Yushan’s innate mathematical genius, evident in her unconscious habit of arranging objects according to the golden ratio and her quick mental calculations.
He stressed that math competitions seek genuises, not just top students, and for Cheng Yushan, this path was destiny. For Li Ran, Lei Ming recalled a complex automatic irrigation robot Li Ran had once made for him, praising its intricate mechanical design, adaptability to various terrains, optimized control algorithms, and humidity sensors—a level of sophistication comparable to top university graduate projects. He was confident both would secure interviews for the program.
Sang Xia then questioned Lei Ming’s motivation for returning to Class 11 with nothing after leaving Zhixiang, wondering if it was merely defiance. Lei Ming asked if it wasn't "cool," to which Sang Xia retorted that true coolness lay in letting go of his obsession with Qingbei and the students. Lei Ming then invited her on a "cool home visit." During their visit to the Shen family, Mrs. Shen initially assumed they were there for her son, Shen Yao.
Lei Ming clarified they were there for Li Ran, whom the school had selected as a "seed" for the National Youth Robotics Competition, and they needed to assess his preparation environment. They learned that Li Ran and his grandmother lived in the basement, a cramped space where Li Ran studied late into the night.
Li Ran’s grandmother added that Mrs. Shen had prohibited Li Ran from working on his projects in the basement due to the noise, as she was a light sleeper. Using a "Mental Health Week" initiative as a pretext, Sang Xia requested to see Shen Yao's room, claiming she wanted to study the environment of exemplary students like him. Mrs. Shen agreed, and upstairs, Sang Xia discreetly found a bottle labeled "Multi-vitamin tablets" containing antidepressant medication, which she photographed before leaving.
Back at Zhixiang, the company was reeling from Lei Ming’s public disavowal. Sales had plummeted by 89. 3%, seventy-five negative reports had surfaced online, and their official social media account lost 30% of its followers. Employees unanimously agreed that Lei Ming must "pay for everything he said that day." Meanwhile, Lei Ming offered Li Ran and his grandmother a new home in his own house, giving the master bedroom to the grandmother and his room to Li Ran.
He refused to accept rent, framing it as them helping him by "watch[ing his] house and clean[ing] it without payment." He stipulated they cover the utilities and could stay until the college entrance exams, jokingly threatening to collect back rent if Li Ran failed. He even claimed his house was a "birthplace of high achievers" and living there would boost Li Ran's IQ, finally telling Li Ran not to thank him as he hated it.
An old neighbor, Mr. Yang, mistook Li Ran for Lei Ming's son and Sang Xia for his wife, cheerfully remarking on how Lei Ming's "love would come soon." Li Ran's grandmother expressed profound gratitude to Lei Ming's deceased parents, calling it the "most decent home" they had ever had, and prayed for blessings for Lei Ming and Li Ran's success in the college entrance exams.
Sang Xia remarked that Lei Ming was becoming "more and more like a father," to which he replied, "Really?" In a history class, Yu Yang, during a historical reenactment, stammered, prompting a classmate to compare his speech to a "damaged CD." The teacher, however, praised Yu Yang’s performance as accurate, then recounted the story of Han Feizi, a brilliant Legalist who stuttered but excelled at writing.
The teacher further encouraged Yu Yang by listing other famous historical figures with stutters, such as Meng Jiao, Zhou Chang, and Deng Ai, explaining how the idiom "Qi Qi Ai Ai" (stammer) was derived from Zhou Chang and Deng Ai's speech. He shared how Zhou Chang’s stutter once dramatically influenced Emperor Liu Bang to reconsider abolishing the crown prince, thereby changing history.
The teacher urged Yu Yang to "be confident," and Yu Yang, visibly inspired, repeated his lines with renewed conviction. Lei Ming then introduced Li Ran and Cheng Yushan to Chen Jin, his former business partner from "Convenient English," now a technical director specializing in intelligent robots. Lei Ming described Li Ran as his "most worried about" student, tasking Chen Jin with coaching him for the robotics competition.
Li Ran reported that the school’s robotics club wouldn't grant him a training room as he was competing individually. Chen Jin offered his workshop, available from 11 PM to 8 AM, and showed Li Ran various sophisticated equipment, explaining that while most were unavailable during office hours, microcontroller development boards could be used for a fee, and supplies would be Li Ran's responsibility.
Chen Jin also informed them of a new "Future Battlefield" competitive unit in the competition, offering extra points for challenging and defeating the previous champion, thus requiring a "competitive robot." Recognizing the risks, Chen Jin told Li Ran to figure out how to win with limited resources.
For Cheng Yushan’s math preparation, Chen Jin advised her to "summon her Great Spirit" by re-verifying classic theorems like Menelaus', Ceva's, Ptolemy's, and Euler's, using older formulas, assuring her that the great mathematicians would become her guiding spirits. For Li Ran, Chen Jin instructed him to disassemble and reassemble robots into their smallest units to understand their design, and to figure things out himself rather than asking, stating he wouldn't understand his explanations.
Li Ran, reflecting on his task, remembered his late father building him a small robot from "scrap material from the factory," including an old "megohmmeter," and telling him, "Even if it's not gold, it can shine." Meanwhile, Cheng Yushan overheard her stepfather planning to demolish her room for an "extension" to add more tables to their chess hall.
However, upon returning home, she found her room newly decorated, her doll back in place, and a new sign on the door declaring, "Shhh. . . The scholar-lord is working hard. Don't interrupt." Her mother explained she had painted the room and her brother bought the sign, expressing that her daughter's future and success in college were far more important than any additional income from the chess hall.
Cheng Yushan, moved, hugged her mother, promising to take her and Zhou Lixuan with her when she left. Later that night, Li Ran messaged Cheng Yushan, seeking her help with some robot parts that weren't printing correctly. He mentioned Chen Jin’s advice to find someone with "good spatial framing skills" and immediately thought of her. Cheng Yushan quickly responded with a design concept, and Li Ran, grateful, offered to buy her a "cup of milk tea." As they continued to chat, they discovered they were listening to the same song, sharing a moment of mutual encouragement.
