Timeless Love Episode 23 Recap
> Timeless Love Recap
Chen Huiyun, Jiang Dian's mother, ordered people to vandalize Cheng Feng's bookstore. Cheng Feng was asked if she would leave Jiang Dian, but she refused. When Jiang Dian arrived at the scene, he found the bookstore in disarray. He asked Cheng Feng if she was alright and if she had called the police. Cheng Feng responded by asking how she could report Jiang Dian's own mother to the police. Jiang Dian promised to give her an explanation.
Jiang Dian then went home to confront his mother. He found Chen Huiyun speaking to her secretary, lamenting her struggles, saying that she had worked tirelessly but felt she had gained nothing. Jiang Dian angrily questioned why she kept interfering in his life and targeting Cheng Feng. Chen Huiyun asserted that he had forced her hand, claiming he ignored her pleas when she tried to reason with him.
Jiang Dian accused her of denying everything he liked since childhood and pleaded with her to let him live a simple life with Cheng Feng. Chen Huiyun, however, expressed her fear of losing the Jiang Group, which she built herself, to her former husband and the possibility of "that woman's son" becoming the heir. She insisted that Jiang Dian study business to reclaim the company, seeing him as a tool for her revenge.
Jiang Dian knelt, thanking her for raising him, but declared that he was no longer her son, and left. Chen Huiyun was heartbroken. Later, while Jiang Dian was with Cheng Feng, his mother's secretary called, asking why he had been unreachable and informing him that President Chen had been in a car accident, urging him to go to the hospital. Cheng Feng insisted on accompanying him.
At the hospital, the secretary explained Chen Huiyun's difficult past to Jiang Dian and Cheng Feng. She detailed how Chen Huiyun, a proud and determined woman, fell in love with an ordinary man and turned against her family to build a company with him from scratch. After the company stabilized, she became pregnant and, as a strong career woman, sacrificed her business for her child, Jiang Dian.
However, after his birth, she found her place in the company gone and her husband growing distant, leading to postpartum depression and long-term anxiety. The secretary clarified that Chen Huiyun often stayed away from home not because she didn't love Jiang Dian, but because she feared her negative emotions would harm him. She recounted how Chen Huiyun once abandoned a crucial business contract to rush home and care for a feverish Jiang Dian overnight, sitting by his side until morning.
She also mentioned Chen Huiyun's birthday, which Jiang Dian failed to celebrate with her, leaving the secretary to find her alone. The secretary concluded that Chen Huiyun struggled to express her love but truly cared for Jiang Dian, who was deeply moved and guilt-ridden, blaming himself for their argument and his mother's accident.
He confessed to Cheng Feng that he never truly intended to disown his mother, lamenting his difficult situation and explaining that all he ever wanted was for his mother to accept his love for Cheng Feng. Later, Baoling visited Cheng Feng at the bookstore, preparing to travel abroad. She noticed Cheng Feng seemed troubled. Cheng Feng confided that she felt she might lose Jiang Dian.
She reflected on Baoling's past comments about her being too independent and self-reliant, always shouldering burdens alone. She realized this habit, where she kept things from Jiang Dian and solved problems independently under the guise of protecting him, had inadvertently undermined his sense of purpose and security, making him reliant but insecure. Baoling comforted her, acknowledging that both had valid perspectives; Jiang Dian wanted to be relied upon, and Cheng Feng wanted to shield him from the world's harsh realities.
However, they hadn't found a compatible way of interacting. Baoling urged Cheng Feng to prioritize her happiness, hoping that at least one of them could find joy. Cheng Feng admitted she also yearned for happiness but couldn't bear the thought of Jiang Dian enduring the same regrets she had experienced. At the hospital, Jiang Dian spoke to his unconscious mother, apologizing for their arguments and promising to stop fighting and contradicting her, hoping she would wake up.
When Cheng Feng visited with soup for Chen Huiyun, his mother was awake but angrily rejected her, spilling the soup and telling Cheng Feng to leave Dian alone, claiming she was unsuitable for him. Jiang Dian tried to calm his mother, explaining Cheng Feng's kindness, but Chen Huiyun insisted Cheng Feng was wrong for him and pressured Jiang Dian to go abroad with her to study business.
When Jiang Dian tried to postpone the discussion, Chen Huiyun issued a final ultimatum, threatening to die if he chose Cheng Feng over her. Faced with this impossible choice, Cheng Feng intervened, telling Chen Huiyun that she would choose for Jiang Dian to go abroad with his mother, stating that such a decision was too cruel for him to make. Chen Huiyun thanked her, then asked Cheng Feng to leave so she could rest.
Cheng Feng left, advising Jiang Dian to take good care of his mother. Jiang Dian reluctantly agreed to stay with his mother. Jiang Dian later found Cheng Feng at a lake, a place they had visited before. Cheng Feng asked if they still had the will to love each other amidst their struggles. Jiang Dian pleaded for them to elope and go somewhere far away, just the two of them, believing they would be happy.
Cheng Feng questioned if simply leaving would truly bring them happiness. Overwhelmed by despair and feeling Cheng Feng's departure meant losing his "sunshine" and reason to live, Jiang Dian climbed to the edge of the lake, threatening to jump. Cheng Feng immediately declared she would jump with him. Seeing her willingness to suffer with him, Jiang Dian stepped back, unable to bear the thought of her enduring the cold with him.
He apologized for his actions and for hurting her, realizing he had become the person he despised. Cheng Feng also apologized, acknowledging her fault in giving love but failing to provide him with the security he needed. They both expressed sadness over how their relationship had reached such a painful point. Cheng Feng then proposed a temporary separation, suggesting they each take space to grow individually and reunite when they were both better versions of themselves.
Jiang Dian accepted her proposal. Soon after, Chen Huiyun's secretary informed him that Chen Huiyun had already booked his flight for dusk and wanted him to handle his university withdrawal personally. Cheng Feng offered to pack his belongings at her shop, but the secretary declined, saying everything could be bought overseas. Jiang Dian then went to the physics laboratory to bid farewell to his professor.
His professor comforted him, saying that as long as he kept physics in his heart, his location didn't matter. He urged Jiang Dian to take care of himself abroad and to call him if he ever missed him, encouraging him to grow up. After Jiang Dian left, Cheng Feng was seen back at her bookstore, dancing to console her broken heart, unable to hold back her tears.
