With You Episode 1 Recap
> With You Recap
On the evening of August 14, 2004, high school freshman Geng Geng, accompanied by Yu Huai and several other classmates, sneaked into a school classroom to watch the Olympic Games. The broadcast showed Chinese athlete Liu Xiang competing in the finals of a short-distance running event. The commentator noted Liu Xiang's confidence, highlighting that none of his rivals had beaten him that year, and advised him to focus on the first hurdle.
As the race began, Liu Xiang started smoothly, taking the lead against competitors like Trammel and Olijars. When Liu Xiang ultimately won, creating history as a Chinese man with black hair and yellow skin, Geng Geng, overwhelmed with excitement, embraced Yu Huai. However, she quickly became self-conscious and stepped back, blushing. Their illicit viewing was interrupted when a security guard was heard approaching.
One of the students, Zhou Mo, had used the TV remote control batteries to light candles, accidentally damaging them, which meant they couldn't watch TV initially. Yu Huai, however, quickly used his scientific knowledge to fix the remote control, allowing them to continue watching the race. When the security guard got closer, some students wanted to flee immediately, but Geng Geng decided to stay and watch the end of the race with Yu Huai.
After Liu Xiang's victory, they all scattered, running out of the campus to escape the guard. As they ran, Geng Geng and Yu Huai discussed their future class choices, with Yu Huai wondering if Geng Geng would choose liberal arts or science, emphasizing his desire for them to remain desk mates.
Geng Geng reflected on that night, remembering their hands clasped as they ran under the moonlight, and how he was the best version of himself then, but she became her best self much later, with an entire youth separating their "best selves." A year prior, the SARS epidemic caused widespread disruption, leading to reforms in the high school entrance exam, reducing it to three subjects with lower difficulty.
Geng Geng, an average student, unexpectedly got into the prestigious Zhenhua High School. She felt she had simply stumbled into good fortune and anticipated that such luck would eventually have consequences. The morning she left for Zhenhua, she quietly took down a framed exam award her father had proudly displayed on the wall, not wanting to draw attention.
Her name, a combination of characters from her parents' names, symbolized a union of love, but they had divorced, leaving her often sad and missing her mother. During breakfast, her father encouraged her to make new friends and leave a good impression. At Zhenhua, Geng Geng found herself among students from elite middle schools, feeling out of place.
That evening, her father celebrated her admission to Zhenhua, but Geng Geng put on a brave face, saying the school and students were "good" and "friendly." She inquired when she could see her mother again, but her mother, speaking on the phone from work, gently rebuffed her, telling her to focus on her studies and promising a visit later, leaving Geng Geng feeling disheartened. Her father later mentioned wanting to introduce her to an aunt.
On her first day at Zhenhua, Geng Geng struggled to get through a narrow gate. Yu Huai, who happened to be nearby, helped her, teasing her for being "stupid" and having a "big head." She was surprised to learn he was also a freshman. Later, while looking at the class assignment list, Geng Geng overheard parents celebrating their children getting into the advanced classes. She eventually found her own name on the last page.
To her surprise, Yu Huai was also in the same class, and they ended up as desk mates. Yu Huai noticed their names, "Geng Geng" and "Yu Huai," combined to sound like "Geng Geng Yu Huai," an idiom meaning "obsessed" or "to have something on one's mind." He teasingly called her a "haunting ghost," and Geng Geng felt Zhenhua was already being unkind to her. During roll call, their class supervisor and physics teacher, Zhang Ping, introduced himself.
Students like Liu Wanhui and Xu Yanliang introduced themselves, and Yu Huai, the top student, mentioned his love for basketball, with classmates noting he only missed the advanced classes due to a minor exam mishap. When Geng Geng introduced herself, stating she was from No. 13 Middle School, some classmates openly questioned how someone from such an ordinary school could get into Zhenhua.
The next day, during the military training, Director Pan Yuansheng, the administration director, reprimanded Geng Geng for not wearing her uniform. Yu Huai was also caught in casual wear. It turned out they had accidentally swapped bags. Director Pan, a stern figure, announced that military training was to test their willpower and character, demanding they shed bad habits and confiscate all non-study related items.
Another student, Zhou Mo, was caught with a romance novel and was punished to clean the storage room. Pan Yuansheng then discovered Geng Geng's camera in her bag, confiscating it. Geng Geng and Yu Huai secretly exchanged their uniforms through bathroom stalls. While changing, Geng Geng lamented about her camera and Yu Huai his Walkman, which were both confiscated. After military drills, they tried to figure out how to retrieve their belongings from the storage room.
Later, at lunch, Yu Huai helped Geng Geng get some meat, then lied to Xu Yanliang that the instructor was looking for him, allowing Yu Huai to sit next to Geng Geng. He then pressed Geng Geng to help him steal his Walkman back, threatening to hand in her camera otherwise. Geng Geng reluctantly agreed. During a break in training, Jiang Niannian, nicknamed Beta, suggested the girls fake fainting from the heat to get a rest.
Geng Geng tried to join in but her acting was so poor that Director Pan immediately saw through it. However, Yu Huai, seeing Geng Geng struggling, quickly supported her and helped her fake a severe fainting spell, convincing the instructor to send all the girls to rest in the shade. Jiang Niannian then formally introduced herself to Geng Geng. Later, Geng Geng overheard Director Pan scolding the girls for their collective "fainting" act.
When he demanded to know who initiated it, some girls blamed Geng Geng. Director Pan, already frustrated with Geng Geng, ordered the entire squad to do one hundred frog jumps. Yu Huai defended her, stating that Geng Geng shouldn't be solely blamed, but it was too late.
That night, Yu Huai and Zhou Mo, feeling bored and hungry, sneaked out to roast figs. Geng Geng found them and Yu Huai offered her a roasted fig, teasing her that it was a family secret recipe. She tried it, admitting it was tasty. They shared stories, with Yu Huai recounting a childhood prank involving firecrackers and a "dung beetle's nest." Geng Geng joked about how academically smart students could be so unreliable.
Yu Huai then shared his ambition to study at Tsinghua, pursue a Ph. D. in America, and become a physicist. When they ran out of figs, Yu Huai and Zhou Mo went to pick more, leaving Geng Geng to mind the fire. Yu Huai promised Geng Geng he would return her camera the next day. Director Pan, on patrol, discovered Geng Geng alone by the fire. He furiously accused her of arson.
As he interrogated her, Yu Huai returned and confessed it was his fire, trying to shield Geng Geng. Director Pan, however, furious with "the two of them again," punished both Geng Geng and Yu Huai, ordering them to clean the storage room that night and write a five-thousand-word self-reflection report by morning. Yu Huai tried to protest, asserting that Geng Geng was innocent, but Director Pan didn't listen.
While they were being punished, it was noted that another student, Lu Xinghe, was missing from his class. As Geng Geng cleaned, she burst into tears, feeling unjustly accused and overwhelmed. Yu Huai comforted her, promised to give back her camera, and ended up cleaning the entire storage room by himself.
He later asked her how to spell a complex Chinese character and explained that he stepped up because she was "dumb" and couldn't defend herself, adding that he couldn't leave her to cry alone all night in Zhenhua. He then mischievously returned her Walkman, which he had secretly retrieved while cleaning, and they listened to music together. The next morning, Director Pan's uniform was discovered hung on the flagpole, eliciting widespread laughter from the students.
He vowed to find the culprit. Meanwhile, a student named Lu Xinghe complained loudly to Zhang Ping, calling Zhenhua "perverted" and demanding expulsion. Later, some students grumbled about having to sit with Geng Geng due to her poor academic performance, fearing she would affect them. Zhang Ping defended Geng Geng against her classmates' criticisms. Director Pan then arrived, giving everyone a stern warning against further misbehavior.
