With You Episode 23 Recap
> With You Recap
Geng Geng, now graduated from a university in Beijing, decided to forgo a stable civil servant position after only three months to pursue her passion for photography. She eventually joined a magazine but resigned due to creative differences with her superior. Her boss criticized her, asking if she wanted to quit, but Geng Geng defiantly stated, "I wanted to quit long time ago! Now watch I’m quitting!"
After leaving her job, Geng Geng said goodbye to Lu Xinghe in Beijing and returned to her hometown with the intention of opening her own photography studio, explaining that she wanted "to take whatever I want." As she was leaving, Lu Xinghe dramatically proposed to Geng Geng on the street. She was not in the mood for such surprises, despite his confession that he had proposed to her 56 times over the years.
Lu Xinghe also jokingly lamented, "I haven’t got a chance to draw you naked!" Back home, Geng Geng immediately faced pressure from her family to marry. During a video call, her mother sternly questioned her choices, chastising her for giving up a "stable job" as a civil servant for photography and asking, "What can you do going back home?" and "How could you find someone with your personality?"
Geng Geng's father was eager for her to marry, and Auntie Qi tried to set her up on blind dates, even suggesting a "handsome boy" just back from Britain. To temporarily quell her parents' worries, Geng Geng enlisted Lu Xinghe, who had also returned to their hometown, to pretend to be her boyfriend. Lu Xinghe, ever the impish one, seized the opportunity to formally propose to Geng Geng's father.
He spun a tale of their long-standing relationship in Beijing, his sadness over her planned blind dates, and his determination to "get her back," even claiming he "got her back" from a blind date. Although Geng Geng's father was eager for her to marry, he seemed taken aback by the suddenness of Lu Xinghe's proposition, especially after Lu Xinghe introduced himself as a successful painter whose controversial works included a piece titled "Alien Rapes Earth Girl."
The family's attention was soon diverted when Geng Geng's younger step-brother, Lin Fan, was rushed to the hospital after a football injury. Geng Geng, accompanied by Lu Xinghe, went to visit him. Lin Fan, sporting a neck injury, quickly saw through Geng Geng and Lu Xinghe's act. He remarked that Lu Xinghe seemed quite nice and advised Geng Geng to "just make it real," emphasizing, "It’s not easy for you to meet someone who likes you."
Geng Geng retorted, "Are you forcing me too?" and playfully teased him about his own "classmate relationship" in high school. Still holding onto hope for Yu Huai, who had been unreachable for years, Geng Geng was determined to find him. She received an order to shoot at Zhenhua High School, her alma mater, but the client chose to remain anonymous.
During her visit, she encountered a security guard whom she convinced by naming her former teachers, Mr. Zhang Ping and Mr. Zhang Feng. She also met Zheng Yamin, a former classmate who was now a teacher at Zhenhua. Zheng Yamin reminisced about how Geng Geng and Yu Huai got to sit together and asked if Geng Geng still had contact with Yu Huai, to which Geng Geng falsely replied, "I don’t."
Zheng Yamin added Geng Geng to their class WeChat group. Geng Geng then visited Mr. Zhang Ping, who also talked about the "best time" of their youth, showing her a class photo where both she and Yu Huai were absent. When asked, Mr. Zhang Ping also confirmed he had no news of Yu Huai. Despite Geng Geng's continued emotional attachment to Yu Huai, Lu Xinghe offered to help her find him.
He revealed that he had solved a Sudoku puzzle Yu Huai had once given Geng Geng, which turned out to be a geographic coordinate. Following the coordinates, Geng Geng and Lu Xinghe drove to what was supposed to be Yu Huai's home. However, an old lady informed them that Yu Huai and his family had moved out "some days ago" without saying where.
Lu Xinghe, frustrated by Yu Huai's apparent disappearance, promised Geng Geng, "I’ll dig him out no matter where he’s hiding! I’ll make you give up on him." He once again pressed Geng Geng about their relationship, explaining that he had marked 56 unsuccessful proposals on his wall and describing his printmaking of Geng Geng as his "only picture" of her, representing his desire to keep that moment of her forever. He declared, "I don’t want to miss you.
Let’s be together." Geng Geng, still conflicted, responded, "I’m not ready yet." Lu Xinghe acknowledged her hesitation, saying, "Alright, wait till I dig out that jerk Yu Huai, and you’ll be ready then." Later, Geng Geng received a video call from Jian Dan, who was visiting Zhou Mo in the US.
Jian Dan, impatient with Zhou Mo's secrecy, revealed a shocking truth: "For the past four or five years, Zhou Mo and Yu Huai actually had been renting an apartment together." She showed Geng Geng Yu Huai's notebook and blanket, confirming that he had been living there and had only moved out "just a couple of days before I came," specifically "to avoid you."
Zhou Mo tried to interrupt and explain, but Jian Dan pressed on, even showing Yu Huai's old high school English book, which he "always kept with him" but "left it behind after all." Jian Dan concluded, "Yu Huai won’t come back." Overhearing this devastating news from a hidden spot nearby, Lu Xinghe was heartbroken for Geng Geng and inwardly cursed Yu Huai. Deeply saddened by the revelation, Geng Geng returned to the hospital to look after Lin Fan.
Suddenly, she heard a crash and a cry from Lin Fan's room. Rushing in anxiously, she accidentally collided with a stranger. Upon hearing his voice, Geng Geng froze, her eyes widening in shock as she slowly looked up at him.
