Episode Summary
Shen Xifan suffers from severe menstrual cramps, and He Suye provides comfort and care through traditional Chinese medicine. Their interactions lead to unspoken feelings and awkward online encounters. A subplot involves a terminally ill patient, mirroring Suye's past trauma. The episode ends with a near-accident and an embrace, leaving both Xifan and Suye questioning their relationship.
Spoiler Alert
The episode opens with Shen Xifan struggling with severe menstrual cramps. Despite taking painkillers from Xu Xiangya, she's clearly in agony, nearly collapsing at the entrance to her apartment complex. Fortunately, He Suye arrives just in time. He brings her to his traditional Chinese medicine clinic and administers moxibustion (a type of heat therapy using mugwort) to alleviate her pain. Xifan, embarrassed about potentially staining the clinic bed, is reassured by Suye, who views her period as a normal physiological process and emphasizes that she shouldn't feel any shame.
He Suye's gentle care, including covering her with a blanket, allows Xifan to relax. Overwhelmed by his kindness and her own discomfort, she breaks down in tears, hiding her face with a tissue. Suye, misinterpreting her tears as sadness over her boyfriend, silently comforts her, suppressing his own growing feelings. After Xifan falls into a deep sleep, he tenderly wipes away her tears. When she wakes up, he lends her a white shirt and politely declines her offer to walk home together.
Back at home, Xifan prepares to wash Suye's shirt. She catches herself smelling it, momentarily lost in thought about him, before quickly snapping out of it. Her mother's curiosity about the unfamiliar men's shirt forces Xifan to make up a quick excuse. Later that night, Xifan finds herself browsing Suye's WeChat Moments (a social media feed). She notices a photo he posted months ago about licorice root tea, instinctively likes it, and then immediately unlikes it. To cover her tracks, she frantically likes several other posts, only to be called out by Suye, who also reminds her to get some rest.
The next day at lunch, Xifan learns from Xiangya that liking and unliking a post on WeChat still leaves a trace. Xiangya and Lin Yishen, after seeing Xifan and Suye's chat logs, are convinced that Suye has feelings for Xifan. However, Xifan stubbornly insists that their relationship is strictly doctor-patient, leading Xiangya to lament the classic case of unrequited affection.
Meanwhile, Suye sees a picture of milk tea that Xifan posted on her Moments. He initially wants to warn her that ginger milk tea can exacerbate autumn dryness, but instead decides to send her some gentle medicinal food recipes, explaining that they are beneficial for her.
The episode also touches upon a somber subplot at the hospital. A patient with terminal cancer and brain metastasis is under Suye's care. The patient's daughter, unwilling to see her mother suffer further, asks Suye to help prolong her life just long enough for the family to say their final goodbyes. This situation deeply affects Suye, reminding him of his own mother's death and his father's decision to forgo treatment after learning of the cancer's spread.
In the evening, Xifan unexpectedly runs into Suye at a food stall near her apartment. Sensing his low spirits, she silently walks alongside him. Suye, realizing he's been neglecting her, turns back, their eyes meeting. A sudden near-accident with a cyclist causes Xifan to pull Suye out of harm's way, and he instinctively pulls her into a protective embrace. The episode concludes with both Xifan and Suye unable to sleep, each replaying the night's events and grappling with their uncertain feelings for one another.
