With You Episode 2

Episode 2: “Are you willing? I am?”

The last part in that quote sounds like "I do" in Chinese. If you're thinking of marriage, you're spot on. There’s even an aisle to walk down. The one walking down that aisle though is Yu Huai's and he's moving steadily towards Geng Geng (;

Lu Xing He

It’s as if someone helped Geng Geng get her revenge on Mr. Pang because the morning after her punishment, his uniform is hung up like a flag while he’s almost naked. Thank god he’s not actually naked. The culprit was Lu Xing He (Wang Li Xin) but for some reason he gets special treatment from Mr. Pang. He gets some nagging from Mr. Pang and that’s it.

I should have gotten a picture with her eyes looking more normal

There’s a cute moment here when Mr. Pang is giving them a loooong speech, Yu Huai gently blows away a fly that’s been bugging Geng Geng. Aw. (:

Later that morning all the students have to work together as a group to make Chinese characters but it’s disastrous. The instructions are terrible but no one has a better solution. After standing so long, Geng Geng looks like she’s actually going to faint. Yu Huai can’t let the girl he likes suffer so he bravely contests Mr. Pang’s instructions otherwise I swear he would have remained silent. He provokes Mr. Pang to set up a deal with him: if he can get the students to make all the Chinese characters within one hour, they’d get the afternoon off. Deal set.

The second Yu Huai gets the power, he’s like everyone, take a twenty-minute break. I’m grinning. Always caring for Geng Geng, isn’t he? He’s also using the time wisely though. He’s setting up a grid and so every student is like a coordinate, knowing exactly when to stand up or sit down and with the hour being up, Yu Huai completes his end of the deal with ease. Deal done. Why you so cool, Yu Huan!

They spend their break time productively by playing games. I don’t know how the game works but they all sit in a circle and Geng Geng and Yu Huai coincidentally gets called to the middle. Their challenge is to stare at each other; the first one who laugh loses aaaaaaaand the loser is Yu Huai. His punishment is getting his ears twisted by Geng Geng and she gives no mercy whatsoever.

His loving smile~~

Their segment ends and he slyly sits right next to her (they were sitting apart before). He returns the camera and this time he gets a genuine thankyou from her. He smiles (a loving smile) at her.

That smile was probably pretty to her too because she snaps a picture of him.

Blushing! I like how his eyes are hidden

Then his ears really get red here. It’s definitely not from his ears being twisted.

The fun comes to an end when Zhang Ping (their homeroom teacher) reminds them they have a test tomorrow. Geng Geng treats the test like it’s life or death but really it’s just to seat them according to their grades – well, that’s pretty cruel too. Yu Huan sees her sulking so he offers to be her desk buddy (so she can cheat off of him). I guess that's a way to be considerate too...

Geng Geng isn’t very good at cheating as she still ends up with the worst grade in the whole class and gets the coveted back seat, but hey, it’s a window seat, meanwhile Yu Huai is in the front row. I like that they’re both checking up on each other’s seats. Yu Huai looks so disappointed.

Geng Geng's seat is next to Zhu Yao (Liu Wen Qu); she’s even more annoying than Mr. Pang. She complains to Mr. Zhang she doesn’t want to sit next to Geng Geng because she believes stupidity is contagious. She’s also the girl who blamed Geng Geng for fainting first.

During recess, Yu Huai visits Geng Geng at her seat and comforts her for being last. Zhu Yao thinks he’s visiting her (where has this girl’s brain gone) and he’s like, nope. Lol. She asks him to share his study tips and he’s like I don’t study. She whines that he doesn’t have to worry about her being better than him if he shares it but Yu Huai ain’t worried at all because she can’t surpass him (which he doesn’t tell her directly but the meaning is implied). Yu Huai has gotten revenge for our Geng Geng.

Before he leaves, he lends her his physics textbook because hers is in tatters (possibly because they chose books according to the seating plan). He assures her she doesn’t need the book because he already knows everything.

After lunch, Yu Huai takes initiative and switches seats with Zhu Yao to sit beside Geng Geng for that one period. Why do these little things make me giddy? But what’s the point if he’s only going to be playing Sudoku? Well he does help Geng Geng write her name in her notebook for her because she claims his writing is nicer but the problem is, he accidentally writes his own name in her book. Haha. Still, she doesn’t mind, she continues to let him write it for her anyways. I wonder what she’s going to do with that book with his name in it xD. 

She also gives him a present: a folded up Slam Dunk poster (Slam Dunk because he really likes basketball). It’s a handmade book cover she made for him. He even called it old-fashioned before but now he’s happily using it.

For the next class they’re back to their original seats and the teacher, Zhang Feng, picks on Geng Geng. Since she doesn’t know the answer, Zhu Yao gladly answers and even makes a snide remark to the dumber students that she doesn’t belong in the back if she wasn’t sick on test day. Then the class erupts in chaos, well mostly it’s Jiang Nian Nian getting at Zhu Yao.

Yu Huai tries to dissipate the fire by changing seats with Zhu Yao but Zhang Feng isn’t pleased with him taking authority on his own and leaves the class with a huff and a puff. Sleepy Mr. Zhang scurries to class to clean up the mess and now the students, mostly Yu Huai, wants a new seating arrangement because it isn’t fair to rank students based on their marks. Yeah, sure, he definitely doesn’t have a personal agenda. Here we go again with another deal: if the students can beat Mr. Zhang in getting five questions correct before he does, there’d be a new seating arrangement.

I think Mr. Zhang gives in a little because he’s moved by the students will in getting a new seating arrangement so when Yu Huai gets the last answer correct, he gladly gives a huge check mark. Everyone jumps to joy and immediately changes seats but Yu Huai and Geng Geng are still glued to their chairs. What are they waiting for?

Finally, Yu Huai tells Mr. Zhang he wants to move too.

Yu Huai turns around and calls out to Geng Geng: We promised (to sit together).

Zhang Ping: Is she willing though? That’s the very back row.

Geng Geng: I’m willing (or "I do" – they’re the same in Chinese).

Music enters! And Yu Huai walks down the aisle to her with that goofy boyish laugh. I love him.

Nian Nian interrupts: Why does it feel like you guys are proposing? LOL.

In a mocking voice, Nian Nian adds: “I do~~!” I like her too.

Yu Huai kicks her desk.

Zhang Ping adds in some cheesy line: Maybe the person beside you may be the wealth you’ll cherish the most.

Cherish each other (;

Yu Huai and Geng Geng look at each other but then that gets interrupted by Mr. Zhang who wants Geng Geng to take a class picture. So if she’s taking the picture, there won’t be Geng Geng in it!         

Comments 

This has nothing to do with the drama but I hate the black strips in my screencaps. I edited them out in the last recap but they turned into awkward rectangles.

Anyways, back to the drama. I skipped over the parents again so here's a quick note on them: dad is set on getting remarried but he still wants his daughter’s approval meanwhile mom is still work oriented. Mom is pressuring the daughter a lot too. It scares me that she’ll run off to Zhang Ping and yell at him for putting her daughter in the back. Zhang Ping doesn’t deserve to be yelled at for how nice he is! Plus, I like how awkward he was in Episode 1.

Another pair I glossed over was Jian Dan and Han Xu (Li Jia Cheng). She’s harbouring a one-sided crush on him. I think he's the second smartest after Yu Huai in that class. I don’t think he likes her (yet) but he chose to sit beside her after the seating arrangement...!

Although I wasn’t educated in China, this drama brings back nuggets of memories I had forgotten during my high school days. Seating arrangements was a huge deal. The drama captures this simple problem nicely and made it matter. It also adds a lot of smaller moments that were so relevant like writing my name in a textbook and worrying over whether my writing was pretty.

I just want to reiterate this: I love Yu Huai even with his bowl cut and wide dorky smile. I just had to grin with him there. I love it when he takes initiative and walks all the way to her during recess when he had no excuse to be there and especially when he walked down that aisle to be her desk buddy. He's not thaaaaaat perfect either. I don't think his sense of responsibility is that strong. He only steps up for Geng Geng (: 

I don’t like over-the-top things that have been overdone (e.g. the falling on top of each other and the accidental hugs) and some dramas think they can get away with it by adding a new twist to it but it’s still the same thing! This drama has done the clichés too but they’re brushed by quickly instead it’s the subtler scenes that are more substantial. Him blowing the fly away from her was really sweet. Then there’s him blushing when she’s smiling brightly at him but he lets her misunderstand that his ears are red from the twisting earlier. 

Related Posts: 
With You Episode 3

With You Episode 1