A girl gets a second chance at life to save her mother and her career. Will she also find love along the way?
[Ep1] Yun Xiao Xi shows up looking like a peasant to her university classmate's engagement party. The bride had hired her dingy company to tailor her wedding dress. Yun Xiao Xi is sent to the venue to fix the dress not knowing the customer was Xia Duo, the bride. She purposely scouted her company to make Yun Xiao Xi an embarrassment to all her alumni. Yun Xiao Xi runs to the washroom to take a breather but a man suddenly shows up behind her. This man is Cai Tian Mu. He's a lawyer who just humiliated his blind date and received a deserving water splash to the face. Thinking he entered the wrong washroom, he exits but he's right. He re-enters and points to the urinal. Yun Xiao Xi embarrassingly leaves but she overhears her two ex-classmates laughing at her. Yun Xiao Xi is stuck in her spot, unable to move with nowhere to hide. Cai Tian Mu grabs her hand and takes her into a stall. He covers her ears because the gossipy men are still laughing her. He saved her from embarrassment but how did he know she's Yun Xiao Xi? Once he's alone in the washroom, he finds one of the men's phone. He smiles and dumps it into the trash where it belongs, avenging for Yun Xiao Xi. I have to say I committed to this drama because of this scene where he covered her ears. However, he can't save her from her next peril. Xia Duo shoves her engagement ring to Yun Xiao Xi to sabotage her for stealing the ring. Everyone chose to believe Xia Duo. (Conspicuously) She whispers to Yun Xiao Xi that falling to her first trap was dumb but falling for it the second time means she deserves it. Hearing this YXX realizes all her misfortunes began with Xia Duo.
Yun Xiao Xi's detriments all began five years ago. Xia Duo had accused her of plagiarism. On the same day, her mother died. Yun Xiao Xi regrets never picking up her mother's phone call that day because of the plagiarism incident. Upset of her life's turmoils, she decides to commit suicide. A mysterious man (Darren Wang) gives her a mysterious "Regret Pill". He tells her that this pill will bring her back to the moment she regretted the most. He’s saving her because he's returning a favour to someone who had helped him before. Yun Xiao Xi takes the pill but still accidentally falls off the building.
[Ep2] As Yun Xiao Xi is falling off she finds herself landing flat on the floor and also landing back to five years ago. Time travel is a success. She's a university student again. Yun Xiao Xi has only fallen off the stage that's less than one meter tall. She runs home to make sure mom (Wang Lin) is okay. She's alive and well. That night, she snuggles into her mom's bed hugging her to sleep.
The next morning, it's bright and sunny. Riding her bike, Yun Xiao Xi releases her arms from the handle to embrace the sunlight until she crashes into a man. He's Cai Tian Mu. He was taking photos of beautiful things including her until she flew into him. Unable to dodge, he becomes the cushion to her fall. She recognizes him as the man in the washroom five years in the future. He still has quite the prickly personality.
Their next encounter is not in the men's washroom but the men's locker room. He's half naked with a zipper sweater on. She was there to capture proof of Yang Yi Kai cheating on her best friend, Na Na. Instead she's captured by Cai Tian Mu. Once again, the same two men (from the future) are gossiping about her and so Cai Tian Mu grabs her arm to guide her to a hidden corner and covers her ears. Which means he knew her name even before these encounters. Yun Xiao Xi eyes the man in front of her and smiles. He looks down at himself and quickly zips up his exposed chest. She's not smiling at that, though. She wants his help to capture Yang Yi Kai's infidelity. Yun Xiao Xi is determined to help her best friend rid her future jerk husband. Cai Tian Mu is skeptical but once he learns Yang Yi Kai isn't her boyfriend he helps. He orders her to enter her number in his phone and tells her to save his. He saves her number with her name when she hasn't once introduced herself. I like that shower scene where he's wiping off the shampoo from his eyes. When he's got the information she wants, he calls up Yun Xiao Xi that they need to clean up some trash.
[Ep3] The trash, Yang Yi Kai, puts on a big show to propose to Na Na. However, when all his girlfriends show up that becomes the real show. Yang Yi Kai is out for good. The only problem is now Yun Xiao Xi has created two enemies: Xia Duo and Yang Yi Kai. Xia Duo had cut up all their clothing to make Yun Xiao Xi's design a failure. With five extra years of experience in her belt, Yun Xiao Xi is able to turn a disaster into an opportunity. She also recruits her new buddy, Cai Tian Mu, as her model. Initially refusing to, Cai Tian Mu is forced to accept when Chen Yi Bo makes him jealous. (Chen Yi Bo is supposed to be Xia Duo's future husband.) Additionally, Chen Yi Bo’s little crush on YXX doesn’t go unnoticed by Xia Duo which makes her hate for YXX even deeper.
Yun Xiao Xi signs up for the competition, the one she was accused of plagiarism by Xia Duo. This time she's resolute on winning. There's one small problem. She doesn't have a model. She coincidentally bumps into Zhang Yi Yi or the future Zhang Man who will be a famous actress but right now she's just a café employee. Is this still a fair competition? Presently ZYY is an ugly duckling. With YXX’s motivation, ZYY agrees to model for her.
There's also a competition between the men. Chen Yi Bo and Cai Tian Mu have both asked YXX out on a date. Chen Yi Bo asked her like a gentleman while Cai Tian Mu demanded her to show up without giving her time to consider. Date night, she dresses up with a redesigned dress she took from her mother. Belatedly she realizes it's the dress her mother had worn on the first date she had with YXX's father. Her date night almost turned fatal when Yang Yi Kai almost ran her over had it not been for Cai Tian Mu's timely appearance. He had driven his motorcycle right in between Yang Yi Kai's car and her.
[Ep4] Yang Yi Kai steps out of his car and hurls a glass bottle at the back of Cai Tian Mu's head. He falls to the ground and a frantic Xiao Xi hits Yang Yi Kai with her purse. There's zero strength in her arms. Luckily Yang Yi Kai snaps to his senses and Cai Tian Mu is okay. He's just got blood trickling down from his forehead. I thought he was hit from the back. While she's blowing sweetly on his wounds for medical reasons unknown, he notices her attire. He reprimands her instead (because he doesn't know how to compliment), "Wearing clothes like this, what kind of nice people (men) will you meet?" You. When he finds out she's dressed this prettily to meet another man, he stomps off and rides away... only to come around full circle to drive her to her date. He’s worried about her safety. When they've arrived, Yun Xiao Xi doesn't realize it and continues to hug him. Cai Tian Mu smiles. But that smile quickly fades when he learns her date is Chen Yi Bo. As he leaves on his motorcycle, he purposely drives near them to make a thunderous roar as loud as the jealousy is in his heart.
At dinner with Chen Yi Bo she notices a comet in the sky. From that point on her date is distracted with thoughts of Cai Tian Mu. She apologizes to Chen Yi Bo and excuses herself. In her heels and short dress, she runs to Cai Tian Mu afraid she'll be late. When she arrives, she heaves a heavy sigh when there's no one there.
The next day Xia Duo accuses Yun Xiao Xi of seducing Chen Yi Bo to gain an advantage for the competition. She's saved by her "boyfriend" who is not Chen Yi Bo. It's Cai Tian Mu. Xia Duo asks him to prove it and so prove it he does. Cupping her face, he goes in for a kiss. He threatens Xia Duo to not mess with his girlfriend. Taking her hand, he walks her out of the crowd. Cai Tian Mu tells her to thank him – for kissing her. She does thank him for saving her. The moment the words left her mouth, he kisses her again. This time he tells her, "No need to thank me." (:
Yun Xiao Xi is concentrating on work and in comes Cai Tian Mu taking pictures. Zhang Yi Yi shies away. Cai Tian Mu smoothly tells them he has a habit of taking pictures of beautiful things. He meant Yun Xiao Xi (and the dress she designed). The way he's smiling at his beautiful thing is sweet. After work she's browsing through the pictures Cai Tian Mu took. As she skims through them she finds a picture of herself from a year ago. It's when she helped a little girl. Ah so it was her angelic smile that had won him over.
Yun Xiao Xi finally learns that the first time he had met her wasn't five years in the future nor was it five years now, but a year ago. Her eyes become dewy as she stares at Cai Tian Mu. He thinks he's got something on his face. She smiles and leans over to kiss him on the cheek, "Now there's something on your face." Aww. He's speechless and scratches the back of his neck like a silly boy.
As the competition nears, so does the day of mother's car accident. She sends her mother on a trip thinking that will divert her from the fatality but fate has it that the trip derails. Mom is once again attending her competition, and once again facing the same car accident. When Yun Xiao Xi learns of her mother's attendance, she drops everything to save mom even if it means losing her competition.
[Ep5] Mom is saving a pedestrian from a truck whose driver fell asleep behind the wheel. Suddenly a bike comes in between the mom and the truck. It's Yun Xiao Xi. Finally, she's doing the saving. Thankfully, the driver breaks in time and no one's hurt. Mom is saved but there's still a competition to win. Xia Duo had destroyed Yun Xiao Xi's dress. When Mom sees her daughter's design stripped to pieces she quickly helps her daughter fix the dress. I love how the drama makes Mom useful. However, it's too late. Their number is called and Zhang Yi Yi has to walk. Yun Xiao Yi and Mom lose all hope but strangely there's applause outside. Zhang Yi Yi is on stage and the crowd cheers for her.
Mom hugs her daughter telling her it doesn't matter what place she gets, to her she's always first. Yun Xiao Xi hugs Mom back and tells her it doesn't matter if she gets a prize at all. Her biggest reward is having her mother safely at her side. Well, as a bonus, Drama gives Yun Xiao Xi the win as well. With this on her resume, Yun Xiao Xi gets a chance to go abroad to Paris. Cai Tian Mu is sad to let her go but he supports her dream. Yun Xiao Xi also supports his. His parents want him to be a lawyer but he wants to be a photographer. He smiles. He becomes a photographer, but Yun Xiao Xi did not choose to go abroad. When Cai Tian Mu asks if she'll regret it, she looks at him and replies, "My happiness is here. I'm not going anywhere."
Fast forward. There's a wedding. It's Yun Xiao Xi's. Mom is complimenting her daughter's magazine cover. Nana flatters that the photographer is none other than Cai Tian Mu, the groom. Na Na has also found herself a cute boyfriend, Zhang Shuo (Peng Yu Chang), who's busy and cannot attend the wedding but calls in to make his presence known to Chen Yi Bo and Zhang Yi Yi. Chen Yi Bo is single and Zhang Yi Yi is a famous actress. As Yun Xiao Xi is making her way to the ceremony, Xia Duo clumsily bumps into her. She's not invited; she's here to tailor a dress. A man, who was Yun Xiao Xi's original boss, hollers at Xia Duo. Xia Duo has taken the fate she had crafted for herself.
Yun Xiao Xi looks at Xiao Duo with pity but there's no time for that. Her future husband is waiting for her at the door to their happiness. Yun Xiao Xi takes Cai Tian Mu's arm before the door opens to their ceremony.
Wait. The drama doesn't end yet. In the original timeline of events, Mom had died saving a young boy from the truck. This boy was the mysterious man who spent five years creating the "Regret Pill". It's mom who granted her own second chance at life, as well as her daughter's.
[Review] Sweetly satisfying. I'm usually not a fan of short dramas but this one was just enough to flesh the plot plus a convincing romance to follow. Disclaimer: I do have a love for Ding Yu Xi. Li Ying Ying suits her role: clueless to love. The second chance at life makes me envious, especially how utterly perfect it becomes. However, I am happy for her and for him. If she didn't go back in time, our male lead wouldn't have a happy ending either. I love it that the drama made the male lead know of the female's lead presence way before she knew he existed. Then this was paralleled by the female lead knowing they will meet in the future. He knows her past and she knows his future. With the reset in life, they get to be together in the present where it matters the most.
Side note: This review follows my recaps for Intense Love. I realize I love a smiling Ding Yu Xi much more than a cold-faced one. But my favourite Ding Yu Xi is the one in Just an Encore.
Chinese Title
未来的秘密
Future's Secret
未来的秘密
Future's Secret
Mini Recaps
Yun Xiao Xi's detriments all began five years ago. Xia Duo had accused her of plagiarism. On the same day, her mother died. Yun Xiao Xi regrets never picking up her mother's phone call that day because of the plagiarism incident. Upset of her life's turmoils, she decides to commit suicide. A mysterious man (Darren Wang) gives her a mysterious "Regret Pill". He tells her that this pill will bring her back to the moment she regretted the most. He’s saving her because he's returning a favour to someone who had helped him before. Yun Xiao Xi takes the pill but still accidentally falls off the building.
[Ep2] As Yun Xiao Xi is falling off she finds herself landing flat on the floor and also landing back to five years ago. Time travel is a success. She's a university student again. Yun Xiao Xi has only fallen off the stage that's less than one meter tall. She runs home to make sure mom (Wang Lin) is okay. She's alive and well. That night, she snuggles into her mom's bed hugging her to sleep.
The next morning, it's bright and sunny. Riding her bike, Yun Xiao Xi releases her arms from the handle to embrace the sunlight until she crashes into a man. He's Cai Tian Mu. He was taking photos of beautiful things including her until she flew into him. Unable to dodge, he becomes the cushion to her fall. She recognizes him as the man in the washroom five years in the future. He still has quite the prickly personality.
[Ep3] The trash, Yang Yi Kai, puts on a big show to propose to Na Na. However, when all his girlfriends show up that becomes the real show. Yang Yi Kai is out for good. The only problem is now Yun Xiao Xi has created two enemies: Xia Duo and Yang Yi Kai. Xia Duo had cut up all their clothing to make Yun Xiao Xi's design a failure. With five extra years of experience in her belt, Yun Xiao Xi is able to turn a disaster into an opportunity. She also recruits her new buddy, Cai Tian Mu, as her model. Initially refusing to, Cai Tian Mu is forced to accept when Chen Yi Bo makes him jealous. (Chen Yi Bo is supposed to be Xia Duo's future husband.) Additionally, Chen Yi Bo’s little crush on YXX doesn’t go unnoticed by Xia Duo which makes her hate for YXX even deeper.
Yun Xiao Xi signs up for the competition, the one she was accused of plagiarism by Xia Duo. This time she's resolute on winning. There's one small problem. She doesn't have a model. She coincidentally bumps into Zhang Yi Yi or the future Zhang Man who will be a famous actress but right now she's just a café employee. Is this still a fair competition? Presently ZYY is an ugly duckling. With YXX’s motivation, ZYY agrees to model for her.
There's also a competition between the men. Chen Yi Bo and Cai Tian Mu have both asked YXX out on a date. Chen Yi Bo asked her like a gentleman while Cai Tian Mu demanded her to show up without giving her time to consider. Date night, she dresses up with a redesigned dress she took from her mother. Belatedly she realizes it's the dress her mother had worn on the first date she had with YXX's father. Her date night almost turned fatal when Yang Yi Kai almost ran her over had it not been for Cai Tian Mu's timely appearance. He had driven his motorcycle right in between Yang Yi Kai's car and her.
[Ep4] Yang Yi Kai steps out of his car and hurls a glass bottle at the back of Cai Tian Mu's head. He falls to the ground and a frantic Xiao Xi hits Yang Yi Kai with her purse. There's zero strength in her arms. Luckily Yang Yi Kai snaps to his senses and Cai Tian Mu is okay. He's just got blood trickling down from his forehead. I thought he was hit from the back. While she's blowing sweetly on his wounds for medical reasons unknown, he notices her attire. He reprimands her instead (because he doesn't know how to compliment), "Wearing clothes like this, what kind of nice people (men) will you meet?" You. When he finds out she's dressed this prettily to meet another man, he stomps off and rides away... only to come around full circle to drive her to her date. He’s worried about her safety. When they've arrived, Yun Xiao Xi doesn't realize it and continues to hug him. Cai Tian Mu smiles. But that smile quickly fades when he learns her date is Chen Yi Bo. As he leaves on his motorcycle, he purposely drives near them to make a thunderous roar as loud as the jealousy is in his heart.
At dinner with Chen Yi Bo she notices a comet in the sky. From that point on her date is distracted with thoughts of Cai Tian Mu. She apologizes to Chen Yi Bo and excuses herself. In her heels and short dress, she runs to Cai Tian Mu afraid she'll be late. When she arrives, she heaves a heavy sigh when there's no one there.
But he is there. He's sitting on the fence watching her sighing from above. She wonders if she's too late to watch the meteor shower with him and he tells her, "Not late - stares at her - It's only starting now." I think he means their love (:.
Yun Xiao Xi is concentrating on work and in comes Cai Tian Mu taking pictures. Zhang Yi Yi shies away. Cai Tian Mu smoothly tells them he has a habit of taking pictures of beautiful things. He meant Yun Xiao Xi (and the dress she designed). The way he's smiling at his beautiful thing is sweet. After work she's browsing through the pictures Cai Tian Mu took. As she skims through them she finds a picture of herself from a year ago. It's when she helped a little girl. Ah so it was her angelic smile that had won him over.
Yun Xiao Xi finally learns that the first time he had met her wasn't five years in the future nor was it five years now, but a year ago. Her eyes become dewy as she stares at Cai Tian Mu. He thinks he's got something on his face. She smiles and leans over to kiss him on the cheek, "Now there's something on your face." Aww. He's speechless and scratches the back of his neck like a silly boy.
As the competition nears, so does the day of mother's car accident. She sends her mother on a trip thinking that will divert her from the fatality but fate has it that the trip derails. Mom is once again attending her competition, and once again facing the same car accident. When Yun Xiao Xi learns of her mother's attendance, she drops everything to save mom even if it means losing her competition.
[Ep5] Mom is saving a pedestrian from a truck whose driver fell asleep behind the wheel. Suddenly a bike comes in between the mom and the truck. It's Yun Xiao Xi. Finally, she's doing the saving. Thankfully, the driver breaks in time and no one's hurt. Mom is saved but there's still a competition to win. Xia Duo had destroyed Yun Xiao Xi's dress. When Mom sees her daughter's design stripped to pieces she quickly helps her daughter fix the dress. I love how the drama makes Mom useful. However, it's too late. Their number is called and Zhang Yi Yi has to walk. Yun Xiao Yi and Mom lose all hope but strangely there's applause outside. Zhang Yi Yi is on stage and the crowd cheers for her.
Zhang Yi Yi tells Yun Xiao Xi someone had sacrificed his fingers to make this catwalk possible. All but two fingers of Cai Tian Mu are unscathed. But in actuality, they had used the original dress Yun Xiao Xi designed – the one she allowed Zhang Yi Yi to wear to her upcoming prom. Xia Duo demands Yun Xiao Xi to prove that the original dress was also her design. Luckily, our lover boy, Cai Tian Mu was photographing "his beautiful thing" had captured Yun Xiao Xi's design progression from the draft, to the sewing, to the tailoring.
Mom hugs her daughter telling her it doesn't matter what place she gets, to her she's always first. Yun Xiao Xi hugs Mom back and tells her it doesn't matter if she gets a prize at all. Her biggest reward is having her mother safely at her side. Well, as a bonus, Drama gives Yun Xiao Xi the win as well. With this on her resume, Yun Xiao Xi gets a chance to go abroad to Paris. Cai Tian Mu is sad to let her go but he supports her dream. Yun Xiao Xi also supports his. His parents want him to be a lawyer but he wants to be a photographer. He smiles. He becomes a photographer, but Yun Xiao Xi did not choose to go abroad. When Cai Tian Mu asks if she'll regret it, she looks at him and replies, "My happiness is here. I'm not going anywhere."
Fast forward. There's a wedding. It's Yun Xiao Xi's. Mom is complimenting her daughter's magazine cover. Nana flatters that the photographer is none other than Cai Tian Mu, the groom. Na Na has also found herself a cute boyfriend, Zhang Shuo (Peng Yu Chang), who's busy and cannot attend the wedding but calls in to make his presence known to Chen Yi Bo and Zhang Yi Yi. Chen Yi Bo is single and Zhang Yi Yi is a famous actress. As Yun Xiao Xi is making her way to the ceremony, Xia Duo clumsily bumps into her. She's not invited; she's here to tailor a dress. A man, who was Yun Xiao Xi's original boss, hollers at Xia Duo. Xia Duo has taken the fate she had crafted for herself.
Yun Xiao Xi looks at Xiao Duo with pity but there's no time for that. Her future husband is waiting for her at the door to their happiness. Yun Xiao Xi takes Cai Tian Mu's arm before the door opens to their ceremony.
Yun Xiao Xi: Even though we will meet in the future, I want to be with you now.Cai Tian Mu doesn't understand but she shushes him telling him this is the "future's secret" (未来的秘密). Still not understanding, he might as well just kiss her before the wedding commences. Out of convention that they kiss before the wedding but that's cute. Happily ever after.
Wait. The drama doesn't end yet. In the original timeline of events, Mom had died saving a young boy from the truck. This boy was the mysterious man who spent five years creating the "Regret Pill". It's mom who granted her own second chance at life, as well as her daughter's.
Remarks
[Review] Sweetly satisfying. I'm usually not a fan of short dramas but this one was just enough to flesh the plot plus a convincing romance to follow. Disclaimer: I do have a love for Ding Yu Xi. Li Ying Ying suits her role: clueless to love. The second chance at life makes me envious, especially how utterly perfect it becomes. However, I am happy for her and for him. If she didn't go back in time, our male lead wouldn't have a happy ending either. I love it that the drama made the male lead know of the female's lead presence way before she knew he existed. Then this was paralleled by the female lead knowing they will meet in the future. He knows her past and she knows his future. With the reset in life, they get to be together in the present where it matters the most.
Side note: This review follows my recaps for Intense Love. I realize I love a smiling Ding Yu Xi much more than a cold-faced one. But my favourite Ding Yu Xi is the one in Just an Encore.
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