Reborn: Drama Info and Recap Episodes 1 to 7

Introduction

Nowadays, I don’t usually watch youth drama anymore, especially school romance, because I simply grew out of this genre. However, when I read Reborn’s synopsis, I was attracted to the mystery element. As the protagonist investigates the cause of her sister’s death, the plot weaves together social issues and elements of suspense. While most coming-of-age shows center on romance or academic stress, this drama cleverly combines school life with the mystery of the main case, social issues, and the psychology of teenage growth. Although romance is not the main focus of this drama, it’s a slow-burn, natural, and emotionally resonant romance.

At first, I thought I would just write a review because the drama only has 23 episodes, quite short for a Chinese drama. But a review was not enough, since this drama is dark and deep with a complex storyline. So, I decided to recap the episodes by highlighting critical details. I hope the summary helps viewers to grasp the nuance of each episode. This is the first part of three recap articles.

Regarding the featured image, the leading actress’ sweet smile caught my attention right away. Because of what she has gone through, the Female Lead rarely smiles. The photo was taken when they filmed the scene in which the Female Lead jumped into the pool to retrieve papers, although she couldn’t swim. You will read or watch it in Episode 2. Enjoy!

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Drama Info

Drama title: Reborn (Native title: 焕羽 )
Alternative title:  Huan Yu
Genres: Youth, Mystery, Drama, Romance
Aired: Jun 19, 2025 - Jun 28, 2025
Episodes: 23  |  Duration: 45 minutes
Director: Liu Zi Wei ( 刘紫微 )
Screenwriters: Qian Jing Jing ( 钱晶晶 ) and ( )
 Adapted from the web novel "Huan Yu" ( 焕羽 ) by Qiang Yu ( 蔷屿 ).
Where to watch: WeTV, iQIYI, Viki, and iFlix
OSTs: Full album (fansub)
Trailer:

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Synopsis

In 2007, 16-year-old girl Qiao Qing Yu and her family, tormented by rumors about her sister Qiao Bai Yu’s death, were forced to relocate from their small county town of Shunyun to the provincial capital of Huanzhou. In order to quickly restore their family’s normal life, Qing Yu, with the help of her classmate Ming Sheng, began searching for the true cause of her sister’s death. As the truth gradually revealed, Qing Yu was shocked by the injustice her sister Bai Yu had endured and resolved to seek justice for her. (Source: WeTV)

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Characters

There are several character poster sets for this drama. I chose the set below with feathers and species of bird symbolizing each character. The feather images fit with the native title 焕羽 which translates to “radiant wings”. Too bad there is no explanation of the symbolic meaning of the bird species they used.

Main Characters

SupportingCharacters

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Recap Episodes 1 to 7

Episode 1: Bei Yu’s Younger Sister

Life is not easy for Qiao Qing Yu and her family after they moved from her hometown Shunyun to the provincial capital of Huanzhou in 2007. They had to start adapting all over again in an unfamiliar place. Their new home is super small. Qing Yu and her brother Jin Yu had to squeeze into one bedroom. Their parents started a noodle shop, but the business was still struggling.

Qing Yu started missing her old life, so after finding a quiet place in the park, she wrote a letter to her old friend. This was also the place where she met Ming Sheng. Not in a good way, though. Earlier, she saw him acting like a thug. Now he’s even worse. He said that she took his leaf because the tree where she sat on was his. Qing Yu tried to ignore this bully and walked away. However, when Ming Sheng snatched her letter and saw her name on the envelope, he guessed she was Qiao Bei Yu’s sister. That name stopped Qing Yu right on track. Ming Sheng held her hand but she bit him and ran away.

Qing Yu’s first day in school was not hospitable, either. Some boys conned her for helping them clean the swimming pool but she accidentally fell into the pool. A boy tried to pull her out, but she was shocked that he was Ming Sheng and refused to help her. Later, when she found her class, she was even horrified that she was in the same class as him! Ming Sheng stopped her again outside the class and told her to do his homework if she wanted to know how her sister Bei Yu died.

Episode 2: Words Can Kill

Qing Yu started feeling unhappy that her miserable life was caused by her sister Bei Yu. Without her death and the rumors spread in her hometown, Qing Yu and her family didn’t have to move and ended up in this kind of life with a struggling family business and school bullying. In her hometown, Qing Yu’s grades were excellent, and she had friends, and a promising future to enroll in the university.

Qing Yu was even angrier when she heard that the bully Ming Sheng was a popular student. Her deskmate said that he was talented and all-around capable, bright, and good-looking. A lot of girls like him. Don’t get too close to him, beware of jealous girls!

We found out what actually happened to Ming Sheng when she saw him for the first time and he acted like a thug. It turned out that he was catching a pickpocket and demanded the thief to give money back to the victim.

Qing Yu always wondered how her sister died. Back then, all she knew was that when the villagers saw the family, the villagers pointed their fingers at them and whispered to each other. Then she heard the rumors that her sister died from AIDS. Her parents didn’t want to tell her or her brother, and their parents decided to move to the capital.

Qing Yu didn’t want to be bullied by Ming Sheng and have to do his homework. After pestering her mother, Liu Fang Hao said that Bei Yu died from appendicitis. But Ming Sheng argued that her sister had been treated at People’s Hospital before her death, and the hospital director was his dad. So when her cousin Jin Rui visited the family, Qing Yu prodded him to tell her the reason for her sister’s death. His answers were inconsistent and his facial expressions were confusing.

Somehow, the AIDS rumors spread in school, too. In the blink of an eye, Qing Yu received the same treatment she received back then in her hometown. Qiao Qingyu began to be ostracized by her classmates. She pulled Ming Shen aside and accused him of spreading the news about her sister’s illness. Ming Shen denied it and had the medical report in an envelope. While teasing her to get the envelope, it fell into the pool. Frantically, Qing Yu jumped in. Knowing that she couldn’t swim, Ming Sheng jumped into the pool and pulled her out. It turned out that he pranked her with blank papers.

Episode 3: The Clues in Nanqiao Village

To uncover the truth, Qing Yu went to the People’s Hospital and asked her doctor if her sister could die during an appendectomy. Although he didn’t disclose her sister’s information, the doctor said that nobody ever died in a simple and routine surgery as an appendectomy. On the way out she bumped into Ming Sheng at the hospital. She pleaded with him to help her obtain her sister’s medical records. He refused because the hospital had strict confidentiality with patient records. Besides, his relationship with his father was not good.

Indeed, father and son’s relationship was not good. Ming Sheng went to the hospital to see his father. He wanted his father to sign his college application form and he applied for the arts department. His father wanted Ming Sheng to apply to medical school instead, to be a doctor like himself, citing that Ming Sheng won the biology competition. His son argued that he won it just to show his father that he was not a delinquent.

Qing Yu knew that her sister had once lived with their grandmother. During the holiday and school break, the family went back to visit Grandma. Qing Yu took advantage of investigating her sister with Grandma’s neighbors. After some investigation, she realized that her sister was not as bad as she thought before. Bei Yu loved dancing, saved candies for Qing Yu, was gentle to her mentally handicapped aunt Wei Qiu, and was a beauty that people always gossiped about.

The positive revelation about her sister propelled Qing Yu to beg Ming Shen again for Bei Yu’s hospital records. Ming Shen was happy to get text messages from Qing Yu. He grinned from ear to ear and ignored his friends’ tease. He asked for what was his reward if he was able to obtain a copy of Bei Yu’s record. Qing Yu replied, what did he want?

Episode 4: Lie? Truth!

Mrs. Xiu, the village health worker came to examine Aunt Wei Qiu. Qing Yu took the opportunity to ask the woman about Bei Yu. Mrs. Xiu remembered Bei Yu came back to the village during a college break and had a miscarriage. Later, Liu Fang Hao came to find her daughter and slapped her. Qing Yu wondered if Bei Yu’s death was related to the father of her baby.

Meanwhile, Ming Sheng tried to get Bei Yu’s medical records by reaching his father despite their strained relationship. We understood more of Ming Sheng’s background. Ming Sheng grew up with his grandfather because his mother left him and Dad when Ming Sheng was little. They were both busy with their lives. When Grandpa was gravely ill and had to be put on a ventilator, Dad decided to discontinue Grandpa’s treatment without consulting Ming Sheng. He still harbors resentment about it to this day.

We also found out about Ming Sheng’s ‘tree’. Ming Sheng and his mother used to climb that tree and they spent time together there. His mother told him that if he was feeling down, he should stay on the tree for a while, as the big tree would soothe his troubled heart.

Qing Yu was feeling down, too. Ming Sheng sent her Bei Yu’s electronic medical report. It stated that Bei Yu’s test results were HIV positive, so she really did die because of AIDS. Qing Yu felt very sad. She was determined to find out who was the man who impregnated Bei Yu and contracted such a terrible disease.

At night, Qing Yu quietly took her brother Jin Yu to the grave of their sister to burn joss papers. Although Qing Yu hated Bei Yu who caused their family hardship, she felt bad for her sister as well. When the sibling returned, they discovered that their uncle’s house was on fire. Aunt Wei Qiu accidentally burned her house. Earlier during the day, she tried to run away from the house with Qing Yu, as she mistakenly thought Qing Yu was Bei Yu. Aunt held a notebook in her hand with Bei Yu’s name on it. Qing Yu found the notebook that was partially burned now, it was Bei Yu’s diary. Qing Yu read that her sister had been secretly in love with someone from the village.

The holiday was over and school started again. During the school’s physical examination, some girls (who were jealous that Qing Yu was affiliated with their idol Ming Sheng) hid Qing Yu’s shoes. Unable to find her shoes anywhere, she had no choice but to go back to the classroom barefoot to attend class. After the class was over, Ming Sheng tossed a bag of shoes and told Qing Yu to throw it away since it was her turn to clean the classroom. Qing Yu put on the shoes and walked home, secretly watched by Ming Sheng. At home, Li Fang Hao saw the shoes and pressured her daughter to confess who was the boy who gave her his shoes. Qing Yu lied that she found the shoes in the school trash bin. Her mom didn’t believe her, because the shoes still looked good. Luckily, Jin Yu came home and told their mom honestly that the siblings had been bullied because the rumor of their sister dying from AIDS spread online. Mom cried and apologized to her daughter.

Episode 5: Boyfriend from Nanqiao Village

Bullying kept going, especially from Ming Sheng’s male friends and two female students who seemed to like Ming Sheng. The girls were also the ones who hid Qing Yu’s shoes last time. Ye Zi Lin, Ming Sheng’s friend, stuffed trash into Qing Yu’s backpack. When she saw they were doing it, she was furious and immediately stuffed the trash into Ming Sheng’s backpack. Qing Yu, after being bullied by Ming Sheng several times, wasn’t afraid of his retaliation. However, if she didn’t do anything, she would face even harsher bullying from his friends.

Luckily, Qing Yu bumped into Mu Mu, the kind senior student she met last time. It turned out that Mu Mu and Ming Sheng grew up together. Her grandfather and Ming Sheng’s were friends. Mu Mu assured that Ming Sheng wasn’t a bad kid as Qing Yu thought. He was loyal to his friends but also had a sense of justice. Although he was childish and mischievous, he was kind and compassionate.

Mu Mu was right. Ming Sheng didn’t retaliate to Qing Yu at all. He knew that the perpetrator was his own friend, so he made Ye Zi Lin clean his backpack. Ye Zi Lin also confessed that he accidentally heard about Qing Yu’s sister from his friends from a different school. He blurted out and the gossip about Bei Yu spread on the internet. As his punishment, Ming Sheng made Ye Zi Lin do frog jumps while apologizing. Seeing Ming Sheng stand up for her, she secretly felt relieved.

To reciprocate Ming Sheng’s kindness, Qing Yu cleaned his shoes and returned them to his desk drawer. Ming Sheng felt happy and wore them, although he lied to her that he was about to throw his shoes away. He was even happier, when Qing Yu asked if she could borrow his phone for a few days, and lent his phone generously. However, when Qing Yu asked for the letter sent by her former classmate Ma Ming Kai to school, he lied that he had to look for it at home. Ming Kai was a boy who seemed to like Qing Yu and met her again when Qing Yu went back home during the holiday. Ming Sheng didn’t understand why he was reluctant to return Ming Kai’s letter to Qing Yu. So, when he walked back home with Mu Mu, he asked her opinion about a boy who refused to return a girl’s belongings. Mu Mu concluded that the boy must’ve liked the girl. Ming Sheng was flustered hearing that.

The borrowed phone was used by Qing Yu and her brother to execute their operation to steal their parents’ notebook that was locked in the drawer. Qing Yu guessed they could find any evidence about Bei Yu in that notebook. During the operation, Jin Yu pretended he needed the family registration book for school purposes. When their mother opened the drawer, Qing Yu deliberately scalded her arm and called her mother. While Mom went to check on her daughter, Jin Yu took a few pictures of the contents of the notebook with Ming Sheng’s phone. Later, when they checked the photos, they found out that Bei Yu’s hospital bill was high, and their cousin Jin Rui had sent them a lot of money to help.

Unfortunately, Mom found the phone in Jin Yu’s room so Qing Yu took responsibility. Mom demanded her daughter tell her where she got the phone from. Qing Yu knew her mother didn’t like her hang out with any boy so she lied that she found the phone in school. Last time during the holiday, when Mom saw Qing Yu helping her former classmate Ming Kai in the village library, she dragged Qing Yu home. Mom took Qing Yu back to school to report the phone. Ming Sheng saw Qing Yu sitting with her mother on the school bench, but she was restless, so he just walked by ignoring her. He found out Qing Yu went to school with her mother to turn in a lost phone. Guessing that his phone was discovered by Qing Yu’s mother and she didn’t want to tell her mother that it was his phone, Ming Sheng asked Mu Mu to pretend it was her phone. When Mom saw that the phone owner was a female student, she was relieved.

Cute bicycle ride home from Episode 6

Episode 6: The Rumors about Bei Yu

Qing Yu’s investigation was progressing but more dangerous. She met He Fei Hai, Bei Yu’s high school classmate. Fei Hai told Qing Yu that the Bei Yu he had known since little was well-behaved and sensible, but she seemed changed to the opposite when he saw her again in the college. Before leaving, Fei Hai gave her a CD containing Bei Yu’s dance performance. At that moment, they were seen by Ming Sheng and his friends. His friend Chen Hao commented that Qing Yu seemed quiet and shy, but she hung out with an adult man.

Because of what they saw at the cafe. Ming Sheng’s friends thought that Qing Yu was an ‘easy girl’. They ordered noodle delivery from her family’s restaurant and harassed her. Her delivery bike was derailed (was that what the bullies doing?) and Ming Sheng fixed it for her. Besides, he was also curious about her meeting the man. I really like their bicycle trip home, as she told Ming Sheng about her investigation. He knew the truth and there was no misunderstanding.

Next, Qing Yu met Bei Yu’s college friend Xu Meng Meng who used to live at the same dormitory. Meng Meng told Qing Yu that because Bei Yu was a beauty, she had many male fans. However, she seemed to date an older and rich man who drove a Mercedes. They called him “Brother Hei”. When she finally tracked Brother Hei down and met him, this guy was cheesy and wanted to sexually assault her!

Episode 7: The Call from Nanqiao Village

Luckily, Qing Yu’s savior appeared. No, it was not Ming Sheng. It was Mu Mu! She smashed Ming Sheng’s car so someone reported to him. When he went outside, Mu Mu came from the back door and pulled Qing Yu out. They ran through back alleys until they were safe from Ming Sheng. Mu Mu warned Qing Yu that those thugs wouldn’t let Qing Yu go easily.

Mu Mu was right! Brother Hei found Qing Yu’s family restaurant and waited for her all afternoon. Luckily, Qing Yu didn’t go to the restaurant to help. He then handed a hundred-yuan bill to Liu Fang Hao, introduced himself as Bei Yu’s ex-boyfriend, and asked about Qing Yu. Smelling trouble, Liu Fang Hao forbade her daughter to help at the restaurant and hired someone from her hometown.

Since Qing Yu didn’t show up at the restaurant, Brother Hei continued his harassment by sending flowers to Qing Yu at school. She threw them into the trashcan in disgust, and her classmates started gossiping. Ming Shen heard from Ye Zi Lin that Qing Yu had offended the local thug Brother Hei, so he secretly accompanied her home. Qing Yu was very grateful to his companion.

Ming Shen was not without family issues either. During his father’s birthday, Mu Mu baked a birthday cake and told him to give it to his dad. Ming Shen went to the hospital with the cake and had to wait for his dad since Ming Qiu Xin was performing surgery. While flipping over his father’s textbook, Ming Shen found a romantic picture of his father and Nurse Fang Yan Qiu. In anger, he smashed the cake into the trash can and left. His father had dated Nurse Fang for three years, but he hadn’t told his son and waited until Ming Shen graduated high school and passed the national university entrance exam.

Brother Hei kept harassing Qing Yu, and now he spread a gossip that he was her boyfriend. Couldn’t stand him anymore, Qing Yu decided to talk to him at the school entrance to stop the gossip. When Brother Hei continued to make advances on her, Qing Yu took out the box cutter from her pocket and stabbed him!

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Conclusion

Oh my God, this Brother Hei is really annoying, and I’m quite sure that he was annoying, too, in the past, and harassing Qing Yu’s sister. How can Qing Yu get rid of this thug? Let’s check out the second part of this series!