Introduction
As we see in Reborn: Drama Info and Recap Episodes 1 to 7, our heroine Qing Yu has progressed in her investigation of her sister’s death into a dangerous territory with local thugs. Will she be able to find out the truth in this second part? And what is Ming Sheng’s role in helping her? More importantly, how will their romance bloom?
The featured image was taken straight from Episode 8. I liked this image because Ming Sheng shielded her from public recognition and scrutiny after what she did, by draping his jacket to cover her face. Talking about being caring and considerate!
Recap Episodes 8 to 15
Episode 8
Qing Yu was so scared when stabbing Brother Hei, so she closed her eyes. By the time she opened her eyes, there was blood on the ground. Brother Hei was not injured, but it was Ming Sheng!!! He caught the cutter with his bare hands. He said calmly that he already called the police, so Brother Hei and his lackey ran away. Ming Sheng told the shocked Qing Yu to not be afraid because he was there for her. He then draped Qing Yu with his jacket and escorted her away under the eyes of the students.
The news about the stabbing went to the principal. Both Ming Sheng and Qing Yu’s parents were called. Li Fang Hao came and apologized left and right and begged the principal not to expel Qing Yu. Ming Sheng made up a story that he injured himself when he borrowed her knife. Qing Yu was not at fault. Teacher Sun, their homeroom teacher, also pleaded for Qing Yu, because the thugs had been harassing female students. Ming Qiu Xin chimed in, stating that he heard about Qing Yu’s sister, so the school had to take care of the issue before the school got a bad rep.
After this incident, Ming Sheng helped Qing Yu secretly by ordering food delivery from her family restaurant but refused the change. When Qing Yu found out about this, she offered to deliver the food and barged into Ming Sheng’s apartment. The house was a complete mess. Qing Yu apologized to Ming Sheng for the injury she caused and cleaned the apartment for him. However, when she found his mother’s photo, Ming Sheng got angry and kicked her out.
The next day, Ming Sheng acted nice to Qing Yu but she ignored him the whole day. Later, he told her if she wanted her friend’s letter back she had to go to the banyan tree where they met before. Qing Yu showed up and Ming Sheng apologized for his behavior yesterday. He told her about his dysfunctional family and why he was always sensitive about it.
Xu Meng Meng, Bei Yu’s former college friend, came to apologize to Qing Yu because she caused Brother Hei to show up and harassed Qing Yu. Earlier, Qing Yu contacted Meng Meng to find out who was the young man Bei Yu was in love with. Brother Hei was not the one Qing Yu looked for. Meng Meng gave Qing Yu her sister’s music box. After Bei Yu’s death, her parents came to pack up her things, but Bei Yu hid the music box. When Qing Yu opened it, there was a photo of her sister and a man. Although the man’s face was smudged, Qing Yu had an idea who that was, and the revelation shocked her.
Episode 9: The Secret of the Music Box
It was winter break and every student went home to spend time with their families. Ming Sheng flew to France to see his mom who became a renowned pianist. She was a happy person now. Although Ming Sheng was relieved that his mom was no longer depressed like when she left the family, he wondered if he was a mistake and a burden to his parents. He was doing video conferencing with Qing Yu, and she assured him that he was not.
Qing Yu herself didn’t have a good time with her family in her grandma’s hometown. She practically had to reveal the big family’s dirty laundry! When she saw the man in the photo in the music box, she was shocked that he was her cousin Jin Rui. Wait, what? The cousins were in love??? Was that incest and unethical? Through Aunt Wen Qiu’s diary, who apparently was not ill at that time, Qing Yu found out that her cousin was not even a real Qiao. He was adopted by her first uncle since he and his wife didn’t have a child. Also, they adopted a boy to inherit the Qiao family’s name. Jin Yu, Qing Yu’s little brother, was not born at that time. Jin Yu and Bei Yu knew they were not blood-related, fell in love with each other, and Bei Yu got pregnant with Jin Yu’s child. Then Bei Yu got a miscarriage (or a forced abortion by the family?). At that time, Li Fang Hao showed up and demanded the family to call Jin Yu back to take responsibility. He was in the city at that time, and he didn’t even show up when his lover lost their baby. The big family Qiao, Fang Hao’s in-laws, didn’t want him to take responsibility for Bei Yu. Besides, weren’t they supposedly cousins? Besides, Jin Rui was the pride of the Qiao Family and even to the village. He was the top student in the village, the first villager who went to college, and now would marry a rich city girl.
Big family dirty laundry
When her first aunt said that teenage girls like Qing Yu were easily seduced in the city, Qing Yu argued that Bei Yu was seduced by someone from the village. She even gave a hint at her cousin. Later, Qing Yu deliberately put the music box with Bei Yu and Jin Rui’s picture on Jin Rui’s wedding bed. Jin Rui was shocked to see it and Qing Yu who was hiding was sure now that Jin Rui was the one who impregnated Bei Yu. She walked out of her hiding place and told Jin Rui that her sister had come to her in a dream because of unfinished business. Qing Yu warned: “A lie comes with a price.” After she left, Jin Rui tore the picture into pieces.
Episode 10: We Must Never Forget
Qing Yu was in a dilemma. On New Year’s Eve, Ming Sheng sent her a message to wish her a happy new year. Qing Yu told him that she found the culprit who impregnated her sister. But, pursuing justice meant she had to take on the Qiao Family. They told her to forget Bei Yu because that was the right thing to do. Qing Yu asked his advice: what would you do if doing something right means going against something just? After thinking for a while, Ming Sheng replied carefully that if something is not just, how can it be right?
With that advice, Qing Yu is ready to avenge her sister and take on her entire family. Because the village printing shop was closed, she asked Mu Mu to help her print many copies of her sister’s ordeal. Knowing it was important, Mu Mu came with a taxi to deliver the copies. Qing Yu stuffed a copy into wedding candies for the guests. Everyone who attended the wedding would receive a box of candies, and of course, her sister’s grievances would be vindicated.
Episode 11: A Broken Wedding
Qing Yu had some time of hesitation to execute her revenge, especially seeing the bride was so starry-eyed. However, some guests talked down to the Qiao Family, which made Qing Yu angry. When the wedding candies were distributed, every guest read the copies of what happened to Bei Yu. The wedding ended on a sour note, leaving the second aunt wailing and cursing Qing Yu and her family.
After this incident, Qing Yu was practically homeless, penniless, and almost lifeless. She bid goodbye to her sister’s grave and left the village. She missed the last bus, and while sleeping at the bus stop her wallet was stolen. The only person she could ask for money was Bei Yu’s old friend He Fei Hai, but he didn’t answer the phone. Qing Yu pleaded to a restaurant owner to work there but she had never done hard work before. Fei Hai finally came but he urged Qing Yu to return to the village because everyone was looking for her. Qing Yu refused to go back, because everyone wasn’t worried about her safety at all, but rather wanted to take her back for punishment. Qing Yu ran away from Fe Hai and collapsed in the snow because of a high fever. Lying in the snow, Qing Yu had a hallucination of seeing her sister Bei Yu caressing her with concern. Qing Yu whispered that she had finally avenged her sister and passed out.
Ming Sheng was worried that something bad would happen to Qing Yu because of her confrontation with her big family, so he didn’t extend his vacation in France and flew back home. On the way to Qing Yu’s hometown, he called her number and pretended he didn’t know the number’s owner, just in case someone else answered the phone. When he found out she was not home, he ran to the train station and found Qing Yu passed out in the snow. Ming Sheng took her to the hospital for fever treatment. When she was ready to get discharged, they saw a man and a woman dressed in wedding attire were rushed to the surgery room. A nurse explained that they were newlyweds who got into an auto accident on the highway. Although they were not her cousin and his bride, Qing Yu felt heavy seeing the scene. Ming Sheng saw a nurse who looked like Nurse Fang, so they left the hospital quickly.
Qing Yu wanted to borrow money from Ming Sheng but she didn’t know where to go. Her parents posted a missing child ad in the newspaper with her picture on it. Ming Sheng told her that he would always stay by her side, so he took her to his apartment to take a warm shower and rest.
Episode 12: I Will Leave With You
After a warm shower, Qing Yu felt better, but she was still wary about being with Ming Sheng and felt awkward crashing at a guy’s home. Luckily, earlier they adopted a little bird that was almost frozen outside, so they took care of it. While eating, Qing Yu expressed her gratitude for Ming Sheng’s help and would repay him once she could make money. She wanted to leave Huanzhou into a bigger and more crowded city so she wouldn’t be found. Ming Sheng said he would go with her because he always wanted to run away from his family as well. Now he would have a companion.
To ease up the situation, Ming Sheng played piano for Qing Yu. Qing Yu gave Ming Sheng her lucky charm necklace as a temporary repayment for his kindness. When time for bed, he gave his bed to Qing Yu, while he was sleeping on the floor. Both couldn’t sleep, so he told her a bedtime story that was actually how they ‘met’ five years ago. At that time, he went to the theatre looking for his mother. While waiting, he saw a piano and he started playing. A girl suddenly showed up and started dancing. She was little Qing Yu, who also went to the theatre looking for her sister Bei Yu. Ming Sheng disappeared after Qing Yu finished dancing, so she didn’t see him. However, when Ming Sheng found Qing Yu sitting under the tree, he recognized her right away and she was humming the same song she hummed at that time.
Aww, they never forget the childhood connection trope…
Qing Yu’s health and mood improved with Ming Sheng’s care and Ming Sheng felt happy with her companion. Not with the situation outside their little sanctuary, though.
Qing Yu’s family frantically looked for Qing Yu. After days of searching and posting a missing person’s ad in the newspaper, there was no news of Qing Yu. They finally went to the police and even the news station. When the news spread that the police found a girl’s body, Li Fang Hao was hysterical even when knowing that the girl was older than Qing Yu. I have to put her scene in this episode because Liu Dan’s acting was very impressive! She was also an award-winning actress from her other project.
Ming Qiu Xin also went to see his son, as his girlfriend Nurse Fang told him that she saw someone who looked like Ming at the hospital. He was upset that his son didn’t tell him that he returned home. At that time, Ming Sheng and Qing Yu were eating instant noodles, so she had to hide when hearing Ming Qiu Xin lecturing Ming Sheng about being a responsible adult.
Outside Ming Sheng’s little apartment, there was a domestic fight and Qing Yu was horrified when she saw Mu Mu. Apparently, Mu Mu and her parents lived across from Ming Sheng’s apartment. After his business went bankrupt, Mu Mu’s father became an alcoholic, and when drunk he often beat up her wife and daughter. Ming Sheng told Qing Yu that his father told him Mu Mu’s father had a liver disease and wouldn’t live longer than three or four years. So, the family just put up with him.
Later, while Ming Sheng went to buy food, Mu Mu banged on his apartment door because the domestic violence was getting worse. Qing Yu decided to open the apartment door and pulled Mu Mu in. At first Mu Mu was shocked, but Qing Yu explained that Ming Sheng was hiding her temporarily until she got better and she would leave the city. Mu Mu heard about the news of missing Qing Yu, and Qing Yu explained what happened. Mu Mu praised Qing Yu’s braveness standing up for her sister’s injustice.
While waiting for Ming Sheng to come home, Mu Mu told Qing Yu about her friendship with Ming Sheng. Although he also came from a dysfunctional family, he had a bright future since his father and mother actually cared about him. While his father cared about his life matters in high school, after high school, it was agreed between the parents that he would go to university in France to live with his mother and study medicine. Meanwhile, Mu Mu and Qing Yu were not from the same world as Ming Sheng’s. Mu Mu had a hunch the rebellious Ming Sheng would want to run away with Qing Yu. She suggested Qing Yu think twice about their escape plan.
Episode 13: The Moon is Beautiful Tonight
Oh my gosh, this episode made me cry… I cried when I watched it the first time and I cried when I wrote this episode’s summary.
Ming Sheng prepared an escape plan, including a bank card with 17K yuan in it, and gave it to Qing Yu to keep for their survival money. However, Qing Yu already made up her mind not to include him so she refused the card but Ming Sheng insisted. They packed their belongings and went to bed. Before that, they admired the full moonlight coming through the window. When she went to sleep, he whispered her name and “The moon is beautiful tonight”, a metaphor for saying “I love you” to the one you love. Awww…
The next morning, before Ming Sheng went down to find a taxi, Qing Yu said thank you to him and that she would always remember his kindness. Ming Sheng thought she was being mushy. After he was gone, she put the bank card on the table and wanted to run away herself. However, when she went down, she was ‘caught’ by a group of people! Someone reported her hiding place to the TV station! Ming Sheng got a taxi but Qing Yu didn’t answer him. When he went back, he saw her being surrounded by people and her family and even her mother tried to hit her if her father didn’t pull her back. A TV reporter tried to interview them, but the family refused. Ming Sheng was very sad watching the scene! Especially when he found the bank card on the table, he figured out Qing Yu wanted to run away without him!
After that, it was just hell broke loose, especially for Qing Yu! She was forced to apologize to her elders and kowtow in front of her grandfather, but she refused. Father, mother, and Qing Yu kept arguing, screaming, and accusing each other. When Li Fang Hao found out that Qing Yu had stayed at Ming Sheng’s apartment for the past few days, she scolded Qing Yu for being shameless like her sister. Qing Yu was very angry when Bei Yu’s name was insulted again, and told her mother that was their parents’ fault Bei Yu became like that. When Li Fang Hao heard that Qing Yu wanted to leave again after her sister was insulted, she installed an extra security door and personally took Qing Yu to school and picked her up again.
Ming Sheng was not in a happy situation either. He guessed his father had suspected Qing Yu stayed at his apartment, and barged into Ming Qiu Xin’s office to demand explanations. His father neither admitted nor denied it. He just advised Ming Sheng to consider the consequences when doing things, but Ming Sheng didn’t want to listen at all.
The school has finally started. Li Fang Hao personally dropped Qing Yu off at school and picked her up again, so she wouldn’t have any contact with Ming Sheng outside school. When Qing Yu arrived at school, some students whispered about her and gossiped endlessly. Ming Sheng watched helplessly as she was ostracized (again) by the kids.
Episode 14: Running Out of Courage
Qing Yu also deliberately avoided Ming Sheng at school. Several times he tried to approach her, but she refused to talk, let alone give him explanations. Poor Ming Sheng! He was very sad, confused, and frustrated. On top of that, his father was suspended from the hospital because of a medical incident. But finally, father and son had a chance for a heart-to-heart talk.
Meanwhile, Grandpa Qiao demanded Qing Yu go back to Nanqiao Village to apologize to her uncle and aunt, Ji Rui’s parents. Ji Rui’s wife divorced him, and now the Qiao Family was a laughing stock by the entire village. Li Fang Hao refused to let her daughter return to Nanqiao Village because she knew her daughter would be skinned alive by her in-laws. However, Qiao Lu Sheng was afraid that they would be disowned by the family. Husband and wife had a big fight because of that, and Li Fang Hao even mentioned a divorce. When Qing Yu heard from her brother that her mother wanted to divorce her father, she secretly told her father that she would go back. The two went back to Nanqiao Village, but not only that father and daughter were scolded by the grandparents, uncle, and aunt, Grandpa wanted Dad to hit Qing Yu with a cane as a punishment. When Dad didn’t budge, Grandpa wanted to cane Qing Yu himself. Dad shielded Qing Yu and was canned by Grandpa instead. In the middle of the drama, Li Fang Hao showed up and begged for his mercy.
This trip back home left everyone feeling very heavy-hearted. Li Fang Hao comforted her daughter, telling her to stay strong. Once she finished the college entrance exam and got into university, she could leave this environment. Her parents would never interfere with her freedom. Qing Yu has to strengthen her wings first, by finishing high school and going to the university, before entering the dark and cruel society.
I think the core of Li Fang Hao’s message to her daughter became the title of this drama and its novel source!
Episode 15: Meet Me Under the Big Tree
Qing Yu got a note from Ming Sheng through his friend, stating that if she needed help to run away he would help her. Earlier, a noisy neighbor gossiping about her and Ming Sheng. Wanting to end their what-so-ever relationship for good, she asked Jin Yu to cover for her as she would meet Ming Sheng for the last time. Qing Yu then emailed Ming Sheng to meet her asap. What happened during their meeting under the tree made me cry again, so I won’t detail their convo. In a nutshell, she basically said something like “You misunderstood. We’re not in sync over anything. So screw you, Ming Sheng!” Luckily, their broken friendship (since Qing Yu didn’t even want to be his friend anymore) didn’t mess up Ming Sheng. He started studying hard, and in the final exam, he even ranked one point below Qing Yu.
The only thing I liked about this episode was when Wang An Na, Ming Sheng’s mother, clarified the past to her son during a video chat. All Ming Sheng knew his father divorced her mother and kicked her out. When Ming Sheng said how happy he was that his dad was being reprimanded by the teacher, Mom spilled the truth from ten years ago. She said that she was the one who left his dad because he was always so busy with work. She wanted to take Ming Sheng to France, but Grandpa objected because she struggled in France. Grandpa had a point, and he raised Ming Sheng since Dad was always busy with work. Ming Qiu Xin never told about what happened in the past, so Ming Sheng became rebellious and distant from his father. Wang An Na acknowledged she was selfish since she also withheld the fact from Ming Sheng.
Conclusion
Now that the mystery of Qiao Bei Yu’s death was revealed halfway in Reborn ( 焕羽 ) and Ming Sheng and Qing Yu’s romance is put on hold, what else to tell besides personal healing and mending familial relationships? Let’s continue to the final part of this recap article series!
