The most ridiculous thing about growing up is that
we always think our youth was full of grievances, innocence, and kindness,
until fate gives us a chance to watch it from the sidelines.
At thirty, Xu Zhiyi is poised, sensible, and good with people.
She can survive all-nighters at work and handle the ups and downs of human relationships,
but she can never get past the knot in her heart from her youth. She always feels that her seventeen-year-old self was too foolish, too miserable, and too unloved.
When she wakes up, she has returned to her second year of high school.
Not in her own glamorous body,
but in the body of Wen Wan, the girl in her class who is practically invisible, always silent, and treated like air.
And here's the kicker:
Her deskmate is her own seventeen-year-old self, vain, sensitive, cliquish, and obsessed with saving face.
She used to resent the world for being unkind.
Now, from the sidelines, she finally sees the truth:
All those years ago, the unkind one was her younger self.
Shen Yan, the most easygoing and genuine boy in class,
was the unattainable first love that seventeen-year-old Xu Zhiyi secretly admired throughout her youth.
Back then, she thought he didn't notice her because they weren't meant to be.
Now she understands:
He never cared for those who chased the crowd and its glitter,
and only favored the soul beneath the surface, clear-eyed and restrained, finally grown into itself.
This is not a tale of being reborn and making a triumphant comeback.
It is a long-delayed reckoning with oneself, and a reconciliation.
Youth cannot be changed, and regrets cannot be erased.
Fortunately, growing up was never about correcting the past, but about letting go of who we used to be.
Theme: Self-judgment
