Episode 1 recap: The entire Liu family helped their son with his homework.
Liu Xiangshang (played by Zhang Jiayi) was washing his hair while his boss was talking about the recent activities at the barber shop and asked Liu Xiangshang to contribute money. Liu Xiangshang readily handed over 1,000 yuan. Liu Xiangshang is an experienced screenwriter and has two children. His younger sister is called Liu Guobao and is a carefree troublemaker, greatly spoiled by their grandmother.
When their grandmother noticed that her grandson was missing, she quickly called Liu Xiangshang to inform him that his son, Liu Guoning, had eloped with the neighbor's child. When Liu Xiangshang returned home, he saw the letter written by his son and immediately realized it was fake, especially since there was no one living next door. Liu Xiangshang asked Liu Guobao, who claimed she knew nothing about it. After reading the rest of the letter, Liu Xiangshang discovered that what Liu Guoning had said afterward was the truth: he had not completed his summer homework. Liu Xiangshang instructed his mother to go back home first.
In reality, Liu Guoning went out alone to have fast food and kept checking the time. It had already been two hours since he ran away from home, but no adults came looking for him. Liu Guoning was still hoping that someone would come to find him. He then called his younger sister, Liu Guobao, to inquire, but both their father and grandmother ignored him. The only hope left was for their mother, Dai Jing (played by Chen Hao), who was known to be a workaholic. Just twenty minutes before Liu Guoning was born, Dai Jing was still dealing with work-related matters.
Liu Guoning, being very clever, called his mother and told her that his father didn't want him. When Dai Jing returned home, she confronted Liu Xiangshang. They argued about their children, with both of them unaware that the two children were eavesdropping at the door. Liu Guobao believed it would be best to have their grandmother come over; otherwise, her brother, Liu Guoning, would surely be beaten. Liu Xiangshang promised Dai Jing that he would improve their son's grades, but on the condition that Dai Jing wouldn't interfere when he was handling the children. Dai Jing reluctantly agreed.
Liu Xiangshang went to Liu Guoning's bedroom and asked about the note left behind. However, Dai Jing interrupted at the door, so Liu Xiangshang told her to leave. It turned out that Liu Guoning hadn't finished the mental math problems for his summer homework because the teacher had written "voluntary" on them, but all the other students had completed them. Liu Guobao, who would soon be in the first grade, asked if it was scary. Liu Guoning told her that studying was very scary, which frightened Liu Guobao and made her not want to study.
During this period, Liu Xiangshang was taking care of both children, and his phone kept receiving messages from the parents' group of Liu Guoning's school. Dai Jing complained about it. This year was the first year of "double reduction," and Liu Guobao cried, saying she didn't want to go to school. Liu Xiangshang took his daughter back to her room.
Dai Jing was also searching online to find out what "double reduction" was about. She believed that competition would definitely become intense in the future. Their neighbor, Jing Tingting, came over and asked Liu Xiangshang what "double reduction" meant. Soon, it was time for the new parents' meeting, and Teacher Wang, as the class teacher, explained to everyone what "double reduction" was. Jing Tingting kept asking Liu Xiangshang about it, and now the first-grade parents' group was officially established. Parents were talking behind the scenes about how young Teacher Wang was, but in the group, they praised her. Jing Tingting happened to overhear it, so you could say that these parents had two faces.
After returning home, Jing Tingting messaged Liu Xiangshang to ask what she needed to bring, not even caring that her daughter was hungry. She still felt a bit disappointed on the first day of school. Liu Guoning envied the current "double reduction" policy and even thought of becoming a monk at Shaolin Temple. When Liu Xiangshang came back, he heard his daughter say that her mother was in a bad mood today. Later, he learned from Dai Jing that there might be layoffs in the company. In fact, he was under a lot of pressure himself. Liu Xiangshang encouraged Dai Jing all along.
Liu Xiangshang went to the bedroom and learned that Liu Guoning had only completed fifty out of the total nine hundred questions. Now, it was up to the parents to help. Not only that, but their grandmother also came to help. Only Dai Jing could hold the children, and she quickly took Liu Guobao to sleep. At that moment, the doorbell rang. It turned out to be Tang Xiaowei, their new neighbor, who had just moved in, bringing a cake for them with her son, Tang Dou.
Dai Jing was relieved to hear the news that their department wouldn't be laying off employees for the time being. After staying up all night, Liu Guoning finally finished his homework. The next morning, the children got ready for school, and before they left, Dai Jing made some requests to both of them. Liu Xiangshang took the children to school and coincidentally met Tang Xiaowei. They went to school together with their children.
Tang Dou, Liu Guobao, and Chu Yi happened to be in the same class, so they could go to school together.
Some people in their forties look so old, while others in their forties still look young. As for the child being so young, can't it be that they had the child when they were 38, 39, or even 40 years old?
Stop nitpicking about the discrepancies in the drama all the time. If he's acting as a husband to someone who is twenty years younger, then I understand your concerns about the age difference.
But just because he looks older, it doesn't mean you should discredit him! Besides, back in the day, Yue Yueli played the father of his peers, or even older characters.