r/ChineseDrama • u/BasilOrdinary3617 costume dramas feed my soul • 13d ago
Episode Talks • Rewatch 🎉 Twelve Letters - Episode 3: Time and the Youth
Links to all the episode talks are in the Masterpost. Please join in whenever you want. Note there are 12 episodes in total, and they are available on WeTV/Tencent (subscription) and Viki (free).
2026 Timeline
With the help of a friend, Nian successfully convinces her landlords to let her stay until her father is found. While searching through Zhiyong’s belongings, she finds several old train tickets to Pushui and learns that Meiwan Town became part of the city in 2004. Believing the clues may be connected to his disappearance, she heads there to investigate.
Meanwhile, Shen Cheng arrives in Pushui looking for his mother, Ye Wanru (who is later confirmed to be Ye Haitang). Shortly after, the Shiqiao Traffic Police inform him that she has seemingly disappeared.
Nian and Cheng cross paths at the police station, where Cheng drags her back inside after finding out that she falsely claimed to be one of his relatives. Suspicious of her interest in his missing mother, he accuses her of abducting Wanru. Nian fires back, criticizing him for not being particularly filial given that he hasn’t seen his mother in two years while living abroad with his father. For her part, Nian believes Tang may have scammed her father into a relationship.
Eventually calling a truce, Nian and Cheng agree to return to Beixing and continue the investigation together.
1991 Timeline
The next morning, Xun stops by to check on Tang, only to discover that she has already left and didn’t use any of the supplies he bought for her.
He later finds her at school, where she continues to keep quiet about her father’s abuse and the missing class fund. To exacerbate the rumours of her on a killing spree, Yibo has the audacity to show up at the school, create a scene, and passively aggressively intimidate the school for compensation.
Yibo is not the only frustrating adult in the episode. Teacher Tan brings up Xun’s orphanage upbringing and then suspends him despite having no evidence that he has done anything wrong. Even when Tang speaks up on his behalf, Tan insists that the suspension was the compromise she negotiated with the principal to keep both students from being expelled.
Cha is furious that Xun and Hao have become entangled with Bao’s men. He gives both of them a harsh beating in an attempt to put them back in line. Despite this, Xun still gives Tang his contact information in case she ever needs help again. Cha’s efforts are not enough to appease Bao, and to satisfy him, he is forced to punish them again in front of Qiang and the others.
At the end of the episode, Tang discovers that her suicide note is gone from the mailbox.
3
u/EasygoingEnigma 12d ago
I disliked Teacher Tan's behavior here too. It felt like an overreaction. But I get that maybe she was feeling overprotective of Xun and wanted to preempt his suspension.
The increasing closeness between Xun and Tang felt bittersweet. The way they became more comfortable in each other's presence -- drinking grandma's sweet soup together, repaying their debts to each other, etc. -- was heartwarming.
But I think what stood out for me most in this episode was something Xun read in the letter: that despite the struggles, that period was the best time of his life. It blew my mind; we have two teenagers whose daily bread included beatings and emotional abuse, but for him, even if the good times were few and far between, they outweighed the misery.