"Just because you don't see hope, doesn't mean there is none."|| Cheng Xiaoshi season one analysis

HAPPY YINGDU ARC EVERYONE! (Or sad. I haven't seen it yet because of moving. Lots of stuff going right now, I guess.)

~ If someone could repost this on tumblr and credit me @anulithots, I'd be forever grateful. <3

We’ll continue slightly out of order. Writers craft their stories in iterations and long nights, so I’d assume direct arcs string themselves in differing episodes and aren’t the most linear process in existence. It’s a mess. I know. Hopefully, I can consolidate it all at the end! 

Edit: Why did I think I could do this without rewatching the show first? Why did I even try to do this at all? /pos but also… Link Click is… so much to analyze…. I should’ve stuck with my mini analysis. I cry. I sob. 

(I’m writing this in a fancy font on google docs first and now this sounds like an academic paper. … I’m sorry.) 

The noodle ladies - 

Yu Xia and Lin Zhen act as direct parallels to Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi. One might think Lin Zhen - with her quiet, mellow nature and her upkeep of the shop itself - represents Lu Guang. Yu Xia - louder, impulsive, and stubborn - parallels Cheng Xiaoshi. The show itself supports this. Cheng Xiaoshi acts as Yu Xia and Lin Zhen poses as this mysterious secret-keeper. 

Until the last dive. 

Cheng Xiaoshi - idealistic, sentimental, moral, if not ethical, to a fault - possesses Lin Zhen. 

Yu Xia - carried into the depths of her obsession with their dream - represents Lu Guang with this viewpoint. 

Now, the ‘second half’ of this episode (most episodes of season one have this sort of structure… we’ll get to that later), might lie in the Bridon/Yingdu arc, which reframes this episode as a call-back, a thematic flashback, if you will. However, if the ‘second half’ appears in a later season, then it’ll act as foreshadowing. I’m leaning towards the second option simply because of the weight that implication has - we’re getting to that, I promise - but it could be a call-back; it could lie partially in both the future and the past; this is Link Click! They surprise us. 

I say all this to convey that hindsight will let me write a more thorough answer, but for now, we have this:

With Yu Xia representing Lu Guang, we as the viewers receive some indications of Lu Guang’s inner workings… which we get so few of. I’d like Lu Guang’s backstory now please.

Lu Guang, both in the future and in the past, gets carried away with the obsession of keeping Cheng Xiaoshi alive, eventually driving both Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang apart. 

They’ll get back together and get married though. (Please director Li, I beg you.) 

The Earthquake Arc - 

This arc explores Cheng Xiaoshi’s trust. His trust towards Lu Guang, towards his parents, and to himself. 

With Lu Guang, the trust cemented in episode two - where the Yu Xia and Lin Zhen recovering their relationship paralleled how Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi could also recover their relationship, should anything happen to it - showcases itself further. Cheng Xiaoshi trusts Lu Guang with this dive, even though something seems off about changing the past. Throughout this arc he asks Lu Guang specifics about the mission and if it’s really okay to change the past. Lu Guang gives vague answers. Cheng Xiaoshi trusts him. ‘You’re always right.’ 

Moving on to episode four, the focus of ‘trust’ shifts to Cheng Xiaoshi’s trust towards his parents - previously established in episode one. He trusts his parents to return, to alleviate him of his pain and because of this, he won’t accept their possible death. 

After Cheng Xiaoshi realizes the truth, the incoming earthquake, he loses trust in Lu Guang, and his ‘trust’ in his parents to return fluctuates. In episode five, the theme shifts to Cheng Xiaoshi’s trust in himself. As he says to Emma on the bridge, Cheng Xiaoshi wishes to give others a perfect past. He has power. He has the ability to help others. He feels so much, so easily, for the plight of others, and this belief that he can help them and give them the past he couldn’t have, this allows him to hope for his own life, to live vicariously through others and avoid the apathetic depression that awaits him after acceptance. (See post episode five. pain intensifies). 

It all relies on his trust in his own abilities - to notice issues and other’s feelings, to change the past or alleviate it as soon as possible, so he doesn’t have to feel their pain. 

I'm rushing so here's random screenshots!

After the earthquake, he loses trust in his parents to return. (notice how he doesn’t ask about them afterwards, focusing only on others and their relations… especially with their parents)

And he loses trust in himself, his ability to counteract the pains of time. Lu Guang lies. His parents died. He can’t change the past. 

The line he says near the end of episode five, ‘If I can’t save them, what was the point of delivering those words?’ also says a lot about Cheng Xiaoshi’s character. He wants to save people, to improve their past; he believes that’s the point of his powers, that the end result must be fixed. 

(Both the narrative and Lu Guang provide a counterpoint, as it shows how the words Cheng Xiaoshi delivers to Cheng Xiao’s friends and family comforted him in the present. Even if Cheng Xiaoshi couldn’t find a way to change fate, the moments in between were worth it all. 

Hence why I think the show will keep Cheng Xiaoshi dead. It hurts but that’s the themes of Link Click… proceeds to sob) 

Doudou - 

After Cheng Xiaoshi returns from the earthquake dive, Lu Guang comforts him with the phrase, ‘fool, let the past be, for we cannot change the past. Let the future be, for it will change, because of us.’

(Also can we talk about how soft Lu Guang’s voice is here? Please? Anyone?) 

Cheng Xiaoshi only listens to ‘you can’t change the past.’ 

Cheng Xiaoshi brings this belief with him and drowns in his pessimistic misery. He doesn’t talk to Lu Guang (the autism). He discourages Doudou’s dad from finding his son. He refuses to accept the mission, even though he still cares and looks up information about Doudou. He doesn’t think anything good will come of it though. 

(This parallels what happens after Xu Shanshan is kidnapped. There he has the confidence that he can improve the future and be helpful, so he tries to take action with his abilities, unable to let the situation rest because of his anxieties and guilt.) 

When Qiao Ling tells him the story of her regret and her escapism (her character is a whole playground to analyze as well…), Cheng Xiaoshi agrees… since Qiao Ling is asking, since this whole trio deals with regret in their own way, since Lu Guang got him boba tea (Possibly other reasons as well). 

Cheng Xiaoshi reunites Doudou with his father, which rekindles some trust Cheng Xiaoshi had in his abilities, allows him to listen to the ‘because of us, the future will surely change’ portion of Lu Guang’s words. 

(Until he misconstrues it in episode nine… but we’re not there yet.)

Yes, Cheng Xiaoshi cannot change the past, but he can use the past to change the future. That’s where his abilities lie. It’s a new sort of hope. 

(I am now starting to realize just how hyperfixated I am on this show) 

Xu Shanshan - 

Here this mission showcases how much Cheng Xiaoshi hopes in his abilities, while also not fully regaining trust in Lu Guang. Lu Guang will not take Emma’s case, and Lu Guang led him astray in the earthquake arc, so Cheng Xiaoshi can take his words with a grain of salt. 

During episode ten Qiao Ling reveals Cheng Xiaoshi’s backstory to the audience, and it shows how he reacted to his parents leaving (more likely than not we’ll get more information about Cheng Xiaoshi’s parents in the Yingdu arc but for now…). He doesn’t want anyone else’s sympathy, and clings to the past, as everyone else in his life left with his parents (seeing how the neighbors and schoolmates pointed out his parents’ absence). Anything that relates to their absence hurts Cheng Xiaoshi, so he shuns it all out, wanting to stay within the moment when they were with him, not wanting to accept how time has moved on. 

One day I'll write a thesis on Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang's characters in relation to one another.

Qiao Ling remarks how - during the scene where young Cheng Xiaoshi worries that the earthquake killed his parents and cries that he misses them - only then did she realize what he felt when he said ‘I don’t want your sympathy’. As in, she realized that he never quite allowed himself to process that they’re gone for good. (Also very autistic of him to reject change.) 

His photographic abilities symbolize this desire - he wants to go back in time to where everything was okay and make sure it stays okay… this parallels how he acts around most people after his parents leave. 

I am pain

WHICH also shows the difference between how Qiao Ling describes him - ‘devil may care attitude, doesn’t get attached easily’ - and how the audience sees him act throughout season one - teasing, but cares and emphasizes almost immediately with someone, over running his usual deduction with strong emotion. 

Cheng Xiaoshi acted aggressive to others - like his classmates- because they moved on from the past, continued living, and pointed out that Cheng Xiaoshi did as well. It’s a defensive mechanism against time itself. With those he’s comfortable with, like Xu Shanshan, he’s a playful sort of teasing, and as shown in episode nine, he worries a lot about them.

 (Also I’d like to point out that in the chibi episodes, Cheng Xiaoshi analyzed Qiao Ling’s phone scrolling habits, figured that she was unhappy and wouldn’t tell them why, and proceeded to get all her favorite foods to make her feel better. They are the best siblings ever.) 

I have a whole WIP fanfic about how Qiao Ling tries to keep Cheng Xiaoshi happy and Cheng Xiaoshi returns the favor in less obvious ways ONE DAY I WILL FINISH IT

With Lu Guang and Qiao Ling, it’s a trust and vulnerability he doesn’t show to anyone else. He misses his parents and asked the both of them over the course of season one whether they would return. The difference between their perceptions - Qiao Ling thinking that Cheng Xiaoshi doesn’t get attached easily while Lu Guang thinks that Cheng XIaoshi gets attached too easily - stems from Cheng Xiaoshi as himself, in the present moment, still stuck to the past, around other people, juxtaposing Cheng Xiaoshi living in the past, with the power to fix it, change fate so everything stays okay. 

(I am so excited to see how Lu Guang parallels this in the Yingdu arc… the difference between their reactions when the other dies is everything to me… but season two isn’t in this analysis so forward we go!) 

Speaking of perception, both Qiao Ling and Lu Guang tell Cheng Xiaoshi that they like him because he’s naive, warm, expresses with openness and optimism, but he’s also vulnerable, which makes them want to protect him. 

This plays a lot into his final speech at the end, when he tells Emma about ‘those who will shine their light on’ her, referring to Lu Guang and Qiao Ling. It recontextualizes the episode nine fiasco - where he realized Liu Min killed Emma - as both of them trying their best to protect Cheng XIaoshi from his own empathy, emotions, and mistakes. It makes him thankful for their presence, for them softly encouraging Cheng Xiaoshi to move forward. 

So he does. 

Emma - 

Here we go. 

Emma represents both Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang. Cheng Xiaoshi more obviously -  she misses her parents; time breaks her bonds; she misses her past, and in the ninth and eleventh episodes, she also desires to change the past. She also encapsulates Lu Guang with the idea of ambition and obsession driving her and her parents/loved ones apart. (This might not show itself as obviously until later seasons). 

Another quick thing to mention - these episodes with Xu Shanshan and Emma show how Lu Guang always protects Cheng Xiaoshi from the consequences of his actions. Many people on tumblr - very wondrous people  - mention how this can stem from past timelines, how, in previous timelines, Cheng Xiaoshi could’ve caused his own doom. This is tragic. I’m including it in my fanfiction. 

(I’m currently rewatching Link Click, so for Emma I’ll go through it chronologically)

Emma represents Cheng Xiaoshi missing his parents and not being fully satisfied with their current life. They’re foils of each other. Emma misses her parents because she left them. Cheng Xiaoshi misses his parents because they left him. Through Emma, Cheng Xiaoshi conveys his pain and hopes to give Emma the perfect past never had.

 In episode nine, he wonders why his acts of kindness result in such consequences, mirroring the injustice of his own life. It’s a culmination of past resentments. How Cheng Xiaoshi was never able to connect with others when he was little. How Emma suffered  at the hands of Liu Min. How they both died missing their parents. It’s here he realizes the effects of his clinging to his parents and his lonely past - on both others happiness and his own. 

While in the trunk of the car, Cheng Xiaoshi realized how his small attempt to reconnect Emma with her parents resulted in her death, and the truth of Lu Guang’s words in the aftermath of the earthquake arc: ‘Don’t try to change the past. Because of us, the future will surely change.’ 

(He asks what Lu Guang would tell him to do then, which parallels the moment where his mother dies in the earthquake arc, when he says he’s afraid of the dark. It’s a moment of vulnerability that conveys how scared and abandoned he feels, that even after he tries and hopes for the best, he still ends up in the dark with his loved ones dying before him.) 

When fighting Liu Min, Cheng Xiaoshi says, “To deprive a person of their life is to destroy the happiness of so many more.” Cheng Xiaoshi realizes this through living the other’s lives, through seeing how their past actions affected their present, those they love, and their future. 

Before, he fixated on the loss of his parents, characterizing himself and others through this lens of loss and tragedy, with glimpses of hope via his ability to fix the past, give them a perfect version of it. 

With Cheng Xiaoshi, this signifies that he paints an idealized version of his parents as a perfect life. As he goes through this season he realizes  the efforts and care of the people he does have, those around him. Cheng Xiaoshi tends to notice peoples’ hardships, pains, or flaws; he emphasizes with the parts of their past that aren’t perfect. Through the dives, he sees peoples’ relationships improving because of their efforts, that despite their past, everyone works towards a better future. It helps him move on from his own burdens, seeing Qiao Ling and Lu Guang as the people who care for him, the ones who shine light into his life. He might have lost his parents, but that doesn’t mean he has to fix them to have a happy life. 

~ possessed Qiao Ling proceeds to stab Lu Guang ~ 

This part is sort of wrong sort of right so I’m keeping it here: 

Speaking of the themes in Cheng Xiaoshi’s speech to Emma, the very fact that he dived to save her seems to contradict his growth to let the past go during the first season… he put Xu Shanshan into danger during episode eight, where she gets put into the news and Liu Min targets her. In trying to find information about the kidnapper, the whole episode nine fiasco occurs (Cheng Xiaoshi finding out Emma died), in which he tells himself that he’ll listen to Lu Guang. He won’t change the past.

So why would he outright break this rule for Emma?

Lu Guang. His words during the Doudou arc in particular. 

Lu Guang tells Cheng Xiaoshi - during a high stakes moment, funnily enough - that he agreed to the job in the earthquake arc because he thought that it would put Chen Xiao’s regrets to peace, even if they couldn’t save anyone. 

So with Emma, Cheng Xiaoshi wants to make his mistakes right for a similar reason. This deduction edges into head cannon territory, but I think that Cheng Xiaoshi went to save Emma from his self-caused destruction because he trusted Lu Guang’s reasoning and did something of a similar manner. Even if he couldn’t save her, he wanted to make things right, to undo his meddling with her fate. Lu Guang even seemed surprised that Cheng Xiaoshi initially saved Emma, signifying how the goal was not necessarily to save her, that Cheng Xiaoshi “might not be satisfied with the truth.”

(I feel that the translation lends to my confusion here. One day I’ll learn Mandarin Chinese and this won’t be an issue. willing it into existence). 

As Emma is a major part of Cheng Xiaoshi’s arc… I’ll most definitely continue to analyze it, as I feel this isn’t as thorough as it could be. 

I have more to say but… I am quite tired and I don’t want this to sit in a document forever… so more rambling will be for later posts! Thank you for reading! 

(I want to finish my Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling doll soooo baddddd)