That’s a wrap, folks, and I’m not okay. I'm very emotional, wistful even. Did you watch this? What did you think of that last scene?

This is very dated (2018). But possible spoilers.

People say it is a flashback, but I honestly don’t know what to think. She’s not wearing a uniform, so I can’t tell whether they’re outside Peking University. If it were her high school, I would imagine she’d be wearing a uniform. The area where the stall is located is even in a different location. His reaction is also ambiguous. I can’t tell if he looks like he’s seeing someone again or for the first time.

Either way, I think this is simply a goodbye to their adolescence, and maybe that’s why it felt so traumatic. I have to believe they all meet again in the years to come. They have a friendship that doesn’t just disappear. And there are plenty of Easter eggs that make me feel like this isn’t truly the end:

(1) Hua Biao still writes to Yang Xi and talks about “meeting again,” and he’s not the type to simply disappear from his friends’ lives.

(2) The reality is that his grandma has a finite timeline, and he still aims to attend Peking University at some point. So, long term, his absence doesn’t feel permanent.

(3) Additionally, Situ Ertiao's father is saving Hua Biao’s house for him, with no plans to sell it to anyone. Situ Ertiao also made him promise only to watch over it.

(4) Situ Ertiao didn’t let his friends say goodbye because he knew he would be back.

(5) Li Yu told Yang Xi he would wait for her, and they’ve been best friends since birth, essentially growing up together under the same roof for 18 years.

(6) The story is narrated from the present, reflecting back on their senior year of high school, which suggests that none of them truly forgot about one another.

So, I just don’t see this being the last of this quintet. I was still incredibly emotional watching them close one chapter of their lives, but I can’t help imagining where their next chapters might take them. Even though this drama is meant to stay within a youth with no regrets, I need to find a way to create some closure that doesn’t hurt so much. I need to believe that this isn’t goodbye forever—it’s goodbye to this version of them.

I guess that’s what nostalgia can do.

It’s bittersweet.