The ending is not conclusionary, as it is ambiguous and leaves behind many theories. But I can only belive that Wansen holds the umbrella from behind but only it happens in Xingxing's mind. Since the last regret was about watching the snow fall together, and it happened to be the first snow of the year as was the case in the last travel, so according to XingXing, that is how Wansen fulfills their wish. 

•Firstly, As the lyrics at the end says-"

I'll be always there/Tell me you know I'm there somewhere/You can see your whole world behind you..''

It can only mean that Wansen will always be 'behind' her (with the umbrella), metaphorically in her past, protecting her. Only when the time comes, she would be able to realise that the world she is living is the consequences of the sacrifices he made for her. But in return the only thing he wants from her is that she just gets to know about him, who was always there for her. He had always hesitated in front of her to let his presence known, which remains as his regret. At many times, this line appears seeming to tell her to look back and realise that there is someone rooting for her so that she gets to love herself and gets to choose things that would be good for her and not to be swayed by others.


•Secondly, the old man said that 'The whole world is behind you. It's in your past...it will always come to you at the right moment. Don't worry. Go fishing more and you will be fine.' And everything about fish, sea and going to fishing with the rod when she would be free... these all depicts that she had gone to a parallel universe in her subconscious mind (when she was just being idle). This is all in her imagination which could have been started because of the airplane letter of Wansen, which Maizi threw to her. Maybe she had read it, but not seriously as she was busy with the uniform and the old phone. So when she fell asleep she just had a dream about time travelling to 10 years back. Somewhere in her subconscious mind, she might have regretted the choices she made in high school years, which could have obviously changed her current life. Moreover she wakes up at night which supports this idea. The next time she travels back she has more information about Wansen's lighthouse incidence. So she travels a little more backward, and has more time to stop the incidence from happening. The documentary about time loops as well as the graduation photograph could have also triggered some of her forgotten memories and made her think that way. When we try to recall things from our past it brings back old memories related to it which we might have ignored at other times. Many of these otherwise insignificant clues helped her to put everything into pieces and realise the incidence which happened earlier.


So, no matter, how many times she time travels, the ending remains the same. At the end she realises the truth, and tries to move on and lead a better life, without being affected by others.


But obviously this is my explanation. As there is the movie yet to be release, it gives us the scope to redefine the ending.

I MIGHT BE SUPER DELUSIONAL AND DESPERATE BUT YES THIS THEORY SOUNDS SO PROMISING OH MY GOD THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE BC IVE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS BUT I'VE ALWAYS LIKE WAVED IT AWAY

 Sky Rsya:

https://mydramalist.com/67269-the-moment-of-meeting-again/photos

So, he is Zhang Wansen. Zhang Wansen still alive.??

This, ends the entire argument... all the hypothesis. I guess the production team did give us a big clue.

 iml109:

This, ends the entire argument... all the hypothesis. I guess the production team did give us a big clue.

That's the issue you see.... We never said that the person holding the umbrella wasn't ML. We only said that it was her imagination bcs he promised her that he will always be there behind her being her support. Also that's the lyrics of the song which plays when the series comes to end.

All these theories sound interesting but here is my take:


-- That the FL stayed and lived until 2022 as the present on her last time travel after saying goodbye to the ML at the airport.


-- That the ML actually went abroad after learning the truth from the FL's diary to avoid any danger befalling him and to respect FL's wishes to stay away from her


-- That the ML wasn't pushed down at all because there was no longer trouble with the gang as Lei is dead and Fei was arrested and also evidence of the gang's illegal activities have already been reported to the police


-- That Maizi didn't mourn Wan Sen's death because there is no death, but more importantly Maizi and Wan Sen weren't even friends in the last time travel as they were before


-- That the last "I like you" from Wan Sen didn't count as Bei Xing didn't actually hear it (from the distance between them plus the glass door, this would be highly unlikely)


-- That Bei Xing is not living the original present as the first few instances she went back because there were so many things in the past that changed in the last time travel, including her brother's store  being opened earlier, the mom being sick earlier in the time frame, and Zan Yu somehow became friends with Wan Sen in the last time travel.


So in essence, I think that Wan Sen didn't fall down at all from any tall building or lighthouse, but was all the time abroad for those 10 years after they last saw each other in the airport, that Bei Xing lived out the next 10 years again starting from the events of the last time travel, and to fulfill Wan Sen's last regret, he came back to her in the end for the first snowfall of the season. 

Very late but I binged it some weeks back & I still can't get over this masterpiece so I am lurking around.

Quite far-fetched (ALOT of personal interpretation & fun theory of another perspective) and this was PERSONALLY my real-time thoughts as of when that umbrella scene appeared. Meaning that it was my interpretation with an already existing influence of thoughts leading to the scene (as I binged it in 1-2days).

Firstly, i'm siding with Wansen being non-existent at her present timeline. Dead or not,  it's more of accepting he's not gonna be in her life anymore.  (or i 'd feel the whole point of her gaining a new life/rediscovering herself/moving on was for nothing)

I've always questioned that new zoo employee's role (the one w the talking parrot Wansen trained). I initially labelled him as the "replacement/move on" guy just so I could put him aside as I tried to figure the hell was going on throughout the eps.

At later point of time, i've accepted the fact that Wansen will never be in her present life (the production crew may have been vague but I felt that it was their way of saying he will not reappear. Tbvh, every time a character brings up this "vagueness", the more convinced I was that he's not there anymore. It felt like they were continuously shutting doors on me as soon as I try to open another reason that he may be alive) 

Also the reason why i've opened options that the new zoo guy would play a certain role. 

This was further supported when they connected him through the talking parrot (which is a representation/symbol of Wansen 's love for FL) and also the only thing that currently exists ( & alive) in the present timeline that's directly linked to Wansen confession of " Wo Xi Huan Ni/ I like you" (a crucial element in the time travelling) I felt that this weighed heavier than the memories that FL went through with ML in the other timelines. 

Essentially, the original & present timeline of Wansen feelings was the most important above all, which is the reason all this happened. 

Back to the zoo guy, they had him have interest in FL and this was another reason for why I believed he could be her potential love interest later on, not soon but in the far future (aka after all the time jumps) . She was still in midst of loving ML when he was introduced. However, she had the advantage of "experiencing more time" from the different timelines compared to the present where the zoo guy is. 

Point is, the zoo guy would have been a representation of the "future", as someone who is at the front of all that past time travelling era/memories. 

After the last time travel, FL was slowly trying to live life with the way that Wansen's love & memories have taught her. She is now living her life to the fullest with "Wansen still right behind her";

Before, all his life it was him physically always protecting behind her

and

Now, mentally with the memories of his love from the time travelling.

"Her whole world is behind her", I feel is not only applicable in the past but also meaning to always be by her back even in the future. That was how strong ML love was for her, enough to last a lifetime.

Okay so like where am I going with all this? I'm saying that the guy under that umbrella could be the new zoo guy.

He is now the one there (in the present timeline) to hold the umbrella for her in his place. There i've said it. I believe, fate or not that this new guy is gonna by her side now. If I was Wansen, i'd definitely want FL to continue living happily w someone. (actually he would bcs he did want her to be happy w that other guy, even if it wasn't him) supports the point

Remember that ML priority has always been FL's happiness. If he knows that she's struggling and he isn't there for her anymore, you'd think he wouldn't send a guy to be by her through his talking parrot? I think it's possible. 

End.

Idk if there's gonna be anyone reading this given that the drama ended a while ago but I just wanna express (vomit) my thoughts on this damn perfectly executed drama that left me in tears ep after ep. 

P.S/ one of the things I felt was a pity was that they didn't have a scene specially of FL & the talking parrot after finding out that the present time Wansen had delivered his heart & soul to that confession. (saying this again) but its the only literal talking thing left of present time Wansen 's pure love, especially when FL practically did not interact with him in this timeline.

P.s.// i only saw the trailer before deciding to watch & i remember thinking that they look older for highschoolers which made me thought we'd have past n future parts. Not knowing 90% of it is only in school. So for the 1st half, I had my hopes that ML FL would meet again when they're older. Maybe I was confused with the ex-fiancée bcs i didn't recognize the characters yet then. Oh what a fool I was.

Let me preface this by saying it has been a long time since I have watched this, so I may be remembering things wrong, but I think it was definitely the ML holding the umbrella. 

In the first episode, the show her brother is watching about time travel talks about how to time travel it is done through something similar to a wormhole, then it says that most people don’t find this wormhole and so most people that think they have traveled to the past actually travel to a parallel universe, and therefore nothing they do changes the future.

Flash forward to the end. This time when she goes to the past, she finds that things have changed, like her mom’s leg and the earthquake. So somehow this time she has managed to travel to the actual past, and not a parallel universe.  

I am not sure if Wansen knows this or not. Maybe he has figured it out and knows that he needs to send her back to the correct time line before anything else changes, and that is why he says he likes her at the airport.

I think meanwhile he leaves the country and is working for Vets without borders. He has to wait for at least the 10 years for her to go back in time and fall in love with him, and then return to her correct timeline. I think maybe he is on the committee that accepts new Vets with out borders And sees her application. So when she is heading back to complete the paper work with them he sees her. He knows that since she has chosen this career path she remembers him and he can finally meet her again.

does that make sense?

Pls I love this thread!! Like how amazed each one of the theories out here left me. Tbh I feel so lucky to have ended up here and that I got to read all these theories which somehow added new meanings to the ending of the drama for me and increased my love for the drama much much more.

I had finished watching the drama today and my thoughts on the ending is that perhaps she never went back to her original present life. Although Wansen said "I like you", she doesn't actually know/hear that through the window so technically, she wouldn't be sent back like how she usually is (either she read the text or directly heard him say it). The post by tanky toon aligns with my thoughts exactly.

In fact, her past had changed with the earthquake and mom getting sick earlier so the past can easily change again where Wansen didn't fall off the lighthouse (especially with that lei's gangster death).

Even Gao Ge and Yang Chao Yang relationship turned out real this time around. Zhan Yu marries that innocent looking girl much earlier only to then be dissed for his phototaking skills. Maizi should have been an army man thus his absence. She is now an outstanding graduate which could mean that her grades for her exams must be good enough and her career is flourishing.

None of these happened in her original timeline so two possible theory is that she is now in the alternate universe forever where she never went back to her original world. Other theory is that she could have gone back to her original timeline but somehow the past of that original timeline has changed drastically.

Shining for One Thing Photos #2938009 - MyDramaList  This photo is a big proof in my opinion that the man with the umbrella was Wansen.

I don't think it was just an "imagination" on her part that Wansen was the holder of the umbrella since if that is the case, pretty bleak ending if you ask me.

It makes me sense to me when the coma theory is put out. It allows me to fill in the missing pieces I've been searching for since the open ending. Not to mention, Zhang Wansen wasn't pronounced dead and Liu Ge was the only one that said he died. The true incident was never given to us because what happened at the beacon was all from Mao Zi's words. He wasn't there that day either so that means only Liu Ge and his followers with him that day knows what truly happened. Mao Zi's way of interpreting it is also very very close to the truth considering that Zhang Wansen was rumored to have fallen from the light house aka beacon. 

One thing we all have really not consider is the old man from the dock. He was there before Lin Bei Xing was able to go back in time and he was there when Lin Bei Xing was confused about how to continue with this knew found way of going back in time.  Who is he and what was his motive in getting close to Lin Bei Xing?

I agree with Tanky Toon and HopeGlory. My interpretation (I have just finished the drama) is that Lin Beixing stayed in the last time-jump universe, that's why Wansen is alive, because he travelled abroad and didn't die. I totally believe he is the one holding the umbrella (he could have come back with other colleagues for the zoo interviews). I would have preferred a less open ending, though.

If you watch the post credit scene of the movie the face of the man is revealed ;)

There was honestly no need for confirmation; it was crystal clear that he was the main lead. Still, they included the confirmation in the movie for anyone who might still be doubting it! 😄