Why didn't Hai Tang call the damn cops when the father kept spewing shit, stole the class funds, and whatnot?…
I was enjoying your discussion so I thought I’d butt in with my 2 cents.
I think in this town and era prejudice plays a big part.
Tang mentions that ‘it’s a father dolling out discipline to his daughter’ so no one will interfere. That and he’s self proclamation of being the good guy means that neighbours and acquaintances will not interject.
Regarding school Miss Tan is the only teacher we are introduced to as being involved. She has her own prejudices. She blames Xun on several occasions without looking further into the reasons for his behaviour ( we also see her blame Cha for the involvement with the gang when he at that point is desperately trying to go straight). Despite being exposed to tragic backgrounds while she may sympathise she doesn’t truly empathise with the situations. She must have heard about the knife incident with Tang but doesn’t even ask her about it. When the dad picks her up after the love letter she says not to blame her (tang) too much implying she expects she’ll receive punishment for it. Yes, they never directly tell her what’s going on and given her close relationship with Xun you’d expect they would at least try but given that neither of them has had a reliable adult there are probably trust issues involved ( even Tang’s gran must have allowed her son to beat the child without much resistance given the years of sustained abuse). At this time in the 90s, rural china it’s unlikely the school would have had any legal responsibility about abuse, some views may have also been that she’s a good student BECAUSE her father ‘disciplined’ (beat) her. At the end of the day the school only cares about what happens at school.
3. The police don’t even care about the gang beating up a grandma in public are they really interested in what goes on for a poor girl in private? They detain Xun when two eyewitnesses say that he is a victim not caring about how this with impact the life of a youth. They are definitely not going to be looking for more work. DV cases like this still occur frequently today, there was recently a case in the states where the gf was subsequently murdered. Prior footage shows the perpetrator convincing the police he is the victim in a calm collected manner. His gf is frantic and filled with emotion so they don’t believe her.
What @heila mentioned about wounds, he can easily argue they were self inflicted whilst she was in a delusional state. Regarding the gambling neighbours likely view this with sympathy and as a result of his wife’s behaviour (his version) a man being wronged is worse than a child being wronged in their eyes. Some likely agreed with his actions because in their eyes he is stopping a motherless child from going down the wrong path.
In all, sadly I think her situation is a result of societal norms, people not wanting to get involved/ not caring, a manipulative perpetrator and because she is functioning (good at school) everything is neatly swept under the rug.
Unfortunately not just a commentary on the times but more a slap in the face of humanity ( or lack there of).
The cat from the last scene in nian's room was the same cat?? What was that😭
I wonder if the cat went to her as a guardian? The loser of this outcome is Nian because she likely ends up in care when her grandmother dies. We see her living a good life so perhaps the cat goes to her to protect her as a gift of karmic sacrifice? Or so that it can lead her to meet the other characters at some point?
Or because that cat had already been paid to film that day!!!!!!!
I have a question how in the sad ending world Yi Xun knows about the letter thing and still wait for the letter…
So I think the ‘sad ending world’ is actually not even the original world. The original one wouldn’t have had time travel and letters involved. The first action which causes this chain of events is older Xun sending a letter ( remember he says he’s waiting to send a letter not that he’s waiting to receive one).
The catalyst for the truth about the mum is from meeting Shen ‘the bully’s’ Dad. Which answers some of Tang’s qs. This is probably consistent with the originally shown timeline because she has burns.
Since in the sad world she finally gets a response from her father before the dual suicide we can assume that in that original beach scene perhaps the hairpin doesn’t fall and the body is on the boat prior to Tang arriving so she is unaware he is disposing of the body +/- evidence. We also don’t know what time Xun would have arrived at the beach because he turns himself in implying the interaction about calling the police never happened. He may not have been stopped by the cat or the letter didn’t arrive in time, letter was never sent etc etc
One possible outcome could have been that they pushed the boat into the water unmanned and the crazy currents took it far away before Tang could see what was in the boat but I’m sure you can think up thousands of different variations.
All in all, there are probably many more timelines than the ones we are privy to. I discussed a theory about this in a newer comment. We’re only seeing snippets of two timelines (maybe three) but it follows the idea of a multiverse theory.
To succinctly answer your question, we will never know! But perhaps some of the things I mentioned can give possible answers. The older Xun with ‘dementia’ (see my other comment) may be the only one in this universe with all the answers but he took them to the grave.
Did anyone else question whether he (Xun) has dementia or if it might perhaps be sequelae as a result of having knowledge of several timelines?
It occurred to me in the first letter he mentioned about ‘trying several times’ but making things worse.
He’s also the only one who has used both mailboxes and in one of the later episodes ‘episode 11?’ He’s muttering in a daze about how the mailbox can’t be demolished.
I wonder if we’re seeing one of many (100s or 1000s) of potential timelines. This was just one that had the best outcome.
Interesting to think about how things may have gone devastatingly wrong with a slight change. I wonder if older Xun started having these symptoms after coming into contact with ‘the/a’ mailbox at the dock.
Did they ever explain how Tang Yixun's finger prints got in Ye Haitang's car in 2026?
The fingerprints they’re referring to are from his house. They were trying to confirm his identity. I nearly made the same mistake but if you re-watch they mention dusting the home.
I think in this town and era prejudice plays a big part.
Tang mentions that ‘it’s a father dolling out discipline to his daughter’ so no one will interfere. That and he’s self proclamation of being the good guy means that neighbours and acquaintances will not interject.
Regarding school Miss Tan is the only teacher we are introduced to as being involved. She has her own prejudices. She blames Xun on several occasions without looking further into the reasons for his behaviour ( we also see her blame Cha for the involvement with the gang when he at that point is desperately trying to go straight). Despite being exposed to tragic backgrounds while she may sympathise she doesn’t truly empathise with the situations. She must have heard about the knife incident with Tang but doesn’t even ask her about it. When the dad picks her up after the love letter she says not to blame her (tang) too much implying she expects she’ll receive punishment for it. Yes, they never directly tell her what’s going on and given her close relationship with Xun you’d expect they would at least try but given that neither of them has had a reliable adult there are probably trust issues involved ( even Tang’s gran must have allowed her son to beat the child without much resistance given the years of sustained abuse). At this time in the 90s, rural china it’s unlikely the school would have had any legal responsibility about abuse, some views may have also been that she’s a good student BECAUSE her father ‘disciplined’ (beat) her. At the end of the day the school only cares about what happens at school.
3. The police don’t even care about the gang beating up a grandma in public are they really interested in what goes on for a poor girl in private? They detain Xun when two eyewitnesses say that he is a victim not caring about how this with impact the life of a youth. They are definitely not going to be looking for more work. DV cases like this still occur frequently today, there was recently a case in the states where the gf was subsequently murdered. Prior footage shows the perpetrator convincing the police he is the victim in a calm collected manner. His gf is frantic and filled with emotion so they don’t believe her.
What @heila mentioned about wounds, he can easily argue they were self inflicted whilst she was in a delusional state. Regarding the gambling neighbours likely view this with sympathy and as a result of his wife’s behaviour (his version) a man being wronged is worse than a child being wronged in their eyes. Some likely agreed with his actions because in their eyes he is stopping a motherless child from going down the wrong path.
In all, sadly I think her situation is a result of societal norms, people not wanting to get involved/ not caring, a manipulative perpetrator and because she is functioning (good at school) everything is neatly swept under the rug.
Unfortunately not just a commentary on the times but more a slap in the face of humanity ( or lack there of).
Or because that cat had already been paid to film that day!!!!!!!
The catalyst for the truth about the mum is from meeting Shen ‘the bully’s’ Dad. Which answers some of Tang’s qs. This is probably consistent with the originally shown timeline because she has burns.
Since in the sad world she finally gets a response from her father before the dual suicide we can assume that in that original beach scene perhaps the hairpin doesn’t fall and the body is on the boat prior to Tang arriving so she is unaware he is disposing of the body +/- evidence. We also don’t know what time Xun would have arrived at the beach because he turns himself in implying the interaction about calling the police never happened. He may not have been stopped by the cat or the letter didn’t arrive in time, letter was never sent etc etc
One possible outcome could have been that they pushed the boat into the water unmanned and the crazy currents took it far away before Tang could see what was in the boat but I’m sure you can think up thousands of different variations.
All in all, there are probably many more timelines than the ones we are privy to. I discussed a theory about this in a newer comment. We’re only seeing snippets of two timelines (maybe three) but it follows the idea of a multiverse theory.
To succinctly answer your question, we will never know! But perhaps some of the things I mentioned can give possible answers. The older Xun with ‘dementia’ (see my other comment) may be the only one in this universe with all the answers but he took them to the grave.
It occurred to me in the first letter he mentioned about ‘trying several times’ but making things worse.
He’s also the only one who has used both mailboxes and in one of the later episodes ‘episode 11?’ He’s muttering in a daze about how the mailbox can’t be demolished.
I wonder if we’re seeing one of many (100s or 1000s) of potential timelines. This was just one that had the best outcome.
Interesting to think about how things may have gone devastatingly wrong with a slight change. I wonder if older Xun started having these symptoms after coming into contact with ‘the/a’ mailbox at the dock.