The Early Spring Episode 17 Recap
**SPOILER ALERT**
Table of Contents
TL;DR (Quick Overview)
COURAGE IS ACTING DESPITE FEAR
Zhitao’s carefully laid trap finally exposes Dony’s true nature, but the price of secrecy nearly costs her Luan Nian’s trust entirely. Between his resignation, a company scandal, and a reconciliation that ends in real consequences, this episode delivers some of the show’s heaviest stakes yet.
A Dangerous Truth Uncovered
At Zhitao’s request, Sun Yuanzhu runs a background check on Dony and finds something damning, a prior criminal record involving both embezzlement and sexual misconduct at previous companies. He urges her plainly to prioritize her own safety above anything else.
Not long after, Lumi shows up unannounced in Hangzhou, sent by Luan Nian on a confidential mission, auditing a set of suspicious transactions Dony’s been running through local shell companies, contracts inflated and disguised as ordinary tea purchases. Zhitao’s relieved to see her, and Lumi confirms what she already suspected, something is seriously wrong with Dony.
A Trap, and an Attack
Dony invites Zhitao to what he frames as a work dinner, but it’s really an interrogation, pressing her on why Lumi’s really in Hangzhou and whether Luan Nian ordered the audit himself. She insists she doesn’t know the details. He threatens that if the project fails, she’ll be the first person let go, and she pushes back, reminding him her future at the company isn’t solely his to decide.
As she turns to leave, he corners her, pinning her against the wall, and starts pressuring her outright, mocking her loyalty to Luan Nian, pointing out she’s only been promoted twice in all her years there, promising instant advancement if she works for him instead. She tries to scream, but he tells her nobody will hear her. She manages to kick free and bolts, losing a shoe in the process.
A Lie to Protect Him
Shaking with fear, Zhitao calls Luan Nian, and he immediately senses something’s wrong, asking outright if Dony’s harassed her. She lies and says no, unwilling to add more weight onto everything he’s already carrying. Not long after, Kitty rounds the corner holding her missing shoe.
It’s only now revealed that this entire dinner was a setup Zhitao orchestrated. Kitty had confided in her earlier about what Dony really did to her, drugging her, taking nude photos as blackmail, trying to assault her outright.
Rather than go straight to the police and risk her life being destroyed publicly, Zhitao had quietly arranged for Kitty and several other female colleagues to wait nearby, ready to intervene the moment she gave a signal, and they did exactly that, allowing her to escape safely.
A Collapse Into His Arms
Zhitao flies home to Beijing that same night, and the moment she reaches Luan Nian’s apartment, she collapses into his arms, trembling, repeating his name, begging him to just hold her tighter.
The Truth Comes Out
The next day, during an executive meeting, Luan Nian pushes to recall the entire Hangzhou team as it hasn’t met expectations, and Dony fights him on it hard. Mid-argument, Tracy receives a company-wide email, Zhitao’s formal report of sexual harassment against Dony, complete with the recorded audio as evidence.
Realizing exactly what caused her terror the night before, Luan Nian storms out to find Lumi already confronting Dony in the hallway. Consumed with rage, he grabs Dony by the throat, and it takes Will physically pulling him back to stop it from going further.
Luan Nian demands Tracy call the police immediately. Visibly shaken, she admits that in nine years at Lime, across a company nearly evenly split between men and women, nothing like this has ever happened before, and reading Zhitao’s account has genuinely broken her heart. She agrees without hesitation, the police are coming.
A Company Tries to Bury It
Headquarters sends representatives to manage the fallout, more concerned with avoiding a public scandal and a stock price collapse than with real justice, and they try pushing Zhitao toward a private settlement instead.
She refuses outright, insisting this man has done this to other women before and belongs in prison. Kitty comes forward with her own evidence too, and Lumi submits the full financial audit proving Dony funnelled embezzled money through shell tea vendors into an overseas account.
A Painful Confrontation
Afterward, Luan Nian confronts Zhitao, pointing out that the recording wasn’t foolproof, what if things had actually spiralled out of control? She explains she’d already arranged safety measures with Kitty and Lucy, confident she wouldn’t actually be in danger.
He presses harder, reminding her that during her thirteen days in Hangzhou, they spoke on the phone twenty-six times, and not once did she breathe a word of any of it. He wants to know why. She admits she didn’t want to add more pressure onto him while he was already under such intense scrutiny.
He reminds her, pointedly, that he’d asked her directly if Dony had harassed her, and she’d told him no. “Good for you,” he says, bitter, “you’re so strong now you don’t even need anyone protecting you. Clear-headed, independent, I can hardly help but applaud you.”
Exhausted and hurt, she tells him she’s tired and wants to go home to sleep. He tells her to go rest, and turns his back on her. Walking out, Lumi meets her with a hug, and Zhitao finally breaks down crying as Lumi arranges to get her home.
A Resignation
Later, in a formal review with the legal team, executives criticize Luan Nian for using company resources to dig into a rival’s personal history, arguing none of the evidence has been properly vetted and pointing to the company’s overall stability and reputation as the priority.
Disgusted by the company’s total lack of trust in him and refusal to press public charges against Dony, Luan Nian resigns from every position at Lime on the spot and walks out.
Guilt, and a Reunion
That night, needing air, Luan Nian sits alone on a park bench while Tracy calls repeatedly, panicked, asking if he’s serious about resigning. He confirms he is, telling her plainly he doesn’t care about Lime anymore.
Sitting there, he keeps replaying Zhitao’s email in his mind, remembering that she’d flown fifteen hundred kilometres from Hangzhou to Beijing, trembling the entire flight, and finally understanding exactly why she’d clung to him so tightly the moment she got home. Overwhelmed, he calls her, only for Sun Yu to answer and explain she’s already asleep, exhausted.
He drives to her building anyway and waits downstairs, when Tao returns his call and says he downstairs, here to apologise. The moment she hears that, she runs straight down and into his arms, crying. She asks to go see the moon, and they drive out to the mountainside bar together.
A Real Conversation
He tells her he thought they’d promised honesty with each other, pointing out she had plenty of people around her that night, and never once thought to actually come to him. She admits she didn’t feel it was her place to share Kitty’s private trauma without permission. He asks, pointedly, then why was it her place to walk into danger instead?
Throughout this entire ordeal, he tells her, he was the very last person to know anything. He asks if she even sees him as her boyfriend. Hurt, she tells him of course she does, taking his hand, admitting she’s learned her lesson properly this time. He pulls her into a hug, kissing her forehead, her cheek, her neck, then bites her shoulder, playful punishment for the secrecy.
A Resignation, Reconsidered
She asks if he’s really going through with the resignation, and he confirms it, joking that he’s rich enough to do whatever he wants. She tells him she wants him to stay, that she still wants to keep learning from him, and selfishly, that she likes seeing him every single day. He laughs.
The next day, three representatives from Lime’s US headquarters fly in to meet him over whiskey, worried sick about the plummeting share price, pleading with him to return. He tells them to enjoy their evening first, they can discuss it properly tomorrow.
When they press for what it would actually take to bring him back, he lays out two conditions beyond the guaranteed public prosecution of Dony. First, the lead complainant receives a two hundred thousand yuan stock agreement, with the other four affected women receiving one hundred thousand each. Second, no future hires into Lime China can come from outside the country. Agree to both, and he’ll return.
Justice, Finally
Zhitao sits in Tracy’s office, refusing at first to sign the stock agreement, insisting she isn’t staying silent for money. Tracy reassures her it isn’t hush money, it’s genuine thanks for keeping the workplace safe, and she signs.
Not long after, Tracy calls Luan Nian with the final news, Dony’s been convicted of embezzlement, sexual harassment, and assault, sentenced to eleven years in prison. Satisfied, Luan Nian smiles, plays with the dog, and agrees to return to work the following week.
A Small Bright Spot
At home, Sun Yu’s dating app is struggling badly, user sign-ups have hit an all-time low and her investment funds are drying up fast. Zhitao and Sun Yuanzhu do what they can to lift her spirits, downloading the app themselves, promising to rope Yuanzhu into doing the same, and offering to promote it around the office to help keep her dream alive.
The Early Spring Episode 17 Recap: My Thoughts
This whole episode was fraught with anxiety, and I spent most of it praying nothing would happen to Zhitao. When she didn’t end up going to Dony’s room alone, I was relieved, but the moment she found herself alone with him in that private dining room, I knew something was coming. Thankfully she’d built in contingencies, but she was attacked regardless, and I have real admiration for her courage here. What Dony did to Kitty is disgusting.
When Luan Nian asked if Dony had harassed her and she said no, I actually shouted at the screen. NO!! Again? You lied to him again? I could have sworn they’d made a real pact after everything with the real estate agents earlier in the show. What he said to her afterward, following the internal investigation, felt completely justified to me, and I don’t fault him at all for it, even if the words themselves stung.
This time, though, he came around much faster, quickly recognizing how awful and hurtful his response was, especially given everything she’d just survived. I’m glad they reconciled so quickly, and her running straight from her apartment into his arms was such a great scene. Their makeup moment at the bar was lovely too, though when she promised not to do this again, girl, I don’t believe you for a second.
I’m glad the entire Dony arc wrapped up so satisfyingly, and that he finally got exactly what he deserved. Tracy’s speech about women in the workplace was so genuinely moving, I actually cried watching it. And when she admitted how heartbroken she was reading Zhitao’s email and everything she’d gone through, that broke my heart all over again too.
The pacing of this episode was good and was convincing. The acting by all characters as fantastic as it was one that required a lot from everyone. Hatred, fear, sadness, danger…. You name it, we got it all.
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