Meteor Garden Synopsis

An uncomfortable Shan Cai pushes Ah Si away. She tries to deny that they are dating but Ah Si says otherwise. Lei comments that it’s a pity that they are dating and Ah Si jokingly warns Lei not to take Shan Cai away from him.

After all the excitement, the group settles down and asks Lei about his trip to Paris, France. Later, Shan Cai spots Lei chatting up a girl. She is shocked to see him flirting outrageously with the girl. Upset, she leaves the pub. When she returns home, she wonders if Lei had returned to Taiwan with Jing. She wonders why Lei is acting the way he is. The Lei that she knew always acts nonchalant towards everything and would never kiss a stranger.

In school, Shan Cai sees Lei at the balcony. She asks him about Paris and about Jing but Lei changes the topic to Ah Si and her. He wants to know if she is really dating Ah Si and Shan Cai tells him that it is a one-sided affair on Ah Si’s part. Lei says that he had always wanted to go after her and asks her to be his girlfriend. Shan Cai is shocked but Lei laughs and clarifies that he is just joking. Ah Si is his good friend and he will never do such a thing to him. Jokingly, he tells Shan Cai that they could date secretly without letting Ah Si know. She laughs uneasily. Feeling extremely uncomfortable, Shan Cai excuses herself to go for class. Before she leaves, Lei comments that she has become prettier. Shan Cai runs off. She is confused about Lei’s flirtatious attitude but is excited about his comment.

Sadness overcomes Lei and he rebukes himself for behaving in that way.

That night, Ah Si picks Shan Cai after work. He tells her that he cannot stand the fact that there is someone who keeps trying to ruin her reputation. He shows her an address – the address of the person who took the photos of her and the deejay. They stop in front of a house and knock. Li Zhen opens the door and Shan Cai is shocked. Ah Si confronts her about the photos. Shan Cai feels that it must have been a huge misunderstanding and that Li Zhen, as her best friend, will never hurt her. Ah Si, however, thinks otherwise. When Li Zhen does not defend herself, Shan Cai realizes that it is really her who took the photos. Li Zhen tells her that the night at the disco, she had pretended to be drunk so that she could go home but come out later to follow Shan Cai. She rebukes Shan Cai for trying to be a nice person. She thinks that Shan Cai had given her the dress (that Ah Si had given Shan Cai) for Jing’s party in order to let Ah Si humiliate and hate her. She tells Shan Cai that, if not because of Ah Si, they could have been the best of friends. She is frustrated that they are both poor people, but everyone loves Shan Cai (especially Ah Si), while everyone looks down on her even though she tops the school. She is jealous that Shan Cai has the love of Ah Si – the one thing that she always dreamt of having. Ah Si shuts her up and tells her he will send her a “red note” the next day. Shan Cai apologizes to Li Zhen for causing her so much pain, but thank her for being her best friend for such a long time. The former returns Li Zhen the small soft toy (from Episode 1: Li Zhen had given this soft toy to Shan Cai to express her apologies) which she always carried with her. Shan Cai tells Ah Si not to give Li Zhen a “red note”. With that, she walks away, overwhelmed with sadness at the betrayal of her best friend.

The next morning, Qing He brings news of Li Zhen quitting school voluntarily. Shan Cai sees the small soft toy in her locker. Li Zhen had recorded her apologies and tells Shan Cai that although she had done many terrible things to Shan Cai, she still treats Shan Cai as the best friend she had from Ying De Xue Yuan.

Knowing that she is upset over Li Zhen, Ah Si brings Shan Cai shopping. He gets the salesgirl to dress Shan Cai up and drags Shan Cai to go on a holiday in Japan.

At the airport, everyone bring their own dates for the holiday, including Lei. Shan Cai cannot believe that this is the same Lei who left Taiwan to pursue his love. She wonders what happened in France that changed him totally.

In Japan, Ah Si had booked the entire hotel by the sea for the 4 couples. When they check into the rooms, Ah Si hugs Shan Cai and tells her that this room belongs to the two of them. Uneasy, Shan Cai pretends to be hungry. However, during dinner, everyone eats heartily except Shan Cai. When she sees Lei flirting with his date, she is upset and loses her appetite.

When everyone returns to their room, Shan Cai is nervous about sharing a room with Ah Si. She makes several excuses not to sleep but Ah Si assures her that he will not take advantage of her. Furthermore, he will not let Shan Cai sleep on the couch. Thus, he sleeps on the couch while she takes the bed. Shan Cai is relieved and touched.

Late that night, Shan Cai lies awake, thinking about Lei. She decides to take a walk by the beach. She sees Lei sitting alone on the sand and approaches him. She asks Lei if he has not gone back to his room the whole night (he says yes), and tells him not to sit by the sea the whole night or he will catch a cold (Lei keeps quiet). Suddenly, a wave of sadness washes over Lei and he pulls Shan Cai down onto the sand. Lei implores her to stay for a while and to hug him for 5 minutes. While he can pretend to be happy during the day, he is unable to control his emotions during the night. (He puts his head on her shoulder) Shan Cai told him he could go hug his date but Lei replies that he does not want a girl that he does not know at all to hug him. He begs her to hug him tightly. Heartbroken to see him so sad, Shan Cai hugs him tightly. She is shocked that Lei is in her arms. She remembers that long ago, when Ah Si bullied her, all it took was for Lei to smile at her and she will feel all right. Yet now, she is the one comforting Lei.

Lei relates to Shan Cai what happened in France. It was the happiest period in his life. In the beginning, Lei and Jing spent many hours walking down Paris and talking about the past. However, after a while, Jing has to start studying. While she studies in the day and temps at a law firm as a secretary, he stays at home with nothing to do until she comes home. Lei and Jing also talk about Shan Cai occasionally. Lei tells Shan Cai that Jing likes her a lot. She compares Shan Cai to a kind of flower that will bloom whenever it is. Lei suddenly remembers the first time Shan Cai confronts Ah Si, scolding the F4 as useless people who only know how to use their parents’ status to obtain what they want (Episode 1). Lei agrees with what Shan Cai said. He tells her that he had always been a loner and it was Jing who had talked him into crawling out of his hole. But in actual fact, he had still remained a loner.

Their conversation is interrupted by a call from Ah Si. Shan Cai puts it aside. Lei tells her that Ah Si really cares about her and urges her to go back to her room. She forgets to take her hand phone with her.

When she is walking back to her room, she meets Ah Si, Mei Zuo and Xi Men. Ah Si asks her where she has been. She tells him that she went for a walk alone and fails to tell him about the meeting with Lei. Knowing that he had been worried, she apologizes to him. He tells her to leave a note the next time she disappears like that. Shan Cai feels guilty that she had lied to Ah Si.

In the morning, the guys are playing beach volleyball while the girls sits by the side. When Lei trips while trying to get the ball, Shan Cai’s hand phone slips out of his pocket. Ah Si sees it and picks it up. Lei tells him to give it to Shan Cai and that she had left it at the beach after they talked the night before. Ah Si recalls that Shan Cai had told him she went for a walk alone. While thinking about it, the volleyball hits his head. Ah Si is about to ask Lei about it when Shan Cai rushed to him. He quickly hides the phone.

Ah Si sits out of the game. He asks Shan Cai where her hand phone is. Shan Cai had realized that the phone was missing and lies to Ah Si that it is inside the room. They are interrupted by Qing He, who has come to look for Shan Cai. He shows them a magazine which reports that Jing may be getting married at the end of year. Everyone is stunned and Lei says that he knew about it long ago. He claims that he does not mind at all. Shan Cai realizes that THAT is the reason why Lei changed so much since he came back France.

That second night, Shan Cai waits till Ah Si is sleeping. She goes to find Lei at the beach. Ah Si wakes up.

At the beach, Lei urges Shan Cai to go back to her room as he is all right. In tears, Shan Cai tells him she cannot stop herself from thinking about him. She feels miserable that he is unable to find love and happiness. Touched by Shan Cai and heartbroken over Jing, Lei lets his tears flow. He kisses Shan Cai and tearfully wishes that the person he loves was Shan Cai instead. Both of them hug tightly. Shan Cai decides not to fight her feelings for Lei anymore. Ah Si sees them and is infuriated. He punches Lei and walks away. Shan Cai tries to explain to Ah Si but Ah Si refuses to listen. He tells Shan Cai that he really loved her yet she keeps breaking his heart. When she tries to touch him, he pushes her away. He never wants to speak to her again. Shan Cai is sorry that she has broken Ah Si’s heart and breaks down in tears.

In the morning, Mei Zuo and Xi Men found that Ah Si had flown back to Taiwan by himself. Lei assures Shan Cai that he will stay by her side. By choosing Lei over Ah Si, she realizes that she will never be able to see Ah Si’s smile again.

Back in Taiwan, Ah Si breaks the news about Lei and Shan Cai to Xi Men and Mei Zuo. They are surprised as they felt that nobody could take the place of Jing in Lei’s heart. Ah Si declares that he will never forgive Lei.

In school, Ah Si breaks off his friendship with Lei and tells him that he is not part of the F4 any longer.

Shan Cai decides to apologize to Ah Si. She meets Mei Zuo and Xi Men, who are not-too-friendly with her. They tell her that Ah Si had driven Lei out of the F4 and ask if she is satisfied now that she had broken up the F4. Shan Cai is overwhelmed with guilt.

Shan Cai meets Lei at the balcony. She apologizes to Lei for ruining his relationship with Ah Si. Lei does not blame her. He borrows her notebook and draws a funny face in it, trying to depict Ah Si’s enraged statement. Shan Cai smiles and attempts to draw a picture that looks better. While drawing, however, she feels sad as she misses Ah Si. Lei asks Shan Cai out for a date on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Ah Si is in depression and drowns his sorrows. He smashes up the all the glasses in his house. It is the first time that Ah Si’s servant sees Ah Si so depressed.

On Sunday, Shan Cai meets Lei for the date. However, it is Lei’s first time out on a date and does not know how to treat the girl nicely. He walks on even when Shan Cai accidentally bumps into a passerby. She remembers the time when she went out with Ah Si and knows that if it had been Ah Si, he would have scolded that guy. And yet Lei just walks on without her. Shan Cai is disturbed that she keeps thinking about Ah Si. Bored, Shan Cai and Lei decides to fly kite. Lei falls asleep while flying the kite.

Back at Ah Si’s mansion, Ah Si’s sister, Dao Ming Zhuang (acted by Xu Hua Feng) has returned from overseas. Desperate, Ah Si’s servant had called her to come back to talk to Ah Si. Dao Ming Zhuang is disgusted that Ah Si is acting this way over a break-up. Late that night, she beats up Ah Si for behaving like a useless bum.

In the morning, Dao Ming Zhuang drags Shan Cai to the mansion. When Ah Si sees Shan Cai, he is unfriendly and rough to her. His sister hits him and tells Shan Cai not to bother about him. She treats the Shan Cai to some wine that she brought back. In the meantime, Ah Si shuts himself in his room. Drunk from the wine, Shan Cai confesses to Dao Ming Zhuang that she hates herself and feels very guilty for the things that she has done.