So from what I got, the school days are flashbacks (past) and now we finally reached the present time where they have jobs and He Tian is back. But in between past and present there was a time skip (when He Tian actually left and Jian Ji was "kidnapped" - because of that time skip, we never saw this happening). The Christmas specials are part of the present and pinpoint He Tians return, now in recent chapters he keeps annoying Mo, who is still hurt from He Tians departure (hence the taped box in his room). Besides the Christmas specials (which are mostly important to the storyline) there are "normal" specials such as valentines day, Chinese new year or ordinary things happening like them going skiing - those "normal specials" are a bit further into the future, where Mo and He Tian already made up and (probably) are a couple.
ahh I see! Thank you for the clarification. That ski trip special is the one that actually confused me the most, we don't know if by that time Mo has forgiven him, but from the looks of it, it seemed things have settled down between them. I'm surprised how far has the author thought through ahead in all those specials, since we have to go back and connect the dots and put them in order, like the Christmas specials for example that started in chapter 224 which was 2017 until now, that's amazing. (also such an excruciating time to wait since we got those specials once a year for the story of He tian's comeback to be complete during Christmas) though there's something that confused me is that (He Tian) during his comeback on Christmas Mo was working at a restaurant, and in the future chapters Mo is working on cars and Mo is still upset, does that indicate that He Tian has gone away more than once?
I think Mo (present) works at least two jobs, the mechanic one and at the restaurant. But because the present chapters are fairly new and not a lot are out yet, we haven't seen him work at the restaurant but probably will see it at some point. So I'm pretty sure He Tian has only left once. In order: Mo sees She Li for the last time - >timeskip - >He Tian suddenly comes back to Mo during his restaurant shift, then they go to Mo's place, then they went drinking with Mo's friends followed by driving to the hotel when the rings were exchanged while Mo is drunk. The next morning they went skiing (which was said in the chapter by He Tian, something like "last night you were clinging onto me") - [these are all Christmas specials] and now He Tian keeps bothering Mo and stays at his place - from here the story continues. Basically the Christmas specials are kind of an incomplete transition to the present.
I love this manhua so much, absolutely a favorite! I decided to relive the events again lol and reread from the beginning for the 3rd time, which had me wondering about some things.
*Spoiler Alert.
When finishing my reread I have come to understand things better and notice some things I haven't noticed before from major to trivial details, and one of the main things is the timeline of the story. I have been reading, all the while thinking the current timeline is the school timeline, and they are showing us glimpses of the future, until I came across a comment explaining that the school timeline is actually flashbacks which put my thoughts into perspective and also made me confused.
I don't understand, the current timeline is them after they have finished college and they are looking for jobs now? I have been going through comments and everyone is saying something different, that this current timeline is them after finishing high school, not college. And I remember Jian Yi said in one of the chapters that everyone moved on (graduated, something along those lines) and he is still repeating high school exams?
The Christmas specials also confused me regarding the come back of He Tian, I believe they are not in order regarding He Tian's come back? because one of them, chapter 412 (Christmas Special) is where Mo Guan Shan is upset about He Tian's leave, and then we get another special where it seems the leave didn't happen yet and they are just having a good time, and then AGAIN, we get chapters where Mo Guan Shan is upset about his leave, so it's basically on and off, on and off, that I don't know when the leave actually happened?!! The specials add to my confusion trying to put the timeline in order in my mind ><" the time gap between the years for the Christmas special chapters is like a puzzle that if you want to read the Christmas chapters altogether to read it as a whole because of what I understood, He tian came back on Christmas day to meet Mo Guan Shan which makes them important chapters.
I'd really appreciate if someone could clear all of this up please.
and one last thing, I loved chapter 412, do you think they will show us when He Tian actually gifted the rings, or was it just skipping over the details, like a brief info drop rather than a fully developed scene? any speculations?