What If
What If is a 20-episode Chinese modern romance drama from Tencent Video. It aired from May 6, 2024 to May 13, 2024, and all episodes are out. In the US it streams officially on Viki (free with ads), checked October 28, 2026.
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Final verdict coming soon. It goes up once our editor has seen the ending. How we rate
Viewers who like sliding-doors stories, small-city family drama and office politics in the same show
What viewers score it
The story, without spoilers
What to Expect
We haven't watched this one. This section is based on the official episode synopses, the Baidu Baike entry and listings on Viki and MyDramaList, and we'll replace it with a verdict once we have one.
What If is a "mirror life" drama, as its Chinese billing puts it. From episode 2 onward, most episodes cut back and forth between the two timelines, so the same people turn up in different roles: Yu Jian's mother is a future mother-in-law in one life and a distant voice on the phone in the other, and Xia Guo's Shanghai boss never meets her Leshan self.
The Leshan life is family drama. Xia Guo moves in with Yu Jian's parents, marries, gets pregnant and deals with a mother-in-law who means well and oversteps constantly. Money is tight, Yu Jian's father needs care, and a woman from Yu Jian's past starts working with him. MyDramaList's most-voted tags include "Manipulative In-Law" and "Selfish In-Law", which gives a sense of how viewers took this half.
The Shanghai life is a workplace drama with a romance. Xia Guo starts as an outsider who can't find the elevator buttons and works her way up through office politics between two executives. Long distance strains her relationship with Yu Jian, and she grows close to her boss, Xue Yuming, whose past catches up with them both.
Reception. In China it scored 5.2 on Douban from about 1,900 ratings and 8.2 on Tencent Video from 131,000. Tencent reported a heat index above 21,000 two days after launch, and its main Douyin hashtag passed 2.1 billion views. International viewers were kinder than Douban: 7.4 on MyDramaList and 8.6 on Viki. Local Leshan media praised how it shows everyday life in the city.
Pacing. At 20 episodes it is short for a Chinese drama, and it aired in a week. Because it covers two lives in that time, each timeline jumps forward in large steps, sometimes by years.
Content notes. Pregnancy and a near-miscarriage, infidelity suspicion, a parent's serious illness, a parent's death, an elderly parent scammed out of money, and workplace bullying.
The Story
Xia Guo has an easy life in Leshan, a small city in Sichuan. She has a steady job, a boyfriend she has known since they were teenagers, and his parents treat her like a daughter. Then her company offers her a transfer to its Shanghai headquarters. Her boyfriend, Yu Jian, an interior designer, agrees to go with her, until his father falls seriously ill. What If (生活在别处的我) splits the story at that moment and follows both versions of Xia Guo: the one who gets off the train and stays, and the one who leaves for Shanghai alone. Zhong Chuxi and Liu Xueyi lead the 20-episode drama, with Lin Yushen as her Shanghai boss and Yao Chi as a new friend. It streamed on Tencent Video in May 2024.
Han Qing directed it from a script by Zou Jiani. It was filmed in Leshan from December 2022 to March 2023.
Release Notes
What If premiered on Tencent Video on May 6, 2024, at 6 p.m. Members got four episodes on day one and two a day until May 9, then one a day from May 10, with SVIP members able to watch further ahead. The finale went up on May 13. Filming ran from December 16, 2022, to March 13, 2023, in Leshan.
Internationally, Viki carries all 20 episodes. From the US on October 28, 2026, they were free with ads and English subtitles were complete. MyDramaList also lists WeTV, which we haven't checked.
The theme song is "I wanna be with U" by Jin Haixin (金海心).
MyDramaList lists the 2016 Taiwanese drama Life Plan A and B (植劇場－荼蘼), written by Mag Hsu, as the original story. Both follow one woman whose life splits in two after a single decision about love and a move. The Baidu Baike entry for What If doesn't mention the Taiwanese drama, and we haven't compared the two, so we can't say how closely the remake follows it.
Does What If have a happy ending?
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We have not finished this one ourselves; this is based on outside sources.
In Brief
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What If has a happy ending in both lives. In Leshan, Xia Guo's fears about Yu Jian and Wen Ya turn out to be a misunderstanding, and Yu Jian surprises her with the wedding ceremony they never had. In Shanghai, she runs her own business, single by choice, when Xue Yuming comes back and asks her to marry him. She says no, then opens her door to him that night. The finale closes with the two Xia Guos talking to each other: neither choice was the better one.
Full Ending Explained
Full spoilersShow the full ending
This account comes from the episode synopses on Baidu Baike, not from watching. Episode numbers follow Tencent Video's 20-episode version.
The split. In episode 2, Xia Guo boards the train to Shanghai, then gets off halfway because Yu Jian has always been the one who gave things up for her. The drama then rewinds and shows the other version, where she stays on the train. Both lives run in parallel from there.
Leshan: marriage and doubt. Xia Guo loses her job, Yu Jian proposes, and when she finds out she is pregnant they register their marriage (episode 10), with friends chipping in money because Yu Jian's mother has been scammed. Married life is hard. Her mother-in-law swaps her folic acid for a folk fertility remedy and she nearly miscarries (episode 12), and she quits work to protect the pregnancy. After the baby arrives, she grows suspicious of Wen Ya. In episode 19 she follows Yu Jian and sees him walk into a hotel with Wen Ya.
Leshan: the surprise. In episode 20, Yu Jian takes Xia Guo to the same hotel. It is not a confession. He has been planning the wedding ceremony they never held, with his sister and friends in on it. He has even invited Xia Guo's stepfather, keeping a promise from years before. Wen Ya, it turns out, has been with Yu Jian's friend Tang Yiming all along.
Shanghai: Xue Yuming. In the Shanghai life, Yu Jian breaks up with Xia Guo after a fight over Wen Ya (episode 9), and she later sees him with Wen Ya on a visit home. She starts dating Xue Yuming. Then Li Qiuman joins the company, with a daughter, Migao, who turns out to be Xue Yuming's. When the affair becomes office gossip, Xue Yuming resigns to protect Xia Guo. Li Qiuman eventually leaves the country with Migao.
Shanghai: on her own. Xia Guo wants to marry; Xue Yuming dodges the question, and she finds the job offer he has taken in Singapore. In episode 18 she ends the relationship by text, leaves her job and buys into Allen's bar. One night, a little drunk, Allen confesses and kisses her, but she tells him they can only be friends. When the pandemic hits she pivots the bar to delivery, and by the finale she is opening a new restaurant.
Two lives, one mother. Xia Guo's mother, Wang Yan, dies in both timelines (episode 17). In the Shanghai life, Xia Guo comes home to find her mother had already put the flat in her name.
Shanghai: the ring. In episode 19, the Shanghai Xia Guo meets Yu Jian again on a design job. He is married with a child, and he tells her he came back the night of their breakup and saw her in Xue Yuming's arms. They watch a sunrise and part as friends. In episode 20, Xue Yuming returns, books her restaurant for a proposal without saying it's his, and gives her a ring, saying he never stopped wanting to marry her. She turns him down; she has spent too long fitting around him. At home she finds the receipt in the box: he bought the ring the night before he left. That night he comes to her door, and she opens it. They look at each other, and the drama doesn't say what she answers.
The last scene. The two Xia Guos talk across their timelines and agree that there was no better choice, only the one each of them made.
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Cast and characters
Also starring
- Xia Guo (Zhong Chuxi): practical, hard-working and restless, raised by a mother who divorced and remarried. She wants a life that is "a little less ordinary".
- Yu Jian (Liu Xueyi): gentle and loyal, an interior designer who keeps giving things up for Xia Guo and for his parents.
- Xue Yuming (Lin Yushen): a senior executive in Shanghai, tough on Xia Guo at first and later her partner.
- Allen (Yao Chi): Xue Yuming's friend, a bartender who lives next door to Xia Guo in Shanghai.
- Wen Ya (Liu Mengmeng): Yu Jian's junior from design school, whose closeness to him worries Xia Guo in both lives.
- Li Qiuman (Li Yixiao): an executive back from abroad, Xia Guo's rival at work.
- Chen Nan (Fu Miao): the Shanghai director who gives Xia Guo her chance.
- Yu Jian's parents (Liu Dan and Huo Qing) and Xia Guo's mother, Wang Yan (Yu Hui): the families both lives revolve around.
Identity Reveals
Ending spoilerShow identity reveals
There's one: Li Qiuman's daughter, Migao, is Xue Yuming's child. Li Qiuman found out she was pregnant after they broke up and raised Migao alone. She drops hints to Xia Guo (Migao's soy allergy, "inherited from her father") before Li Qiuman brings Migao to the marketing team's dinner, and Migao runs to Xue Yuming calling him "Dad" in front of everyone.
Words and customs you'll hear
Leshan
Leshan is a city of about three million people in Sichuan, south of Chengdu, best known for the Leshan Giant Buddha and its street food. Xia Guo's love of bobo ji (钵钵鸡), cold skewers in chili oil, is a Leshan specialty. The drama was filmed there, and its picture of slow afternoons, mahjong parlors and families living on top of each other is the "small city" life the title weighs against Shanghai.
Registering first, wedding later
Chinese couples become legally married when they register and get their red marriage certificates. The wedding banquet can come weeks, months or years later, or not at all. That's why Leshan Xia Guo can be married with a child and still not have had a wedding, and why Yu Jian's surprise in the finale matters.
Living with the in-laws
It's common in China for young couples, especially in smaller cities, to live with the husband's parents, and for grandparents to help raise children. The Leshan half leans on that arrangement for most of its conflict.
What If FAQ
How many episodes does What If have?
What If has 20 episodes of about 45 minutes each. It aired on Tencent Video from May 6 to May 13, 2024, with members getting several episodes a day, so the whole series came out in about a week. It has been complete since then, and Viki carries all 20 episodes with English subtitles.
Where can I watch What If?
From the US on October 28, 2026, Viki had all 20 episodes free with ads and complete English subtitles, with no Viki Pass needed. MyDramaList also lists WeTV, which we haven't checked. In mainland China it streams on Tencent Video, where it first aired in May 2024.
Does What If have a happy or sad ending?
SpoilerShow the answer
Minor spoilerReveal how it ends
Happy, in both lives. In Leshan, Xia Guo's fear that Yu Jian is cheating turns out to be wrong, and he surprises her with their wedding ceremony. In Shanghai, she runs her own restaurant, and Xue Yuming comes back to propose. She turns him down, then opens her door to him that night.
Does Xia Guo choose Leshan or Shanghai?
SpoilerShow the answer
Minor spoilerReveal which life she picks
Neither. The drama doesn't pick one life over the other. Both timelines end well, and the final scene has the two Xia Guos talking to each other and agreeing that neither choice was better.
Who does Xia Guo end up with in What If?
SpoilerShow the answer
Ending spoilerReveal who she ends up with
In the Leshan life, she is married to Yu Jian and they finally hold their wedding. In the Shanghai life, she breaks up with Xue Yuming, turns down Allen, and is single when Xue Yuming proposes in the finale. That story ends with her opening the door to him, without saying what she answers.
Does Yu Jian cheat with Wen Ya?
SpoilerShow the answer
Ending spoilerReveal the truth about Wen Ya
Not in the Leshan life. Xia Guo sees them enter a hotel together, but Yu Jian was planning their surprise wedding there, and Wen Ya is with his friend Tang Yiming. In the Shanghai life, where Xia Guo and Yu Jian break up, Yu Jian moves on with Wen Ya.
Is What If a remake?
MyDramaList lists the 2016 Taiwanese drama Life Plan A and B (荼蘼) as the original story. Both are about one woman living out two versions of her life after a single choice. Chinese sources we read don't mention it, and we haven't compared the two.
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