The narrative returns to Yun’s youth in Shanghai. A year after the Japanese surrender, her father returns home. Mr. Gao wants to publicize the Phoenix Pencil Company’s wartime contributions, but the mothers refuse, wanting to keep their abilities secret. The civil war between the Nationalists and Communists brings hyperinflation to Shanghai, and Yun’s father suggests they may need to leave. Meng argues that the mothers, not the men, built their comfortable life, provoking her uncle’s rage as he describes his harrowing wartime experiences.

Meng announces that her boyfriend’s family is fleeing to Hong Kong and that he’s asked her to join him. She refuses to leave Shanghai but becomes deeply depressed after his departure. Feeling guilty, Yun confesses to using Reforging to extract words from the boy’s pencil and gives Meng his notebook. Meng reads it, then coldly accuses Yun of being a liar and slams the door.

Yun’s grandmother dies peacefully. At the funeral Yun’s father bows to Meng and her mother in a gesture of reconciliation. Then, at the end of 1948, Yun’s father announces they’re leaving for Taiwan as the Nationalists lose battle after battle. Mr. Gao begs Meng’s mother to join him, but she refuses, claims her late husband’s Communist ties will shield her and her daughter, and destroys all evidence of her relationship with Mr. Gao. Before Yun’s family departs, the cousins finish their shared story together. Yun promises to return in a few months, but this is the last time she sees Meng.

Louise arrives in Cambridge. Monica’s grandparents are immediately charmed by her, and Louise surprises her grandmother with a bag of Arby’s roast beef sandwiches. When her grandmother momentarily mistakes Louise for Hannah, Monica’s estranged mother, her grandfather gently corrects her.

Monica takes Louise on a bike ride to an MIT classroom where her grandfather once taught. She gives Louise a lesson on git rebase, demonstrating how code history can be reordered to create a cleaner narrative that differs from the order in which events actually unfolded. They write a story together about two girls on a quest, basing the characters on each other, and they use the tale to point out traits they admire in one another. After they finish the story, Louise suddenly pins Monica against the wall. Monica touches Louise’s neck and compliments her haircut, but Louise abruptly pulls away and suggests they leave.

At dinner, Louise eats instant oatmeal instead of rice, baffling Monica’s grandmother. Louise tells Monica she must leave early the next morning to meet her volleyball team, which disappoints her. After Louise goes to bed, Monica receives a cryptic email from her grandmother containing only the words “kuai dian” and kissing emojis, which alarms her.

Yun’s family arrives in Taiwan, where the Nationalist government houses them in a Japanese-style home in recognition of their service. Yun’s mother, who never cooked in Shanghai, struggles to prepare basic meals. Yun writes censored letters to Meng and attempts to send a pencil with rice packages. Her father gets a job in the Nationalist intelligence division and announces the government will fund a new Phoenix Pencil Company in Taiwan. Setting up the store briefly gives Yun purpose, but on opening day, she realizes she’ll never return home when she hears the Communists have taken Shanghai. The company operates a fake recycling program to collect used pencils for surveillance. The constant work takes a severe physical toll on Yun’s mother, who advises Yun to find a different way to live and never share her Reforging abilities.

At a government-sponsored event, Yun meets Torou Tsai, a local teenager who studies secure communication and dreams of attending MIT to escape Taiwan’s political repression. He asks her to speak uninterrupted for five minutes, and she tells him about Shanghai and her longing for Meng. He promises to visit the pencil company.

Monica, her grandparents, and Louise attend Louise’s volleyball game. When her grandfather cheers loudly and they wave a homemade tiger banner, Louise’s team responds with their own cheers, and Louise blows a kiss toward them. After her team wins, Monica admits she likes Louise, and Louise replies that she likes Monica, too.

Afterward, Louise asks Monica to walk with her to the Charles River. She explains she’s been thinking about how different Monica’s loving family is from her own parents, who made her feel inadequate compared to her brothers, who are both doctors. Monica shares that her parents left when she was young, affecting her self-esteem. Louise proposes they reframe each other’s life stories. Monica reframes Louise’s negative self-narrative positively, and Louise in turn casts Monica as beloved by her grandparents and the latest in a line of story preservers, connecting her technology work to the family’s pencil-making heritage. Monica accepts this reframing, voices her fears about her grandmother’s memory loss and mortality, and admits she’s avoided learning to Reforge out of fear of what she might discover about her grandmother’s past. They return home and play mahjong with Monica’s grandparents. Under the table, Louise holds Monica’s hand.

Reflecting on Monica and Louise, Yun recalls her early relationship with Torou. He begins studying regularly in the shop. One day, Yun finds him using a Phoenix Pencil and snatches it away to protect him from government surveillance. As compensation, he convinces her to see a movie with him. Yun asks her mother if a pencil can be made unreforgeable, but her mother, believing their surveillance work is noble, does not understand. Yun Reforges Torou’s pencil and finds only math equations and a feeling of love for his work. Her mother encourages the relationship, noting how unhappy Yun has been since leaving Shanghai. When Torou returns, he brings books as a gift, and they begin kissing while studying together.

Their physical relationship escalates over subsequent visits. One evening, alone in the shop, Yun experiences an involuntary Reforging through sexual climax, discovering the second method of Reforging Meng once mentioned. The phoenix on her arm becomes pale, meaning Torou’s story has been released and lost. Yun is mentally transported during the involuntary Reforging, and Torou becomes concerned. Panicked, she tells him that she has a strange family sickness. When he asks if he would learn the secret if they married, she dismisses the idea, saying they’re “only enjoying each other” (217). Hurt, Torou says he’s wasted too much time and must focus on reaching America. He leaves, seemingly for good, and Yun is left heartbroken.

On the final morning of Louise’s visit, Monica wakes early to make shaobing. Louise joins her in the kitchen, and Monica impulsively asks her to stay another day, but Louise says her parents expect her home. At breakfast, Louise asks to interview Monica’s grandmother about Shanghai. Her grandmother grows tense and refuses, saying people might not want to remember the city’s past. She also tells Louise that, if she knows Meng’s story, she knows hers, too.

Afterward, Louise blames herself for upsetting Yun. Monica comforts her, saying Louise is the only person she’s wanted to open up to and offering to prove it. At the train station, Monica shows Louise a text from her grandmother reminding her that this is her last chance to kiss Louise. Louise laughs and teases that her grandmother is trying to set them up. As the final boarding call is announced, Louise backs toward the train, thanks Monica for understanding her so well, blows her a kiss, and boards just as the doors close. Monica reflects that she no longer needs EMBRS to understand Louise and decides to focus on the joy their relationship brings.