Synopsis & Character Breakdown
- Title: 十二封信 | Shi Er Feng Xin
- Genre: Youth, Family, Mystery, Fantasy, Slight Romance
- Episodes: 12
- Episodes Length: 45 minutes
- Where to watch: WeTV (en), Viki (en)
Despite life’s hardships, Tang Yi Xun (Zhou Yi Ran) and Ye Hai Tang (Wang Ying Lu) built a family together in their youth. However, 35 years later, their relationship seems estranged, and the two mysteriously disappear around the same time, leaving behind only unanswered questions. Now, their children Yu Nian, Tang Yi Xun’s daughter, and Shen Cheng, Ye Hai Tang’s son, meet for the first time while searching for clues to their parents’ past. Along the way, they discover a mailbox containing a mysterious letter sent by Hai Tang. By writing back, they reopen a line of communication between their parents from the past. Can Yu Nian and Shen Cheng unravel the truth behind their parents’ history and disappearance before it’s too late? (Source: Viki w/edits)
Characters
| Actor | Character | Relationship |
| Wang Ying Lu [王影璐] | Ye Hai Tang / Ye Man Ru | High school student trying to get out of an abusive household by trying to getting into college. |
| Zhou Yi Ran [张婧仪] | Tang Yi Xun / Yu Zhong Ming | Orphaned youth who works under Li Cha Dong to collect debts and has Teacher Tan helping him try to lead a good life through school. |
| Zheng He Hui Zi [郑合惠子] | Yu Nian | Yu Zhong Ming’s daughter in 2026 |
| Ren You Lun [任宥纶] | Shen Cheng | Ye Man Ru’s son in 2026 |
| Jia Hong Xiao [贾弘逍] | Li Cha Dong | Leader of debt collection group that Tang Yi Xun is under. Used to date Tan Xin and is striving to get out of the shady life he used to live by running a billiards business. |
| Zhao Run Nan [赵润南] | Zhang Hao | Tang Yi Xun’s friend and works under Jia Hong Xiao. In love with Zhen Zhu and known as Rat or Hao Zi. |
Mini-Episode Recaps
heavy spoilers ahead
Episode 1: The Letter Writer
coming soon…
Episode 2: Love Letter
coming soon…
Episode 3: Time and the Youth
coming soon…
Episode 4: I Want to Give You Sunny Day, But I Only Have An Umbrella Woven from Storm Clouds
coming soon…
Episode 5: Hello, Stranger
coming soon…
Episode 6: Family
coming soon…
Episode 7: A Xun? I’m Here.
coming soon…
Episode 8: The Spring is Bright, But Gone Forever
coming soon…
Episode 9: If….
coming soon…
Episode 10: Fate
coming soon…
Episode 11: Reunion in Spring
coming soon…
Episode 12: Twelve Letters
coming soon…
Ending Explained
Please do not read if you don’t want to be spoiled.
After deciding to try to change their parents’ fate by revealing the event that drove Tang Yi Xun and Ye Hai Tang apart, Yu Nian and Shen Cheng face a dilemma: Shen Cheng risks ceasing to exist if Ye Hai Tang never meets his father. To reassure him, Yu Nian promises to remember him as he shares little fun facts about himself.
Meanwhile, Tang Yi Xun waits at the mailbox for Ye Hai Tang, but she doesn’t appear. He begins to cycle away, only to hear the ding of the mailbox and return. Inside, he finds a messy note warning him not to kill anyone at the foothills on the night of November 30th. At that moment, Shen Xiao Jun runs up, informing Tang Yi Xun of Ye Hai Tang’s disappearance. Realizing the importance of the note, Tang Yi Xun rushes to save her. Despite the heat of the moment, he remembers not to kill Wang Li, successfully preventing the events that would have sent him to jail and drive Ye Hai Tang away.
Back in 2026, Yu Nian wakes up in her bed, different from the house in Beixing, with an orange cat beside her. She looks down at her phone with a look of surprise on her face. The scene shifts to a cafe with the red mailbox, where a man, presumed to be Shen Cheng, is seen from behind, opening the mailbox. Inside the mailbox, a final letter addressed to Yu Nian and Shen Cheng, written by Ye Hai Tang and Tang Yi Xun, expresses their gratitude and explains how the two’s intervention changed the course of their lives. Tang Yi Xun never went to jail, Ye Hai Tang passed her college exam, and the two didn’t separate on different paths – instead they leave Meiwan together. The two also hope that they will be able to meet Yu Nian and Shen Cheng in this new timeline.
Drama Review
★★★☆☆ Rating: 3.8/5
The Premise
Twelve Letters tells the story of two youths shaped by troubled environments. Ye Hai Tang grew up in an abusive household with a gambling addict father, Ye Yi Bo, who was a narcissist and a compulsive liar. Her mother left when she was young and after her grandmother’s passing she was left to shoulder her father’s debts as collectors came one after another. Tang Yi Xun, an orphaned boy with a good heart, clung to hope for escape. Despite working with Li Cha Dong as a debt collector under A Bao, the trio dreamed of buying a boat and leaving Meiwan behind. With the quiet support of Tan Xin, a teacher who saw the good in him, Tang Yi Xun was urged toward education as a way out.
Performances: Growth, Depth, and Complexity
I’m relatively new to Wang Ying Lu. This year I’ve stumbled across several of her works and while she hasn’t disappointed me, I haven’t been super impressed yet either. I do see potential for her to rise beyond the traffic idol label if she continues to expand her portfolio.
I’d previously seen Zhou Yi Ran in When I Fly Towards You, You Are Desire, Reborn and now Twelve Letters. At first I worried about typecasting. Seeing Tang Yi Xun styled with his signature hairstyle and white collared shirt reminded me of his earlier characters, the quiet, kind, loyal high school boy. It concerned me that he was introduced as morally gray while dressed to remain eye catching and attractive.
Once the story unfolded, that fear disappeared. Tang Yi Xun turned out to have fire, a hot-headed streak, fists ready, a boy unafraid to speak his mind or fight for what he believed was right. I do think Zhou Yi Ran could have pushed that even further, shown more of that fiery spirit, less polish and rougher edges. Still, I admired how his styling evolved as he aged, from stubble to gray hair and tanned skin. What impressed me most was how Zhou Yi Ran carried the weight of the older Tang Yi Xun’s entire journey, the sadness, the regret, the lingering hope, everything he had endured, all without needing dialogue. He captured it so well that within the moment of his crying scene at the tombstone, it was able to move me to tears. All of this showed that Zhou Yi Ran wasn’t trying to hold onto that perfect idol image; he was working to fully inhabit Tang Yi Xun.
Although the theme of the two dramas are different, I would say out of Zhou Yi Ran’s Reborn and Twelve Letters, I would recommend this one. What missed the mark for his character in Reborn was done well here. In both dramas, Zhou Yi Ran’s characters are supportive of the female lead and want to help them out of the darkness. But where the romance in Reborn felt forced, here it didn’t.
What Made the Story Hit Harder
For me, Tang Yi Xun’s character became more memorable than Ye Hai Tang’s not because one was better written, but because his story made me root for him more. Despite everything, he still had hope for the world, still carried good to share, even from inside a bad situation. If he had been negative, both he and Ye Hai Tang would have sunk and the story would have lost the fragile hope that made their failures so devastating.
Ye Hai Tang’s highlight for me was in her devotion. She kept her promise, celebrating Tang Yi Xun’s birthday every year, tending his grave, not just from romantic love but from family like loyalty. She carried on their shared dreams, seeing snow for both of them, living for them both. Throughout their lives, even in decisions made apart, each thought of the other. That’s what made their time apart so wrenching.
Do I agree with Tang Yi Xun’s decision to lie about his death? No. But it’s clear that had Ye Hai Tang never moved on, he may have revealed the truth. He realized though, that he could drag her down and as the years passed, it became too late. That’s why his final love letter to the young Ye Hai Tang was full of regret and yearning but still overflowing with love.
Writing, Themes, and Emotional Weight
This drama was a little bit confusing at times, probably due to some editing and cuts. I can handle delayed reveals and mystery, but there were unexplained moments that felt skipped over. Some supporting characters could have been fleshed out more, especially their motives, and those who appeared consistently needed more depth toward the end to feel conclusive.
The dual timelines, at times, felt a bit messy when trying to integrate them while keeping the story suspenseful enough for viewers to unravel the past alongside Yu Nian and Shen Cheng. I think both Zheng He Hui Zi and Ren You Lan did a great job portraying the loss, confusion, shock, and despair of losing their parents, gradually shifting to understanding them, and eventually wanting to sacrifice themselves for their parents despite not knowing how it would affect them. However, this part of the story didn’t feel entirely necessary aside from providing a chance to alter the past. It often felt like the future timeline didn’t receive the same level of care or emotional weight as the past. The scenes we did get rarely moved the story forward in a meaningful way until much later, which made it hard to feel invested in that side of the narrative early on.
The original synopsis initially gave the impression that Tang Yi Xun was the one actively trying to change the past through his future self, but it turned out that it was actually their children writing the letters. Yet even this central device, the “twelve letters,” felt underwhelming in execution. Aside from the final one, none of the letters carried much emotional or plot significance, which undercut the drama’s own title and made the heavy emphasis on them feel somewhat pointless. The number of letters didn’t seem important, and the mystery behind them didn’t carry much weight either, other than serving as a link between the two timelines. If the letters had revealed more about the parents’ past in the children’s investigation or deepened the emotional stakes between timelines, the concept could have been much more impactful. I think the series could have benefited from a few more episodes and a tighter storyline to connect the past and future, since a good portion of the runtime was spent in the future as well.
What worked beautifully was the lack of overt romance. Though marketed with romantic hints, the love story here was mostly implied, familial, innocent, heartwarming. That desire to be together, shown quietly, made viewers root for them. The few moments that leaned romantic, Ye Hai Tang’s head falling onto Tang Yi Xun’s shoulder while waiting for the supposed mail thief, or Tang Yi Xun’s jealousy over Ye Hai Tang’s child with the surname Shen, could easily have led to a kiss, a glance, some romance cliché. I’m glad they didn’t. The implied tension worked perfectly for this story.
This is a drama about trying, about underdogs clawing for light. It doesn’t sugarcoat. It shows that trying to be better doesn’t guarantee a good outcome. It shows redemption, but also bad luck, and how hard it is to escape darkness, because it’s easy to be pulled back under.
Their situation reminded me of Love Will Tear Us Apart, two people working desperately to make it, but sometimes love and effort still aren’t enough.
Conclusion
Twelve Letters isn’t a perfect drama, but it is a moving and memorable one. It’s the kind of story that stays heavy on the chest because it doesn’t offer easy wins or comforting resolutions. It’s about youth wasted by circumstance, love held together by loyalty, and the hope that even in failure, there’s meaning in having tried. If you’re looking for something heartfelt and different from the usual rom-com circuit, this one deserves a place on your list.
I would say this is one of the better and more memorable mystery, youth, and fantasy dramas that I have fully watched since Zhang Xin Cheng’s The Heart of Genius. If you like more of the time-fantasy element, you’ll enjoy that one. In addition to all the positive points about the two main characters in Twelve Letters, I like the tone, the coloring, and the framing, and I enjoyed all the side character stories. Their set-ups and actions make sense within their world, which makes the drama satisfying even when heartbreaking.
If you’ve seen Twelve Letters and want to share your thoughts or opinions, please leave a comment! Alternatively, let me know if you enjoyed the article or the drama by using the widgets below. Thank you for visiting!
Honestly, I’m a bit confused about the timeline, but not that confused, and you’re right that it’s a bit messy.
In episode 1, older Yixun is waiting for something next to the mailbox. It’s as if, in his youth, he already knew about the existence and the miracle of that mailbox. So I was thinking, could this be some kind of time loop that keeps repeating until eventually Yixun in the 1991 universe manages to prevent that major tragedy? It seems like an alternate universe always gives both of them a chance until they survive. Kind of like a game that you can always restart.
What do you think? Is my theory broken? Or does it make sense?
I enjoy time-related dramas so much because they make me ponder all the possibilities in the story, the “what ifs,” and the rules within that drama’s realm of time. I feel like this one leans more toward a mutable timeline because the changes Tang Yixun and Ye Haitang made were able to alter future events, also known as the butterfly effect. I’m trying to recall if there were other events in the drama that hinted time might restart to allow them to get their desired ending. Maybe it was him being stubborn about not moving away from their house because of the mailbox? But I enjoy your theory because it is definitely a possibility.
But now that you mentioned that scene of the older Tang Yixun in episode 1 by the mailbox, I’m curious if in the original timeline, he still sent that love letter to the young Ye Haitang or not because the only letter that started the communication between Ye Haitang/Tang Yixun and Yu Nian/Shen Cheng was Ye Haitang’s last-words-before-attempting-to-murder-her-father letter. Now, I have a theory that in the original timeline, Haitang never got that love letter from the old Yixun, but because the old Yixun knows about the ability of the mailbox, decided to send the love letter to Haitang. However, because he doesn’t know what year or day that letter will be sent, he’s sitting by the mailbox waiting for a response. OR he knows that they receive the letters in 2026 so he’s been waiting for 2026 to be the one who retrieves the letter to start the communication between them, but because he has Alzheimer’s he’s not able to hold onto reality and receive the letter himself. Which led to the communication between the kids and parents instead. But Tang Yixun sitting by that mailbox means he must know something about its ability.