As Beautiful as You (2024)

Slice of Life/Romance/Business. Best 2024 modern cdrama so far.

The best 2024 modern drama so far!!! To be honest, I initially felt apprehensive about starting this drama, seeing that it’s 40 episodes and usually those feel very draggy. But this one is truly an exception as almost every episode felt like 5 minutes long. The chemistry between the leads is definitely the highlight of the drama and the well written script and great cinematography make it a worthy watch.

The drama is about the female lead who quits her job to start a business and the male lead becomes her investor. We also follow the side stories of the two female lead’s friends whose main focus is on their romantic relationships. The tone is a mix of slice of life, rom-com and some business.

POSITIVE:
- Slice of life with focus on romance and a bit of business.
- Great chemistry between the leads (I was worried about this pairing but I instantly felt their chemistry from their very first meeting).
- Great kiss scenes and skinship between the leads.
- Awesome dating era (main couple).
- Eye candy (Xu Kai, the male lead, looks great in suits. His shirtless scenes broke the sexy scale).
- Great friendship portrayal (well aside from that one friend. So it is indeed realistic as not all friends are good friends).
- Platonic relationship between men and women (a rare sight in cdramas).
- Many cute rom-com moments.
- Support cast has their own stories but don’t take away from the main lead’s screen time.
- No stupid plot scenarios and cringe scenes.
- No fillers. None of the story or characters felt pointless at any point in time.
- Meaningful script.
- Great character development.
- Good pacing.
- Two side couples that enhance the plot without taking too much screen time.
- Secret crush trope (subtle).
- Cute university flashbacks (not a lot).
- Heartwarming, a tad realistic, life lessons, cuteness and hopeless romantic vibes.
- Realistic topics like sexual harassment, misogyny, corporate hell (at the start of the drama).
- Lovely OST (the english song is a nice touch and one of the songs is sung by the female lead).
- Great acting, especially from the main leads.
- Ao Rui Peng (guest role) stole my heart.
- Brilliant special episode. Truly one of the best I’ve ever seen.

NEGATIVE:
The last 8 episodes slow down the plot and there are two episodes that are a bit too melodramatic and cliche for my taste. But having said that, this did not take away from my enjoyment of this drama. During the last 8 episodes, the main leads continued to have awesome cute scenes together.

COUPLES (MINOR SPOILERS):
- Main couple: Girl boss and her CEO investor. Hot chemistry, great character and relationship development. Definitely a slow burn that I love. This romance and couple had everything you want: sexy, cute, angst, love.
(The two side couples I felt shared equal screen time between each other. But didn’t overtake the screen time of the main leads).
- Side couple: Posh girl and her love struggles. This love story felt realistic, relatable, not always happy and had a very important lesson of self-worth. One of the rare cases where a love triangle was done right.
- Side couple: Sweet livestream girl and her rich lover. The cutest couple in the drama. Bickering to friends to lovers. A sweet slow burn that will definitely make you smile.
- Bonus side couple: Female lead’s friend and ex-boyfriend. Yep, this is a pairing that not everyone would like. Girl code definitely didn’t exist for this girl who went after her friend’s ex. But still, I did find their scene wholesome and realistic. They had little screen time.

OVERALL:
There is something about this script, the romance, the story, the way the male lead is gazing at the female lead, that gave me the warmest feelings ever. Even when bad things happened, it was meaningful and well-portrayed. All the characters felt real and multi-layered. The story felt wholesome, somewhat realistic with hopeless romantic vibes which I absolutely loved. I’ve never seen a cdrama quite like this, a truly wonderful watching experience, this is hands down my best 2024 modern cdrama so far.

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Another Bad Adaptation

If you've read the novel that this drama is based off of, you should know that there are slight differences. While the scriptwriter has remained mostly faithful to the novel, the slight changes resulted in big changes in the nuance of the drama. Originally, the novel was about a strong female engineer/budding entrepreneur who succeeds with the guidance of a CEO. Alas, the CEO (who later becomes her boyfriend) messes up which causes them to break up. It sounds exactly like the script right?

While it may seem generally the same, there are major differences. The ML in the novel always viewed FL as someone could potentially be his equal with the right guidance. However, his big ego and hiding things from her eventually becomes the breaking point. Here, while they try to portray the same dynamic, the drama FL comes off as a naive girl. How can someone that is the supposed brain of a whole AI medical robot be foolish? While the drama FL can be inexperienced in the entrepreneur part of a start up, they completely rob her of her intelligence and contribute a lot of her success to ML. Another review said it perfectly when they wrote that the scriptwriters messed up when they portrayed FL as a poor decision maker and that they minimized the tension between the leads by making ML fall in love with FL in college.

My biggest peeve about the drama though was the big conflict. The novel's author foreshadowed that there would eventually be a problem because ML being slightly (if not too) overpowering/controlling while FL is fiercely independent. Similar to the drama, it was over the fact that ML was basically going to rob FL of the company she built. In the novel however, FL does give ML his just desserts and ML is eventually forced to apologize/grovel a bit. Here, there is basically none of that. ML realizes he messed up and does the whole woe is me act, but there is very little apologizing going on. Eventually the issue went from ML stole her company so that it would benefit his (a one sided betrayal) to the issue being it's an us issue because our personalities don't match. Drama FL leaving the company was fine, but then takes ML back the moment they reunite. They show her accepting ML's decision being the best for the greater good. This in particular rubs me the wrong way because it minimizes FL's acheivements and emotions. It implies that she is still emotionally charged and that her decision to walk away was a poor one - ie. zero change from the beginning of the drama. This doesn't sit right because if I were in her shoes and my company that I struggled to build from day one were stolen from me by the person I trusted the most, I would be upset too. I wouldn't be thinking about the 'greater good' but more about how the person who is supposed to love me the most just betrayed me. The fact that FL accepted this injustice is incongruent with how she reacted when she was sexually harrassed at the beginning.

A small note on the acting. I don't think I like Xu Kai as an actor very much. He tends to play 'cold' ML roles but it just feels like I'm staring at cardboard or stone. He keeps a blank stare most of the time but there's nothing charismatic about him. I just kind of expect something more than just a flat face. Seven did an okay job. There were some moments that were better than others and felt more natural. However, she tends to have this one wide-eyed expression that she applies to multiple different scenarios (ie. when she's dumbfounded, shocked, betrayed, etc.). One of her characteristic is her big eyes which gets her a lot of younger, more naive/pure roles, but here it's an obstacle. Like Xu Kai, she doesn't have a dynamic range of expressions when acting. Every time she pulled out this expression, I was reminded of Shin Se Kyung and the strained face she tends to use when she's run out of facial expressions. I can tell both are trying to broaden their range, but this was a flop.

TLDR: The novel was better. The drama reeks of fake feminism (a term coined by someone on NovelUpdates). While the drama seemingly talks about a strong female lead, her actions do not match up to the expectations. Furthermore, her acheivements are lowkey attributed to the ML and there was very little she actually did. Basically, a Cinderella/Knight in Shining Armor story. Definitely wouldn't watch again.

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What's Love Got to do with Business?

Had been waiting for this because I've never seen XK in a modern and also to see how he and Seven would work out chemistry wise. Overall, the story in particular didn't disappoint. I had seen a few of the supporting cast before but was unfamiliar with many others. The story had a few couples but the main theme was separating business from emotions, what love really meant, and not regretting the choices you made; giving those that deserved it a second chance. A play on the famous late Tina Turner song, what's love got to do with business?

Pros: The chemistry between the leads HT and JX was off the charts. They were just too stinkin' cute and you were laughing at the silliness and being giddy with all of the sweetness. Plus the comedy from the others, was great or when you had a sad/tense moment, a little comedy made the scene so much better. XK nailed the part of the domineering, ruthless CEO HT with a heart of gold to a T. Man could undress a woman or in this case JX with just his eyes any day of the week. It was sugar and spice and everything very meow. For the most part, the story was incredibly realistic and refreshing when it came to real life world things and people. Both leads had great friends and wing people. JX was a person who started at the bottom of the business ladder and slowly rose to the top, though of course with HT's help. My other favorite characters were XM, LL, LLJ, SZZ, TS, XYX (though he sucked in relationships, he was a great friend to HT and others), and unlike many others, I had no problems with QZZ and SYC getting together, though I really didn't know why, after her wedding, QZZ basically disappeared from the show. Also LLJ's mom, JX's parents, and grandpa Han were awesome as they weren't toxic but just genuinely worried about their kids and did the best they could to help/advise them.

The other couples ended up being QZZ and SYC but they seemed to get together quickly, like the show was trying to rush along their stories as well as XM and LLJ; though both liked the other, they didn't really get together until the end and the love triangle of LL, XYX, and SZZ. Honestly, felt like LL and XYX were the most compatible but it was also understandable that he had serious insecurities that he hadn't worked through and SZZ finally grew up enough to deserve her as she slowed down to understand that she really needed stability and not just money and power. So in this case had they shown XYX working through his issues for her, they would have worked out too. But at least he became a good friend to her as well admitting where his faults lay and that he lost her because of them but to not regret letting SZZ go. So that was very intelligently done.

HT and JX got together really quickly and the phrase "I love you" popped out way too soon. Their biggest issue lay in their very horrid lack of communication. He kept business secrets from her that she should have known about and important as well and she basically ran her business with her emotions, even listening to ZD (a villain) over her own boyfriend; here's an intelligent woman doing really dumb things. She treated all of her employees like they were supposed to be friends; which when they backstabbed her, she was shocked about but it was her own fault. Furthermore, she couldn't separate love from business (hence the title of this review) and her view of love was a little too grandiose to reality while his was subtle and in the way of "actions speak louder than words" manner which is more realistic. Their breakup was needed and mandatory to grow into evolving themselves. That said, I will speak more about that in the cons.

The antagonists (4 in total); cousin (who finally towards the end figured out that blood was thicker than water and to leave HT alone or he would ruin her), Zhu asswipe (a criminal that kidnapped JX and really hurt HT; hopefully got life in prison), Chang He (HT's competition but also did plenty of illegal things himself like enable Zhu and other business dealings, got arrested), ZD. I will talk about her in the cons because out of the 4, she was the worst and probably the most annoying antagonist. She started morally grey and then they turned her into a stalker and I was done.

All of the settings, especially faux Germany was really nice, glad they taught the leads some basic German. The OSTs and most of the costumes fit too. Also the fact that not only had he loved her since college but that they had actually met somewhat as kids was a nice touch of how truly destined they were. I like the extra episode as it shows what his version of love for life meant.

Cons: I have to speak about the break up because even the book readers said it was off. I was able to fast forward most of it and not miss much because while HT was poisoning himself with alcohol, crying, lighting sparklers, just pining in pain; other than their initial argument, JX didn't shed a single tear. Sure she was sad but she cried more over her breakup with SYC than HT. She just went home, moped a bit, and then quit her job, leaving her company to merge on its own and flew to Germany to study more. Like what even? She opened his safe without permission to find documents; that was so weird to me, a total invasion of privacy. I don't know why he didn't call her out on it. If it wasn't for HT she wouldn't even have had her company let alone what it became. There were some things he couldn't have told her due to confidentiality agreements, yet she threw a tantrum at him. As soon as things she didn't like in her personal life happened she bailed out on her company and left. Yet returned to a VP position. She was upset when some other company had thousands of employees go jobless overnight but her own team; she was ok to dump on LL and SZZ like it was no problem. In the real business world, that's a career killer right there. Like damn girl; emotions and business aren't the same thing! They should never be combined. He apologized 7 (no pun intended) ways to Sunday including during their public forum and even after the kidnapping thing when he was already very injured; meanwhile she never uttered the phrase “I’m sorry.” He was always her buffer and it wasn't fair to him especially in business at all. Yet she was as much part of the problem as he was, if not more so. In her mind, he had to conform to her standards but she didn’t have to reciprocate. I hate it when they gloss over women's accountability like that. According to readers, a lot of important conversations weren't included and that would have helped bring more gravitas to that part of the drama.

Also her lightning quick transformation into understanding business and finally pulling emotions out of it was way too fast. It was like a flip of a switch. Wish there was more cohesion and a smoother transition of that. Furthermore, how he just randomly came upon her in Germany though he was looking for that same guy she met, also could have been done smoother. Another contention I had was what I call the "Superman effect." When characters charge into a dangerous situation alone without backup or with backup far away. She was kidnapped and held on a high floor of an abandoned factory at knife point and you don't call the police until you're literally nearly there? Why bother? Because you're Superman and you can take a beating with a lead pipe to the back and fall 4 flights into a very conveniently placed air mattress set up by first responders because they somehow telepathically know exactly where you might fall. For a realistic modern drama, that was a huge issue.

I wish they had shown CH and ZD being led away in handcuffs for their actions in everything they had done against the leads both personally and professionally. As mentioned up top, ZD started as a morally grey gorilla glue character to HT, who never gave her the time of day in that way, but then she just didn't stop; no matter how many times HT told her to back off and even sold her shares and after he got hurt in the end she was still there like a bad dream asking him whether he regretted it and trying to get into JX's head a second time about how he'll cheat and lie in business to her again but thankfully this time JX didn't let her get the upper hand and stood her ground. This crazy idiot grew up with him and thought she owned him; she followed him to Germany, started a company in the same industry as him, and so forth just so she could somehow be with him. It's scary and quite pathetic that a person couldn't or wouldn't have their own identity just because they were so obsessed with someone. By the end of the show, I wanted her gone. Out of all of the antagonists she was the most ridiculous and annoying one and hardly realistic; no idea why HT never got a restraining order against her.

Only real point of contention with JX's clothing was why she had to look so matronly in the beginning? ZD and LL working in the same industry looked like professional businesswomen; only after her return from Germany that second time did she finally look and dress her age and like the VP she was.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely! Despite the cons, the pros definitely outweighed them. Though I do wish they had stuck some things from the novel as it would have made it better, it was still a very good show. I really hope XK does more of these types of modern romance dramas; he's very good at them. If you like great comedy, romance, and an overall good story that's very realistic, this is the show for you.

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Mind-numbingly predictable CEO romance with hideous aggressive OST and no chemistry.

First let me say that the best part of this drama BY FAR, was He Rui Xian's incredible performance as the 2FL. She's so amazing and deserves high caliber 1FL roles.

The rest of this was, to put it bluntly, total crap.

While it would take a dissertation to fully enumerate the ways in which this was crap, I will do my best to keep it brief.

*No ML/FL chemistry. I dont know where the problem lies. Maybe Kai keeps getting handed FLs that dont mesh well with him. Maybe he has a really hard time letting go in front of the camera. Maybe hes RL gay. But whatever it is, this is another flat Kai Soso performance, lacking sexual chemistry, passion, and depth.

*Flat ML performance. Kai is good in some situations and dramas, but this isnt one of those dramas. Its impossible to distinguish the difference between his "straight man" character, or just his limited acting ability.

*FL is not sexy and has a bad haircut and boring clothes. Shes cute. And she is a good actress. But shes not sexy. She should be playing roles other than romance FLs

*Kiss scenes are tame

*Moderately high cringe-factor

*Slow slowwwww pacing. This should have 10 episodes shaved off

*Tired, cliche storyline. The actual business story is good. But every other aspect of it is insultingly cliche.

*Mediocre dialogue all the way from beginning to end.

*Background music is stupid and out of touch

*OST is so aggressive it should be arrested and tried for assault.

*Characters are simplistic and too perfect, like a teens dream of what life is like and what people are like, and a teen's dream fantasy.

*They take an indoor cat, in a cat carrier, to the park for its birthday. They lay out a blanket, and put a TINY HAT ON THE CAT. The kind with an elastic chin strap. Then they let the cat out of the carrier. And the cat stays on the blanket. It stays on the blanket, and just... sits there. Mkay. This is the kind of show we are dealing with here. If any one scene could sum up how I feel about the show, its that one.

I would recc this to mushy romantic sentimental people whose favorite color is fuscia/magenta/hot pink, and who still have at least one stuffed animal on their bed.

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Utterly Disappointed

I'm a big xu Kai fan and loved him in "she and her perfect husband" and "falling into your smile" so I decided to give this drama a try. The story seemed decent enough (very common, nothing new) and starting few episodes were well executed however as it progresses both xu Kai and tan song Yun acts bad and feel so disconnected from the character they are playing.

I'm dropping at 32 episode and there are sad scenes where the actor needs strong facial expressions to show overflowing emotions and xu Kai is doing literally opposite, same facial expressions throughout the whole drama, he doesn't even have tears in his eyes (even when he is alone and deeply sad). On the other hand tan song Yun is overreacting so much that her expressions seems fake (especially when she laughs).

The story is a mess too, started good but too many characters and little to no character development makes it hard to watch.

Sorry xu Kai ? even though I'm your big fan, i still can't finish it ?.

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Disappointing Script, Too Many Side Characters & Poor Character Development

Ep1-20 is extremely boring, except for scenes in Germany on Ep20. Leads have very little screen time together, too many unrealistic office scenes - lavish office, huge staff in an early startup. Styling of FL is terrible, all the ugly matronly suits & dresses like old ladies would wear. Too many side characters with developing relationships. Recommend start watching from ep20.

From ep20 to ep31, the lead's relationship moved too fast it felt empty. Still so much screen time were on the side characters, the leads emotional development were not there - those heart-to-heart and life-changing conversations that deepen the relationship were not there for the main leads, ironically the side couple Lillie had some good tough conversations. It's all just fluffy screen romance acting that lacked sexual tension and intensity from 2 intense characters. The chemistry was just too boring. Boom one night stand, Boom saying I love you. Boom moving in. Boom meeting parents. Boom one problem & breaking up moving out. Do they have a Time Machine that can skip ahead ??? Or is this a director's choice or bad screenwriting ??

Ep 30/31 & Ep32 preview - Just when I thought it's safe to keep watching to the end, ep30/31 is changing my mind. FL XJ, the usually logical, kind and thoughtful person would suddenly become so stupid - believing in her ex-boss's lies knowing she's the scheming villain, stealing HT's confidential business plans, secretly signing a deal with HT's competitor to retaliate (stupid move), quitting her “job” & ran away - what ???? She’s the soul of the company and ran away from her own business !

The whole thing makes no sense, and the over-acting screaming fight/break-up scene makes no sense. FL character has been a smart successful engineer, suddenly became a reckless emotional idiot, this character flip doesn't align with the first 20ep. HT is that hot sexy ruthless stone-cold business genius that makes him dangerous and exciting, and he flipped to become a lovesick puppy who compromised everything for XJ . Both characters lost their smarts and edge that would've made a great story.

Dropping this drama.....tired of being bored and the bad script / screenwriter. The great cast couldn't save the show.

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The Han Ting Massacre: A Betrayal of the Book

For those who have read the book and are considering watching the drama, please, for the love of all that is holy, don’t. For those who haven’t, the drama might be palatable, but anyone who tries to both watch and read will likely suffer a heart attack from sheer anger.The actors are fine, but the script is a catastrophic failure. This drama is a textbook example of how not to adapt a novel. This review isn't about the explicit parts—I wasn't expecting any of that anyway. My issue lies in how the writers have butchered Han Ting's character, making the drama a bland shadow of the books storyline.

In the book, Ji Xing is a formidable and dreamy character, often unreasonable but in a relatable way. Her interactions with Shao Yichen or Han Ting are complex and layered, reflecting real-life arguments and emotions. Han Ting, on the other hand, is sharp and uncompromising, always putting his ambitions and goals above personal feelings. This stark pragmatism defines his character. For instance, when Ji Xing asks if he would ever prioritize her over his work, Han Ting bluntly replies, "In my life, love is not everything. I won't be able to give you the kind of love that sacrifices everything for you. "The drama, however, portrays Han Ting as a softened, lovesick version of his book counterpart. They sanded down his edges, making him more palatable but significantly less interesting.In fact theres a point she asks what he would do if she refused to let him invest and he replies he would destroy her company saying that he will leave no room for any competitors however how small. Thats the Han ting i epected the one i got let me not say more

The book's Han Ting is never heartbroken in a conventional sense when he learns that Ji Xing is engaged. Instead, he views it as a matter of bad timing. The drama, on the other hand, infuses him with a shy, almost bashful demeanor around Ji Xing, which is completely out of character. The real Han Ting would have gone after what he wanted with unwavering determination.
In the book, after their one-night stand, Ji Xing starts avoiding Han Ting, leading to a mini-fight where Han Ting bluntly tells her that she likes him and knows he likes her, which is why she's behaving like a spoiled child. This sharp exchange highlights their dynamic. In the drama, such scenes are diluted. Even when Han Ting reports to his grandfather in the novel, he is unyielding. When his grandfather mentions that shareholders are against him, Han Ting coldly replies that he will just clear out all the shareholders. Such ruthlessness is completely lost in the drama.

Han Ting's characterization isn't the only casualty. Shao Yichen's portrayal is also disappointing. In the book, Ji Xing and Shao Yichen share a strong and loving relationship, marked by numerous arguments yet a palpable love. Their bond reflects the intricacies of daily life and love. Even though it's clear that Yichen won't be Ji Xing's final partner, there's a persistent hope that they might resolve their issues. A poignant moment in the book is when Ji Xing dares Yichen to leave during an argument. He does, but soon returns, confessing, "Ji Xing, you don't know how much I love you." Their love, though fraught with problems, is deeply emotional. Ji Xing's heartbreak when he leaves is profound, and she holds out hope that he'll return as he always did. She even dresses up specifically for him on her birthday, only to be disappointed to discover he has moved on. Her breakdown at this revelation, and Han Ting's comforting presence, is a touching scene ( to which they ommited and added that after that she had a one nights stand with Han TIng).However, the drama adaptation significantly diminishes the chemistry between Ji Xing and Yichen, seemingly to highlight the main love storyline between Ji Xing and Han Ting, which develops later. This was a mistake, in my opinion. Modern dramas have successfully depicted main leads' evolving love stories without undermining previous relationships. The scriptwriter unnecessarily tarnished Shao Yichen's character (including the needless subplot of him marrying Ji Xing's friend, who was merely a college classmate in the book). This seems to have been done due to the usual trope that whoever doesn't end up with the female lead must be portrayed as wrong or flawed.

The writers undermined not only the characters but also many nerve-racking moments in the book that would have made for a captivating show. They simplified such a fantastic story instead of portraying its complexity and depth. Han Ting's character was watered down to make him more palatable, causing drama watchers to miss some of his best moments from the books. Similarly, the dynamic between Yichen and Ji Xing was diminished, losing the poignant "I know it's hopeless, but I still wish" sentiment.

While Ji Xing's character seems elevated, the true tragedy lies in the wasted potential of Tan Songyan's acting range. Imagine the breathtaking performance she could have delivered, portraying Ji Xing in her full, complex glory—childish yet mature, reasonable to the point of almost unreasonable, emotional yet composed. The beauty of Ji Xing's internal struggles, dealing with a man like Han Ting despite her simplicity, her struggle, and joys in being with him, were missed. Her triumphs and the delicate balance of her contradictions could have created a character so compelling that audiences would be left craving more. This rich tapestry of Ji Xing's character was an exquisite opportunity lost, leaving us with a portrayal that barely scratches the surface of what could have been an unforgettable performance.

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It’s A Nice Series

This drama has a lot of things going for it. The great performances by the leads is its strongest selling point. No matter what, I cannot fault their acting. Overall it’s a pretty solid and capable drama.

However, the screenwriters’ voice/views are at odds with the story throughout. There’s a fair bit of revisionism that frames things in a particular way, which the audience knows not to be the case. Or, they try to introduce things that were not developed adequately or shown at all to the audience. We’re just supposed to take their word for it.

Plus, when I look at how all the relationships are portrayed; they tend to contradict whatever views the screenwriters have on relationships, compatibility and the conflicts partners have, which leads me to believe the screenwriters have an odd view of the kinds of relationships they wish to portray. Surprising, it was this way for EVERY romantic relationship in the drama. And you know it’s a creative choice because the comments on the main page point out how different these things are to the novel.

The actual portrayals by the actors themselves tell a different story to whatever the screenwriters were selling and they were definitely trying to sell a viewpoint. It’s a shame the story didn’t align with it. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it; I’ll buy whatever a writer tries to sell me, as long as they know how to sell it and do it convincingly enough.

After a certain point, I wasn’t getting as much enjoyment out of the series as with the earlier episodes. I felt like the viewpoint/voice of the screenwriters was getting louder than the story’s premise by the halfway point and they just seemed to be at odds with each other. I did enjoy the last three episodes the most. I felt like all the different aspects were mostly on the same page.

Final verdict is that this series is a good watch. Somewhere between average and above average. You won’t regret watching.

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Best C-drama with the best OST 2024

This drama was an absolute masterpiece from start to finish. The scenery, the OST - especially the song "You are Everything" by Saji and Hooleeger, the talented cast, the impeccable settings, the captivating romance, and the well-crafted plot - there was never a dull moment. Even the side characters were excellently portrayed. Believe me when I say this is one of Xukai's big breaks. Like this drama is so so good. Top notch.

I was a bit apprehensive when I saw Xukai taking on a more mature role, but he exceeded all expectations and showcased his amazing versatility. The chemistry between Xukai and Seven Tang was wonderful to watch. In fact, all the actors, including the skilled portrayal of the villainous characters Cheng He and Zeng Di, delivered outstanding performances that really drew me into the story. They acted so well that I ended up hating them.

The ending was perfectly paced and didn't feel rushed at all. The special episode provided a satisfying conclusion, though the death of the character Han Ting due to old age was heartbreaking. Him using the forgiveness card on Ji Xing once more before dying made me burst into tears. The bittersweet nature of the finale struck the right balance, as not every story can have a completely happy ending. We got to see Han Ting and Ji Xing's happy moments, their marriage, pregnancy, kids, and them growing old together.

I also adored the cute cat character Dahuang. Even the Mother and Son duo (Lu Linjia and Mrs. Han). They were the comedy part of the drama ???. While I had some minor quibbles with certain characters' storylines, such as not being able to see more of what happened to the villains, Cheng He and Zeng Di, after they got investigated. They deserved harsh punishment, especially Zeng Di. I also felt like Huang Wei Wei's storyline was left unfinished - she deserved punishment too. I didn't like how Wei Qiu Zi's story was written off, but I liked her a bit despite her flaws. I also wished for more scenes with Li Li and Su Zhi Zhou in the special episode - they deserved more screen time!

Overall, this drama deserves a 10000000/10 rating from me. It had everything - drama, comedy, romance, family, friendship, business, breakup, colleagues trust, relationships, lots of kisses, both happy and sad moments. This drama has everything you want and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for an impactful and well-crafted viewing experience. I don't think there will be any drama like this, honestly but let's look out for more upcoming dramas.

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