Lian Nian Bu Wang (2025)

Lian Nian Bu Wang (2025)*********[Also Known As: Never Forget Love or 戀念不忘 (I Can’t Forget)] is a great miniseries with Cao Tian Kai (as He Ting Zhou) and Zhang Shan (as Song Shuang Xu) in the leading couple’s role. The drama is well written, especially for the leading couple. Cao Tian Kai waited five years for Song Shuan Xu to come back home from studying abroad after forcefully sent away to separate her from her brother Shen Yu; since she was an orphan that went to live with them. Song Shuang Xu was not loved by her family and she had a crush on Shen Yu with whom she had no blood relation. Although Shen Yu’s parents really loved her and saw her as a family member, they wanted to save face and find a partner for their son of equal or better social and financial status. Shen Yu wanted to be with Song Shuan Xu but he was never brave enough to brave the storm. He Ting Zhou knew about Song Shuang Xu’s crush but, this time around, he’ll do anything to get her to fall in love with him. Cao Tian Kai and Zhang Shan have a wonderful chemistry, whether they are bickering or intimate, they fascinate the viewer with their acting and rapport. Overall, this is a very nice romance drama, enjoy it!
Can be found on YouTube under the caption: “After letting go of her crush on brother, the powerful CEO fell for her and pampered her” or “She was asked by her brother's friend to be his secret lover”.

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Well written, solid acting & ML is a feast!

This drama appeared on my Youtube dashboard last week. I recognised the guy in the thumbnail - Cao Tian Kai. I liked his performance as sickly CEO (he was so endearing) & even though I didn't like his drama about blind girl & her fiancé's uncle, he was extremely hot in that drama. The YT comments for this drama were generally positive. So I clicked 'Play' and I must say that this drama is one of the best written vertical dramas I've watched!

What I liked:
1. Romance - I love romance heavy drama and this is one of the few ones in vertical dramaland. When I say romance heavy, I mean PLENTY of kisses, flirting/teasing, hugging. I love watching them being supportive of each other and constantly communicating with each other. Thank you director for including ML's shirtless shots!
2. ML characterisation - Green flag ML. He understood how much FL values her career and never undermined her efforts to succeed on her own.
3. Acting - Cao Tian Kai's best performance thus far. This was my first drama of Zhang Shan. Her performance is alright. The actor who played FL's adopted brother gave great performance. I also like the actress who played FL's adopted mother - she always portrayed evil stepmother in other vertical dramas so it's nice to see her as a kind adopted mum.
4. Supporting characters - One of the reasons I highly rated this drama is the supporting characters. They were well-written e.g FL's adopted brother, ML's close friend, ML's cousin (who also became FL's love rival), FL's adopted parents.
5. Friendship - I enjoy the interactions amongst old friends (ML and his friends) and new friends (FL & ML's cousin).
6. Ending - I like how they wrap up FL's brother character.

What I disliked:
1. Kidnap - A common trope in vertical drama. I wish there wasn't any in this drama.
2. FL's feelings - I didn't sense the sincerity of FL's feelings for ML until the confrontation. Not sure if this is director's instruction or Zhang Shan's approach to the character.
3. Unnecessary arc - There was a guy who wanted FL for lust or revenge. I find this arc not significant and can be omitted since there are more substantial villain arcs.

Favourite scene
When FL & ML's secret relationship was discovered by FL's adopted brother

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