Having finished reading the novel from which the drama was based on and watched FujiTV's 2011 adaptation over the weekend...
Novel and 2011 adaptation is from the female main character's POV. She is secretary to the president of the _____ conglomerate. Both novel and 2011 version takes place with the MC's return to the inn where the fire took place to exact her revenge. Novel has her disguise herself as an elderly widow of the president's friend/confidante; 2011 version plastic surgery transformed her into the elderly widow's daughter returned from America.
MC in novel/2011 is unattractive but a very capable person when it comes to her duties. One major difference from the C-drama, Deng Jiajia's FL is anything but ugly. Rumors were that the president was going to ask her to be his wife. MC pretty much acknowledged such, but would reject the offer.
MC's lover in both novel and this version work at an auto shop. Extremely handsome by all accounts.
Family dynamics in C-drama differs that of the novel. In the novel, the president and 2nd brother are from the same mother, whereas the 3rd brother and sister are from another mother. C-drama version: the president is the husband of the oldest sister of the Gao family (so he married into the family and took their last name). This version also removed one of the brothers and made more prominent the husband of the youngest sister (in the novel, this character was pretty much absent). Novel has 2 nieces (1 belonging to the deceased 2nd brother, and the other to the youngest sister) and 1 nephew; there's only the nephew in the C-version.
In the novel, the inn's hostess was the president's former lover. Former because he's now impotent.
