Diah Kusuma

If this is criticism about his acting, then I agree. I've actually been following Hu Yitian for a long time, and he's never been a particularly strong actor when it comes to facial expressions. In fact, I think his performance here is an improvement compared to when he played Gu Yanxi in Blossom in Adversity.
What I'm talking about is why people are so biased against Jiang Yubei as a character, as if he's some terrible person. If the issue is that the actor looks too old to convincingly play a high school student, then I agree—he does look older, and it doesn't really fit Jiang Yubei's character.
But if the problem is the actor's age and acting, then they should be criticizing Hu Yitian, not hating Jiang Yubei just because he's the character Hu Yitian portrays.

Yeah, that was my mistake. I meant to reply to Damimi, but I ended up replying to your sarcastic comment instead. 🤣🤣

Thanks for speaking up about this. I felt exactly the same. People are way too biased toward Jiang Yubei. So it turns out it's all because of the actor? That's hilarious.

I think your interpretation is quite unfair and even somewhat harsh toward Jiang Yubei, who did everything he could for Lin Zhixia. It almost sounds as if you're suggesting that everything he did was insincere. I actually laughed when I read your comment claiming that Jiang Yubei was always trying to outdo his friendship with Zhixia, because to me, his actions were clearly expressions of care and genuine devotion toward her. Honestly, I feel like we watched two completely different dramas.

Maybe those who are harshly hating Jiang Yubei haven't watched beyond Episode 6, or perhaps they simply don't understand his character or the way he tries to understand Lin Zhixia, who is an extremely difficult person to comprehend.
Ever since they were children, although Jiang Yubei was driven by his pride to surpass Lin Zhixia, that was also when he began trying to understand how a genius like her thinks and sees the world. He even allowed Lin Zhixia to study him and analyze his mind, despite the fact that even Jiang Yubei himself sometimes struggled to understand her way of thinking. Even so, he remained her friend and gave her many unique experiences that she could only have through their friendship.
When they were in high school, Jiang Yubei did refuse to join the Mathematics Olympiad team with Lin Zhixia. However, that doesn't mean he wanted to isolate her or defeat her just to prove he was superior. In Episode 5 or 6, when Jiang Yubei and Lin Zhixia opened the time capsule they had buried together as children, Jiang Yubei explained that people had always misunderstood him. They assumed he saw Lin Zhixia as his rival, when in reality, he never did. Instead, he saw her as the purpose that gave direction to his life.
From my understanding of Jiang Yubei's character, he simply wanted to walk alongside Lin Zhixia and understand the mind of this brilliant girl. When he challenged her in the Mathematics Olympiad, he wasn't treating her as an enemy. He wanted to understand her on a deeper level, and he also wanted to attend the same university as her. In his own way of thinking, if they were on the same Olympiad team, he would never truly be able to walk alongside her. That was Jiang Yubei's perspective.
Perhaps those who hate Jiang Yubei have forgotten that he was the one who helped Lin Zhixia find teammates. He also encouraged her to experience new things by taking her to play the claw machine game so they could win the grand prize for Duan Qiyan, hoping to persuade him to join Lin Zhixia's team. Jiang Yubei even fought students who tried to intimidate Lin Zhixia. Isn't all of that enough?
I think Chinese audiences understood this character far better than many people on MDL, who only judge him from one side of his personality. Jiang Yubei's character even surpassed 100 million popularity points on iQIYI during the drama's initial broadcast.