Kim Yoonmi 김윤미 金潤美

No kiss scene. A few hugs, but nothing really big and romantic. It's a pretty PG drama. It's because the lead actress, Ancy Deng was 16 at the time of filming and the male lead, Zhang Ling He, was 8 years her senior. (Ancy Deng's parents were supervising). The casting is really good, but it came with limitations.

Apparently they are planning to do at least 2 other series following this one (but being China it might not pan out) that will follow them through their college and married life, like the book. By the second series she will have reached the age of majority and then they might put in a kiss scene.

For now, it's not in this series.

I stuck out Love and Redemption and it surprised me in the second half.

Novel starts with their later incarnations and the novel hasn't updated to the end yet in translations, so there is no physical description of Bai Jue. There is, one, hoever, for Bai Xuan, but I suppose that would be spoilers.

It was gradual, and started for him around the hug waaaay back near the beginning. His gestures softened after that, and his mouthy Qilin spoke out his true inner feelings.

Also, hating on female characters as a female for having a female voice and acting feminine is so much internalized misogyny... where do we begin? Did you notice while going on and on about that... that the female lead, unlike some of the other female leads this year passed all of the basic feminism tests? Bechdel, Mako Mori and Sexy Lamp test? Not only did she do that, she managed it in 2 episodes and maintained it. But NOPE, hate on the female character for having a female voice and being feminine. *sighs* the priorities are wrong.

Maybe being habituated to 5-act has ruined your sense of what dramas should be. Exploring the world and seeing more, from the comforts of your own home might help you greatly, plus you'd understand more if you understand the basis of Chinese literature, I'd think.

5-act puts emphasis on conflict, but this story isn't about conflict, it's about transition--transitioning towards being more adults.

I'd still say that your comments make it seem that you are focusing on the conflict aspects, rather than how the characters grow and change over time. And that's totally a symptom of loving on 5-acts, but not being able to appreciate any of the other dramatic structures of the world. But I think it does good to at least learn about it so you can enjoy Chinese media better.

The dialogue from episode 1 goes back and forth between sibling rivalry to old couple who has been married for years. It's really subtle.

Episode 7? Female lead watches male lead dance with her best friend and thinks they are dating. She shows signs of jealousy and posts them dancing together.

The next episode, they establish that the female lead, Xixi (though covered lightly before has always liked Duan Ran.

Also, he holds her by the waist when they watch the Pineapple CEO leave, which is not a brotherly body language. She lets him pull her closer.

Also, she gets excited when he talks affectionately to her in his office and tells her friend about it.

Her best friend sets up Xi Xi to go on a date with Duan Ran, they loudly argue about how this isn't a date, while both seemingly pleased about the idea and talk about their first loves, but there is heavy indication from the scene that the Duan Ran and Xi Xi both broke up with their sig others not just because of the physical distance, but because they liked each other from the beginning. (Her friend earlier made such a comment too--that breaking them up is hard.)

Thoroughly drunk, Duan Ran makes a sideways confession (Episode 9) to Xi Xi, asking why they never dated, when they can do things like share toothpaste and live in the same house. It half sounds like a marriage proposal as well. Xi Xi is about to answer, when he picks up a call and tries to shove the confession aside. It's clear he really does like Xi Xi in that scene and is asking her to date him, though going about it in a round about way. (The bit about sit here longer with me and putting her head back was well-mapped. Showed that he has the same feelings towards her.)

So there are romance scenes, but it's very understated. Sometimes, I feel like he left the country to try to flush his feelings for her, but didn't succeed at all. Because the first thing he did was try to see her. The little flashes give short thrills along the way.

In Episode 17, they are in the car together, and he holds her intimately against his chest and comforts her.

Episode 18, they both show signs of jealousy towards each other and bicker over it.

So it's really slow burn, but it's there. Don't be spoiled by idol romances with heart-pounding amount of conflict borrowed from 5-act. This is more about transitioning into adulthood.

Accusations of no romance... so I'm going to cover how this is not true, and how chill and slow burn the romance is by citing incidents and episodes.

I don't think Alan's suited to the main role. He would have to play someone who is stiff, not warm, and someone who can be a cold calculating business man. And so far from what I've seen of him, he radiates a natural sort of melting warmth about him. It would be difficult for him to play that role in his current abilities. I can't see him as cold CEO type, which is what the role calls for.

Alan Fang is really good at the slightly dorky, warm, but thoughtful type of male role. (Sleepwalking...) That's who they wanted for the second lead, which fits with the character write up.

I think, instead, people just don't quite get the main male character's write up well enough. Had a ton of trauma, and then built his business from the ground up. So he has to be cold, calculating and distant.... until FL comes in.

>Maybe, a future tragedy will spark their romance.

Kinda seems like you're looking for the 5-act structure in this comment, over recognizing it's a 4-act structure and the movement is from self-realization, which is set out very nicely in the first 4 episodes this is definitely the case, especially later with the competition between them.

Especially when you say the story is "bland" those are indications of someone not knowing that 4-act structures exist and expecting that the plot be driven by high amounts of conflict. But that's not the point of this drama, it's more like seeing how they grow, self-realize and actualize through their interactions. This is what 4-act structure excels at.

That's why I pointed towards ignorance, rather than just plain telling you that you were wrong. Because I often see that complaint towards 4-act structure because they are watching for the wrong thing.

Romance starts in episode 17 and warms up in episode 18. It's 47 episodes, so I expect a super slow burn. It's also not a heart-pounder, but more slice of life with the 4-act structure. So if you're looking for high conflict that's the wrong story structure.

I forgot to add... You can also find more about Chinese Lit on the Chinese Literature podcast which is run by two brothers (IIRC) who debate over Chinese Literature and talk about forms, philosophies of the time, movements, break down meanings, etc. I really find their analyses interesting. Like there was one where they spent the entire time covering Chinese ideas of Utopia and the flaws with them backed with Chinese history. Like one where this guy thought that women should all be sequestered together, and be basically baby factories while the men were free to do art and study. And they were ripping through how unfair that was to the women, etc... but how the writer still thought it was a Utopia. Another was on different movements of Tang Poetry and they were debating if Tang was really the highest form of Chinese poetry with one of them saying yes and why... and the other saying it's kinda equivalent to loving Shakespeare, but never really reading him. You know it's good when it pauses to make you think. Or you need to pause it to analyze it.

You're welcome. i hope you have as much fun as I did learning about them. I'm sure there are more out there given the long, long history of China, but many of those texts aren't translated/accessible to find out what they were. And both of those story structures are rather late to Chinese history.

It's quite interesting that the dramatic structure born out of Chinese poetry, expanded into a dramatic structure for stories.... and for each country it's been imported to, they disagree on what the structure is.

But I really, really like qǐ chéng zhuǎn hé (起承转合) for things like self-reflection, and to fill the moments of lull in between by trying to collect together what has just happened. It's particularly used a ton in Chinese flashback structures. And it enhances slice of life and those moments that are far more heavily psychological in nature very well. Because the whole structure is about introspection. The best use of this in this drama, I'd argue is in the development of Aoyi, as a character. It's her drinking in episode 22, that you find out what she really thinks and possibly why. It's never explicitly stated. And there are silent nudges to the character done this way.

I've been collecting dramatic structures, because it's always fun to see how people think a story "should" be.

Korea interprets the same structure differently... and it's best shown in the recent drama 18 again, which shows the contrast between the original which had a 5-act structure and the Korean version of it... Introduction/raising issues-->Working on the problem in oneself-->Reversal or return-->Result.

And then Japan does it in Kishotenketsu. Introduction-->Development--> Twist (something you didn't expect)--> Conclusion. Best shown in Miyazaki films. The reason those films make you cry so hard is because the story structure is kishotenketsu. Japanese particularly like to use the structure ot bring out the Warm and Fuzzy feelings and gut punch you.

Anyway, if you take it this way, the main character is really Long Aoyi, ultimately. (She self-realizes the most.) Because she's the one that arcs the most through this development (if you watched the raws). Qingliu does arc, as well, but not as much.

I also made the argument, too, that often story structures reflect the religions of the time period they were invented. In this case, this type of 4-act kinda reflects a lot of Buddhism's ideals.

Another you might want to investigate is the "Dream Record" which also shifted when it was imported to Korea from Ming China. That one breaks all of the "rules" about how to "properly" write a story. Starts with a dream just before death. Talks about regrets. And the sense of time and structure is often not beholden to the usual rules at all (Because of this Korea synchronized it heavily with the native shamanistic religion Mugyo, which has similar beliefs about how time operates). It's more thematic structuring around the "regrets" part of it. I remember a Korean version in Another Miss Oh is structured often this way. But Chinese dramas--I haven't seen one like this yet. The important piece of Literature--Romance of the Three Kingdoms is structured this way according to a text I read.

Episode 22. I did dislike the "Instant! Prince" and BTW, she's probably a long distant cousin of the King by being a Noble anyway because her Sifu's Sifu was likely her father or related. (They are probably distant cousins then.. lol) I was invested into the silk trade aspects. I thought the Instant! Prince angles felt like it was hinted at before, but it still felt too Deus Ex Machina.

So I felt it could have been handled better overall. The sudden shift didn't feel right because they never kicked that Lord's butt properly and I wanted that cathartic moment. They were building to it and then it felt cheap.

Episode 21 definitely had the confession scenes and most of the romance culminating from previous episodes, which were small shots here and there. The justifications for why Long Aoyi didn't immediately say yes are also buried pretty well in the previous episodes with a relatively good explanation--class divide and also a lack of trust he'd stick around. This is why she keeps sticking in business into the discussions every time he gets close to confessing. She knows, covered in Episode 22. And for the traditional Chinese romance, her knowing and him knowing are enough.

I think the reason for the sudden shift in direction is likely the writer was doing it on deadlines. It feels like a deadline hit and the end of the series was in sight with the count of chapters left, and boom. I have to do something to keep my numbers up kind of moment. Because the drop wasn't as organic as the dramatic structure dictates it should be. I'm hoping they wriggle out of the royal plot... but given episode 30, that might not be likely. 转 is the processing of hardships, etc. But the lessons learned and the return would be nice... where he gives up his title to be the silk merchant he always wanted to be with her by his side. We'll see what the "result" part of it is when episode 31-36 drop.

The main complaints are as follows from the commenters:
- The slow burn romance. (or accusations of its absence because Idol dramas have ruined your senses).
- Alan Fang should be the lead.
- Leon Lai can't act.
- Lack of character development? Especially on the female lead.
- OMG Bai Lu... some female actor has terrible clothes/make up/unfeminist comment about women need to be prettier.
And of course the spoiler from episode 22... but let's tackle these.

Let's take these one by one.

The slow burn romance. Yes, it's slow. It's also very traditional Chinese style. The idea of romance as in the Eurocentric version with the 5-act structure is pretty much an adaptation of two major sources: Tudor Imaginary of Greeks because they were in Moor Denial. And the Islamic Empire with the troubadours, which, BTW, is 100% Islamic in origin coming from Al Andalus. So... yeah, read some Chinese literature because it shouldn't be a big shocker that not everyone does romance, as a genre traditionally, the same way. This fits very, very neatly into the older Chinese roots of how Chinese tend to imagine romance. In real life, no one would say, "Wo Ai ni" like that anyway. It's a new fangled thing that comes with Idol romances, which tend to blend in more of the Eurocentric mindset. Again, it's not inferiority or superiority, it's different and equal, and you should at least try to understand it.

And yeah, there was romance and romantic scenes, but a lot of them were deliberate, emotional, but not heart-pounders. Episode 21 I thought was pretty romantic... but I'm not going to mark this as spoiler, so I'm not saying what.

- The idea Alan Fang should be lead.
Watch Love By Hypnotic then. He clearly took this role knowing he'd be second lead. He's playing to what the director wants him to do. I get sometimes people want the visuals, but I think he's wholly suited to playing the prince he's playing.

- Leon Lai can't act.
He's playing stiff and upright because the director is obviously telling him to. Did you see the BTS? There's one where they are on set and he literally swaggers towards Bai Lu. There's respect and professionalism between them. He also makes jokes she laughs to. If you object to him taking that sort of sheer charisma out (and mind you I'm talking factually rather than like I'm big fan crush, because that makes no sense to me) then it's the director's fault. The BTS shows he's really good at charisma when he turns it on. But obviously because of the character write up, he can't play to those strengths. (His set up is that he can't touch women and is awkward around them...)

- Lack of female character development.
I know Bai Lu's real age, but given the cues, I think she's supposed to be 16 (I really don't buy it, but whatever). The character development, if you haven't noticed isn't being done by conflict, because the dramatic structure is not a 5 act structure. So it's been done mostly in those quiet moments you're probably skipping through. She's matured as a person, but it's been very low key. She started out as a ruffian, couldn't get any manners, and was not very into business beyond her gang. But she developed later into finding out she had other talents, grew her business acumen (Covered in episode 21 and explicitly said) And has grown emotionally as a character, though slowly through realization. We're dealing with qǐ chéng zhuǎn hé (起承转合) here. 22, if you haven't noticed was the start of the 转 phase where there was a sudden hardship to the romance. (How well that was or wasn't done is up to you to decide)

Male lead, likewise also developed as a character. Also, coincidentally covered in episode 21. [Cottage Fight scene--I coded the spoiler. You know what I mean.]

- Last one...

I don't get the pure obsession over people trying to evaluate women strictly on their appearance. I do think the eyeliner is excessive on ALL characters male and female, overly consistently. However, I'm not going to assess the viability of a woman's career based on a makeup artist's choice. I'm going to judge an actress on *gasp* how she acts. I know, it's a shock. How well does she convey the character? If she does so well that I don't have to understand a single word to say for her to hit me... I'm going to celebrate that, not go on and on about her make up. Not on how much or well she dresses to convey the character, which are decisions not in her hands anyway. Can we lay off the unfeminist comments about a woman's sheer talent is based on the makeup or clothes she wears and not how those things could be conveying the character?

So I'll cover 22... in spoilers.

Given the BTS, I don't think it's Leon Lai's fault. I think it's the director's fault. The director seems to want Li Qing Liu to be upright, to be scholarly. To have careful thought and speech unlike Li Zhao. They are what are technically called foils of each other.

Given Leon Lai showed some serious swagger in his normal stroll and was much looser in the BTS, joking around, and using buckets of charisma on set... it's likely a director decision.

I like both actors--Alan Fang was really good in Love By Hypnotic, but I realize they are both at the mercy of the director on the performance they are supposed to deliver.

It's all packed into episode 21. Him trying to confess. It's understated romance type, which is more traditional to Chinese dramas. It's a game of you know I know that you know what my feelings are. And I know that you know that I know what your feelings are for me, which is more realistic to Chinese culture.

Legend of Xiao Chuo is slated to have a super sad ending just from the set up and even less romance... considering the span of episodes.

Watch to episode 21 so you see the semi-confession.