TheMoonEmpress

I personally don't like her acting, it's almost always flat for me, including in this drama which lead me to have the opinion that she can't act. There is no emotion on her face, nothing to draw me in as a viewer or to become invested in her character and story. Her looks are also not up my alley, at least not enough to make me overlook her rather flat and wan acting. She is pretty and all but I personally like to watch the dramas with great acting and not solely for the eye candy.

This is the best work of WRC for me. Lu Shi Yi is his triumph, his acting chops are really on display in this drama. In fact, the entire cast has really acted well. Especially, our main leads Hu Yi Xuan and Wang Rui Chang. Their chemistry is palpable in every scene. You will be rooting for them in the entire series. WRC has played LSY in such a way that you can't imagine anyone else being Shiyi than him. He has outdone himself in this drama <3. You should definitely watch this drama for the excellent acting of every cast member, especially HYX and WRC, and the insane chemistry between them, if nothing else. And the ending is good, it only lacks in comparison with the rest of the drama. If you're like me, a veteran viewer of cdramas, then you can actually manage your expectations and still enjoy the ending quite a lot. As I've said in my review, no other ending would be acceptable to you once you know these characters and see them together on screen.

Yes, her whole online and long distance relationship with Bao Bao would've been so fun to watch!

I really liked reading this discussion thread because it shows how thought provoking this drama is and how we all took different things from it. Personally, for me, i kind of empathise more with the FL than the ML. I agree with you that Shiyi is probably the best male lead I've seen in chinese dramas. But he is flawed. He was emotionally stunted and had trouble showing his love and care initially. He would hide his real feelings behind lies and teasing, in the process even hurting Xiaoju sometimes (like outside the cinema, when Xiaoju was already feeling insecure and sad at having been stood up). Even when he came back, the writers' decision to create more misunderstandings did not do anything for his character development. It comes through very well in their respective acting. I mean, if my best friend went away without saying goodbye or any explanation, broke all contact with me for 5 years and after coming back, acts cold and distant and when asked if we know each other, replies "not very well"; then even i would be a bit hesitant about laying myself open in front of him and telling him how miserable i was without him for 5 years. So I find those actions of Xiaoju understandable, especially with the way Shiyi's character is written when he comes back. I mean,the whole roles reversing and Shiyi testing her is fun to watch, but it really didn't do anything for their character growth. We as viewers have the benefit of seeing everything that is happening behind Xiaoju's back(pertaining to Shiyi) but of course, Xiaoju the character doesn't know it (she can only take things at face value, whatever Shiyi says, she believes). Hence, for me, Xiaoju turned out to be the bigger sufferer in this case. What an emotional journey she's been through, throughout the drama, even towards the end when she realises Shiyi has changed so much and starts believing that Shiyi is playing with her feelings. I also like how flawed and realistic the characters are in this drama. And the story does punish them for their flaws and stupidity. For egs, xiaoju's propensity to hesitate and second guess everything caused her to be separated from her best friend for whom she had just realised her feelings. For Shiyi, his habit of eavesdropping caused a misunderstanding that was so trivial yet hurt him so much. So in all, their flaws and stupid actions are shown to have consequences which i liked about this drama. Yes, the last two episodes could've been executed better, but overall the long, drawn out journey was more beautiful and meaningful to me than the destination.

Not a special episode but 10 extra clips which were released by youku and put behind a paywall. A kind fellow viewer called Mooberry has posted them in the recent discussiom section.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-gnXx3bBkl2UFLvtnmBdKoCTqWC7dNpO?usp=sharing

I came looking for Xiaobao and I was not disappointed. 😍

I love how as the edit (and drama) progresses, Xiaoju just gets used to it and doesn't even fight it anymore 😂

I saw a comment saying Shiyi is as gentle as a Brillo pad 😂😂 so true. And Xiaoju gravitates towards gentle and kind guys like CL.

So true. Same tbh!!

Watch this edit if you want to get more context about Xiaoju's feelings for Cheng Lang.
https://b23.tv/iwNbJj

I have seen this live stream so many times. I have deluded myself into thinking that i understand bits and pieces. My favorite part of this Livestream is how HYX and JZJ keep blowing kisses and sending hearts to each other. It's so cute lol.

Looking forward to seeing Deng Wei again. Really impressed me in Miss the Dragon. I've dropped all the dramas of the main leads but looking forward to this drama.

That's what, we haven't seen these two together yet so how can we know whether their on screen chemistry is good or not. But it surprises me that they're cast in two dramas before their CP has even been liked by the audience. Whereas I know people have been posting multiple requests online for ZYC and HYX pairing again. Wish we get to see their awesome chemistry again. None of his other CPs have worked for me. Could be false because the pics and posters are from Zhu Qing Hao

It's a really cute and sweet drama, no major conflict. It can be watched either as 12 episodes which are 15 mins each or 4 episodes which are 1 hr each.

Fingers crossed. Can't wait to see her next CP. I don't think her character has a love story in the novel though. But I could be wrong.

She actually does not do more than 1 or 2 projects a year. Last year, she had 2 dramas come out. This year again 2 , unforgettable love and A River Runs Through It. Maybe it's a policy of hers, dunno. She said in an interview that she wants to be an actor, not a star. She's in it for the long haul. Maybe that's why she's not churning out many dramas, focusing on quality rather than quantity. But that's just my guess. Reba and her look so cute in the bts clips of TBW, always chatting. And yes, I've heard her character is quite a significant one, even for a support role. I'd hoped that she also had her own love story in TBW, she is just so good at the whole CP thing. (I am still not over her CPs of 2020 and 2021 i.e. TSP, UL and ARRTI) Don't know if she does or not though.

Guys, if you liked Guo Xiao Ling, Xiaoju's roommate who writes romance novels, she is the FL in Hold On My Lady, a sweet short form drama on YouTube which is only 4 1hr long episodes. Short and sweet and excellent chemistry between the ML and FL.

The ML is really good at acting. I stuck around for him mostly. The FL has the known affliction which plagues most Chinese actresses and that is a constant pouty face which quickly became annoying. Overall, it's an okay drama to pass time

She did intentionally hurt him when she wrote CL's name, I mean that was her plan to get him to move kn from her so he doesn't have false hope. But she knew it would hurt him. So there was this one instance and of course, shiyi, being her best friend, saw through that ploy but it did hurt him. But I can think of only that one example and it was not because of her feelings for CL, even though she used his name for her plan.

Yes, I know some things about how the china dramaland functions and honestly, it's so unfortunate. Good dramas get sidelined in favour of mediocre or bad dramas just because of this whole 'traffic' oriented business model. Yes, iqiyi, youku and tencent have stopped the VIP services now, there was a notice to that effect the other day. I really hope this will stop the flood of mediocre dramas that we see in china so that better stories get to be told. China comes out with so many dramas and only a handful of them have quality. It's such a waste of money, resources, time and effort of hundreds of people who work on a given drama.
Like the example of Our Times that you gave, better in quality but suffering in views. So unfortunate