Frost_edelweiss

Wang Yinglu is very pretty and charismatic, yes. I thought she was really good in "When Destiny Brings the Demon" (playing with Chen Feiyu, even re-watched that one!) and in "Yummy Yummy Yummy" (very comedic), "I Am Nobody", "Twelve Letters" (although for reasons unrelated to the series, I had to put off completing those series - will catch up with them later, since Wang Yinglu has been brought back to my attention).

The grandma Qu Manxia is played expertly as sweet by Wu YanShu who has a long experience at such roles (in "Meet Yourself" and many other series and movies ; her bio says she "reinvented her [acting] career at 72" after having been active as actress and teacher of drama since the 1960s. She celebrated her 88th birthday on January 1!!)

The plot up till now influences our feelings toward the characters; I am curious about how Heidi Wang /Wang Ji will develop the character of the elder aunt Yang FanYan, And how Xin Yunlai will keep up as ML Qi Xiaowei now that his character's reputation has been torn to tatters as a weak "chameleon".

Such beautiful lush landscapes! Inspirational too, like the mountain Yang XiaoFang dad uses as parable to help her daughter make up her mind about her choices, in episode 5.
Choosing between radiant life and crusty imitations of impressionist masterpieces by foreign painters (Van Gogh, Renoir, ...) that only Yang FanZhu, the young "scholar" son of the Yang family recognizes at the first sight. A no-brainer? Qi XiaoWei, the childhood sweetheart and suitor is already toast. The pigheaded Yang and greedy Qi elders are surely getting their just deserts soon.

The first episodes started as innocently comedic and sweet tinged,, but the feeling grew both light and serious with the outrageous schemes of the Qi family: there were hints at dark comedy in the sunny landscapes!
After this introduction to rustic life in the Chinese countryside (no pigs? no smelly outhouse? where are the bathrooms?) I am hanging on to watch how the attempt at cock fights (ah yes, fights everywhere : cocks there, perhaps crickets later) will end for the scholar. Perhaps in the pot, as nourishing soup for the mother to be, lovingly prepared by the adorable granny.
The first OST song posted up in Discussions has an MV which seems to announce more twists.

"Xiao Fang" was filmed on location in Guanshanhu District, Guiyang City, Guizhou Province. The production received assistance from the Guizhou Province Film and Television Shooting Service Center during principal photography, which took place between July and September 2025"

Just right follow-up to those who watched The First Jasmine / Mo Li 😂
Drama watching sometimes comes with uncanny coincidences

Your words :
"Also, about treating humans like humans.... speaking strictly of the white race... don't even go there."
" Racism is a white people thing... perpetrated by them."

You don't know who I am and I won't oblige to tell you.
What I mentioned about Dalits is because I happen to know a Dalit writer in another fandom of mine who explained (calmly) the situation to me.
Everything you wrote in reply to me negated anything that could have been of value in your previous rant.
Now, since I can't stand people who attack others like you did I am :
1. signalling your post to MDL
2. blocking you, so no use for you to try answering with filth again.

I think LFY is more chaotic in plot development ; RTS is an easier watch but then it is more idol drama and if you absolutely hate football you may be bored by the bits about it, although you can watch it if you are open minded even if you are no fan of football (my case). I was not sure I'd like it since I felt lukewarm about Esther Yu at best, but she surprisingly acted well enough to keep me interested till now ep. 20! There's romance, mystery, moral development...

careful about your last paragraph which comes out as racist.
As for indemnities... France insisting on them from Germany after WWI was one of the causes of WW2.

The PRC is shrewder : only insisting on acknowledgement and apologies from the war criminals who went mass murdering in NJ, SH, SEA and experimenting with biological warfare on ordinary Chinese citizens in 731 or other death camps (that many people outside China and Russia are still unaware about). And of course insisting on Takaichi respect the agreements her country signed instead of rearming and stirring up mayhem, including on the island they forcibly occupied for 50 years.

No country has been angelic. Look at Aztecs, ancient empires in Asia and Africa selling people into slavery. Look at how Dalit people are treated in India and Bangladesh.
Money and geopolitics always were at the root of evil. Gangs and criminals always existed, sometimes used as help for revolutionaries, sometimes used to quell down opponents. It is a sad fact and safety should be treasured, so I actually admire the way the PRC goes about safety and improving living standards for most, attentive about screen addiction for children and trying to do away with inequalities in education after having achieved 100% literacy for the young (about 2 or max 20% in the 1930s depending on whether it was countryside or Shanghai) , same as the rise of life expectancy from 31 to 82 average. Keeping people safe, fed, protected and connected despite floods, earthquakes, killer heatwaves like now (my father in law died from a heatstroke in 2013 because his wife stupidly did not use the A/C we installed in her third tier city apartment, now no one in the family spits at A/C. If better solutions can be found bring them on, and tear down old neighborhoods if necessary, people will not be left sleeping in the streets anyway: some Beijing residents I know got beautiful apartments in exchange for their old hutong homes).
Even Ai Weiwei, the known dissenter, finally returned to the PRC after 10 years self exile, to reunite with his 97-year-old mom and 17-year-old son (whom he had left behind in 2015), admitting that the PRC is on an upward trend.

you meant anti-depressant medication. I too found the reaction from MJ bizarre, lacking in basic empathy.

I still have one at home. Helps in heat waves.
They could also be used at the beach or for camping since those mats are light weight and easily rolled for storage.

Yes

ok :)

Hahaha, I was not sure I'd like it, since football is not really my passion, and I was only lukewarm about Esther, only amused by her hair clips in Speed and Love (now, car racing was one of my passion, so car racing series have a positive bias for me, more than falling into a game or playing helpless waif on skis or on fairy islands). Nevertheless, I have now reached ep..12 and I think I will stay on, for the (business shenanigans?) upcoming. Some of the support actors are catching my attention,old hands and newcomers + recognizing Ma Boqian, Xie Keyin,

I like it that the narrative is grounded in authentic local culture and use of the Quanzhou dialect (Minnan hua/Hokkien) reinforces the theme of returning to one's roots. There are local actors from Quanzhou for the roles of residents, parents, and elders. These actors are native Minnanhua speakers! The sets are interesting, some are real places and you can feel the sultry heat of the torrid season, since even though the drama is about school years, it was shot in August 2025.

It is a relatively relaxing watch despite the... (murder mystery hidden in the closet ???! I was rubbing my eyes there! )or the hidden overbearing CEO trope that looks straight out from vertical dramas, (except there, they act more handsy so should we expect that dark "insomniac" lone wolf-like guy to soon pounce further than caressing her shins and wrists, hmmm? and her shooting with pepper spray ? ) and the strange "manager" that seems to have gotten thrown in for fashion apparel product placement and to placate the BL aficionados who wandered in, thinking of male teams' sweaty togetherness (except those youths almost never sweat or sweat it to win! lol.) The food product placement is sometimes too shameless with the spicy meat strips, the sausages (!!!) and the crispy salty biscuits, the iced Americanos, beers... The kids polishing off a huge table of dishes is both hearty and slightly alarming, so when the poodle was brought to table level, I wondered idly if it was next going to land in the pot!!!

All these ingredients still mix well as those in the luosifen dish, so I'm still on board, sometimes chuckling. There is quite some humor there for everybody, even in the almost tragic scenes of academic or parental neglect. And of course Esther can't help being pretty, a tad less doll-like Cinderella-like than in her previous roles : now I quite like her! Just enjoying as the story unfolds. Surely surprises are still lying in wait!

You are welcome :)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLppe5Ov04S3d8djUEaBMForvEwri_W3sD with optional english subtitles, 40 episodes.

For those Tian Fei (天妃) or Luo Shi Fen (螺蛳粉) fandom adepts who want to watch this early bit of LYX's work, it's on the link to playlist of episodes below.

That's why I regret the demise of "cool" : it was a fabulous archive for old shows that now may go extinct if they did not get uploaded to other platforms. like YT. But luckily, it got preserved nonetheless, I'm putting details up in another comment.

These information links did work well for me, but hunting up the series itself online drew a blank unfortunately :(

obsolete link :(

Correction: the original actor sued a slanderer who was stirring up a controversy, with a malicious intent to destroy Zhang Haowei's career, using forgeries as "evidence" online. Unfortunately, Justice took a long time to check everything, but eventually vindicated the actor and cleared him of all the wrongdoing he had been accused of by a former "friend" (a jealous and vindictive type who did not even get fined enough for the damage he did to the career of Zhang Haowei , who plays Wang Ruohai). I had come across the Weibo post in which the actor said he was putting his career on hold to sue when I was looking systematically at all the characters in "Brocade Odyssey" where he also was face swapped, since production was on the verge of airing the drama and could not afford delays. At the time MDL agreed to note that he played as (body) and the other actor as (face).

Probably the same happened to LHF although the drama was not yet scheduled for an airing slot when Zhang Haowei sued and the haters stirred by his enemy had a ball online. They decided to wait, but finally the wait proved too long, so they resorted to face swap, perhaps as a last minute decision, since the voice superimposed did not get as much attentive tweaking as the voices of other actors (who are said to have recorded themselves, when necessary).

Wondering why the Discussions section item which detailed the sad story that almost got an innocent actor blacklisted, now seems to have been scrubbed from MDL - is there a conspiracy to target him even here ?!

Enjoy !

Marcus Here drama reporter noted that "Love Has Fireworks" reached again #1 on the top ten TV dramas of the week June 29-July 5, with "515 points" counted from professional V Linkage data : a very honorable score, before "The Heart S.2" and "Never ending Summer".