Frost_edelweiss

Lovely drama which took us on a roller coaster of competing prides that looked like (despite the attachment they both denied for long), even to go derailing when Luke acted like a possessive stalker from his car in ep.20 and escalated to (expected) breakup when they unawares hurt each other with sharpest word (Luke was unaware of his beloved's grief at losing a friend for a heavy reason, she thought he knew all along although she had not told him). But Luán Niàn made up for all his flaws, without losing his or her special sense of dignity on the way back on tracks. Shàng Zhītáo achieved her bucket wish list and tacitly agreed to let him share in it.

Luán Niàn and Shàng Zhītáo had already had a taste of honeymoon on their road trip together where Luán Niàn agreed to let go of his always impeccably dressed CEO persona to join her in cosplaying to please her, as Tibetan prince with her as his Chinese "princess Wencheng" in photographic match before the Potala palace. Shàng Zhītáo still kept too much for herself in episodes 20 -21 next, in which unforgivable words were uttered.

But the time apart finally led to correcting mistakes and cementing a match which had started when she first saw him in the airport in first episode and he became aware of a silly but surprisingly resilient "gosling" that he could not help wanting to protect until she grew into the proud "grus virgo" like bird that flies over the highest summits. (She reminded me of the impossibly driven demoiselle cranes seen in the opening sequence of the Qomolangma movie in which Jing Boran [accurate pinyin for his name is Jǐng Bǎirán but the actor's name is consistently romanized as Jing Boran ] played the role of the martyr photographer!) Despite the cuts and sometimes too conventional choices (in the proposal scene for instance), I did not find the end too rushed, amused by the choice of an engagement ring that did not fit the finger perfectly and looked like it still was at risk to slide off ! (reminding of Shàng Zhītáo once commenting that she could slide on Luán Niàn's perfectly straight nose - one which still had a slight bump! )

I was also amused by the clownish disguise of the hairy Samoyed, somehow reminding of Huáng Zǐtāo 's bling bling marriage to Xú Yìyáng in October 2025, where the dogs brought the rings : although I assume the author did not consciously choose the Shàng Zhītáo name so close in pronunciation to that of the other celeb (noting that the two names are homophones in the final syllable tao, differing only in tone (first tone vs. second tone), which does not prevent them from being considered rhyming in Chinese poetry or song lyrics...). Also reminiscent was the choice of lavish flower display and "sentimental journey" for the proposal, it did tie in the drama with the broader celeb and c-drama culture, in a roundabout manner, getting back to the story of the real life CEO who wed his beloved after a long sentimental journey where friends and fans knew but did not tell... (Jing Boran and Sūn Qiān did not attend that high profile wedding, being too busy filming at the time, but perhaps the director got inspired from the widely circulated footage which went viral at the time of The Early Spring shooting)). Will Jing Boran next tie the knot with top model Liú Wén once CP duty with "sister" Sūn Qiān is done, this will be seen in "next real life episode" perhaps? They all but confirmed officially in June 2025 that they indeed were not just strangers to each other ; but "the couple has reportedly not yet announced the good news to the public, as they wish to thoroughly plan their wedding before going public".

Now, I am continuing the pleasure through watching some videos which focus on how the actors played their role : interviews, the video about the "intimacy coordinator" innovation (Tsài Jiāyīn from Taiwan organized the sweet choreography), the "Easter eggs" spelling Love from the moment Shàng Zhītáo broke the L key on Luke's antique, fragile, typewriter and brought it back, repaired to the moment when Luán Niàn had it mounted as a gem to grace the necklace he gave her before the ring....

Admiring in retrospect how the seasons were conveyed in the drama that was filmed principally in Beijing from September 5, 2025 before moving to Harbin in November 2025 for winter scenes, using artificial snow due to insufficient natural snowfall (real Ice and Snow festival there coincides with January and February). Filming officially concluded on November 26, 2025 at Jīnlóng Mountain in Harbin, on which several key scenes were filmed (the mud slide, the climbing to the peak to watch the sunrise and tie red ribbons to a wishing tree, take group photos, also the supposed location of Luán Niàn's renovated mountain bar). The drama took us on real and virtual tours to the West of China beyond the desert of Gansu province, to Tibet, to the southern sultry cities around Guangdong, to Harbin, to many places in Beijing, notably skimming around the hideous slate grey compound named Linked Hybrid : a "prominent architectural development characterized by its distinctive grey, grid-patterned facades and sustainable design. Designed by Steven Holl Architects and completed in 2009, the 220,000 square-meter project is situated adjacent to the old city wall and comprises eight residential towers linked by skybridges".

This was the barren monk-like minimalist designed, if huge, apartment in which Luán Niàn had chosen to live with his huge fish tank in which the solitary white butterfly koi fish swam to the mirror like limits of the glass panels, until it got a more colorful mate once Shàng Zhītáo got entry to it. That first koi fish mirrored the cold, emotionally closed-off personality of its owner and the contradictions in the drama (koi fish are usually symbols of affluence and happiness in Chinese culture, not of loneliness and forbidding walls, sharp mouth, yearning for relief).

I am also continuing the pleasure through listening to the OST which is lovely : "You should know" caught the attention of everybody in audience when they first heard it in episode 4. It encourages to re-watch and admire the clues thrown in cleverly by the script and director, on the spiky road of the amorous journey to mutual surrender.

All in all a very satisfying watch for me, which stirred a lot of emotions, contradictory until contradictions were finally resolved. 10/10 for me (I am not stingy with rating when I like a drama.)