L13

So, based on the summary, I'm guessing Guan Xue won't know there are two brothers? And they'll both appear in front of her at different times while pretending to be the same person? And I'm guessing there will be some messed up romance based on that premise?

I'm on episode 5 and I'm kind of amazed by the timeline here.

This guy came to Shanghai with one month left before he had to report back to the Navy, witnessed a murder, acquired a child, acquired a fake identity, rented an apartment, passed the police entrance exam, became a police officer, solved a case, got suspended, investigated the original murder, was identified as suspicious and interrogated by secret police after his whole family was investigated, etc. etc. etc. and HE STILL HAS ONE MONTH LEFT BEFORE HE HAS TO GO BACK TO NANJING???

How many days did a month last in Republican-era China? 300?

Your opinion is what’s stupid here.

That’s s much clearer summary of what we know so far, thank you for laying it all out! I hope we’ll finally focus on YZM soon because his storyline also seems quite dramatic.

But don't forget that's just how all Chinese mothers are and actually she loves them both equally but just doesn't know how to express it 🙄

I'm also wondering the same thing. The way YZM and Ms Zhang sound when they're scheming, you'd think Xing'anli was some kind of super valuable property that could make or break a large company's real estate portfolio. Yet it seems to be just an old-fashioned hotel with a lot of debts attached to it? I get that the brand must be valuable and the location great, but so far Botticelli seems much more impressive.

I also don't quite remember what YZM's connection to Botticelli's parent company was. Why was he parachuted in from HQ? Like, is Yueda related to his grandmother at all, or did he decide to work for an unrelated company when he started his career? And now he's trying to leverage his personal connection to take over Xing'anli and add it to Yueda's portfolio so he could beat out his business rivals for a promotion? But of course ultimately he'll fall in love with MCH and decide to stay in Shanghai and run Xing'anli as a family business with her? I'm trying to connect the dots here.

Right, the fact even she can't keep up the subservient act and have a normal conversation with the Xin family despite badly wanting to please them but somehow deludes herself into pretending that MCH would be "happy" in their household is insane to me. No matter how ignorant of the world and financially motivated she is, surely she realises MCH has a proud and graceful personality that would clash terribly with everyone in that house?

I can't tell if the mother truly doesn't know her daughter at all or if she thinks that because she's had an "unhappy" life (entirely due to her greed and victim complex preventing her from taking responsibility for her choices and appreciating what she has), it's fine for MCH to be dissatisfied in her marriage too, as long as she lives in a huge house.

I love his personality too, but I wish we saw things from his perspective a bit more often.

For me, a happy ending to this drama would be the mother having to keep living in the house she hates so much. If MCH gets rich and buys her a house to make her happy, I'll riot. This woman does not deserve to get out of poverty! (In reality she's not even that poor, just endlessly greedy and self-pitying.)

Isn't there a Korean webtoon with the same plot?

Favouring one child over the other constantly and in every aspect of life is not part of Chinese or any other culture and even if it was, the family’s resources would be going toward Chengzao’s upbringing because he’s a boy and Chinese parents have a strong preference for boys. Let’s stop pretending everything the mother does is normal because it’s not.

I agree with you, it’s abusive. I feel terrible for the dad.

I think that aspect of their relationship is pretty realistic; it's a common experience for middle-aged women to feel like they've sacrificed too much of their youth/life for their families and their husbands owe them more than they've provided. You're totally right that no one forced her to make these choices, but at this point she's just bitter that her life has turned out 'worse' than she wanted/thinks she deserves and her timid husband is a convenient target.

I'm sure the drama will conclude with the Mai family getting rich, which will resolve that tension. Ms Liu may even get a job once she no longer needs one...

She does mean well, but her treatment of Chengzao in particular is very hard to swallow IMO. He's lived on the balcony for years FFS! She doesn't care if he has to commute to work for 2-3 hours as long as she can add more money to Chenghuan's dowry! And Chengzao is so sure his mother doesn't care about his problems he doesn't even bother to tell her anything about his life. The time his mother didn't even give him a chance to announce he had an important networking meeting on the weekend because in her eyes meeting Xin Jialiang's family was so much more important than anything that could be going on in Chengzao's life actually made me dislike her more than anything she's done to Chenghuan (SO FAR...).

The way she treats Chenghuan's best friend is lowkey really scummy too. She's more than happy to accept this woman's kindness and generosity, but she looks down on her for getting divorced and doesn't want to be associated with a divorcee in public. You just know if/when Mao Yongxin and Chengzao start dating there's going to be a major shitstorm in the Mai household. An older woman! With a child! What will the neighbours think! Her Xiao Zao deserves so much better (never mind that she hasn't paid him a speck of attention in 14 episodes so far)!

Anyway, I agree with you that she loves her family a lot, but I don't think her love makes her a kind person. I'm sure she'll be redeemed by the narrative by the end and the drama will conclude that Ms Liu has a big heart and just needed a bit of time to see things from her children's perspective, and that she loves her children in different ways but with equal intensity, but I just don't think she's a good person. Her first instinct in every situation is to be selfish and prejudiced. See how mean she was to her neighbour in episode 14 for no reason.

I really enjoyed that one, but I'm enjoying Best Choice Ever as well. It's not an either/or situation.

Meet Yourself and I Will Find You a Better Home are also good modern romance cdramas.

In fairness their bread has different nutritional values in different countries. Bread in America is generally much sweeter and has more chemicals than bread in many other countries.

The revelation that she's apparently some sort of serial killer who goes around assassinating people who get on her son's nerves instead of just talking to him was a bit much.

The WeTV link in the Where to Watch section on this page has the same trailers with English subtitles.

In an alternate universe these episodes are 55 minutes long because sanity prevailed in the studio and they cut all the corny slow-mo scenes and 50-second montages of people gazing at each other meaningfully in the middle of crisis situations while emotional instrumental music plays in the background. I would like to watch the drama in that universe...

Now that MCH doesn't have to be involved with the Xin family, observing their trashy drama from an outsider's perspective is way more entertaining. I liked the shot where Mrs Xin (actually Ms Chen, I think) looked around her big fancy house with despair as she took off her ring. To me, it seemed like she was taking in the wealth she'd been so proud of—that made her and her son so much better than the Mai family in her eyes—and realising none of it belonged to her. It tied in with the theme of hard work vs relying on others for status and wealth that the drama has been developing.

I did feel a little bad for Xin Jialiang too. He was a useless boyfriend to MCH, but it seems he'll continue to be a prominent character in the story, so I hope we'll see him grow up and grow a spine by the end of the show. He's not a bad person, just immature.

Also YZM was lowkey MCH's knight in shining armour at the hospital/during that whole episode. I liked that he got mad at MCH for signing off on Mr Xin's surgery. I think signing was the right thing to do and displays of moral fortitude like that are what makes MCH so likeable, but at the same time YZM was only thinking of her wellbeing at that moment and was totally on her side. And when he protected her from Xin Jiali later, I cheered. AND THEN MCH reverse-wrist grabbed him and marched him out of the hospital??? OMG!

So far it remains a mystery how exactly MCH figures into YZM's plans for corporate domination and it may well be the case that he thinks he's being kind to her for selfish reasons, but I think it's obvious he's starting to worry about her for real. The slow transition from "this girl is such a martyr she has to be faking" to "I guess MCH is just stupid for being so nice to everyone" to "I have to stay by MCH's side to prevent her from sacrificing herself for other people!!" has been great.