Rike

True, that's why I didn't care much about the villains and therefore the whole family plot, but still loved everything else.
Funny, because it's the same for me - I started watching bcs I just had finished Behind your Smile and Trick Or Love and wanted to see the ML in another pairing and it's also the first time seeing the FL and indeed, she did extremly well in this role!

p.s. Thanks to finding your Ultimate Short Dramas List on your profile, I binge-watched 'Embrace in the Dark Night' last week and I enjoyed it so much ! So thanks a lot ^-^

Right! Considering the long time apart and the longing they must have felt, I expected them to run towards each other and kiss or at the very least hug for a long time. Idk if you watched the making of-videos, but when I did, I found out that they actually decided to keep a distance and just stare at each other in the last scene bcs of her hat which was getting in the way when they were getting closer to each other when trying out how to do the scene. If I remember correctly, LMH also had to step over a root of the tree, so there were several things complicating the scene. But honestly, those still feel like excuses... screw the hat and tree and just give us a final kiss! 🥲
But in the end, you're right, after rewatching that many times, I'm just happy it wasn't an open ending because I wouldn't have been able to get over that.

I hope you won't lose interest along the way and end up loving it just as much as me! Have fun watching! 😊

I guess this drama is really hit or miss for viewers. Reading all the negative comments before I even started, I really wasn't sure if I was gonna like it. But I ended up loving it!! So I'd suggest just try it watching it yourself without getting influenced too much beforehand.

It started off slow and there were some things that were a little draggy, especially the family drama in the middle. Also, it was hard to get into the real world again after getting attached to the world and characters inside the novel, but overall, I loved how they resolved everything in the end.
I wasn't bothered so much by all the cringey scenes and cliches, because as most of it is the happing inside the novel, I just took it as intentionally(!) full of cliches and over-the-top. And even if the real-world-story of the drama itself ended up including some tropes that's also just proving the point that this exactly how dramas work.
Although you can argue the FL acts shameless and is annoying at times, I thought of course she acts this way - she thinks she's in a novel and nothing/noone is real and the others are just acting according to their role cliches. So, for the first time she can shamelessly pursue what she wants and try to become the main character while in her real life she just tries to get by or like she later says "live a peaceful life day to day". That's also why she encourages Qing Feng to change his fate. I think this isn't such an unreasonable behavior. And even so, she later realizes though everything is fake, her feelings were real and she can't easily let go of everything when she returns to the real world. All in all, I don't think her character was that unlikable as some make it out to be.

Just a heads-up, sorry for the long-winded explanation, I'm not really good with summarizing and I hope I got everything correctly (don't come for me if I didn't 😅).

So, Qing Feng doesn't exist in the real world. He later tells Xiao En that he is aware that he is only a character in a novel. [Ep. 14 right in the beginning, if you want to watch the part how he explains it himself]
The first story, which he remembers being a part of and in which he was the main character, he never got a happy ending. He was searching for his first love who went missing. When he found her after lots of trials and the story was nearing its end, suddenly everything looked like it was aflame. Since then he has been drifting between different novel worlds, always appearing as a side character and when the main characters got their happy ending, they disappear and he moves on to another world/story.
He adds that Xiao En is the one who made him want to break free from his role of a "bystander" for the first time. So he isn't following what the author wants anymore and trying to change his fate.

Ater waking up from her dream/coma, based on Qing Feng's description of his first story, Xiao En tries to find the novel to change the ending. She ends up finding out the author never finished the book and burned the manuscript because it's based on his feelings for his first love and he found out she is going to marry someone else. Xiao En convinces the author to finish the novel and give the characters a happy ending. Finally, the novel gets published, so Qing Feng gets his happy ending with his first love and literally says goodbye, probably directed at Xiao En and Tian Xing, because this scene is shown as being in their dream in the last episode.

In conclusion, I think the flames are a mix of 1. him being aware of being just a character and actively trying to change his fate, so deviating from the the role and storyline that the author had intended for him and 2. it might also relate to the author actually having burnt the manuscript of the book containing his story.

Watched this after finishing ' Behind Your Smile' not long ago, and what can I say? I just love this pairing, even prefer Eugenie's role here a lot and their smiles kept me going even when it got a little draggy in the middle/end.
What impressed me the most was that I ended up liking all the side characters, as well (except Kai Chi maybe) when I didn't even care for the SL couple or the younger brother in the first eps at all.
The only two things that reaally bother me:
1. I wouldn't even say that they dragged out the conflict too much because building trust again just takes time and feelings can indeed be that complicated. But even having said that, did they really have to throw in all drama tropes that ever existed along the way just to fill the 40 eps.? I think they could have done better without some of them, using the time wiser.
2. Idk if it's just the version on Viki, but the sound was so bad sometimes. The background noise's volume switches with the camera angles and was almost louder than the dialogue/scene at times. The music overlay/onset was really choppy and that one song they always used for the slow-mo/freeze scenes wasn't bad per se but sometimes just so unfitting that it totally took me out of emotionally loaded scenes that I started laughing though I had just been tearing up.

In the end, I really enjoyed this more than I imagined because the FL, who acts like she is 5 till ep. 14 or so when she finally starts thinking on her own, was kinda annoying . But what can say, even though being naive and believing in the good nature of humans doesn't mean you have to act like a child, I liked her character development and she grew on me.
But I still can't believe we were robbed of a kiss in the last eps! They had time to squeeze in so much drama into the final ep. but had no time for a single kiss?... I went back to ep. 12 to rewatch that one scene, so I could let go of that drama with a smile on my face :')

Thanks for clearing up a few things! Actually, I think my comment comes off as harsher than I intended it to sound and looking back now after some time passed, I enjoyed the show more than you might think reading my comment. I think many of my complaints, especially my critique about the pacing and unrealistic parts, were due it being my first (or maybe second?) C-drama, so not really being used to so many eps and dramas with that much fantasy elements. After having watched a few now and getting more used to them, I think I would rate this quite differently. I might even rewatch this thanks to your comment and reminding me of it. Anyways, thanks again for taking time to reply! :)

I'm not even mad at the ending. What makes me really sad though is the wasted efforts of the actors whose potential and acting was actually good.
To summarize: Seemingly incompetent ML who for whatever reason still has some followers and a FL with Stockholm syndrome paired with endless spinning around and not even half an ep. of happiness and no misunderstandings. That's what this fever dream of a drama is that not even the hot kisses (that were really the only saving grace if you ignore the SA that the first eps actually were filled with) could save.

Maybe I should have listened to the comments but somehow the viewers' rage was so intriguing that I had to see for myself. 😂 At least I had a good laugh bcs of the swirling through the air and circling around each other which was so unnecessary and seemingly neverending although the eps are just 15 min long. Also the the funny sound effect in the first eps when she bites him made me laugh so hard - no matter if there is clothing or his skin between her teeth it always sounds like a fresh apple 😂

Thank you so much for the quick reply! At least now I know I didn't miss anything. Though I still find it a bit weird to never mention the spikes again bcs the pain was described as almost unbearable and the first night was portrayed equally as dramatic, but okay I guess DFQC is strong enough to get used to anything... 😂
Ah okay, so that's the backstory of those 2 special eps, no wonder they seemed a bit out of place(?). And yes, you're right - their wedding would have been the perfect ending for the drama!! 😭

1. What bothers me most is the question what happened to the bone devouring spikes? Like did I just miss that part or were they just never mentioned again? Didn't they say he would suffer every night till they take them out? Or was the subtitle wrong and it was a one time thing?
Like that's one of the scenes that made me cry the most and afterwards this big sacrifice by the ML was just treated as a small side-plot? I imagined that he might get them removed when the war starts even if he hadn't freed the soldiers yet as not to be weakened by the spikes. But then again that would kinda nullify his pledge to his tribe... Maybe I should rewatch to see if I really haven't missed sth. bcs I'm kinda bummed out bcs of this.

2. Why did they end it so abruptly? I don't really care for the short special eps - they were sweet and all but it's not the same if it's not part of the main drama. I would have wished they just gave them a few more happy minutes before they ended the show and not a cliff-hanger like last kiss...

3. The body swap scenes in ep 11+12 were almost unbearably cringey (nothing against the actors - they did great in portraying their roles!), bcs I'm not good with second hand embarrassment, especially as the FL was going on my nerves with her slow-wittedness not getting they'll both be done for if sb. notices that the ML is weak now. But at least I liked most other comedic scenes and loved how the music helped to get me into that mood.

There are a few things that bothered or puzzled me a bit (I'll put them in a reply bcs spoiler alert) but when I arrived at the end of the drama, I almost had forgotten about them. Because I just loved the overall message and how they portrayed that love can break down all boundaries and overcome any obstacles. And how the ML came to the realization that feeling nothing is worse than having to bear sadness and pain in order to also be able to feel happiness and love.

Just came here after finishing 'Till the End of The Moon", so I've already seen their chemistry... but "Chem. Is. Tree" made me laugh so hard 🤣 I think I have to watch this show now thanks to you.

I am usually not that picky about OSTs, but here the OST ruined the mood several times. Why choose a a song that obviously fits a funny scene when the mood is serious/emotional? I get this drama is meant to be light-hearted, funny and catering to clichés, but imo trying to turn every scene into a comedic one doesn't work...
Besides questionable OST choices, the editing was weird here and there, as well. What especially bothered me is that they started ep 10 with a scenes which skips ahead and gave the ending away??? Took all the tension away for the last ep...
But nevermind, I still enjoyed the rest a lot! You can expect cliches, but it's finally a show that didn't feel draggy but also not too rushed for me, something light and sweet to watch inbetween longer dramas.
I especially loved his friend Hachi and Negi of course ^^

Unexplained things examples:
1) Weird that Qi Pa never noticed that his hands are normal during daytime till she was blind. It was just too easily visible so many times.
2) What happened to the creep who wanted to marry Qi Pa after they beat him up? Did they actually kill him? Why didn't they bring him back to her kingdom?
3) When Qi Pa returned to her world, she almost immediately decided to leave again and didn't even say anyone goodbye or inform them of her plan? It wasn't mentioned when they visited again as couple in the end either.
4) Why did Qi Pa not notice when Kitty basically disappeared from her side after being poisoned? And why didn't the effect of the poison wear out when they were searching for Kui Mu Lang and Qi Pa in the forrest till night, so def. past dinner time?
5) In the beginning, Kui Mu Lang fills the holy fountain quite often with his energy. But whenever there is a crisis and lots of things happening, he isn't doing so for long period of time, but nothing happens to the clan, as if it shouldn't have dried up already considering how often they said it's going to happen soon. Kinda unbelievable.
6) Qi Pa and Kui Mu Lang being injured and puking blood various times, but then next thing you know they are suddenly walking around, visibly better without any treatment.

Usually I don't mind such small inconsistencies that much but when a story drags this muchs you start noticing so many things that could have just been avoided by cutting the chase and making the characters less blind to what happens around them or by just not dragging-out the story so much that there is just less time for such obvious mistakes.

What I liked:
+ The premise of the story itsef:
That's actually what kept me watching because I was intrigued by the set-up of the two kingdoms, the fantasy elements and the holy pearl and true love trope. So much potential!
+ Acting: Especially the ML did a great job!
+ Side characters + Chemistry between all the couples
+ OST + Costumes

What I liked at the beginning and then slowly started to dislike bcs of over-repetition/draggy story-telling:
+/- humor and the overacting
+/- FL's stubbornness (and her way of only thinking of herself in earlier scenes, e.g. if she really liked her Kitty Maid she would have acted much more considerate or at least worried for her)

What I disliked:
- PACING:
It took 10 episodes for half of the main lie to be cleared up. At that point I was already over the humor and when I got my hopes up that the story would pick up momentum after ep 11, I got disappointed again, just to wait more than 10 episodes till the lies/misunderstanding were cleared up. They only left 5 eps to resolve everything and despite that little time they decided to add in a love triangle. So there was almost no time for some carefree, happy and funny romance (not based on lies).
I just think the pacing was off bcs they introduced too many elements/side stories which made the whole drama almost unbearably draggy at times and made them lose focus (the holy pearl only getting like a split of a second of the attention in the end as an example).
- Weird dialogues used to explain the backstory, although -logically speaking- the characters talking to each other must know that history -at least partially- already (happened especially with the villains who kept talking about the past and their grand plans - instead of finally doing something)
- Plot Holes or unexplained things: I don't even have anything to complain about the fantasy elements. It's rather the ordinary things that they just left unexplained or just got overlooked. Maybe some are not as relevant for the story but leaving them unexplained left a strange, unfinished feeling for me, making it seem as if they just did so to make it easier for them to tell the story. For examples see my reply marked as spoiler down below.

Reading so many bad comments I started watching with very low expectations and maybe that's why I was rather positively surprised. If you don't have too high expectations, it's a easily binge-watchable, cute BL.
Contarely to many reviews here, I loved their acting and thought their chemistry was good. Also, the OST fit nicely and gave the whole drama a feel-good vibe (minus that one song with the nonsense lyrics :'D).
The only thing that really bothered me was how rushed the development of their relationship felt as they seemed to cut out important scenes, but left in long scenes of them running around to music as if they were filming an MV even though the given eps were so few. Them making up again was equally rushed and no real explanaition as to why Choi chose to lie etc was given.
And what I really didn't get was to what extent he lied. Why make up a new past - like did he really not go abroad? So the whole Smile of Meatball dish story was also a lie? But why, so unnecessary?

The only thing that I wondered about was why her parents suddenly didn't appear again for many eps, when they were so eager to marry their daughter off and the mother wanted to visit her friend's exhibition. Especially when she was involved in the scandal with Gao, I thought it's unrealistic that these news didn't reach her parents and they recognized her in the video. But to be honest, so much other stuff was happening that I forgot about them at some point till they reappeared in the last ep and it was fine with me how they resolved everything.

I just started watching because I came across some video on yt by coincidence. As far as I remember it's the first c-drama that I've watched and definitely the first with so many episodes I finished. What can I say? - I am speechless. I am so impressed because I not once felt like I wanted to skip forward, I wasn't even bored for a second (even though I watched many dramas where I disliked it when the main focus wasn't on the romance plot, I somehow enjoyed how the romance was sometimes just the second most important thing here). Also, I didn't find any of the side characters annoying or unnecessary which is a pleasant surprise. Overall, I just enjoyed the whole ride and loved the chemistry of the main couple and how much depth their characters had. I'm already afraid this will leave me missing them for months and wishing I could rewatch this for the first time.

I'm kinda confused why I liked it... I think I found the idea behind it intriguing, the cinematography was beautiful and the OST also fit nicely. That's probably what kept me watching and I wanted to know how they would resolve all the questions. But after reading so many explanations and theories after finishing it, I have even more questions than before. Maybe I'm just too dumb for this genre and shouldn't have tried to understand it.
Normally I'm good at just focusing on the romance but I disliked how LG was chasing after TE in the first eps and although I enjoyed their chemistry and the romance storyline later on, I just didn't like how TE suddenly seemed to have loved him from the beginning. She was absolutely not believing him and pushing him away, when she suddenly started to miss him after he disappeared to the point of getting teary-eyed when he returned. I felt like I missed sth. - Where was I when their relationship developped from 0 to 100? Maybe even if it might be somewhat explainable through the whole time travel stuff later, it just wasn't a fun watch till ep. 6 or 7 for me. The product placement was also kinda annoying in this one for me.
But even having said that, since I enjoyed it from ep. 7 and there are many good elements, I still would recommend watching and judging it for yourself.