SenpaiSuki

I know what you mean as someone who has touched upon M&A and IPOs. But it usually isn’t some goons trying to make a drug hauling business legal. Also this was the early 2000s, they hint that this is at the border area in HK (C dramas usually dump their drug related activities in Cantonese speaking areas to show nothing of such manner goes on in mainland lol). So for me this falls in the area of plausible although maybe improbable.
The China we know today is completely different than the one before so that’s something to think about.

In the novel they get together after all is resolved to some extent and while the police is closing on the Zhang guy MJ takes away CY to Latin America. They have a baby in the end.

People need to understand their relationship isn’t a simple romantic relationship. To them, they are the only real family left for each other. They are siblings, friends, elder-child, romantic partners, etc. and that is where their responses get tangled up.
MJ wants a romantic partner now more than anything, but her wounds of being “abandoned” by CY 6 years ago still raw. I should say she also has more relationship experience than CY since she dated two guys before ( in retrospect I think she was trying to find out what normal romantic relationship is). She also tried to emulate the other normal romantic relationship she saw growing up I.e. the police guy and his fiancé by redecorating the apartment. But she regresses to a younger sibling/ friend mode when CY shuts her out.
In the meanwhile, CY keeps bouncing between older brother, friend, boyfriend, parent, etc modes.
2ML has never seen the other sides of MJ that CY brings out before and I think he is discovering her in new light and falling for her again.

The comments made it seem like she moved in her boss's house as his official gf! Then i watched the episode and was relieved seeing perfectly reasobable reaction from FL

I think it's perfectly reasonable for the FL to react the way she did. From her perspective, she already knows Zhang has identified her as CY's weakness. That dinner wasn't really about her, it was a threat directed at CY, and he was clearly shaken by it.

She also just saved his life because those goons had no intention of bringing him back to Tengcheng. By forcing the police to respond earlier than planned, she disrupted Zhang's plan. Zhang already suspects CY's loyalty but still needs him, so he wants to keep him under his control. If the police hadn't shown up early, CY would've been completely at Zhang's mercy.

She's also smart enough to realize that CY is secretly cooperating with the police officer, which is why she contacted him directly instead of reporting everything through the general tip line.

On top of that, distancing herself from CY takes some of the pressure off him to constantly protect her. But she's also understandably angry because he repeated the same mistake he made six years ago. If you've ever been in a relationship, you know how frustrating it is when someone keeps shutting you out or making decisions for you "to protect you," especially when their life is on the line. There's only so long someone can keep trying to protect another person before it becomes emotionally exhausting.

At this rate MJ will get a baby out of CY and CY will still be like gimme some time...

Well said except in the novel as well , she had shallow relationships as she was trying to live the 'normal' life she thought Chen Yi would want for her but I think deep down it was also partly to 'get back' at Chen Yi for abandoning her. Maybe it was also her way of trying to convince herself to move on but she couldnt.

Zhang’s shady logistics company is trying to legitimize itself through an IPO, meaning it would offer shares to the public on a stock exchange, or through a merger with another company.

Before either can happen, an independent audit team usually reviews the company’s financial records to confirm that its costs, revenue, profits, shipments, and other business activities are accurate and comply with the law. If the records do not add up, the company may be blocked from listing or merging, and regulators could impose fines, shut the business down, or prosecute the people involved.

Zhang wants the legitimacy and financial benefits of an IPO or merger, but he does not want to stop using the company for drug trafficking.

MJ wants to destroy his plans and bring him to justice as revenge for Chen Yi. Her strategy is to expose inconsistencies in the company’s records, knowing that a deeper investigation could eventually uncover the drug operation.

MJ and her boss discover that some shipments are unaccounted for. They also notice that the logistics company has reduced its business with the steel company because trucks previously used for legitimate deliveries are now being used to transport drugs, with their license plates switched to avoid detection.

Pretending to be employees of the steel company, MJ and her boss visit the warehouse to identify which trucks are involved. MJ then reports one of the trucks to the police by claiming it was involved in a minor collision with her. This creates an official paper trail documenting the switched license plate, which is illegal on its own and could help expose the larger operation.

CY understands how dangerous MJ’s investigation has become. He iitially rejected Zhang's offer to join the business but is now working there so can do two things:

1. Obstruct the audit enough to earn Zhang’s trust, allowing him to gather intelligence for the police officer as Zhang tries to expand his drug business with CY's help in the city/country CY was for a few years under that other guy (he has connections and reputation there)
2. Secretly protect MJ and provide cover for her investigation

I think after the ban this is like subtle way to cater to BL and GL fans.

Am I the only one who is getting BL vibes from FXS and WCY? Also the Physics teacher has feelings for the FL? Coz the way she treats her, doesn’t seem like normal friendship. I mean I have a tight group of 3 other girlfriends and we would die for each other but watching these two’s interaction, it makes me wonder if in the novel both these pairs were written more than platonically?

So if I am remembering ti correctly, in the novel they already "bonked" when they were teenagers. And Chen Yi also had prior girlfriends.. I think they changed it in the drama to show Tu Li a pretend girlfriend.

Right? I know 'suspension of belief' blah blah blah because its a drama but it grates my brain they only have exactly 11 players.

Thank god they added lighter moments or this would be a near impossible watch with how sad their lives have been so far overall. I just hate seeing shitty parents, no child deserves such life, especially in Chen Yi's case. I personally know a case where the father doubted paternity and its so sad to see being despised by your biological father. MJ's mom is equally horrible with all the emotional abuse and abandonment, at this point they are both playing for the first place in Shitty Parent Olympics.

Yes! Also i have not changed my stance. I said it before, when she uses her adult voice I have no issues, what i hate is infantilization.

It’s the same reason i won’t condone parents parading children in adult clothes on socials. If you listen to the survivors of child trafficking, you will also change your stance against infantilization. And please don’t tell me it’s the culture, the culture was to burn women as witches or on the funeral pyre with husbands. We changed that. We can also change this.

Oh really? Whats the other drama coming out at the same time?

I might just watch this on mute so i don’t have to listen to her. I want to watch it for CJK. Esther would have been nice with her adult voice but oh well… I can’t keep skipping every drama because of her.

Esther, girl... dont do that stupid voice again! I saw the trailer that plays on the main page on iQiyi and she was speaking in her normal voice which got me excited and then I saw the other trailers and it was that grating aegyo voice again! WHY!!!

So the daughter doesnt die? I need to know in order to be able to watch it. Ever since I had a kid, I really cant watch anything where kids are harmed.

Isnt she dead?

Did YE Li not make 5 straw dolls? Someone please remind me

To add to this, her grandpa and most disciples lived in the mountain much longer than her. She was living in the capital for a while and probably getting more nutrition than the mountain dwellers.
In olden times, hauling supplies to a mountain must be hard so I think they probably had some deficiencies.
Also I believe she was exposed to more microbes living in a densely populated capital while they all were pretty isolated.
The maid probably was also malnourished being a maid, also she was probably doing much more work than Ye Li would even on the mountain. Probably why she also died of illness.