ShortCircuit

Yes, the drama took all the past scenes and unified them into one big and continuous flashback (3-33) and the present timeline goes 1-2 and then 33-50.

The novel (and the donghua) do multiple and shorter flashbacks between the present and the past.

TBH, for first watchers and people who haven't read the novel yet, the way the drama did it was better IMHO. Much less confusion :)

ML does not grow a pair, he makes more soup. He's the male version of Jiang YanLi, LOL.

But fear the anger of a gentle man. It'll take a long time, but he'll get there. Mostly there.

This shocked me because I usually remember stuff, so I went and checked - it's just 2 years, not 12, before BLQ finds him.

Then it takes a while in the later chapters, after the marriage, and it does go through a few more years as things happen (I guess that's why they skipped the last few chapters / the epilogue.) I wish they'd have included at least the great battle between Mrs Lu and BLQ's mom, LOL. That would have been epic.

I don't know enough legalese to clear it up LOL, it's my presumption he'd have gotten some kind of resident/worker's permit. It's been forever since then and I myself never visited Portugal. AFAIK, even non-citizens could go and get married in any country provided they had certain papers with them and whatnot.

In fiction, it all gets hand-waived away anyway hahaha~

The novel goes somewhat neutral in POV, but mostly from LXF's side. BLQ isn't talking much about anything (and not marriage anyway). I guess it hit him when LXF ran, the whole "don't know what you've got til it's gone" thing.

"Despite all the grumbling and complaints, Bei Luqing still took Lu Xiaofan on a new journey.
In 1997, the Netherlands was one of the first countries in Europe experimenting with legal recognition of same-sex unions, so they closed the restaurant and headed straight for Amsterdam.
Although it was still only a pilot program, quite a few same-sex couples were already lining up to register."

This is what they wrote re: the marriage. It's true that the civil partnership recognition was settled in 1997 but it went in effect on January 1st '98. The Netherlands weren't the first either. But that's what the author wrote. In the novel, they also don't meet again so fast after LXF runs away, it takes two or three years, so enough for the law to have passed (and for LXF to have some resident's rights in Portugal/the EU).

LXF has a working permit at least, since he has his shop. And they didn't marry immediately after they met again, so BLQ had time to get his own residence permit or something.

In the novel it's been two or three years after LXF fled China, so it's closer to the 2000s. He had time to get his registration in Portugal, I think. And it's fiction, so all legal troubles are usually solved through money and magic LOL.

1. Character development. It's a whole roller-coaster. The good and the bad all evolve in a pretty convincing way. I don't know if you continued, but the first eps are more separate "cases" threading some plot lines and the first major development hits around 15. The main plot is the best part.

2. Amazing soundtrack. I have it on repeat still and I don't think it'll go away too soon (and it's been almost 2 years).

3. Amazing cinematography. I don't need to tell you, you can see it.

4. Great acting (and a good cast). I've seen the actors previously (and some in some later dramas) and here they're all doing a very good job.

To me, it's a completely bingeable drama. If you're not drawn to it, maybe it's not the right time or not the right mood. You're not obligated to like it or force yourself through it. Maybe part of why you're not enjoying it is that it feel like a chore. Be brave and stop watching if you're not interested, You don't have to finish all the dramas you start :)

He's calling him Ge because that's what he always called him - an older man, his BIL, with a higher social status. He can't break the habit even after marriage. (Girls do that too with men they're interested in - they're either "ge" or more cutely (and closer to our times) "gege".

He didn't want to destroy BLQ, proof he didn't manage it LOL. He even warned the others they wouldn't manage it, since the Bei family had resources and BLQ wasn't so stupid.

His reason to do it though was that he wanted to hurt BLQ as deeply as BLQ hurt him with the talk of marriage right in front of him and with the whole dismissive attitude towards LXF's obvious helpless stance. It was clear that BLQ knew LXF was at least infatuated with him, if not deeply in love in his own meek way, but he couldn't care enough to shield him from the obvious maneouvres he was doing with the Li family. (I know BLQ says he was doing it to cut ties and get away "with" LXF but these two guys do not talk to each other and Lin ZiYang only rarely translated BLQ-ese to LXF so that he could understand it.)

Anyway, the thing is - bio bro's ONS said to LXF that she wanted to destroy bio bro's life so that he would never forget her in his life, and LXF caught on to that. He wanted to try and hurt BLQ so bad he would always remember him, even if they never met again. And since he thinks BLQ cares about money the most, that's where he's aiming. And it did work for a bit.

He didn't want to do it since college - he was helping Shen ZhiQin because what they did to him was way over the top - he was a poor guy with a lot of pride and his dad was forgoing his treatment to pay for his tuition and they just made him quit college and ruined his whole future. LXF sees him as another person like himself, smart but limited in resources. He wants to repair the little things he can, and does so until they meet again in that city and interim BLQ has already hurt him too many times and too deeply for LXF to go on like always any more.

For SZQ, I guess it was just normal revenge.

I thought the 21 days were before the enlistment (or whatever's going on) date will be announced. Like when men in SK get their notice to enlist, but the actual date is not the same, they have to go through medical exams and pre-enlistment trials before they actually go to the army.

Still, maybe it's a TL mishap. Maybe it's not "detention" but some other kind of thing. Or maybe that Hunter School is so secret they've hidden their center in a prison LOL.

Anyway, whatever it was, QingLang wasn't happy about it. Not mad either, just kind of sad, IMHO. Maybe he had total trust in ChangYang and discovered he's been keeping secrets from him and lying from time to time. He's not a kid. Unless ChangYang tells him what's it all about, I don't think he'll take it quietly.

That, I don't know about. I mean, Portugal is Catholic mainly, right? I don't think a Catholic church would allow a religious marriage (I'm not sure about now, but I think they still wouldn't allow it...)

But there were a lot of same-sex ~marriages~ in the time before legalisation that would take place in someone's garden, with friends, with some uniquely-designated religious practitioner (particularly in the US or Canada, probably) that did go the "religious" way before they could marry in a civil court. Maybe they appropriated the idea. And if it took place later, who knows, maybe it would've also been accepted like that in Portugal too.

They're in Portugal, it didn't legalise same-sex marriage til 2010, BUT had civil partnerships in 2001. The author didn't say they're marrying immediately in 1996-7 where the drama has them get together again. They might have waited.

Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway already had recognised civil partnerships with basically the same rights as a regular marriage at the time. The Netherlands officially became the first country to legalise same-sex marriages (by this precise term) in 2001.

So they could go everywhere in those 4 countries and get a recognised civil partnership. And then wait for other countries to follow the same trend.

I don't think so. Actually, it's pretty good writing.

Consider this: a drama appeals to emotions. I bet you went through a lot of emotions watching it. Frustration foremost (because seriously, LXF is SUCH a doormat!!! GAH!!!!!). Then anger (because WTF is Bei LuQing's PROBLEM?! Can't he TALK to the man if he's interested instead of trapping him?!) Then class warfare madness - like, I wanted to wring Lin ZiYang's neck so many times, LOL (and I even like his face, he looks like Peter Wingfield playing Methos). And disgust with both the Lu and the Bei families (the Lu are obvious, but the Bei?! They freaking BUY a husband then neglect him, knowing he's a basically almost uneducated nobody from a rural village - help the man, it raises the family's status, too! Instead we have to get LuQing invested through lust then having him as a live-in unpaid lover/maid. Oh and let's not forget the wife trying to get her own husband raped because WTF?!)

And even in the end, more anger because the abuser gets to marry the abused (and he likes it like that).

I mean, it did its job perfectly didn't it? :)

Then again - it's a very old (in time) story. Not ancient, we're not in the historical times. But it's set 30 years back in not-really-open-socially China. 30 years back, it was all they could do NOT to call homosexuality an illness in the West, too. Only the Netherlands allowed same-sex marriage, IIRC, and it took a lot of fighting from activists to make it acceptable for same-sex couples to be out in the open. Even now, there are places where being gay is a social-death sentence, if not an actual death sentence in some countries. So them not being all that happy-happy joy-joy Thai BL dramas (for example) have gotten us used to is understandable.

I liked the social part of the drama (and the novel), I didn't get too much of the market trading stuff (I'm good with math but trading is beyond my ability). I just would have liked some more development from both leads - they never ever talk about it in the open. Like, never. They have mouths, they just use them for other stuff. *sigh*

He imprinted on that - it's what his bio brother's ONS girl said when she went to destroy his whole life for being left behind. She said she doesn't want his love or care, she just wants to make sure whenever he looks back on his life, she's there in his memory.

I guess LXF decided since BLQ isn't expressing his love at all, and actively betraying him (with the set-up marriage and all), then he - LXF - will make sure BLQ will forever remember him, even if through hating him for this. He's not one for grand gestures, he needs to copy more vibrant people's actions, LOL.

His mother isn't that bad.

Also, in the novel, his (bio) brother's ex-ONS gives birth to the child and leaves him with the Lu family to raise, so LXF and BLQ kind of get elevated to actual fathers LOL. I guess they didn't want to mix up the ending with too many new threads :D

I don't remember what happens with the original Bei fortune (it was mostly the mother's fortune anyway and she lived in Hong Kong at the time, IIRC), but BLQ gets back most of his losses in the market and makes up more, so I guess LXF is actually marrying into the Bei fortune anyway :D

Because the bully and the doormat set up the downfall of the Alpha top LOL. And it took years for that trust to build up. That's why.

Maybe he's giving prosecution some deep info about his father's affairs, LOL.

LXF provided info to Li WenXi (through Lu Tao, who Shen ZhiQin was working for, too), to manipulate market trends and make Bei LuQing and his associates over-extend themselves and get wiped out in a market rally they didn't expect (and Lu Tao caused). Despite LXF warning them they should cut and run once they pull it off, Lu Tao and SZQ did not, so when the market manipulation charges came, they got caught in it.

In the novel, the Bei family and their associates are cleared and get back most of their losses once Lu Tao gets convicted, IIRC SZQ is also banned from trading ever again, and Li WenXi's side loses a lot. Then BLQ starts looking for LXF seriously.

This drama greatly benefits if one reads the novel too. A lot of nuance comes through better in writing, I guess, particularly if you're not into finances and stuff.

Overall, I was mad at Lu XiaoFan in the first half, given he's a doormat, and at Bei LuQing, given he's an abuser. Though in retrospect, (and through the lense of the novel) it's not that bad.

Anyway, in the end, it's a good story despite the main charas' respective personalities, LOL.