This is one of the most intense dramas I have watched. I binged season one and enjoyed every episode. In season two, on the other hand, the story was going in a direction I did not like. I actually don’t like dramas with too many male leads, for me two is already plenty. Furthermore I like knowing who is the male lead so I don’t get too attached to the wrong character. If there are several male leads, writers should make sure that the viewers don’t get too attached to the wrong ones, otherwise it feels a bit like a betrayal. But this is exactly what happened here. Although I did not watch the ending, I have read what will happen and I am disappointed. Xiang Liu had always been the most interesting, complex and deep character, and showed the most love towards Xiao Yao. What is the point of building so much tension between these two characters if they will just not ever realise that they loved each other? Xiao Yao was devastated that Fangfeng Bei died because she loved that side of Xiang Liu. She always loved him but he never told her that he loved her. Instead, she ended up with the intolerable loser-attitude Tushang Jing. I found their “romantic” scenes in season one very difficult to watch, they had zero chemistry. I tried to make myself like them together, but when I saw her with Xiang Liu, I saw that he brought out a side of her that she didn’t have with Tushang Jing. It just felt extremely forced when Xiao Yao was together with Tushang Jing. In season one I was so happy when she ended their relationship after it was revealed that his fiance was pregnant. I thought that she could finally move on from him and see that Xiang Liu was really the one who was there for her when she was in trouble. He could give her the growth she desperately needed. Her character from the start was complex and it is understandable that she wanted to be together with a weak person who would never leave her like Tushang Jing, but I had expected her to be a bit stronger than that. The endless melancholy she experienced was just because of one man who had zero personality. The endless second chances she gave him were so painful watch. Xiao Yao’s character was lacking a lot of strength.
Although Xiang Liu hurt her several times in the beginning, I still could not help but like the way he looks at her. The eyes full of love for her, and she, as well, showed him that she had a soft spot for him. Even though she did say that she did not want him to be in her dreams, the tension between them just continued and it was driving me crazy. The fact that Xiang Liu dies is not what I found so frustrating but it is that they never had one moment where they knew they loved each other. I wanted to rate this drama higher but it drove me crazy with frustration and unnecessary sadness due to the indecisiveness and lacking in confidence of the characters. But the reason I gave the drama an eight and not lower is because in reality humans are complex, we are not simple and we do things that contradict each other, we can be weak yet strong, loyal yet cowardly, love one person yet another as well.. I guess that is why this drama was so painful to watch for me.

The acting of Xiang Liu, Cang Xuan and Xiao Yao were perfect. The facial expressions, the nuances and the emotions were very well done. The cinematography was beautiful in many scenes and the music were chosen perfectly. I especially liked the folk song that Xiao Yao sang when she first met Xiang Liu.