charmims

babe it’s 2025 😅

That they did achieve. They can probably sell a stuffed goose (the toy kind, not the food kind) as merch 😁

In spite of all the disappointments I’ve expressed about this show, I gotta say that Yining has become one of my favorite female cdrama characters. Comparisons have been made to Minglan from TSOML, but I prefer Yining. Her brand of justice is swift (and the show’s pacing was good in terms of bullies facing their comeuppance). Minglan was great but she was just too patient and chill for my liking. I do love me some slow burn romances, but for revenge, I like instant gratification. Ren Min did a wonderful job playing Yining. She portrayed a realistic balance of innocence (without having to act like a baby) and strength (without having to act all tough and masculine).

Jeez I have so many thoughts about this series and don’t know what to watch next.

It gave me the creeps too. I’ve had a stalker ex before so a lot of the scenes with LJX were super triggering, and book LJX was even scarier. I was tense reading the whole kidnapping part. But I really liked that Yining didn’t fall apart. I would have liked the show to have showcased more of Yining’s (emotional and mental) strengths, instead of spending that much screen time on the second couple haha. But yeah, to each their own indeed. 🙂

I might have to rewatch Forever and Ever just to watch Ci Sha being a respectful unrequited lover to erase this demented Lu Jiaxue role from my mind forever and ever.

I just completed watching the show and it was... fine. It was a mostly pleasant watch, quite exciting in several parts, but I was not wowed. The last quarter of the show especially left me disappointed.

This probably stems from the fact that I read the novel, and I was disappointed at some of the creative choices the show took. I tried to keep an open mind about the show for the most part, but it's nearly impossible to separate an adapted work from its source material. There were a lot of good choices made, for sure, but the show missed several opportunities to stand out by cutting out much of the parts that made the novel more riveting.

Pros: I loved that the show completely removed the parts that gave me the ick when I was reading the novel - the pedo vibes, the incestuous portions (on LSY's part). I loved the way the show made LSY a whole forest of green flags whereas in the novel, both LSY and LJX were garbage people. I loved that in the show, Yining's adopted sister was not extremely toxic and they gave her a redeption arc. And of course, I loved Poppa Duke with all my heart, hands down my favorite CDrama dad.

Cons:
- I hated the way that Yining's internal struggle of shifting from seeing LSY as a brother to a romantic partner was basically reduced to nothing. This doesn't line up with how much they showed the pure and healthy sibling relationship had, and the gradual development of un-sibling-ey feelings on LSY's part. (Granted, in the novel, LSY basically coaxes Yining into ceasing the sibling connection by constantly attempting to d*ck Yining down. This would have been difficult to achieve in the show hehehe)
- I disliked the show's removal of several plot points in the novel where Yining was shown to be a force to be reckoned with. She had to assert her authority as the head of the Ying household in the face of disrespectful servants and relatives. She was abducted as a pregnant married woman, but attempts several times to escape and stayed strong during captivity and childbirth. She kept her dignity in the face of LSY's doubt whether the kid was his. For a show titled "The Rise of Ning", I feel like it's so bad how Yining was reduced to a damsel in distress needing rescue or a trophy that the two leading men were fighting over.
- The show could have kept all the above points if they hadn't wasted time on the second couple. I would've been fine with the second couple storyline ending at Lin Mao's really sweet marriage proposal, but they just had to waste more time on family opposition. Ugh.

TL;DR: The show was good, but it could have been great.

I love her voice! It’s so sweet and soothing,l. It sounds very natural and it suits her character here pretty well.

That starry-eyed look on the Duke’s face when LSY walked in after Yining’s “ideal man” spiel had me rolling on the floor! All that was missing was wind effect and halo light 🤩🥰 Duke is down bad for his future son-in-law hahaha

Same! The walk was so weird, like they were just marching in place in front of a green screen.

I was bawling along with the duke when Yining finally called him “father”. I lost my dad last year, so that scene really hit me in the gut

Right? I’m so not sold on the Lin Mao - Yixiu pairing. I personally wouldn’t fall for a guy who has called me fat and implied I was ugly. I like Han more, but I guess the heart wants what the heart wants.

This show is killing meeee. I stayed up until 4am watching thirst trap videos of Zhang Wan Yi and Ci Sha on Weixin 😅and then beating myself up for refusing my grandmother’s orders to marry a Chinese guy. Maybe it’s time to leave my boring white dude and go back to Asia 😂

They need us to see it in flashbacks to make the hateful LJX into a somewhat sympathetic character and create internal turmoil for Yining, because ✨drama ✨

If it weren’t for current LJX being so stalkerish and abusive towards Yining, I would be so all up for this storyline where Yining and blind LJX truly loved each other in the past, then doubt (about the attempted murder) kills that love on Yining’s part. Then when the whole sibling issue between Yining and LSY gets resolved and they eventually become lovers, the previous love story between Yining and LJX becomes a source of a genuine love triangle tension.

All this because I despise the idea that the only women worthy of love are virginal women without a romantic past.

*Thanks for listening to my TedTalk.*

I hated novel Liu Jiaxue, and so far I really dislike LJX in the drama… but Ci Sha (the actor playing LJX) is so dang fiiiiiine. I loved him as the 2ML in Forever and Ever. I hope he continues to get big roles and hopefully a lead role in the future.

Don’t even try to read the novel this drama is based on. Novel LSY and LJX both gave me the ick. Major red flags: rapey, pedo, incest, abuse. Even though I tried to read it with an open mind (like being aware of the historical context, for example, child brides were normal in ancient China) it was still such an uncomfortable read.

Sadly, this thing happens even in real life. “Filial piety” is deeply ingrained in many Asian cultures and still prevalent even now.

What in the feederism is going on in Episode 14 and 15 🫣😏

A scene in Episode 34 was hard to watch. Where are those trigger warnings when you need one???

Rio is real (and yummy) (this is not a sponsored comment lol

It irks me so much that 2ML is getting all the pretty songs.