flours

I couldn't get enough of them in the books, so I also hope there will be more sweet moments of them together in the show. Appledog's actress pulls off the right attitude and friendliness, but she's 6 years older than HYT and looks much more mature. Appledog is only supposed to be 3 years older, so we'll see if they'll have good chemistry together.

yes, they're my favorite couple <3

In the second novel, it is clearly stated that Solo and Appledog broke up the team. Things might be a bit more ambiguous in the drama. Maybe in the drama, the team was effectively broken without Solo so Gun quit. There are some other details related to this that made Gun more angry but I didn't want to spoil it for you unless you wanted more.

I think you're talking about his old team captain Solo, right? Solo broke up the team and there will be more flashbacks to explain in Ep 3.

You're welcome! :) Yes, Tong Nian and Gun do end up together.

Books 1 & 2 are mostly about gaming and the developing romantic relationship between Appledog, a former pro gamer turned commentator and rising star pro gamer Dt (who happens to be her old teammate Gun's cousin). Dt is very quiet but completely steadfastly in love with Appledog who had inspired him to start gaming.
In flashbacks, the story reveals the reason behind the disbandment of the legendary eSports team called Team Solo, which included Solo, Gun, Appledog, All, & Xiaomi. Solo and Appledog broke up because some random female gamer showed up with an illegitimate daughter that he didn't know about and Appledog was just a teenager at the time so she couldn't handle it.
Because he let down their teammates, Solo had promised Gun that he'll never be a team captain again. Solo went on to having a successful eSports career but only playing single player games. Gun starts his own eSports team called K&K and Solo has his team called SP. Both want to bring glory to the country in eSports, and both also want to take care of their old teammates who sacrificed a lot in the past before it became a viable occupation. The old teammates come around to forgiving each other and at the very end of book 2 they reassemble Team Solo for one last exhibition game against the rising stars.
Book 3 introduces Tong Nian, a computer genius mini celebrity cosplay singer who falls in love with Gun at first sight when he shows up at an internet cafe one night. She starts playing the game that he played in the cafe. Through some coincidences, she gets entangled in his life and he warms up to her innocent and persistent personality. There is some overlap with the other novels but told from Gun's point of view.

Appledog is only 3 years older (according to the first two novels), but the casting makes the age gap much greater. I'm not crazy about this change either

Before the show started I had only read Honey Stewed Squid, but found out that the show might incorporate plot from the prequels so I started reading them.
The 2 prequels tell the story of side characters in the Honey Stewed Squid story. They are heavy on gaming and slow in romance (but very sweet in my opinion).

Here are the links to the stories if anyone else is interested (in chronological order):
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/gods-left-hand/
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/fish-playing-while-trapped-in-a-secret-room/
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/honey-stewed-squid/

Not sure the credibility of those anonymous rumors. Even if the rumors were true, there's no reason to hate the show. I hope audiences look past them to give the show a real chance. I agree with you that Yang Zi can really act and she's a large part of why I'm watching the show.

Oooh it's subbed now?? I didn't know that, I'll rewatch the fox demon scenes too (from my first watch they were the only ones worth watching honestly)

You can find the links to the translated chapters on this page https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-founder-of-diabolism/

Yay he was so good in Lion Pride. This cast looks awesome, he'll be acting with Peace Yang again.

There's a lengthy spoiler in MadamKhaos's review on here https://www.novelupdates.com/series/the-founder-of-diabolism/

I think I came across your recaps for another drama before this one, thanks for taking the time to write them up!

So much denial and she's remarkably shameless

I'm not aware of any subbed sources outside of that first episode on Youtube. You can find the rest of the videos here https://www.mgtv.com/h/328606.html

Now that My True Friend and Great Escape are done, what to watch until Deng Lun's next drama comes out?

It's been edited :)

Yay thank you for approving my edit to the synopsis. It's a subtle but important distinction that it was ZiYuan who was hoping to marry Chu Kehuan, not the other way around.

That's how I interpret it too. Hopefully the show will have a good ending. I've seen the 4 episodes released so far and it's a fun watch.