Reviews

Tarantella dance

Mr Jiang has gone to great lengths to have a meeting set up with Mr Yang from Bosi, and like LiangLiang with her real estate acquisitions, he had the green companies lined up on his desk to present to Yang. His tea and cigar were rejected and a call from Beauty Pearl Society interrupted them. It was very refreshing to see Mr Jiang get some of his treatment to others thrown back at him. Mr Yang very aptly got the painting’s ambiance and he put it quite plainly what he thought of it, leaving the question who is acquiring whom up in the air. I am sure Jiang didn’t expect his offering to get tossed to the floor any more than Liang Liang expected her land deeds to be left worthless on the table. We next see YuCi has purchased a three year rental for LiangLiang’s parents. She has even included a rehabilitation area and elevator for Mr Xu. It is very gray turf with her having Ms Bai pretend to be head of Beauty Pearl society. Whatever debt is between them will be paid if she does this for YuCi. She shows her Bai MuRan’s picture and tells her to just say yes to whatever he wants. YuCi has set up an invitational gathering to introduce select people to Beauty Pearl society. She also has set up MuRan to accompany Ms Bai to the meeting. He has no clue it is LiangLiang’s mother because she never disclosed her real family. Ms Bai is absolutely stunning in her disguise. She feels like Cinderella but willing to help YuCi deal with the guy that hurt her. Pengyu keeps telling LiangLiang he knows nothing about Beauty Pearl society and that this Mr Han was a nobody turned super star by his article about them. He offers to take her so that he can prove he has no dealings with them aside from this invitation. Prior to the gathering, YuCi meets with MuRan across from a PengYu building while he grills her on why she wants to work with him. She glances at the building and shows him her pic of LiangLiang with PengYu. At the gathering Liang Liang is stunned to see her mother brought in as the leader of Beauty Pearl society. Before she can say anything of the setup to MuRan he confronts her about her relationship with PengYu. And then she gets the same slam YuCi did about being unfit to marry into his family. So instead of revealing that YuCi had designed all of this, she lets him know he now has two enemies instead of one. She also texts Mr Jiang to let him know that YuCi had lied to him and the woman presented was not from Beauty Pearl Society but a poor street vendor in disguise. In a flashback LiangLiang and MuRan are plotting to get rid of YuCi so they can sell the company. I still do not know how LiangLiang got herself in charge of YuCi’s meds, but YuCi willingly accepted the change in spite of her reaction to them. MuRan further convinced her she’d be better after resting, while hiding a knife in her room. Mr Jiang confronts YuCi and she admits she planned it all. She candidly said they would come to see who dared to pretend to be them just like he did, and at that point, they would all find out who really belonged to the society. What was interesting is that there was a real Beauty Pearl Society member at the gathering. The society decided to play along for reasons unknown. He is the liaison from whoever is really in charge of the society wanting to know what her next move is and how they can assist. It remains to be seen what the fallout will be between PengYu and MuRan and whether LiangLiang will continue any relationship with PengYu after the betrayal reveal at the gathering. This episode is an intricate dance of the three members of ChuXia and YuCi wants to direct their spiraling with her machinations this round.

Read More

Three Stars

there's a severe disconnect in this entry wherein they're trying to replicate the solemn foodie guy who experiences everyone's life from a third party view. the JP solitary gourmet shines because it's food with a story. lonely gourmet episode 1 somehow mixes this up, and supplies a story with a single scene where a character eats food. the family musician story was heartwarming on it's own, but as a representitive of "taiwanese solitary gourmet", it's not the same. i'd have liked some food savouring scenes, lingering food shots with breakdowns on the dishes, or even a post credit review of the eating location like kusumi does for the JP edition of solitary gourmet. overall ok but not remotely close to it's JP predecessor so far.

Read More

Episode 3 broke something quiet inside me.

I have not read the novel, but after watching episode 3, I felt something I could not keep to myself. I needed to write this.Liu Yi and his sister were born into a house where love never learned their names. Their mother disappeared like a fading echo, and their father, who should have held them close, drowned himself in gambling and drink. His hands did not protect, they struck. His voice did not comfort, it ordered. Steal, survive, endure.They were only children, too small to understand why the world had already turned against them. They ran, again and again, chasing a freedom they could not keep. Every escape ended the same way, dragged back into the dark they feared most.At twelve, the world grew even crueler. Their father tried to sell his own daughter, reducing her life to a price whispered in the shadows. So they ran once more, not for freedom this time, but for their lives.An alley became their end, or so it seemed. Blood, fear, and fists falling without mercy. They would have died there, forgotten, if not for Qing Long, who stepped in like a hand reaching into the abyss. He gave them something they had never known. A home.But even kindness carries its own quiet tragedies.Liu Yi grew, carrying scars no one could see. At twenty, he gave his life to protect Qing Long, as if repaying a debt that love had never asked for. With his final wish, he asked Qing Long to become his brother in law, never knowing that Qing Long’s heart had always belonged to him. Love stayed unspoken, buried beneath duty, forced into silence.You think the pain would end there. That surviving childhood was the hardest part.But life was not finished with him.Adulthood only sharpened the blade. His sister and Qing Long, the only pieces of home he had left, died before his eyes. The world did not just take them, it blamed him. Framed for a crime he never committed, a double murder that stained his name. A gunshot followed, as if fate itself wanted to make sure he would fall.And yet, somehow, he lived.In the wreckage of everything he lost, he found He ChuSan. Not as salvation, not as a miracle, but as a small, stubborn light.The kind that flickers at the end of a long, endless tunnelthe kind you almost do not believe inuntil it is the only thing left guiding you forward.

Read More

Soft Hubby Chaos and Hickey Evidence: Love Is a Battlefield

Episode 28 of Pursuit of Jade really said “men will scheme, but make it romantic,” because Xie Zheng and Yin Gong Sun are basically two peas in a very dramatic pod when it comes to getting their girls’ attention, and honestly I am both amused and mildly concerned. Yin Gong Sun out here playing Cinderella by hunting down Qi Shu’s shoes and fixing them, while Xie Zheng goes full blacksmith boyfriend, turning Chang Yu’s broken dagger into a blade with his own blood like sir… that is not just soft hubby behavior, that is legendary-tier simp energy and I am here for it. Then the story sneaks in a juicy little teaser for future chaos when Grand Tutor Tao drops the prophecy about Chang Ning being destined for extreme nobility and wealth, and suddenly my novel-reader brain went ding ding ding future Empress alert, especially with Bao Er already showing main character energy by stepping up to locate the Xie army like a mini strategist in the making. Every Chang Ning and Bao Er moment had me internally screaming for a season 2 because the potential is chef’s kiss. On the emotional front, Grand Tutor Tao adopting Chang Yu as his sworn daughter was such a warm hug of a moment, especially knowing how much Xie Zheng respects him, so it really felt like Chang Yu gained both a father figure and a stronger place in this web of loyalties. And then comes the farewell scene, soft, tender, and just a little bit funny because Xie Zheng walks in all pouty only to melt in two seconds flat when Chang Yu explains herself gently. I actually adore how clingy he is, this battle-hardened general who has zero romance experience but suddenly needs verbal confirmation like “say you love me or I will combust,” which honestly makes sense because Chang Yu is basically the only warmth in his life, so of course he clings like a koala. What surprised me a bit is how quickly he lets her go, but it tracks since he respects her stubborn independence and knows better than to cage her, and he still protects her quietly from the shadows, which is peak “if you love her let her go but also assign bodyguards” logic. Meanwhile Chang Yu stays true to herself, softening but never surrendering her autonomy, and I really appreciate how consistent the writing is for both of them. The episode also reintroduces Yu Qian Qian and Qi Min, and wow, finding out Qi Min is the fallen crown prince and rightful heir is lowkey terrifying because that man having power is a disaster waiting to happen, but I actually find Yu Qian Qian’s submission more strategic than weak, she is playing the long game to survive and I respect that. And just when you think the episode is done, it hits you with that hilarious bonus scene of Qi Shu tending to Chang Yu’s wounds and discovering the infamous neck bruise, yes the hickey, and watching both of them process it in real time was comedy gold, especially when Chang Yu slowly realizes it was Xie Zheng like ma’am you have been branded, congratulations.

Read More