Sweet romance about an older woman and a younger guy
Likes1. Super love the OTP couple Fanxing and Yuan Song. In real life i wouldn't agree with this couple because 22yo is too young but in this drama i loved them because they understood each other and became better persons together.
2. The premise is nothing new - do you choose love vs compatibility? 22yo younger immature guy or 37yo older but arrogant guy? But the way they handled the situations and the conversations were so real and relatable.
3. 41 eps were so long but the drama took time to tell everyone's stories and resolve them in the end that 41 felt just right. Though i wished we had 1 or 2 more episodes of OTP moments because there were too little Yuan Song and too much Luming in the second half.
4. Each character had flaws and they all made questionable decisions and mistakes but that's life. Just like Fanxing said about life being like a school test. There are no right or wrong answers.
5. Loved the friendship between Fanxing, Song Xue and Xiaoyu. Through thick or thin they've been there for each other in every joy or pain.
6. I didnt like Cong Xiao at the start but grew to like her and Chang Huan together!
Dislikes
1. I didn't like Ye Luming, he was too arrogant and manipulative of Fanxing from the very start. I wish he genuinely approached her for friendship like the usual second leads. He was right when he said he asked for it. The only time i liked him was when he was there to comfort Fanxing like a real friend when she broke up with Yuan Song. But this show has a way of redeeming the characters so when he finally broke up with Fanxing i actually felt bad for him and wished that he can really find the one.
2. I didn't really like Canyang and Minmin as a couple. Thought they were a mismatch and was going to break up in the end but they didn't. But not bad coz i like Canyang and Minmin slowly became mature.
Rating: 9/10
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Liked: The scenes of Shanghai; the music; the acting by Victoria Song, Wang Yaoqing, and Yang Zhiying; the characters Ye Luming and Wu Yei Min; the friendships between He Fanxing and her buddies and between He Fanxing and Ye Luming; and the way the drama handled the issues with the father. Bonus point: Lots of cute dogs.Did not like: Any of the romances. The age gap in the two primary romances was exacerbated by the immaturity of the younger half of each couple. Relationships between teacher and student always make me uncomfortable but the one here was made worse by how naive and childlike the student was contrasted against a teacher who was depicted as something of a rake. As for the main couple, I found Yuan Song irritating and selfish. It bothered me, for example, when he pursued He Fanxing then “teased” her about sexual harrassment (that's not funny and is pretty passive aggressive); tried to out her without consulting her first (I’d be ticked off if someone had done that to me, too); and most of all, the way he made her grovel at the end. All of the other relationships (including the parents’) were also problematic in one way or another.
I look forward to the inevitable sequel: Find Yourselves Divorce Lawyers.
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Female lead character look tough but she is too naive for director. I wish she became more strict with her decision and did not do any stupid action to couple with another man but at the same time still has lingering feelings for you ex. This is not good and quite distracted for me to continue watch this series.
For the male lead, i think sometimes he is more mature compare to female lead even he is younger. He has nice character and if i'm in his place, i would never take the female lead again because she wants you but scared to take the risks.
Overall is nice drama but too long for me.
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Great story (with the skip button)
Most of what I have to say about this drama has already been said, so I'll just summarize my own thoughts in a few points:-The main couple were AWESOME! They had so much chemistry despite their age gap.
-It's definitely a slice-of-life drama. It was more realistic than other dramas in showing how messy real life and love really are.
-He Fanxing was consistent, though I got very annoyed at her naivety after a while.
-The mom started out bad, but turned good. Mad respect for her character development.
-The characters were loveable and believable. The drama managed to develop their stories without taking the focus away from our beautiful leads.
-Even though he was really annoying, I LOVED Ye Lu Ming! I really respected how he let He Fanxing go in the end, instead of trying to force her to love him or selfishly holding onto her. That was a very mature thing for him to do.
A few things I didn't like:
-The breakup dragged on FOREVER. They put us through ALL that, and they only get back together in the LAST EPISODE???? SERIOUSLY??? Typical rushed ending to a Chinese drama. When I find a Chinese drama that doesn't drag the last 5-10 episodes then rush the ending, I will probably have found the perfect drama. I would've preferred if they'd used the last three episodes to tie everything up instead of doing it in the last episode. I also felt like He Fanxing should've recognized her love for Yuan Song wayyy sooner. I started wondering if she was just stupid after a while.
-It's not that I didn't like Professor He and his girlfriend, but they came off as friends more than lovers, at least to me. It also felt a little contrived, since the whole point of the drama is the age gap between his sister and her boyfriend.
All in all, it's a worthwhile watch if you can get through the draggy bits. But doesn't that describe every Chinese drama that ever existed? I think I'll enjoy it more during a rewatch because I can skip the annoying parts haha
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What really stood out to me were the supporting elements.
This is a long drama where, surprisingly, the main couple was not the true highlight. The male lead may be handsome, but his performance was disappointing—and this isn’t the first time I’ve felt the same in one of his dramas.The female lead, on the other hand, is stunning and delivered a brilliant performance, though her character, unfortunately, failed to captivate me.
What really stood out to me were the supporting elements: the family, the friends, and especially the charming, funny older gentleman. He was easily one of the high points of this story—a well-written character brought to life with excellent acting. I also enjoyed the secondary couples, particularly Mimi and her professor. They were adorable together and truly deserved a more complete resolution.
In the end, it’s a drama that is certainly watchable, but not one that will stay with me.
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When Relatable Turns Exhausting: The Age-Gap Angst Olympics
📝 Review (WARNING: Potential Spoilers — I’m Not Saving You from Emotional Damage)Alright, real talk—this is the classic older woman, younger man trope with a 10-year age gap.
What really got to me was He Fan Xing’s reactions to the younger man. It was obvious she liked him, yet she kept obsessing over the age difference. And yes, it’s relatable—society still stigmatizes older women dating younger men while older men with younger women? Totally fine. The double standard is real.
But in this show? She took it to the extreme. I mean, it almost turned me off the whole Older Woman, Younger Man C-drama trope for a while. Not because the drama is bad—the actors are fine, the story works—but the FL’s overthinking was just… exhausting.
And let’s be honest, the societal pressure angle? It’s too relatable. Women who are unmarried or divorced get treated as “less desirable” in dramas (and sometimes in real life). Thankfully, things are slowly improving, but Asian dramas love to milk this for angst.
So, yeah, I get her hesitation. I really do. But this one dragged it out enough that I couldn’t fully enjoy it.
The leads are competent, and the chemistry is there when it matters, but for me, this isn’t a rewatch. Not a favorite, just… fine.
💭 Final Mood:
“Relatable in a frustrating way. Okay acting, story meh. 3/5. Definitely not climbing my favorites list or getting a second watch.”
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Liked this more than I thought I would
I haven't watched romcom type dramas in a long time because I couldn't really stand the trend of over the top comedy and honestly a lot of bad acting.The comedy in this is still over the top to me but it wasn't horrible and still quite believable. I loved all the characters including the second male lead. He was pretty creepy for a bit but you can tell he's not a horrible person, just very misguided and selfish. This drama certainly kept me very entertained in how lighthearted and cute they kept it. My hubby who hates reading subs and never willingly agrees to watching romcoms started watching this show with me without any prompting. We both loved Cai Min Min. She is just too adorable and she showed so much character growth by the end of the show.
Culturally I can understand how FL felt so the whole story feels pretty believable. What's less believable is the amount of coincidences in the story. It was also all pretty predictable unfortunately. But for some lighthearted entertainment this really hit the spot!
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First of all, props to Song Weilong and Victoria Song! They have a real 10+ years age gap, but I felt the chemistry. *hot* So much so that I wanted to skip all the epiaodes in the 2nd half that they weren't in. Lol.But the side stories carried their iwn weight, too. I loved how this show portrayed friendships, loyalty, family values, and that life is not all black and white - there are lots of gray areas, and that it's okay.
Finally, it showed what love is like - selfish yet selfless, mindless yet mindful, all-consuming yet liberating. It is not planned, cannot be dictated, sometimes painful and always confusing - but then we wouldn't want it any other way.
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A Surprisingly Well Written Story
I think I slept on this drama to be honest. I started watching out of boredom but it quickly grabbed me and gobbled me up for three whole days. If you're in your thirties, you'll probably appreciate it more, but I think most women would enjoy this drama.The story is about a woman in a society that seems to have very strict ideas about what you should be doing and when, especially as a woman. Graduate by a certain age, achieve a certain social status, get married, have kids. Every woman in this drama is at a different age and experiencing her own customized version of the story. Our FL is 32 and has never dated, while her brother dates around constantly.
She just wants to experience love and dating, but when her heart jumps for a much younger man, things get interesting.
The ML is very swoony, though the SL is wonderful too. It's a really interesting take on family, society, and a woman's role in both, but never boiling it down to JUST that. Everybody is fun to watch. It's very slice of life, and can be serious one moment and fun the next. I was with the FL all the way (probably because I'm in her age group).
More than that, the story is well written. There are Easter eggs planted everywhere, and none go unaddressed. When the dots connect for you, they pretty much do a big bang version of it.
I would say anybody looking for something light but likeable would really enjoy this.
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I think this drama helps easing the taboo of dating a much older woman. It questions our status quo of today's world where it is totally ok for men to date girls who are 10 years younger, but when it comes to women doing the same with men 10 years younger , it becomes the fault of the women.
The two protagonists did well in bringing out this drame. Would definitely recommend this drama.
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Mediocre Age Gap Love Story
I enjoyed seeing the different types of relationships and love in this drama. People go about love differently, but it works well in their own ways, or they don't. This drama wants to let people know that it's okay if yours is different from someone else's. I appreciated the familial support that the He family gave one another and the strong friendship that He Fan Xin has with her friends. The writers integrated a good amount of screen time with the leads and their relationship with the people around them. However, I was disappointed that this drama wasn't worth the hype (in my opinion). I wanted to give it a lower rating since I found the drama mediocre. But the other relationships, themes, and supporting casts added a lot to the drama to make it a bit more worthwhile.OVERALL STORY RANT (spoilers)
The drama started cutely. We see Yuan Song pursuing Fang Xin and their process of falling in love. Right when we saw that she wanted to keep their relationship a secret, I already knew the headache I was going to experience. I was pretty wrapped in the drama until around ep 12. After that, I finished this drama in like double speed. I understand that this show's point is for them to find themselves, as the title states, "find yourself". Yet, I felt like they never really "found" themselves. They only became a bit more true to their feelings, and that "trial" that led them to speak their feelings wasn't that big of a trial either.
The drama lacked that push to make us feel like they were so in love with each other. When I watched it, I kept asking myself, why did they have to end up together? There were so many red flags that were given to us early in the show on their relationship. They weren't as happy as they thought they would be, and it wasn't even a healthy relationship. So why was Yuan Song so persistent in continuing to fight for Fan Xing? Why did Fan Xiang feel like Yuan Song was the one? Like why was I watching over 40 episodes of just mediocre love?
CAST/CHARACTERS/ACTING
I've seen a few of Victoria Song's works, and I feel like she's always improving. I was really disappointed in how He Fang Xin was written. Even if you're 30 and inexperienced in love, that doesn't mean she shouldn't have good emotional intelligence. We see that Fang Xin cares and communicates well with her co-workers, family members, and friends. So, why is she so stupid with Yuan Song? The only issue is that Fang Xin doesn't know how to express herself well, but Fang Xin still seeks other people's opinions. Because she was so self-conscious (which kind of contradicts her character, as she's supposed to be cold and indifferent), she comes off as selfish with her decisions. If I paused the drama and dissected her character and her issues, I would understand why she feels like she does. Her age, family pressure, society's pressure, etc., were all pressing down on her. However, even in her current situation, the actions that she took rationally don't make sense to me.
I believe I have seen Song Wei Long by trying to start other works from him, but this was my first time sitting through a whole drama with him. I was impressed with the micro-expressions he makes that adds to his acting. Some parts came off kind of awkward to me, but it wasn't too bad.
I was annoyed with Ye Lu Ming and Cai Minmin. Cai Minmin eventually came off as a good character to me, but Esther Yu's acting kind of throws me off. Ye Lu Ming did not come off as a likable character to me. He was so selfish and manipulative that even when he decided to let go of her, I didn't even feel bad. There was no such thing as a second lead syndrome in this drama. His feelings towards her never felt sincere to me.
RE-WATCH VALUE
It was a good one-time watch drama. I don't find that this drama is worth the time for a second or third round of watch, frankly, because the storyline was too simple that we could predict and follow what would happen next.
There's more I'd love to comment on, but to keep this review short, I'll end it here. Comment and ask questions if you'd like, and I'll try to give you answers!
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Two points to note.
This is an endearing drama if you can get over two things 1) the SML is a toxic, selfish, manipulative gaslighting stalker and every other character seems to think his behavior is normal (or acceptble when pursuing a girl) and actually condone it for much of the show. 2) the culture that puts so much emphasis on following parental and social expectations, which is the main reason the SML gets away with so much shit and why the FL is gaslit into believing that he is 'compatible' with him. it results in the FL choosing to conform and she puts in a lot of effort to be the 'perfect daughter'.When watching this you constantly need to keep the title of the drama in mind. Sure it's a romance drama but more importantly it's a drama about finding your own path in life despite the pressure and expectations of family, and friends who you also love and don't want to disappoint.
The acting is good, particularly SWL. I honestly found it difficult to believe he was only 18 when this was filmed. He brings a very mature and solid performance to a character that is four years older than he was himself
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