Enslaved by Love

Unhinged, toxic male lead played brilliantly by Cheng Yu Feng

I have to admit - I am a massive fan of Cheng Yu Feng. I have read few comments about this drama on reddit. I usually steer clear from dramas with toxic characters but Cheng Yu Feng convinced me to watch this series.

What I liked:
1. Yin Ji characterisation - I am fascinated by how the writer developed this male lead. He started off in this series as an unhinged City Lord who seemed jilted by female lead's behaviour towards him. Toxic phase of Yin Ji is the best part of this series because I couldn't predict his line of thoughts. Oh I've never seen a sadomachoist in Chinese drama so wow, this series shocked me!
2. Cheng Yu Feng's acting - He was able to show many sides of Yin Ji: neanderthal Yin Ji, naive & younger Yin Ji, I'm-going-to-reclaim-my-City-Lordship Yin Ji.
3. Qi Yan - I like his character - trustworthy and kind. Actor Tian Guang Yu was handsome.
4. Xiao Bao Bao - I actually pity her character. Yes, she is annoying but then again she is the legal wife of Yin Ji so her actions are understandable. Teng Ze Wen did well as Xiao Bao Bao.

What I disliked:
1. Yin Ji decision - I understand that Yin Ji kept Xie Yun by his side to protect her but I don't like that he was mean towards her. The humiliation was too much.
2. Zizi Xu's acting - I understand that Xie Yun is a woman driven by vengence for her family but I couldn't connect with her. I think it's because of Zizi Xu's acting. It felt monotonous even when she forgave and accepted Yin Ji into her life.
3. Wang Xi Nu - This character doesn't have a purpose. There is already Xiao Bao Bao who is a stumbling block in Xie Yun & Yin Ji's relationship.

Favourite scene
The whorehouse in first episode.

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Disgusting in the beginning... Dissatisfying in the end

This drama didn’t leave a good taste in my mouth. The reason is simple — I’m not satisfied with the comeback. Everyone has already written the introduction, so there’s no point in me repeating the same thing. What I felt was that the male lead wasn’t given the right closure.

I understand he wasn’t directly involved in the conspiracy behind the female lead’s family’s execution, but he still brought enough misery into her life. I would’ve appreciated it more if she had simply walked away after forgiving him for his actions instead of reconciling with him. In my opinion, he really crossed the line by selling her to a brothel and making other men say filthy things about her character.

If she still loves him after all that, I’d call her foolish. For anything in the world, this should be a woman’s bottom line — and no excuse or amount of atonement should ever be treated as compensation.

She can forgive him cause Forgiveness is a virtue; it comes from within and is often unbiased. But love — love should be driven by basic rule of safeguarding each other's respect. A man who makes a woman a target of sexual humiliation by others is not worth loving (no matter what his reasons were).

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Better than I expected (in the first half)

As toxic as the ML (Yin Ji ) is towards the FL (Xie Yun), he makes it pretty clear from the beginning that he still loves her since their teenage days (when he was a nobody), and he is very frustrated that all she wants to do is escape as he is trying to protect her by keeping her close and convincing her to love him back.

He doesn't realize that she does not perceive his protectiveness as love but rather as torture. Every time she tries to escape he recaptures her and punishes her. (Meanwhile, he avoids having sex with his wife finding her unattractive and to avoid his rival Xiao family politics and because he presumably only wants to be with Xie Yun.)

I dropped the series once she escapes, develops amnesia and returns to avenge her father's death because the tension between the leads disappears and the ML becomes a total simp for the FL.

First part was interesting though and had a lot of promise. The angst between the leads was palpable and it's sexy as hell when he cannot resist hugging or kissing her.

Note: The ML looks like a younger Liu Xueyi and while his acting is not as good as his, it's still pretty good!

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Story

Absolutely loved this drama. The two main leads were made for each other. Cheng yu feng (yin Gi) was my first watch of this Chinese actor and in my estimation played an excellent part especially when playing his emotional
scenes with Hu Yi Wei (Xie Yun). I loved the storyline..
A story of misunderstanding love between two people
who really cared for each other through bad times and good times to in the end an enduring love and happiness. Yin Gi and his wife at the beginning treated Xie Yun with contempt but she was tied to him for 3 years as his slave but he couldn't let her go in the end.
Cheng yu Feng was extremely good looking and I couldn't take my eyes off him.A tough cookie.
Hu Yi Wei was made for the part and her beauty stood out. All the cast were supurb. Will I watch it again.. Definitely. . Sometimes watching again you take more in than first time round and I get to watch Cheng yu Feng
again. Thanks to the producers.. Directors.. backroom staff and the scriptwriters ❤️

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