All 30 eps of the Drama covers about 370 chapters out of 2400 of the base series. The sequel series then has about 1400 chapters on top.
The donghua after this week on 8/16/2025 will have covered about 640 chapters.
If people wanna continue with the donghua, the drama ends with S2 ep 42. If counting all the episodes together from every season, it'd be ep 63.
The special episodes are direct sequels to their previous seasons. They serve as set up for the next season.
If you want to watch from the beginning watch the Season 1 remake which also bundles a remade 4 episode special that would come after.
21 episodes from the S1 remake. Then 51 episodes from S2. Then a 4 episode special sequel. Then 48 episodes from S3. Then as of writing this we are in the middle of S4 and will have 32/52 episodes aired after this week.
Total, 156 eps so far after this week. If picking up directly from the drama on S2 ep 42 (63), you have 93 eps.
I recommend watching S2 ep 42 as there are some parts that were cut from the drama ending and it'll serve as a good segue. Just FYI the tone of the drama and donghua are very different with the latter being more serious. Drama vs Donghua Han Li are very similar but also very different in tone.
And remember it might be 93 eps to catch up on but they're 15min in runtime. A single drama ep of 40min covers like 2½ eps of the donghua. So you really only have about 37 eps as the conversion; a single drama season essentially.
