Kara

Very few people are criticizing the themes of the show and many are criticizing the portrayal of the characters, which is a very valid critique given the sensitive subject matter that you so mentioned. Would you not want sensitive subjects to be dealt with in sensitive and nuanced ways that don't assume that both the characters and the audience are dumb? Let people disagree.
Apart from the sensitive content, this is also an existing IP and people will have opinions and attachments to the original source material which has been quite significantly changed, which is completely valid. Discussion boards and comment sections are for discussing and commenting. Let people do just that. It's meant to ultimately be a fun space. If I get attacked every time I say something that isn't the popular opinion, it gets not fun very fast and discussion kind of just dies off.

While I am enjoying the drama, I agree with a lot of the things you brought, specifically the portrayal of Sang Yan. I think a large part of it is the writing, as he isn't really given much depth despite him being the male lead. However, it feels like the actor/director prioritised Sang Yan being cool over Sang Yan being nuanced. I find I often have to project how he is feeling onto him based on his words and physical actions (aka things that are directly written into the script) and very rarely based on his acting/emotional portrayal. This is all coming from a person who did NOT read the book, so I don't have that bias. I can think of other portrayals of "stoic" characters that were still able to come across as enigmatic, and magnetic without sacrificing facial expressions.
In the case of the FL, I actually think she is doing really well with the character she is given and despite the strange turn oof events in the recent episodes, she is doing a really good job showing the required character growth through subtle changes in her demeanour over the course of the drama. I think because many of us love a strong female character or a character who overcomes her weaknesses in a big way, we have a harder time with a character like this version Wen Yifan, who's breakthrough is not "burning down" her old life and exacting a revenge, but rather just being able to live her life a little more freely that she did before. Even before her father passed, she wasn't shown to be a particularly outgoing or strongwilled person, so I find the more subtle changes in her persona quite meaningful and well done.
Sorry for writing an essay in your reply :')

I don't really understand this sentiment of Qin Lan being too thin. In her last few dramas, she hasn't worn anything that shows off her body in anyway. Could it simply be that ya'll aren't used to seeing her arms and shoulders? because in the same drama, Lan Yingying is the same size, if not smaller.

Episode 7 was just so great! I can not mention enough how Yang Yang is an amazing girl with a high EQ and IQ. Even if she doesn't find who she's looking for in this house, I know for sure that she will. Ah Xing is so great and is the ideal type of so many girls. He is incredibly cute and I love that he isn't into being super aloof. I hope the letters h got from Yushun and Xiao Yang help him understand his charms, because he has many.

it's time to start bring watching

It's up on youtube now. For english subtitles, the auto-translate from Thai is actually really good!

Why is the rating so low? I'm watching the first episode, and it's sounds like a good time (but also a very sad time)

While I get that Chenting is LingXiao's nightmare, I don't think she needs a redemption arc for LX to make peace. If the writers had properly continued on the road of dealing with LX's depression and insomnia in a clinical setting, through counselling and proper medication, he would have been able to tell his mom that she was making life hard for him. It is not his place to carry his mom's burden. Even Chengzi can see that, to the point where she even yells at her mom about it (unfortunately, Chengzi is portrayed as petulant, so we don't tend to take what she says seriously.)
And I know that it is not culturally accepted to vent like that to your parents, but the drama has already done it with how MingYue confronted her mom. It is not out of the realm of possibility. It is just not something they want to focus on, because it would derail to whole plot of Jianjian wanting her mother-in-laws approval.

Is it bad that I don't really want Chenting to has a redemption arc? Like, not everyone deserves a happy ending.

I'm really happy you mentioned that. Also the way they use his struggles with depression and insomnia as plot points but don't really try to fix them. It was briefly mentioned that he should see a psychiatrist, but nothing really came from that. I hope they'll address these things more in the final episodes, since they did a pretty good job of addressing ZQ's insecurities in these past few episodes.

I know it's not her story, but I feel terrible for Xiao Chengzi (LX's sister). She lost her father and, in a way, she also lost her mom. Her own brother prefers someone he isn't related too. We think of LX given up his life to take care of his mom sister, but his sister also had to help him take care of their mom. She also grew up watching her mom's tantrums and knowing that her brother wanted to be elsewhere. With LX now gone back home, the responsibility of taking care of Chenting now falls on Xiao Chengzi, and she's at the same age (if not younger) as LX when he had to start taking care of his mom.

A true "life sucks for everyone" type of situation.

I get what you're saying, and I honestly have no problem with the fact that there is romance. In fact, I went into the drama knowing that there would end up being a romance with one of the brothers. Like you said, there is no blood relation. My issue is how their romance is portrayed. They spent the first 10ish episodes of the drama emphasizing how they were all family, and have a very specific way that they all interacted in order to make it believable. However, even after the initial awkwardness that took place after LX confessed, JJ kinda just went back to treating him like she always did, +/- the hugs and kisses. LX has liked her since high school and it showed, so he didn't need to change much about how is acted, other than be more aggressive in his pursuit. JJ treats ZQ and LX basically the same, with the added benefits of kisses w/LX.

That's why I say that this is something that could be fixed with better writing. Better writing would have made a distinct shift from brother/Ge to boyfriend. I get that in Asian (and African) cultures, brother can also be used non-familiarly, but she has always meant it in a familiar way. The writers could have put a struggle in her figuring out whether to still call him ge or just call him by his name. Even if she did end up going with calling him ge, that contemplation/struggle would have made it more realistic in her changing from thinking of him familiarly to romantically.
So it has less to do with how they are or are not blood-related, and more to do with how they convince us that they have given up with family dynamic for a romantic one.

I finally understand why people think it's creepy that Ling Xiao and Jianjian are ~together. While it was quite obvious that Ling Xiao had some type of romantic feelings for Jianjian from high school, when they ~started dating, they didn't really change their sibling dynamic. She still storms into his room unannounced when she is angry/sulking. The awkwardness of new romance and wanting to appear more attractive to him (like how girls won't act extra and wild when they're with a guy they like) isn't there. It's like for her, there is no difference between dating Ling Xiao and being siblings, so it does come off as a romance between siblings. Which is a bit strange... I blame this one mostly on the screenwriters though, because it would have been pretty easy to write this dynamic in and would actually make some aspects of the drama believable.

does anyone know if the manga that jianjian is reading is real? if so, what manga is it?

I think the hot soup thing is a coverup for something else. We know Ling Xiao doesn't like his family to worry and his mom is quite volatile, so I'm sure there is more to it.

she is doing a great job playing a convincing 16 and im pretty sure the show will cover up until she has an adult job, so her being thirty works in her favour, such that they don't have to change the actress for each time frame represented in the drama.

I really enjoyed this overall. The mistakes the girls made were so true to who they were as people, and growth was visible for all of them. I might be in the minority here, but I really do believe that Xiao Qin dating the young boy was important. Wang Manni's entire character growth was probably my favourite.
Gu Jia has a special place in my heart because as much as she was logical and pragmatic, that is what saved her and her family at the end. Her husband quite honestly unraveled all the work she had done for him, but because she knew that she needed a back up (tea farm and having the house ), she was able to pay everyone (from employee severance, to the lawyers, to compensation for the victims, everything) entirely because she could think ahead. I'm sure many of us watching vaguely judged her for buying the tea farm at the beginning, but it really ended up being her saving grace.

I agree I don't really see them together in the long term, but I think she needs this relationship. She needs the experience to see that what she originally is truly what she wants, and it will also help her grow. She'll be able to see her childish ways better after being with a boy who is basically as sheltered as she was. She has already become more independent (albeit with some nudging), by actively asking for a promotion, making and keeping to her co-habitation rules, even the whole driving manual thing.
Her ex-husband on the other hand, doesn't really seem to be learning as much from this divorce...
He will lose her to his fish if he doesn't wise up.

I will be so satisfied when Gu Jia leaves the husband, even if she struggles with letting him go. Her husband would truly have nothing without her; no company, no money, no jobs. the man can barely take care of himself. And with the new tea factory, she probably could get custody of the kid too

Loving the show right now. All the characters are realistically flawed, so when the problems that are mentioned in the synopsis show up, it will be interesting to see how they deal with them. Jiang Shuying, Tong Yao and Mao Xiaotong are doing a phenomenal job as leads and i can surprisingly relate to all of them in one way or another.