suirennaa

all good on my end, no worries. and thanks for the recommendation! i'll add it to my long list lol i used to consume a lot of content too (maybe a slight addiction 😅) but i've mellowed down over the years and have become pretty selective. i guess it’s a mix of growing up + the fact that media quality isn’t what it used to be (especially asian dramas). now, i'm mostly into mind-based competitive reality shows.

i’ve been respectful and objective in my replies but you started questioning whether i have comprehension issues and even suggested i still don’t understand what good writing is despite the fact that i liked ‘Meet Yourself’. so i assumed you may have misinterpreted my responses. you can reflect on this thread.

if that’s also all you got from this drama, i guess that’s on you. going back to your original comment about the criteria on MDL for rating a story because this doesn't deserves an 8. i guess that's also on you.

just to clarify, when someone has worked their way up, they can enjoy the benefits of more leisure time without constant worries. we’re still bound by work but we’re not working all the time. of course, this can vary across different professions and industries.

yeah, that’s also somewhat our responsibility as users 😅 for castings, i think billing or officially published lead roles matter but you should include links to official announcements or the official site to support that.

just submitted that tag for approval.

there's no ‘slight romance’ genre on MDL, just ‘romance’. i doubt there's intricately specific genre like that anywhere.

the description isn’t meant to summarize the entire story, it sets expectations for the narrative focus. if the premise clearly tells you the story centers on her personal growth and helping others, then judging it mainly by how much romance the male lead gets already shifts the evaluation away from what the story is actually prioritizing.

the drama being labeled ‘romance’, ‘fantasy’ doesn’t mean it must prioritize romance in the way you expect. it can still focus on business and growth while keeping romance as a secondary layer. that’s a structural choice, not a flaw by default. are we ignoring that the first genre is ‘business’? putting that aside, MDL users can include genres and tags here themselves. ‘Joy of Life’ also has the ‘romance’ genre but do viewers focus on that? no, because it’s primarily ‘mystery’ (first genre).

as for impact, a story doesn’t have to dramatically “change your life” to awaken something in you. sometimes it inspires reflection or offers lessons in a subtle way. as someone who has reached high in my career but still feels uncertain about what path comes next, i appreciated how this drama broadened my perspective and made me reflect on life beyond just success.

not my intention if you felt ‘attacked.’ i’m just baffled when i see viewers expecting something else when the drama’s focus is laid out in the open so i usually clarify the perspective.

i can’t really argue with that if you’re completely ignoring what the story is meant to be and only judging it by surface impressions—because then what’s the plot even there for? if you watch an action-focused story and still expect heavy romance just because there’s a male and female lead, that’s not a writing issue. at that point, it’s not criticism, it’s just rewriting the genre in your head.

i like it because i actually care about the plot, and this drama along with its production team, has been consistent and overall solid in that regard. from the writing and set design to the acting, cinematography, and editing.

i mentioned in my review that i've always believed literature and art exist to awaken something within us—to deepen our understanding of life, love, the self, good and evil, and everything in between. and i stand by the fact that this drama does exactly that.

it’s pretty clear from the details page that this drama was meant to be a wish-fulfillment story about female growth and business, rather than a romance-focused one. no apologies but seeing comments like these does make me pause sometimes. it makes me wonder why, whenever there is a female lead and a male lead, we automatically expect the drama to revolve around their love story. do people really crave romantic storylines this much? and since when did romance start requiring spice to count as ‘real’? but this drama already gave us a kind of love that transcends time and space while also showing healthy relationships in different forms.

i’m not sure where the expectations got mixed up. the description literally says: “Throughout her journey, she not only transforms her own destiny but also helps those around her solve their problems, creating heartfelt stories along the way.” that already signals an ensemble-driven narrative, not a typical idol drama centered only on the main couple.

the production team clearly approached it with that intention. just look at the effort put into the details—carefully sourcing props and respectfully choosing songs from the era to match the setting and frames. the plot has been solid episode by episode and stays consistent with the main storyline.

calling the direction a ‘mess’ just because of the ending which lasts a few minutes also doesn’t really make sense especially when it’s widely known that parts had to be adjusted due to censorship. the production team already left plenty of hints throughout the series about the direction they were taking though.

** in the original novel, ZC is from a military background, but in the drama he is reimagined as a lawyer. i believe this grounds his role more closely in XX's journey, as the drama shows how he repeatedly provides legal support for her business and also helps her navigate her predicament in the modern timeline. if he had been changed into something like a detective instead, it might have pulled him further away from the main storyline rather than keeping him closely connected to it.

every viewer really experiences it differently haha personally, i felt each episode was packed with details and i even had to rewatch certain parts to catch everything (there's a lot happening even in the background). some people also say it’s too fast-paced but this kind of pacing used to be pretty normal, reminiscent of older long dramas. it’s really worth watching for its values and i feel like it resonates more with people who have a bit more life experience.

just read that MBC (South Korea) and Q (Malaysia) acquired the broadcasting rights to this drama

Xiasha Pedestrian Overpass (下沙人行天桥) located in Jianghai District, Jiangmen City, Guangdong

damn, i can totally relate. i'm fond of zy's project choices and the same thing happened to her in LOTFG (i’m still grieving those fighting scenes that were just left on the cutting room floor). the synopsis of this drama sounds really interesting and i'm quite excited about their pairing 🙏✨

oh i just looked it up and saw that he’s from huanyu? the one associated with yu zheng. if that’s the case, then his boss is indeed quite controversial and is known for bargaining a lot with other agencies.

i agree about the final cut. there are many dramas where actors film plenty of scenes but a lot of them end up not making it into the final edit and most of the times even the actors themselves are surprised by it (upon their interview).

this is a small-budget production and not a platform-backed one so i believe (and truly hope) that they’ll follow the screenwriter’s vision (just like in a recent drama i watched that was very well written). screenwriters used to have the most influence but that changed once capital became deeply involved in the industry.

yes, she played xzy after the character had plastic surgery

may i ask why this has been the case with his past dramas? i've seen falling into your smile as well as she and her perfect husband but yeah i'm not very familiar with him.

i've read that the original novel is a bit meh but the adapted script is supposed to be much better and more exciting. in the novel, most of the story focuses on the female lead’s inner courtyard conflicts but the drama adaptation reportedly changes things so the male lead gets involved much earlier so he should have plenty of screen time as the male lead.

if i’m not mistaken, the story also has the leads working as a duo so they should share a lot of screen time together.

i love your thread! one thing i also adore about this drama is the songs they use in certain scenes. if you pay attention to the lyrics, they often correlate with what’s happening. it almost feels like the song itself is another storyteller alongside the characters.

there’s that scene where mr. qiu is holding a newspaper, watching granny yu from afar, and “where in life do we not meet” starts playing. it’s simply divine 🥲

those who think it was all just a dream might only be seeing the most superficial layer. there are those who believe it involves two-way time travel (some think zhou cheng came over since he was a kid while others think he came over later). another interpretation is that two parallel timelines are running simultaneously. the ending is really left to the viewer’s interpretation. feel free to watch it and make your own judgment. it's a beautiful drama with very positive values and crafted with care 😌

the ending does leave you with something to think about. until now, there are still various discussions and theories from the viewers. it leaves a more lasting impression. it's a different take compared to scent of time (also a fave of mine) where the female lead is explicitly in a coma and everything turns out to be just a dream. i feel the ending really respects the audience's intelligence, given the constant foreshadowing with the alarm clock and memory loss. if they hadn't time-traveled back at the end, all the earlier suspenseful setup would have felt completely pointless.

also, what kind of dream is so powerful that it can even teach her how to solve legal problems? 🥲

yeah she looks so beautiful in her modern youth scenes. her fans are also wishing for a campus drama. she’s in her late 20s now so if she doesn’t do one soon, i don't think she'll ever do so and it’d be kind of regrettable haha

if you have X, there are discussions there about the ending. there are actually a lot more hints in the drama like in the OST lyrics and certain lines of dialogue. one disadvantage for international viewers is that some specific terms or wording don’t translate well so we might miss those details. that’s also why many chinese drama fans are more inclined to interpret zhou cheng as a “traveler.”

still, the ending is really up to the viewer’s interpretation. whatever version makes you happiest works.