Saffire

Thank you!

Thank you so much!

I am waiting for all the episodes to release before deciding to watch. So did ML actually lose his memories or was he faking it all this time as part of his plan? Also, the summary says ML was investigating a wife's murder before he was injured right at the breakthrough so was this wife ML's wife or someone else's (if so, who)?

I would love to answer your questions to the best of my abilities! DJX's job was still a gaming programmer *Ch 32* as in the drama. (Ch 75) When SZ was a kid she got sick often so she is more spoiled by the family as they feel she is a bit more delicate (also her being a sensitive person & the youngest daughter/sister adds to the effect of why her family spoils her so much)-- She does get scolded when it comes to her "rudeness" towards teachers (she was smart without trying much since she was young so she didn't pay attention at school so teachers found her rude multiple times - Ch 4 "How many times has it been already?" because her parents have been called to the school many times before SZ asked DJX to help her), she fought (her admirer) Fu Zhengchu in her elementary school days (her parents would often come to school because of her for fighting too), and dating life (online bf & when the parents were concerned about DJX's family tragedy possibility effecting SZ negatively), but SZ is generally a good girl so she doesn't get into trouble much once she gets older (SY is a bit more of the family troublemaker even as an adult). SY scolds her more superficially but I felt that the parents took scolding more seriously (still very soft on SZ though). The claw machine doll seems to be a Doraemon in the novel (Ch 14) so no bear but the black dog comparisons to SY is still there from DJX & SZ (Ch 9). I tried to skim through the book again but I couldn't find anything about the dog stuffed animal so even if there is dog comparisons to DJX/SY/SZ, there doesn't seem to be a dog stuffed animal unless I missed it-- (Ch 29) DJX does however, still send SZ lots of gift varieties over the years they were apart & sends her messages regarding holidays, academic achievements & university admission (he asks SY about her well-being out of "brotherly" love too). Sometimes even SZ is compared to dogs/puppies (Ch 46, Ch 80). (Ch 23, Ch 34) Yes, he still compares SZ to a pufferfish because of the way she stuffs her cheeks when she eats (Fun fact: In the manhua, she is represented as a hamster *another animal that stuffs cheeks with food* mostly while DJX is still a fox and SY is a tiger *probably because of his temper*.). It was chronological (starting when she was 13/14, then 15/16 till she was 18/19/20+) with DJX being 7 (aka 6 years 11 months) years older than her (instead of the 5 years in the drama). There weren't many flashbacks except to show DJX's childhood bullying from the victim's family/classmates/teacher blaming him at school, his mom's illness, his uncle refusing to help his mom/DJX & his dad jumping to escape jail.

As for some easter eggs in the drama: SZ & DJX often wear matching clothes + at his graduation, SZ wore blue with a white collar and DJX did the same at her graduation + DJX's car plate during the scene when he says "I will become your type but I will only treat you well so you will be happy" while she is asleep drunk is "034520" (in Chinese, 34 is san si & 520 is wu er ling represents/sound like wo ai ni = Sang Zhi, I love you). I know you saw the hospital teasing SZ as DJX's wife as a message about the age of consent, but since I read the novel before the drama came out, I saw it more as foreshadowing that SZ will be DJX's wife (Ch 9/10- there is another foreshadow when she is young, SZ teased DJX his future girlfriend will look like Ru Hua-- a funny man dressed as a woman with their finger up the nose & then DJX teased SZ back by calling her little Ru Hua).

I don't have the physical book of The End of Eternity since I read from my local library a long time ago but from what I can remember, I do agree with you that the drama version definitely related to The End of Everything (TEE) more than the novel. In both versions, I guess you could say that they are similar to TEE because of how their relationship is somewhat "forbidden" but in Hidden Love (HL)'s novel, SZ seems to be the one who is more concerned about their age gap than DJX is. Novel SZ felt like she wasn't able to contribute to their relationship as much because she wasn't a working adult who could help DJX pay for their apartment and she felt guilty that DJX got called "beast/rogue" for being with her so she tries to not show off their relationship in front of his friends. DJX on the other hand, is always the one who brags about their relationship & reveals it as soon as he can (Ex. tells QF the second SZ agrees to date him & tells his friends to call SZ "sister-in-law" instead of "little sister" in Ch 69). That's why until you brought up the drama's message about age of consent, it didn't even occur to me that The End of Eternity was about a more "forbidden love"-- I simply thought it was because the risk-rewards of taking a chance even in uncertainty for love. I saw the message as had SZ not taken the chance to go to Yihe University, she might not have ever reunited with DJX (one of the unofficial extra chapters also shows SZ having a dream about never going to Yihe University & then telling DJX about her dream, DJX then says not to say that because that's his nightmare) and DJX might have died from not getting appendix treatment in time if not for SZ *Ch 84* (similar to human extinction future possibility aka sad ending if humans don't innovate like in TEE). The risks the main couple took made their happy ending possible or else they would have been stagnant in life (DJX still living a lonely existence & never reuniting with SZ). In Ep 25, DJX even told SZ's parents that had he never met SZ, he would have been living a different life/as a different person. Time allowed SZ to grow in age (height) & go to Yihe (distance) to allow the magic of their love for each other to make them stronger against uncertainties (aka SZ's "unrequited love" & DJX's self-doubt of not being good enough for happiness-- both became happy as DJX fulfilled SZ's love & SZ healed DJX's past doubts).

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that I was able to answer your questions well enough!

Thank you so much for the detailed & informative comment! I can see your viewpoints for sure, but I have some different insight on the drama from reading both novels of First Frost & Hidden Love multiple times, which gave a bit more inside looks of the characters' minds. But you are 100% correct that Hidden Love's drama is a social commentary about the issues with China's views on age & the easter eggs (If you didn't point it out, I wouldn't have even remembered to go back to look at her skirt's brand "Teenie Weenie" from the period episode so thank you for helping me find an easter egg I missed out on! The period scene could totally be seen to show that she is biologically mature enough even though she is still underaged (in the drama, she simply forgot her pad but in the novel, I believe it was her first period), but my view is that it was to show DJX caring for her as a gentleman which are moments that made her fall for him. Also, to show that Sang Yan trusted DJX so much that he even told DJX to handle it before they went to buy her pads/skirt together-- later, of course this came to bite him back since SY felt betrayed by DJX for dating his sister which he felt was a betrayal of his trust but also he came to quickly accept it since the reason he trusts DJX so much was because he is the only person who could treasure SZ enough to meet SY's approval. There are actually so many easter eggs that I find every time I re-watch the drama/re-read the novels. I wanted to form an equally informative response back so I had to take some time going back through my annotation of the novel & drama (Yes, I annotated the book because I am a nerdy reader for all my books. Lol). It's always such a joy to find a respectful discussion when it comes to these types of things, so I am very grateful to you!

I even read your other comments from the link you shared, which were very amazing too! On that note, I thought the "Mia, Mia" the fox drinking milk meant "my, my" like in Italian instead of "girl, girl", but I could be wrong. Also, you mentioned in that comment thread how Qing Fei & Sang Yan shut down DJX's flirty comments when they were in the car when she was still young-- DJX jokingly flirts with all his friends (male friends too, like Sang Yan & Qing Fei) to make himself seen as a silly guy who is non-threatening. When I had read the novel the 2nd time, I felt like DJX's attempts to jokingly flirt/be nice to everyone while smiling politely all the time to be an emotional shield. It's like he purposely plays "nice guy" so that people don't see him as a bad guy like his dad, but by not showing his true feelings (Ch 50: the scene in the novel when his teacher criticizes his bad character when he fights with Jiang Ying after she pushes him down the stairs in school & then he thinks to himself that he should always be smiling/good to everyone/non-threatening to not be compared to his father), he keeps people at a distance. It's only in those moments when he shows his coldness/unhappiness that he is his true self.

Ep 10: The pictures are of his roommates, not computer friends-- Sang Yan (to the left), Qing Fie (below DJX's head), Chen Junwen (to the right), and Duan Jiaxu (above QF). Sang Zhi was like his found family, just like Sang Yan was who comforted him during his poor university days when he was busy earning money with his countless jobs. Sang Yan helped him with his mother's funeral expenses & Sang Zhi tried to give him extra money whenever she was at from his food jobs/encouraged him with red packet candy and she told him that she would help him with his debts. He only had brotherly feelings towards Sang Zhi, just as he does towards Sang Yan, so he felt upset that she had ghosted him for no "apparent" reason. DJX is obviously softer/kinder to SZ than to SY since she is a young girl compared to a more rougher grown man like SY.

In Ep 23, DJX does say that he had a crush on SZ since she was young, but I saw it as more like a made-up excuse to cover up SZ's crush on him, so she doesn't feel embarrassed in front of his friends for liking him first. The novel's version of this event is a bit different since he said, "I don't remember. I just know that this girl is now my girlfriend. (Ch 69)" Also, he called SZ his sister during graduation because she was like his sister during those times when he had no family. When he proposed in Ep 25, he said he fell for her during the first snowfall of her 1st semester of Freshman year of university. As for people calling DJX a "dog," Sang Yan and DJX were both called the Twin Dogs of Nanwu University since they always stuck together (Ep 1). To be precise, SY's symbol is a dog (even in First Frost's novel) because of his loyalty & overprotection (SZ even compares him to the black dog when she was 17 + has his contacts saved as "silly dog"), while DJX is a fox because of his sly, intelligent, flirty/nice facade (he is smart and hides his true self behind flirty jokes), but they are both technically "dogs aka canines." These 2 dogs are SZ's loyal protectors: her bio brother & her "brother"/boyfriend/husband. DJX is, however, called a "beast/rogue/animal" once his friends know that he is dating Sang Zhi since she was their collective "little sister" who they knew since she was young.

I don't really think DJX liked SZ romantically until she was an adult because he went on blind dates arranged by his boss several times while he was in Yihe (Qing Fei & SY thought that since DJX was going on blind dates, he would soon have a girlfriend/assumed his boss was his girlfriend. SZ overheard this conversation in Ep 7, which is why she went to Yihe where she misunderstood his boss for being his rumored girlfriend.) but DJX never got close to anyone since he wasn't interested in them even if they were compatible enough on a professional match level as he wasn't his true self around them & they couldn't accept his dad's situation after Jiang Ying told them so they ghosted him (Ch 56) and in Ep 8, he was on a blind date set up by his boss at Karaoke but he avoids it by standing outside where he reunites with SZ. He was always looking for a life-long partner (his dating intentions are always only with marriage in mind due to his strong sense of responsibility. He even always hints at marriage to SZ - Ex. "This might be the only relationship you will ever have." + Ch 81, he even signs property over to SZ), so until he was able to meet someone who could accept his true self, he wouldn't be with anyone (which is why when SZ comforted DJX after Jiang Ying splashed him with water, he fell for her or at least realized his feelings). I believe that it wasn't until the hospital scenes that he even saw her as an adult who was capable of taking the lead & caring for him which eventually grew his feeling till the realization after the water splash scene (Ch 36 - "he had never paid attention to it & ignored these changes"). (Ch 56) He originally wanted to focus on work after graduating college (so he didn't seek out anyone himself) but he didn't want to be rude to his boss's kindness so he went on the blind dates (after being ghosted by several of his blind dates, he used the excuse of being too busy so he could refuse his boss's arranged blind dates). He wouldn't have gone on blind dates if he were already interested in SZ since she was young.

You mentioned in that comment thread that you consider DJX to take SZ to a "date" at the art museum, it was more to inspire her in physics instead of a date. As her tutor, he noticed her problem wasn't that she wasn't smart enough, but more so that she wasn't interested in the material. (Ch 79- mentions DJX's 1st place in academics) DJX is a physics genius who since youth & after the museum visit, SZ also becomes a physics genius in her own rights (Ch 29) so I viewed it as simply him wanting her to improve but I can see why you see it as a "date" since I doubt he ever goes his far for others.

I do agree with you that he treats SZ as special since the beginning, though even during their "brother-sister" phase, in several instances. For example, when he & SY were volunteering at SZ's sporting event, he carried SZ on his back. SZ might have been upset that he is "nice to everyone," but when the other student got hurt, all he did was keep his distance & let her use his arm as crutches (that could also be excused, I guess, because he actually knew SZ while the other student was a mere stranger, so it would've been awkward). DJX writing a response to her essay was another such instance considering he would never do this with anyone else. I think that at first, he went out of his way to help her because he felt grateful towards SY & her parents who loaned him money during his mom's illness when she was 14, then he eventually gave her more special treatment because of her own kindness towards him when she was 17. Her kindness & mature protectiveness as an adult made him fall in love later on so I saw their relationship as phases of them growing closer until it was finally romantic (Even for SZ, she had an immature crush on DJX at 14 & 17 but I don't think she truly fell in love with him until she stopped idealizing him after they reunited as adults. She only saw his kindness/handsomeness in her youth & only when he talked about his creditors during graduation night did she get a hint of his true self. In my viewpoint, she fell in love as she got to know his TRUE self with all his self-doubts & lonely moments as adults).

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your responses & even if we have different views on certain aspects, I think it's fascinating the way everyone can watch the same thing but come out with different understandings. If you don't mind, I will also be adding some of the things I wrote here in my review of Hidden Love since I didn't want to re-write the same information twice.

I read The End of Eternity a long time ago but I don't understand how it relates to the picture he has & the age of consent. Do you mind explaining further please because I am genuinely curious? I thought it was because Sang Zhi taking the risk to go to Yihe University & DJX overcoming his self-doubts that allowed both of them to enjoy their happy ending that related to The End of Eternity. Since it was about a man who went against his organization (named Eternity) that wanted to prevent human innovation because of all the risks involved but he ultimately chose to destroy the Eternity organization for the possibility of living happily with his love who was someone from a future where humans went extinct since they didn't get to develop better technology to prevent disasters.

The first 8 episodes are just FL's childhood crush on ML but the romance doesn't start until she reunites with him as an adult. So if you want to give it a proper chance, I would recommend watching mid-way from ep 8. It might still not be your type if a 5 year age gap & super fluffy romance is not your thing, but I personally love it. Hope this helps.

Thank you!