Krish728

That's good. I am actually more excited for this drama.
I only hope the author-screenwriter did not write a tragic ending for this one, like she did for Goodbye, My Princess.

Oh, I didn't know they were dating.
The novel is great though. I read it about 2 years ago... I was, and still am, a Xu Kai's fan. So when I read Waiting For You In A City, I imagined Xu Kai in the role and he perfectly fit. At that time, there was no news of this novel being adapted to drama. So, I really hoped they could adapt it and cast Xu Kai. But then, Xu Kai gets cast in another adaption of a novel from the same author, I was so so excited. I didn't read this novel before, so I read it and absolutely loved it as well.

Yes, she is the adopted daughter of the Meng family. Meng family is an influential military family... Of course, Xu Qin's family was also an influential military family , but they died in a fire. So, their family friends, the Meng family, took her in.
Meng Yanchen, who also got a mention in As Beautiful As Beijing, is the Meng family's son -- 2nd ML. Also, a childhood crush of Xu Qin. Meng Yanchen also has feelings for Xu Qin. But of course, Mother Meng notices this and warns FL.
Later, in high school, FL falls in love with ML.

I loved Road Home, but it was very slow. I read the novel, it's a very short novel and does not warrant 30 episodes.
At most 16-20 episodes.
They even included those long montages of training, and yet they still had to show a person driving for a long time, doing absolutely nothing. The person opens the car door, gets off, closes it, locks it... walks into house, removes his shoes, changes into house slippers. I don't need to see all this. I still loved the show though, for sticking close to the novel.

There's another novel from As Beautiful As Beijing, which is very similar to Road Home, and even better than it -- Waiting For You In A City - being adapted into My Fireworks on Earth, starring Yang Yang.
Same high school sweethearts breakup. ML goes to military (but here he couldn't stay in the military, because spoilers. So he becomes a firefighter). We seem to blame FL for the breakup, but it is really a sad situation for the both once we get to know FL's side of the story.
I've only recently got to know, when I was translating As Beautiful As Beijing, someone commented about characters from Waiting For You In A City were mentioned in As Beautiful As Beijing chapter. And yes., it was true.
Then I checked back -- it seems Han Ting was on a blind date with Xu Qin - FL of Waiting For You In A City. You know, the blind date that was mentioned by Zeng Di a few times in her inner monologues. Han Ting was interested to get married to her, but Xu Qin, obviously still in love with her ML, declines. Han Ting moves on.

Xiao YiXiao is also in Waiting For You In A City.

In As Beautiful As Beijing, he is ML's best friend. In Waiting For You In A City, he is FL's friend and SML's best friend.

It's not in the study. The desk/table in the hall. This was when he first brought Ji Xing to his villa. She had bruises and he was doing first-aid...

They had their one-night stand in the office bedroom. Their second one was on the desk in Han Ting's villa, their later took it to the bedroom, of course.
Giving head and all the others were also implied.

That's sad, if true. I hope they can at least capture the essence of the novel in their own style.

It would've been great if the author herself could work on the script like other authors do for the drama adaptions.
She's got some real talent, tbh.
Maybe it's the author's preference. I did notice this author is also not associated with another drama that is being adapted from her work - My Fireworks on Earth.

I think Ji Xing saw the signs, she just didn't want to admit it. She was also not shocked when SYC asked for breakup. She expected it to happen.
SYC constantly complained to her - He was not asking her to accompany him all the time.. he simply asked her to not bring the work home whenever they are spending time together.
Ji Xing also tried her best to make it work, just like SYC, but it just didn't work out.

A few days ago, I thought the same.
I don't think they will make SYC cheat on JX. I think they will explore SYC's new relationship with his new gf -- I see two female cast members with no character names attached to them. I suspect, the youngest of them would be SYC's new gf. The oldest one would be Zeng Di.
Same with Li Li -- While Li Li did not have much presence, there is definitely a background story going on. Maybe they will explore on that too.

Regarding Li Li setting up SYC with another girl -- while I was very angry with her, I was also a bit thankful for her lol. If she didn't do that, JX would definitely look for SYC again, and they might get back together. No chance for JX and HT.

I think Shao Yichen expressed his thoughts, but Ji Xing was too headstrong in wanting to starting her own business. So he could only support her, and he did support her.
Honestly, if Han Ting did not invest in her company and guide her, she would be in so much regret for losing both her boyfriend and her company, because of her stubbornness.
Shao Yichen tried his best to make the relationship work. He was working hard, often making his dissatisfaction known to Ji Xing several times.
I think. in their case, the situation was just working against them being together.
And as SYC later said, which I totally agree: I can't just be there for you when you need me and disappear when you don't.
(And I think a lot of Chinese Novel MLs need to say this to FLs lol! So many Chinese novels out there treating MLs like this.)
One of the reasons I like SYC so much is that, he was not made like any other ex-boyfriends of FLs we usually see - a jerk or a cheater who always wants to get back together with FL - No, this man is a like a real man you see in real world.. who has his own shortcomings, but a good man. He always respected and loved Ji Xing. Even in break up, he gave he enough dignity. Once he's done, he cut of all ties and moved on. I liked his decisiveness.

Yes, I agree with you.

Regarding the attempted betrayal - for the first time reading/watching a romance story, I wished for ML and FL's break up. Just so they could re-establish their relationship based on trust and communication between them.

Their relationship started on a weak foundation, where the both of them are not expressing what they want from each other.
Ji Xing wants a serious relationship but rarely speaks out about this concern to Han Ting.
Han Ting is somewhat feeling conflicted on the fact that he is caring too much about Ji Xing - and of course, he is very inexperienced in love - in his previous experience with Zeng Di, he barely expressed his thoughts - so of course, he also wouldn't address the issue.

Then his original reason for investing in XingChen gets revealed by Zeng Di to Ji Xing - Again, Ji Xing doesn't go and confront Han Ting about it - instead, she plans a betrayal, which Han Ting of course had foreseen and made a countermove. It was almost like Han Ting was waiting for Ji Xing to betray him so he could gain that corporate advantage. He really is ruthless with his business tactics. Not leaving a room of doubt.

They really needed that break up... and they actually communicated a lot better with each other after their break up - they re-established their relationship with a strong foundation this time. It was really good.

Yes, he did get jealous.
I'm actually glad Shao Yichen was not made like other ex-boyfriend characters. He's the best ex-boyfriend turned friend I have come across in Chinese shows/novels.
SYC and JX's break up was sad, but they at least parted on good terms and got be friends once they both moved on.

I understand your point.
I, however, in my opinion, feel the reason HT could be seen as tolerating ZD, and only as a friend with benefits, was because she had looked for other men when she was with him.
If she did not look for other men, could their story have ended differently? Who knows.
And it's not like HT did not care that ZD looked for other men. He had kept track of the men she had been with. It was subtly hinted at in the novel.

We did not get too much info on how they were before. But from the hints I could gather, the way HT approached JX also seems to be the same way he had approached ZD previously. Not looking for romance, but physical pleasure.

He suggested something very ambiguously when he and JX were placing the bets. JX did not take the hint and agreed to it. Later, when HT won the bet and realized that JX did not take his hint, he gave up pursuing his 'reward'. But Ji Xing, at this point, realized what HT meant -

Ji Xing's monologue -
"She suddenly realized Han Ting's talent in flirting, doing it with such finesse that it was tantalizingly subtle. It was neither confirming nor denying, neither compromising his own dignity nor causing any discomfort to the other party.

After he was done flirting, he didn't linger or worry about it anymore. But she felt as if a stone had been thrown into her heart, causing ripples."

Anyhow, in the end, we each have different opinions on this matter. And this is what I love about discussing novels... How we perceive things differently from what was written, thus having differing opinions.

Well, we cannot say he did not like Zeng Di type.
I was just now translating the chapter where we have Zeng Di's inner monologue - It's in Chapter 38. It goes like this:

Suddenly, she regretted it. She regretted meeting Han Ting three years ago. He liked her, but she couldn't change her way of doing things for her own interests. By the time she had the ability to change, her identity in his heart was already fixed.
At first, she didn't mind, even if she continued with this identity, he was not seeing other women. But she never expected that he would find a new woman at this time.

This was the monologue that implied that Han Ting had originally liked Zeng Di. They got into an open relationship... it could be something more - if only she hadn't taken the term open relationship so seriously.

I don't think Han Ting has a "type" he likes, at least from what I perceived of the novel.
He is a cold-hearted, calculative, ruthless businessman who always smiles -- that's the best description of him.

I think he was physically attracted to her at first (and vice-versa from Ji Xing's side as well. Their relationship basically started with them having a one-night stand out of nowhere.. because of a bet!! At least they weren't drunk, thank god!) - just like his previous relationships - where he only pursued his physical needs and nothing more.
Zeng Di, the woman he was with in the first third of the novel, best describes him as someone who doesn't care about feelings of romance. Only physical pleasure. He finds these feelings troublesome and a waste of time.
Han Ting, however, later realizes that he's fallen in love with Ji Xing.

So, I don't think Han Ting has a type.

I think 'Don’t Turn from Summer' is somewhat similar to this.
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/dont-turn-from-summer/

If the drama is adapting close to the novel, then it is understandable that Xu Kai and 7 are not filming together a lot in the early stages. Injury or no injury. Their characters have very few interactions together in the first third of the novel.

Makes sense.. in that case, they shouldn't put this as an adaptation of The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir. Except for ML and FL (and a few other characters) names matching with characters of the novel, there is basically nothing else is as the novel.
I also notice that a lot of the characters in the novel are not there in the show, some very important characters.. like ML's cousins (a male and a female). The male cousin can be considered as 2nd ML, cause he is in love with Ji Man (a few times when ML is unable to save Ji Man to avoid putting her at more risk, he guides 2nd ML to Ji Man so he can save her instead). The female cousin is "Nie Sangyu's" best friend, and she also marries "Nie Sangyu's" older brother.
They play a huge role in the story..
I will see myself out with this. Thanks!

I read this novel a while ago, don't think explicit content will make to the drama.
There are a few other novels with a lot more steamy scenes, but the drama adaptations did not include them.

I am curious though, since Sang Zhi's brother, Sang Yan, is also a ML of his own novel.. Will they retain him if they adapt that novel too?
Sang Yan's novel is called "First Frost".

In the novel, Ning Yuxuan had a lot of concubines.. and yes, they are all political. Only except Wen Wan, whom he "truly loves", because she is the "FL" and he is the "ML".
I don't know about the series, but the novel is a lot more complicated. ML is basically this dude who has complete control over all departments. He is only below the Emperor. So, all the princes are eying him in their battle to the throne.
First prince "gifted" a few concubines. Third prince, who is also Nie Sangyu's cousin (her father's sister is an imperial concubine), also "gifted" one or two. And some of these concubines are double agents.. some even triple agents..
So, he will have to frequently favor them all just to avoid any complications.
There's a plot where the First prince starts to doubt that ML is slowly falling for "Nie Sangyu".. and he can't have that. Because, if that happens, ML might support the Third prince. So the first prince tries to seduce "Nie Sangyu". Even plots to off her once he realizes that "Nie Sangyu" isn't falling for this seduction.
ML gets self-aware and then distances himself from FL. He brings in another concubine and favors her a lot. He even further acts like he is smitten with Wen Wan too.