Da-mimi

I can understand why Man li fell. She was young and silly
probably , when she fell in love and married him young and supported him financially till he completed his PHD. But why did Qui Lu Su fell for him. She is a gold digger , and he doesn/t have any thing to offer other than his talent in specific area , which can help her a little in her business but thats about. Even am curious about the hidden talent of Professor Ding to make 2 hugely talented and beautiful women to fall for him

ML has every reason to fall in love with her , as she helped him stand up at his lowest point, but its not the case for her , though he helps her when looses every thing . it can be looked as reciprocal action to her helping him before. so though he has been saying things in other circumstances be considered as declaration of love , she isnt considering that as a possibility. or she is pretending not to have understood since may be she sees bright future for him and she doesnt want to drag him down

what Manli did was not enough, did it amount to even a pinch to Ling.
Ling got her banned from industry, and now ensured she got sued for millions . i hope Manli realises Ling's hand behind her getting sued and cause equal damage to her , if not more by the end of the drama. Good people deserve kindness , not evil natured ones

When Wu Ya asked Ling Jiang to stop the car and got off, i thought , she is a sensible girl and will think this through. But marrying within month or two of meeting and with Ling Jiang's behaviour added - this has potential for bad ending

I was looking forward for her re-entry post completion of 2 years ban.. but being sued added to previous ban from industry is suicidal to her any future prospects ..

its not the heels , but the short dresses that bother me . Sun Li could have looked lovely even in knee length dresses .. whats the obsession with very short dresses 😂🤦

and there is Manli , who would let off with few words even someone who harmed her greatly. I wish she had filed a complaint on TangLing when she gathered audio evidence against her breaking industry rules... ManLi cares about wellbeing of even villians .. Sigh .

TangLing

Manli practically made her , gave her a chance , groomed her , helped her succeed in life. and what explains all that backstabbing ? not even a slight hint of gratefulness .. back stab after backstab... what explains such intense meanness from such people? she is not even willing to spare her after getting her debarred from industry ,, I wonder if there is a special place in hell for someone like her?

i think we are getting there.. in recent episodes i saw 2 hints (which i mentioned in some comment ) ... lets see if you can recognize those - 🤪

I am at Ep 9, and am not impressed by ML ( XiaMing). too calculating to my taste.

1. In their 1st meeting, I'm sure he was impressed by her professional talent, but still didn't hire her despite his Uncle asking him to, because he thought she lacked people skills and is a burden , and they don't need that burden.

2. He started taking interest in her only after losing 2 bids to her and had in fact agreed to lead the orientation only because she is a participant of that session . During that time , he projected some level of interest (romantic?) in her but still doesn't take any action on his feelings. (Also, though he knows who is responsible for her firing, he doesn't tell her till this meet up)

3. He sees her meeting with Mr Xu Feng, and immediately makes an offer to hire her as his assistant (because he sees she has the talent to damage their company if she joins hands with Xu Feng). Her lack of people skills didn't bother him when his own company was at stake.

4. I knows some where between orientation meeting and loosing 2nd bid to her company he suggests helping her gain her cost certification from the task force to his uncle having figured her Ex's new girl friend (who seems to hold a responsible power in task force) is responsible for keeping her certification on Hold. But still am not sure its because he likes her (romantically / professionally) or for others reasons

5. Even then, he thinks too much about himself , cuts short phone calls , leaves the cafe after making his little speech on why she should join their company , All bit too cold to my taste. He is the kind one is never sure where one stands in their eyes!

6. She comes across as a genuinely talented in her profession and a warm person. She deserves someone nice and warm too - not cold and calculative people like her Ex or Mr Xiaming..

OK ranting over !!

thank you ! I wish more people watch this series :)

thanks you for the Info. Its unfortunate not many people are following this gem of a series! it deserves more eye balls and better score.

dont know much about Douban scoring, is it a good or a bad score?

thank you for recommending "The ideal city" . II watched a few episodes , and I'm enjoying the parallels. Though sun Li's role seems similar , if you look at both drama as pure educational , both has some valuable lessons in them.. both are gems.. and only Sun Li could have played both these roles in these dramas.. though it may seem a repeat, i appreciate she is casted in both these roles , it added weight to the character

thanks to Corneilius for recommending "The ideal city" . I'm enjoying the parallels. Though sun Li's role seems similar , if you look at both drama as pure educational , both has some valuable lessons in them.. both are gems.. and only Sun Li could have played both these roles in these dramas.. though it may seem a repeat, i appreciate she is casted in both these roles , it added weight to the character

I watched few episodes of 'the ideal city, there is one common theme running in both "the ideal city and "A better life" -

if someone wishes to live 'idealistically" or "pure" (or live as a leech) untainted by corruption of the society , some one else close to them has to do the heavy lifting.

In "the ideal city" FL's fiance says this dialogue to her before she breaks up with him , saying she is able to be pure and innocent because he is bearing the burden , and in this drama , that's the underlying theme, since her conflict hating/stupid/heavy-lifting hating leech of a husband survived because he was hiding behind her , and Xiao Zhou was drowning(though Wu Ya did support this idiot to some extent) ,since no one was supporting his idiotic noble nature life like Man Li was doing for her husband , till she took him under her wing

True. Given Lu family's lack of social status and Jian family 's (her own family's) alleged connection with bandits , the chances of her getting married into a Duke's family with close family relations with Royal family is almost nil. if she gets married , it would be only if SML goes all out in insisting in marrying her . If his family accepts his request, they would only accept her as concubine and not as main wife. Given FL nature - smart , independent and free natured , would she accept to marry as concubine? Even if she does, assuming she falls deeply in love with SML , would she be subservient to SML family and to the main wife ,when main wife arrives.

Any veteran chinese drama watcher (period dramas) would know how such a marriage would end. Also, we have all seen how SML's uncle prince Rui had put in so much effort to investigate if his fiancée had any issues in her virtue . Given SML is the only son and from that same family, would his family not investigate her entire past.

Even i am shipping SML more than ML at this point , but SML marrying FL is impossible given the nature of soceity in those days. its just his wishful thinking, which will never come to fruitify instead it would put her in danger if his family comes to know of his affection for her.

i have watched only ep23/24 trailers , and comment is based on that , sorry if it sounded misleading. in one of the snippets i watched both Ex husband and Xiao Zhou are vying to contribute when Man Li;s father is hospitalized. the way XZ was competiting didnt seem innoculous , more like someone fighting for Man Li;s attention in competion with Ex Husband..lets see if that is correct when the episodes release

too many actors to my liking! sigh.. wont know whom to ship ..

yes yes... am really looking forward for it. I'm curious if the writers who have woven such a fabulous drama for us have it in them to weave a romance between such disparate characters in a convincing manner .. what a fun it would be to watch ! such brilliance from these writers , am eagerly waiting to see if it happens..

i think xiao zhou has enough reasons by now (esp 23/24) to start falling for her given the way she has cared for him when he is at his lowest and fight for him in the case of Ai Liang Jiang and Tang Ling ... she fought like a tigress on his behalf.. We all need such a person (like Man Li) in our lives .. how can he not fall for her ...

The real trick is to make Man Li fall for him... i would think she is too matured to fall for an younger immatured guy .. this is where am watching how writers will make it convincing... if they convince me , i will watch all their works till now .. :):)