DramaWin

Thank you for reading :)

I agree the Drama was more focused on the Grand Tutor and Princess, and the Novel was focused on Ting Zhou and Ming Wei.
The Drama hinted at some sort of past life back story, but the novel never went there. Mu Yun in the story was just the identity Ting Zhou took on when he had head trauma.

No sorry, I read it in Chinese. But someone said they can read it with Google Translate. https://www.shubaow.net/54_54002/

I don't know if it's translated to English.
I read it in Chinese here : https://www.shubaow.net/54_54002/
Not sure if google translate will work?

It was quite steamy wasn't it?! They can definitely get away with more in the novel!

I read it in Chinese, did you want the Chinese site?

Yes I'm pretty sure he told her that he fell in love with her during the filming, before the amnesia, and she was startled.

Warning : Super spoilers of the drama and the book so don't read on unless you want to be spoiled!

The novel is 108 chapters and is the love story of Ting Zhou and Ming Wei, the Award Winning “King of Film” and the rookie actress. They act in 3 dramas/movies together which provide the background setting of the novel :

1) “Grand Chief Cabinet Minister” (iQiyi translation!), a tragic story of the Grand Tutor and the young Princess Ming Wah – Ting Zhou becomes so entrenched in his character that he goes into a psychosis where he believes he is the Grand Tutor and Ming Wei is the Princess, as in the drama. By chapter 42 we are out of the amnesia but in the drama this took up 2/3 of the episodes.

2) “Dragon King” – a sci fi story set in the future where Ming Wei is part of a space exploration team trying to "conquer" a new inhabitable planet and he is a Mythical creature that is some sort of Dragon Snake that inhabits and protects the sea on this planet. It’s described in detail just like the Grand Tutor Princess story and is actually quite engrossing (but also another tragic ending – under team command she “seduces” the Dragon King and betrays him and he is captured. He is angry and hurt but she thought it was better that he be captured than killed. She was trying to think of a way to free him but dies trying to protect him) Outside of the filming the romance is driven by him who is obviously developing feelings for her as Ting Zhou, but she is resistant because she doesn't want to confuse her feelings for the Grand Tutor with her developing feelings for Ting Zhou. There is a lot of push and pull in their relationship in this part but both the readers and the characters are clear that Ting Zhou is not Grand Tutor, and Ming Wei loves Grand Tutor but he has left, like an ex-boyfriend.

3) “White Snake” – based on a famous Chinese Legend (it’s been remade numerous times in real life). Ming Wei plays the White Snake that cultivated 1000 years to become human and falls in love with a human. In this version he dies and she thinks he reincarnates into another man so she marries him, only to find that in fact he reincarnated into the monk that was sent along to capture her. Ting Zhou plays both the human character and the monk in this movie. The movie is directed by Ting Zhou’s father. Outside of the filming Ting Zhou and Ming Wei are dating but in secret, they want to see each other (especially Ting Zhou who is head over heels) but to stay in character they stay apart. It's really steamy whenever they are together though!

After the amnesia ends in chapter 42, you essentially get 60+ chapters of Ting Zhou falling in love, wooing Ming Wei, and then being a crazy in love boyfriend! Once Ming Wei agrees to go out with him, he is like a sex crazed schoolboy and can’t stop kissing her. (He is 30 years old and never had a girlfriend before) I can’t even count how times they kissed, each time described in detail by the author. He is cold on the exterior throughout but with Ming Wei he is caring, thoughtful, madly in love and gets jealous of himself as the Grand Tutor.
Ming Qiao is quite different in the novel. She just graduated high school and goes to college to study Automobile Engineering, and is only a very small part in the novel. She is a cool, quiet girl with few words but loves her sister. She only interacted with Zhao Xiao a few times and it’s only hinted in the last chapter that he had shown some interest her and realises how pretty she is 3 years later at the Wedding. The drama elevated her into a whole second couple story line with Zhao Xiao that wasn’t in the novel.

Ming Wei’s biological father Xu Xiu took advantage of Ming Wei’s mother after she was drugged by some old rich CEO at a function where she was playing the Guzheng. She marries Ming Qiang, who is a motor mechanic but loved her and accepted that she was pregnant from the assault. Xu Xiu approached Ming Wei after his father commented that her smile was like Xu Xiu’s mother’s and Zhao Xiao gets DNA sample from her hair.

Zhao Xiao’s family is a lot better fleshed out in the book. The patriarch is actually Zhao Xiao’s grandfather. He has 2 sons, the first is Xu Xiu who has 2 sons, Zhao Xiao and his older brother. They all adore Ming Wei once they find out who she is but she keeps her distance from them all. Grandpa has a second son who is the father of Lin Lin and another brother who is the boyfriend of Wong Ying Ying. The brother’s character is merged with Ming Wei’s ex boyfriend in the drama. Therefore Lin Lin is Zhao Xiao’s cousin. She is a spoilt brat but only has a small role in the book. She comes back to pester Ting Zhou whilst he still has amnesia, and triggers Ming Wei to leave she is petrified that when he is no longer the Grand Tutor he would leave her. Lin Lin comes back later when Ming Wei and Ting Zhou are dating and tries to spill a drink on Ming Wei but the whole Xu family pretty much blocks her from interfering because they know they are dating in secret and the whole family loves Ming Wei. But she never calls Zhao Xiao her brother like in the drama.

In the novel we know the name of Ming Wei’s biological father by chapter 21. She only reluctantly acknowledges him because he gets into a near fatal accident on his way to visit her in hospital when she breaks her wrist filming another movie after White Snake.

Ting Zhou’s family always liked Ming Wei and was encouraging their son to pursue her. They never even interact with Lin Lin, so no scene where Ting Zhou’s mum gets pushed over by Ming Qiang. No Lin Lin slapping Ming Wei or Ming Qiao slapping Lin Lin.

Was there a proposal up to Episode 28? In the novel Ting Zhou was the presenter of the Best New Actress award at one of the big award nights, which Ming Wei won. After he presents her the award, he gets on one knee and says “I am changing career to become a Director. Miss Ming, I want to use the rest of my life to make a movie, will you be my female lead?” *swoon*

Finally, Ting Zhou never says whether he regains his memory as the Grand Tutor. In the wedding night scene just like in the drama he gets on his knees and says “your servant Mu Ting Zhou thank the Princess for marrying him” At that moment Ming Wei realises that Ting Zhou gets on one knee, but only the Grand Tutor gets on both knees, and concludes that he must remember, but still won’t call himself the Grand Tutor because he is still jealous of him/himself. End of novel.

So essentially the drama is based on the first 40 chapters and then is only very loosely based on the rest of the novel. Whoever adapted the drama must just have loved Grand Tutor a lot! I wonder what is in episode 29+30? Hope you found this interesting!

I have watched up to the 28 episodes that have aired. Really loved the first part, but the last 8 episodes have been confusing and the amnesia went on for too long. So I read the novel (in chinese) and wrote down some of the things I found interesting. Warning : super long post that I will put in a spoiler below.

I keep thinking what makes this drama one of the best one I have seen. It's hard to quantify, but I kept thinking about this drama for a long time after I finished watching it, and watching it again. I think the best dramas are the ones that leaves a lasting impression on you and makes you think about it! Thanks for your comment!

The novel ends when FL wakes from the surgery and asks if the baby is okay, and ML answers "very good" There's no scene like in the drama with a little girl. There is an epilogue but it's a story from before they were married. So in the novel you don't know for sure everything is okay, but because in the drama she doesn't look very pregnant you can infer she miscarried, so I think the ending scene was to show you that everything is okay. In the novel she is quite a lot more pregnant and her water breaks so she is more going into labour, so hopefully the baby is all good just like the ML said. I think her going into "surgery" served more as a closure for her dead friend's story whilst she was unconscious. Hope this helps!

The novel ends when FL wakes from the surgery and asks if the baby is okay, and ML answers "very good" There's no scene like in the drama with a little girl. There is an epilogue but it's a story from before they were married. So in the novel you don't know for sure everything is okay, but because in the drama she doesn't look very pregnant you can infer she miscarried, so I think the ending scene was to show you that everything is okay. In the novel she is quite a lot more pregnant and her water breaks so she is more going into labour, so hopefully the baby is all good just like the ML said. I think her going into "surgery" served more as a closure for her dead friend's story whilst she was unconscious. Hope this helps!

Oh my goodness this is exactly me, the last time I feel like I couldn't move on was after watching Allen in UTP!!! I also can't move on from this! BTW, Allen's new drama starting today (the one with 2 parts with Bai Lu - One and Only) I hope it's good!

I read it in Chinese so I don't know if it's been translated into English, sorry!

- Lots of reviewers didn't like the second half of the drama because they like the ML's personality in the first half more. In fact I think his personality remains quite consistent, it's just how he actions his thoughts and feelings that had changed, and in fact the drama has stuck true to the novel. In the novel ML does become a lot more assertive and dominating in actions (in fact even more so in the novel than portrayed in the drama IMHO) Throughout the story ML is quit rigid and likes things a certain way (his autism traits), it's just that in the first half in the drama he was lacking in self confidence because of his challenged vision, preferring to withdraw and felt unable to assert himself. In the second half his business dealings (and in the drama his new ability to see) gave him the confidence to act on this thoughts and feelings. Even though his actions changed I felt he stayed true to character.

- I think Evan Lin actually did an amazing job as our ML. He conveyed the tortured emotions as well as the confused first love and then the dominating boyfriend all quite well without making it cliched. I could see the layers of emotions as the ML grew through the drama. I already feel the drama has toned down the ML"s character quite a bit to make it more palatable as a drama. In the novel he smoked and drank A LOT and was even more forceful. In fact at times the narrative called him a "Bo Guan" which is a term for "violent/forceful dictator" usually used for a king/emperor.

- The scene where ML steals a kiss from FL whilst she was asleep made quite a few viewers unhappy. In the novel he actually goes a bit further, tries to taker her top off but stops himself in time, which is why he stomps off and splashes cold water on his face whilst he admonishes himself for his bad actions in the bathroom.

-Ditto the scene where he comes out of the shower in a robe and they make jokes about it falling down. In the novel he was half naked only with a towel around his waist. Remember in the novel his is still visually impaired so he can't see his towel. They joke back and forth about the towel falling and the FL says "she has seen him in less" and embarasses his secretary.

- The resolution of FL's hallucinations of conversations with her friend was not very clear in the drama. In the novel the FL is quite heavily pregnant and is presumptively in premature labour , her waters burst and ML rushes her to hospital. (In the drama where she was getting tummy pains whilst ML's scandal broke) She becomes unconscious as she is wheeled into ? surgery. That's when she sees her friend who says good bye to her, that now FL has her husband and baby she won't be needed any more. FL asks if she will see her again and her friend answers "probably not" and FL wakes, which in the drama is where ML grabs her hand as she wakes up.

- The relationship with between the ML and his step mum is also only alluded to but not explicitly clarified in the drama. They were presumably in some sort of a relationship before she married his father. FL finds this out from her the senior braodcaster woman she works with at the station, who in the novel also likes the ML. This is one of the major factor that causes the ML and FL to break up. FL is really quite jealous of ML's step mum and is a big point that was stopping her from getting back with him, because she felt that she would always come second to her. The scene where she gets drunk and hugs the beer bottle like a baby, in the book she questions if ML likes "her" better, and the reason why she makes him say "you only love me". When the scandal broke about ML being the mysterious lyricist there were also rumours about him having an illicit affair with his step mum which is why they were swamped by journalists.

I have read both the novel and watch the drama (a few times now!) and the following notes under the spoiler is part of review, it might answer some of the queries on the differences between the novel and the drama, and also help explain some parts that might not be as clear in the drama as is in the novel. Beware lots of spoilers so don't click if you don't want to be spoiled!

Agree! The past life connection was quite interesting and would be lovely to see it resolved in this life, but nope, they went down the childhood trauma connection trope and second lead turned evil trope instead. Such a pity, I feel a bit cheated since I liked the first half so much!

Up to Episode 22. Really really loved the start and thought the plot and romance and past life flashbacks were really interesting. Once he stopped pretending to be the King everything started to draaaaag and all of a sudden we have a childhood connection but no mention of the past lives connection again? To be honest I probably found the period drama part of this the best. The unprofessional behaviour for the FL as a psychologist drives me a bit crazy as a medical practitioner but was willing to give it a pass as dramas always depict psychologists like this!