Frost_edelweiss

Umm. Isn't this a spoiler from the preview bits of Ep 17?
Perhaps spoiler tag would be better.
We'll know more tomorrow (for those who have VIP membership on iQiyi or Viki, or who watch on the "pirate" sites : the cool one (which is a bit slow as not yet at 14 at present), or kisskh (which is having the countdown for ep.16-17).
I watch on iQiyi (Viki being slower).

Likewise. Eps 14-15 are up on iQiyi now 😃
btw the song (not in OST here) that I quoted lyrics of before is this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkA25XNNlOM
You may know it already, it is very famous. One of my favorite songs.
Sally Yeh attempted an English version here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHpzSlwwzKc (she sings well, and I like some of her Chinese songs, but I prefer the original Chyi Yu version of 'ganlanshu' 橄榄树)

That one. One of my favorite songs of course.

Yes I was also looking for it earlier today since it evoked very old memories. This was a ballad by Zheng Jun (郑钧) from 1994, included also in a 2005 album by Li YueJun (李躍君)
Title: Cinderella girl (灰姑娘 Hui Guniang)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc_wL96-lrM (sung by Zheng Jun on stage in 2021.)

I am a "deep space" alien roaming and observing the Blue planet, lol.
"... 为什么流浪? 我的故乡在远方" (to quote from the lyrics of another famous song)
Was around millenniums ago (almost joking), have gone through many incarnations, yes yes, so obviously had to love LLTG, One and Only etc in the "recent" dramas. But also SF dramas like Three Body which is still keeping a spot among the most viewed TV dramas this week. 😃

I edited my comment to attribute it to Zheng Jun Chinese rock singer-songwriter born in Xi'an in 1967. "Zheng Jun won the MTV International Viewer's Choice Award for his song "1/3 Dream" in 2002, and is only one of two music artists from China to have received the international MTV award (the other being Cui Jian for "Wild in the Snow" in 1991. )"
So, this song was first included in his first studio album, "Naked" from 1994.
I suppose I first heard it that summer. Time flies....

I have no further info about Li Yue Jun who seems obviously much younger, so the song on her album has to be a cover, although the lyrics page online attribute the song to her. Probably by mistake, because of the newer album.

Oh, that old song, Cinderella girl when they are lying in the snow !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1TqOIfuDXI (open subtitles for translation)
Heard it long ago, tugging at my memory, but I had to hunt it down again to find lyrics and videos. So, it was sung by Li YueJun (李躍君) and included in the 2005 album My Lonely Highway (寂寞公路) here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVOvQg3oJ1o
Title : Cinderella girl (灰姑娘 Hui Guniang)

But it felt much older in my memory, and of course, here is I think the original recording by Zheng Jun (鄭鈞) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cglKL7IXU-4 (release in June 1994)
here with the Chinese characters to sing along :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jc_wL96-lrM

Do you like it too?

- Edited - Please add the well known ballad by Zheng Jun (郑钧) from 1994, included also in a 2005 album by Li YueJun (李躍君): Cinderella girl (灰姑娘 Hui Guniang)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1TqOIfuDXI (open subtitles for translation)

Wandering in the YouTube maze, after a fix of Z.Tao songs (he's got two new ones there, while Zhang Zhehan has another one...) I found that this drama has been re-titled FLIRTING WITH MY ENEMY and is being appreciated by 4K watchers at least in the first of the 40 episodes. In case someone is looking for them, I thought to bring the good news here. I did not have time to watch it all back in August 2022 (too tied up with LLTG and LBFAD and later by a number of other ones before Lighter and Princess and again some dozens before The Forbidden Flower and now Road Home and New Vanity Fair), although I was aware of the stink that targeted its last episodes. Someday perhaps, I'll get back to make my own opinion... Although I did spoil myself by watching last episode first, back in September 2022 when some were lamenting that airing had come to an abrupt stop, and I still found that ep40, lol,

Skimming through ep1, I just noticed a familiar face from the Forbidden Flower in ep1 of GoE8, btw: Huang Yi who played Guest role Youxi in the kitchen there, before becoming the PTSD suffering mom of He Ran in recently completed TFF. It is fun recognizing actors or actresses from other dramas after a while!

But there are plain too many dramas to choose from. I may already have watched too many!
What am I doing checking on these MDL pages for news or a laugh ??
I think drama fatigue will soon catch up with me and I will need to remove myself without screens in another corner of the galaxy, for needed rest, if I want to escape c-drama addiction and possible hemorrhoids from too much sitting binge-watching !! Wish me health !

That you watch a drama for FL is ok.

I see that you are a Seven Tan fan. (I do also like all that I saw where she was cast, although not being inducted in her fandom group 😊). You even awarded 9.5 (like I did 😊) to The Sword and the Brocade where the age difference is comparable to TFF between Wallace Chung and Seven Tan (46 and 31 at the time, playing a 35+/16 (or so) couple then with ML character also already being father of a child).

BUT DUDE Perhaps you could use the spoiler tag more, when conversation is veering away from watched drama. Especially if you state something very negative (unless your purpose is to state a real hate and wanting to influence watchers to your negative views?). You can even add spoiler tag in "editing" previous messages to avoid such negative influencing if it was an oversight.

See, I have an unpopular opinion about one actress in one drama : I hated her in that drama, still do, and it made me very careful about mentioning it, because I ended up really hating the whole thing. Of course, I avoid from now on watching anything featuring that cold (frozen fish) actress who ruined in my opinion a possibly watchable if unremarkable and ultimately unbelievable and overlong story where ML was clearly (to me) struggling with the character he needed to embody. But I won't be so callous as to mention her name and SPOIL IT for new audience or sadden those who still love her, and in the comments I made about my dislike at the time, I always used spoiler tag.

I'm off to watch more of NVF and RR, looking forward to RH episodes tomorrow evening, 😊

Here is an answer to this question, copied from an answer in Quora by a Chinese student (B.A. from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, graduated 2023) using amounts converted to US dollars for international readers' convenience to understand how much it costs to study at university for Chinese citizens in China:

"Most Chinese universities are public (almost all good universities in China is public). But they still charge The tuition fees depend on your university. Top universities mostly charge you about 800 USD to 1500 USD a year, mostly 800. Arts, software engineering, and medical sciences as majors may cost you more than 800, up to 1500. Seeing that most Chinese students choose to live on campus, you may want to add 100 USD extra for dormitory fees.
As for the less good universities including the private ones, you may have to pay up to 3000 USD a year. The dormitory fees also vary.
Those that have overseas background may also cost you much, like the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), Shanghai-New York University, etc. The tuition fees depends on the universities. CUHK SZ may cost you 15 000 USD. -- Also, there are exceptions. Many normal universities are free for future teachers. But they may have to work in distant areas in exchange.
Basically, Chinese universities still need the Chinese citizens to pay the tuition fees, only they’re often very low, compared to the US."

But the commenter did not mention that there are, like in any country, students who get scholarships (granted to university students in need, if they have excellent results in some desired areas or sports, or come from poor minority families, or are enrolled in army training. From what I understand that's how Tibetan singer alan dawa dolma enrolled in music studies in Beijing, coming from Danba valley in Sichuan which s picturesque but not affluent).
Many students from families with no or little funding for their children are money pinchers, not because they are stingy, but because they are very realistic about their needs and what money means. They may do light part time jobs, like our heroine. (Remember that Mao Zedong had a job as part time librarian while auditing some courses in Beida, back in 1918-1919? It's never been that unusual to do study and work. )
One thing to remember is anyway : not to flaunt wealth in China, except in some bling bling fashion circles. With ordinary people, it is best not to show too much the possible economic or power difference, and to be careful not to embarrass them with favors or gifts they can't equate. The drama The Story of Xing Fu showed how money and power is envisioned by some, and Xing Fu's sister's plight (about university acceptance that she was scammed out of ), also portrayed some of what it means for poorer students.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. lol

Welcome.!
Same for me : watched all those and liked them all, so it was Tan Songyun's name in the cast which attracted me first when I checked that this was not going to be a protracted remake of the Zhang Yimou movie of same English name.

I'm an eclectic drama watcher, so I am not exclusively attached to actor/actress or genres. Watching simultaneously with RH: New Vanity Fair, and Royal Rumours which also start nicely.
Road Home gives me some similar vibes to The Forbidden Flower (which is neither scandalous or outrageous although perhaps some would like to see it so, but there are haters everywhere, and also people who dislike desperate love stories like Romeo and Juliet... While watching the Forbidden Flower, I was thinking back to excellent The Sword and The Brocade, musing about what it could have been like if Wallace Chung had been cast instead of the younger Jerry Yan. Concluding that Jerry Yan was the best actor for that role, finally).
But if you like more sedate love stories, do try Hi Venus, if you haven't watched it already.

drama trope. There always has to be one, or a few.
Haven't we gotten used to that ?
However realistic it looks, in any drama, it is still not reality. At best it is playing on archetypes, since the distant mythological stories...

If you really love Jerry Yan, you should have put your remarks about your rejection of his latest drama in spoiler tag.

Also, bear in mind that Jerry Yan does not look his age, and is not playing the overbearing middle aged CEO lusting after a nymphet in that drama, so age difference is not what comes immediately to mind when you watch the first episodes without having your view tinted by other people's reports and prejudices. I try to always watch a drama without reading anything about it or even watching trailers : that's how I stumbled on this one, which to me is a real gem.
The young woman character can be irritating in her bluntness and urgency, but it is totally her free choice to pursue a more experienced and delicately considerate lover, even though not in her age or social group (she is rich but does not care for money since she is aware about her probably very short life span, so to her, love and art are her only life driving force) He is not poor, but not very affluent, likes to do handiwork and gardening as an art, almost without a care for money reward either. They both need to be loved, her more than him, but they end up head over heels while the secrets around them are randomly revealed without any fanfare but accepted as privacy. They have no time for lasting anger and even jealousy. It is a really beautiful melodrama, so you probably would suspend your bias if you like love stories, details, art, an excellent OST with carefully chosen songs, and if you like Jerry Yan.
I am not part of his fandom. I actually did not particularly like his Daoming Si in MG 2001 (preferring the Hua Ze Lei character; and I also preferred the corresponding Hanazawa Rui, Jihu, Ren or Tenma Hase in the other variations on the hana yori dango story that I all watched to get an overview of the BOF/MG phenomenon. Well, OK, I may have "second lead syndrome" since I was also rooting for Luo Yunxi's Runyu in Ashes of Love lol, ). So I only watched the other main dramas of Jerry Yan after a few episodes of TFF, but even though they are nice, I still think TFF is his best role.
Albeit I am not really into actor or actress worship, I am amused by the phenomenon of fandoms around the younger actors. This is btw one subject tackled in the currently airing New Vanity Fair drama that I also started this weekend. That one features Huang Zitao in possibly one of his best roles too.

Ep1 is here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPk2ZmxXReM
reached 6 (with subtitles) till now on YT.
reached 10 in RAW (3-10 with no subtitles) on the cool site.

Z.Tao's voice is unmistakable. Even if you don't see his face, you know who is talking or singing.
Love his songs, too : One Heart, Alone, Expose, Reluctantly, Rainbow, Cross The Line... .... and now comes a new one from the drama OST here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPS38mAn7rc (Be My Only One) and another non OST new song : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m_iWyA08nk (Love Lost)
Translations are here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO_8YtJw9u8 (Love Lost) and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIBnmECUXq4&list=PLtLby4ILL4T71-b4CEAXQ-CYfR373jXUJ&index=2 (Be My Only One)

Same thoughts.
Well, I'll be off to watch Z.Tao in New Vanity Fair over the weekend, then.
My tastes are eclectic, but I also like the Kungfu Panda, hehehe.
And Chen Feiyu from L&P, and Jerry Yan from TFF, and Wu Lei from LLTG, and Dai Gaozheng from Maid's Revenge, and Yang Yang from The King's Avatar and You Are My Glory, and Li Xian from Meet Yourself, and Wang Hedi from LBFAD, and Xu Kai from Arsenal Military Academy, and Bai Jingting from Reset, and Ren Jialun from One and Only, and Luo Yunxi from Love Is Sweet, and (list incomplete)... Ok, I will have to fill a book with nice young actors details : definitely adding Jing Boran. Focusing on my best loved dramas of post 2020.

btw I know some will say they disagree with throwing 10s to show appreciation, but that's what I already did, to be one who counter the trolls. 10 for Gui Lu from me at ep10 and unless catastrophe, I will leave it at that.

But only 2 episodes are subtitled on the cool site at the moment - so better go to youtube where it is double subtitled until episode 6 today.

Hm. Ashes of Love was a TV drama (Jiangsu TV) and featured a very funny nosebleed scene that stayed in my memory ; after that one, I always chuckled when I saw such nosebleeds in other c-dramas.
Although the trope may be traced further back, perhaps even to non fantasy Meteor Garden and dramas inspired by the rather violent love and bullying there (which was the one where the FL got her nose smashed by a basketball and ML or SML helpfully came to rescue with a handkerchief while she was washing the blood away ? That was substitute "arousal nosebleed" too, of course.)