Frost_edelweiss

😁😂😘

I am ok with the last 2 you mention, but NLB lost me a while ago.
Despite my coming for the savory food and Bai Jingting (who was so good in Reset in the beginning of 2022) and a possibly nice costume drama fantasy in the "connected states".
The endless sanctimonious attitudes from the bevy of ladies and the verbose rants from prince Song and emperor + Song & Zheng ended up boring me stiff. I felt as though BJT had been trapped into playing in that morass.
But perhaps I shall revise my opinion later when it is over ---- if I go back there, now L&P is not monopolizing my attention any longer.

Ah? looking forward to it then !!

Press "currently watching" on main Description page and follow instructions 😊
Me, I put in a 10.

Watch RESET if you have not already. Only 15 episodes, but.......

Yes I also keep mentioning RESET. Such a good start for drama watching in 2022.

Funny as I just breezed through enjoyable LBFAD as a cure for LLTG (when I'm supposed to be more of an addict of xuanhuan, xianxia and fantasy) whereas it was LLTG ("Love Like the Galaxy") that got me raving this August and be loath to leave re-watch there.
Yes.... post-drama depression is a sure sign that the drama was good. This L&P will surely have such effect for me too,. That's also why, despite growing addiction, I tried to wait a little before getting to #36.
While going back to other, past, items in the Chen Feiyu filmography. I also liked Zhang Jingyi in "Fall In Love" republican era drama last year, btw. It was not a masterpiece but quite enjoyable.
I would not mind L&P to be longer.: 36 episodes felt short!! There's a 40 eps drama that by comparison, has me struggling to keep watching, despite it apparently garnering lots of praise : NLB. Maybe that one was "not for me", despite my enthusiasm about Reset back in Jan-Feb and my very much liking Bai Jingting, including his singing elsewhere.
I probably will try to overcome L&P nostalgy by continuing to watch SAHPH ("She and Her Perfect Husband") which also has, imho, a rather well woven modern plot, and characters who are not the standard ones that some reduce them to.
L&P is on another (higher) level, though.
At the moment, I can't think of a plot and acting as compelling as that of L&P except "RESET" (15 episodes) or LLTG (but that one is a historical costume drama, so another category altogether, different from modern day workplace dramas or romances).

I was busy so am only at #33, but do not expect this to let me down so already put a 10. Will watch the end episodes now 😁

But it does: relationship was only apparent.Not genuine.

Episode 2 when the misunderstanding about the confession video and his abrupt departure is still not cleared up, Xiao Shangqi (who was wondering why she had cut communication with him) admitted that he only thought about He Xiaoran when he was abroad and that he regretted that he could not explain about the emergency that had led to his sudden departure and not fulfilling his promise to He Xiaoran.

The three were childhood friends and inseparable for most of the time and he had acted protective to both, to Xiaoran first, next to Fei'er who played the "weak" damsel card to both, to escape her horrible family.

There was no real couple relationship, Fei'er only used rumor to get the powerful males she noticed and as soon as she understood that Mingxuan had a more powerful position than Shangqi who was looked down upon in his family because of his brother's accident, she did not hesitate to discard Shangqi who was not heartbroken, since he'd only helped her out of real friendship.

Maybe you did not watch the same way as I did. The so-called "ex" story was a weapon that Fei'er used to keep Mingxuan interested in her when she sensed that he believed he could hurt Shangqi through her.

Shangqi had already long immersed himself in work, disappointed that his childhood friends had proved so fickle, convinced that Xiaoran must also not really be interested in him, but regretting her enough to keep her small fish shaped radio gift and wanting to have it repaired because he vividly remembered her and her parents kindness back when.

So no, to me, Fei'er never was anything else than ex FRIEND of Shangqi. But she was playing it so that others believed it was more.

True, he should have stepped in to combat those rumors, that are same kind as crazy fans trying to convince others that a drama CP are "together in real life". Why he didn't and let the ambiguity go on, I am not sure about. Perhaps he could not think anyone could genuinely love him, since he'd lost his mother and been rejected by his dad, looked down upon and left to stay in loner's hell for so many years. He had found two friends, one of which needed protection so he gave it, the other who was strong enough to fend for herself and who had already given more to him than the other ever had, in sincerity. But he still put up his hands in shelter to protect her from the"failing tree" and made a promise to her to be there for her final test in college.

One thing I'm sure about is he didn't love Fei'er. Never had.
In fact, without yet admitting it to himself, he always loved Xiaoran.
Otherwise, he would not have rushed to save her in the bridge incident (ep2) and proposed to take her back to Hupu if she resigned from the radio station in Wusu (Suzhou in reality: the Gate to the East arched building from 2013, become a landmark of that Jiangnan city, features prominently in the drama, to point to real name of the setting).

There's no real indication that Shangqi and Fei'er "dated" in college: Fei'er was starting her act there, stirring Xiaoran's jealousy by forcing herself on Shangqi and letting appearances and rumor do the job, but they were still in an "unbreakable triangle" then, all the way to burying their time capsules together. In Shanqi's there was no mention of his wishing to be with Fei'er.

And Xiaoran was the first to plan to confess her feelings at school graduation : would she have done so, if she really believed her best friends were together ? She always was a proud person. I don't think she would have if she was not aware that there was no real dating going on between her friends. She was certainly troubled that Shangqi did appear to accept Fei'er's extreme insecurity, but she also knew that no love feelings were involved.

Only when the two disappeared without an explanation (because Fei'er had been injured and Shangqi rushed her to get best cosmetic surgery treatment abroad) did Xiaoran finally blow it out in her mind to believe the rumor of their dating and perhaps eloping. Out of pride, and not seeking an explanation, just cutting them off. Mingxuan also viciously harped on the imaginary ex relationship, to damage Shangqi's reputation and have him cast as an apparently "dumped" ex boyfriend. But he was using Fei'er as much as she used him.

Don't let yourself be taken in by the drama presentation that "instead of ending up with him, [Xiaoran] had to watch on helplessly as he pursued his dreams of love with another woman – their mutual friend Chen Fei Er. She was forced to endure the heartbreak of watching the man she loved begin a relationship with her close friend" . This was what was superficially rumored, but not the reality for the three.

To me, the point in this story was the emotional insecurity and inability to communicate: low EQ.

But take heart and listen to an uplifting song about hope here. And if you can, support the singer by a thumbs up ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX5XzmOGKVI

Their relationship remind me of the classic song Houlai bu Rene Liu Ruoying
Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW-G11BV_OE

😊🤗 Yes! Learned it back when, have the lyrics in my Chinese song notebook.

Totally agree that I am at present as engrossed in L&P as I became in LLTG 😂
Chen Feiyu and Zhang Jingyi are genius actor CP here just as Wu Lei and Zhao Lusi were.
I wish the livestreams were totally subtitled so everybody can have pleasure in listening to their exchanges about their roles etc.

Remind me of that classic song title, please ? 😁

She stays loosely around Zhu Yun and the singer as a sort of familiar buzzfly who has her own ideas about friendships and feelings, but stays a friend to Zhu Yun. She will "graduate in student unions" specialty (that's clear from the start .😁) She became a lawyer. Maybe something is in store for her in the later episodes. But we are not there yet.

It looks like it was all Li Xun:

He had given back the bank card which she had given him to push him into first battling Fang, keeping only her written pledge that she'd pay 100,000 Rmb for that (despite her first offer of doing it in 50 months instalments) and next, her promise that she'd work for him for free, and stay by his side "forever". He gave her a bank card to keep her earnings from the projects she had worked on anyway, together with the princess dress new year gift.
But he did not need her to invest and was pleased to surprise her when he had her visit the offices he'd found for the start-up in the business incubator building, having already come up with a name for his company. The 50% shares were a gift from him, so when he asked to get them back, Zhu Yun did not hesitate because she trusted that this was for business reasons.

The more to make her suffer from clinical depression when she found out that he was intent on pushing her away and when he intentionally hurt her in telling her she had been delusional, that he had used her from day one to get back at her haughty parents.
But we already know that this "lone ruthless tiger" character was more complicated than that. Playing with his "lioness", tickling her like young cats do in the first part, accepting her food and her closeness then, he already had a special place for her in his plans and in his "stone cold" heart. If he at first thought that driving her away would make their respective situation easier, even at the cost of feelings, her faithfulness and continued support when he needed a helping hand to get back into employment could not go without rekindling dangerous feelings.
Like fire to his ice or iron, causing another change in elements behavior: despite situations might be theoretically predictable, the risk factor in the melting or brittle stage of "forging steel' introduced uncertainty. Both could become vulnerable again to Fang and now Gao's underhanded and perhaps murderous schemes. After all, Gao had crowed that he had been the one to push Fang to abduct Li Lan from the hotel and cause her to die. That boast made it impossible for Gao to let Li Xun get his footing back elsewhere because he knew that Li Xun never let grudges go unpaid to the full and interests. Not only aiming to get his shares back.

How this is going to play out will be interesting, now we know the story is based on the novel but does not follow it slavishly. I am eagerly waiting for next episodes! 🥰😋😍
I love that it is both a romance and a thriller ! And such handsome and excellent actors !

In the OST (helpfully translated for Chinese English Pinyin MVs by Peachey Blossom - see discussion above) there's a nice song by Victoria Song /Song Qian, but I was somewhat disappointed that Timmy Xu /Xu Weizhou had no song to contribute too. He's got a good voice, and is an interesting pop-rock singer in his own right.

Have it your way, but Gao Rui Fei'er (Li Hui) and Chen He Yi (Sui MingWei) are not listed as main roles. They are support roles, not even SFL and SML, despite being allowed some time on screen, though not that much more than Gong Wan Yi (Chen Fei'er) and her two successive suitors.
Btw Chen Fei'er is hardly ML's ex, they were never married or even in a non ambiguous exclusive girlfriend boyfriend relationship (if He Xiaoran imagined more, it was mistaken). Fei'er was gold digging elsewhere as soon as she could hide her scar.
Of course, mentioning the parents was more tongue-in-cheek but I think the portrayal as totally opposed types of parents the first benevolent and the second toxic and exploitative, ultimately damaging to their daughter, was mildly interesting.
Of course the toxic parents caused her relationships to become a hackneyed Cinderella story for Fei'er, except she was not virtuous and deserving. But it did finish with a happy ending anyway for Fei'er and Lin zong.

question cleared : "Li country" was abbreviation for Lebanon. Not that tropical, but since this was probably a mixup with the Syrian conflict zones, that was indeed a "dangerous place" to go reporting for a stint. To remind us that there's a long way to go until peace on Earth can be achieved for coming Christmas.
Well even peaceful countries have their danger zones, but I was smiling in disbelief about "He Xiaoran"'s parents being worried that she lived alone in Suzhou!
China as a rule is the most safe country I know, together with Switzerland!
I've been there in different incarnations and capacities, once somewhat like "Li Hui" or rather like "Sui Mingwei" since I'm not playing instruments except the guqin (more fitting for my imaginary jianghu warrior princess persona 😁) although I sang with chorus, excitingly going on stage and TV with them for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai ! Otherwise singing in KoK or at hotpot gatherings 😂) I went haunting Beijing rock and Strawberry Music festivals and live houses in appreciation of the "underground" music stages (not very confidential, just gleefully weird at times, or nostalgic as when they hosted Cui Jian). One acquaintance has become relatively well-known as fusion musician composer since he settled in Beijing in 2000.
But to celebrate the happy end of Almost Lover, I'll rather invite you to listen to and perhaps support if you can, Patty Gurdy, who is putting up her application song for the 2023 Eurovision song contest. Here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX5XzmOGKVI It's a catchy and romantic tune full of hope.

Well there's Fei'er and Lin Zong, too, with the kid in tow (cute one).
plus He Xiaoran's dad and mom couple (very conventional) as opposed to Chen Fei'er's horrible thuggish ones.