Frost_edelweiss

Does anyone know where "Li country" is ? (I understood somewhere in a war torn tropical state, but apart from Somalia, can't really pinpoint ; although I suppose it might help if I went back where it was mentioned and turned on Chinese subtitles)
Anyway, fortunately we are not going to be treated to a Wolf Warrior style escapade, as I feared when I checked the length on WeTV which bizarrely had 49 thumbnails for it!!! After all, finale was supposed to be for yesterday. (Don't get me wrong, I am also a military movie or drama watcher too and was quite impressed by Wu Jing, at the time. Similar vein, Yang Yang in Glory of the Special Forces held my attention despite its length.)

I am in half of episode 36, pausing at the return of FL so as to grab a cup of hot beverage since temperatures have dropped and I was (still am) busy with Black Friday work too.
This Almost Lover drama was a bit messy and sometimes draggy from my pov. Watchable, but some parts took the glimmer away. Besides, I may be too taken with L&P at the moment. I like Xu Weizhou, esp as a rock singer, and liked him in City of Streamer, but my male actor preferences now go to tiger-gait and smoldering hooded gaze Chen FeiYu, as "Li Xun" or phenomenally fit eye candies like Wu Lei and Dai Gaozheng in LLTG and Maid's Revenge 🤣🤣🤣.
Plus, viciously watching several dramas quasi simultaneously, including (but not limited to, as lawyers say) SAHPH and NLB, may affect my enjoyment and tolerance, also for the latter one. They are still different enough stories that I do not mix them up, but watching this way will affect my reviewing stamina. I usually don't rush to give my opinion....

😊

Ah, I am not on re-watch yet, so can't pinpoint to you exactly when and what in first part. And yes, I do like it too when a drama also pushes me to do some research or re-reading.
The History interest of Li Xun is more obvious since it came up in the most recent episodes 25-27 😊. I think Li Xun already had a plan in mind, or read up on national history to stave off boredom in prison. He also shows a remarkable awareness of who he is mixing with (knowing who his teacher's wife was), and how he could get their help despite his cold and haughty "stubborn" stance or who he can oppose or cooperate with (warily, with the painter).
Li Xun is like a Siberian tiger, a ruthless loner and lightning-speed hunter, who can tolerate a tigress or lioness for mating but is not seeking company except in special circumstances ; Zhu Yun is more like a lioness, a relatively social animal, which can been trained as a pet animal for royalty, fitting for a princess. Not same species, despite same genus 😁

At the moment, I am more drawn in by "Lighter and Princess" than by "New Life Begins", which is becoming a bit boring: why do the ladies only think of launching a restaurant to find more freedom? What's with that Princess dragging her spear everywhere? And the romance of Prince Zheng is also getting rather stale; the power play is like marionettes, especially the anger fits of Prince Song and Prince An. I am not sure I will be able to keep an interest in this despite the pretty faces and delicious dishes that at first whetted my appetite. I had some hopes for it because of Bai Jingting, who was so good in RESET.
"She and My Perfect Husband" is alright, up to now. But I might prefer to watch it in one or two binge watches later, like "Unexpected Falling" and "Winter Night" that are also splitting my attention, but I watch in fits and stops there, because of L&P fascination.

No interest in World Cup for me, but I was thrilled to get an alert tonight about Patty Gurdy from Germany, who has posted her Eurovision 2023 application song. I like Patty since her "The Longing" song. Now, her new "Melodies of Hope" make me think also of the story of Li Xun and Zhu Yun. Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX5XzmOGKVI Enjoy!

Yes, let's not forget ShenShen's Fireworks in the episodes outros. 🥰
And Chen Xueran's song Knight and King in the beginning is so well chosen for building anticipation for this drama.

Completely different, but the lyrics of this one make me think of the Li Xun & Zhu Yun story : the German application for 2023 Eurovision by Patty Gurdy (She is one "Viking metal princess" that I have been listening to since her song The Longing, with her band called Storm Seeker, at the time). It is a lovely pop song called "Melodies of Hope", here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX5XzmOGKVI

I wondered about the name of lawyer Lu Xun at first. It sounded like choosing Charles Dickens or Mark Twain for an anglophone character name...
Because Lu Xun, that name, was linked in my mind to the Chinese writer Lu Xun. Among his short stories is the " Diary of a Madman " (1918; Chinese: 狂人日記; pinyin: Kuángrén Rìjì) Essential school reading for young Chinese in the PRC. It was the first and most influential work written in vernacular Chinese in republican era China, and would become a cornerstone of the New Culture Movement.
I have read a lot of Lu Xun's works, also Lao She, Ba Jin, Mao Dun... These guys shaped thinking and expression in China for the 20th century and beyond.

Mao Zedong too, with his powerful aphorisms which did not preclude him from using lovingly the traditional forms in his shi (詩/诗), and ci (詞/词) poetry. Look up here for samples : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry_of_Mao_Zedong
Of course the translations take away a lot of the color and feel of these poems which also use a hand that is close to that of a painter, for calligraphy. As for sound (word music) and meaning, I believe that for Chinese poems, if you haven't been raised in the language, and don't know references and allusions, the only thing you can do is try to find 5-6 different versions to approximate meaning, rhythm and rhyme, and try your own gut feeling version. I tried my hand once at doing a rhythmic translation into English of a Tang poem, getting inspiration from a song version by A-Lan: it was a rather thrilling experience, also very gratifying in that I got praised by both an American songwriter and a Chinese poet who I had sent my version to. But I don't aim for publishing, instead I'm only doing such things for private pleasure.
Anyway, I am still far from being a specialist of Chinese poetry and literature. Dabbling in such is another of my private passions, which will last me 一辈子 😁

But I am also thrilled when I spot literary references in dramas. There was one by Li Xun in the first part which uncovered that this character was not only a technically minded geek; in the second part, the discussion around History confirms this, pleasingly.
I am also admiring the gaze and tiger gait of Chen Feiyu as LI XUN in this drama,. This one has me counting hours until next episode!

Yes. first part just before she returned brokenhearted home, and only woke up later to the news where she understood what Li Xun was preparing, and rushed to the competition where he would tackle Fang physically, witnessing the incident despite Li Xun's best efforts to keep her away from being mixed up and harm her reputation as the lover of a criminal.

Glad that you got same vibes. The plot is not that complicated, but I do like the wicked gazes, sly smiles and tiger gait of ChenFei Yu as Li Xun, the keen stares like she was eyeing a dessert and in no way letting it be snatched by anyone else, of Zhang Jingyi whose Zhu Yun seems to have matured from her puppy love or idol worship in first part.
The cast is good, and the drama hooked me well enough to keep me glued to screen again and counting hours until next episode. (Despite my tackling several dramas at the moment, NLB, SAHPH, ... + exploring Chen FeiYu filmography further).

Also, I love the good bg music and the songs in the OST from excellent singers (Chen Xueran, Tia Ray, Pu Shu....) who I already was listening to before L&P.

That's my understanding... From the dialogue around Li Na begging to be more visible as brand ambassador to the "pink" game (the one where she should be the incarnation of a pure girl in love... errm. Not the gold digger and possible home breaker she still is. )
As Zhu Yun's lawyer friend (the one who 'graduated from student unions") aptly showed when she was twirling her diamond ring, even a ring does not mean much: it can be a game of make believe. I don't think Gao was ever really interested in Li Na: she is at most, a convenience, a pawn, has been used by Li Xun (willingly) and thus, is not reliable, not wife and partner quality.
Even a rotten turtle egg like him can see that getting married to Li Na is not really beneficial to him, if he someday needs to dump her.
Since she always was delusional, she plays the role of convenient "married" shield for him without the inconvenience of getting a title, even if divorces are very easy to get in China (when it is not contentious but mutual agreement). This way, she can't sue him whenever he wants to get rid of her. Her beauty is fading, she has not got that much money or influence as she claimed she had ('My dad., blablabla') : he will start looking elsewhere, as many guys like that do... Only women who have real assets, real power on their own, real capabilities, are safe from that fate. Anywhere. She does not strike me as that sort.

Just the wasted paper basket + the food was still bagged and wrapped. Not like he'd dumped it in the soiled toilet paper container in the loo...

the dancer friend of LI Xun who now has a studio? He's got a very tiny role in L&P

Li Xun 😉
Lu Xun (pen name of Zhou Shuren, b.25 September 1881 – d.19 October 1936) was a famous writer reputed to have been a founder of modern Chinese prose literature.
As a different fictional character, Lu Xun the lawyer was the ML of Legally Romance, played by Z.Tao.

I am not sure she is.... It would fit Gao to just have her as "kept woman" with no real title or assets.

I don't feel like they were married at all : the things Gao said when Li Na wanted to be cast as brand ambassador for one game, implied that everybody THOUGHT they were married but in fact it was only make believe. She is just a girlfriend and has to beg for what she wants because she has no power either as wife or as shareholder...
In don't know if that's what was in the novel, but the drama can and has changed several things so it could be like that ? Not that I would have any qualms about Xu Li Na: she was and remains the typical "gold digger" who only is after what wealth & gain a man could give her. And her "gifts" offers (the car!) are not even her own property! She trades in scraps torn from others...

sigh. Long wait ahead next.
Meanwhile, I'll be going back to watch more of CFY's filmography, starting with the movies 😂 Also scouring YouTube for other appearances like the reality show with the twins 😁 Finding out more about the actors/actresses (I already noticed and liked Zhang Jingyi in Fall In Love, the republican era drama).

Listening again to the fabulous OST (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XckGRDf3g4&t=2007s) and singing the lyrics along Peachey Blossom's lyrics MVs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YzMObMj9O8 etc) and older ones with the Pu Shu songs ; expanding my listening to other songs of Chen Xueran, Tia Ray, and Pu Shu. Among my favorites, this one that's not in the L&P OST : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExSGYFBPuu0 (+ lyrics MV for the Ordinary Road song, here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbxCYdyRuro )

I have already watched the 13 episodes of the L&P donghua version.
Back when, I also watched a lot of the Haoyixing work in progress, so I am part of those who are clamoring for Immortality to be de-shelved. In waiting, I tried to read the book in a difficult translation pointed out by a musical acquaintance from SZ. But I still would like to watch the drama that's still in limbo since it was completed.

His gaze and gait too! 😎

In order to protect the company assets from being seized when he'd be convicted of assault, Li Xun had entrusted to Gao (who he thought was a friend, despite their rivalry) to keep as figurehead of the nominee accounts his 50% shares minus 1% together with the 50% of Zhu Yun that he'd asked back before staging his fake relationship with Xu Li Na in order to drive Zhu Yun away in disgust. But as soon as Li Xun was sent to prison, Gao changed the shares to full ownership of his and restructured, changing the scope, so even the 1% that Li Xun ought to have to his name, disappeared.
Li Xun was unaware of the theft or misappropriation for three years in which Gao became too powerful to be challenged in court. Whether or not he was within his rights, he could not win in a legal arena. To everyone, he was just a despicable convicted criminal, while Gao was a respected industry leader reputed to have married an heir to big money, Xu Li Na (in fact, they were not married: Gao played heavily on the appearances...).
Therefore, Li Xun had to start from scratch somewhere where the long arm of his enemies had no hold. Therefore, only in an obscure and hitherto unsuccessful upstart, in the hope to take it over eventually, and battle Gao and Fang in the technical field where he could still become the winner.
When Zhu Yun realized that Gao had gone so far as to defraud Li Xun even of the 1%, she decided to stay and go all out to beat Gao and that L&P to restore her ownership as well as that of Li Xun.

T'was a zl-S'say alright, yesss 🤣🤣🤣 I got carried away: I am apt to write tomes about what I like. But glad you took something home from it 😁 !

I think I'd like ZLS in any role, now. Among her first roles, she was the supporting antagonist. Someday she might be awesome in a cruel spirit or vampire role too? Perhaps I ought to write a script...
Btw did any of you here see the mock-trailer scenes of ZLS "re-cast" as Anastasia of 50 Shades of Grey ? If not, have a laugh here: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1FW4y1b74k/ This fanvid ties in so well with her teasing glance in her most recent commercial for Bulgari... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzrwdz0PXw0
And no one should doubt her elegance any longer, when a major luxury company such as Bulgari (part of world famous LVMH) chose and confirmed her as brand ambassador. She is indeed on the path to superstar-dom !

Happy continued ZLS drama watching to those who read this page ! I for one am surely going to watch her next one, which is forecast as a sweet youth romcom.

(Meanwhile, I am following a few other dramas including the sweet costume one, New Life Begins, with Bai Jingting; the long awaited She and Her Perfect Husband featuring Yang Mi and Xu Kai; and the thrilling Lighter and Princess one starring Chen Feiyu and Zhang Jingyi, which has me almost as frustrated waiting for new episodes as I was for LLTG. The latter has a wonderful OST (here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XckGRDf3g4) studded with music gems from Chen Xueran, Tia Ray and Pu Shu, although not my favorite from the latter: "The Ordinary Road" which you could listen to additionally here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbxCYdyRuro ).

This was an interesting article, very well illustrated and with good presentations for the dramas!

Among the emerging actresses who first caught my attention in the past few years, were Bai Lu and Zhao LuSi, and LLTG had me raving about the latter. I went back digging up whatever I could find of her filmography which I had viewed in part but slowly warmed up to since Oh! My Emperor! (contrary to Bai Lu who I found remarkable from the moment I watched Arsenal Military Academy)

“Rosy” (yes, she should have been a Lucy, but she chose to change the name her teacher of English had given her: wasn’t she rebellious then! 😂) She is from Chengdu. She is an only child; her dad and mom live in Chengdu where she was raised as a child. Wu Lei's family is also from Chengdu although he was born but not raised in Shanghai; nevertheless, she did not know him from there before LLTG, so they only grew acquainted on set, hitting it off due to their common Sichuan mandarin (btw these two are not the only ones from Chengdu. Luo Yunxi, Chen Yuqi are other ones.).

Sichuan is far from Korea, so I don’t agree with RainbowNclouds who thinks she has "mixed Chinese/Korean vibes 😁 ZLS is as Chinese as they come (and she is no Cheng Xiao with experience in the Kpop market). The closest she got to Korea was doing a remake of a Korean story together with Xu Kai in 2019, called Autumn Fairy Tale (this movie is available on iQiyi and on YT with English subtitles).

But she did choose to go to Taiwan to study fashion design, and she was reputed on campus as the school belle, besides winning a prize in archery. She once said jokingly that she chose this type of studies because it did not tax her brains. That's a joke because everyone knows she is a true workaholic, who takes what she does very seriously, not taking much time off, but still taking care of her several pets (cats and dogs) and her sweet tooth, even launching a cake shop called Rosy Wylie in Hengdian a little over a year ago. Where, of course, her favorite canelés were sold. (Btw that's where her new fandom name comes from. Before June 2021, her fans were called "dew drops").

But Lusi is also extremely conscious about her appearance and has elaborate routines for her skin care. She is one who always avoids being sun tanned, using large hats and umbrellas without fear of ridicule. So, her face will probably not show wrinkles before very long and she will not need plastic surgery (she does not seem to be tempted by that sort of beauty enhancement, contrary to many Korean and Chinese entertainers); she prefers the natural look. Her “prickly durian” joke might refer more to her amusing plush outfits: in cold seasons, she loves the cuddly feel of these warm disguises, where her body is wrapped in colorful warmth, as if she did not have time to find other than the cuddly night pajamas before rushing to sets.

She has a round or oval face that is not standard Chinese beauty, and rather uneven fox-fur-like eyebrows which are very recognizable, but her humor, gentleness and charm are very real. She is petite and to some, may look chubby, but in fact, she is just being reasonable with her diet, so that she will not show scary bones as some other well-known actresses do. She has even published a sample of her diet, which lists small 200g portions of meat and veggies. Lusi's weight and even height are somewhat 'secret". But she was light enough to be handled without difficulty by Wu Lei in the spectacular carrying scenes of LLTG, without his ever mentioning it as hard, contrary to some actors who let it slip that carrying partners was taxing (like Luo Yunxi admitted, about Chen Yuqi, who I don’t dislike at all; she was a good secondary character in AoL and was ok for me in AtWiL) which means many petite actresses may be heavier than Lusi since both LYX and Yang Yang are trained ballet dancers who know how to carry a ballerina, and YY never complained about Lusi’s weight, despite being not as tall and muscular as Wu Lei is.

ZLS is not a show-off who haughtily shrugs off fans. She often gave autographs and kindly accepted letters while on her way to sets. She only recently issued a statement of her opposition when excessive fan worship resulted in too many rumors shipping her together with this or that of her coworkers. So no, she doesn't want her fans to ship her too much with Wu Lei or Li Hongyi or other ones that probably just are good friends. Indeed, whether she has friendship or more for her ex-coworkers or anyone else is her own business. Fans and news addicts ought to wait until she decides to disclose a sweet relationship instead of stalking her. To stave off those who want to breach her privacy, and better focus on her work, she finally decided not to use social media directly, but to have any news be published through the official company Weibo account, handled by staff. Also, she does not advertise her charity donations, that have only been uncovered by attentive paparazzi, since she chose not to go direct giving in her own name.

Her voice is not operatic soprano or idol quality, but she is still very pleasing to listen to, and I like the songs she sang and recorded. I like to sing, and her songs are easier for me than those sung by Zhou Shen 🤣. I also like to see her dance and play the guzheng like she did here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhvfHdzxwvc.

I have watched most of her dramas, noting that her most recent appearance in Hu Tong (2022) was not presented in the article except through a poster (I assume our good writers penned the article before it aired for Chinese National Day). The subtitling was clearly not a priority for that one which seemed to target only the national market, with Zhao Lusi playing the role of a poor but patriotic girl fighting against the remnants of the Guomindang in wintry 1949 Beijing, while the Liberation forces of the communists rolled in, for the first of three parts.

I have difficulty finding valid reasons for the behavior of some anti-fans who direct their animosity at ZLS and her admirers. Perhaps they are fueled by jealousy about the younger actress “stealing the thunder of Dilireba” or, who knows, believing she stole Yang Yang and/or Wu Lei’s hearts that they seemed to assume “belonged to Reba”. Both actors have their own thoughts about the two, I believe, but there again, I don’t subscribe to the wild “marriage rumors”. How exhausting all these rumors must be for these celebrities! Lusi fully deserves admiration for her calm and patience, in my opinion.

[My infos about Zhao Lusi were gathered this summer from news clips, interviews and various fan sites including c-pop-home, when I was interested enough to go "profiling" some actors and actresses that I had noticed in the dramas I watched or the c-pop I listened to. The following list is non exhaustive and I keep updating, and expanding it now and then from the published list of fandom names of favorite actors/actresses : Z Tao (海浪), Allen Ren Jialun (嘉人), Yang Yang (羊毛), Leo Luo Yunxi (罗狮粉) , Xu Kai (alaso), Xiao Zhan (小飞侠), Bai Jingting (白鸽 ), Steven Zhang Xincheng (星辰), Timmy Xu Weizhou (白粥), Li Hongyi (小老虎), Wu Lei (磊迷), Chen Feiyu (小宇宙), Xing Zhaolin (铃铛), Liang Jie (雨点), Bai Lu (鹿茸), Yang Zi (紫米), Seven Tan Songyun (松果), Xing Fei (小菲侠), Dilireba (爱丽丝), Cheng Xiao (瀟米), Victoria Song Qian (香菜宝宝), Janice Wu Qian (倩影), Wan Peng (小饼干), Yang Mi (蜜蜂), Zhao Liying (颖火虫) ... and of course Zhao Lusi (ex 露珠, changed since June 2021 to 可露丽) 😋]
btw did you notice the two who share a Peter Pan fandom name in my shortlist 😉?

Another thanks to Annie who added in this comments section a lot of Twitter and YouTube references. I just wonder why she put a spoiler tag on that list.
I'll also advise true budding kelulis or sundry c drama multifandom-interested persons (like myself) to look up pages on c-pop home + the news timeline here, if they wish to know more (such as star signs, food likes, names of pets... ):
https://www.globalgranary.life/2018/06/27/zhao-lusi-rosy-zhao-chinese-actress/

I was particularly amused by the mention, 5 days before her 24th birthday, of Zhao Lusi "celebrating 6 years in the business {on 4 November 2022]. She made her debut on 4 November 2016 as an intermediate spy in the Mars Intelligence Bureau variety show." 😉 That tickled my scifi fan bone.

Nothing Korean about ZLS: she never went idol training in Korea, and her family is totally Sichuanese, from Chengdu. 😁 She is not a mixed Chinese/Korean in any way that I know of . I am not even sure that she admires Korean dramas or Kpop. Her songs and music are definitely more Chinese, even to gufeng style like her cover of manzhong (which was created by a Chengdu group). The closest she got to K was acting as FL with Xu Kai in a Chinese movie remake from a Korean story, where the adaptation is in set wholly in China. That one: Autumn Fairy Tale (2019) is available on iQiyi and on YouTube with English subtitles.
But I agree about her elegance and I also believe that she is a rising super star in dramas.

same 😁