In hidden love didn't sang zhi cut ties with jiaxu during her last two years of highschool after the incident…
Different story... These are two separate novels "in the same universe" but not intended as sequels so there are discrepancies if you set out to compare....
How this drama is connected to Hidden Love? Its says parent storyin details.
that question has been asked and answered repeatedly....
As for family dynamics I totally disagree ; it is probably because Sang Zhi and Duan Jiaxu (not Jaixu or else) are very unimportant in The First Frost, which is much more centered on the complications of Wen Yifan's troubled past and Sang Yan's infatuation since high school, that the SZ and DJX here are so nondescript and almost as unkempt as Mu Chengyun! We almost haven't seen them or the parents, instead, it's the band of present friends in Nanwu and Su Hao'an who lead the support of Sang Yan in the drama version.
TFF is as far removed from family matters as HL was principally about it, and even after the daughter left home to study in another city.
It is noticeable that Sang Yan avoids staying home, visits his parents rarely, especially since he has now finished his studies and is "looking for a job" while having a bar "as a byway", where he can sleep when he is not in his apartment or now at the shared apartment. We can't feel any love between him and his parents, and as for his sister, he used her once when she was a kid, to attract the girl that interested him, but he does not really care about whether she shares a festival meal with him or not!
TFF is totally centered around SY and WYF and the rest are just puppets with so little individuality that it's hard to be clear who they are : Chen Junwen, Su Hao'an, Xiang Lang, only Zhong Siqiao is more recognizable but her role is not very important: looking out for rivals of Su Hao'an grandma, really??
In which episode does Sang Yan learn about his sister dating his friend?
Ep20 14:39 when he spots them embracing, but he had been tipped off by Qian Fei spilling the beans shortly before, reason why he went to check in Yihe.
Most basic beginning timeline without year date and going only off of my memory of the novel I read over a year…
I did not notice Yifan getting introduced at the end of the wedding of Qian Fei : it must be in the book because I did not see that scene in episode 13 despite rewatching again. It was only focused on the shameless wooing by Duan JIAXU (not Jai Xu) until he drove Sang Zhi home in Sang Yan's car that he borrowed the keys of.
It was Qian Fei , over a meal preparing for his wedding some days before, who had told Jiaxu that it was likely that the girl who they were talking about then, without Jiaxu giving a name, despite being years younger, had fallen for him. Jiaxu mulled it over, finally seeing Zhi in a different light than the "small kid" he remembered. She had repeatedly complained that she was not a child any longer and did not want to be addressed as one.
So, after thinking about how Zhi had taken care of him in hospital when he needed an operation, how she had reacted to his joking with the other patient who repeatedly told Jiaxu that he should marry Zhi, and later, her rising to defend Jiaxu against the obsessed Jiang Ying at the restaurant, how she had cried pitifully when she was drunk, telling him that she was in love with someone who did not love her back, it dawned on him that the someone was not a fellow student like the sports one whom she had brushed away when she was drunk, but himself, Jiaxu... It was a revelation, because he had never been in love before, and never let girls get near, focusing only on making money to pay his debts and pay off the dreadful Jiang Ying, daughter of the man whom Jiaxu's drunk driver father had run over and killed.
(Being unable to face consequences, Jiaxu's father had attempted suicide by jumping off a window, but ended up in a coma for years, while Jiaxu's mother got cancer and died. The two hospital expenses and the funeral were too much for Jiaxu even after the apartment he lived in with his mother had been sold; therefore Sang Yan had obtained a loan from his parents to help his pal. Jiaxu was also saddled with money owed to the victim of his father, and Jiang Yi, as the victim's daughter, took advantage of him to drag him down and at the same time, be made to look as her boyfriend in a twisted way: she kept stalking him.)
The realization that Sang Zhi loved him was liberating for Jiaxu who put his foot firmly in, to beat away Jiang Yi. Having gotten rid of his nemesis, he at last could allow himself to accept the love that already was offered, but which he had failed to recognize. So, in both stories, it is the girl who pursues the guy: Sang Zhi cautiously in Hidden Love, until they moved in together "to escape the heat in the non a/c rooms of the dorm in the sweltering summer), and Wen Yifan more or less at the same time, because Sang Yan did not want to be the one who made the first move, after having been rejected years before. But Wen Yifan's relationship was less straightforward than DJX and SZ.
I'm not sure the episode of Sang Zhi urging her brother to wish a happy birthday to Jiaxu, over the phone, is included in TFF. It was in March (episode 17 of HL) since both him and her had birthdays that month. That's when Sang Yan told DJX that SZ was in love with a "postgraduate student", making DJX smirkingly ask Zhi afterwards if it was too late for him to apply; an hour later or so, at the restaurant they had driven to, she was the one to tell him that she was saying "yes" surprising DJX by her boldness when he had not even asked her that evening if she would consider being his girlfriend (he had cautiously asked at her birthday, a few weeks before, but she had been holding off).
Yi fan was too scared when she saw that lady at her mother's place...she must be the wife of her uncle who assaulted…
Those who read the book know about the reasons why Wen Yifan is having so strong ptsd reaction about that aunt, but it will be explained to drama audience later, so what you wrote, yellow daisy, should have been under spoiler tag... The aunt is toxic, yes, and she has no excuse like the wretched Jiang Ying who harassed Duan Jiaxu in the other story (Jiang Ying was another mental case, sure).
Hey guys. I have no idea where to post this. I stumbled upon a movie/drama? of the same name on DailyMotion I…
DailyMotion and YouTube have the nasty habit of posting other dramas masquerading under a popular name. This indeed was not Hidden Love. Qearl found the title, kudos! I have not watched that other one which is one of the less well known c-dramas, dating back to 2020.
TFF's timeline was actually wrong. SZ should be in college during the video phone call. Because she never contracted…
yes, the stories differ in details, so it's stupid to use one to paint the other black. Oh, and in both dramas and novels the name is Sang Zhi. Her story had NOTHING pedo in it, since it was about the unrequited underage crush by a schoolgirl on an older guy who had no clue and did never encourage other than friendly relations as family friend and short time tutor; he was only normally protective of the young "sister" until things changed at the university when she was an adult, and even then it took him time to view her as other than the " sister" he had known briefly in the other city. But babeyogurt is all high and mighty here, probably preferring graphic stories of underage rape in the family ? That's what TFF is about... Of course, it is also about ptsd for that reason, so Sang Yan will not find it easy to coax his love interest. I have read the books, watching now TFF, and while initially regretting none of the cast from HL were retained, I have turned round to watch the other drama as what it is : a different story playing with some similar themes, but TFF is definitely a darker one. It also goes with the lighting choices: where most of HL was out in the open, in bright spaces, even with the wretched Jiang Ying stalker, TFF starts and continues often in dark and night time settings.
Wen Yifan has three names : 温以凡 Wēn Yǐfán, 降 Jiàng short for Shuāngjiàng 霜降 (the solar term day when she was born, which is known as "First Frost" among the 24 solar terms which rhythm the traditional luni-solar Chinese calendar) and 点 Diǎn or 点点 DiǎnDiǎn ("Dot", the name of the stroke which recurred in 以凡 and which was the only one she remembered when she was learning to write in early school).
Her father and close birth family called her 降 Jiàng Her friends from early on call her 点 Diǎn Familiar or endearing ways of addressing a person use a repetition of the syllable such as in 点点 DiǎnDiǎn , or depending on region or family to add "small" (xiǎo 小) or "ah" (阿) before the syllable, which could be the last of the two syllable given name, i.e. like in "xiǎoJiàng" 小降 or "xiǎoFán" 小凡 or "ahJiang" 阿降 etc.
I'll add that this is a "small name" like a common nickname, and that Chinese names have more complexity and variety than the usual First name, Middle name, Surname (or Family name) known in the West.
In HL, Sang Zhi has a small name : ZhiZhi. It is in the category of the 小名, xiǎomíng "little names" also called "milk name" (乳名, rǔmíng) as ZhiZhi is used only for close family. So this was a case of a "milk name" continued as a familial nickname into adulthood. (But milk name are usually forgotten after the formal given name was agreed)
In TFF, WYF 's small name 点 Diǎn is really a nickname (绰号 chuòhào, or 外号 外號, wàihào category) used by close friends but not by family, who use the alternate childhood name Shuāngjiàng 霜降 .bestowed by her dad, but not registered with local authorities.
Very well said! Plus in Hidden love we didn't really get to see a lot of Sang Yan's personal life. Plus, as you…
Yes, it was puzzling to me, because as much as it was "Sang Yan seen through Sang Zhi's eyes", how could Zhi not have known about her brother's love life, at all, when she grew up to university and marriage? But OK, these are just two separate and different stories: HL was light-hearted and in the sun, TFF is much darker and in the night and shades.
Still on board although I sometimes wish I could forget HL to watch TFF with no filter. But on episode 6, I like Bai Jingting as Sang Yan, and Zhang Ruonan is not detracting.
A question, I have not watched Hidden Love. I keep reading comparison posts to Hidden Love. Can anyone explain…
Better watch the two dramas as independent stories, because Hidden Love has drawn quite a fan base, and most of the characters there were played outstandingly by actors who are perhaps not first-liners (except leads ZLS and CZY), but still were hoped to be seen again in the new drama.
I remembered fondly Zeng Li as the mother of Sang Yan and Sang Zhi (she is a versatile and skilled actress, so I am sad the production decided to find someone else), Victor Ma as Sang Yan (but he said he was not up to playing the darker version of the goofy brother, so that should be accepted), Qiu Xinzhi as the father, Hu Yuxuan as Qian Fei ... The First Frost could not get ZLS and CZY to reprise their roles even as cameos, more the pity, but let's accept that these two stars were totally overbooked and HL and leads had been a target for unfortunate cyberbullying at the time, so understandable they were perhaps not going to accept minor roles alongside Bai Jingting. I am perhaps not thrilled to see a nondescript Sang Zhi and Duan Jiaxu with the actors chosen here ; Sang Zhi even as a naughty kid was not as unkempt as the one glimpsed here in first episodes, and I absolutely can't see in TFF why Duan Jiaxu and Sang Yan were best friends, to the point of being seen as "brothers", with those new actors.
That said, I'm Ok with Bai Jingting who is also a skilled and versatile actor. He is a good Sang Yan, probably much better than Victor Ma the rapper might have been if he had been offered the role and had not declined it.
I am also warming up to Zhang Ruonan, just hoping she'll be shown with better skinship skills and not the unfortunate fish kisses with annoyed expression we were left with in other dramas (perhaps more directors' fault than her own). She drags along a reputation for not being very sweetly romantic. But this may be the drama which will change that reputation, perhaps. Just hoping. Wishing the best. And I'm still on board, despite having read the second novel, for once. I usually don't, but the wait to watch it on screen was too long ;)
So that's the complete answer to your question about the connection : the stories, the expectations, the wishes that it will stand out as well as HL. The heat index is soaring, so that's good news for the new cast and audience.
It is just me but doesn’t zhang rounan and Zao Jin Mai look so similar
Zhao Jinmai is 6 years younger than Zhang Ruonan and her face is more almond shaped, nose shorter and more upturned, eyebrows more regularly arched, eyes a bit different as well, but okay, at cursory glance their faces and usual haircut may look a bit similar.
Both dislike having to kiss mouths on screen (so unhygienical: I don't blame them although the guys may take care to wash mouths properly first, take care of dental hygiene and whatever, not spreading germs to partner, and there are shooting tricks to make believe... Maimai's family was not agreeing with such acts anyway, especially when she was still under 20 ; it's a wonder they agreed to let her play the torturous Drifting Away.)
Their acting style is different, at least in the dramas I watched starring them (Reset, Amidst a Snowstorm of Love, Drifting Away. for "Maimai", A Date with the Future, Love is Panacea, My Boss... for "Nannan"). I think both of them are stars on the rise.
Presently enjoying Zhang Ruonan acting as "Wen Yifan" "DianDian" in The First Frost. I read the book and think both her and Bai Jingting fit their roles well.
Interestingly for fandom explorers, Zhang Ruonan's fan-group name changed in September 2024 from Nán péngyǒu 楠朋友 (Nan's friends) to Xiǎo yìnzhāng 小印章 ("little seal") as a play on her last name, to replace her former fan-group name that could awkwardly be mistaken for "boyfriend" 男朋友 [Nán péngyǒu] 🤣
That is, because Victor Ma doesn't fit the role of Sangyan in his story line. I get your feelings. Here is how…
Well DJX .... Yuanyuan was and is still too busy, with one drama following another, so no time. Just finding someone that does not look too different would have pleased me more. I am more annoyed with the different Sang Zhi, although of course, Zhao Lusi could not have been here even in guest role: too busy as well. I agree that I too would have liked the overlapping characters, mom, dad, Qian Fei, to be back. But I will adjust, probably.
2 
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As for family dynamics I totally disagree ; it is probably because Sang Zhi and Duan Jiaxu (not Jaixu or else) are very unimportant in The First Frost, which is much more centered on the complications of Wen Yifan's troubled past and Sang Yan's infatuation since high school, that the SZ and DJX here are so nondescript and almost as unkempt as Mu Chengyun! We almost haven't seen them or the parents, instead, it's the band of present friends in Nanwu and Su Hao'an who lead the support of Sang Yan in the drama version.
TFF is as far removed from family matters as HL was principally about it, and even after the daughter left home to study in another city.
It is noticeable that Sang Yan avoids staying home, visits his parents rarely, especially since he has now finished his studies and is "looking for a job" while having a bar "as a byway", where he can sleep when he is not in his apartment or now at the shared apartment. We can't feel any love between him and his parents, and as for his sister, he used her once when she was a kid, to attract the girl that interested him, but he does not really care about whether she shares a festival meal with him or not!
TFF is totally centered around SY and WYF and the rest are just puppets with so little individuality that it's hard to be clear who they are : Chen Junwen, Su Hao'an, Xiang Lang, only Zhong Siqiao is more recognizable but her role is not very important: looking out for rivals of Su Hao'an grandma, really??
It was Qian Fei , over a meal preparing for his wedding some days before, who had told Jiaxu that it was likely that the girl who they were talking about then, without Jiaxu giving a name, despite being years younger, had fallen for him. Jiaxu mulled it over, finally seeing Zhi in a different light than the "small kid" he remembered. She had repeatedly complained that she was not a child any longer and did not want to be addressed as one.
So, after thinking about how Zhi had taken care of him in hospital when he needed an operation, how she had reacted to his joking with the other patient who repeatedly told Jiaxu that he should marry Zhi, and later, her rising to defend Jiaxu against the obsessed Jiang Ying at the restaurant, how she had cried pitifully when she was drunk, telling him that she was in love with someone who did not love her back, it dawned on him that the someone was not a fellow student like the sports one whom she had brushed away when she was drunk, but himself, Jiaxu... It was a revelation, because he had never been in love before, and never let girls get near, focusing only on making money to pay his debts and pay off the dreadful Jiang Ying, daughter of the man whom Jiaxu's drunk driver father had run over and killed.
(Being unable to face consequences, Jiaxu's father had attempted suicide by jumping off a window, but ended up in a coma for years, while Jiaxu's mother got cancer and died. The two hospital expenses and the funeral were too much for Jiaxu even after the apartment he lived in with his mother had been sold; therefore Sang Yan had obtained a loan from his parents to help his pal. Jiaxu was also saddled with money owed to the victim of his father, and Jiang Yi, as the victim's daughter, took advantage of him to drag him down and at the same time, be made to look as her boyfriend in a twisted way: she kept stalking him.)
The realization that Sang Zhi loved him was liberating for Jiaxu who put his foot firmly in, to beat away Jiang Yi. Having gotten rid of his nemesis, he at last could allow himself to accept the love that already was offered, but which he had failed to recognize. So, in both stories, it is the girl who pursues the guy: Sang Zhi cautiously in Hidden Love, until they moved in together "to escape the heat in the non a/c rooms of the dorm in the sweltering summer), and Wen Yifan more or less at the same time, because Sang Yan did not want to be the one who made the first move, after having been rejected years before. But Wen Yifan's relationship was less straightforward than DJX and SZ.
I'm not sure the episode of Sang Zhi urging her brother to wish a happy birthday to Jiaxu, over the phone, is included in TFF. It was in March (episode 17 of HL) since both him and her had birthdays that month. That's when Sang Yan told DJX that SZ was in love with a "postgraduate student", making DJX smirkingly ask Zhi afterwards if it was too late for him to apply; an hour later or so, at the restaurant they had driven to, she was the one to tell him that she was saying "yes" surprising DJX by her boldness when he had not even asked her that evening if she would consider being his girlfriend (he had cautiously asked at her birthday, a few weeks before, but she had been holding off).
At the time of airing of HL, I wrote a long Discussions piece, which included a "Characters analysis, names, ages, in Hidden Love drama and book ; assessment of characters played by main cast, and goodbyes from them" here is the link : https://kisskh.at/discussions/hidden-love/109103-shooting-locations-and-dates-misc-other-links?pid=2646315&page=1#p2646315
The page of threads compiled by annie, listed at the end of my companion piece in section 10, may also yield interesting info for you.
I have not watched that other one which is one of the less well known c-dramas, dating back to 2020.
But babeyogurt is all high and mighty here, probably preferring graphic stories of underage rape in the family ? That's what TFF is about...
Of course, it is also about ptsd for that reason, so Sang Yan will not find it easy to coax his love interest. I have read the books, watching now TFF, and while initially regretting none of the cast from HL were retained, I have turned round to watch the other drama as what it is : a different story playing with some similar themes, but TFF is definitely a darker one. It also goes with the lighting choices: where most of HL was out in the open, in bright spaces, even with the wretched Jiang Ying stalker, TFF starts and continues often in dark and night time settings.
温以凡 Wēn Yǐfán,
降 Jiàng short for Shuāngjiàng 霜降 (the solar term day when she was born, which is known as "First Frost" among the 24 solar terms which rhythm the traditional luni-solar Chinese calendar) and
点 Diǎn or 点点 DiǎnDiǎn ("Dot", the name of the stroke which recurred in 以凡 and which was the only one she remembered when she was learning to write in early school).
Her father and close birth family called her 降 Jiàng
Her friends from early on call her 点 Diǎn
Familiar or endearing ways of addressing a person use a repetition of the syllable such as in 点点 DiǎnDiǎn , or depending on region or family to add "small" (xiǎo 小) or "ah" (阿) before the syllable, which could be the last of the two syllable given name, i.e. like in "xiǎoJiàng" 小降 or "xiǎoFán" 小凡 or "ahJiang" 阿降 etc.
I'll add that this is a "small name" like a common nickname, and that Chinese names have more complexity and variety than the usual First name, Middle name, Surname (or Family name) known in the West.
In HL, Sang Zhi has a small name : ZhiZhi. It is in the category of the 小名, xiǎomíng "little names" also called "milk name" (乳名, rǔmíng) as ZhiZhi is used only for close family. So this was a case of a "milk name" continued as a familial nickname into adulthood. (But milk name are usually forgotten after the formal given name was agreed)
In TFF, WYF 's small name 点 Diǎn is really a nickname (绰号 chuòhào, or 外号 外號, wàihào category) used by close friends but not by family, who use the alternate childhood name Shuāngjiàng 霜降 .bestowed by her dad, but not registered with local authorities.
But OK, these are just two separate and different stories: HL was light-hearted and in the sun, TFF is much darker and in the night and shades.
Still on board although I sometimes wish I could forget HL to watch TFF with no filter. But on episode 6, I like Bai Jingting as Sang Yan, and Zhang Ruonan is not detracting.
I remembered fondly Zeng Li as the mother of Sang Yan and Sang Zhi (she is a versatile and skilled actress, so I am sad the production decided to find someone else), Victor Ma as Sang Yan (but he said he was not up to playing the darker version of the goofy brother, so that should be accepted), Qiu Xinzhi as the father, Hu Yuxuan as Qian Fei ... The First Frost could not get ZLS and CZY to reprise their roles even as cameos, more the pity, but let's accept that these two stars were totally overbooked and HL and leads had been a target for unfortunate cyberbullying at the time, so understandable they were perhaps not going to accept minor roles alongside Bai Jingting. I am perhaps not thrilled to see a nondescript Sang Zhi and Duan Jiaxu with the actors chosen here ; Sang Zhi even as a naughty kid was not as unkempt as the one glimpsed here in first episodes, and I absolutely can't see in TFF why Duan Jiaxu and Sang Yan were best friends, to the point of being seen as "brothers", with those new actors.
That said, I'm Ok with Bai Jingting who is also a skilled and versatile actor. He is a good Sang Yan, probably much better than Victor Ma the rapper might have been if he had been offered the role and had not declined it.
I am also warming up to Zhang Ruonan, just hoping she'll be shown with better skinship skills and not the unfortunate fish kisses with annoyed expression we were left with in other dramas (perhaps more directors' fault than her own). She drags along a reputation for not being very sweetly romantic. But this may be the drama which will change that reputation, perhaps. Just hoping. Wishing the best. And I'm still on board, despite having read the second novel, for once. I usually don't, but the wait to watch it on screen was too long ;)
So that's the complete answer to your question about the connection : the stories, the expectations, the wishes that it will stand out as well as HL. The heat index is soaring, so that's good news for the new cast and audience.
Both dislike having to kiss mouths on screen (so unhygienical: I don't blame them although the guys may take care to wash mouths properly first, take care of dental hygiene and whatever, not spreading germs to partner, and there are shooting tricks to make believe... Maimai's family was not agreeing with such acts anyway, especially when she was still under 20 ; it's a wonder they agreed to let her play the torturous Drifting Away.)
Their acting style is different, at least in the dramas I watched starring them (Reset, Amidst a Snowstorm of Love, Drifting Away. for "Maimai", A Date with the Future, Love is Panacea, My Boss... for "Nannan"). I think both of them are stars on the rise.
Presently enjoying Zhang Ruonan acting as "Wen Yifan" "DianDian" in The First Frost. I read the book and think both her and Bai Jingting fit their roles well.
Interestingly for fandom explorers, Zhang Ruonan's fan-group name changed in September 2024 from Nán péngyǒu 楠朋友 (Nan's friends) to Xiǎo yìnzhāng 小印章 ("little seal") as a play on her last name, to replace her former fan-group name that could awkwardly be mistaken for "boyfriend" 男朋友 [Nán péngyǒu] 🤣
I agree that I too would have liked the overlapping characters, mom, dad, Qian Fei, to be back.
But I will adjust, probably.
https://i.mydramalist.com/YY4q1W_3f.jpg