I know it's an old-school premise, but I love these shows where the cold and calculating ML tries to use the FL for his own professional/revenge purposes, but she's just so alluring he falls in love with her while trying to manipulate her and it ruins all his plans. Yes, suffer, snake! This is the good shit.
Xu Kai and Yang Zi both look great in this show and I like their characters. They're both smart, serious people, so they understand each other well on some level—plus, Yao Zhiming has a subtle sense of humour that sets him apart from your average emotionless CEO stock character—but their goals in life are just too different at this stage. I know I'll enjoy watching YZM grow and grovel for Mai Chenghuan's attention.
just a note for Huanhuan's mother perspective, it is really how traditional marriage in China and a lot of East…
I know that and China is not unique in having these traditions. A lot of older people in my country think the same way! But while being nice to older people and respecting their opinions is a matter of politeness, no one should be expected to let their mother's excessive ambition and hangups dictate their most important life choices. There is a limit to a child's obedience when their parents are being totally unreasonable and selfish, even in China.
Except that Jialiang also had his own version of his wedding without discuss with Huanhuan in the first place.…
Yes, that's my point. They should have communicated about something so obvious BEFORE the meeting instead of hearing about each other's dream weddings for the first time in the middle of all that chaos. They're terrible at being in a relationship.
OK, honestly, Mai Chenghuan's mother totally deserved to get humiliated at that family meeting! She was acting like a stupid hick the entire time and insisted on forcing the couple to hold some nightmare folk wedding extravaganza in her village just so she could brag about her rich son-in-law in front of people she hasn't seen in years. How selfish and oblivious can you get? Lady, read the room!
I did sympathize with Xin Jialiang when he tried to push back against her delusions, and Mai Chenghuan should have understood where he was coming from instead of arguing with him in public because he contradicted her insane mother. It's his wedding too! He should have a say.
That said, MCH and XJL should have discussed all this between themselves before their families met and figured out a compromise for their wedding, then gently guided their families in that direction. When you know your families are going to have totally mismatched expectations and don't get along, you should at least come prepared and present a united front as a couple!
The mother reached peak nuisance in episode 5... I felt so bad for Zao when he cancelled his important meeting to keep her pacified. I just know when he starts dating Huan's best friend (we all know that's where the plot is going, right?), his mother will be extremely rude to her despite everything she's done for the Mai family just because she's divorced.
Xin Jialiang needs to exit stage left PRONTO. After lying to Chenghuan for so long and going on a blind date instead of visiting her family, the insane proposal event that jeopardized her work should have been the third and final strike... and then there was that hideous engagement ring!
I can't wait for her to dump him, seriously.
Yao Zhiming, on the other hand, is so amusing. He's a cold and suspicious little bitch who thinks Chenghuan is embarrassing and pathetic (because that's how she's appeared to him a couple of times), but at the same time he's forced to acknowledge her competence and goodness. I can't wait for him to fall in love with her despite himself; I hope they make it good!
Wu Lei has repeatedly proven himself to be one of the best actors of his generation, and he is continuing to work…
Be for fucking real, his acting is dogshit lmao
He doesn't bother me any more than any other popular Chinese actor who can't act, which is basically all of them (with 2-3 exceptions). But let's not lie to ourselves.
Why is this comment section flooded with people complaining about Hu Yitian's acting, when Leo Wu's equally wooden acting never gets any criticism? Shut up and let us have fun here!
OMG, she sold off the dowry her uncle left her... but she kept one wine jar... and gave it to Gu Yanxi! Girl, you think you're repaying him for helping you, but that's still your dowry! Don't you know how this works? I love romantic foreshadowing like this.
1st episode and it feels like a remake of love like a galaxy...Someone who has watched more episodes plss advice…
It's like Love Like the Galaxy with actually likeable leads. I couldn't stand the FL in LLTG and thought she and the ML had zero romantic tension, but I'm enjoying Blossoms in Adversity a lot more.
I know the whole point of the struggling women subplot is that Zhi's female relatives are not used to taking care of themselves and don't know how the world works, so they will make mistakes at first until they gain some useful skills and confidence in their own abilities, but they are so fucking dumb, my God. She would own half of China by now if her own moronic family didn't sabotage her constantly.
An overall refreshing romcom that started off with a bang, started going downhill around episode 8 and delivered a mediocre final act. The problem is that it had too many melodramatic heart-to-heart scenes and they were mostly overwritten and underacted. Fewer cheesy lines that no real person could get through without cringing would have improved the overall quality of the product, to say nothing of all the filler in the last two episodes.
Still, the drama left me with a warm feeling of satisfaction, even if I had to fast-forward through some parts. I liked the main characters, the supporting cast and the comedic tone. I stomached the excessive melodrama, the cliches and the half-assed dark family backstory. That's a solid 7/10 by the standards of the genre.
(The choice to make it 12 episodes long absolutely saved the show, because I've watched too many 16-episode dramas that followed a similar trajectory and became totally unwatchable in the final fourth.)
I’m not reading all that, sorry, but just to respond to your first few sentences, I think people are criticising…
That's not how the law works! A fake marriage contract written on a piece of paper that no legal professional has ever seen, let alone signed, has no legal force! Stop talking nonsense!
1 
Xu Kai and Yang Zi both look great in this show and I like their characters. They're both smart, serious people, so they understand each other well on some level—plus, Yao Zhiming has a subtle sense of humour that sets him apart from your average emotionless CEO stock character—but their goals in life are just too different at this stage. I know I'll enjoy watching YZM grow and grovel for Mai Chenghuan's attention.
I did sympathize with Xin Jialiang when he tried to push back against her delusions, and Mai Chenghuan should have understood where he was coming from instead of arguing with him in public because he contradicted her insane mother. It's his wedding too! He should have a say.
That said, MCH and XJL should have discussed all this between themselves before their families met and figured out a compromise for their wedding, then gently guided their families in that direction. When you know your families are going to have totally mismatched expectations and don't get along, you should at least come prepared and present a united front as a couple!
I can't wait for her to dump him, seriously.
Yao Zhiming, on the other hand, is so amusing. He's a cold and suspicious little bitch who thinks Chenghuan is embarrassing and pathetic (because that's how she's appeared to him a couple of times), but at the same time he's forced to acknowledge her competence and goodness. I can't wait for him to fall in love with her despite himself; I hope they make it good!
He doesn't bother me any more than any other popular Chinese actor who can't act, which is basically all of them (with 2-3 exceptions). But let's not lie to ourselves.
Still, the drama left me with a warm feeling of satisfaction, even if I had to fast-forward through some parts. I liked the main characters, the supporting cast and the comedic tone. I stomached the excessive melodrama, the cliches and the half-assed dark family backstory. That's a solid 7/10 by the standards of the genre.
(The choice to make it 12 episodes long absolutely saved the show, because I've watched too many 16-episode dramas that followed a similar trajectory and became totally unwatchable in the final fourth.)