Cannot tell you how excited i am for this drama as someone who fell in love with xingxu as an actor after watching his performance in goodbye my princess. A zeng qingjie costume drama. With li yitong who i loved in a dream within a dream. Very curious about how this pairing will play out but i am confident in their acting capabilities. So in my anticipation, i've been keeping up with reuters. And the one i saw tonight honest to god had my jaw on the floor. Let me just say, for those of us who loved cxx's intensity as li chengyin..... looks like we're in for a treat. The wait is gonna be agonising though. But i'm willing to wait for this dream team to cook up a feast for us. Oh and our leads better be dubbing themsleves with their deliciously deep voices.
Binged the five episodes and its such a promising start. The last costume drama that had me hooked like this from the get go was dream within a dream. And none of the many costume dramas we've had since has worked for me however much i wanted them to. So I NEED this to stay this good till the end. Also this really does cement zeng qingjie as a master of this genre. Will be tuning in to eveeything he does in the future.
I love how they executed the 'sick' trope. Haiming pretending to be sick then actually becoming sick,trying to act all pitiful. So freaking adorable how he turns into a puppy in love. I actually felt cuteness agression towards cxx in those scenes. And then we have the random ass wall slam quest. Loved ep 16. However i cannot bring myself to care about the second leads' relationship.
While the first 7 episodes have been enjoyable, it was ep 8 that hooked me emotionally to the drama. Turns out our domineering ceo is a passioante entrepreneur with a vision! The 1999 setting is starting to make more sense and the relationship progression between our leads feels very natural. I was wondering whether i would actually feel the romantic chemistry between cxx and wyw caus they give such 'besties who love to pull each other's leg' energy irl. But all i can see on my screen so far is haoming and huaner. And i'm excited to see where this goes.
Begging on my knees that he lands a meaty period drama role this year. His performance in Goodbye my princess has me on a chokehold. Since then i have enjoyed a starry love, love between lines and am also following my page in the 90s. He's great in all of them. But you have no idea how badly i want him in a gritty period drama with a role as complex as Li Chengyin. Please drama gods!
Chen tend to tease that a lot on a few other variety show. I remember seeing him joke with another co-star in…
I first saw cxx on the variety show wow the world actually. Felt instant kinship with him as someone who is socially anxious. But the interactions between the cast was all very warm so he settled right in. And then i watched goodbye my princess and was blown away by his incredible performance of a pretty complex character who could not be more different to him irl.
Comsidering the dynamic between zhiyu and pei zhen in the story, the bts clips of xingxu being cute and clingy with daixu (who seems to not know what to do about it) just gives me extra serotonin.
Damn! Boyfriend zhiyu and girlfriend huxiu both got game. They are both so affectionate and giddy and soft and passionately in love and we are only just getting started. And i'm suddenly very glad we have a boatload of kisses coming. You know.......just a larger sample size for my........research. Yes. For science.
Zhiyu am huxiu have me completely besotted with them. But i am really wary of the direction we are heading in when it comes to the ml's past and its implications. I was hoping they wouldn't go the route of tying oir leads in the dreadful 'unknown past connection' knot. If anything it feels like an artificially manufactured cause of conflict for the soul purpose of creating angst. And from the previews it seems we are getting the done-to-death 'i cannot make her happy because of plot reasons so i must pull away from her with no explanation and offer second male lead a chance to get close to her so i can look moody and jelaous.' But hey i might be jumping the gun and they handle it well. Anyway i am far too invested inour leads and their chemistry. (which is why i have to go on this little rant) Xiao zhiyu so far has been 'cool and aloof' ML done right. Refreshingly kind, empathetic, playful and emotionally mature. I hope we don't ever lose that.
When i tell you just the first episode left me deliriously happy! And now i've binged the 4 released and am ready for this show to live rent free in my head. I can't remember the last time a cp had me squealing this hard this early on. The visulas, the performances, the dialogues, the music..... absolute perfection. I can't believe it. I'm so blown away and so freaking happy!!!! Had to create an MDL account just to gush. Praying the drama really takes off. They deserve it.
Elevator scene: https://youtu.be/oi-WSTLDT0M?si=Q1AF9RYwIa_rGAtH
And the one thats already posted here:
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1K4CBsfLaB/
Xiao Zhiyu might be the aloof and suave ceo but chen xingxu irl is a giant goofball.