MikaM

you may try "Who Rules the World" (Netflix/Wetv)) with Zhao Lusi and Yang Yang
It has palace politics, martial arts, war strategy and a beautiful romance line
here is a trailer:
https://twitter.com/WeTVOfficial/status/1512376094514507783

she is 15 years old, she has no idea what love is (was never loved before-family, relatives). Why do you rush her to grow up faster just coz the ML loves her?:) You act exactly like her mom, she also wanted fastly good results, rushed her without trying to understand her and her needs
And she didnt love nobody before him, he is her first love and once she fell for him, her love was strong and no limited

No need to give it a try, really. You did a good thing you dropped it. Just move and watch something that can bring you joy, or rewatch AASOL
A good drama cant be everyone cup of tea as a mediocre one can be the most loved drama for some ppl. Happens every day, so no pressure

girl, why dont you drop it?
This drama got tens of awards, it is 2022 National Drama. It is also the most watched and rewatched drama for international audience 2022-2024 on WeTV
It's simply a masterpiece. But this doesnt mean you have to like it. Just watch something that can bring you joy

This plot lack substance? "if you dont have a lot of story to tell"?!?
this drama was always in top 5-10 every month in 2023 and kept its place in 2024 in Wetv global hits, which means the most watched drama every each month all over the world beginning with 2022 till now (coz all the others are new dramas). The rewatch value is very high for int audience. In China it was aired on 2 tv channels in 2024 again and it's cvb rating was very good for an old drama
What "mature and rational development between leads", she is 15 years old, for God sake!

girl, they have chemistry from the first time they look in each other eyes. She is 15 years old when they first met, she was never loved before and has no idea what love is (family love, relatives love). She needed time to discover herself and him, but once she fell for him, her love was strong

Actually he loved her to the moon and back and all he did for her showed it clearly. The way he kept the arrow and the Shaoshang wire (first in the carriage, then kept it around his wrist till the end of their story), the decret he asked for her, the way he helped her brother in that period of time they were apart, how he treated Yuan Shen and his family just because CSS loses serenity if her friends have problems (YS was the person who cared of her during her seclusion), how he tried to change for her sake, how he def her so many times, how he wanted to protect her etc all scream love not "like".
He doesnt know how to show better his feeling, as she doesnt know how is to be loved/love is.
I didnt see yet a historical or a xianxia where the ML put his feelings/love before his duty/revenge and they all regret after every each day of their life/lives. Happened to LBY as well

Maybe in The Romance of Tiger and Rose... heroine is a scriptwriter and she lives the historical she is writing. Love like the galaxy has no heroine coming from the future. Both dramas are good, the first one brought ZLS her first Best Actress Award (Hengdian Film and TV Festival of China). LLTG is also full of awards, I stopped counting after 26 awards. If you didnt watch them, you may give them a try, they both good

HL is loved by so many ppl coz every watcher can relate. This is what drama sells first. We all had an unrequited first love (which usually remained in this stage, without a happy ending) and felt what SZ did. ZLS nailed her char. And we also tried to keep it secret. SZ, in her desperation to not be exposed invented that older boyfriend from another city. All her family, including DJX, was concerned about this relation and they all expressed clearly this kind of relation is dangerous. Remember SY hurried to find her, called DJx who also hurried to find her when she left town to meet her "bf" etc
Also, the way DJX is written sells: handsome, protective, hardworking, with a sad aura, victim of bullying and blackmail, smart and finally, he is able to fulfill a first young love in a very romantic way (CZY nailed it)
All this drama is about emotions. This was meant to sell, and they did it in a perfect way: all those details drama has, the great acting and the superb chemistry

About that blooming flower...it's hard to believe it symbolized their love. She asked him to not find a gf yet, coz she's afraid he wont be so nice with her anymore. He said he has that proper age to have a girlfriend as he finishes uni, but finding someone nice there will be just another person to treat her well beside him. So she asked him if/when he will find that girl to let her know. That was the context, so that blooming flower cant be their love

There are many ways to show our emotional attachment. Lots of them have no romantic conotations. DJX really needed to feel accepted by Sang family, Sangs were the single persons who were nice to him when all the others bullied him, they helped him with money to burry his mom, they always were warm. He really returned the same energy, being supportive and nice
Just my 2 cents...

I dont want to change your impressions. They are yours and we live in a free world :)
PPL will always see what they want to see. Our background, life experience, fears, interests, are also important factors for the interpretation/understanding of the events/ppl around us. Just imagine how will be to live in a world without misunderstandings, where we all think alike. Definitely boring but peaceful
However, when some certain things are proved we need to take them as truths, for our good sake :)
For me this is a hidden love story (first part unrequited love, second part both sided love), not a forbidden love story... their story seen by her eyes. Till 19, there isnt a single hint or scene where she feels she is loved, or that she feels he likes her in a romantic way. She always struggled. When he was nice she said he is an cond. air (he is nice with all women). Even at 19, when she is drunk, she cried coz he doesnt like her and also he doesnt know about her feelings. She never had hope, made dreams of them together, she didnt look for him when she grew up, was not like she waited to be an adult so they would be together. There is no reason for me to believe DJX lied when he said he realized he has feelings for her in that snowing night.
It's a beautiful story seen by her eyes. SZ said: "with five full years, I healed the wounds of his youth. He fulfilled my young first love.” Fell in love at 17, married at 22

TLOJ is original script, there is no novel.
The author wrote prequel 10 chapters and the outline for the novel he wanted to write.
So, TLOJ is not a novel adaptation.

The script was written by 4 scriptwriters, one of whom is said to be the original author(no confirmation about the original author though)
I saw on weibo cp fans got a copy of a part of the script (one said she have it all, but I dont believe that). Anyway, there were some pics of a couple of pages and discussions about them, nothing more.
In fact, ppl still dont know much.

The novel is the true story of the author, it was written when Zhu Yi was a teenager and it's about her unrequited first love. Author gave to her novel a happy ending, so what happened after SZ was 19 years old is pure fiction. Except several details, drama follows very closely the novel. DJX didnt love SZ in novel/drama till she is 19 as the real man didnt love the author(and didnt get together)
In novel the age gap is 7 years and SZ met first DJX when she was 13 years old
In drama the age gap is 5 years:
-At age of 14 SZ first met DJX and asked him a favor. She said: "I wished I had a brother like him". She didnt say "I wish he could like me/love me ". So where's the crush? DJx did her that favor but he asked first her brother's permission to help her...not coz he was witched by her, just coz she made him promise after she blackmailed him
-At age 17 she realized she likes him and made that star. With the knowledge that he would never see her romantically, she kept her crush secret, due to its unrequited nature. More, SZ knows that is possible that he can find his love. The beauty of this part of drama is her struggle ( to accept that she’s not the one for him, but wants to be), all emotions of a teenager girl experiencing her first love.
As for him, he never had a love interest in her at this age, but he was protective and nice coz she was his best friend's sister. And you can see he never crossed the line: when she asked his address he refused to give it to her, he had those lessons in her family house, when he understand she gained the knowledge she needed he interrupted lessons, there isnt a single situation when he took advantage.
What you call flirt is a tease, there werent "dates", and those gifts were sent from distance as a motivation/reward to learn better and fulfill her dream. In the end she asked for them, remember?:)
When she was 19, he realized he has feelings for her in that snowing night. DJX said it clear. So why the need to say he had feelings for her when she was 14 or 17?

The age gap isnt an issue, or at least it shouldnt be. For some watchers, may be the anticipation SZ and DJX will be a couple someday in the future, without knowing from the beginning when it will happen, so they are suspicious at every move they do.
Netflix rated HL +7, which means even kids are safe watching it. All chinese gov media platforms praised it, there were praising articles in many magazines. Hl passed a strict censorship. All these should be guarantees the drama is green flag all the way

About what would happened 100 years ago, yeah, you are right. Chinese had the hairpin ceremony( Ji Li 笄禮) which marked the transition from childhood to adulthood of a young woman. After Ji Li, a woman was eligible to be married (held at age of 15 and repeated at age of 20 if woman wasnt still engaged). That's why we see historical dramas with heroines of 15 who get married.

true

yeah, I remember the times when it was 9.3

when she is 14 there is no romance, she found out she likes him when she was 17, poor guy had no idea though.
So the age gap is just a petty reason to hate this drama

can you embarrassing yourself more, please?

I have nothing against zmy, I already said it thrice. It's not her fault she is used by haters to stir fights. Wish her a long, successful career. Also, I dont compare them, they are not at the same level.
That op (OliviaW ) I answered came on HL page to scold ZLS, saying HL would be better if ZMY would be SZ, coz she acts better youth/young chars before she post here (several hours before, then moved here and continued to scold ZLS). Thats why I pointed to her next youth dramas after WIFTY, which both flopped (which again, it's not hate, just facts) and I said she should be able to make her own dramas hits first...then we can talk what she would be able to do for other actress' drama which is already a big hit
I didnt see yet a keluli scolding unprovoked, and definitely I wont be the first one. More, I brought only legit data
I should talked about yunhe and kuyun data, after airing HL made 42 mil/ep mil/ep (ranked 10), WIFTY didnt made top 50 yunhe. In february 2024 HL average views 51 mil/ep (ranked 11), WIFTY is ranked 93
https://twitter.com/arisenarien/status/1748338387176866129
Some ppl have just to shut up and support their favs in a better way, not saying their fav would make HL better
Financial report cant be bought, or youku/ALibaba will steal their own hat. More, both dramas were aired on the same platform.
Also, comparing meanstreams with idol dramas/webseries, a propaganda series+an unpopular theme as traditional chinese medicine with youth/romance dramas is unfair. Even so, Houtong was streamed twice on gov channels (CCTV), chapter 1 gained the biggest cctv score. Gen Z is full of awards, it made the short list of chinese quality dramas presented at Cannes Festival in oct 2023. However, could these dramas do better? Definitely
Douban is just like MDL, has nothing to do with official data, the playground of PR companies, fans and haters

PS. Happy to see some haters to whom i answered deleted their posts here..
Also, I'm amazed to see you also shade ZLS and data in a certain context, even I already explained my former answer in the previous post. Houtong? Gen Z? Both did much better than WIFTY

Girl, take it easy.
Too much drama outside drama...in the end we all watch dramas/read novels for fun and meet on forums to share opinions in a decent way. Still dont understand your previous post, but I'm not curious
See you around!

You asked why, I answered why I think it's that way. I may be wrong or not, just my opinion
They leaked some pics with a reason so soon. They tested targeted audience: novel readers, manga fans, leads fandoms, HL drama fans etc. They work at looks (styling-make up, garderobe), they make changes. They removed WYF bangs after manga fans rioted on weibo. In fact is a good thing ppl talk. Just imagine nobody talk about it. This is called feedback and prod team needs it
In the end, what you expected, ppl are waiting for FF, not only leads fandoms or sl fandoms, but HL drama fans, too, coz HL was a huge hit int (4,5 billions views for eng HL tag in tiktok isnt a few, first chinese drama as views and second as points on Netflix). In Mainland it made Youku financial report twice, and brought 51mil/eps. All HL drama fans were/are waiting for HL spin off. And believe me, they arent haters, but obviously they have some expectations. And what happens here is happening on weibo as well.
I am a huge fan of HL, but I also love BJT. I have good reasons to wait FF and honestly, I hope it will be a hit

You want FF would have no conn with HL, but it is related and this is a fact. It is not a stand alone and no1 will treat it this way, maybe only those ppl who didnt read novels and didnt see HL

Happens with all dramas which are related somehow with other dramas, and if the first one released happen to be a big hit, things are difficult for the next one.
I saw this happened to TLI recently, which was the story of the son of the main chars of ALP. The prod team changed everything, even the names of some chars in order to build TLI as a stand alone. Things with FF will be even more complicated as far it isnt a stand alone, the storyline has same time line with HL, same chars and it seems the prod team decided to bring in SY's story Sz&DJX story. If there will be differences, ppl will notice and comp, it's inevitable.
More, all novels fans have a unique view for chars, which is the same in both novels. Victor Ma had lots of haters ( novel fans), also CZY or ZLS before drama was aired. But HL followed novel closely and novel fans were pleased, they ended by loving Victor Ma as SY (I remember his char heat index grew insanely after the first eps were aired). Wonder how they will manage with FF, coz till now it looks kinda diff. from the novel. Manga fans complained already:WFY bangs (which they removed if you noticed), clothes etc
About FF, I think BJT wont be a problem (I saw some Reuters and I am-honestly- pleased), but there will be ppl who wont see ZRN as WYF (I am one of them, I think she is too cute for this char, but I may be wrong). Also, new actors for SZ&DJX (bringing their story in SY's story in fact)is risky to a miss

dramas have the same chars, novels were both written by the same author, so the vision of the chars is the same.
Sang family is rich and SZ is elegant and chic and this shouldnt be changed. SZ wore brand clothes in HL, had 16 brand bags.
https://twitter.com/c_entfanatic/status/1673821320100839426
If you dont like that, make new chars with diff names, diff personalities, different clothes.

HL is considered the Chinese parent story of FF (even in descr. of FF on this page you will find it) so they are more than related

I can see the clothing is different, which I think is a miss. In novel, SZ and DJX dont appear much, it's SY's story. But if the prod team brought SZ and DJX, to enrich the story line or whaever else reason, then they must fit in decor. Or would they make SZ char miserable after she married DJX, which will be another miss. A big one

This drama has BJT as lead, so it will be a hit no matter what. Maybe it wont explode as his last drama did, but it will be fine. So dont be so upset for certain things ppl will say honestly