Rampie

Thanks for the rec, Warm on a Cold Night is on my watchlist plan. I saw A Girl Like Me before on this site but the reverse-harem tag turned me off.

I was referring to the FL instant crush on the ML. The example was given the other way around because I'm a guy... lol.

Then again it's kinda hard to compare drama characters with real life because there's way too many of these fictional characters who unrealistically have only 1 or few people interested in them despite having the looks of "actresses." Irl if you have these kind of superstar idol looks you'll have a lot of suitors since school times.

> No keeping secrets from her for her own protection, no breaking up with him to save his career, no misunderstandings that would be solved in a 5 min conversation, no breakup for ridiculous reasons.

Soooo true idk why all those toxic annoying things you listed are actually so common enough to become cliche in so many dramas! Unrealistic and lazy writings, who even does any of those in real life relationship? The lack of communications between leads in many of these romance dramas bothers me, it's even worse in modern dramas when you have the ability to easily call or send text messages to communicate.

Btw if you know any other good dramas where the leads communicate well with each other, not do any of the stupid things you listed, and there's little misunderstandings throughout the story, please recommend me some.

Well, if I finished a drama that means I enjoy them enough to finish it.
Truth or Dare is not bad, I'm just not a fan of the FL actress so I enjoyed it less than it should.
Fallen For You has the best FL actress for me, actually my favorite actress which was why I watched it mainly for.
Out of those 3 I like General's Lady the most in terms of story.

Not sure what you mean by unnatural insta-love. Love at first sight is realistic, it happens and romance can develop very fast if it is mutual attraction. Whether both parties can get along or not, or if the romance will last is another story, but there is definitely no need for someone to get to know another person in anything deeper than appearance to fall in love. Historically, imagine how emperors would select his harem, it's 100% based on looks.

If I was single and the girl who just moved next door look like Xing Fei I would chase after her even before knowing her personality at all, it can only become a slowburn if she has no interest at me. When I think of slowburn I think of situations where someone is not getting their first choice and settling for convenience. For example, Xing Fei's FL character in PYHOMS going through slowburn romance make sense because she started the story as being interested in another guy, while the ML was also an awkward nerdy guy.

Female power is a common theme because it is popular, the majority of people who watch dramas are women after all. How many of them would enjoy watching "real history" where an emperor have 1000 concubines and FL is just one of the usual illiterate and completely powerless at the mercy of her male relatives (because women were denied education and all kinds of opportunities), not to mention that the "favorite concubines" are often underage by today standard. In fact, princes as old as ML here would've some concubines already, and would get an arranged marriage when they were a kid already that serve as their principal wife, and the emperor probably gave him one of his concubine to teach them about "that". And very likely these nobles would do the servants and such on the side, back then in ancient times the whole thing is very different.... 99% of the emperors/princes are addicted to pleasures because they can, no one would hold back so hard like in these costume dramas. High ranking officials like minister Du and Tian here would not just have a single daughter/granddaughter, would've fathered at least several kids from different moms. Think why birth rates were high back then despite high infant mortality, lack of food, and men dying young due to wars.

I mean, even near modern China is still unequal, gender proportion in CN is messed up due to one child policy and parents favoring males. Let alone in these costume dramas where historically in those times females were treated like objects.

Some historical dramas with romance and comedy tag I've completed:
General's Lady, Maiden Holmes, My Heroic Husband, I've Fallen For You, The Eternal Love.

No comedy tag but I really liked The Imperial Coroner.

I wish some things that this drama can actually become a trope.

Like an actual badass FL who does not need any guys to save her while she got kidnapped. Every other dramas are full of helpless FLs who are easily bullied, harassed, kidnapped, etc and need the ML to intervene.

Speaking of LLTG, that is like the most overrated drama on this site imo, FL is so terrible. Very frustrating to watch. It's not like the writer doesn't know how to write a good female character, because Consort Yue character is excellent. A LOT of extremely draggy moments, for example that whole FL tending victims in the makeup hospital drags forever, it's terrible I have to skip so many times while watching it. The only good thing about it is the fact that the emperor is wise, the consorts and his sons are all good people.

Good question. I am also looking for similar dramas where the FL is smart and strong, and more on the relaxing side instead of lots of super villain evil plots, sad moments/tragedy. These kind of light relaxing dramas never seem to really get high ratings here (usually just around 8), while almost all of the high rating ones are heavy with tearjerker moments, not to mention that most of them have weak naive FLs that needs protection from the ML instead of being equally capable. I really dislike weak FLs that become weakness for the ML, like she easily gets kidnapped, harassed, etc for example. Worst cliche are those FLs that are trusting and get screwed by the villains and then ML goes to save the damsel in distress over and over again, this drama is like an exception, she got kidnapped and actually save her own skin with her strength and intellect without the ML contribution.

Unfortunately this FL actress doesn't have a better drama where she is the main lead, she mostly play support roles.

Definitely do watch Joy of Life though if you haven't, it's a very good costume drama that is relaxing/chill to watch.

Does the novel explain why Minister Du only has 1 family member? Wth happened to his extended family?

Ms. Du character is like the ideal wife archetype in good old times. Unfortunately it's hard to find girls like that nowadays.

So true there are soo many dramas with higher rating that is definitely worse than this. 8 is kinda low for this site honestly, this should be above 8.5 average at least, personally I like this a lot more than LLTG which got a 9.

It has that heartwarming feeling when the emperor and all of his sons are good guys. I really like how this drama really only have 1 actual villain, the FL here have such a likeable personality, character, and great intellect, she is able to turn enemies into allies.

It's more realistic here than in some other dramas. The FL here getting equality makes a lot of sense because she is both intelligent and strong (not just brave). There are dramas where the female lead wanting and expecting "equality" while lacking in every areas compared to the male lead (eg. Love Like the Galaxy), those are way more unrealistic.

Idk why anyone would give this a bad review, what's bad about it? Honestly idk why it has such low average rating either, it's so good. It's a really fun watch. No angst and relaxing. Pacing is nice too, I never feel bored or wanting to skip. Has a lot of charm, 3rd prince paintings and the ceramic dolls are so cute.

The lead characters are really nice, not naive. The FL does not need saving, she's capable of carrying herself, having both wits and brawn, exactly the best type of lead. And the best part is she tries and capable of converting people who start from disliking/hating her into liking her.

Just started watching this, both ML and FL are intelligent, very nice. Funny too. Need more dramas to have both smart ML smart FL tags.

This drama is really good, idk why the rating is really low. I enjoy it way more than many dramas above 8.5

I like how this drama still has 7.5 average rating despite the fact that due to its controversial theme, many people gave it the very low rating based on the comments and reviews here (the 1.0 ratings are definitely higher than average in this case). I guess that means there are actually people who are giving it 10s because they liked that particular theme to bring the rating up...

The female lead in this drama is extremely hardworking, competent, rational, calm, and smart... with like 0 flaw, basically a template for the perfect wife material in the modern era. Also great at cleaning/tidying up places and cooking, can basically function almost 24/7 everyday (way beyond 996 work hours, can sometimes not sleep and the next day still work at full power) and doesn't seem to need pampering or relaxation at all, truly a model for AI waifu assistant robots in male fantasies. She looks fatigued/tired like literally once in the whole drama. In other words, kinda unrealistic...

Meanwhile here the male lead's strong point is just him being rich but a lot weakness really with his recurring amnesia, ocd, and harsh personality. It's pretty unusual considering in most romance dramas, the male leads are the ones who usually contribute the most in the relationship, while the female lead are usually just clumsy, naive, and a little bit stupid and need the "prince" to save them and serve them every time like some sort of damsel in distress romantic moment. Here is the opposite, she is the one who cooks and serve all the time, and in fact later there is a scene where the female lead injures herself because she tried to save him from falling bricks.

In conclusion, this drama actually feels less of the usual Cinderella and super rich prince charming love story, but more of a story of a eccentric rich guy in love with an ai powered waifu android.

They officially get together in ep 18 but in practice they're already a couple very early in the drama because they do stuffs that couples do, it's just he waited a long time to confess. Their love is basically mutual as both covers each other's weakness. From the male lead's perspective, because of his psychological problem, she is basically his only friend since childhood and his savior, and therefore from the beginning he is already very focused into making his life revolve around her and put her above everything else. From the female lead's perspective, other than them being childhood friends, this guy end up growing as a handsome guy who is also very intelligent and accomplished in his study, in addition, considering how he treat her it is very natural for her to reciprocate. Overall if you enjoy the idea of introvert + extrovert couple, this drama is perfect, definitely one of the best.

There is no breakup at all, and all the love rivals are "good" people who respect the other's choice. Misunderstandings are resolved almost immediately every time, this is one of those relaxing slice of life drama. The biggest thing that sets the main couple in this drama apart than in many other dramas is "communication." They actually communicate problems with each other and resolve it quickly, support each other to the fullest, there is a deep trust between them. Chemistry between the leads is great, Wan Peng basically plays the same type of "bright bubbly likeable character who fixes the male lead who had a major problem (eg. severe anxiety disorder in this drama, selective amnesia, blindness, etc in other dramas)" multiple times so she's really good at it, definitely one of the best, so if you liked one of her character in her other dramas you will like it here as well.

Like what the other commenter said, there is 0 angst, 0 love triangles and 0 toxicity.