Riya

Just watched the first two episodes and ngl... every time Prince Chang Ying showed up I forgot the ML existed. 😭🤚 He's just too handsome. 🫠✨

My friend, censorship doesn't force you to erase a character's entire personality.

Except they didn't. 😭 Tu Li is literally mentioned in the credits who is ML's girlfriend. The drama didn't remove that it just sanitized everything. In the novel, the ML wasn't the only mess; the FL also dated other men during the separation and even after they reunited. They were both equally fucked up, which is why they made sense together. The drama just turned them into a generic romance couple.

I don't mind most of the drama changes, but I really wish they hadn't removed what made the leads so fascinating in the novel. 😭 Both of them were genuinely sick and lived in their own twisted little world. The novel never acts like their feelings are normal, it constantly reminds you that something is wrong with both of them.

The drama, though... I don't really get that vibe.

He didn't really needed to change. I mean he was rude to her but it was sort of understood because her mum literally ran away with his money and FL was asking to stay at his house. In novel, he literally provided for her, she studied while he worked to earn even though he was a teen himself. All his bad traits were related to his father, once he died, he became better.

Novel reader here! 😭 Before anyone comes for me, I actually don't mind the drama changes, this is just a comparison because the adaptation changed things a bit.

1. First of all, they put Chen Yi through the biggest personality rehab program ever. 💀 Drama Chen Yi is reserved but caring. Novel Chen Yi? That man was MEAN. He was rude, cold, and honestly terrifying enough that Miao Jing was scared of him... even her mother was wary of him. Their relationship was nowhere near as soft as the drama makes it seem. Miao Jing wasn't even aware of half the things he was doing.
2. The parents were actually married in the novel. So yes... they were step-siblings. No "their parents were just dating," no convenient loopholes, no "they only met as kids." The novel really said, "We're committing to the bit." 😭
3. The whole loan shark/scam storyline? That's a drama invention. In the novel, Miao Jing's mother stole the inheritance Chen Yi's father had left him and disappeared. She even arranged for someone to pick Miao Jing up from school and take her to the bus station, but Miao Jing didn't go. Later, her mother called and told her to come so they could figure things out together. Miao Jing realized she had three choices: go with her mother to an unfamiliar place with no school, live with her aunt and be humiliated every day, or stay with Chen Yi, who she'd already lived with for almost ten years and at least keep attending one of the best schools. She chose the third option.
4. And don't think Chen Yi welcomed her with open arms either. 😭 After her mother ran away, he said some truly awful things to Miao Jing and literally kicked her out, telling her to go find her mother. She didn't leave. She just sat outside the gate until he finally gave in and let her back inside.

The drama definitely made Chen Yi greener than the greenest flag imaginable compared to the novel. 😂 I'm not complaining, the changes make the romance much easier to accept but if you want the messy, emotionally devastating version where everything is a bit morally questionable and the character development actually has to WORK for itself... the novel is absolutely worth reading.
PS; I read it a long time ago, so I might remember a few things wrong. Don't mind it.

The FL really wakes up every episode and chooses the worst possible decision. Girl, do your actual job instead of inserting yourself into everyone else's problems. Then she's shocked when she's in danger again and the ML has to save her for the hundredth time. At this point, he's less of a love interest and more of her full-time crisis management team.

By that logic, why have a plot at all? 😭 They could've skipped the breakup, the misunderstandings, the years apart, and just had them meet, date, get married, and roll credits.

Nobody's saying she *needed* to suffer. I'm saying that's literally the storyline the author wrote. Her getting harassed, losing her job, and him finally seeing what she'd been through is what drove their reconciliation. You can't cut out half the emotional buildup, replace it with the most copy-paste office rivals trope, and then act like it's the same story.

So they cut out the entire storyline of her being harassed at work and eventually getting fired? The very thing that put her at her lowest and made her reunion with Lu Xixiao actually mean something?

He took her in when she had nowhere else to go, and her staying with him. Plus how cold he actually was to her is nothing in comparison to drama. Their relationship started healing because he saw how badly she was being treated and finally understood everything she'd been carrying.

Instead they gave us the millionth "ex-lovers reunite as office rivals" storyline... because apparently that's more original?

Why do I feel like they have changed a lot from the novel? Even from the trailer, it didn't had the hint of Murong Qing Yi's toxicity and how he was a walking red flag. Plus, I also feel that even if they didn't change the storyline, they'll probably tone his character down by a lot or else he might qualify for one of the most hated ml of all time.

How do you know that he never went to find him. They have same friend circle, maybe he knows where she is. You expected him to stay abandoned and never move on? The FL literally left him. He cried, begged her to come back, and even said he'd forgive her if she returned, but she never did.

Yes, her life turned out to be miserable, but from his perspective, he was there for her and she still chose to leave him. He can't be expected to put his life on hold forever.
And did he even date the other girl? He only agreed, and in the very next scene he told her to stay away from Zhou Wan's things and rejected her. That doesn't exactly scream "he moved on" or "he replaced the FL."

Of course he isn't Sang Yan. Sang Yan had a loving family and no major personal trauma. Lu Xixiao is an 18-year-old kid who literally ran away from home with Zhou Wan and built his whole world around her. Losing her was bound to hit differently. it was a coping mechanism born out of hurt and anger. Expecting him to react like Sang Yan ignores that these two characters have completely different lives and trauma.

yes

Jiang Yan gave me major flashbacks to Gao Jian Hong from Lighter & Princess. Both started as friends of the main character, both had a massive inferiority complex, and both ended up betraying the people they cared about by revealing someone's location to the bad guy. Jiang Yan exposed the FL's whereabouts, while Gao Jian Hong revealed the location of the ML's sister. Different stories, same frustrating pattern of insecurity turning into betrayal.

the scene with whole "check the camera", it seemed unscripted 😂

have to say that both of their parents are perfect match for each other. two selfish evil people, with their personality and history of abandoning people it makes sense why they are in relationship

The dynamic is pretty different tbh because the characters are very different. the romance in drama is very high school compared that in novel where it's very intense

Lu Xixiao is still the one who's more openly in love in the novel, but the difference is that the novel doesn't make him seem as pitiful as the drama does. He's more of a bad boy there. Instead, Zhou Wan is the character you're supposed to feel bad for, so her actions make a lot more sense and she doesn't come across as cold or unfair.

Bring back novel Zhou Wan. The drama completely watered her down. In the novel she actually had leverage, she could corner her mother, control the situation, and there was real psychological pressure in how the truth about identities changed the whole dynamic.

But in the drama it feels flipped. She’s no longer intimidating, the blackmail angle has no real weight, and the mother just isn’t affected or threatened the same way. Instead of Zhou Wan being the one holding power in those moments, she just comes off like she’s constantly at a disadvantage and struggling to keep up.

I get that you're speaking generally, but you've made this same point under this drama before too. That's why I'm saying this isn't really the hill to die on, maybe under real pseudo-incest drama comment section like speed and love or dazzling.

I mean, I actually agree that a lot of dramas use the pseudo-incest angle for no reason and it could easily be replaced with a childhood friends storyline without affecting the plot at all.

But I don't think this drama is the best example of that. The leads aren't related, their parents aren't actually married, and they weren't raised as siblings, so it's already pretty different from most of the cases people usually complain about.

Also, in this story, the complicated family connection is actually an important part of the plot and the characters' conflicts rather than just being thrown in for shock value. You can still dislike the trope, but I don't think it's really comparable to the dramas that use it purely for the taboo factor.