RouteVenus

No, because the FL is never ever interested in the SML and tells him so from the beginning. The SML has completely one-sided feelings for her. Personally, I would consider it a love triangle only if the FL (it's usually the FL) wavered between two men or had a crush on SML and later fell harder for ML. Which is absolutely not the case here, you don't have to worry.

Hehehe, no problem at all! :D I really hope that you find something you might enjoy; and don't hesitate to drop me a message if you needed more info on dramas I mentioned. :)

Hi! My comment got a bit long, so I am putting it under spoiler tag.
Allow me to recommend you some older but very worthy kdramas:

Healer (2014) - I know this drama doesn't look very attractive on the first sight (posters and screenshots look boring), but trust me that the rating 8.9 here on MDL is well-deserved. Despite dealing with some heavy topics, this drama is not an angst-fest at all and it actually features one of the best romances in dramaland. It has lots of cute and funny moments too!
(the romance has Superman – Clark Kent – Lois Lane kind of dynamics, with the ML having several identities, if you enjoy this trope)

Queen In Hyun's Man (2012) - This is a time-travelling romance in the best possible sense; very concentrated on the main couple, the ML is a scholar from Joseon who starts "hopping" into our time and meets a beautiful actresss who helps him to adjust to this modern world.
Cute romance, not too angsty, the ML is extremely clever which is satisfying to watch.

Something About 1% (2016) - Are you tired of angsty dramas? This is a completely stress-free romance that features a contract relationship between a rich CEO and ordinary (but badass) schoolteacher. No real hidrances or stupid misunderstandings, just two very different people falling in love and being cute.
Big plus: 1 episode only has 40 minutes! I consider this a quick watch.

Fight For My Way (2017) - This is a slice-of-life about four friends who are searching for their place in life. If you enjoyed Because This Is My First Life, you will likely enjoy this one as well. The main romance is "best friends to lovers" trope and it's very cute!

The Master's Sun (2013) - If you like your romances with a bit of supernatural thrown in, then don't miss out this classic! The FL sees ghosts which makes her life stressful and hard. The ML is a rich CEO with traumatic past. The FL discovers that when they touch, she stops seeing ghosts, which helps with her mental state. They strike a deal: the ML allows her to stay near him and she helps him with solving an event from his past.
The FL may seem clingy and annoying in the first episodes but she is actually one of the strongest FLs I've ever seen. Great and satisfying romance with some very well-used clichés.

Go Ho's Starry Night (2016) - Short and sweet webdrama, 1 episode has only 20 minutes! Cute office romance with no angst, great for destressing or if you don't have much time for watching!

It's about two immortals who mess red strings of fate during their fight and are punished to go through seven mortal lifetimes of fated mutual love. It doesn't go as planned because they hate each other's guts and constantly try to sabotage each other and avoid their fate. But through many lifetimes and adventures, they really do end up falling for each other :D. Mostly romantic comedy with some truly hilarious parts but some moments and especially the finale are a bit angsty. It's HEA though! <3

Ahhh, Eternal Love of Dream is made of 99% fluff and I love it to bits, flaws and all, glad you enjoyed it! I think it's kind of a unique fantasy c-drama because it well-balances serious stuff with fluff. It's not *crazy* rom-com (like The Eternal Love or The Romance of Tiger and Rose), but it's still very low on angst and there is no serious plotting of the villains/side characters. The conflicts are character-driven, which is more than enough if that makes sense. I wish there were more dramas like ELoD out there!

And thank you for a great article, I really enjoy your writing and your notes on dramas are spot-on. I wanted to start Love and Redemption so many times but when I look up gifs from it, ML is usually spitting blood in them...*shrug*

I have to say that I usually don't have a problem with actors not voicing themselves.

Maybe it's because that since I live in a non-English speaking country, I am used to all foreign films being dubbed and while I mostly prefer original versions, I am very used to watching a movie/series and hearing voices that don't belong to the original actors.

(I don't mean to presume here, but I think the feeling might be different for e. g. American people since 90% of films/series they usually watch were shot in English and they are not so used to anything being dubbed.)

Also, sometimes actors in my country are dubbed in their works as well for pretty much the same reasons actors in cdramas are. Very often they are young and inexperienced, so they don't know how to work with their voices yet, or they have a local accent that wouldn't fit the movie. I am not always in favor of actors not voicing themselves, but I can understand the reasons and I really admire the voice actors because their work is one of the hardest acting disciplines out there.

Thank you! I've never thought that the DramaWiki would have this extra piece of info (as I mostly use MDL when looking for actor information), so thank you for the tip!

Great and informative article, thank you for writing it! <3

I have a question: do you know how to find out whether an actor is dubbed in a c-drama or not?
Is there some kind of a voice actors database to refer to?

Sometimes I hear a voice in a c-drama and I think "I believe I heard this voice before...?" – but I don't know how to look it up and verify it...

Hi! The second leads end up together: Zheng Qi and Yuan Li Shu. They get relatively a lot of screentime and some cute moments, but I didn't really like them, so I skipped most of their scenes. (didn't feel their chemistry either)

There are some more couples in the show but they don't really get any development/spotlight. The other couples are: FL's friend Lu Shuang Yi + FL's co-worker Du Fan; ML's sister Feng Yue + her husband Yan Qing; FL's cousin Xue Liu Liu + jerk of a boyfriend You Cheng Hao (these two break up: not a spoiler, they only dated to please their parents).

Hope this helps!

I suppose that our Lian Cheng (from season 1) will change his face and become "Liu Shang", so there wouldn't be two 8th Princes running around.

Does it mean that I should brace myself for a love triangle between Xiao Tan X Lian Cheng/Liu Shang X Lian Cheng (new one, from the new reality)? (so the FL will be deciding between them)

If that's the case, it's gonna be really frustrating...

Or is Xiao Tan gonna fall for just one of them – hopefully our Lian Cheng/Liu Shang?

I mean, the two Lian Chengs will probably merge into one at some point, as it's usually the case in such plots, but it's gonna take very long I guess?

I just started this (watched eps 1–3) and I am getting anxious, so can you give me some very slight spoilers please?
(leaving a spoilery question below, but only contains info from eps 1–3)

Thank you! :) I enjoy the series so far, but I am honestly a bit worried that if they do more and more seasons, the quality will get worse. So if they tied it up (as much as possible) in S03 and the main couple got HEA, I admit don't really wish for season 4...

I just started The Eternal Love 2 :). Does the third season have a satisfying HEA with all (or most) loose ends tied up? Or is it open ending for potential season 4? (please no big spoilers)

Maybe try The Love by Hypnotic from the same production team? I kinda think they tried to use same formula for the main couple there as for The Eternal Love (bold/mischievous FL and cold/calculating ML who is super protective of her). I watched it recently and it's a decent drama with great kisses and chemistry between the OTP. The downside is that the story is not as good and it has less humour that would make the shallow plot more bearable. But you will spot many familiar faces from The Eternal Love 3 there! Hope this helps <3

I've been getting into Chinese rom-coms lately and this is so helpful! Thank you so much for organized and informative article! <3

I know this is an older ask and you probably already know the answer, but I am posting it here for other people who want to know :).

I guess it depends on how you look at it...

- When he saved her life and when she was a maid in his palace, he never met her (episodes 1–3).

- Then she became a fox to save him and he took her as a pet. He didn't realize her identity then but he definitely shared a special bond with his little fox, it wasn't romantic love obviously, but it was something (episodes 4–6).

- When he had his trials in mortal world and met Feng Jiu accidentally, he fell in love with her at first sight (episode 11). But his immortal self doesn't remember it after the trials are finished (episode 21).

- They first meet as their "real" selves in episode 24. And while Dong Hua didn't fall in love with her at first sight, he was definitely interested in her from the moment they met. And when they kept bumping into each other during the next episodes, you can see that he's actually pursuing her without even realizing it (which is hilarious to watch). I think he realizes that he loves her when they spend time together during the Fanyin Valley arc (episodes 29–34). He proves it by not hesitating to enter the dream world for her in episode 34 – at that point it's certain that he loves her and knows it.

Hope this helps and happy watching, it's a great drama! :)

Hi! They start dating in episode 12.

They have a falling out in episode 24, the FL sees the SFL kiss the ML which hurts her because he hid from her that the SFL is interested in him. (the SFL actually wasn't trying to break them up at this point, she was telling the ML goodbye just FYI)

The FL then tells him to give her some time to cool off. While they are apart, she does a lot of thinking on whether she is strong enough to continue their relationship. They interact throughout the next couple of episodes and oficially get back together at the very beginning of episode 27. They have no other relationship "crisis" after that.

Hope this helps! It's a very feel-good show, you don't have to worry too much, most of "conflicts" actually stem from the leads' somewhat poor communication and the FL's insecurities and it gets better as they get closer and their relationship progresses.

Thank you for your answer! <3

Having read the novel, I am mostly worried about the portrayal of the FL. She seemed to me cheeky and self-reliant at the beginning, then suddenly she became more dumb (and I am not talking about the life no. 2 here) and was mostly reliant on the ML's skills and brains and only towards the end of the novel she became more kick-ass herself....

I think that making the FL more competent in the drama would make her more likeable for the audience and might make the drama better as a whole.

I am really looking forward to this drama, hopefully it will be an enjoyable lighthearted romantic fantasy as it is in the novel!

I just finished the show and as I am reading through the comment section here, here are my two cents regarding the OTP:

The main couple embodies a rather overused stereotype of a "perfect" (but lonely) rich man and an "ordinary" (but cheerful) poor girl. I wouldn't call their relationship toxic, but there is definitely some controlling behaviour displayed by the ML that is not sufficiently called out in the drama, so if you are sensitive about that, save yourself trouble and skip this drama!

Personally, I've seen my share of dramas with arrogant male leads and I have to say that Feng Teng is nowhere near as controlling/possessive as some other (more popular) MLs I could name.

The drama is also very much focused on Shan Shan's journey and development. Feng Teng remains more or less the same throughout the whole show, which makes his character less sympathetic. He is a cold and robotic type of hero and unfortunately, we rarely see him to open up and the show doesn't put him through many seriously uncomfortable or dramatic situations that would show his more vulnerable side more often. It would be nice to see him less superficially perfect and outside his comfort zone. That could also help to illustrate how well Shan Shan complements his personality and how she supports him as much as he does her.