ShortCircuit

LXF has a working permit at least, since he has his shop. And they didn't marry immediately after they met again, so BLQ had time to get his own residence permit or something.

In the novel it's been two or three years after LXF fled China, so it's closer to the 2000s. He had time to get his registration in Portugal, I think. And it's fiction, so all legal troubles are usually solved through money and magic LOL.

1. Character development. It's a whole roller-coaster. The good and the bad all evolve in a pretty convincing way. I don't know if you continued, but the first eps are more separate "cases" threading some plot lines and the first major development hits around 15. The main plot is the best part.

2. Amazing soundtrack. I have it on repeat still and I don't think it'll go away too soon (and it's been almost 2 years).

3. Amazing cinematography. I don't need to tell you, you can see it.

4. Great acting (and a good cast). I've seen the actors previously (and some in some later dramas) and here they're all doing a very good job.

To me, it's a completely bingeable drama. If you're not drawn to it, maybe it's not the right time or not the right mood. You're not obligated to like it or force yourself through it. Maybe part of why you're not enjoying it is that it feel like a chore. Be brave and stop watching if you're not interested, You don't have to finish all the dramas you start :)

He's calling him Ge because that's what he always called him - an older man, his BIL, with a higher social status. He can't break the habit even after marriage. (Girls do that too with men they're interested in - they're either "ge" or more cutely (and closer to our times) "gege".

He didn't want to destroy BLQ, proof he didn't manage it LOL. He even warned the others they wouldn't manage it, since the Bei family had resources and BLQ wasn't so stupid.

His reason to do it though was that he wanted to hurt BLQ as deeply as BLQ hurt him with the talk of marriage right in front of him and with the whole dismissive attitude towards LXF's obvious helpless stance. It was clear that BLQ knew LXF was at least infatuated with him, if not deeply in love in his own meek way, but he couldn't care enough to shield him from the obvious maneouvres he was doing with the Li family. (I know BLQ says he was doing it to cut ties and get away "with" LXF but these two guys do not talk to each other and Lin ZiYang only rarely translated BLQ-ese to LXF so that he could understand it.)

Anyway, the thing is - bio bro's ONS said to LXF that she wanted to destroy bio bro's life so that he would never forget her in his life, and LXF caught on to that. He wanted to try and hurt BLQ so bad he would always remember him, even if they never met again. And since he thinks BLQ cares about money the most, that's where he's aiming. And it did work for a bit.

He didn't want to do it since college - he was helping Shen ZhiQin because what they did to him was way over the top - he was a poor guy with a lot of pride and his dad was forgoing his treatment to pay for his tuition and they just made him quit college and ruined his whole future. LXF sees him as another person like himself, smart but limited in resources. He wants to repair the little things he can, and does so until they meet again in that city and interim BLQ has already hurt him too many times and too deeply for LXF to go on like always any more.

For SZQ, I guess it was just normal revenge.

I thought the 21 days were before the enlistment (or whatever's going on) date will be announced. Like when men in SK get their notice to enlist, but the actual date is not the same, they have to go through medical exams and pre-enlistment trials before they actually go to the army.

Still, maybe it's a TL mishap. Maybe it's not "detention" but some other kind of thing. Or maybe that Hunter School is so secret they've hidden their center in a prison LOL.

Anyway, whatever it was, QingLang wasn't happy about it. Not mad either, just kind of sad, IMHO. Maybe he had total trust in ChangYang and discovered he's been keeping secrets from him and lying from time to time. He's not a kid. Unless ChangYang tells him what's it all about, I don't think he'll take it quietly.

That, I don't know about. I mean, Portugal is Catholic mainly, right? I don't think a Catholic church would allow a religious marriage (I'm not sure about now, but I think they still wouldn't allow it...)

But there were a lot of same-sex ~marriages~ in the time before legalisation that would take place in someone's garden, with friends, with some uniquely-designated religious practitioner (particularly in the US or Canada, probably) that did go the "religious" way before they could marry in a civil court. Maybe they appropriated the idea. And if it took place later, who knows, maybe it would've also been accepted like that in Portugal too.

They're in Portugal, it didn't legalise same-sex marriage til 2010, BUT had civil partnerships in 2001. The author didn't say they're marrying immediately in 1996-7 where the drama has them get together again. They might have waited.

Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway already had recognised civil partnerships with basically the same rights as a regular marriage at the time. The Netherlands officially became the first country to legalise same-sex marriages (by this precise term) in 2001.

So they could go everywhere in those 4 countries and get a recognised civil partnership. And then wait for other countries to follow the same trend.

I don't think so. Actually, it's pretty good writing.

Consider this: a drama appeals to emotions. I bet you went through a lot of emotions watching it. Frustration foremost (because seriously, LXF is SUCH a doormat!!! GAH!!!!!). Then anger (because WTF is Bei LuQing's PROBLEM?! Can't he TALK to the man if he's interested instead of trapping him?!) Then class warfare madness - like, I wanted to wring Lin ZiYang's neck so many times, LOL (and I even like his face, he looks like Peter Wingfield playing Methos). And disgust with both the Lu and the Bei families (the Lu are obvious, but the Bei?! They freaking BUY a husband then neglect him, knowing he's a basically almost uneducated nobody from a rural village - help the man, it raises the family's status, too! Instead we have to get LuQing invested through lust then having him as a live-in unpaid lover/maid. Oh and let's not forget the wife trying to get her own husband raped because WTF?!)

And even in the end, more anger because the abuser gets to marry the abused (and he likes it like that).

I mean, it did its job perfectly didn't it? :)

Then again - it's a very old (in time) story. Not ancient, we're not in the historical times. But it's set 30 years back in not-really-open-socially China. 30 years back, it was all they could do NOT to call homosexuality an illness in the West, too. Only the Netherlands allowed same-sex marriage, IIRC, and it took a lot of fighting from activists to make it acceptable for same-sex couples to be out in the open. Even now, there are places where being gay is a social-death sentence, if not an actual death sentence in some countries. So them not being all that happy-happy joy-joy Thai BL dramas (for example) have gotten us used to is understandable.

I liked the social part of the drama (and the novel), I didn't get too much of the market trading stuff (I'm good with math but trading is beyond my ability). I just would have liked some more development from both leads - they never ever talk about it in the open. Like, never. They have mouths, they just use them for other stuff. *sigh*

He imprinted on that - it's what his bio brother's ONS girl said when she went to destroy his whole life for being left behind. She said she doesn't want his love or care, she just wants to make sure whenever he looks back on his life, she's there in his memory.

I guess LXF decided since BLQ isn't expressing his love at all, and actively betraying him (with the set-up marriage and all), then he - LXF - will make sure BLQ will forever remember him, even if through hating him for this. He's not one for grand gestures, he needs to copy more vibrant people's actions, LOL.

His mother isn't that bad.

Also, in the novel, his (bio) brother's ex-ONS gives birth to the child and leaves him with the Lu family to raise, so LXF and BLQ kind of get elevated to actual fathers LOL. I guess they didn't want to mix up the ending with too many new threads :D

I don't remember what happens with the original Bei fortune (it was mostly the mother's fortune anyway and she lived in Hong Kong at the time, IIRC), but BLQ gets back most of his losses in the market and makes up more, so I guess LXF is actually marrying into the Bei fortune anyway :D

Because the bully and the doormat set up the downfall of the Alpha top LOL. And it took years for that trust to build up. That's why.

Maybe he's giving prosecution some deep info about his father's affairs, LOL.

LXF provided info to Li WenXi (through Lu Tao, who Shen ZhiQin was working for, too), to manipulate market trends and make Bei LuQing and his associates over-extend themselves and get wiped out in a market rally they didn't expect (and Lu Tao caused). Despite LXF warning them they should cut and run once they pull it off, Lu Tao and SZQ did not, so when the market manipulation charges came, they got caught in it.

In the novel, the Bei family and their associates are cleared and get back most of their losses once Lu Tao gets convicted, IIRC SZQ is also banned from trading ever again, and Li WenXi's side loses a lot. Then BLQ starts looking for LXF seriously.

This drama greatly benefits if one reads the novel too. A lot of nuance comes through better in writing, I guess, particularly if you're not into finances and stuff.

Overall, I was mad at Lu XiaoFan in the first half, given he's a doormat, and at Bei LuQing, given he's an abuser. Though in retrospect, (and through the lense of the novel) it's not that bad.

Anyway, in the end, it's a good story despite the main charas' respective personalities, LOL.

I don't know, the sub said detention center IIRC. And then there's the whole secrecy with changing cars and all - I get it why he would change them when going to beat up that scumbag, but why now, too?

And QingLang seems to have understood something about those actions (that I don't) since he didn't seem too mad about CY's lie.

Was ChangYang visiting a detention center? Why? And he's supposed to get his papers in order - QingLang already caught him lying. Is he going to prison?! He couldn't be!

That after credits scene hit me hard. I will still hope till next week at least. There's still a chance.

I am deflated, LOL, my illusion didn't happen. Or it didn't happen YET. I still have hope, there's still one more episode.
*sigh*

He did have a family in S1, his reason to join murthehelp was to get money for their school and hospital fees. They didn't say he had one or more sons, just that he needed money for them.

But he was able to get money when he needed them and not be driven to betrayal for the lack of them. After all, he had been with murthehelp throughout everything and just now, conveniently, he wasn't any more.

Here you go proving my point again and not even realising it :)

I've read your replies to other people and chose to not engage you in particular, for two reasons: they're explaining things pretty clearly and not through rosey fan glasses. You choose to pick something and debate that as if that's the gist of the argument, when it's not. It's pretty clear you're not actually debating in good faith, you just want to be "right" and "win" the argument.

And second, you do sound a little bit petty when you don't immediately get things to go your way (again, according to what you're commenting on other's comments, I don't know how you are in real life and sincerely, I don't really care). I do not want to try and change your mind, since you're so set into not changing it or even accepting there COULD be different POVs from people who've watched it. I don't need a petty commenter trying to spark yet another argument for the sake of "winning".

Taste differs, and people are not obligated to like what you like just because YOU find it likable. No, this drama is not worth the wait after the first season, that WAS a good drama. No, this drama's characters do not live up to the first season's. No, this drama doesn't actually have a good plot. This drama DOES have good special effects, a few AI-helped scenes, a break-your-brain-if-you-try-to-understand kind of logic (even worse than S1) and a lot of deus-ex-machina twists. Oh and plot armour, lots of plot armour for JinMan and JiAn.

But sure, it may be the drama of the decade for you. Have at it.