TaleNeverTold

Nuh, white truck of doom actually has the mortality/severe injury rate of 100% while cliffs in c-dramas operate as bouncy castles and only NPCs ever die when falling off of them. The highest mortality rate in c-dramas (outside of weapons, of course) belongs to liquids (teas and soups).

I believe she’s 15-16 in the first episode as she mentions that she was kicked out of her home (for the second time) at 6 and it’s been 9 years since. The age difference, I presume, is to place her at the beginning of her matrimonial path and him very much out of this path. Being older and widowed and of different status makes them completely implausible at the beginning which allows them some level of ease and comfort to just around each other without all that ceremony that goes with meeting of ‘eligible youth’. But in the show he’s not more than 28-30 so once she grows a bit (I believe one year has passed in show’s time) and since the age of 17-18 is socially acceptable for marriage at those times, I’m guessing the tables will turn :)

Where are you watching this?

I think she’s already 16 because they mention passing of time every now and then but still, very young. FL reminds me of FL in A Prisoner of Beauty with her poise, wits, unwavering support. Love this for her :)

Totally, goes both ways, doesn’t it :)

From personal perspective and experience, CYY would be the best choice. Because the two characters just match: in intelligence, in morality and principles, even their dangerous streaks match. He would be able to meet her thought for thought, freak for freak. He’ll challenge her and will be open to be challenged by her. He will give her a safe haven to be tired and distraught, and would not think her weak for it. He will share his burdens too, he will trust her judgment on how to deal with those challenges without being over-instructive or micromanaging her.
How do I know that? He already did all of those things. And not because he’s in love with her (he wasn’t until very recently) but because it’s the part of his character, to treat people with respect until they prove unworthy of it.
And once the sparks fly… ooh, boy, lemme tell you something, calm waters are deep and there’s much energy stored in their depth!
To sum up, she will not be bored with CYY :)
P.S. Disclaimer: I’m not speaking about all age-gap pairing or older gentleman in general, be it real or reel. Just this one character, this one pairing in this one drama, the way they are portrayed in the drama.

Emphasis on ‘burn’! It’s the most burn I’ve seen in all c-drama slowburns ;) and that’s not even accounting for the abs (also the most abs, btw)

Totally agree! I also picked CYY-type and it’s MUCH MORE FUN that dramas make it out to be! Alas, Chinese censorship would not allow to show all the freaky demons hiding underneath that polished and intelligent demeanor… all I can say, our teenage son thinks we’re embarrassing him on purpose and we should ‘be old already!’ ;)

He should send a physician to secure granny’s heath and pick up praying regularly!

Some people wants them to do more than kissing but I know the pacing and period-appropriate etiquette (and our lead characters are nothing if not very proper… to an extent) so I’ll respectfully wait till they catch up with my less than pure ideas for them *crawls back to the gutter*

Ah, fellow sage! we shall sit here, sipping our tea, listening to passionate youth learn the wisdom of life. Inner peace, dinner with peas, dinner please… and all that jazz =)

See, my original post was not about hating YX, just about surprise that some are willing to forgive his ‘red flag’ behavior citing his ‘penance bow’ or some unseen acts of service that he has rendered the FL in the novel - because to me none of this suffice. I also made an assumption that maybe the fact that actor is well liked, it can tint the perception of the character. At no point have I mentioned his looks or his quality of acting or quality of show writing. Just simple ‘the character does bad things, why forgive him so easy?’ comment. And I know that ‘pretty privilege’ is not stemming from my comment directly but since I’m one of ‘you guys’ I will respectfully offer my five cents too.

Please, do specify which part of my original message qualifies as ‘targeting actor’. Also, yes, I do consider myself old as I’m older than this show ‘old uncle’. My age allows me to see problematic behavior and not romanticize abuse.

I specifically made a point that I do not refer back to novel for my judgement of a character and only assess him based on the drama. I did not talk about the actor, I don’t even know who he is. I merely pointed out that he must be someone famous/an idol so maybe some love for the actor translates to unwarranted love for his character, as means of explanation why people defend the character.

I’m genuinely perplexed by some people defending Ye Xian’s ‘right to love’ and saying that he has redeemed himself before FL by bowing to her mother’s tablet, also quoting the original novel as the source for background information on all his good deeds towards FL. First, I think by now we’ve established that the drama does not follow the novel that close and is a sort of fan fiction of the original novel, so this Ye Xian should be taken in the context of what he’s done in the drama. Second, no amount of cowtowing covers for the fact that he was VIOLENT to people around him and FL too… am I just old enough to understand this simple concept? Manners maketh the man and Ye Xian clearly hasn’t learned enough manners yet to count as one.
P.S. I have a suspicion that Ye Xian’s popularity has something to do with the actor who plays him and his novel arc (I think there’s some character growth/redemption there). But since I don’t know the actor and as far as drama Ye Xian stands circa episode 14… yeah, no, he’s eons away from atoning and being forgiven.

You are correct, I genuinely dislike that manchild for the very simple reason that he is violent to those he sees beneath him and cowardly in the face of stronger opponents. More than once he’d tried to intimidate or hurt people around him for his own amusement (remember gun incident?) or out of uncontrolled anger (he did HIT the FL, did he not?). So his poor attempts in wooing the FL are just annoying to me but don’t add much to my dislike for him. He’s just NOT A GOOD MAN and he doesn’t even try to be a better one.

He does. Babe says goodbye to him and asks him to be a better friend to him in the next life.