When Loners Meet
Shen Zhiheng is a renowned media tycoon cum vampire in Haidong during the republicans era, while Mi Lan is a blind heiress of the Mi Family who had been her mom’s punching bag for 18years. Sick and tired of life, Mi Lan decided to escape the mansion to end it all in an abandoned temple when she stumbled into the gravely injured Shen Zhiheng. Unable to move due to being run over by a car multiple times and shot by pistols and machine guns all over the body after being ambushed by Mr Li, the right hand of Supt Chi of the Haidong military troop, ML implored the blind girl to postpone her suicide and help to get his best friend, Dr Situ Weilian. She agreed, went back to the mansion and endured another beating by her enraged mother before sneaking out again the next morning to find the doctor at the hospital. Amazed by FL’s resourcefulness and tenacity in carrying out his plea despite her blindness, ML decided to look out for her and stop the abuse. Thus starts the bond between century-old vampire bearing a target on his forehead after offending the Haidong military figure, with a young girl seeking warmth and love that she never had since her birth.
It’s a fresh take to see vampire theme in cdrama. I commend the idea of meteor stones granting powers to the wielder which explains why Shen would possess such power. The back-story is back in ancient times, a meteor crashed on earth and its stone shards fell into the hands of 3 families which grants them mysterious powers but with downsides. The Mo family holds the hibiscus tree that has the ability to harness the power of the three stones, the Mu Family holds the Illusion stone which grants them the power to lure people into illusions of their own crafts but suffer short life of 30years, while the Wei Family holds the blood stone that gives them supernatural strength and speed at the expense of needing to drink blood to sustain themselves. Wei Qin, Shen’s step mother, was the wielder of the Blood stone 100years ago. Fast forward to current time in the drama, the Mus had stolen the Mos tree and is in search for the blood stone from the Weis as they believed it would lift their family’s blood curse of living only up to 30years. And as Shen Zhiheng was dabbling between handling the threat of Supt Chi who had joined hands with the Mu, finding his long-lost brother who holds the reason for his transformation and saving FL from the abusive household and protecting her from harm for being around him, he found himself being drawn to Mi Lan who was desperately clinging to him.
Kudos to the screenwriter who managed to make the bond between 18y-age-gap actors look so innocent and beautiful. Although Mi Lan was obviously falling head over heels for Shen Zhiheng as he was doing all he could to protect her from all harm, it was amazing that Shen Zhiheng remained courteous and never crossed any boundaries. When they hug, although Mi Lan was acting like she was hugging a lover, Shen looked like he was hugging a younger sister. There was no french kisses like the typical romance drama except for that only one initiated by Mi Lan when Shen was wrongfully detained in jail, purely to let Shen drink her blood for sustenance. That trick was amazing cuz it happened in front of a crowd as Mi Lan was trying to cover the fact that Shen was drinking her blood. Out of this world.
Whenever Shen and Mi had a conversation about their bond, Shen’s dialogue always revolved around family bond instead of lovers. Although he saw Mi Lan as a kin after being alone for 100years and he won’t stop at anything in order to protect her, it never looked like he was rejecting Mi Lan’s shower of love and devotion either. Gao Weiguang was perfect for this role, and he did it amazingly well. I always get turned off when the age gap between an onscreen couple is too wide, and was disappointed to know that Vengo’s co-star was 18 years his junior, but i was left astonished by both the screenwriter and actors because they were so brilliant to showcase this love to be so beautifully mesmerizing.
And my standing ovation to Ouyang Nana for executing Mi Lan’s role to perfection. This is the first time that I saw her, and she left me in awe. It looked like she was doing method acting, which was outstanding for actresses her age. Her depiction of a blind was flawless. Her devotion to Shen also never look cringy (depite the real life age gap). She managed to make it look innocent and heartfelt. Basically she is a very promising actress, it’s a wonder I havent seen her more in other series.
I had to applaud the one who played Mr Li Yingliang a.k.a Xiao Liang too. He was so irritatingly annoying when he kept coming after ML, but also managed to get my sympathy when the motivation for his relentless pursue was revealed. And then had me hate him again when he reverted to being the villain again (after supposedly repenting and begging for Shen’s forgiveness) and then got me feeling sorry again when he was left with no way out. And the way he went was damnnn too unexpectedly heroic. Mr Screenwriter, you did again! Although i dont understand why he was listed as guest role when his scenes had been as much as Situ Weilian’s (or maybe more).
The one who played Situ Weilian is also very talented. From a carefree and innocent character he turned cunning and ruthless, and then innocent again.
OMG the screenwriter was amazing but these actors had definitely given their top notch performance. It’s a wonder why this drama had such a low rating. Even the plot was really not too bad. The actions were well choreographed and the songs, although they were slow and doesnt meet my standard to be added to my running playlist, they were actually great love songs and kinda get stuck in my head. This production is definitely a well done job. I think im gonna find the novel.
It’s a fresh take to see vampire theme in cdrama. I commend the idea of meteor stones granting powers to the wielder which explains why Shen would possess such power. The back-story is back in ancient times, a meteor crashed on earth and its stone shards fell into the hands of 3 families which grants them mysterious powers but with downsides. The Mo family holds the hibiscus tree that has the ability to harness the power of the three stones, the Mu Family holds the Illusion stone which grants them the power to lure people into illusions of their own crafts but suffer short life of 30years, while the Wei Family holds the blood stone that gives them supernatural strength and speed at the expense of needing to drink blood to sustain themselves. Wei Qin, Shen’s step mother, was the wielder of the Blood stone 100years ago. Fast forward to current time in the drama, the Mus had stolen the Mos tree and is in search for the blood stone from the Weis as they believed it would lift their family’s blood curse of living only up to 30years. And as Shen Zhiheng was dabbling between handling the threat of Supt Chi who had joined hands with the Mu, finding his long-lost brother who holds the reason for his transformation and saving FL from the abusive household and protecting her from harm for being around him, he found himself being drawn to Mi Lan who was desperately clinging to him.
Kudos to the screenwriter who managed to make the bond between 18y-age-gap actors look so innocent and beautiful. Although Mi Lan was obviously falling head over heels for Shen Zhiheng as he was doing all he could to protect her from all harm, it was amazing that Shen Zhiheng remained courteous and never crossed any boundaries. When they hug, although Mi Lan was acting like she was hugging a lover, Shen looked like he was hugging a younger sister. There was no french kisses like the typical romance drama except for that only one initiated by Mi Lan when Shen was wrongfully detained in jail, purely to let Shen drink her blood for sustenance. That trick was amazing cuz it happened in front of a crowd as Mi Lan was trying to cover the fact that Shen was drinking her blood. Out of this world.
Whenever Shen and Mi had a conversation about their bond, Shen’s dialogue always revolved around family bond instead of lovers. Although he saw Mi Lan as a kin after being alone for 100years and he won’t stop at anything in order to protect her, it never looked like he was rejecting Mi Lan’s shower of love and devotion either. Gao Weiguang was perfect for this role, and he did it amazingly well. I always get turned off when the age gap between an onscreen couple is too wide, and was disappointed to know that Vengo’s co-star was 18 years his junior, but i was left astonished by both the screenwriter and actors because they were so brilliant to showcase this love to be so beautifully mesmerizing.
And my standing ovation to Ouyang Nana for executing Mi Lan’s role to perfection. This is the first time that I saw her, and she left me in awe. It looked like she was doing method acting, which was outstanding for actresses her age. Her depiction of a blind was flawless. Her devotion to Shen also never look cringy (depite the real life age gap). She managed to make it look innocent and heartfelt. Basically she is a very promising actress, it’s a wonder I havent seen her more in other series.
I had to applaud the one who played Mr Li Yingliang a.k.a Xiao Liang too. He was so irritatingly annoying when he kept coming after ML, but also managed to get my sympathy when the motivation for his relentless pursue was revealed. And then had me hate him again when he reverted to being the villain again (after supposedly repenting and begging for Shen’s forgiveness) and then got me feeling sorry again when he was left with no way out. And the way he went was damnnn too unexpectedly heroic. Mr Screenwriter, you did again! Although i dont understand why he was listed as guest role when his scenes had been as much as Situ Weilian’s (or maybe more).
The one who played Situ Weilian is also very talented. From a carefree and innocent character he turned cunning and ruthless, and then innocent again.
OMG the screenwriter was amazing but these actors had definitely given their top notch performance. It’s a wonder why this drama had such a low rating. Even the plot was really not too bad. The actions were well choreographed and the songs, although they were slow and doesnt meet my standard to be added to my running playlist, they were actually great love songs and kinda get stuck in my head. This production is definitely a well done job. I think im gonna find the novel.
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