themarchioness

Or they've decided not to go the half sibling route in the drama? I feel like the ages would have a hard time matching up for SY and JY to be half-sibs in the drama. The mom didn't leave until SY was at least 8-10 years old. SY and JY are near similar age given that JY's being set up on blind dates. I guess we'll just have to wait to see if anything develops in this regard, but I'm not going to assume or expect anything at this point - just going to sit back and watch the story unfold. The drama has followed the book in many ways, fleshed out some things in other ways, but is also starting to deviate in some ways too so it's best not to assume too much.

As for your comment re: SY's mom not feeling happy, as SY said when he was a teen - it's neither good to have too much or too little, one should just have enough money to spend. Wise words.

When the mom ran out after the little kid in Ep 14, she called him Zi Hao, so it couldn't be Jiang Yu. And yeah, what a gutted feeling that must've been for SY to see his mom taking care of someone else's kid -- and it's not like that other kid even likes his mom either. Makes it all seem so pointless.

In the drama, all that is said is that the mom left to be with a rich man. This made SY's father turn to the bottle for comfort. He would beat SY when he was drunk, but then cry in apology when he was sober. SY said he didn't mind because he understood why his father became a drunk. Eventually the father drunk himself to the point where he passed out in the cold and died from that.

It is revealed later in the book that SY's mom and the FL's dad once had a thing -- FL's dad almost didn't marry his wife because of SY's mom. From that I've always assumed that this would've happened prior to their respective marriages given the age of the children. In other words, it's not that SY's mom left because of FL's dad.

In the drama, SY's parents were already having marital issues when SY's father ran into work issues. He was trying to help his coworkers get money for being laid off, but in the end, the company paid his coworker to betray him so he took the fall for everything. The mom decided to leave after that and then same thing - dad became a drunk and eventually died. So, while not directly responsible, we can probably say that the Meng family had an indirect contribution towards SY's father's death, although I'm hard pressed to say that they're responsible for it -- there were a lot of things going on there. It could even be argued that at some point the mom would've left him anyway - this just ended up being her tipping point.

As for whether the FL's adopted family has anything to do with her biological parents (I'm assuming that's what you're asking) - no. In the drama all that's been said so far is that they took her in because her bio dad and adopted dad were close. In the book, the FL's parents were having marital problems and one night, the mom burned their house down. She ended up killing herself and the dad. But the FL was rescued and sent to orphanage where she stayed for a bit until the adoptive parents came to take her home with them (it's also said in the book that the dads knew each other).

Just want to remind the ending may be changed for the drama - we will have to see how things play out in the drama. Cdramas do like their redemption arc so that is a possibility… even though I’d prefer how the book left things. Just don’t want to get people’s hopes up if it turns out to be different in the drama so again, emphasizing, what I shared relates to the book only! :-)

She has a clue. Notice where she cuts him off in their convo, when they're fighting in Ep 13. He asks her if she's so willing to cut things off with her family for SY, then why can't "we" - and just as he says "we," she stops him. We know what he was going to say next (it would have been some variation of "why can't we be together") because the scene then transitions to the flashback where the teenagers were being sweet with each other, the mother sees this, and after that decides to formalize the adoption, forcing XQ to change her last name to Meng. The mom was trying to prevent them from forming a romantic relationship. The brother knows this, just as the mom knows her son has feelings for XQ - that's why she questions the real reasons why he doesn't think XQ should have to change her name and says their only other alternative is for XQ to be sent abroad.

For your first question, not sure about titles... but they call JY/SJ a "zhidaoyuan," and according to my dictionary that's an abbreviation for political commissar and can also mean instructor, coach, or a political instructor (in the PLA).

As to your second question, yes, the dog is named after the FL - specifically, from the book:

XQ laughs, "What is its name?"
He laughs lightly and answers, "Xiao Meng."
"... Is it because of me?"
"What do you think?"
"It could only be because of me, if not, wait for it." [Probably more along other the lines of - "just you wait for it," but I don't have the original text to know.]
He laughs.

In the credits ZBB is listed as "Act of Friends" - in other words, a fancier version of a cameo. More than just a brief moment on the screen, but not a cast member for the duration of the drama. He has ties to both YY and the director, so he probably joined as a special favor.

In the novel, not much is said of SY's mother beyond the fact that she abandoned her family to be a mistress for a rich man. SY says that when he was little, he was told his mother had another kid, but that kid was taken from her and sent to the main wife to raise, so that kid doesn't even know about his mother. When SY was 10 years old, he went to look for his mother and saw him with the other man. She noticed him, so he knows she recognized him, yet she didn't say anything. In that moment, SY gave up on his mother.

As for XQ's adoptive mother, after XQ learns what she did to SY back in the day, she cuts things off with her family - her father tries to get them to reconcile, but she's pretty firmly against them/her mom. Something will happen to MYC where he is accused of sexual assault. The person with evidence that would help to clear his name ends up being SY's cousin. If it were up to her, she would not come forward with the evidence, but SY tells her it's the right thing to do. She doesn't want to forgive them, though, but SY tells her - he doesn't forgive them, nor does he want their apology because even if they apologized for what they did to him in the past, he would not forgive them. He also, however, does not live with resentment nor does he seek revenge -- in other words, he could give two figs about XQ's adoptive family. As a result, the cousin steps forward with the evidence and asks them to kneel before her first. The dad was going to do, but the mom wouldn't let him and said she would do it, and right before she would kneel the cousin tells her to forget about it b/c at the end of the day, she's her sister-in-law (XQ's) parents. It can understood that they won't have much to do with each other in the future, unless they have to.

In the novel, not much is said of SY's mother beyond the fact that she abandoned her family to be a mistress for a rich man. SY says that when he was little, he was told his mother had another kid, but that kid was taken from her and sent to the main wife to raise, so that kid doesn't even know about his mother. When SY was 10 years old, he went to look for his mother and saw him with the other man. She noticed him, so he knows she recognized him, yet she didn't say anything. In that moment, SY gave up on his mother.

Haha, yes, what a face-slapping wake-up call that would be for XQ's mother! I can see it playing out exactly as you suggest because I'm also resigned to probability of XQ's mother having a redemption arc - sigh. I would rather she not because really, can anyone be forgiven for what she put SY through? I rather appreciated how, in the book, SY neither forgave nor wanted an apology from them. Instead, he shoved it aside and decided to live without resentment. It's like in the drama when XQ told that burn victim patient, the things that happen to us, we don't have to forget about them or accept them. We just have to keep walking forward and then one day, we'll find that those things in our past are in a corner already, and they don't bother us so much anymore. That's how I see SY's attitude towards XQ's parents/mother. And really, that's a realistic outcome. Trying to redeem the mom, on the other hand, which is probably what the drama will do (as that's what dramas tend to do)... that's often a harder pill to swallow. ;-)

That's right. Not only was he raised by the main wife, but he also he doesn't know about SY's mother (being his own mother). But we (the reader) are also learning of this in terms of what SY was told as a child. I wonder if those kind of family secrets would remain hidden forever. We'll have to see what kind of a spin the drama takes with this.

If he knew the identity of the other man that his mom was with and then knew who Jiang Yu's father was, it wouldn't be hard for Song Yan to put two-and-two together in that regard, but there's really no reaction shown when the two men meet in the present (at least, not in that regard).

I assumed Song Yan's terseness/rudeness in the drama was related to his inability to let Suo Jun go and accept someone knew in his place - basically the explanation Jiang Yi gave to Jiang Yu. But this certainly does put a different twist on things! We'll see, indeed.

SY knew about the "other kid" before he went looking for his mother. It's said that when he was little he heard that his mother had another kid, that the kid was taken from her and sent to the main wife (since SY's mother was the mistress) and that the other kid doesn't know about her (SY's mother). At least in the translated version I read, no gender is ever provided for the "other kid" although we assume it is a male since the child was taken from SY's mother. It's also said that when SY was 10 years old, he went looking for his mother. She was with a rich guy, obviously recognized him, but didn't say anything to him, and so he gave up on her then and spit on the other man's car.

The author really doesn't do anything with this half-sibling relationship in the book. Honestly but for the name of Jiang Yu's dad (that apparently contained a typo in the translation that I read) one would never know of the relationship. In the book, the two men don't even meet until near the end. And when they do, Jiang Yu introduces himself by saying to SY that they may meet more in the future (and SY returns the handshake) -- that's really all the interaction they have! And it must also be recalled that right before that, their paths had crossed when SY was visiting that other police department and told the chief there that in 2-3 years, he'd transition to that office to do different type of firefighting work. So all this time, I've assumed that when Jiang Yu said they may meet more often in the future, it was related to that -- that eventually their work would bring them together in the future, and not necessarily that it would be because all their family relationships would be exposed and that would bring the into the same circle.

Oh, interesting. I just went back and looked.

Chapter 24: the elders in the Meng family are talking and someone mentions a Secretary Jiang Ke Cun. The mother then comments that FL and his son, Jiang Yu, had a blind date together.

Chapter 59: the FL’s parents are fighting over the fact that the dad once had a thing with ML’s mother and the mother says (of ML’s mother) that she ran away to be with Jiang Ke Qun and was willing to be his lover.

Jiang Ke Cun… Jiang Ke Qun… that’s in the translated version I’m reading and have never seen the original text to compare. Was there a typo in there and that’s why I never made the connection?!

Also, if Jiang Yu really is half brothers with Song Yan, then I’m assuming FL’s mother is unaware of his true parentage. There’s no way she’d set FL up with him on a blind date otherwise, I wouldn’t think.

If that’s true of the drama, the reason you don’t remember it from the novel is because it wasn’t in the novel and they’ve made it up for the drama.

In the book, SY does tell XQ that his mom went on to have another child but it was taken from her to be raised by the main wife (SY’s mom was a mistress). But that child would’ve been younger and it wasn’t Jiang Yu.

Really, Jiang Yu in the book did not have a large footprint and he and the ML didn’t even meet until the very end.

No, just like yesterday, only 1 episode today. Tomorrow, they will resume with 2 eps per day. It's generally 2 eps on the weekdays and 1 ep on the weekend. Although I think this coming weekend, one day (maybe Sunday?) there will be no new eps. Always best to consult the airing schedule (which you can find in the Photos section of this page) b/c it's not the same day-to-day or even week-to-week.

Yep - the two who appear to be right under him in rank, Yang Chi & Jiang Yi.

Admittedly I’ve read the book so I know she has ulterior motives, but even from what we’ve seen of her in the drama we should be able to figure out she’s not a good person. Remember she’s the reason ML’s cousin ended up at the police station. Not only that but when the cousin spoke with her afterwards she played innocent like she was also scammed. But in fact we can tell from that scene she is a part of that scam and not a true friend to the cousin.

No. There may be others interested in the main characters, but the mains only have eyes for each other and never waver from that so no threats (beyond family disapproval) and no love triangle.

There will be an earthquake and both FL and ML will participate in the rescue missions that follow. During that time, there will be a soldier, Lu Jie. He recognizes the FL though he cannot place her. He asks her about it but she doesn't know him and doesn't think much of it. Later, the ML will be seriously injured. Lu Jie will happen upon the ML at this time; he is surprised to find the ML alive. Seeing the ML also reminds him of how he knows the FL; it's from the pictures the ML used to stare at when they were both serving in the military together. When Lu Jie comments on the ML being alive, the FL will overhear this - it strikes a chord in her, but she doesn't understand it and doesn't think too much of it.

After the earthquake, and after all that they experienced during the rescue missions, the ML and FL will decide to reunite and be together. Some time after that, and after she had already returned her apartment/car and moved in with the ML at his aunt/uncle's house, there is an award ceremony for the earthquake rescue mission. That day, she bumps into Lu Jie. He doesn't know that the FL and ML are back together again, so he asks her if there's no chance for them to be together and tells her about how the ML made it into the military school and worked hard for her to be a special forces soldier. FL is surprised to hear this and asks about the military school and special forces soldier.

It is only then that the FL will learn how the ML was framed as a traitor who sold military secrets and tortured. Lu Jie tells her that he really thought that the ML had died after that and didn't know the ML had survived until their paths crossed after the earthquake. As a result of the revelation, the FL leaves in the middle of the award ceremony and goes back to her parents' house to confront them.