Bai Hehuai Lover

So firstly I should probably mention that I watched this on iQiyi and the English subtitles were AI translations so I'm sure there were tons of mistranslations because a solid 25% of dialogue was just completely incoherent collections of words that the AI spit out which sometimes I could gather the meaning from context and other times I was just completely lost. The first two episodes were deeply upsetting as we see Gu Jinyu gagged and held by two guards as she was forced to perform a marriage ceremony with Bai Yunxi and then Bai Yunxi is eager to have her wedding night and Gu Jinyu is very clearly not willing and the only reason it doesn't happen is because they are interrupted. If you can stomach the first two episodes, it does get better, but any entertainment I was finding is completely soured in the final 4 episodes. As Gu Jinyu has been presenting as male for most of her life, Bai Yunxi is unaware of this fact until it's exposed and... honestly her reaction comes off as her being disgusted with the fact that Gu Jinyu is a woman, esp given she already knew who Gu Jinyu's family was prior to learning about her disguise.

Anyway, there's a lot going on, but honestly the heart of the story is Gu Jinyu and Bai Yunxi getting closer as they work together as business partners and Xiao Tian Hu, Bai Yunxi's brother (I don't think biologically? it's impossible for me to tell with the AI translated subtitles, but she clearly views him as family), starts to realize he is crushing on Gu Jinyu as well and I can see why people wouldn't like this development but I found it kind of hilarious because it felt like the writers were saying "no matter what gender you are, if you are attracted to Gu Jinyu, you are gay" I love people with confusing genders!!!!!!!!! Gu Jinyu you are an icon <3

Also despite my loving the Gu Jinyu androgyny vibes: given censorship, I'm not expecting any CDramas to be outwardly trans positive but this show is insanely transphobic, made extra upsetting given how much of the show hinges on crossdressing. Like the constant reassurance in Gu Jinyu's inner monologue about her being a woman, a scene where Xiao Tian Hu wears a dress and he is immediately swarmed by a bunch of women who start hitting him and pull off the dress (which is played for humor), a scene where Gu Jinyu tries to confess about being a woman and Bai Yunxi misunderstands and wants to "prove" she's a woman by trying to make Gu Jinyu touch her boobs...... like it's really concerning that people are calling this a cute "Girl's Love" show when Bai Yunxi's reaction to learning Gu Jinyu is a woman is straight up lesbophobic, the homophobia of Xiao Tian Hu's internal panic about crushing on Gu Jinyu because he thinks he's "sick" for liking a man and another character agreeing with him, and then the rampant transphobia. Cursed show honestly.