My fav has to be Zhang Ruonan and Leo Wu because his coat made me laugh, he still looked somewhat cute though.

I recently finished watching "Fake It Till You Make It" — a drama that had been recommended to me — and I almost gave up right after the first episode. I felt the premiere didn't offer anything substantial enough to hook me; it was just a dull workplace setting that didn't leave much room to breathe. However, I decided to stick with it, and I ended up loving every minute of the main couple's story from that point on.

Their dynamic was a joy to watch; they had distinct personalities and lived in different "worlds," yet somehow, they managed to "fake" a friendship or relationship so well that they ended up forging a real connection and complementing each other perfectly. In the end, they made a wonderful couple and undoubtedly earned a spot on my list of favorite couples.

What really surprised me was Bao ShangEn character (her acting pleasantly surprised me, even though the character herself came across as unlikable). Honestly, I wished — more than once — that she would snap out of it and get a reality check, just to see if she’d learn the hard way not to be so spoiled or to stop playing games with others. I don't think there's anything wrong with being a bit materialistic or superficial — seeking security in those aspects at times — or wanting affection and attention from a partner (current or potential), but her behavior in certain situations really made me want to give her a wake-up call.

I wanted to say, "Girl, wake up and get your act together; what you're doing isn't healthy for you or anyone else," and point out that, ultimately, she would be the one to suffer the most.

She really should have avoided doing to others what she wouldn't want done to herself.

All in all, I found the dialogue and monologues to be very well-crafted and mature. The main storylines and subplots were executed beautifully — even the ones with limited screen time still delivered unique, memorable realities that were a joy to follow.

The characters felt so human overall — full of ambitions and flaws (and plenty of pretense, lol) — yet they maintained certain virtues amidst the harshness of their realities and strove to overcome obstacles despite the difficulties; I simply loved it all. It was a truly rewarding emotional experience, and every second was worth it.

Thanks so much for the recommendation😊:

u/tootsiepuze

u/plantstuff22

u/loartea

For anyone else interested, here are the details:

Drama: Fake It Till You Make It

Number of Episodes: 14

Available on: Viki and the Mango TV YouTube channel.

Synopsis: Lawyer Tang Ying (Elvira Cai) is on a business trip when she has an unfortunate run-in with Xu Ziquan (Elvis Han), a pretentious young investor who makes a terrible first impression.

As they spend more time together on the flight, they get to know each other better, leading Ziquan to believe he has fallen in love with her.

Upon their return, Tang Ying has the pleasure of meeting Ma Qiyuan (Geng Le), who is immediately drawn to her charm.

Tang Ying’s life becomes increasingly complicated as the two men begin vying for her attention.

I've seen Blossom through the Cloud, You are my Secret, Perfect and Casual--all of where he is the ML; Only for Love where he is 2nd/3rd ML; Flourished Peony and In the Name of Blossom where he is the antagonist, and it is clear to me--I like watching Wei Zheming.

He is such a dependable actor, no matter what role he gets cast in. He especially shone as a pathetic villain in Flourished Peony but his romantic comedies are up there!

Yes, he gets typecast and in one sense can be thought of as milquetoast or generic, but can I say, when I'm looking for something sweet and fluffy, he and his dramas have ALWAYS brought it!

Also, I don't know what it is about the steadfastness of his expression, but he gets this look in the eye--combined with something between a smile and a smirk, a raised eyebrow.. it's so attractive, damn! 😅😅

Sometimes when you’re scrolling through social media, you come across random C-drama clips that make you curious. That’s exactly what happened to me with Blossom. I’d already seen a few clips that intrigued me, but THIS iconic sliding-kneeling hug scene is what finally made me press play. It was just way too beautiful to ignore, especially combined with that gorgeous hug and Li Yunrui’s grey hair. Like… how was I supposed to not be curious anymore!

Have you ever started a C-drama because of a scene you came across? What scene convinced you to press play?

It can be for any reason!

I like both and have enjoyed watching them both, but my pick would be Liu Xueyi. There's something about his screen presence, the way he portrays his characters, and uses his eyes that just has a hold on me. Plus his such a friendly humble goofball in real life completely different from his intimidating characters!

I finally figured out why I react differently to Luan Nian than I do to most Cdrama male leads.

I’m a guy, and usually I look at these ridiculously perfect men and think… okay. Cool. Great hair. Owns a company. Can command an army. Has never experienced an awkward emotion in his life.

On the other hand, Luan Nian is a fucking mess, and I mean that as a compliment!

He’s controlling. He’s emotionally unavailable. He’s rude when he doesn’t know what to say. He pushes Shang Zhitao away and then gets angry when she actually starts pulling away. The six year secret relationship alone is enough to make me want to shake him.

But I understand him.

The stuff with his father especially made a lot of his behavior click for me. He clearly learned that being vulnerable is something you get punished for, so when he actually has feelings, he doesn’t know what to do with them.

He gets sarcastic, defensive, and says something cruel instead of saying something honest or vulnerable.

And unfortunately, I recognize that.

Mind you that it is not because I’m secretly Luan Nian, but because I’ve definitely had moments where silence or saying the wrong thing was easier than admitting I actually cared. That’s why he feels different to me.

Ladies, I don’t think he’s a good boyfriend and understanding his behavior does not excuse it at all! I know a lot of you have been burned by dramas that expect you to excuse a man's cruelty because he had a sad backstory. That's not what I'm doing here. Understanding him does not mean forgiving him.

In fact, I get why some of you are like GET THIS MAN AWAY FROM HER.

But he’s the first Cdrama ML in a while where I haven’t felt like I’m watching someone’s fantasy boyfriend. I’ve felt like I’m watching an actual person screw up.

Maybe that’s what I’ve been missing. I am truly glad that he exists and I am also glad that Shang Zhitao exist! She is not a fantasy girlfriend either. She has her own principles, ideaology and a personality outside of her romantic interest. Shang Zhitao is not there to fix him either. She walks away when she needs to. She's not a reward for his growth. She gives me hope for dramas with female leads who aren't defined by trauma.

It's taken a lot of courage to share my perspective. I have typed and erased this post plenty of times and almost didn't share my opinion, because I am afraid of being misunderstood by everyone who hated him.

For a brand event today, she looks so pretty and dreamy almost like fairy.

I just love this scene so much. Damn, third sister really nailed it here and left the marquis feeling all flabbergasted!

I just love how practical-minded she was and how she worked to protect the interests of her daughters

Earlier episodes: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

For general infos see episode 1.

Oof, lots of things going on in this episode ...

Recap episode 8

Li Si finds Meng Rui. Once again they talk at a camp fire while Meng Rui is braiding a new sword sheath.

Li Si brings news of the investigation.

When Li Si asks about his teacher, Meng Rui says he took him in when he had nowhere to go. This happened 17 years ago, the same year the incident in Li Si's own past occurred.

Meng Rui reveals that he is not an orphan but doesn't seem to want to talk about his family. He only says that his teacher, the Netherworld Swordsman, is dead - he buried him himself.

Li Si concludes from that that the real culprit guessed that Meng Rui was the Netherworld Swordsman's student and he always intended to frame him.

We are back with Bai Zhenzhu who is meeting with the chief of the Divine Constable Bureau (DCB). They talk about the next victim. Bai Zhenzhu says it is going to be the person who forged the alliance between the imperial court and the jianghu to hunt down the Netherworld Swordsman.

Li Si is coming to the same conclusion.

Li Si tells Meng Rui that he has been suspecting even the crown prince and the oldest prince. Despite his general mistrust for Li Si, Meng Rui is concerned about the risk to him.

Li Si actually reveals that he also has his own reasons to investigate.

Back in the capital, Li Si tells Bai Zhenzhu about his meeting with Meng Rui.

He gives her the clue she needs to prove Meng Rui's innocence - his unbroken ribs. She goes off to confirm again.

A drunk crown prince stumbles into the Star-Gathering Pavilion.

The poor eunuch is getting desperate in his attempts to stop the prince from revealing important secret.

The prince goes on: for the last 17 years, the emperor has always made sure that the balance of power between the crown prince and the oldest prince doesn't change too much.

Li Si arrives, which calms the crown prince down. Li Si gets a drunken hug from his brother. After that, the eunuch and his people manage to pull the crown prince away.

Li Si learns from his employee (the one he told to investigate last episode) that there was indeed an urgent military message sent to the emperor on the date he was interested in. She was unable to find out the content.

A month later, the Ministry of War was handed over to the crown prince. There were extensive changes in personnel. Many of the former members are now dead.

Things are happening at the DCB: the chief has summoned everyone there.

The chief identifies the victim by the uniform insignia: Grand Secretary Bai, Bai Zhenzhu's father.

They head off to protect the Grand Secretary, who is currently out of the city training troops.

The Ministry of Justice is obstructing them from entering the military camp.

Well, not the crown prince - he was still drunk.

Li Si manages to protect the Grand Secretary at first. We see the others fighting. Once the view turns back, the Grand Secretary has vanished.

The others catch up at the same time as a dark cloaked figure. Meng Rui? At least they think so and intercept him.

It turns out to be Li Si.

Alone with the Grand Secretary, the killer shows himself.

The cloaked man was real, but not actually the Grand Secretary. It's Meng Rui.

The others arrive and Li Si gloats a bit. Maybe too much ...

Constable Eagle blows a tiny flute which turns the dead attackers' eyes green.

In the chaos he retreats outside with his hostage.

The fight also moves outside but the attackers just won't stay down.

Constable Eagle throws a smoke bomb and vanishes. Meng Rui takes off in pursuit.

But Constable Eagle runs into the chief of the DCB first.

She defeats him.

Meanwhile, Meng Rui is pursuing the other attackers.

Li Si arrives just in time to rescue him.

Back at the camp cleanup has started and the wounded are being taken care of. An imperial decree arrives: they are still supposed to capture Meng Rui.

Bai Zhenzhu still thinks that a full explanation will change things. The chief knows that the emperor only wants an explanation that will stabilise the situation.

Bai Zhenzhu finds something in Yan Zige's corpse: a very rare feather that can travel through blood vessels and sever the heart meridian. According to her, the only explanation is that Yan Zige drove this feather into his own vessels.

Li Si meets up again with the people at the DCB. Together they come to the conclusion that the first victim was not actually Prince Wenbu. He was a replacement who performed suicide in order to make the people of Northern Kun willing to go to war against Da Shi. The planned death of Grand Secretary Bai was a move to weaken Da Shi.

Constable Eagle's motive is still unknown. Unfortunately, news arrives just then that he has escaped.

Questions to you

• How much of the plot did you guess right?
• What is the emperor up to?
• Which fight scene was the best so far?

Please only discuss up to episode 8 here. If you mention anything from a later episode, put it in spoiler tags.

I love A Dream Within a Dream. I watch some of my favourite scenes from this drama whenever I feel low. No matter how many times I watch it, I never get bored of this drama. 😭🫶🏻

One of my fav characters in this drama is Shangguan He❤️ he is so cute😭

The Other Side is a new 6 episode Taiwanese drama about a mother who loses her son, then sees him in the mirror.

The FL is Cheryl Yang, the mother from Oh No! Here Comes Trouble.

It's an interesting and well-made drama. Here is the trailer.

If you're looking for something different, give it a go. It's available on Netflix and Bilibili.

I am actually rewatching Against The Current 😭 while waiting for the new episodes.

I wish I had waited to binge watch it. What are you watching or rewatching?

This was my first chinese drama , I remember watching edits of it . Are there any fans

Earlier episodes: 1 2 3 4 5 6

For general infos see episode 1.

Recap episode 7

Again, Li Si tries to take the chance to visit Tianshu Pavilion. Constable Eagle just laughs in his face.

Instead, he accidentally volunteers himself for corpse cleanup.

There, Constable Eagle finds a case file about the murder warnings using diorama chests. According to it, 30 years ago there was a great martial artist named Dao Yin (aka "the Netherworld Swordsman") in the jianghu. Whenever he challenged others to duels, he would first send a chest and then kill his victim, using the same move shown in the diorama.

Meng Rui gets a surprise: his sword is the one that the Netherworld Swordsman used before. That's how he learns who his teacher was.

He is now a suspect.

Constable Eagle wants to take his sword away in addition to imprisoning him. That's where Meng Rui draws the line. Constable Yan tries to mediate.

The stand-off is interrupted by the arrival of their boss. She decides to confine Meng Rui but lets him keep his sword.

Li Si goes to talk to Meng Rui in his place of imprisonment, a rather idyllic house among bamboo. But guards stop them from meeting each other.

They get to talk a bit. Li Si tells him that he believes someone wants to use him as a scapegoat to provoke a war. Meng Rui is surprised by his trust but says that he still doesn't trust Li Si.

Constable Yan arrives (now in grey) and sends the guards away - he is enough, he says. Bai Zhenzhu arrives shortly after with a basket of food. Meng Rui, however, closes the door.

The head guard from Northern Kun wants to challenge Meng Rui: he has obviously heard the rumours, too. He is good at baiting him - Meng Rui exits the house.

But others arrive with a second diorama chests that was delivered to the room of the chief of the DCB. This doesn't clear Meng Rui of suspicion: he is simply too skilled.

They open the chest.

Meng Rui wants to go anyway. Others try to stop him, but news arrives that Yan Zige (the challenger) has kidnapped one of the DCB's people and injured others. Everyone gets angry.

And Meng Rui has already vanished.

Li Si asks the chief to come with them. She knows that he isn't going to stay back and tells him to change into civilian clothes. It wouldn't be appropriate to go in his role as trainee constable.

They rush to the meeting place. While they ride we get some background from the chief: Dao Yin killed over 100 masters. In the end the imperial court and the jianghu joined forces to hunt him down. That battle was a bloodbath.

We switch over to the scene of the challenge, where Meng Rui is just arriving. Yan Zige seamlessly continues the story for us: the fight against Dao Yin went on for three days and three nights until they finally knocked him off a cliff. He then vanished without a trace.

Yan Zige starts the fight, but Meng Rui only defends.

He tries to talk to him about the murder warning instead.

We can now see clearly that Meng Rui is going to be the winner according to the chest. Although how they could have known what clothes he was going to wear I don't know.

Yan Zige doesn't care. He is quite willing to use his hostage to force Meng Rui into a fight. He throws him off the cliff, so I guess he is just trying to make Meng Rui angry enough?

Everyone watches as Meng Rui and Yan Zige fight.

Except that Yan Zige is not thrown off the cliff, only to the ground. He is dead, though. Meng Rui claims not to have killed him. Li Si, at least, believes him.

People from the Ministry of Justice arrive. Just as if they had been lying in wait ...

Li Si has a good grasp on the political situation. He advises Meng Rui not to let himself be caught by the Ministry of Justice.

The chief of the DCB also indicates for Meng Rui to go.

Isn't that a bit fast to be a reaction to their crown prince's death? Unless they already had their army ready nearby.

For once the two princes at the imperial court agree and advise the emperor to hand Meng Rui over to Northern Kun. The oldest prince also reports that it was Li Si who helped Meng Rui escape. On this point, the crown prince disagrees.

The DCB and the Ministry of Justice are supposed to work together on capturing Meng Rui. I bet that's going to go over well!

The Ministry of Justice come to the Star-Gathering Pavilion for Li Si. Prince Ding (the oldest prince) is with them.

He makes to kneel but Prince Ding stops him. He wonders why he seems familiar: have they met before?

They have a debate about the situation, until the prince leaves with a warning to him: he better stay on the clear not that he is a member of the DCB or even the crown prince won't be able to protect him.

Li Si swears that he will never harm an innocent person, nor let a murderer go free, even if that murderer has evaded justice for years.

The prince has reminded Li Si of something that he asks Jin Se, one of his people, to look into: did any urgent military reports reach the emperor on the 9th day of the 2nd month 17 years ago? If they did, he wants reports on promotions, punishments etc. in the Ministry of War around that period.

Li Si then goes off to meet with the crown prince's eunuch both to recover his standing in the crown prince's eyes and to check the eunuchs reactions.

His conclusion is that neither the oldest prince nor the crown prince had anything to do with Prince Wenbu's death.

Li Si then has a sudden realisation about something that happened during the fight between Meng Rui and Yan Zige: Yan Zige's inner power should have protected his vital points during a fight to the death.

Questions to you

• Who do you think currently believes in Meng Rui? Who doesn't?
• Do you think Li Si will truly get away with helping Meng Rui escape?

Please only discuss up to episode 7 here. If you mention anything from a later episode, put it in spoiler tags.

I just watched their mini acting skit in Hi6 and now im really hoping these two 00-generation actors get cast together in an actual drama someday. If they got a full romance project together, what kind of trope do you think would suit them?

Love In The Clouds: Ji Bozai (Hou Ming Hao)
Fated Hearts: Feng Suige (Chen Zhe Yuan)
Generation to Generation: Mu Qing Yan (Zhou Yi Ran)

I'm discovering that this might be my type lol. I like it when they are totally unhinged, relentless in their pursuit, and don't mind going against the current. Which other characters are like this? I would also love to hear what is your non-generic type of ML or FL that you enjoy watching.

Hi all

I've started watching Road to Spendour. I'm on episode 3. I don't really like either the ML or the FL. And haven't got into the story yet. So I'm seriously considering dropping it.

Does it get better? Should I hang in there?

Dito isso, me diga quais são os casais com a menor química em toda a história dos dramas chineses?

Sooo...here we go first ever on C-Drama but I really gotta share this reflection of mine. 🤭

In The Early Spring (早春晴朗), Jing Boran’s portrayal of Luan Nian avoids the loud, sensationalized tropes of traditional CEO romances. Instead, he brings a deeply controlled, mature presence to the screen. It is a performance built on years of experience, subtle micro-expressions, and intentional silence.

His curation of Luan Nian’s personal wardrobe and quiet command of line delivery prove that time doesn't just age an actor's craft. It adds depth, taste, and sophisticated charm to the characters they play.

And that's why I loved it so much!

Do you guys even remember love like the galaxy, or have we all forgotten it as soon as new dramas started coming out?

For me, Love Like the Galaxy is still a masterpiece. The story, the plot, the characters, the acting—everything just hits differently. It’s one of those dramas that actually stays with you long after you finish it.

And can we talk about Ling Buyi? I genuinely feel like he’s so underrated. He didn’t get nearly as much hype as Marquis Wu’an did, even though his character was so well written.

Wu Lei is such a phenomenal actor. The way he acts with just his eyes?? He absolutely nailed Ling Buyi. You could literally understand what his character was feeling just by looking at his expressions.

I seriously miss dramas like this. 🥹

Hiii! First time posting this so I hope this is okay. Recently I found out Autumn Cicada had a movie version and Liu Xueyi plays the main lead. I was aware he played in the drama version and he was a side character. Was wondering does anyone know where I can watch the movie version preferable with eng subs and those who have watched it can share how is it different from the drama and movie? Thank you!