This is my theory for this cdrama, and I stand by it.
The levels of understanding “Hidden Love” can be twofold.
On the surface level, we’re obviously watching Sang Zhi hide her feelings for her Gege. Her “hidden” love isn’t hidden at all. We can see her and relate to her emotional roller coaster. Her hidden love is manifest.
But on another level, the less obvious level, we’re also seeing Duan Jiaxu falling in love with Sang Zhi and hiding it from everybody. I don’t think we’re supposed to see his love for her until about halfway through the drama. We’re expected to believe that she loved him first, and he only learned to love her much later.
I think that’s false interpretation. To me, his “hidden love” is the real secret in this cdrama. Until the very end, the beginning, infancy, and formation of his affection for her remain hidden just beneath the surface level.
In my explanation of the title of Chapter 5, “Secretly. The name engraved in my heart,” I said it’s a metaphor which means to bury her feelings for him. I gave five reasons why Jiaxu’s name was engraved in Sang Zhi’s heart and kept a secret.
One, it wasn’t easy to openly express her feelings to him, considering their circumstances.
Two, she was too embarrassed to be caught secretly drawing sketches of him.
Three, to save face, she lied about the identity of her love and had to continue lying about it.
Four, the timing to be in a relationship was all wrong. According to Jiaxu, she had to wait until she finished high school. Ha!
Five, she knew that she would only have one love, and that would be Duan Jiaxu. Thus, his name was concealed in her heart.
And that’s how she loved him.
However, my explanation of the title is also half-complete. If “hidden love” is to have two levels of understanding, then I need to explain the five different ways Sang Zhi’s name was engraved in Duan Jiaxu’s heart.
Just like Sang Zhi, his feelings had to be hidden. He had his reasons…and funnily enough, they mirrored hers.
One, just like her, it was difficult for him to express his feelings. Since it was a social and cultural taboo to have feelings for her, he had to draw a line. As the older one, he knew better than to act on feelings alone.
Two, he didn’t want his real reason for showering her with small gifts revealed. In the same way that Sang Zhi’s sketches would have exposed her feelings, his numerous gifts would have made his feelings for her obvious.
So what he did do? He made excuses for his gift-giving, like –
the fox stuffed doll was just some useless toy that she could trash anytime (Never mind that he hung on to it for one whole semester and that he insisted she kept it!),
the small cake was just an incentive for her to finish her essay homework (No way would he buy it for her simply because it looked yummy and he wanted to feed her, right?),
the composition entitled “Helping my brother move” was just a “compensation” for reading her essay (Nope! It wasn’t a hidden declaration that he was happy to see her again),
the white bear stuffed toy from the claw machine was to stop her from crying (He completely forgot that she didn’t cry for it!),
and in Episode 6, the black dog stuffed toy that he bought on impulse because it reminded him of her essay (He waited till she got a good grade to give it to her).
For me, her sketches of him were commensurate with his gifts to her. They were both signs and tokens of affection.
Her sketches of him = his gifts to her = signs of affection
Three, he was determined to keep the pretense that she was merely a sister to him. Nothing more, nothing less.
Just like she invented an imaginary online boyfriend so he couldn’t guess who was engraved in her heart, he invented an imaginary brother persona so nobody would guess who was engraved in his heart. As her virtual brother, he could defend her against the bullies, take her home, organize a trip to the science museum, buy her presents, rebuke her for online dating, and show special attention to her.
Her fake online boyfriend = his fake Gege act = their proxies so their real feelings wouldn’t be discovered
Four, he knew the timing was all wrong.
He was keenly aware of their age difference. That’s why he couldn’t tolerate the behavior of Sang Zhi’s imaginary online boyfriend. For him, the imaginary boyfriend broke all the rules he had set for himself…like not dating a minor and not going behind her parents’ back.
DJ: So was it your young boyfriend who asked you to meet him?
SZ: Mmm.
DJ: (taking a bite of his cracker) How old is he?
SZ: He’s graduating from university soon.
DJ: How old did you say he was?
SZ: Twenty-something.
DJ: Where did he tell you to meet him?
SZ: In Yihe.
DJ: Sang Zhi. Tell me. Does your old boyfriend know how old you are?
SZ: (nodding)
DJ: (taking out his phone) What’s his phone number?
SZ: (shaking her head)
DJ: Are you covering for him?! (pause) Sang Zhi. I don’t want to lose my temper with you. But you need to know that your family has your best interests at heart. They won’t let you date online because they believe it will harm you. You can’t be in a relationship until you graduate from high school and become an adult. Once you’re in college, you can do whatever you want. No one will stop you. Do you hear me?
As I also said, he perfectly outlined his reasons for not stepping out of bounds. One, her parents know best. Two, they cared for what was best for her.
But as @Vasilisa and I noted, there were a few moments when he outed himself. As an example, @Vasilisa mentioned his excitement to go on the museum trip; he could barely conceal it. She wrote,
Just look at that hyper energy when he comes downstairs from the tutoring session having come up with the idea to take her to science center. He’s literally hopping on the couch, and while he’s ostensibly focused on the game he is thinking and talking about SZ. I also find it funny how he calls her ‘kiddo’ in this scene and makes sure that SY tells the parents. It’s like he’s rationalizing to himself — “I’m just taking a kid to a science center”. But the discussion happening while they are literally playing kid games makes it clear that the distance between these ‘kids’ isn’t as big as he is trying to pretend.
I mentioned the restraint, almost self-conscious way he petted her hair in the alleyway when he saw her after the bullying incident. I said this,
But his developing feelings would unavoidably surface, for example, when she was in trouble after the bullying. Did you see his hesitation move when he hugged her? He pulled her into his arms then laid his hand on her head. His eyes were wide-eyed. Then he began petting her hair in quick strokes. To me, that subtle change in the manner he was touching her hair was revealing.
You see, a GUY would stroke (or caress) a girl’s hair to comfort her. A BROTHER, on the other hand, would pat his sister’s hair like a baby. DJ stopped himself and CONSCIOUSLY changed the way he was touching her in order not to give her — or anybody — the “wrong” ideas.
And my point here is if all he was feeling for her was brotherly, then there wouldn’t have been any need to CONSCIOUSLY alter his behavior.
There was also this:
Listen to it. You can hear his heavy steps on the stairs. He was rushing to get to their tutoring session.
To me, this mirrored Sang Zhi’s excitement. Sang Zhi was prancing around the room, and fussing with his chair, because she was eagerly waiting for his arrival. But he was also running up the stairs. Despite being tired after working all night, he was rushing so he wouldn’t be late for their tutoring session.
Lol. He didn’t want Sang Zhi to find an excuse to replace him as a substitute.
Remember when he said?
It wasn’t about the money. He didn’t want to be replaced, NOT because he needed the tutoring money, but because he was committed to helping her and he was looking forward to the time they’d spend together.
Sigh.
Small details like these are easy to ignore when you relegate Duan Jiaxu to a mere surrogate brother.
And now for the last reason.
Five, he could sense back then that she was special to him. Sang Zhi engraved his name in her heart because he was the one for her. It comes as no surprise that Duan Jiaxu felt the same way about her. Remember what I said about the flowerpot being a metaphor of their budding romance?
As corny as this may sound, his hidden love is like a seed in that flowerpot. It’s dormant, germinating and biding its time when it can finally sprout and emerge from under the soil.
Nex up, Episode 6.
Yippppeee! Part 2! 🥰
I’m out for lunch so I’ll come back later to comment. 🥰🙇🏻♀️
Bon appetit!
Oh, this was such a pleasure to read. Pretend boyfriend and imaginary brother.
One of my thoughts was that SZ was the first girl DJ interacted with and liked.. From his point of view, she was ‘safe’ because she was younger. He could do things with her that weren’t quite dating because the two of them had set limits — or so he thought. I’ll explain what I mean: it’s similar to a fairly naïve young person who believes they can act as teasingly or somewhat flirtatiously with a respected married person as with an unmarried person because they are safe. They believe (often incorrectly) that the other person’s marriage vows mean they won’t react amorously. I stand with him caring more and more deeply about her, but not being consciously in love. If he were, that revelation in the snow would never happen.
As regards the comfort hug after the bullying. We see a lot of comfort hugs in dramas. We know the difference, because the amorous hug looks more wrapped around and stroking, as @packmule infers. Comfort is always shown as the pat, pat, pat on the back. Here we have something a bit between the two. Most importantly, this is probably the first girl that DJ has hugged and the physical sensation must have struck him.
To reinforce what @vasilia and @packmule said about his excitement to be with her — the bike ride after the bullying. In DJ’s mind it was to make SZ forget her anxiety and traumatic feelings, but his own smile told a tale. It was the first time we see real joy on his face.
Must run.
Gasp!! Mind blown! Did the writers make us try to reason DJ’s niceness towards SZ as a brotherly-platonic love when all along it was the true hidden love that shall not be said? :O
I love the idea that there is more than one hidden love, the one that is not explicitly said in the drama but expressed. And yet we aren’t too sure because, anyone could do it on the pretext of being nice.
Honestly, if a guy I liked did that to me, I would have been moved 心动 （heart moved or heart fluttered).
Okie! I’m here before going to sleep. Thank you, lunch was at our favourite restaurant of 32 years. I was with my eldest son and Mother. I had seafood fried egg noodles. 😋
Wow! I love those equations! 👏🏻 They are really spot on. ☺️. I actually love this whole engraved in DJ’s heart connection. You’re really great at connecting/dissecting. 🥰
The excuses are valid too. I mean if you think about it, why keep sending SZ gifts when she achieves good grades when she’s smart anyway? It was only physics that she had a problem with. 😃
But for me though, I prefer to think that SZ is special to him because she’s SY’s sister, her parents helped him when he needed it. Of course I have to add that she’s cute and she’s the only girl that he’s hanged around with. He’s protective of her definitely and he wanted her to be inspired so she can finish school hence his awards/gifts. ☺️
SZ engraved him in her heart but I loved that she put away all of his gifts from him and really tried to move on/get over him. Ignored him too. ☺️
I totally get that seed from the pot reference too. The beginning of him having feelings for her was definitely them seeing the snow together. I believed what he said was true, he started to like her there and yeah, she fell in love first but DJ fell harder. 🥰
@Grace,
The thing is we had TWO writers for the cdrama. The original writer wrote a straightforward one plot: young girl likes Gege, Gege thinks she’s a bit spoiled but goes along with the flow.
The screenwriter however is the famous Love O2O writer.
If I were her and this novel was given to me to be ADAPTED into a cdrama, of course I’d give it a different spin. My ego would demand that I leave MY mark on it. 😏
I don’t know if you remember the Love O2O plot.
In the story, there was hidden love and secrecy too. The hero Xiao Nai conspired to keep his identity secret from the girl.
Weiwei didn’t know that the gamer she partnered with for her online games was the college boss/everybody’s crush Xiao Nai. He actually chose her to be his partner because he spotted her at his Game Center, and liked her skills.
She thought their partnership was just random. And felt confused when she began falling in love with someone she’d only met online and didn’t know in person.
So Xiao Nai arranged to meet her and revealed himself.
It’s only in the very end of the cdrama when he brought her back to the Game Center where their story all began, did he confess that he picked her, and that their meeting wasn’t accidental.
Weiwei teased him, “so it was love at first sight for you?”
After giving it some thought, he said, “if I’d known what I know now, I’d definitely be in love at the very first sight of you.”
😂
Now…
Apply this writer’s mindset/worldview/mental process/logic to THIS new drama. Would you say that she’s the type to write a simple girl-likes-boy, boy-tolerates-her-till-he-falls-for-her kind of story?
No. She’s the type to write a true hidden love story, too. She goes for reversals, plot twists and the guy-loved-the-girl-first-but-didn’t-realize-it-because-love-isn’t-a-competition stories.
😂
To borrow Xiao Nai’s words, if the viewers had known what they SHOULD have known about this screenwriter’s style and modus operandi, then they’d expect the hero’s hidden love all along.
Of course, given the social taboo on underage attraction, Duan Jiaxu’s feelings would necessarily have to be kept secret. 😂😂
You win!!! 😂😂😂
This writer is very good. I should watch out for every drama she’s involved in. ☺️
Lol! It’s not a competition, @agdr03. Stick to your guns! Who knows I may change my mind later. I haven’t gone past Ep 8 anyway.
I know! 😃
But with an open mind, it makes sense, everything you said. There’s nothing wrong with liking someone that early. I’ve had a few crushes when I was 14. There’s those boys who apparently had a crush on me but they were weird in showing it like being nit picky with me. I was clueless. 😂
DJ kept his love and knew his limits and boundaries so I don’t have a problem with that either. ☺️
I think this love story was told nicely. It’s up there with LoveO2O for me. 🥰
This is an interesting take.
I take JX’s love for SZ as just an authentic expression of love from one human to another, one without malice. It’s a love that knows change.
What I mean by that is his love transends whatever current label their relationship is. Maybe now, he’s like a brother to her, but he shows his love and care in a way that is appropriate for that relationship. He loves her genuinely and while knowing that he’s actually not a brother to her.
But that’s EXACTLY what I hate, @Bahandi.
Grrr.
Posters and viewers who pigeon-hole Jiaxu’s incipient feelings (note: I’m not calling it love) toward Sang Zhi as nothing more than “brotherly” or “platonic” simply because they can’t get over the idea that 21 year old boys may have “secret” non-brotherly or non-platonic feelings for a young girl.
What the heck?! I’m not saying he’s a criminal or an axe-murderer or a pervert. lol.
That kind of puritanism is not only weird and anachronistic in the real world, but it’s also unsupported by sciences, like biology, psychology, and behavioral neuroscience.
Right, @agdr03?
People sometimes fail to distinguish between actions and thoughts/emotions.
There’s nothing wrong with having a crush or having “feelings” or feeling affection and attachment for someone. That’s just plain being human. We don’t have to be squeamish about it.
However, if DJ ACTED on his feelings/emotions/affections/attachments, and groomed her, seduced her, coerced her or had sexual relations with her, then he would have crossed over to the “dark side.”
On a legal note — and I’ll only breeze through this because I hate talking about law as you know on this blog — there’s such a thing as “age of consent” and “Romeo and Juliet” laws and “statutory rape.” 🙂 That’s why I made sure to establish from the very beginning that DJ was NOT grooming Sang Zhi; that would have been indefensible no matter how cute/sweet/romantic the story was.
I don’t have to repeat myself…I hope. 🙂
Thank you very much! 🥰 I really appreciate you distinguishing those boundaries and even that side of the law. Well said. 👏🏻
I’m just happy that the drama itself was great and that it was a big hit. Rosy said thank you very much for the love because it wasn’t an easy journey. She thanked the whole crew and team for giving their best. ❤️
I just realised that the only difference with Xiao Nai and Duan Jiaxu is that DJ graduated earlier than him. Xiao Nai did a full degree of Restraint for 2 years! 😉
👏👏 I found the winning comment! 👏👏
Xiao Nai earned a PhD in abstinence and restraint in just two years.😜 Weren’t they cohabitating, too?
I’ve prepared a long answer to you, @Fern, and @Stacy. Will try to post before heading to the beach tomorrow. Our beaches here don’t compare to the beaches in the Philippines and Thailand though.
Yup! PhD in abstinence and restraint for Xiao Nai! Full honours! 👏🏻🥰
Xiao Nai and WeiWei we’re living together too!!! 🥰☺️
DJ probably only told SZ to ‘lock’ her bedroom door a few times. 😂
I remember Xiao Nai’s PhD. 🤓🥰 Bless him.
When I wrote about “set limits”, I meant that ‘set’ as an adjective to limits (inflexible, fixed), not the verb which would imply an agreement.
I also like @Bahandi’s description of DJ’s feelings as an authentic expression of love without malice — a love that knows change. I agree with @adgr03’s thoughts, she fell for him (in a romantic sense) first.
Spoilers:
Tbh, a lack of air conditioning in high temperatures might cause me to move in with my BF, too. Not because I wanted to be close to him, but because I can’t concentrate or sleep in very high temperatures. Well done to DJ for thinking of that. 😉 And it seems that the flat was kept even after he moved out, for her/their convenience.
I hope that you enjoy the beach, @packmule3. May it be a lovely summer’s day and hot but not too hot as it is in so many places in the world. We were planning a barbeque for this evening, but it looks like we will have rain the entire day and 17C/63F as the highest temperature, because it’s England, innit? 😜 Fine though, because people complain when it’s above 72F.
I hope you’ll finish the whole drama. They had so much fun when they went camping. 🥰 Look at them! 🥰
CTO! I couldn’t find one with an English sub. ☺️
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuWi2sdMTin/?igshid=Y2I2MzMwZWM3ZA==
@Fern, yeah DJ kept their home even though he’s moved back to Nanwu. ☺️
It really was their home. 🥰
@agdr03, how sweet is that clip?! They are both adorable.
I agree @Fern ☺️ Just seeing those smiles and laughter made me smile and laugh too. 🥰