I loved Episode 8!!! And wow TJC’s voice acting the different emotions with the same lines was amazing!

SPOILER for EPISODE 8

SO DELISH

SPOILER

I just had to rewatch Episode 8’s sweet-simple-in between frying fish ‘confession’…. Could there be anything cuter? A cook-cute-confession LOLOL. What better confession for our Recipe Couple!

I loved the confession! Love how he started then paused, which I read as being a bit nervous. I like how MQQ comes across smooth and experienced at times, then other times his lack of experience shows. I also adore how he’s not embarrassed to show her or allow others to see his feelings for her.

MINOR SPOILERS

EPISODES 7-12

MINOR SPOILERS

@Stacy, I really liked the low key but sincere romancing of QQC. Yes, he’s uncertain, inexperienced, but not deterred. I liked how honest he was with her about himself. I believe the only lie he told was that his teammates were busy during Valentine’s Day LOL… it was his made up reason for why he was out alone with her.

At first they were able to get by without lying but as the people who knew them came thick and fast, they had to keep changing who he was to her. I was amused to find that he’d moved from being boyfriend to a friend or to a regular customer or to a mere acquaintance (with a girlfriend who lived in Gu Sheng’s street – technically so true) who needed Gu Sheng to give directions LOL.

The other source of conflict is going to be, when most people know, will he be having floods of people disturbing him at the hospital!! Knowing whom he is, seems to be something that’s bound to happen, it’s just a matter of time.

Yes, I love how he never hides how he feels about her to her and when among their friends. That’s something his housemate Zhou Zheng should learn from him. So one couple will have lots of sweet moments (and skinship) while the other will be fraught with misunderstanding LOL.

@GB and @Stacey – reading your comments – I loved the confession too.

Loved the look he gave her when he was about to launch into it… she clumsily filled in the gap by reciting the recipe.

Undeterred he began again.

He is both gentle and strong in this context and he gently probes unhelpful behaviours.

@Kate, I do feel that this Show is quite well and deliberately directed. it matters that the Director is experienced. That said, I feel your irritation at the heavy-handed comments, but I realised that this is going to be a pattern. There is actually no ‘other’ tale to tell except how they are going to navigate the opinions, pushiness, misinterpretations and possible rancour or approval of the scary fans LOL.

I, too, felt it was OTT, the way they kept being accosted by people who knew at least one of them, and how they were interrogated as if everyone and his brother had a right to know. It’s actually very exaggerated. Although there is curiosity in the Chinese society, it’s seldom so rude or pushy.

I guess without the extreme nosiness of all and sundry, this tale of dating would become rather bland.

Now we are in the phase where we see how creative the couple can be to come up with excuses about why they are seen together, without revealing that they are dating, or who either one of them is.

I always love those tropes where the extra/fake/secondary identity becomes the source of stress. Now everyone commiserates with Character QCC because SSM seems to like someone else named Mo Qing Cheng… while we giggle because he’s the same person.

(I recall how I loved it in Healer when Jung Hoo was jealous of Healer whom Young Shim had a crush on, eventhough himself was Healer LOL.)

@Fern, true what you and @Kate say… I didn’t feel that it was QQC going too fast for GS aat first, but that was likely the case. She’d just found out that he was her crush/idol and next thing she knew he was pursuing her.

Interesting point:

I like how the ML makes the FL’s first hearing of his voice into their first meeting to widen the gap between them dating and their actual first meeting.

That’s true. He made it seem like they’d known each other for so long, that it was not rushing it to be seeing each other every available time he had now. Depending on each person’s perspective, some will say they are going too fast, some too slow… hopefully our OTP will find that they are going just right!!

MY CONJECTURE ABOUT MO QING CHENG WITH REGARDS TO GU SHENG
I didn’t read the novel hence this is my conjecture… and I just caught some trailers, one of which possibly supports the guess that he knew her by voice long ago but was not able to find her then. Also at that time, she might have been too young to be dating. Perhaps he’d been single for all the years, because he was searching for her through her voice. He had entered chat room after chat room, looking for her voice. So it was both an ‘accident’ (as he said) that he found her, and also destiny because he’d been putting effort into looking for her (Yes, I recall Ki Ho in Castaway Diva searching island after island for Mok Ha). This makes their ‘meeting’ doubly romantic.

When he found her, he didn’t know what to say or how to start befriending her, but her rave over the chicken in pork stomach dish got him giving her a recipe, as a way to start a conversation with her. At least he could always get back to chatting with her about food. It was serendipitous that they had much in common. He liked to cook and she was a foodie. They both loved to listen to voices, were involved in dubbing and in music, and had connections with those ‘circles’ as it’s called. Connections are a very important part of how individuals get on, and they had the right links. Finally it was GS’s friend Xiao Xing who connected her with The Perfect Voice Studio.

The serendipitous time that he found her, she was also old enough to date. The age impediment, out of the way, now they have to navigate the other possible hurdles like her hesitations, their families’ approval, and their own need to maintain confidentiality of their identities. The side stories of others trying to slot themselves in between them, of public opinion or the interference of friends will be secondary concerns.

We can look forward to a fun ride with lots of sweet romance, counterpoised against the romance of Zhou Zheng and Xiao Xing (ZZ and XX LOL).

Hello, @GB. I had wondered about an earlier interest in GS’s voice by QQC. Could it be from back when she was in middle school and made the song that he heard in the first episode? We will see, I suppose. Someone said he may have listened to her earlier broadcasts with her club/group, but I wondered if it was from an even earlier date. Later on, when/if there are problems with fans, he can say that he fell for her voice years ago. In the Truth or Dare game, he said that it was he who likes her more – he understands that she is hesitant.

I’m surprised that QQC’s nosy friends also didn’t know about the photo post of him and GS.

Gosh, now every time someone gets sick in a drama, I automatically think ‘test for Covid’. ZZ will probably get ill and pass it to XX. I hope QQC doesn’t give it to her grandfather. Speaking of whom…

Do you think there will be a hospital crisis with Grandfather and it will involve QQC, either for better or worse? I roll my eyes now, but it would be a dramatic trope.

It’s interesting that QQC always wears a mask in the hospital corridors, even when other staff don’t. I wondered if it was for identity protection as well as for sanitary reasons?

Regarding clothing: the FL almost always wears white or cream coloured clothing. I think this is symbolic of her being like a blank slate. I wonder if the wardrobe department will give her more colour in later episodes as her confidence and experience grow? I thought it was cute that even while ill, QQC scolded GS about wearing a skirt in the winter. I wonder what he would think about the old British tradition of boys wearing knee pants throughout primary school?

Loving the whole sequence when he is ill and she is uncertainly navigating the rules of engagement and where things are in his flat and what needs etc etc

It is SO SO evocative of awkward new love. Brings back memories of similar situations in my own life.

Especially when there is an age and maturity difference.

I am finding this whole QQC at home with a fever quite charming!

The hair caught in the watch incident – I love the way the show is using accidents and crowded tubes and other circumstances to throw them together.

She seems to be experiencing her attraction for him especially in this care taking context.

What do you sleuthy observers think?

I have been noticing that imbibing liquids may be a symbolic motif– Drinking in the other person.

@monmor, they often seem to be drinking the same thing, even when not together, don’t they? In the 1st episode when they were simultaneously drinking orange juice at the tripe soup restaurant, for example. They both drink and eat things that won’t hurt their throats.

@Kate, did I miss the hair caught in watch? Which episode was that?

@Kate, I love the use of tropes and cliches in this Show too. We need to give our couple every little bit of help in getting to some skinship. I was soooo amused by how the voice practice where QQC said “Shengshengman, I love you. Do you love me?” had the girls practically hyperventilating, LOL. If just his voice can do this, imagine what his touch could do LOLOL.

Hi @Stacy!! Oh… only 1 cousin in the novel? So the drama has upped the ante by adding in 4-5 more big ‘brothers’ (likely cousins)???

Yes, you’re right. At every meeting with people who know her, GS has to come up with a different plausible reason why she’s hobnobbing with a man who’s not a relative. It was either to protect him or herself or both of them.

With the mini-mart girl fan of QQC, she had to hide the fact that the doctor is QQC because the fan would have gone beserk and leaked it. The fan would also have been very judgemental about her being the chosen girlfriend.

With her club mates, it was also to protect QQC, since he’d always hidden his identity.

With her dad, (and even with the relatives on the roof) she had to pretend that she did not even know him, or that he was a doctor LOL.

@GB – yes!!!

I notice how close they are standing in Episode 11 because she keeps needing to check his temperature. They are in each other’s close personal space more and more!

@fern Was it you who made a comment earlier on one of the threads about Ailee?

I have a new favorite singer rapper who is extremely versatile. Also does o s t’s I think. TAN Jian Ci!

I seem to recall a point where he did sing in a chinese opera like sound in this show.

I am excited to check out what soundtracks he may have done.

This is nice from ‘Lost you Forever’ @Monmor

@Kate, that’s a thought… maybe more accepted culturally because she’s some 7-8 years younger than he is. He’s been in the industry for at least 10 years so he’s her senior there as well. On the whole, young will look up to the ‘elders’ and girls are more ‘in need of protection’. We see the attitudes of her guy cousins. They all want to do stuff for their only young, female relative.

Probably his advice about keeping warm is taken as thoughtfulness. At least we don’t see GS taking issue with it.

@Monmor, white was the traditional colour for mourning in Asia. I think with western influence it is gradually becoming less common but in Joseon times it would have been the norm. Now Asian brides often wear white gowns so it would be strange if it were still uniquely for mourning.

@Kate, yes someone telling me not to wear a skirt in winter would make me bristle -or just think they were out of touch with reality. I wore skirts probably 50% of days when I worked unless it was well below freezing. As you say with warm tights or boots it’s not such a problem.

My take was that she recognised his concern and also that he himself was ill and perhaps feeling less reticent. If he was hot with fever, her hands would also feel cold to him.

The episodes after 10 weren’t available this morning so I’m looking forward to catching up this evening.

My comment from my phone disappeared.

When I saw the comment about a skirt in winter, I wondered if it was his high temperature that made her hands feel relatively hot to his if he was having chills. But also that he was concerned about her.

She didn’t seem to react to it. Personally I would either have bristled or thought the person was out of touch depending on their state. I think she was used to being protected.

Off to watch the episodes after 10.

@FERN I have still have not read all the comments carefully because i’m just going to start watching now. The word bristled came to mind when I noticed your comment about him telling her not to wear skirts and then I noticed you used the term as well.

Watching this show makes me want to talk less!

@Monmor – you are most welcome!

Ref episodes 11 and 12, @Kate, I’m not worried about a lack of skinship at all, but they seem so . Episodes 11 and 12 were delightful, but like you, I wonder at their lack of small talk. Easy things like, Have you traveled? Were you born here? I think I may have seen your Grandfather, what is he like? Where does your mother get her recipes? How long have you had your dog? Where do you get your inspiration for your lyrics? What is your favourite part of town? Where is your favourite place to buy ingredients for cooking? What got you into dubbing and what is your preferred genre?

I do see that they are touching each other a bit more comfortably – riding the bike and walking along afterwards. After GS returned home, telling her cousins that the person near her was looking for his girlfriend – not a good line. If the cousins see them together later they will think QQC is a player.

I think motorcycle club girl may have figured it out, but she isn’t letting on.

@Kate… and LOL after that Juemei goes to get spoons but he does not even know where the spoons are in his own kitchen!!! But QQC refuses to tell him. He has to go search for them himself so that gives QQC a few moments alone with GS, during which he says Juemei will eat grass if that’s what she feeds him with.

QQC says he got sick and earned that meal. So Juemei should contain himself. Juemei calls him petty LOL.

@GB – what fun to see our ML in the way you describe.

I loved this episode.

And the competition and jealous man pettiness… Lol.

I have to say that Chinese and Korean dramas both do a wonderful job of ‘comedifying’ male jealousy.

We see the ML in slightly surly batting horns mode …

As you say, flaunting the joys of having a girlfriend come and visit him when he is sick!

So much fun.

Good evening @GB and hello all. I like your idea that QQC fell in love with GS’s essence, he likes her looks, and now has to get to know the rest of her. She could have been a very different person so he is joyful. In a way it’s like an arranged marriage where all the couple see at first is an image, but it’s done so the rest of the learning of how to live together has to start.

Mao the sound engineer had a good analogy about meeting his wife. He had determined to like her regardless due to their compatibility online. But he was very nervous to meet her in person. When he finally saw her he was ‘ecstatic’. I feel that our OTP feel the same. I like that our ML is asking his friends for advice. He has now admitted therefore that he is in a relationship. He feels less suave and perfect now.

As regards the small talk, I sort of had to train myself to do it. Someone said that small talk is the lubrication to great conversations, so I was determined to not miss out. One of my teachers also said that good listening is a gift. I think our OTP are both good listeners, but to be a listener, there has to be another person speaking.

Hi @GB. I just saw your other comment. It’s true, there are couples who don’t need to speak much and I think this OTP are that way. They will find other ways to speak.

Another thing about QQC, do you see how he was ready to square up to GS’s father who came charging back to the queue at the moon cake shop? Thank goodness it wasn’t another situation like the pediatric patient parents, because QQC doesn’t shrink from a confrontation. He was ready to stand up for his relationship.

If we have until 2023, there may be some separation to make that song ring even truer.

@Kate, I added a comment on the Episode 1-6 thread on the Song in the Bus that you gave some of the lyrics for. I loved that bus ride.

I like that QQC comes off as very human. I felt that Yang Yang in Love O2O was a mite too perfect.

Yes, to the comedy that Asian dramas seem to be able to derive from jealous boyfriends. They usually show their childish, insecure and petty sides when threatened with loss of girlfriend. I’m glad to say that QQC maintained most of his dignity although he became peevish over having to share GS’s first dish for him with his housemate. I’m glad he ‘won’ the chopstick battle! Or rather that Juemin gave in to him. 😂

@MM LOLOL I think we prefer companionable silence to small talk. When we talk it is usually important stuff, like, did I notice he had his hair cut LOLOL.

@GB It can take me days to notice he Had a haircut.😄

Haha. Married small talk is funny.

In the morning, my husband always asks if I slept well. I don’t know if it’s just his thing or if his family always said it. So I ask him as well. Then it’s each to his own coffee with a side of New Yorker magazine or emails, with the occasional, ‘What do you fancy for dinner tonight?’ The response is usually the typical Brit, ‘I don’t mind, what do you fancy?’ If we’re feeling really chatty we comment on the weather or the dogs. 🤣

When my husband and I were first together. We would each relay the events of the day to the other in great detail.

So far this morning our conversation has been about the dishwasher.

LOL @Stacy, at least you know to give yourself ample time to launch into any small talk!!!

I like the idea, @Fern, of them being in what resembles an arranged marriage.

We have 2 communities encouraging the couple along.

They meet through the ‘portrait’ created by their music and voices

He is the Prince she is the talented muse who lives near to the Palace!

As you said in the discussion of songs @GB – he has committed himself to this process from start.

We even get a casual mention of marriage from Dune (can’t remember his name) and FL splutters into her porridge.

For early daters – aside from the skinship – they are acting like a shy newly married couple in a modern arranged marriage.

I am rambling…

I’ve watched episode 14 now.

Oh, Dune (or ZZ) is one to talk. He doesn’t seem any more experienced than QQC and he is in a complete flap about GS’s room mate XX coming to the studio and then along with them to Yangshuo. But for certain he recognises how serious his housemate is about GS.

He’s another one who seems impossibly inexperienced given his looks. He’s not even suave like QQC!

I’m laughing about the scene with the cousins and the Grandfather. I think the Grandfather would be happy for GS to meet a good man and he is reassured that she is going with a friend. I would say, ‘little does he know…’ but I think he does know on some level. Remember, he has excellent hearing!

@Kate, even her pyjamas and dressing gown have traditional styled fastenings, as do some of her regular outfits. I was looking at how she and her mother were dressed at breakfast. The mother had a normal top, but GS wore a more traditional style, so even within her own family she’s rather old fashioned, which matches her interest in Chinoiserie verse and music.

Yes, the substitute families of the Perfect Voice studio personnel, the dorm room mates and the group/band/club studio have all been fed by QQC in GS’s presence. I wonder how it will go with the real families. I’m praying that there’s no feud between Grandfather and QQC’s parents, but rather that it will be a bridge between the families.

I wonder the reason that QQC doesn’t work at his parents’ hospital. A wish for independence? Or perhaps he feels less obligated to them because he was alone so often as a child.

@Stacy, @Fern, @Kate, I’ve been loving all of GS’s outfits. Seeing her in modernised traditional dress makes me keep thinking that this Show is promoting the culture quite effectively. And as I enjoy the beautiful city and later Guilin scenes, it’s an effective tourism promoter as well!

I must say that after the governmental questioning on why cdramas could not perform as well as kdramas, the industry has revamped a lot of their production values and now even surpasses kdramas from time to time.

I feel this Show is meant to be a showpiece as well, showcasing music, culture and the country.

@Fern, yup, the PPL is strong in this show, however at least woven into daily life so that they don’t stand out like sore thumbs.

I’m rewatching the Guilin part of Ep 14 now. Perhaps they will give us longer shots of the countryside in future episodes. We only got a quick pan across the mountainous peaks with karst formation and a glimpse of the famous Elephant Trunk Hill.

@Stacy, @Grace and anyone who knows Chinese… does Shengshengman translate to something like “slow voice”?

There is a poem by 李清照 Li Qingzhao: 聲聲慢 Sheng Sheng Man — [*尋尋覓覓] [*O search, I search and seek, I seek]. I guess this was the poem that was mentioned in the Show.
(Taken from https://chinesepoemsinenglish.blogspot.com/2018/12/li-qingzhao-sheng-sheng-man-1-o-search.html)

(Everything)

@Kate, yes the pale green looked very good on the FL. I didn’t love the checked print outfit worn during her visit to QQC’s sickbed so well. It looked too schoolgirl-ish.

Does anyone know which city they live in? Is it supposed to be an area in or near Beijing? It would make sense that they will change to summery clothing when the group travels south to Guilin in the 14-17th episodes.

Regarding PPL: I notice it, but I appreciate how well it’s woven into the scenes and dialogue. Much better than the close-ups and obvious recitation of facts that typically happens, especially in Kdramas.

Regarding cultural promotion: I love it in a drama when it’s done right. Meet Yourself did it right and so far LMLMV is doing it right. Kdramas do it right when it comes to food lol.

Clothing: I would love to have outfits similar to the ones Gu Sheng wears. I can barely sew a straight line, but if I could find patterns I think I might be willing to try…then again, I doubt I’d be able to find patterns that fit me, considering I’m 6′ tall 😅

“Shengshengman” – according to the translator of the novel, it means a slow, drawn out sound or voice. I know this is from ep 6, but does anyone know if the snippet of song that was played in QQC’s weibo post about walking a girl to university is part of the OST? The tune sounds familiar.

Thanks @Stacy!! You’ve answered the question.

@MM, you have an interesting dishwasher LOL.

@Stacey – if you ever manage to pull off creating or sewing one of those outfits – I’d be so interested!

Along with all the other stuff you are currently doing …haha!

It isn’t a look that would work on me at all. I think having slim figure allows her to carry off detail that would look fussy and/bulky on me.

@Kate, the cardi and ankle socks that she is wearing when they first meet face to face – yes, it was dowdy looking. I think in RL, the baggy cardigans and ankle socks are hip these days. It just wasn’t a good choice. OR the wardrobe dept. deliberately wanted her to look like an unsophisticated/regular student.

My daughter bought me one of the big cardigans last winter. I love it, but since I’m not what one would call willowy, it doesn’t look chic on me. Daughter thinks I look on trend – that’s all that matters sometimes.

@kate

I am enjoying “gank your heart” So far I think the drama is doing a good job of the characterization of the main lead and is weaving a tight plot. This had been on my to watchlist but I guess I had watched several Esports dramas so I passed on this one. I am glad now that kate has drawn my attention back to it.

I don’t understand what you’re talking about? What site?

I am totally confused about what you are saying.

Glad it is not just me. I hope this is not a serious problem though for anyone.I practice very safe internet use. I was just about to send you a direct email about this. If there is anything, I should be careful about at my end. Please let me know.

The only thing I know about you is that you don’t like mister smarmy dimples. I do not like him at all. I do like mister dimples ganglord though.