The thread is open.
I learned belatedly that you’ve been discussing this on the WAWW/November thread and since that will sink down as soon I open a new thread, I’ll open this one for you.
Link to the WAWW/November thread: What Are We Watching in November 2025?
I’ll see if I have time to transfer your posts here.
I may join you, too, because the screenwriter is one of those I can depend on to pen an emotionally engaging and satisfying romcom. I need a “comfort drama” right now to destress from work.
@GB, please tell me if you want me to break up this thread.
Let’s enjoy the show.
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Ah my dear @pkml3, thanks once again so much for anticipating that we’d really like this thread. 🥲 Yes, please, since we have hit Episode 24 with another 12 episodes to go, could we have 4 threads to reduce the spoiling for others? Perhaps rename this one to Ep 1-24 for all that we’ve seen so far, and add on Ep 25-28, Ep 29-32 and Ep 33-36, to cover the rest of the series?
Shine on Me has been a fun and mostly non-stressful watch. It’s good that the slow burn romance is not too slow, that the FL is able to think on her feet and stand up for herself and her loved ones, and that the conversations/dialogue is upfront and realistic.
It looks very good (the PPL is for the places of interest in that country!) and the OST is nice. @ibisfeather and I like the promotion of clean energy as well.
I do hope you can catch a break during your week and can come and chill with us here. 🙂 (I think I’m into sweet things with lots of green tea to wash them down with!) 😆
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Alrighty!
Ep24 That was perfect.
(I feel like I am writing on a virgin page)
Pink coat, pink plum blossoms, reheated dumplings (with vinegar?)
The “discredited driver”!!!
I am happy that YS’ mistake was given its due weight. Such a small thing with such a big consequential shadow. Especially emotionally.
YS had the potential to become a guy who could nurse such huge resentments silently.
XG and he are just lucky they caught the misunderstanding in time. Given that he fell in love with her at first sight and it was game over for him.
Otherwise we would be talking basis-for-an-oldfashioned-tragedy.
Like the one ZhuangXu seems to be tottering around the edge of.
(now I am switching to the new thread for 25-28)
Although I wanted to start again from Ep1, I just rewatched Episode 24 and wanted to bring up this slightly significant point.
SPOILER FOR EPISODE 24
In the plum blossom strewn path, XG and YS stop to clarify the misunderstanding that YS had been harbouring for 2 years. He says that he had gone on that trip far off to the Northeast and stayed away so long (4 days?) because he didn’t know how to face XG after misjudging her. It made him feel that his life was a joke, because after he’d finally made peace with wanting to date her despite believing that she was the reason he had lost his cherished career, he finds out that the real ‘culprit’ was a stranger and was a result of a lie.
Then he suddenly asks when XG had gotten to know ‘him’… she knows he means Zhuang Xu. She had met ZX the day or week after the banquet. YS notes that then, he (YS) had been the first to see XG (and to like her). In other words, I believe, the situation means he could be said to have first dibs on her.
He recalls that she’d said she wished she’d met YS before ZX. Unexpectedly YS says he wishes that he’d met XG later, then he wouldn’t have felt the resentment against her.
YS: “I wouldn’t keep thinking if it weren’t for this cruel twist of fate, we would have been together a long time ago. But, it turns out I met you first.”
My guess on what he’s saying is that since he’d met her before ZX, they should have gotten together sooner before ZX got into the picture, before the accident, etc. He is regretting the past.
Ironically, although they did not get together first, YS had seemed to have fallen for XG already, so that despite the resentment, (and despite the shadow of ZX) he was willing to give their romance a go.
XG gives the right response to all this self recrimination and regret… she says: “We are together from now on.” YS is concerned that she’s willing to date him only out of guilt or on a whim (because he looks pathetic?).
XG gives a refreshingly different spin on their relationship.
“It’s not an impulse (not on a whim) and it’s not guilt either. It’s just a normal office romance that had a bit of a hiccup along the way. So, are you willing to be with me?” (At least she got her mojo back and is willing to risk making another love confession so to speak. It was something she regretted about herself, that she had become less daring after being hurt by ZX)
He answers clearly with an embrace and in words. No room for doubt, no ambiguity. Thank heavens!!!
EPISODES 1-4/5
A Few Words About Zhuang Xu
Like it or not, there are several scenes given over to ZX, so instead of ignoring him, I considered his point of view. Also ZX exists to act as a foil for YS, so we can compare and contrast these two very different suitors.
To be fair to him, ZX was in the position where hometown relatives and friends expected him to continue to treat Ye Rong as close neighbour/childhood sweetheart. He can probably tell that YR herself expects it and wants it. However he had not made up his mind to confirm this. I wonder if he’s the faint-hearted type who cannot bear to look ‘bad’ to his family/friends. If he’d clearly broken off all expectations between him and YR, he might have been considered heartless and not a good ‘neighbour’.
In the meantime, he had been shaken by a very dazzling Xi Guang who took the initiative to confess to him first and to ask if he’d be her boyfriend. He was no prepared for this and rejected her, but obviously, he’d carried a torch for her as well, since he took her naive ‘promise’ to heart, that she’d keep on liking him until he liked her back.
So, ZX did not want to be a ‘player’ ie to have YR full of expectation and XG on the side. This was honourable, however where he went wrong was stopping short in this ‘position’ without ever confirming or denying what YR was or would be in his life.
(Continued…)
(ZX’s Perspective Continued…)
I found it strange that ZX never responded to XG’s text asking him if he and YR were a couple and if so she was sorry that she’d confessed to him. He was either too naive or indifferent to figure out that this caused the endless misunderstanding that he had a girlfriend in YR. He never denied it publicly.
It seems he expected that despite his inaction, XG was supposed to keep liking him until he could divest himself of YR in some distant future, and come to XG.
The only thing that may justify his wrong expectations is that on the walk back to the dorms from the train station, he and XG had spoken in metaphors (risky for people who cannot be clear about what the metaphor pointed to!!!)
I noted from Episode 1, that ZX disapproved of XG, but at the same time was fascinated by her. On the walk she says she can’t walk anymore and he disapproves of her shoes.
She notes that he thinks her unmotivated, lazy and spoiled rotten, and he says ‘Yes’ LOL.
Using metaphors, XG defends herself saying where there are big and small grapes, she’s the kind of person who chooses to eat the big grapes first because if she ate the small ones, she’d lose her appetite for the big grapes. It was just the way she was and she didn’t think it was wrong.
ZX says there was a big grape (for him) but he chased it away. He’s speaking of XG but because he never cleared up that he did not like YR, XG thinks he’s referring to Ye Rong.
She tries to be a friend and when she comforts him saying that the grape would return to him, he comes closer to her, saying “Really?”. She’s surprised that he’s taking her words so seriously, as if she were Ye Rong. LOL… but he thought she was giving him hope that she (XG) would come back to him.
At this stage, if he had made the right noises and the right moves, they could have become a couple. But he stood just looking hopeful and waiting for her to make the moves.
She goes upstairs and from the balcony calls him and waves goodbye or more … a farewell to him, telling herself that she would stop liking him. The irony is that he thought she had just given him hope!!!
It was because of XG’s love confession before and in this scene, because of what she says here, that ZX becomes angry later. From his perspective, XG did not keep her promises.
(Continued …)
Misunderstanding what XG meant by the big grape would come back tohim still does not excuse ZX from not initiating more communication with XG, from asking her why their relationship was stalled, etc. His inaction boggles the mind!!!
I even pity Ye Rong a bit because he’d inadvertently strung her along for many years, only to walk away from her as someone he’d never liked romantically. YR would end up the butt of jokes and pitied for having mistaken that she was in a romance with ZX for such a long time.
What I found was missing in the conversations between ZX and XG was the mention of YR. XG should have asked him if he was trying to help her with the thesis, etc… just because Ye Rong had mistakenly accused her. YR’s name was never raised between them, hence he never clarified that what he did for XG had nothing to do with YR at all. Further, he should have asked XG why she had turned cold towards him if she claimed to like him.
Our protagonists’ choice to be silent was the great creator of misunderstandings. Hence since ZX is YS’s foil, we look out for how much YS communicates by contrast.
(About ZX’s Perspective Continued …)
I found it strange that ZX never responded to XG’s text asking him if he and YR were a couple and if so she was sorry that she’d confessed to him. He was either too naive or indifferent to figure out that this caused the endless misunderstanding that he had a girlfriend in YR. He never denied it publicly.
It seems he expected that despite his inaction, XG was supposed to keep liking him until he could divest himself of YR in some distant future.
The only thing that may justify his wrong expectations is that on the walk back to the dorms from the train station, he and XG had spoken in metaphors (risky for people who cannot be clear about what the metaphor pointed to!!!)
I noted from Episode 1, that ZX disapproved of XG, but at the same time was fascinated by her. On the walk she says she can’t walk anymore and he disapproves of her shoes.
She notes that he thinks her unmotivated, lazy and spoiled rotten, and he says ‘Yes’ LOL.
Using metaphors, XG defends herself saying where there are big and small grapes, she’s the kind of person who chooses to eat the big grapes first because if she ate the small ones, she’d lose her appetite for the big grapes. It was just the way she was and she didn’t think it was wrong.
ZX says there was a big grape (for him) but he chased it away. He’s speaking of XG but because he never cleared up that he did not like YR, XG thinks he’s referring to Ye Rong.
She tries to be a friend and when she comforts him saying that the grape would return to him, he comes closer to her, saying “Really?”. She’s surprised that he’s taking her words so seriously, as if she were Ye Rong. LOL… but he thought she was giving him hope that she (XG) would come back to him.
At this stage, if he had made the right noises and the right moves, they could have become a couple. But he stood just looking hopeful and waiting for her to make the moves.
She goes up and from the balcony calls him and waves goodbye or more … a farewell to him, telling herself that she would stop liking him. The irony is that he thought she had just given him hope!!!
It was because of XG’s love confession before and in this scene, because of what she says here, that ZX becomes angry later. From his perspective, XG did not keep her promises.
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Hi @pkml3, my comments are going into MODERATION suddenly. Please check, thanks!!
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Done, @GB! I approved all three posts. So frustrating! Why did the blog do that to you? I didn’t see any banned words. 🤨🧐
Thanks @pkml3!!! One of the posts is a duplicate though, but nevermind. 🙂
EPISODE 1
The Plan of Yu Sen
From hindsight we know that Yu Sen had plans (this would be in Ep 21, I believe). It’s only upon rewatch that we discover that part of his plan was already in his mind from the beginning.
Before the accident, YS had been too busy and uninterested in dating. His friend Shao Jia Qi had practically given up on him but the day before the accident, 2 years earlier as YS once again turned down his request to meet a young lady who was interested in him. He said he had his own plan.
However YS changed his mind about meeting the lady because Jia Qi said it was the daughter of Nie Cheng Yuan who wanted to meet him and view the plum blossoms in Wuxi. So Nie Xi Guang was already in his plan, and meeting her fit right in with it. However on the way to Wuxi, YS met with the accident that robbed him of the ability to continue as a neurosurgeon.
While he said it was an accident, in his heart he harboured a resentment that the girl he’d got into an accident for (so to speak) had never even sent a note or visited him. And it is from this premise that the first 8 episodes had XG experiencing a ‘hard’ time at work.
@GB, re ep24
Thank you for writing out the plum blossom interaction.
I very much liked the sidelong ‘I have dibs” bit by LinYuSen too. Theshows character as written often has eruptive moments of emotional strength arising from an inner monologue.
This is the meat of this show, the conversations. Whenever I read the longer analyses on this site I feel as if I am on a really satisfying rewatc h.
EPISODES 4-5
I like how this Writer brings together neatly very reasonable situations that move the plot along and place our protagonists in close vicinity so that their interactions will be frequent and natural.
“The Meet Cute that was Not-so-Cute”
The first meeting (which was actually their second meeting, but XG did not know that) between YS and XG was most inauspicious.
She had gone back to the office at night to download a drama episode for her roommates, and was down under her table, unplugging her USB drive when YS walks in. She looked like she was doing something illegal while hiding under the table.
YS stops to stare at her while she clumsily gets up, disentangles herself from the wires and presents her messy-haired appearance to YS.
Without any greeting she states that she’s never seen him before so what is he doing there.
For his part YS is at first disbelievingly surprised: “Never seen me before?”
XG nods.
YS stares at her coldly: “Naturally, you wouldn’t have.“ He turns and leaves. She thinks him a weirdo.
What I gather he meant by that was that he expected that she would deny having met him before for nefarious reasons of her own.
This bad first impression is compounded by a slip up by the Procurement Dept and Finance that came to be handled by YS. XG’s name was the one on the document with the error.
This gives YS the reason and opportunity to transfer her out of Finance to Administration so that she’d be under him. From this new situation, we can finally set off with the many scenes that highlight their enmity, truce or growing friendship. 🙂
Hi @IB, glad to know you’re rewatching by reading LOL. Which are the other sites you go to, to read reviews and analyses?
EPISODE 5
Why XG’s Leave was Rejected
I found it kind of funny. XG gets assigned to organise the archives. At that time, what she had said about how Procurement was rushing payment had made YS start checking up on Procurement records. To get into YS’s good books, XG meticulously took out the files that he would need and helps YS obtain historical info on the pricing of things procured that were of the highest cost.
She proudly (and with some vanity) hands up her work to YS with graphs to impress him. She proudly tells him that since the info he wants might be confidential, she’d made all the calls for info using her personal phone, that could not be linked back to them. LOL like she’s in a spy/espionage drama. She had even created a fake company and email to break the ‘trail’ to them.
YS acknowledges that she’s been very thorough and done excellent work. All looks very positive, so she presents her leave form. However she cannot tell him truthfully the reason why she wanted 3 days off (it was just to chill and not work).
He sees through her lie that she’s not feeling well. He looks at her and replies that he’s a doctor and sees no sign of illness in her.
XG then puts her foot in her mouth by asking: “Were you a TCM doctor?” LOLOL the expression on his face!!! She continues: “I mean, only TCM doctors can diagnose just by looking.”
He’s quite disgusted that she totally either pretends to or does not remember him or even know that he used to be a neurosurgeon and rejects her leave application outright. LOLOL.
XG realises to her dismay that she’d again angered him somehow but is puzzled by what she had said or done to provoke him. She still finds him weird. LOL. What a beginning to their relationship.
One of the points I forgot to add about YS’s bringing XG into the Admin Department was that it was a calculated move to keep her out of the bad Mr Mo’s (procurement Head’s) clutches. It would also reduce the stress on the Finance Head who would not need to contend with Mo’s demands to sack XG. It would keep XG from slipping out of his (YS’s) control as he becomes her direct supervisor.
He definitely did not want her to be sacked, and to an extent he saw that he needed to protect her from Mo. By transferring her, he appeared to even be ‘punishing’ her for the Finance error, so it looked to be a reasonable move. In effect he’d killed 4-5 birds with one stone!!!
EPISODE 6
XG finds out that YS knows who she is
XG and her roommates are aggrieved that bad Mo had pulled strings and had gotten the better dorm in Building 1 for his crony, when they should have been the ones to get the first vacancy.
XG’s fighting spirit can’t let it slide. She approaches YS by herself as her friends did not want to take action. In the office YS takes off his jacket and XG admires his back, wondering how he’d look in doctor’s/lab coat. She is obviously not blind to his good looks.
Hearing about the breach of company regulations, YS makes the call that frees the dorm for the girls, however it only had space for 2 of the 3 girls. YS makes the decision that the other 2 would move but not XG.
YS asks XG if she has any issues with the way he handled it.
XG: “Not at all.”
YS: “I figured as much. Since you’re so set on playing the ‘commoner,’ I’m sure you won’t mind a bit of downgrade in living standards.”
This tells XG that YS knows her family and status. She groans to herself:
“I finally figured out why he’s always giving me a hard time. Why is it that every cute guy I meet just has to make my life miserable?” LOL.
However, she is wrong about why YS is difficult with her. To his credit, although he gave her more work to do than he gave to others, he never crossed the line to abuse her.
EPISODES 6-7
Taking Inventory and the Shanghai Trip
XG changes tack and decides it’s best to keep out of YS’s way. She volunteers to do inventory at the plant for a few days. It’s super tiring work.
At this time, she finds out that Zhuang Xu was visiting her company to do a due diligence check before the Huaya Bank would offer a loan. She runs out hoping to see him, but gets caught again by YS and is punished for abandoning her post. She has to do all the inventory herself instead of rostering it with her department. However she gets injured a couple of times and is dead tired by the weekend.
Despite this however, she decides to go with her friends to Shanghai. She had missed seeing ZX when he had been right in her vicinity, hence she wanted to go to his vicinity in the hopes of running into him. The girls take a ride to Shanghai with YS much to XG’s consternation.
At the temple, she stops to pray, but her wish is for YS to disappear LOL. The prayer seems to work too well because YS gets involved in another accident when he saves an elderly lady from being knocked down. He has to remain at home to rest.
XG is so guilt-ridden that her prayer had caused grief for YS that she volunteers to be the despatcher of files to his house. She wanted to check on him as well.
YS is struck by the coincidence that it’s she who comes now when he’s injured, but she had failed to come when he had had his first more serious accident.
She notes that he still received medical journals and guesses that he must love being a doctor, and felt even more sorry for his loss.
He has noticed that she’s more careful and submissive than before. He asks her why she feels so guilty.
YS: “Your face gives you away. I’ve felt your guilt since the very first day you came here. Why is that?”
(Continued…)
(Continued…)
YS’s question about why XG feels guilty becomes significant because from hindsight we know that he had been disappointed that after his first accident, (on his way to see her according to what he believed), she had not cared to visit. She should have felt guilty then instead of now, however now when there is no reason for it, she comes to see him and looks guilty without cause. He is struck by the irony in this.
She cannot answer him because she felt that she had cursed him at the Temple and then he’d gotten hurt. It sounded so superstitious as well. Seeing her guilt gives YS hope that she’s not a lost cause with regards to having better feelings, so he tries again to get her to admit that she was sorry over his first accident.
YS: “Nie Xi Guang, this is my second accident. The first ended my career.”
XG looks at his hand questioningly: “Your…
YS: “My left hand.”
She nods.
YS: “If this accident could trigger some long-forgotten memory in you… I would be happy.”
She’s completely at sea at his words.
XG: “What long-forgotten memory? Mr Lin, what are you talking about?”
Seeing that she has no recollection at all he dismisses her (possibly in disgust at her cluelessness or pretense) and tells her that she does not have to return.
She wonders why he looks upset. On the way back she sees that Mo has been taken away for questioning.
10 days later YS is back at work, but he assigns work to Yin Jie and not to XG. She is left with nothing to do. YS does not even scold her for browsing the web during office hours. XG feels that instead of gaining favour with him it had become worse. He was ignoring her now as if he just could not be bothered with her anymore.
And we understand why! That’s the great thing about this Writing… it gives us enough information so that we can figure out what’s likely going on even when the protagonist does not spell it out.
@GB
What other sites?
Only here, only you all.
@IB, Ah okay! Good to know then that you’re enjoying (I guess you are enjoying? 😆😜) our thoughts!!!
EPISODE 8
The Turning Point
We are around 1 quarter of the way in with this series so it’s time to have a shift in the plot, and we do when XG falls from the 2nd Floor to be caught by YS.
So now the tables have turned. XG is the one in hospital and YS is there a boss to watch over her.
Perhaps the role reversal is ironic for YS because after he checks that her brain is okay, he suddenly says to XG: “I’m Sheng Xian Min’s grandson. Does that ring a bell?”
He was taking the opportunity (again) to find out if she really could not remember him from 2 years earlier. She doesn’t.
When XG observes that Yin Jie must have been terrified by her fall, he gets extra worked up (probably out of frustration).
YS practically shouting: “She was terrified? Your ‘saint-like’ compassion is truly breathtaking. You actually have the energy to worry about others. If you’re really such a saint, why on earth did you …?”
He stops. (Ummm…. was he was going to say, why on earth did you not bother about me?)
All XG sees is an angry boss (again), but to her it’s unfair. She won’t have it.
XG: “Look, considering everything I’ve been through, could you set aside your personal bias and try being nice for once?” She tears up.
YS looks away, still upset.
YS is unsympathetic: “Why are you crying? You’re completely unharmed. What is there to cry about?” (Obviously he felt that he had more right to cry at his first accident than she does now).
XG: “Do I not even have the right to cry anymore? I wouldn’t have fallen if it weren’t for your friend’s scream. You’ve put me through all this and now I have to deal with all your snark. Why can’t I even have a good cry?”
YS: “Because of me?”
XG: “If not you, then who else? I swear, meeting you is the worst luck I’ve ever had.”
(Continued…)
EPISODE 8 The Turning Point Continued
Speaking of the ‘worst luck’ XG has with cute guys LOL… Since I’m rewatching, from hindsight I laugh to remember that XG’s mum had spoken about finding a bf/gf/spouse being a matter of luck and wishing XG all the luck with YS. So ‘luck’ is also what we make of it because the altercation that our OTP have and what they thrash out starts changing XG’s ‘luck’.
XG lists the bad luck she’d faced at the inventory taking, and YS had heard about it too from Yin Jie. He may have felt a bit bad about letting her work the inventory alone to exhaustion.
XG asks if their families have a feud and that’s why he’s been making things difficult for her. He asks if the fall, the bad luck etc hurts much and she nods. The camera zooms in on his left hand so we know what he’s referring to when he says that he’s hurt too.
XG is puzzled and thinks : “What’s going on with him? I’m the one confronting him right now, so why does it feel like I’m the one who hurt him?”
XG to YS: “Are you okay?” (This question shows that she’s actually a caring person, so unlike the girl in his imagination).
YS’s expression changes : “Saying those words …” We get a flashback to his accident and how devastated he’d been. His friend Jia Qi had been with him in hospital and made an excuse for the girl whom he had been on the way to Wuxi to meet. Jia Qi offered to bring her the next time he visited but YS said to not bother.
He relaxes after these thoughts, tears running down his face. However he tells XG to stop crying and walks to the window to gather his thoughts.
(Continued…)
EPISODE 8 The Turning Point Continued
It seems that it took just that one question from XG that showed concern for him to get YS started on another path of thought. Still with his back towards her he says: “I won’t act like that again. I won’t treat you like that anymore. I promise.”
He makes good on his word from then onwards … The next day he brings XG homemade porridge. Doctor friend, Fang Sheng Yi is curious to know if he has a special regard for this patient. The porridge reaches XG through her friends who said that YS had passed it to them to bring up to her.
The girls confirm that YS had come down hard on the girl who had startled XG, so she could not be his gf. Her friends advised her not to be too hard on YS, since he’d handled everything himself. He’d given her first aid, checked her vitals, held her up while she threw up on him… and his arm when he caught her might have been injured.
XG texts YS a word of thanks but misses his second text asking how she was. Finding that she had not responded he returned to the hospital. She was about to text back to him to stop him from coming back but he walked into the room to check on her.
She was stunned at his promptness. He claimed to be just passing by her door. (He did not tell her that he’d made a special trip back to the hospital after doing an all nighter).
XG apologises for throwing up on YS and asks about his arm.
Since she seemed genuinely concerned for him, he asks: “Nie Xi Guang, if I were to forget everything that happened before, what about you? Can we wipe the slate clean for how I treated you?”
XG thinks: “Is he calling for a truce?” In her mind she weighs what he did to her and what she did to him plus the good that he had done, and figures it balances out.
XG: “I don’t really hold a grudge.”
He’s relieved: “That’s good.”
XG: “But why the sudden talk about wiping the slate clean?”
YS: “Because I’m afraid …” He changes what he was going to say to “I’m afraid to see patients cry.”
XG thinks: “Hold on was he about to say “I’m afraid of your tears?” (She thinks she must have looked a fright when she’d been crying LOLOL).
XG reassures him: “I don’t usually cry anyway.” Heheheh!
Everything improved between them once YS decided to let go of most of his hurt and resentment. He became more a friend and less of a boss, advising her to not engage in intense mental activity over a game. She replied: ‘Yes, Dr Lin’ in a text to him.
So, (and this I find funny), he advocated work to unwind with instead of games which are mentally draining, saying: “Trust me. I have a PhD in Neurosurgery.” (That’s his boss response to her calling him Dr Lin!!! LOL).
@GrowingBeautifully and @IbisFeather,
May I offer a slightly late-to-the-party comment on the early episodes? I’ll need to go back and read your posts up to Ep 11 — I’m trying not to look too far ahead in the plot.
I’m really enjoying the story from the point where the FL begins her working life. More generally, I found the overall narrative setup a little unusual. The FL’s backstory isn’t so much dark as quietly ambiguous, shaped over several episodes by hidden jealousy, manipulation, and a cast of rather ambiguous characters. The ML’s situation is established much more abruptly, and I was still absorbing his context even as her story became the focus.
In the college phase, we’re given the ingredients of a rather grey, unrequited romance and a set of ambiguous friendships — with the exception of the loyal friend who stands up for the FL during the phone-call drama — and for a while I found myself unsure how to read it all – was this to be the core social group? By contrast, the later professional friendships and the ML’s attitude feel genuinely healing. That backward movement into the story ultimately works for me, but I did have to hang on in there. Love 020 also plays with envy and social betrayal, first in its online game context and then in real life — most memorably in that awkward, competitive meal where the FL “PKs” with her rivals. In Love 020, the FL exits an ambiguous group to find her true ‘home’ with ML and his comrades where she can be the excellent person she is and not attacked for it.
The key moment in this show for me was the meeting on the steps outside the venue for the first wedding (Ep 10), where the FL suddenly finds herself surrounded by her college friend group and is visibly shaken — especially by seeing her old “love” and RR and hearing that everyone thought she had been abroad for two years. In that moment, we fully register the hurt the group as a whole created for her. Then Song Weilong’s character strides up the steps and takes her hand: a day-and-night contrast, as befits the show’s title. At that point, the earlier episodes felt worth it, and the way the writer plays with levels of social betrayal really landed for me.
I am really enjoying the show now we are in the more positive phase.
Both leads are doing a good job. I always enjoy Song Weilong (!) and this role suits Zhao Jin Mai – certainly in these early episodes.
Off to read your comments on the early episodes now.
Enjoying your commentary on the early episodes, @GB — especially your take on the frustrating encounters between emotionally constipated ZX and our FL. So many moments where he teeters on the brink and… remains teetering! All of it feels true to life and angsty teenage relationships. I also suspect he doesn’t quite know how to receive love that isn’t striven for.
I note in my own post that I may have used the word ambiguous a little too freely — but perhaps the overuse says something about my response! 😄
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Dear @pkml3, my response to @Kate has been swallowed up and did not get posted. I believe the site has become sensitive!!!
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Partial and very summarised recap of the scenes Moving from being the evil Weirdo Boss to the almost Boyfriend
EPISODE 9
Part 1 – Who’s the boss?” (I’m doing this in bits)
XG is still in hospital, bored, and got hold of her game console to while the time away. Since YS advised against her over-doing the gaming, she got him to play on her behalf.
YS tries to clear the higher levels of the game for XG but fails because of his injured left hand. XG notices. She has in fact been sensitive on YS’s behalf over his injuries and loss of career.
She asks Doc Fang why he drags Yu Sen to discuss brain surgery (rubbing salt into his wound) but Fang considers it exposure therapy. XG sees that YS has regrets over his inability to do both surgery and play games and comes up with a plan to cheer him up.
She calls YS Mr Lin or ‘boss,’ and hands him the work she had completed while in hospital saying that she should be considered to be on the office clock (ie she should be getting overtime pay).
YS’s response: “Miss Nie, since when did an owner start pinching pennies like this?” He considers her the owner of the company, since her family owns 49% of the company shares.
XG uses the lack of overtime pay as an excuse to make YS play a game for her, using just his right hand. She pretends that she cannot get past a game level and praises him sky high for winning a round. He’s amused, probably guessing what she’s at, but goes along with it.
Before he drives her home from the hospital we hear that she’d given housekeeper Chen a gift to thank her for the meals. YS remarks cryptically that XG had missed the key issue LOL… ie she’d failed to get him a gift since he was the one who had done the most for her, as well as instructed the housekeeper to cook extra for XG.
XG does not understand what he means by the ‘key issue’ until later.
(Continued…)
(Continued…)
Moving from being the evil Weirdo Boss to the almost Boyfriend
Part 2 – Bosses Becoming Friends
In the drive from the hospital, YS puts on spectacles to see better in the rain and XG is bothered when she finds out that his vision was also affected by the accident. She thinks of positive things to say, telling him that he’s impressive because since he joined the company, the morale at the office had risen.
He smiles at this and XG asks why.
YS: “I just got a compliment from my future boss. Am I not allowed to be happy about it?” (This of course is prescient, as we will notice in later episodes).
XG: “I’m not your future boss.”
YS: “You never know.”
XG displays more concern when she leaves the car, telling YS to drive carefully. He’s touched. (What a difference from when he was trying to get her to admit that she was ‘involved’ in his first accident).
Back at work YS bluffs the Dept that they were rumoured to have bad luck LOL, hence he and XG would treat them all to dinner to offset this. However he ‘forgets’ his wallet so XG pays for the whole dinner. (She tells him that this offsets her having to pay him back the hospital fees and he agrees).
On his drive back with XG’s dorm mates, XG is stunned that YS calmly accepts the credit for paying for the dinner LOL. However it was the sort of trick that friends would play. She wonders if it had been the case that at one moment they were enemies and now suddenly they were friends.
Out of the car, she asks YS if they are friends/good with each other now. He says yes, and she’s happy.
XG: “Then what was it about me that you couldn’t stand so much?”
YS: “Because you were so carefree.”
XG: “What?”
YS: “Because you were so carefree and so forgetful.”
Poor XG is full of ???
(Continued…)
EPISODE 9
Moving from being the evil Weirdo Boss to the almost Boyfriend
Part 3 – Becoming Companions
YS makes XG stay back to work late quite often. She asks why her and no one else. YS says her family owns 49% of the shares of the company, so nearly half the profits go into her (family’s) pockets. He feels bad making the others stay back but not her. He also tells her to not call him Mr Lin after office hours. It makes him feel like he’s still working for her. LOL. (We can guess that he’s teasing her. He keeps her back to keep him company while at the same time, work gets done.)
XG tries calling out his name: “Lin Yu Sen?” She’s about to escape by saying goodbye but YS calls her back about the little figure, a toy ornament that she had left on his table.
It was meant to be hung in his car to wish him safety on the road and because she’d missed the ‘key issue’. She had brought it back some days earlier but had only given it to him that day since she had been nursing the wound that the fancy department dinner had left on her wallet.
YS: “Was the trauma so deep? If you’d given it to me sooner, maybe I wouldn’t have ‘forgotten’ my wallet.” LOL that look on her face.
He throws her a small tub of herbal ointment to apply on her scars. She doesn’t think it is necessary since the scars would fade over time, however he admits that he is worried that she’d use the scars as an excuse to reject him. He wants her to accompany him to attend a friend’s wedding.
In XG’s conversation with her friends, asking them for their opinion on this invitation, she does not think that YS would have tricked her into attending the wedding, although her name has obviously been added to the invitation card in a different hand. (She’s wrong!)
Yin Jie is more excited than XG about her going to the wedding with YS. She felt that she’d watched over their trajectory from the beginning, and it could be the case of “Affection blooming in the face of adversity”. (It was affection that bloomed after YS decided to stop holding a grudge against XG, and to follow his heart to pursue her, however Yin Jie was not too far off). 🙂
(Continued …)
EPISODE 10
Moving from being the evil weirdo boss to the almost boyfriend
Part 4 – Making It Up to XG
The many sweet scenes of Episode 10 finally struck me as YS once again killing 2 birds or more, with 1 stone.
Once YS had made up his mind to forgive and forget where XG was concerned, he sets about pursuing her in earnest. I’m guessing that he gets her to work overtime with him so that he can 1)have her company without others observing them. 2)He needed time to create an opportunity to ‘date’ XG without it being obvious, and 3)maybe also to make up to her for all the suffering he’d allowed her to go through with so much grunt work.
The scenes of Ep 9 show that he was not above lying to trick XG into going out with him to Shanghai for a wedding that she had not been invited to!!! He totally engineers a complete date with the de rigueur make-over trope (although XG was always pretty so there was nothing much to do except get her nice clothes, suitable for a sudden cold snap).
On the day of the friend’s (Lu Shan’s) wedding, YS tells her to not look like she’s doing overtime with him. Since she didn’t have the right clothes for the cold weather, he arranges to bring her to shop at an ex-patient’s store. XG demurs but he says it’s necessary.
YS: “I’ve never taken a girl shopping for clothes before. I’d like to give it a try.” LOLOL the incredulity on XG’s face.
As opposed to the many days of hard labour that YS had imposed on XG, YS now devotes several hours to XG’s shopping, telling her to take her time to try on everything. He even does the rich boyfriend thing of paying for all her purchases in advance.
YS seems to be the type to go the whole hog once he decides on a course of action. He is seriously hitting the checkboxes on the ‘dating checklist’ without admitting it.
(Continued…)
EPISODE 10
Moving from being the evil weirdo boss to the almost boyfriend
Part 5 – Playing at Being a Great Catch
From the beginning everyone who sees the OTP together assume that they are a couple. YS says that this misunderstanding didn’t matter as it would give them a discount. When YS thinks they can get 30% discount, XG is all for the ‘misunderstanding’ to continue LOL.
At the Wedding, they meet Lu Shan, the bride, and she almost blows his cover because he had not forewarned her that he was playing a trick on XG. Lu Shan figures it out in time and pretends that she did invite XG to the wedding, as an apology for startling her.
YS notes that it’s unfortunate that Lu Shan had been too quick on the uptake so that XG remained clueless (that YS had engineered this ‘date’ and was pursuing her).
XG is uncomfortable lying by omission… ie by omitting to come clean with the people they meet, that they are not a couple.
YS: “A little misunderstanding won’t hurt. I’ve been single for years. It’s kind of embarrassing to always be seen alone. Besides, I’m quite a catch. You’re not losing out either” (LOL this is YS at his most narcissistic! And XG the ever quick learner will use these words against him soon).
XG says no way they should be thought of as a couple. YS just says okay and walks off.
When YS speaks with his ex-teacher, XG is pleased that he tells him truthfully that they are not dating. However he then reports that he’s pursuing XG.
XG stares at YS in shock, and yet with a signal from YS, XG finds herself nodding in agreement towards the teacher. But then she berates herself – there was no need for her to go along with what YS says. LOL (Too late! She fails to see however, that he was being truthful.)
(Continued later…)
EPISODE 10
Moving from being the evil weirdo boss to the almost boyfriend
Part 6 – Cheering each other up 1
Seeing that YS is pensive after speaking with his teacher who had had high hopes for him which YS was not able to fulfill, XG assures him it’s not his fault that he can no longer be a surgeon, and he’s still amazing.
XG: “At least your future boss thinks very highly of you.” (She has joined in his game of ‘Who’s the Boss’).
YS: “My future boss? You?”
XG: “Yes, me.”
YS: “Alright, it’s a deal. Just make sure you don’t fire me.”
XG: “It’s a wedding so cheer up a bit. Considering that I just wasted being “confessed to” in public for the first time on you, the least you could do is brighten up.”
YS: “Is that so. Are you really that unpopular (or so unattractive that no one would confess to you).” LOLOL
She is bit stunned at his comeback but without rancour: “You sure snapped out if it fast.” He laughs.
EPISODES 10-11
Part 7 – Cheering each other up 2
After the dinner, XG’s university friends run into her, with ZX and Ye Rong in tow. They accuse her teasingly about bailing out on them. Ye Rong’s insinuations that she had found her happiness with ZX and that XG should find her own Mr Right affects XG (and annoys ZX). She looks ready to cry when YS comes back and ’saves’ her. He sees that she’s very upset and so takes her hand and heads back to the group to introduce himself to them.
Boss-uni-friend teases XG for choosing her boyfriend over friends. YS immediately defends XG. (His response is totally the opposite from how Zhuang Xu had let Ye Rong accuse XG without defending her at all).
YS: “Don’t blame her. XG was supposed to work late, but an old friend of mine is getting married today, and she insists on meeting XG. That’s why I dragged her out here.”
Seeing how upset XG is, YS decides to cheer XG up, by taking her out (to ‘play’) instead of letting her go home depressed.
YS: “I can’t just bring you out here all happy only to take you back looking so miserable.” (LOL true… it would be bad for his image!)
He suggests the things they can do (on a date) and she brightens up. She wants to do it all. Perhaps to make up for making her pay for the big department dinner, he passes her his wallet asking her to check if he has enough money. XG does not want to just use YS’s money. She is prepared to go to the bank, withdraw cash, and blow money on the night. She runs off, but pauses and turns to make sure that YS is with her. He had successfully restored her happy energy.
I love the reciprocity in their relationship, already evident before they are officially together.
(Continued …)
I found Ep 20 very moving. I was particularly caught up in the hope and rawness of the ML finding himself back in an emergency hospital scenario and back in the groove, acting ‘by force of habit’. There’s something about his vulnerability as he scrubs up and stands just outside the operating room to support the procedure — especially the way his left hand flexes and tenses, betraying his instinct to step in and operate again.
I thought the whole sequence was handled beautifully. In fact, I’m finding myself caring as much — if not more — about the ML’s struggle to reconcile his sense of calling with what has happened to him as about the central romance.
My dear @Kate, I’m not sure if this comment will reach you because my response to you disappeared into @pkml3’s spam folder I think.
I was saying that many of our earlier comments are in the Nov WAWW thread and I look forward to more of your observations that help define the situations which it never occurred to me to ‘name’. I refer to your comment on social betrayal and it got me to look it up.
I, too, am definitely very invested in how YS will successfully forge a new path for himself in the field of medicine that he still is so passionate about. I’d also like to see XG really becoming a boss somewhere.
While we began from XG’s point of view, I feel that this series is meant to give us a balanced perspective from both the FL’s and ML’s points of view. It offers us the development of both characters with perhaps YS needing to be enLIGHTened (yes pun intended) a bit more than XG, and ZX needing it the most!!!
While Xi Guang’s name means light or morning light and I believe the title in Chinese actually is ‘You are my Sunshine,’ as if referring only to XG,we see that both XG and YS are the light/support/saviours to each other and to others around them. 🙂
EPISODE 10-11
Moving from being the evil weirdo boss to the almost boyfriend
Part 8 – The Annual Plan
YS successfully brightens XG’s mood with a night of arcade games, followed by a movie with all the frills, then watching the night view. However YS is still awake in the wee hours when XG texts him.
He says he’s working on an annual plan in which he’d do the hard work and she’d get the benefits.
At the hotel’s buffet breakfast the next morning, YS is somewhat confounded by the amount of food that XG can eat. She even eats the bread he had left behind. She notes his expression.
He claims that he was making calculations (in his annual plan!!!)
YS: “I was running the numbers on keeping …” (he pauses… he was about to say ‘on keeping you fed’ LOL)
He changes it to: “The cost might need an upgrade.” (He has to increase his budget on food for his future wife but XG thinks he’s just being a workaholic).
I mentioned before that even in Ep 1, YS had a plan with regards to dating… he must have been updating it a great deal since then!
EPISODES 10-12
It is noteworthy that while XG was opposed to lying by omission to strangers, she went along with YS’s treating her as if she was his gf and lets her ex-Uni friends think that they are a couple.
YS had seen that she had changed from being peacefully happy when he left her to being deeply upset with the advent of her ex-Uni friends. He had guessed that there was some relationship issue involved and set about protecting her. He had also seen ZX before and knew that ZX had been submitting XG’s resume. ZX had followed XG to the edge of the step, showing that he was the most affected by her running down the steps to YS.
Perhaps YS had put 2-and-2 together about ZX and the group of friends. He took her hand to give her support and assurance to face the group together.
I’m guessing why XG allowed the group to think that YS was her bf:
– YS had started it by letting her use him as a shield against the onslaught of questions. She was not in the right headspace to ‘defend’ herself and so just left it to him to parry the questions and smooth things over. It would have been strange that YS did all that while not being her boyfriend, hence it was easier to be silent on the matter.
– There was no obligation for XG to clarify her relationship to the group.
– The group would not have believed her if she had told them the truth.
– XG by this time was subconsciously invested in having a go at a relationship with YS. She did not know for sure yet that he would be her endgame, but by Ep 32 from hindsight, she was sure that even at this stage, there was no need to choose between the 2 guys. It was always going to be YS for the win.
EPISODE 12
Yu Sen’s Confession
What an irony it is for ZX that his passive-aggressive attack on XG resulted in possibly hastening YS’s annual plan for making XG is gf. Since ZX left XG in tears it became incumbent on YS to dry them, and he used the most unusual means to do so, a love confession!
Thinking back, the situation of opposites abound when it came to our love triangle.
– When opportunities were presented, ZX remained ambiguous, silent and inactive while YS acted and spoke decisively.
– XG was happy and peaceful with YS but distressed with ZX.
– ZX ruined XG’s clothes but YS brings her fresh clothes to change into.
– ZX had accused XG of confessing and breaking her promise to him, but YS chose to make a confession knowing he would be rejected in the current time and did not require any promise from XG.
– YS was prepared to play the long game as long as XG did not bar him from pursuing her. ZX expected XG to forever be waiting for him while he did nothing to pursue her.
The transcript of the Confession:
XG is overwrought and cannot keep the tears from falling after ZX’s ‘attack’, so she remained crouched against the wall with head down until YS came to help her up.
He looks at her sympathetically while she tells him to ignore her.
XG: “I’ll be fine in a second. Just give me a minute.”
YS: “How am I supposed to ignore you, when you are so vulnerable?”
He moves to wipe her tears away but pauses because it’s not appropriate for him to take that liberty (yet). It was also a confession of sorts.
XG does not really dare to look up at YS but that move of his stopped her tears.
YS has a moment of thought, makes a decision and then puts into words what his actions had already said.
YS: “Honestly, confessing my feelings here is not exactly my style.”
XG, startled, looks up at him properly…
YS: “But with you crying like this, I’d be an idiot not to seize the moment. Nie XG tell me what I’m supposed to do with you.”
Understandably, XG is speechless.
YS: “Back at the banquet hall, I was tearing myself apart wondering if I should come over. I told myself ‘You’re almost thirty. Stop acting like a teenager.’ But I lost my composure anyway. I’m so far gone. And yet I’m here wishing your feelings change soon. Nie XG, don’t play dumb.”
XG finally finds her voice: “I’m not playing dumb. I’m just figuring this out myself. I didn’t even get a chance to fake it.”
YS laughs. He has successfully diverted her thoughts from her misery.
I transcribed their subsequent conversation outdoors in the Nov WAWW thread. That was one of my fave scenes where the snow fell softly down on them and then upwards, when XG felt mind-blown by YS’s words.
@GB,
Thank you. Encouraging.
I will go back and look at the November WAWW comments about the show and then post again here this evening. There are lots of rich themes to tap into.
Re your point about needing to be enlightened – yes. The way the tangled skein unravels is fascinating – with so many delayed reveals and half reveals.
So many big things have hinged on misinformation – deliberate misinformation at that. I am watching the important scene where the penny drops about the role of the FL’s manipulative half sister. What a thing now to come to terms with! On the one hand good that XG had no direct role at all in the steps leading up to the accident but not good that the cause was so unworthy – almost trivial! A brutal dawning of realization for our ML.
I would also like to see XG grow in the way you described.
@GB and @IbisFeather,
Your discussion in WAWW November was really rich. I wasn’t able to pick the show up at that point — wish I had.
On another point, re Episodes 20–21, I want to pick up again on the ML’s failure to communicate with the FL when he rushes away to the hospital. That moment lands as another delayed bombshell. It turns out XG was precisely the sort of person who would have been concerned about his physical welfare — despite his misreading of what happened in the aftermath of the car accident, and the resulting misreading of her character. So had he ever really got his facts straight about the sequence of events following the crash?
It’s a small fumble with large consequences – both healing and providing a big clue – and I thought it was very clever writing.
@GB I agree about the irritating role of busybody friends. The more shows you watch, the more grating it becomes. I would loathe having to be one of those friends in a drama — though no one has offered me that role yet! I do think the FL’s cousin is a cutie, but I don’t know many teenage lads who could be bothered to interfere so energetically in an older female relative’s love life. Still, he’s a likeable character, so I forgive him as a plot device.
That said, the question of social interference feels huge in this drama, especially given its sprawling cast. The plot is driven not only by characters with principles, but by whispers, assumptions, and misunderstandings that are allowed to take on lives of their own. There’s a strong belief in — and narrative affirmation of — the butterfly effect here, which we saw working in a more positive way in Sniper Butterfly.
I wonder whether this also reflects a greater sense of inter-reliance in Chinese social contexts, where impressions and shading of reputations and relationship status can snowball unless actively challenged. Managing the reputational narrative becomes a real pressure.
Gu Man apparently worked in administration and describes herself as lazy, preferring gaming at home among her creature comforts. Fascinatingly, many of her characters also come from the area where she grew up — Yixing, Wuxi, Jiangsu. It isn’t difficult to imagine that the fingerprints of her own social experiences are all over the shows she writes, particularly in the dynamics of the work and friendship groups she depicts — small dramatic happenings with disproportionately large impact.
@Kate,
I remember a Ms.Cheng earlier in the show, who shared with XG her experiences of being a businessperson affected by gossip she couldnt defend herself against.
I kept expecting for some serious malicious gossip problem to crop up again later.
It wouldnt have to be a personal experience for Gu Man to see this particular version of the problem, as it is so acute with women in the workplace. Bullies seek out those in a vulnerable position.
I’m moving @monmor’s post here. –pm3
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I think this drama does a wonderful job showing how young people gradually learn to love, moving beyond crushes and fantasies into genuine emotional connection. Thank you to the members of BOD who helped me get past the first few episodes so I could enjoy the richness of this drama.
Some thoughts up to episode 20
The FL’s early crush is classic for her age: he’s idealized (from my perspective he is not very idealizable), and his approval seems to promise her a sense of worth. She says something along the lines of “if he values me then others will too”. These fantasy crushes feel larger than life, especially when the other person is emotionally unavailable, as he is.
In university, her insecurities about her identity as an independent person make it hard for her to stand up to criticism or navigate social pressures. I especially loved her conversation with the marmalade cat about whether it’s better to be pampered or to survive on your own—it really highlights her inner conflict.
I’m moving @monmor’s post here. –pm3
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The male lead, older and more emotionally mature (and much more idealizable), gives her space to develop her identity without pressure. His own past injuries and experiences shape his ability to be patient and understanding. He does also develop a fantasy relationship about her lack of compassion for him when he was in the car accident. If he had not already idealized her, somewhat, this may not have mattered so much. The two of them are able to mutually regulate themselves into a genuine relationship. As he gets to know her, he can put aside his feelings of
betrayal and develop a genuine relationship even before he knows the real story behind the incident. I found it very amusing that he had this whole relationship with her in his head and she did not even know who he was. His confession at the second wedding was laying the cards on the table, as someone says in the drama. I like that way of putting it. She still has agency and choice, not the pressure of obligation which came from the second male lead.
In many ways, the SML is just as hurt as she is by their peers’ manipulations, and perhaps even more vulnerable because of a
I’m moving @monmor’s post here. — pm3
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leads having warm interactions with their mothers as adults. Nothing comparable for him. Just another work colleague pushing him to confess? The scene that speaks the most to me about his state of mind is the scene where he arrives at night at the chalet just after the joyful fireworks and is shown from a God’s eye view as covered by a black umbrella(those umbrellas again) in an immensity of snow filled landscape.( another aside, I loved the skiing and snowboarding scenes). I did feel some hope for him as he controlled his impulse to text her.
Following up on the comments about Gu Man’s novels being about love at first sight, perhaps this one is a more cautionary tale about love at first sight or better put, a story about young people’s development of the capacity to genuinely love. Perhaps a maturing of her own thoughts(and experiences) on love.
Pairing this drama with a workplace theme of environmentally friendly energy production, solar panels, and the title of shine on me are pitch perfect.
Thank you For putting my post in order. I appreciate that.
It is as much a thematic Summary. as it is A commentary Up to episode twenty. I Worry That those who are further along in the drama may miss this post.
It also pertains to the conversation about other Gu Man stories
@Monmor,
I enjoyed your reflections, including your point about the ML carrying an entire relationship — complete with dark betrayal — in his head, while the FL had zero memory of any previous encounter with him. It says a lot about projection versus genuine connection. Realising he was never on the FL’s radar at all is quite something to take in — no wonder he raced off to north-west China to process 😅. Who wouldn’t? 😄
🙂 I was so caught up in the fantasy of his relationship that I forgot to think about How she never even noticed him, In reality, At the party. Yes , that would have been A shock. I had been thinking it was because he realized His accident Would not have happened , had he not been misled. That was also part of it, but I thought his reaction was rather strong.And now I understand it better.