The Romance of Hua Rong | Recap and Review

Summary:
A pirate kidnaps a princess and proposes to her.
A masked hero she admires
A noble idiot doing noble things because he may die

Really loved the beginning (Eps 1-5):
His gazes; his undying love
Her cleverness in trying to escape from his grasp
His ability to outsmart her every time

The rest of the drama:
He clumsily tries to win her over with his barbaric ways
Turns out he's got one more secret up his sleeve to make her his
The rest of the way is them simply adoring each other and saving the world
With one little hiccup towards a near perfect ending.

Notable Actors/Actresses:
Yuan Hao: Qin Shang Cheng
Zhao Zhao Yi: Hua Rong
Chinese Title:
一夜新娘
One Night Bride

Genres: Period, Romcom, Period Romcom

Network: MangoTV

Year: 2019
Episodes: 24

Mini Recaps

Ep1: I love that scene of him in his pirate outfit and curly hair saving her from the fire (that she made...) 

Ep2: She's starting to like him as he puts ointment on her

Ep3: He lies that he's illiterate. She's so giddy to be his teacher, teaching him all the wrong things. 

He sure loves it when she tries her best to escape with all her might just to fail at his hands. Saved her three times: from the fire on the ship, from drowning, from falling off the tree. 

Ep4: Tons of progress: from hate to not-so-much-hate to maybe-somewhat-love to pure-hate

• She doesn't leave him when he gets bitten by a snake (when he saved her). Thankfully
• Love it when he blatantly tells her to repay his kindness (well she told him she would). Hah. She's feeding him oranges, reading him a story, staying the night with him, etc.
• She still doesn't leave him when his underlings try to throw a coup. Ouch that stab. That's a leader for ya. 
• He tries to brush her hair, and she does this grand yawn to avoid him, hahaha. He freezes in shock.
• Knowing he likes her she seduces him, except she gets drunk and loses her virginity. I really can't blame him... He's so happy that she's returning his love until all his happiness shatters in the morning. 

Ep5: He lets her stab his chest with the hairpin he gave her. The physical and emotional pain :( 

• She slits his throat (slightly!) and stabs his chest, but he's still so happy when she visits him. (Blind) Love. 
• They get married! He treasures their marriage certificate (which she purposefully signs the wrong name) 
• Then she runs away betraying his love for her :( 
• He thinks she died in the sea. He's so heartbroken he doesn't even have time to be angry at her.

Ep6: A rival appears. 

• At least she smiles while reminiscing her time with Shang Cheng. 
• Awww look at how happy he is just knowing that she's alive. But business comes first (: 

Ep7: Here comes the arc of how he'll clumsily win her over:  

• Anticipating that Hua Rong will come into shower he gets naked quick to coincidentally bump into her but it's the rival. Two naked guys in one room. 

Ep8: He reserves the entire road for the lantern festival (barricading anyone else from entering) to have her read "Qin Shang Cheng loves Hua Rong". She gets angry, like always, so he changes the order to "Hua Rong loves Qin Shang Cheng". Perfect. 

Ep9: Oh dear, she's ogling over Yuan He. She pressures him into giving her a present and adds her own meaning to the random bell, the only thing he could grab in his vicinity. Same people, different appearance; one gets treated like a prince, the other like a pest. 

Ep10: Since she`s such a touch cookie, Shang Cheng sucks up to the dad instead. 

Ep11: She gets drunk again aaaaaand they sleep together again. At least this time she takes the time to admire his sleeping face and doesn't slit his throat. That's a real improvement. 

Ep12: She sincerely thanks him for the first time when he compliments her courageous heart. 

Shang Cheng tries to convince her to stay out of danger but she refuses. He uses his alternate identity, Yuan He, to convince her but no cigar. He asks her why and she truthfully tells him: she's worried about Shang Cheng facing danger alone. I'm smiling looking at Shang Cheng trying to stay unfazed under Yuan He's mask. Only to utterly fail at hiding his identity when Hua Rong rips his mask away. Haha, look at that reaction from him! The hero she admires and the man she loves are one.
Ep13: Her feelings are revealed in his brink of death.
Ep14: The poor cousin and that wicked man... 

Ep15: It`s official, they're together. He gifts her a golden necklace with the meaning of locking her down (ummm, I don't know how to make this sound romantic in English, but it`s supposed to be...). His proposal (when they're married) is interrupted as a nearby ship is set on fire and she dies. Not. She's saved by the golden locket but Shang Cheng was scared out of his wits. Why play a joke like that... And he leaves her the next morning to go on his dangerous mission alone. What's with them each leaving whenever they get together.
Ep16: They're at it again, fighting and then kissing. Lol. She`s too weak against his charms. The boys then get into this immature battle of who knows Hua Rong better. Shang Cheng wins but it's a little disappointing he doesn't know her dream (which he really should have...that's when she first sincerely thanked him).
Ep17: He realizes his mistake and apologizes for it. Shortly after they get into another fight because all he cares about is her wanting to spend the rest of her life with him meanwhile she wants to focus on their mission. His identity as Shang Cheng isn't going to work so he shows up as Yuan He instead, and it works like a charm. Okay but honestly, it would have worked either way with how caring he is.

Ep19: He's shot by a mini arrow & he gets his bit of revenge on her faking her death earlier. She's wailing but she deserves it. On another note, I want Jin Yi Wen to find his happiness too. Meanwhile Shang Cheng displays a splendorous confession with lanterns and fireworks. He places the golden locket on her once again. His two underlings are cute and funny, barging in right at the wrong time.
Ep20: Tang Chu Jie appears. She's Hua Rong's love rival who's also in love with Yuan He. I guess girls like him masked rather than unmasked. Haha. Hua Rong feels insecure but...

SC: If you don't leave me, I'll never leave you. 

Ep22: Even I feel insecure for Hua Rong. Tan Chu Jie is the perfect counterpart for Shang Cheng. Makes me really wonder why he loves Hua Rong when he's so capable and charming, lol.
Ep23: Tang Chu Jie is way too nice it's suspicious. But she is genuinely nice and genuinely accepting of Hua Rong. It's her underling who poisons Hua Rong. Shang Cheng risks his life to save her but doesn't want her to know so he fakes a mariage with Chu Jie. What happened to never leaving her? The noble idiot thing.

Ep24: Shang Cheng is supposed to turn her away but he can't help but visit her secretly :(
Hua Rong figures it all out but instead of being emotional, she first tries to save him. But will it be too late? Noooope. It was all within Shang Cheng's masterful plan of getting the antidote and capturing his enemies. The moment they reunite she slaps him. Lol. He's shook. And then she hugs him and wails at him. And then they do that Titanic pose. Finally he puts on the golden locket one last time. Third time's the charm? Yep. She accepts his proposal sealed with her kiss.

Behind The Scenes

They look like a real couple in their cut scenes. So physically close. I would be so surprised if they're not actually dating. I remember her licking something off his elbow like it was the most natural thing to do. I watched the NG scenes for their kisses, they go on for so long. She's like out of breath..lol. There's also many other videos where they're all over each other.

Yuan Hao isn’t the typical good looking guy, but the director definitely saw something in his gazes because they're smouldering especially when he finds his love & he's effortlessly funny.

Rating: 4/5 ♥