Notable Actors/Actresses
Li Ming De: Tan Song
Tian Xi Wei: Huang Cheng Zi
Director:
Scriptwriter:
Chinese Title
如此可愛的我們
[Ep1] Huang Cheng Zi accidentally finds a lot of money in her home. She doesn't know if it belongs to her mother or father. She decides to investigate her mother and starts telling her she knows her secret. Mom, serious as ever, admits that yes, you are not my daughter. Huang Cheng Zi and her dad are shocked. Ha. Mom is the boss of this house and all the money goes to her for bookkeeping. Huang Cheng Zi wants to buy a new bike which is why she's hesitant on returning the money. She then finds out it's dad's and he is willing to buy his precious daughter a bike that's not rusty. However, mom discovers the hidden money. When she opened the fan light, all the money on the petals flew out. It was raining money. Ha. The new bike is no longer happening. But dad is precious. Seeing his daughter tiredly ride her bike, he uses the money mom gave him to buy wine for an important client to buy a new bike instead. Meanwhile he bought a book on how to make wine for the client. Dad is so sweet. The moment she got her bike, she goes to pick up Tan Song, her childhood friend. He was throwing out garbage and she tells him why not find a farther dumpster to throw garbage, heh. She wants to show off her new bike. Unfortunately, Huang Cheng Zi's new bike is stolen the second day. She was too cheap when buying a lock for her bike.
[Ep13] There's so many random scenes in the beginning of this episode, it turns out it was all for them to be able to answer the bizarre questions required to enter a competition to win five tickets to the Beijing Olympics. Now they have to put on a talent show to impress the judges. They're dancing to the Chinese version of Oh My Girl's Listen to My World. I know this song well because I repeated it a lot during one summer, heh. They get the biggest response from the audience and the judge but they end up second. Their consolation prize is a HD TV. Those forced smiles on all five of them xD. Cheng Zi's mom is super happy to receive the present but none of them are. It turns out they did win first place but because the company will have to fork out five tickets for them, they made the second place take first place instead, that way the company only has to buy one ticket for that annoying kid. That's so not fair! The five of them don't know the truth and are able to happily watch the Olympics opening ceremony on the new HD TV. Jin Zhao regrets agreeing to give the TV to Cheng Zi's family. 
[First Impression (Ep1-8)] I like this. It's a simple high school teen drama. It's more down-to-earth than it is fluffy. It's more funny than it is sweet. When it is sweet though, it's naturally sweet. The main couple are best friends and have the fight-till-you-die type of relationship. I like that this focuses on the male's perspective of falling in love with his best friend while she keeps crushing on different men. There's three to four men that have popped up from these eight episodes to distract her from him, ha. He's got so many competition. I also like the friendship between the five of them (plus Ou Yang).
[Ending] It's a happy one. I'd rather the drama choose a different ending scene or not show me that at all. What does it mean? Where are they going? Are they grown up? Other than Cheng Zi and Tan Song being confirmed as the couple, nothing else is confirmed (e.g. Chen Zui and Jin Xiao). I feel like Jin Xiao and Chen Zui are never going to get together, lol. She's way too dumb and Chen Zui is too much like a piece of wood. She's going to be stolen from him right under his nose. Sigh. Anyways, back to the main couple. I love that "orange" confession.
[Review] This drama is beautiful because of it's simplicity. It's about five high school students in their daily lives. There is an endearing romance between two bickering friends. It's cute that it's the boy who likes the girl first. Aside from the romance, it covers a broad range of topics from first loves to family to friendship to education in the span of 16 episodes. It takes a very mundane event and from there a story is spun. For example, an episode starts with finding a large sum of money that thoughtfully weaves into an episode about fatherly love. Each episode is beautifully thoughtful and sometimes emotionally wrenching. There's one episode where my tears were just bursting through so unexpectedly.
如此可愛的我們
Network: iQIYI
Recap Grade: A
First Impression: 4/5
First Impression: 4/5
Mini Recaps
Zhu Jin Xiao's mother's 40th birthday is the same day as her idol's concert which she has tickets for. She chooses her concert. However, her father and brother (He Jin Zhao) are also busy and mom is alone in her home with no one to celebrate her birthday with. The doorbell rings; mom runs thinking it's her family. It is her family just not who she expected; it's her mother. Aw. She's here to celebrate her daughter's birthday. Zhu Jin Xiao also returns home. Before entering the concert hall, she decides her mother is more important.
Huang Cheng Zi cries alone about her stolen bike. Tan Song calls her to invite her to the concert (with Zhu Jin Xiao's ticket). Weeping, she tells him she's definitely going. She takes her old rusty bike there. After the concert, she remembers she forget to lock her bike. She runs out and finds her bike still there. No thief would steal that. It's bittersweet.
This episode's theme is "Mother" whether it's Jay Chou's "Listen to Mama's Words" released in 2006, Zhuo Jin Xiao's mother's mother, Huang Cheng Zi's bossy mom or Tan Son's late mother.
[Ep2] There's a big family/friend gathering. The five childhood friends' families are all there. In the middle of dinner everyone gets into a hot debate of which gender deserves to be doted on more. Tan Song and Cheng Zi are the most immersed. He ends up insulting her and she slaps him. Tan Song replies that the compliment that cripples men the most is that men do not hit women. He then pulls her hair (in front of all the families). Haha. She replies with the most crippling compliment for women is that we're gentle. She then scratches his face. The two engage in a heated brawl. Their friends cannot predict who will win between these two.
The next day they are assigned a weird debate topic: they are for "early dating". It's against the rules to date in high school. He Jin Zhao advises them to experience dating first. They go for the normal dating stuff: bike riding, movies, rollerskating, and the arcade. Everything turns unromantic with these two. I'm envious of their relationship. He Jin Zhao then proposes to reenact romantic drama scenes. As expected, they are anything but romantic. Her heart feels nothing for him but I can't say the same for Tan Song. She does get a heart-pounding moment though when a tall boy helps her reach for the pop she couldn't.
[Ep3] The water runs out at Cheng Zi's home. She shows up with half shampooed hair at Tan Song's home to finish washing her hair. He leaves to pick up his family. When he's back she's singing horribly loud. That's when Tan Ou Yang walks in. He's Tan Song's cousin and the boy who had helped Cheng Zi reach for the pop. Cheng Zi is in love. All the boys misunderstand that she loves Tan Song, especially Tan Song himself. He plans to reject her though. At lunch, she gave him a drumstick. She wouldn't have minded the hair on the food, but when she heard the person who cooked it had the most oily hair ever, she couldn't eat it anymore. Meanwhile Tan Song smirks to his friends that she indeed loves him.
Cheng Zi invites everyone to dinner hoping to confess to Tan Ou Yang but that's when she learns that he's already dating. Tan Song casually adds that Ou Yang's girlfriend is practically like a goddess: beautiful and gentle. Cheng Zi complains to Zhu Jin Xiao all night about Tan Song insulting her. Zhu Jin Xiao notes the key point of her disappointment; it's not in her crush dating but Tan Song's comments about her. The next day, she turns scarily sweet, his friends beg Tan Song to quickly deal with her.
Tan Song invites Cheng Zi to a double date to an amusement park. They're still unromantically romantic. Cheng Zi starts to accept her crush has a girlfriend. Tan Song also learns the one Cheng Zi likes isn’t him. He's embarrassed and doesn't bother clarifying to his friends about his foolish mix-up. His misunderstandings don’t end there. He thinks she's suicidal now that she's heartbroken. He sincerely comforts her as he tends to her tiny finger wound. He tells her that compared to the brightest star, he admires the star that isn't as bright but tries her best to shine. He's talking about her. Although she's not beautiful, she's cute. She's a happy bug that brings smiles to others. He gives her 92, no, 96 points out of 100 points. He also buys her a bike with the competition money he won at school. She's touched. But to her it feels off when he tells her to live happily. Hehe.
[Ep4] Tan Ou Yang and Jin Xiao team up to protect a girl who's being picked up by lewd men. The men blame the girl for wearing exposing clothes. Jin Xiao can't stand it when men reverse blame women for their lewd thoughts. Ou Yang pats the man's bum and blames him for wearing shorts to attract his hand. Heh. And that's how Ou Yan and Jin Xiao meet.
Tan Song confidently tells Cheng Zi there isn't 'no' in a man's dictionary. The next minute he repeats "no" for the tenth time. He can't do the practice exam questions Cheng Zi gave him. He assures her that his cousin Ou Yang can do it. But he can't either. He sucks at it more than them.
[Ep5] Exams are coming up. They're studying English. Cheng Zi and Tan Song end up insulting each other in English. He wins by calling her an ugly orange, ha. Her name "Cheng Zi" sounds like "Orange" and her surname "Huang" sounds like "Yellow". So together, her name is Yellow Orange.
There's a thief in the neighbourhood. Jin Xiao is scared especially when she has to supervise her family's convenience store. Chen Zui walks her there and accompanies her for the night. He also patiently waits for her after her late night classes. He follows her home to keep her safe but she doesn't know it. He temporarily loses her and that's when she bumps into the thief. There's another knight who saves her. It's Tan Ou Yang. He puts his hat over her head to block her from seeing how he'll (brutally) take down the thief. I have to admit, he is pretty cool. She's gotten the Ou Yang poison of love. Chen Zui missed his chance.
The teachers pit Chen Zui and Jin Xiao against each other for extra points to be accepted in this prestigious university. Jin Xiao wants to do better for herself but Chen Zui looks like he wants to yield to her. He does. On the day of the exam, Cheng Zi resorts to being superstitious.
Ou Yang invites them to a Halloween party but all the friends think Tan Song and Cheng Zi are too upset about their results to attend. Nope. They're dying to attend and are trying their best to get their friends to invite them. The friends don't, heh. Thus they invite themselves and even buy a Halloween costume (No Face from Spirited Away) to attend. But it was a regular dance party with no costumes. Cheng Zi is embarrassed and cries and wails. She accidentally exposes she liked Ou Yang and he hears it. It's okay though. She's completely over him. All of her friends continue to laugh at her getup though. She really is the happy bug in the group, bringing laughter to all of them at her own expense, lol.
[Ep6] Cheng Zi is still No Face as she's eating her hamburger. Tan Song wants her to take off her makeup first but she refuses to because her food will turn cold. She also wants some pictures of her costume too so he asks Tan Song to take it for her first and then send it to her. When she tells him to delete it on his phone, he secretly keeps it. She also asks for another favour: she wants a picture of Yao Hao Nan, the new popular boy in their grade.
Tan Song is jealous. He hates being second to Yao Hao Nan (in Cheng Zi's heart). Thus, he decides to form a team of his own to defeat Yao Hao Nan's basketball team. Before he does though, the four friends discover He Jin Zhao is being bullied by Yao Hao Nan. All of Cheng Zi's admiration of him pops. The four, especially Jin Xiao, are determined to bully him back. However, it was all a misunderstanding. Yao Hao Nan is massaging He Jin Zhao because he's training him for basketball.
Tan Song and Chen Zui practice teamwork. He Jin Zhao teaches them weird things again. They have to ride a bike together, sleep together, love each other, etc. They're training for basketball by the way. It's D-day. Cheng Zi is cheering for the school's number one boy: Yao Hao Nan. As the game continues, her focus shifts to Tan Song; she cheers for him. Yao Hao Nan begins to foul. The fouling escalates and as a result, Tan Song falls over. Cheng Zi runs onto the court and grabs Yao Hao Nan's collar for injuring Tan Song. Yao Hao Nan threatens her that just because she's a girl, he's not afraid of hitting her. Tan Song furiously yells back at Yao Hao Nan, silencing everyone.
The next day, Tan Song and Chen Zui are the two most popular boys in class. All the girls flock to them. However, there's a new boy and all the girls forget them in an instant. Tan Song and Chen Zui sigh at how fickle girls are.
[Ep7] The five friends are on a camping trip including Ou Yang who's driving. Ou Yang is like a smart doofus. They get off the car to buy snacks but when they're driving again, they actually forgot Cheng Zi. Ha. It's Tan Song who realizes she's missing. An angry Cheng Zi refuses to get back in the car so they had to kidnap her back in. Heh.
In the car Chen Zui realizes Jin Xiao likes Ou Yang because she keeps staring at him. Cheng Zi also learns of Chen Zui's secret that he likes Jin Xiao. He tells her to keep this a secret between them. Chen Zui discovers a secret of hers too. She's wearing circle lens. She particularly doesn't want Tan Song to know. When Tan Song sees the two of them close, he misunderstands. When she continues to over-compliment Chen Zui (in front of Jin Xiao), it makes Tan Song even more jealous.
Tan Song confronts her that he knows their secret. He thinks she's dating Chen Zui. She thinks he knows about her circle lens. She lies that she's cold to distract him and walks away. Later at night, Tan Song wraps his scarf around her and puts his hat on her. Cheng Zi is touched but that feeling disappears in an instant when he pulls the hat down all the way to her chin and calls her an ugly garbage.
This is a New Years trip. They all make wishes for 2008. Tan Song's wish is that he's against high school dating. Hahaha. He shouts that loud and clear for the two people beside him to hear. Chen Zui hasn't thought of his wish yet. It's midnight and 2008 has arrived. They all hug each other. When it's Tan Song and Cheng Zi's turn to hug, they awkwardly turn away from each other.
Chen Zui and Jin Xiao have a chance to be together. He lets her use his wish and she does. I'm pretty sure that his wish is for her wish to come true. He gives her a present: it's a snow globe. It also starts snowing. Chen Zui and Jin Xiao get to see the first snow fall of the year. In the tent, Tan Song and Cheng Zi's sleeping bags are next to each other. When he turns in his sleep, he finds Cheng Zi right next to him. She's deep asleep. He quietly wishes her a happy new year.
They're back in school. Jin Xiao is at her dream university attending one day of class (because she got first on the exams last time). Tan Song accidentally reveals to his friends that Ou Yang is entering the military today. Cheng Zi asks him for one wish before he leaves. She wants to touch his abs. At first she pokes at them and then her entire palm is on it. Haha. She then wants to touch his pecs (chest). Tan Song pulls her away at this point. Jin Xiao arrives back in time to send off Ou Yang. Will that be the end of her first love?
[Ep8] Tan Song is absolutely relieved that Chen Zui doesn't like Cheng Zi. Thus begins the process of him realizing he's in love with her. He starts to compare her to his dream girl. He also starts thinking she's cute. But that thought ends when she sneezes in his face and his food. He starts thinking of her romantically but she keeps ruining it for him, heh.
Tan Song is jealous once again. This time it's of Liu Gao Xu. He's Cheng Zi's study partner. When the two study together, Tan Song interrupts their session. Tan Song thinks she purposely dressed up for it. She didn't. She did end up looking like a couple with Liu Gao Xu because of their attire. The entire day he tries to look better than Liu Gao Xu but he fails. Not like Cheng Zi notices it anyways. On their bus ride home, she falls asleep and her head keeps hitting the window. He moves to sit behind her and puts his hand between her and the window. He smiles while staring at the sleeping Cheng Zi. He's in love.
Jin Xiao and Chen Zui are invited on a show to replace a couple who suddenly cancelled. They end up winning the couple show because they know each other almost too well. The host adlibs and asks Chen Zui questions about their relationship. Chen Zui replies that he fell in love with her in their first year of highschool. He would give her 100 out of 100 points. Every moment with her makes his heart skip a beat. Chen Zui is also asked to confess to her. He does. He who is satisfied with his stable life admires her who keeps looking to expand her world. The crowd urges them to hug. In the hug, Jin Xiao compliments him that he sure knows how to lie. He’s not! Chen Zui secretly returns back to the set to retrieve the picture of him and Jin Xiao.
Tan Song worries for Cheng Zi who's late coming back home from another study session. He waits in the rain with two umbrellas. However, when he does see her, he denies that the extra umbrella is for her. He does give her a cooled down hot pack because he waited for her for that long. She smiles.
[Ep9] Theme: Relatives
The five pals are walking home with a stack of homework for the New Years holiday. They’re stopped by every neighbour who asks them about their exam results. Tan Song, Cheng Zi and He Jin Zhao continuously have their hearts pricked about their poor grades.
Tan Song's relatives are visiting. They continuously show off about their life abroad. Even milk from abroad is better and can make one grow more than 1.6m. Yo. I'm drinking overseas milk too. Tell me what I'm doing wrong. While Tan Song's relatives are flaunting, He Jin Zhao and Zhu Jin Xiao's grandmother who's visiting is superbly frugal. She'll rummage through the family's garbage to find things that are reusable. She'll even drink expired milk. It's a lifestyle she chose not because she's poor but because it's a waste to throw usable things away.
Cheng Zi thinks she's going on a trip to Thailand and asks Tan Song to teach her Vietnamese. While she's learning the language, they accidentally bump heads. Tan Song’s heart races for her. He changes the topic to her passport that's not ready yet. She rushes home to tell her parents to prepare their passport but it was all a huge misunderstanding.
Tan Song and Chen Zui go shopping, A sales person practically forces Chen Zui to buy the ugliest hat for a man possible. Pft. Chen Zui just doesn't know how to say no. Mom gives him a stern lecture on how to say no. Dad tries to teach him too but it turns out Chen Zui got this trait from his father. Poor mom, haha. However, Chen Zui does know how to say no when it matters. When a (cheap) neighbour asks him for these New Years Red Paper he wrote, he tells him no without hesitation because it's for Jin Xiao.
[Ep10] Theme: A Father's Love
Tan Song and his father are awkward, especially after their mother's death. It's been three years since they've last seen each other. He finds out his father is going on blind dates. Tan Song sulks alone. Cheng Zi comforts him. She reminds him that his name is a combination of his parent's surname. Each time his father calls him, he must be thinking of his mother. They end up talking about what their offspring's name will be if they were to marry: Tan Huang. It gets romantically awkward between the two.
Tan Song's father seeks Cheng Zi for help on how to improve his relationship with Tan Song. Cheng Zi advises him closely observe what he likes. Dad is a good learner. He figured out what his son likes the most: Cheng Zi (orange). With Cheng Zi's help, slowly but surely, the father and son start to get along.
Cheng Zi finds the notebook Tan Song's father had been writing in. She agrees with everything but pauses on one diagram. She thinks it's a tangerine. But from her memory, Tan Song doesn't like tangerines. That's right, that's because Tan Song loves Oranges (Cheng Zi).
[Ep11] Theme: Goodbye
Cheng Zi and Jin Xiao have an argument. Jin Xiao helped her write a script for a class presentation but Cheng Zi gave it to another student. Tan Song is caught in between the two girls arguing and becomes their messenger. He's like a parrot repeating everything they're saying when the girls clearly hear each other. Cheng Zi confesses that it's all because Tan Song's MP4 broke. She wanted to watch her Korean oppas and she was tempted by the classmate who offered to lend her an MP4 if she gave the speech to her.
Later that evening, Lin Grandpa, who is immigrating to the States, is giving his MP4 away. He Jin Zhao and Cheng Zi fight over it. Cheng Zi wants to watch her handsome oppas. Jealous, Tan Song joins in on the fight for the MP4. A physical brawl explodes between Tan Song and Cheng Zi. He Jin Zhao finds it impossible to intercept these lovebirds. Grandpa decides to give it to the winner of rock-paper-scissors. Cheng Zi lost. In fact, Cheng Zi has never won in rock-paper-scissors. She probably plays scissors all the time. I've got friends like that. I just don't get why.
The five pals record videos to give to Lin Grandpa before he leaves. Cheng Zi and Tan Song ride a short cruise ship to record the scenery for him but the cruise ship is experiencing technical difficulties. Every passenger is given a life jacket as they await for rescue (the ship needs oil). Cheng Zi falls asleep, her head dangles over the aisle. Tan Song covers her with his jacket and brings her towards him so she's sleeping on him comfortably.
Tan Song buys a new MP4 for Cheng Zi and even downloaded all the episodes of Coffee Prince for her. This way, she won't be bribed by the girl who wants to be the read the speech to the class.
Lin Grandpa's plans to go the States with his son falls through. His daughter is also moving so he can't go there either. Lin Grandpa had packed everything but has no where to go. The other parents are criticizing his children for giving him hope and then taking it away. That afternoon, Lin Grandpa suffers a heart attack and collapses. He passes away. Omg. I was not expecting this. Tears are just pouring down. At least he had our crew of five who recorded a video of everyone who loved him before he really left.
[Ep12] It's the 2018 Beijing Olympics. The five friends want to go but Cheng Zi doesn't have money and He Jin Zhao's grades are way too bad for mom to let him go. Thus, the team splits up. Tan Song helps Cheng Zi earn money. Chen Zui and Jin Xiao tutor He Jin Zhao. The first bump for the tutoring team is they don't have money to buy textbooks. Jin Xiao has to put her cuteness to test as she flirts her way to the bookstore owner to buy the book at a hugely discounted price. It's horribly cute. He Jin Zhao stares in horror. But Chen Zui thinks she's cute. Jin Xiao, known as Xiao Ge (Xiao Bro), threatens the two men that if news of her acting cute gets out they'll suffer dearly.
Tan Song sings and plays his guitar on the streets to raise money. Cheng Zi is impressed with him and these two earn lots of money. That night the police raids the area. He grabs her hand to flee. They hide behind a cargo and he's holding her close, so close they both become awkward. The police have left but when she asks him if they're still here, he lies that they are. He wants to stay close to her. There's a voiceover from Cheng Zi. She tells us that this run with him was a life changing moment. Her palms were sweaty, her eyes were blurry. Her vision started narrowing so much that it only focused on him. To her, he's slowly becoming a person who is irreplaceable.
It doesn't matter how much money they earn or whether their studies improve. There's simply no tickets for sale. The 2008 Beijing Olympic tickets have long been sold out.
Cheng Zi and Tan Song stay up to watch the olympics. She falls asleep on him. He shyly tells her that "If you're too close, I'll think you like me." He reaches for his phone to take a secret selfie of them together.
When Cheng Zi wakes up, it's Tan Song who's sleeping on her now. She becomes nervous. She finally realizes her feelings for him.
[Ep14] This episode it's finally Cheng Zi's turn to be jealous of Tan Song. There's a girl (Tang Wen Qi) who's crushing on him. When she walks home carrying a jug of oil, Tan Song runs to help her. But she refuses his help. Her jealousy shows as she keeps mentioning Tang Wen Qi. He tells her he rejected her. He's against high school dating anyways (cue to his New Years wish). He hovers close to her face and tells her that he has a girl he likes. It's just he thinks it'll be impossible for them to be together any time soon. She nervously asks him who he likes. Liu Yi Fei is his answer.
Cheng Zi aces her writing classes but when it comes to math, she’s at rock bottom. Her mom, normally a Scrooge, pays a handsome sum of money for her tutoring class. She also buys Cheng Zi the newest pair of sneakers so that she doesn’t look out of place in tutoring class with her old sneakers. Mom tells her that although education isn’t the most important in life but it will give her opportunities. Cheng Zi obediently attends class but Mom misunderstands and thinks she’s skipping class. She harshly lectured Cheng Zi so much, she cries the entire night. She calls up Tan Song who says he’ll beat up anyone for her. But it’s her mom. He can’t beat up future Mom-in-law so he tells her jokes all night.
Cheng Xi has been starving herself for three nights. She still hasn’t spoke to Mom. Dad takes her out for dinner. He tells her Mom is so frugal that she’s been using an old cellphone with a broken earpiece and shoes that are so worn out the shoe-man doesn’t even want to repair it but she’ll spend money on her tutoring fees and on her new shoes. There’s tears in Cheng Zi’s eyes. On her way home, Cheng Zi hears her mom bragging to a street vendor about her daughter. Tearful once more, she hugs her mom. They make up.
Cheng Zi’s parents have to leave home. She’s to stay home alone. Tan Song’s grandma is worried about Cheng Zi so she tells her grandson to sleep there for the night. He so so so unwillingly goes. Cheng Zi was fine on her own. She’s partying by herself in a dress and heels. She trips though. Tan Song throws away his blankets and pillow to catch her and it leads to this awkward scene:
Jin Xiao, He Jin Zhao, and Chen Zui spot the two on top of each other. Jin Xiao has the most unimpressed face on. The five of them sleep over at her place. In the middle of the night, Cheng Zi develops a high fever. Tan Song brings her to the hospital.
When she wakes up, it’s already morning. She find out that Tan Song piggybacked her all the way to the hospital. He ran in his slippers and even lost one but he kept running with one foot bare. When Cheng Zi sees him, he’s limping. One of his foot is bandaged. She lovingly smiles at him. He smiles care-freely at her despite being in pain himself.
[Ep15] He Jin Zhao fails the exams. He calmly tells his mom he won’t take it the second time. He knows better than anyone else that university isn’t his path. Mom seems to understand and let’s him choose the right path for himself.
Cheng Zi has entered a composition contest. The Korean transfer student (Liu Gao Xu) from last time also enters. These two plan a trip to the city to write it together. Tan Song worms his way on the trip by alarming her father that it'll be dangerous for her to go on a trip with a random boy. Dad agrees and so Tan Song goes on the trip rightfully to protect her.
Tan Song becomes jealous when Cheng Zi and Liu Gao Xu are sitting too close on the bus. He pretends to be feverish to get Cheng Zi to care for him. She does and she's quite caring too. When she touches his forehead, he turns red.
They're at the hotel. Tan Song is still grumpy. He's angry Cheng Zi is neglecting him but when she tells him to buy food, he obediently buys it.
The writing contest is over. He waited three hours for her. When she's finally done, she's busy chatting with Liu Gao Xu. A gloomy Tan Song is trailing behind with a yellow umbrella he just bought. He wanted to shelter her from the rain. Cheng Zi notices his downcast. She skips back to him to share his umbrella. He's still upset and shifts the umbrella away from her. She jumps around him like a cute puppy until he finally shares his umbrella with her. Awww.
Chen Zui knows Tan Song likes Cheng Zi. He freaks out. According to his logic, if Chen Zui knows then everyone knows. Chen Zui finds that comment offensive, "don't ridicule my brains". He continues to assure Tan Song that Cheng Zi and He Jin Zhao are too dumb to know. Tan Song then asks about Jin Xiao. Chen Zui explains that she may not be dumb but she's a love idiot. She has zero EQ. Chen Zui then urges Tan Song to confess before it's too late because today Cheng Zi is off on a date with Liu Gao Xu.
[Ep16] Tan Song runs frantically to Cheng Zi. He asks her "Have you heard of the book "Tangerines Aren't The Only Fruits." She scoffs at the idiotic title. But he's not done his sentence: "Oranges (Cheng Zi) are the only fruits." He doesn't know when his feelings towards her changed. That night when she returned home late from studying with Liu Gao Xu, he almost called the police. But when he saw her yellow raincoat bobbing up and down the stairs, he thought that yellow was the world's most beautiful colour. When he saw her friendly with Chen Zui, he thought that his friend was annoying for the first time ever.
Cheng Zi has a smile on. Purely out of reaction, she kisses him somewhere between his lips and cheek. Her brain only started working after the kiss. She tries to explain herself that her brain must have overheated. Tan Song stares wondrously at her, "My brain overheated too." He kisses her.
They walk home together. Tan Song wants to hold her hand but he misses the chance. Cheng Zi hears him mumbling about missing her hand. She pretends to not hear it but casually holds his hands. He asks her if she's willing to be his girlfriend. She is but not so easily like that. He asks her again formally and she agrees (quite easily). They're about to kiss but He Jin Zhao comes out of nowhere. Somehow someway, Cheng Zi manages to convince him to focus on Chen Zui's crush for Jin Xiao.
He Jin Zhao works on his plan to help Chen Zui. He locks Chen Zui and Jin Xiao in his room. These two have also found out that Cheng Zi and Tan Song are dating. Jin Xiao had originally claimed she always knew that Tan Song liked Cheng Zi. But now that she's alone with Chen Zui in her bother's room, she confesses she didn't know. HA. Chen Zui tells her that Tan Song probably liked Cheng Zi when they were about 15yo.
The next day, Chen Zui takes Jin Xiao to go an aquarium. He plans to confess but no matter how many hints he drops, the low EQ Jin Xiao only roots for him to confess to the girl he likes, not knowing at all that he has liked her since forever. When Chen Zui wants to be straightforward about it, she receives a phone call. Tan Ou Yang is back. Sigh.
Tan Song and Cheng Zi are on their first date. They also have their first argument. She found a picture of his goddess Liu Yi Fei in his wallet. He quickly kisses her to apologize for it. A smile peeps through her lips. She tells him, "Don't think that one will be enough," They kiss some more.
At night, Tan Song prepares a romantic event for Cheng Zi. He wants to give her a formal confession because the last one was too rushed. That's when Jin Zhao learns that these two are dating. He's the last to know and he becomes extremely upset. Haha. He takes revenge on Tan Song by revealing a journal he kept of his when they were young. They had accidentally exchanged journals and he knew that Tan Song had long read his but he never read Tan Song's journal. Today is the day he will expose it. Inside are comments about all his friends. It's offensive to everyone but what he says about them are sort of true. Heh.
In the ending scene, everyone is dressed up formally. Tan Song and Cheng Zi hook onto each other's arms. He Jin Zhao, Zhu Jin Xiao, and Chen Zui follow from behind. I assume everyone is grown up. Tan Song and Cheng Zi are still loving. The five of them are still the best of friends. However, I don't know about about Jin Xiao and Chen Zui being a couple.
Cheng Zi's voiceover: God won’t be mean to cute people and we’re this cute. This alludes to the Chinese title of the drama.
The end.
Remarks
[First Impression (Ep1-8)] I like this. It's a simple high school teen drama. It's more down-to-earth than it is fluffy. It's more funny than it is sweet. When it is sweet though, it's naturally sweet. The main couple are best friends and have the fight-till-you-die type of relationship. I like that this focuses on the male's perspective of falling in love with his best friend while she keeps crushing on different men. There's three to four men that have popped up from these eight episodes to distract her from him, ha. He's got so many competition. I also like the friendship between the five of them (plus Ou Yang).
[Actors/Actresses] Li Ming De is the type of actor I love watching. He's not the regular good looking guy but he shines with his acting and personality. Tian Xi Wei is also in The Song of Glory (as Lu Wan). She's so much prettier here. I love her personality in this. It feels naturally bright.
[Behind the Scenes]
[Behind the Scenes]
[Ending] It's a happy one. I'd rather the drama choose a different ending scene or not show me that at all. What does it mean? Where are they going? Are they grown up? Other than Cheng Zi and Tan Song being confirmed as the couple, nothing else is confirmed (e.g. Chen Zui and Jin Xiao). I feel like Jin Xiao and Chen Zui are never going to get together, lol. She's way too dumb and Chen Zui is too much like a piece of wood. She's going to be stolen from him right under his nose. Sigh. Anyways, back to the main couple. I love that "orange" confession.
[Review] This drama is beautiful because of it's simplicity. It's about five high school students in their daily lives. There is an endearing romance between two bickering friends. It's cute that it's the boy who likes the girl first. Aside from the romance, it covers a broad range of topics from first loves to family to friendship to education in the span of 16 episodes. It takes a very mundane event and from there a story is spun. For example, an episode starts with finding a large sum of money that thoughtfully weaves into an episode about fatherly love. Each episode is beautifully thoughtful and sometimes emotionally wrenching. There's one episode where my tears were just bursting through so unexpectedly.
Lovely Us takes a very simple story and turns it to something very special. This drama reminds me of a sweet nostalgic summer evening. It's like a cool breeze in the summer; a calm wave in the ocean.
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