Notable Actors/Actresses
Yang Zi: Yan Dan
Cheng Yi: Ying Yuan / Tang Zhou
Zhang Rui: Yu Mo
Meng Zi Yi: Zhi Xi
Director:
Scriptwriter:
Chinese Title
沉香如屑
[Ep1] Our ML (Ying Yuan) likes flicking our FL’s (Yan Dan) forehead and flipping tortoises. 500 years ago, he saved a pair of twin(?) sisters from the Four Leaved Lotus Blossom Clan, one of them is Yan Dan. Her current dream is to be a screenwriter, and her current mission is to catch the flipping tortoise culprit.
[Ep2] Yan Dan ends up being caught by the tortoise flipper (ML). She’s now his little flippant servant.
[Ep3] Although Ying Yuan bullies Yan Dan, he’s actually training her because he likes her. Betcha wouldn’t have guessed!
[Ep8] Zhi Xi will get a free promotion because Yan Dan will substitute her for the tribulation, which only makes the older sister feel even more inferior.
[Ep10] Ying Yuan is freezing cold and so Yan Dan blows warmth through her pursed lips into his mouth. Suddenly, his body tenses and he pulls her in for a real kiss. A very long and probably painful kiss. 
Yan Dan names their little home Gou Dan (苟誕) House. It’s meant to sound like 狗蛋 which literally means Dog Egg. The English equivalent would be “Rascal”. 
[Ep11] A first kiss! Through a divider. So no first kiss? Why are they doing this anyway? It looks pretty, I guess. Then there’s a dream sequence (I see how show is filling up the minutes) where Ying Yuan and Yan Dan are married. They even have a child (Gou Dan, the name of their home and totally not Rascal). Dream is over. Reality is back. He is in excruciating pain, and so Yan Dan uses half her heart to cure Ying Yuan, which is breaking another stupid rule. Jealous Ying Deng punishes Yan Dan while Zhi Xi cowardly lets her sister die. Yu Mo (2ML, a black fish) helicopters in to save Yan Dan. While he loves her, there is another her who loves him. Chao Lan, a blue dragon, thinks Yu Mo is her destiny.
[Ep16] Boohoo. Main couple is separated.
[Ep17] Yan Dan has three days left and she will disappear forever in the River of Forgetfulness. For 900 years (minus 3 days), she couldn’t forget the man she loves (and maybe sister, but not worthy despite all her senses degrading.
Psst, our CP haven’t met yet. We’re getting there.
[Ep21] Yan Dan meets .... Yu Mo! As for our tortoise flipper, he is still a tortoise flipper. He goes by the name Tang Zhou. As for the tortoise he flipped in his godly days, it's a yao now! He's Zi Lin.
[Ep22] CP meets.
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[First Impression (Ep1-10)] So xianxia, lol.
[Actors/Actresses] A lot of Love and Redemption actors here. They’re all the same company (H&R Century) that Yang Zi fans hate and now she has freed herself from this agency. I wonder if her fans kept to their words of not promoting the drama for this company.
沉香如屑
Part 1 [1-38]
Part 2 [39-59]
Epilogues (2)
Recap Grade: C
First Impression: 1.8/5
First Impression: 1.8/5
Mini Recaps
Part 1
[Ep2] Yan Dan ends up being caught by the tortoise flipper (ML). She’s now his little flippant servant.
[Ep3] Although Ying Yuan bullies Yan Dan, he’s actually training her because he likes her. Betcha wouldn’t have guessed!
[Ep4] Introducing the evil 2FLs! Ying Deng and potentially Zhi Xi. Zhi Xi has always felt inferior to Yan Dan (her younger sister). What do these evil ladies have in common? They love our ML.
When guys try to kiss Yang Zi’s character:
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| Ying Yuan was drunk (and probably wasn’t trying to kiss her) |
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| Psychologist screenshot |
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| He’s Jing Bo Ran, btw. Handsome guy. In case you can’t see |
[Ep5] Ying Yuan cannot fall in love. In fact, he will kill anyone who violates the godly rules that forbid love. His mother had broken the rule and was subsequently betrayed by love and killed by his father (of Xuoluo Clan, the demon clan). His very existence is a sin that killed his mother. All this information is from the Heavenly Emperor. Not suspicious.
Btw, flipping tortoise (翻龜 fan gui) sounds like 犯規 (fan gui) which means to break the rules. Looks like someone is going to violate the godly code of love ~ Like mother, like son.
[Ep6] Ying Yuan is putting Yan Dan to bed and this ^ is what happens.
[Ep7] Xuan Xiang (Demon Overlord; Xuoluo Clan) wants to destroy the world. WHY?!?!?! *Deep voice* Because that’s the only way we can have a story. *Deep voice ends* Ying Yuan is injured from a fire poison. His vision is impaired too. The poison is almost impossible to cure. Almost. But what hurts him more is losing his friends and comrades to the clan he’s born from (Xiuluo Clan).
I get a kick from the brotherly moments between Si Feng and Mosha, I mean Ying Yuan and Huan Qin. Love and Redemption folks, you should know the intricate fate between these two xD. But Huan Qin died during the war. See you again?
[Ep9] Here is the cure: Yan Dan’s heart can save Ying Yuan because she is a descendant (one of the two only survivors) of the Four Leaved Lotus Blossom Clan. She also finds out Ying Yuan is from Xiuluo Clan and sympathizes with him.
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| This guy looks good in white and red |
Ying Yuan has decided to keep a distance from Yan Dan so that she won’t have hope. After he kissed her, bit her lips, touched her lips, gave her a hairpin, etc. And now he sits on a swing with her. No hope.
On Ying Yuan’s birthday, which he never celebrates, she prepares him a big and comfy – you’ll never guess it – coffin. She’s giving him a rebirth. And that is how our FL became his mother. (Kidding).
[Ep12] Zhi Xi is a pathological liar so much that I think she’s fooling herself too. She steals Yan Dan’s credit in saving Ying Yuan. Then she lies to Yan Dan that she lied for her sake. Afterwards Ying Deng convinces Zhi Xi to kill Yan Dan. That way her secret will be kept forever. How come Ying Deng is not punished already for “loving” Ying Yuan? Our ML isn’t stupid though! He knows who saved him: Yan Dan.
[Ep13] Our ML is stupid! Yan Dan is framed by evil 2FL and 3F but Ying Yuan doesn’t help her and even sentences her. He knows she’s innocent but it's the classical “I’m hurting you to protect you!” This is why he’s stupid. Girl is better off without the protection.
[Ep14] God forbid(s) that Yan Dan loves Ying Yuan. That god is Ying Yuan. He realizes Yan Dan loves him, and he cannot let her love him all the while he loves her and is now breaking both their hearts that love each other. *Sad music galore*
[Ep15] Tragic hero and heroine born! Yan Dan thinks Ying Yuan does not love her and jumps down the Bridgeless Bridge (= a hole in the sky). Ying Yuan jumps down with her, but now they’re at the River of Forgetfulness. Now she can only ever be a mortal after she forgets everything in this life. Back at the Heavenly Realm, Ying Yuan is punished for saving Yan Dan. He has to forget Yan Dan too, but he keeps the physical memory-fragment of Yan Dan sealed in his heart, never to be forgotten. He’s in excruciating pain as the lightning strikes. We torturing Si Feng again?
Ying Yuan has been unconscious. Thanks to Zhi Xi (who’s temporarily? kind again), he wakes up and accompanies Yan Dan to help her forget him and be reborn as a mortal. Our leads take turns with the white hair and hospice care eh. I’m sorry Yang Zi, but Cheng Yi is prettier than you in all his costumes...D:
[Ep18] Yan Dan would rather die than forget. Ying Yuan would rather her be alive than remember. He kisses her (because kissing is the only way!) to make her forget him. As for Ying Yuan, he will never forget her.
Ying Yuan also learns the Emperor is sus. Gotta investigate.
[Ep19] Investigations will happen later I guess... First → Begin the Mortal Realm Love Story! Yan Dan, who calls herself “Bai Pretty”, is a Flower yao, a demon spirit/fairy. Meanwhile Ying Yuan has forgotten her and is undergoing his mortal tribulations.
[Ep20] Zhi Xi incriminates Ying Deng and permanently exiles her to the mortal realm. It's to avenge herself and Yan Dan (but I say mostly herself). Unlike Yan Dan, Zhi Xi makes Ying Deng keep her memories. Foreva. Aiyah. She’s got more drama left in her, ah.
[Ep21] Yan Dan meets .... Yu Mo! As for our tortoise flipper, he is still a tortoise flipper. He goes by the name Tang Zhou. As for the tortoise he flipped in his godly days, it's a yao now! He's Zi Lin.
Yeah, our CP haven’t met yet. We’re getting there.
[Ep22] CP meets.
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Part 2
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Remarks
[First Impression (Ep1-10)] So xianxia, lol.
I don’t plan to update this regularly. I’m also not the greatest planner. Anyway, I was skimming the drama and thought it was funny that Yang Zi likes making the same facepalm move – not that kind of facepalm. It’s the main reason this page exists.
[Actors/Actresses] A lot of Love and Redemption actors here. They’re all the same company (H&R Century) that Yang Zi fans hate and now she has freed herself from this agency. I wonder if her fans kept to their words of not promoting the drama for this company.
[Glossary]
[Dropped (Ep22)] For those who want to try: drama hits its first (romantic) peak at Ep10 and enters the Mortal Realm in Ep19 but they don’t meet again until Ep22.
Coming from someone who (still!!) likes xianxia, I’m a little sad that this drama has become the poster child for why xianxia sucks. I don’t think this is all that awful, as in not infuriatingly horrible, I just feel boredom perforating every cell in my body.
I don’t feel the chemistry. I’m not surprised that I don’t either. Yang Zi from Ashes of Love and Cheng Yi from Love and Redemption weren’t a pair that clicked for me. I think Yang Zi likes ad-libbing so when she stuffs her hand in her ML’s face, it’s fun if the ML has a reaction like Jing Bo Ran in Psychologist. Cheng Yi’s the type of actor who strikes me as someone who analyzes his line and shows the precise expression per scene. When Yang Zi pulls the same trick on Cheng Yi, he doesn’t have a reaction, and the scene freezes and ends lacklusterly. I’m not saying one form of acting is better than the other, I just think they’re out of sync.
This is an unusual novel adaptation where the scriptwriters switched the ML. The novel ML is Yu Mo. The drama ML is Ying Yuan. From what I understand in the novel, Yan Dan (FL) ‘dumps’ the god who abandoned her love and chooses Yu Mo who was always supportive of her. My guess for the bold change is because Yu Mo (novel ML) overlaps with Si Feng in Love and Redemption. This is my guess only. Given what I know about Yu Mo, it’s hard not to see similarities with Si Feng and this being a drama produced by Cheng Yi’s company, there’s no way they’d want want him, “Yi ge”, #1 guy in the company, playing the same type of character in the same genre (even though it still feels like the same type of character in the same genre).
[Ending] Happy with the epilogues.
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