themarchioness

I agree with you -- CT will never win any Mother of the Year awards, and she can still be really annoying and hateful in the ways that she places demands and expectations on LX, but in terms of what we saw in Episode 28 (where LX explains to JJ how he lived in Singapore) I actually sympathized with them both. When a person suffers as extensive an injury as the one CT suffered it's natural to grapple with anger, darkness, and despair. I found her helplessness rather realistically portrayed, just as I found LX's depression also realistic given the circumstances. Caretakers often do suffer secondary trauma, particularly for someone as young as LX and who had to burden all those responsibilities on his own. (If anything, the entire time I was watching, I really feeling hatred towards the extended family around them, none of whom were willing to step in and help!) As for the burn, it's clear that the incident happened because of her, but it's also clear it was not intentional. It was, like you said, an accident that occurred while she was having one of her fits and lashing out. If anything, it looks like that was the moment that made her snap out of things and realize she needed help and started taking her rehab seriously. CT is, as many of these characters are in this drama, very layered and complex. Sigh.

When I watch a scene like this one under the cut, I can only once again applaud Zhang Xincheng for his amazing acting in this series. He is really knocking it out of the park! The way he conveys his emotions really helps me to connect with his character and makes me feel what he's feeling. Is it any wonder that ZQ has my heart?

Not at all. I started reading this one after GYH and wished I'd read it during as it would've helped so much when I was recapping the show, LOL. I found both this book and The Most Majestic You helpful for my understanding of the gaming mechanics. If anything I think the way it's explained in these books makes one appreciate computer games that much more. It requires so much strategy and there's so much to learn and know in order to play it well.

Haha, I got impatient and watched the entire episode unsubbed when it came out. But I noticed it was subbed the other day and rewatched the intro part. When I have time, I’ll rewatch the rest as well. For now, I’m looking forward to seeing them reunited on Happy Camp!

@Phikyl Listen to her, not feeling the least bit guilty, tsk tsk! Ahhhhh, love that scene @Lynne, so fun seeing it come to life!

I do, I really, really do. Haha! This is a fun book, even if it is incredibly long and still being translated (*stares sideways at you*), and hopefully it will be an equally fun drama!

I think his worst moment had to be at the hot pot restaurant. That smug, satisfied expression on his face as he brought up JJ's anonymous online post. My palms itched to slap it away! I just hated how obvious and excited he was to see the fireworks explode. That's how you know a person's not a good seed -- when they're the type of person who takes pleasure in another person's misfortune. I hope JJ's friend/business partner wakes up and sees him for who he truly is: a rotten apple.

Yibo on 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

ZQ's mom is actually my favorite mom right now. It's true she abandoned him, and those have left scars of rejection on ZQ, but we also learn and see that she did it because she wasn't able to support him (was barely able to support herself) and so left him in a place where she believed he would have a better life (she was right about that; Papa Li is wonderful). Even now, she continues to make decisions based on what she believes to be in ZQ's best interest. She doesn't apologize to him because she doesn't think she has the right to return and be in his life -- importantly, that doesn't mean she doesn't want to be a part of his life. The fact that she doesn't believe she has the right demonstrates that she recognizes the debt she owes her son and doesn't want to bring more trouble to him. This is completely unlike LX's mom who not only left behind her son, but now expects and demands that he is a part of her life (notice: I am very purposely phrasing it this way as she doesn't even have the decency to want to be a part of LX's life, but rather, the the arrow works in the other direction for Chen Ting). Already we can see, though, ZQ's mother will return into his life. She is already watching over him from afar and trying to help him (the fact that she doesn't want him to know about it, though, again, speaks to the fact that she does not want to cause a disruption in his life through her presence -- i.e., thinking of him). ZQ's mom lived up to part of her responsibility in the past by at least returning the money that she owed Papa Li, and I believe that she will live up to the rest of her responsibility when she and ZQ mend their relationship in the end.

Welcome to the Reading Room for JangHaven’s Reading Corners Book Club! Grab a book from the Library or suggest one to add.* Tell us what you liked, what you didn’t like, what you would recommend or what you wouldn’t. All opinions are welcome so long as they are friendly and respectful. We look forward to hearing what you have to say! This thread is for general discussions and hanging out. If you want to enjoy a lengthy discussion on a specific book, separate from this thread, feel free to create a new topic for that purpose. In the future, we hope to also host Book Club reads and we’ll create separate topics for those when we do. *In the meantime, if you have a book you’d like to recommend for our Library just reply and tag @NiteWalker or @themarchioness and we’d be glad to add it.

Have we discussed the OST to this drama? I really love it. All the songs perfectly capture the emotions in this drama, especially the opening credit song, which is my favorite. But I'm glad TSY got to contribute to the OST as well, if only so they could play her song in the background as JJ thought back to LX's kisses. 😂

Same! I actually really liked their two conversations - the one outside MY’s parents’ apartment building and then at the coffee shop - because I liked how realistic, honest, and raw they were, even if they weren’t happy scenes either. I think the two conversations really drove home, though, how close MY and JJ are and why it was such a painful event for them both. Another conversation I enjoyed was the one between MY and LX when he apologized. I’m really glad he did because I’ve always felt he was using her a little there, and that wasn’t fair to MY or her crush.

Haha, yeah, we did talk about it at the time. When I tried it I also had to try the HDL brand. The one in GYH wasn’t available. The cooking part of it was fascinating, the flavors weren’t bad, but they weren’t great either. All in all, the overall experience was okay. It wasn’t something I’d run out to buy again, but my friend told me that if we ever run across the brand promoted in GYH we still have to try it as she is also convinced it will be better. Haha.

Intentional. You know that drama is never far from my thoughts. And I did too! 😂

They will, they will. They're just going through what JJ and MY recently went through, but similar to the girls, ZQ and LX are brothers and they will work through this. ZQ's upset has more to do with the shock of finding out and feeling rejected - again. When he calms down and can be rational again, he'll realize there's enough love for everybody and JJ and LX being together doesn't mean that he's being excluded. Still, I know, it is heart aching to watch them have to go through these rough times. But, I bet the minute anybody else appeared to disturb their lives, JJ, LX, and ZQ would be lined up, shoulder to shoulder, ready to do battle together, irrespective of whatever else was going on between them. That's how tight they are! I also like the pacing in the this story and how tightly woven it is written -- even for the side characters! Sometimes in Cdramas when side characters get their own story, it's like the drama takes a detour to address them and then everyone gets dragged down. Here, however, everything relates back to the broader story and so I find myself just as interested in the side characters as the main ones. I mean, who knew, even Dong Dong (ZQ's younger half brother) would become a point of interest? But now I'm totally curious as to what the drama has in store for him and He Mei. (Will Papa Li have to roll up his sleeves and provide help there, too???) @Lodestar, re: your comments on how netizens are up in arms over the romantic developments in this drama, I totally agree. I don't think there's anything remotely weird, uncomfortable, or squicky about what has transpired between the siblings. Plus, the writing was on the wall from the minute those three entered their high school years -- didn't we all pick up on the OTP romance then? And if we didn't, surely we should've been able to figure it out from the opening/end credits. LOL. I mean, if the netizens hadn't already figured it out already, well, I'm not sure what that says about their observational skills.... Anyway, like you said, it's not weird because for ZQ, his interest in JJ was never a romantic one. He just got led astray by others, but JJ put him right back on path by pointing out that what he was really yearning for was the right to be on the same hukou as her and Papa Li, and for that, they have the hukou of their hearts. As for LX, like you said, he might have been raised with JJ, but that doesn't mean he actually considered her to be a sister. His feelings are definitely not fraternal! JJ is, admittedly, the trickier one because she has grown up thinking of the two boys as her brothers. And yet, we see how she has always treated them a little differently as well. That's not to say that she loved ZQ any less or LX any more; rather, her behavior around each has always been a little bit different -- and that makes sense because with ZQ, he's purely a sibling and with LX, he's not. Frankly, for me, Go Ahead doesn't even come remotely close to one of those dramas that revolve around the concepts of forbidden love and fauxcest. Instead, I think JJ and LX are best understood as that kind of an OTP where they grew up side by side, as neighbors, and then later fell in love -- 青梅竹馬 (childhood sweethearts).

Yup! The gaming aspect comes into play because that's how he and the FL reconnect. The main characters in this story are former high school classmates where at the time, she'd had a crush on him but she wasn't even on his radar. Now, in the present, she's a famous actress and he's an aerospace engineer. They cross paths again when she needs to improve her skills in a certain computer game that she's endorsing, and by chance he happens to be playing it as well. She taps him to be a tutor and as they spend time together, they fall in love. At least that's how it is in the book. We'll have to see what twists and turns they add for the drama. Hopefully not too many, as it's otherwise a pretty simple and straightforward, but sweet, story.

Lol. Wellllll to be fair, it wouldn’t be a Cdrama without a hotpot scene (or two or three). And if there’s no hotpot restaurant, well, we know they’ll just show us instant hotpots instead. (Right, @Lynne?) 🤣🤣🤣

I love this: Source: https://38jiejie.com/2020/08/27/5-things-about-steven-zhang-xincheng-that-makes-you-want-to-stan-him/

Random Thoughts after watching today's episodes: - Who would've imagined that out of all the moms, I'd end up liking the one who abandoned her son at the beginning the most? He Mei makes the other moms look like a saint, and that includes TC and MY's moms. (I suppose I don't really have anything against ZB's mom, but I'm mainly comparing the moms of the siblings and the roommates. JJ's mother doesn't count.) - After watching MY and JJ's talk at the coffee shop, why did I get this feeling that maybe the end of MY's story will be that she leaves for Beijing? Argh. I so want her for ZQ. LOL. I mean, I'd be happy if ZQ's ending was that he reunited with his mom and finally accepted that he didn't owe JJ's family anything because he belonged to them, but I can't help but want that and a romance for his end. *greedy viewer* - I'm glad LX and ZQ's secrets from the past 9 years are starting to be revealed and look forward to the rest... these are wounds that rather than letting them fester, need to be opened so they can be treated and healed.

LOLOLOL, I see how it is! You are directing her actions!! Brilliant. And haha, better than the bite, I loved how ZQ came home and didn't even bat an eye to find her giving LX a shoulder massage. Instead he just asked her to give him one later, too. These threeeeee.... *heart*

Do you tell her that or does LX? LOL

To add on to what @Lynne said, I found the book rather different and unique. At first it starts out simple enough in modern times. There's a girl. There's a guy. Their paths cross and she becomes interest in him. Still later, their paths cross again and somehow despite the guy seeming like he has no interest in her whatsoever, they come together. But the simplicity of the plot is deceiving because really, it's at that point, when things start to turn. The story becomes a mystery and you're never quite sure what's going. Slowly the details of the ancient timeline start to be introduced and when it finally does, things come together in a very special way. It was truly my favorite part of the novel - seeing how the past the present intersected. Beautiful Bones is a hard book to describe, but it's really beautifully written. Lynne described it like a "painting" and I completely agree. I used "lyrical" in my other post and that's because there's something about this novel that always makes me think of classical poetry. Anyway, it's definitely worth a read! Especially given that there will soon be a drama adaptation of it. ;)

@NiteWalker Yeah... the writing was on the wall with that one, unfortunately. @Lynne also shared a clip with me. Sigh, sigh, sigh. Even thought we knew it was coming, it doesn't make it any less painful now that we're approaching that point. (Also, for some reason the gif you tried to share with me earlier, it's not popping up on my end and I can't see it?) Anyways... reactions that I had while watching Episode 22. - Papa Li knows. ZQ and his daughter are not meant to be - at least not in that way - but like a good dad, he also knows this is something the kids have to work out on their own. His only concern is to make sure a cushion is there for when things fall apart. He is such a wonderful, amazing father. - JJ's reaction to ZQ's dating suggestion... is 1) hilarious (that rando rant!) and 2) so different from her reaction to LX. LOL. With ZQ, she's like, "HARD NO." With LX, she saaaayyysss they can't be, but it somehow doesn't sound the least bit convincing. (Really great acting on TSY's part!) - I've noticed that whenever ZQ gets upset at the dinner table, he starts shoveling food into his mouth and it breaks my heart to see him basically revert back to how he's always behaved even as a child as he listens to the news regarding his mother. LX, like the great older brother, gives some good advice though and I appreciate the shoulder pat that he gives before leaving. - The scene with young ZQ and his mother.... even though this is my second time watching this scene, it's still making me mist up. Heart. Break. - ZQ wouldn't like me saying this, but... he should go talk to Ren. LOL. But seriously, talking to Zhuang Bei just turned him into a mess of confusion. Ren would be able to explain to him, just as he did for JJ, how feeling "comfortable" around someone means it's sibling love and not romantic love! - You know, if ZQ had been the one to ask JJ to hold hands, she'd have told him to "Get Lost!" This girl. She's already reacting to LX. She just doesn't know it. ;) Back to work now, hahahahaha. Shhh...

Reason #798 ZQ is not in love with JJ... Putting under cut for those who've not yet seen the scene (as it hasn't yet aired through the Youtube/Viki eps):

of course, that was a very emotional scene. 🥰