A Love so Beautiful

Spoilers! Watch it before reading on!

This is my third Chinese drama and it did not disappoint. It starred Shen Yue from Meteor Garden (which came out later) and I really love her acting. She plays cute so well!

It starts with kids in high school. The main character, Chen Xiaoxi has a crush on Jiang Chen, her neighbor, right from the beginning. She gets into the same school as him but he doesn't seem to care. He's quiet and comes off as cold.

She makes friends with Wu Bosong, Lin Jingxiao and Lu Yang and they all sit together in class. Bosong likes Xiaoxi and calls her boss. He is willing to stand up for her and help her whenever she's in need. Like when the teacher told her to write balance on the board, and he told her the letters, which turned out to be the word on his shirt. But he is genuinely nice, and gets in a lot of shit in the show for stuff he's done for Xiaoxi's sake.

Xiaoxi continues to like Jiang Chen even though he is mean, and he starts to realize he likes her too. Jiang Chen and Bosong end up getting jealous of each other. You know Xiaoxi and Jiang Chen will end up together, and they are a good couple, but Bosong is such a perfect character. When Jiang Chen gets jealous, he takes it out on Xiaoxi. When Bosong was jealous, and even knew that Xiaoxi liked Jiang Chen, he continued to put her first and make sure not to hurt her. Even though I think Jiang Chen and Xiaoxi were the better match, Bosong was the better man.

He also handled bad situations really maturely. When he realized they were going to go their separate ways, he brought her to an auditorium and gave a speech. He told her about how he ran beside her dressed as a mascot during her race, and how he made it fake snow for her. He told her he loved her. Then he wiped her tears and told her he was bidding her farewell. I really wished they hugged here, but it was a sweet gesture nonetheless. He even wore the 'balance' shirt he had on when they first met!

Then years later, after he had been dating Xiaoxi for quite some time, he proposed (which was again, so cute) and got rejected. He was clearly hurt, but made sure to not make her feel guilty about her decision. Then that night he got drunk with Jiang Chen, and he called Xiaoxi to make sure she heard Jiang Chen talk about loving her. This man got rejected by the woman he loves, knew that she still loved someone else, so he made sure they got together. He is such a good man I can't get over it.

Not to mention, the times he was on TV for winning a swimming competition and he would mention his friends. He loved who he loved deeply, and had no shame about it.

Ah, I can't get over him.

But I will try, so I can talk about the other characters.

Jiang Chen was the main love interest. By the end of the show he had warmed up a lot, and when we get to see back to some of the story from his perspective, you love him even more. He is very expressionless and, as Xiaoxi mentions, it's hard to read him. But he does have feelings and liked Xiaoxi before he could ever admit it. He helped her a lot, took care of her, and paid lots of attention to her. He just liked to tease her a lot too.

I love when they went on their first official date and he asked her to come over to his place later, and Xiaoxi thought he was talking about sex and spat her food, then cried and said they had to break up. He comforts her by saying he didn't see anything, and explains he only wanted her over to keep him company while he studied. This really demonstrated the dynamic between then. And it was hilarious.

They broke up when they were finishing college mainly due to him always being busy so there was less connection, and because of them, less communication. The day they broke up they were both hurting and should have been comforting each other like they needed. Jiang Chen lost his first patient, and Xiaoxi was almost attacked and then found out he was going to Beijing, even though he wasn't going to because of her. It was a really sad way to end things.

When they got together the second time, there was still teasing, but more honesty and vulnerability. I love the scenes where they're being clingy. Jiang Chen hugging Xiaoxi and not wanting her to get out of bed, Xiaoxi jumping on his back and refusing to get off, Jiang Chen coming over to her house, cuddling in her bed, and telling her how much he loves her. The time apart made them cherish each other more.

Lin Jingxiao surprisingly ended up with Lu Yang. Lu Yang had a huge crush on her but in high school, she liked Li Shu, the school's physician. Obviously that wasn't going to happen, but I still wasn't sure if Jingxaio would end up with Lu Yang. But she did. And their wedding was really charming. She looked beautiful in her dress and the speech she gave was so heartfelt. He looked like he had won the lottery.

Enough about love though, let's talk about character development.

Xiaoxi is initially portrayed as dumb, a bad student, distracted and clumsy. She gets bad grades and her teachers and parents are disappointed in her. She's told he can't get into a good university. During class she rarely pays attention and is more focused on Jiang Chen, or whatever is going on in her life.

But as high school comes to an end, she's no longer confined and decides she wants to pursue art. She gets rejected from the college her friends and Jiang Chen are at and is down about it. Jiang Chen helps her find her dream and pursue it. She starts studying for the next exam to get in and goes to art classes. She's always the last one to leave the studio and improves a lot during her time there. When she's chasing her passion, she has a good work ethic. She makes it to college, and from there she goes on to make her own comic book, inspired by her friends. At the end of the show she has a book signing where only 10 people show up, but it's just the start of her career and her friends are by her side supporting her.

She really turned her life around around high school.

Wu Bosong was perfect from the start, but I still think he matured throughout the series. He also starts off with being good at swimming but not liking it, and having a poor relationship with him father, but once he decides for himself that he wants to swim, he enjoys it more and mends his family. It was nice seeing him win awards and get recognition for his success.

Jiang Chen rejects his moms ream for him and becomes a surgeon instead, which was pretty great. He was top of his class in high school and that didn't change. He did have some character development in his ability to speak his mind and tell Xiaoxi how he feels.

All the characters are flawed and lovable. I love how they stayed friends past high school and college, and how Wu Bosong and Jiang Chen could look past their love triangle with Xiaoxi.

A Love so Beautiful was a cute and quirky web series, and my only complaint is that I want more of it!

feel free to discuss with me below!