I wanted to watch this drama in its entirety because I really, really liked the leads and their romance. FL was independent, behaved maturely and was a sincere character. I liked ML's quiet, business-like attitude. Loved when he wore the glasses - he looked so scholarly. I also actually learned something about traditional Chinese fashion and embroidery. I like dramas that educate as well as entertain. HOWEVER, I made the decision to not finish this drama because of all the old, worn out tropes that were pulled out of the scriptwriter's back pocket and applied in order to drag this drama out to 40+ episodes.

Soon we had the typical meddlesome love rivals and the control freak parents start to cause trouble. I'm SO done with this formula!!! I want to watch a romance, not a soap opera, ok? First of all, it's really pathetic when the female love rival has to bypass ML and go to FL to try to scare/guilt her into dumping him. So, basically, the only way you're going to get this guy is to clear the field of any other competition? Pathetic. And all the boo-hooing about how she gave up this and that for ML, which somehow entitles her to his love. News flash, honey, you can't force someone to love you, and if you truly loved him, you wouldn't be expecting anything in return. He never asked you to give up this and that; it was your decision. You had how many years with him? If he hasn't married you by now, then he ain't interested. As Dirty Harry says: a man's (woman's) got to know his (her) limitations.

As for male love rival, I just wanted this arrogant, pushy brat with ugly clothes to go away! For a fashion designer, his own attire was terrible. Made my eyes want to bleed at times. His costume girl/guy needed to be fired from this drama.

Then we have the harpy, Bai, and her imaginary victimhood. Why do all these guys prefer FL to you? One word - genuineness. I understand the need to leave room for character development but does the starting character have to be so annoying and unlikeable?

Now we get to the worse of the worse - ML's mom & her 'family background' snobbery disguised as 'what makes a good marriage partner'. For some reason, she seems to think ML is too young to chose his own spouse (even though he looks 35+ and can run a corporation in a competent manner) so she needs to do it for him, even though her first choice had disastrous results because he didn't love the girl. So, we have to spend nearly the entire drama with mom pushing her preferred choice at ML and then loudly caterwauling when he resists her efforts. Not only that but then she pouts and declares that she's not going to acknowledge his choice. So immature and yet this woman is supposed to be wise enough to choose the right wife for him? And what does dad do? He let's mom caterwaul rather than telling her to shut the hell up and stop meddling. Why are dads usually portrayed as wishy-washy?

So, although I loved the leads and really wanted to finish watching their romance, for the above reasons, I'm done with this drama. I'm just tired of this formula being used over and over again. Why not reduce the episodes and focus on the leads' relationship and romance instead of throwing the kitchen sink at them? Using the same formula over and over again is lazy and uncreative. Such a cookie cutter method. Really, this is just another frustrating C-Drama romance (soap opera) where the leads are unwllling to be transparent with each other, causing unnecessay misunderstandings.

I gave 7 stars because of the old, worn out formula of meddlesome love rivals and parents. I wouldn't recommend this drama unless you don't mind watching this kind of interference from outside sources. I, personally, didn't want to end up screeching at the TV like Mother Tang, but if you can handle it, go for it - there are romantic moments worth watching. Maybe the best thing to do is watch with your finger on the fast forward button so you can skip to the romance and leave out the angst.

Favorite scene - can't remember which episode but it's close to the beginning: ML is imaginarily dancing with FL as a slow, romantic jazz song is playing. So sweet and utterly romantic!

My objective in writing reviews is to save viewers like me the time and emotional roller coaster rides. With 40+ espisodes, that's a lot of time invested, and you ought to know the good, bad & ugly before going in. I KNOW the Chinese can tell a good story without using all these tropes. Go Ahead, My True Friend, Arsenal Miltary Academy, Be My Hero, Love Script, Coup de Foudre, Under the Power, My Little Happiness are good examples of entertaining plots that don't use love rivals & parents to cause endless angst