When I began this series I thought it was shaping up to be something really great, and for the most part, I had fun with a good portion of it. Unfortunately, the last third of the series left me feeling uncomfortable and definitely confused. Overall my feelings about this series are quite ambiguous.

In the beginning, I enjoyed the irregular pacing. The breaks between scenes seemed natural, and seeing the little windows of their lives together gave it the feeling of real life. Unfortunately, as the story progressed, the segmented scenes felt fractured and disconnected.

The story itself has a lot of loose threads. I really loved the family aspect of this drama, and especially the dynamic between Luo Yin and his father. They also did a great job of displaying the emotional effects and dynamics of failed marriages.
This series is adapted from quite a long novel, so to fit into a web-drama would mean a lot of cuts (not to mention China’s ban on depictions of homosexual relationships). These cuts interrupted the flow of the story, as I often felt key details were missing, or if certain scenes & dialogue were included they ended up going nowhere. A lot of characters were brought in and ended up doing a whole lot of nothing. This was really unfortunate as I really would have loved to see more development for the supporting cast, especially Yang Meng.

Now looking at the most promising aspect, the romance between Luo Yin and Gu Hai. Both actors did an amazing job. There was a lot of tension between the two mainly due to their stubbornness and competitiveness, and clearly a lot of feelings under the surface. Timmy Xu did a great job showing Luo Yin’s silent affection. Johnny Huang did a great job portraying Gu Hai’s feelings as well. The chemistry was definitely there.
Now for the part which made me (and pretty much everyone else) the most uncomfortable: the non-con scenes. This really spoiled the great romantic tension between the two characters. Any intimate displays of affection were cut out, and all we are left with are straight-up jarring & uncomfortable non-con scenes. This led to Gu Hai and Luo Yin’s relationship to never quite feel fully developed. Not to mention the amount of emotional issues that were lost between the scenes and never felt truly resolved.

By the end of the series it had lost a lot of its original appeal, and I found my finger resting on the skip button for the last few episodes. I would've enjoyed more clarity on their relationship especially as it evolved from enemies to friends to lovers. I also would have enjoyed it if they didn't give up on the story in the last few episodes, but god knows what happened with the production towards the end.

The only thing that slightly redeemed the last episodes were the "A husband who doesn't want to sleep with wife isn't a good one!!!" engraved onto two nail clippers because it couldn't fit on one. Really. If I had a rich lover, this would surely be my first demand.