WHO IS THIS ACTOR AND WHY HAVEN’T I HEARD OF HIM BEFORE?!

Holy crap. Jia Nai Liang is so handsome. He’s the actor that plays the first male lead in this drama and I immediately fell in love with his handsome look. He is so damn handsome with his boy next door look *_____*.

So far this drama is actually pretty refreshing. I’ve been used to watching so many serious dramas that it’s so nice to watch a comedic drama for once!!! And the male lead is so silly and cute that it’s such a nice change from the very manly-silent-protector male leads that I’ve been watching. I’m so far back on the recaps though – The Double Life of Veronique I’ve only watched until Episode 8 and it already has episode 15 out, and Destined to Love You has 7 episodes out already.

We meet the male lead immediately as a hobo (ok don’t worry he gets hotter at the end of Episode 2). The ‘Axe Gang’ is going around and terrorizing small businesses and demanding a ‘protection tax’ in return for not causing chaos in their business. Our male lead, Xiang Hao, takes down the entire Axe Gang to stand up for these small businesses. 

But in return for that he draws attention to himself, and is taken away by gunpoint by a military personnel. The backstory behind this is that Xiang Hao was once part of the Long Chen Military Cadet Academy but he escaped/ran away from the academy after a mysterious thing had happened.

Meanwhile we meet Joe Chen as Bao Bao. She is performing at a circus, and these loan sharks decide to come after her during her show. Bao Bao continued the show and used her martial art skills to run away from the loan sharks.

She manages to comedically and overdramatically subdue a loanshark and manages to escape.

At this point I mean, we’re rooting for Bao Bao because she’s just a young girl being chased by all these men but has anyone actually realized what a dick she is? I mean, she did take their money through a verbally binding agreement to return that money as well, and not only is she going back on her word but she’s humiliating for these poor men for just trying to get their money back. I am JUST SAYIN’.

When I saw this scene with Benz Hui I nearly shat my pants with excitement – I think he’s so good in all his roles and I love his acting!!! I’m so excited to see so many Hong Kong stars in this drama. Anyways, Benz plays one of the teachers of the man military academy in Long Chen.

He congratulates the two Generals seated. One, General Shen for having such an outstanding son (played by Bosco) and General Xiang since Xiao Hao was found and he was now returning back to Long Chen.

Meanwhile Bao Bao escapes with Mama Chen to the train station and sneaks on the next train in order to escape her loan sharks (no seriously, how irresponsible!). Coincidentally our Xiang Hao is getting on the same train going back to Long Chen.

Mama Chen faints out in the hallway and luckily Bao Bao meets Xiao Han (played by Zheng Shuang) and Xiao Han kindly allows Mama Chen to sleep in her bed on the train.

Xiao Han is pretty much everything that all girls aim to be – she’s pretty, she is smart, and she is well-recognized in her field. She is just returning from Germany to teach as a trainer at a military academy in Long Chen.

And I recognize Mama Chen as Shao Tian’s mother in The Cage of Love LOL. It seems like she always gets stuck with roles where she’s a very sick mother in poverty.

The kind hearted Xiao Han takes Mama Chen and Bao Bao in, and even gives Bao Bao a change of clothes. She reveals the purpose of her trip, and reveals that members of the academy receive free medical care for their family, and Xiao Han offered to try to obtain a discount for Mama Chen.

I must say, even though Zheng Shuang is not a great actress, she really does make a great vase!!! She’s so pretty that I really like looking at her and watching her, even though her acting is pretty mediocre. I like her look in this drama so much more than her look from The Cage of Love.

Bao Bao and Xiang Hao finally meet on the train when Xiang Hao finally finds an opportunity to escape. Bao Bao mistakes Xiang Hao’s jumping off the train as him trying to commit suicide, so she decides to pull him back, ruining his plans of escape.

Obviously in this corny comedic drama he’d end up kissing her.

The corny level is out of this world.

They create such a commotion that the military officers that Xiao Hao ran away from end up finding him and rearresting him.

Bao Bao points at him and accuses him of being a pervert, and that he stole her first kiss. LOL at this point I feel like Joe Chen should stop pretending to be a teen or a early twenty year old because her face looks way too mature to try to be that young.

We meet Shen Wen Tao, who is the son of General Shen (that was mentioned earlier) in a military stimulation practice. Pretty much the purpose of this whole ‘introduction’ is to just show how ‘badass’ and fast Shen Wen Tao is. The purpose of the mission is to rescue the hostage but somehow he figured out that the hostage was not the girl that was tied up, but the girl in the box (no seriously, how do you figure that out).

At the end of episode 1, we get some foreshadowing. Xiao Han is staring off into space, and she has a picture of Xiang Hao in between her book pages, she appears to be reminiscing about him. At the same time, in very corny-drama fashion, the hobo-version of Xiang Hao just walks past her, and we’re left wondering what the heck their relationship is between each other.

Back in his room, two men attempt to assassinate Xiang Hao (for reasons unknown, but it is insinuated that Xiang Hao will likely become the leader of the Jin Yin Cadets, so maybe that’s why). Xiang Hao fights them off and create loud bangs and commotion.

Bao Bao and Xiao Han hear it, and goes outside to see what is going on.

What is with this logic with female leads?? LOL if I heard gunshots or stabbing I would not even crack open my door to get involved, let alone entirely leave my room to see what was going on. 

Xiao Han deservingly gets attacked by the men from being nosey. Understandably, all hit men are trying to get rid of all witnesses, so he holds her hostage, and for some damn reason this grown man cannot stab Xiao Han for the longest time, so he decides to throw her off the moving train.

She falls…

Like, seriously head first…

This high…

There is absolutely no way….

That she could… 

Survive.

But obviously it’s a f*cking drama and we obviously will expect to see Xiao Han in the later episodes since she’s our second female lead. It’s just that, I know that CGI effects are fun and all, and I know you guys like to make things all dramatic and stuff, but must you guys make the bridge so high that it makes the survival so damn unrealistic?! The impact alone would have killed her and crushed her skull!

The drama is playing out to be like the drama The Lady and The Liar… except now we’re seeing it through the liar’s perspective.

Bao Bao decides to pretend to be Xiao Han in order to get medical attention for Mama Chen. No matter how they try to spin it in this drama, that’s still a pretty shitty thing to do. I mean, Xiao Han took you in, took care of your mom, gave you clothes, and offered to help get your mom a discount, and now this is how you repay her?! You cover up her death and take all the luxuries from all her hard work?!

Alas, that’s where our drama comes in. Xiao Han survives (somehow, wtf) and gets rescued by the 廢 useless police chief that we kept seeing in The Cage of Love. I hope he is not useless in this drama too. There is really no rhyme or reason why he was nearby a lake/river, btw, he was conveniently there to save our dear second female lead.

Shen Wen Tao gets seemingly annoyed over his sister’s fan-girling over the return of Xiang Hao.

This allows us to conclude two things: Xiang Hao is so damn famous in Long Chen that he has fangirls, and that Shen Wen Tao and Xiang Hao are enemies.

OK I uploaded a few more than I should have for the screencaps of this but I really wanted everyone else to feel my pain when we had to sit through this cringe-worth excruciatingly long scene of Xiang Hao getting dressed. OK I get it, you’re really hot and good looking, but when you have such obvious nipple shots and you try so hard it really makes all of us uncomfortable.

They are the nearing the end of their trip, and Bao Bao gets dressed in Xiao Han’s clothes.

ADFAKSDLKFJHAS I NEARLY DIED WHEN I SAW HIM ALL CLEANED UP. It was a defining moment in my life as I decided that I will watch all the dramas that he will ever be in. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! How did you ever fly under my radar of good-looking actors that I follow?!

Bao Bao obviously had the same train of thought as me, as she was charmed by this handsome figure initially… until she figured out it was the same guy that ‘stole her first kiss’, so she kicked him out of the room, and told him to GTFO.

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Shen Wen Tao and Xiang Hao have a very obvious stare-down when the cadets pick up both their new trainer (Xiao Han, now impersonated by Bao Bao) and Xiang Hao.

The cadets and Bao Bao walk through the streets to get to their destination…

… until a bunch of guys, dressed as cadets decided to start a riot in Long Chen. Their purpose was “not to allow them to get to the academy”. My guess is that they’re trying to get Xiang Hao late for the signing-up for the academy so Xiang Hao couldn’t join this year. Probably his eliteness threatened other potential leader candidates.

Xiang Hao and Shen Wen Tao had a mini-fight and a massive staredown in the middle of the riot, when suddenly… 

Our dear Bao Bao realized that Xiang Hao was stepping on her earring that had fallen off in the middle of the chaos.

She walks in the middle of the staredown and ruins the manliness and seriousness of it, and tells Xiang Hao to GTFO again.

Upon his refusal, our dear Bao Bao decides to…

Drive her heels into his foot. LOL.

Their reactions to her are so priceless and cute, and if you’re not watching this drama yet, I guess you can really derive what type of drama it is. The male lead is so silly and fun, and there are so many comedic moments in this drama that makes it so damn cute.

Plus, Joe Chen looks so pretty in this drama. I’m not sure what it is, but her skin is GLOWING and her hair is on point.

In the end, they all got arrested for participating and fighting within the riot. Bao Bao is taken to the cells where the other cadets are imprisoned, and she choses to to be in Xiang Hao’s cell.

Why did she pick Xiang Hao’s cell? To beat him up, of course.

LOL. Honestly this drama is so ridiculous but cute, that it’s hard to even recap it. I just had these scenes in. I thought the beating-up-of-Xiang-Hao was a little dragged out though.

Bao Bao is pulled out for questioning, while Xiang Hao sits in fetal position, questioning his new achievement of human degradation.

During questioning, Bao Bao witnesses a person who was impersonating to be a chef at the military academy get shot by the police. Automatically, she understands the severity of her crimes to impersonate a government personnel.

Anyways, during her questioning, Shen Wen Tao comes by to stand up for her, and vouch for her. The policeman pays extra respect for Shen Wen Tao (because of General Shen) and lets Bao Bao off the hook.

Outside the police station, Shen Wen Tao kindly offers Bao Bao and her mom the car so that Bao Bao could take her mom to a hotel before going to the academy, even though Shen Wen Tao and the other cadets were almost late to sign up.

Shen Wen Tao and his teammates decided to run/jog to the academy, giving up the car just so Bao Bao could be comfortable. Bao Bao, obviously charmed, gets into the car and asks for his name.

So far I’m really enjoying this drama!!! I’m trying very hard not to spoil it for myself since I’m so far behind the episodes… I’m so excited to catch up!