Based on the novel by Pai Hsuen Yang, I really thought this may have also been partly written with help of Qiong Yao seeing that this is literally a drama that cries BUCKETS and I mean BUCKETS of tears. In fact, it's set in the Republican era, a very sad drama. So we have Vic Zhou play as the main guy Yue Ru who like Qiong Yao's male protagonists are portrayed weaker willed plus Fan Bing Bing's role as Jin Zhao Li is vastly seen as a woman who undergoes severe psychological suffering just for the sake of love. Of course, I found this quite disgusting since Yue Ru a rich guy falls for a dancing girl. I mean if he could fall for a lower class woman, fine, but a dancing girl? It's hard to take sides on anyone especially Yue Ru's father who is a cold ruthless guy. Really I can't side with anyone and also beneath Zhao Li's dancing girl guise, she does have a sense of honor which Yue Ru's father doesn't have.
So really I feel like this Republican era drama has some Qiong Yao flavor in it with typical cliches like rich guy likes poor girl (but at a bad flavor here), the whole notion of honor in the wrong place, etc. which I thought that the Sheng family has. And with Jin Zhao Li, it's kinda something she had an affair with Shi Hong who was a married man who was willing to let her go. The whole plot of Yue Ru falling for Zhao Li for me was romantic at the same time disgusting considering she is a dancing girl so Yue Ru's father has every right to object. However Yue Ru's father's actions go from reasonable to unreasonable as the series goes and Yue Ru is just plain stubborn to the point it led to his mother's death. Really, then more tears flow from our eyes and I wonder how much water did Fan Bing Bing drink for this? Also I hated the fact that Yue Ru's father could team up with local mafia to get what he wants, or the old switcheroo was also there. Of course, there was the unintended incest because Zhao Li and Kai Lun were swapped during birth. Really too much of the old switcheroo, etc. this drama had a lot of tears and more tears.
For Vic Zhou, I would like to comment his voice is dubbed. Really why did they dub him? To be honest, he is he! I mean, it was a lousy attempt to make him sound like senior actor Qin Han. Qin Han is Qin Han, Vic Zhou is Vic Zhou! I would admit that the interaction between Vic Zhou and Fan Bing Bing here was more or less similar to the interactions Qin Han would have with either Joan Lin or Brigitte Lin. I just had my thoughts also that Vic Zhou did have very good expression here as well thanks to his later acting experience from Mars, Black and White and Wish to See You Again. Vic Zhou rocks but the dub was plain awful. But for one, he really does make a good impression that Qin Han had.
Eventually we see the rather tragic ending. So pretty much, Vic Zhou goes into seclusion and why can't he find another woman? So yeah, Zhao Li and Yue Ru do get married but half a year or so later, Yue Ru dies and sad to say they didn't have another child maybe because that poison got her barren? In the end, we see the same aged Jin Zhao Li who appeared at the beginning appear at the end of her late husband's grave.
My rating? 7/10. Too much tears, not engaging yet Vic Zhou manages to carry a performance as good as Qin Han's.
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