Synopsis:
Tang Dou Dou (Li Qin) sells tofu for a living and often dreams about marrying a first-ranked scholar. Master Shen and Madame Shen is so impressed by Dou Dou's eloquence and wits that they want her to marry their son Shen Bo Nan who was coined as the child prodigy of Jiangnan for passing the exam at a young age.  Unfortunately, she is conned and in actuality, Shen Bo Nan possesses the mental mindset of an 8-year old due to an accident. Even though she wants leave the Shen family, she eventually makes a deal with Madame Shen and promises to remain by Bo Nan's side for a year. However, as she stays with the Shen family, she slowly discovers that what Bo Nan encountered years ago wasn't an accident at all and in fact linked to a shocking secret.





The Cast:

Young cast:



Tang Dou Dou, known as Tofu Xi Shi (one of the four beauties in China), runs a tofu business. She is conned into a marriage with Shen Bo Nan by Master Shen and Madame Shen but she promises to remain in the family for a year. Unexpectedly, she is touched by Bo Nan's actions and decides to help cure his mental illness.

This isn't the first drama I've watched Li Qin act. The first was Shining Days with Peter Ho but I couldn't sit through the whole drama since it's 80 EPISODES long. She is a really good actress as evident in this drama; her expressions are on par for the mischievous Dou Dou.







Shen Bo Nan is the eldest child in the Shen family. Due to an incident when he was eight, he has the mental capacity of an eight-year old. He possesses an immediate liking towards Dou Dou after realizing that she was the "Shen Xian Jie Jie" that rescued him when he was young. As Dou Dou continues to unravels a shocking secret, the Shen family discovers that what Bo Nan encountered wasn't an incident at all.

Same for Kingscar, this isn't the first drama that I've watched that he starred in. The first was Beauty Maker with Yang Rong. It's funny how I couldn't sit through this drama as well but managed to for this drama with the two main leads whose first drama I couldn't even finished. Unlike Shining Days, I actually have an urge to finish Beauty Maker because it's largely a drama that comprises of many small stories within its plot. I feel that this drama allow him to showcase his acting skills more by first portraying as the Shen Bo Nan with a mentality of an 8-year old and then the fully-recovered Shen Bo Nan.




Wang Zi Mi is the daughter and the only survivor of the Wang family; her father, a righteous general offended the Marquis of Wei Chang, which led to the massacred of the entire Wang family. She vows for vengeance and becomes manipulated by her enemies that it was Master Shen who betrayed her father, leading her to marry Shen Bo Nan.




Shen Bo Gong is the youngest son of the Shen family. He likes being independent and free so he is often wandering through Jianghu instead of helping out in the family business. Bo Gong and Zi Mi have overcome numerous obstacles that unsurprisingly, they've developed feelings for one another. It's hilarious how he realizes himself that the two women he ever liked ended up to be his sister-in-law haha.






Shen Bo Qi is the second son of the Shen family. Often neglected by his mother, he yearns for her affections and praises so he works extremely hard to gain attention. Unfortunately, he is used by Su Xin Yi and brings trouble to the Shen family. He is a terrible husband to Su Lan but his character is easy to sympathize with; the marriage was arranged so he never liked Su Lan and didn't consummate the marriage. He simply wanted to be with the woman he loves. But I just felt that what he went through in the end wasn't enough for him to redeem himself. He is just lucky that he has a wife like Su Lan.





Bai Su Lan is the wife of Shen Bo Qi. She is often neglected by Bo Qi since it was a loveless arranged marriage. Even though she becomes pregnant, Bo Qi still doesn't show much affections towards her and easily kicks her out of the Shen family due to rumors. She is a gentle and virtuous wife, the direct foil to Dou Dou's character. Due to her personality, it is understandable why she would accept Bo Qi's apology without any further thoughts.


Veterans:



Gu Xiang Ping and Gu Xiang Ru are twins. But because of an unfortunate event, Gu Xiang Ping dies and Gu Xiang Ru takes her older sister's place as the Shen family's matriarch. She is the mother of Shen Bo Qi and Shen Bo Gong. Xiang Ru, being portrayed as cruel, manipulative, and heartless, will eliminate whoever that threatens to reveal her secret.




Shen Zu Guang is the patriarch of the Shen family. He is often indecisive and listens to his wife's suggestions. He is fair and an upright merchant who treats Dou Dou as if she were his own daughter.




Lin Yue E is the mother of Tang Dou Dou. She is seen as a woman that loves money and has a tendency to frequent the gambling houses. Her character provides great comical relief to the melodramatic scenes such as the scene with her covering a sheet of money on the floor with her broom when her husband rejected the offer.




Tang You Quan is the father of Tang Dou Dou. He is portrayed as a respected teacher but contradicts his teachings when he deals with Shen Bo Nan.




Guo Mo Mo is the personal servant of Gu Xiang Ru. She has served the Shen family over twenty years and is treated as a family member by the Shen family. Her son committed a horrible crime that she vows she would serve Gu Xiang Ru to atone for her son's deeds.




Yu Shen Yi is a mystical doctor that seems to be able to heal anyone if he wanted to. As a doctor, he treats everyone equally so he doesn't consider money when he treats his patients. His character also provides a source of laughters especially the way his character is written; he doesn't care what others think.


Villains:



Su Xin Yi is an established merchant that vows to seek vengeance from the Shen family. He blames Shen Zu Guang for causing him to become crippled so he becomes the strategist behind the Marquis of Wei Chang's plot to usurp the throne. Like Gu Xiang Ru, he is also cold and heartless; but unlike her, he would not harm his own kins.




Marquis of Wen Chang is the younger brother of the empress dowager. He views the emperor to be incompetent and plots to usurp the throne and declare himself emperor.




Liu Xu is the adopted daughter of Su Xin Yi. To repay his kindness, she doesn't care if he is using her in his plot of vengeance. I actually wished her character was a bit more developed because 1) it seems sudden that her character goes through a 180 degree change and 2) does she even like Bo Qi?


Other important cast:



Ding Da Da is the personal maid of Shen Bo Nan. Having served him since he was young, she develops a crush on Bo Nan and dreams of marrying him in the future. Her character is another source of comical relief.






Yu Wan Quan is Tang Dou Dou's childhood friend. He sincerely loves Dou Dou but eventually helps her and Shen Bo Nan because he just wants to see her find happiness. He and his uncle, Yu Shen Yi, are a hilarious pair especially the scene where he lent Dou Dou a thousand dollar that his uncle gave him.




He is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He sees himself as a puppet since the empress dowager often restrains his power and ignores his decisions. He enjoys sneaking out of the palace and it was during one of these trips that he meets Dou Dou. He and Dou Dou are hilarious. The actor that played the young emperor is also a great actor because the emperor could have turned out to be annoying.



My Thoughts:
1. The cast - I found the acting and chemistry of the cast to be superior compared to other dramas. From the younger cast members to the veterans, everyone did a great job in portraying their characters. Li Qin is a well-polished actress and it was through this drama that I realized she is more of a competent actress than Tang Yan. I've also became a fan of Kingscar Jin and actually wants to finish watching his series Beauty Maker.

2. The storyline and characters - Besides the cast, the script and the how the characters are written are also equally important. If the script was plain horrible, even with such a cast, the drama will still suck. But the script was greatly written, the first half dealing with Bo Nan's illness and hints of the secret being revealed and then the second half focuses on how everything becomes unravel and also more development to Dou Dou and Bo Nan's storyline. The plot also had be guessing because I thought Bo Qi wasn't Gu Xiang Ru's (the younger twin) son which is the reason why she neglected him. She felt guilty towards Bo Nan so she treats him well to redeem herself and Bo Guang is her real son so obviously she would treat him well too. But it didn't ended up that way.

3. Bo Nan and Dou Dou's storyline - So Bo Nan forgets about Dou Dou soon after he is healed by Yu Shen Yi but it doesn't sound as angsty as it seems. Instead of being the sad and weepy heroine, Dou Dou continuously bugs Bo Nan trying to help him remember her but to no avail. He finally remembers her but he is too late since she has only a year to live. Dou Dou gives him a taste of his own medicine and pretends to have forgotten him. But everything ends up perfectly fine.

4. Happy ending - Being a comedy, it is no surprise that this will be a super happy ending. But I wished the ending wasn't as rushed because there were some parts I wanted to see:

• The Shen family business being re-opened again
• Other minor characters such as Dou Dou's parents, Da Da, etc
• *SPOILER* Did Shen Bo Qi tell his father that he is not actually his real son?

The Music:

I didn't like the music at first because I found it to be too loud but after listening to it for awhile, I've gotten used to the upbeat tune and really like it. And both the opening and ending theme are respectively sung by Li Qin and Kingscar Jin.

Opening Theme: Left Hand Holds Right Hand (左手牵右手) by Li Qin



Ending Theme: Forget You Starting Tomorrow (从明天开始忘记你) by Kingscar Jin