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打火机与公主裙·荒草园
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September 13, 2021
Nếu không vì đọc tin "Thái tử" Trần Phi Vũ chuẩn bị diễn bản chuyển thể của truyện này, thì mình sẽ chẳng bao giờ đọc đến - vì cái tên của truyện quá là trẩu tre đi :))
Nhưng đọc rồi thì nghĩ: nếu tác giả đặt tên truyện sâu sắc hơn một chút, và chiếc bìa bớt hường phấn hơn thì có lẽ sẽ thu hút được nhiều độc giả hơn.
Trái với chiếc bìa tuổi teen thơ mộng, sách kể về cuộc sống sinh viên ngành IT không hề màu hồng. Những sinh viên trong truyện có những nỗi niềm quá khứ riêng, tụ hội với nhau ban đầu vì thu hút, về sau là vì chung đam mê với nghề. Thế nhưng họ gặp phải những bất công, những người lớn xấu tính quá sớm và quá nhiều, những điều này đã làm thay đổi sâu sắc cuộc đời về sau của họ.
Cuốn sách này nếu xếp vào mục thanh xuân vườn trường thì quá sai, mà truyện ngôn tình thì cũng không hợp lắm, vì tình yêu của nam nữ chính trong truyện ở nửa đầu không có tí tiến triển nào luôn :) Họ cũng không phải là hoàng tử và công chúa hoàn hảo, không phải "sinh ra để dảnh cho nhau", mà đến cuối tập, họ cũng bị chia xa vì lí do rất thực tế, rất phũ phàng. Có lẽ nên xếp vào truyện vào mục thanh niên khởi nghiệp :D
Nhưng đọc rồi thì nghĩ: nếu tác giả đặt tên truyện sâu sắc hơn một chút, và chiếc bìa bớt hường phấn hơn thì có lẽ sẽ thu hút được nhiều độc giả hơn.
Trái với chiếc bìa tuổi teen thơ mộng, sách kể về cuộc sống sinh viên ngành IT không hề màu hồng. Những sinh viên trong truyện có những nỗi niềm quá khứ riêng, tụ hội với nhau ban đầu vì thu hút, về sau là vì chung đam mê với nghề. Thế nhưng họ gặp phải những bất công, những người lớn xấu tính quá sớm và quá nhiều, những điều này đã làm thay đổi sâu sắc cuộc đời về sau của họ.
Cuốn sách này nếu xếp vào mục thanh xuân vườn trường thì quá sai, mà truyện ngôn tình thì cũng không hợp lắm, vì tình yêu của nam nữ chính trong truyện ở nửa đầu không có tí tiến triển nào luôn :) Họ cũng không phải là hoàng tử và công chúa hoàn hảo, không phải "sinh ra để dảnh cho nhau", mà đến cuối tập, họ cũng bị chia xa vì lí do rất thực tế, rất phũ phàng. Có lẽ nên xếp vào truyện vào mục thanh niên khởi nghiệp :D
October 28, 2021
There are lots of contemporary romance web novels out there, but this is definitely going to be the most memorable read for a long time.
Twentine's writing brought the ups and downs of uni to life. The flutterings of the heart for that first romance, the dread during an exam which we don't feel prepared for, the politics between researchers and students, it all came alive for me.
I love the protagonists, they have their flaws, and I'm drawn to them for it.
Zhu Yun grew up with parents who demanded nothing less than perfection from her grades, her personality, her actions. We mostly see the overcontrolling attitude from her mother, who even incited bullying of a middle school friend of ZY's just because she did not approve of her background. The opinions of ZY's father were not shown as much, but they always had weight when it mattered. As a result, she is drawn to what is different to her usual； she is irrevocably drawn by that one blond guy with the shit as attitude...
Li Xun is the cool blond hair-dyeing rebel (this part 1 story is set in the mid-2000s with scene subculture). He had a difficult childhood (mother died of cancer when he was 6, complicated situation with his birth father's family) but his IT skills shine through. As the gaokao science dux, he's the textbook example of 'don't judge a book by its cover.' His selfish, uncaring, arrogant personality will be off-putting for many readers, but I find these characteristics refreshing from all the male leads I've read (maybe I'm a bit like ZY lmao) Of course, he has a soft side, but he's too arrogant to let it show. He will go to the ends of the world just to make ZY smile, but he won't ever tell her that - f***ing pride.
Twentine writes the budding romance between ZY and LX so beautifully. From the first sparks of interest to the first flutters of the heart, then all the little moments where they both do little things for each other just because they're in each other's hearts without knowing it...
When you read chapter 28 and understand the meaning behind this book's title - calms down racing heartbeat
We get the story from Zhu Yun's perspective, she sees herself as the knight in shining armour, author's description is rather dramatic but that is her perspective:
But if vice versa, I'm certain it would be Li Xun as the loyal subject to his princess in the beautiful princess dress. Their romance isn't perfect, but it feels awfully realistic, and that's what makes this book so wonderful.
Unfortunately, it's not a fairytale ending straight away, rather quite a bad turn for LX, but this book is only part 1, so their proper ending is in part 2!!
Twentine's writing brought the ups and downs of uni to life. The flutterings of the heart for that first romance, the dread during an exam which we don't feel prepared for, the politics between researchers and students, it all came alive for me.
I love the protagonists, they have their flaws, and I'm drawn to them for it.
Zhu Yun grew up with parents who demanded nothing less than perfection from her grades, her personality, her actions. We mostly see the overcontrolling attitude from her mother, who even incited bullying of a middle school friend of ZY's just because she did not approve of her background. The opinions of ZY's father were not shown as much, but they always had weight when it mattered. As a result, she is drawn to what is different to her usual； she is irrevocably drawn by that one blond guy with the shit as attitude...
Li Xun is the cool blond hair-dyeing rebel (this part 1 story is set in the mid-2000s with scene subculture). He had a difficult childhood (mother died of cancer when he was 6, complicated situation with his birth father's family) but his IT skills shine through. As the gaokao science dux, he's the textbook example of 'don't judge a book by its cover.' His selfish, uncaring, arrogant personality will be off-putting for many readers, but I find these characteristics refreshing from all the male leads I've read (maybe I'm a bit like ZY lmao) Of course, he has a soft side, but he's too arrogant to let it show. He will go to the ends of the world just to make ZY smile, but he won't ever tell her that - f***ing pride.
Twentine writes the budding romance between ZY and LX so beautifully. From the first sparks of interest to the first flutters of the heart, then all the little moments where they both do little things for each other just because they're in each other's hearts without knowing it...
When you read chapter 28 and understand the meaning behind this book's title - calms down racing heartbeat
We get the story from Zhu Yun's perspective, she sees herself as the knight in shining armour, author's description is rather dramatic but that is her perspective:
I have my king
I am his most loyal subject
I am willing to raise the battle flag for him
and willing to fight to the death on the battlefield for him
But if vice versa, I'm certain it would be Li Xun as the loyal subject to his princess in the beautiful princess dress. Their romance isn't perfect, but it feels awfully realistic, and that's what makes this book so wonderful.
Unfortunately, it's not a fairytale ending straight away, rather quite a bad turn for LX, but this book is only part 1, so their proper ending is in part 2!!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 1, 2021
Không hẳn nam chính nào cũng lấp lánh ánh vàng, không phải nữ chính nào cũng dịu dàng e ấp. Truyện này cả 2 đều có tính cách lập trường rõ ràng, luôn có mục tiêu và nỗ lực mỗi ngày.
May 12, 2019
Câu chuyện dễ thương và gần gũi với học sinh, gắn liền với những ký ức khó phai nhạt của hai nhân vật chính Lý Tuân và Chu Vận. Lý Tuân vốn là đứa trẻ mồ côi, mất mẹ lúc 6 tuổi và không rõ cha, ở chung với nhân vật được gọi là chị của Lý Tuân tên Lý Lam. Ngược lại, Chu Vận lại được sinh ra trong một gia đình gia giáo với cả bố và mẹ đều làm trong ngành giáo dục. Cơ duyên của hai nhân vật đến vào năm đầu đại học, với biệt danh "thủ khoa Lý", Lý Tuân đã được Chu Vận chú ý từ tiết thể dục đầu năm với cái đầu màu vàng chói chang như đang thiêu đốt người nhìn. Tuy vóc dáng Lý Tuân không phải to con, những chiều cao và đường nét gương mặt đều vô cùng nổi trội cùng làn da mịn màng dưới nắng. Với tài lập trình của cậu, từ lâu cậu đã rời nhà lên thành phố tìm việc và nhận dự án kiếm tiền, trong ánh mắt Chu Vận, Lý Tuân giống như những học trò hư hỏng chuyên trốn lớp. Nhưng rồi, hai người đã có cơ hội thân thiết với nhau hơn khi vừa là bạn cùng lớp, vừa làm chung Hội "lập trình". Dần dần hai người đều nảy sinh tình cảm với nhau, một quan hệ dễ thương với hai chỉ số tình cảm đối lập, Chu Vận với chỉ số tình cảm 100 thì Lý Tuân lại chỉ có khoảng 10. Thế nhưng, mọi việc lại không được suông sẻ khi vô tình mẹ Chu Vận phát hiện con gái mình đang qua lại và bao che một người không rõ nguồn gốc....
October 13, 2023
Book: 0.5*
TV Series: 3.5*
I like the 36-episode Chinese drama series starring Chen Feiyu and Zhang Jangyi in main roles of Li Xin & Zhu Yun that first aired in 2022 (and is currently re-airing on Youku & available on Youtube), so decided to read the 2 books (The Lighter and Princess Gown – Book 1: Barren Grasslands and Book 2: Eternal Fire). I am mystified how such a cute and tragic script with great music & relatable characters & excellent chemistry between the leads in Alibaba/Youku Series was created out of these deadwood characters.
The drama speaks of class differences, social stigmas, personality clashes & betrayals, corporate exploitation & ability to do good via technology, apart from a cracking romance (and chemistry) that continues over the course of 7-8 years. It is about being brave personally & professionally, going against the grain & not selling out. It even ends on a note of non-traditional ‘family’ replacing the conditional support of real family. It is also an allegory of a system that tries to label talented people negatively just because they aren’t born in the ‘right’ neighborhood or with ‘right’ parents or do not have ‘socially acceptable’ behavior or have a criminal past, especially as teenagers, & how that 'accident of birth' or 'bad luck' is supposed to determine the rest of their lives & choices.
Li Xun’s achievements (despite his background, imperfections, mistakes & legal troubles) are remarkable & make him a pioneering visionary as opposed to the play-it-safe Gao & Zhang. His supreme belief in himself is contagious. On the other hand, Zhu Yun is a smart, brilliant, brave & passionate woman who chooses to have her own path, career, love & life than the one set for her by her parents & societal expectations.
So while this is not a run-of-the-mill bad boy-good girl J-K-C trope-filled drama, but Li Xun & Zhu Yun of the books are different from the ones shown in the series.
Both books are written from the perspective of Zhu Yun & whatever we find out about everyone else is through her, which limits the book's ability to connect to her & the characters, & to even empathize with the twist, while the TV series had no such device problem. I think it was more balanced than the book.
BOOK 1: BARREN GRASSLANDS (2017):
Zhu Yun narrates everything that happens, but she is not the focus of this book: it is Li Xun.
Li Xun (李峋) is a poor, village-background (land of ‘fish and rice’) IT genius with a fractured family: his father Li Chengbo is a farmer with a wife and kids who turns to ‘foreign trade business’ and then opens a factory where his future wife (Xun’s mother) works as a laborer; the father loses his business, and turns into an alcoholic but is still alive; the mother is beautiful but dies of cancer during Li Xun’s teenage years. During her lifetime she is called a ‘whore’ and Li Xun a ‘bastard’ by Chengbo’s first wife. Li Xun has 3 half-brothers who bully him and beat him, and one half-sister Li Lan. The half-brothers get good education while Li Lan does not. She cares for Li Xun and even spends money on him. She cares for his mother too, cooking porridge for her, when she becomes ill. He borrows money from her to dye his hair blonde to show he’ll never yield or surrender to anyone, and will always go against the tide. Li Lan is important to Li Xun and he tries to do the best for her. Her demise at the end of Book 1 is the catalyst that breaks Li Xun mentally, and his cold exterior explodes, leaving his life and future in shambles.
In college, he is a fearless, ice-cold, quiet, hard-working, socially and emotionally distant, mentally tough, extremely good-looking, blonde-dyed, 19 year old with a high opinion of himself and his abilities. He comes to college as the No. 1 scorer in all provinces. He plays the field (Cui Xiangjun aka Juliet and Liu Sisi) and rubs his fellow students the wrong way but doesn’t let anything get in the way of his goal (which is to do practical industry work, earning money and gaining real experience instead of wasting time in following college schedules and text books). He wants to be financially stable and wants to create an integrated internet medical system. He walks alone because he is essentially on his own and knows no one will ‘rescue’ him if he gets into trouble (unlike ‘Princess’ Zhu Yun).
In the book, he is insufferable & unfathomable. A robotic bad boy. Maddeningly Uncommunicative. Probably written to indicate a hard exterior due to tough background & his inherent non-conformist nature, but he comes across as a wooden & mysterious person & stays that way throughout. And the lighter is for his perpetual smoking habit (& not for any emotional reason as in the series). He calls Zhu Yun 'princess' (because she’s a pampered, fragile, spirited upper class girl).
The TV series did a much better job humanizing Li Xun by showing various facets of his personality for e.g. he's very much a lone wolf, beating a drum to his own path, but is sincere & craves loyalty & deserves sympathy. He does care about people & work, while maintaining the aloof, proud/arrogant & unapologetic exterior. You root for his win. He starts to change & open up because of his interactions with Zhu Yun.
Zhu Yun (朱韵) is an 18 year timid virgin (what else can a J-K-C heroine be?) from a rich, well-connected family, protected by overbearing parents who she acts out against by smoking behind their backs. Even her enrollment in college in computer science is because of her mother, who wants her to pursue it, and not because Zhu Yun has any particular interest in it. That changes when she meets and interacts with Li Xun whose ‘practical industrial work base’ in college becomes a forum for students to learn real-world challenges developing and offering software solutions to companies. She discovers she likes programming and Li Xun. Obsessed is the operative word here, since she likes him without any rhyme or reason, other than the fact that he’s a handsome genius and she wants to be with him. All of their conversations are monosyllabic & telepathic, it seems, because Zhu Yun infers his actions all the way (to the bed). He’s inconsiderate towards her during her first time having sex. I was left scratching my head as to what she sees in him beyond the physical attraction, because she followed HIM around, 'enchanted', not the other way around, and he never initiates any conversation or interest in her. She thinks he has opened up a new world, a new way of thinking and being, to her, and made her brave. She starts living with him.
She rebels against the parents slightly when they object to the relationship but still can’t tell her parents or Li Xun off over anything & remains timid (a bit unsure of herself) through-out the book. She comes across as a sour, angry, sad and frustrated, sacrificial lamb kind of person, rebelling against her parents as a tantrum.
I did not like her or Li Xun in the book.
In the TV series though, Zhu Yun is a revelation, far from the whiny, coy, wallflower cosmetic-laden and designer-dressed damsels that are usually featured in C-K dramas or J-mangas or in this Book 1. She is a determined, competitive, playful and thoughtful human being. You can clearly see what she sees in Li Xun and what she wants out of her career. It is clear that she is inspired by her own interest in the IT field, his fearless nature & independent intellect & unconventional nature of his goal, and wants to be part of the change-makers, trail blazers, once-in-a-generation do-gooders. Li Xun shows interest in her: they work, flirt, play, seamlessly. She and Li Xun have a warm, intriguing, goal-oriented attraction and romance, & they look damn cute doing anything together. He is a loving boyfriend & she is a dreamboat. Unlike usual J-K-C drama leads & tropes, there was no 'manhandling', they did not frivolously hang out in restaurants, clubs, ferris wheels and festivals, buy each other expensive gifts, or make grand romantic gestures. In fact, the simplicity of their lives, & interest in each other was infectious to watch. After a 3-year relationship, when he takes her to see a tall building, I half-expected a stupid proposal scene (which was shot but thankfully deleted from the aired series), because he uses that opportunity to tell her that he envisions L&P's name appearing on that building in the future, so the proposal isn't really about her or himself but what they can accomplish together. He's a serious, meaningful person. Yes, he doesn't communicate well, while she is outspoken, but he does include her in his plans. She is obviously more in love with him than he is with her, and it does seem like she's not as important to him as his mission of work (or revenge) is. But I did not see any 'sacrifices' from the Zhu Yun or 'red flags' from Li Xun in series episodes that cover events from Book 1.
However, in the book, there are plenty of red flags & weird behaviors from both, making her parents appear reasonable & protective at first.
Her parents are well-settled ‘intellectuals’ and think Li Xun is a bad seed with a bad past (“some things are brought up from the roots” says the mother), a blemished nobody who is a social climbing gold digger, a schemer & a bad influence who has pursued Zhu Yun & made her disobedient. She clashes with them & rebels more in the book than in the TV series.
[In Ep.21, at meet-the-parents lunch, which doesn't occur in the book, Li Xun's purpose is to aggravate them (by turning it into a business meeting) & to later on make it an excuse to break up with Zhu Yun, while the parents are insensitive & condescending to him throughout even without provocation, because they think he's inferior to them & for their daughter. Especially the mother (the principal who threw him out of high school) thinks he is 'taking revenge on HER by hooking up with Zhu Yun!!!' And she gets worse in Ep.36! Unlike them, Li Xun is never hypocritical in words or actions].
They refuse to acknowledge Li Xun's potential, refusing to give him a break. They are just focussed on their daughter having the 'right' attitude, 'right' image, 'right' boy, 'right' people, 'right' degree, 'right' job, 'right' neighborhood, etc. I understood their point of view. It's just a shame they didn't see how happy their daughter was with the 'unsuitable' guy or be proud of what she accomplishes on her own.
Li Xun forms a company L&P with Zhu Yun and Gao Jianhong for developing an internet-based medical system that integrates symptoms, diagnosis and medicines between all Chinese hospitals. [In the series, he forms L&P only with Zhu Yun]. This is an ambitious passion project of his that will certainly provide less profits than being in e-commerce or gaming industry but he does it anyway, and she fully supports it. There's something pure and noble about what Li Xun tries to accomplish with L & P and I think it resonated with her (but the fact that she is head over heals in love with him probably played a part too in her decision to be with him and work in L & P instead of pursuing higher studies).
Gao Jianhong and Fang Zhijing are 2 people who propel the story towards revenge and redemption in Book 2. In Book 1, Gao is a student who is good but not good enough or as great as Li Xun, and is part of Li Xun’s core team alongwith Zhu Yun working on software projects for companies (and later on part of L & P). He often feels slighted or left out or diminished by Li Xun’s hatchet-job dictatorial leadership. Li Xun has no team-building ability and is secretive. He just wants followers. This creates quiet resentment in Gao who will turn into a major villain in Book 2, alongwith Fang Zhijing.
Fang Zhijing is a former school-mate of Zhu Yun’s whom she blames for the suicide of her friend Liu Xiaoyan. She still wears the necklace gifted by Liu. Zhijing is taking part in a computer security competition and Zhu Yun forcefully asks Li Xun to take part too so that Zhijing can be beaten in the competition.
After losing to Li Xun and to get even with him in another competition, Fang Zhijing misguides his sister Li Lan who has arrived to the city for an operation and is being taken care of by Li Xun. Because of Fang's misdirection, Li Lan gets lost out in the cold, gets hypothermia, dies in hospital later on. [In the series, Li Lan is his actual older sister and the stupidest person. She irritated me to no end].
Fang Zhijing faces no legal repercussions because he's not 'directly responsible' for Li Lan's death. Since Li Xun wants to take violent revenge against him, he distances himself from Zhu Yun, handing over the reins of L & P to Gao. These 3 solitary decisions by him will have life-changing consequences for all of them.
Li Xun beats up Fang Zhijing, blinding him in one eye as revenge for what was done to his half-sister. [In the TV series, I felt that apart from his grief at losing the most important person in his life yet again, without being able to help her, just like he was unable to protect his father and mother, he was also acting out violently against injustice of rich people getting away with things & not being held accountable under law. You also feel bad for him because he finally had money & influence to help his sister & her son but couldn't because she died].
Fang Zhijing’s parents are government officials who run a successful media campaign against Li Xun where he’s categorized as ‘wild’, ‘criminal’, and ‘debauched’.
Li Xun goes to jail for 8 years, destroying his bright future through sheer stupidity (or as he will explain in Book 2: because no one was there to pull him up). He does not appeal, telling the judge that Fang deserved to die.
Zhu Yun’s mortified parents try to talk some sense into her about the unsuitability of Li Xun. She does not accept their opinion but does go abroad for higher studies because her mother wants her to. This is the cliffhanger that Book 1 ends on.
[I google translated the Chinese language book directly, as given on zhenhunxiaoshuodotcom, though an English-translated option is available on mtlnoveldotcom which I think is hard to understand and not very well-translated.].
MEMORABLE QUOTES:
- “你看他那身打扮，头发染成什么样，像话么？”母亲心平气和地跟朱韵讲，“虽然年轻人追求个性，但凡事都有个度。我整个学校都走过了，没见一个人是他这个样子.......要跟大家和平相处，不要搞特殊化，那些跳脱集体的人，永远步履维艰。”
"Look at how he's dressed and his hair is dyed. Does it look right?" his mother calmly told Zhu Yun, "Although young people pursue individuality, everything has its own limits. I've been through the whole school, and I haven't seen a person like this......We must live in peace with everyone and don't be special. Those who break away from the collective will always have difficulty."
- 她不知该如何形容那时的心情，那是她第一次接受到有别于这个家庭的另外一种情感关系。
就像炽热的火焰，纯粹无比，烧得人无处遁形。
[Li Lan] didn't know how to describe her feelings at that time. It was the first time she had accepted another emotional relationship that was different from this family.
Like a fiery flame, pure and incomparable, burning nowhere to escape.
(Like a blazing flame, it is so pure that it burns people with nowhere to hide.)
- 朱韵知道在这样的场合里，人的感想难免会有夸张的成分，可她真的有种感觉——她这一生的披肝沥胆和心无旁骛，都将奉献给这个人。
Zhu Yun knew that on such an occasion, people's feelings would inevitably be exaggerated, but she really had a feeling that all her hard work and focus in this life would be dedicated to this person.
- 从那时起，她渐渐不再害怕。
This dream allowed her to experience an eternal love, or in other words, an eternal freedom.
- 所有事，都只有在最开始的时候，才是它原本的样子，越往后，就越偏离。
All things, only at the beginning, have their original form, and the further they go, the more they diverge.
- 朱韵紧紧抱着他的身体，她自己也出了很多汗，宾馆的小床被他摇得一颤一颤，身下的床单也皱在一起。
她脑中闪现出许多不着边际的影像，桌上的空调遥控器、地上团成一团的衬衫、歪了的凳子，还有窗台上被月光照耀着的粒粒灰尘
Zhu Yun hugged his body tightly, and she was sweating a lot. The small bed in the hotel shook as he shook it, and the sheets underneath her were wrinkled. Many random images flashed through her mind, including the air conditioner remote control on the table, the shirts balled up on the ground, the crooked stool, and the specks of dust on the window sill illuminated by the moonlight…
- 过了一会，他抬起一条胳膊，手掌贴上她的脸颊。
“公主……”他寻欢后的嗓音沙哑低沉，朱韵从中听出一种让人背脊发麻的性感。
After a while, he raised an arm and put his palm against her cheek.
"Princess..." His voice was hoarse and low after having fun, and Zhu Yun heard a spine-tingling sexiness in it.
THE TV SERIES ‘LIGHTER AND PRINCESS’ (2022):
Ep. 2-23 feature contents of Book 1. The excellent series retains just the facade and nuts and bolts of the original book, retaining a few plot holes & loopholes, while choosing to change quite a bit from the book, especially the characters of Li Xun and Zhu Yun, who are deeper than the cardboard manga-like version presented in the books. Chen Feiyu’s Xun is far from a robot, he's a purposeful and loving boyfriend to Zang Jangyi’s Yun who is a blazing light, warm and smart, curious and forward-thinking. The chemistry is so natural, from casual banter to attraction to the hugs and kisses to arguments and break-up, that it doesn’t feel like acting at all, which tells you how much hard work was done by the entire team to make them believable. The rest of the cast is spot-on too (especially actors playing Gao, Ren Di, Professor Old Lin, and Zhu Yun’s parents, all were excellent). The work-oriented setting lifts the story from a run-of-the-mill, teenage-to-adulthood fantasy romance to something relatable. OST, BGM and song choice is incredible, perfect & loop-worthy awesome. Key scenes are beautifully shot, sound-mixed and have repeat value. I liked the TV series.
I recommend skipping the book altogether.
Book 2 Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review on Youtube: https://youtu.be/y-liJJ208Cc?si=NdAgG...
Images Credit: mydramalist.com
TV Series: 3.5*
I like the 36-episode Chinese drama series starring Chen Feiyu and Zhang Jangyi in main roles of Li Xin & Zhu Yun that first aired in 2022 (and is currently re-airing on Youku & available on Youtube), so decided to read the 2 books (The Lighter and Princess Gown – Book 1: Barren Grasslands and Book 2: Eternal Fire). I am mystified how such a cute and tragic script with great music & relatable characters & excellent chemistry between the leads in Alibaba/Youku Series was created out of these deadwood characters.
The drama speaks of class differences, social stigmas, personality clashes & betrayals, corporate exploitation & ability to do good via technology, apart from a cracking romance (and chemistry) that continues over the course of 7-8 years. It is about being brave personally & professionally, going against the grain & not selling out. It even ends on a note of non-traditional ‘family’ replacing the conditional support of real family. It is also an allegory of a system that tries to label talented people negatively just because they aren’t born in the ‘right’ neighborhood or with ‘right’ parents or do not have ‘socially acceptable’ behavior or have a criminal past, especially as teenagers, & how that 'accident of birth' or 'bad luck' is supposed to determine the rest of their lives & choices.
Li Xun’s achievements (despite his background, imperfections, mistakes & legal troubles) are remarkable & make him a pioneering visionary as opposed to the play-it-safe Gao & Zhang. His supreme belief in himself is contagious. On the other hand, Zhu Yun is a smart, brilliant, brave & passionate woman who chooses to have her own path, career, love & life than the one set for her by her parents & societal expectations.
So while this is not a run-of-the-mill bad boy-good girl J-K-C trope-filled drama, but Li Xun & Zhu Yun of the books are different from the ones shown in the series.
Both books are written from the perspective of Zhu Yun & whatever we find out about everyone else is through her, which limits the book's ability to connect to her & the characters, & to even empathize with the twist, while the TV series had no such device problem. I think it was more balanced than the book.
BOOK 1: BARREN GRASSLANDS (2017):
Zhu Yun narrates everything that happens, but she is not the focus of this book: it is Li Xun.
Li Xun (李峋) is a poor, village-background (land of ‘fish and rice’) IT genius with a fractured family: his father Li Chengbo is a farmer with a wife and kids who turns to ‘foreign trade business’ and then opens a factory where his future wife (Xun’s mother) works as a laborer; the father loses his business, and turns into an alcoholic but is still alive; the mother is beautiful but dies of cancer during Li Xun’s teenage years. During her lifetime she is called a ‘whore’ and Li Xun a ‘bastard’ by Chengbo’s first wife. Li Xun has 3 half-brothers who bully him and beat him, and one half-sister Li Lan. The half-brothers get good education while Li Lan does not. She cares for Li Xun and even spends money on him. She cares for his mother too, cooking porridge for her, when she becomes ill. He borrows money from her to dye his hair blonde to show he’ll never yield or surrender to anyone, and will always go against the tide. Li Lan is important to Li Xun and he tries to do the best for her. Her demise at the end of Book 1 is the catalyst that breaks Li Xun mentally, and his cold exterior explodes, leaving his life and future in shambles.
In college, he is a fearless, ice-cold, quiet, hard-working, socially and emotionally distant, mentally tough, extremely good-looking, blonde-dyed, 19 year old with a high opinion of himself and his abilities. He comes to college as the No. 1 scorer in all provinces. He plays the field (Cui Xiangjun aka Juliet and Liu Sisi) and rubs his fellow students the wrong way but doesn’t let anything get in the way of his goal (which is to do practical industry work, earning money and gaining real experience instead of wasting time in following college schedules and text books). He wants to be financially stable and wants to create an integrated internet medical system. He walks alone because he is essentially on his own and knows no one will ‘rescue’ him if he gets into trouble (unlike ‘Princess’ Zhu Yun).
In the book, he is insufferable & unfathomable. A robotic bad boy. Maddeningly Uncommunicative. Probably written to indicate a hard exterior due to tough background & his inherent non-conformist nature, but he comes across as a wooden & mysterious person & stays that way throughout. And the lighter is for his perpetual smoking habit (& not for any emotional reason as in the series). He calls Zhu Yun 'princess' (because she’s a pampered, fragile, spirited upper class girl).
The TV series did a much better job humanizing Li Xun by showing various facets of his personality for e.g. he's very much a lone wolf, beating a drum to his own path, but is sincere & craves loyalty & deserves sympathy. He does care about people & work, while maintaining the aloof, proud/arrogant & unapologetic exterior. You root for his win. He starts to change & open up because of his interactions with Zhu Yun.
Zhu Yun (朱韵) is an 18 year timid virgin (what else can a J-K-C heroine be?) from a rich, well-connected family, protected by overbearing parents who she acts out against by smoking behind their backs. Even her enrollment in college in computer science is because of her mother, who wants her to pursue it, and not because Zhu Yun has any particular interest in it. That changes when she meets and interacts with Li Xun whose ‘practical industrial work base’ in college becomes a forum for students to learn real-world challenges developing and offering software solutions to companies. She discovers she likes programming and Li Xun. Obsessed is the operative word here, since she likes him without any rhyme or reason, other than the fact that he’s a handsome genius and she wants to be with him. All of their conversations are monosyllabic & telepathic, it seems, because Zhu Yun infers his actions all the way (to the bed). He’s inconsiderate towards her during her first time having sex. I was left scratching my head as to what she sees in him beyond the physical attraction, because she followed HIM around, 'enchanted', not the other way around, and he never initiates any conversation or interest in her. She thinks he has opened up a new world, a new way of thinking and being, to her, and made her brave. She starts living with him.
She rebels against the parents slightly when they object to the relationship but still can’t tell her parents or Li Xun off over anything & remains timid (a bit unsure of herself) through-out the book. She comes across as a sour, angry, sad and frustrated, sacrificial lamb kind of person, rebelling against her parents as a tantrum.
I did not like her or Li Xun in the book.
In the TV series though, Zhu Yun is a revelation, far from the whiny, coy, wallflower cosmetic-laden and designer-dressed damsels that are usually featured in C-K dramas or J-mangas or in this Book 1. She is a determined, competitive, playful and thoughtful human being. You can clearly see what she sees in Li Xun and what she wants out of her career. It is clear that she is inspired by her own interest in the IT field, his fearless nature & independent intellect & unconventional nature of his goal, and wants to be part of the change-makers, trail blazers, once-in-a-generation do-gooders. Li Xun shows interest in her: they work, flirt, play, seamlessly. She and Li Xun have a warm, intriguing, goal-oriented attraction and romance, & they look damn cute doing anything together. He is a loving boyfriend & she is a dreamboat. Unlike usual J-K-C drama leads & tropes, there was no 'manhandling', they did not frivolously hang out in restaurants, clubs, ferris wheels and festivals, buy each other expensive gifts, or make grand romantic gestures. In fact, the simplicity of their lives, & interest in each other was infectious to watch. After a 3-year relationship, when he takes her to see a tall building, I half-expected a stupid proposal scene (which was shot but thankfully deleted from the aired series), because he uses that opportunity to tell her that he envisions L&P's name appearing on that building in the future, so the proposal isn't really about her or himself but what they can accomplish together. He's a serious, meaningful person. Yes, he doesn't communicate well, while she is outspoken, but he does include her in his plans. She is obviously more in love with him than he is with her, and it does seem like she's not as important to him as his mission of work (or revenge) is. But I did not see any 'sacrifices' from the Zhu Yun or 'red flags' from Li Xun in series episodes that cover events from Book 1.
However, in the book, there are plenty of red flags & weird behaviors from both, making her parents appear reasonable & protective at first.
Her parents are well-settled ‘intellectuals’ and think Li Xun is a bad seed with a bad past (“some things are brought up from the roots” says the mother), a blemished nobody who is a social climbing gold digger, a schemer & a bad influence who has pursued Zhu Yun & made her disobedient. She clashes with them & rebels more in the book than in the TV series.
[In Ep.21, at meet-the-parents lunch, which doesn't occur in the book, Li Xun's purpose is to aggravate them (by turning it into a business meeting) & to later on make it an excuse to break up with Zhu Yun, while the parents are insensitive & condescending to him throughout even without provocation, because they think he's inferior to them & for their daughter. Especially the mother (the principal who threw him out of high school) thinks he is 'taking revenge on HER by hooking up with Zhu Yun!!!' And she gets worse in Ep.36! Unlike them, Li Xun is never hypocritical in words or actions].
They refuse to acknowledge Li Xun's potential, refusing to give him a break. They are just focussed on their daughter having the 'right' attitude, 'right' image, 'right' boy, 'right' people, 'right' degree, 'right' job, 'right' neighborhood, etc. I understood their point of view. It's just a shame they didn't see how happy their daughter was with the 'unsuitable' guy or be proud of what she accomplishes on her own.
Li Xun forms a company L&P with Zhu Yun and Gao Jianhong for developing an internet-based medical system that integrates symptoms, diagnosis and medicines between all Chinese hospitals. [In the series, he forms L&P only with Zhu Yun]. This is an ambitious passion project of his that will certainly provide less profits than being in e-commerce or gaming industry but he does it anyway, and she fully supports it. There's something pure and noble about what Li Xun tries to accomplish with L & P and I think it resonated with her (but the fact that she is head over heals in love with him probably played a part too in her decision to be with him and work in L & P instead of pursuing higher studies).
Gao Jianhong and Fang Zhijing are 2 people who propel the story towards revenge and redemption in Book 2. In Book 1, Gao is a student who is good but not good enough or as great as Li Xun, and is part of Li Xun’s core team alongwith Zhu Yun working on software projects for companies (and later on part of L & P). He often feels slighted or left out or diminished by Li Xun’s hatchet-job dictatorial leadership. Li Xun has no team-building ability and is secretive. He just wants followers. This creates quiet resentment in Gao who will turn into a major villain in Book 2, alongwith Fang Zhijing.
Fang Zhijing is a former school-mate of Zhu Yun’s whom she blames for the suicide of her friend Liu Xiaoyan. She still wears the necklace gifted by Liu. Zhijing is taking part in a computer security competition and Zhu Yun forcefully asks Li Xun to take part too so that Zhijing can be beaten in the competition.
After losing to Li Xun and to get even with him in another competition, Fang Zhijing misguides his sister Li Lan who has arrived to the city for an operation and is being taken care of by Li Xun. Because of Fang's misdirection, Li Lan gets lost out in the cold, gets hypothermia, dies in hospital later on. [In the series, Li Lan is his actual older sister and the stupidest person. She irritated me to no end].
Fang Zhijing faces no legal repercussions because he's not 'directly responsible' for Li Lan's death. Since Li Xun wants to take violent revenge against him, he distances himself from Zhu Yun, handing over the reins of L & P to Gao. These 3 solitary decisions by him will have life-changing consequences for all of them.
Li Xun beats up Fang Zhijing, blinding him in one eye as revenge for what was done to his half-sister. [In the TV series, I felt that apart from his grief at losing the most important person in his life yet again, without being able to help her, just like he was unable to protect his father and mother, he was also acting out violently against injustice of rich people getting away with things & not being held accountable under law. You also feel bad for him because he finally had money & influence to help his sister & her son but couldn't because she died].
Fang Zhijing’s parents are government officials who run a successful media campaign against Li Xun where he’s categorized as ‘wild’, ‘criminal’, and ‘debauched’.
Li Xun goes to jail for 8 years, destroying his bright future through sheer stupidity (or as he will explain in Book 2: because no one was there to pull him up). He does not appeal, telling the judge that Fang deserved to die.
Zhu Yun’s mortified parents try to talk some sense into her about the unsuitability of Li Xun. She does not accept their opinion but does go abroad for higher studies because her mother wants her to. This is the cliffhanger that Book 1 ends on.
[I google translated the Chinese language book directly, as given on zhenhunxiaoshuodotcom, though an English-translated option is available on mtlnoveldotcom which I think is hard to understand and not very well-translated.].
MEMORABLE QUOTES:
- “你看他那身打扮，头发染成什么样，像话么？”母亲心平气和地跟朱韵讲，“虽然年轻人追求个性，但凡事都有个度。我整个学校都走过了，没见一个人是他这个样子.......要跟大家和平相处，不要搞特殊化，那些跳脱集体的人，永远步履维艰。”
"Look at how he's dressed and his hair is dyed. Does it look right?" his mother calmly told Zhu Yun, "Although young people pursue individuality, everything has its own limits. I've been through the whole school, and I haven't seen a person like this......We must live in peace with everyone and don't be special. Those who break away from the collective will always have difficulty."
- 她不知该如何形容那时的心情，那是她第一次接受到有别于这个家庭的另外一种情感关系。
就像炽热的火焰，纯粹无比，烧得人无处遁形。
[Li Lan] didn't know how to describe her feelings at that time. It was the first time she had accepted another emotional relationship that was different from this family.
Like a fiery flame, pure and incomparable, burning nowhere to escape.
(Like a blazing flame, it is so pure that it burns people with nowhere to hide.)
- 朱韵知道在这样的场合里，人的感想难免会有夸张的成分，可她真的有种感觉——她这一生的披肝沥胆和心无旁骛，都将奉献给这个人。
Zhu Yun knew that on such an occasion, people's feelings would inevitably be exaggerated, but she really had a feeling that all her hard work and focus in this life would be dedicated to this person.
- 从那时起，她渐渐不再害怕。
This dream allowed her to experience an eternal love, or in other words, an eternal freedom.
- 所有事，都只有在最开始的时候，才是它原本的样子，越往后，就越偏离。
All things, only at the beginning, have their original form, and the further they go, the more they diverge.
- 朱韵紧紧抱着他的身体，她自己也出了很多汗，宾馆的小床被他摇得一颤一颤，身下的床单也皱在一起。
她脑中闪现出许多不着边际的影像，桌上的空调遥控器、地上团成一团的衬衫、歪了的凳子，还有窗台上被月光照耀着的粒粒灰尘
Zhu Yun hugged his body tightly, and she was sweating a lot. The small bed in the hotel shook as he shook it, and the sheets underneath her were wrinkled. Many random images flashed through her mind, including the air conditioner remote control on the table, the shirts balled up on the ground, the crooked stool, and the specks of dust on the window sill illuminated by the moonlight…
- 过了一会，他抬起一条胳膊，手掌贴上她的脸颊。
“公主……”他寻欢后的嗓音沙哑低沉，朱韵从中听出一种让人背脊发麻的性感。
After a while, he raised an arm and put his palm against her cheek.
"Princess..." His voice was hoarse and low after having fun, and Zhu Yun heard a spine-tingling sexiness in it.
THE TV SERIES ‘LIGHTER AND PRINCESS’ (2022):
Ep. 2-23 feature contents of Book 1. The excellent series retains just the facade and nuts and bolts of the original book, retaining a few plot holes & loopholes, while choosing to change quite a bit from the book, especially the characters of Li Xun and Zhu Yun, who are deeper than the cardboard manga-like version presented in the books. Chen Feiyu’s Xun is far from a robot, he's a purposeful and loving boyfriend to Zang Jangyi’s Yun who is a blazing light, warm and smart, curious and forward-thinking. The chemistry is so natural, from casual banter to attraction to the hugs and kisses to arguments and break-up, that it doesn’t feel like acting at all, which tells you how much hard work was done by the entire team to make them believable. The rest of the cast is spot-on too (especially actors playing Gao, Ren Di, Professor Old Lin, and Zhu Yun’s parents, all were excellent). The work-oriented setting lifts the story from a run-of-the-mill, teenage-to-adulthood fantasy romance to something relatable. OST, BGM and song choice is incredible, perfect & loop-worthy awesome. Key scenes are beautifully shot, sound-mixed and have repeat value. I liked the TV series.
I recommend skipping the book altogether.
Book 2 Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review on Youtube: https://youtu.be/y-liJJ208Cc?si=NdAgG...
Images Credit: mydramalist.com
June 30, 2025
"所有事，都只有在最开始的时候，才是它原本的样子，越往后，就越偏离。"
"Everything, only at the very beginning, is what it truly is. The further it goes, the more it strays."
That feels like the quiet truth behind《打火机与公主裙·荒草园》— a story that begins simply and earnestly, only to unravel into something far more fractured, more devastating, and ultimately more unforgettable. It's not just a reflection of the story, but a subtle thesis for the kind of grief Twentine writes so well: the kind that changes shape the longer you look at it.
Reading this book felt like watching two people grow in opposite directions, tethered by something fragile and invisible. A thread, maybe. Or memory. Or guilt. Whatever it was, it never snapped — but it frayed, badly. And by the time it did begin to unravel, it was already too late.
Twentine doesn't write clean tragedies. Her pain is human-shaped, tangled in ego, pride, silence, bad timing. There's no grand villain, no neat redemption arc. Only choices. And consequences. And two people caught in the aftermath of both.
What struck me most wasn't the climax, but the quiet destruction that came after. The verdict, the silence, the bed-bound days that stretched like a fog.
There's a sense, as you read, that love alone isn't enough and maybe it never was. That a person can hold your whole heart, and still, the world can take them away from you anyway. That some kinds of futures are only beautiful when they stay imagined.
Li Xun is a character who feels like he's always burning at the edges — too bright, too fast, too doomed. And Zhu Yun, quietly tethered to him, becomes the one who survives. But surviving here doesn't feel like winning. It feels like remembering. Carrying. Waking up every day and choosing not to forget.
I won't delve too much into Li Xun and Zhu Yun as characters. Not to defend, clarify, or justify either of them. I won't say Li Xun was too cold, too distant, too unwilling to let himself be loved. I won't say Zhu Yun gave too much, lost too much, or threw away her pride for someone who couldn't even meet her halfway. Because none of that is the point. They weren't written to be flawless. They were written to be human. Every silence, every mistake, every quiet act of devotion — they were choices. And those choices made them real. Not admirable. Not ideal. Just real.
《打火机与公主裙·荒草园》isn't a romance. It's not even, strictly speaking, a tragedy. It's a postscript. A story about what remains when everything else is gone — loyalty, grief, unfinished love. There are no sweeping declarations, no epiphanies wrapped in ribbon. Just a final "I love you," scalded into memory. Just a girl on a plane, flying through clouds, still holding on.
Twentine never tells you how to feel. She simply opens the wound and lets you decided whether or not to look.
And I looked. I still am.
"Everything, only at the very beginning, is what it truly is. The further it goes, the more it strays."
That feels like the quiet truth behind《打火机与公主裙·荒草园》— a story that begins simply and earnestly, only to unravel into something far more fractured, more devastating, and ultimately more unforgettable. It's not just a reflection of the story, but a subtle thesis for the kind of grief Twentine writes so well: the kind that changes shape the longer you look at it.
Reading this book felt like watching two people grow in opposite directions, tethered by something fragile and invisible. A thread, maybe. Or memory. Or guilt. Whatever it was, it never snapped — but it frayed, badly. And by the time it did begin to unravel, it was already too late.
Twentine doesn't write clean tragedies. Her pain is human-shaped, tangled in ego, pride, silence, bad timing. There's no grand villain, no neat redemption arc. Only choices. And consequences. And two people caught in the aftermath of both.
What struck me most wasn't the climax, but the quiet destruction that came after. The verdict, the silence, the bed-bound days that stretched like a fog.
There's a sense, as you read, that love alone isn't enough and maybe it never was. That a person can hold your whole heart, and still, the world can take them away from you anyway. That some kinds of futures are only beautiful when they stay imagined.
Li Xun is a character who feels like he's always burning at the edges — too bright, too fast, too doomed. And Zhu Yun, quietly tethered to him, becomes the one who survives. But surviving here doesn't feel like winning. It feels like remembering. Carrying. Waking up every day and choosing not to forget.
I won't delve too much into Li Xun and Zhu Yun as characters. Not to defend, clarify, or justify either of them. I won't say Li Xun was too cold, too distant, too unwilling to let himself be loved. I won't say Zhu Yun gave too much, lost too much, or threw away her pride for someone who couldn't even meet her halfway. Because none of that is the point. They weren't written to be flawless. They were written to be human. Every silence, every mistake, every quiet act of devotion — they were choices. And those choices made them real. Not admirable. Not ideal. Just real.
《打火机与公主裙·荒草园》isn't a romance. It's not even, strictly speaking, a tragedy. It's a postscript. A story about what remains when everything else is gone — loyalty, grief, unfinished love. There are no sweeping declarations, no epiphanies wrapped in ribbon. Just a final "I love you," scalded into memory. Just a girl on a plane, flying through clouds, still holding on.
Twentine never tells you how to feel. She simply opens the wound and lets you decided whether or not to look.
And I looked. I still am.
February 6, 2023
"Vì sao tình cảm thời tuổi trẻ dễ dàng in dấu trong lòng như thế? Tình yêu, tình bạn và cả giấc mộng cùng lời thề của những tháng ngày thanh xuân ngỡ như đã quên nhưng thật ra vẫn đau đáu trong lòng. Kể cả khi trưởng thành gặp được những chuyện hoàn mỹ và tươi đẹp hơn, nhưng lại không khắc ghi ấn tượng sâu sắc bằng những thứ vụn vặt thuở trước."
Bị lôi kéo đọc vì lậm bản phim không dứt ra được gần 2 tháng. Bản phim của Trương Tịnh Nghi và Trần Phi Vũ sẽ khác đi so với truyện nhiều nhưng không thể không nghiện chemistry giữa 2 nhân vật này trên màn ảnh hhahahah
Đọc truyện sẽ thấy được rõ bản lĩnh, ý chí phất cờ vì nghề nghiệp của Lý Tuân và Chu Vận.
Lâu rùi tui mới đi kiếm truyện ngôn từ đọc từ hồi cấp 2 tới giờ.
Thích nhất vẫn là mấy dòng suy nghĩ của Chu Vận trong truyện, không phải là câu thoại trực tiếp nói nhưng đọc nó thấy dĩa huông quãi đạn
Không những kể về mối quan hệ của LT và CV, mà còn cuộc sống từ thời sinh viên đến lúc trưởng thành với ngành IT, với những lý tưởng và tín ngưỡng riêng của họ. Với cả những người bạn, thầy giáo, chị em trong gia đình.
Mà mối tình của họ cũng đặc sắc.
Cả đời, trái tim của Chu Vận chỉ bị thu phụ bởi LT.
Lý Tuân đóng vai trò là năng lượng vận chuyển cô để gánh vác cuộc đời này. "Có anh, cô sẽ vô cùng dũng cảm, không có nah, cô yếu ớt không sao chịu nổi."
Quãng truyện mà mình ấn tượng nhất có lẽ là lúc cuối đời lâm chung của Ly Tuân dặn dò với Lý Tư Kỳ, con trai đầu của mình.
"Chỉ có lúc nói đến Chu Vận, ông thoáng ngừng lại hai giây, rồi mới tiếp lời 'Lúc ba còn thì bà ấy phải nghe theo ba, lúc ba không còn thì tất cả lời bà ấy nói đều đúng, có nhớ không?'
Lý Tư Kỳ mắt đẫm lệ nói:'Nhớ ạ'.
Lý Tuân dặn thêm:'Nếu ba đi rồi, chắn chắn bà ấy là người đau lòng nhất, mày bảo bà ấy họ ba là phải sống đến tám mươi tuổi hãy đến gặp ba'.
Lý Tư kỳ càng đau khổ hơn, cậu nghẹn ngào hỏi:' Cần con gọi mẹ đến đây không ạ?'
Lý Tuân:'Không cần, bà ấy nhát gan, không chịu được cảnh này'.
'Ba không muốn gặp mẹ sao?'
Lúc này ông lẩm bẩm:'Không sao, chút nữa sẽ gặp thôi.'"
Thật ra câu nói "Chút nữa sẽ gặp thôi." là bời vì Lý Tuân đã từng nói "Nếu như lúc người ta chết đi thật sự có hiện tượng đèn kéo quân, có lẽ cô ấy là người cuối cùng đời này tôi nhìn thấy."
Bị lôi kéo đọc vì lậm bản phim không dứt ra được gần 2 tháng. Bản phim của Trương Tịnh Nghi và Trần Phi Vũ sẽ khác đi so với truyện nhiều nhưng không thể không nghiện chemistry giữa 2 nhân vật này trên màn ảnh hhahahah
Đọc truyện sẽ thấy được rõ bản lĩnh, ý chí phất cờ vì nghề nghiệp của Lý Tuân và Chu Vận.
Lâu rùi tui mới đi kiếm truyện ngôn từ đọc từ hồi cấp 2 tới giờ.
Thích nhất vẫn là mấy dòng suy nghĩ của Chu Vận trong truyện, không phải là câu thoại trực tiếp nói nhưng đọc nó thấy dĩa huông quãi đạn
Không những kể về mối quan hệ của LT và CV, mà còn cuộc sống từ thời sinh viên đến lúc trưởng thành với ngành IT, với những lý tưởng và tín ngưỡng riêng của họ. Với cả những người bạn, thầy giáo, chị em trong gia đình.
Mà mối tình của họ cũng đặc sắc.
Cả đời, trái tim của Chu Vận chỉ bị thu phụ bởi LT.
Lý Tuân đóng vai trò là năng lượng vận chuyển cô để gánh vác cuộc đời này. "Có anh, cô sẽ vô cùng dũng cảm, không có nah, cô yếu ớt không sao chịu nổi."
Quãng truyện mà mình ấn tượng nhất có lẽ là lúc cuối đời lâm chung của Ly Tuân dặn dò với Lý Tư Kỳ, con trai đầu của mình.
"Chỉ có lúc nói đến Chu Vận, ông thoáng ngừng lại hai giây, rồi mới tiếp lời 'Lúc ba còn thì bà ấy phải nghe theo ba, lúc ba không còn thì tất cả lời bà ấy nói đều đúng, có nhớ không?'
Lý Tư Kỳ mắt đẫm lệ nói:'Nhớ ạ'.
Lý Tuân dặn thêm:'Nếu ba đi rồi, chắn chắn bà ấy là người đau lòng nhất, mày bảo bà ấy họ ba là phải sống đến tám mươi tuổi hãy đến gặp ba'.
Lý Tư kỳ càng đau khổ hơn, cậu nghẹn ngào hỏi:' Cần con gọi mẹ đến đây không ạ?'
Lý Tuân:'Không cần, bà ấy nhát gan, không chịu được cảnh này'.
'Ba không muốn gặp mẹ sao?'
Lúc này ông lẩm bẩm:'Không sao, chút nữa sẽ gặp thôi.'"
Thật ra câu nói "Chút nữa sẽ gặp thôi." là bời vì Lý Tuân đã từng nói "Nếu như lúc người ta chết đi thật sự có hiện tượng đèn kéo quân, có lẽ cô ấy là người cuối cùng đời này tôi nhìn thấy."
May 28, 2022
Đây là một cuốn ngôn tình không giống với đa số những cuốn ngôn tình khác. Tình yêu của Lý Tuân và Chu Vận không được miêu tả bằng những ngôn từ hoa mỹ, nhưng ai đã thấm được thì sẽ cảm nhận tình yêu đấy sâu sắc vô cùng. Lý Tuân không chỉ là một người yêu, anh là một cơn gió thổi đến thế giới của Chu Vận, đôi lúc lại mãnh liệt như bão tố, nhưng cơn gió ấy đã đưa cánh diều trong tim cô bay lên. Chu Vận là một cô gái không thiếu thứ gì, bối cảnh gia đình giàu có, ngoại hình xinh đẹp, có học thức, nhưng từ nhỏ cô đã sống trong khuôn khổ mà mẹ mình định ra, và có lẽ sẽ mãi như vậy nếu không gặp được Lý Tuân. Chính anh là người khiến cô tìm thấy niềm đam mê với tin học, chính anh là người đã cùng cô ngông cuồng, cùng cô nỗ lực, cho cô niềm tin rằng không gì họ không làm được. Lý Tuân không sống theo bất cứ nguyên tắc nào mà người khác định ra, còn Chu Vận từ sâu thẳm trong trái tim cũng là một sự nổi loạn, cả hai là mảnh ghép hoàn hảo với đối phương. Truyện viết từ góc nhìn của Chu Vận nên không tả rõ cảm xúc của Lý Tuân khi yêu, nhưng từng hành động của anh nói rõ Chu Vận với anh đặc biệt thế nào. Nhìn bên ngoài giống như Chu Vận theo đuổi Lý Tuân, quá lụy vì Lý Tuân, nhưng thực tế Lý Tuân với cô còn có ý nghĩa lớn lao hơn là một chữ yêu, chính vì vậy mình cảm thấy Chu Vận rất mạnh mẽ, hoàn toàn chẳng có chút nào bi lụy. Nếu bạn muốn một câu chuyện tình yêu có nhiều màu sắc thực tế hơn, và có thể có cái nhìn cởi mở thì Chiếc bật lửa và váy công chúa thật sự là một cuốn sách tuyệt vời.
February 21, 2022
Cuốn này chú trọng quá nhiều vào các khía cạnh vớ vẩn mà không tập trung khai thác sâu tình cảm của hai nhân vật. 2/3 đầu truyện hai nhân vật chính không có tí tiến triển nào luôn, nữ chính thì cứ như tay sai của nam chính, cốt truyện thì chỉ loanh quanh lập trình và thi thố, khô khan đến phát khiếp. Đến lúc bắt đầu lục đục có tiến triển về tình cảm thì mọi thứ lại quá vồ vập, đâu ra cái kiểu dễ dãi như vậy hả trời. Mà kể cả lúc hai người này đã yêu nhau rồi thì chemistry cũng mờ nhạt lắm luôn, toàn những câu thoại rẻ tiền đậm chất teenfic.
Kết thúc tập 1 là một đống drama trên trời xuống đất, có lẽ để kích cầu đọc tập 2 nhưng thực sự là mình không có hứng thú và cũng không có nhu cầu biết chuyện gì tiếp theo ở tập 2, tập 1 là quá lắm rồi cảm ơn.
Kết thúc tập 1 là một đống drama trên trời xuống đất, có lẽ để kích cầu đọc tập 2 nhưng thực sự là mình không có hứng thú và cũng không có nhu cầu biết chuyện gì tiếp theo ở tập 2, tập 1 là quá lắm rồi cảm ơn.
May 30, 2024
Mi calificación se basa en lo que me hizo sentir la historia y sus personajes, todo me pareció muy interesante. Me sorprendí que hubieran tantas diferencias respecto al drama, algunas me gustaron y otras no pero igual disfruté leerlo. Ya quiero saber cómo se desarrolla todo en la segunda parte porque terminó muy muy mal.
(Ahora mismo no tengo tantos ánimos para hacer una reseña más detallada así que quizás más adelante lo haga).
(Ahora mismo no tengo tantos ánimos para hacer una reseña más detallada así que quizás más adelante lo haga).
November 11, 2022
Biết phim xong mới đọc truyện. Trên phim khai thác được ít quá nên đọc truyện để tung bay với trí tưởng tượng hơn ;)))
Thấy nữ9 kiểu nghe lời nam9 bất chấp ý, hơi pựk. HE mà khs nó cứ bứt rứt khó chịu ghê ;))
Vừa muốn đọc nhanh để xem kết, vừa không muốn thoát khỏi thế giới ảo tưởng đầy màu hồng lày hhuhuu🤡🤡🔫🔫😔👉👈🤪🔪
Thôi đọc zui zẻ chiu chiu ik mn.
Thấy nữ9 kiểu nghe lời nam9 bất chấp ý, hơi pựk. HE mà khs nó cứ bứt rứt khó chịu ghê ;))
Vừa muốn đọc nhanh để xem kết, vừa không muốn thoát khỏi thế giới ảo tưởng đầy màu hồng lày hhuhuu🤡🤡🔫🔫😔👉👈🤪🔪
Thôi đọc zui zẻ chiu chiu ik mn.
February 9, 2023
Drama dari adaptasi novel ini rame banget, aku penasaran sama novelnya sebelum nonton dramanya, tapi sepertinya aku nggak cocok sama karakter cowoknya 😭😭😭 aku penasaran aja gitu sama Chen Feiyu yang tampan itu berambut pirang memerankan Li Xun, tapi dengan karakternya dia yang seperti itu kok ya jadi mikir 1001 kali mau nonton dramanya.
December 18, 2025
Tập một chủ yếu là giai đoạn cả 2 gặp gỡ nhau ở thời đại học, anh là thiên tài lập trình kì dị còn cô là tiểu thư chăm chỉ siêng năng, cả 2 cùng hoạt động trong Hội IT và cùng tham gia vào các dự án. 2/3 truyện chủ yếu nói về ngôn ngữ lập trình, giỡn qua giỡn lại k có yêu đương gì cả, hơi chán nhưng gần cuối nảy sinh tc và biến cố xảy ra nên tập 2 siêu đỉnh.
May 18, 2026
Một trong số rất ít bộ ngôn tình mà đọc hết. Viết thực sự rất hay, cuộc đời nam chính đen tối đến mức khi đọc mình không nghĩ anh ấy có thể vượt qua được. Thật may mắn anh đã gặp được 1 người cứng đầu như nữ chính.
Từ đầu đến cuối truyện đều day dứt cả, đến cả cái kết. Miêu tả tâm lý và xây dựng background nhân vật chính tốt, nên đọc
Từ đầu đến cuối truyện đều day dứt cả, đến cả cái kết. Miêu tả tâm lý và xây dựng background nhân vật chính tốt, nên đọc
October 2, 2022
Hmm vì có mấy người bạn của mình hóng phim nên mình quyết định đọc truyện :))). Nói thật vì truyện có rất nhiều chi tiết mình thích nma bên cạnh đó thì có nhiều cái mình không thích luôn. Nói chung là ai muốn đọc zui zui thư giãn thì nên đọc nha.
July 10, 2022
totally in love
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2022
Cuối cùng cũng đọc xong chạy deadline cho challenge cuối năm. K ấn tượng gì lắm
December 30, 2022
Suối Nguồn phiên bản ngôn tình. Dễ thương.
April 29, 2024
Thích cái cách Chu Vận bảo vệ Lý Tuân và ngược lại, tiếc nuối ở chỗ dù hai người về chung một mái nhà rồi nhưng mẹ của Vận vẫn không chấp nhận Lý Tuân
November 13, 2022
很Twentine的故事，富家女配穷小子……节奏和文笔好，读起来手不释卷。
男主人设一开始看还挺可爱的，忍不住想把他睡服，但越到后面越能感受到他下流猥琐的一面，再结合人设本身的性格与经历，因此读到最后对他的评价更接近于「所有缺点集一身但聪明却运气好的傻逼男」。相比之下女主身上就没什么高光，明明也是很聪明很会做人很会做事，但优点全部被男主掩盖了，有些不爽。
男主人设一开始看还挺可爱的，忍不住想把他睡服，但越到后面越能感受到他下流猥琐的一面，再结合人设本身的性格与经历，因此读到最后对他的评价更接近于「所有缺点集一身但聪明却运气好的傻逼男」。相比之下女主身上就没什么高光，明明也是很聪明很会做人很会做事，但优点全部被男主掩盖了，有些不爽。
March 26, 2022
Bạn biết không, thời gian tôi hoàn thành cuốn sách này cũng khá lâu rồi nhưng mỗi lần đọc là mỗi cảm xúc, suy nghĩ đều rất khác nhau. Tôi rất hâm mộ và đồng cảm với những gì họ đã trải qua để có được tình yêu đẹp đến như thế. Tôi hâm mộ Lý Tuân vì dám dũng cảm, bình thản và ngang nhiên đối mặt với hiện thực khốc liệt của cuộc sống, dám yêu và dám hận, chẳng bao giờ hối hận những gì mình đã trải qua (mặc dù tôi nghĩ Lý Tuân có chút hối hận khi bỏ rơi Chu Vận đấy 😁). Tôi hâm mộ Chu Vận cũng vì cô cũng dũng cảm với tình yêu của chính mình bất chấp mọi người nghĩ như thế nào và yêu Lý Tuân vô điều kiện. Một mối tình đầy sóng gió nhưng rất đẹp theo một cách nào đó.
Anh mãi là chàng hoàng tử mà em yêu
Là quốc vương cả thế gian này ngưỡng mộ
Mặc cho anh từng có một quá khứ tối đen
Em vẫn mong anh đến kiếp sau
Vẫn sẽ xem em là nàng công chúa duy nhất của anh
Anh mãi là chàng hoàng tử mà em yêu
Là quốc vương cả thế gian này ngưỡng mộ
Mặc cho anh từng có một quá khứ tối đen
Em vẫn mong anh đến kiếp sau
Vẫn sẽ xem em là nàng công chúa duy nhất của anh
January 10, 2023
I'm not the type to like reading modern Chinese novels but this one is well written. I really like how mature the relationship between the leads are despite the circumstances. 5/5 stars
☆ I listened to the audiobook ☆
Audiobook
☆ I listened to the audiobook ☆
Audiobook
March 6, 2021
4.5 这样的父母令人窒息可是代入感有很强
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