Ren Guang Xi, a cocky law student, seems to lead the perfect life. He’s the sole successor to a huge and famous business and a talented ice hockey player. But in reality, his lonely life lacks joy, laughter and motivation. That is until he meets Liang Mu Cheng, the new bento seller at his school canteen. Although orphaned at a young age, Mu Cheng does not let her past affect her and lives life with great passion and determination. A harmless bet brings the two together and Guang Xi slowly changes as Mu Cheng teaches him how to give and love. Tragedy strikes when Guang Xi suddenly has to go through a major brain surgery which causes him to lose his memory. His mother begs Mu Cheng to leave him and the latter has no choice but to do so. Little does she know that she already has Guang Xi’s child.
Six years pass. Mu Cheng lives a quiet life with her young son in the countryside while Guang Xi is now a successful lawyer and is engaged to He Yi Qian, the kind and beautiful doctor who took care of him after his surgery. A strangely familiar piano piece stirs Guang Xi’s heart as he struggles to recall his past romance with Mu Cheng. How will the couple make up for six years of lost time?
I had watched the Taiwanese drama prior to this and although I quite enjoyed it, it definitely made use of a lot of cliches, beating around the bush, and misunderstandings. It was basically a true melodrama, through and through, frustrations and all.
I expected the novel to stick pretty close to the drama and it certainly did, but I felt like the tensions, the emotions, the tragedies, the big reveals — none of them hit as hard as the drama did. The last one-third of the book also just felt really rushed, with a bunch of arcs that didn’t feel very fully developed.