Hebe plays Yi ShengXue, a fierce, physically weak, but determined heiress to the Yi family. Since young, she has been protected by Jin ZiCong (Lee Wei), who was adopted into their family after the death of his father. ZiCong pretty much is her everything - he's her bodyguard, her best friend, her family - and he in turn treasures their relationship (and her) above everything else in the world. He'll carry her places, fight for her - he even takes her punishments for her when her dad is upset. As ShengXue's adorable stepmom (played by Ariel's mom in ISWAK!) says, "whenever he finds something good, he shares it with [her], when he sees [her] cry, he'll do anything to stop it. if he knows something will hurt [her], he'll bear the pain." Example - when they were little, she was playing with this sharp flip knife. ZiCong told her to stop, but ShengXue, being the stubborn idiot she is, kept throwing the knife up and down until she accidentally drops the knife. The knife looks like it'll cut her foot, so ZiCong grabs the knife with his bare hands, cutting himself deeply in the process, just to save her.Aside from ZiCong and her family, ShengXue is also passionate about 13th Street, which is a strip of valuable land that her family owns and maintains for the sake of a community there. Her second home, let's say. On this land is a basketball court, that two rival school teams battle on annually - whoever wins that year gets to use the court until the next "bull fighting" match. Shen RuoHe (Mike He) is the star player on the team that ShengXue favors. After an accidental confrontation between ShengXue (plus henchmen) and RuoHe the day of the match, he ends up costing his team the match. ShengXue is infuriated and switches to his college in order to get the court back. RuoHe and ShengXue butt heads as they fight to regain the court, and RuoHe begins to appreciate her honest and determined nature; she in turn falls for his sweet but proud tendencies. Things come to a head when RuoHe's father asks him to get the 13th Street land from ShengXue as part of a deal they need. RuoHe ultimately refuses (after he practically kidnaps ShengXue and harms her), costing his father the company. While this is all happening, ZiCong struggles with his feelings for ShengXue and protects her from evil - oh man, he's the epitome of loyalty and sacrifice. After the first episode, ZiCong became the reason that I watched this drama - he is an amazing combination of devotion - but in a really really tough and manly (hot) way. When ZiCong realizes that ShengXue is in love with RuoHe, ZiCong swallows his love for her and asks RuoHe to take ShengXue seriously...RuoHe realizes what this costs ZiCong, and agrees initially...
But RuoHe is told that he has a chance to save his father's company - if he dates and marries the child of his father's banker, QianNa. Despite his feelings for ShengXue, he agrees, and proceeds to hurt everyone in the process - except for QianNa, who makes him promise that if either of them fall in true love before they actually get married, the other party will agree to relinquish the marriage. Now, I was all ready to hate QianNa at this point - the second female lead is usually not that likable! - but I couldn't do it. QianNa is poised, intelligent, spunky, proud, feminine, and determined. You can't help but like her. And she's agreeing to the engagement for all the right reasons - and wants RuoHe to do the same.
ZiCong moves out of the Yi Family (due to family history drama), and slowly, he and ShengXue learn not to be so dependent on each other - she learns to do things without him (though secretly he's still there smoothing the way), and he takes the time to change his feelings for her from that of a lover to that of an older brother. ShengXue and RuoHe have this whole convoluted plot - but ultimately get together. Meanwhile, QianNa sees ZiCong's strength of character, and falls for him, breaking off her engagement to RuoHe (go QianNa for being strong enough to do the right thing!). Everyone's happy, 13th Street (and RuoHe's father's company) is saved, and ZiCong begins to realize that QianNa is more suited to him than ShengXue is.
I really liked this drama - I think it strayed away from the traditional T-drama stereotypes, which is a welcome change from the "silly naive innocent girl falls for stubborn cold intelligent popular boy" or "strong manly guy falls for the bratty but unique girl". Few of the main leads fit the stereotypical mold - the girls are strong independent characters with minds of their own without being annoying or overbearing to their male counterparts. To be completely honest, ShengXue does lean a little towards the overbearing side, but Hebe manages to portray a sweetness of character that indicates that that's really from being pampered rather than being an inbred character trait. QianNa - now she's a model for what a girl should be! The male characters are still a little on the traditional side, but Mike He and Lee Wei are good enough actors to add a depth and a freshness to their characters. Especially Lee Wei - I definitely am going to look up some of his old dramas. This was also one of the few times that I was more interested in the "secondary couple" instead of the "lead couple" in a series. While Hebe and Mike were adorable together, and would have captured my attention in any other serial, the acting from Lee Wei and QianNa overshadowed them. And it wasn't just in couple format as well - I was sometimes more moved by scenes between Lee Wei and Hebe, and between QianNa and Mike, than in scenes with the two leads.
I really hope to see more shows like this in the future!
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