When i started this show i literally had no expectations, for one it was a female centric chinese family drama(most of which are generic), there was an ex-bf and his annoying family, the fl's annoying mother and worst of all the pathetic ratings on mdl..But dont let any of these stop you from watching this show


pros:

1) All the characters are realistic and their reactions to situations also seem human, no one is excessively kind and they react the way a normal person would in most situations

2) parallels between characters: i think that there are a lot of clever parallels drawn by making certain similar characters in order to prove that the environment you were raised in matters more than money, xie jialiang's father's mistress grew up in poverty just like MCH but she turned out to be greedy and cunning whereas MCH is caring and diligent, we also see some comparisons between MCH's ex and Zhiming, although both of them are rich, zhiming was forced to be independent and opportunistic and he learned to cherish his loved ones due to all the loss he faced whereas xie jialiang turned out to be timid because he was used to always getting what he wanted and not having to fight for anything(hence not being able to protect MCH)

3) The pacing: I have to say the pacing was absolutely perfect for most of the show and i think that the breakup/resolving of issues with mom all took the perfect amount of time

4) One of the biggest issues i have with certain female centric shows is that they force the fl to choose between love and career (although this may be realistic) but im glad that the fl didnt have to give up on either and got the best of both worlds

5) The ML....YAO ZHIMING OMLL...He is the epitome of husband material, there are so many shows where the ml ends up "helping" the fl and basically the intelligent fl is dumb in comparison but this man was so respectful, he never made decisions for her, he always stood by her side when she needed him, he tolerated her mother even when they were not together and he was RESPECTFUL. after hearing his grandmas will he did not throw a tantrum or make some plot to steal the hotel(this may be the bare minimum but its still so gentleman like) and he always lets her know when hes jealous or uncomfy with a situations (hes literally such a green flag)


(may contain spoilers below)
cons:
I only really have one con and thats a pro in itself in a way? SO the fl's mother never really got the retribution but on the flip side i think that its very realistic she didnt(so technically not a con)

she lived in the country side and was very uneducated and she got married at a young age for a better life but was still stuck in the circle of poverty and she lived most of her life as a mother, she had no other identity besides a mother/wife and so her only job was to worry about her husband and children and make decisions for them....I wish they hadnt given a her mom a terminal illness at the end because that literally felt like they gave her physical pain in return for the emotional trauma she put her kids through, it feels really weird hating on a sick character and i felt like she should have changed more.....BUT I personally also feel that the chances of an asian mother changing her personality and habit of nagging is one in a million (lmfao) and most people cant change the way they behave so yeah i think it wasnt that bad

one other thing that was weird was how many rich people were around her, shes like a real life rich person magnet(I'm still waiting for my grandma to tell me she is secretly a millionaire T-T)