Falling Before Fireworks – Hanna Lu, Chen Xinhai
Falling Before Fireworks is an urban romantic drama directed by Liang Guoguan and Wang Hui, starring Hanna Lu Yangyang and Chen Xinhai.
Details
English Title: Falling Before Fireworks
Chinese Title: 最食人间烟火色
Genre: Urban, Romance, Drama
Tag: First Love, Marriage, Married Life, Nice Male Lead, Contract Relationship, Love At First Sight
Episodes: 23
Duration: 30 min.
Director: Liang Guoguan, Wang Hui
Released Date: 2023-03-31
Broadcast Website: iQIYI
Cast
Synopsis
Si Qing, who works in a loan bank, leads a "vulgar" life in pursuit of a car, a house, and money.
In order to recover a bad loan, she meets Jing Chen, a traditional craftsman, for the first time.
One is a white-collar worker who is "kidnapped" by a debt collection mission, while the other is a cool handicraftsman who has no car, no house, and no money but owns an idyllic garden surrounded by green mountains and water.
The two of them, who do not like each other, are entwined in a "fighting each other" way.
On the day of the winter solstice, Si Qing, forgotten by her parents and isolated by her colleagues, is in a state of inner turmoil and on the verge of an adult breakdown.
Jing Chen's bowl of eggs in sweet wine, a customary winter solstice treat, is mistaken by Siqing as the only warmth for her birthday so she impulsively proposes marriage.
Jing Chen agrees to her request. However, marriage is only the beginning...
Recap
The customer manager of Nan Shang Bank, Si Qing, came to a supposedly 4A-level scenic area called Jing Yuan in the wilderness to recover a debt.
She fell in love at first sight with Jing Chen, who lived there and had personally built Jing Yuan. Si Qing tried to recover the bank loan from Jing Chen's neighbor, Chen Lianzhi and suggested auctioning off the property where Chen Lianzhi lived.
However, Jing Chen coldly responded that this was collective rural land and could not be auctioned. Si Qing was repeatedly rebuffed and her infatuation from the initial attraction faded away.
Si Qing came to Jing Chen's home again in order to follow up on this matter. She interrupted Jing Chen, who was repairing his house with gold powder. An inadvertent gust of wind blew away 5g of gold powder on Jing Chen's table and also stirred up Si Qing's middle-aged woman's heart.
Si Qing successfully retrieved the debt owed by Chen Lianzhi's husband, but found out that it was the money for “the coffin” that Chen Lianzhi had obtained from her parents by forcing herself to death. Si Qing's cold-blooded manner was broken when she saw a banknote that Chen Lianzhi's parents had left for their daughter to buy clothes. She entrusted Jing Chen to return the money to Chen Lianzhi. For the first time, Jing Chen saw Si Qing's soft side. After returning to Jing Garden, he silently helped Chen Lianzhi by turning a half-finished lantern into cash to repay the loan. On the Winter Solstice, Si Qing experienced a low point in her life. On her forgotten birthday, she came to Jing Garden and, under the influence of alcohol, made the most rebellious decision of her life by proposing to Jing Chen. However, she was immediately rejected by Jing Chen.
Si Qing experienced frustration and disgust in her career and decided to resign. However, she was ultimately defeated by the pressure of her mortgage and continued to work with her "plastic" colleagues.
Jing Chen had been helping his critically ill grandfather find a lost half-scroll of calligraphy, only to find that it was in the hands of Si Qing. Si Qing intentionally made things difficult for Jing Chen by using the name "dowry" and thus gained the upper hand. It was not until she learned from Chen Lianzhi what Jing Chen had done to help her repay her loan. On New Year's Eve, Si Qing brought the half-scroll to Jing Yu Tang. Si Qing looked at the dark courtyard and was about to turn around and leave when she saw Jing Chen stepping towards her from the brightly lit homes and said to her, "Let's get married."
On the first day of their marriage registration, Si Qing and Jing Chen got into a dispute because Si Qing wanted to maintain her image in front of their colleagues by telling a lie, but Jing Chen did not want to cooperate with the lie. As a result, they went in and out of the Civil Affairs Bureau on the same day and went from being newlyweds to entering a cooling-off period for divorce.
Jing Chen learned about Si Qing's past and her reasons for being defensive and pretending to be tough from his brain-dead fan, Chi Zhongyu, who is also an intern under Si Qing. He decided to retaliate against Xiao Fei, who had previously caused trouble for Si Qing. On a cold and rainy night with no signal on the mountaintop, Jing Chen avenged Si Qing in the same way that Xiao Fei had troubled her, revealing a sharp side of himself for the first time beyond his gentle and cold demeanor.
After acting impulsively, Si Qing realized her mistake and returned to Jing Yuan to apologize to Jing Chen and ask for reconciliation. She hoped to try again during the two-month cooling-off period of their divorce, without getting married for the sake of others. While Si Qing anxiously waited, Jing Chen took out the Jing Yuan access card that he had prepared for her long ago and led her back into Jing Yu Tang. The two spent their first night under the same roof in Jing Yuan. When Si Qing's colleagues made fun of her farmer husband, Jing Chen helped her solve the problem of the trophy with a 3D stereoscopic wall painting and even darkly retaliated against those colleagues who criticized her behind her back.
Si Qing was in the hospital, and she got along very well with Jing Chen's grandfather, which also made Jing Chen feel a warm feeling in his heart. However, on the day when Jing Chen went to meet Si Qing's parents, his grandfather passed away. At the funeral, Si Qing had a conflict with the guests due to her lack of understanding of the rural customs regarding funerals, but Jing Chen timely resolved the situation. Si Qing also met Jing Grandfather's grandson Jing Cheng at the funeral and learned that Jing Chen was just an adopted grandson. In the middle of the night, when no one was around, she saw Jing Chen sitting alone in the dark with a sad figure, which made her feel his sadness. Si Qing didn't disturb him but silently accompanied him, and quietly put the stray cats and dogs that Jing Chen usually took care of into the yard to accompany him.
Si Qing is struggling with year-end tasks and doesn't want to bother Jing Chen. When she returns to the bank, she sees Jing Chen helping elderly villagers with their business, easing her worries. The relationship between the two becomes even closer. During the year-end, a customer comes to complain about Chi Zhongyu being involved in a fraud case. Si Qing handles the situation calmly but is accused of covering up for her accomplice by the elderly customer who then slaps her in anger. However, Si Qing remains calm and helps the elderly customer resolve the telecommunications fraud case. Back at Jingyuan, Si Qing sees the photo wall that Jing Chen made for her and after eating his sour soup noodles, she finally releases the grievances that she had been keeping buried inside.
Six years ago on the Winter Solstice, Jing Chen participated in a charity auction. He thought no one would buy his work "Winter Solstice", but Si Qing bought it for 9999. When he found out it was her birthday, Jing Chen bought her a bowl of instant noodles and two tea eggs at the karaoke booth next door and paid for her to sing all night since she was broke. The two had never met that day until they reunited six years later. Si Qing and Jing Chen's first Spring Festival was simple but warm. Ironically, they both prepared a pair of rings to make up for the gap in this hasty marriage.
During the Spring Festival holiday, which happened to be Valentine's Day, Jing Chen was afraid that Si Qing would be bored, so he suggested watching a movie. Si Qing immediately dressed up and waited eagerly for their date. However, it turned out that the "movie" Jing Chen had in mind was watching anti-Japanese films with a group of elderly people at the village. Si Qing was angry and humiliated at first, but in the end, she became completely engrossed and even missed Jing Chen's Valentine's Day gift.
After the Spring Festival, Si Qing was afraid that Jing Chen would be ridiculed by his classmates for not doing well at the alumni gathering. To support him, she went as far as to exchange all her US dollar bills from the Nan Shang Bank and fold them into paper roses, which she then sent to his school to show her support. Jing Chen was both helpless and indulgent towards his wife's kindness. Unexpectedly, his ex-girlfriend, Yun Pian, was also there, joining in the fun.
The alumni association, Yun Pian confesses her love to Jing Chen, but he immediately rejects her and reveals he is already married. Upset, Yun Pian leaves and invites her new friend, Si Qing, to play board games. Neither Si Qing nor Yun Pian know about Jing Chen's relationship with Jing Musheng. They stay up late chatting about marriage and love.
Jing Chen finds out that Si Qing went to a board game store for men and secretly feels jealous but doesn't express his feelings. He's afraid his paranoia will scare Si Qing away, and he can't express his true feelings because of past mistakes. Meanwhile, Si Qing is unaware of Jing Chen's feelings and unintentionally flirts with him.
Yun Pian comes back to Jing Yuan, and the three of them run into each other, turning the situation into a battlefield.
Reviews
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