Ai De Er Ba Ding Lu

Due to employment rules of top law firm Cheng and Hui favoring married lawyers, Qin Shi (Yan Mi) was persuaded by her mentor to pose as a married woman to land a job there. She found an online photo of a handsome traveler with a quote that appealed to her sentiments and presented her "perfect" husband to the firm as an international investment consultant who was mostly overseas on business.

The photo actually belongs to an unemployed finance graduate Yang Hua (Xu Kai) whose mom is desperate for him to get married. While going to a blind date his mom set up for him, he meets Qin Shi and they strike up an arrangement to live together with no strings attached except for the pretense of being married. Noting her excellent virtues, Yang Hua falls in love not long after, but Qin Shi, who had her heart broken by a former boyfriend, was hesitant about being in another relationship.

There is more to Yang Hua's unemployment than meets the eye. He is a business genius who clings to his principles. As Qin Shi gets to know him better, she starts falling for him. However, their path to togetherness is paved with challenges like their lie about their status, her ambition to be a partner at Cheng and Hui, her former boyfriend who comes to work at the firm, and Yan Hua's past. Is their love strong enough?

I liked this drama, though it felt choppy at times. There was a lot of time spent on legal and finance talk that I wished was spent on building the romance angle instead. There didn't seem enough romantic moments between the leads so it took a while for the chemistry to build up, but they did have it. You could feel the electricity when they were together. It's a pity that the drama featured two other couples. I wouldn't have minded if they were allotted less screen time and the leads more.

I really enjoyed this drama. I love the main leads. I love the maturity of their relationship. I love how some of the court cases tie into the development of their relationship and not just there to lengthen the show.

I love how the main female lead is not just a damsel in distress. She's strong, stubborn and ambitious and that falling in love didn't make her weak or give up on her goals. Also, instead of the male lead trying to bail her out or rescue her all the time, he takes a step back to allow her the freedom to grow and make her own decisions.

One of my favourite lines on the show goes something like, "Even if you take 99 steps towards her, you have to let her take that one step towards you."

I love the views/message shown in this drama about love, marriage and commitment by showing the relationships and marriages between the main leads' family circle.

I'm giving it a 9 because the secondary characters are so over the top, to the point that it's annoying. Like the ex-bf and his fiancee, and most especially the brother and his wife. Oh they're obnoxious! I do know that their purpose is to show the stark contrast between them and the main female and male lead's quiet, mature and trusting relationship. It shows them resolving conflict by talking things out and trying to resolve it, instead of yelling and screaming at each other.

It's a very good drama, though it's a bit long. I think there are some episodes that are just filler ones.

It's worth a watch!

I saw this on Viki and it was called She And Her Perfect Husband - same exact story line and actors only it was 40 episodes. I really wanted to give a 10 but lost 1 star in the last couple of episodes for me. First, I loved the male lead Kai Xu - I have seen him before in a programmer role and loved him in that one too - am from the US and don't like too many Chinese dramas but I liked both of his (which is about the only 2 that I have actually really liked) so he must have something to do with it. I loved most of the drama as I found it a no stress love story that I could watch and at the end of each episode they would play the song "Don't Worry" so I could relax and know everything was going to be alright. At the end I started to get stressed out - I never like it when children are brought into play and also I started to dislike the one female star that was trying to stir the pot all the time in the end between "She and Her Perfect Husband", and it was getting frustrating and I was starting to worry unlike the song was to suggest. All in all, one of the better Chinese Dramas, thanks to the male lead.