This drama is pure liquid sunshine - like hot chocolate on a cold winter's day, or candy-sweet soda that fizzes on your tongue. On paper, this sounds like your typical high school romance drama with a genius male lead, a not-so-genius female lead, and a bunch of overused rom-com cliches - and admittedly, it is all that. But it does it well. The story is earnest and heartfelt, the characters are all refreshingly realistic and charming (including the secondary characters!), and the romance is one of the healthiest, sweetest, most supportive relationships I have ever seen.

Watching the two leads gave me giddy butterflies from the very beginning - the two actors have amazing, off-the charts chemistry and really delivered on their character portrayals. At every step of their relationship, they were on the same page - from reluctant family friends who got off on the wrong foot, to supportive best friends, to that lovely gradual, building awareness of their own feelings for each other. Misunderstandings never dragged, conflict was always resolved quickly, and there was very little filler in the story. Zhou Siyue as the male lead feels like a typical high school teen rather than your usual cold, unapproachable genius ML, and he treats the female lead with a heart-palpitating mixture of sweetness, tenderness, and indulgent patience. There was never an instance where he didn't believe in her - his steadfast respect and faith in her abilities is one of the most charming aspects of this relationship. This is a boy who would bring his girl the moon without a second thought if she asked him to, and it is absolutely adorable watching him fall for her.

Ding Xian as the female lead is also extremely endearing as well. I was actually shocked when I found out that Xu Mengjie was from Produce 101, because I had no recollection of her from the show, but as an actress, she has to be one of the most adorable, memorable, charming ones I've seen in a while. Again, this is a flip on the tired 'dumb girl' trope - admittedly Ding Xian isn't naturally gifted in academics, but the story makes a point to show that it is her hard work and tenacity that allows her to achieve whatever she puts her mind to, and that that is the very trait that our ML immediately sees and respects in her as well.

If there were one flaw I had to point out, it'd be around episodes 21-23 when some of the conflict begins to feel contrived and a little out of place with the rest of the drama - it felt like they'd run out of material and threw in a bit of external conflict to keep the story going. That was fine though, because it didn't drag out that much, and the final episode 24 brings the story back and ends on a really strong note. This is probably one of my all-time favourite high school dramas now - I can't recommend this enough, despite its underwhelming synopsis, so please go watch it!