This post has been sitting in my draft folder for months. Lol. I thought I posted it a while back ~ Old age. But yes, another novel-to-drama adaptation. The novel, Every Step Is Wrong, is written by Lan Bai Se, the same author behind Loving Never Forgetting with Jerry Yan and Tong Li Ya. For the drama version, the direct translation is Have To Love, which is coincidentally a song title sang by Wilber Pan, the chosen male lead, but the name Be With You has been printed on various promo materials so I’m sticking with that. I haven’t heard of Wilber since the head injury he sustained for his concert in 2012. His last drama is Endless Love but I’ll always remember him in Miss No Good with Rainie Yang (her screeching voice in the drama…-shivers-). The female lead, Xu Lu, is a face we are familiar with by now; Kimi Qiao’s virtual girlfriend on We Are In Love as well as her recent projects in Singles Villa and The Wife’s Lies.

The premise of this drama sounds painful and angsty – the physical and mental torture the leads give each other over the years! The resentment and taunting originates from their families. My friend read me the first 3 chapters and…it doesn’t seem like my type of story. Lol.

Our female lead, Lin Wei Ling (Xu Lu), had a crushing childhood: she lost her mother very young and lives with her father in a big, empty house, with servants. She usually dresses like a boy just to play with the other boys in her neighborhood. But after they learn of her gender – they no longer allow her into their group. Even though she’s treated like a pearl in her father’s hand, he works days and nights. Then one day, after waiting endlessly for him to show up at the parents’ meeting, she fumes and heads to his company. Just seconds before entering the revolving door, a thud pulls her attention back. Lying bloody on the hood of her family’s car is a man all too familiar. Blood pools and encircles around him, his eyes never leaving her face, as if staring straight into her innocent soul.

The tragedy takes away her father and her ability to talk. She’s left to be taken care by her father’s “friend”. He lives with his wife, a woman with a beautiful smile, and their young son, Hu Qian Yu (Wilber Pan). He torments her, not knowing that she’s actually a girl (WHAT??!!). On the day of her birthday, he hears her crying and singing the happy birthday song. Angry that she lied, he orders his minion to stomp on the poor girl’s cake; the cake that she had to break her piggy bank to buy (kids can be so cruel).

The day he finds out that she’s a girl – such a horrible scene – is when he and his friends beat her up at the tennis court and strips her down to…nothing. That is when she cries, her body shrinking numbly to hide the horror and the embarrassment. He feels bad but he’s more afraid of being found out by his parents so he threatens her not to tell his mother.

When we meet her again, she has spent seven years in America and is on her flight back to China. We get to see her inner workings as an adult. One of her professors once said, the strongest person is the one with beauty, intelligence, and ambition. Wei Ling does not believe that – the strongest person is the one with beauty, intelligence, and lacks a heart.

I haven’t liked a female lead’s description in so long. SO ANGSTY! And challenging! Which makes me worry for Xu Lu because she’s very young and raw in acting, unsure if she can pull off the emotional turmoil of the character. Fingers crossed!

Rachael Mao (Love is Back) and Denny Huang (Love Weaves Through A Millennium) are siblings with different mothers and she is our heroine’s unlikely friend, meaning she’s the total opposite – bright and sunny, sometimes like a kid, easy to persuade and pacify. Their father is a CEO of a company and the girl is not his daughter on legal papers. While her brother has no desire to take over the dimming company and instead pursues a career in law. It was in Yale University that the three of them crossed roads and became friends. Needless to say, the brother has a long-running crush on our heroine.

Rachel looks good with the short cut. =)

Stills:

Booting ceremony. Denny Huang is the tallest guy. =P

Zhang Xuan Rui and Zhang Jun Ning.

Smiles!

From scenes…

Our Ceo cooking!

Girl just wants a drink.

NG? Lol.

Oh… She doesn’t look happy! Personally, I hate the chin-grap move the most in dramas. Don’t touch me with your dirty hands!!

Posters.

The four men involved with our female lead: Zhang Jun Ning, Wilber Pan, Denny Huang, and Zhang Xuan Rui.

Press Conference a few days ago.

Sweet smile with his mom played by Tanny Tien Niu.

Xu Lu with the robot.

Our OTP looks really cute! Wilber has such a sweet smile. ^_^

Synchronized movement!

Wilber shyly accepting the rose. 🙂

Sharing a hug because they abuse and torture each other a lot in the drama. Lol.

Directed and co-written by Catherine Tsang (Off Pedder, Best Selling Secrets) with two other writers, melo drama Be With You has 40 episodes.

Source: 01