The Trick Of Life And Love (机智的恋爱生活) is your typical rom-com with sweetness and fluff. You can’t treat it too seriously if you want to enjoy the ride. I find it easy to watch because the episodes are relatively short at about 30 minutes each. But the way the story is told may not be able to capture everyone’s interest because it involves deceit. You can get further details in The Trick Of Life And Love review below.
My rating: 7/10
Episodes: 32
Type: Romance, Co-Habitation
Aired: May 2021
Images Credit: MGTV
The Cast Of The Trick Of Life And Love
- Ji Xiao Bing as Ning Cheng Ming
- Jin Wen Xin as Li Qian
- Peng Bi Yao as Yu Qing Qing
- Xia Ning Jun as Gu Zhe
- Felix Xu Wei Hao as Li Chen
- Yang Yi as Gu Lan
- Shi Ming Ze as Lu Fan Yi
- He Xing Yu as Qi Wei
- Leon Li Chen Hao as Li Juan
- Yao Zhuo Jun as Li Jing Fan
- Yang Tong Shu as Ren Yue
- Peng Shi Teng as Ma Hao
- Yang Le as Cao Mei
Main Characters
Ning Cheng Ming
Cheng Ming is the CEO of a company called Guan Ding. He was formerly an Economics university lecturer. Cheng Ming is a very smart man but suffers from emotional cognitive impairment. Hence, he is cold and emotionless due to his inability to have deep feelings.
Li Qian
Li Qian works in Star & Quark as secretary to the CEO, Gu Zhe. She is a clever and shrewd young lady who is the brains behind the company. Li Qian is a quick thinker and can be sarcastic when provoked. She comes from a single parent family and grew up without knowing her father. Cheng Ming was her lecturer while at university.
Yu Qing Qing
Qing Qing is the Legal Director at Star & Quark. She is also Qian Qian’s best friend from their student days. Qing Qing is good at her work and has a straightforward personality. She can be fierce and direct. She also has a crush on Li Chen since her time in university.
Gu Zhe
Gu Zhe is the CEO of Star & Quark and comes from a wealthy family. But he is a comically timid man with a lack of self-confidence. He relies on Li Qian who is his secretary to run the company with Qing Qing’s help. He also has feelings for Li Qian. Gu Zhe’s interest lies in being a live streamer and anchor. He is afraid of both his father and elder sister.
Supporting Characters
Li Chen
Li Chen is Li Qian’s elder half-brother and they share a close bond. He is into drama production and doesn’t always see eye to eye with his rich father. His mother died after giving birth to him.
Gu Lan
Gu Lan is Gu Zhe’s elder sister. She is the CEO of her family’s investment company. She has a strained relationship with her father and is pressured to marry Li Chen who is also her childhood friend. Gu Lan can be antagonizing and domineering.
Lu Fan Yi
Fan Yi is Cheng Ming’s cousin. He is an IT expert and helps Cheng Ming with online tracking and investigations into the latter’s enemies. Fan Yi has an eccentric personality and never likes venturing out of the home.
Qi Wei
Qi Wei is Cheng Ming’s personal assistant. He is not particularly bright but knows how to be cautious of his boss’ enemies. He is also a loyal subordinate.
Li Juan
Li Juan is Li Qian’s eldest half-brother. They are not that close but cares for her all the same. Li Juan is helping his father to run the family’s investment business.
Li Jing Fan
Jing Fan is Li Juan, Li Chen, and Li Qian’s father. He is a very rich man with the biggest investment company in the city. While he loves Li Qian immensely, his daughter refuses to have anything to do with him.
Ren Yue
Ren Yue is Li Qian’s late mother. She passed away when Li Qian is in university due to illness. She brought up Li Qian on her own and kept her away from her father.
Ma Hao
Ma Hao is Cheng Ming’s business partner and Deputy CEO of Guan Ding. They have known each other at university. He is a greedy man and is jealous of Cheng Ming’s talent. Ma Hao is also in love with Cao Wei who prefers Cheng Ming.
Cao Wei
Cao Wei is the Legal Director at Guan Ding and Cheng Ming’s ex-fiancee. She has loved him since university and her late father was Cheng Ming’s professor and mentor. Cao Wei has a vengeful personality.
Synopsis
Cheng Ming was Li Qian’s university lecturer. Due to his emotional cognitive impairment, he gave Li Qian a hard time while she was his student. Thus, Li Qian has a negative impression of him and thinks he is mean. When they meet again in Thailand, they were fighting for a contract for their respective companies. Cheng Ming is heading Guan Ding while Li Qian is the secretary to Star & Quark’s CEO.
Li Qian then witnesses a truck ramming into Cheng Ming’s car and sends him to the hospital. As a result of the hit-and-run accident, Cheng Ming suffers from amnesia. Li Qian takes the opportunity to gain her revenge by claiming that she is his fiancee. That way, she could keep him under control and her company would be able to win the contract. She will also be able to playfully toy with him.
However, when Li Qian realizes that someone wants Cheng Ming dead, she takes him into her home and continues the pretense. While she tries to find out what is going on in Guan Ding, Cheng Ming falls in love with her during their co-habitation. Li Qian is also touched by his sincerity and begins to develop feelings for him. But just as Li Qian plans to tell Cheng Ming the truth, he regains his memory and finds out that the love is all a lie.
The Trick Of Life And Love Ending (Spoilers Alert!)
The Trick Of Life And Love has a happy ending. It is one year later and Li Qian and Cheng Ming are having their honeymoon in Thailand. They are back at the resort where they stayed while he was down with amnesia. Li Chen and Gu Lan are having a real marriage instead of a sham one to please their parents. Gu Lan is pregnant. Gu Zhe is still single and has yet to be able to successfully woo Qing Qing. He also has become a live streamer under his sister’s management rather than running a business.
When Did Cheng Ming Regain His Memory?
Cheng Ming regains his memory in Episode 16. He falls down the stairs while being pursued as he has been under watch by different parties. He faints and re-awakens to find himself in hospital. Cheng Ming regains his memory then and is angry at Li Qian for lying to him. He makes her work for him to get his revenge when he strikes a deal with Li Qian’s father for Guan Ding to take over Star & Quark.
However, Cheng Ming still finds himself loving Li Qian as his emotional cognitive disorder resolves itself after his accident and subsequent amnesia. They reconcile in Episode 28 and consummated their relationship in Episode 29.
Why Is Cheng Ming Emotionless?
Cheng Ming’s traumatic experience when he was 5 years old caused him to suffer from emotional cognitive impairment. His parents were arguing in the car with his mother accusing his father of infidelity. His mother’s final words to him was that there is no true love in life. After that, she wanted to kill all of them as she drove crazily. His father fought for control of the steering wheel before the car crashed. His parents died as a result while he survived.
Li Qian’s Parents
Li Qian only found out about her father when she was in university. Her mother was dying then and wanted her to go back to her father. But Li Qian prefers to keep her distance as she doesn’t know how to face him. She also assumes that her father doesn’t want to marry her mother.
But the reality is her parents love each other. But Ren Yue decided to walk away because she knew it was difficult for Jing Fan to marry her. After his wife’s death, Jing Fan’s new partners were only after his money and treated Li Chen badly. As Li Chen was affected psychologically, Jing Fan knew he shouldn’t re-marry. Then, he fell for Ren Yue and got her pregnant. He tried to keep in touch but she refused.
Jing Fan adores Li Qian but understood that he has to stay away while she was growing up. Ren Yue re-contacted Jing Fan when she fell ill. They registered their marriage before she died which Li Qian only found out much later from her eldest half-brother. This paves the way for a reconciliation with her father.
What Happened To Cao Wei & Ma Hao?
Both of them are arrested and jailed. They conspired to cheat the company but Cao Wei baulked at Ma Hao’s plan to kill Cheng Ming. When Cheng Ming returns after regaining his memory, Ma Hao has to go into hiding to escape from the authorities. Cheng Ming suspects Cao Wei is also involved but has no proof. Cao Wei is dissatisfied that Cheng Ming doesn’t care about her and as the noose tightens, she begins to make mistakes that expose her crimes.
She pressures Ma Hao to kidnap Li Qian when she knows she is being investigated. In the end, their location is revealed and the police arrive to have them arrested.
The Trick Of Life And Love Review – Lies Detected!
I think the first thing that you need to accept if you want to enjoy The Trick Of Life And Love is the element of deceit on the female lead’s part. It starts off as a ploy to stop the male lead from snatching away a contract she is competing for when she claims to be his fiancee while he is suffering from amnesia. It is also sweet revenge for her to toy with him after what he had put her through when he was her lecturer. There is a bit of similarity with Please Feel At Ease Mr. Ling whereby the male lead also toys with the female lead while pretending to have lost his memory.
Basically, it might turn off viewers when more and more lies are told to keep up the pretense of being lovers. So, you will find the female lead is one big liar until she starts to feel guilty when she develops feelings for the male lead. The consolation is she did have the intention to tell him the truth. If you can accept this part of the plot, then this drama could be enjoyable for you. If you don’t, then it will feel annoying to watch all the lies spewed.
Can’t Run Away From The Tropes
Being a rom-com, it has a cliche plot of amnesia and a jealous ex. The amnesia period takes up half the drama which I think could have been shortened. This would have also reduced viewers annoyance of the female lead’s continuous lies and pretense. But they dragged it which I supposed is to allow more time for the relationship to develop so that you will feel more invested in the couple’s romance.
Personally, I don’t find it boring though because the episodes are short and there is some level of anticipation as to when the male lead will regain his memory. Although the plot is pretty average, the overall tone of the drama is light and it is a relatively stress-free watch like Moonlight and Love Scenery. The business aspect of the drama is kept simple and the jealousy angle is not overdone to the point of being antsy for the viewers.
Smart Female Characters
One thing that I like about this rom-com is that the female characters are all smart and successful ladies while the second male lead is the timid one who always needs help. So, there is no whiny and pitiful woman here who is looking to be saved by her hero. They all have a backbone and are not easily cowed. Hence, the power dynamics of the different couples also feel more equal rather than the males being overly dominant like In Dating In The Kitchen and Hello Mr. Gu.
Chemistry Drives The Drama
The chemistry between Ji Xiao Bing and Jin Wen Xin really get this rom-com going all the way to the end. They are sweet as a couple and their interactions are very natural as lovers from the conversations to the skinship. It is definitely a better pairing than Ji Xiao Bing’s cooperation with Zhang Ya Qin in Be With You. In The Trick Of Life And Love, both the leads are more in sync with each other’s acting and the result is a very convincing pair of lovers.
I first got to know Ji Xiao Bing from his role in Here To Heart. He is not the main lead there but his character stood out to me and the melodrama has its own fan base. He played the role of a cold man perfectly in The Trick Of Life And Love and the switch to a warmer person also appears smooth and effortless.
Jin Wen Xin is much younger and the age gap is consistent with the characters in the plot. But she is able to match up with the older Ji Xiao Bing in their scenes together and it successfully gives the rom-com the required romantic vibes. The actress also has a supporting role in Well Dominated Love.
My Verdict – Treat It As Any Other Rom-Com
The Trick Of Life And Love is not a drama that you should treat seriously. If you start questioning the deception of the female lead, the whole story will fall apart and there will be nothing pleasurable about it. So, I think that the beginning of the story is the key to your acceptance level for this particular romance. Watch a few episodes and you should know if it is worth to continue on because the romance is built upon the pretense.
For me, I’m okay with it because I see it as a lighthearted rom-com with all the sweetness and fluff. The comedic scenes are there with a few pretty obvious ones that are purposely over-exaggerated. The way a few of the characters are depicted are also clearly giving off a light mood. This helps to lessen my critical eye and I could just enjoy it for what it is rather than start over-analyzing the female lead’s behavior. It is not the same as more “proper” romance like You Are My Hero or Miss Crow With Mr. Lizard. This rom-com is clearly one of those fairy tale romances that you watch when you want something stress-free.
Having said that, I would still give only a 7/10 score for this The Trick Of Life And Love review. While it is fairly enjoyable for me and I could sit through it all the way to the end, the plot isn’t an original one. Co-habitation and amnesia are recycled themes. But the chemistry earned it some points and I have no issue with the female character. The dialogues between the characters are fun at times too. Just treat this as a cute filler drama rather than something serious and it should be a more enjoyable watch.
Leave a Reply