I actually watched Lie To Love (良言写意) because of Leo Luo. It is a bit hard not to notice his dramas after the success of Ashes Of Love. Not all of them are gems but most are watchable that I tend to just dive in whenever I see his name on the cast list. So, I didn’t read the synopsis for this one when I started but my guess was this should have a darker tone than the typical romance dramas based on the title alone. Is my guess correct? Well, feel free to read my Lie To Love review below to find out!
My rating: 7.5/10
Episodes: 32
Type: Suspense Romance
Aired: November 2021
Images Credit: WeTV
The Cast Of Lie To Love
- Leo Luo Yun Xi as Li Ze Liang
- Cheng Xiao as Su Xie Yi
- Ji Xiao Bing as Xie Ming Hao
- Tian Yi Tong as Shi Chu Chu
- Gao Han as Oscar / Hou Xiao Dong
- Isabella Li Jia Jie as Gong Ming Yue
- Guan Zi Jing as Ji Ying Song
- Tang Jing Mei as Shen Xie Qing
- Zhao Zheng as Huo Jian
- Wang Zi Yun as Yi Fei
- Vincent Yang Chen as Chen Heng Sheng
Main Characters
Li Ze Liang
Ze Liang is the Deputy General Manager of the public listed Ocean Hotel Group which was started by his late father. He appears as a frail man with health issues after he lost part of his leg 2 years earlier. He has just resumed his position at the hotel after a long recovery period. Ze Liang is an avid rock climber before his accident. He is a smart and observant man who thinks ahead.
Su Xie Yi
Xie Yi is a young woman who has just returned from medical treatment in Germany. She also used to live there when she was younger. Xie Yi was suffering from dissociative amnesia after her father, Shen Zhi Hong, committed suicide in front of her 2 years ago. Her father was the owner of Zhiwei Corporation. Xie Yi is a quick thinker and risk taker.
Xie Ming Hao
Ming Hao is a corporate lawyer and Ocean Hotel Group is one of his clients. Xie Yi regards him as family as he is her sister’s fiancee. Ming Hao was an orphan who was subsequently fostered by Xie Yi’s father out of pity. Hence, he is close to the family. Ming Hao seems like a caring man who is always concerned about his fiancee as well as Xie Yi.
Supporting Characters
Shi Chu Chu
Chu Chu is the General Manager of Ocean Hotel Group. Her father is the owner of Hengye Bank which is one of the major shareholders of the hotel. Chu Chu is a capable executive and Ze Liang’s staunchest ally in the company. They grew up together and she has been in love with him for a long time.
Oscar / Hou Xiao Dong
Oscar is a pub owner and band performer. Unknown to many, his father runs a large capital fund firm which he has no interest to join. Oscar is a carefree guy but smart and knowledgeable. He has feelings for Chu Chu but knows that she only has eyes for Ze Liang. Oscar and Ze Liang are best friends from young together with Chu Chu.
Gong Ming Yue
Ming Yue is Xie Yi’s colleague at Ocean Hotel Group who willingly shares office information and gossips with her.
Ji Ying Song
Ying Song is Ze Liang’s loyal personal assistant and driver. He knows all of Ze Liang’s secrets and has his complete trust.
Shen Xie Qing
Xie Qing is Xie Yi’s elder sister. She suffers from mental issues and lives in a sanatorium. Xie Qing is detached with signs of memory loss and being unaware of what is happening around her. She can also be mentally unstable when triggered.
Huo Jian
Huo Jian is the Chairman of Ocean Hotel Group and Ze Liang’s uncle. He is wary of Ze Liang’s intention and has sinister motives.
Yi Fei
Yi Fei is Huo Jian’s personal assistant as well as lover. She would willingly follow his instructions due to her feelings for him.
Chen Heng Sheng
Heng Sheng is the General Manager of Yunfeng Hotel which is a subsidiary of Ocean Hotel Group. He is one of Huo Jian’s henchmen who does his bidding.
Synopsis
Ze Liang is the heir of the Ocean Hotel Group. He met Xie Yi while rock climbing and instantly fell in love with her. They spent a memorable night camping together. Xie Yi had just returned from abroad and she was the daughter of the owner of Zhiwei Corporation which had business dealings with Ocean Hotel Group.
After that one night, their lives took a tragic turn. Xie Yi’s father committed suicide by jumping off a building. He fell right in front of her which caused her to suffer from temporary amnesia. Ze Liang’s father also passed away and Ze Liang lost control of the Ocean Hotel Group to his uncle, Huo Jian. Xie Yi and Ze Liang didn’t meet again thereafter.
2 years later, Xie Yi reappears and joins Ocean Hotel Group with the aim to investigate her father’s death. She pretends that she still has amnesia and cannot remember who Ze Liang is. She suspects he could be involved in bankrupting Zhiwei Corporation and hence, causing her father to commit suicide. As for Ze Liang, he has just returned to Ocean Hotel Group as the Deputy General Manager after being sickly for almost 2 years. He has also lost part of his leg and wearing a prosthetic limb.
Ze Liang is curious about Xie Yi’s intention and starts to investigate her background. At the same time, he is also quietly going against Huo Jian who is a ruthless opponent. The 3 of them become entangled in a cat-and-mouse game until Xie Yi finds out that her real enemy is Huo Jian. She then agrees to cooperate with Ze Liang to bring down Huo Jian. They pretend to be a couple but the feelings start to become real as time passes by.
Lie To Love Ending (Spoilers Alert!)
Lie To Love has a happy ending. Xie Qing exposed Ming Hao’s crimes during a press conference. By then, Ming Hao and Dai Zi Ang’s acquisition of Ocean Hotel Group had backfired. Dai Zi Ang had pledged his Zhengde Group’s shares for a loan to acquire Ocean Hotel. When Ze Liang released information about Dai Zi Ang’s role in an arson, Zhengde Group share price plummeted. Hence, he had to offload the Ocean Hotel shares he had just acquired to get funds to support his company’s share price. Therefore, Ze Liang could regain control of Ocean Hotel Group.
When Ming Hao’s crimes were exposed, he took Xie Yi hostage and dragged her to the rooftop. While negotiating with Ze Liang, Xie Yi took advantage of the situation and escaped from Ming Hao’s clutches. Ming Hao wanted to commit suicide by dropping himself from the rooftop but he landed on the rescuers’ inflatable cushion and was arrested. Dai Zi Ang was also taken into police custody.
One month later, Ming Hao’s crimes would see him being sentenced to a minimum of 10 years jail. Xie Qing had turned herself in and Xie Yi visited her in prison. They remained as close siblings. Then, Ze Liang proposed to Xie Yi and she accepted. They are then shown registering their marriage to close off the drama on a happy note.
In Which Episode The Couple Started Dating?
Ze Liang and Xie Yi started a fake relationship in Episode 6. She was nearly identified and caught while eavesdropping on Lin Tai and Huo Jian’s conversation during a cocktail event. Ze Liang kissed her publicly and announced that Xie Yi is his girlfriend as a ruse to deflect the attention. He made a confession of sorts in Episode 10 when he told her that he couldn’t forget her after their meeting 2 years earlier.
Ze Liang and Xie Yi became a couple in Episode 17 after she clearly expressed her love for him when he mistakenly thought her concern for him was due to sympathy and guilt over the loss of his leg. He planned a surprise confession party for Xie Yi in Episode 20 but it was accidentally spoiled by Oscar. Xie Yi solemnly confessed her love for Ze Liang instead. They consummated their relationship and she moved in with him then.
Is There A Breakup?
Ze Liang and Xie Yi had a misunderstanding and she moved out from his home in Episode 26. This is because Ze Liang lied to her and hid the fact that he had met her sister. He did so on her sister’s request and he was also afraid that the truth about her sister’s doing could be too much for Xie Yi to bear given her history of amnesia.
Xie Yi broke up with Ze Liang in Episode 28. She was blackmailed by Ming Hao to do so. Her sister was in Ming Hao’s hands and she abided to keep her sister safe. She reunited with Ze Liang in Episode 30 after her sister was rescued.
What Happened To Huo Jian?
Huo Jian was swindling money from the company all along. When Ze Liang’s father found out about it, he wanted to kick Huo Jian out of the company. Ze Liang’s father was ill then. Huo Jian killed him by depriving him of oxygen while they were alone in the hospital room. He then sealed a share transfer agreement with Ze Liang’s father’s finger print and a forged signature to gain control of Ocean Hotel Group.
However, a window cleaner, Liu Ah Wei, saw the incident while cleaning the external windows and recorded the incident. Liu Ah Wei quit his job and disappeared shortly after. By the time Ze Liang and Xie Yi found out his whereabouts in Episode 17, Liu Ah Wei has already passed away. But his daughter kept the recording and passed it to Ze Liang and Xie Yi after a scare that it might have been destroyed by Huo Jian’s henchman. Hence, Huo Jian was arrested in Episode 19.
Why Did Xie Yi’s Father Commit Suicide?
Xie Yi’s father, Shen Zhi Hong, was facing bankruptcy. His company, Zhiwei Corporation, supplied food to Ocean Hotel Group. But somehow, the contract signed stipulated that failure to fulfill orders would result in a very hefty compensation. When Zhiwei Corporation couldn’t supply to the hotel on time, Huo Jian refused to entertain Shen Zhi Hong’s plea for leniency although it wouldn’t have caused the hotel any loss. As a result, Zhiwei Corporation would go bankrupt and Shen Zhi Hong jumped off the building right after Huo Jian rejected his plea. This is revealed in Episode 21.
How Did Ze Liang Become Crippled?
Ze Liang saw Shen Zhi Hong wanted to jump off the building and rushed over to try to catch him. When he did so, some rusty metal struck through his leg. Ze Liang failed to hold on to Shen Zhi Hong when the latter let go of his hand to fall down to the ground. Ze Liang then fainted in the rainy night with massive loss of blood. As the rust had gotten into the wound, part of his leg had to be amputated to save his life. Xie Yi found out about this in Episode 14.
Ming Hao’s Motive
Ming Hao’s motive all along was to make Xie Yi his. His true face was revealed in Episode 21 when he learned that Xie Yi had moved in with Ze Liang. Xie Yi used to live abroad with her mother. When she returned for holidays, Ming Hao met her again and immediately fell in love with her. But her father disallowed Ming Hao from pursuing Xie Yi because she was still studying at that time and Xie Qing also had deep feelings for him. Thus, Shen Zhi Hong didn’t want her daughters to be fighting because of a man.
Ming Hao hated Shen Zhi Hao for his disapproval. He felt that he would always be looked down upon because he was an orphan. So, he took advantage of Xie Qing’s feelings for him and instigated her to hollow out Zhiwei Corporation. This is because Xie Qing was also an orphan who was adopted by Shen Zhi Hong and his wife. Ming Hao played on Xie Qing’s insecurities and made her feel that her father would always be biased towards Xie Yi and that she would never inherit Zhiwei Corporation.
Since Xie Qing was in charged of the company’s finance and stock, she could divert money from the company by paying for non-existent stock purchases. Hence, when there was nothing in the warehouse to supply to Ocean Hotel Group, Zhiwei Corporation was forced into bankruptcy with a hefty compensation clause as the person in charged of the contract was Ming Hao.
Why Did Xie Qing Become Mentally Unstable?
Xie Qing felt extremely guilty when her father committed suicide to protect her. When her father found out about the embezzlement, she wanted to come clean but Ming Hao stopped her by faking her medical report to show that she is pregnant with their baby. Xie Qing also didn’t know that her actions would cause the company to go bankrupt because of the hefty compensation. In the end, her father was willing to forgive her and took the blame with his suicide.
When Xie Qing found out that Ming Hao was responsible for threatening Huo Jian to force her father to pay compensation, she confronted him. That was when she realized Ming Hao had never loved her but Xie Yi and that her pregnancy report was fake. The only reason Ming Hao kept pretending by being nice to her was because she held the account number and password for the money that they had embezzled. Hence, Xie Qing went into a frenzy and became mentally unstable. She revealed the whole story to Xie Yi in Episode 31 to seek her forgiveness.
Who Was The K Of Spades?
Ming Hao used the pseudonym K of Spades to threaten Huo Jian to bankrupt Zhiwei Corporation because he had a copy of Liu Ah Wei’s recording of Huo Jian killing Ze Liang’s father. Ming Hao was Liu Ah Wei’s daughter’s free legal aid lawyer at one point which was why Liu Ah Wei trusted Ming Hao with the recording. The window cleaner was a simple uneducated man who simply wanted money to pay for his daughter’s surgery and he didn’t want to mess with the rich by reporting to the police himself. That was how Ming Hao managed to convince Liu Ah Wei to hand over the evidence to him which set in motion the plan to bankrupt Zhiwei Corporation.
Did Chu Chu Confess To Ze Liang?
Yes, she did in Episode 16. But Ze Liang rejected her and they remained as good friends and colleague. But she couldn’t completely let go of him and got influenced by Ming Hao to fight for Ze Liang. She found out from Ming Hao that Xie Yi was Shen Zhi Hong’s daughter and was out for revenge in Episode 21.
Chu Chu didn’t trust Xie Yi from then on and got into arguments with Ze Liang because he kept defending Xie Yi. When Chu Chu found out that Ming Hao had been manipulating her in Episode 29, she realized that Ze Liang and Xie Yi understood each other in a way that she couldn’t and they are a perfect fit for each other. Hence, she was able to finally let go of him.
Lie To Love Review – A Gripping Start
Lie To Love starts off strongly with a heavy dose of suspense. You are not told why the male protagonist is frail and crippled. You also do not know what exactly he is up to except for the general idea that he is against his uncle. The female lead also has a mysterious air about her which the male lead finds intriguing as he tries to unravel her background and motive.
Therefore, the story is pretty riveting and the tussle between the male lead and his uncle is like a chess game with moves and counter-moves to bring down each other. That is until the story takes a different turn in the last 10 episodes or so which kind of mar the strong start to me.
A Great Plot That Is Almost Well-Executed (Spoilers Alert!)
In essence, Lie To Love is about seeking justice. Both the leads are investigating the deaths of their own father and want to bring the culprits to book. The evildoer is identified early in the drama and a lot of screen time is used to show viewers how both camps try to outwit each other. If you like plots with strategies like Fall In Love and Stand By Me, this would be something that might interest you.
However, once the first evildoer is caught in Episode 19, that gripping feeling dissipates and is replaced with some level of annoyance and impatience. In short, there are 2 villains in the drama. The ultimate villain is not revealed until the first one is taken out. It is not a whodunnit kind of drama but more on how these villains are eventually caught for their crimes.
So, the first arc of taking down the first villain is well-executed. It is all about greed for him and hence, all his moves are very rational. As such, it is exciting to watch all the plotting with some tense moments. But the second arc has a darker undertone as the villain is delusional and obsessed over the female lead. He is shown to be so manipulative that he could mislead 3 women to trust what he says. That is where the annoyance comes in because these women including the female lead are then reduced to being too naive and trusting.
A Creepy Villain
The ultimate villain has plenty of screen time in the drama and he is shown to be controlling, manipulative as well as creepy. What this means is you would be feeling impatient to have him arrested and disappear for good. It is the kind of drama whereby the villain is loathsome to watch. I guess the actor really nailed his role as a psychopath to make us hate him as required. Therefore, just be aware that Lie To Love isn’t exactly a breezy watch as the strong villain that will increasingly get on your nerves as the drama progresses.
Average Chemistry
The acting is on par to me for this drama. Leo Luo’s skinny appearance alone makes his character more realistic and convincing as someone who has just recovered from a serious injury. He displays intelligence and resilience through his eyes and pensive expressions. I think Leo Luo has always been great at melancholic roles including the one in Princess Silver.
Cheng Xiao definitely has less acting experience than her co-star but she still did reasonably well to me in Lie To Love. At least, I think she did better here than in Falling Into Your Smile whereby her acting seemed rather bland. She has more varied expressions here but the stiffness is still there at times. Hence, there will be emotional scenes whereby the acting looks rather forced.
This pairing doesn’t have full-blown chemistry to me. Perhaps Leo Luo’s partnership with Bai Lu in Love Is Sweet is too mesmerizing that it is hard for another actress to match up to that standard with him. His chemistry with Cheng Xiao is passable and I think the nature of the story makes this factor less of an issue. If Lie To Love had been a pure romance drama, then perhaps the lack of a sizzling chemistry will be more obvious.
My Verdict – Worth The Time
Overall, Lie To Love is a drama that deserves a watch. The suspenseful nature of the story will keep you going. You would want to know why certain things happened and how they happened. The thrill is there when the protagonists and antagonists are trying to outwit each other. Although the last third of the story degenerates into a psychopath’s obsession, it is not something that would render it unwatchable. It still has a logical flow to the story and a sensible reason why it happened. There are still exciting and tense moments to engage viewers. It is only that the villain is a hateful character to watch.
Also, just be aware that Lie To Love isn’t a fluffy romance drama like Love At Night or Once We Get Married. The romance shares the limelight with the fights between the leads and the villains. There are sweets moments and kisses in the drama but nothing too steamy like in You Are My Glory. You will also find the typical romance drama tropes of fake amnesia, fake relationship, and hiding-the-truth-to-protect-her excuse. But on the positive side, they don’t dominate the story and the romance as these issues are settled pretty quickly.
Before I end, I would give this Lie To Love review, a score of 7.5/10. I would say watch it because it is intriguing with enough excitement. I also don’t think you will be tempted to drop this halfway through because it does evoke a certain level of suspense and curiosity. But once you are done, the rewatch value would not be high either because the suspense is gone and this is not a typical Chinese romance drama that relies on sweetness and fluff to drive it.
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