My Little Happiness Review

My Little Happiness (我的小确幸) is one of many love stories that are being churned out to satisfy a huge market for Chinese romance dramas. Most of them are nothing great and you don’t really miss much if you skip them. The themes are repetitive and cliches are standard fare. Once you have watched a few of these dramas, it is easy to get bored unless they have something special to offer viewers. My Little Happiness review below will try to dissect if this particular drama has that extra factor to make it better than the usual.

My rating: 7/10
Episodes: 28
Type: Romance
Aired: January 2021
Images Credit: Tencent

The Cast Of My Little Happiness

• Fair Xing Fei as Cong Rong
• Daddi Tang Xiao Tian as Dr. Wen Shao Qing
• Huang Yi Lin as Zhou Cheng Cheng
• Leon Li Chuan as Wen Rang
• Fu Wei Lun as Zhong Zhen
• Liu Chang as Shang Guan Yi
• Cui Yi as Cong Rong’s mother
• Deng Yu Li as Qin Chu
• Wang Mo Han as Xiong Jing Jing
• Sookie Pan Shi Qi as Jiang Yao

Main Characters

Cong Rong

Cong Rong is an optimistic and cheerful fresh graduate. Her ambition is to become a lawyer despite her mother’s objections. Cong Rong’e best friend is Zhou Cheng Cheng while her cousin is Zhong Zhen.

Dr. Wen Shao Qing

Shao Qing is a dedicated neurosurgeon in the local hospital. He is good-looking and has lots of female admirers. However, he has little interest in romance and appears aloof. Shao Qing is also a good cook and has a pet dog. Wen Rang is his uncle although they are only a few years apart in terms of age.

Zhou Cheng Cheng

Cheng Cheng is a rich girl who wants to learn to be independent by starting a restaurant. She can be a little naive and impulsive. Her best friend is Cong Rong.

Wen Rang

Wen Rang is a poetry writer and bookstore owner. He is a cold and reserved man who is still unable to move on from his past relationship. He can’t get along with his father who thinks he lacks direction in life. Wen Rang is only a few years older than Shao Qing who is his nephew.

Supporting Characters

Zhong Zhen

Zhong Zhen is a trainee doctor at the local hospital. He reports to Shao Qing and is also Cong Rong’s younger cousin brother. Zhong Zhen has a lot of respect for them but also fears them. He can be a little blur at times which makes him comical.

Shang Guan Yi

Shang Guan Yi is a capable lawyer and workaholic. He is a calm and rational man. He is also Cong Rong’s immediate superior and mentor at the law firm and has feelings for her.

Cong Rong’s mother

Cong Rong’s mother is a talkative and supportive parent who only wants happiness for her only daughter. Her previous husband was a lawyer who died when Cong Rong was still a little girl.

Qin Chu

Qin Chu is Shao Qing’s colleague and fellow doctor at the local hospital. They have known each other since their student days and she has been secretly in love with Shao Qing for a long time.

Xiong Jing Jing

Jing Jing is a fellow intern together with Cong Rong at the law firm. She is always jealous of Cong Rong and sees her as a rival for a spot in the firm as well as for Shang Guan Yi’s attention.

Jiang Yao

Jiang Yao is a successful businesswoman with her own art gallery. She is also Wen Rang’s ex-girlfriend but left him to pursue her dreams a decade ago.

Synopsis

Cong Rong has just quietly returned from overseas after completing her studies. She has been accepted as an intern at a law firm but has to hide it from her mother because the latter is against her dream of becoming a lawyer. Cong Rong is then sent to the local hospital during her internship to handle legal dispute cases arising between the hospital staff and patients. One of the cases involve Dr. Wen Shao Qing and the two of them didn’t really get along with they first met.

Shao Qing is a handsome and capable neurosurgeon who is still longing for the girl he met while he was still a chubby primary schoolboy. She saved him from bullies and they became good friends. He was her senior in school but had never told her his name and class. Not long after, they separated when she moved and didn’t return to the school after the holidays. When Shao Qing finds out the Cong Rong is the girl from his childhood, he immediately falls in love with her.

Shao Qing tries to court Cong Rong who doesn’t have a clue that he is related to her past. At the same time, Cong Rong’s best friend, Zhou Cheng Cheng, opens a restaurant next to Wen Rang’s bookshop. Wen Rang happens to be Shao Qing’s uncle. Cheng Cheng eventually falls in love with Wen Rang and tries to woo him. However, Wen Rang has a painful love experience in the past and is unwilling to move on. Will these 2 pairs be able to work through their problems and get their happy ending?

My Little Happiness Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

My Little Happiness has a happy ending with Cong Rong and Shao Qing getting married in the last episode. They have a wedding reception with lots of joyful moments and a touching scene when Cong Rong declares that she supports Shao Qing’s profession as a doctor even though it could mean he may need to leave her whenever duty calls. A few years later, she is pregnant and ends up having a set of fraternal twins.

Cheng Cheng and Wen Rang end up together. He realizes that he is merely being obsessed about the past when his ex-girlfriend turns up to ask for a reconciliation. Wen Rang puts the past behind him and falls in love with Cheng Cheng instead. They travel together for 2 years before he proposes and she agrees to marry him.

Zhong Zhen is now a popular doctor among the girls. Shang Guan Yi moves past Cong Rong and finally pays more attention to Jing Jing. In the last scene before the credit rolls, a little boy and girl are seen running around and playing happily outdoors with a white puppy.

When Did Cong Rong And Shao Qing Get Together?

Shao Qing finally tells Cong Rong that he is the boy from her childhood in Episode 10. But they officially become a couple only in Episode 13 when she passes her internship to begin her law career. It is a sort of a bet that they agreed upon although win or lose, Shao Qing already makes it obvious that he wants them to be a couple.

Is There Any Love Triangle In My Little Happiness?

Although the main couple has others who love them, they don’t really cause any real conflict. Qin Chu has a secret crush on Shao Qing for a long time but he makes it very clear to her that they could only be colleagues and friends when she tries to let him know her feelings. Although Cong Rong tries to stay away from Shao Qing when Qin Chu pleads with her, the misunderstanding doesn’t last long when she finds out that he is the boy from her childhood.

On Cong Rong’s side, Shang Guan Yi doesn’t really stand a chance with her as he can see how much she loves Shao Qing. His gift to her is also returned which basically signals her rejection. So, Shang Guan Yi never did confess to her and keeps his feelings hidden all along. Hence, there is no real love triangle in Cong Rong and Shao Qing’s relationship.

As for the second couple, there is a misunderstanding when Wen Rang’s ex-girlfriend returns to look for him. Although Wen Rang and Cheng Cheng are not yet a couple then, he does care about her. But Cheng Cheng thinks that they have got back together and decides not to see him anymore. When Wen Rang has sorted out his own feelings, he decides Cheng Cheng is the one that he loves and woos her in return. Thus, if there is a love triangle in Cheng Cheng and Wen Rang’s relationship, it is not the toxic kind with schemings and evil plots. It gets settled decisively and maturely by Wen Rang.

My Little Happiness Review – Just Fluff!

I think many viewers have given My Little Happiness a very high rating at the time of this review. I can see why although it is a bit overhyped to me. Sometimes, I do hold a different view compared to the majority for highly rated dramas such as Go Go Squid! It really depends on what you want to see in a romance story and what type of couple resonates with you. For My Little Happiness, it is all sweetness and fluff and nothing much else!

A Filler-Type Of Drama With Thin Plot

I thought General’s Lady has a thin plot but My Little Happiness now takes the cake for me. Basically, this is a love story of 2 people with nothing much going on throughout the whole drama. So, most of the 28 episodes are filled with their day-to-day life of wooing, dating, and work. They are like fillers with little anxiety and excitement as you watch. But there are plenty of lovey-dovey moments and kisses especially after they become a couple.

In fact, the second couple has a more interesting story to tell compared to Cong Rong and Shao Qing’s relationship. It is fortunate that Cheng Cheng and Wen Rang are an adorable pair to watch as they do have quite a lot of screen time between them. So, they help to take away some of the boredom I felt once the main couple got together.

Therefore, if you want something more than just romance for the plot like what you would get in You Complete Me or more than just fluff like in Begin Again, then My Little Happiness will definitely fall short.

Chemistry

I guess this is what people are raving about – the great chemistry between Fair Xing and Daddi Tang. I do think their chemistry saves the drama since the plot is nothing to shout about. Personally, it does look better than the chemistry the actress had with Alan Yu in the historical drama, The Moon Brightens For You. Maybe the height difference just simply makes the couple cuter in My Little Happiness and there are a lot more loving moments between them. Furthermore, the leads have worked together before in Put Your Head On My Shoulder and their familiarity with each other should help to generate the required chemistry on-screen.

In short, the leads look convincing and comfortable as lovers. They don’t hold back when it comes to the kisses and displays of affection for each other. Although Daddi Tang’s acting looks a bit stiffer compared to Fair Xing’s performance, it doesn’t really mar the great chemistry that they have going between them.

The Cliches

If you have watched enough of Chinese romance dramas, you should be able to recognize some of the set-ups in a blink of an eye. The childhood friends storyline is definitely an overused one. Falling sick, tying an apron, and catching a fall are all typical scenes in such dramas and it is no surprise you will find the same in My Little Happiness. I also find the slow-motion stares to be overdone. I know the 2 lovers are enamored with each other but the number of times the stares happened is just simply overused.

While I don’t really mind the cliches, the childhood friends angle in this case could be stretching things a little. When Shao Qing first met Cong Rong at work, he doesn’t know who she is. They did not properly introduce themselves and he finds her annoying as he needs to cooperate with her to settle a dispute with a patient. He didn’t particularly like her then. However, when he finds out her name, his attitude takes a complete turn and he is suddenly in love with her. While this may not be a dealbreaker, just be forewarned about this irrationality at the beginning of this romance.

My Verdict – For Those Into Sweet Romance

If you like your romance dramas to be light and sweet, then watch My Little Happiness. It is also good for the times that you need to de-stress and just want something without angst and anxiety. But if you prefer more ups and downs in your romance dramas like You Are My Destiny, then this one would be too plain-sailing and hence, could end up being a boring one to watch. Even Love Is Sweet and Forever Love which are equally fluffy have more to their story.

What the drama has going for it though is the maturity of the couple in loving and supporting each other when the situation calls for it. They are not overly dramatic and are not prone to tantrums. There are no continuous misunderstandings, toxic third parties, and parental disapprovals which are common in romance genres. Hence, you don’t get the usual annoyances although the trade-off is you will end up with a less exciting drama.

For this My Little Happiness review, I would give it a score of 7/10. Personally, I don’t think it is something that deserves an exceptionally high rating just because it has enough of sweetness and fluff. I really like to see more refreshing stories which explore different kinds of relationships such as the one in Dating In The Kitchen. At least, it tries to give viewers a different feel with an unconventional couple.

Nonetheless, I would still recommend a watch for My Little Happiness if you are a pure romance drama fan. You should know what to expect as it is a typical feel-good love story that is designed to make you revel in its sweetness and look forward to the kisses. Just don’t expect anything more beyond that and you will enjoy it better!

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