Romance On The Farm Review

I didn’t have high expectations for Romance On The Farm (田耕纪) initially as I thought it is just another typical rom-com. My decision to give this a go was partly due to Joseph Zeng. Not that I’m a big fan of his but he simply caught my eye as a young actor in Heaven Sword And Dragon Sabre 2019. Ever since then, he has taken on different roles and sometimes, curiosity will get the better of me to see what kind of character he is playing next. So, I ended up watching his latest drama to give you my Romance On The Farm review below.

My rating: 8/10
Episodes: 26
Type: Historical Romance
Aired: October 2023
Images Credit: iQIYI Facebook

The Cast Of Romance On The Farm

• Joseph Zeng Shun Xi as Shen Nuo / Shen Yi
• Tian Xi Wei as Lian Man Er
• Wang Jian Guo as Old Master Lian Fang
• Ai Li Ya as Old Madam Zhou
• Yvonne Wang Qing as Lian Xiu Er
• Zhao Yi as Lian Shou Ren
• Chen Si Si as First Madam Gu
• Li Mo Zhi as Lian Hua Er
• Dong Jing Chuan as Lian Shou Yi 
• Jiang Shi Meng as Second Madam He
• Katherine Yang Zhi Ying as Lian Ye Er
• Liu Ling Zhi as Lian Shou Xin
• Zhou Xian Xin as Third Madam Zhang
• Qin Jing Qi as Seven (Xiao Qi)
• Xing Ze as Wang You Heng
• Chang Long as Thirteen (Shi San) / Chang Feng
• Xiang Xia as Song Hai Kun
• Liao Peng Fei as Song Hai Long
• Li Yang as Yu Xiang Jin

Main Characters

Shen Nuo / Shen Yi

Shen Nuo is someone with a mysterious background. He has a secret mission which requires him to assume the identity of a villager. Shen Nuo is observant and strategic. He has a sharp mind with good martial art skills.

Lian Man Er

Man Er’s father is the third son of the Lian family. They are poor farmers and Man Er’s duty is to help out at the farm and do housework. Man Er is a smart and shrewd young lady. She is also gutsy and business-minded. Man Er is someone who will fight back when bullied.

Supporting Characters

Old Master Lian Fang & Old Madam Zhou

Old Master Lian Fang and Old Madam Zhou have 3 sons and a daughter. They are farmers who need to scrimp to survive. Both of them have very traditional views and favor their eldest son who is a scholar. Old Master Lian Fang places great importance on the family unit. He is the more rational one compared to his wife who is a bully. Old Madam Zhou is also bias towards her daughter and selfish towards her daughters-in-law and granddaughters.

Lian Xiu Er

Xiu Er is Old Master Lian Fang and Old Madam Zhou’s daughter which makes her Man Er’s aunt. She is the youngest child and about the same age as her nieces. Xiu Er is still single and doesn’t need to do as much work at home due to her mother’s favoritism. She is closest to her eldest niece, Hua Er.

Lian Shou Ren & First Madam Gu

Shou Ren is the eldest son of the Lian family and Man Er’s eldest uncle. He is a scholar who resides in town but has yet to pass the imperial exam to be a government official. He is married to First Madam Gu and they have a daughter but no son. The couple is a selfish pair who would sell out other family members for their personal benefit.

Lian Hua Er

Hua Er is the only child of Shou Ren and First Madam Gu which makes her Man Er’s eldest cousin. Like her parents, she is a conniving and manipulative person with evil intent even towards her own relatives. Hua Er is betrothed to Song Hai Long who belongs to a rich family.

Lian Shou Yi & Second Madam He

Shou Yi is the second son of the Lian family and Man Er’s second uncle. He is a lazy man who is always looking for excuses to do less at the farm. Together with his wife, Second Madam He, they will think of themselves first and how things will benefit them before considering the needs of their relatives. They have a son who is studying away from home whom they favor and a daughter.

Lian Ye Er

Ye Er is the daughter of Shou Yi and Second Madam He. She is a harmless girl who is resigned to her fate. Ye Er is quiet and does what she is told.

Lian Shou Xin & Third Madam Zhang

Shou Xin is the third son of the Lian family and married to Third Madam Zhang. He is lamed in one leg which foiled his chance to become an official. The couple has a daughter, Man Er, and a son, Seven. Third Madam Zhang is also pregnant with their third child. Shou Xin is a very filial son and a softhearted man while his wife is also timid and obedient. Hence, they are often being bullied and taken advantage of by the other family members.

Seven (Xiao Qi)

Seven is Man Er’s younger brother. He is still a little boy and they share a loving relationship.

Wang You Heng

You Heng is the son of a private money lender, Wang Lao Jin. However, his interest lies in medicine and he works at a medicinal hall. You Heng is a nice man and has interest in Man Er.

Thirteen (Shi San) / Chang Feng

Thirteen is Shen Nuo’s aide. He is a loyal subordinate and can be amusing and blur at times.

Song Hai Kun

Song Hai Kun is the eldest son of the Song family and is heavily involved in their business operation. The Song family is well-known for their wealth and influence in town.

Song Hai Long

Song Hai Long is the fourth son of the Song family and Hua Er’s fiancee.

Yu Xiang Jin

Yu Xiang Jin is the owner of an opera troupe but uses it as a cover for her team of bandits to rob from the rich and corrupt. She is a tough and smart woman.

Synopsis

Man Er is a beta tester for a VR farming game. Her life in the game begins when she is dropped into the poor Lian family who farms for a living in an ancient setting. The old couple in the family have 3 sons and a daughter. Man Er’s father is the youngest son and is often being taken advantage of due to his kindness and compromising attitude. The rest of the Lian family members are all selfish people who would sell out their own relatives for personal benefit except for the patriarch who tries his best to keep his family together. There is also favoritism in the family with the eldest son being their only hope to improve their social mobility.

Man Er’s mission is the earn 1,000 taels of silver in order to exit the game. Hence, she has to be resourceful and creative to earn income from doing business apart from farming. At the same time, Shen Nuo is being hunted by local officials and meets Man Er. He pretends to be a villager from a neighboring area and lives with her family by offering help at their farm. Shen Nuo hides his real identity and mission from Man Er but the 2 of them start to develop affections for each other. Together, they overcome sabotages from her relatives to earn money. Their deepening relationship comes to an end when Shen Nuo has to leave the village to fulfill his mission.

Romance On The Farm Ending & Recap (Spoilers Alert!)

Romance On The Farm has a happy ending. There is a one minute bonus episode which shows Man Er noticing an organization chart in the game developer’s office as she is leaving. The chart shows Shen Yi as the head of the game development department. Although his face is not shown, there is an implicit understanding that it is him when she turns arounds to meet the person behind her.

At the end of Episode 26, Man Er is about to fill up the money box and complete her mission to exit the game when she is called by her brother to make her way to the farm. She feels that it is time for her to leave with Shen Nuo being away and everything else concerning her family having been settled. But she is distracted from putting the final pennies into the money box to reach the required amount in the game quest. At the farm, she meets Shen Nuo again who has returned to see her.

Man Er then awakens and is back to reality. She feels that she has been in a dream. While leaving the office, she sees a framed leaf woven craftwork in the shape of a horse. It is the same one that Shen Nuo has made for her at the farm as the scene switches back to the game. Shen Nuo tells Man Er that he wants to keep her by his side forever while the money box is shown to be still short of the quest amount.

Who Is Shen Nuo?

Shen Nuo reveals his identity to Man Er in Episode 15 to try to explain why he left the village to appease her anger. His real name is Shen Yi and he is Wude Deputy Commissioner as well as the younger brother of Empress Shen. He was sent by the Emperor to investigate Marquis Ning Yuan who oversees Qingyuan Prefecture where Man Er’s village is located. Marquis Ning Yuan has claimed that the prefecture is unable to pay taxes due to drought but Shen Nuo finds out that it is a lie. Moreover, both officials and merchants are corrupt and involved in salt smuggling.

Together with Man Er’s help, Shen Nuo plots to get close to Wu Zhong Lian who is the President of Jinyang Chamber of Commerce. Wu Zhong Lian together with his right hand man, Liu Fu Gui, are smuggling salt on the surface but are actually mining minerals illegally for the prefecture’s Marquis who intends to rebel. The minerals are to be used to make weapons. Song Hai Kun is one of their underlings who is in charged of transporting the minerals.

Liu Fu Gui is killed by the Marquis’ henchman in Episode 23 for his mistake which exposes their illegal mining. Wu Zhong Lian and Song Hai Kun are killed by Shen Nuo in Episode 25 after they took Man Er hostage.

When Did The Leads Get Together?

Shen Nuo confesses to Man Er in Episode 15. However, she is angry at him for deceiving her about his identity and feels that he is only using her to conduct his investigation. The couple only got together in Episode 18. This is after Man Er found out from Thirteen that Shen Nuo had chosen to get back her stock of wine that her customer has ordered instead of the evidence to nab the corrupt that he has been pursuing. Yu Xiang Jin who was holding both the wine and evidence made Shen Nuo choose and he had chosen the wine without much thought because he cares about Man Er.

Is There Any Breakup & Love Triangle?

There is no breakup after Man Er and Shen Nuo become lovers. They only have a separation prior to getting together in Episode 12 when Shen Nuo has to leave the village to get the proof of salt smuggling activities being undertaken by corrupt merchants and officials. He returns to the village with Man Er’s stock of wine in Episode 15 after he realized that the inventory that he had helped Yu Xiang Jin to steal belongs to her. Shen Nuo was forced to help Yu Xiang Jin in exchange for the proof he needed.

Another separation occurs in Episode 25 after they have solved the case and Shen Nuo has to go back to the capital to carry out his duties. He couldn’t go back to the village within a month as promised but passes her a letter through Thirteen to let her know that he misses her. Shen Nuo returns to see Man Er in Episode 26.

You Heng is also in love with Man Er and is always ready to help her whenever she is in trouble. However, he knows he doesn’t have much of a chance after Shen Nuo returns to the village. Furthermore, Man Er has effectively put him in the fried zone when she tells him that she wishes that they will always be best friends.

What Happened To Man Er’s Relatives?

Liu Fu Gui takes a liking for Xiu Er and threatens Shou Ren to get his sister to be his concubine in Episode 20. Shou Ren knows his parents wouldn’t agree to the union and tricks them and his sister to get her married off. Xiu Er is locked up by Liu Fu Gui when she raises a ruckus on the wedding night after she found out he is the groom. In Episode 23, Xiu Er is rescued by Man Er and flees. An angry Liu Fu Gui then gets his men to beat up Shou Ren until he becomes insane.

As Song Hai Kun was working for Wu Zhong Lian, the Song family’s assets were confiscated by the government after their crimes were exposed. Hua Er and her husband are forced to live in a rundown hut together with her mother and lunatic father as a result. Old Master Lian Fang has never given up looking for Shou Ren. When they found them, Man Er persuades Hua Er to return to the Lian family home as that is what her grandfather wishes. The whole family is back together and everyone buries the hatchet in Episode 26 as they sit down for a reunion dinner on the eve of the new year.

With the family problems settled, Man Er starts to make preparation to exit the game. She passes the management of her restaurant to her second uncle and his wife. She has also bought a new house for her parents and gives them the deed to the restaurant so that they will have a comfortable life. Man Er also has a letter from Shen Nuo for You Heng. You Heng has been accepted as a disciple of a famous imperial physician on Shen Nuo’s recommendation.

Second Couple

The second couple is Thirteen and Ye Er. They meet in Episode 12 when he helps her to retrieve her clothes which has floated down the river. Ye Er is immediately attracted to Thirteen. She is too shy to confess to him directly but made him a sachet as a gift. However, Thirteen is too dense to catch her meaning until Episode 18. By then, they have been getting closer and closer together. Thirteen understands Ye Er’s feelings for him after seeing the sachet again and they become a couple. He asks her family for her hand in marriage in Episode 26. She agrees to his proposal.

Romance On The Farm Review – Quirky!

I find Romance On The Farm to be a little different from the usual romance dramas. It is quirky with its own brand of humor, if you can call it that. Because it is supposed to be a story in a virtual farming game, there is always this notion at the back of your mind that you can’t take this too seriously. Right from the start, viewers are already told that the female lead is a beta tester for the game. So, she is dropped into it and the whole story revolves around her game mission which she is supposed to accomplish in order to get out of it. Many things will happen along the way and this is how we get a story of a young gal and her dysfunctional family amidst a historical setting.

Thus, the female protagonist will have a bunch of selfish and big bully extended family members. A word of warning is these characters can be hateful. Although this may sound off-putting, they are still tolerable if you think of them as gaming characters. At least, that is how I felt when I was watching their antics. There is a subtle difference in the tone compared to the usual dramas that have annoying characters especially with the dramatic behavior of the matriarch of the family. So, their behaviors may be hateful but there is a limit as to how much they can make your blood boil. Perhaps one or two of them may really anger you but the female lead is not one who is easily cowed either.

A Gutsy Female Protagonist

The intelligent and resourceful female protagonist, Man Er, is one of the reasons why Romance On The Farm is worth the time. When you have a group of family members who are bloodsuckers, having a smart and opinionated protagonist will certainly spice things up with the way she fights back. So, if you like watching gutsy and intelligent female leads like in The Legend Of Zhuohua and Destined, you can add Romance On The Farm to your list.

Man Er is someone who is positive-minded and doesn’t let setbacks discourage her. She pulls herself up quickly and is proactive rather than spending her time wallowing in self-pity. Hence, it is satisfying to watch her and root for her against her relatives. I guess the pacing needs to be fairly quick to fit the whole story within 26 episodes. As a result, there is not much time to waste to drag out any misfortune. I certainly prefer it this way as there is almost no boring phases in the drama unlike longer productions that tend to stretch out the story unnecessarily.

Not A Perfect Ending (Spoilers Alert!)

While the story progresses pretty well throughout, the ending of Romance On The Farm is a bit of a letdown. It is not as bad as My Journey To You with a lot of unanswered questions. You can catch the drift of what happens in the end but it is just that things are not well-explained. So, the frustration is much less but you do wish that more effort is spent to tell viewers how the game works, who are in it, and how it should end by design.

As it is, you can only make a deduction that the male lead is also a player in the game. However, the glitch at the end of it is not explained to the viewers. By right, the mission is incomplete and the female lead couldn’t have exited the game yet. But she did and returned to reality. Unless I missed some critical parts, I don’t think viewers are told exactly why it could happen. I can only guess that the male lead made it possible because he is the creator of the game.

The other not so satisfying part of the ending pertains to the villains. Just take note that everything is forgiven in the end because “we are family”. That is the message that the story will impart. So, no matter what the villains have done including selling their own relatives, poisoning others at the risk of killing them, and causing the female lead’s mother to miscarry and almost die, being a family is the most important when everything is said and done! I guess this is standard fare for Chinese dramas as you can see the same forgiving ending in Fireworks Of My Heart and South Wind Knows.

No Fluffy Romance

Since the title of the drama is Romance On The Farm, it is logical to assume that a sweet romance will take centerstage in the plot. But nope, it is not so in this drama. So, don’t let the title mislead you into expecting a fluffy love story. In fact, a large part of the plot is about the female lead’s dealings with her relatives as well as the male lead’s agenda to obtain proof on some smuggling activities.

Thus, the romance is not exactly the meat of the story but only the side dish. The farm is there but the romance is really not the focus. While I was surprised at the lack of it given the title, I also have to say that the plot and characters kept me interested to the end. Hence, perhaps you shouldn’t watch it for the romance but for the explosive family dynamics instead. I think the latter is what defines Romance On The Farm rather than the love between the 2 protagonists. So, if you want more romance for your drama, Joseph Zeng’s Hi Venus will be a better bet than this one.

My Verdict – Better Than Expected

Overall, I feel that Romance On The Farm is better than I expected. The title and promotional poster gave me the impression that this is a fluffy rom-com. So, I didn’t expect much and hence, it is a nice surprise to find out that it is more than a typical comedic romance drama. In actual fact, you can think of it as a historical drama. The gaming aspect hardly makes its presence felt throughout the 26 episodes except for the bits at the start and end. Therefore, the happenings in the virtual ancient world is where the whole story is. You can take out the present real world and the drama would still make perfect sense.

Therefore, if you are looking for more gaming elements in your drama, this is not it. However, it still has a better than average story and plot execution. Personally, I find it to be enjoyable. I also find the selfish characters to mirror real life although they may be exaggerated. If you have relatives who are inconsiderate and only think of themselves, these characters will seem familiar.

For this Romance On The Farm review, I would rate it 8/10. I think the ending could have been better scripted and edited. If more thought have been put in, I would have rated it higher. Watch it for the family dynamics as this is the more eventful part of the story rather than the romance. It is not a heartwarming type of family relationship but one that is motivated by personal benefits. But that is also what gives the drama a peculiarity that draws you into the story.